I thought it was going to rain on Sunday afternoon, but fortunately it didn’t. So I went to the “Mods vs Rockers”, a retro-bike meet that I didn’t plan to present. I brought my new iPad (aka iPad 3) to take photos; thanks to the relatively large Retina screen, it was very enjoyable to snap a few frames in the event.
Well, no big deal, just some photos and a couple of videos. If you’re into bikes, you don’t need my captions; if you’re not, they don’t matter anyway. Enjoy!
The Google tablet
The rumored Google Tablet should sell well (in terms of Android market, excluding the iPad hype).
If I can be considered part of the Android audience, I have a few words about how an Android would sell well:
- Work as what the Android system is supposed to be (sounds like oxymoron, but you know what I mean).
- Don’t over-customize.
- Good app compatibility and ease of system upgrades
- Clean, focused built-in apps and functions,
- No weird behavior on both users and davelopers.
…enough said.
The thing is, there are very few tablets on the market fits the criteria. Let’s see how the Google “reference model” works out.
(Oh, by the way, the $199 price could be killing; but it’s irrelevant if other conditions aren’t met.)
In my opinion, the shareholders and investors of Instagram are the only ones who benefit from the 1 billion deal between Facebook and Instagram.
Of course Facebook would somehow benefit from this as well, but it’s quite doubtful that worths a billion. It’s a large stake and I wish Mark Zuckerberg gets what he pays for.
(via Space Shuttle Discovery’s Final Flight - In Focus - The Atlantic)
The largest plastic model I’ve ever done was a 1/200 scale “Boeing 747 piggybacking a space shuttle” back in 1978. But it was not the retiring Discovery, it’s Enterprise — the first prototype space shuttle carrying an affectionate name.
The NASA insignia on the 747 was different from today’s nostalgic “meatball” version, but the “red worm” celebrating the 200th Anniversary of USA.
It was over 30 years ago. The shuttles should retire alright, but is the 747 still the same one?
About ReadSomething.in
The readsomething.in Web site I launched two weeks ago has over 280 images on it now, in which about 50% were from reader submission. Thanks to everyone for your contribution.
Since I’d like more people to enjoy it and to have a broader audience base, most interface elements are set to English despite the fact that most current readers and contents are in Chinese. I also help translating the Chinese captions into English as long as I can.
Read Something has a Facebook fan page. Go like it of you’d like:
http://facebook.com/read.something
Submission is also invited:
http://readsomething.in/submit
For your reference, here comes some description about ReadSomething.in:
Some of us always need to read something, feel uncomfortable just sitting there, or can’t help proofreading menus in restaurants.
If you are such a readaholic like us, this is the place for your relief. You can even visit here on the go (or in a seat) with your smart phone or tablet.
Now it’s time to share the obsession as well as images with text we’d all like to read. Use the upload form at readsomething.in/submit to send your stuff to us. Thank you!
Instant coffe saves time but also the fun of the process and details.
(Taken with instagram)
Someone gave me this as a gift for some information about doing online business. I’ve never had something like this. Although I’m quite a fluent cigar smoker, but I am not sure how to handle twisting ones (or three?).
I think this should be shared with some people who’d enjoy it as well, and better go with a glass of fine scotch. Maybe next week.
This is an apparel ad on Taipei’s metro. As autumn and winter approach, fleece jackets become popular in the sub-tropical city; so this Japanese apparel maker use the pun of cold/fleece and freeze/fleece to remind people of the weather change.
However I don’t think this wordplay would work well in the Chinese-speaking city; since people here are not so sensitive about “cold” in the 85-degree F autumn, and Taiwanese people pronounce “fleece” in a way somewhat different from Japanese folks.
In Japan, they read “freeze” like “fleez”; so it’s quite understandable to make a connection between the two words while the exclamation mark adds bank-robbing fun to the shopping experience.
“Fleece!”
Will you pay upon the threat?
Orion and Sapporo
The Japanese beer brands I like are incidentally of two extremes; not about taste or price but demography. One is Orion from Okinawa, the most southern islandic prefecture of Japan (so south it used to be an independent state), and the other is Sapporo from, well, Sapporo, the capital city of Hokkaido, Japan’s northern tip.
The two brands share a common character: pale, by European standards. I don’t dislike stouts or ales but I usually drink pale beer where available. Pale beers get me drunk slower and go well with most food, and Japanese beers work out with Japanese cuisines such as raw fish and sushi like a charm.
Well, some midnight thoughts and they shouldn’t be further pursued. Good night. :)
More on democracy and mediocrity
Last time I said:
In business decisions, sometimes democracy just leads to mediocrity.
Well, I think I may have to elaborate more on that.
Democracy is not always bad from the business decision perspective; you hear from colleagues, subordinates and customers, you get a better idea of what things should be like (I didn’t mention top executives, since you have to listen to them by default).
However, democracy (again, business) doesn’t mean you should have everyone nodding before you can roll out a product, not everyone’s voice has the same weight either. The thing is not to get everyone’s opinion, but to distinguish the important ones from others and even to refuse the noise.
A “well-balanced” choice is usually a mediocre one. That’s what I meant.
