How to perform a Full Discharge On iPad2?

Alright, this is kind of a last minute post, but I think it's really important for me to this, so...here I am, typing under the bright, lonely table lamp. Basically, this post is about iPad2 battery maintenance. I know there's always a debate out there arguing what is the proper way to perform a complete discharge cycle on an iPad. I am not saying that my way is the best, but I am pretty sure that I am on the right track, so just wanna share with you guys.

There are 3 steps. Just 3 steps. Piece of cake! First, turn on your iPad, do your usual stuff, surf net, read some books, watch some movies...as in my case, I read 3 nice books and played Asphalt Adrenaline 6 for couple of hours, unlocked few cars and tuning kits, and at last check some updates through Flipboard...until the low battery warning appeared (usually below 15%). Sounds like fun right?

Step 2, I turn on my Kingsoft Battery Doctor App, FREE of course! I tap on the charging button at the sidebar. This app will guide you throughout the full charge, ensuring that you do it the proper way.

The last step, which is also the MOST important step, plug-in your iPad2 to the original 10W charger. Turn on the power switch and all you need to do is wait until the app instructs you to stop charging.

That's it! As simple as that! Thanks for reading.

Tips of The Day: Strengthen Your iPad Passcode

We all know that iPad has a "self destruct" feature which trigger your device to erase all your personal data after 10 failed passcode attempt. Think your data is safe enough with this feature? Think again! The default setting only allows you to set a 4 digit passcode, just 4 digits, which means it's still possible to crack that code within the generous "10 chances" given by Apple, if that thief has the brain of Sherlock Holmes.

Some of you may start to worry, but fear not! Here's a simple tips to strengthen your iPad security. Go to Setting, tap on "General", select "Passcode Lock". Now you should see "Simple Passcode". By default, this option is turned on. Now, turn it off. That's it! You can now follow the usual procedure to set your passcode as complicated as you wish. Just make sure you remember them, LOL.

Clearly: An Eye Drop for Your Burning Eyes

Evernote is known for its innovative products, and "Clearly" is no exception. "Clearly" lets you read your web articles and blog updates clearly, by getting rid of the unnecessary clutter on the web page. You can also save articles to read later, by clipping them to your Evernote software.

Clear and Simple, that's what "Clearly" is trying to accomplish. Though its focus is on clear and simple interface, that doesn't mean you can't do things the way you want. "Clearly" allows you to toggle between different themes and font sizes, and if you prefer even more personalized experience, you can create your very own Clearly theme!

Chrome Extension

Firefox Extension

Clearly is available as an extension for Firefox and Chrome users only. You can download the extension through the following link: http://www.evernote.com/about/download/clearly.php

Let Your Photo Speaks for itself

Want to make your photo speak for itself? We have the remedy right here! Balloon Stickies Free allows you to add multiple speech bubbles to your family photo, letting you create hilarious effects to your memorable events. It's not just that! With Balloon Stickies, you can also customize the look and colour of your speech bubbles, as well as adjusting the font type and size. For the free version, the option of sharing your photo on Facebook and Twitter is disabled (don't worry, you can still tweet your photo through the default photos app). Besides that, saved photos will be watermarked (the watermark is quite tiny, located at the bottom of the photo, so it doesn't really matter). Also available, is the option to mail the photo to your family and friends. Try it out today!

Note: This app is available for both iPad and iPhone. If you like to have the full version of this app, you can grab it for just $0.99 USD.

Epic's Top 10: iOS Apps that Rock My World

Once in a while, something special will emerge, and change people's life. It can be something insignificant, something small, yet those small stuff that you might not even pay attention to, are the ones that change your life. In this special day of new year's eve, I want to share with you some awesome apps that I never thought of removing from my iPad2.

1. Flipboard

Our champion here is Flipboard, though I have also tried many other beautiful news apps like Zite, Google Currents, Pulse, etc. Nothing can beat the awesomeness of Flipboard. My favourite feature is the pinch to "zoom in & out", which make reading much more fun!

2. Blogger+

Since Blogger has never bother to create an app for iPad, I'm forced to seek for something else. Blogger+ with its cheap price tag of $2.99 and practical functionality stands out from the rest, which are basically more pricey and not necessarily better. Blogger+ allows me to do a lot of blogging outdoor, when I am too lazy to carry my laptop with me.

3. Evernote

I can never live without Evernote, basically because it stores and sync all my unfinished blog drafts to my laptop efficiently. Web clipping is also a must, letting me save interesting web articles for offline reading.

4. Keynote

Being an educator and a fan of beautiful presentation, I can never settle with plain and boring slide shows. Apple Keynote really inspires me a lot. My English lesson will never be amazing without Keynote.

5. Dictionary

The simple name and layout of this app blend perfectly into iOS, and the definitions are direct and comprehensive. I've never love a dictionary app so much, and it's the one and only dictionary that I've ever recommended on My Tech, My Life.

6. Skype

Despite the emergence of zillions of video conferencing app, Skype is still my personal preference. The comprehensive interface and excellent connectivity makes it thick, and its capability of letting me do both video call and messaging at the same moment makes me use it more frequently than Facetime.

7. Toy Story Read-Along

Toy Story means a lot to my childhood. It's the first 3D animation movie I've watched in my life and Sheriff Woody is still my dream toy till today!

8. Gelaskin

I seldom change my home screen wallpaper to something other than the default iPad wallpaper, mainly due to my fussiness on the design. I don't want anything ugly to spoil the beauty of my iPad. The only wallpaper that stays long enough on my home screen is the portrait of Steve Jobs. Since I discovered Gelaskin, everything change. Now I can enjoy my favourite wallpaper, "The Enamored Whale" by Alberto Cerriteño, and I don't think I will take it down for the next few months.

9. Better Weather

If you key in "weather" at the App Store search bar, countless of results will appear. Yet, in my opinion, nothing can stand a chance to compete with "Better Weather", which offer not just weather, but also gorgeous graphic. I bet you will find the ability to change the position of the floating clouds and sun pretty addictive, lol.

10. SoundHound

I have short term memory, that's an undeniable fact. I always have problem remembering the name of my favourite tunes. SoundHound is the one that help me to listen and identify the name of the songs, so that it's easier for me to browse for their lyrics.

iPad 2: A Game Changing Device

iPad 2 is what some would call a "game changing" device, featuring a gifted characteristic, "multi-touch", which turn it into one of the most natural gaming platforms. When we talk about gaming, a lot of ideas come into our mind, and this includes 3D racing, simulation game, shooting game, strategy games, etc. But many seems to have forgotten the old ones, the ones that we used to spend our sleepless nights with our friends, the ones that were truly "cheap & cheerful", and were available centuries before your xbox, Play Station, Nintendo, and iPads were born. They are the true legend in our gaming history, still remaining strong, despite the appearance of millions of new gaming devices and apps. So, in this post, we will be focusing on the "legends", and how to get them on your iPad.

When we said "legend", of course many of you already got the answer. It's board game indeed. Though time has change, there are still certain characteristics of board game that remains till today, even in our modern gaming devices. If you can still recall, many of us used to get our board games and cards from the nearby grocery and stationary shops, and we can easily afford them. Why? Because they are cheap, costing you merely 1 ringgit or a little bit more. Another characteristic that makes board games and cards fun is that, we can actually touch and move the chess pieces and cards around, making the games more interactive. Today, we can get the same fun right on our iPad, with the same 3 characteristics: "Cheap", "touchable" & "movable".


The first app we have here is something amazing, a magic box which contains 20 board games. Yes! You hear me right! 20 games in a box. And you must be thinking, "how much do I need to pay to get this box? $10? $20?" Nope, we are pleased to inform that you can grab this BOX for FREE, and this amazing BOX is named "BoardBox". It is an app developed by Ripe Apps Inc., and since its debut, it has received various mixed comments, some good, some bad. You might be thinking something else  when I said "BAD", but don't get me wrong, it's only bad because the free version doesn't support A.I player, which means the game is only meant for both you and your friend, not for you alone. This, for us, is GOOD, as we think that we as human, have spent too much time talking to our computers, and this is BAD. We think that this app can effectively nurture a healthy relationship between you, your family, and your friends.


The next app we want to introduce is something special, something that we played a lot with our female classmates in primary and secondary school, and it's great, as you can play with up to 4 players, which means no friends neglected. It's called "LUDO", if you know the name, or it's also known by some of our Chinese friends as "airplane chess (fei ji qi)". The concept of the game is simple, the players have to race to get the tokens to the finish line first by throwing dice. So how much is this game? If you get the real game set from your nearest stationary shop, it might cost you a ringgit or two. But in the AppStore, you can get it for FREE, with Ludo by SIS software. We think "Ludo" is amazing, because it lets you choose between A.I (computer) players and human players, or both. Besides that, you can also choose to play with your own dice by selecting the "Board Only" option. Brilliant isn't it?


Next, this 3rd app is my personal favourite, and though it's ranked only 3 stars in the AppStore, I would personally give it a FOUR. "Animal Chess", also known as "Dou Shou Qi" among the Chinese communities, is a classic 1 versus 1 chess game. The players battle by using chess pieces of different animals of hierarchical order. The weaker ones will be eaten by the stronger ones. Elephant is stronger than tiger and lion, yet weaker than a tiny rat. The game is a blend of strategies and wisdom. The ability to play with tricks and traps will help you win the battle. We are delighted to tell you that this game can be downloaded for FREE, and you can choose to play with either a computer player (in-app purchase needed to select level) or your friend.


Finally, the forth game, a very famous and pricey option, an elegant and premium gaming experience, production of Hasbro. Of course! It's the one and only MONOPOLY! This game is recognized all over the world and is known for its crazy price tag, and I think there's no need for further rules explanation. There are different version available in the AppStore but we would much recommend Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition, which we have tried playing for several hours and have been addicted ever since. You can play versus computer players and also select "Tabletop Mode" to play with up to 4 friends. The app costs only $0.99 USD and is a worthy investment for a boring afternoon.


Owh wait! And one more thing, what if you still prefer to play the real board game? We respect your decision, and to tell you the truth, your decision is good. But wait, you still have your iPad right? Why waste it? Here's an awesome app for you that let you forget your dices, score sheets and stop watch on your camping trip. Board Game Tools, a brilliant idea by Skunk Brothers GmbH, is a compilation of three most essential tools that you can hardly live without when it comes to board games or any other camp fire mini games: A paper (for jotting down scores), a stop watch, and six dices (you can lock any dice that you aren't using). This handy toolbox is, again, available for FREE, if you can bear the ads.

Those Old Days...

It's nothing tech related, just a little "something" I did randomly by Adobe Photoshop Express iPad app. This is my personal props and script for The Phantom of The Opera theatre production that my class did during our Bachelor Degree.

Merry Chrismas & Happy New Year

It's been a splendid Christmas, and we are now approaching a brand new year. "My Tech, My Life" would like to wish all of you a Merry, Merry Christmas and a sparkling New Year!

Think Different, Play Different

Tired of Garageband? Bored of Piano and guitar? Want something different? Then Magic Zither is the app for you! It includes a Chinese classic music instrument called Gu-Zheng, which shares similar concept as a piano. If you want to start from something more familiar, there is also a piano on top of the screen to guide you with the tune.

Waku

Hello guys, in this holiday season, sure you don't want to oversleep and miss all the fun out there. Here's a slick interactive clock app for you and your family. Waku is no ordinary clock app, its simple interface features a huge white flip clock on the top, a self-customizable picture frame, three cute and interactive creatures, built-in alarm clock & sleep timer with music and changeable wall colour. Another awesome feature is the light switch, which you can use to switch on & off the light of the app. This is particularly handy when you're going to bed and don't want the bright light of the clock app to distrupt your sleep.

Another Amazing Innovation by Evernote

Skitch is amazing! I always like to initiate a post with such lines (but only if the app is truely amazing). To be honest, this is the most handy and comprehensive annotation app we have tested. Thumbs up to Evernote team for creating Skitch!

Skitch is no ordinary annotation app, it allows you to annotate on basically everything. Whether you want to mark on your photos, screenshot, or Google Map, Skitch does the job for you. Furthermore, you can even go to a webpage, grab a screenshot, and write a note on it. If you don't want any of those options, there is a blank page for you to draw on as well.

In terms of annotation, there are plenty of choices to select from. You adjust the thickness and colour of your pen, OR you can choose to insert an arrow instead. Cropping feature is available too.

As the old saying goes, "sharing is caring". Skitch is great for sharing. You can share your annotation with friends through email and Twitter. Also available is a breakthrough feature which allows you to show real-time drawing or annotation on your Apple TV 2 through Airplay. However, we are pretty surprized that the option of sharing via Facebook is not included.

"So why should I care about Skitch?" Some may ask. Because it helps you accomplish a lot of stuff beyond your imagination. Our team found out that you can use Skitch to:

a. show your friend the direction to a particular place on Google Map
b. waste your free time making fun of your friend by drawing faces on his or her photo
c. add extra notes on the screenshot of your hand written Christmas recipe
d. take two closely identical photos of yours and let your kids circle out the differences
e. give your 80 years old grandma a step-by-step guide on how to perform a Google search
f. help your gardening hobbyist father to organize his plantation by capturing photo of his garden and separating the areas by columns of different colours
g. let you plan and sketch out your house renovation floor plan
h. help your younger sister to easily plan the decoration of his bedroom
i. allow your theatre freak brother to sketch out stage plan for his latest school theatre production
j. comfort your little baby brother by letting him do random doodle on a blank sheet.

Red & White

Today, My Tech, My Life's "Trip with iPad" bring you to an amazing restaurant located at the heart of Alor Setar, capital of Kedah, Malaysia. (all photos were captured by iPad2)

Being the new addition to the already busy street of Jalan Kampung Perak, Alor Setar, this uniquely designed red & white themed restaurant is strikingly charming especially under the gleaming street lights. "Swissland Restaurant", also called "Swissland" is indeed unique. It is owned by a friendly married Chinese couple, serving the public for years with their carefully crafted local and western cuisines. "Swissland" was once featured in TV3's "Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan"!

Previously located at Simpang Kuala, Alor Setar, the new "Swissland" doesn't lost its former glory, instead, the dining experience is made better. There's now an ice-cream corner, which serves ice kacang, drinks, and of course, mouth-watering ice-cream. Besides that, there is also a V.I.P guest room equipped with Karaoke set. So for those who like singing, you can book that room. Another spacious room located at the second floor suitable for private family occasions such as birthday party and wedding anniversary is also open for reservation. Moreover, the new dining hall is now wider and brighter, equipped with full air conditioning, giving its diners a more pleasant dining experience.

Not forgetting to mention the food, there are variety of choices to suit everyone's tastebud. There are both Chinese and Western style cuisines available. With the combination of the owner's fondness to Thai culinary delights and also the unique location of Alor Setar near to the Malaysia-Thai border, "Swissland" offers a wide variety of Thai style cooking as well. The food tastes great, and most importantly, the pricing is tolerable, making this restaurant highly recommended to our fellow readers.

Verdict: The taste and pricing are both essential factors when we talk about food, and "Swissland" excelled in both categories. The friendly owners and approachable workers make the experience even better.Furthermore, being a restaurant which sells only halal cuisines is certainly a convenience to muslim diners.

Address: 2B, Jalan Kampung Perak, 05100 Alor Setar, Kedah Darul Aman.(right beside Jalan Putra, just follow the road in between the mosque and clock tower)

For further enquiry, feel free to contact the owner Yong Kok Boon (better known as Boon) at 019-4409098 or visit Swissland's Facebook page @Swissland to leave a message on its wall/inbox.

Note: Outside catering is available for reservation.

A : See Details(Google Map)

Dictionary

A simple app with a simple name "Dictionary", this app by Catalystwo Limited integrates well with your iPad. The app layout is plain and direct, with a wide top column for you to type in the word you want to search for. Once you tap on the "search" key on your keyboard, the word definition will appear. Together with the word definition, there's also phonetic symbols to guide you on the word pronunciation. Origin of the word is also displayed. If you want a simple dictionary with concise definition and information, this is exactly what you need.

Cheap & Cheerful?

Gaming on iPad is fun, but most of the fun comes with a price. People want cheap and smooth gaming experience, but is there such thing as "cheap & cheerful"? To seek for the answer, "My Tech, My Life" has spent lots of time going through the list of apps in the app store, downloading the one with potential, and trying them out. And ONE DAY, we came across this car racing app, and it is so CLOSE to being CRAZILY AMAZING. Yet, while we were enjoying the game, we detected a GLITCH.

Alright, back to the main dish. This app we have here is called Asphalt 6, a beautiful car racing app that captured our heart once we start accelerating. This first thing that distinguish Asphalt 6 from other racing game are the controllers. If you ever paid attention to your other racing app, the developers placed both the gas pedal/throttle and the break pedal at the right and left corner of your screen. It not only obstruct the magnificent scenery around you, but also distract your sight. Asphalt 6, in this case, managed to score a pretty high marks from the judges, as the Asphalt 6 developer was capable of hiding both the ugly buttons from our plain sight, and only activate them instantly when your thumbs touch either the left or right side of your screen (any part of the screen that you like). When your thumb touch the surface of the screen, a beautiful glow with appear and surround your thumb, hinting you that your gas/ break pedal has been activated.

Okay, next, we move forward to the race. There are two modes available: Career and Free Race. Free race provides you the opportunity to gain extra cash and some practice, while the Career mode leads you score some serious promotions and sponsors, unlocking more tracks and cars. From what we've experienced, the game controlling is smooth and responsive, making it easier and faster to score the race. In the middle of the race, you can collect bonuses tokens such as N.O.S for power boost, and "$" for extra cash. To activate your N.O.S, all you need to do is to double tap your gas pedal. If you successfully collected sufficient N.O.S tokens, it will switch your power boost into ADRENALIN mode, giving maximum power to your car for a limited time, which is very useful when you want to overtake 2 to 3 opponents at the same time. One thing worth mentioning is, when you're in ADRENALIN mode, your screen will turn into striking bright blue, displaying beautiful graphic that shows your car speeding. Our advice is, don't concentrate too much on the amazing graphic, you might lose in no time, LOL! Avoiding crashes will earn you extra points, and performing some drift could help you gain more cash. The easiest method to perform drift is to tap on the break paddle once, and simultaneously tilt your iPad to the direction you want to turn. And when you want to straighten back your car, just stabilize your iPad, tap the break paddle once more, then tap on the gas paddle.

In this game, unlocking the cars of your dream is not that hard. As long as you play frequently, you will notice how rapid is the unlock cycle. We managed to unlock our fourth car, a Mercedes AMG, in less than an hour. Besides that, you will also score some bonus gifts, such as new decals and tuning kits. Another worthy feature is the gorgeous 3D garage which you can navigate around by tapping on the virtual joystick (to move forward and backward) and also physically moving your iPad around (to turn left or right).

To be honest, we really want to give this app a 5 stars recommendation, however, we change our mind when we noticed a significant amount of unexpected shutdown throughout our gaming sessions. At certain time, it shutdown suddenly when our Audi almost reach the finish line, how dreadful, LOL! Other than that, this FREE game really is one of the best we've ever tested this year.

(Note: So far there is no hidden cost detected, but we will continue the test and give you guys the latest updates)