After reading so much bad reviews of the onboard sound chip, i finally decided to get a standalone sound card. I also gained insight into the different pricing strategy:
1. Expensive and Very Good
2. Expensive and No Good
3. Cheap and Good
4. Very Cheap and Never Good
I decided on the ASUS Xonar DX after reading some reviews online. This sound card is not a latest technology product. In fact it was selling since 2008. I did not do much homework on this. You can google/yahoo it to find them.
It belongs to the …

I made a honest mistake and bought a wrong dvd writer. I have mistaken the Labeltag (from Lite-on) and Labelflash (from Yamaha) to be the same.
Nevertheless, i noticed i have been able to copy the Japan Hour image from the DVD recordable at 5 mins! When i was still on the old IDE writer, i need around 30 mins to copy 2 x 1 GB files. When i used my USB external writer, i can copy the same files in around 17 mins. This new SATA writer can do it …

I decided to pick up the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 to many people’s surprise. Below are my initial impression of this product:
1. Physical
Very light – It weighs just 540 grams (with battery). The bulk of the construction is plastic which means “not so good” to some people. BUT it depends on how you see this area. Do you want to bring a much heavier camera such as the commonly used magnesium alloy that weighs around 1 kg? I have used a setup that consisted of a DSLR + 70 – 200mm …

My first Gigabit switch, D-Link DGS-1005D
I ran into challenges when i tried to implement my vision of a central storage with hardware redundancy. I tried to move my RAID 1 (or mirrored) 1.5TB hard drives from my PC to the D-Link DNS-323. The hard drives already contained around 1.3TB of data that i have collected from the past years. The backup was painfully long and made me think twice about data restoration. What if i upgrade to gigabit network? You know, just a small high speed data high way between …

I picked up my new toys on thursday night. That was the first day of the Comex 2010. I only managed to get the D-link DNS-323 and a portable 1TB hard drive (Made in Japan).My initial impression of the device is it is very well built. It did not feel cheapskate like most of the things “Made in China”.
After some lengthy backup of my Tera-Byte data, i moved the 1.5TB hard drives into the DNS-323. The installation guide was simple to follow. Now i am restoring my data back for …

For the past few weeks i have been reading up on the Mac OS X. I read of OS names like Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard. I also read of people paying for the original  OS or downloading hacked version to install on the normal netbooks and pc. The result is called a Hackintosh.
Mac is Unix based and we know many good things about Unix. It boot up fast and rarely give blue screen. Mac on the other hand is well known for its nice user interface.
So for the past …

It is very interesting to observe how a company is selling their new products nowaday.
Current known launch dates:
Japan - 20 Aug 2010. It is OUT! O-U-T!!
USA – late Aug 2010. Consumer has yet to see it.
Singapore – 14 September 2010. The Panasonic Singapore has put up a website to count down the release. (Click on the Panasonic Singapore link).
Personally I think Panasonic can do better by launching a global release date but they could be doing so intentionally to create the hype. For those desperate to put their hands on it, …

The Apple iPad is a impressive product and it came in different prices due to Wifi 3G features and amount of memory onboard.
1. Determine why you need an iPad?
What is the primary reason of usage? Is it for reading ebooks? Is it for games? Is it for internet? Is it for photos?
2. Determine how long you intend to use it? 
We call this “rate of deppreciation” in accounting. It also start you thinking how much data storage you need. What you are putting in could double or triple in the 2nd or 3rd year. In …

This could be my biggest expenses for the year 2010. I have many things to buy on hand. Here is my hi-tech shopping list:
1. Panasonic Lumix LX5 (YES! I am going travel soon!)
A new compact camera to replace my 3 years old Fujifilm F31fd. Why i chose Panasonic Lumix LX5 is because of the below strong reasons:
i. 1:1 format. I like to experience with square pictures without post processing.
ii. Long battery life just like my trusty Fujifilm F31fd.
iii. Movie recording on AVCHD.
iv. Leica len! What else?!
v. I did not own …

Great men read great books?… or men became great after reading great books?… or men became great after great men wrote great books?… or men became great after great men shared their books? Hmm…
Here is a list of great books recommended by my sifu:
1. The master plan to success – Napoleon Hill
Hard to find but i have placed my order.
2. Think and grow rich – Napoleon Hill
3. The master key system – Charles F Haanel
For Entrepreneur-to-be,
4. The E-Myth – Michael E. Gerber
I will provide a short review after i have …