Damn. Do i have bad luck with buying tech stuff or what? It's nothing to do with my harddisk casing (i got the A.C. Ryan AluBox one week ago) but with my bloody cellphone. The Sony Ericsson k850i that is. The right side "touch screen button" - which i realised actually works on a sensor below it rather than anything else - seems to be super-sensitive these days.
I can be pressing the "phone down" or "cancel" button, and my thumb's fingernail would brush over (without actually touching) an area BELOW the sensor, about half a centimetre from the actual "touch screen button" itself. And half a centimetre is a VERY huge distance if you consider the small surface area (and small size in general) of handphones.
And when i do that, the "touch screen button" activates. Pisses me off at times because i use the cancel button a lot when messaging, so the touch screen thing gets activated again, and again, and again...it's definitely a defect because i don't have the same problems with the other two touchscreen buttons. With the bad experience i've had dealing with those super-expensive, super-faulty touch-screen toughbooks in the Army (the mouse pointer kept jumping all over the place!!), i now have the impression that touch-screen products are still in the early stage, still as buggy as ever, and thus should be avoided at all costs. -.-
What am i going to do? Send it over to the Sony Ericsson service centre to get serviced, of course. The whole sequence of picking a queue number, waiting in line, explaining your problem, leaving the phone with them and using a replacement phone for a few days until i can go pick it up again. Quite a time wasting endeavour.
And then i have to do it twice. Because my Philips 190B computer monitor is giving me problems. I was already pretty unlucky with the monitor at the start because when i brought mine home, i realised that the digital port doesn't work - i've been using the analog cable since then. I didn't want to bring it back to get serviced; i didn't have a driving license back then and still don't have one now, so doing the whole servicing thing is just so troublesome if you are able to live with the defects.
But now, the monitor's "On/Off" button is giving me problems. Like it's very hard to turn it off or on. I have to push down on the button and strafe my thumb left and right for a while until the button responds. Most likely a slight mechanical problem, but slight mechanical problems can be very difficult to live with and the product still has to be sent for servicing.
I could get a 1-to-1 exchange if my monitor had a dead pixel, but something odd happened...i had a dead pixel a few months ago, and was thinking that, hey, since i can live with one dead pixel, why not wait until more starts to collect and then exchange it at a later date? But somehow, the dead pixel disappeared on me a couple of months later. :| I didn't think monitors could do that.
Before this, i also had a ton of problems with my computer. Like my sound card cable getting spoiled from the start, mouse becoming faulty, processor fan screwing up, my harddisk getting spoiled which meant that i lost all my data and had to send it for repair somewhere far into the east side of Singapore, etc...
Then there was the whole incident with my portable DVD player, which spoiled once for no reason. I actually bought a replacement for $250, which then had to be replaced with a better model for $350 - a trade in plus $100 that is. After which the player couldn't play videos properly (especially if just one frame in the video is corrupt) and it couldn't even display pictures after a while (had to link it to a TV).
Sent it for repair too...apparently its internals just needed some cleaning. A small mechanical fault once again (not like the power supply blowing up or chips needing replacement) but one which the product couldn't continue functioning with.
I'd like to think that i take care of my stuff pretty well; i don't drop them, spill water on them or whatever. I keep my products cool, make sure stuff like my DVD player gets enough airflow, ensure that my computer has enough airspace behind it, and i turn on the fan when i use my external harddisks for long periods 'cos i'm afraid it might overheat. I even check my computer for dust every now and then, and i make sure that EVERYTHING is turned off when it's not needed (like my monitor, desktop, router, modem) because i fear for their lifespans.
But even then, i can't help the problems if they were there the instant i bought the product. Which seems to happen pretty often. My family doesn't have problems like these at all, so i'm starting to wonder if it's the nature of the products i'm buying or if it's just me. Either way, i'll have to send the stuff for servicing and blow off the whole afternoon one of these days. This kinda sucks.
People. I'd like your attention, please.
I'd like to notify all you dear readers, that my house now has...
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******KARAOKE******!!!!!!!!!!!!
Haha and it's not just those karaoke devices where you put in VCDs/DVDs and sing with microphones, but the type where you put in VCDs/DVDs and sing with microphones AND which has a 500GB harddisk which already contains 13,000 karaoke tracks and has its own OS (operating system) where you can burn in songs from VCDs, DVDs and catalogue them! Comes with wireless mics as well...although wireless's pretty common; isn't that big a deal. :)
We bought the whole thing from Merdeka at Sim Lim, and it's got affiliations with K-Box or something like that. The chinese songs are pretty up to date, although english songs are a bit lacking in some areas (they've still got all the oldies though, along with some songs that were released just last year). I'm wondering where i'd get all those missing karaoke tracks now...anyone knows where i can get recent karaoke VCDs? At good prices too...free is preferred but not expected haha! :D
Anyway, well, just to let you know lah huh. :)
Oh, and for those who've been reading regularly...you might've formed the link that if i was at Sim Lim today...i probably bought my harddisk today as well! And you are right! ...although it wasn't exactly the result i would've liked. Got that 1000GB harddisk today from Fuwell for about $440, which's a little bit less than what i would've paid for a month ago.
But i wanted to get a 3.5" e-sata capable harddisk enclosure to go with it, and one where i can trust that harddisk cooling would be sufficient and there'd be a measure of shock-proofing (like my good 'ol Cooler Master X Craft enclosure here...i heard some good things about A.C. Ryan AluBox too). Not that my current computer's even capable of e-sata, but u can never be too future-proof. Especially if the cost of future-proofing's only around 10 extra dollars.
And you know what? None of those computer stores at Sim Lim that were open (which numbered around 15) had an e-sata enclosure in stock! All except one indian store that is, and they could only offer me a display set of an unknown brand without a box or warranty that didn't seem all that reliable. The way the shops responded to my inquiries, it was as if the technology's too advanced or something.
Which's really weird, since i thought i remembered CHALLENGER selling e-sata enclosures too, and Challenger wasn't the type of superstore to stock up on the "latest technology" if you ask me. What's going on?? This ignorant guy here demands an explaination!! >.<
So now my harddisk's plain exposed. I was thinking of plugging it into my main computer temporarily to transfer my precious (and enormous amounts of) data out. But, now that i think about it, it just isn't worth the effort...i'd have to mount and unmount it, plug and unplug it, etc.
So for now, i'm just putting it where the sun doesn't shine and waiting for a suitable time to go and shop for that elusive little harddisk enclosure. I've probably got enough disk space left to last awhile, in any case.
