The site is back.. All old posts will come back as I update them with correct links, images, etc..
NTM gallery is dead and it will stay this way.. No time or energy to keep it up. I’ll bring back some personal stuff but no more photo books or wallpapers.. Too much time to maintain that stuff..
Here’s a review of Toshiba 803T cellphone I wrote for HowardForums.
I have the UK version (TS803) so some things may not apply to the HK or JP version.
note: I used to have 902SH so I may compare 803T to Sharp phone here and there..
The phone is BIG.. For American phone standards anyways.. But I don’t find it any bigger than my 902.. It’s big but.. it feels much lighter than the 902.. And the weight it more balanced even when the phone is open.
The keys are big.. But.. I find the keys backlight very low but it’s still possible to read the keys in the dark. The inclusion of the front keys for the media player is nice.. And for me it kind of kills the purpose of the remote/hands-free device.. I can easily change songs directly on the phone without the need for the remote on the handsfree.
Music player is nice.. Still getting use to it. Kind of sucks with the 192k max limit as most of my mp3s are at 320k. So I have to re-encode the stuff I want to put on my phone. There is one problem for me anyways.. No ‘random & repeat all’. You can either have all random or all repeat. Sucks for short playlists when it just stops after playing all songs once.
Video playback.. Haven’t been able to encode anything that’d be playable by this phone yet. Everything gives me ‘unsupported format’.
Address book: Same format as the one used on the 902SH. I was able to just import my backup of the address book. I had problems with some of the pictures missing but it only happened with like 10% of them so it was easy to fix that.
Communication: I’ve only used USB so far. And no problems at all. Few things about it that I don’t like. When plugged in the phone can be in 2 modes: file transfer where it disables the calls or in the charge mode where the phone works just fine but it doesn’t show up in your computer. So if you want to transfer some songs and then leave it charging from the USB you’ll have to unplug the phone and plug it back in again. Kind of annoying for me.
Since it’s the European version I don’t expect any problems with the Bluetooth. I’ll try it when I get my card back.
Ringtones: mp3 ringtones are not a problem. Like in any other phone the mp3 will be copied to your phones internal memory so don’t use 20mb mp3s.. The ringtones are loud and clear and the vibration is pretty stong.
Display. Well.. I don’t know.. To be honest I don’t see much difference between the screen used on the 902SH and 803T. Same resolution (weee! I can use my old wallpapers with no problem) and the setup of the screen (ie. location of the icons etc) is similar to the Sharp phone. External screen is nice.. But.. I hate that you can’t set your own wallpaper for it. ? I’d love to be able to put anything I want on there. The preset wallpapers are pretty lame..
Themes: European version came with 4 themes for the main display: Vodafone Live!, Electro, Pop and Underground. For the external screen there are 6 wallpapers: Sub-woofer, Comic, House, Speaker, Digital and Zones.
WAP/Email/SMS: Haven’t set anything up yet so can’t really comment on those features. But I see for emails it supports 6 email accounts that can be either POP3 or IMAP (1 VF preset + 5 custom ones).
Camera.. Well.. I’m not impressed with the quality of the photos. I’ll take 902SH over this phone when it comes to the picture taking department. Maybe I got just spoiled with the Sharp phone. Also the lack of zoom is damn annoying. The speed is also pretty slow even when saving in the lowest settings to the internal memory.
Video camera. Here this phone shines.. The quality of the video recordings kick 902′s ass big time. The sound is loud and the picture quality is sharp for that resolution. Also I don’t see any frame dropping when watching the videos recorded with this phone..
The LED light is bright but only one color. Another nice thing about the camera on this phone: you can disable the camera sounds!!
Reception. This one is weird.. 803T has a way better reception than the Sharp phone. In my bedroom with 902 I’d lose the reception all the time even next to the window. So far I haven’t lost the signal with the 803T in my house. Even works in my basement where 902 would get no signal at all.
Other random stuff I don’t like about this phone:
- No swivel for the screen..
- No internal camera. I know, I know.. Shouldn’t matter since Rogers doesn’t have 3G but I travel to countries with 3G so I’d love to be able to use all the good stuff when in Japan or Europe.
- Covers. Those rubber bands that keep the port covers are damn annoying.. And I have my headphones plugged in all the time so I’m worried I’ll rip the cover from the hands-free port one day just by putting the phone in my pocket or something.
- This one is useless for me but I’d like to point it out anyways: no mirror! So if you’re one of those people who take your own pictures with your phone you’ll be taking pictures without knowing what will show up on the screen.
- Red LED flashing when in the camera mode.
- You stay in the menu even after you close the phone.
- No desktop charger for the UK version..
Few weeks ago my old laptop has decided to finally die on me.. 
With the XMas season coming I’ve decided to get myself something nice this year.. Like a new laptop.. My final choices were between 3 laptops.. Toshiba M70, Toshiba M60 and an older Eurocom 17″ beast.. Because of the age of the Euocom model I’ve decided to go with one of the Toshibas.. So it was 15″4 vs. 17″ screen.. The other hardware was pretty similar.. I’ve decided to go with the bigger screen..
Toshiba Satellite M60 (PSM60C-CD600E)
Here are some of the stats stolen.. err.. BORROWED from the Toshiba site with my comments.. 
CPU
Intel Pentium M Processor 740 (1.73GHz, 533MHz FSB, L1 Cache 32KB/32KB, L2 Cache 2MB)
Well.. I didn’t really need a super beast.. So I went for the slow CPU.. Still faster than my desktop.. ;p
RAM
1.5GB DDR2
Hard Drive
Toshiba MK1032GAX 100GB 5400rpm
Like, like.. But uber-hot.
Optical Drive
TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-L632B DVD Super-Multi Drive
Writing: CD-R (24x), CD-RW (10x), DVD-R (8x), DVD-RW (4x), DVD+R (8x), DVD+RW (4x), DVD-RAM (3x), DVD+R(DL) (2.4x)
Fucking loud when writting.. But it writes almost any popular format so I can’t complain..
Display
17.0″ Wide XGA TFT with TruBrite
Native LCD Panel Resolution: 1440x900x16.7 million colours
WTF is with that resolution.. Gah.. Lack of wallpapers.. Need to make my own.. ;p
I don’t know why Toshiba didn’t go with something higher.. I’ve seen 17″ laptops with 1600×1024..
Graphics Card
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 with 128MB DDR dedicated video memory, PCI Express 16x
IT PLAYS CIVILIZATION IV!!! <- that's all that matters.. (and yes, the game sucks) ;p
Sound
Realtek ALC250 with Harman Kardon Stereo speakers.
Could be better.. The sound is pretty quiet.. But the speakers are nice..
Communication
V.92 56K Data/Fax Modem
10/100 integrated Ethernet LAN
Intel Wireless LAN (802.11ag)
WTF? No bluetooth?!?!?! No gigabit??!?! And why bother with the modem?
Expansion
PC Card slot supports one Type II PC Cards; supports CardBus
Only one slot..
5-in-1 Multimedia port (SD, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MMC, xD-Picture Card)
NO CF?!?!?!
3 USB 2.0
Not enough ports..
IEEE1394
Mini-firewire ports are EVIL!
Express Card Slot
Is there actualy any hardware for that? ;p
Keyboard
Full sized 103 keys with numeric keypad
I like it.. But.. Yes.. There are ‘but’s.. Because of the addition of the keypad the keyboad is not centered.. So I keep hitting wrong keys.. Also some of the keys are ‘weird’ shaped.. Like uber-small right Shift key or tinny Enter key.. And WTF is with the extra \| key? I don’t see the need for it.. In general the keyboard feels hard.. I actualy have to press hard to get it to register.. Maybe it’ll change once it gets worn in..
Dimensions
WxDxH: 394 x 280.3 x 29.8(Front)/37(Back) mm
Weight: 3.32kg (7.32lbs)
Yes.. It’s pretty BIG.. And HEAVY..
General comments
In general this model is pretty sweet.. But here’s the BAD STUFF. ;p
1. Hot spots.
There is a few spots that get pretty hot when using the laptop.
1) Bottom middle part of the screen. Just above the multimedia keys.
2) Hard drive area.. Pretty annoying when you keep the laptop on your lap..
3) Fan intake. Just like I’ve seen in some of the new laptops the intake is on the bottom of the laptop. Once again right where your leg would be if you were using your toy without the desk. Also forget about keeping your laptop on your bed or carpet.. That’ll cover the intake causing the fan to run non-stop..
4) The most annoying spot is the one under your right palm when you type.. The area above the RAM and modem/WiFi cards is pretty hot.. And it happens to be just when your hand will rest when you type or use the touchpad.
None of those spots are HOT-hot.. They’re just annoyingly worm..
Keyboard
I’ve already mentioned the small problem with the size or shape of the keys above but there is more.. I really hate when they keep moving the damn Delete key around.. Can’t they just decide on one fucking location for that key? Every time I use a new laptop I spend tons of time looking for that one stupid key. Thank god for the keypad on this model. I keep it off so I still can use my pinky to press Delete, Home, End.
Resolution
Fucking random resolution if you ask me.. ;p
Drivers
WTF? The only disk you get is the Recovery Disk. So if you wipe out your system (like I did the same day I got it) you’re pretty much forced to visit Toshiba site to download your drivers. How about giving us more than just the minimum driver support Toshiba? Please? ;p
Power Adapter
Baaah.. They’re using a new type of a plug.. I’ve had 2 power adapters for my old laptop.. One at home and one at work.. I thought I could just keep the same adapters to use with this laptop.. But noo.. They HAD to change the plug.. My old adapters simply don’t fit the socket on the M60..
With this I end.. Overall it’s a one badass laptop.. If you can get over those small problems you’ll be happy with your choice.. I know I am.. 
Here’s the second of my Top 10 lists:
Top 10 Best Japanese Vocals
I’m not going to upload any pictures cause in the lists that will follow the looks don’t matter. It’s the voice that counts.
Btw. When I was thinking about people whom I should put on my lists I went through albums/singles, music videos AND live performances.. So even tho someone may sound great in the studio but they suck in live enviroment I wont include them in my lists. (example: BoA) ;p
There wont be much writting either. Unless I have some recomendations..
Top 10 Female Vocals
1) Yoshida Miwa (Dreams Come True) (DOB: May 6th, 1965)
No real suprises here. Miwa is probably one of the best singers on the planet. Sounds amazing in live and has no problems pulling though over 3 hours long concerts without her voice breaking half way though. Most of the DCT songs are highly recomended. But to really hear the beauty of her voice either see one of their concerts or.. ‘Snow Dance’ performance from Music Fair from Jan 27th, 2001..
2) Onitsuka Chihiro (DOB: Oct 30th, 1980)
Probably the ‘strongest’ voice I’ve ever heard. The first time I’ve heard her was pretty late, when she released ‘Infection’. Her ‘Ultimate Crash ’02 Live at Budokan’ is highly recomended. (as long as you forget about the visuals cause it’s.. hmm.. interesting.. ) ;p
3) Namie Amuro (DOB: Sep 20th, 1977)
Yay! Namie beat Kumiko!! ;p Recomendations: any old 1990′s stuff.. and her 2004+ stuff..
4) Kuraki Mai (DOBL Oct 10th, 1982)
If you like slower stuff you’ll love Mai..
5) Koda Kumi (DOB: Nov 13th, 1982)
She had to be on this list.. Beautiful voice.. Great in live performances.. Almost anything by her is highly recomended..
6) Utada Hikaru (DOB: Jan 19th, 1983)
No need for introduction here. Recomended: anything released in Japan. Stay away from ‘Exodus’ ;p
7) Hirahara Ayaka (DOB: May 9th, 1984)
The newest addition to this list. Another of the ‘slow’ and ‘uber-voice’ artists.. Recomendations: ‘Jupiter’ / ‘The Voice’..
AI (DOB: Nov 2nd, 1981)
Dunno.. I don’t really listen to AI too much nowdays.. But I think she’s got one of those voices that stick in your head for a long time after you stop listening to her songs.. Recomendations: anything..
9) Matsuura Aya (Hello! Project) (DOB: Jun 25th, 1986)
Probably the only really talented person in the entire Hello!Project. ;p After dumping the whole bubble-pop she’s turned into an amazing singer. Anything after ‘The last night’ is recomended unless you want ‘ne~e’ ;p Also very highly recomended is the episode of ‘Yume Ongakukan’ from June 8th, 2004 where she performed some of her older hits in a jazz style.. Great stuff..
10) Kawase Tomoko (The Brilliant Green / Tommy february6 / Tommy heavenly6) (DOB: Feb 6th, 1975)
Aaaah.. Tommy.. Anything from any of their ‘personas’ should be ok to be recomended.. ;p
Other recomendations:
Santos Anna (Bon-Bon Blanco)
Yuri (move)
Saegusa Yuka (Sageusa U-ka in db)
Yumi/RUM (Heartsdales)
CICO & YUKI (Bennie K)
And now..
Top 10 Male Vocals!!!
1) Hirai Ken (DOB: Jan 17th, 1972)
Probably the only japanese male artist I actualy like. Great voice, no problems live.. What else do you need? ;p
2) Hikawa Kiyoshi (DOB: Sep 6th, 1977)
HAHAHA! I bet no one was expecting to see THIS!! ;p If.. He only sang something else than enka he’d move to the first spot.. ‘Zun, zun, zun, zundoko, KIYOSHI!!’
3) Kimura Takuya (SMAP) (DOB: Nov 13th, 1972)
Mmm.. Takuya.. mmm.. aa.. I mean.. I think he’s the only person who could survive as a solo artist out of the whole SMAP (anyone still remember G? buahahahaha!!) ;p
4) Camui Gackt (DOB: Jul 4th, 1973 ????)
Oh, Gackt.. He had to be on this list.. I mean.. For someone like 450 years old he’s holding pretty good..
5) me?
Sorry, I don’t really follow male artists or groups.. ;p
That’s it for now..
It seems like everyone is making their TOP 10 lists for everything. I’m pretty bored nowdays so I’ll prolly make a few lists myself..
Here’s the 1st one:
Top 10 Best Looking Japanese Singers
Note: It only goes by the looks, real talent doesn’t really matter in this list.
And this is MY list, you may or may not aggree with my choices..
1) Koda Kumi (DOB: Nov 13th, 1982)
I don’t think anyone needs an introduction to Kumiko. She puts ‘SEX’ in ‘SEXY’ <3 I've loved how she looked even before the whole slutty thing came out. But.. I'm not complaining. Every PV nowdays is quite something to watch.. ;p
2) Namie Amuro (DOB: Sep 20th, 1977)
Oh, that was a tough one.. Slutty vs MILF.. But Namie lost.. Still.. Namie.. For someone in her late 20′s she’s as hot as they get.. The first time I saw Namie was probably at the 1997 Kouhaku Uta Gassen where she performed ‘Can you celebrate?’ and I thought she was the cutest thing on the planet. From that moment on I’ve been keeping a close watch on her.
(interesting fact: she’s less than a month older than I am) ;p
3) Yuri (move) (DOB: Feb 22nd, 1977)
Dunno.. Ever since I’ve seen ‘move’ the first time years ago I’ve always though about Yuri as the hot stuff.. Then when I saw her in real life, standing less than 10ft away from me, separated only by a glass window she’s moved from ‘hot’ to ‘uber-hotness’
(when I was on my vacation in Japan it just happened ‘move’ was hosting some of the ‘XEBEC Online’ shows. So I got a chance to see them live just joking around for 2 hours. I also got a chance to see Lead, w-inds, Hikari from Folder5, NEWS and some other people thanks to the studio at the Yurakucho JR Station.)
4) Hasebe Yu (dream) (DOB: Jan 1st, 1986)
I loved the 3nin dream.. With all the good old eurobeat tunes like Private Wars, Moving On or Night of Fire, how can you not love them! So of course I knew Yu even before she turned into that super hottie as she’s today. I don’t really follow the new dream but if I see or hear them I wont fast forward.. ;p
5) Nakazawa Yuko (Hello! Project) (DOB: Jun 19th, 1973)
I think my obsession with Yu-chan has been well documented on this site. <3 Nothing more to say. ;p
6) Ichikawa Yui (DOB: Feb 10th, 1986)
I think the very first time I saw her was when she completly sucked on MusicStation performing ‘Ame’. ;p After that I actualy downloaded the PV and the single.. Then her PB’s came and the IV’s.. And then I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I think I’ve seen her somewhere else before’. So I went through my dorama backups and found some series with her. Ever since then I’ve been collecting stuff with her.
7) Santos Anna (Bon-Bon Blanco) (DOB: Jul 9th, 1987)
The newest addition to my ‘look for everything with her’ list. I’ve heard about B3 before but from the description of their music I didn’t think it’d suit my taste so I’ve never really bothered to anything by them. But one day I’ve decided to grab their new PV ‘Ai ga Ippai’ and in the first 30 seconds of the video I got hooked on Anna.. It’s pretty hard to find stuff about Anna and B3 in general so there are only 3 pictures. (she’s the one on the left btw.) ;p
Ueto Aya (DOB: Sep 14th, 1985)
To be honest I have no idea how I got introduced to Aya.. Probably through some dorama.. Not much to say to her.. Very pretty and talented..
9) Boa Kwon (DOB: Nov 5th, 1986)
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to include BoA on this list, after all she’s Korean.. But nowdays she releases more stuff in japanese and spends more time in Japan than in Korea so.. She’s on the list. I’ve been following BoA since her debut years ago.. I used to be big into KPOP and mainly SM Ent. artists so I got introduced to her probably on the day they made the announcement.
10) Miyazato Akina (Folder5) (DOB: Jun 19th, 1985)
Another of my old school idols. I’ve known Akina since her early Folder5 days.. All thanks to their appearances on Hippare and their covers of pretty much every song on the charts.. I still follow her and get most of her stuff..
Welp, that’s it for the TOP 10.. Now it’s time for the ‘leftovers’ ;p
Runner ups in random order:
Matsuura Aya (Hello! Project) (DOB: Jun 25th, 1986)
Shibata Ayumi (Melon Kinen-Bi) (DOB: Feb 22nd, 1984)
(Ayumi was born the same day as my sister!!)
Miyoshi Erika (v-u-den) (DOB: Nov 8th, 1984)
Kawabe Chieko (DOB: Feb 24th, 1987)
Saegusa Yuka (Sageusa U-ka in db) (DOB: Jun 9th, 1980)
Yumi/RUM (Heartsdales) (DOB: Dec 17th, 1981)
Abe Asami (DOB: Feb 27th, 1985)
Kimura Ayaka (Hello! Project) (DOB: Oct 30th, 1981)
Satoda Mai (Country Musume) (DOB: Mar 29th, 1984)
That’s it.. There is probably more but I can’t think of anyone else of the top of my head..
Next week: Top 10 Most Talented Singers!
Tee-hee-hee..
I’ve opened the package since the time I took this pic.. 2 things about it.. One good and one bad..
The good: the DVD!!! w00t! Since I’ve seen it already I didn’t open it from my book. (I’ve posted the rips few posts ago, check the posts few days back)
The bad: NO POSTER?!?!?!?! WTF?!?!?!
This book is really amazing.. Eri’s first PB was really good.. But this one is like 100000000000000 better.. Mmm.. Thundertights.. Mmmm..
Still looking for a better quality scans from this PB. As soon as I locate them I’ll upload them here.
Welp.. The expo is over.. Here’s the report for Day 2.. No Day 3 report cause I didn’t go.. Well.. I did went to the MTCC but for some personal reasons I went back home after half an hour without actualy doing anything.
Just saying ‘hi’ to all the people I bumbed into at the expo including: Mark, Kirk, Archie, Rachel, Terence, bunch of DDR and ID players from Funland..
Not really in the mood to write too much so I’ll just post some pictures and maybe add a comment here and there..
I literally bumbed into Kevin Sorbo.. I was walking around a corner when I bumbed into some big guy.. I may be 5’11″ but he still was HUGE compared to me.. I said ‘sorry’ and looked up and I think my face turned into this -> O_O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He kind of looked at me, smiled and just went on his way.. Defintely hightlight of the day..
Once again I didn’t go to the masquerade. But the person who had my pass also had my camera so here are some pictures from that event:
Every year HobbyStar runs a bunch of conventions at the same time.. This year it’s:
- Comic Book Expo 2005
- SFX aka Science Fiction Expo 2005
- Festival of Fear aka Horror Expo 2005
- CNAnime aka Anime Expo 2005
- GX aka Gaming Expo 2005
Today was the first day of the expo.
To be honest.. Today sucked BIG time.. I got down to MTCC before 4.. Got my pass and when I saw the line up of people waiting for the opening I said ‘fuck it’ and left for Funland..
After 7 I got back.. And.. What a dissapoinment.. People who complain about AN should come to see CNA and then they’ll see how great AN really is.. ;p
Almost all anime based costumes were the same as at AN.. I mean.. If you gonna cosplay at least get different costumes for cons that are happening in the same city.. The ‘anime rocks!’ Squall from AN was there.. Tons of Naruto freaks.. It seems the group who did the Street Figther cosplay at AN is back to do it again at the CNA.. I saw the girl in ChunLi costume few times.. Blah.. The Squall with the weird hair is back.. And so is SSJ Goku (or Vegeta? not too sure who’s he supposed to be)
It was nice to see some people wearing costumes for the other expos.. There were some people all covered in blood and I saw I think 2 Star Troopers.. Tons of goth too.. But.. That’s not enough.. Sucky day..
I walked around for like 3 hours.. Nothing to do.. Nothing to see.. It’s just a big retail space..
The highlight of the day is probably finding Scott’s VGCats table. Got both posters and the ‘Licensed Choboco Inbreeder’ tshirt..
Last picture is for BRP:
POKE-FRUITS’R'US!!
Few weeks ago I got myself my ‘dream’ phone, Sharp 902SH. More about the phone maybe later but for now I’ll just concentrate on the camera functions of this unit. This phone comes with a 2mpix camera with the LED light and 2x optical zoom. Since I already have a 2megapix camera, my Cyber-shot U20 (more about it here ) it should be easy to compare shots taken with both of those cameras.
Warning: none of those pictures has been edited or resized in any way. The only thing I did was rotated the pictures taken with the phone so you don’t have to tilt your head to look at them. So anyways.. The pictures are in the original size so they may be a little bit on the bigger side.. About 100-500k each.
If you see a black thumbnail, don’t worry.. Just click on it.. The picture is there.. It just seems like the image script doesn’t really like the rotated pictures..
So now to the pictures.
Outside shots with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-U20
Now the same pictures (more or less) but this time with the Sharp 902SH
I must say the pictures taken with the REAL digital camera look better. To me anyways.. You don’t have to aggree.. ;p
Now few interesting inside shots.. Sony once again goes first
Now Sharp
Now this is interesting.. All 4 pictures were taken in almost exactly the same conditions.. They were taken maybe 2 minutes apart so it’s not like the lighting went all wonky there.. The first pictures were taken without any flash or light. As you can see Sharp had no problems in making the picture usable, while the picture from the Sony camera came out a little bit too dark for my taste. The second shots were taken with flash (Sony) and the LED light (Sharp) turned on. In this ‘test’ Sony literally shines..
Conclusion:
Well.. The camera on my phone will not replace my Canon A80 that’s for sure.. But in the situations where the Canon is too bulky to carry around (like at the arcade or something) I think I’ll be using my cellphone more often than the Sony camera.. The phone seems to take better pictures in situations where the lighting is not perfect. But it suffers when it comes in taking pictures where flash is available.. So I guess I’ll carry the Cyber-shot in my backpack as a backup for the phone..
Here’s some random pictures taken with the phone while I was playing with it.
So yesterday I’ve decided to get the new Harry Potter book at the midnight sale. I’ve stayed at the arcade til 11:30ish and then headed down to the Eaton Center to get the book. The line up wasn’t too big, maybe 100-150 people.. They had about 6 registers open so I got the book in maybe 15min after they started selling it.
Today I has nothing to do so I just spent pretty much a whole day just sitting outside reading this book. Easy and fast read. No big suprises as we all knew ‘someone important’ will die in this book. The ending was.. Hmm.. Expected.. So no big suprises there. The ‘romantic’ parts were quite enjoyable.. In overal pretty good book.. If you read the other ones you wont be disapointed.
My only complaint is: NOT ENOUGH CHO CHANG!!! She’s only mentioned in like 2-3 lines!!! (sorry..) ;p
