mrbrown.com

A little family vacation with the Klipsch R6i In-Ear Headphones

Now that school has reopened, and the holidays are over, I can finally get down to writing about the little holiday I took with the family in June.

We didn't really plan anything so I just booked a stay in a hotel in JB, Malaysia for three days. I know what you are thinking, what is there in JB? Well, I can tell you that JB has three things going for it.

1. It is near.

2. It has affordable and good Malaysian food.

3. The hotel has a pool and a mall attached to it.

Sightseeing was not on the agenda. My kids just like the idea of a hotel stay (and staycations in Singapore cost a bomb), being able to swim at the hotel pool, and hanging out at the mall. The wife was happy to just shop in ringgit and my mother could get some marketing done too. Isaac, Faith, my wife, my mom and my helper went by the little family car. Joy and I took the bus over. Yes, I took public transport to JB.

Given the mode of travel, the one thing I wanted to do was to pack as little as possible. I managed to squeeze three days worth of clothes, toiletries, and electronics in this little 20L Deuter daypack. When I say electronics, I mean my Sony A7 camera with two lenses and my iPad Air. That was it. No laptop, no PS Vita, and no bulky headphones. I just wanted to chill with the family, and maybe listen to some music or watch a tv show or movie on the iPad Air if there was time.

Enter the Klipsch R6 and R6i (with iPhone remote). This is the replacement for the Klipsch S4 (and S4i), the entry-level earphones that I used and liked in 2011 (how time flies!). And just like the last time, I experienced the Klipsch while on a trip.

For the purposes of this review, I used the R6i, with the iPhone remote. The R6i surprised me. If you didn't tell me they are meant to be entry level earphones, I would not have thought they were. The signature S4 sound is still there, but vastly improved. First of all, that sibilance that used to be fairly pronounced on the S4 is pretty much gone. Second of all, the build quality has gone up significantly, using aluminum and elastomer for a more high-end look. The headphone jack, a critical part, looks reinforced, which means better protection from failure.

The bass is punchy but not overwhelming. The mids are now less muddy compared to the S4 series it replaces. In fact, I could hear details that I didn't used to get from the S4. I also felt the sound was slightly warmer. You could say that the R6i is a more refined brother of the S4i.

The best way I can describe the R6 is that it is balanced. Soundstage has also improved over its predecessor. And the new flat cable is much better, making the R6 less prone to tangling.

It is very diminutive when you pack it for travel. Even in its pouch, the package is slim. I shoved it into my pants pocket when I wanted to take it along, and other times, I just shoved it with its pouch into my backpack. It was light, small and got out of the way, and rarely got tangled up.

The oval ear-buds, a Klipsch thing, made the R6i very comfortable for long periods of use. The remote control on the R6i is also nice, with the play button being obvious to the touch, while the volume controls are flush with the remote. This means that without looking, you can locate the single bump of the play button very easily instead of being confused by three bumps.

I normally burn in my earphones by playing them for more than 20 hours before using them, but the R6i was something I just grabbed for the trip and used. Sounded great out of the box, which I didn't expect. After hours of using it on the road, it sounded even better.

Oh, how could I leave you without photos of our little vacation, right? Here are the kids enjoying the heck out of the hotel pool, which even had a dinosaur theme pool area.

The yellow float cost me ten ringgit to rent, which was ok, I guess. I rented two floats so the kids wouldn't fight over it.

Faith totally loved the holiday. We let her swim all she wanted, and there were no plane rides (not her most favorite thing). And I got to eat all the lovely street food in JB, and even squeezed in some time for a late night massage with the wife.

Not bad for a last-minute holiday.

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Simply LIKE their fan page at www.facebook.com/KlipschSEAsia and do the survey with a DESKTOP COMPUTER (not on mobile) at this link: http://mrbrwn.co/klipschsurvey

A big thank you for taking part and good luck!

Win already lor

One evening, Isaac took out a booklet of donation lucky draw tickets and asked my mother-in-law, "婆婆，你可以买我的Lucky Draw吗？” ("Grandma, can you buy some of my lucky draw tickets?")

"用华语讲." I said, waiting him to practise using his Chinese.

Joy piped in, trying to be helpful, "La¹ Key³ Draw¹."

Annoyed, I replied, "Saying the words Lucky Draw with the Chinese tones doesn't make it Chinese, ok? It is… it is… wait ah…"

*checks Google Translate app* "It is 幸运大抽奖 lah!" I declared proudly.

Hey, you have to give this father points for trying ok?

LE NOIR: taking my little circus to a circus

I've seen my share of stylo circuses, like Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Éloize and Zumanity, so I was looking forward to watching LE NOIR at Marina Bay Sands Grand Theatre, because it features former stars of Cirque du Soleil and other big acts.

The wife and I took the two younger ones with me, and we were quite blown away by the show.

The Ringmaster, performed by Salvador Salangsang Jr, was hilarious, as his antics helped to bridge the death-defying acts. In the photo I took above, Ignatov-Radokhov was spinning his cube with aplomb.

I was also holding my breath when I took this photo of Gediminas Pavlovicius doing his Rolla Bolla act, balancing on metal pipes. It is easily one of my favorite acts from the show. I got to pick up the pipes later backstage and they are just plain pipes, no tricks. Just sheer skill and balance.

This is the second time LE NOIR has come to Singapore, and this time it adds the Wheel of Death, something we didn't get to see because the performer sprained his ankle at an earlier performance and had to heal up. I hope he gets well soon. Still, the rest of the show was great.

The show started its run in Tokyo, and has already been to Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and after Singapore, it will be heading to Atlantic City and Australia. Then only will the cast get a four week break, the Ringmaster tells me.

We were enthralled by this skating act as they spun on a small little circle of a platform. What would happen if she flew off? *shudder*

We also gasped with wonder at the dexterity of all the performers. And we admired the costumes and the well-choreographed dances. So artistic.

After the show, we got a little backstage tour led by the Ringmaster himself. That was a real treat for the kids. Salvador (who is really from Hawaii but acts as a French clown) showed us his props and the gear used by the cast. Joy and Isaac got to try pulling the giant industrial-strength balloon he uses for his funny balloon act. I am told it costs about US$60 for one of these balloons.

LE NOIR was thoroughly enjoyable, even for this veteran cirque fan. You can find out more and book tickets at the MBS site.

Now I am hoping my kids don't tell me they plan to run away and join the circus. At least wait till after their studies lah.

Router upgrade time: Asus RT-AC68U

After some teething problems with the set-up, I finally completed setting up the Asus RT-AC68U to replace my RT-N66U. I had to yank out all the other network cables and just have one network cable from the iMac to the Asus RT-AC68U for the initial web GUI to show up properly.

So far so good.

Wired network transfers, from NAS to NAS and PC to PC, are faster. Wifi range is a tad better than the previous RT-N66U, though I am still using Asus EA-N66 "Spaceship" as a 5GHz wifi access point in my furthest room for 5-bar speed in that room.

Port forwarding also ensured that the uTorrent works at top speed.

The SONOS is working properly, none of the problems I have read about the RT-AC68U having issues with SONOS. It may be because of the updated firmware. Apple TVs working. Netflix also ok, with the Unotelly DNS settings inserted. FTP also set up and working.

A firmware update also made the RT-AC68U capable of supporting HFS+ drives for Time Machine network backup. Gonna hook up a USB3 drive to this and test it out. The RT-AC68U has both a USB3 and a USB2 port. My previous RT-N66U had two USB2 ports only. I expect to see further speed improvements with a USB3 drive connected to the new router.

By the way, if you are having problems with your iPad not being able to connect on the 5GHz wifi, try setting the 5GHz to a fixed channel rather than to Auto. Try both a low-numbered channel and a high-numbered channel. I am on channel 36.

Next up, bring home the MacBook Pro retina from the office to test the 802.11AC wifi speeds.

Presenting… Singapore's Most Temporary Bus Stop

This temporary bus stop damn chui can?

mrbrown goes barefoot for a day

YouTube links: http://mrbrwn.co/1lNSZ2g

Update: Online registration is now extended to 10th July 2014 2359 hrs!

Together with Habitat for Humanity Singapore, I decided to go barefoot for a day, to see what it is like. Come July 12th 2014, take part in the Bare Your Sole walk and raise money for those in need!

Details and registration: http://www.bareyoursole.org.sg/

The online registration is until 30 June 10 July 2014 2359 hrs. After that, physical registration will be at The Orchard Central, Ground Floor, 4th to 6th July, 11am to 9pm.

And to make it more fun, share your barefoot photos on Instagram and Twitter too! Tag the photos #bareyoursole14 and I will reshare them!

Here are some from my kids and me!

Beware of spy cams in your hotel rooms

Valerie (full name withheld) posted these photos of spy cams found in her hotel room in a "famous resort" in Malacca, Malaysia. According to her FB, the villa's management denied all responsibility for these cams, so she shared the photos to warn others. Her friend was the one who spotted the cams. The friend got suspicious because she had seen these cams for sale online before.

A quick check on eBay confirms how easy it is to buy these cameras that look like clothing hooks, with a lens where the screw should be, and an microSD card inside for recording.

Valerie warns, "大家在外面也要小心，看到类似的挂钩多加留意."

They did try to see if there was any footage on the cards but couldn't read the data. Valerie writes, "我们有尝试用手机read memory card，但是read不到，拔出来看时发现后面的晶片，其中一个已经走形了，不清楚是原本就这样，亦或是我们插进去手机时弄到的，不过不管怎样memory card是确定坏了和read不到的."

May have been a video format issue. In any case, do check your rooms when you check in. You never know what nefarious schemes are afoot.

America, still trying to understand the World Cup

Seen in NYC. Simi is The Soccer Cup?

Kim Huat and HP present: Why Kim Huat Hates Giant Photostat Machines

YouTube link: http://youtu.be/bQch4sUpC40

Kim Huat hates giant photostat machines! Why?

Find out more at: http://www8.hp.com/sg/en/campaigns/hp_valuepage/overview.html

Kim Huat and HP present: Three Ways to Save on Your Office Printing

YouTube link: http://youtu.be/QGNcZuSjFGA

Kim Huat shares three ways to save money when you print in the office!

Find out more at: http://www8.hp.com/sg/en/campaigns/hp_valuepage/overview.html

Finally! The Pioneer Generation Package video in CANTONESE

It pleases me that there is finally a Cantonese version of the video that explains the Pioneer Generation Package (PGP). After I saw the Teochew one, I was wondering if they would release a Cantonese one, since that is my dialect group.

I showed the YouTube video to my mom on the family tv via my iPad/Apple TV. She quite enjoyed it, since she is also Cantonese (she is a hardcore TVBJ channel fan) and also a Mahjong playah. She totally got all the references and laughed at the presentation. She even asked to see the other dialect videos, and enjoyed those too.

It is cool to see dialects being used to communicate policy. But why stop at just online media? Show on tv lah! Show in the cinema lah! Sure, I can show my mother this Cantonese YouTube video on my computer or Apple TV, but it would be so much easier if the dialect videos can be seen in mainstream media too.

Good thing my mother understands and speaks English, so she can learn about her benefits as a pioneer generation citizen from other sources. For other older folk, these dialect online videos may be the only way they get to understand the package. So do show these to your loved ones if they need to understand the PGP in dialect.

Anyway, here are the three videos if you want to watch them all. Which one do you like the most?

Cantonese version: http://youtu.be/q-AtDI5EUqs

Hokkien version: http://youtu.be/cNPXz-xwziQ

Teochew version: http://youtu.be/edk70tCq13A

Things I Did When Facebook Was Down

In what was the longest Facebook outage in recent times, social media fans faced having no Facebook for all of twenty minutes. In that period, experts tell us that workplace productivity went up by 200%.

Just imagine, if Twitter and Facebook went down together, we’d have to go out and actually talk to people face to face. *shudder*

With the Facebookless masses rushing to Twitter to feed their fix, I asked my Twitter followers the things they did when Facebook was down.

#ThingsIDidWhenFacebookWasDown

1. @mrbrown: Looked for my Google+ password.

2. @Anders_Ong: Refresh Refresh Refresh Refresh Refresh Refresh Refresh Refresh Refresh Refresh Refresh…

3. @cynn04: I actually did some work.

4. @mechaniqa: Rewrote Ophelia in Modern English.

5. @kallangfortis: Reactivate my Friendster account…

6. @jakachuuu: Found Waldo.

7. @mrbrown: Took a dump.

8. @mrbrown: Wrote the sequel to The Iliad.

9. @mrbrown: Built a house.

10. @mrbrown: Finished reading War and Peace.

11. @HongJieOng: Faced my book =/

12. @icelava: Phoned my friends to tell them how much i disagree with their political opinions.

13. @mrbrown: Rebooted the Spider-Man and X-Men franchise.

14. @mrbrown: Had an iced latte kosong and a fresh fruit tart.

15. @mrbrown: Made #ThingsIDidWhenFacebookWasDown trend on Twitter.

the mrbrown show: preferred NS vocations

YouTube link: http://mrbrwn.co/1pcgSP7

the mrbrown news team look at the sweeping changes to National Service.

Big thanks to @voxeros, @funksin and other Twitter friends for their contributions to the #preferredNSvocations meme!

Just another father's day

If it wasn't for the fact that Joy was performing at a church Parents' Day event, I would've forgotten it was Father's Day today.

But every day is Father's Day, really. And today was no different.

In one day, I laughed with my kids, shouted at my kids, sniffed my kids' butts to find out where the poop smell was coming from, exchanged silly stories with my kids, chased the kids to bathe, scolded one kid for not closing the door when he changed thereby showing the world his birthday suit, waited 40 minutes for my order of pizzas for the kids' dinner at my in-laws, repaired a plastic-pearl-encrusted cat hairband for the youngest kid, felt pride as that same kid sang on stage and did a split without stage fright, gave my two younger kids $5 each just because, and fussed over the oldest kid who was sick.

Faithie had a throat infection, which she told me by holding my hand to her throat and giving a little demonstration cough. This is a first. She has never managed to communicate what ails her when she is sick, because of her autism. Until now.

I had mixed feelings of wonder and worry. But we had no time to feel much of either because we had to make sure she took some medicine to sooth her throat so she could eat some food. Oh, and clean up the mess after she threw up the first round of medicine.

On the car ride home from my in-laws, we were telling each other stories, and Joy told us about a classmate who said her mother works at The Ship restaurant.

I said, that's cool, your mommy and I used to date at the old Ship restaurant.

"I thought I heard Sh*t Restaurant, and was wondering what kind of restaurant that was!" Joy laughed. "I asked her is it a kind of poop place? And my friend said SHIPPP! As in BOAT!" said Joy, by then in a major giggling fit.

"Maybe the food is brown!" laughed Isaac. Trust him to have the poop jokes on hand.

The wife and I couldn't help laughing at the poop story, because we are basically 11-year-olds inside. But I still managed to throw in a "Watch the language ah, don't use the S word, ok?"

Because that's what fathers are supposed to say.

In an earlier conversation, Joy asked me, in all seriousness, "Papa, do you regret that I turned out to be a girl?"

I said, "Of course not! Why would you think that?"

"Because people seem to like sons more."

"Nonsense," I said. "Girls and boys are equally good. I am equally happy to have each one of you: Cheh Cheh, Kor Kor and you. I love all of you just as much."

"When I grow up, I will look after Cheh Cheh. I will live with you and Mommy and force my husband to live with you too," Joy said.

"Well, I don't think you should force your future husband to live with us, you should decide together," I said. "But I am very happy to hear you are willing to care for your oldest sister this way, Joy."

Then the son piped in, "Papa, when I grow up, I will sign you up for a massage package!"

"Er, that's good too, son."

A lifetime commitment to care for each other, and a future massage package for me: what more can a father ask for on this day?

Revenge of the fallen and can't get up

Son, watching Revenge of the Fallen: "Optimus dies here but later he is saved by the All Spark."

My wife: "All stuck? Why they all stuck?"

The son and I replied together, "All. Spark."

"It is what gives the Transfomers life," I explained. As if that is the most logical thing in the world.

When you think about it, these Transformers movies are pretty violent. I mean, Optmus just ripped Grindor's face off in that battle. Just because they are machines, it's PG-13 to show that? Maybe I'm getting old and fuddy-fuddy about Autobot violence.

Isaac then asked me who the satellite Transformer was. Soundwave, I told him.

"He was supposed to be a cassette player in the cartoon," I said. "Just like Megatron was supposed to be a gun."

"Oh ya. Michael Bay said he didn't think it was a good idea to portray Megatron as a gun," said my 10-year-old.

"How did you know that? Michael Bay your friend ah?", I asked, surprised.

"Oh, I watched the bonus features in the first Transformers movie DVD."

At least I am getting some value out of that DVD if the kids also watch the extras. Next they will tell me they watched it with the commentary on too.

"Why are you fast forwarding this part?" I asked Isaac at one point.

"Sam and his girlfriend are just whispering stuff to each other. I want to watch the fighting scene."

Michael Bay would be proud that my kid cares more about the explosion parts of his movies than the dialogue.

Which is what Michael Bay movies are anyway. A three-hour long string of explosions held together by some kind of random plot and a bunch of hokey lines.

Then we came to the scene where Shia Labeouf says to Megan Fox after waking up from near death, and meeting the Primes: "I love you, I love you."

"Hurry up lah," heckled my son, "No time to kiss liao! Save Optimus!"

X-men: Days of Future Fruits

Joy: "Papa, do you know what is Wolverine's Chinese name?"

Me: "What?"

Joy: "Longan."

She got me this time.

Pioneer Generation Package, as explained in Teochew

YouTube link: http://youtu.be/edk70tCq13A

I have to say that I quite enjoyed listening to this crosstalk about the benefits associated with the Pioneer Generation Package, even though I am not Teochew myself (I am Cantonese, the best of dialect of them all, according to ourselves).

I understood about half of the Teochew, and the other half I read the subtitles to understand.

There is something rich and nuanced about listening to dialects that I always enjoy, and I wish more young people spoke it.

Now the next burning question I have is, WHERE IS THE HOKKIEN AND CANTONESE VERSION?!

Kungfu Night Market

This is the ludicrous kungfu moment in last night's ‪夜市人生‬. Soap opera also can be Wuxia flick.

Maybe can rename to 夜市人生之神雕侠侣 (Return of the Corridor Heroes).

I know, I have a lot of free time on a Sunday night to sit in front of my in-laws' tv and snap photos of this Taiwan soap opera.

Actually 夜市人生 doesn't take place around a night market anymore leh. Should rename to Last-Time Pasar Malam Life.

Or maybe Days of Night Market Past.

Some tweaks to the mrbrown.com

If you have been observant, there have been some changes to my site. The fonts have been changed to something more legible on mobile screens (if you are a Typeface Geek like me, and want to know, it is Bitter and Source Sans Pro). I have also made the body text bigger (16pt).

The font thing has been bugging me for a while, partly because I have Old Flower Eyes (Presbyopia, or age-related long-sightedness) and reading small text has been increasingly difficult. So if it helps me read better, it should help you too.

The column widths have been made wider too, so I can now display nice big photos, up to 800 pixels wide. I like to look at big photos. That's me at Ephesus, Turkey, in the photo above. Nice or not?

I realized that many computers are sporting larger screens now, so making my page width bigger won't affect too many folks. Heck, I am using two 27-inch monitors (at 2560x1440 each) myself. And most laptops are doing at least 1280×800, if not more.

The site should display fine on mobile devices too.

Hope you like the changes.

John Oliver explains Net Neutrality in 13 minutes

YouTube link: http://youtu.be/fpbOEoRrHyU

John Oliver nails it with his piece on Net Neutrality. On his show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, he suggests renaming the issue of Net Neutrality to "Preventing Cable Company F**kery" to better understand what is at stake. I think he also meant to include evil telcos and ISPs.

In 13 minutes, he explains very succinctly why we must never let the likes of Comcast and Verizon control the internet for the rest of us.

(Warning: Strong language)