37prime.news » Reviews

Kindle Fire: One week after.

very — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:13:13 +0000

It has been one week since Amazon Kindle Fire arrived and there are a lot of things to say about it.

Let’s start with the good things.

The 7-inch tablet form factor is easy to hold with one hand.
Kindle Fire interface is visually pleasing.
Amazon Prime video streaming works really well (with good Internet connection, obviously).
Good color reproduction and viewing angle. Thanks to the IPS screen.
The User Interface is pretty responsive, in general.
The ability to sideload Android apps not from Amazon Appstore.

Here comes the bad things:

Bad power/lock button. It’s at the “bottom” of the Kindle Fire and easily pressed by accident.
No hardware volume buttons.
On-screen keyboard feels “floaty”.
1024×600 screen ratio in landscape mode is hard to look at, especially for web-browsing and email.
Sluggish screen redraw.

There a re still a lot to say about Kindle Fire. Amazon can easily fix a lot of the issues through software updates.

Posted from Stanton, California, United States.

Microsoft Security Essentials flags Google Chrome as Malware

very — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:55:17 +0000

I spent the whole morning restoring Google Chrome on numbers of computers at the office after it was flagged as Password Stealer PWS:Win32/Zbot and forcibly removed by Microsoft Security Essentials. As I was working to get this problem straighten out, I discovered other people are having the same problem.

Interestingly, Microsoft Security Essentials did not flag Google Chrome Dev release as malware. It only affects the release version on the computers I have in the office.

I was unable to reinstall Google Chrome even after updating Microsoft Security Essentials. So I disabled Microsoft Security Essentials before started re-installing Google Chrome.

If you were still having problems re-installing Google Chrome with Microsoft Security Essentials disabled, try uninstalling Google Chrome from the Control Panel.

Posted from Beverly Hills, California, United States.

Griffin Technology Stylus for iPad.

very — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 04:40:51 +0000

I picked up a Griffin Technology Stylus for iPad because it was on sale at a local electronic store. I wonder if stylus like this would work great with iPad. It all depends on the Apps, sometimes the stylus works great and sometimes it doesn’t.

It does work with most capacitive touch screen.

Posted from Los Angeles, California, United States.

That 2 second delay with HP TouchPad.

very — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:16:42 +0000

I get to play with an HP TouchPad over the weekend. It is fairly thick compared to any iPad. WebOS UI offers a different experience than iOS and Android.

One thing that really bugged me is the fact the TouchPad has a 2 second delay for the screen to rotate half a π (90º). I hope this would get fixed in the upcoming updates.

Posted from Los Angeles, California, United States.

Raw Video from Canon EOS 60D.

very — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 10:43:03 +0000

The video is taken using:

The video was shot in 1920×1080 24p mode in a low light condition.

Link to the video.

Screen capture in full resolutions.

Upcoming Rambles: Microsoft Office 2011

37prime — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 08:03:49 +0000

After a few weeks of waiting, the official release of Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac arrived on my desk. I decided to refrain from installing Office 2011 until I had the ADATA S559 SandForce SSD in the MacBook Pro. That was Wednesday and Thursday. As of this writing, I have barely used Office 11 on this MacBook Pro. So, I’m not gonna even try writing any sort of reviews. Instead I’ll be writing some facts about it.

There are numerous versions of Microsoft Office 2011:

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business 2011
Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student 2011
Microsoft Office for Mac Academic 2011

Note: The screenshot was taken after Office 2011 was already installed on the system. The second time the installer runs, it says “Upgrade” on the install.

Core applications included in Microsoft Office 2011:

Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Outlook (not available in Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student 2011)

Other applications:

Microsoft Messenger
Microsoft Communicator
Remote Desktop Connection for Mac

Thanks to the SSD on the MacBook Pro, any Office 2011 applications launched almost instantly. So at this time I can’t really comment much about it. In a week time I’ll find out more.

ADATA S599 SandForce SSD and MacBook Pro.

37prime — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 05:49:12 +0000

The ADATA S599 SandForce SSD has finally arrived. I’m really thankful to Amazon.com customer service for rushing the second unit my way after the first one got lost in transit. I ended up with another unit which was purchased from Newegg.com.

Hard-drive installation on Unibody MacBook Pro is much easier compared to the previous MacBook Pro models. Eight screws on the bottom plate, two screws on the hard drive bracket and four screws on the hard drive itself. It took about 10 minutes for me to complete the swap, not counting the picture taking time.

Installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard on the SSD-equipped MacBook Pro went smoothly.

I am pretty impressed with the speed improvement. Mac OS X took about 14 seconds to boot. Most applications including Photoshop CS5, Word 2011 and iTunes 10 launch within one second.

I will post more about ADATA S599 SandForce SSD within a week or so.

I also will review G-Skill Phoenix Pro SandForce SSD.

Posted from Brea, California, United States.

iOS Remote App and Apple TV Control.

37prime — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 08:53:10 +0000

The iOS Remote App can be used to control Apple TV. It requires “Home Sharing” turned on with a valid Apple ID/iTunes Account.

Get Remote App here.

Apple TV, Day Zero.

37prime — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 06:59:12 +0000

I called numbers of Apple Stores around California regarding Apple TV availability and all but one store has Apple TV in stock. So I headed out to Apple Store Fashion Island in Newport Beach and to get one.

Apple Store Fashion Island has plenty of Apple TV in stock and numbers of customers are buying one or two.

Fast forward an hour later:

Apple Battery Charger is now available in Apple Retail Store.

very — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:15:02 +0000

This might sound crazy but I just picked up Apple Battery Charger at an Apple Retail Store. It is all for review.

I will be posting more about it. Is Apple crazy or are the consumers too gullible?

Is it possible this Apple branded Battery Charger a different kind of product?

Stay tuned!

Posted from Cerritos, California, United States.