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Recently, due to my father’s friend who was worked within Creative, I managed to get my hands on a Creative Zen Vision W. I must admit, my initial reason for buying it was because of the huge discount I would get, and I was not sure what kind of device I was getting myself. After a while, it became apparent what it had to offer, and what it could not, against the portable media player giant of today, the Apple iPod.

The very first thing which struck me when I managed to actually use it was the sheer size. At a bulky 134 by 75 by 22 dimension, in terms of millimeters (or 5.27 by 2.95 by 0..85 in inches), this device is a giant compared to other media players I frequently see. Weighting in around a staggering 276 grams, its shape alone makes it something you would not want to lug around in your pocket wherever you go, defeating the main purpose of a “portable” player. Furthermore, its size already poses some safety issues. Personally, I would not feel at ease standing on a moving train holding a rough rectangular block which does not fit snugly into my hand, defeating the purpose of bringing it about.

Despite physical first impressions, the Creative Zen Vision W does have a few positive qualities. Firstly, a 4.3-inch wide screen display is a bright and comfortable change compared to the small screens one would usually expect, a remarkable feat matched by the PSP, which was not designed to stream videos in the first place, and a few Archos players. Instead of trying to compete with the iPod head on, Creative tries to, no pun intended, be creative and target a different market, people who are sick of having to squint at a small screen. In addition to that, powerful built in speakers are also a fresh change to the trouble of having to bring those annoying wired headphones.

However, despite its size, it lacks in a few physical departments. Its battery life, despite its size, can only last for roughly 4.5 hours on video and 13 hours for music, a modest amount at best. Also, contrary to its size, it loses out to the smaller iPod in terms of size-to-hard disk space ratio, coming in either 30gb or 60gb versions, but this can be countered due to its ability to use Compact Flash cards.

My main problems with utilising it so far has been how not user friendly it has been. Being unable to play MPEG-4 videos, it leads to the hassle of converting videos you would want to view into another suitable format. Yes, it does provide an installable program for your computer which includes an auto video converter, but it is buggy and unstable, forcing me to rely on third party programs. The upload speed is also nothing to be proud of, due to having to go through a troublesome procedure to add anything, compared to easier and simpler programs, for example, iTunes.

It may lose out in in a few categories, mainly portability, but the Creative Zen Vision W is still a decent gadget despite being much older then the other players (2006). Although there have been a few technical setbacks, I do not wholly regret purchasing it in the first place though, with solid graphic qualities, backed up by a larger then average screen, it still is a viable choice today.

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And once again, the world-renown WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestler, The Rock, takes the stage, and this time, it is not on the wrestling ring, but on the stages of Hollywood. After “The Mummy Returns”, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, comes back to the big screen with another smashing new hit, The Game Plan (2007), and he plays the role of Joe Kingman, a superstar quarterback for his Boston-based team which is eying for the championship trophy.

This movie talks about him initially living in absolute fantasy, with girls moving up to him all the time. He is the perfect man for almost every female on Earth, with almost an endless supply of money and sponsors, and with the added bonus that he isn’t that bad looking after all. Nevertheless, there isn’t an absolutely perfect man on Earth, for which his personality could be a point for consideration as he is featured as a selfish man who only aims for glory not for the team, but for he himself, and himself only. However, his life is going to face a drastic turn when he realised that he actually has a 7-year old daughter that he never knew existed with his young ex-wife.

With his newly found daughter, Joe has to balance his life between his daughter and his work - endorsements, sponsors and his forever loving fans. To top that up, his manager, Stella Peck, doesn’t seem to be of much assistance due to the absence of parental experience. She is constantly trying to get Joe focused on his job and not get distracted by his daughter.

This trio would definitely tickle the funny bone in you with their momentary hilarious moments and conversations. Behind all those dazzle of a superstar actually lies a loving father and he would gradually discover his love. Soon enough, he would also realise that the love from his 7-year old daughter beats anything, including all those assets of his.

When I watched this movie, although the movie had several hilarious moments which made my few cousins and I almost fell off the cinema seat laughing, the underlying message of paternal love is still enough to make me feel touched.

All in all, it is a movie still worth watching and if it is still showcased in cinemas at your area, be sure to catch this heartwarming movie with all your friends. The Walt Disney showcase was released on 28th September and was directed by Andy Fickman. It also features other stars such as Madison Pettis as Peyton James, his pesky daughter, and Kyra Sedgwick as Stella Peck, his money-driven manager.

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Before making purchases of computer hardware, it is my habit to pay HardwareZone.com a visit. First, to seek some advice on the forums as to whether my purchase is good value for money and if it is appropriate for the intended use. Second, to make use of the comprehensive price guides available for Singapore. HardwareZone is an invaluable source of information and is a much-needed helping hand for the hardware-illiterate like myself.

HardwareZone is essentially a global online community that discusses anything that has to do with, as the name suggests, hardware. This is not limited only to the realms of computers, but also to gaming consoles like Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo GameCube. There is actually also a lot of useful information on software, especially for Operating Systems. HardwareZone is further split into regional ‘portals’, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Australia. Each of these portals have their own separate site and separate forums in their respectively native languages.

As mentioned earlier, price guides are one of the most useful tools available on this website. There are price guides for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines and these are available for download, if you register as a member of the forum. This registration is free and open to all. The price guides are extensive, to say the very least, covering a myriad of products from cameras to graphics processing units. The guide is divided into categories of the IT products and further divided by brands and models. For example, for graphics cards, it first lists down the different types (PCI-E or AGP) of graphics cards, as well as the brand (NVIDIA GeForce or AMD ATI Radeon), followed by the model series. Then it is further split into Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) like Asus, Gigabyte and MSI.

Another supremely helpful feature is the HWZ forums. You can basically learn anything and everything fundamental about hardware from these forum discussions. From assembly of ‘rigs’ (the common term for computers) to choosing power supply to overclocking rig performance, the innumerable discussion threads will be a blessing to those less learned in this field of expertise. Most forumers are friendly and extremely helpful, responding to queries and requests from me promptly and patiently.

The ‘marketplace’ on HardwareZone is a place for users to advertise their wares - usually personal items that people want to sell. This is the place for users with a budget to find functional hardware, but at prices lower than retail.

In my opinion, the forums are a big plus point on this website due the mammoth amount of information available, as well as the presence of experts to provide advice on hardware selections. However, what irked me was that the HWZ forums are frequently offline, meaning that I get many ‘database error’ messages when trying to access the forums. This was a persistent problem and it was really annoying. Beware, also, not all forumers have good intentions on the marketplace, and many have been blacklisted for dishonest trades. There is still the iTrader rating points to help a user gauge the integrity of a seller, and hopefully that would be sufficient. Technical flaws aside, HardwareZone.com is indeed a haven for hardware ‘noobs’ all over the world.

The website can be accessed here
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With a large number of medical based drama series like Grey’s Anatomy, Nip/Tuck and Scrubs inundating the television schedules, I tried to make myself focus on viewing one series at a time. However, most of the above programs focus mainly on drama and conflict of the surgeons within the surgery room, with emotional tensions thrown into the fray between the doctors and patients. I feel that House, M.D. offers a new insight at what it means to be a doctor as well as a new brand of medical drama.

The English actor Hugh Laurie assumes an American accent to cast as the eccentric Dr. Gregory House, a rebellious medical genius. Joining him in the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey, are the hospital director, Dr. Lisa Cuddy(Lisa Edelstein), his best friend-cum-tumour specialist, Dr. James Wilson(Robert Sean Leonard), as well as his team members, Dr. Eric Foremen(Omar Epps), Dr. Allison Cameron(Jennifer Morrison) and Dr. Robert Chase(Jesse Spencer). His job in the hospital is simple, it’s not dissecting people within the surgery room, but instead a new twist, he’s a diagnostician. He and his team finds out what is wrong with the patients.

Instead of adopting a serious and emotional theme within the story, the scriptwriters instead opt for something new and never seen before, comedy. Indeed, Dr. House, despite being a respected and known medical genius within the hospital, is known for his odd behavior and sometimes obscene quirks. Having personally watched a few episodes myself, I can assure that audiences are amused when they see the lovable Dr. House in all sorts of predicaments, for example taking a dare that he can diagnose patients in a clinic without touching them, leading to scenes of him forcing the patients to take their own temperature, as well as other medical procedures on themselves. And the list goes on and on.

Despite his very unorthodox treatments and extremely terrible bedside manners, Dr. House is still almost always right as he readily accepts the most bizarre cases, shocking both his team members as well as the patients with his stunningly accurate answers, despite taking a very unprofessional route to it. A reoccurring theme is that Dr. House uses his theory of “Everybody lies” within the story, referring to the fact that every patient always lies about their medical situation and lifestyle in order to hide them from their loved ones. By pressing this theory onto them, House gets on the nerves of almost every single patient with his witty remarks and sardonic personality, but at the very end, never ceases to amaze them with a correct judgement.

Drama still is present in the very “battles” House has with his patients, irritating them, in addition to the side plots about House’s own personal problems which includes an ex-lover and medical issues as well. Along the way, he occasionally falls out with his team members due to the extremity of his tactics and cause conflict within one another.

Using a delightful blend of comedy and drama, it is not a wonder that the rare and unique character of Dr. House has led to the program earning so many awards. Despite the show frequently using incomprehensible medical jargon, as well as a sophisticated sense of humour which might not strike you the very first time, the series is still a great choice for a wide range of audiences.

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For a whole decade, The Command & Conquer (C&C) series has brought to us much joy, entertainment and also frustration from battling against the AIs. From the first series of Command & Conquer, to Red Alert, to Generals and finally, after one whole decade, it arrived at what it is today, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Some of us only just started playing, others played it for a large portion of our childhood. It has changed its production company several times, from the initial producers of Westwood Studios, to Petroglyph Games and finally, to Electronic Arts (EA). Despite the change in game producers, RTS gamers like myself don’t really mind, as long as the game is still alive and running. Indeed, Command & Conquer had somehow emerged into our lives, becoming a part of the life of RTS players like myself.

In this version, the “good guys” are known as the United Nations’ Global Defense Initiatives (GDI) and they battle against the evil terrorists of a quasi state known the Brotherhood of Nod (NOD). Similar to Red Alert 2: Yuri’s Revenge, halfway through the mission of either faction, a third faction would be introduced. This time, this faction is actually extra-terrestrial lifeforms known as the Scrins. In this version, the tiberium is a precious material that could be harvested for energy or for the use of manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. The GDIs are trying to prevent the NODs from manipulating the tiberium to produce weapons while they themselves want to actually harvest the tiberium for their own good.

Tiberium had been alive for a long time in C&C for a long time already. Initially, it was a type of resource in C&C series. However, when Red Alert was released, it split the population of C&C players up. Red Alert had no mention of tiberium at all and hence, some players do not consider that as part of the C&C series. The other faction thought that since it was created by the developers who moved to Petroglyph Games (the same people who created C&C), it should also be part of the C&C series.

Command & Conquer 3 provides the players with the ability to somehow control how each individual mission plays out. For example, some acts allow the players to play a certain scenario before another. The stuff unlocked at the previous scenario would be able to work in the following scenarios of the same act. Also, the multi-player mode provides players to pit their strategy of C&C3 with each other. Some may prefer the defensive approach while others, the offensive. When battling against the AI, either methods would be able to work. Hence, this causes some players to often debate against each other as to whether which tactic would be a better one. Hence, with the multi-player mode, players could actually battle against each other to test out their strategies and to prove once and for all, which is the better one.

All in all, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is a game that allows people from all ages to play, as long as they could take up the pressure from the game and withstand the frustration of losing to AIs. For the C&C loyals, this is a must for you.

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