Windows 10 Launch

 

 

On July 29th 2015, Microsoft Corp launched Windows 10 as a free upgrade to over 190 countries. I was lucky enough to be a part of the launch event in Singapore. (I got it earlier to test!)

After key takeaways from Andrew Pickup (Senior Director, Communications, Microsoft Asia Pacific), Jessica Tan (Managing Director Microsoft Singapore) and Guenter Weimer (General Manager, Windows & Surface, Microsoft Asia Pacific) came the demo sessions that I, Jianhao Tan (YouTube sensation), Irfan and Ikhsan Fandi Ahmad ( Sons of football legend Fandi Ahmad) headed.
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(picture provided by Microsoft)

We were each tasked with sharing our wonderful experiences with the new OS upgrade in different scenarios. JianHao shared the work environment,

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Irfan and Ikhsan shared the school environment

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(picture provided by Microsoft)

and I shared the best scenario in my opinion, the home environment.

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Fans were also treated to performances by local celebrity rapper Shigga Shay and localĀ female DJ, Nicole Chen.

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Top 3 Features for a gamer:

SNAP!

The name of the function is definitive to how easy it is to use. I can open up to four windows concurrently on the same screen which makes multi-tasking a breeze. Now, I can watch game streams, chat with friends on skype and look at my facebook newsfeed in one screen.

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Windows Hello: Biometric Scan (Facial Recognition login)

Over the years, I’ve accumulated many valuable in game items, and keeping them secure is important to me. I’ve also had my Facebook status hijacked by cheeky colleagues and friends, which has even led to my account being banned! So I was greatly impressed by the facial recognition login matrix as there is nothing more secure than having my face as the login process.
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(picture provided by Microsoft)

Microsoft Edge

The new browser by Microsoft comes with the upgrade to Windows 10. Proclaimed to be the fastest browser out there, it has also cool functions that enables one to write and draw on web pages and share the content with ease.

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One for the future:

You know how your mom always wants to watch her Taiwanese drama when you want to play your favourite console title and you have no choice but to give way?
Those days will be over soon, as you will be able to stream Xbox Live titles onto any device using Windows 10. This really got meĀ really excited!

Here I am streaming Forza Motorsport onto my Microsoft Surface.

 

And this is a picture showing the Microsoft Surface mirroring what’s on the TV! The TV can be switched to another input and you can still play your game on the Surface.
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Overall, Windows 10 is an awesome upgrade with too many cool features to list and as Guenter Weimer said ā€œThe best Windows ever is also the most familiarā€, it has a nostalgic feel enhanced with the best from Windows 7 and 8 with the return of the start menu and the integration of the Live Tiles. Most notably, Windows 10 is now delivered as a service meaning it will always have free updates to enhance the already impressive features.

Coral and I peeking at the live tiles on the Windows 10 Start Menu

 

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Don’t you think it’s time to #UpgradeYourWorld with Windows 10 now? microsoft.com/windows10

 

 

[Spoiler Alert!] Fallout Shelter – Tips and Tricks

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image taken from http://bethsoft.com/en-gb/games/fallout_shelter

Bethesda’s Fallout Shelter is a brilliant mobile game to keep you occupied when you’re waiting in line somewhere, at lunch alone or even as a game you can leave open next to you as you work.
If you are, like me, an Android user, you’ll be waiting impatiently for the launch of the games in August. Well, at least, I WAS, until I hijacked my boyfriend’s iPad.

I’m not going to go through the basics of the game, like the game play, or explaining what SPECIAL is, there’s plenty of those guides out there. What I’m going to do, is share VERY PRACTICAL ADVISE, and if you’re the kind that enjoys wiping out your population a few times while testing limits (like I do), then I suggest that you don’t read this article any further. This is more for those who have played the game and want to just… play it better?

So, here are my tips and tricks from a few days of playing the game.

1) impregnate your women.
Keeping many women pregnant is a great way to ensure you build your population. This is highly abusable once you realise that they don’t give birth if there are insufficient living quarters available. So, regulating the number of living quarters you build in relation to how much resources you’re producing gives you immense control over the game. For example, if I have insufficient resources, I can not let them give birth yet by not building any living quarters, and concentrate first on upgrading my resource producing structures and making sure I have a steady stream coming in before I build living quarters. Then the women will all magically, suddenly give birth at once.
Children remain children for pretty long. So remember to take this into consideration too.
Oh, and pregnant women are totally useless in incidents. So you might want to mix up your rooms with non-pregnant women, and men, especially if you want to rush that room often.

2) building similar rooms next to each other saves on the upgrade fee, but compromises on the efficiency
You’ll just have to figure out which one is more important to you, and whether you have enough high stat people to make it worthwhile. The discount in the upgrade fee is pretty substantial though. I put all my highest stat people into the larger rooms because that makes it more efficient eventually.

3) assign rooms function
If you cannot find the right dweller you’re looking for, click on a room, and there will be a little clipboard on the bottom left that pops up. It’s arranged by alphabetical order and you can scroll through looking at their stats there. I don’t really use this much, but I figured it might be worth highlighting because there are a few occasions when I’ve needed to use it.
I do prefer tapping on the top left number of dwellers and sorting them – you can click on the headers to sort accordingly. The selected header (LVL, SPECIAL, :), STATUS, JOB) will be highlighted.

4) choose the lowest happiness level to mate with each other
You can sort the dwellers according to happiness. They are happier when you assign them to a room that requires their highest level SPECIAL stat. But should your people get unhappy, no matter how low the happiness level is, just let them procreate and it will bounce right back up to 100% after they’re done with the deed.

5) unequip your items immediately after use
This is the most useful thing I’ve realised. Once you get more and more dwellers and you’re running them from room to room to fight incidents, or just to change their jobs, you’ll lose track of them. So I recommend ensuring all items are unequipped from the start, and only equip them when needed. Immediately after they are done with the incident, unequip the weapon so that you can equip it on the next person during the following incident. Nothing sucks more than having a room full of radroaches and being unable to find your weapons to kill them.
Similarly, for costumes and such, I unequip my dweller’s night wear as soon as they start running to the back of the room. This is because it won’t affect whether they complete the deed, and also, pregnant women all change to a yellow top and blue pants, so you can’t see that they are wearing a costume unless you click on them.

6) zoom out all the way to locate skivers
It’s nice to double tab and view each room close up, but now and then, its good to zoom out totally so that the whole map becomes 2D. When children grow into adults, there is a notification which is pretty easy to miss, and sometimes they’ll sneak into becoming slacker adults that just wander the halls doing nothing. If you want to ensure that all your people are earning their keep all the time, try zooming out totally. You’ll realise that the only people who still move around in 2D mode are the slackers and children. From there, it’s easy to identify them and drag them into a room to work.

Other useful tips

– you can see the dweller’s contribution to a room when you drag them over and hover. If it’s a + number I generally release the hover and the lowest stat person will run out and make way for the new guy to come in. If you change your mind about letting the dweller go into the room but cannot remember where you plucked him out from, just pull him out into the rocks (not out the vault door!) and release the hover and he will remain in the room he was in.

– If you’re sending people out into the wastelands, try to equip them with more stimpaks and radaways. Better weapons and outfits will help too. But most importantly, the higher the level, the longer they last out there. And the longer they last outside, the better the items they manage to find.

– as you’re loading the game, read the tips that pop up on the screen. Some are pretty useful.

– There will be objectives to fulfill, but not all of them are suitable to be fulfilled immediately. For example, sending 5 dwellers out into the wastelands early on when they are low level is just wasting your man power and resources.

– Raiders will break into your vault room, try to locate more men in the rooms near the vault door, or non-pregnant women. This makes it easier to activate your defenses as the people who are able to defend the vault are located nearer the door.

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Well, that’s all the wisdom I’m imparting tonight… so… GL HF, and share in the comments if you’ve got a super tip!

Xbox Elite #XboxE3

Troy

 

One of the most exciting announcements that Xbox made, in my opinion (read this for my top 7 announcements from #XboxE3) was the launch of their XBOX Elite Controller.

The controller features removable and interchangeable parts, which allows users to customise itĀ according to their own preference and feel,Ā to maximise accuracy and responsiveness.
Here is a picture showing you the controller with the parts taken out.

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All the buttons are from the front of the controller, except for the 4 longish metal paddles on the top right side of the picture. Those are situated behind the grips, 2 on each side.

The next few pictures are taken by me as I hold the controller, so you can estimate the size and positioning.

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This is roughly where the back paddles will sit in relation to your grip

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The Xbox Elite with the back paddles taken out and also showing the 2 levers/trigger locks behind

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The hardware underneath the replaceable Dpad and thumbstick

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The faceted Dpad attached to the controller

This is going to be a modders dream,Ā I can forsee them creating custom paddles, Dpads, thumbsticks and buttons, and embellishing the controller.

There will be an app for Xbox One and Windows 10 which will allow you to customise features, and will allow you to save profiles that are stored on cloud, 2 of which can be uploaded to the controller and can be switched between using a mechanical profile switch.

It’s a good weight (roughly 350g), it feels solid, without being too heavy, and heavy enough so that it doesn’t feel cheap.
It will set you back 149 USD, and it is set to be available in October 2015.
[For SEA users though, the controller will not be available as a standalone in the region. It will only be purchasable together with the Xbox Elite console.]
And these are the official product shots, for your viewing pleasure.

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For more information on the Xbox Elite, including a product video, please visit this linkĀ http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/accessories/controllers/elite-wireless-controller

[Travel] 29 April – 3 May 2015 : Bali – Seminyak, Ketewel

Bali has a ton of cafes springing up everywhere, and they all serve quality food for very affordable prices. Other than eating, there’s shopping, beach activities, spas and massages…
At night, there are pubs and bars to chill out at, with live bands to listen to, and new friends to make.
Travel and accommodation is really affordable too.
[Magic mushrooms have been banned after some incidents late last year, for the more adventurous ones, this should be a disappointment.]

All in all, Bali is becoming one of my new favourite beach destinations… And I think I’ll be planning more short trips there!

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Sunrise from my Jetstar flight to Denpasar.

We took the 3am flight to Bali, and we landed around 7am. Managed to get this shot as we were descending, the rainbow effect is from my ND filter. No idea why it turned out this way, but it looks nice!
All flights to DPS now include the 180,000Rp terminal fee in the ticket charge, so you don’t need to keep your cash to pay at the airport upon departure. Yay!
I’m always short of cash at the end of a trip, so I was relieved to find out that it was already settled in the initial transaction when I purchased the ticket online.

We stayed at an airbnb apartment that cost under SGD30 a night. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4664417
The room was a little sandy, and there wasn’t an in room dustbin. We didn’t swim in the pool, and in general didn’t spend much time there. The room lighting is a little too dim for night reading.
Wifi is good, there’s hot water and a large changing room/balcony/back area.
No frills place, that’s a good price for budget travellers. Spacious and walking distance to the local market where you can get your sim cards, local food and provisions.

First food stop of the day – Naughty Nuri’s.
You might like to know that it’s now called Hog Wild, apparently cos of franchising issues etc. Whatever. The food is still fantastic.
This trip, we had the ribs, pork chop, sup buntut and for dessert we had an egg custard.

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The famous ribs

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Pork chop

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Sup buntut

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Egg custard!

I was in my devourer of worlds mood where I eat and eat non stop.
So, we stopped by a satay joint and had 10 chicken satays. The peanut sauce is very thick and nutty, with hardly any chilli in it.
And further along, near the local market near our hotel, we decided to buy back a nasi goreng (fried rice) and a maggi goreng (fried instant noodles). Both of which were simply DELISH.

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The next day, we visited a friend’s restaurant called “Biku”. http://bikubali.com/

It’s a yummy, affordable place, which serves local and fusion cuisine.
I especially liked the lamb, it was flavourful and cooked perfectly to bring out the flavour.
For dessert, I enjoyed the affogato which was served with a chocolate coated spoon. Yum.

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Affogato!

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Lamb with Wedges

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Barramundi fillet

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Goat cheese pie with salad

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Sup buntut

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Nasi Goreng

Random Picture :

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Petrol sold by the roadside… in Absolut Vodka bottles

Over in Seminyak, there’s a place called The Library that has the most yummy food ever.
I’m really not kidding, I usually hate pastas with capsicums in them, but I ate up every last bit of this one. It doesn’t look very tasty, but trust me, the flavours will explode in your mouth.
The garlic prawns were so good too. Juicy and fragrant… every single bite is heaven…
Receipts and change are presented to you in a little shopping basket. So adorable.

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Prawns with Butter Garlic

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Aglio Olio

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he’s actually really happy

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The cheerful barristers and the bar

We happened to be in town during the famous Mayweather vs Pacquiao match too. All the bars were advertising it and offering special deals to patrons who reserved/walked to watch it.

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The Bayu Gita Villa

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View from the living room. The waves crash on the breakwater below, sending sprays 3-4m high, and rocking the villa with a sound like booming thunder. Apparently this is the low season, and in the high season, the waves (not just the spray) reach the swimming pool.

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Beef Rendang cooked by the house chef!

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Happy us in the pool. There are tons of floats left over by previous guests, but we brought our own as well, including the swan float that’s photo bombing. It’s an “infinity” pool, overlooking the wide, dark ocean. There are surfers too, but only experienced ones, since there’s lots of corals on this coast.

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Sausages and bacon, with freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast. Cooked by the house chef.

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Early morning, standing on

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after the foot shot, I decided to look up and shoot what I saw. And that is the living room, beyond the pool, in the early morning.

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the sunrise! I’m more intrigued by the beautiful cloud formations than the sunrise itself.

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welcome dance by the butler

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adventuring out into the sea. The waves are strong, and there’s some debris in the water. So getting hit by the waves isn’t too fun. Cyn got hit by a floating durian shell and she ended up getting a cut on her ankle.

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beautiful black sand…

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another view of the villa, with all our floats!!

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the afternoons were cloudy, I guess it’s the time of the year. but we still had fun in the pool!

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My bedroom

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The attached living room, complete with media player, TV sofa…

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My personal dipping pool

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the 10 seater movie theatre, with leg rests, cushions, and a wide selection of movies.

Back to Seminyak.
Kedaton
Asked a taxi driver to bring me to a nasi padang restaurant, and he brought me here.

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I’m not really sure what I ordered, but I can tell you it was really good.
there was some dried beef with chilli, a hard boiled sambal egg, some fried prawn thing. It was really really nice and spicy. I’m dreaming of the prawn fritter daily…. It’s a must eat.

 

 

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Surfing
Most surfing schools will offer you free drinks in the package too.
If you don’t need an instructor, then you can get the board for about 10SGD an hour.
We decided on an instructor, and I think we paid about SGD40 total for an hour of instruction plus as long as we wanted to practise on the board. (which was roughly 1 more hour)
They provide a long sleeved top for you to use so you don’t get abrasions.

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A terrible warung that we went to… this was one of the dishes. It was a tourist trap, so I don’t intend to tell you where it was. This is the garlic butter swimmer crab, and it was tiny, hardly any meat, overcooked so that the meat stuck to the shell… yeah… no. Not worth it at all.

 

 

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A sunset on the beach at seminyak.

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Potato Head.
It’s a slightly more expensive area, but the sunsets here are the best.
It’s always pretty crowded, there’s outdoor seating and inpool seating. lol.

 

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Sisterfields. One of the nice cafes to go to. We didn’t manage to drop by, but our friends said the coffee was soso only.
A nice place to hang I guess!
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#XboxE3 2015 Briefing – The TOP 7 Exciting Announcements

[This is a totally subjective article based on what I find exciting and interesting.]
The XboxE3 Briefing event has just left me picking my jaw up from the floor, and even though I’m not a huge console game fan, I think I’m going to be making a purchase soon.For starters, here’s what we walked into this morning :

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*disclaimer, my lens needs a servicing, so there’s a weird clicky sound through most of the videos I took… =(
Here’s the full playlist : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey8FbXIG5B0&list=PL38spF0rDDpwyNLOJtHlTzRvCcojlO417
And here’s the facebook page photo album : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.916395605068936.1073741837.116843381690833&type=3

1. Microsoft HoloLens and Minecraft
This is handsdown the most exciting announcement.
Here’s a video of how these 2 will work together. It’s amazing how the camera was able to pick up what the HoloLens was seeing!
Even though I’m not an avid Minecraft player, THIS made me sit up and take note.
It’s also playable cross platform. The demonstration at the event shows it being played with the Surface and the Xbox.

2. Xbox Elite Wireless Controller
– 4 new bumper pad locations
– Swappable components
– Full sensitivity customisation
– User profiles
Check out the video explaining these features from theverge

3. Fable Legends – Playable cross platform!

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An Xbox One and Microsoft 10 exclusive.
I guess I just love whatever is free to play, and as a predominantly PC gamer, being able to play cross platform is so exciting!

4. Partnership with Valve VR!
This was a by the way announcement, but it was one of the few statements that made me go “WOAH” out loud.
I’m excited to see what this will bring to the gaming world, and I’m hoping for a more in depth explanation on what this partnership means for us!

5. Fallout 4

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Mods created on PC will be playable on Xbox, for free!

6. Xbox One will be backward compatible with Xbox 360 games

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I believe this will be done in stages, with games added batch at a time.
This is amazing, and I’m really impressed at how the team has managed to make this happen. This is a huge step forward for consoles (Here’s looking at you, Playstation)

7. Day z On Xbox, and Ion
DayZ will be playable on Xbox, but that’s not all. The creators have also announced a new MMO called Ion which will also be released on Xbox.