Blue is Me

Tag: drones

  • June 2017 Gadget update

    Every 6 months I do an update on the state of my gadgets and what I use

    Computers

    Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga (2017) – replaced my 2015 ThinkPad Yoga 14

    This is my main laptop now and replaces my Thinkpad X240, and Thinkpad Yoga 14. A light, convertible laptop, weighs only 2.8lbs (substantially lighter than the Yoga 14 which I previously had), docks with a one link dock connector and wireless dock, has that traditional Thinkpad robust build quality and great trackpoint keyboard, and is convertible which means I can watch movies in 4 different modes, and comes with a gorgeous 1440p OLED screen to boot. It loses the dedicated graphics (Nvidia 840M) of the Yoga 14 but improves on it everywhere else including ports, display and weight. Compared to the X240, it loses the VGA, full size SD and Ethernet ports but is much lighter, has a much better display, and is convertible.

    Dell Latitude 7370 (2016) – replaced my 2016 Vaio S

    This is my main portable laptop (yes the X1 Yoga is portable too but it has a lot of sensitive data that I would rather not take on travels). It replaces my Vaio S, and is basically the fanless, futureproof version of the Vaio. Compared to the Vaio, it has thinner bezels on the display, loses two USB3 ports, VGA, full size SD and Ethernet (legacy ports), but gains microSD and 2 USB-C (more futureproof ports).

    Alienware 15 R3 (2016) – replaced my 2011 HP Envy Beats, 2015 Asus ROG G751

    This is my main gaming and VR computer now, replacing my aging HP Envy Beats 14 and hefty Asus G751. I decided I wanted a 15 inch because of its lightness and portability, yet its still powerful enough to have a GTX 1070, power my Oculus Rift (VR ready), hooks up to my external monitor, plays all the latest games, and looks great at home on a laptop stand.

    Macbook Pro 13 (2016) – replaced my 2012 Mac Mini
    My replacement for my Mac Mini as a programming/entertainment computer. It’s light (3lbs) and runs macOS making it great for development and the lack of ports is made up by my Dell USB-C Dock at home.

    Tablets/Phones
    iPad Air (2013)

    The iPad Air is my go to tablet for surfing, gaming, music or reading. Has been since 2013.

    iPhone SE (2016) – replaced my 2013 iPhone 5S

    The iPhone SE is my main video recorder, which I use on occasion to record videos, mainly because my model is a 64GB one that can store more videos. Plus love the small size which is what cameraphones should be! light and small. It replaces my aging iPhone 5S.

    Google Pixel (2016) – replaced my 2014 Sony Xperia Z3C
    The Google Pixel is my main phone now. It has a great camera as well, and is generally just a fast and capable phone all around. It replaces my Kyocera Duraforce Pro and Sony Xperia Z3C as my main Android device.

    BlackBerry KeyOne (2017) – replaced my 2015 Blackberry Priv

    The BlackBerry KeyOne replaces my Blackberry Priv as my secondary phone and video call device, has a way better keyboard and gets wayyyy better battery life to boot.

    Sony Walkman A17 (2017) – replaced my 2015 Pioneer XDP

    The Sony Walkman has replaced my Pioneer XDP, since its much lighter and more portable. It doesn’t sound *quite* as good as the Pioneer, but it’s 80% as good and still much better sounding than most smartphones (with the exception of a few like the HTC 10). The Pioneer is more like the old HDD players like the iPod Classic and Creative Zen Vision – stores more music and plays videos, but big and bulky. The Sony Walkman is a small flash based player like the iPod Nano and Zune HD. They both have their uses.

    Huawei Watch (2016) – replaced my 2012 Seiko Kinetic, 2016 Orient Sun&Moon

    Now with the Android Wear 2 update, Huawei watch is awesome and is definitely my main watch now. It replaces my Seiko Kinetic (quartz) and Orient Sun & Moon (mechanical) which I used before.

    Music

    Generally I prefer using speakers at home and headphones on the go. I rarely use headphones at home. The advantages of speakers – everyone can hear it, higher fidelity and larger drivers, but usually also more expensive and not as portable.

    Razer Hammerhead BT (2017)

    Razer Hammerhead BT

    These are very convenient bluetooth earphones for mostly working out where the wires getting in the way would be troublesome.

    Fender FXA3 (2016) – replaces 2014 Master&Dynamic ME03

    The Fender FXA3s are my main earphones for traveling and studying.

    Denon Music Master MM400 (2016) – replaces 2014 Sennheiser Momentum

    This is my main headphone that I use at work to listen to music and for conference calls.

    Absolutely the best over ear headphones I’ve ever had, these now have replaced my Sennheiser Momentums which were falling apart as well. I use it with my Creative SoundBlaster E5s at work for the extra oomph!

    Creative SoundBlasterX Katana (2017) – replaces 2015 Creative T4W

    Now used as my computer speakers for my Alienware. It’s the first soundbar designed specifically for computer use. RGB lighting, bluetooth, 7.1 virtual surround and a bunch of other options – what’s not to love?

    Klipsch Promedia 2.1 (2016) – replaces 2015 Klipsch R-4B Soundbar

    Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 Klipsch Pro Media 2.1

    Absolutely fantastic computer speakers. Now using it for my TV and gaming systems since I found it has better bass than my Klipsch R-4B. The bass and overall sound quality is fantastic. Replaces my non-functioning Creative T4Ws which shorted out :(, and the Samsung and Klipsch soundbars that I used before.

    Klipsch the Three (2017)

    This speaker is really cool and retro looking especially with the Ebony wood finish, and pairs well with my Google Home (using Chromecast audio) and my Fluance record player to play some nice vintage tunes!

    Bose SoundLink Revolve (2017) – replaces 2015 Creative Soundblaster Roar 2

    This speaker replaces my Creative Soundblaster Roar 2 as a portable outdoor (splash proof!) speaker, also pairs very well with my Macbook.

    Yamaha TSX-B72 (2017)

    This is my alarm clock radio that I use by my bedside to wake me up each morning 🙂 and yes it has bluetooth and can charge my phone too. It replaces my Sony BSP60 bluetooth alarm speakers those ones are a little complicated to operate and I just wanted a simple vintage looking alarm clock radio.

    Cameras

    Nikon D5100 (2013)
    My DSLR camera for serious video making. I usually pair it with my Samyang T1.5 24mm cinema prime lens.

    Sony Action Camera AS300 (2016) – replaces 2014 GoPro Hero3+
    Replaces my Sony Music Video recorder and GoPro Hero 3 as both my action camera and my wide angle camera that I can use for blogging, travel videos, action videos, etc and has optical image stabilization which no other action camera has! Also waterproof/dustproof as well and quite small, making it great for situations where my Osmo+ would be too heavy.

    DJI OSMO+ (2016) – replaces 2015 DJI Osmo
    My go to camera for taking cinematic walking shots, travel video, and completely replaces any camcorder. The Plus model now has optical zoom capabilities with it too.

    DJI Phantom 4 Advanced (2017) – replaces 2015 DJI Phantom 3
    Replaces my DJI Phantom 3, better sensors, obstacle avoiding, takes better night shots etc

    Other
    Other laptops: Asus G751 (secondary gaming laptop and workstation), HP Revolve 810 G2 (secondary Win7 laptop and secondary convertible), Thinkpad X240 (still only laptop I have with hot swappable battery and mobile broadband), GPD Pocket (mini netbook)
    Video game systems: New Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, PSTV, Nvidia Shield Pro, GPD Win
    Displays: Mobile Monitor 2 Go, Dell 24″ Gsync 1ms 144hz infinityedge monitor, Royole Moon, Avegant Glyph, DJI Goggles
    Storage: 1 Synology DS412+, 2 Synology DS416j, 1 Synology 416slim (20TB all in RAID 1)

    Laptop collection (one for each size)
    11.6″ 1366×768 – HP Elitebook Revolve 810 – 4th gen Core i5, 8GB RAM, 180GB SSD, 3lbs, Win 7, 6 ports: 2 USB3, DP, Ethernet, microSD, headphone
    12.5″ 1366×768 – Lenovo Thinkpad X240 – 4th gen Core i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 3.5lbs, Win 7, 7 ports: 2 USB3, miniDP, VGA, Ethernet, SD, headphone
    13.3″ 3200×1800 – Dell Latitude 7370 – 6th gen Core m7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 2.5lbs, Win 10, 6 ports: 1 USB3, 2 USBC, microHDMI, microSD, headphone
    13.3″ 2560×1600 – Apple Macbook Pro 13 – 6th gen Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 3lbs, macOS, 3 ports: 2 USBC, headphone
    14.1″ 2560×1440 – Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga – 6th gen Core i7, 8GB RAM, 180GB SSD, 2.8lbs, Win 10, 7 ports: 3 USB3, miniDP, HDMI, microSD, headphone
    15.6″ 1920×1080 – Alienware 15 – 6th gen Core i7 quad, Nvidia GTX 1070, 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD, 7lbs, Win 10, 8 ports: 2 USB3, 2 USBC, HDMI, miniDP, Ethernet, headphone
    17″ 1920×1080 – Asus G751 – 4th gen Core i7 quad, Nvidia GTX 970M, 16GB RAM, 2TB HDD, 9lbs, Win 10, 10 ports: 4 USB3, SD, VGA, miniDP, HDMI, Ethernet, headphone/mic

  • Comments on recent news and trends

    I haven’t done a commentary on current or slightly old events for a while now… about time I did this! Maybe I will v-log it as well (also something I haven’t done in a while).

    Edit: v-logs are here!

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtfPZdRCx8s

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo6IVaXZ3rM

    Tech trends…
    Hmm. Let me give me opinion on some tech trends.

    regarding VR, I think its really cool that Oculus Rift has some competition, now that Valve/HTC are entering the VR market, Microsoft made something awesome, and I hope in the future we can all watch first person porn. (Seriously tho, VR movies will probably be better than those 3D glasses).

    regarding Apple Watch, It’s overpriced for what it is. I mean, you’re gonna pay $350-17k for something that will be obsolete in 2 years, and needs an Apple device to function? I’ll just take the Pebble Time Steel instead, which lasts 10 days, looks similar, works with both Apple and Android, can go swimming with it, can use any normal 22mm band, etc.

    iPad Air 2/iPad Mini 3, yeah I know they came out last October but I want to make a quick note that the iPad 2, a tablet that was introduced by Steve Jobs before he died, was still being sold until very recently. In that keynote they introduced like 5 different iPads being sold at the same time! Including the iPad Mini 3 which was barely different than the Mini 2. Steve would have been rolling in his grave!
    This is the clearest example of Apple caring more about profits than innovation now. You think Steve Jobs would have sold the 5th generation iPad Nano alongside the 6th generation and the previous generations of the iPods and iPhones at the same time as the new generation?? He hated confusing consumers. Thats why I miss Steve.
    On a side note, how are anyone going to keep selling tablets? For what most people do with tablets, reading books, surfing the web and watching video, a 2011 tablet is good enough and there’s no reason to upgrade like there is with laptops and phones (which we do more things with). It’s an interesting conundrum.

    MS killing off IE…, well I’m glad that IE is dead (even though Asia will keep on using it), and I’m sure most people are, even though its fall from grace from 95% market share as IE6 to now is well documented, I’m still worried about Having another new browser to support, which still uses Trident I believe. And also, I hope Win 10 is at least as good as 7. (I haven’t touched Win 8 with a ten foot pole since it came out).

    Sony…, I love Sony and its products. I’ve always thought that they were the Japanese Apple. Great design, but high prices. Unfortunately they can’t market their products well and its sad to see them slashing so much, because a lot of Sony’s products are great. I love the PS Vita, I love my Xperia Z3C phone, I loved the Sony HMZT3 headset (which I did a review of), I love their headphones, computers, TVs, Alpha cameras and Walkmans as well, but I guess people don’t really appreciate them, which is too bad.

    Steam games, I’ve bought a lot of them lately and I hope to do some gameplay videos soon. If people see my youtube, they know that I’m a big fan of Starcraft 2, Magic Online, Hearthstone and NBA 2K, but I also played Diablo 3 a lot with my friends, and Dungeon Defenders as well. Someday I can post some gameplay on those games, as well as some more obscure DOS titles or something. I love this new game though, its called Toxikk and it’s about bringing back good old school FPS action back! Like Unreal Tournament and Quake 3, which I loved to play back in the day. I will do a review of this game soon.
    Also, probably the best mobile game I’ve played in a while, Monument Valley, probably ranks up there with The Unfinished Swan and Journey as the most visually beautiful games I’ve ever played.

    regarding drones…, Drones are a new fad just like VR is these days, and I like the idea a lot. I’ve always wanted a little drone who auto follows me whereever I go and helps me shoot pictures and video. I’ve been on many trips where I wish I had someone shoot video of me because I was always the one holding the camcorder, so I couldn’t shoot myself. I guess the main things are a drone needs to be able to follow you using accurate GPS and bluetooth connection, and have good battery life. The Drones from DJI and Parrot I’ve seen can’t go beyond 30min of battery which is too short. Thats the main improvement that needs to happen.

    Swift code, I love the idea since Apple came out with this last year. I’ve always wanted to make iPhone apps, but didn’t want to learn Objective C. Now I got a JS-like language to work with, and it should be easier to transition to it. If I have time and a good app idea, I would definitely use it.

    Raspberry Pi 2, I love how the technology has made it so that a computer board is now $35. I’ve always been interested in small computers, gadgets and robots, and this makes it so that any hobbyist can make a computer now if they get a case and some parts from Amazon. (Shed a tear for Radioshack though), it was one of my favorite stores when I was a kid. Someday I will build a portable UMPC-like computer, and the Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Beagle Board, and co definitely helps.

    The New Macbook, what do I think about it? Hmm.. it has potential, but I feel like they could have stuck another USB-C port in there. I like the idea of having a port that does everything, but I don’t like that they only put one. I guess I’m a little old school, since my Thinkpad still has an old 720p display, non touchscreen, and has 10 different ports including an old VGA port. But I am very impressed by how far technology has come along, fanless and decent performance, and 10 hours+ of battery life.
    I remember back in the days of netbooks when every computer had a noisy fan, 3 hours of battery life was average, and was pretty thick and bulky. My classmate carried around a 17inch 10-pound beast of a gaming laptop (a Dell XPS 17). Now Razer is making Macbook Air-sized Gaming laptops (Razer Blade). Crazy. Now I really wish OEMs will start making UMPCs again. They died out in 2010 because they were underpowered and expensive, but now I believe you can make a UMPC that is tiny, fanless (Core M processor), good battery life (10hrs+), good performance (4GB+ RAM), and only needs one port (USB-C)! Somebody get on that!

    Spiderman is coming to Marvel. YES. Spiderman is my favorite superhero since I used to watch the animated series when I was young, and he should have been in the Avengers all along. Can’t wait to see him fight alongside Cap and Iron Man.

    Favorite movies…, I watched Kings Men a few days ago. Violent, but overall pretty good movie. My favorite movies from last year were Guardians of the Galaxy (fantastic, better than Avengers), Interstellar (on par with Inception), and Big Hero 6 (better than Frozen and other Disney movies IMO). Hope Avengers 2 does not disappoint!

    NBA MVP.., I know I should probably comment on NBA events now. The MVP should be James Harden. The guy is averaging 27/6/7, and yes Russell Westbrook puts up better numbers right now, but he isn’t nearly as efficient, and Stephen Curry has a lot of help. Anthony Davis or Lebron James in a vacuum, would be the MVP, but MVPs aren’t voted in a vacuum, else Jordan would have won 8 straight. Also, I’m glad that Kobe is out. He’s still overrated and inefficient, and selfish, and I feel that both Iverson and Kobe’s MVPs should have gone to Shaq and Chris Paul, respectively. This is MVP we are talking about here, not the scoring leader.
    As for NBA Finals, my predictions are Memphis Grizzlies vs Atlanta Hawks. I’m hoping the Hawks and Warriors will put to rest the misconception that you need ‘superstars’ to win. The 04 Pistons won without a superstar, and arguably the ’11 Mavericks as well since Dirk was out of his prime.

    Other news…
    I found a website that can clone your pets as a plushie for you. Good idea. I will definitely do that for my cat.
    This guitar pedal. A band in a box? Sign me up!
    Also, still awaiting the release of Fallout 4, SC2 legacy of the void, Rock band 4, Yakuza 5 in English, and Just Cause 3. Get working on these games people!

    Thats all the updates I have for now, in the meantime I made some guitar videos for fun:

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gWHUR-7eVo

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsqhVvMIld4

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpkUPI0oOxg

  • Upcoming/current gadgets list

    Upcoming gadgets I’m excited about

    Wearables
    Google glasses
    Meta glasses
    Vuzix M100
    LG G Watch
    CogitoWatch
    Huawei watch
    Withings Activite
    GlassUp
    Memini
    Pebble Watch
    Neptune Pine
    Moto 360
    Lumus DK40
    Creoir
    Smarty Ring
    Nike fuelband
    Fitbit
    Razer Nabu
    Jawbone Up
    Martian watches
    Omate
    Meta Watch
    Misfit wearables
    Kiwi wearables
    Epson Moverio BT200
    Zeiss Cinemizer
    Sony HMZ-T3
    Gameface Mark IV
    Recon JET
    Epiphany
    Avegant Glyph
    Optinvent ORA
    Smart Googles
    Telepathy
    Nymi
    Myo Armband

    Cameras / Displays
    Looxie HD Explore
    Contour cameras
    Garmin VIRB Elite
    Sony Action Cam
    GoPro
    Jigabot
    Lytro
    FollowFocus Shifter
    Rhino stabilizers
    Aericam DSLR stabilization system
    Ghost stabilizer
    TurboAce
    iFlow
    Zipshooter
    Cineik
    Lynny Lens
    Sail video system
    Swivl
    Giroptic
    Lomo Instant Camera
    Petzval Lens
    SoloShot 2
    Sony QX100
    Ca7ch
    Dos Owls Odin
    Lifelogger
    Narrative
    Monitor 2 go
    Touch Pico projector
    Asus MB168B portable display
    S1 Pocket projector
    Asus Widescreen MX2990Q
    Asus 4K monitor
    Samsung 4K monitor
    Viewsonic 10 point multitouch display
    Viewsonic smart display
    Sony 84″ Ultra HDTV
    Sony 4K projector

    gaming/computers/tablets/phones
    Nvidia Shield
    Origin PC
    Steam Boy
    Nvidia 3D vision2
    Modbook Mac Tablet
    Razer Edge Pro
    Razer Christine
    HP Omen
    Razer Blade
    Aorus X7
    Asus ROG
    Sony HMZ T3
    Vuzix Wrap 1200DXAR
    Vuzix Star 1200XLD
    MS Surface 3
    Tango PC
    Asus Taichi
    Lenovo Horizon tabletop PC
    Ouya
    Gamestick
    PlaystationTV
    Alienware Alpha
    Nexus 7
    MiPad
    Wikipad
    Vivo Xplay
    Fiio X5
    Smartisan
    Meizu MX3
    Parrot Asteroid
    Archos Gamepad 2
    Steam Machines
    MadCatz MOJO
    Leap Motion
    Moga controller
    Handy Phone
    Yotaphon 2
    Nokia Lumia 1020
    Jolla
    iStick

    VR/AR/Drones/Robotics
    Oculus Rift
    VisusVR
    Eyesight Tech
    Virtuix Omni
    Reactive Grip
    MS Kinect 2
    Creative Senz3D
    Asus Xtion Pro
    InAir
    KorFX
    Cyberith Virtualizer
    PrioVR
    ControlVr
    Sixense STEM
    Double Robotics
    Revolve Robotics
    Willow Garage
    Turtlebots
    Pepper/Nao bot
    Kobuki
    Romo
    RoboMe
    Ollie
    Jibo
    Bitcraze copter
    Xcraft
    Hovis Genie
    BrickPi
    GoPiGo
    Razer Hydra
    Parrot Drone AR2
    Zano drone
    Parrot Bebop Drone
    Parrot Jumping Sumo
    Parrot Rolling Spider
    Hex copter
    HexoPlus
    EasyAerial
    Helipal
    Pocket Drone
    Airdog
    Draganfly X6
    Quadropter
    DJ Phantom 2 Vision Plus
    Beam Plus
    Budgy Bot
    MIP

    Connected / Home objects
    iFind
    SmartSpace
    iControl
    Nest
    SmartThings
    Homey
    Niwa
    Doorbot
    Kevo
    Skybell
    Spark
    Lockitron
    Belleds
    August Smart Lock
    Canary
    Ayla
    Arrayent
    Archos Smart Home
    Piper security
    Automatic
    Dropcam
    Sentri
    Electric objects
    Tempescope

    Other
    Hendo Hoverboard
    Autographer
    Tile App
    Square
    Aurora Dream
    SherlyBox
    Lima
    Pencil
    Fender Custom Shop
    B&O Beolab 14
    Whill
    Ollo clip
    Slingbox
    Coin
    Pegasus 3D printer
    Form Labs 3D printer
    Kudo 3D printer
    Micro 3D printer
    3D Doodler
    Darkly Labs Laser printer
    SCIO sensor
    Dacuda sensor
    Structure Sensor
    Navdy
    Ponomusic
    Earin earbuds
    Aurisonics
    SlingBox M1
    Bragi wireless earbuds
    OMONE floating speaker
    Clearview invisible speaker
    Rocket Skates
    Outdoor Tech

  • Video Recording, Korean studying

    Korean
    Ok, first post of the new year. First off, my new years resolution, and my only one, is to understand at least 60-70% of Korean conversation. I’ve been really disappointed with my progress with Korean speaking/listening despite having studied it for 2.5 years. But I know why now. With anything, it takes a lot of exposure and practice to be good at something. With languages its the same. To improve my reading/writing, one has to simply read and write Korean articles, and to improve listening and speaking, one has to simply speak and listen to korean. But the trick is to have enough discipline to do this all the time. This is difficult, especially when you live in a country where the language you are learning is not spoken.

    But I don’t give up easily, and I have to be more disciplined. I have to expose myself to Korean everyday. Read more Korean articles and news online. Watch more Korean dramas, movies, programs. Write Korean on my Facebook posts. Speak Korean to my friends. Speaking might be the hardest, because that one requires me to find a language conversation partner, and its not like I have many good Korean friends in San Francisco or a Korean girlfriend or anything, so its difficult to meet someone who is willing to talk to your regularly. Reading, Watching and Writing I can do on my own time however, just need to be disciplined.

    I found the reason why I couldn’t understand almost all of Korean conversation is: 1) Some Korean words sound different spoken than written (take ìž‘ë…„ or 설날 as an example), 2) There’s lots of Korean slang and idioms I don’t know about and 3) There’s lots of Korean vocab in general I don’t know about. But I am confident I can improve my listening if I knew those words. I can already pick out the words I DO know from what they are saying, and I’m getting better at picking them out even when they’re spoken fast. Takes time however.

    For my reading/writing, it also doesn’t help that Google Translate is just awful at doing asian languages. I’m not sure how Google can do things like make self-driving cars and augmented reality glasses but they can’t make a decent asian translator. Seems like no one has been able to figure out a good translator for asian languages, and I’m not totally sure why no one has started an app which specializes in asian languages (WordLens, Memrise and Duolingo like most language apps focuses on western languages).
    I’ve been using mostly Naver for translation, but even then they don’t have all the idioms and slang in there.

    Video recording
    I do alot of video recording. I try to do at least one video every week, if I have time, and if possible I prefer recording video to taking photos. Why is this? Because videos show you the atmosphere and vibe that happens at the time. Photos don’t show that. Photos have the advantage of being faster, easier to take, easier to share and easier to digest, but there’s alot of information lost in the moment that are better captured in videos. Some people use expensive DSLRs to take great pictures which get compressed when they get uploaded to Facebook, and some people even upload blurry pictures! what’s the point of that??

    That said, I haven’t taken as many videos as I would have liked. Last year, there were alot of moments where I regret not taking any videos, this is mostly due to the inconvenience factor, but also because videos take up a lot of storage space, and my iPhone4S is only 16GB. If I want to have room for videos, I have to sacrifice some music for it. Another reason is that some situations like clubs, parties, bars, etc is just hard to take a video because of dark lightning, poor low light performance from cameraphones, too much noise and hard to hear any one person, and too inconvenient because you are always socializing, but would I have liked to have some videos of a special house party, or myself breakdancing? Of course I would’ve.

    Another thing is, although I take alot of videos when I travel, I’m usually not in the video!! It would be nice if I could get a video of myself but its inconvenient to ask other people to take a video for you. And if you are travelling with friends, they are usually too busy enjoying themselves to hold a camera for you. Which brings me to another point, most people including me have trouble steadying a video camera and need optical image stabilization. Unfortunately, the Canon M400 I use disables OIS when its on the auto mode (the default one), for what reason I don’t know and I just found out so I have to re-stabilize all my Korea videos.

    And when I take videos of myself playing music, I would prefer to have a camera-man rather than a tripod doing it, for a better video, but its difficult to find a camera-man every week, so I have to rely on my tripod everywhere. Which results in basically one constant shot the whole video. Like this:

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhc6wqafr9Y

    This is probably the best I can do without a camera-man. Using autofocus + tripod + wireless mic. In the future though, I want something like this Pocket Drone which will auto direct a video for me. I feel video drones are the way to go, and the solution to inconvenience, however right now their performance is not perfect and their battery life tops out around 30min, which sucks.

    Side rant: Laptops need 4G/LTE
    Why don’t companies make a notebook with built in 4G/LTE?? Seriously, if a $300 tablet or smartphone can have 4G/LTE, then why can’t a $2000 laptop. You’re paying $1000+ for something that can only be used in places with wifi, and in the US that usually means Starbucks, McDonalds, and your home. Thats about as useful as having a tablet thats wifi-only, which is not much. And no I don’t want to always tether my phone (costs extra, takes up battery life) or use a 4G dongle (takes up a USB port, inconvenient). So far only business laptops have this, and by the way we should get fingerprint readers on consumer laptops too, these should be options on mainstream laptops!!

    Anyways thats my rants for this month. Happy new year and Chinese new year!