Tong Family (richtong.org sync)

With 4K displays running at $3K (?!!), the sweet spot in displays looks like the so called 2560×1440 display (compared with the 1920 x 1080 of 1080p fame). We are in the funny phase where the move to 4K is still too expensive with a gap to the 1080p which are $400 or so. So…

OK, learning lots in the evenings and gotten some horrible crashes. This is the best yet! I got an ” Terminating app due to uncaught exception ‘NSUnknownKeyException’ See… Here’s what wasted 2 hrs of my late night time: I had connected an UIControl outlet in the interface builder to the IBOutlet in the xib’s owner.…

Argh. Going through Ray Wenderlich’s tutorials and I keep missing the custom class creation. And the custom class doesn’t seem to work. It looksl ike an xCode 5 bug…Just reopen and try again or manually type the name of the class in. Make sure to select the entire controller. See… I have a UIViewController I…

Well, I finally have a little time to think about security and 1Password seems like they are more open than Lastpass (their source code is closed), so I’m going to try it. The big issue is how to import 816 passwords (?!!) from one to the other. The confusing thing is the latest rewrite of…

Well I’ve been using OpenPGP for a while with Enigmail on Thunderbird and also with OpenPGP and Mac Mail, they actually work quite well and the nice thing is all the private keys are self-created, so you don’t have to worry about some certificate authority having access to all your information via the private keys…

Well now that one of my 32GB SanDisk Extreme’s has failed and there is apparently a lifetime warranty, but in the mean time, I need a few more SD cards, so the Sony UHS-1 at $19 for a 32GB looks like a pretty good deal and UHS-1 does seem like it is faster:   Re:…

Yes, you can definitely develop a negative attitude towards the “2nd tier” sites and their security systems. At least now people are telling you waht is happening, but in short over the last two months four of my accounts have been compromised. Which means that people got my email and the encrypted password which they…

Been using Ray Wenderlich’s great tutorials to learn iOS. Pretty good. Now it’s time to install it on my phone (with great pride!): You need to get a certificate for each phone that you want to install. Xcode is the easiest way to register your iOS device. Connect your device to your Mac and click…

For a Retina MacBook Pro, here are the great stocking stuffers to keep the thing good as new: AppleCare. Although expensive, there is nothing like a true three year warranty and a local Apple store iPearl mCover. Yes it makes the MacBook Pro heavier, but there is no better protection for bumps and things. I…

Well with the 3D revolution well underway and the 4K (four times the resolution of HD!) as well as OLED coming, it’s a tough time to buy a flat screen TV. We seem to be in another technology wave at the the high end even as it is incredible what you can buy for $600…

Well, you can spend so much time convincing yourself you don’t need high resolution (reminds me of life before Retina displays and heck dating myself, when VGA was good enough), but finally someone just says it, at least for PC monitors (or when you are up close and personal to a TV), 4K is amazing…

Well now that you have your new iPad Air (or are waiting for Targets, $20 off plus $100 gift certificate Black Friday offer), you need all the rest in particular a case and also a screen protector. Here’s what Amazon says (sadly the review sites don’t really cover these small things anymore). What is most…

Well, I’ve been using the Vsonic VC1000 for a while and also its brother and my older Etymotic ER-4P. I have to say these are all fantastic headphones. The Vsonic particularly with the Meetronics tips are just great. The fit is very good. And at $125 or so a great price. So for Christmas here…

What a time to buy a camera. The move to interchangeable lens cameras (ILCs) also know as mirrorless cameras is happening at a rapid pace. A friend was asking what he should do and its a difficult question. Here’s an overview of what I’d be thinking and recommendations for this Christmas: Incredibly, for most daytime…

I was going crazy trying to figure out how to get rid a face I accidentally created. Not very obvious answer, you need to do a Command-Delete. To remove a person from your corkboard: Click to select Faces in the Source list. If you’re in full-screen view, click the Faces button in the toolbar. If…

Well, I read alot and my buddy Scott reads even more, but there is so much camera information it is hard to know what to trust. Normally, I’d say if you are serious, the main thing is to read some publications and then to actually rent the camera you want to try for a week…

Argh how frustrating, there is no Apple 4K display out yet so here are the options if you have $3,500 in your pocket 🙂 And I personally can’t wait for the day that these panels come down in price. There are other options out there like Asus’s 32-inch PQ321Q or previously mentioned 32-inch Sharp PN-K321,…

Everyone is thinking about this around me, so here are some facts I learned on the internet: iPad Air vs. iPad Mini Retina. They weigh about the same now, so the only difference is really the screen. Everyone seems to love the new weight and screen size of the air. As an aside, this fifth…

Wow more news coming on cameras and what is Nikon up to, I admit I don’t get their new $3K offering which is a retro looking Minolta X-700 look alike… In October we had that big A7-A7r announcement. But it won’t be long until we will get our next big Sony event: A trusted sources…

I just love Thewirecutter.com, a good review summary that I largely agree with: Scosche reVOLT c2. I have tried many, many usb chargers in the car. They break quite a bit. The Scosche is tiny and actually doesn’t disintegrate. It is expensive at $18, but does work. Apple Lighting Cable. Surprisingly it has fallen to…

Well, the first reviews of the iPad Air are out and they are pretty stunning… The iPad was never light enough for me to comfortably hold in my hands, suspended above my face while lying in bed or on the couch for long periods of time. The iPad 2 got close, but the 3rd and…

Seems like every year, I have to update this, but the good news is that international calling is getting cheaper and cheaper. Here are some of the great ideas: T-Mobile. They just announced that in 100 countries, there would be no data roaming charge. Wow that is great and although it is only 2G, it…

Scott reminded me about this important concept. Basically, you overexpose on a digital camera so that you lift the darkest regions out of the noise and then in digital processing, you put it all back again. It is kind of like the way Dolby C noise reduction worked in the old analog days (they would…

Spideroak is a company with their hearts in the right place. it is basically a dropbox competitor except that it is zero knowledge. Sadly, it just doesn’t seem to work. They don’t seem to have a forum or anywhere to ask questions, but just beware this is what happened: I got 5GB of storage and…

In my case, I got the double foul. My NAS tried to mount forever and failed; same with a Windows 8 PC on my network. The cause appears to be changes made in the networking stack made by Apple. Apple’s SMB2 implementation doesn’t work with a lot of SMB2 devices — even networked drives from…

Well, I got the Vsonic VC-1000 and then promptly lost them, but now I have all three and can report…wow… Joker is right (see http://www.head-fi.org/t/478568/) these are incredible headphones. I just looked for headphones rated 9.2 and which were amazing. I have to say, I’ve always loved my Etymotic ER-4S and Ps (over the years,…

Well if you are in the market for a new laptop, there is nothing quite like the Mac Rumors Buyers Guide (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/) which basically tells you if a model is obsolete or there is something coming. Once you get a green light from them (literally!), go to the Apple Insiders Price Guide (http://appleinsider.com/mac_price_guide/) and get…

I’m a waiting for Mac Imatest…in the continuing adventures to have really accurate results from photography 🙂 When will a Macintosh version be available? As of July 2013 we are very close. the core program is working fine, but some peripheral details need to be completed. Stay tuned… . Imatest – FAQ.

What a great name for a web site. Well if you love Panini, here are the things to get: Breville Panini Duo. It is small but compact (and we love our Breville Toaster Oven, believe it or not a good toaster oven really matters). In this case this one is reported to have good temperature…