Tuesday, February 28, 2012

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How to Root\Install Recovery on your IceCream Sandwich Transformer

3. My Personal Opinion (Miscellaneous) , ClockWorkMod Recovery in Transformer 2 Comments

Anyways, two days after the official update I decided to install custom ROM : Revolver 4 by Gnufabio. As I have read before that his previous HoneyComb based ROM was superfast and super good, hence I decided to try it. The first thing I needed to do is to root and install RecoveryMod and below I have provided the steps in case you would love to do so too.

Well, the first thing that you should know is that you are doing this at your OWN RISK and  I will not bear any responsibilities should you damage your Tablet!

There is a few things that you need to download in the first place : 
1. Revolver 4 by Gnufabio (go here to get the latest version) and save it to the internal storage\MicroSD.
2. Asus Sync (to be installed on your computer)
3. TF101 ICS Root (Fileserve) OR TF101 ICS Root (MediaFire)
4. Recovery Installer (Fileserve) OR Recovery Installer (MediaFire)

 How to root your beloved Asus Transformer
1. Download this file : Asus Sync under the Utilities menu if you do not have it installed on your PC yet.
2. Download this file : TF101 ICS Root (Fileserve) OR TF101 ICS Root (MediaFire) and extract it to your desktop
3. Ensure that your tablet is connected to your PC via ISB and USB debugging is enabled.
4. Double click the tf101 ics root folder and double click on the run.bat file and make sure you follow the steps as it is very clearly stated already.
5. As per the instruction, when asked you have to make a backup using Asus Backup and once completed, hit enter.
6. It will ask you to perform the same backup once again. Please ensure you backup the same app that you backup earlier. Once completed please press enter and your tablet will automatically reboot.
7. Congratulations! You have rooted your tablet.
8. To verify, you may try to install AdFree or Titanium Backup from the Market.

 How to Install ClockWorkMod Recovery
1. Download this file : Recovery Installer(Fileserve) OR Recovery Installer (MediaFire) and install it on your tablet.
2. Open the app and click on "Click here to install Recovery"
3. Your tablet will be automatically rebooted.
4. Congratulations again! You have successfully installed the Recovery.

 How to go to Recovery Mode on your Tablet
For me it was a bit confusing for the first time but this is how you do it.
1. Shutdown your tablet.
2. Press the Volume Down button and the Power button at the same time for around 5-7 seconds.
3. You tablet will start up and you will notice a few sentences that is small enough until you cant read it.
4. When you see this, immediately press the Volume Up button. (You can release your fingers from the other buttons)
5. And now you are in the Recovery mode!

 How to install Revolver 4 by Gnufabio
Please be aware that this ROM is still in Beta and I will not bear any responsibilities should you damage your Tablet!
1. Once you are in the Recovery mode, select Wipe and wipe the below : 
- Wipe Data (Factory Reset)
- Wipe Cache
- Wipe Dalvik-Cache
2. Click "Install from zip file" and choose the Revolver4 zip file from the location that you have saved earlier and select OK.
3. It will now install the Revolver ROM and once completed, select the "Reboot System" option
4. Once rebooted, it will take a while for it to upgrade the Applications and after completed you will be welcomed to continue with the settings
5. Just follow the on-screen instruction and you are done!

 Enjoy the extra sweetness of the Ice Cream Sandwich specially prepared by Gnufabio.
How do you find the above review and the steps provided to install the custom ROM? Do let me know your comments if you have some difficulties.
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Asus Eeepad Transformer IceCream Sandwich Review

3. My Personal Opinion (Miscellaneous) , Android 2 Comments


By now I guess all of you have upgraded to the latest Android love, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).
How do you guys feel about the OTA update? Satisified or totally hate it?
So, below is what I think of the latest OS.

First of all, the moment the tablet boots up after the installation you will be presented with almost the same interface as Honeycomb making you wondering if the tablet was upgraded at all. :P
You will notice the battery bar and the time is in blue and the App button on the top right is different. That is the only difference. But, once you press the Home, Back or the Recent key button, there will be a blue glow that was not there before in Honeycomb.Looks nice.


 I clicked on the Home button and it popped up with all the application I had installed prior to the upgrade. There is no more "My Apps" tab and it was replaced by the Widgets tab.Scrolling through the pages was pretty smooth, in fact feels smoother that it was on Honeycomb.



There is a new application called App Locker and I fell in love with that the moment I saw it because it has the ability to password protect your applications. The sole reason I loved it was to prevent my son to open all games that is not intended for his age (He's almost 3 by the way) such as GTA III, 9MM among others. Thank you ASUS for including this in the upgrade.


The keyboard was pretty smooth and the auto-correction is simply awesome.
The next noticeable difference is the statusbar. It is glowing blue colour with the shortcuts for Auto-Rotation, Wifi, Bluetooth, Volume, Auto-Sync and GPS, not forgetting the Brightness. You can access the settings from here too.

Once you click on the Settings, notice that it is categorized to Wireless and Networks, Device, Personal and System. Pretty neat. 
One of the important features incorporated in ICS in my humble opinion is the ability to create folders on the desktop. It was not available on previous versions of Android. Pretty useful and a very attractive folder indeed. Once you touch the folder, it will popup and show all shortcuts inside.


Playing videos is quite smooth. I had no issues with that but I did see a few people complained about it on the XDA forum. Camera interface is improved with the ability to take panorama shots and there is video effects. Unfortunately, the camera hardware sucks so you would not see much improvement over here. The good news is I doubt anyone in this world is using the camera, seriously.


The stock browser was fast and now have the possibilities to do Offline Reading and also Request to view a Desktop site in case you are redirected to a mobile version of the web.
Besides the stock browser, I simply love the Chrome browser (not officially available in all countries but you can get it from here or here). It pretty smooth and quite cool. Try it yourself to know it.
Google Chrome beta

Android Stock Browser

 Update - 29th Feb 2012 (Yes, it's a Leap Year)

 Yup, I totally forgot about the redesigned Gallery. The new interface is way better than the previous version as you can see in the below screenshot.It is now in a tile interface which I feel is less cluttered than the Honeycomb version. You have option to edit the photos with some new effects thrown in and it does makes the photo looks better. Checkout the special effects options in the screenshot below.
Notice that the album pictures are now larger and easy to view
The pictures inside the album is also in tiles format

Once a picture is selected, there is option to edit the photos. Also, see that you can see small thumbnails of all other photos below the main image.

 
All the effects available in the Edit mode.

So far, this is what I think about the latest Android upgrade. Overall, I am satisfied with it and have no issues whatsoever.
How about you? What do you guys think about ICS? Let the world know what you think by commenting below.

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Thursday, February 23, 2012

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My Favorite Tamil Movie Actors

3. My Personal Opinion (Miscellaneous) , arya 0 Comments

Courtesy from IndiaGlitz.com
After writing about politics, I was pondering on what should I write about next and I thought to myself that it has been a while since I last wrote about movies. Yeah, I have written a few movie reviews before. Checkout the link below and my review on Endhiran was also published in Behindwoods.com.

 1. ManMadhan Ambu – My Personal Opinion
2. Endhiran – My Personal Opinion
3. Appalam – My Personal Opinion

 I love movies..and what do I love about movies, Tamil movies in particular? The story, the actors\actresses, the music, the director, cinematography is the first thing that comes to my mind. So, today I decided to write about my e actors in the current Tamil movie industry. There are many talented actors in the Tamil movie but the world as we know it reckons Indian movie as Bollywood movies and narrows down to Hindi movies as though only Hindi movies and actors are the greatest in India. Of course, there is no denying that there is quite a lot of talented people out there. It just that I hate it when people think movies in India as Bollywood movies only.
Back to the story, my all time favorite is definitely Kamalhaasan and Rajinikanth but I think there is no need for me to explain why I or anyone else in the world like these two guys. They are simply awesome in their own league. One guy is multi talented and he actually can be called the "one man army" of the Tamil movie industry where he can do almost everything related to cinema such as : 
1. Acting
2. Singing
3. Directing
4. Writing screenplay.dialogues, story, lyrics
5. Dance and choreograph (in fact he was a assistant choreographer during his early days)
6. and who knows what else. 

 As for Rajinikanth, his mere presence on screen is enough to enchant you. Dot.
Instead of these two guys, I would like to blog about the current generation of actors that I love. Below is what I think about them in chronological order.
My personal favorite until now is definitely Surya since the days of Friends. It is only in Friends that I noticed his acting talent as the best friend of Vijay. Then, of course Nanda came and changed his life forever. He is smart, good looking, have a talent to choose movies that will click with all type of movie-goers and one hell of a performance on screen. One of the best dancers in the industry as well. I loved his latest movie 7-am Arivu as it gave us a new dimension of the martial arts, KungFu. If not for this film, we would have never known that a Tamilian founded this martial arts.
I always love him during TV interviews. He has a diplomatic ways of answering questions and always smiles definately humble. Eagerly awaiting Maatraan and his next with Venkat Prabhu.
Well, he is in the number two list not because of the recent "Kolaveri" rage. I always admired his natural acting skills for long. He may not have the good looks of Surya but he definately can be a strong competitor to him and sometimes even outclasses his performance. For instance, Dhanush's performance in Mayakkam Enna. I believe no one else could have potrayed such a complex character with ease. 
And of course, his voice has now become some sort of national anthem in India. I wish "3" will be another highlight in his film career.
One of the most talented actor in India, I must say for his capabilities to blend well with the character that he is playing. Pithamagan, Raavanan and Deivathirumagal is definately one of the best characters he has done in his career. I simply loved his performance as Veera and of course who can ever forget Krishna in Deivathirumagal. He really made tears flowing in my eyes.
Well, his problem has always choosing the right script and the delay of each movies.I hope after this, he has already overcome those obstacles and that we may enjoy his movies every year. Thaandavam will definately be one of the awaited movie of the year for me since Vikramm, Vijay (the Director) and GV Prakash is teaming up once again.
He may have a big problem choosing a freaking good script but undeniably, he does have acting talent that many people will disagree with me.His last movie that I enjoyed very much was Gilli and Pokkiri to some extent. Many said Velayutham was one of his best movies, but I beg to differ. I totally hated that movie for many reasons that I do not want to talk about here. Nanban was a good movie, definately and will be landmark movie for him, Though, not as good as the original, I still loved the movie. 
His plus point is definately in the comic and dance department.He should try to act in more comedy based movies rather that those typical masala movies with the same story lines.  I really hope Thuppaki and Yohan : Addyaayam Ondru will change my perception towards him.
And one more thing, please try to be more energetic when you give interview in TV channels. I often feel like you are giving interview while half asleep. Take example from Surya, please.
The Boss. This guy is really good in comedy. Does not mind acting in multi-starrers and seriously talented and good looking. Loved his performance in Madrasapattinam, Boss Engira Baskaran and even Vettai. This guy is ever energetic no matter if he is on screen or offscreen. Not so sure what movie is he acting next, but definately worth waiting. 

 These are the top 5 guys which made in to my favorite list. I made this list based on my own preferences and how I feel when I see then onscreen and has nothing to do with their personal lives. I don't even care how they are in their personal life as they are not my friends. I just see them as an actor. I hope no one is offended after reading this and even if you do, I can't help it. Sorry.

 How about yours?

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Monday, February 20, 2012

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Malaysia : Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku

1Malaysia , 3. My Personal Opinion (Miscellaneous) 6 Comments
Courtesy from http://www.apanama.my/

I have always refrained from writing about politics\religion\race in my blog ever since I have launch it 2 years back. However, I changed my policy to write about it without being too harsh. It is sad to know that such a lovely country that I live now have come to this current state. 
Well, we still live in harmony and love is still in the air amongst majority of the people of Malaysia.It is still a few minority group that is trying to cause chaos in the country and by the look of it, they are failing each and every time they try to do just that. The year is not 1969 anymore, it is 2012. People are way smarter and brighter than before.

 One thing that never fails to amuse me is that  we are not afraid to vote to a government that have continuingly suppressing human rights right in front of our eyes, misuse public funds, misuse race\religion and yet we choose to close one eye by saying that without them the country will fall. (As if the country is not falling already..) 54 years?? And yet, there is so many controversies that is popping every now and then like mushrooms after the rain. I do not wish to list them one by one over here as there is enough online portals that is reporting extensively about this.And again, we are not afraid to vote loyally for the past 54 years to the same government, but we a freaking out to vote for a different government and give then just 5 years to run the country. I find this really weird. Just look at the 5 states governed by the Pakatan team. Is these states dying already? By the looks of it, they are in the best level in just less that 4 years. Yes, I do agree there is some issues cropping now and then but I believe it is still manageable. One more thing, the choice is in our hands, if you don't like them, just vote them out in the next elections. Its just as simple as that.

 Some might think that, 
BN = Malaysia  and 
Malaysia = BN. 
But the truth is pretty damn far from that. 
BN = the current government and 
The current government = BN.

 Checkout the Meaning of Government here.

 The current government can be changed at any time during the election of course and by doing this you are NOT BETRAYING YOUR COUNTRY! Remember that! 
You betray your country if you sell top secrets of the country to other nations, use people's money for your own personal uses such as buying condos, building huge bungalow houses, enriching your own family all in the expense of the people's tax money.Well, there is more to the definition of betrayal which you can look up by googling it. But, I am damn sure that choosing a different government to rule is not in the list.

 As a human being, I believe that there is NO religion OR race that is above the other. God have created us equal in this world and how you choose to live the life is in your freaking hands. 
Unfortunately, race and religion is being misused by every single politician in this country for their
own benefits. For example, the recent "white ang pow" incident. I do not know whether Ibrahim Ali did it on purpose or not, but the attendees of the event accepted it without any comments, right? Then, why make it a national issue? Anyhow, a well learnt lesson to all Malaysian, white ang pow is used during funerals only.And of course, there is the cow head, pig head incidents as well. Please spare the animals to discrace others. It is an insult to these animals. And the list goes on...Use religion to teach positive things to bring a betterment to this country, not otherwise please!

 Yes, Chinese and Indians among others came to Tanah Melayu those days and brought in by the British. But, that was so long ago. As a Malaysian, I ONLY love MY country as this is where I was born. Just because my great-grandfather came from India does not mean that I can go and stay in India as told by some politician in the Dewan Rakyat. A simple message to all, just because I do not like the current government, DOES NOT MEAN I have 
betrayed my country. I just want our country to be still alive when my son grows up. I want my son to grow and study and spend his life as a Malaysian in Malaysia. Well, that is my wish. I am not sure about his wish just yet as he is just approaching 3 years old. :P

 Kids are the perfect example as to how we should live among Malaysians. I am sending my son to daycare near my office which consists of pretty much of locals and foreigners. Whenever I go to pick him up after office, I see them playing together happily and not limiting themselves to be with the same race. There was one Malay boy who always comes and hugs me and last week one small Japanese boy did the same. They always say goodbye to my son as we leave. Such lovely boys and girls there.  Now, if only all Malaysian politician can do that. We, the common people of Malaysia have been doing that even before the motto "1Malaysia" exists. We do not need such motto to strengthen our co-existense, in my humble opinion.

 Just for the personal stake of a few politician, the country is in a dilemma now which many people in the rural area does not know, thanks to the national media which only reports one side of the story.The young people of Malaysia, please oh please let your parents know the truth of what is happening in Malaysia and together lets grow together as Malaysians and live a happily ever after life just like in the fairy tales. Yes, it can happen if you believe in it.Then again, just believing in something is simply not enough. Take action and the change will happen right in front of your naked eyes.

 Well, what do you think of the current state of our country? Share your comments below.



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Thursday, February 16, 2012

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Navarathiri 2011 - Kolu and Ponggal 2012

1. Photography , banana leaf meal 0 Comments



Hi All,
These photos were taking during the Navarathiri prayers that lasts for 10 days.This was actually taken last year but I was a bit lazy to write up about that. Just thought today might be the right day to do it. (Well, the truth is I don't have anything special to write up for the new few weeks. Just dug up my old photos and decided to post this.)
During this time there will be a "kolu" setup in the house where you can display all kinds of doll, mainly deities. To know more about "kolu", checkout this Wikipedia link here.
I just took these pictures using the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II  lens. Just to test power of its capabilities as close up.
Take a look and do tell me how it looks. Do you like it? Do let me know in the comments section.




The second section was some photos that I took early this year during Ponggal 2012. I just realized that I have mistakenly watermarked the photos as Ponggal 2011 instead of 2012. Apologies for that.
I just took some photos of the pot and the delicious food that my wife cooked after that.

To get a full feel of the ponggal or the recipe or event  the banana leaf meal that my wife prepared for that day checkout my wife blog at ShiniesKitchenDiary        

                                                                                   

How was your ponggal?? Haha..I know.. I know..a question that is way too late to ask. But, nevertheless do let us know how was your Ponggal 2012.
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Thursday, February 9, 2012

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Thaipusam 2012 - Part Two (Penang Island)

1. Photography , 4. My Trips 0 Comments



First time in Penang Thaipusam.

 We were supposed to leave house around 10am to Penang Island but ended up leaving at 11.45am!! We reached the island quite fast as there was no jam at all on the bridge.As we were nearing the temple the jam started to build up and we managed to park our car at the Che Hoon Khor Moral Uplifting Society parking bay at a RM10 parking fees. Since this was our first time here for Thaipusam, we thought the temple is quite near from here and decided to walk without slippers on as my wife is carrying "paal kudam" today. And what a day it was! It was freaking hot and I could feel the heat under my feet.The journey from the parking to the temple was around 2km. Thank God, there were trees almost everywhere along the road which provided enough shades and of course some good hearted people showering our feets with water and some of the road were already wet that time. But still, it was freaking hot!!

My wife started the journey from the Muniswarar temple at one of the junctions and headed towards the Sri Balathandayuthabaani Temple on top of the hill. There weren't many kavadis around but many people were carrying the "paal kudam". FInally, we managed to find our way to the top and offered the milk to Lord Muruga in Penang as well. Good thing was the temple committee has a separate stall to provide the "Milk Abishegam" in a plastic. After resting for a while, we headed down to get some drink and annathaanam to fill up our empty stomach.

The main attraction of Penang Thaipusam, in my humble opinion was the "Thanneer Panthal" where they serve free water/juice or mooru for the visitors. All of the "Thanneer Panthal" were sponsored by big companies in Penang such as Dell, Flextronixs, Intel, DHL among others. The design of the panthal were really creative. You have to see it to believe it.

As it was almost 4pm, the sun was still not kind enough to ease up its heat. My feet felt as though its already half fried. My body started to ache as well, as I was was carrying 13kg Kavinash Kavadi to and fro from the temple. Imagine that! In case you are wondering what Kavadi is that, its actually my son. I was carrying him the whole journey. Even in Sungai Petani. And I can still feel the pain on my shoulders and leg as I write this blog now.
We left Penang Island around 5pm and headed back to Kajang. The highway was quite jammed as there were many lorries and busses on the road. Took us 5 hours to reach home.

Food for thought, what do you guys think about the guys dancing in front of the kavadis? Do you think we really need that kind of attitude? Is this the kind of impression that we want to give to people of Malaysia\foreigners about Malaysian Indians? And I always thought that the festival of Thaipusam was for Lord Murugan. But, you can see kavadis of many deities and some even in a gruesome manner especially Kali amma. Isn't Thaipusam supposed to be dedicated to Lord Muruga only? How would you feel if we celebrate Deepavali on a Chirstmas day? Well, that's is my opinion. Do let me know what you think!

Enjoy the pictures!


Thaipusam 2012 – Part One (Sungai Petani)
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Thaipusam 2012 - Part One (Sungai Petani)

1. Photography , 4. My Trips 0 Comments



I'm Back!

After a gap of 3 years we went back to my hometown for Thaipusam. The last time we went there was a day after my wedding. :) For the next three year we went to Batu Caves to celebrate the festival of Thaipusam. At last its time to the magic of Thaipusam back in Sungai Petani, Kedah! And my son was so exited to meet his grandmother's house.

Has Sungai Petani lost its magic touch?
Well, I was bragging to my wife on how crowded it would be and there would be many kavadis in SP.After having a good rest at home, we headed to the Sithi Vinayagar temple on the eve of Thaipusam. This is the first time I'm going there after the "Kumbabishegam" and the temple looks awesome with its beige and bronze colour. Check out the photos later. We went straight inside the temple were it was almost empty since the the crowd was outside looking at the kavadis. The temple has changed a lot since the last time I came here. This is an all in one temple where you can find almost every single deities under one roof. A must visit temple if you visit Sungai Petani!

Back to Thaipusam story.After praying, we headed out and walked towards to Sri Subramaniam temple were the main event is held every single year.As we walked there, I noticed that the crowd is not as much as it used to be.Even the kavadis were so less compared to a few years back. It used to be so crowded until you have to squeeze through the all those people but we were walking freely on the road. I thought it was just the eve and the situation would change the next day. The 100 years old temple after the "kumbabishegam" looks brand new as well. There weren't many crowd inside the temple as well and managed to pray freely.After praying, went outside and since there was not many kavadis to watch, we headed back home as we have to wake up early.

 My mother is taking "paal kudam" early in the morning. Slept at midnight and woke up at 3am to bring my mom to the temple. I joined my mom in taking "paal kudam" as well for the first time in my life! We walked slowly from the Sithi Vinayagar temple together with my uncle and his family and reached the Subramaniam temple within 15 minutes as there was less people. Once we reached the temple, we took the free receipt (in conjucntion with the 100th years celebration, there is no charges for the paal kudam or kavadi) and joined the crowd waiting in line to enter the temple. It was very organised and we made 3 circles around the temple and entered inside to offer the milk to Lord Muruga. We went back home after that as there was nothing much to do. We were at home around 5.15am and I went to sleep around 6am.

The next day before heading to Penang Island, I went to the Sri Subramaniamiam temple again hoping that there would be more kavadis to watch as I didn't manage to capture enough magic moments there. And again, I was disappointed that there was only a few kavadis and hence the title of this story; Has Sungai Petani lost its magic touch?

If anyone of you readers are from Sungai Petani and happened to be there during Thaipusam, do you mind sharing your story? Perhaps, I missed the moment when the crowd and kavadis throng the temple?


Thaipusam 2012 – Part One (Sungai Petani)
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