Visiting Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

It was nice to have the opportunity to visit other countries once more. This time I visited Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The first impression when I arrived here was, the city was very crowded with motorcycles, and also most of the people here can't speak English, so you need to do 'body language' to communicate with the local people. (hahaha).
The currency values also very low, for 1 USD = 20,935 Dong (VD), so you can get more than 2 millions VD for $100.

During my visit, I stayed at Windsor Plaza hotel, a five stars hotel with a very low price compared to other hotels. But the services and amenities are very good. On my first day, I had visited New An Dong Market which is located under the hotel. I also had stopped in the supermarket and bought a few packs of Coffee and cakes which are very typical of this country.

I also had tried several restaurants in this hotel, it tastes good and the price is not too expensive. In the evening I went to the typical Vietnamese noodle restaurant called Pho 24, which is located on the opposite of the hotel. I ordered 'Pho All' which is a bowl of noodles with beef and meatballs, which is very delicious.

On the next afternoon, me and my friends went to the Ben Thanh market to buy some souvenirs. But I didn't buy too much stuff, because of the luggage capacity. So I just bought some key chains and some coffee. In this market there are also many foreign tourists, and you can bargain the price with the seller, I always bid the price up to 75%. Do not worry if the seller can't speak English, they can use a calculator for bargain.

In the evening, I was invited to have dinner at a restaurant called Ngon Restaurant in the district 1. In this restaurant I tried some Vietnamese dishes, although I do not know its name. The cuisine taste in this restaurant is quite nice, and the service is very nice as well. I also saw many tourists who dine at this restaurant.

Well, although it's quite a short trip, but it's enough for me to enjoy the hospitality and cuisine of this country. And the good news also I met some of my old friends from other countries (because I was here for business). Later in the day and I have to go back to the airport to return home.

New app may have caught cheating wife

When Apple released its new iOS 5 operating system to go with its iPhone 4S, it touted a new app called "Find My Friends" as a great way to track and meet up with friends. If they agree, you can see their locations on a map on your screen.

But the app's enterprising customers are apparently already finding other uses. If the online posts appearing on a chat forum at MacRumors.com are for real, "Find My Friends" may have already claimed its first marriage.

Saturday night on MacRumors, a man saying he lived in New York City posted this:

"Divorcing wife. Thanks iPhone 4s and Find My Friends.

"I got my wife a new 4s and loaded up find my friends without her knowing. She told me she was at her friends house in the east village. I've had suspicions about her meeting this guy who live uptown. Lo and behold, Find my Friends has her right there.

"I just texted her asking where she was and the dumb b---- said she was on 10th Street!! Thank you Apple, thank you App Store, thank you all. These beautiful treasure trove of screen shots [sic] going to play well when I meet her ... at the lawyer's office in a few weeks.

"thankfully, she's the rich one."

It has not been determined whether the story posted on MacRumors was, in fact, authentic, and the man did not immediately reply to a request from ABC News for comment. But more than 100,000 people have viewed the posts, according to MacRumors. More than 300 of them replied with expressions of sympathy, skepticism and -- this being the Internet -- a few less-than-savory jokes.

Arnold Kim, the editorial director of MacRumors, said it was "definitely a busy thread." MacRumors did not try to verify the man's story (if, in fact, it was a man), but said everyone who registers for its forums has to validate their email when they register.

"Find My Friends" uses the iPhone or iPad's built-in Global Positioning System to see your friends' locations on a map on the screen of your device. GPS can be accurate to within a few feet for civilian uses.

Apple says "The Find My Friends app is a great way to share your location with people who are important to you" -- whether you're trying to meet friends at a crowded concert or make sure your kids get safely home from school.

The man was back with a new post less than an hour later, including a couple of screen grabs showing the location of his wife was on East 65th St., though she sent him a text message saying, "Was hard to find stupid cab hate meat packing...."

The husband again: "She said she is in meat packing district which is on 12th street. I DONT THINK SO. Appreicate [sic] the support. not my finest hour here but going to get better soon."

The new iPhone 4S and operating system have been off-the-charts successes for Apple, which said this morning that it sold more than four million iPhone 4S in three days, and that 25 million people are now using iOS 5.

Technology watchers are particularly struck by Siri -- the voice-recognition "personal assistant" built into the new software that accepts spoken commands, answers questions, and is eerily intelligent in its responses.

There was a memorial service Sunday night for Steve Jobs on the campus of Stanford University, near Apple's corporate headquarters in California, amid widespread stories that he was deeply involved in the next iPhone -- the replacement for the iPhone 4S.

The presumably-jilted husband put up one last post Saturday night: "what really chaps my a-- is not the cheating but the fact that they were probably admiring and laughing over the new phone I BOUGHT. haha. well someone about to get the last laugh tonight."

And that was the last from him. The whole thing may have been a joke, or a domestic tragedy. Ben Crompton, who writes the Pocket Lint blog, said there have certainly been other apps before, such as Google Latitude, that let you track people through GPS signals, but Apple will make it trendy.

"The burning issue seems to be that it is a very powerful tool to have," he wrote, "bringing with it huge amounts of info to the user as well as delivering plenty of info about the user to others. For some this power will outdo the user's knowledge of how to use it properly."

"Still, on the up side," he concluded, "maybe Siri will be able to offer some marriage guidance advice."


info Yahoo

FORNAS - The National Recreation Sport Festival

Yesterday, my frinds took me to Senayan, Jakarta. They wanted to visit the FORNAS event (The National Recreation Sport Festival).
When we arrived, it was hard for us to find an empty parking slot, so we decided to park our car at GBK Stadium.

I never imagine that this even will be so crowded by people. There's a lot of tends for each recreation sport category. And also some tends and stands that offer you Indonesian traditional foods and fresh drinks.
Some of the sports are: Tai Chi, Kite, Street Basketball, Futsal, Roller skates, Lion Dance, and many more.

The one that interested me was the Lion Dance, which is known as 'Barongsay'. This Lion Dance competition was participated by 25 teams from nation wide, which is amazing.

But I couldn't watched the entire competition, since we have to go back before evening. Although the weather was pretty hot yesterday, but I did enjoy the festival.

Fans lay tributes of apples for Steve Jobs

Technology and design admirers flocked to Apple stores worldwide on Thursday to express their sorrow at the death of Steve Jobs, the visionary who transformed the daily lives of millions.

The Apple co-founder who inspired the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPhone and iPad died on Wednesday at the age of 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He stepped down as Apple chief executive in August.

Flags outside Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, flew at half mast as mourners gathered on a nearby lawn, where fans left flowers and a man played the bagpipes.

In New York City, an impromptu memorial made from fliers featuring pictures of Jobs was erected outside a 24-hour Apple store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, with fans snapping photos of it on their iPhones.

"As soon as I heard the news, I came out to this Apple store to pay my respects," said business professor Gary Hamel. "I saw tears in some people's eyes."

Grieving fans all over the world left flowers, notes and apples with a bite taken out, just like the Apple logo -- instantly recognizable despite being one of the few top brand logos that does not feature the company's name.

Many said their lives had been transformed by Apple.

"I wouldn't be able to run my business without Apple, without its software. I run a video production company. It's allowed me to have my dream business," said David Chiverton who was leaving Apple's flagship Regent Street store in London.

"I bought the iPod nano, in black. I wanted to buy something to remember the day by," Chiverton said.

At the Frankfurt Apple store in Germany, Wolfgang Kummer, ex-managing director of font design and desktop publishing services company Linotype, left a white rose.

"You recognize his hand in all Apple products and I expect we will continue to see his influence," he said, adding that Jobs had changed the world of desktop publishing. "But eventually it will fade."

In Tokyo, a group of fans brought together by Twitter gathered at sunset with candlelight apps turned on on their iPhones and iPads.

And at China's biggest Apple store, in Shanghai, mourner Jin Yi expressed regret that Jobs had not lived to see even closer links between humans and their devices.

"He created these gadgets that changed people's perceptions of machines. But he did not manage to witness the last step in which, through his gadgets, people's lives can be effectively fused with these machines."

Even Apple employees not allowed to give their names to the press because of Jobs's authoritarian style of leadership said they were saddened.

A somber-looking assistant at an Apple store in the northern English city of Manchester said: "We're carrying on doing our jobs as usual and we're not commenting on this. But at the end of the day it's our boss, and we're all pretty cut up about it."

At the Apple store in Sydney, lawyer George Raptis, who was five years old when he first used a Macintosh computer, spoke for almost everyone who has come into contact with Apple.

"He's changed the face of computing," he said. "There will only ever be one Steve Jobs."


info Yahoo