snow leopard touched down

i purchased the snow leopard upgrade from leopard OS for $48. u'll need 2G Ram and intel chipset. there's also another set that cost $248 with iLife09 and iWorks09 meant for upgraders from tiger OS to snow leopard.

lt's pop in the disc and see how long it takes .... wait

took 1hours and 10mins to complete. dont feel any different from leopard so far.

i'm wrong, opening of "windows" are really faster .... nice

apple time capsule + macbook + vaio

since i got some time b4 work, i've decided to dig out the apple time capsule from the vaults to archive/backup my macbook.

my macbook harddisk is nearing its max with 9Gig of space left. deleted my unsuccessful attempt of time capsuling and use the time capsule box as a ext harddisk. but is it safe to archive my items inside or buy a ext harddisk that is compatible with both apple and pc?

and once i've free up space i'll add use the mac as the base for music and photos while the new little vaio be chunk free.

have also decided to burn all NIN songs that i have and transfer them in mp3 format into the vaio.

my wife encouraged me to get a mouse for the vaio. windows format arent so friendly w/o a mouse while the mac works great with fingers on the touch pad alone.

new ram for old macbook

bought new ram thru ebay.sg but didnt did bids bt via direct sms. $37 for 2gig of kingston DDR2 pc5300 667mhz ram.

my oiginal ram was 512x2 for 1gig. i took 1 out and applied the new one into slot0 so now i run at 2.5gig rams.

my spinning color wheel while loading safari pages are almost irrelevant now. quite a boost to my overall performance. contemplating to upgrade to either 3gig or 4gig of ram .... this should increase the life span of my 2nd gen macbook.

guitar hero metallica

this game is out yesterday. a fellow GAX forum gamer got his from gamescore last nite. i panicked and pm jimmy and jac to reserve a copy. collected mine today.

got myself a long awaited pair of tv headphones for gaming + movie.

took care of lucas yesterday while my wife went out to meet a friend. i was rewarded with these nice sushi.

i brought my PS3 back to the room yesterday but there was a blank screen. apparently, i need to reset the connection type, which i use hdmi in the living room while component in the room tv. lesson learnt. but more breakdowns discovered. my 360 no longer can power up and a spare mac charger had went amok as well.

formatting a external hard disk for PS3 / apple use

with time machine backups on my external 80G harddisk, the ps3 cannot detect this external hardisk anymore. 

i have my solution to make the external HDD to be both compatible with the PS3 and my apple macbook.

after plugging in the external HDD to the usb port of the mac book, choose 

FINDER/GO/UTILITIES/disk ultility

select the volume u need to format. choose FAT32 and ERASE button. give a name if u wish to.

by dragging files into this new formatted volume the Ps3 will not detect the files. for ease just copy a mp3, a video and a picture and when u plug the external HDD back to the apple, u will notice 3 new folders with contents inside .... namely PICTURE folder, VIDEO folder, MUSIC folder.

that ends the short walkthrough of making a external HDD compatible with a intel Apple and a PS3

time capsule part II

the story continues on my connection to the apple time capsule to my home products.

my linksys router does not have a WPA2 option under the wireless security tab. mine is a router/modem provided by starhub, a WCG-200 wireless-G model. and without WPA2 i see myself needing to further experiment on how to connect to the apple's time capsule.

i've never been good at this wireless or networking workaround. i've once hired a man to sort out my singtel internet wireless connection. feedback of him from my colleague was he's quite blur, but he sorted out a few of my problems previously. $50 a pop.

linksys is a pretty good company, they provide hotline that guides a user thru a step-by-step patient walkthru for their products. from initial setup to solving your messed up connection. a call on 800-120 4280 will link u up to a foreigner [probably stationed in another part of the world] and you gotta go along with his/her accent and the rest is probably a winning battle from your time-sucking problems.

with a little trail and error i finally chose WPA 128bit for my wiresless security on my router/modem. on the apple macbook i'll need to select WEP 40-128bit HEX and punch in my extremely long generated password, to connect to my wireless network. the router/modem admin address is 192.168.1.0

next i open up FINDER/GO/UTILITIES/AIPORT UTILTY and scan for the time capsule. dont forget t oreset the time capsule via a pen into the little pinhole at it's arse for 5secs and he'll see a fast blink on the front LED.

once the time capsule is detected, i select the first option of joining the existing network and also not to replace my router. punch in that password when prompted and ta-dah .... my time capsule is found. 

also inorder to have my time capsule appear on my desktop, in need to go FINDER/PREFERNECES/ and check on connected servers. next click on the icon of the time capsule on the desktop and select the icon on the left pane, click connect button on the top right corner, u'll be prompted to punch in the time capsule password. with this i can drag and drop files from the macbook into the time capsule. nice.

but still to backup wireless to the time capsule, the transfer rate is ugly. once u select to backup using time capsule, when u plug in your previous external HDD, all those backups are goners.

i've gotta figure how to hardwire the time capsule to the macbook for faster transfer, but in the meantime i've opted to re-do the backup with the 80G external HDD so i can send my wife's macbook for repair. 

new watch + time capsule

my wife's macbook speakers went bonkers this morning and i thought maybe it's a good time to invest in a hard disk for time machine backups for both of our macs and also double up as a external storage. the 1T [terra] version retails about almost SGD800 whie the 500G [giga] version is below SGD500. both our macbook's total HDD space is below 200G, so i opted for the 500G version. 

it was a bloody pain to set up. took me 3hrs and no joy. after dinner i manage to find some solution thru a google that i need to change my router password to WPA2 for better compatibility. but will changing that lead to a screw to my other devices that's to be connected? lik the PS3, my cellphone, the iTouch, my nephew's dell .... maybe i should pursue the setup tomorrow when i might have alittle more time .... it's almost 11pm now, cant risk staying up whole nite to sort it out if it fail or has a disastorous chain-effect.

 

in the meantime .... i'm enjoying my new watch .... the tauchmeister from german my wife bought for me. a 400 piece limited edition. what i love is the GMT window .... this can safely remove the dram of a rolex GMT master ....

over the weekend .... cats, starhub HD, iPoT update

Tuesday:- have i gone weak as i got older, always. i just woke up from an hour of nap. been nausea after a couple rounds of beer and head straight to go pick my wife up. guess my driving out-beat me and i was made giddy by my own driving. 

my starhub cable settop box had been giving me problems for a while. the last it took up to 10mins to power up. i popped over the starhub vivo city branch for a 1to1 exchange. behind was a queue of retired man. but after the swift exchange i got a hint i could get the HD settop box at 0 dollar. all i did was renew my contract for 2 years and then use my stahub loyalty points to claim for the remaining $48 for a free box. they provided me only with component cables which are good enuff.

but i encounter problems when i set up the box and my subscribed channels were good. i made a little fuss over the phone with the tech person when they started to direct the unknown fault to other methods of solvent. 30mins later after i cancelled my drinking b4 the meeting and had to rush down to vivo again, the programs popped out. now i can watch all channels, a complimentry for 1day as usual, but hope my subscribed channels stay when the free ones expires.

Sunday:- went to the feline competition over the weekend and i must say this one wasnt as good as the previous ones i've been to. pretty small scale this round, and less exotics. this fellow won a second price for some event. 

this flat face got first in another event. gotta get myself one of this falt face ones someday, their pitiful face makes them so adorable.

Friday + Sturday:- gotten some link for a free download to iPhone 2.0 and it failed miserably. the overnight download effort was wasted as there were errors. the update was tied in for the global launch of iPhone 3G + App Store and the update can only be updated via iTunes [where iTunes are officially setiup, hence singapore =0]. this update are applicable to iPhone 2G and iPod Touch. headed to work with puffy eyes and weighted heart. but when i came home i simply click on the iTunes update button i was directed to update + restore my iPoT and i got my update for free. amazing!

installed a couple of free apps. also bought iTune credits thru a local fellow at this blog at SGD51 for USD40. with this redeem code i can now sign up for a US iTunes without needing a US billing address credit card. gotten 4 songs .... Simple man by Graham Nash [song from Reign over Me movie], Live Forever by Oasis [one of fave track in Rock Band DLC], the drugs dont work by The Verve [yes drugs never did helped me much for my sanity] and Do you believe in Shame by Duran Duran [poly days had better music].

found out 2day from my colleague that iTunes APP store had open a new store for Singapore. so now i can sign up for a Singapore iTunes account using a local credit card, that's great joy for many singaporeans whom owned iPhone and iPoT. no songs or moives to buy atm tho. my colleague got his iPoT update thru the local site but he paid for it, wonder why my didnt have to. 

same ol song and dance / guitar hero aerosmith bundle

sold my PS3 GH3 R4 bundle + GH aerosmith R1 disc last night. apparently the local distributor has not receive their GH aerosmith bundle. i had called S Power last night but visiting their shop 2day to realized i was mislead, it was a GH les paul black gu

itar + GH aerosmith R1 disc. glad reliable gamescore has the GH Aerosmith R1 bundle at hand (prob sell imported). if not, it'll be a total screwup with me having nothing at all ....

why sell and buy again. i had previously owned a xbox360 GH2 and sold and bought a xbox360 GH3 and buy again a xbox360 GH2 and then sold both again. so last week due to my options and impatience (for the lateness of the R1 GH Aerosmith bundle arriving locally) i took another path of a PS3 R4 GH3 bundle + R1 GH Aerosmith disc and then sold them. now i only have a R1 GH Aerosmith with guitar bundle. hope this buy sell will not be a common habit, a lost in cash but experience gained for playing them.

this is the back cover.

couple of features for this new guitar, or it's the same featres as the black les paul? frankly i pretty much like the black les paul, u can buy it in GH Aerosmith at $100 for your guitar hero avatar, and this is not featured in GH3.

the intestines ....

aerosmith stickers instead of skulls and devils. wonder if gamers do really stick the stickers on the guitars ??? there's a NOT FOR RESALE logo on the back of the disc box. 

ok the setup guitar .... the faceplate is matt so it's not so much of a finger print magnet for this guitar.

cheats for GH Aerosmith is similar to GH3. i had installed the cheats after finishing the medium career. oe cheat i didnt apply is unlock everything .... maybe i should, if not i'll have to work hard to buy joe perry and DMC and some nice looking guitars ....

GUITAR HERO AEROSMITH CHEATS:-

APPLY THESE CHEATS TO UNLOCK THE GOODIES 

(R = RED / G = GREEN / Y = YELLOW / B = BLUE / O = ORANGE)

STRUM EACH TIME YOU DEPSPESS THE CORRESPONDING COLOR TO THE CHART BELOW

RY, GR, RY, RY, RB, RB, RB, RB, RB, YB, YB, YO  ----  UNLOCKS AIR GUITAR  [YOUR AVATAR PLAYS WITH THE AIR GUITAR ]

YO, YO, YO, YO, YO, RY, RY, RY, RY, RB, RB, RB, RB, RB, YB, YO, YO ----  HYPERSPEED  [CONTROLS THE SPEED OF THE BUTTON TREADMILL ONSCREEN ]

GR, B, GR, GY, B, GY, RY, O, RY, GY, Y, GY, GR  -----  NO FAIL [NO FAILURE AT MODES OTHER THAN CAREER MODE]

GR, GR, RO, RB, GR, GR, RO, RB  ----  PERFORMANCE MODE  [ WATCH THE SONG YOU SELECTED IN ACTION ]

RY, RB, RB, RY, RY, YB, YB, YB, RB, RY, RB, RB, RY, RY, YB, YB, RB  ----  PRECISION MODE  [ ADDS DIFFICULTY IN GAME, EACH STRUM HAS TO BE A PRECISE HIT ]

RY, GR, GR, RY, RY GR, RY, RY, GR, GR, RY, RY, GR, RY, RB  ----  UNLOCKS ALL SONGS  [ NO NEED TO SPEND MONEY TO BUY BONUS SONGS ]

XXXX ---- UNLOCKS ALL ITEMS [ I'LL NO PUBLISH THIS CHEAT SO WE'LL PLAY AND PAY FOR AVATARS AND GUITARS OF CHOICE / THIS CHEAT IS A 4-BUTTON DEPRESS + STRUM AND AND IT WONT PLAY A SOUND ]

inherited my wife's iPod touch and her mighty mouse as she got a new pink nano + hello kitty light up mouse. i bought a new cover for the iPod touch, had the staff help me apply the front film but he didnt apply the back film and the silver beautiful back had a bad deep cut amongst other hairline scratches. i let my wife down .... damnit!!!

macbook, dropped, giger, MGS, crowe, zoo, portal

collected my macbook from EPI centre service centre this evening. it was away for 2 days so i was like using it at work and borrowing my nephew's dell to check the net. the whole panel and the keyboard has been replaced. the new keyboard is fresh white but the springy feeling just isnt right.

and prior to collecting my macbook i dropped my phone in a car park. the phone has some light scratches and a bad dent. the tarmac seems to love my phone so much. think i will wait for the iphone to be brought in by singtel and i'll grab one from them.


this item came in 2days ago. my wife had bought me this giger tee via ebay. so lovely of her.

i love the back print, it has the alien head logo.

finally jumped in to buy a combat figure by hot toys. have fixed it up, more pictures in another entry.

also bought this zine for the feature of MGS. i have cut down on all zines, only buying on a irregular basis depending on its content.

this is twiggy happy on the couch. she loves jumping up the pillow for a little rest. she loves the company or to keep human accompany.

2 pictures from the zoo. not a good time to go to anywhere without shelter these few months.

and the green snake is sleeping

a picture of an old friend that has migrated.

damages (macbook + medicom darth vader)

my macbook has cracks on the white plastic near to the trackpad. i made a search on the net to discover many mac users had suffered the same fate. glad my macbook is still within the 1yr warranty (i didnt buy any mac care).

two portions has cracks, both on the left and right corners. the right corner is probably due to the hard slam i gave at times that the hinge on the top that protects the screen from being hit knocks and cracks this portion.

as for this corner, which cracked earlier then the right side, i wonder why it did.

i had wanted to clean my toy display shelf for quite some time. i knew some of my 12inch figures with rubber suits and parts will tear if i dont sorta stretch them alittle. to my dismay, yes the medicom darth vader from ep4 had tears on his suit. i once had a hasbro darth vader 14inch and the suit practically disintegrated. really gotta avoid buying some of these fellows with pvc, rubber .... the modern materials used to make all these detail toys, still doesnt outlast the mad depleting world of crazy sun and heat.

bought this from droidsville fellow at penisula shopping centre. decided to just buy 1 figure from this series

a day at the races

we had gone to bugis for some chores and i popped in adidas shop for a glance as my love for this old brand had rekindled. bought a nice bag that i can now dump all my stuff from my small zara shoulder bag + my macbook all in. to get things more organized, i latr bought a little pouch from kinokuniya to contain all my little pouches into one. this bag is amazing, it has so many little pouches and zipholes. but it canbe a little heavy when my macbook gets in. it's a all in one bag now .... do not touch ....

at 3pm we droved to the kranji wall memorial for our photo shoot. the weather was pretty crazy at noon but blew off by mid afternoon.

my wife's 3 girls on the field

a guitar hero from a galaxy far far away??

troopers on the prowl

tribute to the dead and wounded heroes

the kerroossss .... my favourite tomb

matt face blythe best for photo shoot

after the shoot, we proceeded to liang court macdonalds for picture viewing ....

i always love the calpis drink .... found this soda version 2day. i had hated the milk version but this soda was is col. saw a few alcoholic version



yeah, my first porter catalog from kino ....

a well spent day ....