Looking for Electronic parts is hard in Ipoh

I've finally found the mixer I want in IPOH! YAY! But it's gonna cost me RM3.8k for me to get it. Oh, no, not so soon I'm afraid.

And I was out and about looking for Screened Twisted Pair cables. Can't find a single one. The best bet was one spindle, costing me RM300+. Okay. That's overboard.

Found some really good directional mics for my podcast, and it's going to cost me RM800. Found a pair of AKG. And for the first time, I'm gonna love high end audio. I think I'm turning into an Audiophile! SOMEBODY STOP ME! But anyways, High end headphones are always good. Some particular point is how accurately it reproduce sounds. I tested a pair of AKG K99 today at an audio equipment store. Here's the best bit. Any little bit of noise that an amplifier reproduce, you can hear it over the AKG. AWESOME! That's right down pricision. FTW! I need it, I'm gonna get it, it will cost me RM300. Pretty reasonable price compared to the ones that I have now, which was the Logitech Premium Headset 350 USB. That is also a good pair of headphones and mic for RM199. But if you push it to the limit, it will break. Mine's almost broken. Need to send it back for warranty.

Out of the country

I might have said that we'll be back next week in the last show. But I'm here to say that I will not be in the country for the next 8 days. Which means, there will be no TGS for the next 2 week. Sorry everybody. I'll make sure that I catch up with everything once I'm back in Malaysia.

Technical Glitch

Messed up recording, lost files, show's gone for the week... will be back next week!

Bill Gates vs Steve Jobs Lightsaber duel

I've just found a pretty cool gem. It's on Gizmodo. And here it is!

If you don't know what this is about, check this out first.

Trouble with ISP

Paul's internet connection at his campus is really bad. We'll call it off and see how it goes with the ISP and POTS line.

We'll be back with new episodes ASAP.

DARN ISP!

Paul's back in USM (University Sains Malaysia)
and our faithful ISP (TM Net Streamyx aka Screamyx aka TMNUT) is giving
him some problems with the internet connection, and hence the late show.

We might call it off this week. Until then, we're getting the techs to work on the phone line and DSL line ASAP.

Death of Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0

So, I killed my mouse.

After about 4 years and 2 months under my sweaty palm and also my sister's and brother's sweaty palm, it died. When I bought it, the price was RM140. Now, it's about RM110 or so, I think.

Here's what I still think about buying an expensive mouse over a cheap mouse. Consider this, that you pay RM15 for a mouse that will last you for about 6 months, cheap plastic, cheap electronic parts and so on. Tally it up to about 4 years, you would have spent about RM120 in 4 years. But this assumption is definitely wrong, because one could get a Logitech mouse for about RM30 and last for over 5 years. But still, it's a good mouse compared to other unnamed brands. If you could spend around RM150 for a mouse, the hardware that you're going to buy, that is your pointing device for your PC or Mac, it will last you for about 5 years. So, what was the deal that I got 4 years ago?

I bought a Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0 for RM140 (I fancy getting something wireless), had 3 years limited warranty. Was thinking that I could get it to last till 2009. But it didn't. Still, it's a good mouse, consider that I got about 4 months battery life (average, because I'm on my computer all the time browsing the web and crawling for good stuffs, and also on some social network), it's a pretty good mouse. The scroll wheel is one of a kind, as it's a smooth wheel (non rachet). If I was given the Logitech MX Revolution, I'd adopt to it very easily. Also, it has a tilt wheel, Meaning having things on your screen scroll sideways. That was a high point back then. Not sure about now. But, I stuck to it. After about 3 years using the mouse, the middle button starts to conk out. I'm getting it to respond to each and every click that I press. So, I was thinking, "Okay, it's about time, let me just kill it then I'll change". And so a year and 2 months passed, and the left click died.

What's my next mouse?
I've placed order on a Logitech G5. Not sure what kind of colour that I'm going to get for it. But here's why I chose it.

• I was thinking of buying the MX Revolution or the VX Revolution at first. Couple of reasons why I didn't do it. the MX Revolution is pretty expensive, but it is the most advance mouse in the market. Same reason for the VX, the other reason is that the battery in the MX is non user changable. And so, if I'm going to pay RM399 for a mouse that will last me 2 years, I am not going to do that. So, I went to the VX Revolution. Pretty cool sibling to the MX Revolution. Was thinking of it. But when I took a look at the estimated battery life, 3 months on 1 AA battery. Then I looked back at my dead MS Wireless Mouse and thought "I'm getting that on my current mouse, why not get one that lasts longer". Scrapped both of them
• NEXT! Microsoft Wireless Laser 7000 mouse. Looked at it, fancy little mouse. Didn't like it (somehow) and so left it alone.
• Last mouse, the Logitech G5. How I ended up on this. My good buddy, Xing Min bought one of these for a couple of years ago. He loved it. Went over to use it, even I loved it. First things first, there were a couple of criteria that I want to fufill before I decided on the G5. I was even looking at the G9 for a bit. I want the mouse to be heavy. Cause I like a heavy mouse (in my own opinion, a little bit more accurate but if you're on a FPS, that goes away), I want something that has extreme accuracy (I work on CAD programs a lot, and I'm thinking of developing on Action Scripting 3.0) and I want something wired. So, heavy mouse, that is not wireless, and also extreme accurate, let's take a look at the choices, only 3 left, Logitech G5 and Logitech G9 and also the Microsoft Sidewinder (not interested in it and I can't get it in Ipoh through distributors in Ipoh), 2 choices left, G9 has an overall weight of 28g, G5 has an average of 36g, I want a heavy mouse! and so, I went to the G5, though th G9 has a scroll wheel that is non rachet.

Oh well, that was long, but hey, I want my stuffs to last long enough. And that will future proff to any Mac system that I'm buying cause it's USB! YAY!!

Will be back for more.