Funan

After attending Tandberg Data product briefing, I went over to Funan.

 
 

Looking around, updating myself on new consumer products. Wifi router with  802.11ac

 
 

• ASUS RT-AC66U
  
• D-Link Wireless AC1750 Dual-Band Gigabit Cloud Router
  
• TP-Link AC 1750
  

 
 

802.11n : up to 450Mbps

802.11ac: up to 1300Mbps

 
 

However, Wireless AC Dualband USB Adapter is only up to 867Mbps

USB-AC53

DWA-182

Archer T4U

 
 

 
 

USB AC dongle available only for 1200

IP camera costing as low as $49 

 
 

I have been buying unnecessary items but one thing never occur to me is the display monitor I look at most of the time every day. I think it is time to get a new one. I then proceed to look at display monitors. Dell 23" caught my eye. South Asia is selling at $209. I went to another shop and the staff told me that glossy display is not good for long time working and HDMI could not display full resolution ... 

 
 

 
 

There is a Dell showroom and I walked into the showroom to ask about the monitor. 

The staff showed me another model (Dell UltraSharp U2312HM) with adjustable stand matt surface, DVI input but without HTMI . I have to decide on which one to get at a difference in price of $50. In the end I opted for the stand paying $270 for the older model with matt surface.

 
 

According to the staff Yun Luo Yeo (Tel: 84489225), if cash and carry, I have to pay the list prise, but if build to order, then I can get a discount and the item will be delivered free of charge in 5 days' time.

 
 

Another item I looked at is the keyboard which I also use every day. Surprise to find that there isn't any USB keyboard with touchpad except those wireless one from Logitech.

 
 

The two available models are :

• Logitech Wireless All-in-One Keyboard TK820 S$125 (SA)
  
• Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 S$58 (SA)
  

   
   

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

WeChat - Sendig Excel file

In the beginning, I use WeChat to communicate with my brother to save the cost of International Direct Dial charges. Later WeChat added Video call feature and I tested calling my friend working in China.

Few days ago, I was trying to send out an Excel file summary of free iPhone camera app to friends, trying Whatsapp, Viber, Line, only WeChat can be used to send file attachments.

Also found that so far only Line and WeChat allow sending multiple photos.

iPhone Contacts Backup

Normally one would backup the Contacts to iTunes, iCloud. However, as I have 3 iPhone sharing the same Apple ID, only Contacts of one user can be maintain on iCloud.

The options available are: iTunes on desktop computer, Gmail account Sync, OliveOffice backup to Excel file, Pogoplug

Edit: As I was studying the free cloud storage, I found that iDrive also provides app on iPhone to have Contacts, Calendar backup ( http://www.idrive.com/?uid=G5C6E9K2V4 )

Thoughts on iPhone Photography

Recently I was crazy with iPhone photography, doing feature comparison of free camera apps, trying them out. Trying some simple editing using Snapseed.

I would like to mention that the battery on my iPhone could only last for less than 3 hours. If you are seriously taking photos with your iPhone, a power bank to recharge your battery is needed.

Today most of us are using smartphone to quickly and conveniently capture photos, edit them if necessary, sharing them on social networking sites. May I conclude that as of today, we use smartphone as a capturing device, upload to cloud storage for storage, sharing and backup. Then the photos can be edited on a different device as soon as the upload is done. After editing, sharing them on social networking sites.

The key point is the ease of use and convenience of the entire process.

I didn't realise the important of these points when Samsung came out with Galaxy camera. I was not interested in any camera with WiFi function, only until today I understand the reason of having WiFi on the camera., just like the ability to see yourself with the front facing LCD on camera for self-portrait.

On iPhone, one can use Blux camera with Blux lens or almost DSLR with WiFi connection between two iPhone for remote capture or self portrait.

Many personal Cloud storage app on iPhone has the option of automatically upload camera roll; e.g. Pogoplug, U1 files from Ubuntu One, Dropbox, Google+, Kuaipan

Using SnapSeed for IOS and Android

After learning the key strength of Snapseed, which is SELECTIVE ADJUST, I decided to test it out.

However, it would be difficult to work on a small screen, so I was thinking should I get a latest iPad. Another point is that if I store all the photos on my iphone, very soon it would run out of space. Then I realise that there are free cloud storage available :

Dropbox 5GB

Google Drive 15GB

SkyDrive 7GB

Box 5GB

Snapcrowd 10GB

Pogoplug 5GB

SugarSync 5GB
Ubuntu One 5GB

Kuaipan 7GB

I can actually store my photos on these free cloud storage to free up my iPhone storage space. I can use iCloud for this as the 5GB is reserved for my common Apple ID used by three iPhones used by my brothers.

Then I remember that I have a 10 inch made in China Android tablet, Cubic U30GT,used mainly to watch video connecting to my TV via HDMI cable.

So I transferred the images to cloud storage: Box. Then on my Android tablet, Cubic U30GT, tap on OPEN PHOTO, chose photo from Box, and tap on Selective Adjust.

Tap on + icon to add a control point, tap on the point of interest on the screen. Pinch with two fingers to change the size of circle where Brightness, Contrast, Saturation are to be adjusted. Multiple control points can be added.

After that tap on Save. Tap on Share to share on any social networking sites or cloud storage sites. 

iPhone Peer to Peer File Transfer

When I tried searching for bluetooth peer to peer file transfer, I did not find any information. Few days ago, I downloaded FileMaster and File Manager and found that both has this function.

However today I search with "bluetooth peer to peer file transfer", I found Blue Me, Bluetooth U, Bluetooth Share Center.

Free Office Apps on iPhone

OliveOffice and WPS Office

OliveOffice is able to open Excel 2013 file, but not WPS Office. WPS Office on Android is able to open Excel 2013 file but not yet for iPhone.

While trying Olive Office, I found ContactsTools in Settings. It has been difficult to maintain my contacts on my iPhone. This ContactsTools is able to import and export Contacts to Excel file with options to select fields. The file can then be transferred to PC via WiFi using a local web server on iPhone with iPhone IP address : port 8080. After editing, it can then be transferred back to iPhone via WiFi transfer.

Similarly, Olive Office can transfer documents via WiFi using the same port.

Olive Office can also transfer to Dropbox or Google Docs only. [Update: there is an option of Open In for the followings: Kuaipan, iDrive, iDriveSync, Bitcasa,CX,Box,SkyDrive, Pogoplug,SugarSync,OpenDrive]

Update:

Found CloudOn which can access the following free cloud storage : Box. DropBox, Google Drive, SkyDrive.