Monday, December 31, 2007

Free HDTV airs tonight!

Ok. The dancing part of the commercial is just laaamee..

Most of the people living [Approx. 2 million] in the areas supported by TVB and aTV's broadcast signal will be switching to high-definition TV tonight at 7 PM. Almost all of Kowloon, part of the New Territories and Hong Kong Island will be able to enjoy the free HDTV channels. This launch has aiming for a advance in Hong Kong's technology as well as crystal-clear, with no "ghost” and “snow” effects [which most TVs suffer from] free viewing. Another purpose is to enhance popularity of next year's Beijing Olympics 2008 and Hong Kong's own equestrian events. The cons of HDTV are quite obvious; most of the TVs in Hong Kong are not yet HD-Ready/Full-HD so many people would be buying new ones and throwing their old TVs out instead of bothering to recycle them. Another negative side is that the decoders cost up to HK$2000 which is a bit pricy, though you can get a HDTV USB plug in a Computer Centre for around HK$600 which recieves low quality signals.

NP360 Cable Car Reopens

In less than 2 hours, Ngong Ping 360 will reopen officially since its plunge a few months ago in June. For the last few days, MTR Corporation (new operator of 360) has been giving out free tickets for staff and their family members to try the NP360 in a trial scheme to get stronger public confidence. During the trials, news reporters interviewed several children which said they bought Life Insurance just in case.

The original operator, Skyrail-ITM (Australia) has been charged by the HK Government for not properly maintaining it, therefore causing the crash. Since then, The cable car has been in debt as local shops are abandoned and expensive safety checks have been performed in addition to the free trials. Though public confidence has gone up, the number of tickets sold for today's grand opening has only amounted to 450 [advance tickets]. We [My Family] was hoping to buy tickets, but, eventually didn't due to the long lines we may face.

Ngong Ping 360 outside of Tung Chung MTR Station

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Talk with Santa over MSN

Yesterday, in my inbox, I recieved an email from Windows Live (operator of Hotmail) and they said I could chat with Santa. I thought it was a joke, so I tried it out (northpole@live.com-USER DELETED AS OF 25 DECEMBER). Santa could really chat with me (with limitations) and he's online 24/7! It's really weird, and funny at the same time.

At the same time, Windows Live also tries to promote you to use their games (they get money somehow) by programming Santa to say "Ok (username), we could really use your help in the factory. We play a game up here called Factory Frenzy. Would you like to play? I wonder what they'll think of next.....