Archive for the ‘Gadgets’ Category
How I went from Apple store newbie to lifetime ban in one week
I had planned on reviewing the iPad in my next post, but instead I’ll dedicate this entry to my photo below and an incident that happened today. Review of the iPad coming soon.
(UPDATE: now posted)
As was correctly guessed, those iPads in the photo are not for me. When Apple delayed the international iPad launch by a month, early adopters worldwide started to panic. Since my nearby Apple store initially had plenty of stock, I offered to purchase and ship iPads internationally for members of the NeoGAF gaming forum. I was doing this as a favor, unlike hoarders who were unloading iPads on eBay to cash in on the $150+ markup. Instead, my asking prices were very reasonable, just enough to cover all the tax, international express shipping, and Paypal fees with a little left over for unexpected costs.
So as the pick-up requests came in, I went on multiple visits to the Apple store, buying no more than 2 per day since I had heard there was a limit per person. I found this whole situation pretty funny considering I had never bought an Apple product prior to this madness (the iPod Touch I use at work was given to me by my medical school). But the store recently went completely out of stock. I had one last order to fulfill so an employee helped me place a reservation. A few days passed and yesterday I was sent an email notifying that my reserved iPad had come in. The story begins here…
Apple iPad tease
Today I stopped by my local Apple store and went on a little shopping spree.
Stay tuned this weekend for more info about the photo, along with my impressions / review of the iPad. Believe it or not, this is the first Apple product I have ever purchased. The iPad is a very “wow” device that leaves a strong first impression, but I can already tell that it’s not for me.
What about you? Got iPad?
Toto Washlet S400
I had planned to post about the Toto Washlet a few weeks ago when I returned to my Los Angeles home. These washlets aren’t that common in the U.S. and are probably best known as those “crazy Japanese toilets that spray water at your butt”. They’re everywhere in Japan restrooms, of course, but they’re also fairly common in Taiwan and I’m sure in other Asian countries. My uncle has had these toilets in his Taiwan house for a few years, which was an inspiration for my family to install them.
Logitech diNovo Edge
2nd year of med school is no joke. This is the last preclinical year and the amount of material we’re cramming in is ridiculous. Adding to the pressure is the ominous USMLE Step 1 looming at the end of the school year that is pretty much the most important test in my life. Forget SAT or MCAT, this is the big one.
Still, I got this awesome keyboard a while back and have been meaning to take pictures so here’s my first post in a few weeks.
I’m done!
If my life were a Xbox 360 game, an achievement would have just unlocked because I am now finished with college! All that’s left for me is the graduation ceremony itself. In the meantime, I’m busy packing up my things and getting ready to move out.
My itinerary for the next couple months: after my graduation ceremony, I’m headed up to Cambridge, MA to visit Harvard University and to help my brother move out of his dorm. Following that, I’m headed to Taiwan for a month. While I’m in Asia, I’ll be going on a tour of Hokkaido, Japan, which should be pretty neat, but my personal highlight of the whole trip is a self-guided, 4 day stop in Tokyo. I’m currently busy planning out what places I want to see and shops I want to visit. From what I hear, Tokyo should be pretty English friendly but somehow I don’t believe that and have a feeling there’ll be many times when I’m going to be completely lost with no English speakers around. It’ll be interesting to see how much I’ve actually learned after 2.5 years of Japanese classes…
I was planning on typing up a review of the iRiver Clix 2, but the one at Pocketables.net is so good I’m not even going to bother. It’s a fantastic review for a phenomenal product with tons of photos, so go read it.
My newest gadget – ordered!
I’ve had my eye on the iRiver clix 2 ever since it was shown at CES 2007 this past January. My beloved iRiver H320 had conked out in the fall, and I’ve been using an Olympus voice recorder (WS-300M) for my music needs while biding my time and waiting for the next killer mp3 player. That moment has finally arrived with the U.S. launch of the iRiver clix 2 last week.
I just placed my order ten minutes ago, but in the meantime here’s a couple pics from an unboxing gallery by Jenn K. Lee at Pocketables.net (which by the way is one of my new favorite sites). I should be holding my very own clix2 next week, check for my thoughts sometime around then.
