First day with new laptop

To me, the name "laptop" has always implied being bulky. I prefer calling my computers "notebook" instead. However, my new computer has a 15" screen so I reluctantly have to accept calling it a "laptop" It is a replacement of my netbook that died last week. It's amazing how I used an undersized and underpowered computer as my main machine for nearly two years. I'm looking forward to a better computing experience with a dual-core CPU and much more screen real estate for multitasking! And it's one of the very few <$1000 computer equipped with Nvidia 3D Vision. Let me share with you my first day experience.

First time starting up didn't seem to take that long. It needed to create user account/directory/desktop. 

Usually I hate computer manufacturer bundling a whole bunch of unnecessary software but it's nice to have Chrome preinstalled already. I just need to fire it up and get the latest update.

Next, I installed Rhapsody's desktop client (for sync-ing subscription music with my players. Yes, I still have standalone music players instead of relying solely on smartphone or tablet. It's easier to sleep with standalone player without worrying about breaking it or draining the battery!)

And I need Audacity for recording homework assignments for music lessons. The beta version works on Vista and 7 (This one comes with Win 7 Home Premium 64bit)

To watch SlingBox streaming on PC, the company now only recommend using the web-based client. I have nothing against web-based client usually. However, I prefer to use a desktop client for Sling because once in a while when I started the web-based client, it requires mandatory updates that takes a while to complete. Man, I just want to spend a little bit time watching a little bit TV!

To view QuickTime streaming video in the browser, I could obviously install QuickTime from Apple but I hate how Apple tried to bundle everything with QuickTime so I opted for QTLite. It has the QuickTime plugin for Chrome (and Firefox if that's your cup of tea)

The biggest attraction of this laptop is its support of 3D Blu-ray. When I put in one, I thought a player would open automatically but nothing happened. So I looked at the preinstalled software. There's a Toshiba Video Player. Tried it but it complained watching DVD requires another player, which didn't make sense at all because my disc is a Blu-ray. Then I tried BD Player. And it is a shortcut to Corel WinDVD (didn't know Corel got into this business. I knew Corel from the Corel Draw software) which works with "normal" Blu-ray disc but I could only see poor "double visioned" video with the 3D Disc. I found a Start menu item for Enable 3D Vision. Turned out it hasn't been enabled yet and I need to do a bit of setup while wearing the 3D glasses. Even after that, the playing of 3D Disc was still bad: lots of big squared "pixels" floated around especially when there's movement. I was so disappointed and not sure whether it's the disc, software or hardware that cause the problem. Fortunately I dug around and decided to go to Toshiba's support site to look for some sort of update (maybe video driver or player?) and found a Corel WinDVD update hidden "between the lines" (literally, under the Toshiba Video Player update!) Once I updated, I started it and followed the recommendation to update its keys (I think it's for decrypting Blu-ray, not the software license) Then I rebooted and kept my finger crossed. Viola! 3D Blu-ray on my laptop! (BTW, 3D video clips from Nvidia's website worked too, even before this update. Watched Joe Satriani played his guitar in 3D. Oh well, I have seen him live quite a few times :P)

The last thing I played with was Bluetooth. I'm familiar with Toshiba's Bluetooth stack. The first time I used Bluetooth audio with a computer was on my old Libretto from 7 years ago. I vaguely remembered lots of hacking was involved. Apparently it has improved after all these years even though it's still not trivial: I clicked on Bluetooth COM on my control panel and went through the steps which seems to enable the whole stack (getting the Bluetooth icon in the bottom-right corner of Windows bar) Then I tried adding a new connection. It recognized my BT stereo headphone when I put the latter in pairing mode. I chose the A2DP profile but connection failed. I realized the headphone has already connected to my phone so I disconnected that and retry and it worked this time. I got to enjoy a few tunes from Rhapsody wirelessly :D

Looking forward to having more fun with it.

太陽能電筒?

我們這個年代的人很多都聽過電影《國產凌凌漆》中這件經典攪笑道具，不過現實世界的確有這件產品，並讓不少發展中國家國民受惠。靠貯存太陽能供電給LED照明的電燈，令他們節省不少燃料費，更不像燒火水般排放CO2污染環境。

總統紀念日長週末遊記

寫完標題，首先想起的是『總統琴行』一曲，然後才是『紀念日』。首先慶祝的倒是女兒的生日，吃從Baskin Robbins 買來upgraded再upgraded 的雪糕蛋糕。接著參加了小朋友以前保母的派對，臨別依依。晚上看久別三個月的NASCAR 看得津津有味。星期天決定外出玩足一天，想了一陣子，否決了Napa(品酒), Point Reyes (觀鳥), Monterey broadwalk（遊樂場）, 還是老地方:金門公國吧。為免『執輸』，九時左右便去了鯉魚門醫肚，邊吃邊看林書豪大戰努域斯基(上屆NBA 總冠軍)，林每一次遠射，上籃，被foul，都是扣人心弦的轉播焦點!之後直闖金門，務求在十一時科學館開門前到達，其實我早已準備好單車，在難找車位的公園，泊車泊得老遠亦不礙事。

我們兵分兩路，對科學館興趣不大的我去了對面受歡迎度稍遜入場劵便宜得多(前者$35vs後者$10)的De Young 藝術館。De Young 一般將展品分於兩區:一為常規展品，二為需另加錢觀看從外借的『名器』例如兩年前從巴黎Musee d'Orsay借來的一批包括梵高等印象派名家作品，參觀人數激增，記得當年我們去看，人山人海。昨天De Young並無特別展覽，難怪人流較少，但絕非門堪羅雀。新展出的一些作品頗為發人心省：探討人性的負面，包括戰爭及破壞環境；前者有Stephen De Staebler木乃伊一般的人形雕塑，後者則有Jason Walker一隻形似吞下燈泡的藍鳥的茶壺。看完一批抽象主義畫作，想起De Young的入場券也適用於三英里外的Legion of Honor藝術館。你說我cheap我也不否認，$10元看兩館的誘惑實在太大！從金門公園到34街上Legion of Honor有段Category 5斜路，用我帶去的3 speed摺車上不算難也不算易。Legion of Honor的『常規』展品似乎也是一般水準，有點幸運看到最後一天展出從羅馬借來的Bernini's Medusa雕刻；更幸運的是適逢Ariel Ensemble表演室樂，從近距離欣賞Mendelsohn的弦樂四重奏實是樂事。回到金門，在De Young的Cafe像遊客般吃個不算貴得過份的late lunch後，和兩個反斗星踩了一會單車，是時候訓練下他們上斜下坡的能力了，不經不覺已是五時，到中餐館斬點料回家作晚餐，結束了我的長週末。