Sorry, long gone, but back!! Some updates.

Hey everyone..

Sorry... It's kind of my fault.  I didn't post here since ages ago. I was kind of being laughed at for posting things I wasn't supposed to, so I kept quiet for a while. Also, I didn't manage my time properly. Now, when things are better, I'm back. Yes, I mean this is my real comeback :D

First of all, I would like to say thank you to people who took time to look through my blog briefly, which I have noticed this blog comes up on Google. I am getting quite consistent views everyday, even though I haven't written here for 4 months....

Just want to follow up on the stuff I am using now, I recently got a Samsung Galaxy R, and flashed it with Cyanogenmod 11. Pretty cool stuff eh? I left my old phone (Samsung Galaxy W) behind for spare, which also ran Cyanogenmod 11 (Thanks to acro68 for all his hard work on XDA developers)

So, where should I start?? I'm not going to be like before and go through everything that happened in the tech world, because the list would probably take too long to read (I don't want to torture you guys XD) so I'll just stick with the important ones over the past year.

Android 4.4 KitKat along with the Nexus 5 came along a few months ago. All I can say: A lovely device. I tried it out, because one of my friends had one, and it was fantastic. As I am a current user of KitKat (Technically Cyanogenmod 11), I am very impressed with KitKat. I love the tinted status bar, the direct Google Now by swiping, and using 'OK Google' hotwords. I am also impressed with it's buttery interface, so far haven't even experienced any type of lag. Just a few bugs on the camera and the battery life, but other than that, it's a masterpiece. I also praise Google for finally making new versions of Android for 'Low Ram' devices, such as the Galaxy W I used before. It's quite a big breakthrough of the Android Development team to do that.

Windows 8.1 came around few months ago. It was a large improvement over Windows 8, which made things easier (Did I mention I hook up my desktop on a big TV screen?) and, things were easier to use. I rather say I am hoping the Windows 8.1 Update 1 can really fix things that people didn't like, such as clicking 3 times to shut down your computer. I know that Windows 8.1 Update 1 is coming around the corner in April, which is pretty cool, and I'll give an update of how that works out.

The Surface 2 came along with Windows 8.1 as well, with performance and battery improvements, but I rather say it's not much of a big difference that its predecessor, so I'm not going to write too much on that.  

Samsung continues to dominate the smartphone industry. The Samsung Galaxy S5 was announced a few weeks back. Just a little tweak from the Galaxy S4, with a health sensor, and competing with the iPhone 5S, a fingerprint sensor. The thing I am finally proud of Samsung is that they finally stopped using glossy plastic and used rubber material instead, because the glossy plastic annoys me somethings. I rather say other than that along with some hardware upgrades, there isn't much of a big difference than the Galaxy S4, so I don't have high hopes for that.

The Galaxy Note 3 was released on September last year. It wasn't as good selling as the Note 2 did the year before, and since I have a lot of hate on Touchwiz, I don't really like the Note 3. But I am quite impressed with the specifications.

The iPhone 5S, along with a cheaper variant, the 5C, came along on September 2013. It was the first time a fingerprint sensor was introduced on a popular smartphone, which was on the 5S which caught quite a few attention. Apple played along with something new, which was called the '64 bit system' which changed the infrastructure for iOS. iOS 7 came along with that, with a brand new 'flat' design, removing 'skeuomorphism' from their designs, which Scott Forstell used to like a lot. (He left after the absolute failure of Apple Maps) As Jony Ive took over iOS development and design, it was already predicted that they would change the interface of iOS.  I don't generally support Apple, as I disagree with their direction. But I rather say they are daring to try out something new, which is always a good thing. However, the 5C was a big flop, literally barely anyone bought the 5C. I rather say Apple should really rethink on the 5C, as I think it's not working too well.

Apple also released its new computer operating system 'Mac OS X 10.9' known as 'Mavericks'. They finally gave up on using vicious animals as their naming system, rather than start using names of places in California. I quite like the new system, although I didn't have the chance to try it (I broke my Macbook by accident :P) but I rather say it's a improvement over Mountain Lion.

One of the biggest turning points for internet surveillance programs in the United States: PRISM, the NSA, and the CIA. On May 2013, Edward Snowden, a contractor for the CIA, became a 'Whistleblower'  and flew all the way from Hawaii to Hong Kong (Where I live). He gave a lot of information on the surveillance program, which one of them is known as 'PRISM' which gathers and analyses user data from major multinational internet companies, such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple, and many more. This has caused a public outrage towards the NSA, and as Snowden is now in Russia (which is known having a bad diplomatic relationship with the United States) he will continue to release more details. Anti surveillance groups have formed around world, hundreds of petitions signed (One of the by Mozilla) and the Congress got involved. Now, what everyone can do is buy a bag of popcorn, and watch more things happen.

Lenovo has done a great job last year, in my opinion. More and more laptops are coming through, and I can see that they are now trying to break through in the smartphone market. Our school has decided to introduce the Lenovo Thinkpad X240s for our current Year 7 and 8's, which they are already using. I quite like the design, but a bit disappointed with the graphics.

HTC's phones are always buried under Samsung's phones, but, I quite like the HTC One. It's a great phone, but I think the reason why it's not doing too well because people already assume 'Samsung is Android' which is not true. Although it's camera is a bit dodgey, but I rather say I quite like 'Blinkfeed' and also its specifications. They also improved a lot on HTC Sense, which many people quite like that change.

The game 'Flappy Bird' literally took over the smartphone gaming rankings for 3 weeks last month, before it was taken down by Dong Ngyuen, which was the developer of it. A very frustrating, yet addictive game. Hated that game though. XD

Just one last thing, the Oppo N1, which is not really been focused on. It is the first commercial smartphone that came with Cyanogemod (Which is also Android), which I think it's a massive breakthrough for Cyanogenmod, as they used to only focus on creating custom ROM's for phones. I first knew about the N1 in Thailand (0.0) which when I was on holiday during Christmas, there was advertising of the phone everywhere. It depends on the future on Cyanogemod, if they are willing to make another breakthrough in the smartphone industry.

Want to follow up on my personal life. I have been doing well, just a bit of stress on work. I actually decided to work on time management, which made it easier for me to write here now. Things have been going well in school. My teaching group became my form group, which I think made things better.

I will follow up next month on Windows 8.1 Update 1, and any new things that will happen in the tech world. See you guys soon!

Office 365

Hey,

I don't know what is going on, but really, the point of this thing was really useless.

MICROSOFT OFFICE 365.

I used to preview before, but really, there is not much difference with 2010. The fact that really, you have buy the 365, is really useless. Because a lot of people have the installation for the preview.

I will follow up later on the updates on that thing.

UPDATES:
The Office 365 plan is that there is a $100 subscription per year. You can install it at most on 5 PC AND  Macs, which means Microsoft is giving up Office for Mac. Good thing or bad thing? Don't think it is a good thing.

As Microsoft is introducing a new payment system, but I doubt that a lot of people would switch to 365. I won't either.

Office 365 looks exiting, but really, it's not worth it. I am not paying $100 US Dollars per year just for cloud storage and a similar interface, just a bit of tweak for the Metro interface.

Would you buy the Office 365? Leave a comment below!

Is Firefox safe?

Hi guys,

Before I start, I would like to remind you that a new update for iTunes 11, iTunes 11.0.1.12 is out. There is a few bug fixes. Update with Apple Software Update app now!

I realized I've been just so off topic recently, so I will write more things that are ON topic. So a lot of people ask this question, Is Firefox safe?

As I am a user of Firefox, one of the few in my year at school, Firefox is recommended in our school, which is a quite a good thing. Firefox (Or Mozilla) is non-profit organization which only gets money from donations, and try to make one of the best browsers in the world, which is one of the main reasons I like Firefox.

Sometimes you don't only judge a good internet browser by it's speed and user number, but by different aspects. Judging a internet browser is a very hard job, because the main purpose is for surfing the internet, no matter if you are using Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox or whatever browser you use.

The important part of a browser is safety, other than speed, user number and user friendliness. Some people (For example, my mom) thinks that Firefox is a very dangerous browser, but is it really one?

I think the people have the wrong idea of thinking Firefox is not safe because they don't know it well. I would say it's actually the safest browser. The Firefox team did not really do a lot of fancy designs on their browser, for example Internet Explorer 9, or Google Chrome, pratically making it faster by not scanning for viruses.

Although Firefox is not a very fast browser, or a very user friendly, but what it always make sure is safety. Looking at the Firefox webpage, there is a whole page just for introducing their security system on Firefox. If you don't believe me, you can check here: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/security/

Well concluding, really, Firefox is the saftest browser you can find. And don't forget, they are doing this for free, and they do not get a single penny other than donations. Support Firefox! 

Follow up on ICT project, iTunes 11?

Dear all,

It's time for me to post again. The past week was a tough week, with homework, test and most of all some private issues with Vanessa (again!)

First, we wish Vanessa a (Late) Happy Birthday, which was on November 23rd!

On our ICT project, we did something independently this week, where we just tried to learn how to use Vegas Pro, which was a good session. I had a bit of a blast of trying to make a simple movie put together. Next week we would really start rolling on the filming process with Colleen, Candy and Caleb (Isn't it all strange that their names all start with a C expect for me?)

So lets move on to some news. Where is our iTunes 11? We've been wating for quite a while now, but some users are starting to lose patience, but never mind, I rather Apple release something finished rather than one full of bugs and unfinished.

iTunes 11 will introduce a brand new design, probably the biggest change since its launch in 2001. With exiting new album view, and the 'Mini' Player when minimised, this is gonna be a exiting version. On the Apple website, it said 'Coming in November' So most people will expect the update in the next two days. Be patient! Apple is trying to make the best.

The death of Ping, their social network will be done on iTunes 11, which they would not have it on iTunes 11. Well Ping is just a failure to me. We expect iTunes 11 to be out in the next few days, which a lot of label companies has heard from.

This two months was quite busy, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Microsoft Surface, iPad Mini, iPad 4th gen, New iMac and 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro. I'm sorry I couldn't cover them, as I was really depressed about Vanessa. I wish I did, so I can just literally pick it up to you all. I promise, I will cover new products in the future.

UPDATE: The brand new Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 is here, with Windows Phone 8 installed. As looking from the email Nokia sent me, it looks pretty impressive.  As far as I know, it has a so-called
PureView camera, and also a PureMotion HD+ Screen, (What does that possibly mean?) And some exiting new features. I will follow up on all the new features of them soon.

Thank you.