Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Thanks! Yeah I'm tempted to go, will see how that week pans out. The 7th is what, a Tuesday? Weird night to have something on!
Posted by Evilchap
up to you chaps on the get together, Im in town till 8pm weekdays at work but free after that.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yeah, so... In Christchurch for the week and was supposed to fly back to Auckland this morning. Not anymore. The most scary thing I have ever experienced.
Posted by yea g
On 2010-09-04 10:31:25, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
Yeah, so... In Christchurch for the week and was supposed to fly back to Auckland this morning. Not anymore. The most scary thing I have ever experienced.
Wow, bad timing much?
Its good to see that no one died from this. It could have been a lot worse had it come later in the day
Posted by Marly
Hi NZ members, I hope you and your family and friends are ok ?
Posted by Bonovox
@Muhammad-Oli I hope your all ok I wish you all the best if your caught up in the earthquake. My sister in law is from Wellington though she lives here in UK she said her family in Wellington felt it
Posted by carkitter
On 2010-09-04 15:52:52, Bonovox wrote:
@Muhammad-Oli I hope your all ok I wish you all the best if your caught up in the earthquake. My sister in law is from Wellington though she lives here in UK she said her family in Wellington felt it
Wellington is supposedly overdue for a big earthquake, it's on a major fault line so it's kinda taken everyone by suprise that something like this has happened in Christchurch. Prime Minister John Key said there have been no fatalities so very lucky.
@Muhammad Oli
You were there?
I assumed you were safe up here. Glad to hear you're okay. 
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Went down for the week. Monday to Saturday, but ended up coming back today due to our flight yesterday being canceled.
My family's home down there is fine. It's an old wood house and most of those suffered little damage. As you will have seen on the news, it was mostly brick structures that were damaged. This means that in Christchurch, with thousands of pre-1940s homes, almost everybody no longer has a chimney due to the fact they were brick. Many houses in Christchurch were built with side walls entirely made of brick. Walking round the area, you could see many places no longer had walls.
Our house was renovated in the 1980s, adding a second storey and removing the old brick chimney. There are a few cracks in the foundations and our driveway was raised a little bit but no major damage. My girlfriend's family home, which is literally across the road from mine, had it's chimney fall over onto the roof. It could have gone right through the roof and fallen on her parents. Thankfully it didn't, but it did break a lot of beams in the roof.
It was extremely surreal being woken by the house violently shaking from side to side. I woke instantly and was at my door within a split second. I realised my friend from Auckland was still in bed so I screamed at him to get the hell up. He got up and I distinctly remember standing there thinking "Oh god, we aren't coming back from this one". Afterwards nobody was going to sleep and so we went outside and checked on neighbours. We have some elderly neighbours and they were scared but ok. The power was out almost everywhere and so there was no light pollution, it was the most clear night Christchurch has had in years which only added to the unreal feeling.
My mum lost many many of her ornaments and artwork which she had collected over the years, including from overseas. The first thing I remember doing after getting clothes on was giving her a hug while she cried. Many of her preserved fruit jars had fallen out of the cupboards and smashed in the kitchen. We spent the hours til daylight cleaning up the fruit, juice, food packets and glass from the floor.
During the day we went and inspected the area. It was really quite amazing seeing so many people out and about, and in good moods too. I guess everyone was happy that we got off so lightly. Not everywhere did though, some places round my neighbourhood were totaled and some of them made the news. Everybody was up on their roofs, fixing their chimneys or clearing away bricks. There were smiles all round but it was offset by the sobering thought that some people amongst us had lost it all. There were buildings surrounded in caution tape and ambulances, firetrucks and police everywhere.
Power came on at 2pm in my area and we spent the afternoon dreading the aftershocks and trying to find out about our flight out of the city.
Last night I got four hours sleep. Every aftershock woke me and after 5am I hardly slept because I was too freaked out. Every movement left my heart in my throat. Even now in Auckland, the slightest bump of the bed gives me the chills. I feel bad that my family is still down there and the city is still rumbling, but I am glad I was down there for the quake because I couldn't stand my family going through that without me.
[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2010-09-05 13:18 ]
Posted by frankthetank
I guess that I should report in to say I'm ok lol. Just got woken by an aftershock
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Good to hear from you man. How did your place fare?
Posted by Evilchap
good to hear everyone is in one piece, real sad to hear about your mum's art work etc though mate.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Thanks mate. Yeah the artwork may not be replaceable but we are just glad the house is ok. My parents went out to our holiday home today, near the epicentre. Apparently it is undamaged so we are very happy about that!
Some of our relatives' houses will be demolished in Kaiapoi (one of the worst hit areas) and my aunt and uncle's more modern brick house has a damaged roof and they are sleeping in their car.
Posted by carkitter
@frank
Good to see you're okay. Any photos of earthquake damage you can upload?
@Muhammad Oli
Are you still keen to attend the Telco debate at the Empire tomorrow? I'll definately be there even though it means being a little late to my evening class.
Posted by frankthetank
@M-Oli
No real damage to the house - it's wooden and sitting on a good thick layer of clay in Papanui. Everything fell over and out of cupboards etc, but no losses other than a little bit of wood the CD tower skimmed off the corner of my B&W speakers! If you look around here you would hardly know anything had happened - except that we are getting some mighty aftershocks this evening.
@Carkitter
I've been flat out at work mate - I'm a HVAC & Refrigeration Engineer so getting shit going and making things safe for people has been a bit higher up the list than taking photos. Besides there are plenty going round - have a nose over on Flickr.
In any case the city really needs a lot less spectators clogging up the roads
[ This Message was edited by: frankthetank on 2010-09-06 13:41 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Shit. Entirely forgot about the debate carkitter! It's on in 20 minutes and I just told my mate I'd go to the pub quiz with him.
Man I'm useless.
Posted by carkitter
On 2010-09-07 07:42:29, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
Shit. Entirely forgot about the debate carkitter! It's on in 20 minutes and I just told my mate I'd go to the pub quiz with him.
Man I'm useless.
Never mind, it looked a lot less interesting than billed so I didn't stay long.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
What exactly happened?
Posted by carkitter
Christchurch earthquake - where the land shook.
GeoNet - Recent NZ Earthquakes
Posted by carkitter
Posting this from IE9 beta.
I like this a lot. IE9 is as awesome a W7 and MSE. I have a feeling Chrome might take a back seat for a while. Can't believe I just said that.
Posted by carkitter
I've found the formula for creating Twitter backgrounds: crop in 9:8 (height by width respectively) and use the tile function. That way approximately half the pic is on side and half is on the other.
Posted by carkitter
Announcement of Maria Sharapova coming to the NZ Womens Tennis Open is Auckland, January 3-8.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/spo[....]e.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10683368
Maria Sharapova has a 4yr deal (from 2008) to promote Sony Ericsson Accessories through the Maria Sharapova Design Collection, a series of items designed for women to carry their
phones in. I have been trying unsuccessfully to obtain genuine phone cases for my GF's pink C905, maybe SE NZ will finally get their A into G and not only supply these items here but promote them also. Here's hoping.
I have emailed Sony Ericsson Oceania (Sydney) who now appear to be the agency for both NZ and Australia to this effect. I'll bug Sony Style about it too, through their twitter account.
Posted by carkitter
Bought a Silver and Blue Zylo yesterday from Expert Infotech.
First impressions are very good.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Nice one carkitter. I would be interested in hearing a bit more about it!
I saw your post on Twitter and thought I should ask how it was going!
Posted by carkitter
I had lunch at Kell park the same day but as the iPhone wasn't working properly I couldn't tweet it.
I'm thinking about doing a review. In the mean time...
Posted by carkitter
Great weather today. Spent time walking through the bush at Mokoroa Falls near Bethels Beach, West Auckland.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Both photos look awesome carkitter. How is the Zylo's interface? Is it standard A2? How is the size? For some reason that photo makes it look massive, like N95 size (but thinner obviously).
Posted by carkitter
On 2010-12-09 12:24:26, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
Both photos look awesome carkitter. How is the Zylo's interface? Is it standard A2? How is the size? For some reason that photo makes it look massive, like N95 size (but thinner obviously).
The interface is standard A2 and the size is very similar to N95 1GB in all dimensions except thickness.
Just bought some Sony DR-BT101 Bluetooth Stereo headphones and posted a review here. Zylo review still in the works.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Nice review.
I look forward to hearing your impressions of Zylo too when you publish your review!
Posted by carkitter
Went to the launch of the Pacific Pearl tonight, including performances by Kiwi singers Stan Walker and Dane Rumble.
Having trouble uploading videos to YouTube so pics will have to suffice (all taken by my Zylo on VGA mode except the first one, so as to use the digital zoom function. Night and Fluorescent modes also set).
Stan Walker:
Dane Rumble:
Together (singing Everything):
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2010-12-21 11:42 ]
Posted by carkitter
BTW, the Pacfic pearl is the first ever cruise liner based in NZ.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Sweet shots carkitter. Your Zylo looks to be performing very well camera-wise! Especially that first shot.
Was the event actually on the ship? That would have been pretty cool if it was.
Posted by carkitter
On 2010-12-22 08:10:53, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
Sweet shots carkitter. Your Zylo looks to be performing very well camera-wise! Especially that first shot.
Was the event actually on the ship? That would have been pretty cool if it was.
The event for the general public was on the wharf next to the ship. For VIPs it was on the outdoor deck on the top of the ship. Unfortunately P&O doesn't consider me a VIP
so I was down on the wharf with the plebs. I found out later that for those there earlier (5 - 7pm) you could go on board and have a brief look around. Doh! missed it. Enjoyed the concert though.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Looks like it was a good night all the same! I heard one of my workmates talking about it yesterday but I didn't really know what she was talking about!
By the way, I'm now working at Mighty Ape which is an online store you may have heard of. One of New Zealand's biggest. I do customer service and will be doing so throughout my uni holidays!
Posted by carkitter
I've been driving cars all this week. The last two days have involved Audis including late model A1
, A4 , A5 
and A8
There are a few R8's around here including a V10 powered model but not valid reason to drive one - yet.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Wow, what are you doing to get those kind of opportunities!? To be honest, other than an R8, I'd be most keen to have a look at an A1. Really cool looking wee cars. I love both Audis and VWs hugely at the moment!
Posted by carkitter
On 2010-12-23 06:51:36, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
Wow, what are you doing to get those kind of opportunities!? To be honest, other than an R8, I'd be most keen to have a look at an A1. Really cool looking wee cars. I love both Audis and VWs hugely at the moment!
I've been doing some temporary work car grooming for an Audi dealer. There is a permanent position opening up and I'm going to do everything possible to secure it. The head groomer at another dealership specialising in premium Italian cars may need some help over the holidays so I've left my phone number with him too.
I'm not a fan of VW's but Audis, oh my god!!!
The A1 in isolation is quite cool, but compared to the blue RS5 I saw on Thurs....
The A1 I groomed was a convertible. The roof is fully electric and operates with just one button. The windows drop down/rise along with the roof and the front windows go up/down about 5mm when the door handle opened/shut to provide better sealing (that technology was pioneered either by the Ferrari 456 or the BMW 8-series I think) which is way cool.
The A1 uses a convention key which you twist in the ignition to start the engine. The A4/A5/A6 use a key fob which plugs into the dash - short push for ignition on/off, long push for engine start. The A8 uses a proxy key which means that the fob only needs to be in the car, there is a on/off button to start the engine.
All Audis now use a button to operate the parking brake - a conventional lever has been done-away with.
One of the Audis I traveled in had a technology (the name escapes me) which switches off the motor when the car is stationary and restarts it when the accelerator is pushed (like a Prius hybrid).
In summary, the fit and finish inside and out of all the Audis is first class, the paint quality is incredible and the overall impression is of a seriously lust-worthy vehicle. Every now and then something drives in that sounds real grunty and turns out to have a V8, V10 or V12 engine. For me though it's a hard choice between the R8 and the RS5.
I really want that job!
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2010-12-24 02:26 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Oh wow, yeah, I forgot about the RS5. Or even just the S5. I keep seeing them around and drooling. I'd do anything for a late model Audi/BMW/VW!
Speaking of flash cars, I saw a Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe yesterday driving round. It had a bald guy driving it who looked insanely rich, not just because of the car he was in. His number plate was 'GOD'.
Man, all this talk is making me feel pretty crap about my Toyota Levin. Even my younger brother drives a latish model VW Golf GTi.
Posted by carkitter
Levins are good! Nothing wrong with those.
I've added some new photos to the Esato Photo Gallery and a brief review in the Phones section. A full review to come later.
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2010-12-27 10:29 ]
Posted by carkitter
Happy New Year!
Awesome fireworks dispaly over the harbour tonight
Posted by carkitter
Had a great day out today (Jan 1st). Went to the Amazing Maze in Maize at Kingseat, saw the waterfall at Hunua, stopped of at Duder Regional Park to go for a hike and see some stunning scenery and had dinner (about 8pm) at Maraetai.
Her's some pics of Duder Regional Park:
I thoroughly recommend going to this park but know that there is a lot of walking involved to see it all and it would probably need a whole afternoon.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
My New Years day consisted of getting pretty sunburnt watching the women's tennis from box seats. We only went for the catering to be honest.
Happy New Year!
Posted by chunkybeats
What happened to all the kiwi SE users?? Its been a while someone posted!!! Heaps of exciting news coming from SE!!! Arc looks very sexy and play looks good hope it gets supported well though!!!! Thoughts????
Posted by carkitter
On 2011-02-14 09:15:07, chunkybeats wrote:
What happened to all the kiwi SE users?? Its been a while someone posted!!! Heaps of exciting news coming from SE!!! Arc looks very sexy and play looks good hope it gets supported well though!!!! Thoughts????
Sure there is Arc, Pro and Play but until SE shows that they can provide timely Android updates, I think they are like the Bruce Willis character in the movie 'The Sixth Sense' - dead, but they haven't realised it yet.
If I was going to buy an Android phone it would probably be a Dell Venue. More likely is a return to iOS via an iPad or iPhone 5.
The big talking point is Nokia taking on board Windows Phone 7, something I said last year was on the cards. It just seemed so obviously a good idea, and the repercussions for the mobile space are huge. I'm not sure Google can continue on with Android in the way it has in the past, it's beginning to backfire on them. I don't think Android and iOS are the fierce competitors that everyone thinks they are because they attract different types of consumers. WP7 is an ecosystem that overlaps both Android and iOS and is therefore in fierce competition with both. Due to the closed structure of WP7 I think it has an advantage over Android in that the handset manufacturers (and now Nokia is in the box seat) are better able to differentiate themselves and therefore hold their own, financially. Android could be the big loser if Nokia helps WP7 to take off and HTC, Samsung &
could suffer in the fallout. Only time will tell.
On a different note, I have 'unofficially' secured that grooming job. Due to a pre-existing contractual obligation, it'll be a few months before I can sign on the dotted line. No matter, since I last checked in I have driven a few Audi R8s, RS6s, Maserati Quattroportes, a Gran Turismo, a Ferrari California and a 550 Maranello.
Today I sampled a BMW 750Li which puts luxury on a whole new plane.
Posted by chunkybeats
Im well aware of SE slipping but here in NZ i can see we are like what Europe was a year ago. Majority are on iphones and basically in Europe that has changed dramatically due to the age of the iph4 and is old and now it looks like Blackberry, HTC & Samsung are all finding new homes to ex iphone users. Also with people on long 24 month plans for iphone, getting rid of that outdated set could be hard work.
If SE support their new devices well I can see an improvement but at the same time their is far too much to choose from now and consumers will get confused, thats where I see the xperia play may bring good fortunes to SE. It may look like your average smart phone but them hardware gaming keys are awesome and are much needed if your going to hammer the hell out the device. It is also different to what is offered on the market so again it is different and aiming for a different audience too. We shall see.
As for Nokia and Microsoft, I agree with you they will a powerful force but I just hope it works for them and that with Nokia's excellent hardware and Microsoft software capabilities I just hope they work well together and dont flop.
LG are pushing the boundaries a little but too far ahead with 3D phones, we arent ready for that yet but its a clever little idea. Dual core I must say is key to the smartphone market and will help devices to run smooth, but again its that old smartphone jibe - the battery life which concerns me with these high powered devices.
As for Apple, again they are popular yes, but 3 small things that may affect them in the coming year. Is the support for Flash still not going to happen? This is a must if browsing, every other manufacturer with their new devices support flash, Apple are not. The 2nd which still has not been rectified is their choice of connection jacks. Apple still rely on their own connection and really its not helpful trying to sift through cables, when everyone is now on standard Mini usb, something that SE finally sorted out with their ill fated fast port connections. I know these are small but they are gripes Im aware of. The last but not least is MULTI TASKING!!! It is not true multi tasking not matter what Apple say. Even the basic SE phones can multitask!
Please dont give up on SE though they are trying to clear that mess up they were in a couple of years ago with bad marketing and technicians. My fingers are crossed for them....
p.s. Im not bashing any manufacturer just a reflection on the coming year.
Posted by carkitter
On 2011-02-16 01:32:16, chunkybeats wrote:
...If SE support their new devices well I can see an improvement but at the same time their is far too much to choose from now and consumers will get confused, thats where I see the xperia play may bring good fortunes to SE. It may look like your average smart phone but them hardware gaming keys are awesome and are much needed if your going to hammer the hell out the device. It is also different to what is offered on the market so again it is different and aiming for a different audience too. We shall see...
...As for Apple, again they are popular yes, but 3 small things that may affect them in the coming year. Is the support for Flash still not going to happen? This is a must if browsing, every other manufacturer with their new devices support flash, Apple are not. The 2nd which still has not been rectified is their choice of connection jacks. Apple still rely on their own connection and really its not helpful trying to sift through cables, when everyone is now on standard Mini usb, something that SE finally sorted out with their ill fated fast port connections. I know these are small but they are gripes Im aware of. The last but not least is MULTI TASKING!!! It is not true multi tasking not matter what Apple say. Even the basic SE phones can multitask!...
Xperia Play's success rests on the the price and availability of games available, just like any other gaming console.
On the subject of Apple...
1) Nobody needs Flash support. Having read your post and been prompted by Adobe to update to v10.2 tonight, I have just uninstalled all forms of Flash from my PC and spent the last couple of hours watching YouTube and TopGear.com with no problem at all. What I do miss out on by not having Flash is ads. Loads and loads of annoying, distracting ads which inhabit the news websites that I visit. What are the downsides that you're concerned about?
2) Have you noticed what's on the other end of the Apple proprietary cable? It's a full size USB plug with a matching socket built into the wall charger. That means just one cable to do everything - brilliant! So simple and effective and yet no-one else does it (that I know of).
3) Multi-tasking on smartphones kills battery life. Apple have a solutiion which isn't true multi-tasking but gives the same result without running down the battery. Why is this a bad thing? Does the end justify the means or is it more important to suffer for one's principles? I'll take the extra battery life thanks very much which is another advantage of not having Flash, along with increased security and less browser crashes.
I'm working with some very affluent professional people these days. The big boss has a Blackberry, while the office jnr has a Nokia 5800. All the sales staff have iPhones as do all the customers. And that says it all really. iPhone is the default choice of smartphone in NZ except for people who want something else to perform a specific function. Other platforms aren't making much of an impact against iOS in the non-enthusiast market; the battle still appears to be iOS v specific hardware features, and iOS is winning.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
On 2011-02-15 11:08:36, carkitter wrote:
On a different note, I have 'unofficially' secured that grooming job. Due to a pre-existing contractual obligation, it'll be a few months before I can sign on the dotted line. No matter, since I last checked in I have driven a few Audi R8s, RS6s, Maserati Quattroportes, a Gran Turismo, a Ferrari California and a 550 Maranello.
Today I sampled a BMW 750Li which puts luxury on a whole new plane.
Lucky! I'm jealous. So does this mean you'll be rolling round in a new Audi or something equally as nice soon?
Posted by carkitter
No company car but I'm taking a shine to the Audi range so I might pick up a used A4 or A3 at some stage. Drove a couple of convertibles today as well as the usual Audi fare - a Bentley Continental GT and a BMW M3. The Bentley has a great engine noise and tons of class while the Beemer had acres of disappointingly tacky plastic inside.
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2011-02-18 07:46 ]
Posted by chunkybeats
Im glad I have got people talking again on this forum, was laying dormant for a while!!! Lets talk more about new phones coming to NZ!!!
Posted by chunkybeats
So has anyone heard of any announcements of release dates for the following phones for NZ? Im heading to Europe in April might get a sniff at these darlings and maybe pounce on one if I can get a sim only!!
Samsung Galaxy S2 - ????
LG Optimus 2x - UK March
SE Xperia Play, Arc & Neo - UK April
HTC Desire S, Incredible S, Wildfire S - UK April
Of course there is new breed of tablets too which will be interesting to look at from Samsung, HTC & LG.
Posted by carkitter
On 2011-02-21 02:59:01, chunkybeats wrote:
So has anyone heard of any announcements of release dates for the following phones for NZ? Im heading to Europe in April might get a sniff at these darlings and maybe pounce on one if I can get a sim only!!
Samsung Galaxy S2 - ????
LG Optimus 2x - UK March...
...HTC Desire S, Incredible S, Wildfire S - UK April
Of course there is new breed of tablets too which will be interesting to look at from Samsung, HTC & LG.
Only the
models are of interest to me. I'd rather know about the availability of Dell models myself.
Did you hear that Sony have a tablet in the works? That I'm very interested in, otherwise all current tablets are third rate compared to the iPad.