k r i s a n d r o

Google Latitude is another interesting project by the company and it is basically a location based service that allows users to update their whereabouts through their GPS equipped phones like the Symbian S60s, Blackberry, Android and now the iPhone.

What’s lacking in the release of Google Latitude for the iPhone is that unlike the other mobile devices which has a native app, the iPhone has to settle for a web app that is accessed by pointing your Safari browsers to www.google.com/latitude. What this means for the iPhone user is that your location cannot be updated constantly through a running background application and thus puts a dent in the full voyeuristic capabilities of Google Latitude.

Blame Apple for that as rumours has it that Apple disapproved of the iPhone app that Google made citing the conflicting capabilities of Latitude VS Google Maps as the reason.

But it’s still fun to be able to use Google Latitude to update my location on the iPhone and check out if any of my friends are nearby.

KuKuNehNeh doesn’t own a compatible phone but there are dangers of her checking out my whereabouts if she decides to add the Google Latitude gadget to iGoogle.

Disclaimer: Of course I had no reason to be in Geylang! Google Latitude allows users to manually set their location for users without a GPS. Really!

This is a proper review of the HP 2133 Mini-Note (HP Mini) and not like the last rubbish review I did. And this is definitely a review based on my true opinions of the product, even though I did win it from the Ping Awards II. Be warned though! I am only a half-past six geek and I am better at talking about himbotic stuffs like how many idiots there are in the MRT every morning. So please bear with me if this review is not up to your expectations.

I managed to squeeze some time out of my schedule to collect the HP Mini last thursday and if not for the crowded bus ride, I would have whipped it out in excitement to play with it. It was only till I reached the office when both my colleagues, Claudia and Andy unboxed the HP Mini for me and they would have been mistaken to be having orgasms from all the “OOoooooooo(s)” and the “Ahhhhhhhhhhh(s)” when they saw it. Both of them own laptops and their immediate reactions was coming from the fact that it is so small!

HP Mini VS My Hand

I know it is a bad way to compare the size of the HP Mini to something since my hand is rather large. But I just want to remind you people on what they say about guys with large hands…

WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!

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And you know what? The people at HP gave me the top of the line model from the HP Mini series!

1.6G Processor!!! 2G of Ram!!!!

But…….

Windows Vista Business?

The bane of all new PCs and laptops – the Windows Vista. It is akin to buying a brand new Lamborghini and fitting it with one tonne of parts. Chio (Beautiful) but useless as it is S.L.O.W. Not to mention that it is buggy. 7 Days with it and it crashed 5 times so far. If only it came with WIndows XP pre-installed!

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The other thing that one will notice immediately apart from its size is the built!

Great finish

Upon looking at it closely and handling it, I found it to be very sturdy and a little heavy for it’s size. I am not one who can determine what material a product is made of with a knock or a bite and so a quick google search reveals that the HP Mini is made of aluminum all round and the internal structure is protected by a magnesium alloy. The surface of the LCD is also made scratch resistant which means that if my girl decides to damage the HP Mini because I spend too much time on it, the HP Mini should be relatively safe.

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The HP Mini looks moderately pleasing from the outside but I think the finish on the inside makes it one of the most aesthetically pleasing UMPC I’ve seen. I did say ‘one of’ right? The Mac fanbois look to be ready to slit my throats with their Macbook Air.

Gorgeous ain’t she?

The cool power button

People are quite used to seeing people whip out notebooks in public places but not this one. The size and the built turns heads whenever I take the HP Mini out. OKAY FINE! It could have been due to the kaypoh (nosy) nature of Singaporeans but… but it really turns more heads than usual!

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Nicely sized for laptops

Extends all the way to the edges for easy cleaning

The keyboard is 92% full sized and it is comfortable enough to type on for long durations without feeling the need to strangle someone to loosen the stiff muscles.

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Speakers on the LCD face

Most laptops I have seen have their speakers on the face of the keyboard or around the sides of the base. The HP Mini has the speakers right where the sound should emit from. The front! I think this works well especially to the audiophiles as it makes more sense to have the sound propagating from where you are seeing the image from. The power of the speakers is also good. I haven’t had the chance to increase the volume beyond half of what the HP Mini can offer.

One problem which might be only particular to my unit is that the covers of the speaker (the one that my finger is pointing at on the pic above) keeps popping out by a couple of millimeters. It could be an issue of bad assembly but I am not sure. Not a big problem, but I keep pushing it in so that it can stay flushed with my screen. I don’t have OCD. Really.

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One of my last gripes of the HP Mini is of the touchpad.

HP Mini’s Touchpad

The left and right click buttons are unconventionally located on the sides of the touchpad instead of the bottom and it takes some getting used to. My lack of experience with a laptop might prove to be a bonus in this as I should be able to be accustomed to this faster than people who are so used to the conventional placements. The touchpad seems to be over sensitive at times and undersized while the “I-don’t-know-what-is-the-proper-name” scroll thingy that you see on the right side is super laggy. And when it does detect that I am trying to scroll, it becomes overly responsive as well.

Special Button

I took sometime to figure out what that button is. Once activated, it actually disables the touchpad and the purpose of it is to actually prevent users from accidentally activating the touchpad when you are typing for long hours. Not a problem for me so far as my hands don’t seem to have the problem of touching the touchpad when typing.

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One final and biggest problem I have with the HP Mini is that the batteries don’t last very long. I use the HP Mini a lot on the go or when I am in my room and even when I am doing my ‘business’ (Ewwwwww! I know!). And I use it mainly for surfing which means the wifi is constantly on. Such usage brings the life of the Mini to about 1 hr 20 mins to 1 hr 30 mins or even lesser sometimes. I wished HP had provided me with the 6-cell battery instead which can theoretically bring the battery life to twice the amount which makes it in the acceptable range for a mobile computer.

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In summary, apart from the big problem of the short battery life (*cough* 6-Cell Battery HP? *cough cough*) and the other small nuances, I love the HP Mini to death. It’s small and light for me to bring it almost anywhere (toilet not forbidding)! It’s not much of a workhorse because of it’s small screen and slow OS & processor but it definitely meets the need for blogging and surfing on the go (and while doing ‘business’).

Once again, a big thank you to Ping.sg for bringing in the sponsors, Waggener Edstrom and HP for the prize, and to the people who voted for me!

Before I end this, I shall leave you guys with my favourite website.

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WAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!!

 

Almost everyone has traffic coming from searches made at engines such as Google and Yahoo. My blog is no different and this is the list of keywords from the last 1000 entries that got people coming to my website.

[Click to Enlarge]

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If you did scroll through the list, good for you. If you didn’t, congrats, because I wouldn’t either.

Haha.

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Anyway, these are the top 10 funny search terms from the list above.

#10. Incest Testimonials

Erm… What is an ‘Incest Testimonial’? LOL!

“Hi, I am living in an incestuous family. I like it and you should too!”

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#9. Booty Lotion

For the best bootilicious experience~

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#8. KuKu

KuKuNehNeh! Someone searched for YOU! WAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

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#7. Pubic; Horny; Jurong

I am so bloody curious to what this guy/girl was searching for….

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#6. You Bith For My Pleasure

My WHAT for YOUR pleasure?

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#5. Women Measuring Dicks

Someone looking to hire a professional lady to measure a male genitalia I think. LOL

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#4. Sia Girlfriend Mustache

Someone has a VERY INTERESTING fetish.

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#3. Shower of Sperm

I am sorry if my site disappointed this person. I got no bukkake pics.

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#2. What to say to get horyn in cybersex

Try “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. Guaranteed horYness.

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#1. Aunties Panties

I think the person who searched for #4 is looking for an attire for his mustached SIA girlfriend.

 

The soft launch for podfire.sg at Geek Terminal is my 1st ever ‘blogger social event’ that I ever attended. I will not write about the event itself as many have already covered it. Instead, I shall cover the 4 problems that bloggers might face at such social events.

After attending the event, I see some problems that bloggers might encounter, especially if they are new.

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#1. Hi! My name is……

At such events, there is a high chance that everyone you meet there owns at least ONE blog. Which means that everyone meeting anyone would be half expecting to associate people to their online names when they meet and greet. It becomes a problem when one is not as famous.

“Hi! My name is Kris!”

“Erm…….”

“Krisandro lar!”

“Er…….”

“krisandro of krisandro.com?”

“Eh……”

“The guy who got molested?”

“Dunno who. KThxBye!!!”

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#2. Your kickass nick is……

Mine is Krisandro. It is meant to be pronounced as kri-send-dro or kriS-send-dro. At that event, I see that people tend to drop the ‘Rs’ in my nick.

Some called, “Kiss-send-dro!”

Some tried, “Kri-send-do!”

The worst did, “Kiss-send-do!”

I should have called myself ‘i_love_69′ or something. Everyone will surely remember and know how to pronounce that for sure.

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#3. You remember some blogger for weird reasons……

There was a person who stumbled upon my blog when he/she looked up google and searched for ‘Peggy Heng Boobs’. Now, if you click the this link or go to google to search for the term I mentioned. You will most likely see that my blog is 1st on the search results. Click on that and you will find that the post wasn’t about Peggy’s boobs.

Imagine me with such a hilarious memory of her and seeing her in the flesh at that event. I restrained myself from talking to her as it could have went all wrong.

“Hey Peggy Heng right? You wanna hear something about your boobies?”

*SLAP!!!*

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#4. After taking pictures of the bloggers……

Many bloggers are snap-friendly-people which is the nicer term for cam-whores by the way. LOL. And after taking shit loads of pictures and knowing who is who, you might go home with a huge problem.

“Is this blogger in this pic the anonymous kind? Oh no. What about this guy? Or this girl? Er… shit! Will she be angry if I post her picture? DIE LAR! I NEED TO BLOG NOW! NO TIME TO ASK!!!”

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What to do? Krisandro tell you lor….

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Mosaic the whole lot lor.

[Image from Ping.sg ()]

“I took peeeekture of all the bloggers! As yew can SEE, on the left is……..”

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