Unique watch design by Tokyoflash

Just check this out! I just found a very rare and unique watch design. Look at the picture on the left. Is it really glow :P? Whoa, what kind is this watch?

From the Tokyoflash website, the designer of Tokyoflash watches said "Our design philosophy is to create something unique. If it's been done before - sorry we're not interested." Wow. This is a really confident statement! But if we take a look at how many magazines having Tokyoflash watches as article news, then we know the statement is made not for nothing.

Beside in my opinion, Tokyoflash watch design is proven to be unique and the only in the world. Well, equalizer in the watch like shown in the image on the left...what can I say ;). I can imagine how this rare things will be priced.....Must be outrageously pricey.

Will anyone donate me some :P?

Cheap soundcard for music..

Via has been famous in soundcard era for the recent years - thanks to its flagship Via Envy chipset. Via Envy has a characteristic that make it very suitable for music lover-the chipset never resamples any sample rate for songs. Every songs will be played "as is". This feature is really important for audiophile because fidelity and accuracy is the most determine factor for high quality music.

But Via Envy also has always been associated by its high price, especially for guys like me who cannot afford, or maybe at least must think ten thousand times before buying a Via Envy soundcard priced more than $100. Of course, Via offered us a cheap alternative solution - Via Envy PT, which was used in Chaintech AV710. Unfortunately, the card is rarely be seen in the market. Once in a time, I even has tried to contact Chaintech distributor in Singapore, asking about this $30 soundcard and got answer "out of stock".

Maybe Via sees this matter and recently, Via had launched some new chipset intended for cheaper market - Via Tremor. Via Tremor will support maximum 6 channel output and 2 channel input. And it will support maximum resolution 24 bit and 48 KHz sampling rate for analog, while for digital, Tremor will support resolution 24 bit and 96 KHz sampling rate - very similar to Via Envy 24 PT. Along with Via Tremor, Via also launched Via Envy 24 MT which is intended for notebook or mobile devices. But forget about Via Envy 24 MT as this seems not a cheap solution anyway :P. Let's see all the features Via Tremor offers below...

Benefits of VIA Vinyl Tremor

• High audio performance - With up to 24-bit resolution/96kHZ sampling rates for digital input/output and 20-bit/48kHZ analog connections, the VIA Tremor is capable of providing superb audio playback and recording quality to the PC audio enthusiast.


• Flexible range of connection options - 6 outbound streams and 2 simultaneous input streams, along with an integrated S/PDIF transmitter, allow for a wide range of connections that can support Dolby Digital/Dolby Digital EX Surround Sound. A direct access general purpose connector allows for easy use of expanded connection boards, and a MIDI port is also provided.


• Multiple applications - Applications include gaming, high fidelity home theatre entertainment, music playback and recording.


• Easy to integrate - I²S and AC-link input and output for easy connection with many codec or ADC/DAC solutions. Also supports Windows® WDM drivers.

So has any company decided to use Via tremor and produced cheap soundcard for music lover? Yes, there are several company like PPA International and Encore Electronics that has started producing several soundcard based on this chipset. This soundcard is really cheap, some even can be found as low as $10 in newegg.com! But please keep in mind that you will always get what you've paid for. For a $10 soundcard, you cannot expect the card will use a high quality ADC and DAC from respective companies like AKM or Wolfson :).

Logitech speaker update...

After a while, Logitech updated their speaker product line. And this time, Logitech designs their can very neatly. This is a vast improvement from Logitech's previous product line. But is it only design or the sound quality is improved as well? Let's find out real soon!

Logitech has been a major player in computer speaker for the recent years. Their speaker characteristics are best suited for gaming and video purpose since their bass capability is able to shake room! And it seems that Logitech keeps their speaker characteristics to be just like that in the current product release. Enough said, let's take a look at two speakers worth buying from Logitech :)

The first one is Logitech Z4. Priced below $100, this speaker product will hit the market for gamers and movie lovers on budget. Why? Because there are no competitor so far that seems to offer 8" subwoofer on their speaker products for this price range. This is the main strength for Logitech Z4 - Bass. You may wonder, why size does matter for subwoofer? Because the larger the subwoofer, the lower frequency it can produce...

Logitech bundled their 8" subwoofer with 2" dome driver in Z4's satellites. Somewhat, we feel that this is unbalanced system. How can 2" satellite driver keep up with 8" subwoofer? The mid and high will be easily overwhelmed by bass the subwoofer produce.

To tackle this problem, Logitech invent a new technology which they call it pressure driver. Pressure driver is a passive driver whose membrane will be moved along with the real active driver. If we see from the image below, we can see that in each satellite, Logitech included 2 pressure drivers. And to reduce the massiveness of bass produced by Z4's subwoofer, Logitech apparently uses 8" pressure driver in their subwoofer with unknown size of active driver....

Something that is missing from this product is tweeter. If only Logitech include tweeter on their satellite, maybe this speaker will have more musical characteristics, but anyway this is a really good multimedia speaker for gamers and movie lovers. Just take a look for its specification and you'll realise that for its price - below $100 - this is a really good offer.

Z4's Specifications :

• Total RMS power: 40 watts RMS - Satellites: 17 watts RMS (8.5 watts x 2), Subwoofer: 23 watts RMS
• Total peak power: 80 watts
• Frequency response: 35 Hz–20 kHz
• Drivers: Satellites: 2-inch dome driver, 2-inch pressure driver, Subwoofer: 8-inch pressure driver
• Speaker dimensions (H x W x D, inches): Satellites: 9 x 3 x 3.75, Subwoofer: 9 x 9 x 9.37
• Signal-to-noise ratio: >92 dB

Another product worth buying is Logitech Z2300. This is Z5500's sibling, another great product from Logitech which is highly recommended. Catch a glimpe at the image below and we can see that the design of Z5500 is superior than Z4's. But how about the specification? Is it really superior? Let's see it!

Hardware

• Drivers: Satellites: 2.5-inch polished aluminum phase plug driver
• Subwoofer: 8-inch long-throw ported driver with sixth-order bass reflex enclosure
• Speaker dimensions (H x W x D, inches): Satellites: 6.75 x 3.5 x 6, Subwoofer: 11 x 11 x 15
• SoundTouch™ wired remote control: Master volume, Subwoofer volume, Headphone jack, Power/standby

Technical Specifications

• Total RMS power: 200 watts RMS Satellites: 80 watts RMS (40 watts x 2) Subwoofer: 120 watts RMS
• Total peak power: 400 watts
• Frequency response: 35 Hz–20 kHz
• Signal-to-noise ratio @ 1 kHz: >100 dB
• Amplifier: Ultra-linear, high-capacity analog
• Compatibility:PC or Mac, CD playerDigital, (MP3) music player, DVD player, PlayStation®, PlayStation®2, PLAYSTATION®3 (with provided game console adapter), Xbox®, Xbox 360™ (with provided game console adapter)

Z2300 has 200 watt RMS power! It's more than enough to make your computer table be shaken when you turn up this beast to its maximum. Z4's with modest 40 watt RMS really looks pale compared with Z2300. Being high in RMS power means that this speaker can be played at loud volume without have any perceived distortions. Logitech Z2300 also has been THX's certified which marks this speaker capability as small home theater speaker.

This speaker is offered in price range $160, making this speaker will face Edifier's C3 directly. Who will be the winner? You'll decide :)

The Battle for Wesnoth...

There are a lot of freeware games that can be downloaded from the internet, but only some of them are worth playing ;). One of them is The Battle for Wesnoth. The Battle for Wesnoth is a fantasy turn-based strategy game. It's licensed under GPLd. It means that everyone has a freedom to download the source code and modify it to whatever they like.

The Battle for Wesnoth can be played across many platform. So far it has supported Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and Open Solaris. Maybe in the future it will support more :). Compatibility accross many platform like this is really great because there are multiplayer mode that can be played online. To be played in online multiplayer mode, there is one restriction, i.e : all players must use the same version of this game. The latest version of The Battle for Wesnoth is 1.4 and player who wants to play online are encouraged to download 1.4 version because this version has the biggest online community players among other versions.

Just take a glimpse of this game for a while and soon our memory will recall classic games like "Romance of three kingdom" or "L'empereur" published by Koei long time ago. Don't expect graphical pleasure when playing this game, but for core gamers, graphics is second below storyline. That's what maybe will make this game have a big community. So far, The Battle for Wesnoth has been downloaded many times, until the number reached 2,1 millions. Wow.....

Wanna try it? The installer size is more or less 150 MB and it can be downloaded here.

Have fun ^_^

Current top line of Altec Lansing Computer Speaker...

Just like Klipsch, Altec Lansing had being been famous in the home theater speaker systems first before they entered the computer speaker market. Later on, Altec Lansing is ultimately known as well-known computer speaker vendor because of their build quality and sound quality. Altec Lansing is close to Klipsch in terms of sound quality, but slightly cheaper at that time. So in this case, design is the determine factor for most people for choosing one. Besides for people who are willing to spend more than $250 for computer speaker, the difference of $10-$20 would not be a major factor anyway ;).


FX-6021 is the latest and the current top line of speaker Altec has right now. It features an unique design by introducing 12 microdrivers, 6 on each satellite. While the subwoofer design is minimal, it complement the satellite perfectly. Altec also include a wired remote controller for this speaker system. Just take a glance at this speaker and we easily become interested for its design. But how about the sound quality? Just take a look at the specification below first ;)

SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS :
Altec Lansing’s superior sound comes from our proprietary technology, which utilizes custom-built, high-fidelity drivers, state-of-the-art equalization circuitry, and a harmonious mix of the following specifications:

• Sound pressure level (SPL): 105 dB
• Total continuous power: 75 Watts RMS
• Front Speakers: 12.5 Watts/channel @ 4 ohms @ 10% THD @ 180 - 15000 Hz 2 Channels Loaded
• Subwoofer: 50 Watts @ 4 ohms @ 10% THD @40 – 180 Hz Single Channel Loaded
• System response: 32 Hz – 18 kHz (-10dB)
  
• Signal to Noise Ration @ 1 Khz input: > 75 dB
• Drivers (per satellite) : Six 1" fullrange Micro Drivers
• Subwoofer driver:One 6.5" long-throw woofer
  

The subwoofer can only go as low as 40 Hz which is not too bad anyway as this is only 6.5" subwoofer. The configuration of 6 microdrivers will make FX6021 emphasizes high frequency and slightly lower mid frequency. Even the sound pressure level is stated at 105 db, I don't think there is anyone who wants to play it that loud. Our neighbor must yell at us before we can reach that volume....

In my opinion, this is a good speaker system. Excellent design with absolutely famous Altec Lansing sound quality in mind will certainly makes this speaker find its way into its lover ;).

Where do you go, Klipsch?

It seems that Klipsch which is famous with Promedia series in computer speaker category, has reduced their model. I saw in their website, it's only Promedia GMX A2.1 speaker that still exists. This is a pity because Klipsch, a major player in home theater speaker systems, has been well-known as an excellent high-end computer speaker vendor as well for the recent years. Maybe Klipsch decided to focused only on home theater speaker systems market, abandoning the sub $500 computer speaker systems.
While I think many Klipsch fans will regret this, I think this is a good strategy for company like Klipsch to maintain its fame. Well, as we know, not many people find it necessary to buy a very high-end computer speaker, because a lot of us find it easier and enjoyable to watch movie through our home theater systems rather than watch it through computer. Compatibility problems and a lot of major issue make us rather lazy to use computer for this purpose :). That's why home theater speaker systems is easier to be sold rather than high-end computer speaker systems....

But I hope Klipsch will still make computer speaker in the future, as their design is always fascinating. Just look at Klipsch Promedia GMX A2.1 in the picture above. Don't you think the satellite design is superb?

Labtec Elite 840 review..

When I was a college student a few years ago, I acquired this headphone. At that time, I was looking for cheapest solution for enjoying music since as a college student, I was always short of money. Looking for decent computer speaker for music, I realise all are too expensive. The excellent computer speaker for music at that time was Altec Lansing 621 and is priced about $150. A price that I couldn't afford...

Then when I had windows shopping in Dusit, Mangga Dua, I saw this headphone. I thought for a while: why don't give it a try? Priced about $25, I still can afford it with some saving money I had :). Then I looked for this headphone specification thoroughly. The specs is as listed below:

Features:

• High-performance audio for home or portable use
• Velvet touch ear pads for extended wear
• Acoustic air vent for enhanced bass
• Self-adjusting headband for superb comfort
• Tangle-free single-side cord

Specifications:

• Driver Magnet: Neodymium
• Cord Length: 10'
• Impedance: 32 ohms
• Ear Pads: Deluxe Padded
• Stereo Plug: Gold Plated
• Frequency Response: 20 - 20,000 Hz

Hmm, if I just mere take account the specification then this headphone will beat every computer speaker systems in the world since most of then cannot go as low as 20Hz! I believe to reproduce 20Hz by using speaker, we'll need a huge subwoofer and a very big room :). But in the end, I bought this gadget anyway and took it home...

First impression, when using this headphone in my old cheap computer, I found the sound reproduced is not too good. Searching a little bit for the culprit, I found two reasons causing bad sound. The first is the onboard soundcard I had (CMedia-8738) and the second is the source of mp3 file I played. So after pairing it with decent soundcard, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, I found this headphone can produce a very clear and nice music. I was surprised by the amount of details this headphone produced. The only thing lacking in this headphone is the bass. This headphone characteristic is producing a little bright sound. For bass lovers, they will absolutely be disappointed by this headphone-better go for Koss UR40!

The construction of this headphone is so well built. It's just the headphone cable is so thin that I sometimes was getting scared of tear it apart. But I found it would be unpleasant for wearing it for more than two hours since my ears will feel hot if I wear it for a long time. For comfort, I could not compare it with Sennheiser HD series anyway, which is being said as the most comfortable headphones in the world, it would not be fair. In its price range, I find this headphone offers the biggest driver (50mm) among its competitor. This is really nice as the bigger the driver, the more detail sound can be produced by this headphone...

After owning it for more than 4 years, then finally this headphone broke. I think it has exceeded its lifetime anyway. Time to start for hunting a new one....:)

Best budget computer speaker...

If you're in tight budget and want to have a decent computer speaker, then I suggest you to take a look at Edifier R401 and M3300. Both are priced below $50, a modest price. But this is the cheapest price I know for speaker systems featuring 6.5" subwoofer. Even better, R401 and M3300 are equipped with tweeter on its satellite make this is a very good speaker for listening to music.

Let's see in details about what these speakers offer:

Edifier R401

Specifications:

• Power Output: Satellite Speaker: RMS 8Wx2(@ fo=1kHz, 10% THD, 2 channels loaded ); Woofer: RMS 30W (@ fo=80Hz, 10% THD, single channel loaded )
• THD+N (Amplifier): <=0.5% (Satellite, @ PO=4W ) # Signal-to-Noise Rate (Amplifier): >=85dB(A Weighted)
• Input Impedance: 10K Ohms
• Input Sensitive: 450mv
• Frequency Response: 42-20k Hz
• Input Port: stereo RCA Line-in
• Controller: Volume, Bass, Treble
• Speaker Impedance: 4 Ohms
• Bass driver unit: 6.5 inch (D166mm), magnetically shielded
• Satellite driver unit: 3 inch (D78mm) paper cone, magnetically shielded;1 inch PV membrane dome tweeter, magnetically shielded
• Dimensions: Subwoofer: 191(W) x 293(H) x 285(D)mm; Satellite Speaker: 96(W) x 167(H) x 106(D)mm
• Gross Weight: about 8.2Kg
• Power Requirement: 220V-240V ~ , 50/60Hz (for Model European/China/Korea/South America, etc.); 100V-120V ~, 50/60Hz (for Model USA/Canada/Japan )
• Max Power Consumption: 60W
  

Edifier M3300
Features:

• All MDF wood enclosure for subwoofer . * 6.5’’ High performance woofer, magnetically shielded.
• 3’’ midrange, 3/4" tweeter driver with heat treated paper voice coil, magnetically shielded.
• Flat panel satellite speaker.
• front hyperbolic bass port ensures powerful bass output.
• Wired remote volume control with headphone jack, mute button and power LED indicator.
• AUX jack feature adds convenience for additional source input
  

Specifications:

• Amplifier power output: Satellite: RMS 8Wx2 (THD=10%, f=1kHz) Subwoofer: RMS 25W (THD=10%, f=80Hz)
• Signal to noise ratio (Amplifier): >=85dBA Amplifier distortion: THD+N<0.5%
• Input Impendence: 10K Ohm
• Input Sensitivity: 450mv. (+/- 50mV)
• Frequency Respense: 45Hz - 20KHz
• Volume Control: Wired remote Volume Control, Subwoofer built-in Bass Control.
• Bass Unit: 6.5 inch (166mm), Magnetically Shielded, 8Ohm.
• Mid-range Unit: 3 inch (78mm) , Magnetically Shielded, 4Ohm.
• Tweeter Unit: ¾ inch, Magnetically Shielded, 8Ohm.
• Dimension Subwoofer: 167(W) x 298(H) x 283(D) mm
• Dimension Satellite: 110(W) x 180(H) x 70(D)mm
• Weight: Approx.7.9kg
• Power input: 100V-120V ~, 50/60Hz (for Model USA/Canada/Japan) 220V-240V ~, 50/60Hz (for Model European/China/Korea/South America, etc.)
  

It seems that Edifier now discontinues its R401 model, so if you find this one in store nearby, go get it while stock lasts. And M3300, many says this model is a steal for its price range. M3300 is being said to have the best clarity and treble sound quality for speaker at its price range...

Edifier Speaker Update...

Just realise today that Edifier has discontinued some of its products, include S5.1 speaker. It's so pity because I think this model is a very good speaker system in its price range. But Edifier has added a new speaker series, they call it C series, into his line. Let's see what improvement Edifier made for the new series ;)..

The C series, unlike previous Edifier series, featuring separate amps for more better design. We do know that separate amps usually is present in home theater speaker system. It's a good idea for implementing this idea in multimedia speaker systems. In theory, separate amps will bring less heat to the subwoofer (as amps usually integrated there) and this will preserve the life of amps component. The front line up C series is C3 speaker. Just take a look at this beauty below!


Here is the details of Edifier C3 speaker

Specifications:

* Total Power Output: RMS 8W x 2 + 30W
* 8" Woofer Driver Unit
* 3.5" Mid-range Driver Unit
* 13mm, silk diaphragm
* 16.6Kg for single gift box

Features:

* 2.1 channel multimedia speaker with external amplifier
* Stand-alone 48 Watt external 'component' amplifier
* Complete wooden housing for all speakers
* Electronic Intelligence Distortion Control (E.I.D.C) inside
* Built-in MCU control with multifunctional digital display
* 8 inch driver for subwoofer with 2-way designed satellites
* Magnetically shielded drivers for all speaker

And Edifier also added S530D into its S series line. S530D is intended mostly for audiophile and music lover as its design is simple but elegant. It's equipped with a very nice-looking wired remote control and small wireless remote control. In fact, it is being said that the development of S530D series took almost 2 years. Enough said, just take a quick look for its appearance and you'll fall in love with it :P

Very nice and sturdy look as all speaker are made of wood! But how about the specification?
Below you'll find what you're looking for...

Specifications:

* Power output : RMS 35W x 2 + 70W (THD=10%)
* Signal to noise ratio : >85 dba
* Input sensitivity : PC: L/R: 600mV +/- 30mV
* SW: 200mV +/- 30mV
* CD: L/R: 720mV +/- 30mV
* SW: 330mV +/- 30mV
* Frequency response : L/R: 158Hz ~ 20kHz SW: 20Hz ~ 130Hz

Features:

* Luxurious 2.1 speaker system with 8 inch subwoofer
* Wooden MDF housing for all speakers
* Magnetically shielded drivers for all speakers
* Switchable dual input ports for audio source with different output power
* Multifunctional wired controller with 2.5 inch LCD display (dimmer included)
* Headphone output on wired remote controller
* Master volume controls both speaker output and headphone output
* Volume booster for extra power output
* Separate bass and treble adjustments
* Multifunctional wireless remote controller included
* Coaxial and optical inputs

I easily fall in love with both speaker system. If only I had had enough money.....

High-End Computer Speaker for HTPC..

Nowadays, computer is more than office tool. Because of advanced technology, computer can now be used as home theater replacement or also known as HTPC (Home Theater PC). In order to build a HTPC, you'll need to fulfill several requirements by choosing the right components as follow :

• VGA Card that has hardware acceleration for decoding video compression (H-264, MPEG-2, etc)
  
• Processor with decent speed


• High-Quality soundcard which support multi-channel (5.1, 6.1, etc) playback


• A high-quality multi-channel speaker set


• A huge monitor or LCD TV for displaying the movie

This article will focus only on speaker. Why do I only discuss speaker? Because I believe speaker is the heart of HTPC. You cannot enjoy any movie if you cannot be immersed by the movie's sound effects. And the main device for giving you the right sound as wanted by movie producer is speaker because the quality of sound-card onboard nowadays has been very good. So in this article, I will try to show you 2 high-end computer speaker products with best price/performance that can be used in HTPC.

First candidate is Logitech Z5500. Let's see the speaker first from the image below :

I would not describe in details about Z5500 technical specifications because it would be too long and besides, there are a lot of reviews there you can easily find about :). I will just tell you what make me think this speaker does deserve to be in your living room.

Ok, first is 10" subwoofer. Well, it is the biggest subwoofer in this class and price range. So when you choose this one, you'll be sure of have an enough bass to shake your neighbors' wall :P. Just kidding. Logitech speaker is famous of its huge bass. Well, sometimes the bass is boomy but this can be tricked by placing them in the right spot and help from equalizer :). But with the big size of subwoofer, you'll be sure to know exactly what the explosion should sound in the war-action movie.

Second, Z5500 is equipped with hardware decoder in it. It's capable of decoding Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Prologic II signal. It also have 6 channel direct, StereoX2 and Stereo mode if you don't want to utilize the hardware decoder capability. This will add more benefit when you have, for example, a stereo sound card but you want to hear 5.1 Dolby Digital sound from your movie. Well, you can merely use passthrough mode of your sound card so the signal will be delivered as is to the speaker and then let the hardware decoder in speaker do its job.

Third, Z5500 offers wide range of compatibility mode. You can use this speaker for PC/Mac, CD, MP3, DVD, Playstation, Xbox and other gaming console. It's very nice to have such a versatile speaker that can be used for many devices you want to plug in. You will save room and money because you won't need to buy another speaker for every devices you have.

Overall, because of its configuration, Logitech Z5500 is most suitable for movie (THX certified) and gaming. It can also be used for listening to music, but for some genre music which need a pure-flat frequency response before it can sound enjoyable, you'll have to tweak the equalizer enormous times before you can find the right configuration...

Now the second candidate, Edifier S5.1. As usual, let's see the image of this speaker first ;)

Wow, now we see how the speaker should really look :). Edifier S5.1 is really elegant by having wood finishing instead of plastic/alumunium material usually used in computer speaker. The configuration is almost the same like logitech, i.e : 5.1 and have remote control. The main difference between this speaker and logitech's one is edifier S5.1 does not come with any hardware decoder in it. The other difference is the subwoofer in Edifier S5.1 is smaller than logitech Z5500 has (8" vs 10"). But it won't hinder this speaker to be in your living room as it has several remarkable characteristics as follow :

First, looks! In my opinion, this speaker shows us how the speaker should look. Simple and elegant. The choosing of wood as finishing material is brilliant as wood is also known as an excellent material for reproducing sound. It also have LCD display, but in this case the control center from logitech is far better :).

Second, tweeter! The satellite of edifier S5.1 are equipped with 3/4 inch cloth dome tweeter. This will ensure that you'll be able to hear high frequency sound like you often hear in classics music.

Third, price! What can I say? For a price below $300, you won't ask for more as this speaker currently is the best price/performance speaker set. But keep in mind that this speaker is most suitable for music. If you want to hear *boom* as *BOOM* then you'll have to tweak equalizer a little bit. Just make sure your sound card support equalizer or at least treble/bass configuration.

Overall, Edifier S5.1 is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to have a nice-looking speaker and listen a lot for music in their living room. The setup features smaller subwoofer than logitech, means that edifier's subwoofer won't be stand out as above its satellites. It will be balance instead.

If I have hot money to spend and should choose between these two beast, then I'll choose Edifier S5.1 as I like music more than watching movie ;)...

Most extreme bikini in the world!!!

Wow!!! This is kind of things that will make your eyeball popped out! Some people at the-bikini.com think that it's a nice idea to wear strings only (which they call it as peekaboo bikini) when going to the beach. I don't know if it's comfortable wandering around with that bikini or it will makes any women uneasy? But one thing for sure, any men will surely be pleased to see any daring beautiful sexy woman like depicted in the picture above ;).

Have more curiosity? Just go to the-bikini.com...

Note : In Indonesia, this kind of thing will be obviously forbidden, either by the government or by religion organization.

DIY recipe for Gaming PC

Okay, just straight to the point. I have a recipe for making a gamer's dream machine - my own dream machine and I would like to share it through this blog. Below is the specification I believe will satisfy any gamers, especially in Indonesia :

1. Chassis : Powerlogic Atrix 5000 -> $50
Powerlogic is the nicest computer case I found so far. It's equipped with LCD for monitoring temperatures, very useful features for gamers who tend to play games hourly. Just look at the image above, don't you agree with me?

2. Motherboard : ECS-nForce6M-A -> $60
I did use ECS board and it was rock stable for 5 years before it was broken.

3. Processor : Athlon X2 4200+ -> $70
Athlon X2 is the best price/performance ratio processor in the market today.

4. Memory : Vgen DDR2 PC 6400 2GB -> $53
Make sure you have DDR2 PC 6400, 2 GB is enough for games today.

5. Power supply : Acbel 400 W Pure -> $47
It's very important to have good power supply in order to keep your system healthy.

6. Graphic card : Winfast PX8600GT 256MB DDR3 -> $125
What can I say, we all know that gamers need good graphic card to play latest games nowadays and 8600 GT DDR3 version is known as the best mainstream graphic card at this time.

7. Harddisk : 160 GB Western Digital 8 MB cache -> $54
WDC has some cheap 8MB cache harddisk. Good for gaming use.

8. Sound card : Onboard -> $0
Sound card is not really necessary as the average onboard sound card is enough to give you good sound experience.

9. Keyboard & mouse : Logitech multimedia & optical -> $18
Logitech is the best keyboard and mouse maker so far.

10. Optical drive : Pioneer DVD-RW -> $34
Pioneer is one of the best optical storage maker in the world.

11. Monitor : Samsung LCD TV 32" -> $635
What can more please gamers than a big display for enjoying the fascinating of most advanced graphics today?

12. Speaker : Built-in -> $0
Just use the built-in speaker on LCD TV to save some cost...

And to sum it all, my dream machine will cost $1146 ~ Rp 10.550.000,-. Wow....so expensive! (That's why I call this a dream machine :P).

But if you are really tight in budget, then you may consider to buy LG 17" LCD Monitor and Edifier R401 speaker. Each will cost you $192 and $36. You will save $407 and the total money you'll spend will become $739 ~ Rp 6.800.000,-. A lot cheaper then ;)

AMD's come back....finally

After giving us disappointing solution for the recent years, finally AMD show its teeth again :). I'm so glad as I used to be AMD fans and always argued with my friend about which is better, AMD or Intel, in the past. But not like in the past, when AMD kicked Intel ass with Athlon XP processor, now AMD stab Intel in the back with motherboard chipset, AMD 780G.

So what're the strength factors from this integrated graphic chipset? It's the first and only DirectX-10 capable motherboard chipset! AMD has been proven to be very serious in maintaining low budget pc market by releasing this chipset since AMD 780G is equipped with Radeon HD 3200. Wow...

This bring more graphical power to integrated graphic motherboard chipset as the current leader of intergrated graphic motherboard chipset is Nvidia 7050, which is still consider as weak in terms of graphical processing power. And even better, AMD 780G can be paired with discrete graphic card (hybrid mode) to add more graphical processing power, when needed. This means that for low budget gamers, they can choose this board and then in the future add additional graphic card without losing the functionality or power of integrated graphic card. Excellent upgrade scheme!

Below is the specification of this marvellous chipset :

Proven Radeon™ graphics powering DirectX® 10	Powered by ATI Radeon™ Graphics, DirectX® 10 introduces neverbefore-seen detail-rich images and dynamic interactivity for playing the latest DirectX® 10 games
HyperTransport™ 3.0 technology	More than doubles your CPU communications bandwidth to graphics as compared to HyperTransport™ 1
PCI Express® Generation 2.0	Double your graphics bandwidth over earlier PCI Express for improved performance
Backwards compatibility	Ensures flexibility to build platforms with previous generation CPUs as well as the latest AMD Phenom™ processors
ATI Hybrid Graphics1	Improve your system performance by enabling the ability for both discrete graphics and integrated graphics to render simultaneously
ATI Avivo™ HD2	ATI Avivo™ HD is the advanced image and video processing and display technology found in ATI Radeon™ graphics that enables: brilliant colors, sharp images and smooth playback of Blu-ray™ and HD DVD content performance that rivals high end HD DVD and Blu-ray™ players on difficult 1080i content built-in HDMI and DVI with HDCP
ATI PowerPlay™	Flexible power saving technologies that ensure optimal power efficiency to help reduce your electricity costs
Low Power Design	Designed for power-efficient computing to help lower energy costs
AMD Cool’nQuiet™ 2.0	Benefit from power saving features that help reduce power consumption at idle or during low usage
Enhanced Digital Display integration	Supports Display Port interface for the newest displays.
ATI SurroundView™	SurroundView™ feature allows support for up to four independent monitors for systems equipped with an additional Radeon™ discrete graphics card
Next Generation SB700	Support for up to 12 USB 2.0 connections and 6 SATA 2.0 devices, including eSATA devices
AMD OverDrive*	Shift your system performance into next gear. Enables control of the AMD 7-Series Chipsets to easily configure system settings in Microsoft® Windows®
AMD RAIDXpert™	Easily configure your RAID setup from remote locations to personalize your media for extra performance or enhanced reliability

Air Asia Promo....again

AirAsia once again offers us low fare for flying from Jakarta to Solo, Surabaya, Palembang, Batam, Padang, Pekanbaru, Bali, Medan and Balikpapan. The tickets can be bought from $3 to $11. Very affordable! But of course, the low fare tickets are only for one-way flight. I believe the return flight will be cost us more....;)

For those who are fond of travelling, this promo should help keep your wallet from becoming empty :P. Anyway, in my opinion, it's better to spend your money on souvenirs or gifts than spend it for airflight ticket ;). You can enjoy this ticket promo for flight start at February 26th until April 30th, but on one condition, you must book it on between February 19th until March 9th.

Nice promotion....

Bizgram IT Show 2008

For those who reside in Singapore or coincidentally visit Singapore now, it would be unfortunate to miss Bizgram IT Show 2008. This event is held at Suntec City Exhibition Center and will last only 4 days, from March 6th until March 9th. For computer savvy, this would be a good chance to spend your savings for computer stuffs since the price there are quite cheaper than normal price.

As for example, we can bring home 500 G Western Digital Elements External Harddisk for only SGD$150. I have searched information and in Indonesia at this time, the same device must be bought for SGD$200. Wow, save SGD$50!

Need more information? Just visit the show lah :P...

Free Live TV Channels become reality!

Wow, can you imagine if you can watch all live tv channels from all around the world..for free! Sopcast (www.sopcast.com), a peer-to-peer (P2P) broadcasting software offers you this kind of opportunity. Using sopcast, you're able to broadcast live channels freely, watch live channels freely, embed sopcast player on your webpage without any cost, and many more....:)

Of course, this come with some hidden cost-bandwidth. As we know that video streaming applications can be classified as bandwidth intensive applications. But the great news is for many countries, which internet has been developed majorly, this would not hinder sopcast usage. Indonesian people are among the unlucky people around the world that cannot enjoy this service widely. Well, maybe some rich people in Indonesia can use sopcast with decent fps to watch, but for most of people here...sopcast would not be an option.

Bandwidth in Indonesia is considered very expensive. It's ironic that Singapore, a neighbor country near Sumatra island, has a very cheaper bandwidth than Indonesia has. Maybe someday this would be changed and we, ordinary Indonesian people, can start to use sopcast anyway ;)...

Singtel Great Offer!

Singtel, an Internet Service Provider in Singapore, offers its subscribers packages that can not be missed without regret. This offer will be ended in March 7, 2008 so you'll be better hurry to catch it while you still have any chances!

Okay, so tell me what really makes this offers so interesting. With a SGD$88 per month subscription, you will have a 10 Mbps unlimited bandwidth through broadband connection. For people in Indonesia, that seems like WOW-in all capital letters! Why? Because bandwidth in Indonesia is still expensive :(.

That's really unfortunate for us living in Indonesia here, since Singapore, a small island near Sumatra island, can offer its citizen a very good and affordable internet facilities. I really envy people who live in there...

But if bandwidth is not make you interest to start subscribing, then how about this : On this package, Singtel also offers you a free MacBook. Yes, it's for free! Total packages would worth approx SGD$2576. You can start counting for SGD$88/month with 30 months subscription contract, is it worth your try or not ;)...

If only I were lived in Singapore......

GunSlingerGirl Anime Brief Review...

This week I finish watching GunSlingerGirl. At first sight, this anime is really boring. The opening and ending musics don't suit my appetite, the story is a liitle bit slow, etc. But the graphics is really good. Not awesome, but good indeed :).

The story is about 6 girls who have been granted artificial body because of several reasons. One is being told having bad parents who tried to kill her in order to have the insurance money. One is being told have a very weak body, etc. Shortly these girls have a super power because of the new body and they will have to endure dangerous mission.

If their body is hurt by weapon (bullet, knife, etc) then these girls have to go to special hospital in order to reconditioning their body. The side effect of this reconditioning is they will lose some memory and their live will be shortenen. Sad story, isn't it...

In doing their mission, each girls will be accompanied by an older "brother" and each couple then will be called "fratello". The background of the story is set in Italy, so no wonder there are many Italian style we'll see when watching this movie. As we know that Italy is famous for their mafia-like lifestyle. And this style will be adopted by the producer of GunSlingerGirl anime in telling the story (So please expect many gunfiring actions in this movie)

Overall this anime is average. For me who likes more actions, the storytelling style is quite boring anyway. But it is still quite acceptable. Well, is it worth to watch? Hmm, I can only suggest that if you have a lot of spare time then losing several hours for watching this anime is quite okay. It's not really entertain, as the climax is not too distinct. Sometimes in an episode, the story just flow flat without put empahize on some factors. But in the near-ending episode, the story is getting better and better, but can never touch the word of excellency ;)....