Tech Review: Garmin eTrex 20 Handheld GPS

I just purchased a Garmin eTrex 20 handheld GPS (released in late September 2011) and I decided to do a quick user review of it.

Here, check out my video:



This is my first GPS device, which means I can't do a relative comparison with other units.

So, based on its own merits, here are my comments on the eTrex 20:

1. Build quality is solid, and when loaded with batteries it has a nice, reassuring heft to it. Dark grey areas are rubberized for wear resistance. USB connection is hidden under a rubber weather-resistant flap, and the micro-SD slot is protected inside the battery compartment, which are thoughtful design features.

2. The glassy LCD screen is tad reflective when viewed under direct sunlight.

3. Ability to decode both GPS and GLONASS satellite signals is a very useful feature. In the field, it takes less than a minute to get a position fix, and the precision is quite good, around 4 metres at best.

4. It works well inside vehicles too, I've tried it in buses and get practically instantaneous position and speed readings. It will definitely work as a car GPS, though that is not its intended function.


Would you like to know more?
- GPS (Wikipedia)
- GLONASS (Wikipedia)

Shutters Shutters Everywhere

The financial markets, energy prices and real estate prices are soaring.

Is the actual economy recovering?

Someone once said that you can't tell that Singapore is going through a recession because the central shopping districts are always packed with people.

Here at Fresh Brainz, we know that downtown malls are frequented by the rich and thus are not representative of the state of the economy in general.

Moreover, we have long realized that window shopping is free and thus you can't assume that everything is normal-normal simply because there are lots of people (penniless? heavily in debt?) walking around.

To know what is going on, you have to open your eyes and actually look at how the retailers are doing...

War Between Business And Science

Have you ever wondered why billionaire talkshow diva Oprah Winfrey is so well respected by business professionals but almost universally disliked by scientific professionals?




















Check out what a Harvard Business School Professor has to say about her:

""Still, when Professor Nancy Koehn introduced her guest on the last day of class this past spring, "everyone did a double take," Koehn recalls. Oprah Winfrey was in the house.

How the icon of daytime television and chief executive of a major media empire came to HBS after three years of effort is a story in itself. And what she told students brought them a unique perspective about leaders and leadership in the twenty-first century. "I think she's a great bellwether for the future of business," Koehn says. "Maybe she and her organization are on a path that a lot of leaders and organizations are going to be on.""

Compare and contrast that appraisal with this view from medical doctor David Gorski:

"Personally, I have no problem with Oprah’s level of success. Clearly, she is a very talented and savvy TV host and businesswoman.

Unfortunately, in marked contrast, Oprah has about as close to no critical thinking skills when it comes to science and medicine as I’ve ever seen, and she uses the vast power and influence her TV show and media empire give her in order to subject the world to her special brand of mystical New Age thinking and belief in various forms of what can only be characterized as dubious medical therapies at best and quackery at worst. Arguably there is no single person in the world with more influence pushing woo than Oprah."

Do you know why Oprah seems to be so intent on supporting dubious medical therapies?

Here at Fresh Brainz, I've had the misfortune of being trained in BOTH science and business, so let me give you my own analysis of what is going on...

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When you hear the word "science" or "evidence-based medicine" what does it mean to YOU?

Maybe you associate those words with a method of discovering facts and building theories by making observations, doing experiments/testing treatments, interpreting results and checking for biological significance/inherent biases/alternative explanations etc.

In other words, a careful method of learning about reality.

Or maybe you associate these words with large bureaucratic organizations/corporations, expensive machines, committees of powerful old men, obsession over meaningless details, close-mindedness and arrogance.

In other words, "wasting" tonnes of money to investigate the details of Nature that nobody else cares about, or a giant corporate machine that creates an incredibly high entry barrier so that only it alone can rake in the big bucks.

The reality is that modern scientific research is very expensive.

The days of the lone microscopist making a significant finding are numbered (though probably not true for the lone amateur astronomer). You can recycle fashion trends every two decades, but you can only make a scientific discovery once.

The "cheap" science, the "small" science; they have already been done by people in the past.

To do big science today, you need more than fancy degrees from a brand name school.

You also need big money.

That represents a very high entry barrier. You want to map the human transcriptome? Perform a large-scale clinical trial? Only governments and multinational corporations have that kind of money.

Moreover, from a purely business perspective, scientific research represents a weak return on investment.

Practically all curiosity-driven basic research has no chance of making money directly, while only a small proportion of biomed/biotech research will ever reach profitability. Even if you can come up with a technology or treatment with promising biological effectiveness, it will still have to face years of regulatory hurdles, as well as market pressures, before it can start raking in the dollars.

Clinical research is obviously nearer to practical applications, but only big companies have the resources to conduct large-scale trials. If you intend to invest money in a big, well-established pharma company, you can't expect to make much more than an incremental gain of around 10% yearly.

That is because most of the company's growth is already over, during its infancy - but that was also the riskiest stage of its development.

So what do you do if you are an ambitious young person who wants to build a successful business, preferably within your own lifetime?

Here's one way of doing it:

You take a fucking chance.

Governments and Big Pharma don't talk to nobodies. So you talk to much smaller players - obscure new outfits, individual inventors, alternative medicine practitioners, motivational gurus, unknown book authors...

It doesn't matter what they do, as long as you can identify the potential for a powerful social impact.

You have to understand the needs and desires of regular people, work closely with those who claim to have just the solution that the people need, and then promote their special solution confidently to the world.

The highest growth potential comes from untested small players, thus you should try to seek them out and grow with them. Remember that when blue chips rise by a few dollars it's only a percentage gain, but when a penny stock rises by a few dollars, it has increased its value by a FEW FOLD. The returns on investment can be tremendous.

However, penny stocks are very risky. Similarly, if you constantly align yourself with mystics and alternative healers, you might open the doors not only to harmless crackpots, but deliberate frauds and pranksters as well. This can have a negative effect, both on your bottomline and on your reputation.

Fortunately, if you were NOT trained in science, you don't have to dwell on it. Just disassociate yourself from any negative incidents, and move on. Your target audience won't know the difference anyway and won't expect you to be scientifically accurate. Academics may protest but you can always appeal to the anti-establishment sentiments of your supporters!

It's more important to get the timing right and seize an opportunity quickly, than to be factually correct or even conceptually consistent.

Remember that your goal is commerce, not science. More human than human should be your motto - it's about selling a hyperreality to the masses. Nobody will give you a single cent more for being too truthful or too careful.

In fact, in Oprah's case, she often seems to act first and check later!

This can be clearly seen from the site "Top 12 Oprah Mistakes, Lies and Embarrassments". The writer concluded that (emphasis mine) :

"In a long and extraordinarily successful career, Oprah Winfrey has often been wrong, but she rarely, if ever, conveys uncertainty. She’s admitted to having used cocaine in her 20s, under the influence of her then-boyfriend. She’s made questionable diet and health choices and presented each one to the world as a wonderful new discovery, only to change programs, beliefs and approaches. She’s invited at least two blatant frauds to share their stories with the world on her show, and has encouraged us to buy books full of lies and health products with no proven benefits. She is, in short, wrong quite a lot. And that’s okay. Most of us are. Most of us, though, don’t have millions of people accepting our every word as gospel. That should inspire a person to choose her words with a bit more care."

Note that uncertainty and persistence is the bread and butter of scientific research, whereas unshakeable confidence and flexibility is an indispensible aspect of business enterprise.

Also, Dr. Gorski may wonder why Oprah is successful despite her apparent lack of critical thinking, but in contrast, I find it hard to see how Oprah could have succeeded if she was saddled with critical thought!

**********

"Science" means something different from an academic or business perspective. It is both a method and an industry; an endeavour of individual effort and organizational strategy.

To make money directly from science is a difficult challenge because there are many contradictory skillsets between business professionals and scientific professionals.

But ultimately, in any organization somebody has to be the one to make the big decisions.

What if you spent your entire life training to become a scientist, only to realize that somebody who is neither interested in your research nor even appreciates its significance actually has more power over your research direction, your lab and your whole career than you yourself?

Conversely, what if you were a business-trained manager who was told that science was just another area of business, only to realize that research routinely spends far more money than it can ever generate, and because of the increasing pressure to achieve a better return on investment, you now have to convince over 1,000 disgruntled PhDs that all big science decisions have to be made by you yourself?

Those are interesting, academic questions.

Perhaps not academic for long.

Photo Gallery Thirteen

In a previous post, I briefly talked about how brand marketing has contributed towards the rising phenomena of tool worship and diminishing respect for professional training.

For this week's photo gallery I won't just talk the talk - I'll walk the walk!

Let me show you what a "toy camera" can do in competent hands.















Enter our unfortunate victim - the Lomo Fisheye 2.

Popular among fashionistas a couple of years back, it used to retail in arty bookstores for about a hundred bucks each. One look and you can tell that it's the sort of camera for the supercool to pose with and get totally bored with by the end of the week.

This example here is well kept, but has fallen onto hard times. I bought it used for $30 - "faulty" with an ailing internal flash (but I won't be needing it, as you shall soon see).

Incidentally, all the non-Nikon, non-Canon cameras in the above photo are second-hand. Poverty has its special way of compelling one to train hard - if you're rich then you can pay someone to do all the thinking and working for you!

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I digress.

Time for a checklist!

The Fisheye 2 has:

1. No Megapixels (uses 35mm film).

2. No Autofocus (fixed from 30cm on to eternity).

3. No Variable Aperture (fixed f/8 plastic hole).

4. No Metering.

5. No Automatic Shutter Speed (fixed 1/100 sec and a bulb mode).

6. No Multicoated Lens (10mm fisheye lens which looks cheap and plasticky).

7. No LCD display (with no pixels by no pixels resolution).

8. Has Optical Viewfinder (Hah, bet your digicam doesn't have one of these!).

9. No Spare Batteries (you don't even need any if you don't use flash).

10. No Free Cleaning Kit (OK, now I'm getting carried away...).

Hmm... looks sufficiently devoid of modern camera features.

Passed!

In fact, somebody once said that:

"If you cut the bottom off a beer bottle and hold it in front of your standard lens you will take better pictures than the Lomo."

Ho ho ho... is that RRRRRRight?

Well, the Fisheye 2 was intended to be a chic fisheye camera for "Lomographers" to take wacky portraits with multicoloured flash and streaks of light everywhere.

But that's not what I had in mind for this little fellow.

Here's one of my pictures, straight out of the camera (or film processing shop actually):














Interesting.

But I prefer my scenery shots to be rectilinear rather than have fisheye distortion.

To do that, you don't even need to buy Photoshop. Just head over to TawbaWare and use their PTAssembler shareware to "de-fish" the distortion in a few quick steps.

And now for the finished product (cropped and exposure-corrected):














Arch
(2009) Lomo Fisheye 2

Not quite the bottom of a beer bottle huh?

Come to think of it, I could possibly make that work too...

Enjoy the rest of the photos!



















Ceiling vanes
(2009) Lomo Fisheye 2














Financial focus
(2009) Lomo Fisheye 2

















Old market vibe
(2009) Lomo Fisheye 2



















Passing through
(2009) Lomo Fisheye 2
















Stone life
(2009) Lomo Fisheye 2



















Underpass curves
(2009) Lomo Fisheye 2

















Welcoming palms
(2009) Lomo Fisheye 2













Wide and bright
(2009) Lomo Fisheye 2


You are thinking: "Hey, it's not the fact that the Lomo cost $30 that allows it to take nice scenery shots. It's the fact that it has a 10mm lens! The equipment DOES matter!"

Ha ha... you're right that every photographic tool has its strengths and weaknesses.

You generally can't use the Fisheye 2 for macro or sports photography.

But then again, if you know what you need for those applications, you wouldn't use the Lomo!

I think you understand what I'm saying now.


Would you like to know more?
- Photo Gallery Twelve
- Your Camera Doesn't Matter (by Ken Rockwell)

Sidewalk Astronomy Carnival!

As you may be aware, 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy. My good friends at the Science Centre have informed me that there's a fun astro event to be held right at your neighbourhood sidewalk megamall!

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Sidewalk Astronomy Carnival

In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009, Science Centre Singapore and The Astronomical Society of Singapore (TASOS) together with our partners, HISTORY(TM), StarHub and Vivo City, is bringing to Singaporeans a Sidewalk Astronomy Carnival. The Carnival will provide a unique opportunity for the public to gain an understanding of astronomy through observations of the sky and related educational talks, activities and documentaries that bring enjoyment and edutainment to both young and old. The public will be able to get up close and personal with the Moon and Saturn through telescopes set up on site.

Date: 1-2 May 2009, Friday & Saturday
Time: 6pm – 10pm
Venue: Vivo City Skypark

Program

6:00 – 6:30 Astronomy projects for kids/families

6:30 – 7:00 Stage games by emcee + FAQs

7:00 – 7:45 History Channel Screening of The Universe (The Moon)

7:50 Welcome Mdm Ellen Lee, MP for Sembawang GRC & Adviser to Woodlands GRC

8:00 Telescope viewing starts

8:00 – 9:00 “The Night Sky and our Solar System” Talk by Mr Kalaimani s/o Retnasamy (Founder member and Hon Secretary, TASOS)

9:00 – 9:15 Stage games by emcee + FAQs

9:15 – 10:00 History Channel Screening of The Universe (Saturn – Lord of the Rings)

10:00 Close

**********

If you are curious about what Saturn looks like through a small telescope under good seeing conditions, here's a nice video:



"Sidewalk" star parties tend to focus on the Moon and planets, because these are easier targets in the city sky, which is awash with the orange glow of light pollution.

To see the more spectacular deep sky objects such as nebulae and galaxies, you may not need a bigger telescope, but you MUST go to a better dark sky location. I'm sure Teck is now at a more stargazing-conducive location than any of us here in Singapore; do check out some of his photos.

However, the upside of a such convenient location is that if the seeing conditions aren't so great, you can just head indoors and stuff your face silly with some of that famous Vivo City kueh tutu!

I think I'll turn up with me olde SP-C80.

Fresh Brainz fanz, if you find a guy with the rustiest scope you've ever seen... that would be me.

IT Show 2009: Under $200 Deals

The IT Show 2009 just opened a few hours ago, and as usual Fresh Brainz was there to quickly scan through some of the best deals so that you can zoom in on the gadgets that you most desire and decide if it's worth the hassle to go down there.

Let's start with a quick overview of the exhibition!















IT Show 2009 is held at Suntec City Level 1 - 6 and is open from 12 - 15th March from 12noon - 9pm daily.















This time 'round the companies come out in full force to attract shoppers. There is even free coffee for making purchases using certain bank cards.















And let's not forget the resident DJ!















Though only tangentially related to IT, camera accessory companies are quite prominent this year.















Making their appearance for the first time are companies selling devices for saving electricity bills. I guess the green technologies are starting to enter the mass market.



















NOT making their appearance for the first time are the hot babes hard at work distributing pamphlets and free smiles to the thronging crowd (and appreciative photographers).

Here's a "dark" angel at a booth in Level 6, complete with black, feathery wings and looking... erm... not particularly intimidating.

There is a "light" angel running around somewhere too. They don't seem to hang around the same place at the same time.

Perhaps if you forced the two angels together, the whole Universe will explode at the speed of light! :p



















In contrast, these two Casio babes seem rather happy to be so close together.

Men like women who are happy together, especially Japanese twins.

“姐姐！”

“妹妹！”

Oops... wrong century!*



















Also making their usual repeat appearances are the huge numbers of visitors. Despite the economic downturn, the crowds don't seem any thinner than in previous years.

Watching hundreds of people pour into the exhibition halls via escalators remind me of conveyor belts in a factory - a factory where people exchange pieces of paper and plastic for boxes of metal and plastic.

Take invoice, pay money, collect gadget, redeem free gift, go. Next!

Take invoice, pay money, collect gadget, redeem free gift, go. Next!

Take invoice, pay money, collect gadget, redeem free gift, go. Next!

Take invoice, pay money...

Super efficient!

So now - here's the list of some great buys under $200 (and netbooks under $700). As usual, please remember to do your own research before spending your hard-earned cash on these tasty deals.

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Digital cameras

I'm glad to see that there are more under $200 budget cameras than before. In particular, Sony has slashed the price of its Zeiss-lens W120 to a nifty S$199 (perhaps someone there has been reading Fresh Brainz?).

Unfortunately, Canon and Casio did not offer any cameras at this price level, although the Canon PowerShot A480 comes pretty close at S$219.

As usual, Fresh Brainz provides lens data such as focal lengths (35mm-film equivalents) and focal ratios - crucial information usually missing in sales pamphlets.















Brand: Fuji
Model: J15
Location: Level 4, Booth 8130
Summary Specs: 8.2 megapixels, 3X optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD
Lens: 38 - 113mm (film equivalent), f/2.8 - 5.2
Price: S$179











Brand: GE
Model: A735
Location: Level 6, Booth 6551/6655
Summary Specs: 7.0 megapixels, 3X optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD
Lens: 36 - 108mm (film equivalent), f/2.8 - 4.8
Price: S$139

Brand: GE
Model: A1030
Location: Level 6, Booth 6551/6655
Summary Specs: 10.1 megapixels, 3X optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD
Lens: 35 - 105mm (film equivalent), f/2.8 - 4.9
Price: S$189



















Brand: Nikon
Model: L16
Location: Level 4, Booth 8218
Summary Specs: 7.1 megapixels, 3X optical zoom, 2.8-inch LCD
Lens: 35 - 105mm (film equivalent), f/2.8 - 4.7
Price: S$199















Brand: Olympus
Model: FE 20
Location: Level 4, Booth 8111
Summary Specs: 8.0 megapixels, 3X optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD
Lens: 36 - 108mm (film equivalent), f/3.1 - 5.9
Price: S$198












Brand: Panasonic
Model: DMC-LZ8
Location: Level 4, Panasonic booth
Summary Specs: 8.1 megapixels, 5X optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD
Lens: 32 - 160mm (film equivalent), f/3.3 - 5.9
Price: S$199



















Brand: Ricoh
Model: R5
Location: Level 4, Booth 8335
Summary Specs: 7.2 megapixels, 7.1X optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD
Lens: 28 - 200mm (film equivalent), f/3.3 - 4.8
Price: S$99



















Brand: Samsung
Model: ES10
Location: Level 4, Samsung booth
Summary Specs: 8.1 megapixels, 3X optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD
Lens: 38 - 114mm (film equivalent), f/2.8 - 5.2
Price: S$199















Brand: Sony
Model: W120
Location: Level 3 Concourse and Level 4, Booth 8210
Summary Specs: 7.2 megapixels, 4X optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD
Lens: 32 - 128mm (film equivalent), f/2.8 - 5.8
Price: S$199

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Printer/Scanner Combos

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the price of printer/scanner combos have dropped below $200, especially the Xerox WorkCentre 3119 laser printer/scanner which can be had for a mere S$159.

Excellent tools for the home office or a small business.











Brand: Brother
Model: DCP-145C
Location: Level 4, Booth 8305
Type: Inkjet printer/copier/scanner
Print rate: Up to 27 ppm (monochrome) 22 ppm (colour)
Price: S$98

Brand: Brother
Model: DCP-185C
Location: Level 4, Booth 8305
Type: Inkjet printer/copier/scanner
Print rate: Up to 30 ppm (monochrome) 25 ppm (colour)
Price: S$148

Brand: Brother
Model: MFC-235C
Location: Level 4, Booth 8305
Type: Inkjet printer/copier/scanner/fax
Print rate: Up to 25 ppm (monochrome) 20 ppm (colour)
Price: S$188

Brand: Brother
Model: MFC-3360C
Location: Level 4, Booth 8305
Type: Inkjet printer/copier/scanner/fax
Print rate: Up to 25 ppm (monochrome) 20 ppm (colour)
Price: S$188



















Brand: Brother
Model: DCP-7010
Location: Level 4, Booth 8305
Type: Laser printer/copier/scanner
Print rate: Up to 20 ppm
Price: S$198















Brand: Epson
Model: TX400
Location: Level 4, Booth 8115
Type: Inkjet printer/copier/scanner
Print rate: Up to 34 ppm (monochrome) 34 ppm (colour)
Price: S$124

Brand: Epson
Model: TX100
Location: Level 4, Booth 8115
Type: Inkjet printer/copier/scanner
Print rate: Up to 26 ppm (monochrome) 14 ppm (colour)
Price: S$98

Brand: Epson
Model: TX200
Location: Level 4, Booth 8115
Type: Inkjet printer/copier/scanner
Print rate: Up to 34 ppm (monochrome) 34 ppm (colour)
Price: S$128

Brand: Epson
Model: Office TX300F
Location: Level 4, Booth 8115
Type: Inkjet printer/copier/scanner/fax
Print rate: Up to 31 ppm (monochrome) 15 ppm (colour)
Price: S$198















Brand: Xerox
Model: WorkCentre 3119
Location: Level 4, Xerox booth
Type: Laser printer/copier/scanner
Print rate: Up to 18 ppm
Price: S$159

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Netbooks

Also known as mini-laptops or ultra-mobile PCs, these computers are so popular that many major manufacturers, even the venerable Lenovo, now produce powerful netbooks at an affordable price.















The netbook craze started just over a year ago with the advent of the Asus Eee PC, which has now diversified into an entire range of products.















Brand: Asus
Model: Eee PC 900HA
Location: Level 4, Booth 8310 & 8405
Storage: 160GB HDD
Price: S$648

Brand: Asus
Model: Eee PC 701SD
Location: Level 4, Booth 8310 & 8405
Storage: 8GB SSD
Price: S$398















Brand: Lenovo
Model: Ideapad S10
Location: Level 4, Booth 8358
Storage: 160GB HDD
Price: S$649















Brand: MSi
Model: Wind Netbook U100 (Pink)
Location: Level 6, Booth 6641
Storage: 160GB HDD
Price: S$699















Brand: Toshiba
Model: NB100-A101
Location: Level 4, Booth 8143 & Level 6, Booth 6101
Storage: 160GB HDD
Price: S$639

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Multimedia gadgets

In this category the most spectacular price drop is the portable GPS device which is now available for only S$199!




















Brand: Mio
Model: C230
Location: Level 6, Booth 6641
Type: Touchscreen GPS unit
Price: S$199















Brand: LG
Model: DP-450-P
Location: Level 4, LG booth
Type: Portable DVD player
Price: S$199











For these digital photo frames there is a 50% discount for the second piece if you buy two of them.

Brand: Aigo
Model: F5007
Location: Level 6, Booth 6461
Type: 7" Digital Photo Frame
Resolution: 800 x 600
Price: S$199

Brand: Aigo
Model: F5003S
Location: Level 6, Booth 6461
Type: 7" Digital Photo Frame
Resolution: 480 x 234
Price: S$139

Brand: Aigo
Model: F5005
Location: Level 6, Booth 6461
Type: 8" Digital Photo Frame
Resolution: 800 x 480
Price: S$199

**********

Other Cheap Deals

Of course, you can also find many other accessories that are going for far less than $200 at the show.

Here are some of them:















Speakers...



















Memory cards...















More memory cards. They're really cheap nowadays.

In addition to the great deals at the exhibition, there are also some... ahem... extremely big-ticket items for sale.

They are...

... you've guessed it...















... the BAZOOKAS!

$12,649?!??

This Sigma APO 300-800mm f/5.6 EX DG HSM is obviously there only for display purposes.

Heh, if I had twelve-K to plonk down for a bazooka, I'd rather go to a quiet showroom and have a nice cup of tea with their manager than to squeeze my way through a labyrinth of trampling feet and an obstacle course of wayward elbows.


Would you like to know more?

A previous computer fair:
- COMEX 2008: Under $200 Deals

*If you watched enough Chinese period dramas you would know what that means...