Update
It transpires that this was actually an intentional design by Kurt Geiger. However, if you search for the product online, nowhere in the product description does it state that the shoe has blue powdered effect markings around the shoe. Here’s the official product description: Champ 3 is a brogue style lace up with punch detail. Featuring three raw eyelets and on trend pointed toe design, team with tailored trousers or smart jeans this season. Maybe I’m not ‘trendy’ enough but surely the description could be more accurate or the official product picture (as I’ve shown below – if you squint real hard, you just might see some blue in that pic) would show the colours better? Even the sales lady in a Kurt Geiger shop in London thought that the shoes were discoloured (either that or she was just being polite and agreeing with me…).

Of the pictures I’ve shown below, it looks like the third pic from the top shows a part of the shoe which was accidentally made too blue – you won’t find a similar picture elsewhere… I won’t go and send it for repairs though as I doubt they’ll accept my request. 

I made an order off the Kurt Geiger website for the first time in my life recently. Unfortunately, the condition of my Kurt Gieger Champ 3 shoes when I received them has sorely tainted and tarnished my experience of Kurt Geiger in the UK.

How did this Kurt Geiger Champ 3 make it past QC?

I’m not a happy puppy. Now I have to waste time trekking to the store and try to get them to repair it for free. Doubt they’ll exchange it since this model is sold out…

Now here’s how they should’ve looked…

Was well excited to get myself over to the Excel Centre today after months of drummed up expectation seeing adverts and promotions in the PC mags I subscribe to (Custom PC, PC Pro and Computer Shopper). I bounded over there in the early morn with a slight delay due to some office work that needed doing – despite me being on annual leave (I’ve got too much Malaysian working style in me methinks…)  but finally managed to make it there a little over the official start time.

An inauspicious low-tech beginning
Walking towards the exhibition hall, I expected a throng of people to already be there since Malaysia’s annual PC Fair is always jam packed with humans who are all after great tech bargains that you just don’t get instore. Upon reaching the ticketing booth, I had a little mixup with the lady at the counter. The booth said Press & Invitations and Groupon Tickets – so, having already bought my tickets via Groupon a few days back and because there was no one heading for that counter, I made a beeline for it and waved my phone in front of the counter girl only to get waved off by her and told to get in line. Confused, I went into the very short line and waited. Shortly, I saw a guy saunter straight up to that same girl with a printout of his Groupon voucher and got his wristband pass in no time at all.  At this point, I was sure that the lady misunderstood me so I make eye contact and walk straight to her counter and promptly display my Groupon on my smartphone.

What happened next was rather unexpected given the event that I was there for – she looked confused and said that they don’t have the facilities to scan my Groupon voucher from my phone and needed me to bring a printed copy. My first thought was, “Hang on. Aren’t I at the London International Technology Show? How come they don’t have QR code scanners for Groupon vouchers?” Fortunately, after a few moments of me standing there looking rather awkward with my Groupon voucher displayed on my screen at the Groupon ticketing counter, she said she’ll let me in anyway and asked whether I wanted just the one ticket. “Now we’re getting somewhere”, I think  to myself and said I’ll take the single ticket.

Now that I was properly registered, I walked through the entrance and started checking out the various exhibition booths.

Low-tech gear in high-tech show?
The strangest exhibit in the whole show hands down was this decidedly low-tech offering…

“This really doesn't count as tech ... #LITS. ” - Image by Cecilia Liao (www.twitter.com/cecilialiao)

If I wanted decorative wind spinners in the UK, I would hop, skip, and jump (well, I’d prob take the tube instead… less conspicuous) over to Camden Market (or one of the other many markets around London) to check out their range of offerings – not go to an ‘international technology show’…

Cool tech at last
That aside, there was some cool tech around though it was focused on stuff that’s too expensive for mainstream consumers (like the £100 keyboards I saw) or on stuff for enthusiast PC overclockers (like the audacious cooling products on offer). Here are a couple of the cool stuff I saw:

Serious air cooling for this video monster

And, a look at the video monster from another, possibly less scary, angle

Serious water cooling for this monster processor

For serious cooling you need liquid nitrogen

And now, some retro tech that’s gotten on in years but is still cool…

Pac-Man gobbled one too many yellow pellets...

Never played the arcade version until today... Jump froggy, jump!

Galaga - the first arcade cabinet I made a beeline for...

A true arcade classic

Virtua Fighter 3

Scramble - the next arcade cabinet I made a beeline for

Round 1 - Fight!

Remember when these were all over the arcades?

Shattered pinball dreams

This is a murderously difficult pinball game

Apart from having a blast at the retro arcade games (especially Galaga – which was the subject of many hours of fun during my childhood), I tried my hand at Micro Mart’s gaming shed where they offered an opportunity to win a nice gaming chair. The competition in question to win it was a free-to-play pinball game that was a staple in Windows 95 - 3D Pinball: Space Cadet. The catch? You only had 1 chance to get the highest score possible and anyone who’s played it will know that it’s difficult to score anything more than a few hundred thousand (my own personal best was about 1.5 million – a far cry from my 48M scores in Pinball Dreams back in the day…). Cracking my knuckles I quickly configured the controls to what I was used to and gave it a go – but failed when I reached 160,000 points because I overused the tilt button. What a sad way to go.

At the same hut, I also had a go at id Software’s RAGE on a lovely Eyefinity setup. The previous player seemed to have left it at a point where there wasn’t much to do, shoot, or kill though so I gave up on the game after a while of aimlessly running and driving about. Doubt I’ll purchase it for the PC. It was also lagging a bit on the PC though I’m not sure whether it’s a hardware or software-related issue.

Dearth of genuinely must-buy gear and gadgets
I’d say, one of the biggest disappointments of the day was a lack of any really well-priced items. I grew up in Malaysia and regularly experienced the annual PC fair where it was THE place and time to get the best deals in the whole year and people knew it. It runs across a 3 day period in Kuala Lumpur and is constantly packed (and it takes up a larger space than LITS). Over here, it rarely felt like anyone was genuinely interested in the deals or that the vendors were interested in actually pushing their deals. All I saw around was a few price lists (generally a 20% discount) and some items that some shops had placed price tags to (Scan did it for some of their products – but knowing the extent of their normal catalogue, it was distinctly underwhelming).

The seminar area didn’t look or sound very exciting either…

Seminar schedule for today

So in the end, I left at around 1pm – having already seen the whole place several times round and played a couple of games. The good thing was – since my Groupon didn’t register at the counter, I effectively went in for free (well, as long as my Groupon cancellation request goes through for the tickets I had already bought…). London International Technology Show 2011 – a poor excuse for a tech exhibition.

There’s not much else that was really exciting so I’ll leave you with several other photos I took at the show.

I

Yoyotech goes for the overclocking record with the new AMD Bulldozer chip - 8Mhz and counting!

The first seminar for the London International Technology Show gets underway

Eyefinity setup at Micro Mart's shed - that keyboard wrist pad is actually less comfortable than it looks

This is why I need an Eyefinity setup at home...

£5 per go apparently - and not worth the cash at all

Another Eyefinity setup - this time for driving games

A killer setup needs a killer cooler

Mixing deck at the SCAN booth

Electric guitar programme demonstration

The show floor certainly wasn't bustling with people, even around midday.

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been living in rented accommodation with my missus ever since we got married just under 4 years ago and this is actually the first time I now have to transfer money out of my bank several days before the payment due date. At first, I was incensed that the landlord would have such a condition even though the tenancy agreement stated that the payment due date was on the 1st of each month. After more digging around the net, I found that (in the UK at least), it is my responsibility as a tenant to ensure that the landlord receives my payment on or before the due date for the rent.

This site was particularly useful for me in my particular situation (which mirrors the OP almost exactly) – http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?35542-when-is-rent-due-when-paying-by-BACS-transfer.

So now, I just need to create a new savings account purely to hold the rental funds so that I won’t have an overdraft – on the downside, it’s more difficult to manage my credit since I’m effectively setting aside rental a month ahead of time (just so that I won’t get caught out and end up having to pay overdraft fees).

Related articles

• Tenancy types – a round-up (simplybusiness.co.uk)
• Renters: Know your rights (blogs.confused.com)
• Our guide for those caught in the rental trap (mirror.co.uk)

Netflix finally reacts to the mess they created when they announced that their DVD customers were getting shafted a 60% price hike.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings admits that he did a ‘Sony’ (see the brouhaha created when Sony announced the launch price of the PS3) – “In hindsight, I slid into arrogrance based on past success”.

The consumers reacted to Hasting’s original announcement of the price hike rather predictably, by bringing their custom someplace else. Netflix had to cut its customer forecast by 1 million thanks to that mistake.

I think that consumers have been burned by this and are unlikely to turn back unless Netflix does something more than just apologise and rebrand while maintaing the same pricing structure that so alienated its customers in the first place.

Related articles

• Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on Qwikster & What Went Wrong [VIDEO] (mashable.com)
• Netflix renames DVD-by-mail service, adds video games (cnn.com)
• Why Reed Hastings Should be Applauded for Netflix Split (bothsidesofthetable.com)
• Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: ‘I messed up’ (gigaom.com)
• A Desperate Netflix Will Split Into Two Businesses (sfist.com)

A great piece from the BBC about Manchester United’s big name summer transfer target.

Image via Wikipedia

Blood pumps vigorously through throbbing veins, your muscles tense and your fists clench. You are primed and ready for action.

Roaring with rage you launch yourself at your washing machine, which has consistently failed to work for the past 5 days in a row despite your best efforts to fix it.

Even the time honoured method of kicking a mechanical appliance when it’s down, failed. Shaking your head in disgust, you swing a well-aimed kick at the machine, and then jump around holding your leg and cursing the workmanship of the machine’s solid steel outer body.

Anger can be an extremely destructive force. Old wives tales are often spun about how thunder and lightning is God’s way of showing anger, and how hurricanes and typhoons are Neptune’s way of striking back at man for the unceasing desecration of the sea. While these are tales are fictional, it serves to illustrate how anger is related to destruction.

Religion itself has a great deal to say about anger, generally, abhorring it. A search on Wikipedia finds three major world religions with words to say on the subject.

In Islam, anger is seen as a sign of weakness where Muhammad said, “The strong is not one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong is the one who controls himself while in anger”.

In Buddhism_, anger is defined as, “being unable to bear the object, or the intention to cause harm to the object.”

In Christianity, the Bible warns, “Do not let the sun go down on your anger”, or do not let feelings of anger last so long as to become sinful, but rather deal with them before they reach that point.

But does the emotion of anger really deserve all the negative press it gets? Surely we’re supposed to be given some leeway for directing anger at injustice, abuse of human and animal rights, and racism? There was a story in the Bible where it told that Jesus got angry at the merchants in the temple and pretty much in a fit of rage, sent tables and chairs flying all over (which kinda indicates that He probably had brute strength to add to His already substantial list of positive traits).

Injustice itself is probably one of events most likely to trigger a bout of anger expression. A sense of unfairness topped by the usual cockiness of the person on the right end of the injustice scale, and garnished with a serving of being on the losing end, all add to the unhappy concoction of feelings of anger.

But here’s an area where anger can be a positive reaction. It primes our bodies for action and gives us additional motivation to complete the task in the most efficient manner possible. It galvanises us into taking quick action and lends us strength to stand firm on our principles and beliefs.

Maybe it’s what we get angry about that is the important thing. I read a quote somewhere that has impacted my life and me;

“A man is about as big as the things that makes him angry”.

Keeping those words close to my heart and mind has helped to control my feelings. After all, you can’t be very big if you let a small thing drive you into a fit of rage can you?

The next time you get angry, take a moment and consider what you’re angry about and whether it is worth it to even feel that way.

Kick a stone in anger and you’ll hurt your foot ~ Korean proverb.

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” ~ Buddha

This article was first published on RainTiger.com in 2007 and was part of a monthly series of motivational writings that were loosely titled, ‘Forward ever’.  I’m forever grateful for that opportunity to have my work in print, even if it was ‘only’ in the online space. I remember the original motivation of this article was to have a deep look at some mistaken beliefs we often have of ourselves. I hope I succeeded though at the end of the day, that’s for you, the reader, to judge for yourself.

Related articles

• In The Talking Time Anger is Like a Firing Box in The Head (socyberty.com)
• Angry Young Men (time.com)
• Churchin’ It (fashiondujourdaily.wordpress.com)
• Are you quick to anger? (pastormikesays.wordpress.com)

Having seen the announcements made during Microsoft’s and Sony’s 2011 E3 press conferences, I felt the time was ripe for Nintendo to blow them away with a megaton bomb announcement. After all, Microsoft seemed keen to repeat Nintendo’s own 2008 E3 mistake by focusing most of their press conference on kid-friendly titles for the Kinect as well as Kinectivised (I’m coining that phrase) Xbox360 games like Mass Effect 3.  The elite were left out to feed on the first entry in a new Halo trilogy (yawn – and it didn’t attract that much excitement from Xbox fanboys either…), Minecraft a Kinectivised Fable 3, a Kincetivised Gears of War, a Kinectivised Star Wars (complete with voice activated lightsaber action – “Light saber on!”), a Kinectivised… well you get the picture.

Gamesradar actually wrote a very well thought article on  – Why Microsoft’s press conference showed that it may have much bigger problems than Kinect. Do yourself a favour an read it (as soon as you finish mine of course…).

This vid sums up the Kinect madness that surrounded Microsoft at E3:

Sony brings new Life to E3

Sony’s presser was far more interesting – focusing on the launch of the PlayStation Vita (the official name of the NGP) at a very very attractive price point of USD$249. The USD$249 Nintendo 3DS has some real competition now aside from their lack of genuinely interesting and playable titles that are available now. Perhaps crucially, the PlayStation Vita is said to be region free, something every gamer in the world wants in their handheld console. Based on the similar price points, there’s every chance that Nintendo’s previous pricing and differentiation strategy wouldn’t work in this current environment but that’s a story for another post.

Aside from the well-covered launch of the PS Vita (which some are already dubbing PSV Eindhoven or the PSV), Sony flogged the 3D horse some more with the announcement of a USD499 3D bundle that would include a copy of Resistance 3, a HDMI cable, a pair of 3D glasses, and a PlayStation branded 24″ TV. The TV itself is quite attractive with tech that “allows two separate pairs of 3D eyewear to see two completely different pictures on the same screen, allowing local co-op minus the splitscreen”.

Also of great interest was Ruin, a hack n’ slash action RPG with a nifty innovation that allows you to play it on the PlayStation Vita while you travel and continue on your PS3 when you’re at home. One particular Sony announcement managed to draw groans from the crowd – the 3G version of the Vita was exclusive to AT&T (in the US anyway). We’ll have to wait and see whether the reportedly poor iPhone experience on AT&T will lead to buyers staying away from this particular SKU.

The PlayStation Vita – oooohhh, shiny….

Nintendo blows (minds)

The Nintendo presser played a 25th Legend of Zelda video complete with orchestral backing to the great delight of the Zelda fans in the crowd. They really know how to push the right nostalgia buttons…

Shigeru Miyamoto finally confirmed Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword for a 2011 holiday season release complete with a special gold wii remote pack-in and threw a nice hunk of meat for 3DS owning Zelda fans by also announcing a free download of Zelda Four Swords.

I’m slightly curious about Ocarina of Time 3DS, mostly because I’ve not played it yet and every games magazine I’ve ever seen has constantly raved about it. The 3DS showreel of upcoming titles definitely fuelled my appetite for the 3DS – Mario Kart 3DS (with customisable karts as well as gliders and underwater terrain!), Luigi’s Mansion 2 (which strangely got a lot of applause since the first game for the GameCube was panned), Starfox 64 3DS, Super Mario Bros 3DS (looked sweet), and finally, what I think will be the star game – Kid Icarus Uprising. Kid Icarus looks like it’ll be an amazing action-packed experience.

Nintendo 3DS 1st party games sizzle reel

Nintendo 3DS 3rd party games sizzle reel

And on to….

Nintendo’s latest console – The Wii U. I honestly thought Nintendo would have gone with a good old simple name like ‘Nintendo’ but looking at the name again, it makes sense. Keeping the name continuity means that the average parent still recognises it and as much as gamers may bash names, I don’t think a single console (or tech product for that matter) in history has failed because it had a stupid name (see the iPad for a prime example).

This is the first Nintendo console since the SNES that has come out with such great 3rd party support. Looking at the list of planned games, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online, Darksiders II, Batman Arkham City, Dirt, Aliens Colonial Marines, Metro Last Light, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, Assassin’s Creed, a new Madden, and for the first time ever on a Nintendo home console, Tekken, the future looks bright for Nintendo. Apart for the aberration of a 10% drop in stock since the announcement of the console, I expect business to pick up once more solid titles are announced and more info is released for the Wii U – which likely won’t happen until the Tokyo Game Show in September.

The tech demo for the Wii U had me sold as soon as they showed the shuriken clip. The level of interactivity with the surrounding environment with zero lag between the controller and the screen was mind blowing. With the new controller, the Wii U can offer a truly 360 degree view of the gaming world you’re in. Also, the new controller flies against the current trend towards peripherals. With one fell swoop, this controller eliminates the need for more gizmos to fill our room spaces because it has a gyroscope, a microphone, an accelerometer, dual analog controls, two shoulder buttons and two triggers, a front-facing camera, and a gigantic 6.2″ resistive touchscreen. It’s quite likely that the design will be tweaked further prior to it’s official launch, but much of what you see now is what you’ll get in 2012. IGN is already kickstarting a campaign to get Nintendo to use analog sticks and analog triggers in their controller.

I’m liking this new look Nintendo that has come back to embrace the core gamer once again after seemingly leaving us for games that toddlers and their grandparents could play. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the fact that Nintendo expanded the gaming market to such an extent that my mother could partner me at Wii Sports tennis and beat my friends, but I don’t feel that I had enough gaming choices for my Wii. My PC was left to fill the void with Quake 4, Mass Effect, and Trine – none of which would ever come to the Wii in it’s current form.

I’ll close with this trailer for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online – a great example of how Wii U can enhance shooters.

Related articles

• E3 2011 Roundup – Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo (slashgear.com)
• Nintendo At E3: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (bnbgaming.com)
• E3 2011: the Wii U, Nintendo’s Next Step (themeatgrinderuk.wordpress.com)
• PlayStation Vita Will (Likely) Be Region Free (inquisitr.com)
• E3 2011 wrap-up: Wii U, PS Vita, and a whole lot of motion gaming (engadget.com)
• The Top 5 Nintendo Announcements at E3 (mashable.com)