Christina Sng dot com

So I have this problem.  I have over 200 poems published in the last 10 years and no way of properly cataloging them. The thought of typing them all out is extremely daunting (soft copies were lost in the crash of 2004 – back up your computer NOW!).

Enter the brilliant idea of scanning and copying the text via iPhone. But what app can do that? I did a quick search and found a super app called OCRTOOL which works as a scanner and then converts the image to text via OCR.

It works beautifully! No need to retype my old poems. I just take a photo of the page, and the app corrects automatically to an accuracy rate of about 95%. I can just copy and paste the poem into Awesome Note then sync to Google Docs! Best $1.99 I spent on the App Store!

So you’ve got an amazing app all ready to be posted to Apple for approval. How do you present it so that people will buy them?

Simple.

Include as many meaningful screenshots as you can.

Show screens which users actually use.

I don’t read the text, to be honest. With so many apps in the App Store, I just scroll down, look at the screenshots and if they look interesting, I scan the text. If that is interesting, then I buy it.

If I can’t make out what the app is about I don’t bother downloading it even if it is free.

In this digital age, the most important commodity is time.

Save your audience time by communicating clearly – pictorally as well as textually – your app’s offerings and if it fits their needs, they will buy it.

A snap of the night sky just past dusk using Ultimate Camera.

There are enough camera apps out there to make your head spin. Many just don’t do the job but really, all you need is one camera, one fun cam, and one photo editor.

Best Camera:

Ultimate Camera – Sharp images, easy to use, love that you can choose to delete before saving to your camera roll. (Photo below of Tux was zoomed.)

Fun Camera:

QuadCam – Super fast shutter and super fun images. A must have for all iPhone users, especially those snapping kids and pets. (Caught Tux with the QuadCam.)

Photo Editor:

Photogene – Does it all plus great manual controls. Much better than PS Mobile. (Photos resized by Photogene.)

I emailed iFrogz to ask if their LuxeOriginal iPhone case is made of polycarbonate (BPA) and if their screen protector made of PVC (phthalates) since really, plastic + heat = seriously bad stuff, considering the toxicity from PVC can be transmitted through contact and my baby likes to grab and chew my phone so consumption of BPA is really bad.

Here is their reply 7 days later:

Christina:

I am not sure exactly what you are looking for, but the cases are durable and the screen protection is great. I have one on my touch right now and LOVE IT.

Kindest regards,

ifrogz Customer Service
101
877-443-7641

That really answers my question doesn’t it?

Perhaps because it goes everywhere with me or perhaps both my kids love to play or eat it, the screen has a series of shallow scratches – most likely from Jade dropping it from her high chair – on a corner.

So if you are wondering definitively whether to get a screen protector and case, the answer is yes!

I had this same problem the last time I tried the direct online upgrading to The Burning Crusade and just gave up. The irony was that Blizzard had accepted the same credit card for my monthly subscription.

This time I had more at stake. I just hit level 60 and could not earn any more XP if I didn’t upgrade. Heck, I did want to continue and check out Outlands. So back to the upgrading screen I went.

And for 4 credit cards I got the same irritating error message that the credit card wasn’t working.

I went to the Blizzard forums and finally found the answer.

Of all things, it is a form error! The system appears to have been configured to accept only US postal codes with 4 digits only, so obviously my 6 digit one would cause an error.

The solution: Type in 4 numbers in the Postal Code field.

And voila! Blizzard earned another 30 bucks from me and I upgraded instantly to TBC.

Apparently a lot of people experience this error. Blizzard should really fix this very simple bug that is costing them tons of upgrade income. Would take 5 seconds to simply correct it.

So I have to say, WoW hooked me good this time.

Patch 3.3 really made soloing much easier with their new quest tracking system with in-built map and for some reason, my rogue seems more powerful as a solo character (either that or playing it for the past 4 years has made me a better player).

Have hit level 58 (finally!) and looking forward to heading to Outlands.

In other news, I got my grubby paws on an iPhone 3GS 32GB! Yes, I decided to get it instead of a Nokia N86 after many camera tests using a friend’s iPhone 3GS helped me decide that its super shutter speed plus its numerous apps make it a more useful device overall for me. And indeed it has proven me right. Will post some pics soon.

Well, trying to. At this rate, I might probably squeeze in another hour before my 10 day free trial is up.

Day 1: By the time everything was patched it was 3am. I logged on, admired my dragon whelpling, dismayed at having to redo my talent tree, gawked at my inventory and quest list, and logged off to sleep.

Day 2: Fell asleep while nursing kids.

Day 3: Managed to sneak in one hour in the afternoon when baby was asleep and played while my 3.5 year old Jack watched, turning it into a lesson on battle strategy and when to vanish and run when outnumbered in battle. Night time Jack woke and stayed up from 1am-5am so no play.

Day 4: Patched 3.3. Yay! But they’re doing maintenance.

6 more days… With a ton of luck I might hit 60 finally (I am now 54, almost 55). But I highly doubt it at the rate I am going. Still… in the words of Barney Stinson, it is awesome.

The free 7 days game time Blizzard sent me for WoW lured me back and my old WoW pal (and RL friend) was thrilled to see me log on today. It’s WoW’s 5th anniversary and everyone’s celebrating.

But first came the patches. I wasn’t too far off since I last played in 2008, but still it took me 2 days of free time to properly patch the game before I clicked the “Claim!” button.

The thing I realised about WoW and Vista is that you need to either:

1. Download the patches then install them.

OR

2. Disable your firewall/defender program, login to WoW, then let it patch itself.

Any other way will just not work and flash that annoying “could not patch” message.

Patch 3.3 looks to be very casual-friendly, something players like me have been waiting for.

Today I logged on, claimed my anniversary present from Blizzard, the very cute Onyxia Brood Whelpling and in the mail was also a little Penguin from some mysterious person.

I was rather disoriented in Winterspring but it felt good to be back.