Mobile Phone = Personality ?

Does mobile phone really say something about the owner ? I don't have a fancy mobile myself but according to the latest research in Australia, they have managed to stereotype people based on their mobile.

So have a look and does your mobile really say something about you ? Maybe next time, we will be more cautious showing off our mobile phone.

Here are the results,

Nokia

• Family-minded
• Middle aged managers
• Balance seekers
• Health conscious

Motorola

• Fashion conscious
• Under 24
• Fun seekers
• Individualistic

Sony Ericsson

• Ambitious young men
• Professionals
• Success driven
• Individualistic

LG

• Favourite of mums
• Stay-at-home parents
• Success driven
• Harmony seekers

Samsung

• Young women
• Career focused
• Success driven
• Fun seekers

Source: Nielsen Media Research

SALE!!!

Play-Asia is having a sale from today (30th of March) for a week. The sale is 20% off items that are in stock. Only in-stock items will be discounted and new releases will miss out on the deal as well. New release is define to be any product that was released 30 days before the sale.

Play-Asia has games for all type of consoles, console accesories, old school or next generation, movies, music and toys. It offers really cheap postage to Australia and other countries. Payment by major credit cards and Paypal.

So, what are you waiting for ? It's an excellent time to complete your games library and to get on that one game that you have been wanting for a long time. Go to Play-Asia.com.

Xbox360 Elite Announced

As previously posted, Xbox360 is launching an 'improved' version of its console. It's called Xbox360 Elite. As expected, the Elite version will offer bigger hard drive and HDMI connection built-in. There is no change of drive to be HD-DVD.

The Xbox360 Elite will be available in the US on 29th of April. It will retail at US$479.99. There are no announced details for Australia yet but it will be expected to sell around winter.


picture courtesy of Microsoft

As a summary, the new features are:
- 120 GB hard drive
- HDMI connection built-in
- Black finish - console
- Black wireless controller
- Black headset

Microsoft will also line up accessories with a black finish to match with the new console.

Goodbye Quota for Yahoo Mail User

If you have an account with Yahoo Mail, you're in luck. Yahoo is going to offer unlimited storage for its web-based email service, Yahoo Mail. Currently, the quota is 1 GB for normal user and 2 GB for the premium ones. These will all be unlimited starting May.

Yahoo is doing this as a 'present' to everybody for Yahoo Mail's 10th birthday. This makes Yahoo the only provider (that I know) to give unlimited storage for email. Gmail (Google Mail) gives a generous 2.8 GB and Hotmail quota is 1GB (if you upgrade to the new service).

Yahoo has been rolling out their new service, Yahoo Mail Beta (still under development) that enhances the use of web-based email. The new service allows users to use keyboard shortcuts, preview messages, more interactive commands with the mouse and so on. Basically, it wants to have a look and feel of a desktop application (for example: MS Outlook, MS Outlook Express) as suppose to a web-based service. The catch is you need at least broadband to use it comfortably.

Yahoo Mail first started out with only offering a tiny 4MB (although at that time, it was already very generous compared to Hotmail's 2MB).

Domestic Airfare Easter Sale

It's on now until the 2nd of April. As usual, Virgin Blue and Jetstar (not to forget Qantas) are having a domestic sale. The sale if for travel between the 24th April and 21st of June 2007. So if you haven't planned your June holiday, now is the time to grab a bargain.

For more details, go to their website
www.virginblue.com.au
www.jetstar.com.au
www.qantas.com.au

New Breed of Xbox360

There has been emerging reports that Microsoft is going to launch an 'elite' version of their Xbox360. This is done to coincide with the 1st birthday of the console. The 'elite' Xbox360 is rumoured to be black in colour, has bigger hard drive (120 GB), has HDMI built-in and possibly an HD-DVD as well.

It is expected to be sold around US$479 and only available in limited quantities. Major announcement is expected tomorrow so I guess we will have to wait and see what is up Microsoft's sleeve.

picture courtesy of TheAge

Blu Ray vs HD DVD = PS3 vs Xbox360 ??

Well is it ? At the moment it looks like that's the case. PS3 is equipped with the new Blu Ray format and Xbox360 is offering HD-DVD drive as a peripheral (for AU$250).

A lot of people compare the battle between the two formats to the battle of Betamax and VHS, and VideoCD and DVD. The winner of course was VHS and DVD. But can't the 2 formats co-exist together ? In the case of Betamax and VHS, it's impossible because the size is different in the first place. But with Blu Ray and HD DVD, it is more likely. A lot of "neutral" manufacturers are developing a player that will support both formats. I say "neutral" because they are not taking sides (yet).

However, Blu Ray might have the lead in Australia. JB Hifi, one of the popular retailers for CDs and DVDs, has said that they will only stock Blu Ray movies. Hmmm.....I don't how much Sony need to fork out to get JB to say that.

JB is not the only onw influenced by Blu Ray, it turns out that Xbox360 might go with Blu Ray format as well if it wins the battle of the next generation format. A Microsoft representative in UK mentioned this. This might happen or it might not. But does this portray a defeat for the Xbox camp ? The answer to that might still be a long way ahead of us.

Right now, people are still happy with DVD right now, the price is right, the collection is abundant. The high definition (HD) revolution has only begun to be embraced and people are still learning about HDMI, 1080i, 1080p, etc etc.

So until we see $100 players for both formats and a whole stack of movies in the new format, we might not know the winner just yet. And as far as the consoles are concerned, I think it's should be up to the games to decide who wins instead of the format they support.

March, O March

March is probably the month you want to be in Melbourne. It is jam-packed with.....stuff. Some has past but there are more to come as well. So I would like you guys to keep updated with all the news.

FUTURE EVENTS

Daylight Savings
Daylight Saving will be over this Sunday (25th of March) so on Saturday night before you sleep, wind back you clock an hour. I always can't remember which is the one where you get an extra hour of sleep.

FINA Championship
The swimming championship is still on until the first of April.

Antipodes Festival
It's the annual Greek festival that happens on Lonsdale St. It's happening again this year on the 24th and 25th of March (this weekend). More info here.

Flower and Garden Show
The annual show will start next week on the 28th of March. It's a showcase of amazing gardens and beautiful flower arrangements. It's happening at Carlton gardens as usual. Check out their website.
I went to the event last year and it was spectacular. Tickets are a bit expensive though so make sure you get the best out of it. I don't know about this year though cause of the drought and stuff.


PAST EVENTS

PS3 Launch
It happened last night, all around the country. The long-awaited PS3 finally arrives in Australia. Retailers were opened from 11pm to welcome this black machine. Sony claims that it's the revolution for entertainment.
Anyway, I didn't go to any launch last night so I can't really report on anything I saw.

Stage 3A Water Restriction
Yup, it's going to happen again. Water level is still constantly dropping in Melbourne (and maybe Australia) so a tougher restrictions will be enforce. Currently, we are under stage 3 water restrictions. This has limited the use for water outdoors such as watering the plants, washing the car, etc. The 3A restriction will again toughen this. The major difference that I noticed for stage 3A (for the household) is limited in watering the garden, only mornings nor more in the evenings.
If there is no significant rain and the supply of water continues to decrease, further restrictions are possible. I believe stage 4 will not allow water to be used outdoor at all. And the ultimate restriction is water for drinking only. Let's hope that this will never happen.
Here is an FAQ provided by the government to help you understand the restriction better.

Apple TV shipped
Yeah I know there no relevance on putting this here but never mind. Apple TV has begun shipment in the US and Australia soon to follow. Some people have been kind enough to share their "take-it-out-of-the-box" experience and some has shared how to set it up properly. Others opt for a more different experience, dismantling the unit. Anyway, just want to let you see some pretty pictures (if you think transistors are sexy).

Moomba Festival
I didn't see anything much of Moomba this year. I blame it on "domestic dispute" with my wife.

F1 Championship
Again, I didn't see it happening at all, not even on TV. I only know the next day that the winner was Kimi Raikkonen followed by Alonso.
Anyway, one thing I find funny from F1 is the celebrity race. Hamish and Andy (from the Hamish and Andy radio show) were in the race. They decided to make a bet with each other, whoever loses the match must wear their helmet for a whole week. If you have been tuning to their show, you would know that Andy won the race and has been torturing Hamish with his helmet. The "torture" included playing drums at Hamish's helmet, throwing tennis ball at the helmet and so on.
This afternoon, Andy will decide whether he should let Hamish go from the agony or whether it will still be on until Sunday (the initial deal was Sunday). So tune in at 4-6pm at 101.9 Fox FM (if you're in Melbourne) for their show. If you would like to hear or see Hamish's agony, check out their website where you view pictures and subscribe to their podcast.

New Game Store Found !!!

Ok, I like games period. In Australia, we always get the last of everything. Games arrives here lasts, console delayed, etc, etc. So it's really sad. Imagine this, the US got the DS game, Final Fantasy III, about....ermm....several months ago and Australia just got it several weeks ago.

Anyway, that encourage me to look something overseas, getting import games and stuff. So far, I have not found any nice website that stocks lots of games. BUT, I have found one now. It's called Play-Asia. They have got a lot of stuff from the new consoles to the older ones. The consoles that they support include Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox360, Nintendo DS, Gameboy, Dreamcast, Gamecube PSOne, etc etc. They also have games soundtracks, stuff that is really hard to get when you're in Australia, movies, and toys.

Another thing that I like about them is their shipping. To Australia, it's CHEAP. For a game, it might be US$3. This does vary and is based on the most economical option. If you like tracking, etc then obviously it will be more. Also unlike other websites, they tell you the shipping cost on the product page. So you know straight away, no more guessing with the parcel weight, etc.

Their price is alright. It's not that expensive and it's not that cheap. They use US dollars and you can pay with credit card or Paypal. I think they are "Verified by Visa" and "Mastercard Secure" merchant, which means extra protection if you want to use your credit card.

The games are mostly NTSC, meaning it's either from Japan, US or Asia. So for region specific console, make sure that your console can play them first. Shouldn't be a worry for PS3, PSP and DS cause they're all region-free. Just make sure you can understand the language.

I suggest you check them out. I'll give you some links to the games that I think would be an excellent play.

Good Stuff

Ok, who said that reading newspaper is boring and you cannot get anything from it ? Today for example, by reading the Herald Sun I found out that the newest edition of Zoo Weekly magazine has some 'saucy' photos of John Howard's potential daughter in law. The photos were taken way before when she was in university or something.


picture courtesy of Herald Sun

Anyway, there's another interesting news when I was reading The Age (let's not start on the debate of which is the greatest newspaper) and this one is really something HUGE. For every university student in Australia, you can buy Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 for just $75 and that's yours to keep. Now that's what I call a good deal.

The Office Ultimate 2007 is the top of the range for the Office packages, it includes everything: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, and so on, and so on. Check here for complete products and its functionality. It retails for more than $1000 and it can be yours for $75 forever or $25 for 1 year. Just check out this website, www.itsnotcheating.com.au.

picture courtesy of Microsoft

The website might look a bit doggy and you are normal if you think that this is some kind of spam or fraud. I mean, come on, what did we (students) do to Microsoft to get the honour of 95% discount ? To earn your trust, it actually have a link back to Microsoft's website that explain the deal.

The website has all the details of how you can get the deal, each person is only allowed one copy and MUST be a student of the university listed. Payment can only be done via credit card and you MUST have a valid university email. This last one is important cause your serial/unlock code will be delivered to that email.

Although you might want to be careful when you type in the website. If you type in itsnotcheating.com.au without the www then you will go to the xbox360 website instead of the offer. Give it a try though.
[update: Microsoft has fixed the wrong link so you will get to the offer page however you type it in]

I'm not being paid by Microsoft nor will I get anything by telling you all this. However, I am trying to enter their blogging competition and I wouldn't mind the Vespa cause I got a motorcycle license from a year ago and I've never ridden a bike ever since (pathetic, I know).

So, just check it out and if you're a student, make sure you get it even though you don't need it. Cause this deal will not repeat itself. It will end on 28th of May 2007 but just get in early, in case the directors changed their mind and decide to withdraw the whole thing. It's one decision that you will not regret.

Just as a personal opinion, MS Office is a nice and handy product to have on your computer. Unlike it's relative Vista, Office does not get a lot of beating from critics. And if you are in university, there's a 100% chance that you will use the Office products. I know cause I survived my Bachelor degree with Word and Excel. So why not get an original and legitimate product and do the right thing.

Is PS3 going to be Sony's downfall ?

PS3 will launch in Australia sometime in March, 23rd of March to be exact, just 5 months shy from the US and Japan launch. Launch price is $999.95 with the 60GB hard disk. Retailers have been taking pre-orders and offering bonuses to come with it. Dick Smith will invite you to a PS3 launch party with celebrities with $5 pre-order, BIG W will give you an extra controller, Toy's R Us will give you a game for half price and many more.

But that's not what I'm going to talk about here. Instead, I want to look at Sony's downfall. Future doesn't look so good with this Japanese electronic giant. Why ? Because Sony is not delivering the 'goods' anymore.

Sony has always been a popular brand. They had a long standing in TVs, Hi-Fis, LCDs, DVDs and so on. But what they like to do is to create a revolutionary product. They achieved this with their Walkman several years ago, gaming industry with PS1 and PS2, and now with their Blu-Ray technology. However, they are slightly losing their touch. Walkman has not been keeping up in the digital music industry, and now PS3 seems to fail the games industry as well.

Sony's downfall seem to start when they recalled thousands of laptop batteries that they supply to other companies (such as Dell, Apple). Apparantly, the batteries can overheat and you can fry an egg while browsing the internet. Some might think that this is an innovation but not for people who puts their laptop on their lap.

Sony then decided to make PS3 launch simultaneously (well, almost) worldwide, Japan would launch first (of course), North America after, then lastly Europe and Australia. I think this is a good marketing strategy to show that PS3 is not region-locked, meaning they can play all games coming from all over the place. This was suppose to happen on November last year but then Sony doesn't have enough screws to bolt the PS3 together so they postpone Europe and Australia's launch.

Even with separate launch, Sony wasn't able to fully ship PS3 to their loyal supporters on the launch day at US and Japan. So eBay had to take over, PS3 was seen to reach $6000 during launch.

But for us in Australia, all we can do was wait. Wait until the launch day is announced, wait for the specifications to be downgraded. What ? Yes, the PS3 specifications for Australia has been downgraded. They will not include a 'chip' that enables PS3 to backward play PS2 games. But instead they will use a software to emulate this capability. Arghhhh, for $1000, you expect Sony to give you a royal treatment but instead Sony is giving you junk. I'm upset by Sony. I've always backed them all the way but now, I'm seriously considering my position.

Maybe closer to the release date, we will get a new announcement. "The Australian PS3 will not have a cover and you must always hold if you want it to work" or something like that. Sigh. You lost my vote Sony.

Anyway, back to Sony. This kind of behaviour is unusual of Sony (well, it's not unusual behaviour for a corporation that seeks profit at all cost). So, is this the start of their downfall ? Will Sony brand be less known by people in a few years time ? Will PS3 be the cause ? Will you start buying Toshiba ? Will you support HD-DVD ?

Well, I hope Sony will not go from bad to worse and plunge to their death. I still have some hope for you. But for the PS3, you definitely smashed all my hope and expectations.

DVD by Mail ?

Do you like to watch movies? Do you watch a lot a lot of movies? Well, I do. If you do too then maybe you want to check out Quickflix. It's basically an online store where you can rent DVDs, all the latest release and a whole lot more. Think of it as Blockbuster or VideoEzy without the store. Everything is done online.

How does it work ?
So, this is how it works. You sign up with them, choose your plan. They have 2 types of plan, the limited and unlimited one. Limited means you have a maximum number of DVDs per month and unlimited means you can have as many DVD as you want. If you like to watch movies, choose unlimited but if you're a casual person choose the limited. With unlimited, you have to choose the number of DVD that you can borrow at any one time. I'd recommend 2 or 3 DVDs. But if you live in front of the TV or make a living out of watching movies, well go crazy.

Once you sign up, you have to make a list of all the movies you like to borrow. This is your queue list. You order the list based on priority, meaning the movie that you really want to watch you put it in number 1, and so on. Just so you know, putting it number 1 doesn't mean that you'll get it tomorrow. It just means that you really really want it and if they have it, they will send it to you absolutely but if everybody wants it, then you might have to wait. With every movies, there is an estimate time, whether a lot is available or only a few left.

The DVD will then be sent to you via mail. If you have 3 DVDs out at one time then 3 will come, not necessarily at the same time. Then you watch it and return it whenever you like. If you return 1, another 1 will be sent to you. If you don't return anything, no more movies will be sent.

To return the movies is quite simple as well. The movies all come with a reply-paid envelope, so just pop it in and put it in the mailbox.

What's the catch ?
As far as I know there is no catch. So, it is possible for you to get as many DVDs as you want. You must make sure that you have a long queue list though.

There are other provider (Bigpond is one) that do this sort of thing but I like Quickflix. They've got a huge library and more delivery centres so you can get your movies faster. One of the reason why Quickflix has a big library is because in a couple of years ago they obtain Homescreen, which is another DVD-in-the-mail provider and their library just doubled.

Tips
If you like Quickflix and decide to subscribe, I have a few tips to get the most out of your membership.

1. Try to return your DVD before 5pm. The postman will empty the box at around 6pm depending on your area so you want to get there before him. Normally, it will reach the Quickflix centre the next (business) day so they can tick it off and send you another one ASAP. However, if it's a Friday see tips #2.
   
2. Do NOT return your DVD on Friday cause they are close on weekends so there is no use. Instead, return in on Sunday before 5pm. If you don't know, the postman also empties the post box on Sunday but not on Saturday. So you can enjoy your movies with you mates over the weekend.
3. Make a long lists so they can choose anything of it. Put a combination of the rare items and the available ones in the top 10 if you really want to see those rare ones.
4. With TV shows, try to separate each discs. If you put Grey's Anatomy Season 2, disc 1 to 8 as your number 1 to 8 list then there is a chance that you will get disc 2 first or 8 for that matter. You should put all the 1st disc of the show in the top 10 and the rest outside the top 10. Once you get the 1st disc, shuffle the 2nd disc to the top 10 and so on. That way you'll always get it in sequence.

My opinion
Quickflix is an excellent service for movie-lovers, no need to go out to get movies, just wait for it to come with the mail. I absolutely love it. One is the convenience and another thing is the library selection, they've got anime, non-Hollywood movies, TV shows and many more.

Just give it a go. They have a 14 day free trial, so just try it whether it's suitable for you and your area. Here is what I think you should look out for during the trial period:

• If the DVD delivery takes 3-4 business day to reach you then forget it, don't join them.
• If the DVD is received by them longer than 2 business days then don't join them.

I'm not saying this because they're bad but this service heavily relies on the post service so if the post in your area is not so good the you might be better off going to your local video store.

So, take the trial first then see whether it suits you. Click here or the banner below to take the trial. Enjoy Quickflix.

New Number Plate Style

Melbournians or should I say Victorians, good news. I just got a letter today from Vicroads (thank God it's not a bill or a fine). The letter was about a new style of number plates that will be launched next week. They call it the Signature Plates. It's a 2 letter, 2 letter+1 number, and 2 letter + 2 numbers combination so it's like AA, AA2 and AA12.

I have no detail on the price yet but I'm guessing it'll be above $500. Some limited edition ones, like RR, GT, SS, GT0 will be auctioned on Monday 12th March at the Melbourne Motorshow. Then, the rest will be available the day after from Vicroads and vplates.com.au.

The colours for the new plates is quite awesome as well, check out the colour combination below.

Pictures courtesy of Vicroads

I personally like the gold ones. They would look really nice if I have a car to match it. So for the number plate junkie, circle 13th of March, bold it, write it in your diary, make a poster, do anything so you won't forget it.