I am now a middle-aged man

Posted: 15th August 2012 by Jacky Yong in Silly me
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*Sigh* ….. I am now an old fart. If I lived up to 70 years old, I am now already in my wid-way point. This qualifies me to be categorized as middle-aged. That means that I am no longer a young adult. And my health insurance premium just got higher. Thus are the “perks” that comes with old age.

What have I accomplished in my 35 years of living? I am proud of a few things, but I am most proud to be a daddy for 3 beautiful daughters. A big thank you to my lovely wife for making this possible. Although I don’t say it, I really appreciate what she did all these years. What else? Errmmmm ……. everything else is just materialistic value. So yeah, happy birthday to me, and thanks to all who have wished me.

P/S : I don’t have my wifi modem with me at work today, so I can’t really check who has sent me a birthday wish on my Facebook. I will have to see how many notifications I get when I get back tonight.

Does the iPhone’s GPS work solely on satellite signal?

Posted: 5th August 2012 by Jacky Yong in Computers
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This is a question that has been bugging me for a long time, since my Nokia 5800 days. On my Nokia, the GPS function works very well, but that was when it was used as a normal phone. But when I changed to an iPhone, I wanted to keep the 5800 as a GPS device, since I thought that it can work independently from my service provider. The GPS took ages to lock, if it even locks at all. I begin to suspect that normal GSM signal also help in determining your location.

Here using my iPhone, I do a simple test. I turn off wifi and turn on airplane mode (no GSM signal from Maxis). Then I tried to locate myself using my Garmin. Here’s a screenshot:

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Install SG & MY Garmin on your iDevice

Posted: 26th July 2012 by Jacky Yong in Computers
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This is an updated post. There were a lot of questions asked during my previous post that were unanswered, and I shall answer them all here. I will try to be as specific as I can be, so this post will be continuously updated as I get more clarity.

As usual the things that you need:

  1. A copy of Garmin SG & MY, obtained legally or otherwise. ***** ahem 🙂 ******
  2. a jailbroken iDevice + iDevice cable
  3. iFunbox
  4. iFile
  5. Malaysia’s map file (or any country of your choice). I obtain my Malaysia / Singapore map from www.malsingmaps.com
I will skip the part about how to install Garmin SG & MY in your iDevice, as I assume that you know some basic jailbreaking and installation skill.
The difference between this post and my previous post is obviously the choice of Garmin app. My previous post uses Garmin no map, whereas this post uses Garmin SG & MY which has the full map onboard! Yes, that’s a staggering 1.4 gigabyte of goodness that you need to download! Just be patient while installing, good things comes to those who wait! 😉

Major service of my Altis

Posted: 28th April 2012 by Jacky Yong in Cars
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The Altis is four years old now in my hands, but when I bought it, it was already 6 years old. That makes it 10 years old already!

Being a 10-year-old car, all sorts of problems are starting to creep in. As of last year, the car porch has already got patches of oils, indicating that it is leaking already. We were never got round to fixing it, simply because we were always cashless, or didn’t have the time for it. Now the time is right to finally send it to Toyota Puchong to get it done.

Why Toyota Puchong? Because that’s the nearest Toyota Service Centre that has the Early Bird service. We dropped the car on a Monday night and it was fixed by Friday evening. During the duration, Mei Fen has to drive me to the train station to and from work.

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Install Garmin on your iDevice!!

Posted: 12th February 2012 by Jacky Yong in Computers
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I have always liked to use Garmin MobileXT on the Symbian on my previous Nokia 5800 XM. That Nokia was famous phone, right before iPhone was introduced and swept away the nation in a smartphone frenzy. It’s still a very good phone, although I only use it for the GPS feature, because iPhone don’t have a proper Garmin software designed for it.

Up until now, all the Garmin for iOS are incompetent. They need to turn on the data, and there is no option to update your own map (Malaysia has a one of the actively updated map, and they are free some more). But now Garmin has release the Map-On-Board version, so it’s definitely worth checking out. Finally I have found a compelling reason to justify the reason why I migrated to iOS!

EDIT : You may want to view the improved version in my updated post

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Selective brightening

Posted: 13th November 2011 by Jacky Yong in Photography
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This is going to be very similar to the screen layer method that I posted earlier. The objective is the same, to brighten up otherwise very dark and contrasty pictures. The earlier screen method does work, but it involves a lot of mouse pushing, brushing, painting and a lot of eye work. Not usable for mass collection of photos to be touched up. So is there a way to select only the dark areas and brighten them up instead, just like Lightroom’s very own impressive Fill Light.

Pictures shows us much more than words, so here’s how a picture would be like before it is fixed.

Dark building, bright sky, recipe for photography disaster

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On the new Canon EOS 1Dx

Posted: 19th October 2011 by Jacky Yong in Photography
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I went to the 1Dx product launch yesterday in KL Convention Centre. The special thing about this launch is that the 1Dx was launched simultaneously with Japan and most of the rest of the world. The camera’s specs is amazing. I’m sure you can glean all the pictures and details online, so you don’t need me to repeat them here. But what I would like to highlight are two very important points:

1. The 1Dx trumphs the 1D Mark IV in terms of sensor size (APC-H vs full frame), speed (10 fps vs 12/14 fps), resolution (16 vs 18 MP) and maximum ISO (102400 vs 204800).
2. The 1Dx replaces the 1Ds Mark III directly, but the 1D Mark IV line will still continue (!!)

Which begs the question, WHY? Wouldn’t that cannibalize the sale of the 1D Mark IV? I asked Canon Malaysia’s Director of Imaging Communication Products Division Mr Simon Wong exactly this, and he replied that the price of the 1D will be marked down. Logical move, but in every sense, the 1Dx can already replace the 1D, so why confuse the users?

Why do I feel that I lost something very important today?

Posted: 27th September 2011 by Jacky Yong in Silly me
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It feels strange, one minute I feel that I am complete, and the next moment, I feel that I am living a completely fake life. Like something, or someone, is missing. A big chunk of me, gone, just like that. Can something as feeble as a human being do that? They are after all, “just human”.

What would I be if things were different? Who will I be instead? How will life take its course differently? I can’t help imagining that in some alternate universe, the alternate “me” is having a different path, as a result of choosing a different route in life. Would I be better off? Would I be more, complete?

Fate is a very weird creature. It plays tricks on you, although you never realize its existence. It makes important decisions in life for you, and sadly you have no control over it. You just notice its effect on you.

Our lives crossed for that one moment, and it shined. It could have shone brighter, but we are at the point where we must move on our own paths. We must carry on. Will our mortal lives ever cross path ever again? No matter how optimistic I would like to be, it still sounds highly unlikely.

Some things are meant to be preserved that way. If you touch it, it loses its magic. As much as I would like to get it back and keep it close to my heart, it would be too selfish of me. By letting it go, I preserve the moments, the memory, the MAGIC.

Thank you for the memory…….

Transgendered Life

Posted: 28th August 2011 by Jacky Yong in Current Affairs
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It’s sad, it’s really sad. People are rejecting transsexuals everywhere! In recent years we have seen some really interesting developments about these transsexuals, some are good, but mostly bad. New York has finally legalized same sex marriage, although it is not the first city / country to do so. Pakistan is considering  to legalize the third sex. But sadly this has resulted in a torrent of negative images of the gay and lesbian society as a whole. A gay pastor in Malaysia is being condemned for conducting this marriage with his partner, a broadway musical director in New York.

What’s the fuck is wrong with these people? If they love to be with the person that they love, what is wrong with that? Why do they care if they marry their same sex, marry someone with long hair, no hair, or someone who loves picking his/her nose in public? They get married because they believe in the marriage institution that solemnize their union. It’s not only about the sex you dimwit!
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Keeping themselves busy…..

Posted: 19th August 2011 by Jacky Yong in Silly me
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One iPad, two iPhones, three contended girls, 4 happy souls …..

XG4R0054s

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