happycall pan can bake!

yes it's true, and it works! the happycall pressure-pan bakes too, how cool! :) referencing recipes from experienced food bloggers, i made some tweaks and adjustments of my own and pulled this off...

 

 

 

 

 

the texture of the cake turned out, as the other bakers had also noticed, dryer and somewhat crumbly compared to regular oven-baked ones, but the fact that happycall can be used for baking opens up new possibilities for fun experiments in the kitchen :)

so the above was my first happycall bake - a mango upside-down cake with nuts and chocolate chips - totally random and unorthodox, but go ahead have some fun, do it whichever way you wish ;)

some inspiring recipes:

• Ellena Guan: cuisine paradise
• Sherie: maameemoomoo

probably the most effective alarm clock you'll find...

my brother used to set 3 alarm clocks around his bed, simply because he had the tendency to oversleep for school. i remember back in those days whenever i'm on leave and wanted to enjoy the luxury of sleeping in later, i would be super duper annoyed by his non-stop, repetitive shrills of alarms going on and on and on, one after another.... (and after 10 minutes of so, you would still find him sleeping like a log! *argh*)

so, for those of you who have difficulty waking up to the alarm clock too, i think this might just be for you! :)

(source: Mashable - Money-Shredding Alarm Clock is Completely Unforgiving)

as crazy as this may seem, i am actually convinced that this idea will work for most people! (especially if you insert a high denomination into the shredder... ouch!) :P brilliant!

but while you don't mind wasting an occasional $100 or so in exchange for a few extra minutes of sleep, bear in mind that it is actually a criminal offence to shred or destroy currency! haha!

high school students now get to use iPad for lessons..

Yahoo! News: Nanyang Girls' High students use iPad for lessons

wow! fortunate students.. to think i was once a student of NYGH Singapore too :)
whoa.. S$878 x 140 iPads... you do the math. anyway, i bet their school feels are like 100 x more expensive now, compared to what i had paid for back then.. *smile*, so i guess their parents must have paid enough for such luxuries anyway.

really cool initiative but pricey too, and how much it actually contributes to the students' learning... guess no one can really tell for sure.

i wonder though, how did the school select the exclusive 140 students from the entire cohort to enjoy this privilege?

remember miffy? part 2...

when i posted 'remember miffy' on here back in August, i mentioned it to a colleague and she clearly remembered miffy and we got into a mini conversation around the little illustrated character, history and what we had remembered of it.

little would i know that the little conversation actually brought miffy to me! hehe.. this was what i received for my birthday from the colleague when i came back to work middle of this week :)

new case (with front flap) for my iPhone!
weee... miffy + polka dots + pink!!
what more could i have asked for? hehehe.. ;)
thank you!

btw, you can now download desktop wallpapers of miffy and other designs from women'secret online. check them out here.

play the 'winter wacko' and win a trip for 2 to Melbourne

here's a new promotional campaign by tourism of Melbourne.

whether you win the trip, limited edition Crumpler bags, or nothing at all..
a harmless 30-second simple little interactive game :)
my personal best score so far = 860.. hehehe.

what time is it?

check out these funky watches... can you tell the time on them? ;)
the Kisai Broke USB charging LED watch from Tokyoflash Japan @ USD168.15 each.

what's so cool:
- the watch is USB rechargeable
- bulit-in character enhancing light up function allows user to set the display to animate once every 15 minutes between 18:00 and 24:00 (can be turned off to conserve energy)
- funky looking
- no one else but YOU can read your own watch! *lol*

still can't figure it out? *wink*
find out the answers here... or scroll down to the explanation below.
ie. the time should read 9:30 (left) and 1:24 (right) in the two images above :)

wanna be a bomb defuser?

this is quite cool... a danger bomb alarm clock! lol.

i think it'll be pretty fun to wake up and, in the half-awake state, try to defuse the bomb (alarm) before it goes off. well, at least it'll be fun for the first few days, probably quite annoying after that :P

this would certainly help those who keep hitting on the "snooze" button in the morning, because you can only defuse the "bomb" by disconnecting the correct wire (indicated by the coloured light). you have 70 seconds before it goes *B-O-M-Bbbb...*
fun erh? ;)

USD34.99 from thinkgeek.com.

inspired by butterfly lovers, for butterfly lovers...

i love butterfly motifs, and i LOOOooVVEeee this too! a dreamy mix of vibrant butterfly prints on soft golden hues, complete with a golden keyboard and matching wireless mouse... this is simply made for me! lol.

a pity this vivienne tam edition is only made for the HP mini 210 "digital clutch". if this came in notebook (not netbook) specs., i might actually be interested in getting one :)

according to HP, this pretty creation was inspired by the Chinese classics "The Butterfly Lovers" 《梁祝》.. aww... beautiful but tragic love story:

"Reflecting Tam’s spring 2010 collection, the netbook design is inspired by the classic Chinese love story, “Butterfly Lovers,” a beautiful tale of freedom, romance and inspiration. Integrated directly into the netbook’s lid using HP Imprint technology, the design is as durable as it is stunning. The HP Mini 210 Vivienne Tam Edition also comes with a Butterfly Lovers desktop theme that includes an animated butterfly start menu, custom Vivienne Tam icons and three wallpapers to coordinate with the design."
(4 March 2010 press release)

quick glance

• price: S$999 (Singapore); US$599 (USA)
• screen: 10.1 inch display
• thickness: less than 1 inch
• weight: 1.22 kg / 2.69 lb
• hard drive: up to 320Gb
• battery life: 5.5 hours (3-cell)
• OS: Windows 7 Premium
  
• processor: Intel Atom N450

get yours in Singapore stores from april 2010 onwards, or pre-order from Amazon now.

recap: if you'd like, take a look back and check out the earlier 2008 edition HP-vivienne tam digital clutch too.

cozycot app for iPhone

cozycot has launched an iPhone app.
i've just downloaded it to show my support... shall try it out soon ;)

coke-powered phone, anyone? ;)

technology is advancing so rapidly, there really isn't anything that we can positively say "it's not possible" anymore :)

check out this really cool theory - coke-powered mobile phone.

in essence, here's how it works:

"The concept is using bio battery to replace the traditional battery to create a pollution free environment. Bio battery is an ecologically friendly energy generates electricity from carbohydrates (currently sugar) and utilizes enzymes as the catalyst. By using bio battery as the power source of the phone, it only needs a pack of sugary drink and it generates water and oxygen while the battery dies out." (Chinese designer, Daizi Zheng - via mashable.com)

if this takes off, looks like we'll soon be refilling our phones at convenience stores, vending machines, supermarkets.. with all sorts of soda drinks (i think it would look pretty cute with pink soda in it :P). maybe then, we won't just have regular coke, coke zero or pepsi twist.. we may also find coke apple, root beer nokia, black berry sprite... i'm sure the soda drinks manufacturers will be happy.

i'm just wondering, how will we keep the ants away from our phones?