Kolam (கோலம்)

As seen at The Gardens shopping centre

Deepavali is already here, and with the celebration comes a form of painting called the ‘Kolam‘, created using rice powder which is drawn over geometrical lines .

I’ve tried to capture as many photos of Kolam as possible and while at the Midvalley Megamall and Subang Parade shopping centres, I managed to capture a few. Feast your eyes on the Kolam, and while at it, don’t forget to wish your Hindu friends a Happy Deepavali.

Subang Parade

Kolam at The Gardens Hotel & Residences

Midvalley Megamall (and bottom)

Subang Parade

Apple’s iPad Keyboard Dock

I’ve been using this iPad keyboard dock for a while now, and I guess it’s time for a short review.

The iPad keyboard is an official Apple device and was made by Apple in China, just like all the iDevices. Unlike the bluetooth or the infrared docks available in the market now, this dock requires no battery or any power source whatsoever, as it sap (!) power from the iPad itself. You can also charge the iPad while using the keyboard dock by using the dock connector port at the back. There’s also a connector for connection to external speakers.

Here it is...

From Apple’s sales brochure:

With the iPad Keyboard Dock, you get a useful home base for your iPad. It combines a built-in aluminum Apple keyboard with a dock for syncing, charging, and more. It also works with other iPad accessories, such as the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter and the iPad Camera Connection Kit.

The attached keyboard features a sleek anodized aluminum enclosure with low-profile keys that provide a crisp, responsive feel and an ultracompact design that fits on even the most crowded desk. Special keys provide one-touch access to a variety of iPad features — the Home screen, Spotlight search, display brightness, picture frame mode, the onscreen keyboard, and screen lock.

Unboxing...nice plastic packaging inside the box...smells good too

Packaging is superb and very minimal (very Apple-like), where there’s only the dock, USB cable and a small booklet inside the box. I think Apple can make the box smaller, but probably to not complicate things during shipping, they stick to a rectangle box.

Looks good in real-life

From my first impression during the unboxing (ironically at Austin Chase Coffee The Gardens), the dock is solidly built and not too heavy for carrying and not too light for operation (if it’s too light, the dock will moves around while you’re typing). Built quality is top notch (expected from Apple, again), with a clever usage of plastic and aluminum to make it some sort of a premium product (just like their MacBooks, iPhones and iPads). There’s no sample dock at Machines (where I bought the dock), so there’s no sample set to check before buying. Minus point for Machines.

Have I mention that the dock is a full-sized keyboard? If you own a MacBook, then you’ll feel at home. It’s very comfortable to use the chiclet keys and you’ll rarely missed a key. To make the keyboard looks even better, it was made to be as low profile as the MacBook Air.

Connecting the dock with iPad

Connecting the iPad to the dock is very easy, aligning the iPad with the connector and you’re good to go.

Now for some real life world usage of the keyboard dock. How do I feel about the dock? Well, I’m quite happy and comfortable with it but (yeah, there’s a but) I think Apple should incorporated some improvement on the keyboard itself and not to concentrate too much on the shell design.

It charges the iPad too

I can only wish that:

• The angle of the iPad is adjustable;
• The iPad can be used horizontally too;
• The dock should comes with a carrying case or something like that. It’s a bit weird having to carry the dock inside your laptop bag;
• Larger base at the back of the dock – equals to steadier stand for the iPad;
• Apple sells the dock cheaper, so I can buy two – one for my office and one for home.

But overall (despite the shortcomings), I’m happy with my RM229 purchase. You can get the iPad keyboard dock at Machines or online at Apple Malaysia.

Looks good from the back too

Pros: Excellent built quality; easy to use straight from the box; durable.

Cons: Can be cheaper; sometimes there’s lag while using dock (you press a key and nothing happen); keyboard can be a bit hot when using for extended time; no horizontal mode; hard to carry around.

I’m sorry for the bad photos as I’m using my backup phone (Nokia E5 – fixed focus) to photograph the review.