Tag: technology

Leveled-up My iPad

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"iPad Air" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO400
 “iPad Air” Cedar Park, 2019

こんにちは。How’s it going?

Back in January, I bought an iPad (6th gen) to use as a sketching device, and I since then, I’ve been very happy with it. However, between that time and now, a couple of new iPad models have been released, and the model that I purchased has dropped in price by $70. I purchased my iPad at Costco which has a generous 90-day return policy, and that gave me the option of returning it and buying the same model at the lower price or getting a different model. I decided on the latter option, with the new model being the iPad Air 3, which was $99 more than my original Costco purchase.

The iPad Air 3 has a few advantages over the regular iPad, which made the $99 price difference easy to swallow. First, the screen is a bit larger which makes drawing easier and more fun. Next, the display can show more colors, and its laminated screen means there’s less gap between the tip of the Apple Pencil and the pixels. The new iPad has a larger display, but it’s over a millimeter thinner than the old iPad. Lastly, the iPad Air 3 has a faster processor which will make it a bit more future-proof.

On the downside, the iPad Air 3 that I chose has 64 GB of memory vs. 128 GB on my old iPad, but after using it for two months, I only utilized about 31 GB of space so the 64 GB capacity should be more than adequate.

All-in-all, I’m happy with the upgrade choice. And as a bonus, I could choose the silver model with white bezel, which I prefer over the space-gray/black bezel model which Costco offers. 😀

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

Drawing on the iPad with Procreate

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"Digital Drawing in iPad" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Digital Drawing in iPad” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

I couple days ago I bought an Apple iPad 9.7″. The reason I bought it is because I wanted a good drawing tablet with a screen, and to me, the 9.7″ iPad was the best combination of quality and price. I’m not a fan of Apple products (mainly their ecosystem and the awful iTunes application) but the lure of Apple pencil and Procreate was too much to resist.

I’ve had the iPad for a couple days, and I love drawing with it! Procreate is such a fun program to use. I ended up drawing late into the wee hours of the morning the first day I had it.

Compared to a traditional drawing tablet like my Wacom Art tablet, it’s so much more intuitive and fun. The pinch to zoom and rotate on the iPad is awesome! It makes sketching so easy and convenient. I’d say it’s a game-changer.

I’m still a newbie, but I wanted to share one of the “watercolors” I created. I imported a photo from my China vacation, then traced it by hand and colored it in. I’m pleased with how it turned out, especially for a first attempt.

Shibaozhai Pagoda
Shibaozhai Pagoda

One really cool feature of Procreate is the timelapse feature. It’s pretty neat how it’s always recording your brushstrokes. So fun to go back and watch! Check out the video below to see how I drew this little watercolor:

I’m so happy with Procreate and the Apple pencil. I find iOS to be decent, but the file system baffles me, and iTunes is still maddening. But if I use iPad for the intention I bought it for (sketching), I am more than satisfied. 😀

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

New Phone (Motorola Moto G6)

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"Moto G6 and Case" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO400
 “Moto G6 and Case” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today I replaced my old phone, a Motorola Moto G4, with a new one. I went with the latest in the Moto G line, the Motorola Moto G6, which was on sale at Costco for a nice price of just $189, unlocked. Three and a half years ago, I bought the Moto G4 for $179, so it’s keeping with the tradition of a nicely-priced mid-range (some would say “budget”) phone. I just can’t see myself spending a ton of money on a phone, even though I know they are huge parts of our lives.

"Old and New" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO1000
 “Old and New” Cedar Park, 2018

As you can see from the photo above, the size is about the same, but the screen is slightly taller, and better quality. I ordered another wallet-style case since that is what I prefer – having my drivers license, main credit cards, and a bit of cash with my phone simplifies things for me. I just grab that, my keys, and my camera and I am ready to go! Plus the wallet-case is nice protection for my phone. I don’t need a screen protector for the phone… my G4 doesn’t have any scratches on it. It looks brand new! So hopefully I can sell it for a decent price.

Moving my data from the old phone to the new one was really easy, and only took about 20 minutes. Almost all my old apps were downloaded and installed automatically and settings came across as well. Plus using Lastpass made logging into everything painless. I highly recommend using a password manager!

"Transfer" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO500
 “Transfer” Cedar Park, 2018

Once everything was installed, I decided to use a different launcher instead of the Motorola Launcher. I mainly don’t like how the folders look with the Motorola version, with the tiny app icons stuffed inside. I went with Nova Launcher, which I used to use with my old Samsung Galaxy S3 several years ago, and since I actually bought the “Prime” version for the S3, it was still available for installation even for the new phone! With Nova Launcher, I now have the extra customization options to change the icons. So far here is what my phone screen looks like. Nice and tidy:

"Tidy" Cedar Park, 2018
“Tidy” Cedar Park, 2018

The folders on the bottom row are (from left to right) chat/messaging/phone, maps/location, music, Instagram/photo-related, and fun stuff like games/Kindle/Netflix. I like the simple look with beautiful illustration as background.

I’m enjoying the speed boost that comes with the upgrade to the Motorola Moto G6. And I am very happy that I was able to get a good deal on a solid phone. 😊

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～


Sticker on the New Power Bank

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"Team Zissou" Austin, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO800
 “Team Zissou” Austin, 2018

こんばんは。

Today’s photo is of the sticker I put on my new power bank. Do you know what movie that sneaker is from? If you guessed The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou you would be correct!

I bought a new power bank because Bay’s battery went kaput and I gave him my Anker power bank. It was good, but it was too heavy and kind of overkill on my power needs, but perfect for Bay. While I was in China, I found that my Anker pack was just too heavy and bulky, but my Mom’s much smaller power bank was great. So I opted to get a smaller capacity 10,000 mAh Oprout power bank (with enough flat surface space to decorate with sticker) and it suits me fine. If I need to, I can even put it in my jeans pocket.

Anyways, so far so good!

I hope you had a nice day.

またね～

No Spoilers Please

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“TTL Uke” Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/15 sec, ISO2000
 “TTL Uke” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

So, we watched Avengers: Infinity War the other day, a week or so after it opened in theaters. During that time, both my kids were avoiding spoilers and friends’ conversations about the movie, and I guess they were successful in making it through the week spoiler-free!

But speaking of spoilers, I was watching the Japanese taiga drama Segodon yesterday, and the title of the episode was shown on the screen. It was “Nariakira’s Assassination” and I was like, “Nooooo!!!” What a spoiler! But as it turned out, it was just an assassination attempt which he survived. Whew! 😌

That got me thinking about another spoiler I stumbled into many years ago. It was before Star Wars Episode 1 came out, and I happened to see the tracklist of the soundtrack. One of the titles of the songs was “Qui-Gon’s Noble End”. 😨 What a bummer to see that before watching the movie huh. Oh well, I thought that movie wasn’t so great anyways.

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Today’s photo is of my ukulele but shot through a view camera. I thought it was a neat perspective. BTW, I used Snapseed to edit this photo instead of Lightroom like I usually do. My desktop computer’s data hard drive is on the fritz, so I wasn’t able to load the library. I have everything backed up, so I’m not too bummed that it’s on its last legs, however, my backup is a few weeks old and I’m currently doing another one this evening, but it’s kind of stuck. I’ll let it go overnight and see if it finishes.

Regardless, I have ordered a new hard drive so we’ll be up and running on the ol’ desktop rig in a couple days. It’ll be nice to declutter that drive, although not by choice. I have all my important data ready to restore, but other things like downloaded media and dorama weren’t backed up and I probably won’t try too hard to transfer all those things to the new drive. If I really need them, I can download them again, right? 😄

I hope you had a nice day!

おやすみ

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