This is the second and last week of my bumming days before the semester starts.  Been very busy lately but the fun was much needed.  Attended Nissan Track day a while back and was way too lazy to load some photos up.  Got to see the new GTR in the flesh.  That thing is huge, and so godzilla like.  Completely stock, the car keeps up and bones most other heavily modified vehicles in the A class race without really pushing it.

Some other random cars next to us on the pit.

GTR again.

Found some interesting things in the supermarket!

Went to dinner for Geoff, Jimmy & Ricky P’s birthday at an oldschool classic restaraunt I used to go to all the time - Pine & Bamboo on Wynnum Rd, Cannon Hill.  Since I used to live there I went there often, but no longer as I live on the southside in asian central. Best Peking Duck around the area!

Playing with the Viewty!

More pictures to come soon when I can get my lazy ass to load them.  Uni starts this week.  行くぞう！

I feel so wasteful and bored yet I love the boredom and the endless time I have during the day.  Ever since I’ve stopped FT work, this semester break has been awesome.  It gives a sense of nostalgia to when I was on my MMORPG every hour of the day.  I can sleep when I want, wake up when I want, and do whatever I want without having to account for work the next day or events going past my bedtime.

This week has been jam packed full of bumming.  I did get a chance to go to track day at Willowbank raceway.  It is pretty good.  More photos will be posted at a later date once I grab all the photos off my friend.  Some awesome cars, noise and smells.

Here is some happenings of late…

Who can ignore the iPhone 3G release in Australia?  There is so much hype about it and every kid to grandparent is getting on even though they don’t use the functions.  It is hard to ignore.  Even in Brisbane, there are line-ups for this phone.

Sydney Apple Store

This is the #1 iPhone 3G buyer in Australia at the Sydney Apple Store

These are the Brisbane Mac boys lining up for the iPhone 3G.

The lineup from the optus shop in Brisbane CBD

The money shot.  Optus 3G + iPhone.

Here is the launch in Japan.  Softbank Japan is one of the biggest keitai providers and they are the sole distributor of the iPhone 3G.  Check out the lineup for them.  It’s very civilised and people are very prepared.  Images courtesy of kirainet.

Haha best picture!

Are you going to get the iPhone 3G?  I do plan to, but not at right now.

Brisbane has seen some faily cold weather lately and what better than HK style BBQ.  Headed over to Joanne’s place for a cook up.  It was awesome.

This is me pigging away at corn.  Our first round of corn turned into burnt corn but the 2nd was perfect.

Chinese sausages + chicken wings = WIN.

]]> http://www.rickytang.com.au/?feed=rss2&p=38 http://www.rickytang.com.au/?p=37 http://www.rickytang.com.au/?p=37#comments Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:17:15 +0000 Ricky Tang http://www.rickytang.com.au/?p=37

Have always wondered which would be better.  I knew from ages ago Projector gives you the most movie like experience and projectors are coming down in price.  However, there are heaps of cons with projectors.  When you compare them to LCD TVs, I think the LCDs win hands down.  These days, a 46″ LCD TV costs a bit over $3,000AUD and this price is a really good full HD supporting 1080p.  

I think projectors have their advantages but after some quick reading it seems the cons outweigh the pros.  Firstly projectors are noisier than LCD TVs significantly and generate much more heat as well.  This also limits the use time allowed.  It is not recommended to use the projector as a daily TV because the bulbs in the projector only last for a short number of hours.  I heard some people use them occasionally for movies maybe once or twice a week and they would have to replace the bulbs after a year or two of use.  I guess it depends on use.  

Projectors also require the room to be really dark.  For best effect it is recommended to pair with a white screen you mount on the wall.  LCD on the other hand are backlit and can operate even in daylight conditions.  

Another problem is sound.  It must be hooked up to a sound system or else there would be no sound.  LCD TVs come with its own sound so if sound isn’t a big thing then it saves the hassle on buying the system.  Of course you won’t really get the full cinema experience but not everyone is willing to fork out for the entire system.  

I think I prefer LCDs especially with 1080i/p technology, it makes games so much clearer and enjoyable.  Huge advances have been made in LCDs with Sony hammering the 100Mhz motion flow, it makes large action scenes seem like real life.  

Especially with Blue ray coming in, the Projectors aren’t usually capable in taking advantage of full HD.  

Below are some cool theatre setups I have found.  Of course if you have an ownage TV but not a comfortable environment to view it, it also does not give you the full effect.  

As you can see in this, you really need complete darkness to see on the projectors.

LCD or Projector?

Previous end semester exam results are out and I’m glad that I passed.  No spectacular results, just a distinction but I am pretty pleased because this is my first semester of study with full time work.  I have to say, full time work and study is pretty tiring.  Will be enrolling in full time study next semester so I can get this masters over and done with.  If I keep going at the rate I am going, it would take me 6 years to complete.

Drop by Amanda’s house last night for dinner.  Had a balling time just chilling and talking.  Haven’t felt this free and little pressure in a while.  Makes you really cherish the extra random time you get when you were a student.  They said university years are the best years of your life.  Not so when you were  a pharmacy student doing 6 subjects per semester (2 more than standard load) and having to sit 8 exams in 2 weeks.  But as a commerce student, it seems you really do get heaps of spare time.  Enjoying it as much as I can.

Again, playing around with my Panaramo shot mode on the LG Viewty.  Gotta say its a pretty neat phone.

We destroyed the food.  We had fried dumplings, grilled chicken wings, creme` of pumpkin and sweet potato soup, fried tofu, tossed beans, lots of chocolate and cheesecake for dessert.  Very “fung fu”

One of my work colleagues picked up this dope mug from the Reject shop. It really says something about our profession…

Came across some awesome home theatre setups.

Wow, Bang & Olufusen setup.  Exy~~

This one is a bit extreme.  It is a 108″ 1080p full hd setup.  Imagine GT5 on that thing orz~~ droolz.

I don’t even have a TV at the moment.  I use my Macbook Pro that is hooked up to my 24″ display to watch movies.  The downside it isn’t very comfortable to watch movies for long periods of time.  When I watch a few documentaries, I tend to get a sore neck and back.

Do you have a home theatre system setup?  Or do you use your PC/Mac as your media centre?

]]> http://www.rickytang.com.au/?feed=rss2&p=36 http://www.rickytang.com.au/?p=35 http://www.rickytang.com.au/?p=35#comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:47:51 +0000 Ricky Tang http://www.rickytang.com.au/?p=35

A while ago on my old xanga blog, I posted some mac setups which I thought was quite nice.  Here is another lot of desks and mac setups that inspire me to clean my room, desks and everything else.  Clean desks are always pleasant to work on.  Currently my desk is a mess from exam week a few weeks ago.  Work and study = no time to clean desk.  Hopefully I will have some time soon to organise a few things and tidy some stuff up.

What would be your ideal desk setup?  Would one of these setups be good for you?   Large desks or long desks?

This one was off otaku.fm a while ago.  So many monitors!  Cable mess galore.

This one is a nice one but not that tidy.  The L shaped desk is nice.

I want that hd case.  Anyone know where to get one online?

This is my personal favourite!  Glass

This one is a bit messy.

Are you the type of person to spend on furnishings or would you prefer to save the money and spurlge on better macs/pcs and gadgets.  Personally I get a better experience from a computer if the mouse is good, and the environment is good.  Big monitor, good mouse, nice keyboard and good desk setup.

Haven’t had a holiday in a while and have been a bit tired from juggling work and study.  Exams are finally over and since I am studying full time next semester and working much less, I figured it would be time to have a bit of a break.  Been relaxing at home and surfing the net, doing some housekeeping, and washing the car.

Stayed one night with the pharmacy bunch down at the Gold Coast with some pharmacy friends that I went through university with.  It was nice and relaxing as I didn’t have anything to worry about and we all had some good discussions on what to do in the future.  Glad I am not the only person not liking pharmacy since all my friends agree and are exiting out.

Using this dodgy panaroma shot on my phone camera, but you can kinda see the stunning view.  We had views of the casino strip of Gold Coast and the sea as well as Beach.  It was a 2 bedroom apartment with a very large lounge dining area + balcony.  I wouldn’t mind owning one of these to be honest.

My friend Geoff thinking on the balcony.

The view of the sea/beach.  More beach if you look right.

This is what the building looked like from the outside.  Nothing real special in terms of architecture.  We stayed on the 19th floor.  It seemed high when you were up there but I guess its not really.  I guess I say its high because we don’t get much of a chance to stay in high-rises in Australia as most places are houses.  High rises only really exists in the inner city sections of Brisbane and the heart of Gold Coast as space is beginning to become an issue.  This particular set of apartments go for about $460,000 AUD where as Brisbane city apartments range from $800,000AUD all the way up to $1,500,000AUD depending on how many rooms and size and level.

Are you a house person or apartment person?

This is what the bedrooms looked like.

The whole building was quite new and all the furnishings were pretty modern.  Just what I like.

The foyer of the complex.

Late afternoon sun into the apartment.

The kitchen and the mess it carries ^^ (my friends cooking up some dinner)

As you can see the lounge and dining and kitchen are open planned in one.  It is large enough though and I think for a couple this is more than adequate.

Here are some foods over the weekend retreat.

Above: Oysters Kilpatrick.

Some weird tempura oysters.

Above: Lamb Cutlet

T-Bone Steak.  I prefer Eye or Wagyu rump cuts.  But I know some friends taht love T-Bone.  What do you like?

Moo Moo Eye Fillet.

Nando’s Peri-Peri Sauce.  Nando’s is very popular here.  It is grill fired chicken with spicey sauce and chips.  My friends and I always eats heaps of this.

Miriam’s Belated 21st Dinner at Morrison’s Steak House & Woodfire Pizzas.

The crew that turned up.  It was very cold that night.  The steak was pretty good.  I chose the Premium Morrison Eye Fillet with mash (as I love mash potato) and Miriam ordered the Wagyu rump with mushroom sauce.  I have to say, that night’s wagyu rump was probably the best cut I’ve had in a while.  Priced at $27AUD, I think it’s very fair for a nice steak with good portions of sides.  All steaks included caeser or house salad, chips or mash and some sauce.

Because I have been surfing a bit, I’ve found some interesting things…

Super Bomber Jacket.

Bomber to the extreme.

Very cool Stussy shirt.

Some warm overs.  Too bad it looks like cheap China fake Burberry.

One of those shirts my girlfriend would bash me for!

I love pattern shirts, subtle but not subtle, if you get what I mean.

Black shirts with writing.  A classic.

I’m not really a fan of shot sleeved collared shirts but here are some great examples that I don’t mind.

Some awesome new shoes released by Nike, New Balance and Vans.

My clock arrived finally arrived!  Been wanting one of these clocks for a while now.  I have a screensaver that emulates this type of clock and ever since my friends saw it, everyone’s been using it.  This clock was sourced from Hong Kong as the ones in Australia are either too expensive or too hard to find.

I have a little fascination about clocks and have always liked nice looking wall clocks.  I’m into round shapes usually that are clean, clear and elegant.  Here are some of the interesting clocks I have found via Flickr.

This one is probably my favourite out of them all.

This one is very interesting.  Obviously the space apart has to be proportional or lese the time would be out.

One of my friends have this type of clock in their house.  They are very expensive!

Another favourite.  Very clean and modern.  Very German as well…

This is a very old clock.

Below is the clock I have had for a very long time.  Unfortunately I think I’ve slammed it too many times over those years and have broken it to pieces.  Do you slam your clock when it wakes you up when you still want to sleep.  Happens to me when I’m sleep deprived.

Yesterday marked the longest time I have spent at work.  A total of 13 hours spent at work from 8AM - 9PM.  In Australia the tax is so high that the more you work the more you get taxed.  Depressing isn’t it.  Tax return is coming but I think this year I will actually be getting close to nothing back.  I just hope I don’t have to pay additional tax.  I have racked up just under $24,000 AUD tax this year.

Basically got home last night, checked some emails, logged onto MSN, and then passed out.  Was planning to get some study done, but that fell through the roof.  Hopefully today will be more productive.

Found this last night on my brief surfing of the internet…  Looks useful!

Firefox 3 came out the other night.  Firefox 2.0 has been really bad for me on the mac as it was very slow and buggy.  Firefox 3 defintely is a lot more zippy and things load up faster.

The rain warnings have stopped in HK and I think the monsoon season has passed.  But check out the ridiculous floodings that occurred.  We have been getting some rain in Australia but Brisbane is still under water restrictions and possibly elevation to Level 6.

Euro 2008 is still on and it seems the group stage matches have finished and it is now the Knock out rounds.  Indeed exciting to follow as you see some awesome performance from underdog teams and not the usual heavy weights dominating the show.  Italy was been terrible and I am glad as I never liked the Italian teams.  I think this year the Dutch have a good chance of winning.  They have done very well in their Group C (aka Group Death) matches against Italy, France, and Romania.

Check this photo out.  Polish born German AMF/SS Podolski nets a important goal for Germany.  Awesome shot.  I wonder if it’s photoshopped or just caught as that by the camera.

With regards to sports, I used to follow basketball but not anymore.  Now a full time soccer fan.  But look at Yao Ming!  His hands are huge.  Check him out in this photo with Jet Li.

Lastly, the Apple Store is opening tonight.  This is Australia’s first Apple store.

Yesterday = 10 hours of work, 2 hours rest, 4 hours study + a cheese burger at the end = TIRING

The countdown is on and under the pump I am! Saturday is the day of my first commerce based end semester final and so hopefully it won’t rape me over

Chinese milk tea FTW! Keeps me awake and alert.

Had the opportunity to try the new set of car detailing products I bought on my friend’s classic Nissan Skyline R32 GTR. The products made the wash so much easier. When I arrived at his house in the morning, you could see the state of the car. Tar and grime everywhere especially on the back left rear sections as that is closest to the exhausts.   Quick use of the products quickly lifted the gunk off the car and all we had to do was give it a light wash and rinse. Usually it would take a fair bit of scrubbing. So to preserve the paint from swirl marks, these nice tar removers were used to lift it all out.

Above: As you can see, there was a ridiculous amount of grime and tar and crap on the car that stuck to the paint and you could not get out with the normal mix.

Wheels now free brake dust.

Above:  My Car debadged.

It was such a nice day and a wash in the early morning was quite relaxing.  No scrubbing needed at all with those products.

How often do you wash your car?

I found these Tshirts a while ago while surfing looking through Hong Kong fashion publications Milk, and Monday. They tend to give the style of clothing I am after. Ever since I saw these shirts I’ve always wanted one but could not find real ones on ebay. Seems like ebay habours a lot of fake branded clothing and I was very skeptical in buying it as I’ve had bad experiences with buying fake stuff from ebay.

Until recently I have found the official site to the producers of this shirt here. They are based in Japan but they ship internationally. I am most likely going to purchase one once I’ve fulfilled my savings goals (in the middle of a no spend regime at the moment).

Would you wear one of these shirts or would you be punished by your missus on at the sight of one? What is everyone’s fashion tastes?

Here is the infamous Carnuba wax that world renowned car detailer Paul Dalton uses.  It costs about 10,000 pounds and gives cars an incredible shine and lustre.  I recently bought some carnuba wax that some of the professional detailers use (not the 10,000 pounds one -_-’) and have tried it on one of my cars.  Gives amazing results - love it!  

Here is the type of finish you can get with proper detailing of the car.  I’m in the process of learning how to do this and you can do the same if you visit the UK based detailing website, which is where all the professional detailers and car valet people hang out.  

There has been tycoons lately in Hong Kong and it’s all over the news.  Floods are occuring and the whole place is just wet.  Wet weather sure lowers morale and mood.  Sleeping through that type of weather is usually the best.  Look at the subways being packed.

Found this awesome shirt by Stussy while surfing some fashion site.  

In the middle of what they called SWOTVAC. Don’t ask me what it stands for as I don’t really know but I know that it is the week before exams. Well SWOTVAC has actually ended for many but for me it just started as my exams are at the end of the exam block. I am lacking motivation as you can see from the blog update. How does everyone gain motivation to continue studying? I try to limit myself on going out, watching things, downloading things, playing games, but I still end up doing it.

Hopefully for the sake of my exams, I don’t make anymore updates or surf the net until after…

Finally, Apple has released the second version of their iPhone, 3G capable.  This is good news because being 2.5G / Edge previously really made its key feature (portability and internet) a double edged sword for Australian consumers.  Previous iPhone owners in Australia that bought overseas unlocked phones may have charged ridiculous amounts for their use of GPRS on the iPhone.  Now that the 3G version is announced, the internet speeds and pricing will improve dramatically, making it truly a mobile device that can be used for enterprise and personal.  

I have just watched the keynote presented by Steve Jobs and I have to say, his presentation skills are incredible.  This guy glows with charisma and when that happens, everyone buys up.  I talked about the HTC Diamond touch on my previous Xanga blog and I was very eager with that but when I saw what the iPhone 2.0 brought I was pretty amazed.  This time, it’s not only a phone that can do this and that, it actually has a huge list of developers and software that is going with it.  If you haven’t watched the keynote, the iPhone 2.0 will be compatible with a list of apps that anyone can develop, just like the PC.  A few examples include games such as Super Monkey Ball, medical applications such as human atlas and PET/CT scan analysis apps, social networking apps such as Loopt, which uses the portability and iPhone platform to locate where you are wherever you go and where your friends are or who your closest friends are so you can catchup quickly for lunch.  This is pretty cool stuff!

Out of all the applications, this is probably one of the coolest.  

 

iPhone 2.0 also comes in 2 different colours now - Black or White.  I fancy the black as I’ve always fancied black piano gloss things.  

iPhone 2.0 in white:

iPhone 2.0 in black:

Below: This is the social network and friend tracking program Loopt

Below is the HTC Diamond Touch (image courtesy of Akihabaranews)

The only downside is that I live in Australia and it will likely cost an arm and a leg.  Australia tends to put huge tariffs on everything and even when the AUD is pretty strong against the USD, it’s still likely to be pretty expensive.  

While I was reading up about the new announcements I noticed this cool image that was constructed out of Apple products.

Will you be getting the iPhone 2.0? 

Been gathering ideas on how to redesign my workspace so I can reduce the wires and put shelves in.  One thing that bothers me immensely despite all our efforts in innovative gadgets and technology is the amount of wire mess we have to put up with to use all this stuff.  Seriously, there are wires everywhere in my work area.  I run a Macbook Pro and you would think I would not have to worry about wires annoying me.  The fact is, I plug in both external hds (since the mac does not have enough space), then the dual monitor, the power, the speakers and the list adds up.  

A while ago I visited this site called Decluttered and it showed some nifty ways to minimise wire mess.  But the wires are still there.  Does anyone have any good ideas on how to get rid of all these wires.  

Speaking of workspaces, I would love to have a clean workspace that has heaps of sunshine.  Unfortunately my area in the house does not get any sunshine so it’s cold and dark.  Here are some of my dream work spaces I am inspired with.