Echo Smartpen by Livescribe

I was looking for some gadget to capture whatever that I wrote in paper and send it to people via my laptop. And if it can capture any audio (any ideas that I can talk about), I’m considering it as a bonus. I’ve search high and low for it, until I found Echo smartpen by Livescribe.

I like to write in my free time. And sometimes I need to send my stuff to other people and share the ideas with them. It’s quite difficult to scan something that I wrote in my manual notebook, thus the idea of having a smartpen is quite interesting.

Echo smartpen by Livescribe

I am able to capture everything that I hear and write. Imagine having to write minutes of meeting (which I done thousands of times) and there’s no access to your laptop. The pen is able to capture everything you write on your notebook (in this case, the special A4 notebook by Livescribe) and at the same time, you can record the proceeding of the meeting. After the meeting, all you have to do is to sync it with your laptop (Windows or Mac) and it’s automagically converted via the Livescribe Desktop, where you can view back everything on your own time.

Starter pack

The one that I bought is the 2Gb version. This is enough, in my opinion, based on my habit of transferring everything to my laptop everyday.

What's inside the box

The starterpack comes with the pen, smartpen cap, USB cable, literatures and a starter dot paper.

Echo smartpen

On the pen itself, there are on/off button, micro-USB connector, audio jack (which can fit your standard 3.5mm earphone), high contrast OLED display, microphone (to capture audio), build-in speaker (to hear your playback audio) and soft rubber grip.

A4 Notebook by Livescribe

You have to buy the Livescribe A4 notebook to enhance your experiences with the smartpen. At the bottom of every page, there are special printed icons for your recordings and playbacks (photo at the bottom of this page).

Details of the notebook

The one that I bought comes with 80 sheets paper, each page has its own scientific calculator and divider with two storage pockets.

Printed icons

Pros: Works on both Windows and Mac platforms; easy to use; you’re able to customise your pen with other apps.

Cons: Not cheap; pen is bigger than you think; accessories given with pen are limited; the cap can be easily lost; accessories are also hard to come by; most shops listed as retail shops did not stock enough accessories; only a maximum of 8 numbered notebooks can be used at one time (after that you have to archive and start fresh).

You can check out the pen and its accessories in Malaysia at BIG’ant or retails shops around Malaysia (listed in the website).

Regarding Maxis Hotlink’s Hot Ticket

Hot Ticket (HT)

With regards to Hotlink’s Hot Ticket (HT), I received this SMS from Maxis yesterday:

RM0. From 15/6, unused min & SMS FREE Hot Ticket (HT) will be carried forward with activation of next HT before its expiry & paid HT within 7 day after expiry.

I’m not a fan of HT but sometimes if I can’t find the usual prepaid top up place, HT is the thing.  But what gets me going is, what the hell Maxis is trying to say with the message? I’ve tried to read it a few times, and till now I still can’t comprehend with what’s the telco is trying to convey. Is it a reward or some kind? Is it suppose to make the prepaiders (?) jumping with joy upon hearing the news?

As you Hot Ticketers probably knew, the validity varies according to the value of the HT. For example, a RM15 HT is valid for 10 days, and after that any amount still available will be automatically forfeited. From the message that I’ve received, it gave me the impression that any unused amount will be forwarded and included in the next HT activation. Now that’s a gem. But that’s not really a confirmation from Maxis. So what is it?

I can’t find anything about it in Hotlink’s website either. So Maxis, what the fark are you trying to say here?

Lost your MacBook? Find it with Prey

http://www.preyproject.com

I was reading Cult of Mac article (http://www.cultofmac.com/man-recovers-stolen-macbook-thousands-of-miles-away-heres-how-to-recover-yours/94947) about how a man recovered his MacBook using a free service called Prey (www.preyproject.com). And I decided to try it out myself.

There’s a free recovery service by Apple (via MobileMe) but nothing has been written about it. Moreover, I dunno how long Apple will keep the service free (BTW, MobileMe is a subscription service). And to pay a subscription of more than US$100 a year is definitely a drain to my savings.

Installation is a whizz and with a very small footprint. The Prey software is undetectable in your MacBook and runs invisibly in the background. Once activated, you can log-in into your account (via Prey website) and indicated that your MacBook is missing. The software will then send you a report every 10, 20, 30 or 40 minutes to your email. The software is also able to capture the location of your MacBook, picture(s) of the culprit (via webcam), screenshots of what is being displayed on the screen, uptime and logged users (all these settings can be modified via Prey’s Control Panel).

I would like to report here that I have tried the Prey service thrice (that’s three times), and all three attempts works like a charm.

Prey works with Mac, Windows, Ubuntu, Linux and Android phones. The codes are open-source and available for download at Prey’s website.

Check out Prey introduction video above. May it prove useful to you.

quirky’s PowerCurl for MacBook Pro

One of Apple’s strength is its ability to create wonderful and desired products. Just look at the iPhones and MacBooks. People bought them in millions. Steve Jobs couldn’t get any richer than that.

While having good products under their wings, Apple is intelligent enough to sniff the opportunity to make more money for itself. Therefore, all of their products didn’t come with their own accessories, relying instead on third party companies churning out every accessories known to mankind, which Apple gladly agreed to license.

Simplified

In their Macbook package, Apple supplied two types of extension of their power adaptor, one short and one long. The long extension cable is really long, and storing them in your laptop bag might be messy. Then came the quirky PowerCurl cord manager.

The PowerCurl itself

The PowerCurl is available is several colours (Pink, Blue, Orange, Grey and Lime Green) and supports various MagSafe adaptors’ sizes (be sure to get your exact size or it won’t fit). I got mine in charcoal black as I like the contrast in colour between black PowerCurl and the white MagSafe.

The material of the PowerCurl is made from some sort of rubberised polymer and seems to be able to handle some abuses, consistent with the day-to-day activities of the office warriors.  In the box, it contains the PowerCurl organiser and a clip for plugging the end of the power cord. That’s about it.

How do I organise these cords?

The idea of the cord organiser is for both ends of the cord (plug end and MagSafe end) to wrap around the PowerCurl, allowing for quick and easy unraveling. The included clip enables the plug end of the cord to clip to itself, just like the MagSafe end does.

As you can see from the photo above, my MagSafe is rather disorganised, with cords from both sides tangling without proper organisation.

Apple should make one of these

The MagSafe fits in the middle of the PowerCurl nicely, with both ends of the cords slotted nicely through their openings. A word of caution: If you’re using the other option (shorter cord) which have the plug attached straight to the MagSafe, you can’t use this PowerCurl. It’s more suitable for user who prefer using the longer power cords.

Attach clip to secure cord to PowerCurl

The included clip helps to safely attached the plug to the rest of the cord, thus securing the overall cord.

Look nice and well made

Once secured, you can just throw the PowerCurl inside your laptop bag without having to worry whether the cords will get tangled.

Organised, at last!

If I’m not mistaken, this is the 2nd version of the PowerCurl. The original version didn’t have two sections, which is a damper as both the small and medium cords shared the same section. The new version segregates the cords.

Pros: Easy and straight forward solution to cord management, inexpensive, durable, light, elevates the MagSafe for improved air circulation and cooling, cord is devoid of breakage, protected the MagSafe from scratches (sort of).

Cons: Bulky, only suitable for longer cord, can be made cheaper, only available in Malaysia at Machines outlets.

The PowerCurl is available now for RM58.00 at all Machines outlets.

Cool iPad 2 Unboxing