Kuwait Banned Use of DSLR in Public

This from DPReview, “The Kuwait government has banned the use of DSLRs cameras in public, according to a local media reports. The English-language Kuwait Times says the country’s Ministry of Information, Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Finance have ruled photography with DSLRs should be used only by accredited journalists. There is currently no official confirmation of the decision, why it has been introduced or detail about how precise a definition of the term ‘DSLR’ will be applied.”

Click here for the article on Kuwait Times.

Now this is a real bummer especially when DSLR and mobile phones are becoming such a big thing in the gadget industry.  Can’t imagine a country like Kuwait would come up with something like this.

Source – DPReview

Can Tech Save Lives – Manila Hostage Crisis

Six days after the Manila hostage crisis.

Eight Hong Kong residents died in the incident.

Six days later, 80,000 Hong Kong people took it to the streets demanding answers from the Philippine Government.

As a tech blogger who’s been brought up watching movies like “SWAT” and “Speed”, one has to wonder why the Philippine SWAT team was not deployed and why the Manila Police Department was so ill-equipped.

Explosive charges or frame charges could be used to smash the windows, sub-machine guns like MP5s should be used in close quarter combat instead of pistols and assault rifles. Any jamming device that can knock out the TV live broadcast of the events on the bus would help….and the list goes on and on. We are not talking about rocket science here but any police force in a metropolitan city should at least have the right equipment and the right training to serve and protect.

Shame, real shame.

Should any police force or SWAT team need more info, they can start searching on YouTube cause YouTube has it all.

Source – rammstein99835, dhkchannel, JAWSHorTEASE

Total Breakdown of 3HK 3G Data Network

[Update: 11:24am] Finally it’s back up, at least in Wanchai area.

Since yesterday afternoon, I have been experiencing problems accessing my emails and surfing the net with my iPhone 3Gs with the 3HK 3G data network except for a brief two hours or so from 9:00pm to 11:24pm.  It was still dead this morning and I’m getting really frustrated.

At first I thought either my iPhone 3Gs went cuckoo or something’s wrong with my SIM card but not until I start searching through the local forums where I noted that the whole 3HK 3G data network was indeed paralyzed.

3HK, get your act together please, this is getting really annoying and it ain’t funny.

Worst thing is, you cannot even dial into 3HK’s hotline.

The following are just some related forum posts –

“我由尋日（18號）下午三點左右開始已經上唔到 ~ 我都以為電腦 / 手指壞 …. 因為我用電話都仲上到 ~ USB 手指一直試到而家都仲未上到 ! 電話都有一段時間死左 …. 大約係五、六點左右死左一陣 ! 點搞呀 ?! 我鋪頭有時上網做野要靠佢 !! 而家死得啦 !!” ~ PhontHK forum

“極火滾!!到底個死人3台發生咩事!!hotline直情打唔通!!” ~ Discuss Forum

Rumored Canon G11 Specs

Image from Gizmodo

According to Gizmodo, the following is the rumored disappointing specs of the Canon G11, gee, who needs that swivel LCD screen, gimme some meat, LOL –

Effective: 10.4MP[downgrade?], Recorded: 10.0MP
1/1.7″ CCD
RAW, JPEG, QuickTime
Image Stabilization
6.1-30.5mm f/2.8-4.5 (35mm film equivalent: 28-140mm)
Optical: 5x, Digital: 5x
Normal: 1.6″ (50cm) – infinity
Macro: 0.4? (1cm) – 1.6″ (50cm)
Integrated Mount for the LA-DC58K Lens Adapter
ISO 80-3200
Evaluative, Center Weighted, Spot
Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, Underwater, Custom 1, Custom 2
Effective Flash Range: 1.6″ (50cm) – 23? (7m)
SD/SDHC
Still Images per GB: RAW: 67
JPEG: High Res: 374 – Low Res: 7,684
Video: 640 x 480 @ 30fps, 320 x 240 @ 30fps [no 720p?]
Viewfinder Coverage: 77%
2.8? LCD Vari-Angle
USB 2.0, Dedicated A/V Out, mini-HDMI (Type C)
Windows XP, Vista
Mac OS X (10.4 or later)
12.5 oz (355g)
NB-7L Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery

Source – Gizmodo

New iPhone 3G Tariffs Plan

3HK just offered the new iPhone 3G tariffs plan.  Could it be because we’re getting closer and closer to the new generation iPhone which is due out soon? Check out the new tariffs plan here.

Source – 3HK

泰林無線電行宣告全線結業

有62年歷史的泰林無線電行宣告全線結業，在各區12間店舖已關門。

Source – Ming Pao Daily

Lenovo W700 Now Available for Order

10 days ago, I blogged about the upcoming dream notebook for photographers, the Lenovo ThinkPad W700, on my sideblog (full specs and press release posted there), the Phooey Pics. Today, we got news that the Lenovo ThinkPad W700 is now available for order and the delivery date is roughly a month from now.  As for the price tag, well, expect to ditch out at least US$2,978 for the basic configuration which features 17-inch WXGA+ display, T9400 CPU, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA’s 512MB Quadro FX-2700 and a 160GB hard drive.

What makes the ThinkPad W700 so special and so expensive (even more than the 17″ MacBook Pro) is not only the specs but the integrated digitizer which photographers would love while working on their photo editing programs.

pic from 32packets (click to go to link)

Can’t wait for its local release here in Hong Kong, will update when I hear more.

Source – 32packets via Engadget

Michael Chang Inducted Into The International Tennis Hall of Fame

Michael Chang, 36, of the USA poses with his fiancee, Amber Liu, after he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. Saturday, July 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP)—Michael Chang finds it appropriate he’s receiving his sport’s highest honor as China awaits the Olympics.

Chang was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday and reflected on his experiences as a Chinese-American athlete. He won the 1989 French Open at age 17—the youngest man to win a major—as the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing were escalating into bloodshed.

“For me, at the French Open, if I wasn’t playing my match I was glued to CNN watching the events unfold,” Chang said during a news conference before his induction. “The crackdown actually happened that Sunday of the French Open.”

Full link to article here.

Source – AP via Yahoo! Sports

ASUS Eee PC 1000 Announced

Pic from UMPC Fever

[28 May 2008]This according to UMPC Fever, that ASUS is launching the new 10″ screen Eee PC 1000 at the upcoming Computex 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan. For more info, check out UMPC Fever’s post here.

Source – UMPC Fever

[Updated: 5 June 2008] This is the latest on the ASUS Eee PC 1000 from Daily Tech. “Eee PC 1000 and Eee PC 1000H. The Eee PC 1000 will be available with up to a 40GB SSD while the Eee PC 1000H will be available with up to an 80GB 2.5” 5400RPM HDD.

The Eee PC 1000/1000H and Eee PC 901 are all equipped with an Atom processor and include ASUS’s Super Hybrid engine which allows for easy manipulation of CPU speed, CPU voltage, and screen brightness to extend the life of the battery. When running in its most extreme mode, the Super Hybrid Engine can extract 7.8 hours of battery life from the new Eee PCs.

In addition, ASUS is also providing its new Eee PC family with 20GB of dedicated online storage (per machine) to perform backups or store personal data.”

Source – Daily Tech

Today Marks the 19th Anniversary to June 4th

Pic from Szeto Wah

Pic from Jerry L

Let’s take a moment to remember those who lost their lives that day.

Source –「六四」十九周年燭光悼念集會 Candlelight Vigil for the 19th Anniversary of June 4

Rumours – Sony Ericsson Buying Up HTC

Pic from CrunchGear

The Swedes are a bit confusing, but there’s a rumor going ’round that Sony Ericsson is busy acquiring HTC. (link from CrunchGear here and from an old post again from CrunchGear here)

Source – CrunchGear

Sydney Pollack Dies @ 73

Sydney Pollack helped make a sex symbol of Robert Redford, an Oscar-caliber star of Jane Fonda and a woman of Dustin Hoffman.

Pollack, the quintessential actor’s director of Tootsie, The Way We Were and more, who seemed most comfortable in the company of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and vice versa, died tonight of cancer at his Los Angeles home.

The filmmaker, a two-time Oscar-winner, was 73.

“Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better,” George Clooney said in a statement. “A tip of the hat to a class act. He’ll be missed terribly.”

Extracted from E! Online, for full article, click here.

CNET Asia Community Blog Entry – Newsbreak – 3G iPhone Launch Date Confirmed

My new entry over at CNET Asia Community Blog is up. This week’s entry, “Newsbreak – 3G iPhone launch date confirmed”. Click here for the read.

China Announces 3 Days of National Mourning

2008-05-19 HKT 00:15

China has announced three days of national mourning for an estimated 50,000 people who died in Monday’s earthquake in Sichuan – the magnitude of which has now been revised to eight on the Richter scale. The Olympic torch relay will be suspended during that time. And there will be three minutes of silence this afternoon. The arrangements will also be implemented in Hong Kong. The confirmed death toll has risen to more than 32-thousand, with more than 220-thousand injured.

SOurce – RTHK News