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!

Happy (Late) birthday, Thinkpad!

5 days ago, Lenovo celebrated 20 years of the Thinkpad. Thinkpad is an buisness laptop, and being praised by many. From the 700, to the X1 Carbon. The original Thinkpad idea was from their 'Think' Notebook (The paper one!), a notebook with a 'Think' on it. The second inspiration was from the 'Bento' lunchbox in Japan.

The Thinkpad is so sucsessful today is becuase of its buisness friendly style and also durability. The Thinkpad has passed 8 military specifications, and also able to withstand drops from 5 feet high (Using the Thinkpad X1 as an example). Why consider using Thinkpad when there is so many different, better designed laptops out there? Its special.

Power-People always had problems with running out of battery while they are on the go. No problem with the Thinkpad. Every year where power standards gets pushed higher, the Thinkpad goes for it. For example the Thinkpad R400 laptop in 2009, it went up to four hours, which is quite a lot in 2009. Now in 2012, it can go up to 8 hours, 24 or even 48. 

The Thinkpad X1 carbon is really a good choice. With a carbon shell, its not destroyable. With a speedy processor, a magnificent IPS display, you will see that you didnt get the right laptop. As becoming the most expensive Thinkpad ever sold, its still worth it. Marking a 20th aniversary of the Thinkpad, will become history.

Opinions matter in IT industry, and as an Thinkpad user, I think the Thinkpad can give me full power no matter if I am working or playing. As Thinkpad passes a lot of specifications, even the toughest enviornment in our school, it still can give a tough side.