Missing In Hong Kong

Today while taking photos in Causeway Bay I came across this flyer that a group was passing out.

It is about Ani Ashekian (30 years old) who has been missing since November 9, 2008, and last seen in Hong Kong.

I urge everyone who reads this blog to help spread the word, send any information about Ani’s where about to FindAni@gmail.com and join the Facbook group “Missing: Ani Ashekian”.

I wish Ani Ashekian, a fellow Canadian, a safe return to her family and friends very soon.

Top 10 Most Spoken Languages

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Rank Language Speakers
1. Chinese (Mandarin) 873,014,298
2. Spanish 322,299,171
3. English 309,352,280
4. Hindi 180,764,791
5. Portuguese 177,457,180
6. Bengali 171,070,202
7. Russian 145,031,551
8. Japanese 122,433,899
9. German 95,392,978
10. Chinese (Wu) 77,175,000

* Source: Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition

iPhone Firmware 2.2.1

Pwnage Tool logoApple released a new firmware for the iPhone (v2.2.1).

Again for anyone who had or plan to jailbreak or unlock your iPhone (2G or 3G) please be patience and DO NOT upgrade to the latest iPhone firmware.

This is especially important for all those who are currently using unlocked iPhones (2G).

The iPhone Dev Team had already posted a note saying that they will investigate the new firmware. Most likely update versions of the Pwnage Tool and QuickPwn applications for both Macintosh and Windows OS will be coming to address changes in this latest iPhone firmware from Apple.

Along with the update announcement within iTunes, Apple included notes to say there are Safari improvements. Hopefully this will finally eliminate all those Safari crashes on the iPhone.

How-to: Enable Emoji On iPhone WITHOUT Jailbreaking

There is a new way to enable the Emoji icons on your iPhone with firmware 2.2.

The trick is to purchase the USD0.99 iPhone App 老地方冰果室 (aka “FrostyPlace”). This is an application that allows you to view the latest posts from an Apple discussion forum in Taipei, Taiwan. Therefore if you read Chinese it may be useful and if you live in Taipei it may also be relevant.

Continue reading “How-to: Enable Emoji On iPhone WITHOUT Jailbreaking”

Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Poster

My Rating: 4Stars

This afternoon I saw the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

The plot of the movie is fairly typical but with a special twist. It is about a man, Benjamin Button (played by Brad Pitt), who was born with an old man’s body and died as a baby.

The special effects and makeup were quite amazing. Although one would not expect special effects to play an important role for a movie like this. It enabled the team to transform Pitt, a 46 years old in real life, into a young teenager. The other side of the transformation was to make Pitt into a convincing 70 years old, which was the creativity of makeup artist, Greg Cannom.

Cannom’s artisan included the transformation of Pitt’s body into an old man’s, along with sagging chest and flabby stomach. This efforts earned him an Oscar nomination, “Achievement in Makeup”.

For some reasons this movie reminded me of Tim Burton‘s Big Fish (2003). I guess it was the cinematography and the fantasy nature of the plot. There is a questionable yet believable feel for the events that transpire throughout the movie.

Pitt delivered his usual great performance, convincing the audience he was indeed the age the character was going through. Enough so that it earned him an Oscar nomination for “Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role”. One of his supporting actresses, Taraji P. Henson also had a great performance, earning an Oscar nomination herself for “Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role”. In total the movie racked up 13 nominations at the 81st Oscars to be held on February 22nd.

This is definitely a movie for fans of Pitt, but anyone into fantasy and stories of Eric Roth should not miss either.

Rating Legend:  
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy from iTunes Store
2Stars Rent it on iTunes
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere

Auspicious First Day of Work 2009

Many of you know I am not superstitious, although true to my tradition that I started a year ago.

Auspicious First Day of Work 2009

This chart shows the most auspicious day to start your first day of work in the new Lunar Year (2009, Year of the Ox). The exact date depends on the Chinese zodiac sign you belongs to. So you must first figure out which Chinese zodiac sign you are then look at the chart.

PS: note that the official first day (Spring) for the year of the Ox is Feb. 4 (初十). Any babies born between Jan. 26 – Feb. 4 00:58 are still consider babies in the year of the Rat.

May you all have a prosperous new year!

Chinese Standards in Hong Kong

Today my mother showed me this free Chinese New Year poster (Fai Chun, Spring Couplets) she saw in a local newspaper (Apple Daily, Jan. 23, 2009).

Even though my Chinese is not that good, I too notice the mistake in the poster, which had been distributed throughout Hong Kong.

Are the standards of our young generation that poor? The worst part, is that it demonstrates the lack of pride Editors of Hong Kong newspapers have for their jobs.

Happy Birthday!!

Twenty-five years ago Apple released the Macintosh computer. With its original (arguably) approach to computing and Human Interface, it immediately changed the personal computer market, and introduced the concept of GUI. Ever since that day Apple continued to innovate, coming up with original approaches to product design and User Experience. For that, I had been happily using the various models (11 in total) of Macintosh for the same number of years.

Tomorrow is Macintosh’s quarter of a century anniversary; although I am much older, I too will be celebrating a birthday of my own. Is it a coincident that the Mac’s birthday and my own are on the same day? For those who believe in fate may think otherwise.

Over the past 25 years Apple had its ups and downs, with the worst few years during the mid 90’s when Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, was forced out of the company. Upon his return in 1998 the company was transformed once again, which we saw the introduction of the iMac, Macintosh Cube, iPod, Mac Mini, MacBook Air, iPhone and unibody MacBook.

In recent weeks, Apple fans received much news about Apple and its co-founder, Steve Jobs. Through out the Interweb, there are numerous analyses of what these all means, so I will not dwell on these subject further. I personally wish Steve Jobs and his family the best and may he get well soon. At this point it really doesn’t matter if Jobs returns to Apple or not, if he does it will be a bonus to Apple and its faithful customers (followers).

Top 10 Largest Passenger Ships

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Rank Ship Entered Service Country Passenger Capacity
1. Independence of the Seas 2008 Finland 4,370
2. Liberty of the Seas 2007 Finland 4,370
  Freedom of the Seas 2006 Finland 4,370
4. Queen Mary 2 2004 France 3,090
5. Mariner of the Seas 2004 Finland 3,840
  Navigator of the Seas 2003 Finland 3,840
7. Explorer of the Seas 2000 Finland 3,840
8. Adventure of the Seas 2001 Finland 3,838
  Voyager of the Seas 1999 Finland 3,838
10. Crown Princess 2006 Italy 3,800