tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-371402492024-03-13T10:12:10.371+04:00 ZOMG! <i><u> Disclaimer:</u> Somewhere on this blog are multiple grammatical mistakes, spelling errors and obscure Star Wars references. </i>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-57542322100667730392011-10-20T15:42:00.001+04:002011-10-20T15:43:19.903+04:00Review: LG Optimus 3D - Aesthetics & Features<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">For my final review on the LG Optimus 3D, I’m going to focus on the usable 3D elements and the look & feel of the phone itself. As mentioned earlier, the LG Optimus 3D comes with a 3D Hot Key in the same location where traditionally you would find a dedicated Camera button on other smartphones The hot key allows users to switch from 2D to 3D on the fly and switch back. Hold it for a couple of seconds and it takes you into the 3D Guide, which is your portal to all the 3D stuff in the phone; Games, Apps, YouTube 3D, the 3D gallery and the 3D camera.<br />
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<a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Tipping a hat to its moniker the phone delivers 3D content efficiently and without hesitation. Pre-loaded 3D games like N.O.V.A, Asphalt 6 and Let’s Golf 2 (all award winning games btw) deliver the content they promise. I did notice that sometimes while playing N.O.V.A. the 3D effect would result in what looked like a double screen – you would see two distinct layers (since you’re not wearing glasses). However, you can get rid of this problem simply by adjusting the depth of the 3D in the game (yes, you can do that). While these are only the pre-loaded games, you have the following games available to download:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">James Cameron’s Avatar<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Ultimate Spider Man: Total Mayhem<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">GT Racing: Motor Academy<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Shrek Kart<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Real Football 2011<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Star Battalion<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">N.O.V.A. 2 -- Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Dungeon Hunter 2<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Fishing Kings<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">BackStab<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Eternal Legacy<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: 14.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Shadow Guardian<o:p></o:p></span></li>
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Sweet, huh? Wanna make it sweeter? LG is taking content creation to a new level with a free software that can convert 2D games to 3D, available for download to all Optimus 3D owners in the third quarter. So now-ish. Video content can also be converted to 3D, just by selecting the on-screen conversion option. You can even take 3D movies and pictures, again by just flicking the switch. The actual 3D portal of the phone is actually pretty well rendered itself, which is a delight. It’s good 3D that doesn’t give you a headache.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">One interesting thing about this phone is that it has comes with exclusive access to YouTube 3D, which is the video sharing website's dedicated 3D portal. Through this you can view and share 3D content on YouTube. I must admit that I didn’t really use much of this earlier on, but once I had the phone, I did dabble around and for the most bit I liked what I saw. It’s a decent portal for you to upload your 3D video content. According to Wikipedia: <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 49.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">“The</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">YouTube</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">Flash</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">player can display stereoscopic content interleaved in rows, columns or a checkerboard pattern, side-by-side or</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">anaglyph</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">using a red/cyan, green/magenta or blue/yellow combination. In May 2011, an HTML5</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">version of the YouTube player began supporting side-by-side 3D footage</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">that is compatible with</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">Nvidia 3D Vision.</span></i></span><i>”<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal">The LG Optimus 3D is a big, bulky phone with a mega 4.3in 480x800 screen. Fortunately for LG, I like my phones big and my iPods small, so I’m the last person to complain about the size of the phone. The finish is exquisite and if you turn it around, the cameras and flash are seated in a metallic strip and the rest of the phone sits in a dark black/brown case giving it an aura of suave. The 4 home keys light up on the bottom panel when the phone is in use, however if they’re not lit up it’s pretty hard to tell which is which. Minor issue, but you get over it soon enough.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Great phone, great apps, great features and great design. This phone is the ultimate put-on-table-to-set-the-mood phone.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-85180936686612252332011-10-11T11:59:00.000+04:002011-10-11T11:59:53.819+04:00Review: LG Optimus 3D - Real Time 2D - 3D Conversion!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The first time I was exposed to 2D – 3D conversion, I was on a 42-inch TV and I was watching The Dark Knight. So I was fairly impressed when I saw Nolan’s movie in 3D, knowing that it was a traditionally shot 2D movie. It was no Avatar, but it was cool nonetheless. I even remember <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ashrafghori">Ashraf Ghori</a>’s reaction when he discovered that you could just 3D something, with the flick of a button. From all the gimmicks in the 3D world, 2D – 3D real-time conversion is probably one of my favourites. It allows me to see in 3D things I’d actually want to. I want to insert an inappropriate joke here, but that’s for a later time. <br />
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The trick with 2D – 3D conversion is creating the second layer of image (which one eye perceives differently than the other) where it doesn’t already exist. Conventional 3D has 2 layers. Conversion involves creating an illusion of a layer, because the second layer does not exist. How it works, is by create a sharp contrast on-screen – between a large and small object, through overlapping objects, or through differing levels of brightness or clarity – which then forces the right and left eye to analyze things differently. <br />
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In continuing my review of the LG Optimus 3D, one of its features is real-time 2D – 3D conversion. Any video that you play on the phone, even those you take with its cameras can be converted, at the touch of an on-screen button, into 3D. First, let’s discuss regular videos: Any video that you see on the phone, be it something that you shot using the phone’s HD camera or a video downloaded into your phone. Once you start playing it, you have the on-screen option to convert the video into 3D. Converting takes about a millisecond as the screen spurts out the video in 3D within a fraction of selecting the option. Real time conversion, it definitely is. The results are not bad either! Bearing in mind that the video was shot in 2D and that conversion takes place on the fly, the results are comparable to that big TV that I saw conversion in. However, there’s the slight difference, that due to LG’s Parallax Barrier screen, you don’t even need those annoying glasses. So switch to 3D on a whim, switch back when you feel like it. All that, without having to put on or take off a pair of oversized glasses. <br />
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The cameras at the back of the phone also offer visual delights. Firstly, they look cool. They’re like little eyes at the back of your phone. Incidentally, I’ve decided to name this phone Leonard.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-RN7NirAhiEKCP7GOLsF3XQCCFmWr_5W-iXLFSPfo0V6CkMsByVQmuLc9hd7AEJ2F0B4gLUDUDOyMamGLAvq1uzRGkG5dalfOMrH0w4InGih1aP2OUuNP_sdqH81kzyLh_vqz6A/s1600/LG_Optimus_3D_horizontal_rear_side1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-RN7NirAhiEKCP7GOLsF3XQCCFmWr_5W-iXLFSPfo0V6CkMsByVQmuLc9hd7AEJ2F0B4gLUDUDOyMamGLAvq1uzRGkG5dalfOMrH0w4InGih1aP2OUuNP_sdqH81kzyLh_vqz6A/s320/LG_Optimus_3D_horizontal_rear_side1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look into my bulbous bug eyes..</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Leonard’s cameras are capable of full HDMI recording, in 2D and 3D. While in 2D its output sits pretty at 1080p. Switch to 3D means you sacrifice a little bit of the quality (you now record in 780p) but you’re carrying around a little James Cameron in your pocket. Switching between 2D and 3D shooting modes is again done at the flick of an on-screen button, activating the second camera to give you a dual perception on whatever it is you’re shooting. As an experiment, I shot 2 videos, both of the same items on my desk, one in 2D (1080p) and the other in 3D (780p). Then I played the 2D one and converted it to 3D with the on-screen feature. Both videos displayed very good quality, however the video shot in 3D was better at depth perception (obviously) than the one that was converted to 3D, which still wasn’t far behind. The depth perception was not as strong in the converted video, but it was there. Interestingly enough, while watching the 3D video, I was given the option to ‘2D’ it. Upon checking what it was, the screen splits in two and you have 2 video feeds, one from each camera. So it actually shows you the 2 individual perspectives, which if you then flick the option again, becomes one video, with depth. <br />
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The video below gives a fairly well-marketed impression of the 3D camera. It's pretty sweet..<br />
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</div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-90204609551100160782011-10-05T12:47:00.002+04:002011-10-05T12:50:41.984+04:00Review: LG Optimus 3D - Tiny Little 3D Monster!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFF7MvvmF8aPPX0kCfz3B7EpjH68ah0WWUmktF3k9vZE8plM1UxiZnMltnkpMWldQ2RVEm-Bt1aGNtBFMnRytq53OBZybowdc-y2Mz3kfb5aWovfIzVfEsulaw9_86eDk8iTGYkA/s1600/51X410JN8DL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFF7MvvmF8aPPX0kCfz3B7EpjH68ah0WWUmktF3k9vZE8plM1UxiZnMltnkpMWldQ2RVEm-Bt1aGNtBFMnRytq53OBZybowdc-y2Mz3kfb5aWovfIzVfEsulaw9_86eDk8iTGYkA/s200/51X410JN8DL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a movie..</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remember when Titan A.E. released (back in 2000) as the first animated movie to feature Digital 3D. And what an awesome movie that was. Sure it flopped, but hey, the movie is still legendary. I still have the OST cd. Best movie soundtrack EVER. But I digress.. <br />
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We’ve come a long way since then with 3D accomplishments like Shrek, Avatar etc.. What started as a ‘gimmick’ has stuck around for a while now and earlier when big budget 3D movies would release, it would say, “3D in select cinemas!” We’ve now moved on to a point where I see “Releasing in 2D in select cinemas.” The gimmick is here to stay. <br />
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Since then manufacturers all over the world herald 3D as the next big thing when it comes to technological advance and devices have started joining in the 3D carnival. First you had TVs and Monitors and then video games caught on as well with Nintendo releasing the 3DS, the first 3D device that does not need glasses. Fast forward Q3 2011 and enter the LG Optimus 3D, the first smartphone to boast 3D capabilities, without glasses.</span><br />
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I’ll be very direct; I’m not a fan of 3D visual technology. It gives me (and most others) a headache. Like really bad, behind-my-eyeball kinda headache. So whenever I’m forced to watch a movie in 3D, I usually cringe at the thought and start thinking of ways to get my money back. The annoyance for me has always been the headache. Fortunately for the Optimus 3D, <b>I’ve not had a single headache using its 3D capabilities.</b> Nada. Zilch. <i>Not even a peep.</i> The phone comes packed with 3D options like 3D games, apps, cameras (yes, 3D pictures and videos) and even an exclusive 3D YouTube portal. <br />
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For one to be able to enjoy the 3D experience without glasses, the Optimus 3D incorporates a 4.3inch stereoscopic display. Put simply, it’s 2 screens, one behind the other, that are misaligned. Both screens show the same image from misaligned point of views, giving the illusion of depth. Sorta like the prism pictures of old that would show an image at one angle and another when tilted a little. <br />
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The result? 3D movies, images, games, applications, you name it! Unfortunately since our monitors (and most probably the one you’re using) don’t support 3D media, I can’t really share the experience with you, but for someone who is not a fan of 3D visuals, I’m quite impressed. The 3D works seamlessly, backed by LG’s Tri-Dual technology, delivering some very good (and headache-less, I must add) 3D results. <br />
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Flip the phone around and it boasts not one but two 5MP cameras with an LED Flash. When you turn on the camera function, it defaults on 2D which results in only one of the cameras switching on. With a flick on the top right corner, you switch the camera into 3D mode, which activates the second camera. Both cameras then function as ‘eyes’, capturing 2 angles of the same image which it then throws onto the screen in 3D. Very fancy and very convincing. Video recording works the same way; regular startup in 2D, flick a button and you’ve got 3D video recording on the fly. Take a nice video, upload it to the exclusive YouTube 3D portal that comes built into the phone and voila! you’re middle name is James Cameron (minus the millions). Admittedly it's difficult to show the results of a 3D camera on a blog, but below you'll see the same image shot in 2D on the left and 3D on the right! </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha0RSxhDAOMwuMmj6uvtoSyCHtTRcmajX6Cc0CwF6Mr3AEuuX8M_NsFaZNA8WqsD9mvOrp73e3HAo9kHLuiwWcz9cgv21BO4jMcDRc3lw99Iyh8mUFJkIFQO4_uXoepy2A1p_qiw/s1600/3d+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha0RSxhDAOMwuMmj6uvtoSyCHtTRcmajX6Cc0CwF6Mr3AEuuX8M_NsFaZNA8WqsD9mvOrp73e3HAo9kHLuiwWcz9cgv21BO4jMcDRc3lw99Iyh8mUFJkIFQO4_uXoepy2A1p_qiw/s320/3d+1.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv1rQBNxsAUD9DQzYokd3DIUzLkw6-SUWhkg0MInYiZeq0t0_vj92g7TwA-SX0RkQRJRaP6o_vqWkenm89dWGiGiwtLZ-zJVb3tcMV2nW8_6yvswhwf0w-M-w936xswp-BoYUHXQ/s1600/3d+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv1rQBNxsAUD9DQzYokd3DIUzLkw6-SUWhkg0MInYiZeq0t0_vj92g7TwA-SX0RkQRJRaP6o_vqWkenm89dWGiGiwtLZ-zJVb3tcMV2nW8_6yvswhwf0w-M-w936xswp-BoYUHXQ/s320/3d+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Apologies for the blurry image. I was taking a picture of a picture. *Insert Inception Joke Here*</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
My only criticism of the phone is that it does not have a dedicated Camera button. Traditionally, smartphones come equipped with a button on the right side of the phone that’s hard wired to the camera. The LG Optimus 3D does not have such a button and one must go through the applications drawer to pull it out. However, that spot is not left blank; instead LG have replaced it with a dedicated 3D hotkey. This hotkey allows instant access to the phone’s 3D capabilities (games, apps, galleries, cameras, 3D YouTube etc.) and also allows for instant 2D – 3D or 3D – 2D conversion. More on that later though! <br />
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To summarize, I’ve not been a fan of 3D technology, whether it’s on the big screen or these little ones. However, I’m more than impressed with the Optimus 3D. It’s not easy to get something right, when it's already perceived as annoying. Imagine <b><i>suddenly liking Justin Bieber's newest single</i></b>. As it stands though, LG’s doing a pretty decent job with what used to be an annoying feature for me.</span><br />
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</span></div></div></div></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-6689940866188952502011-09-08T16:15:00.001+04:002011-09-08T16:23:00.993+04:00Review: LG Optimus 3D's Tri-Dual Technology<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Let’s face it, everyone loves their own smartphones and likes to believe that theirs is the best. I personally am a bit of an Android buff, mainly because I enjoy the flexibility I get from one of them, so for me, the best smartphone is usually the best Android you can get. I recently got my hands on the LG Optimus 3D which boasts, amongst other things, something they call Tri-Dual technology. Before I explore the ‘depth’ of LG’s latest venture into mobile 3D, I’ll talk about this first.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtrxkqfQ65BkFdX_EmCmAlBgJcAPG9L4QUympUvsIpxQa4g-JQpZNRcsxJKQCSHP1rkGXtjlaiJGKISWO7KX2v8T3oJzMOG1YiuSr9QK_RqDQ8md_rSqGmAdxzzXMEjjMhhtF7w/s1600/LG+Optimus+3D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtrxkqfQ65BkFdX_EmCmAlBgJcAPG9L4QUympUvsIpxQa4g-JQpZNRcsxJKQCSHP1rkGXtjlaiJGKISWO7KX2v8T3oJzMOG1YiuSr9QK_RqDQ8md_rSqGmAdxzzXMEjjMhhtF7w/s400/LG+Optimus+3D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LG Optimus 3D</td></tr>
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What is Tri Dual technology? A lot of phones these days pack dual cores, which they ultimately claim will speed up the overall processing capacity of the phone. Now while this is true, this is not optimized. Dual cores that communicate with the same processor cause, in the big picture, a traffic jam between the the core and the processor. With the LG Optimus 3D, the phone has both dual processors and dual cores, which can communicate with each other individually and simultaneously using dual channels. 3 dual technologies give you LG’s Tri-Dual gambit, the LG Optimus 3D. Here’s a short video I found after a little YouTube-ing to help state LG’s case: <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dtLP6naaibg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
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I ran the Antutu Benchmark app on the phone a day after I got it and I racked it against a rooted Samsung Galaxy SII. Overall the SII performed slightly better, but this is because it was rooted and overclocked. The LG Optimus 3D is unrooted and so not overclocked. Bearing that in mind, it came very close to the overclocked SII's performance. I'm sure if the LG was rooted and overclocked, it would blow the SII out of the water. More about this later. Here’s a little snapshot of the test results: <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHmTkpIKPcUYGxdhBhPyMyeuVVEOo8TM-KjbkPPL7qkPs-9kx-NPbYHALuvNRZTPh90l0ukrVFFX37XBsNF7cN0YZblgNqzDxO3l58tFngVfVRaEzZnYsKzl4spbvpTFGDISAaaQ/s1600/Antutu.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHmTkpIKPcUYGxdhBhPyMyeuVVEOo8TM-KjbkPPL7qkPs-9kx-NPbYHALuvNRZTPh90l0ukrVFFX37XBsNF7cN0YZblgNqzDxO3l58tFngVfVRaEzZnYsKzl4spbvpTFGDISAaaQ/s640/Antutu.png" width="432" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Antutu Benchmark on un-rooted LG Optimus 3D</td></tr>
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Overall, I think LG struck a birdie with this phone. It’s got a reliable, responsive engine under the hood and it is very aesthetically pleasing (more on that later). It’s a nice phone to place on your table to set the tone. I’ve yet to experience lags or delays in commands and battery life has yet to disappoint. Here’s the interesting thing though: I’ve been running this phone with only the GSM radio on (so no Wi-Fi unless I’m at home, no 3G etc.) and it lasts 3 full days without me having to charge it. Sure, my talk time on this phone is not as much as my regular, but it’s still very good for a phone that has so much to fuel under the hood. Also bear in mind that it’s packing the same battery that I have in my existing phone, which barely last half a day if I’ve been making phone calls.<br />
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The LG Optimus 3D. So far, so good.<br />
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_ </div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-31252701559518543872011-08-15T12:47:00.000+04:002011-08-15T12:47:01.576+04:00AMD's VISION - The APU. (And why you should vote for me!)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXS52buFk4Y2sjS6NwGdfcUG25IWrcBYgYjIO037Nuk-ebB-ATLptTi9u0q9S7_vrSFXUsf_g-soiuOXS5p9h9gWX8YQpg0kfn7MarVb_M8P0w3ZaPqNh5PuD-rgzLEp1ApvsOVQ/s1600/VISION_Logo_L_E_RGB.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXS52buFk4Y2sjS6NwGdfcUG25IWrcBYgYjIO037Nuk-ebB-ATLptTi9u0q9S7_vrSFXUsf_g-soiuOXS5p9h9gWX8YQpg0kfn7MarVb_M8P0w3ZaPqNh5PuD-rgzLEp1ApvsOVQ/s1600/VISION_Logo_L_E_RGB.png" /></a></div>I'm not usually one to enter this sort of competition, but when the good people at AMD approached me during an event that I held for them, I could hardly say no. I need votes to win, but before I get into that, let me run you through AMD's VISION..<br />
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Beyond all the computer jargon and fancy talk, it's all very simple. The folks at AMD had a vision that everyone and their uncles should be able to have a supercomputer. Simple things like full time HD, a battery life of over 8 hours, across the board 3D capabilities and much more were desired. So they built an APU - Accelerated Processing Unit. This is what AMD had to say about their APU:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">"Information inside a computer flows between two critical areas: the GPU (for creative and visual tasks) and the CPU (for analytical and logic-based functions). Traditional PCs have separate CPUs and GPUs which leads to a communication bottleneck. This often results in extensive slowdowns for consumers.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Introducing the innovative AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU):</b></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Powerful AMD processor technology and discrete-class, DirectX® 11–capable graphics combined on a single chip. It’s the perfect combination of beauty and brawn—delivering smooth HD video, powerful multitasking and energy efficiency. AMD's new APU features up to 4 x86 cores combined with up to 400 Radeon™ graphics cores in a single microchip."</span></i></div><br />
That's how they describe it. In simpler terms they took, what has always been the more capable chip in a computer the GPU, and built it into the CPU, thereby increasing the processing power by at least 80%! Smart move, eh? You know have a simple chip that has tons of more processing power, making things like extended battery life, full time HD and 3D child's play. All of this is rooted in AMD's VISION engine. I'll let them explain that to you:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>"AMD VISION Engine — </b>The foundation of VISION Technology from AMD that enables vivid HD</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">entertainment, blazing-fast Internet browsing and accelerated media applications</span></i>.<b>"</b></div><br />
Pretty sweet, huh? My request now is to get you guys over to their website and vote! Each of the challengers, yours truly included, has to gather votes and the challenger with the most votes gets to go to the <a href="http://www.aclfestival.com/">Austin City Limits Music Festival</a> to see, amongst others, Arcade Fire, Coldplay Kanye West etc. live!<br />
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Help a brother out? Click <a href="http://visionchallenge.votigo.com/ara/contests/showentry/816897">here</a> to start voting for your friendly, neighbourhood smartass!<br />
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</div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-29152142957575287072011-04-30T00:15:00.007+04:002011-05-05T17:23:55.164+04:00Review: Crysis 2 (360, PS3, PC)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Here's my review of Crysis 2, that was originally featured on <a href="http://www.lochalarchade.com/">LochalArchade.com</a>. You can find the original post <a href="http://lochalarchade.com/2011/04/crysis-2/">here</a>.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">___________</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
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</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5601102874515829778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0darlONKWp_wCtjPNxfr515p8bw2I8E93swnVJMs7Fn2hbz5OrTaXbycSB2BEsUHuMn_c3eitJwJvmNHq88ahyphenhyphena0HU2Bfqt1TCT1Fomw4WEeiJXRCqGwZgIwRwPuAGNtLI8_BA/s320/Crysis-2-Screen-3-600x337.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 180px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">How do you top a game that has since become a benchmark for performance? How many times has the quote, “Yeah, my new rig can run Crysis on full steam, no problem,” been used to gain brownie points in the gaming community? When you create a game that becomes the label by which a computer’s performance is quantified against, making a sequel to a game like that, is not something easily accomplished. I mean, ask the guys at 3D Realms how their sequel to Duke Nukem came along.</span></span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">So here it is. Crysis 2. After Crysis: Warhead and Crysis Wars, we finally have the full sequel to the game that made you want a better computer. What’s good? It carries over all the things that you enjoyed in the original Crysis; the nanosuit, stealth, armor, big guns and bigger (better looking too) enemies to boot.</span></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Crysis 2 takes you away from the lush jungles that you experienced in the original game and drops you in the urban jungle of New York City, post Ceph devastation. As you move in and out of buildings, sewers and tunnels the landscape offers you various entries into the battle, allowing you to plan your strike in various ways. If you’re playing on higher difficulty levels, this will prove especially useful as the enemy AI frags you repeatedly. Indoors however, this freedom is slightly limited but more often than not you can find multiple ways around.</span></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">However, after I got over the initial joy of finally having Crysis 2 to play I discovered something that dulled my high. For the first few hours of game time, gameplay was a bit… boring. Sure, it picked up soon enough but the initial low was a mood killer.</span></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If you’ve not played the original Crysis, you’re going to wonder what the big deal was about as you start playing Crysis 2. The human enemies are mostly clueless as they pick out the worst spots for cover and run right past you without giving you a healthy lead injection. Interestingly enough I noticed that the alien enemies were a lot, ‘smarter,’ seeking to go around you and kill you from behind rather than just wait for you to pop out of cover or run out of cloak.</span></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The new map of controls is in one word, elegant. Seeing as there’s so much the nanosuit can do, the original Crysis had a complicated ability map. That is no longer the case. With the combination of the speed and strength abilities into regular movement, switch times are much shorter and are generally a delight to have. So if you were dreading the same complicated controls from the original game, the new simplified set up is a massive one up. Now if you want to activate the speed ability, it’s at the click of the analog stick, as opposed to having to activate it separately like in Crysis.</span></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">One thing I really enjoyed in Crysis 2 was the fact that there’s always so much information crammed into your screen, which still does not hinder your gameplay. Switching between the maximum armor and the cloak set up are simply indicated with interlocking armor on the borders and you going invisible, respectively. Another example of visual improvement is the Ceph. They’ve gone from being slimy, octo-aliens to armored fighting octo-aliens. They look meaner and that adds to their menace.</span></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Pros:</span></span></div><ul style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 2px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Visually wonderful. Every light source will emit lens glare. The attention to detail is remarkable.</span></span></li>
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<li style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Nanosuit controls remap make gameplay smoother and easier</span></li>
<li style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Alien enemies are better designed and much fun to kill</span></li>
<li style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Open terrain allows for multiple gameplay executions</span></li>
<li style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Details packed into the HUD do not hinder gameplay</span></li>
<li style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">New York City looks every bit like a devastated metropolis, especially during the night battles.</span></li>
</span></ul><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Cons:</span></span></div><ul style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 2px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">First few hours are mind numbing</span></span></li>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;">
<li style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Human enemies are often confused, lost and quite dumb due to poor AI. Makes the game less exciting</span></li>
</span></ul><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #404040; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div></div></div></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-59637425598159093842011-04-10T16:40:00.009+04:002011-05-05T17:26:57.071+04:00Review: The Samsung Smart TV. How Smart is Smart?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGwmZAB48CQ8s-tnQiOMtVqxRNy2d4ZFpVjFvP1oHJNPZoCRy4pFgRYqMUvzNBQ9QLDc7OvliOiViBv7XVWZZCj8z2m2fDiAtM5wOlyY55cYMRum4-x0cgIPtvHARlUtg2MyxWEA/s1600/_SAM3636.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595759936358486290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGwmZAB48CQ8s-tnQiOMtVqxRNy2d4ZFpVjFvP1oHJNPZoCRy4pFgRYqMUvzNBQ9QLDc7OvliOiViBv7XVWZZCj8z2m2fDiAtM5wOlyY55cYMRum4-x0cgIPtvHARlUtg2MyxWEA/s400/_SAM3636.jpg" style="cursor: move; height: 225px; margin-top: 0px; width: 400px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span">About a week before their launch on 6 April, I was invited by the folk at Samsung to have a look at their new product the Samsung Smart TV. Alongside me were a bunch of other technology related bloggers, like <a href="http://twitter.com/daddybird">Paul ‘DaddyBird’ Castle</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/mnystedt">Magnus Nystedt</a> of <a href="http://twitter.com/pcworldme">PCWorld</a>, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/asatiir">Mohammed Al Huraiz</a> of <a href="http://lochalarchade.com/">Lochal Archade</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/2s8">Saurabh Chabra</a>, the young chap from <a href="http://emr8.com/">EMR8.com</a> and the legendary <a href="http://twitter.com/ashrafghori">Ashraf Ghori</a>, creator of the <a href="http://xero-error.com/">Xero Error</a> series</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span">With this nice little focus group, I guess they aimed at getting a geek’s opinion on the Smart TV. The event itself was held at the Media One hotel at Dubai Media City which is not too far from where I work. As I arrived, I was greeted by <a href="http://www.twitter.com/manikarthik">Mani Karthik</a> and interestingly enough 2 of my former schoolmates. Quick hellos done, one of the Samsung reps got right into the skinny with the TV.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span">The TV itself is very aesthetically pleasing. The one we were shown was a shiny silver, with a very thin frame, so you were looking mostly at a screen, with an illuminated Samsung logo right in the middle. So, answering the question of how good will it look in my living room, I’d say pretty damn good.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span">Picture Quality; Wonderful. The colours were crisp and the TV delivered the viewing experience that one would expect from a product of this sort. The 3D feature, for movies shot in 3d, was surprisingly not giving me a headache, as one would usually expect from wearing 3D glasses. A sweet little gimmick the TV pulled off was real-time conversion of 2D to 3D. Case in point, the guys at Samsung played Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight on the screen and we watched the first few minutes in regular 2D. Bear in mind, this movie was not shot in 3D at all. They then pulled out the remote and a few presses here and there and voila! We were watching Heath Ledger in 3D. From what they then continued to tell me, this could be further applied to video games, so if you’re gaming and decided you suddenly wanted to see in 3D, all you had to do was flip a switch.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span">Way cool.</span></div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595759338614835810" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA68Dud7UpqutsZrRTAhSJRZsZZjJErZAPznrwMxd9dYDHjgNeriDXNc3g_qUJAhY4niFsk5RkbWDQSwCxOWLvKuhgSb1SbCyTiIRpvYlFZgxDA5YkY_OCKdIVw9fmgc80XK3SfA/s400/Samsung+tv+pic+1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 241px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 400px;" /> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span">Now let’s talk about the ‘Smart,’ aspect of the TV. The TV allows you to wirelessly sync with other (permitted) devices like your Samsung Galaxy Tab or a hard drive etc. With this feature you can browse through contents in Tab or Hard Drive and play them on the screen. Nifty little trick. The TV also features browsing, so one could switch to a full web browser and check for footie scores, while watching 'Days of Our Lives.' Another feature that Samsung call 'Social TV,' allows you to:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Chat, blog and share with friends and family while watching TV</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Access social networks like Facebook & Twitter</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Access communication and messaging programs like Google Talk & Skype </span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span">So, you could do all the things above while still watching TV. Interestingly enough, the TV itself doesn't have a built in webcam, so it sort of takes out the point of being Skype-capable. Now, while being chat capable is still cool, <span class="Apple-style-span">unfortunately the big-wigs at Samsung decided not to give this TV Bluetooth capabilities. This means I can’t use Bluetooth to connect a keyboard to the TV to use while chatting/browsing and will instead have to resort to the keypad on the back of the remote that comes with it. Boo. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span">The TV has access to Samsung Apps, which I thought was cool, until the presenter started focusing on the sheer number of apps on the Samsung App Market. All 300 - 400 of them. Nope. Not buying that gimmick. Having apps is cool, but that can’t be your selling point. I won’t be using apps on my TV as much as I would on a tab/phone/computer. That’s why I bought a tab/phone/computer in the first place.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span">Overall, the Smart TV is a good looking device, that can allow you to surf the web, browse your HD or Tab content wirelessly, check your social networks and actually watch TV all in one place. Here’s my issue with the TV though; Unfortunately, for reasons that I’m assuming are economical, the TV cannot do everything my phone can do. And my phone is a ‘Smart’ phone. While there’s no doubt about the technological achievement that the TV is, one has to bear in mind that calling something a ‘Smart’ device, that can’t do all the ‘smart’ things that my phone can, will dampen the impact the TV has to the technologically savvy consumer. Also, seeing as the TV they showed us costs a sweet bit at AED 6k, Samsung is not targeting the average consume, but the above-average, technology savvy money spenders.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span">Future TVs will probably have better processors and so be able to do all the cool things a ‘smart’ device can do (and it’s quite likely it’ll be the folk at Samsung who come through with it), but the Samsung Smart TV is not just there yet. It’s made the first move, and a massive kudos to Samsung for that, but it’s not quite there yet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span>Pros:<br />
Picture Quality<br />
2D to 3D Conversion<br />
Wireless Sync to external devices<br />
Web browser & Social Networking capabilities while watching TV<br />
Aesthetically pleasing</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
Cons:<br />
Lack of Digital TV in the region, makes a few 'smart' features unusable, thus reducing value for money.<br />
Limited Apps<br />
No Bluetooth<br />
Limitations in living up to the full expectations of a ‘smart’ device</span></div></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-92007284372762713642011-03-23T23:15:00.005+04:002011-05-05T17:28:33.235+04:00Review: BulletStorm (360, PS3, PC)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span">Now, when someone tells me, "hey dude, remember <a href="http://www.twitter.com/therealcliffyb">Cliff Bleszinksi</a>? Yeah, he made a new game," the bar is already pretty darn high. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Bleszinski happens to be part of the Epic Games team. Remember them? They made Gears of War.</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thanks to the wonderful folk at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ea_me">EA Middle East</a>, I got my hands on a sweet little copy of Bulletstorm. And man, it was good. BS (lol) follows the story of a crew of former assassins - turned - mercenaries out to get back at their former boss who betrayed them. A simple story line, so not much you can do wrong with that. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The main problem with creating an FPS/TPS is being able to differentiate it from all the others. So while Halo focused on an inspiring story to follow, Gears of War focused on cover-and-duck gameplay etc., Bulletstorm focuses on forcing the player to find new ways to kill the baddies. These ways, are called Skillshots.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">With a unique, 'leash,' you can pull baddies towards you (Mortal Kombat's Scorpion style) and decide how you wish to dispatch them. This could involve, and is not limited to, kicking them onto a cactus, shooting them in the balls (yes, balls) or throwing them out of a building. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Non-repetitive gameplay, foul language, a nice array of weapons with a unique secondary fire option for each weapon, believable boss characters and a story that doesn't make you go, "Seriously?" make this a game worth your time. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Visual:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>8.5/10</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Audio:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>9.5/10</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Gameplay:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10/10</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Story:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>9/10</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">M</span></div></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-16246127703381602912011-03-23T23:09:00.003+04:002011-05-05T17:29:02.713+04:00KTM X-Bow - An affordable supercar?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXv-XXwFCmGphKlUlaSka2WyQDHeqBDNDXmQ9vaA6mYFk_L6V2JbG6v0bwL3_klSXzV5bsRN5EkMD19BHytOfapZdBfIeWamPoTx0XsgYHXZ_Hhl-Yq0gHo_aCWhPo2DX6fWzp/s1600/KTM+XBOW.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580683936451657906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXv-XXwFCmGphKlUlaSka2WyQDHeqBDNDXmQ9vaA6mYFk_L6V2JbG6v0bwL3_klSXzV5bsRN5EkMD19BHytOfapZdBfIeWamPoTx0XsgYHXZ_Hhl-Yq0gHo_aCWhPo2DX6fWzp/s320/KTM+XBOW.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 138px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><u><br />
</u></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">As reblogged from <a href="http://www.leftlanenews.com/ktm-x-bow.html">Left Lane News</a>:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Austrian motorcycle builder KTM first revealed its new X-Bow (read as: Crossbow) roadster in 2007, but sales didn't begin until 2008. The 1500-pound car has a four-cylinder Audi engine offering 237 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 228 pound-feet of torque between 2200 and 4000 rpm. Audi reportedly considered selling a version of the X-Bow under its own brand, but later dropped the idea.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">A choice of either a six-speed manual or DSG gearbox is offered. KTM says the X-Bow will hit 62 mph in 3.9 seconds. A top speed of 180 mph is said to be possible. You can also look into the KTM X-Bow R which belts out an extra 60bhp to top out at 300bhp.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">The X-Bow has no windshield, and instead will come with specially designed helmets, intended to offer shelter from the elements rather than full crash protection. </span>KTM originally intended to build 500 X-Bows annually but has already received orders for over 1,000 examples. Pricing starts around $55,000 in the United States.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Between the X-Bow and the Ariel Atom, it appears as though more companies are attempting to offer supercar performance at a more main-stream price. While the new entrants don't offer the luxury or prestige of more expensive sports car, they do rival their performance numbers.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Although it remains to be seen if the new breed of ultra-light and affordable sports cars can sustain their popularity, the news of KTM's expansion seems to be good news for the segment.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">____</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><end></end></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Now surely, at $55,000 it is still a sweet chunk of <i>fuloos</i>. Sure, it's an Audi engine and it looks very much like a street legal go-kart with 6 gears, but is it still an, 'affordable sports car'? So I snooped around some. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Paid a visit to the dealers for KTM, Al Shafar Group, and had a quick chat with them about the X-bow. As it stands they sell the super light for AED 460,000. Four Hundred and Sixty Thousand Dirhams. Now assuming you did not have that much to write off in a single cheque and decide to pay it off in installments for the next 5 years, you would be shelling out AED 9,200 per month. Fark.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">So, long story short, for the same amount of pesos that I'd shell out for the X-bow, I could buy <a href="http://www.sacarfan.co.za/wp-content/gallery/mitsubishi-evo-x-fq-400/sacarfan-mitsubishi-evo-x-fq-400-01.jpg">this</a> and turn it into <a href="http://www.modified.com/news/modp-0909-ryan-gates-mitsubishi-evolution-x/index.html">this</a> and still have money left over for a nice long cruise in the Bahamas.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">There's no argument that the X-bow is one hell of a vehicle. Unfortunately, the money that you would have to give for it in this country renders it ridiculously overpriced. Sure the X-bow can do wonders around a track, but at what cost?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Unfortunate. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">M</span></div></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-49404746458176495112011-03-23T23:05:00.000+04:002011-03-23T23:08:47.965+04:00Hot Hatches<span class="Apple-style-span" >When I first got my license, my first car was a '93 Honda Civic coupe. Suffice to say it's a nice car to rough up your elbows in. Eventually, I spent a lot of time in a Peugeout 206 which I still have parked outside the house even today. In this time, I managed to get my hands on both an older Peugeot 205 GTi and the newer 206 RC.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Suffice to say, this made me fall in love with hot hatches. There's nothing quite like driving a car with almost no bonnet. Have a look at how Best Motoring does it:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="580" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zd4riIKrkis" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Gotta love hatches..</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >M</span></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-82903052043349158192011-03-23T23:02:00.001+04:002011-03-23T23:05:02.994+04:00Review: Killzone3 (PS3)<div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Killzone 3 starts off somewhere which would probable leave you pretty confused; inside the visor of a Helghast. Eventually though, things get back to normal and once again you’re good ol’ Sgt. Sevchenko fighting the good fight against the Helghans.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Initially rumoured to, ‘break the PS3,’ it turns out to be true. Simple things, that aren’t so simple to create, make all the difference. While every strand of grass glints of the mist gathered and with some of the best fire effects I’ve seen, this is the best looking Killzone yet. Unfortunately, this is also one of its drawbacks. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >While playing I noticed amateur mistakes. Things going wrong that you wouldn’t expect in a title of Killzone’s caliber. Gun sprites freezing when you reload, confusing the hell outta the player. There were also repeated times where the cutscenes would have the speech all mistimed and messed up. Subtitles were repeatedly incorrect, so while it read something, Sev was really saying something else.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >There was a continuity issue that bothered me too. <b>[Warning: Here be spoilers]</b> When Sev destroys Stahl’s cruiser with the nuke, the resulting outbreak, kills everyone in space, around Stahl. How did Sev and Rico survive?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >All in all, Killzone 3 delivers quite well, except for a few bugs. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Visual: <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>8.5/10<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Audio:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>8.5/10</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Gameplay: <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>9/10</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Story:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>7.5/10</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >M</span></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-37652633296769637572011-02-11T14:30:00.006+04:002011-02-13T13:36:24.649+04:00Personal sans Professional<span class="Apple-style-span">Working in the world of social media, there's often a dilemma that I feel is something worth discussing. Social Networks allow customers and clients exist on the same terrain, so it becomes quite simple to overlap the two. What this means is, that if I were a customer of Mercedes Benz and I found something on their Facebook page that I liked, I could very easily share it on my own personal space (wall).</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The conflict that arises is, what about when they're your clients? How often do you plug your client's campaigns, apps, pages, etc. on your own personal space. I'm not saying, you shouldn't like their status updates or re-tweet any of their offer. What I'm specifically leaning towards is doing things like blatanlty tweeting, "check out this brand's awesome page xxxx wow!" (or the like) or tagging them in a Facebook status update "You guys should head on over to xxxx now!" (or the like)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">So I went ahead and asked this on the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_130683980315175">Digital Media UAE</a> Facebook page. In retrospect, I should have probably phrased my question a bit better, but in the words of <a href="http://www.twitter.com/alexandermcnabb">Alexander McNabb</a>, the internet is self - correcting, so my point was found out and debated. One of the sentiments agreed upon was that while it's nice if you do plug your clients, overdoing reduces your credibility. The most prevalent thought, the one many agreed with, is the only reason you should plug your clients is because you <b>actually like the products or services</b> that they have to offer. In fact, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/wassim_moumneh">Wassim Moumneh</a> went further to say that, "you'll not only look like a tard bumping [product] on your personal property, but will lose all credibility to do so when you're lucky enough to get the chance to work with something that you do believe in and want to support."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/nagham">Nagham Akileh</a> also shared her input saying, "you lose credibility if you plug 'em in posts unless you truly believe in the product/service/cause regardless of the work you do for it." However, my favourite answer to the thread was by <a href="http://www.twitter.com/norabakhsh">Nora Bakhsh</a>, a recent graduate from the American University in Sharjah, who said, "the whole point of handling a client's page is making it seem like they're doing it themselves."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I have to agree that, you should be able to successfully separate a personal social network account from any work that you happen to do on social networks. Suffice to say, you will rarely see me plugging my clients in my Twitter, my blog or my Facebook page. :)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-28294036022618377002011-02-08T00:28:00.011+04:002011-02-09T10:28:16.800+04:00Brand Bowl & a midget Darth Vader<span class="Apple-style-span">As is the tradition, every time the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_bowl">Super Bowl</a> comes around you have a huge bunch of corporates running around creating various TVCs that they want to air during that time, seeing as almost the entire North American populace is watching the telly. Not including Canada of course. Or Alaska.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Brands usually spend the around the same as the GDP of an African nation to secure a spot during the Super Bowl. Suffice to say, getting a spot is quite the pinch to the wallet, so much so that even the Super Bowl organizers <a href="http://www.brandbowl2011.com/">do their own bit</a> to track overall sentiment and who basically wins the Brand Bowl. </span><span class="Apple-style-span">Many iconic TVCs have been conceived, produced, aired and made popular by the Super Bowl. In fact, PepsiCo has been notorious for creating some of their most popular ads for the Super Bowl spots, including the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7bKhQdb2y8">celebrity gladiator match</a> with Beyonce, Pink, Britney Spears or the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLcgFo0CPss">Pepsi Stuff ad</a> with Justin Timberlake. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Come Super Bowl 2011, companies release their ads to the hungry eyes of the world to see. At the time however, young <a href="http://www.twitter.com/malizomg">Mali </a>was asleep. The following morning </span><span class="Apple-style-span"> finds young Mali sitting at his terminal at work, clicking and typing away furiously, social media guru that he is. (Yes, Mali occasionally refers to himself in third person). His good friend <a href="http://twitter.com/arun4">Arun </a>linked him to something. He said it was a Super Bowl ad. He said I'd like it.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">One minute and two seconds later, total productivity = zilch. Amazement = +infinity. Star Wars fanboy = +500 Force.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/R55e-uHQna0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">What I liked about this ad, besides a bite sized Darth Vader, was that the parent played along and boosted the child's imagination. It also represented VW in a more relaxed fashion, playing along consumer passion points. T'was refreshing! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">My bid goes to VW for this year's superbowl. Have you guys seen their <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NGN4J6F_vI">Beetle</a> ad yet?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-26706219220866612452011-02-06T13:34:00.009+04:002011-02-06T14:05:25.495+04:00Oh dear, I've fallen into it again..<span class="Apple-style-span" >Well it's true, after spending a lot of time contemplating my return to the blogosphere, I did give in and will resume blogging, effective immediately! My initial concern was that I will not have enough to blog about or any specific things I may want to write about. However, what I did discover is I <b>do</b> have things I want to talk and blog about. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I will hereby turn this blog right around and you can expect to see me blog about the following topics:</span></div><div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" >Motorsports. I've recently joined my company's racing team. This adds to my previous track experience, so I guess it's about time I start talking cars as much as I love driving them.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" >Paintball. Cuz it's awesome. And now that I have all my gear, it's time to terrorize the office.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" >Video Games. I play a lot of them. It's time to take it a bit seriously.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" >Campus Radio ME. Along with <a href="http://twitter.com/whitecrayon">Ritesh</a>, I started this almost a year ago. Here, I will talk about recent news, updates etc.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" >Movies. I spend a lot of nights burning through DVDs. Why not share my views? :)</span></li></ol><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >By any means, this list is not exhaustive. But possibly a teaser of things to come. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >See you guys around!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >M</span></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-28185077486827325532009-03-31T18:54:00.002+04:002009-03-31T19:05:40.179+04:00Guess who's back?<span style="font-size:85%;"><br />...yes. I'm back.<br /><br />I'll be honest here, I'm fairly certain it'll take me awhile to get back into full swing blogging, but things are starting to slow down in the real world, and I'm hoping that I'm going to have a little more time to dedicate to my blog. Today was the first time that I set eyes on my blog ever since I went on this break, and I WANT CHANGE. Not now, but sooner or later, I'm going to make a massive change to this blog and make it a lot cooler. It's nice to be back.<br /><br />I went on hiatus, officially, on the 1st of this month, and it's funny that I'm back within the same month. If I am to be honest, I really expected to stay away from blogging, blogs and all such things for a couple of months at the very least. It wasn't writer's block. It was more of a lack of motivation TO write. Which I could blame on other things, but I won't and I'm glad I can start accepting responsibility for my actions.<br /><br />Funnily enough, the moment I decided to go on hiatus a number of things popped up and my first thoughts on them were, 'Oh I should blog that!' And then I remember that I've gone on a blogging hiatus and then it's, 'DOH!'<br /><br />Either way, stuff I'm looking forward to blogging about in the near future:<br /></span><ol><li><span style="font-size:85%;">My University</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Work Ethic</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">My First 'Job'</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">A Memory of a cousin</span></li></ol><span style="font-size:85%;">And other stuff, that I can't remember at the moment. But rest assured, the ZOMG is back and I'll be writing again.<br /><br />Bring it.<br /><br /><br />xx<br /><br /><br />M<br /><br /><br /><br />_<br /></span>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-62465583327464195452009-03-01T23:12:00.002+04:002009-03-01T23:16:27.239+04:00Hiatus.<span style="font-size:85%;"><br />I know that I have very few dedicated readers, so to those of you I must apologize because this post isn't an update of any kind.<br /><br />I'm just here to announce that I will be going on an indefinite hiatus from blogging. I might at a later date resume blogging, or, I might not. I'm not sure really.<br /><br />Will let you know when I know.<br /><br /><br />Cheers :)<br /><br /><br />M<br /><br />xx<br /><br /><br />_<br /></span>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-90233744118549443032009-02-20T20:01:00.000+04:002009-02-20T21:44:03.751+04:00Twiddiction<p class="zemanta-img" style="margin: 1em; float: right; display: block; width: 220px;"><a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/twitter"><img src="http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/resized/0000/2755/2755v2-max-450x450.png" alt="Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun..." style="border: medium none ; display: block;" width="210" height="49" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution">Image via <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/">CrunchBase</a></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;">Right.<br /><br />I've an excuse. Really. I'm addicted. The only reason I've not blogged in so long is because I'm addicted. Yes, it's true. It's called <a class="zem_slink" href="http://twitter.com/" title="Twitter" rel="homepage">Twitter</a>.<br /><br /><br />I could go on about my addiction to that service for quite some time now, but I really shouldn't and should spend some time to focus on this post.<br /><br />* At this point the date is now the 20th of February. This post was created on the 14th. Twitter is slowly taking over things. *<br /><br />So for my first meaningful post in all of February, I'm quite surprised as to how quickly Twitter has grown onto me, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to somehow find time to live my life in between all my tweeting. It's come to the point where I'm considering the purchase of an <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.apple.com/iphone" title="iPhone" rel="homepage">iPhone</a> or <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.blackberry.com/" title="BlackBerry" rel="homepage">BlackBerry</a> just so that I can stay updated and update my tweets while on the move. Time spent away from my computer makes me constantly think of Twitter and all the tweets that I'm going to have to catch up on once I'm back at my workstation at home. Wow. It's so pathetic BUT I LOVE IT!<br /><br />Anyway, February has been a relatively eventful month. On the 12th we had the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.twestival.com/" title="Twestival" rel="homepage">Twestival</a> at Barasti at Le Meridian <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mina_Seyahi" title="Mina Seyahi" rel="wikipedia">Mina Seyahi</a> and I attended that along with <a href="http://www.twitter.com/lhjunkie">Lhjunkie</a>. It was fun! We met a whole bunch of people that we only knew as screen names and avatars. It was great fun getting faces for the names. It was also interesting how we referred to each other by the screen names. People like "<a href="http://www.twitter.com/DaddyBird">DaddyBird</a>", "<a href="http://www.twitter.com/MBzle">MBzle</a>" etc. Soon after that we also took the time to go meet <a href="http://www.twitter.com/DaddyBird">DaddyBird </a>again on the 16th for his birthday.<br /><br />Hmm, something else happened in February too that I wanted to blog about at the time, but I can't seem to recall it now.<br /><br />My eldest brother, Masroor, and his family left for the USA for good. It was always on the cards, but when he actually left, it was weird. I remember telling myself that I won't really mind him leaving because it's not like I'm going to miss him or anything. But on the morning of 14th of February at the airport, I realized how much I was going to miss my brother. Sure we had fights a lot and I'd swear at him (in my mind) but now that he's gone I really miss him. He was the moderator of the house and it was always fun having him around. He also kept me grounded and my big ego needs someone who can pop the bubble from floating and keep me firmly on the ground. Masroor used to do that. I miss him :(<br /><br />Oh well, too bad he'll never read this. He used to make fun of my blog a lot too.. moron..<br /><br />Either way, now that I've finally gotten down to writing this post, I'm hoping that it will help me snap out of Twitterdiction and let me focus on writing some more articles.<br /><br />More posts as addiction is controlled!!!<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br /><br />M<br /><br /><br />_<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(PS. OMG I'VE NOT UPDATED THE WEEKLY STUPIDS IN FOREVER!!!! Somebody shoot me.)</span><br /></span> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/f4caae68-fcd0-4228-a254-f46f47d28c6d/" title="Zemified by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none ; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=f4caae68-fcd0-4228-a254-f46f47d28c6d" alt="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]" /></a></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com293tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-513210935975734952009-02-03T12:45:00.003+04:002009-02-03T12:49:43.640+04:00Hee Hee EEEEEEE<a href="http://questionablecontent.net/comics/1331.png"><br /><img src="http://questionablecontent.net/comics/1331.png" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Hehe hehe hehe HAHAHAH STOPTEHTICKELS!!!<br /><br />M<br /><br /><br />_<br /></span>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-55851696026230448732009-02-02T03:19:00.003+04:002009-02-02T03:20:52.050+04:00Last one tonight I swear. Halo Trailer (Fan Made)<span style="font-size:85%;"><br />The following video is a fan made trailer about the upcoming Halo movie. By far one of the best fan made videos I've seen ever, with weapons, live action scenes, cinematic sequences. Brilliant!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JCo8KLjZhDY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JCo8KLjZhDY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Another movie I'm waiting to watch...<br /><br /><br />M<br /><br /><br />_<br /></span>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-29048179329654793822009-02-02T03:12:00.002+04:002009-02-02T03:13:41.276+04:00Terminator: Salvation<span style="font-size:85%;">And, while I'm at it, might as well put this up as well. Another (what seems to be) great part to what was an awesome concept.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dFgpeO5Ltok&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dFgpeO5Ltok&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><br />Can't wait...<br /><br /><br />M<br /><br /><br />_<br /></span>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-15325716190406994412009-02-02T02:53:00.001+04:002009-02-02T02:56:03.528+04:00X-Men Origins: Wolverine<span style="font-size:85%;">Just a little something something for those of you who haven't already seen the trailer to this awesome awesome movie that has 3 of my favourite Marvel characters. Wolverine, Gambit AND Deadpool.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aCTDVNgNUeY&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aCTDVNgNUeY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Yowza!<br /><br /><br />M<br /><br /><br />_<br /></span>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-7711310075630471982009-02-01T13:17:00.002+04:002009-02-01T13:21:26.316+04:00Oh I like this song :)<span style="font-size:85%;"><br />The official video of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_White">Jack White</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raconteurs">The Raconteurs</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Stripes">The White Stripes</a>) and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.aliciakeys.com/" title="Alicia Keys" rel="homepage">Alicia Keys</a>' song <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Another-Limited-inch-vinyl-single/dp/B001FT9MRW%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dzemanta-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB001FT9MRW" title="Another Way to Die (Limited Edition 7 inch vinyl single)" rel="amazon">Another Way To Die</a>, the theme for the recent Bond flick, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_of_Solace">Quantum of Solace</a>.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hM5UJvnbbuY&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hM5UJvnbbuY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Not much of a fan of Alicia Keys, but I'll admit this song is brilliant. And it's stuck in my head so...<br /><br />M<br /><br /><br />_<br /></span> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/755d9e7a-e80c-4c2a-9f87-0f88dbb995c4/" title="Zemified by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none ; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=755d9e7a-e80c-4c2a-9f87-0f88dbb995c4" alt="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]" /></a></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-77503777377221427982009-01-31T23:58:00.002+04:002009-02-01T00:50:37.527+04:00Just a personal update :)<span style="font-size:85%;"><br />January 2009 is over. The first month of 2009, which I intend to make a</span><span style="font-size:85%;">n awesome year, has been up to par so far, and I'm fairly happy. Exams went well, I'm growing my profile as an MC or Host or Stage Manager, am starting to work in Dad's company more and all around progress in all fields. School reopens on the 8th, so I've got that long to relax before I get back to the University grind.<br /><br />Unfortunately for me, earlier this month my hard drive was </span><span style="font-size:85%;">damaged by a dear friend of mine, and the data was unrecoverable and the hard drive was fried. My friend was deeply apologetic, and was sweet enough to reimburse me with a brand new hard drive with the same capacity. Albeit I lost all my data (AND MY MUSIC WTF!!!!) but she's really decent and I couldn't thank her enough. I went t</span><span style="font-size:85%;">o the beach yesterday and gave my old hard drive a burial. The whole nine yards. Toy spade, rocks to mark the grave, sea shells to decorate and everything. T'was an awesome night.<br /><br />Here is picture of above mentioned grave.<br /></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhqHkKfqhJtLA7JnitjDHIBD2cvS9sc9JgORqt5sUKTCbwczPUIC38__0lyfQavJ_Av8soL6WGxXcIp5APczSfLhetn2Za4nqNNd-YmjU5PZaLQk0nc_3IrFciQ9fi-osuqdZP-Q/s1600-h/DSC00541.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhqHkKfqhJtLA7JnitjDHIBD2cvS9sc9JgORqt5sUKTCbwczPUIC38__0lyfQavJ_Av8soL6WGxXcIp5APczSfLhetn2Za4nqNNd-YmjU5PZaLQk0nc_3IrFciQ9fi-osuqdZP-Q/s400/DSC00541.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297556989085866786" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">For reasons yet unexplained, the picture refuses to load the right way up, so you're gonna have to tilt your head to your right so see it from the angle that the picture was taken.<br /><br />So that was yesterday. A lot of guests coming down in the next few days. My eldest brother will be leaving the UAE and heading back to USA for a few years. so we've got a bunch of folks goming down here from all around the place to see him off. My brother from Egypt, an aunt from India, my brother's in-laws, his friends etc etc. A flurry of activity around the house really, and February's probably going to be a busy busy month. A busy and crowded month. Bright side is I get to see the kids and that's always a good thing.<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />The fact that the kids have grown, means I will have to hide a lot of my stuff. Stuff that can be broken. Stuff that can be dangerous. Stuff that I only have one of and so can't share it with the kids. All these things will have to be hidden if I am to avoid any damages/losses to or of these items as well as to prevent fights amongst the kids.<br /><br />the 26th of January is the Indian Republic Day, and on that night, I hosted a fashion show at the house of the Consil General of India. It was a part charity part university promortion fashion show, but it was a good one. Met a lot of interesting people there, including the Consul General of India Venu Rajamony, the Consul General of Britain, France, Guineau, China, South Korea, Thailand and many other dignitaries. Also met a fellow Tweeter PKGulati and his wife. Was nice to run into them.<br /><br />I also took part in a <a href="http://biscuitinabasket.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/the-cookie-monster-guide-to-processing-an-idea/">little blogging experiment</a> that <a href="http://biscuitinabasket.wordpress.com">T</a> held, and submitted a guest post on the topic of change on his <a href="http://biscuitinabasket.wordpress.com">blog</a>. If you haven't already read it, give it a read <a href="http://biscuitinabasket.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/change-doesnt-have-to-be-monumental-7pi7d/">here</a>.<br /><br />Either way, that was January 2009 for me. Moving in to February in a couple of minutes or so. Let's keep it going, shall we?<br /><br />M<br /><br /><br />_<br /></span>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-48523843002585749802009-01-27T22:13:00.002+04:002009-01-27T22:17:52.628+04:00MaliZOMG's guest post.<span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Ladies and Gentlemen, I've submitted a guest post at one of my favourite blogger's pages, <a href="http://biscuitinabasket.wordpress.com">It's As Simple As Putting The Biscuit In The Basket.</a> Click <a href="http://biscuitinabasket.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/change-doesnt-have-to-be-monumental-7pi7d/">here</a> to read it!<br /><br />Feel free to check it out. It's part of his project called <a href="http://biscuitinabasket.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/the-cookie-monster-guide-to-processing-an-idea/">7 Posts in 7 Days</a>, where he has 2 different guest posts per day. Quite a genius, eh?<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />M<br /><br /><br />_<br /></span>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com200tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37140249.post-45781174272278358252009-01-26T01:38:00.003+04:002009-02-01T10:51:54.661+04:00The other problem...<span style="font-size:85%;"><br />As promised here is the other side of the big debate that is, 'How to help Gaza.' In the earlier post I spoke thoroughly about how people can try and bring Israel down to earth by cutting off it's supply of money and arms from the USA. Not that the USA is a bad guy, NO, but just possible solutions of slowing down the pace of a war machine. In this post I'm going to focus on the Arab/Muslim/non-Israeli/non-USA side of it all, the benefits and the problems.<br /><br />It's quite plain to see that the oil rich countries here in the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East" title="Middle East" rel="wikipedia">Middle East</a> have never hesitated to offer any kind of financial aid to the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_people" title="Palestinian people" rel="wikipedia">Palestinians</a>. Ideally I wanted to give you a statistic of how much Palestine had received in donations (to help rebuild Gaza). I tried to find some ready data, but what I found was mostly older articles on how much some of these nations promised to give, how much they gave individually, or how much they gave in single events. There were far too many for me to try and compile the data, so suffice to say that, yes, financial aid has almost never been a problem.<br /><br />Unfortunately, I'm of the opinion that throwing money at the Palestinians is not the only kind of support they need. My main issue with some people is not that they <span style="font-style: italic;">don't</span> want to help the Palestinians. My main issue is that many people are far too close-minded now to figure out a solution to a problem that's been more than half a century in the making, in recent history, and for hundreds of years throughout history (<a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=31.7833333333,35.2166666667&spn=0.1,0.1&q=31.7833333333,35.2166666667%20%28Jerusalem%29&t=h" title="Jerusalem" rel="geolocation">Jerusalem</a> has been a religious and related issues hotspot for centuries) <span style="font-size:78%;">[but yeah you guys knew that already I'll just go on now shall I..]</span><br /><br />I guess it'd be easier for me to relay I'm trying to say with an example. It's a personal experience that I had, and it was the single moment where I saw what I was doing wrong to help improve this crisis. In 2005 I attended the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Young_Leaders_Conference" title="Global Young Leaders Conference" rel="wikipedia">Global Young Leaders Conference</a> in New York & Washington DC. Throughout it, we had various workshops and attended various lectures by fairly influential people in the political circles of the USA and the UN. It was at this conference that I became an alumnus of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Youth_Leadership_Council" title="Congressional Youth Leadership Council" rel="wikipedia">Congressional Youth Leadership Council</a>, which is the same council that invited me to President <a class="zem_slink" href="http://obama.senate.gov/" title="Barack Obama" rel="homepage">Barack Obama</a>'s Inauguration, 6 days ago. Pity I couldn't go :(<br /><br />One of the lectures was at a hotel where the speakers were an Israeli Advocate, a Palestinian Peace worker and a moderator to prevent anything from going terribly wrong. The way things were run, once both speakers had finished speaking, the students were allowed a question and answer session with the speakers. Back then I had a lot more <span style="font-style: italic;">josh</span> in me. Moment the QnA session popped up, I ran down to the front of the queue, and I was one of the mid-line questioners. When it was my turn, I strutted right up to the mic and said, "Hi my name is Muhammed Ali. I'm a Muslim from India, living in the Middle East, and my question is directed to the Israeli Advocate. How can you consider your country a legitimate body if, in the pure essence of it all, you dropped your bags in Palestinian territory and decided to set up shop? Is the Accord of Camp David really your excuse?"<br /><br />In my defence I was an angry young kid, who wanted to get back at the big bully.<br /><br />To my surprise, the Palestinian Peace worker spoke up, and boy, was he mad. I'm going to try and remember exactly what he said, for more emphasis.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"What is the point of bringing that up over and over again? We are beyond that stage and crying over spilt milk isn't going to help anyone, not us or the Israelis. Forget what happened and now focus on stopping the war and the killing."</span><br /><br />I'm sure he said more, because I remember when he was done, I felt like an idiot. I guess what he was trying to say that the best way to approach this sitiuation is like a doctor would (my cousin also said the same thing). If a doctor sees an illness, he'll administer medicine and treatment and will wait to see if your symptoms disappear. If what he gives doesn't work, he'll switch to something else. If that also doesn't work, he'll switch to something else, and will continue doing so until he's found something that works. So many countries here in the Middle East <span style="font-style: italic;">still</span> refuse to accept Israel as a nation. Maybe they think it will help, but on the grand scale of things, if you want your neighbour to stop being a certain way, you have to stop giving it the cold stare. I'm not saying Israel is justified in it's actions, but we've tried and seen that what we've been doing for so many years does not work. So then why not try something different? Sure there are extremists in Israel who won't settle for anything less than complete domination of all Palestinian territory, but then aren't there extremists on this side of the fence too, who won't even acknowledge this country's existence? How can a country apply political pressure on another country that it refuses to even acknowledge? How can any Arab country expect peace from Israel, when all you see is them throwing mud on them, calling it names, and refusing any dialogue with them?<br /><br />Yes, the Israeli army and some of it's leaders are doing terrible things. But what if they were given no reason to be bitter anymore? Simple example, if Hamas stopped firing rockets into Israel, then, on paper, Israel would have no reason to attack <span style="font-style: italic;">anyone</span> or <span style="font-style: italic;">anywhere</span> inside Gaza. They would not attack Hamas Headquarters or the like, because they now have no reason to. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure this won't happen because through generations and generations of hate breeding, and witnessing the massacres first hand, many Palestinians won't even want to see it any other way. Sad part is, you can't even blame them. That's what sucks though. The Palestinians refuse to learn from their mistakes and keep throwing bombs into Israel and then when Israel hits back (albeit responding tenfold) they get all whiny and mopey.<br /><br />Another thing that really upsets me is the spiff between Hamas and Fatah. It's RIDICULOUS. If BOTH these parties want the same thing in essence, ie peace, then HOW IS ATTACKING EACH OTHER GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN?! Gosh, the infighting amongst these two parties is so stupid at times. There were rumours floating around that Fatah would leak info to the Israeli Army to help them attach Hamas. I hope they were just that, because if they weren't then that's just low. Very very low.<br /><br />Moving past the Palestinians, I just want top see some pro active steps from the countries here in the Middle East in trying to attain a sustainable peace in Israel. You've tried the cold shoulder technique and it BOMBED (no pun intended). And I understand that it might be against our morals or ethics or even pride to accept Israel, but maybe that's one way to start a process that might lead to a self-sustaining era of peace for the people in BOTH Palestine and Israel. It's the mindset that has to change, on both sides.<br /><br />More importantly, the problems of today can not be solved by those who created them. The problems of today can only be solved by the leaders of tomorrow. That's why I think the best way to do this is to educate the Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Jewish and Israeli youth into believing that a vocal and acceptance approach is more likely to attain peace than guns and rockets.<br /><br />I don't know. Maybe I'm still as naive as I was 4 years ago. I just really, really think that education of the youth, allowing them to change their predefined emotions towards the other races will really help make that difference that peace still needs.<br /><br /><br />M<br /><br /><br />_<br /></span> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/c157ee79-b1b0-4709-8bdb-39dfc68bcaf1/" title="Zemified by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none ; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=c157ee79-b1b0-4709-8bdb-39dfc68bcaf1" alt="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]" /></a></div>MaliZOMGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04192857336316422029noreply@blogger.com7