Credit cards will have to be activated for overseas use by 1st October 2013

Yes, you heard or rather, read that right. I got a shock of my life when I read this on TodayOnline. Apparently, “the move is in line with the Association of Banks in Singapore’s plan to phase out magnetic stripe technology”. I wonder what the Association Of Banks is thinking. Its like cutting off your head to cure a headache. Why can’t something like SMS notifications to people when they charge something to their credit cards? That would be a whole lot better right? Honestly…I hold bankers in the same regard as I do criminals. I can now add something else to that regard…idiots.

Instant water heater valve

I am looking for a replacement valve like this for my instant water heater. No, mine has not spoilt but I thought that it would be good to have a spare one, given the fact that these things are made of plastic, they may not last forever. But so far, a search on the Internet has yielded no results so far. maybe I am not searching right or I do not know what these are called. Looks like I may have to go to a hardware store to find one.

Publicis and Omnicom groups to consider a merge?

That is the news I got yesterday and to be truthful, it almost sent me reeling. The second-biggest and third-biggest advertising groups to merge? Now this is interesting. The biggest at the moment is the WPP Group but the merger of these two groups will create a 35 billion dollar juggernaut that will be bigger than the WPP Group by more than one-third the size. Now if this dos not send WPP Group’s CEO Sorrell sleepless nights, I wonder what will. In any case, according to the many reports on the Internet that I have been reading, the reason for doing so is because advertising revenue has been rather flat lately. Print and TV media have been losing ground to digital media.Apparently, the two parties say that it will give their customers up to $500 million in costs savings.

The combination has been approved by the boards of both companies, but remains subject to regulatory approval in both the U.S. and Europe, and to a vote by shareholders of both companies. There could be concerns because both these groups have conflicting clients like for example Pepsi and Coca-Cola, Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. This is interesting indeed. Lets see if it really does happen

The Landfill Harmonic Orchestra

When I saw this, I was humbled. Imagine. We take the costs of musical instruments for granted. here, kids would jettison their musical instruments like trash once they are done with it. Check out these kids in Paraguay. These kids would give ANYTHING to get even the lowest quality violin here in Singapore. The man in the video said that a violin costs more than a house on these ghettos built on landfill. So they make and recycle violins. I had a lump in my throat just watching this. I am pretty sure you will too.

Technics SL-700 turntable

I saw somethng this morning that literally floored me. As a matter of fact, I am still reeling from it. The thing that floored me/ Simple. The picture above. This, my friends, is the SL-700 turntable…a turntable made specifically, apparently by Technics, for 7″ singles. I got this from DJWORX.com and there is an interesting story on them. The following quote is from DJWORX’s website:

There’s a bit of a back story to this that started around 8 years ago. I was sent the above image from a reputable source purporting to be a 7″ Technics deck. It doesn’t take much CSI forensics to see that it’s a mock up, but apparently came via a Technics rep. A month or so later, I happened to find myself upon the Technics stand at Musikmesse, and figured it was the idea time to get some verification from the horse’s mouth as it were.

I found a guy who looked high up the corporate food chain, whipped out my laptop and asked him if this image was real. The look on his face was as if I’d pulled out the secret area 51 files, resulting in a very serious “where did you get this?”, which at the time made me think that there might be something in it. Seems there might have been after all.

That is interesting because a couple of years back, Technics / Panasonic stopped production of their SL-1200 MKII turntables, leading to a big groan from the DJ industry. There are hoarders everywhere now with new old stock Technics selling for up to $2000 a pop! But I digress. This is is a story that is absolutely fantastic. If Technics are making these (which I do not think is possible but I could be wrong) it shows that they still are clinging to their vinyl legacy. But…and if I mean but…if these are just a pair of one-ff decks, then I suppose all we can do is just drool at them. Hmmm…makes me wish that I had invested in more 7″ singles from the old days…

Audio-Technica System 10 wireless microphone

Just the other day, after I bought my Line 6 wireless microphone, my vendor tells me that this microphone by Audio-Technica was pretty good. Its a digital microphone like my Line 6 XD-V35 but this one has 8 channels instead of 6. Also, the price cannot be beat and it has a diversity system too! Apparently, the Audio-Technica website has this write-up:

Audio-Technica’s System 10 is a digital high-fidelity wireless system designed to provide performing musicians and presenters with advanced 24-bit operation, easy setup and clear, natural sound quality. Operating in the 2.4 GHz range, far from TV and DTV interference, System 10 offers extremely easy operation and instantaneous channel selection. Up to eight channels may be used together without any frequency coordination problems or group selection issues. System 10 receivers and transmitters offer an easy-to-read digital ID display.

System 10 wireless ensures clear communications by providing three levels of diversity assurance: frequency, time, and space. Frequency Diversity sends the signal on two dynamically allocated frequencies for interference-free communication. Time Diversity sends the signal in multiple time slots to maximize immunity to multipath interference. Finally, Space Diversity uses two antennas on each transmitter and receiver to maximize signal integrity.

Featuring stackable, contemporary styling, System 10 is available in multiple system configurations, with handheld vocal microphone/transmitters and UniPak® body-pack transmitters designed for use with lavalier, headworn and instrument microphones as well as electric guitars. Each configuration includes the ATW-R1100 receiver and either a body-pack transmitter or handheld microphone/ transmitter. The ATW-R1100 is a digital receiver offering volume control along with AF Peak and Pair indicator lights.

The only thing that this wireless microphone system does not have that my Line 6 one has is the battery indicator gauge. That is a very useful addition because the gauge can tell you when your batteries are running out of juice. I suppose the two extra channels on this Audio-Technica unit make up for that! Features-wise, this is what this unit has to offer:

• Digital 24-bit/48 kHz wireless operation for ultimate sound quality and dependable performance
• 2.4 GHz range – completely free from TV interference
• Three levels of diversity assurance: frequency, time, & space
• Automatic frequency selection for seamless, interference-free operation
• Extremely easy operation with instantaneous channel selection, sync, and set-up
• State-of-the-art digital receiver for reliable performance
• Balanced XLR and unbalanced 1/4” output jacks with level control

I am torn between getting this one or getting another Line 6

Sony NEX-6 camera

A friend of mine has this camera and he was showing it to me a week back, plus taking pictures with it. I must admit, this camera is a beauty. First of all, it’s a 16.1 megapixel camera. Egads. I actually saw some pictures that he took with it and I was amazed. But first of all, the basic specs right here:

• 16.1MP “Exmor™” APS HD CMOS sensor
• Fast Hybrid AF
• Built-in Wi-Fi
• Intuitive two-dial operation (Control and Mode Dial)
• XGA OLED Tru-Finder™
• AVCHD Full HD Movie recording

The lenses that it uses, and can change, must be Sony E-Mount lenses. I am not a photography geek so I cannot tell you if you can fit other lenses to this camera with an adapter but I am pretty sure you can find an adapter. Image quality-wise, you can capture in RAW format and JPG. You can also record movies on this camera…although I suspect you, my dear readers, knew that already. Its got heaps more features that would confuse a non-camera geek like me so you would have to go to the website to check them out. Amazing camera but I still stand by my cute little Panasonic Lumix. Its still going great and I see no reason to change it anytime soon.

Alesis MultiMix 12r

A couple of years back, I was at in a meeting cum conference room and this Alesis mixer was mounted on the tack. I was pretty intrigued then. Its a very simple mixer, offering 8 mic/line channels and 2 stereo channels with trim, 2-band EQ (high shelving at 12kHz, low shelving at 80Hz), aux send 1 (pre-fader), aux send 2 (post-fader), pan/balance, and 60mm fader, all in a compact, 19″ rack unit. The faders are tiny…and resemble the sliding volume faders so prevalent in DJ mixers back in the 80s. As for what it looks like in the rear:

Standard XLR inputs for the channels, located at the rear of the unit. Others might face an issue with that if they mounted it into a shallow mixer flightcase, what with XLR jacks being XLR jacks, sticking out a mile. I suppose you can get away with angled XLR jacks but for mounting in a 42U rack, like how I saw it mounted in that meeting room, this mixer just could not be beat. Feature of this mixer are:

• Ultra-affordable 12-channel mixer in a 3U rack
• 8 high-gain mic/line (XLR and 1/4″ balanced) inputs with phantom power, 2 stereo balanced 1/4″ line inputs
• 2 aux sends (pre- and post-fader), stereo aux return, 8 1/4″ inserts, 2-track stereo RCA in and out
• Separate 1/4″ balanced main and monitor outs, front-panel headphone out
• Pan control, peak indicator, and 60mm fader on each channel
• 2-band high/ low shelving EQ per channel
• 10-segment LED stereo meters

There you go…not to shabby. To be honest, am a bit turned off about the LO and HI EQ. Not offering a MID will not make this popular for live sound but for installations like what I described, it should be more than good enough.

Ikea Grundtal towel rack

I saw this Ikea Grundtal towel rack some time ago at an establishment that I was doing an installation at. So I was thinking to myself how useful it would be if I installed it outside the unit where I live. So the day before yesterday, I went down to Ikea at Alexandra Road and promptly bought it. Cost me about $30 and is made of stainless steel. It was relatively easy to set up and once I set it up, I tested it for flex and found out that it was very sturdy. Yesterday, with the help of my Bosch rotary-hammer drill, I drilled four holes outside the window-sill of my house and inserted four mounting plugs. It was a real bitch to mount this in the holes because the mounting plugs were almost the same size as the mounting holes on this Grundtal towel hanger. I had some problems with the screws of the mounting plugs retreating into the holes. A few times I had to hammer the bolts to make sure that they were perpendicular to the wall. But finally, after a lot of adjustments here and there, I finally mounted the thing. I am quite pleased with it. Now our bath towels can get an airing in the hot afternoon sun, and can be used to dry other clothes too!

Yokohama Marinos vs Manchester United

Well, we lost to Yokohama Marinos by three goals to two. Yokohama Marinos started the evening with a goal within a minute. Later on, Jesse Lingard equalised, with help from Zaha, making it 1 – 1. Then, an own-goal by Yokohama Marinos made it 2 – 1. And that was the score at half-time. In the second-half, Yokohama Marinos equalised, making it 2 – 2 but a late goal by Yokohama Marinos made it 3 – 2. And that was the final score. Yokohama Marinos – 3, Manchester United – 2. Roll on the next game in Osaka!