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.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is this Sunday, 13th of May (in Australia) so don't forget your mom. Get her some gifts, pamper her for a day, take her to a movie and let her enjoy the day.

Do Not Call Register

Are you annoyed by telemarketers ? Great news (if you're in Australia), now you can list your phone numbers with the Do Not Call register, an initiative by the Australian government. Once in the list, your phone numbers cannot be contacted by telemarketers. If they do, the telemarketers will face a hefty fine. You can put in your home phone and mobile. If you want to put your number, just register at the website https://www.donotcall.gov.au/.

This service was launched yesterday and the website crashed. Apparently, around 50,000 Aussies registered and the website could not cope. I think the problem has been rectified.

The service will not eliminate all calls, there are some exemptions like calls from political party, religious groups, and so on. However, the worst of them all can also still call you, the market researcher.

I think the problem with telemarketers is they are really pushy. I mean it is their job but if somebody doesn't want the product or service then that should be it. I don't hate all telemarketers and sometimes I think they have genuine deal. I got my pay TV service through direct marketing and I was allowed 12 month contract instead of the normal 24 months.

I hate telemarketers that are pushy and hard to understand. I'm not trying to be racist but how can you expect me to buy the product or service if I can't understand anything that the person is saying. And if I said that I don't want to change my phone 100 times, then stop asking me to change it.

Market researchers are actually alright until you actually realise that the survey is going to take half an hour. It should just be short survey and the answer should be simple as well or do an online one, always better.

It is amazing to see that every people has their own tactics to combat telemarketers, from diverting the call to an answering machine to reading gospel to the telemarketers.

Well, we can just hope that with the register, our phone will be quieter.

Paris, Je T'aime

I am sure everybody knows about Paris, Jet T'aime. It is a collection of short love stories that is packed into a single movie. It's about Paris and it's about love. There are 18 short stories to be exact. It starred some of well-known stars (French and international), like Gérard Depardieu, Elijah Wood, Natalie Portman, Willem Dafoe, Wes Craven, Steve Buscemi and so on.

I recently watched the movie. Here is my honest opinion, I came out not understanding a single story at all. In other words, I didn't really like it. I wanted to like it cause of all the hype surrounding the movie but I can't. I laughed when the rest of the cinema was quiet and when they laugh, I don't know what they were laughing about. It's bizarre.

I understand that the movie is about love, in Paris (the city of love) especially. I just don't understand the message it's trying to convey. Maybe I'm a bit dumb or I don't understand short stories cause my missus was really happy with the movie. She thought it was excellent and beautiful. I couldn't really agree with her.

If you ask me for my favourite story, I would say the last one. It's a story about an American tourist in Paris. I think she was learning French and she was traveling in Paris to practice her French. The story was narrated by herself in French, like a report back to her language class. It's really touching, both sad and heart-warming. My missus said that it sums up the movie really well.

An interesting story is one about an American tourist that got beaten up in a subway. He accidentally 'made eye-contact' with a kissing couple across the platform.

Overall, I'd say don't watch the movie if you just want to see Natalie Portman (or any other stars in it). The film is deep and requires a lot of concentration, with mix of feelings. Because each story has a different director, it offers different takes on the storyline. Watch this if you are into the beautiful scenery of Paris, its culture and the love that surrounds Paris.

Well, I think I will re-watch it again when the DVD comes out. Maybe it's as good as everybody says, maybe something got lost in translation.

Tiger in Melbourne

Only yesterday I mentioned that Tiger Airways is coming to Melbourne and was still deciding its base. Well today, it has been decided. It will be in Melbourne. This decision is expected to open more jobs for Victorians and bring a bigger price wars between the budget airlines.

Tiger Airways is 49 percent owned by Singapore Airlines. It is believed that the airline will start operating within months however no exact date is confirmed.

Jetstar Sale

Yesterday, I told you that there was an exclusive 3 hours sale for Jetstar email subscriber. Well now they have another sale to celebrate their 3rd birthday. It's "Take a Friend for $3 Sale". Basically on selected routes, you can take another person with you for an extra $3.

The sale is not only for domestic but also for international routes. For example:

• Melbourne - Christchurch : $111 per person one way
• Melbourne - Bangkok : $221 per person one way
• Sydney- Osaka : $251 per person one way
  

Sale ends 7th of May so be quick to grab the bargain. It's not valid for all dates, check the website for offer validity. The normal terms and conditions apply (such as credit card surcharge, etc), again check on the website. For more info go to their website, http://www.jetstar.com/sale-fares.html.

May oh May

Wow, it's already May, nearly halfway through the year. I think they'll be selling Christmas trees pretty soon. I don't think I've done anything much this year. But anyway let's check what's making headlines.

NO Interest Rate Rise
This morning, the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to put the interest rate on hold. This is good news for all home buyers/owners that has a mortage. Although it is 'safe' for another month, we will never know what is coming ahead.

A New Attraction
Melbourne will soon have a new attraction for tourists. It is a glass box. Now you may ask how can a glass box be a tourists attraction. Well, it can if it is sticking out from the 88th floor of the new Eureka apartment (Eureka is currently the tallest building in Melbourne). But this is not for the faint-hearted, don't believe me ? Just have a look at these pictures (picture: Herald Sun),

So far from the pictures we know that it can suspend 1 person safely. If I was inside, I would make sure that I'm the only one inside.

Budget Airline Ticket-fight
Yesterday night, between 8pm -11pm, Jetstar made a huge sale. $3 to fly on selected routes. Yup, only $3 and nothing more. It was only offered to Jetstar email subscriber, Jetmail (I read the email an hour late so all I could do was cry). Anyway, some sources said that this (very low ticket prices) might be more common when the new budget airline, Tiger Airways, enter the Australian market. Tiger is currently flying in South East Asia and based in Singapore. There is still no details when Tiger will start operating in Australia or which route it will cover. So I say, bring on the competition.