2012年5月2日 星期三

App review- Orange Diary

Since I decided I am not going to bring a laptop and will strictly stick to using my phone to record trip logs, I did some hunting around on Google Play for a suitable journal-keeping app.

I started out with EmoCube and Memoires and tested them for a bit before giving up on both of them. I really liked EmoCube because it provides easy sharing link to FB and Twitter, but since each post was only allowed 1 single pic attachment, it's really more suitable for single-occasion uses and not for continous logging purposes.

Memoires was next on the list to try. The interface was really awesome, it even records GPS locations of each entry and weather at that time using google map. Everything looked fantastic... until I tried to share it. To my disappointment the sharing features in Memoires was super lacking. The fancy weather and location feature doesn't get shared through to other social medias so that was the major let down.

So finally I came to this - Orange Diary. While lacking the location and weather record features, it had two major selling points for me.

1. It has all the features perfectly suited for recording travel logs. Journal functions, reminders, and expense records are all laid out in easily accessible fashion and not hard to use.

2. It auto backs up data into google docs, spread sheets, and dropbox! Now best of all, it supports blogger publishing! The latter was totally worth the purchase since I have long loathed Blogger's own publishing app. Actually, this review post was entirely written on my phone and published using Orange Diary to test its functions. So far it met all my needs and I give it two thumbs up. I am going to do some more tests to see if I can really ditch my EeePC for this next biking trip.

2012年4月22日 星期日

To me, travel is...

As I search for books and articles that would provide some insight about my upcoming China trip, I was increasingly annoyed by all the travel books and guides out on the market. 

"Travel" has cheapened in the present day. In practice and in concept. 

Browsing on Amazon, I couldn't help but feel that somewhere in the process of mass reproducing these travel success formulae the magic about traveling and exploring the unknown got left out of the mix. 

Modern day travel is really more about management than physically exploring terra incognita. Travelers meet their expectations by carefully managing their logistics and expenses for maximum entertainment value -  with the help from Frommer's or Lonely Planet. 

Just like how we have developed expectations about movies, (oh you knew what you were getting when you sat down for Titanic 3D!) certain expectations are set before we even leave home, and once we leave the house, all that's left is completing the checklist. Familiar much? Yeah, project management 101! "Initiate, design, implement!" 

To me, by-the-number tour routine is anathema to the idea of traveling. 

Travel should be about living while on the move. What you are able to experience while traversing across the land, that's something the books certainly don't talk enough about but that's what I think makes travelling so alluring.

Well, all that rambling is really just me saying, pretty much all the travel books out right now are crap, if you want to make travel fun, I think ditching your Frommer's or Lonely Planet would be a good start. As for my trip, still thinking about what to make of it. Just pure urge to go out and explore? Or is there something deeper behind the drive to do this grueling trip again? Still figuring it out... 

2011年6月28日 星期二

神奇好用除臭劑

Nana姐姐臭臭但我很香!!
自從家中多了兩隻寵物之後,如何維持居家環境的整潔就變成了一個很惱人的課題...連日來的大雨弄到外面都是Nana的尿味搞得我跟大貓都快煩死了(正在打這篇的瞬間雨又下了! e04!)。天啊為什麼沒有人發明黃金用體香膏啊XD濕掉的狗味+噴濺進來的尿味+地上潮濕的泥土味 = 兩位快抓狂的主人。(這時發現貓真的是乾淨多了...)終於,快忍不下去的我前天上了PCHOME開始東逛西逛各種好用物品,第一個找的就是除臭用品。再來就是要買罐洗髮精徹底幫NANA洗個澡!

Nana小時候住在家裡室內,那時為了維持家裡乾淨,芳香劑除臭劑等等是三天兩頭都在買。家裡弄得很香沒有錯啦可是總覺得是用香味在蓋臭味。這次在PCHOME上找到了兩樣很厲害的新(?)產品我真的覺得不推一下給其他家中有寵物的人一定會遭天打雷劈~簡直就是神物!趕快來看一下順便來幾張開箱照





喵,把拔買零食給我嗎?

裝可愛一下看看等等會不會有得吃

到底盒子裡是啥啊?*抓抓*



TADA~上面就是在PCHOME上逛了半天的戰利品。左後方兩罐是神奇Arc-Flash光觸媒清潔劑,小罐是噴的(這罐是寵物用可以直接噴在狗身上,有出另一種是一般除臭用噴劑。)大罐的是要稀釋拿來拖地用。右邊兩罐則分別是Nana的洗髮精跟另一種益生菌除臭劑。右前方兩塊貼布似的東西是拿來抓塵螨的,左邊那個有點像大顆藥丸的是號稱可以使用六年的馬桶潔淨丸!據說是以磁力破壞水中污垢附著在馬桶上的黏著力,好不好用過一陣子再來報告囉!

當然重點是左後方兩罐Arc-Flash。原廠的廣告標題整個重重打中我心啊! 「瞬間除臭、持續分解,非用香味壓臭味,口服毒性低於食鹽」 這正是我需要的,我不想住在香水瓶裡啊,這種以讓臭味消失為出發點的產品真的才是我理想中的除臭產品!

BOBO的貓砂正好最近有點臭臭,馬上抓起那罐噴霧式的對準貓砂噴了兩三下。挖幹,有沒有這麼神!BOBO貓砂裡那鹹鹹騷騷有溫熱感的臭味真的在幾十秒內就整個消~失~了!對異味很敏感的大貓也說異味消失了,就連BOBO都馬上湊過來東聞西聞還一直在貓沙裡撥弄因為他也聞不到自己的味道了! ...然後接下來只見他馬上開始奮力重新製造氣味XD

靠腰,我的貓砂怎麼沒味道了!看我用力尿!尿!
試了好幾次之後真的要說這Arc-Flash除臭製品真的太神奇了。後來我跟大貓很認真地花了三小時刷完我們的陽台之後我用了三瓶蓋的拖地劑稀釋在一桶水裡又拖過一次,第二天早上NANA大小便過後的陽台居然完全沒有屎尿味!應該說,完全沒有味道!這產品說可以持續分解氣味真的不是在唬爛的~家裡有養寵物或是對家中異味覺得很困擾的人快衝啊這產品好用!


刷完過後亮晶晶


家裡外面都不臭了唷!