iOS 6

Just updated to iOS 6. So far so good. Just want to share the first experience.

Update take around 3-4 hours to complete including download.

Map: If you use iPhone 4S like me, the flyover will only utilize one-third of the screen. I think it may be due to the processing power requirement of 3D flyover feature, which uses vector graphics. However, it is the mostly complained feature so far.

The 3D / satellite view is a mazing though it is still limited to selected area.

Facebook Integration: You can update your contacts with information from Facebook such as photo, birthday, spouse, IM etc.

Mail: VIP allows alert and highlight mails from a group of persons important to you.

One of the glitches I have encountered is that, the Personal Hotspot feature doesn't work with my iPad which is still not yet upgraded.

While it shows connected, the iPad cannot use the iPhone as a router to access internet. Probably it will take a few months to smooth the edges.

Amazing Robots from Boston Dynamics

This humanoid robot is being developed by a company called Boston Dynamics.

They are also working on several interesting robots like one that runs 28mph. Another can climb on walls. One can even jump 30 ft high to the roof of a house.

MCP1700 LDO Voltage Regulator from MicroChip

I am building a MIDI player using Arduino platform since I got Arduino Duemilanove in late 2009. A year later, I came up with a working (but not perfect) version. This year I tried to build a breadboard version. The next target ? Of course a standalone portable version on PCB. The problem is, how to power up my little gadget with batteries like CR2032.

After searching the web and I finally decided to use MCP1700 from MicroChip. It is a LDO voltage regulator in TO-92 package.

http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/21826b.pdf

I have bought a few of them for my battery-powered projects.