Congratulations! Looks like you're the only one in the country that has the iPad Smart Case. Post your impressions/review on the Accessories thread. My order is coming early August for another Muzetto (this time Portable), Green iPad Smart Case and Keyboard Short Wireless.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jun 15 2010, 02:21 PM

LOL not an argument, just polar opposites, I guess. Hey, don't go buying something on my account, buy when you need it and budget allows.

The same one offered to me by MacStudio folks in Low Yat Plaza. When I showed them the comparison shots, together with the "palm-print evaporating" feats of the PowerSupport, they understand why I declined their offer and went with PowerSupport.

Pictorial comparison between the two is at the link, and in spoilered section below:-



This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jun 15 2010, 03:23 PM

I call bullshit on that. If it's opened, it was intercepted by Customs and inspected. If they determined it as non-taxable item, they'll release it. If it was opened, it was either use or the person carrying it was nervous about being held by customs that he opened it and want to make it look like it is treated as a personal item.

No. The iPAd hadn't been out on the market long enough to determine product code lineage on its "newness" in the market.

My second ElementCase Joule (this time, black anodized) just arrived. Impressions later at the iPad Accessories thread.

Which is why it's imperative to get these Apple gadgets during the earlier launch window so that, after a year of using so (Apple's MINIMUM product cycle length), you'd feel that you've used it well enough to get your money's worth out of it. The cartoonist who drew this caricature probably is either a mid- or late adopter, and therefore suffers the symptoms he had drawn in there. If he wants to always be at the bleeding edge and wants his Apple devices to "feel brand new" as what he had implied in the cartoon, then stop playing the wait-and-see game and hop on the early-adopter bandwagon. Otherwise he will always have to play catch-up with the wanting to have the most "brand new" Apple devices.

Which is also why you see a few tiers of "adopters" in the Apple device-using folks. The early adopters have no qualms and no problems with the "freshness" of their device because they bought them early and by the time the next refresh is coming, they've used it long enough to get the satisfaction out of it. Mid- or late adopters either wait till the second refresh (therefore risking that "my device is getting long in the tooth" feeling), or in the case of the late adopters, risking themselves feeling cheated because they've just purchased their device and one week later, it's refreshed to a much better version at a lower price. So take your pick. I'd rather be at the front end. And if you're thinking of waiting much later under the pretext of "buy later, must be cheaper", that line of logic does not apply to Apple devices. They maintain their prices and price drops are always a signal that a new refresh is coming.

All these points are moot if you don't really care if your device is "fresh" or not, and just wanna use them as long as you can until they breaks down. The syndrome described in that cartoon mostly plagues the mobile devices like iPhones, iPods and iPads. Laptops and Desktop Macs are usually more resilient to these "getting old" syndrome, since you can stretch their longevity with new apps and the ability to upgrade their components.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jun 17 2010, 02:30 PM

It's simple really. You either keep up or shut up. I find these folks grumbling on the refresh cycles amusing (sometimes cloyingly annoying because there's tons of them regurgitating the same bile every time there's a new refresh). Not Apple's fault they they don't keep up with the release dates and refresh cycles.

Watch this very own iPad thread with those same nonsense as we approach mid-product cycle (minimum 6 months).

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jun 17 2010, 02:37 PM

Some may have thought that huge sums of money is spent chasing the latest gadgets. If you're smart, you may even "keep up" without spending at all!

I spent USD299 for the old iPhone 2G, sold it for RM2K. Got the 3G by topping up just RM400+, instead of the full price because of the cash rotation from the 2G sale. The same happened for 3G[S], and will do the same with the iPhone 4. The profit from the old 2G still covers lots of the iPhone purchase rotation Im making. Don't have to splurge obscene amount of money if you rotate your funds smartly.

As for "big jump" or not, that is all personal interpretations. Some may need that "not so big jump" in their daily routine, while you may not. Hell, some don't even the iPhone based on their daily routine!

I can only watch in envy. I hope can pick it up from you tomorrow. Want it now, but watching Toy Story 3 in less than an hour.

Respect to bro Beavis, he's carrying all the 11 Skadooshes inside his DSLR compartmentalised bag to meet me in KLCC. those scheduled to meet him at Bangsar Uptown, he's on the way there. Take it easy Beavis bro, he had to rush to get the shipment from Poslaju Cheras, then dropped by here and now head to Bangsar. You are the best!

I can now use the feature-filled Skadoosh for tomorrow's flight to Auckland! and I owe it to bro Beavis.

My Skadoosh!




This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jun 19 2010, 12:12 AM

I've relegated the iPad dock to be the dock for my iPod Touch already, it fits nicely. Skadoosh takes over as the Dock+charger stand of choice. I don't mind the Apple iPad dock, but it's a little on the flimsy side especially when you're pecking at the screen, the small footprint makes it somewhat less stable.

The next must-have iPad accessory http://bit.ly/akt6Fg World's 1st Infinite USB Memory Drive from Infinitec! IUM+iPad Cam Kit = infinite content streaming!

Have to make sure this one works with regards to how the iPad behaves when a USB thumb drive is connected. If it does, even the 16GB iPad will have infinite memory!

Tried Hulu Plus app on the iPad, it is as good as the ABC player: temperamental on Streamyx but watchable. Waiting for my Hulu Plus invite.

To test the line connection on VPN, swipe to the "Free Gallery". Their Hulu Plus introduction video is fast and streams nicely (naturally to attract potential subscribers), but watching the free "Family Guy" clip "Peter Fights The Giant Chicken" clip introduces pixelated artifacting, but still watchable.

In the days of Internet and WWW these days, it's not impossible that those who are "connected" knows more about whats happening in other region/country than those who reside in that said country. The very thing that exemplify this happened just now.

Was just having my coffee in Starbucks with an Australian family next to me, and they asked if I'm typing on the iPad. The conversation then goes around asking whether the iPad is available in Australia, and I was surprised that they didn't know about it! It is even cheaper by AUD30 to get it in Australia than in LA, after you factor in the tax in both countries.

Shows how much we tech geeks have been harvesting information from the WWW for our need of information. Thank God for the Internet!

Urgh! It is still the ugly-ass 5 blinking lights old MiFi model, not the secret device I previewed on the first iPad Gathering. The Huawei device I brought has LCD screen on it, and smaller than that E5832. What is going on with Maxis? Why are they sticking with his age-old model?

It was accidently shown on their Dodocase reveal video, on that Youtube clip on top of the building where they did the reveal. I thought they'd find that but looks like they didn't. Pretty dangerous, since over time, the tightness will reduce and you never know when you're passing your iPad to a friend or showing him something, and the iPad drops out of the case!

Post reported. Query on pirated apps.

Congrats to you too for keeping the Tumpang spirit up.

The best results for video conversion newbies on a Mac platform(and I'm very particular about my PQ) is using Handbrake with iPad presets. I get better PQ with my own custom presets I made on Quicktime Pro, the end result is pristine one-to-one PQ from Blu-ray MKVs that matches the iPad's 720p capability, but it will take longer to encode, and the resulting video is saved to Quicktime .mov format. You can encode to MP4 with Quicktime Pro, but the resulting video is still either grainy, with edge artifacting, or with tangible downgrade to PQ. I am cursed with eyes that can see these minute details.

So, if you're on a Mac, try that link I've posted. The end result is the second-best option I have encountered, other than my own cooked Quicktime Pro workflow.