First off, apparently, the iPad isn’t doing too badly (see my last post: http://reflectionupon.com/2010/01/27/apple-ipad/). I’ve personally seen quite a few of the gigantic iPod Touches and they seem fine and do what they are supposed to. I’ll say that this is just Apple making a product and people buying it just because it’s Apple, and my opinion still stands that it won’t be the “next big thing”. That’s not to say touch based interfaces aren’t the next generation of user interfaces, but just that the iPad won’t exactly change everything like some people say the iPhone did.

Talking about iPhones, I recently got the Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S) and I love it! I won’t ramble about how great it is, but trust me, it’s amazing

This summer, I spent nearly two months in my mother country, China. One of the biggest complaints that people hear me say is how awful the pollution is. There was a period of around three to four days when in Shanghai, there was just plainly stunning skies with white puffy clouds gliding across the bright blue background. But generally, the visibility is so bad, even looking across the HuangPu, the Oriental Pearl is fuzzy and the sky is just gray with a tint of yellow in it. To be sure, China is moving towards being more green, especially with hydroelectric (Three Gorges Dam) power, but there are just so many coal fired plants and factories in China.

Tourism Commercialization

My other big observation (though it is also a bit of a complaint) is that many of the places we visited weren’t really that authentic and were definitely way too geared towards tourists. We went to the ShaoLin Temple in DengFeng, Henan and I just felt the place was so commercialized with all the new buildings and their performance. Granted, it was destroyed fairly recently (less than 100 years ago) and had to be rebuilt, but the current temple just doesn’t have that true historical feel to it. According to XinHuaWang, they have two luxury bathrooms that costed 3 million yuan. Yes, they should have nice clean bathrooms, but 3 million yuan spent on bathrooms for use by both tourists and the monks is just ridiculous. It just goes to show how the historical place which is famous for both its ShaoLin martial arts and its Buddhist monastery has  just become a tourist area. We went there and got to see their performance of the Shaolin martial arts and clearly the thing was entirely geared to please the audience. And there was plenty of the typical touristy “take your photos with the monks” and “get your DVD of the ShaoLin monks”.  And what’s more, the tourism group that runs the place along with the city of Deng Feng is going to be listed as a stock in Hong Kong or Shanghai in 2011. Yes, soon you’ll be able to invest in the Shaolin Temple. Now just stop and think about that: an ancient Chinese/Buddhist temple preparing an IPO with its 150 million yuan/year ticket revenues. Oh, and the monks have toured internationally including New York and London. Yes, it’s a business opportunity, and I’m not expecting the monks to live a life that doesn’t fit the 21st century with flushing toilets, cellphones, and computers, but it just strikes me how commercialized the Shaolin Temple has become. Fortunately, the historical and culture aspects of the temple aren’t going to be a part of the venture.

And in various other places in China, you have a similar story of turning everything into a tourism site. At the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an, you literally had to walk a good 15 minutes from the gigantic parking lot filled with tourism buses through a street lined with shops selling various items before reaching the actual historical figures. They even had a little electric shuttle (that you had to pay for, of course) to bring you directly to the site if you didn’t want to walk.

Also, temples are sprouting up everywhere, which isn’t in itself a bad thing, but these are tourist temples. I visited a temple under construction near Shanghai in a satellite city called AnTing (which by the way, is an automobile center in China), and everything about it was brand new. The temple itself wasn’t really made with traditional Chinese interlocking wood, but with nice modern cement. Everything about it was just recently made, the Buddha inside was just recently carved. The only part of it that was “historical” was that it was where a temple used to be.

Everywhere you go in China, you’ll run into this rapid over development of tourism. I’m fine with the places catering towards visitors, but not to the degree where you are building luxury bathrooms in a temple where in the surrounding countryside, there are hardly any decent bathrooms for the residents.

In my next post, I’ll talk about a very great part of Chinese cities: public transportation.

Sources:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/08/content_7940163.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/6831187/Shaolin-Temples-kung-fu-monks-prepare-IPO.html

First off, “iPad”, really?!? What kind of name is that. I remember looking at early “renditions” of the fabled Apple Tablet with names including iSlate and iPad. At some point, there was a Borders survey that mentioned and iPad, and I immediately scoffed at the name.

For all this time, people were imagining some amazing device that would be somewhere in the field between smartphones and laptops, not just a huge iPod Touch.

Really, I don’t see why you would spend $499 or more on a device that basically does what an iPod does, but with a larger (multitouch) screen which is supposed to make reading book, browsing the web, and the such easier.

You could buy a netbook for a cheaper price and it would come with a keyboard as well as more functionality. Not to mention you could get one with a touchscreen as well.

Granted, the iPad does have some good points such as weighing 1.5 lbs and a 10 hour battery life, but really that is about it. Look at how stupid the device looks in Steve Job’s hands, being just a huge iPod:

You’ll be able to run all the iPhone/iPod apps on the iPad. Though there is still no multitasking, giving further reason as to the little benefit between the iPod Touch and iPad.

People who want to have an excellent on the go reading device should get a Kindle (which gives you a very paper-life experience), those who want to get a great multimedia device, get something along the lines of an iPod (I’m only saying this to prove a point), if you want to have a cheap portable computing device, get a netbook. So tell me, why would you get an iPad?

So, $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32 GB model, and $699 for the 64GB model. 3G adds $130. The Wi-Fi only model will come out in 60 days, and the 3G one in 90 days.

Images from Apple.Com and Engadget.com

Gizmodo article: http://i.gizmodo.com/5458292/apple-ipad-everything-you-need-to-know

Gizmodo has a great guide to all the rumors that sprung up regarding the Apple Tablet:http://gizmodo.com/5434566/the-exhaustive-guide-to-apple-tablet-rumors

Specs: http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

Engadget Article: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/the-apple-ipad/

Engadget Apple Tablet History: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/26/the-apple-tablet-a-complete-history-supposedly/

The Standard (agrees with me!): http://www.thestandard.com/news/2010/01/27/early-ipad-reaction-its-just-giant-ipod-touch?source=nlt_weekly

Monday, I was at the doctor’s to try them on for the first time. The people there tried prying my eyes open and inserting them, but no such luck, after a good twenty-some minutes of trying I opted to try it myself.

Another half an hour later, I’m still there, frustrated at my inability to get  a piece of soft plastic in between each of my eyes and eyelids.

Wednesday, the day I’m scheduled to have my “training session”, I try to get them in. About twenty minutes in, the left eye one is in. I have a mini-celebration in my head… until I remembered there was another one.

I sigh, and proceed to get the right one in, expecting it to be much quicker since I got one in already…. exactly the opposite. I was told I was doing everything correctly, but the contact just wouldn’t stick onto my eyeball. Getting increasingly annoyed, I put the contact back in the container, wiped my hands on a paper towel then picked the contact back up in my right index finger. I pulled up my right eyelid with my left index finger then pushed down my lower lid with my right middle finger. I pushed the contact towards my eye, feeling the jellyfish-like plastic touch my eye. The assistant told me that it was touching my eye and to look upwards, then to the right, then to the left.

“Now, slowly bring back your finger and blink a few times,” she said. I did so then looked at my right hand, the contact wasn’t there, meaning it was in my eye or it fell. I looked at the mirror and a little glint of blue was beneath my eye- the contact came out.

I took in an aggravated breath and did the same thing. Again the contact touched my eye and left my index finger. This time, the assistant added the instruction to lightly tap on my right eye after bringing my finger back, which I did… and the contact was in. 5o minutes of trouble finally gave into getting the contacts in. The assistant congratulated me and then reminded me not to rub my eyes or else I might damage my cornea if there is something trapped underneath my contact.

Next, the doctor came to see me. The right contact was awfully bothering me, and I couldn’t see as clearly through it as I could with the left. I expressed this to the doctor and she told me to sit down in the chair. Then she shined a bright light into my eye, frowned, and then told me I put it in inside out. She told me to stay still, and then she plucked it from my eye, flipped it over, and tried to put it in. Multiple tries later, she tells me to try it myself.

I took the contact in my hand and went back to where I spent nearly the last hour getting the pieces of plastic in my eye. Surprisingly, after about 10 minutes, I get it back in. Delighted, I take a look around. Now, the assistant told me I have to learn how to take them out. She told me this would be quicker and easier than getting them in. Unsurprisingly, for me it still took quite some time.

I touched my right index finger to my left eye, touching the plastic surface, and swiped down. My vision started to blur as the contact left my pupil. Nope, I said as it slided back up on its own. Slide down. Nope. Down. Nope. Down….. UGH. I tried the other eye. Swipe down. Nope. Down. Nope. Down. Nope… UGH. I went back to my right eye. I swiped down, then blinked. My vision went back to what it was. I looked on my hand. No contact. I looked in the mirror, and there it was, right on my cheek again. I chuckled and plucked it off and placed it in the container then proceeded to get the other one out. It took another 20 minutes, but I finally got it out.

Then, I was instructed how to clean them by rubbing it on my hands for at least 30 seconds.”Remember”, she reminded me, “don’t rub in a circle, only back and forth”. I nod back. “Otherwise, you might rip the contact.”

“Do you want to wear the contacts home?” asks the assistant.

“No, I think I’m all set,” I reply with a slight smile.

Thursday, it’s Thanksgiving. I just put my first ever pumpkin pie in the oven and then I decided to try on my contacts. I got my right eye one in about 10 minutes, but the left one took twice as long. I had the same issue of doing the procedure right, but the contact just not sticking to my eye. I was quite happy to be able to see nearly as well as I would be with glasses. Though for some reason, the right eye just didn’t seem to be very clear.

About two hours later, as I am supposed to, I take out my contacts with much less trouble, but still taking about 20 minutes to get them out. I clean them and then snap on the covers with a sigh of relief.

Friday. I’m able to place in my right eye contact in about 15 minutes. I looked down at the left eye contact and noticed a rip in its side. Ughh. I put it in anyways, but quickly decided to take them out considering that a broken contact  might not be good for my eye.

Saturday (Today). I went to the doctor’s office to check on why my right eye wasn’t so clear. We went through nearly every brand of contacts to find one that works for me. None seemed to make my right eye clear. I was in the office for nearly two hours. The doctor joked that even though I wasn’t able to achieve clear vision through my right eye, at least I got the practice. Towards the end of the visit, I was able to put my contacts in extremely quickly (less than 2 minutes each).

My doctor is ordering yet another kind of contacts for me to try on, and I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll work well for me.

Overall though, contacts bring along a new level of freedom and mobility, even if they are a hassle to begin with. If you try to notice them in your eye, you will, but if you just carry on with what you do each day, you don’t notice them at all and once again, you have peripheral vision.

Oh, and by the way, check out EricOuyang.Com, if you haven’t yet. I’ve uploaded both the intro page and the front page of the site for you to see.

Check it out at http://ericouyang.com/.

Tell me what you think! In particular, how’s loading time? Since it is image based, I’m a bit worried about it taking too long to load.

This year it’s Climate Change.

So what will I focus on?

Well, it’s a broad topic ranging from greenhouse gas emissions, to pollution, to melting ice caps, to alternative fuel sources.

I think it would be best to present some of my opinions on how to tackle Climate Change.

But put aside whether or not we humans are causing Global Warming, even if we aren’t, take it as a sign that we need to change our habits of gas-guzzling vehicles, atmosphere-destroying factories, and ecosystem-devastating deforestation.

The biggest solution I think is just to raise awareness. Climate Change has gotten a lot of attention recently, and I’ve noticed in particular, a lot of awareness throughout the younger population. President Barack Obama already has placed a lot of attention on the issue.

If people know about how their daily actions are impacting the world, they’ll change.

For Non-Sibi (not for one’s self) Day, one group went through a week’s worth of trash at the school and discovered all that could have been recycled just thrown away. Our dorm did something similar; Retrieving water bottles, paper, cans, etc, from the trash.

Recycling plastics reduce the carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere to create new plastics. It would allow us to make completely new bottles, or even clothing out of these.

You hear about all the “carbon capping”, “carbon trade systems”, etc. but I think rather that focusing so much on limiting our emissions, we should focus on the roots: how we get our energy.

Although I approve strongly of wind turbines, solar panels, hydroelectric dams, etc, I’d like to point your attention to nuclear power.

Nuclear power has received a lot of bad attention. An accident like Chernobyl changed people’s view of nuclear power drastically. Nuclear bombs don’t help that image either.  But in Europe, nuclear power plants are sprouting up everywhere, yet here in the US, we still don’t like the idea. About 14% of the world’s energy comes from nuclear power, which produces virtually no emissions.

But lets face it. The Chernobyl disaster occurred in 1986. It’s 2009 now. It occurred because of one major thing: human error. The operators of the nuclear plant violated operating procedures and this caused the reaction to go out of control. Now, with sophisticated technology, this can’t happen again. Sensors would detect something wrong, with several levels of redundant protection, and would immediately stop the reaction. There, no Chernobyl.

Also, people worry about a nuclear power plant just blowing up like a huge atomic bomb, but this can’t happen.

So just to wrap it up. We have one Earth, and if we destroy it, we’ll have no place to live. (yes, you can argue about terraforming, but leave that behind you) We ALL need to take action to prevent the devastating effects of climate change. And you don’t have to do much. Start with simple things like switching conventional lightbulbs for fluorescent ones, recycling, and turning off your electronics when you don’t need them. These may seem small, but when multiplied across the amount of people around the world, it makes huge difference.

Happy Blog Action Day!

If you are interested, the promo video for Blog Action Day 2009:

More info:

http://www.world-nuclear.org/

http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/BOOK.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power

I’ve been working on a separate website to just be a front page to my online self. It will have some info about me, links to all my various online accounts, resources that I think should be helpful to others, and info about my web-design services.

As of this writing, the domain isn’t completely ready, but it should be ready soon. Usually, it takes 24-48 hours for the domain to be ready.

Also, Blog Action Day is coming up, but I’ve been really busy, so I’m not sure I can get in a nice lengthy one, but I’ll be sure to get one in.

UPDATE: The site is finally online. I heard it was working earlier in some other areas, but I’m pretty sure anyone can go to EricOuyang.Com now and find my under construction page.

First, to go through this process, you have to have a banking account with online banking enabled, which involves going to the bank and getting forms signed to enable it. According to my uncle, in the past, you didn’t have to go through this to get online banking, but because of security issues, this extra step was put in.

Next, I assumed that I was all set to go ahead to purchase something on TaoBao, like in the U.S., but I was wrong. In case you haven’t purchased something online before, basically you go to a secure website (with https at the front of the URL) and enter in your name, credit card number, your credit card’s expiration date, and then the security code (the 3 digit code on the back), to send money to the online store. I tried this, but I received an error message. I first had to go to the online banking account website for the card to configure things over there.

For this particular bank, which was the Bank of Communication, you had to enter in your card number and then your PIN (which we set up when we created our card) to log in and create an account. Then you had to enter in a cell phone number. At this point, I was really questioning if buying something online was worth the trouble (it was quite a bit cheaper though, 150 yuan each). I typed in my cell phone number (a temporary pay-as-you-go one that I used for the two months I was there) and then it said that it would send a confirmation number to it. So in a few seconds my phone beeped to tell me I received a text message. Following that, I had to enter this pin into the website. On the form it also made me put in some “verification phrase”, and I wasn’t sure what this was. Clicking on the help button revealed that it was a phrase that I put in that would be displayed during every transaction so I would be confident that the website was not a fraudulent one. Finally, online banking was all set for me.

Though the process wasn’t quite done yet. Next, on Taobao, I clicked on the button for the banking company that I was using, then it brought me to the bank’s website to complete the transaction, and sure enough my verification phrase was there. There, it sent my cell phone another confirmation number to type in as well as my card number and pin. After clicking “confirm”, I was brought back to the TaoBao website where it told me that my purchase was successful.

A few days later,  I received a package with my stuff, and then I had one last step to complete. On the TaoBao website, I had to confirm that I had received the package (in case the seller was a fraud) so it would send the money to the selling person.

Whew. That was quite a bit of work! Well it goes to show that Chinese online shopping is quite secure. But still, many Chinese are not completely sure of buying things online. They worry that their card number would be stolen, or they are sent fake products or defective ones, so most people just continue to buy things at actual stores. And even with this long process to securely setup and purchase something online, there are still stories of getting your money stolen online in China.

It might take a while, but I do think that with time people in China will slowly start getting accustomed to online shopping and make more of their purchases with a few clicks of a mouse.

Now, Yahoo will likely be pairing up with Microsoft to face Google in its domination of the search market. Bing will become the search engine on Yahoo, and Yahoo would deal with most of the search ad work.

I’ve used Bing quite a bit now, and I think it is definitely worthy to compete with Google. In particular, I’m fond of the daily picture on the homepage everyday and overall interface, though I’m not sure its results are as accurate to what I’m searching for as Google. Microsoft is pouring a lot of money into Bing’s, and if done properly will likely take a chunk of Google’s domination. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo will have 30% of the market.

Any thoughts on this Microsoft+Yahoo combo? Leave a comment!

More reading:

BusinessWeek

Article on AdAge

BoomTown

Also, as a side note, some photos I took in China are uploaded onto Flickr here. And a probably more interesting note that I just discovered is that Bing is blocked in China for some reason as well as sites like Flickr and Blogger.

Image from Wikipedia.Com.

JamLegend

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the game Guitar Hero, this is similar in the idea, but online style complete with social networking features like profiles, commenting, and a easy to use interface.

Xmarks

A browser plugin that enables you to sync bookmarks across computers as well as discover new websites though your bookmarks. Also handy as a bookmark backup tool.

Digsby

This program connects together your online accounts (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Gmail, Yahoo, AIM, Google Talk, etc.) in one program.

Elance

An online system to hire  (basically outsource) people and manage these connections. The website also handles the money as well which is convenient.

Tripit

It combines all your travel info (which you forward to it by email) in an organized location and provides additional information to help your trip go more smoothly. There is also an iPhone app for Tripit.

Interested to see the rest of the top 100? Go to http://www.webware.com/100/.

According to this article, what suddenly made this “explode” was that Needham decided to create a Facebook page for her initiative, and although the page is only about a month old, she has already received 470 pledges to join her cause. Combined with this as well as the word of mouth and her own website, people from across the country are joining in on the cause.

Just think about that for a second, in just over a month, one person with the help and support of a few others were able to get almost 500 people to give up a day’s pay even in these hard times. That is what the internet can help us do, tell that to someone 20 years ago and they would think you are nuts.

Coincidentally, I’ve been working with a group of friends to create a website that helps people do just that: harness the power of the world wide web to promote initiatives in their community. I’ll bring up more on that in the future, but I just would like to commend Needham on her work to make her cause known by using the internet. Also, I’m very fond of the overall design of her website: clean, to the point, and informative.

To learn more about this, go to http://www.onedaygive.com/, see the newspaper article (here), and check out the Facebook page as well (here).