Erika Suzuki

1. iSight camera back and front. Isn’t it good if we were chatting on our favorite client with an iPad while on webcam
2. Mac OS X and a USB or FireWire port. So we could do whatever we want on it and treat it as a real full featured computer.

Just lately, Steve Jobs announced Apple’s iPad. I don’t like the name, honestly. For me it’s an oversized iPod Touch. But what I like about the iPad is that it supports 802.11n. Meaning, it surfs fast and it looks good. I have an Apple Extreme here, and I think it’s a good pair with iPad, it will be as fast as my laptop, and who doesn’t want multi-touch browsing experience.

About the pricing, I think it’s a bit expensive. It can’t even make phone calls. It has no USB port in it, unlike netbooks. Let’s say netbooks are slow and has low quality display but at least it can use devices such as webcams, computer mouse, and some other usb devices, and netbooks are way cheaper than iPad. At $829 (price of a 64gb WiFi+3G iPad), I could buy a brand new PC CPU with very decent graphic card, I could buy a new Macbook, I just have to add a hundred dollar more. I think it would be reasonable if they priced it $699.

Anyways, it’s a good product, it’s a bit better than netbooks. I just wish it had a Mac OS X instead of the iPhone OS.

Last week, I just did the biggest mistake this year. I divided my backup hard disk to two partitions, so that my Windows can use some 50gb from my external backup hard disk on a format that is Windows friendly. Days later I realized that I don’t need it, so I erased that partition. I’ve done this before so I was certain that nothing will happen to my backup hard disk. Then, poof!. My main partition is gone too.

I tried using some date recovery tool, but the files it finds are all with the same name. So, it would really be impossible for me to search for it all. I gave up on opening and previewing thousands of files. In the end, I never recovered anything.

That hard disk contains photos years ago til present, paid softwares, my entire music and video library, work tools, and some very important informations on a text a file.

So, now I’m back to zero, collecting pics dating from now. Contacting the vendors of some paid items, hopefully to get some redownload.

That would be a lesson…

If you’re a mac user, you’re probably aware of the Dock. It’s like a taskbar in Windows, only better. All applications you frequently use should be there.

So here’s a quick preview of what’s in my dock…

Last week, I just found out about the jailbreak proof iPhone 3G S. Three friends of mine asked me to jailbreak their new phones. So, I used blackra1n. After clicking “make it ra1n” the phone went to recovery mode, and it was on recovery mode for so long (made me nervous, because I haven’t backed up their phone ). Tried to Blackra1n it the second time, and it was ok, all the datas were still there, blackra1n app is there. But if you turn off the phone, it will go on recovery mode. So if you blackra1ned your new phone and you don’t have a backup, do not restore your phone immediately. Just blackra1n it once more and then you’ll be able to backup, then restore it.

After searching the net, I found out that this “24kpwn” thingie that is used on the latest jailbreaking softwares out there is not working with the newly manufactured iPhone 3G S. So now, I’m relying on Geohot (a brilliant hacker and the maker of the amazing 1-click jailbreaking solution, Blackra1n), waiting for him to release a new software.

Don’t buy the new 3G S yet if you’re expecting for an iPhone open to all carriers. Watch the net for some updates. If you can’t wait, buy the 3G only.

This new year celebration had been the most boring ever. I visited my mothers place but no one is at home. We didn’t ate dinner altogether because they all came late. Me and my mother had dinner together, then my dad alone, then my bro alone. After that…mom went to work, bro played video games with his friend, dad was busy negotiating with the police because of illegal parking, my boyfriend is celebrating with his family. So I’m left alone and just decided to sit in front of the computer and see what’s going on with my friends who’s celebrating. Chatted a bit. I didn’t even noticed it was past 12. After a few hours, I headed to bed and slept for 12 hours (I had a fever) then I went back home. Thats how I celebrated my new year.

It’s Dec. 15 today and today is my 20th bday. In Japan, I am considered an adult now. I have to wear a kimono and take myself a pic as part of the “Seijin shiki (Adult’s day)” celebration. But I dont think I will do that for now.

My plans for today are not that much. Just a simple family gathering and I still have to work for today and think of something to do for the rest of the day . Anyways, my B’day celebration at work will be on Dec. 17.

So last month I went to Kasai Rinkai Park (葛西臨海公園) and just went to see the aquariums of fishes from different parts of the world. I also rode a huge ferris wheel located near it. If you’re unaware of the whereabouts of Kasai Rinkai Park, it’s located at Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, just 1 or 2 kilometers away from Tokyo Disneyland. Here are some of the pics I’ve taken.

Last Saturday a good friend of mine volunteered to go and play billiards with me. It’s been half a year since my last play, when I had a vacation at South Korea and last year at the Philippines. We went to Warehouse at Iriya, Adachi-ku, Tokyo. They have bowling, video games, arcades, soft darts and billiards.

It was fun even with missed shots and scratches! I’m always losing my aim because my hands were shaky at that time. But in the end I won by 5-3. We played 9-balls. It was fun.

Since last last year I decided to make my own espresso based coffees.

So I bought this Swift Espresso Cappuccino maker from Amazon. I chose this since this is the cheapest I’ve seen and it’s got good reviews and the other thing is, I’m just a beginner.

PROs

• A good powerful one-hole steam wand. It makes good quality microfroam.
• Lightweight and small.

CONs

• Small water tank
• Single walled steam wand. Burnt milk is hard to remove.
• Super fast brewing. The espresso tasted like drip coffee no matter how coarse or fine the grind is. It produces no crema at all.
• No cup warmer.

The second one is not mine. It belongs to a friend but she lets me use it. It’s a Briel First Class. It was hard to use at first because it had no manual and I don’t know how to dose it. Somehow, I figured it out soon after .

PROs

• A medium water tank.
• It makes rich crema.
• Compact size.

CONs

• Short and hard to clean nozzle.
• Unsealed water tank. Hard to reach because it’s located at the back.
• small drip tray

The third one, also from Amazon, Delonghi ECM300J-E. It’s featured at Starbucks Japan website and retail stores so it got my interest.

PROs

• A cup warmer.
• Wide and easy to clean drip tray.
• Supports coffee pods.
• A good and easy to refill water tank.

CONs

• Group head is super tight. I don’t know if it’s just my machine.
• It’s not so good on producing rich crema. I’m having a hard time adjusting the grinds for it. But it’s nice with coffee pods.
• Not so good steam wand. It’s just so hard to make microfoams with it.

Each one has it’s specialty. Sometimes when I make coffee, I use two machines . Right now I plan to try a semi-automatic Rancilio Silvia LE 2010 or just the Rancilio Silvia V3. Hope I get it next month.