Video Conferencing Saga! - Archos 70i Internet Tablet (Android)

Melihat milis jual beli gadget setiap hari memang berbahaya! Sejak menjual Ipad Wifi 64Gb tahun lalu, saya selalu berpikir "hmmm tablet memang tidak berguna saat ini untuk saya". Tapi keinginan untuk memiliki tablet pc selalu ada. Dan hadirlah Ipad 2 dengan front facing camera nya.

Sudah beberapa minggu saya terobsesi dengan perangkat lunak (software) Facetime dari iOS. Perangkat lunak ini memungkinkan untuk dilakukannya video conferencing antara pemilik device iOS yang memiliki kamera. Sangat terobsesinya, sampai-sampai saya berpikir mau mengganti Android HTC kesayangan saya dengan iPhone 4. Untung harganya masih gila, jadi niat dengan terpaksa diurungkan.

Lalu beberapa hari lalu ada yang menjual Android Tablet dari Archos: Archos 70 Internet Tablet bekas di milis jual gadget tercinta. Item ini sudah ada di radar saya sejak pertama diluncurkan. Namun selalu saja saya berpikir bahwa tablet belum terlalu berguna. Toh saya masih ada laptop untuk browsing dan lain-lain. Tapi kelebihan Archos ini dibanding iPad adalah ukuran dan beratnya. Coba saja baca buku di iPad sembari tiduran lebih dari 30 menit. Pasti tangan pegal. Apalagi kalau lagi main game ber jam-jam. Karena kalap disodori harga yang lebih murah dari pasaran. Lansung booked, dan terjadilah transaksi.

Tampilan YM horizontal di Archos

Tidak berapa lama (tak sampai 2 hari), hati langsung menyesal. Buat apa buang-buang uang untuk benda ini. Lebih baik beli locomotif Athearn Genesis SD70ACe w/ sound yang lagi ada dipasaran. Sudah begitu, apabila dibandingkan dengan HTC Desire; android os di tablet ini sangat-sangat tidak smooth (bahasa kerennya; not silky smooth). Mungkin karena RAM nya yg setengah dari HTC Desire.

Si kecil yang cerewet

Namun penyesalan agak terobati ketika saya sadar bahwa Archos ini punya webcam dan bisa saya pakai untuk conference call dengan si kecil. Walaupun wifi, tapi saya bisa tethering dari HTC Desire saya (go Android!). Dan dengan menggunakan Yahoo Messenger (YM), akhirnya salah satu cita-cita bisa tercapai.

Memang tidak sesempurna itu. Gambar selalu patah-patah. Latency atau lag time juga parah sekali, sehingga ngobrol pun seperti tidak berjalan dengan mulus dan terus menerus. Tapi saya bisa melihat si kecil. Dia bisa teriak-teriak dan tertawa tawa, dan saya bisa mendengarkan celotehan nya dia melalui tablet kecil ini.

Sambil tidur-tiduran dirumah bisa telpon Papa

Seandainya kita punya koneksi 3G lebih baik. Kalau dirumah, saya sudah pakai sitrawimax, jadi harusnya mumpuni donk. 3G dari Indosat yang dipancarkan dari HTC Desire saya lah yang menurut saya membuat segalanya jadi lebih lambat. Apalagi sinyal Indosat di kantor saya sangat-sangatlah buruk.

Namun, dengan segala kekurangan-kekurangan yang saya sebutkan diatas, harus diakui akhirnya saya dapat melakukan panggilan video dengan istri dan anak saya dirumah. Priceless! So I might not sell you off after all Archos! :)

Sekarang, harus dicoba dan diadu nih dengan Facetime dari Apple. Sayang sekali saya hanya punya satu buah iPod Touch; jadi agak susah mencari tandem untuk mengetes kemampuan Facetime. Kalo lebih bagus .. hmmmmm iPhone 4 dan iPad 2 akan menjadi list berburu gadget berikutnya.

stepping into the crazy world of Model Trains :)

GP50 NW @Trainz Cafe

Aha! I used to think that this is a very expensive hobby .. so even though I often stared at windows (of hobby shops) wanting to buy a set of motive powers .. at the end .. I didn't.  However, akibat membelikan Luminara a set of Takara Tomy Plarail Thomas .. keinginan saya untuk bermain kereta model bangkit kembali.

When I shop around .. guess what .. IT IS STILL EXPENSIVE haha.  Tapi gak tau kenapa, mungkin karena gaji sudah agak sedikit mencukupi .. dan banyak sekali produsen-produsen China .. harga nya mulai terjangkau.

posing near a town

Misalnya loco (locomotive) yang saya beli ini. Model EMD GP50 Norfolk & Western .. buatan Bachmann ... DCC Equipped dijual seharga Rp 700.000 ... wow masih mahal .. tapi dibanding Marklin .. yang mungkin jutaan .. ini sudah murah ... digital pula :). Karena harga sudah lebih murah, nabung untuk beli pun makin cepat :). So I decided to go for it (with the blessing of my wifey ofcourse ... this is like the Finance Minister's approval .. so definitely important).

After browsing a lot of websites .. buying two darn big catalogs .. chatting with enthusiasts and sellers .. I decided to take it slow and to stay away from the premium stuff (for now). And thus .. along came Bachmann! .. well semua orang bilang the quality is not that good. The tracks are so so.. the controller not to high tech .. the loco are plastic. Well, for me .. this is so far the most economical :p ... nanti mungkin .. kalau jadi konglomerat .. saya beli Marklin atau Fleischmann.

A day @Trainz Cafe PIM I

ternyata PUSRI ekspor sampai ke Eropa :)

Setelah berkunjung lebih dari 2 kali, akhirnya saya memberanikan untuk membawa loco baru saya ke Trainz Cafe. Hmmm hal yang membuat ragu adalah takut cupu karena pemain baru dan baru punya 1 loco saja ... loco murahan pula hehe.

Tapi karena  ketidak tahanan hasrat (ceile) untuk bermain dan starter set yang tidak kunjung dapat; akhirnya saya memberanikan diri untuk membawa GP50 NW kesayangan untuk di test roll.

bridge cruising speed

Wow ternyata mas-mas yang jaga baik-baik semua. Saya sangat dibantu untuk men-set loco saya. Udah gitu dipinjamkan banyak rolling stock :). Tidak ada yang aneh-aneh sih, tapi salah satunya sudah di modif (di cat/decal) dengan PT Pupuk Sriwidjaja. Cantik sekali! (me thinking on buying a tank stock and paint it with Pertamina).

Pesan minum, cemilan, dan minta asbak... and start rolling... hehehe manteb euy mainan ini. Padahal pre-determined rute .. tapi puter-puter lebih dari 10 kali pun tidak membosankan. Bahaya nih! karena bisa sambil merokok, bisa betah ber jam-jam nih.

look at that yummy scenery!

Kebetulan, digital controller yang dipakai di sana adalah merk Roco.. hmmm menrik juga, tapi pasti harganya akan sampai 2jt lebih. Well, I think as a beginner I'll stick with Bachmann EZ Command deh. When I got the fell .. I'll upgrade later (with the permission of the wifey of course - hehe).
 Talked with several nice people. Mas Andi (kalo ndak salah), dan Om Kumto. Sempet bicara soal layout, dan beliau menawarkan jasa untuk pembuatan layout (hmmm menarik) .. tapi sepertinya mahal sekali yah .. alternatif lain mungkin bisa liat ke www.umomaket.com ... ah nanti lah, saya bahkan belum punya set komplit yang ready to roll (RTR)... wong baru punya locomotive aja .. yang sehari-hari hanya dipakai untuk pajangan disamping CC201 buatan agung hobby :).

motive power!! with lots of rolling stocks

Setelah panjang lebar berbicara, akhirnya masalah saya kembali ke isu dana (kok banyak sekali ya masalah yang berhubungan dengan yang satu ini). Jadi layout adalah rencana jangka panjang. Lagipula seru kali yah kalo kita coba bikin layout sendiri. I imagining that I can actually produce a layout capturing the Uilenstede area ... wow it would be great!!

Anyway, for now; if I feel the urge to roll my loco, I'll go to Trainz Cafe. Good people, good layout, good food? don't know yet. I never actually taste the main course. In time, I'll save enough money to start my own layout :).

#prayforjapan

The title said it all. I pray for Japan.

As I laid beside my babygirl last night; it got me thinking. What if a tsunami happened, and me and my family are stuck in the middle of it? What if I don't have the power to protect my wifey and my babygirl? It saddened me; truly.

Maybe this is how Anakin felt when he lost his dear mother. A feeling of hopeless, and despair .. because he could not prevent her death. So I don't blame him .. for being human. I cannot imagine how the fathers in the northern Japan must've felt when they cannot protect their love ones.

A question of 'What if' is kinda stupid and out of place considering what has already happened in Banda Aceh a few years ago. But I have to admit, at that time; Aceh seemed like a distant place. Jakarta went on as it use to everyday. I did some charity; but I cannot stop thinking 'why I did not do more for them'.

Now I heard a lot of very encouraging news from Japan. People helping each other. People offering help to their fellow citizen. People who open their house for people who are stranded in the street. They did not rush and clear out all of the food in the market thinking that they should share it with the other. They queue with a discipline that I rarely see with my people. How come? how come Japanese can be such a caring people? considering what they did to us during World War II! They should be warmongering, blood lusted scum. But what I heard these past few days shows that Japanese is a highly discipline and kind people.

Strange. Is it because of honor? discipline? high education? Do people really have the capacity to be that good? Well .. if you see my country (especially the government), the answer will be a big NO. We are so captivated by our own needs, that we are probably be willing to sacrifice other people. Sad right?

I pray for Japan. I pray for my fellow earthlings. No race, religion, nationality should border us.

note on today's Khotbah ;)

Pic by mukhiddin of devianArt

Khotbah hari ini bagus menurut saya. Usually the khotbah at Cilandak Commercial Estate's auditorium during Friday prayer are ... well .. abysmal hehe.

Yang bagus dari khotbah hari ini adalah; bagaimana khotib dapat membumikan pesan-pesan dia. Khotbah hari intinya adalah 'memberikan rahmat untuk sekitar-mu' ... (moga-moga pengertian saya bener lah). Dia bilang: kalau kamu mau rahmat dari langit .. kamu juga harus dong, memberikan rahmat buat semuanya disekitar kamu.

As usual (for a Friday Prayer's preacher); he told the story of our Prophet Muhammad; as an example. And then he went on saying that Muhammad really loved his family. At the time (in Arab) when kissing your kid is not common, Muhammad encourage moslems to do so. It's like saying that you have to express your love, you have to give 'rahmat' to your family; so then you are eligible for 'rahmat' from God :p ... well .. for me that statement actually make sense!

Cium anak kamu, cium istri kamu; jangan pernah ragu untuk melakukan itu. Tunjukkan cinta kamu pada mereka; berikan lah rahmat kasih sayang itu. Luangkan waktu kamu; belai rambut anak mu, istrimu. Insya Allah berkah dan rahmat akan diberikanNya untuk kamu.

Well, you don't even have to be religious in order to understand the above statement. That is why I rather like this preacher. Semoga makin banyak deh khotib yg bisa lebih dicerna omongan di atas mimbarnya. Tidak usahlah bicara politik dan yang isu-isu besar. Kadang hal-hal kecil, dorongan untuk melakukan hal yang tidak terlalu susah; lebih berguna buat umat yang mendengarkan. Lihat saja saya; akibat mendengarkan khotbah tadi; saya berjanji untuk selalu memeluk dan mencium anak saya setiap hari. Dan saya berjanji untuk membelai rambut istri saya dan memberitahu dia tentang kasih saya :) .. little step..

Gadget = Bling bling .. Do you need it?

Well, here we go again.. Om Steve Jobs baru aja launching the next generation iPad; The iPad 2! Kata si Om: 33% lebih tipis, double  (CPU) processing speed (dual core Apple A5) and front/rear camera. The 1 million dollar question is: Should I buy it? Wihhh ada yg putih pula.

iPad2 New Cover

The problem with the original iPad (for me at least) adalah berat nya .. I owned iPad 16Gb (which I bought in the U.S and sold in Jkt for a margin). Coba aja browsing lebih dari 30 menit .. capek loh pegangnya .. and it was quite awkward if you don't use a case; licin gitu.The next big problem is .. mau dibilang pengganti pc .. tapi tetep aja iPad perlu PC utk sync. Jadi yah percuma aja kali ya. Beda sama android yg bener2 gak perlu pc (utk pic, music, video dll.). Tapi teteep yang laku ya iPad :)

The real question is actually; whether you need this gadget or not. Kalo dibilang mau sih .. ya mau lahhh. Kalo butuh .. hmmmm. Unless I sell my Macbook; the iPad is redundant. 

Since I use a company's laptop for work; my primary laptop (which is the MacBook) lost some of its usefulness. Now I primarily use it for browsing, and as my music and pictures database. 

For browsing, I believe iPad 2 can substitute my MacBook. But as a database? hardly ya. Jadi memang seharusnya kita perlu ada 1 desktop di rumah .. and I have a macmini ... so what the hell am I doing. I should sell my Macbook and buy an android tablet :p ... ooooor buy the original iPad!!! which will get a US$100 cut due to the launching of iPad 2 ... see, justification found! it's a matter of pitching this with the wifey hehe.

Facetime is a must now!

 I am a devoted android user. I truly support their 'openness' .. seriously! with an android; you can do things that you can't with your iPhone.

The one thing that I want though; is the Facetime. Apple has made it very easy to do video conferencing. And for a lovey dovey daddy like me; 1 minute of video conferencing with my babygirl is a miracle :). I truly believe that if android cannot provide a Facetime like feature in its phone and tablet .. I'll seriously considering a move to the good old Steve Jobs' bandwagon.

Waktu itu my good friend Hendrik actually demoed the Facetime feature using his shiny new generation iPod Touch ... you only need an email and a wifi connection and voila!! video conferencing! and as long as you have good internet connection, everything is flawless :)

Saat ini gadget (terutama di Jakarta) sudah seperti menjadi trend. You just got to have the newest shiny, state of the art, blazingly fast gadget in town. It is like a jewelry that you wear so you can show it to other people. I'm not saying it is wrong... terserah aja kok; kan suka-suka aja tiap orang mau gimana. But for me; karena uang masih terbatas, ya mau gak mau harus milih milih :p.

The many colors of the new magnetic cover

So For me; buy the iPad2:

- if I sold my Macbook

- if my wifey approved the buying (this is the hardest part)

But seriously; it goes down to the Facetime! Soooo many things to buy in 2011!! : Nintendo 3DS, iPad2, Motorola Atrix 4G, Macbook Air,  Nismo Bodykit for March, audio for March.

Well, this is a sign for me to work harder, don't you think? :)

Luminara B-day by Om Adit

Luminara's Birthday Bash from Raditya Pratama Heruwanto on Vimeo.


If you see this video .. and you read my previous posts... you'll understand why life 'worth it' .. and 'casual life' is an understatement .. Luminara is the spark of my life ;)

Testing Android app Blogger

Hmm I'm on fire today. With all of this i should blog more don't you think? :) . This post is made with my android ;)

March in March 2011

Inspired by a certain blog that I just read; me gonna start creating blogs with multiple pictures. :) . So this is my first try (don't mock me ya).

This is my new car .. A Nissan March/Micra 2010 (K13). Dibeli karena mau mengirit pengeluaran bensin ... Only in Indonesia tuh .. untuk mengirit harus membeli mobil 1 lagi haha. Anyway .. the old trusty C200 udah mulai merongrong .. sepertinya harus beli citycar .. and voila!!!

This is when White Ponyo (I decided to give her a name .. "Ponyo") got her new shoess!! a White Lenso Project D - pdX R16, 7inch

Ini lagi cuci di daerah Bintaro IX .. disamping competitor!! .. Ponyo masih pakai sepatu standar (yang harus dijual karena gak ada tempat untuk menyimpan!! hiks).

Semoga jadinya bagus deh nih post.

How Casual is too Casual - update on what's happening around me

Sepertinya menulis panjang di blog saat ini agak lebih susah dilakukan (not that I wrote a lot in the past tho :p) .. tapi dengan hadirnya begitu banyak media lain seperti twitter .. urang2 sepertinya menemukan cara lain untuk melimpahkan uneg2 nya. Dan serunya, gak perlu seperti blog yang rasanya selalu harus menulis banyak; with twitter you can just put a one liner .. and you're done :). Kadang-kadang itu cukup, dan karena gak harus tulis banyak, tidak membuat kita malas menulis.

Anyway.

Since morning I have been reading a lot about what's going on in Libya. Reading up almost all of CNN's pieces in relation to the conflict. I can only say .. sedih ya. It struck me .. at a certain point, we might need to resort to war.... A peace demonstration has turned out in to a full blown civil war .. just like that. Terus, di sisi lain dunia; Colin Firth dan Natalie Portman (such a cute lady) won best actor/actress di Academy Awards. Red carpet terpenuhi dengan aktris2 yang bergelimangan dengan perhiasan .. baju yg indah2 dan seksi2 sekali looh. Dan di Indonesia, kita sibuk dengan koalisi partai dan SBY yang merasa tidak puas dengan koalisinya. Bu Mega yang gak mau ketemu Hatta Rejasa dan memilih untuk makan malam dengan anak2nya. Udah gitu MU kalah ama Chelsea. hehe What I'm trying to say here; is that there is just toooo much information. Too many things going on in the world. But most of them are bad news. At least that is how I feel.

Hence, we come to the title of today's blog: 'how casual is too casual?'

Melihat semua yang terjadi disekitar saya; saya jadi berpikir ... should I do something? Am I actually doing anything for the good of the world? is it better to stay away from these important things and lay low? Are you rather be more or less; then be normal? non special?

Is not like I'm actually dreaming of going to make an impact to the world. Heck, telling my babygirl to sleep on time has been quite a challenge for me! gimana mau bantuin temen2 yang lagi perang saudara di Libya. soooo ... should I be casual (I did not use normal because that word is not catchy enough).

Should I try do bigger things? should I join a political party .. an NGO .. the military!! (hehe military not gonna happen.. unless they start needing overweight soldiers). Naaaah ... I always thought that something bigger start from something small. That is one of the things that I want to tell my babygrrl .. I hope she'll understand.

But doing small things seems so casual ... ya gak sih .. it's like: why is my life sooo petty.. nothing special.. pagi bangun, ke kantor dan kerja, pulang, makan malem, tidur, pagi bangun... seee .. gak ada spesial2nya :). I'm not saying everything is casual .. Luminara is super special :) .. but is that enough. As a father; shouldn't I be fighting the good fight outside and ensure her safety?

hhhhhh .. so many question. Mungkin itulah sebabnya Bapak gw selalu bilang gw terlalu banyak mikir .. akhirnya malah jadi gak ngapa2in. Hey... why should I throw away my options when I don't need to.

Sudahlah .. until the next post ;) .. moga2 tahun ini kok hehe