Borders Offers

Borders is offering 20% off for teachers and students from tomorrow. If you're not students or teachers you can still get 15% off by forwarding the offer to your friend. Check the details here.

New Qantas Logo

Do you know that Qantas has just launched a new logo ?

The old logo is on the left and the new one is on the right of the picture. Similar ? Yes, but not the same. In the new one, the kangaroo is more aerodynamic. This is done so that the plane can get less resistance from the wind and therefore, fly faster to the destination. Also, the new logo allows the kangaroo legs to be seen instead of being split by the aircraft, see picture below.

Nice ? No word on how much the re-painting job is going to cost though.

Disclaimer: the new logo will not make the plane go any faster, not even a little bit.

Pictures courtesy of The Age

New Aerobics Routine ?

Well, this is really interesting. YouTube has once again proven that anyone can become a star and claim their 15-minutes of fame. The latest are Philiphines prisoner at Cebu, over 1500 prisoners are shot doing the routine for Michael Jackson's Thriller.

OK, if this was a bunch of young kids that might make sense (not really though) but watch the video. The inmates that are playing the main characters are semi-old people and they are doing zombie look-a-like. I don't know how the guards managed to 'persuade' them to do this (maybe with some sentence reduction or steak lunch) but it sure is good entertainment.

Go and check the video at YouTube here.

Harry Potter: The Final Book

Today, in another 8 hours, the final book of the Harry Potter series will be released. Fans have been counting down to this day, which has been named the P-Day. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the most anticipated book in the series, it is the final book of the series. Adding to the anticipation, J.K. Rowling (the author) mentioned that 2 main characters will die in the final book.

Security has been tight surrounding the release of the book. In the US, some booksellers even have a special section that handles the Harry Potter books. The section is continually watched by security and only employees that have direct relation to the book can be there.

There has been some slip though with 1200 pre-orders being sent early (a couple of days ago) in the US and a New York Times reporter writing a review of the book a couple of days before the official launch.

Some materials have been published online, some real and some fake. But the determined fans have been able to block all that and wait for the actual book.

Well, it's not long to go until the world knows what happens to Harry Potter, the boy that managed to captivate children and adults alike for the past 10 years.

Events are being held all over the world for the launch of the book. In the US and UK, I believe they will launch the book at midnight and in Australia, it will be 9am eastern time (7am for Perth and 8.30am for Adelaide).

For Melbourne, they will have huge celebrations in Federation Square by Borders and the city by Readings starting early morning. The Lord Mayor John So (Melbourne's mayor) is going to officially launch the book (by opening a chest) in the city. There will be stunts as well, with plenty of broomsticks going around.

I, myself, am not a hardcore fan of the Potter series. I have not read any of the books but I watched all of the movies (especially the last one in glorious 3D - check my review). But I have a theory of how it's going to end. I think it will end with Harry having to sacrifice himself in order for the Dark Lord to be killed (and therefore Harry dies). It's a sort of Matrix ending whereby Neo has to sacrifice himself in order to kill Agent Smith. It is the ultimate sacrifice.

Well, I guess we'll know soon enough whether I'm right or wrong.

Just a small tip from me for everybody that is going to get the book tomorrow. First of all, be patient (there's plenty of books around) and after you get it, go home and read it. Don't open them until you reach home. Hopefully, the first kid in line to get the book won't flip straight to the last page and scream to the other people in line, "NOOOO!!! everybody died".

For everybody that is looking for a bargain, Toy's R Us is selling them for $19.99 if you buy something else from them. All the major bookstores (Borders, etc) are selling them at $29.95. Target and Kmart are selling it at $27.95. Big W promised to be the lowest place to buy but still yet to reveal the price (maybe it'll be like 3 cents cheaper or something). All are AU$.

Mac Bundle - Update

Only 1 hour to go until the deal by MacUpdate ends and ALL programs have been unlocked. So it's 10 programs for $49.99 (valued at more than $400). Buy through MacHeist and you'll get 5 more programs.

Go check it out (or even buy it) before it's too late.

Because ALL applications (10 of them) have been unlocked, MacUpdate is giving a time extension for everybody, an extra 3 days. So for all of you that haven't heard about it or didn't get a chance to get it then get it NOW.

As another incentive, MacUpdate has included another program to the bundle. Buy through MacHeist and you'll get 5 more programs.

Go to MacHeist or MacUpdate promo.

Note all currency is in US dollars.

MacUpdate Bundle

All you Mac lovers out there, a couple of days ago I told you about a deal that is going on for Mac users. MacUpdate is bundling 7 of favourite Mac programs for one low price, $49.99. However, to sweeten the deal, MacUpdate is going to throw in 3 more programs into the mix as long as a certain quota is reached.

So, if the sales reaches 2,500, MacUpdate will throw in another program. The other two programs will be released if the sales reaches 4,000 and 9,999 respectively.

At the moment, one program (Little Snitch) is already unlocked and sales currently stands at 3,233 (800 shy for the next program to be included in the bundle). So, I am strongly recommending you to go and buy the bundle. Why? Because one, so you can enjoy the great apps included (I've tried a few of them) and two, we might get the next app to be included with the bundle. At 4,000, Intaglio will be included into the bundle. So what are you waiting for ?

There is not much time left, only less than 48 hours to go until the offer ends.

Click here to go to MacUpdate promotion page.

To get referral for the promo, click here. (You get an extra membership of MacUpdate for free if signing up via referral.

To get the bundle with Macheist, click here (You get 3 more programs, access to beta software, and one more app to be revealed at the end of promo)

Recycling by Apple

This email just came yesterday from Apple.

This is definitely good news. You can recycle your old computers (and parts) for free (if you happen to be in Sydney and Melbourne). There are a few locations, to know more check out the link, here.

So if you have been thinking for a place to dump your big, old chunky monitors, here it is and now is the time. Please check the website for further information of what can or cannot be thrown away.

Reminder, there is no incentives from this. The only reward you'll get is from mother earth, rewarding you with fresher air, cleaner water, better weather and everything else. You will also help to reduce landfill.

So, check the website, find your nearest location, note down the dates and times, and set a reminder for it. Don't forget about it. Please recycle for a better tomorrow.

Seriously, green is the new black.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I don't normally get excited with a Harry Potter movie but this one sure does. Not because the story is darker like everyone said but because of IMAX 3D. Yes, that is correct. The latest installment of Harry Potter is available at IMAX and the last 20 minutes or so of the movie will be in 3D.

The Cinema

The movie premiered all around Australia on Wednesday, 11th of July (yesterday) and I went to watch the latest show on IMAX Melbourne (10.15 pm) thinking that it won't be crowded because no parents would take their children to a near midnight show even though it was the school holidays (I originally wanted to go the 7.30 show but it sold out a week before). To my dismay, the theater was FULL. I came at 9.30pm to find a long queue of people. As it was free seating, the first ones in will get the best seats.

You will get a pair of 3D glasses when you go in. Keep these well and truly safe, don't smudge it or anything so you could enjoy the 3D scenes later on. For all of you with glasses (spectacles), not to worry, the glasses are big enough to accommodate them. If you wear glasses and have a flat nose like me, you might have to adjust the 3D glasses every now and then.

Based on my personal experience in IMAX, you would not want to get front row seats. Not that it's bad or anything, being in the front row just means that you have to look up a bit more. But if you are the type of person who get dizzy easily, I won't recommend the front seats. The screen is fairly big so wherever you seat, you will still be able to enjoy the movie comfortably.

The show started on time, no extras or commercial or movie trailers, so make sure you are not late or you'll miss part of the movie. When the movie starts, you will know that you have made the right choice to have watched it in IMAX. The pictures were massive and clear, and the sound was loud. It was loud enough and just right so you would be able to enjoy the experience.

The Movie

I don't follow the book at all (I'm more of a visual kind of guy) so I have no idea about the story line, new characters, and everything else. I only know that this will be yet another adventure of Harry Potter and friends.

I will not spoil anything for you here but for you readers of the book, you would probably know everything. Let me just say that I think the book was condensed a lot for the movie. I don't know to what extent the truth of that statement but I feel there was a lot of jumps between scenes. All you readers can correct me.

There are more characters on this movie as well. It's like a big 'reunion' from past Harry Potter movies, making it hard to focus on individual stories. I think the director was wise to focus on Harry Potter more. It is hard to balance when you have a lot of characters.

Everybody said that this movie is 'darker' than the previous one. But I don't think that really explains it. I do agree that it's a lot 'heavier' for children to 'chew'. It is no longer straightforward and simple. It deals with a lot of the emotion and thinking. It certainly goes along with the characters turning into a teenager. For children, parental guidance is strongly encouraged. The movie itself is rated M (for Mature) in Australia.

The 3D

Once the 3D scenes are to be played, green glasses symbols will be displayed at the bottom of the movie. That means it's time for the glasses. There was only a few seconds to put your glasses on as the next scene immediately goes 3D. I will spoil when this will happen (I'll try to be very discreet) as not all of us will go and watch it in 3D.

The 3D scenes starts when Harry Potter and friends goes off and fly to the Ministry of Magic from Hogwarts. It will end when the duel between Dumbledore, Harry Potter and Voldermort ends.

I personally think that the combination of the 3D scenes and the amazing surround sound will blow you away. Girls, I can tell you that this is as close as you'll ever get to Daniel Radcliffe (I think).

They really did well with the 3D scenes. It made the battle more exciting especially the one with Voldermort. The flying scene was also accentuated because of the 3D. It really makes the whole experience a lot more real, like we are supporting Harry Potter in a way.

The moment the 3D scenes started, I knew that the extra money for the IMAX ticket was justified. It was money well spent.

The Ticket

Well, there is a price to pay for a good experience. In IMAX Melbourne, an adult ticket costs $20 (concession $16.50), they are dearer but not a lot if you normally pay full price on normal cinemas (I think they are around $15-$16). But because this is IMAX, there will be no 'Super Tuesday' that will magically reduce your ticket to $9 so watching it any other day won't make the tickets cheaper.

The best method to go in cheap is to go as a group. If you have more than 10 people, you qualify as a group already. The group price is $15 for adults and $12.50 for concessions. That saves you a lot. With group bookings you can book over the phone, you can book pretty much in advance and the tickets will be ready to be collected pretty much right after you order them. You could also leave it until the day when you come and watch it.

IMAX Melbourne has an online booking facility for advance booking tickets. Normal tickets cannot purchased over the phone whilst group booking can only be done via phone (or at IMAX itself). Be aware though that there is a booking fee for using the internet service.

Overall

I guess overall I think that it's not a bad movie. It certainly feels that the story is shortened so that it can fit to the two and a half hour movie. The only character that developed during the movie seems to only be Harry Potter. The rest had their moments but it was too short, I believe. There is quite a number of scenes to scare you at the beginning, adding a more suspense feel to the movie.

All the negativity though is rectified by the glorious 3D scenes. It's really the icing of the cake and without it, I don't think that I'd be as happy and excited about Harry Potter.

It is definitely worthed to go and see it at an IMAX near you. Out of 5, I'd give it 3.5 (if I didn't have the 3D) and 4 (with 3D).

For more info on IMAX Melbourne, online booking and session times, click here.

Software Bundles

Do you own a Mac ? If you do then this is good news for you. The people from MacUpdate is offering a special deal for a bundle of Mac softwares at the moment. They are selling 7 softwares (as a package - worth more than US$200) for just US$49.

The softwares are:

• SRS iWow (audio plug in for iTunes)
  
• GarageSale (ebay listing software)
  
• Cocktail (system utility)
  
• ProfCast (recording presentations)
  
• Amadeus Pro (multitrack audio editor)
  
• Fetch (for FTP)
  
• GraphicConverter X (image editor/converter)
  

If the number of sales exceed a certain point then another software will be included in the bundle. There are 3 extra softwares that will be offered:

• Little Snitch - unlocked if sales exceed 2500 buyers
• Intaglio - unlocked if sales exceed 4000 buyers
• TechTool Pro - unlocked if sales exceed 9999 buyers

MacHeist is also sweetening the deal by adding more software into the bundle. Provided you buy the MacUpdate bundle from MacHeist, they will add 2 more applications (Browseback and Exces), a chance to trial a couple of softwares (Pixelmator and Flow) and a secret app that will be revealed later on.

To go straight to the MacUpdate deal, click here.

To get it from MacHeist, click here.

Come on, there is not much time left (6 days from today). Go and grab a bundle and unlock all the software.

Tiger vs Jetstar

As mentioned before, Tiger Airways (one of Asia's low budget airline) is coming to Australia and will be based in Melbourne. As a follow up, they will start flying Australian domestic routes from November 2007.

Their first announcement (a couple of weeks ago) was Melbourne to Darwin and a special fare was introduced at $79.99 one way. They then launch more routes around Australia. Up until today, they have:

• Melbourne - Gold Coast ($49.95 one way)
• Melbourne - Mackay ($59.95 one way)
  
• Melbourne - Rockhampton ($59.95 one way)

I'm pretty sure that there will be more routes available so keep an eye out at their website www.tigerairways.com and select Australia.

Tiger is also offering an international route from Melbourne to Singapore via Darwin. This is currently on offer at $499 return, making this probably the cheapest flight to go Asia from Melbourne. If you go to New Zealand or Fiji, it will cost you around about the same. Even Jetstar's international fare would still be around $700 return to Thailand.

The only bad thing about flying to Singapore with Tiger is the time it take to reach there. It takes 11 hours to reach Singapore and I'm guessing it's because of the stopover.

Anyways, Jetstar did not stay quite but they launch a series of attacks to countermeasure Tiger. Jetstar has discounted the fare from Melbourne to Gold Coast to just $39 (which has already sold out). They also made the fare to Darwin to be the $0.99 cheaper than Tiger at $79.

Jetstar also sold $1 tickets yesterday for two hours (between 10.00am and 12.00pm). The offer was available for email subscribers and include routes Melbourne - Tasmania (Hobart, Launceston), and Melbourne - Adelaide.

Basically, this will continue on and it will surely create a new pricing point for domestic travel (and maybe international as well) in Australia. We just hope that the plane will always be checked before flying.

Note: the sale fares are for Nov 07 until March 08. Further details, please go on the website for each company: www.jetstar.com.au and www.tigerairways.com.

Out of Jail

I think today will not be complete until I let you know that PARIS HILTON IS OUT OF JAIL and she's ready to take on the world once more.

picture from theage.com.au

Paris......that's HOT!!

Plant Trees

Do you ever feel that you are wasting too much electricity with your computer ? Well, not to worry cause Cars Guide will help you ease that guilt.

They want to plant 10,000 trees to help offset the carbon emission. I suppose they want to plant it in Australia so sorry for the people from overseas, guess you still need to breathe the smoke a bit longer (but you can still help).

Helping out is (as an Aussie would say) simple as (meaning: really simple). Just visit the link. CARSguide.com.au/trees. That's it. Simple ? Of course.

When I visited, they already got more than 75,000 visits. For every 15 visits, they'll plant 1 tree so we just need another 75,000 people to visit the link.

You can win stuff if you want but that involves sending an invite to a friend and so on. But if you just want to feel good knowing with that tree you can stay up downloading more episodes of Heroes or Grey's Anatomy then just please click on the link CARSguide.com.au/trees.

Five Second Rule

I'm sure everybody has heard of the 5-second rule. If you drop your food on the ground, you can still pick it up and eat it as long as it has not been on the ground for more than 5 seconds. True ?

Well, 2 American students went and put the rule to the test. The experiment is simple. The students used sliced apples and sweets/chocolates (like M&Ms). They dropped the food on the floor, leave it for a while (and time it of course), picked it up, use a swab to collect samples of the surface that touched the floor and check it under the microscope. Simple ?

The results were surprising. On the apple, it took about 30 seconds for bacteria to start growing and on the chocolate it took nearly a minute. Don't believe me ? See this video news report from ABC here.

Well, I was never a fond believer of the 5-second rule anyway. It has always been the 5-minute rule for me :)

picture taken from Yahoo

Update Soon

Well, it certainly been a while since my last update. Apologies for that and no I'm not going to abandon the blog. I was away for 3 weeks (tell you more about this later as well). But for now, I need to sort out myself first, get organised and get back to my normal daily routine (which is sad in a way).

iPod Nano Product Red Launched in Aussie

Finally, Australia gets the red Nano. It was launched in the US last year and several countries followed. New Zealand even had it before Australia.

Well, better late than never. Buy a Red Nano if you want to help support fight against AIDS campaign (Bono and friends). More info here.

New Price for iPods

Today in the paper I noticed three commercials about iPods, all of them about price reduction. It was a bit weird cause there were no rumours going on that mention Apple might reduce iPod's prices. But then I checked the Apple Australia website and confirmed that there has been a pricing drop for all iPods.

I am guessing that the drop is to reflect the currency differences (Australian Dollar is really pretty strong right now), only iPods are reduced though. No other system seems to be affected. Strangely, Apple is not really promoting this new price on their online store.

Anyway, here is the summary of the new price:

• iPod Shuffle - $109 (old: $119)
• iPod Nano 2GB - $199 (old: $219)
• iPod Nano 4GB - $279 (old: $299) UPDATE (TYPO)
• iPod Nano 8GB - $349 (old: $379)
• iPod Video 30GB - $349 (old: $379)
• iPod Video 80GB - $479 (old: $499)

As you can see, the prices drop $10 for Shuffle, $20 for Nano 2GB and 4GB, $30 for Nano 8Gb and Video.

For more information or to buy, check out Apple Online Store.

PS: You might want to check Kmart, Target and Myer first before going straight to the online store (the 3 commercial on the paper) cause I saw the Shuffle advertised for $98 in Kmart (more savings).

Macbook Update

Today, Apple released an update to the Macbook line. The update include faster processor, bigger memory and hard drive.

• White, 2.0GHz, 13.3", 80GB, 1GB RAM - $1599
• White, 2.16GHz, 13.3", 120GB, 1GB RAM - $1899
• Black, 2.16GHz, 13.3", 160GB, 1GB RAM - $2199

It's not an exciting update but if you were thinking of getting a budget (or not) Mac laptop for some time then this update is for you. Even the lowest specification is pretty decent (if you don't mind not being able to write DVDs).

For more info or to buy go to Apple Online Store (Australia).

Live Earth

What is a fun way to help combat global warming ? By having a PARTY of course, one that involves the whole world. Yes, it's Live Earth concert, to be held at several different cities around the world (7 cities around 7 continents if I'm not mistaken), including Australia.

In Australia, the concert/party/event will be held in Sydney and the tickets for it goes on sale this Friday, 18th of May. The event itself will be on the 7th day of the 7th month 2007 (a.k.a. 7/07/2007). Tickets for the Australian event are available from Ticketek.

For other countries, have a look at their website, http://liveearth.org/ or at http://www.liveearth.msn.com/.

Personally, I don't see how holding a party will make you more aware of ways to combat global warming but hey, everything counts.

Harry Potter in 3D

For the next Harry Potter movie, instead of watching it at your normal cinemas, you might want to check it out at IMAX. For your information, IMAX uses a totally different movie format than the one used in normal cinemas. It has bigger screen (massive I'd say) resulting in bigger picture. I cannot stressed how big the picture in IMAX is. IMAX is also known for its IMAX 3D movies.

Anyway, IMAX will be screening the new Harry Potter movie (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) from 12th of July 2007. And the interesting part is that the last 20 minutes of the movie is going to be in 3D. Check out the info page at IMAX Melbourne here. It will be very interesting to see the adventure of Harry Potter in IMAX and 3D.
However, the IMAX experience will come at a price. The ticket is $20, double the price of an ordinary cinema.

Currently, 300 and Spiderman 3 is also playing at IMAX.

Movies....Movies....and Movies

This upcoming months, there an amazing line up of new movies hitting the big screen and most of them are sequels. Yes it is indeed the year of the sequels.

Here are some of the sequels and the release date in Australia:

• Spiderman 3 - Out Now
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - 24/5/2007

• Shrek the Third - 7/6/2007
• Ocean's 13 - 14/6/2007
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - 21/6/2007
• Transformers - 28/6/2007 *

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 12/7/2007
• The Simpsons Movie - 26/7/2007 *

• Die Hard 4.0: Live Free or Die Hard - 2/8/2007

* not a sequel

Obviously, this is not all the movies that will come out, there are others as well. This is just some that catches my attention.

For the latest trailers, check out Apple's trailer collection here.