Sunday, March 30, 2014

Lifetouch NOTE Screenshots

Lifetouch NOTE Screenshots

I took screenshots on Lifetouch NOTE using an app made by NEC, which you can easily take screenshot by pressing Fnc + F2. This is really good app, and stores images (jpg) on your SD/SDHC card.

NoteBrowser on Lifetouch NOTE

My main screen on Lifetouch NOTE

Photo from Hiratsuka, Japan

I took a picture of clouds just as it began to clear up.
I used iPad mini Retina with Instagram and Rookie.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Sigmarion 3 Going to be sent Overseas!

So, I set up a Sigmarion 3 for a customer from USA, setting up the Wireless LAN card and all.



It took some time to install, since the default driver for WLI2-CF-S11 didn't work.
So I booted up my old Celeron D 2.8GHz machine and got out a driver I knew would work.

So I'm sending off the Sigmarion 3 today!!

If you want to get Sigmarion 3, I can ship worldwide (with some exclusions due to lithium ion battery sending restriction) so contact me at: tsubasa_kato@hotmail.com . I can send the Sigmarion 3 anywhere in the world if I remove the battery.


Thursday, March 27, 2014

Engadget's Bias...



Ok, so this is sort of a rebuttable to Engadget, which I know probably won't be seen by them, but that is not the point. I have an opinion, and this is a blog, so I figured I would write this post. I commented on there but I feel like being a little more elaborate. The post on ENagdget can be found at:


As some people  know I picked up a Surface Pro, which I have to admit I really love. I use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse from Logitech, since I had the keyboard before I got the Surface, I didn't buy one of the covers. I personally think that $130 for a TypeCover 2 is a little expensive, since it only works on the Surface. They released a$60 adapter that would clip onto the covers the same way as they would onto the Surface, and makes them into a Bluetooth keyboard. This means that you can use it without it being connected to the tablet.

Now, this is also kind of overpriced, since you can get a separate keyboard for less if you know where to look and are not picky. In fact I got my K810 on sale for 50 bucks! The K810 is the one that lights up, pairs to 3 devices and is easy to switch between them, and also is rechargeable off micro USB. This isn't about the K810 though, what I want to talk about is how SMUG the post on Engadget is. I needed to give some background information first though.

The first two lines read "Remember the day Microsoft announced its new Surface tablets? Sure you do: there was all the usual pomp and circumstance, and even that keyboard cover that turned the Surface 2 into a portable DJ booth." Now, this is coming from a blog that is GLUED to any event Apple puts on. This is completely biased in my opinion.

The next part is what really annoyed me most of all, when they said "One thing that may have flown under your radar, though, was the wireless keyboard adapter, a $60 cylinder-shaped thing that allowed users to control their Surface tablets from up to 30 feet away over Bluetooth (like you do with a 10.6-inch device?)." Now, the Surface has video out, and in case of the Pro models, it is a full computer! What if I wanted to hook up my Surface Pro to an external display and use it as a desktop replacement?

If I already had a TypeCover and that adapter was priced better, I would buy one! If not just for using with an external display but sometimes I like the Surface Pro back farther to have a better view, or if I am working on something and need some space on my desk I can move the keyboard out of the way.

Maybe the adapter wasn't perfect, since reviews complained about the battery life and it keeping a charge, but the point is Microsoft can release a NEW version. Typical biased Engadget…

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

How times change...



Ever look back at the things you used to want so bad at one time, then wonder what you were thinking? It amazes me how things can change like that. I guess it can be something I should realize since the tech world moves so quickly, but it is easy to forget about things as well. With as quick as the world moves on, things quickly end up forgotten in the end.

Looking at what I use now, versus what I used say 5 years ago, a lot has changed. I had a 15.4" wide screen laptop back then, as well as an old Thinkpad 14" 4:3 laptop, and now a lot of things came, got popular, and quickly got swept up in the currents. Who remembers netbooks? I know I had 2 of them, plus and old subnote I was given by a friend, which was pretty much similar in specifications to an netbook, but with a few changes like a DVD drive and a higher resolution screen but about the same processor and RAM options.

The Averatec I had isn't important though since subnotes existed for awhile, and if you think about it, they still live on as "Ultrabooks" if they meet the specifications set by Intel. This was a time before the iPad came out, and tablet still referred to a traditional swivel screen laptop with a pen input. They were a few that had true touch screens but a lot of them used an active digitizer, such as a Wacom pen. I am getting Ahead of myself again though.

Now, one of the rumors I remember hearing for the Eee PC was that it would be 200 dollars with 4GB of memory, with a 7 inch screen. This was when I was using my NEC MobilePro 780, so I assumed it would be similar to a handheld PC just with Linux of some sort. At that time, I didn't expect it to be a full computer, since they were supposed to be something to use for basic web browser and stuff like that. Kind of like what the Chromebook is today I guess.

Of course as rumors do, they weren't quite that cheap, and the memory was a bit smaller, and frankly they had been pretty low end, which I guess was to be expected really. They started off with a 7" 800x480 screen, 2GB soldered SSD, 512MB RAM, and a 900MHZ Celeron underclocked to 630MHZ. They also came with Linux, which made me think that was the time Linux would finally catch on and take over the market, but they didn't and they started releasing models with Windows XP.

One of the things I had actually expected the first Eee PC to be like was something I also wanted a lot at one time, and did eventually get. While it wasn't quite perfect, I did use it to write some of this article. My co-blogger Tsubasa is to thank for this device as well and when he seen that I am pretty sure he knows what I am talking about, but for the rest of you, that device is the NTT DoCoMo Sigmarrion III. While there is nothing wrong with this device, it was something I got a little too late to be quite as useful as it would be if I got it sooner.

Now, one of the main issues with this is age. It runs an old version of Windows CE which was not very common. Most devices at this time ran CE 4.2 .NET but this runs on CE 4.1 .NET, which normally shouldn't be an issue but you need to do some hexediting to get some software to run on the device. It is also a Japanese device, and unlike other stuff I got from him, such as the HTC TyTN II, it lacks a flashable ROM, so your only option is to run the CAB file that installs the English MUI, but it leaves some stuff, ironically like the core PIM applications, in Japanese.

The device has SD and CF slots, but no WiFi or BT, and I don't have cards for either, so it is an offline device for me. For doing something like writing, it is an amazing device since it is the same size as a modern 7" tablet, such as my Nexus 7, but has a keyboard. While the keyboard is small, it is easy to get used to it and type pretty quick, and well, with two fingers. The things that will give you trouble are the keys like the quotation marks, and other symbols since this is a Japanese device and uses a slightly differently layout. Of course, you can always go back and add those later.

Now, some other weirdly annoying things would be the fact that it comes with Wordpad, instead of Pocket Word that most devices would have came with, and no Pocket Excel at all. This can be fixed with the addition of some better software such as Softmaker office, but that is not a free program and takes up a lot of space. However, this isn't about one device specifically, so the reason why this device doesn't see more use is a simple fact of not having a good battery. It will only last maybe a half hour, or at least that is all it lasted when I got it a while ago. Being a rarer Japanese device, finding a battery is not very easy, and I am not willing to attempt recelling the battery. I could probably make an external 9V battery if I wanted but that is too much work for what I would use it for, and it would ruin the portability.

The Nexus 7 has replaced the role of the handheld PCs I used to love and want so bad at one time. It is the same way with stuff such as the UMPC devices I wanted so bad at one time as well. The Surface Pro has replaced them, even though it is not quite pocketable, it has more power and is more useful for what I want to do. I want to stop this here since it is getting pretty long, and I could go into a lot of detail about the things I wanted at one point and no longer think would be used more than to play with once awhile, and I am sure that would be more akin to a book than a blog post. If people want to see stuff, give me a device in the comments and I will do some research and post my feelings on it, and if it's something I ever wanted, something I want now, or something I still want, or maybe something I would never want.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Beautiful Clouds taken with INFOBAR A01

Beautiful Clouds taken with INFOBAR A01 today in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, Japan.

Visit my Instagram for beautiful cloud pictures and more!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Turbo Mandelbrot on Sharp IS01

Most of you readers know what a Mandelbrot set is.
It's a fractal that you can see on the picture below.

Here's a page explaining how Mandelbrot set is calculated, for those who want to dig deeper.

Mandelbrot set on Sharp IS01
The home screen with the Turbo Mandelbrot icon.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Photo of Minato Mirai Yokohama

Photo of Minato Mirai Yokohama taken with iPad mini Retina.

I used an app called Pic Stitch to make this photo.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

vi (Text editor) on Zaurus SL-C750

Tried vi (text editor) on Zaurus SL-C750 today.
Works fine, you can use it by typing vi .


Friday, March 7, 2014

Listening to iTunes Radio

Listening to iTunes Radio right now on my iPad mini Retina. Coldplay is on.