These speakers are considered as one of the best with their price range. They are only slightly more expensive than AE A2+ but comes with a subwoofer. In fact it’s a super solid subwoofer, but more on that later. Does that mean their sound quality below A2+? Many people would disagree. There are also many other 2.1 speaker systems from more recognized brands in the same price range that ended on my shortlist. The reason why I chose M50W in the end is because the brand comes from SQ-centric customers compared to more generic market. The design and finish define it as you can see below.

Unboxing photos

Early impressions

It could be because I had read so many rave reviews about the speakers prior to ordering them, but when I heard them for the first time, I felt they had been a bit overrated. They produced good sound, but still a tad below my expectation. However the local rep constantly reminded the customers to give them a burn-in time of minimum 100 hours before they will truly spark. Fair enough.

One thing that already caught my admiration was the subwoofer. Even though it can be considered compact with only 6.5″ driver, it pushes solid and round bass. It is surprisingly very heavy too, most of the 17kg packaging weight is from the sub. This alone concluded that I had made the right decision to picking this set over the A2+.

I am now in around 20 hours of burn-in time and have already been noticing the sound improvements. Even with low volume, I can hear most of the frequency ranges, an indication of high quality speakers. Can’t wait to hear when they have unleashed their true potential. I plan to write a full review after spending (a lot) more time with them. But for now, I am very happy with the Swans HiVi M50W and would recommend them to anyone looking for 2.1 multimedia speaker system in $200-$300 range.

The goods

• Superb finish, every piece uses high quality material
• Excellent subwoofer built and performance
• Looks awesome
• Can go really loud

The bads

• Initial listening might not show the true potential, require burn-in and some tweaking
• The satellite is just a tad big for a multimedia speaker at 14 x 14 cm, may require extra space on your desk
• Not easily obtainable in some countries

The post Swans HiVi M50W unboxing and early impressions appeared first on Michael Sunarlim.

Motorola made an great move that gave them a hope to win their share in the hyper competitive market of smartphones when they introduced Moto G back in late 2013. Instead of trying to compete with flagship models from other brands such as Samsung Galaxy S line, HTC One, or Google’s own Nexus series to name some, they turned their focus on middle market. It was actually a more challenging market to enter as they would need to compete with Chinese phone makers who could always offer a lower priced models in a blink of an eye.

That did not stop Motorola to win in that tough category though. Notable number of very positive reviews made it as one of most popular phones available under $200 that year. All thanks to the right mix of features:

1. The price was relatively lower than the mid-end range of more familiar brands (ie. Samsung, LG, HTC). It even allowed it to compete with Chinese brand smartphones.
2. It came with almost plain Android latest version, which was good. By 2013 Google had made lots of improvements over the OS’s UI and it actually looked better than most other makers’ custom UI. It also allowed the OS to be updated rather quickly when Google released the next Android version.
3. It was equipped with just the right components. Not the latest and greatest, but more than enough to impress anyone using it as their first Android phone: 4.5″ 720p (329 ppi) screen, quad core CPU, 1 GB of RAM, external MicroSD slot, and LTE to name a few.
4. There is only one model (with 8GB and 16GB internal storage for variation) in their mid-range product line. Other makers usually have half or even a dozen of different models competing against each other with new models coming every 2-3 months. That was just too confusing. Motorola did this right, just like Apple with the iPhone.
5. Good battery life. Some that is usually sacrificed when making low cost devices or just install it with any OS available on the table without properly tweak it.

The success of Moto G was then followed with a refresh in September 2014, preserving the same name. Some upgrades here and there, notably was the screen size had been increased to 5″ while preserving the resolution at 1280 x 720 px, which means lower ppi but still looked great.

“Wait, I thought this review is about Moto E not Moto G?” you say. Yes, we will get into it. I find it is important for you to understand the genes that made Moto E and know that it is not just a lame attempt by Motorola to grab the biggest market segment with a disappointing product.

Moto E

With Moto G had proven to be a hit, time for Motorola to aim the low end segment. Do not get it wrong, this is the emerging market. With the decline of Nokia and Blackberry, the market needs products that can fill the gap. Same as mid-level, the segment had been pre-populated with Chinese branded models.

Using the same formula for Moto G, the Moto E was introduced in May 2014, between first and and second generation of Moto G. The result: a sub $100 Android based smartphone for literally anyone. Seriously, the price is quite insane considering what you get from a reputable brand:

• 1.2 GHz Dual-core Cortex A7 CPU
• 1 GB RAM
• 4 GB internal storage
• MicroSD slot
• 1,980 mAh (non user-replaceable)
• 4.3″ screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 @ 960×540 px (256 ppi)
• 5 MP rear camera (no flash)
• GPS / GLONASS, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 for connectivity

Those are more than enough to do every smart things from your phone, except to run resource intensive games, but let’s get real with the expectations. The two things you might (or not) miss are front camera and flash on the rear camera. To keep things short, if you require to take a photo or selfie from your phone day and night, this is not the right phone for you. For the rest, you can continue reading my review.

Moto E side view

First Impressions

I got my unit last week because I needed a secondary phone which would allow me to use a separate number from my personal one. For the note, I use iPhone 5s for my primary phone.

Moto E next to iPhone 5s

Holding the unit for the first time, it felt heavier than I had thought, but it wouldn’t break an arm. In matter of fact, I like it because it does not feel cheap. The construction is solid and the finish is more than what you pay. Screen is obviously not “retina” quality but honestly 256 ppi is still a good density. So in short: impressive. I have been playing with it more than I thought I would, which eventually lead me to write this post.

Inside the box there were earphones set with handsfree, Micro-USB charger and cable, but I left them intact since I already have Sanctuary4 from Bluelounge as my charging station.

Android 5.0 Lollipop

One of the biggest challenges in buying Android phone, especially mid to low end models, is not knowing whether it will get the software update it deserves. It sort of defeats the purpose of having a smartphone if you are going to get stuck with the current version of Android OS at the time of purchase. To most manufacturers their goal is achieved the second you buy their products.

Luckily thanks to Motorola almost plain Android approach, and the fact that Motorola Mobility was owned by Google for a short period, the Moto G and Moto E can avoid that sad ending. The latest Android version 5, codenamed Lollipop, is coming to Moto E very soon. Officially it is under Soak Test, which can be translated as beta phase.

Of course if you are like me and simply cannot wait for the official release, there are multiple blog and forum posts that can guide you to upgrade to 5.0.2 immediately. It is not for everyone though, so if you are not very comfortable in messing with command lines or simply do not want to brick your Moto E, then my advice is to be patient just a little bit. It is coming.

So what’s the outcome after upgrading to Lollipop? Well, it makes a good device into lovable.

Moto E displaying Home screen after upgrade to Lollipop

Interface

Four words: I love Material Design! Material Design is the latest design/visual language developed by Google and incorporated into Android 5 Lollipop. It is a HUGE improvement and for the first time ever, I feel Google has done a better job compared to iOS 8’s flat design philosophy. In the case of Moto E, the new design works great with the screen resolution. It does not magically increase the pixel density, but it is definitely more pleasing to the eyes and individual pixels become less noticeable.

Speed

Many reviewers claim a boost in term of speed/performance after upgrading to Lollipop. To be fair, maybe that is the case with higher end models. Considering Moto E does not use the latest quad or octa core CPU and only 1GB RAM, I am already happy this upgrade does not make the phone super laggy. Again a common case when older device gets the latest major OS update, it even happens with the iPhones. Scrolling the Home screen and tapping on app icons feels smooth.

Battery

Remember that I only use my Moto E as a secondary phone. I typically only spend 30-60 minutes a day doing real activities on it, but it can easily pass over 3 days with a single charge. Wi-Fi is always on and my model is the dual SIM version with both SIM cards active. If I disable wireless and only active one SIM, no doubt I can get an even longer life. I am quite confident for typical use like browsing, managing email, SMS, instant messaging and a number of calls, this thing can last throughout the day without sweating.

Screenshots

Conclusion

The Motorola Moto E is a fine piece of device for its price. $100 is average amount of money people used to spend to buy typical Nokia phone less than 5 years ago without caring about CPU, RAM, or camera capability as long as they can make calls and send out SMS. If you keep your thoughts simple, than you would realize how good deal it is. With the update to Lollipop, the experience will improve even further.

Who should buy Moto E:

1. Someone already using a smartphone and need a secondary one, like me
   1. Someone who wants to replace his or her really old phone and learning using a smartphone
   2. First time Android user
   3. Parents who want to give their kid his or her first phone
   4. Android fan who wants a cheaper device to tinker

These people might get disappointed with Moto E:

1. A selfie junkie
   1. Someone who requires to do video calls every now and then
   2. Someone who plans to put a hundred apps and all his media files into his phone
   3. A person who just lost his iPhone 6 or Galaxy S5 and looking for a replacement
   4. Customer who always in need to have the greatest gadget but not willing to pay premium for it

The post Geek Review: Motorola Moto E running Android Lollipop (5.0.2) appeared first on Michael Sunarlim.

My previous soundbar was LG HLB54S with Blu-ray player built-in and it had served me well before I decided it was time for an upgrade. After looking at many options available in the market at the time, I finally put my eyes at two soundbars by Yamaha: the YSP-1400 and YSP-2500. Yamaha calls these line as sound projectors instead of soundbars, a marketing term which I find is not an exaggeration. The reason will be described as you read through more details below.

Generally the YSP-1400 and YSP-2500 have all the requirements I looked for my next soundbar:

• 5.1 or 7.1 Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound – many (lower-end) soundbars do not actually have this and sometimes only offer 2.1 or 4.1 output
• Bluetooth connection to wirelessly stream the audio from smartphone
• Optical input to connect my Mac mini as the primary source of media
• iOS and Android app which always a nice thing for any geek

At around $1,000, YSP-2500 costs over twice of YSP-1400 which is sold at between $300-350. In my opinion this is a worthy investment if you have the extra budget for it. For me the added values were:

• A separate wireless subwoofer unit – YSP-1400 has built-in woofers which has its own selling value if you are looking for something that is very minimal
• 16 sound beams vs 8 sound beams on YSP-1400
• LCD display to see the status of your playback
• Brushed aluminium finish – YSP-1400 only use glossy plastic for its casing
• Included Intellibeam microphone for easy sound calibration
• 3 HDMI input in addition of the optical input
• Supports HDMI 4K Ultra HD 50/60p Pass-through and 3D

All you ever need from a soundbar: 3 HDMI input, 1 HDMI output, 2 optical input, Dolby True HD, DTS-HD.

Set-up

The biggest challenge with any soundbar is room layout. It may not work anywhere as it requires solid walls to bounce the side and rear channels to create that surround effect. My room is far from ideal for this to be honest, the TV can only be hung on the right side so it is not centered and on the right of it are windows with blind curtains.

Here is where I feel Yamaha truly excels compared to the rest of competition. They are not only selling you drivers boxed in a single case and call it a soundbar, you are buying their famed digital sound projector technology that allows you to calibrate the settings to meet your room environment.

Included within YSP-2500 box is an Intellibeam microphone. You plug it into the main unit and then place the mic on the spot where you would watch your movies and it will automatically calibrate the angles of channels to get optimized result with minimum efforts. It does not stop there though, you can later tweak the setup using the on screen display or smartphone app. For each channel you can modify the angle degree and volume.

Take your time very carefully during the initial setup as it will define a great or only mediocre experience. In my case, I run the automatic calibration 3 times, saved each on different memory preset, run a test from its iOS app to find one closest to my preference then play the settings a little bit more.

My home theater setup: 42″ LG LED screen, Yamaha YSP-2500, Mac mini with Plex, Samsung Cable STB.

Performance: Movies

I have been using YSP-2500 for almost a month now, well through the holidays where I had good amount of time enjoying many movies from my collection. My impressions have been overwhelmingly positive with my new audio setup. I can finally be able to experience a very close to true surround sound again in my “far from ideal” room layout.

Few of the movies I tested it with:

1. Mission: Impossible III
2. The Avengers
3. Star Trek: Into Darkness
4. X-Men 2

YSP-2500 passed all with flying colors. Whether it is a scene with train or helicopter passing by, battle with explosions, or only background sounds during a dialog, I could hear the sound fill out the room and channels coming from different directions. I was hoping to upgrade a step or two switching from my old LG soundbar, but what I am getting is a whole new level to a point where I believe a soundbar can replace dedicated home theater. It will not be better for an obvious reason, but for its simplicity it may become more popular in the future.

One thing that I love the most is, even in smaller volume I can feel the surround sound. When you crank up the volume, you will enjoy it even more although do not expect to feel the entire room vibrating but in my case it is just perfect.

Performance: Music

Listening to music is probably not the main reason you are planning to purchase a soundbar and even though YSP-2500 is great for watching movies, it is still no exception. While you can enjoy good sound from all frequency range, it is not a music hi-fi system. Just to listening casually you would not complain much though.

One thing that is pretty nice is “Target Mode” where you can adjust the location of your listening position so you would still hear a decent stereo sound even though you are not in front of the speakers.

Features

The YSP series is an excellent line of products from Yamaha. They are not your typical soundbars, or every soundbar should have what they offer in addition of enclosing drivers into a single wide casing. Here are some features and technologies I would like to highlight:

Sound Beams
I am not really sure how it actually works, but sound beams allow you to calibrate the direction of the sound coming from each individual driver to meet your room layout and preferences.

iOS and Android Apps
The ability to control your console from a well-built app is a nice added functionality. Even though you can do it using a remote and on screen display, it is particularly convenient to tweak the calibration from an app. From my iPhone, connecting the app to the soundbar is pretty straightforward: connect the device using Bluetooth, open the app, and I can control it using the navigation on my iPhone screen.

IR Repeater
Most of soundbars are placed right in front of the flat-screen TV which means they could block access of the TV’s remote. In anticipation to this, Yamaha incorporates a smart feature with an IR repeater that will “rebroadcast” the signal at the back of the unit. At least YSP-1400 and YSP-2500 have this built-in.

Clear Voice
Have you ever had a dilemma when you need to watch you movies in low volume but then you cannot hear the dialog? With Clear Voice feature activated it will boost frequency of human voices so this problem is solved. It actually works in the situations I have had to switch it on.

Conclusion

For sub-$1,000 budget, I would highly recommend Yamaha YSP-2500. It packs the features most home theater enthusiasts, who want to have clutter free setup, ever need. If you compare with a dedicated home theater package with 6 or even 8 individual speakers, you would most likely get better results. But you can forget about setting it up on your bed room or having to argue with your spouse for her permission to install in the living room.

If you think that is too much to spend, then you can also consider the YSP-1400 as a lower-end alternative. It may not be as good and feature packed, but should be better than other soundbars on the market.

Gallery

The post Geek Review: Yamaha YSP-2500 soundbar appeared first on Michael Sunarlim.

Hari Belanja Nasional: Indonesia’s Black Friday

This all began from bombardment of online and TV ads from Lazada for “Hari Belanja Nasional” or National Shopping Day which is basically a marketing campaign by Indonesia’s big e-commerce players to promote what would be similar to Black Friday in United States. The date is December 12 (12/12). They certainly went all out for this, placing the ads during TV broadcast prime times.

Out of curiosity, I started looking at Lazada for interesting items for me to add on the wish list then wait what would happen on the big day. While not as crazy as Black Friday deals that you would see from US-based e-tailers, Lazada offered a range of coupon vouchers with values ranging from US$16-400 depending on your shopping cart total value. Not bad, enough to persuade me to become a customer.

Product Catalog

Lazada Indonesia’s product catalog is quite extensive and you can see they have managed to bring in big brands, more than enough for anyone to find something they need or want. There are 13 main categories, ranging from customer electronics to sports and outdoor. Similar to Amazon, Lazada sells items direct and also from third party merchant partners.

In overall most of the products have decent information but still very far from adequate when you are seeing them as “Amazon of South East Asia” as some media claim.

1. Minimal specification details for their electronic products. Take LED TV for instance, most of them do not have information about input/output options which is quite essential in my opinion. You have to google and find it from other sites. Guess where I got mine? Amazon.
2. Censored review. I mean in a quite extreme way. Browsing through the catalog, I probably could only find one or two products with overall rating of 3 stars. Most of the products would be 4+ stars. Basically a statement, “everything we sell is great.” When I tried to add a review, after submitting it was pending for verification. No wonder.

Placing Orders

I ended up placing three orders. One was for a Yamaha soundbar valued at around US$625. The other order was a tricycle for my nephew’s long delayed birthday gift. Both were sold by third party merchants and not stocked directly by Lazada but qualified for free shipping. Checkout process was pretty straightforward, after creating an account, it asked for shipping and billing addresses, then payment method. It offers 4 options for payment:

1. Cash of Delivery (limited area and only items sold direct by Lazada)
2. Credit Card (Visa/MasterCard)
3. Bank Transfer
4. BCA KlikPay (e-payment product from one of the biggest banks in Indonesia)

In case you are wondering about the third order, I actually had to re-order the tricycle. Details below.

Issue #1: Order Processing Time

I chose to use credit card as payment because I thought it would be most convenient for me as the customer. The bank provider sent instant SMS notification immediately after the order had been placed. That quite settled that the transaction went through without any problem. An email was sent by Lazada to confirm the order and notify that the transaction was under verification process and I would be re-notified within 24 hours when the order was ready to be shipped.

My immediate question at the time was what needed to be verified? I thought the idea of using a payment gateway to accept credit cards was for instant verification and the amount should be automatically blocked from the credit card limit. I tried to follow their rules though.

Things got bad when after 24 hours I had no follow-up and nothing had changed with the order status. Contacting their customer service through live chat did not help either. The responses were slow, probably because they were serving other customers with similar cases, and they only followed the standard of procedures when responding the inquiries. I am pretty sure I could be more patient should they were able to actually explain the cause of delay transparently.

After bugging them for 2 days, my order was finally verified and forwarded to the supplier after almost 60 hours.

Issue #2: Order Cancellation

The other issue I had was caused by a mix-up after cancelling my second order. A couple of hours after ordering the tricycle, I noticed that price dropped over 10%. I suspected the merchant had just updated the price after receiving the order. Since my order was still under “verification” status, I contacted Lazada’s customer service to check if it would still be possible to cancel my order without getting my credit card charged. She said yes and after requesting my confirmation, she cancelled it. I then re-ordered the item with the latest and lower pice.

I was quite shocked when the next day I checked on my credit card’s Internet banking that the transaction that was supposed to be cancelled was still charged into my card. It seemed that the department who handled the transactions did not pay attention to orders’ statuses and just captured all outstanding transactions.

To make things worse, when it comes to this matter the customer service was practically only the listening ears and could not provide satisfying response to my frustration. They said that cancelled orders would be refunded within 14 working days. But that was not the point, I was disappointed that the supposed to be cancelled transaction had been captured in the first place. If this is their standard of operations, I think it is certainly something that can be improved.

They eventually did things right though. To avoid further disappointment from a customer, they expedited the refund process and it was credited into my credit card balance without 48 hours. They even called to explain about the mix-up and apologize. A very simple but valuable gesture.

Will I Order Again from Lazada?

While they are still not 100% there yet, I believe they are doing the right things in terms of offerings and ensuring customer satisfaction. I would probably do a few more test orders in less busy time (for them) to truly see their standard quality in handling the orders.

Serving potentially 300 million customers in Indonesia is not an easy job, especially since most of them are not completely familiar with pure B2C e-commerce models. However if they are doing it right, they may generate more revenue than Amazon. Just look at Alibaba.

If you google about Lazada you may find many blog and forum posts, mostly in Bahasa, about some terrible experiences by customers. But I am going to give them a benefit of the doubt. Changing how the market perceives e-commerce is challenging task. It is not just about acquiring the best price, but to be able to abandon going to malls to find the products you are looking for with the assurance if they are not as good and you expected you can simply return them with not much hassle.

It will be interesting to see how far e-commerce will grow in the country in the the next few years.

The Story Behind Lazada

(Excerpted from VentureBeat)

Lazada was founded by German incubator firm Rocket Internet and claims to be Southeast Asia’s “largest online shopping mall,” which means it’s very similar to online retailer Amazon in a market that’s growing like crazy. It’s known for selling electronics, apparel, cosmetics, books, and more to customers in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and other countries in the area. And like Amazon, it also offers free shipping on many items, free returns (within 14 days), and more.

Lazada has raised over US$500 million to secure its position as a dominant force in e-commerce in Southeast Asia.

The post Join The Online Revolution: Experience with Lazada Indonesia appeared first on Michael Sunarlim.

Background

First of all, this is not an audiophile’s review. My ears are not that well trained to be able to recognize the “sound colors” using different setups. I can only share a subjective conclusion and a little bit story of how they are set.

Here is my setup:

• Laptop: Apple Macbook Air 13″ (Mid 2012)
• DAC: FiiO E10K Olympus 2
• Headphones: Philips Fidelio X1
• Cable: 3.5cm Custom Connector Cable – Canare Aluminum Foil Shield (L-2B2AT) + Rean NYS231BG
• Music Player: VOX

What is a DAC?

DAC stands for digital-to-analog converter, or a component that converts digital data into analog signal so you can hear the audio through your speakers or headphones. Basically it is a sound card or sound chip that is integrated into almost all computer motherboards to produce audio output. However not every on-board DAC has the same quality, caused by many factors which I am not going to discuss here.

In fact, Macbook Air already has a very good built-in DAC according to this article. So why do I need to buy an external DAC you say? Well to be very fair, the main reason is because I am a geek and need a reason to spend money to make my computer looks cooler. But behind that, I am also hoping I can get a different experience when listening to music from my laptop.

FiiO E10K

In case you never heard of FiiO, it is a Chinese brand that has been making a reputation for making very good audio products with reasonable pricing. Their product ranges include portable players, portable amps, DACs and cables. The E10K (Olympus 2) is one of their latest products released this year, an update of their popular E10. It is a USB DAC, so you need to plug it into your computer’s USB connector for it to receive the ‘digital data’.

FiiO E10K box and unit

First Impressions

I have to say, gone are the days when Chinese brands create so-so products in not-so-exciting packaging. This was my first FiiO product and I was quite impressed in how they try to give a wonderful customer experience when unpacking their product. Fiio E10K comes in a very well designed box. Inside you will find the unit, USB cable to connect your computer, and a set of rubber feet which I decided not to use.

The unit itself is a lot smaller than I imagined. The build quality is good, the volume knob has some resistant which makes it feel like turning on a bigger device. In overall, nothing about it is cheap. If this is sold by a bigger brand, they can easily double the price tag and still get lots of customers buying.

Connecting to the Macbook’s USB slot, the device was immediately detected and can be checked under Mac OS X’s System Preferences > Sound. Although surprisingly it was shown as FiiO USB DAC-E10 instead of E10K. I do not think that would be an issue though. If you want to use it as the main output for all system sounds, you can select it instead of the Internal Speakers. In my case, I do not want this which I will explain further down.

Setting the volume at 6 (out of 8), you can already get louder sounds from the built-in output. So if you do not find your Macbook’s sound through the earphone jack is loud enough, that is more than enough reason to buy an external DAC or amp. I set the Bass to on and it delivers the extra punch in the lower frequencies that meets my taste.

Philips Fidelio X1

When talking about good headphones, the first names that comes to mind are probably Sennheiser, AKG, Sony, and so on. Philips had been making headphones and earphones for a long time but had never been considered as a serious player. That was until they introduce the Fidelio line with X1 as their flagship product.

Great sound, uber design, nice build quality, all packed with a reasonable price, what else could you ask for? I am going to hand the in-depth reviews to be masters and other references which in majority agree that these are good pair of cans in their price range:

• Head-Fi – Philips Fidelio X1 | Review & Comparison
• Headfonia – The Fidelio X1 by Philips
• Pocket-lint – Philips Fidelio X1 headphones review

Philips Fidelio X1 with custom cable

I have been using my X1 for almost 6 months now and really enjoying them even by connecting directly to my Macbook without the FiiO E10K. I got a very sweet deal on Amazon when they put them as Today’s Deal for only $150. With Amazon offering global shipping on select products, even with International delivery and customs, the amount of money I had to pay was still less than its suggested retail price of $300.

Quick facts regarding the X1:

1. They are open-back headphones, which means the music you are hearing is leaking out but gives a bigger staging feel. I personally love open-back cans. They are obviously not the choice for commuting.
2. X1 comes with detachable connector cable and the most popular suggestion from many owners of the set is to replace the one that comes with the box to get better sound quality.

VOX Music Player

iTunes had been the only music/media player I needed for over a decade, until I discover VOX by Coppertino. Is it just another music player for Mac OSX? I have to say no. Here are few reasons to love it:

1. It is a seriously developed app with pleasant interface. Kudos for the awesome guys at Coppertino.
2. Supports additional music formats including FLAC.
3. I can split my music libraries in case I do not want to sync to my iOS devices, or want to listen to a new album without permanently adding it to my iTunes library.
4. You can choose the Output Device under the preferences which works really well in my setup and only use FiiO DAC to output the music for VOX. Other system sounds will go through the internal speakers or phones if plugged in to the laptop.
5. More EQ presets.
6. Last.fm and SoundCloud intergration.

VOX is available as free download from Mac App Store or direct download on Coppertino website.

Final Thoughts

I am happy with my music setup? Yes, very much. I can honestly say that I am truly enjoying it. The idea that I can have two completely separate setups on my Macbook Air is very exciting. Now I can use my good headphones to enjoy good music, while preserving the built-in mic/output for my headset for Skype. No longer I need to switch the phones and adjusting the volume every time I get incoming call.

Gallery

The post Geek Review: Macbook Air + FiiO E10K + Philips Fidelio X1 appeared first on Michael Sunarlim.

Website: remote.collect3.com.au

[rating: 3.5/5]

I love my modded Xbox with XBMC. I still believe it is the best and cheapest digital media system that you can get to this date. Until AppleTV can natively run movies in multi format of course.

When hear that XBMC Remote is available on Apple App Store I was so excited and tried to accept the $5 price tag that makes it a middle-priced for an iPhone/iPhone app. I bougth it anyway in the end and hoping it can really work like Apple’s Remote app to control iTunes/AppleTV.

Review Note
A little breakdown on my current system: I use the latest XBMC build by T3CH. I previously used a very old version of XBMC which could not work with this app. More on this below. My Xbox has just a little over 1,000 songs on its library. A IR-receiver is plugged on one of the controller jack and I regularly use my Logitech Harmony remote to control it.
Another thing, I understand this is a very early release so I am sure with a few more updates this app will be a lot better.

Installation
Like all iPhone app from App Store, installation was a breeze. Just click buy and the app will be downloaded and installed on your iPhone. You also need to turn on Web Server function on your XBMC, details provided here.

First Try
On my case after I set everything up, I was having a frustrating time because I could not make the remote work even though it could connect to my XBMC. The app FAQ page just did not give enough information of what to do to solve this. At the end I decided to upgrade my XBMC and it worked.

Interface
It is definitely inspired by Apple’s Remote app for iTunes. All the buttons are nicely done, album cover thumbnails are slow to load but this is something that will be updated on the next release.

Performance
I am going to be super honest here, the performance is not exactly the way that I had hoped for. Everything feels lagging, like when I choose a song it may take a few seconds before it starts playing. Worse, when I click on Songs tab and click Shuffle it will make the app and Xbox freeze and if I am lucky it will start playing a few minutes later. I understand this can be the limitations on my Xbox’s power as XBMC is not only limited for Xbox only but also available on Mac and Linux which may have better processor and memory. But then again this should be something that is mentioned on their product page, considering this is not a free nor a beta version.

Support
Apart from the lack of information on their website, support is something that the developer’s put attention to. They provided forums for people to ask questions and give suggestion. They are also quite responsive when I emailed them regarding my problems.

Price
For $5 I feel this app is a bit overpriced, considering similar app was already developed a year ago for jailbroken iPhone. Maybe I am being too subjective here, but $5 also feels hefty because everything else about XBMC are community-maintained and free.

Conclusion
If you have an Xbox with XBMC and use it a lot, it is nice to be able to browse through your libraries without needing to turn on your TV. If you have a huge music library and need to keep it organized and sync with your iTunes, maybe buying an AppleTV is a better option.

The post Review: XBMC Remote for iPhone appeared first on Michael Sunarlim.

Website: www.shopify.com

[rating: 4.5/5]

A shop in minutes, a business for life. JadedPixel, developer of Shopify, is certainly not exaggerating its tagline, you really can set up your online store in minutes.

It all started a year ago. I had zero experience on working with e-commerce system. I always thought it had to be customized by someone who had absolute knowledge of programming that supports the system, whether it was PHP, ASP, anything. Surprisingly, it only took a few days to fully understand how the themes work and I could create a customized theme in a few days. Note, you can start building your online shop using the provided default themes.

Customization
Just like stated above, it is super easy to learn and create a new theme. It uses its own Liquid templatling system for dynamic content, but believe me it is easy to understand. Of course you still definitely need to have at least an understanding of (x)HTML, CSS and basic programming algorithm.

You only need to modify 6 or 7 theme files and one CSS file, compared to dozens on most of other similar systems. Worth to note, it is also convenient to add a customized JavaScript modules without interfering with the rest of system most of the time

Backend Admin
This is also one of the biggest point why we love it so much. The look and feel is very clean. AJAX support makes it possible to drag and drop to sort your products.

Shopify's Admin interface screenshot

Support
The first place you need to go when you are experiencing any problem or bug is their forums which can be a good or a bad thing. The good thing is there are so many nice and skilled people on the community that will gladly share their knowledge and help you out. The bad thing, you just sometimes need a direct respond and explanations from the developers and it may take a while to get their attention.

Improvement
Shopify is growing along with your business. There are countless updates and new features that have been added since the first time we use it, and they plan to keep on doing it. Although there are some features that we wish they should have added, but not yet. They listen to their customers, so I am sure one day they will be added.

Price
Shopify offers a very unique pricing. You only pay a very reasonable monthly fee plus a small percentage of your transaction fee (ranging from 0.5% to 2%). This makes sense, if you want to start your first online business you possibly do not want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollar each month. You can check their detailed pricing plans here.

Final Words
I have worked partially with other systems since then, nothing is as simple as Shopify. It really stands with its concept, to make everything as easy as possible. For a small and medium business, Shopify is perfect! But if you need more detailed features like bulk shipping update, more flexible coupon code creation options or customer membership, you might have to wait until they include them to the system.

The post Review: Shopify appeared first on Michael Sunarlim.