E72′s Rookie

In case you didn’t know, I actually use a Nokia E72 now. I bought it for myself, as my own 21st birthday present.

And I have nothing but good things to say about it! Firstly, I love how elegant it looks. Countless people (usually Indonesians) have taunted me with questions “Why didn’t you buy a Blackberry instead???”. And I said to them “Hello! Didn’t you see how mine looks much better than that brick of yours??”.

Elegant

Brick

Secondly I love its very touch-sensitive Optical Navi Key! Granted it’s not a trackpad, but it works well in navigating menu and stuff. Works great in web browsing too. Thirdly, its shortcut buttons (contacts, email, home, calendar) is fast and really saves me time.

Oh and one thing that Nokia didn’t really promote (and I think they should!) is the super-awesome QWERTY keyboard. It has the same proportion as computer’s QWERTY keyboard. What I mean is, some QWERTY phones crowd a lot of additional buttons (usually at the last row, the row with Z-M) and it messes up the proportion – some keys are a lot further to the right/to the left than it should be. I tried using my sisters’ QWERTY phones (one from LG, one from Samsung) and I had difficulties because I keep punching the wrong keys! Not with E72. My transition from the usual numeric keypad (mind you, I’ve been using it for at least 10 years!) was smooth and painless. Oh and, the QWERTY keyboard makes really really minimal sound. Typing is not noisy at all and even enjoyable with the smooth keys.

Sis’ Samsung

Nokia E72

Sis’ LG

Unfortunately I can’t yet use the most hyped Nokia Messaging feature since I don’t have a post-paid plan (yes I still use prepaid!), and thus unable to use the extra feature. I’ll sign up for the post-paid plan when I have found a job!

You can see how Nokia Messaging works in Nokia’s very own reality show though – which is entitled “The Rookie“. Basically this show is The Apprentice-style (remember Donald Trump?) reality show. Contestants fight with each other (not physically, of course!) to get internships at 4 big companies: Nokia (of course!), Standard Chartered Bank, Zouk, and Microsoft. The best-of-the-best intern of the final 4 will be crowned “The Rookie” and get a cash prize of SGD 5000!

The contestants are divided into two teams (Alpha and Bravo), and each week they have to go through different series of challenges. One member of the losing team will then be eliminated each week.

They all looked so happy and close during the photoshoot. Who knew what drama would happen.. Hur hur.

Ok I was talking in present and present future tense, but actually The Rookie has already been crowned last Saturday in Zouk! There was a contest that asked you to predict the winner and you could win a Nokia E72 yourself. Unfortunately, the contest also already ended. Nevertheless, I hope one of you reading follows my Twitter (@sylvdoanx) and entered the contest, and hopefully, will win the AWSAM Nokia E72!

You can also still catch up with the episodes of The Rookie online. Watch them go through interesting challenges such as designing a print ad, organizing a fund-raiser, and many more. A lot of drama, of course *wink wink*. And also the showcase of Nokia E72. If you’re still thinking of buying one and you don’t trust reviews, you can watch The Rookie episodes to see how it works in real life! The Rookie website also includes several behind-the-scenes videos. Oh, and, dunno if it’s relevant, but I think The Rookie’s host Bobby Tonelli is hawt! Quite an eye candy, I must say… Hehehehehehehe.

See..

(Images from Bobby Tonelli’s website)

Ok, signing out now. Hope you guys check out The Rookie, and of course try/use Nokia E72 eventually!

PS: I have a Skype iPhone cover giveaway. Enter the contest!

Skype at CommunicAsia 2010 (giveaway at the bottom!)

Navigation:

CommunicAsia 2010
Skype at CommunicAsia 2010
Giveaway!

CommunicAsia2010 and BroadcastAsia2010 is Asia’s premier business event for the global infocomm technology (ICT), broadcasting and media industries. It’s held at Singapore Expo from 15 – 18 June 2010.

The exhibitions feature almost 2,000 exhibiting companies from 57 countries and regions, keen on unveiling their latest offerings.
(info from CommunicAsia’s press release)

On June 16 I had the privilege of attending the blogger’s session from Skype at CommunicAsia 2010. I have Daphne from XPR to thank for that.

I was so in love with the Skype booth. It’s so cheery, with sky blue and rainbows all around!

Isn’t that just pretty?

We were guided around the booth by Peter Parkes, social media lead of Skype, who explained to us the new features/functionalities of Skype.

Yes that’s me listening. Hehe.

Basically what Peter informed us is the availability on Skype on other platforms other than the more traditional computer (PC/Mac alike). Skype is now available for mobile devices (Symbian phones, iPhone), and even TV!

Yes, TV!

It actually supports HD video, and the camera/microphone combo has 4 microphones and is able to pick up sound from 45 metres.

Example of the video:

There was very little grain/noise. It was quite impressive.

However the Skype on TV is only available as embedded software within select TVs. Currently Panasonic Viera HDTV supports it, with the requirement of a communication camera (sold separately). Not sure whether it’s required to use Panasonic’s own communication camera or it’s possible to use other compatible cameras. Peter also mentioned Samsung and some other brand of TV to embed the Skype software. Not sure about the details.

And then of course there was Skype for iPhone and Symbian phones. Skype in the Nokia N900 is not even a separate application, it’s actually seamlessly embedded in the phone. When you scroll through your contact list, for example, you can see the option “Call using Skype” appear. Interesting! After the event, I just had to download Skype to my Nokia E72 and it’s pretty easy to use! It can also merge the Skype contacts and the phone contacts together, but it’s not yet seamless like N900′s.

Screenshot:

Peter also talked about Business usage for Skype. Basically Skype will help businesses (Peter mentioned especially small and medium businesses) save costs on communications. Makes sense, because Skype can enable people to call, chat, send files, and even do conferences/group callings at the same time! The new feature available at Skype Business is Skype Manager, which is a web application you can use to manage the usage of Skype inside your organization. For example – if you want to manage how much Skype credits to give to your employees. You may go to Skype for Business website for more details.

Oh, and I think the Skype Manager ad is so cute!

By now you might be wondering – even if it’s on mobile phones, how exactly can I call people without Skype? Understandably, Skype has traditionally been used for free Skype-to-Skype calls but apparently it can also be used to call landlines/mobiles. You can purchase Skype credits to do so, or even better, you can use Skype subscriptions for unlimited calls to countries/Europe/World. Pretty good deal I think! Sadly, the Skype subscription worldwide that I got excluded Indonesia (my home country), so I said good bye to my unlimited calls to home. Sigh.

Giveaway! (updated!!)

Yeay! Now it’s time for the giveaway!

I have 2 Skype iPhone covers to give away!

(They both have the same design, only different colours – white/black)

To enter the giveaway contest is simple!

1. Leave a comment at this post with your name and (valid!) email, stating what you use/you can use/you plan to use Skype for.

And that’s it! Yes, it’s that easy.

You can also have another chance by tweeting about this giveaway. Please see the directions at the first comment below!

Some T&Cs:

1. The last entry of the contest will be accepted at 23 June 2010 23.59 PM 25 June 2010 23.59 PM. Winners will be announced at latest by 30 June 2010.
2. This contest is open to people who reside at Singapore or have a Singapore mailing address.
3. Postage fee will be borne by me a.k.a postage is freeeeee
4. One person (with one e-mail) is allowed one entry via comment on blog post and two entries via Twitter (directions at the first comment below!).
5. There will be 2 winners. Winners will be chosen by random numbers (Random.org)
6. Colours will be determined by random too.

Looking forward for your entries!

Note:  A number of other blogs will be having the same giveaway, I’ll post links to their giveaway’s so you can have more chances of winning one!

Sandisk Cruzer Blade – fits in your wallet

My new thumbdrive is so small and thin I put it in my wallet.

Really.

Cost me SGD 20 for 4 GB of storage. Good deal, I think. I mean, look at how pretty it is.
I was actually walking around Challenger Funan to look for a webcam for my siblings, but I saw this and I just could not resist.

This is a huge upgrade from my previous thumbdrive (which is my very first thumbdrive) which can only hold 128 MB of data. How long ago was that? Unfortunately I lost that thumbdrive.. A lot of important things inside, including my short stories. Ugh.

I think I’m gonna love it having this.

You Were There

This is the current hit song in my choir (SMU Chamber Choir).

You Were There by Libera.

I hope I’m not the only person that thinks the video is cheese sandwich. I mean, ugh. It’s like somebody just took their pictures and tinkered around with iMovie or the likes (Windows Movie Maker? Eeks).

But it IS a really beautiful song, kudos to Takatsugu Muramatsu. I just think that the song (at least in the mp3 I got) got too much enhancement, echo and stuff, that it lost some of its magic. Also, the strings. Ugh, the strings. The piano was fine, but the strings was downright “ordinary” for the amazing song.

By the way, this song is actually a soundtrack of a Japanese movie called “Dare mo mamotte kurenai” which seems to be a very interesting movie. This is the plot summary (from Eigapedia)

When the older brother of junior high school student Saori is arrested for murder she is separated from her family for her own protection. She ends up living with a police detective named Katsuura and his family. Katsuura has to get information from her without making her already-troubled mental state any worse.

Can’t seem to find the trailer with English subtitles, but I think the movie (trailer) is powerful enough without subtitles.

Intriguing, eh? I wonder where can I watch this movie…

Btw I found another video.. I believe this was the opening of the movie?

BTW, I totally have a crush on You Were There’s soloist. Hehe! His name is Tom Cully.

(something like) Spelling Bee in My English Exam

So if you guys follow me on Twitter/@sylvdoanx, you should have seen my public breakdown over my then impending grade 8 piano exam.

I know it’s not a school exam or something, but let me tell you, piano exam is much much worse than school exam. Because unlike in written exam when you can try hard to access your memory, practical piano exam is a one-off, now-or-never thing. Once you slip when doing something – that’s it. That is it. From passing with distinction to passing with merit in just one slip.

A little more technical here, one thing I hated the most (because I’m no good at it – simple, right?) was the 6th apart scale. Just for you laymen, basically you have to play a scale (something like doremifasolatido-dotilasofamiredo), but your hands/fingers start on different notes (6 steps apart). And you have to play it 4 octaves up and down (simply saying, you play it 4 times continuously).

Wait, what? So difficult?

Oh, yes, apparently. Now, I understand the importance of playing scales in order to play piano well – it’s all about balancing the power and making the lines as smooth as possible (if you don’t get this, don’t worry, not important), yet I don’t understand making it compulsory to test these freaking scales on piano exam. At the end of the day, playing these scales requires more brain-teasing work instead of paying close attention to how I play my piano correctly. It’s more like they’re trying to test my brain, or muscle memory, instead of my musicality.

As per my title, it’s just like they ask you to do a spelling bee or a tongue twister and you’ll be graded for it in your English exam. It’s not how you can use English or how you can play piano anymore!

I know, I know. Maybe I’m just bitter coz I didn’t do well on my 6th apart (and my 3rd apart) scales. Whatever. I hope the examiner is nice enough not to let me repeat this hellish grade 8 exam. Ugh.

Image by myself! Press on Deviantart

Are you what you listen?

We’ve heard a lot of cliches around this : you are what you eat, you are what you wear, you are what you do, etc etc. But are you really what you listen? And do you define what you listen by how you define yourself?

I’m pondering about this since my choir (visit SMU Chamber Choir Fan Page if you’d like to) was visited by a vocal coach from Philippines. He did technical stuff like breathing, posture, sound production that I would not go into detail else I’ll bore a lot of you out. Not that there’s a lot of you in the first place.

After all technical stuff, before he left he said that the way to improve our singing is to listen to more choral works. He then went on to recommend some people, or rather groups, to listen to. And I just couldn’t stop pondering.

You see, if you have followed my blog from the beginning, you would know that I don’t only listen to choral or classical stuff. Review my music category. I listen to some pop, some rock, some electronica, some lounge music, and every other thing as I feel like it. In fact, I think my choral music collection is like… 5% of my whole collection?

Do we really have to listen to music that defines who we are? Do they have to match?

I don’t think we should choose a music, or any interest, first then decide how we should act. If I like emo songs (I do like some), do I have to sport the over-one-eye hair cut and write sad poems? If I like rock songs, do I have to sport studs and funky hair? If I like classical songs, do I have to act all nerdy? Do I really have to fulfill all those stereotypes only because I like a type of music? And is it fair to judge a person just based on what music they listen to? (or based on their interests?)

All I’m saying – sometimes people identify a group, and then identify themselves. Isn’t this backwards? I think we should identify ourselves first and then join a group.

But then again, this is only a personal opinion. But I’ll stand true – I don’t want to listen to choral music just because I sing in a choir. I don’t want to limit my choices – there is a lot of great music of any genres out there.

What do you think? Do you think you define yourself by your music – or does your music define you?

Somewhere deep inside, we’re all musicians.

I can’t help to share this. Usually this is not my style to just post a video or a link on a go. But I just really want to post this up.

Check this out: Bobby McFerrin (ahem, I bet you know “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”, right?) “hacks” your brain.

He gives 2 or 3 starting notes, and then voila! Like magic, the audience sang together with him. Confused? Not clear? Just check out the video

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Perhaps somewhere deep inside, we’re really all musicians. After all it’s one of the oldest form of entertainment isn’t it?

Thank you BoingBoing for the link. (and thank you, StumbleUpon! :P)

I’m gonna make wrinkles

…in the air.

I’m pretty sure some of my loyal readers (thank you for keep visiting my site even though I don’t update it hahaha ) will hate me now. After missing for so long (busy lah, sorry), now I’m back just to shamelessly PLUG PLUG PLUG my oncoming choir concert!!!

But actually it can’t be categorized as plugging since this blog is my own blog

Ok so here it is~

Yes darlings, I’m going to perform in a concert by SMU Chamber Choir.

Details:

Date/Time : Tuesday, 10 February 2009. 7.30 PM.
Venue : Esplanade Recital Studio
Ticket : free seating, each at $16

Yes the tickets are only at $16 and revenue from the tickets will be used to aid our fund to go to Russia! Wheeee! After Poland, now Russia!

If you want tickets, you can either contact me or email them at chamberchoir@smu.edu.sg.

What are the songs?

Ah yes, this is the question most people asked. So here’s the info. We’re going to sing songs from all over the world in so many languages. Basically, in the concert there will be small sections/themes and songs will fit that theme. We have songs from Latin America (Argentinian tango, Brazilian folk song), we also have gospel songs (in English), and we also have English and French folk songs. I shall say no more, that will be too much spoiler

So if you want to see me singing, if you want to see some cute girls/guys singing, or simply want to enjoy our musical journey, I look forward seeing you there! (please reserve a ticket first though ) 

I thank those blogger friends who are going

• Daphne Maia
• Hendri Budi
• Robert (Brokenshardz)
• Krisandro
• Nathalia (singingcoconut)
• Xiao Ling (secretss)