Femtalks Blog

Currently most people use Google, Bing or other search engine mostly to merely search for something. Most will either choose to get information back in plain text view search result or image thumbnail search result. Either of these results will display a link that will lead to user to discover more information whether it is in text or in image form.

When you need a search that return just the data you want instead of endless links then Wolfram|Alpha a computational knowledge engine might be just the other option. Basically the search engine generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links. If you are seeking for more reliable result from closed collective data set then Wolfram might certainly suit your need.

The Wolfram|Alpha search basically stated that “It can only know things that are known and somehow public, it only deals with facts, not opinions. It limits the computation time for each query.” and most of its data come from systematic primary sources. to learn more go to Wolfram|Alpha FAQ page.

Wolfram|Alpha is known for its mathematical computation so students these days are pretty lucky they can type any mathematical question and get their answers at an instant. Wolfram|Alpha is also available for major phone platforms such as iPhone, Android, iPad and ebooks – now I wonder how student cheat during their test using these modern technology. I hope teachers will put all their gadget away before entering test room. I tried to play around with this search engine and here some screens I captured.

Flip Flop is the most popular footwear in many developing countries due to their low production cost. In developed countries flip flop is more of a of seasonal footwear popular during the summer time. This popular foot wear have evolved from a simple rubber thin sole type to a more elaborate with fashion beeds and embellishment to make it looks appealing.

However the fact behind flip flop is not clearly visible until some years back, in 2008, where researchers from Auburn University found that wearing thong-style flip-flops can result in sore feet, ankles and legs. Here is a quote on flip flop wearing that rise safety concern:

Flip-flops do not provide ankle support, and can cause many foot-related problems. Some flip-flops have a spongy sole, so when the foot hits the ground, it rolls inward and the sponge allows it to roll even more than usual. This is known as overpronation and causes many problems in the foot. Each time a foot hits the ground, the arch is supposed to be locked to absorb shock. But during overpronation, the arch opens and releases this locking mechanism, leading to problems such as pain in the heel, the arch, the toes and in the forefoot. Overpronation of the foot also results in flat feet, especially if flip-flops are worn throughout childhood and adolescence when the muscles, bones, and tendons of the feet are growing and developing. Exacerbating this, some flip-flops force a person to overuse the tendons in the foot, which can cause tendinitis.

I personally love flip flop especially for summer or if you happen to live in hot climate country then it’s a perfect everyday foot wear not just for summer because flip flop foot wear let your feet breath and enjoy the hot air breeze – just a wonderful feeling overall! Just be careful when choosing the flip flop some are very cheaply made and only come with a very thin sole which not only will cause foot pain in a long term wear but also offer almost no protection because your feet is so close to the ground, imagine when you have a puddle of water on your way or stepping into small rough stone which can feel pretty bumpy at the ball of your feet.
I recently walk around to find myself a good pair of flip flop for comfort wear and I found this brand called FitFlop from UK and by far it is my favorite brand for flip flop since it produces great sole for it. Even better news for women – it is a high rise flip flop or you may want to refer to it like a platform flip flop. Just a little rise to our height is always a good thing but the good news is this is not a damaging rise like you’d find in most high heel shoes. Indeed Fit Flop is very comfortable to wear, although not so fashionable! The above picture show a FitFlop sole structure and below show FitFlop diagram chart to highlight its benefit. source.

If you are interested to purchase FitFlop the site listed some online retailers. Great things that this brand also sell boots and shoes other than flip flops.

Lebua is one of Bangkok’s top luxury hotels. What amazed me is the stunning architecture of the building encompassing a thirty meter tall golden rooftop dome and new-classical balconies. The building combined condominiums, serviced apartments, offices and retail units into one becoming South East Asia’s largest building with three hundred thousand meter square. Among many some of this building’s great features include a forty story high inside atrium, a glass sky bridge suspended mid air on its top most level to offer one of a kind panoramic view of the city, world’s highest alfresco restaurant called Sirocco on LeBula’s highest floor (64th floor), and an open air sky bar.

LeBua Open Sky Bar

world’s highest alfresco restaurant, Sirocco located at 64th floor of LeBua

Asian-style seafood restaurant, Breeze located on the 51st and 52nd floors of LeBua

LeBua glass Sky Bridge

If you would like a taste of the high life in Bangkok try to book your self a room at LeBua State Towerl hotel. Prices start from $100 -200 USD/night.

Karim Rashid in Objectify stated if we toss away our cell phone every couple of year why not make a cell phone from a card board? In a way he challenges product designers to design for the whole cycle not just until that product complete its production stage but also to consider how to deal with the waste after user has done using the object.

These day we have so much waste and USA is a major exporter of landfill to develop countries. Our garbage landed massively in other part of the world creating pollution and massive damage while our European counterparts deal with their garbage and recycle it in within their country territory and not allowing exporting their landfill outside Europe.

Interestingly enough plastic is quite a toxic waste but we usually use our daily plastic cups in parties and gathering without even thinking what have we caused. A New York based design firm called The Way We See The World recently tried to get $10,000 to prototype and model their biodegradable edible cups product from the fund-raising site.

The cup known as Jelloware basically are made of agar, a gelatinous substance. Don’t worry if you are a vegetarian because the cup is a vegan food. The fun fact about the cup not only you can sip water but you can also eat your cup, don’t worry if you can’t finish it since it’s biodegradable just toss it away! This agar agar cup comes in various shape with different flavors, such as lemon-basil, ginger-mint, or rosemary-beet, to compliment a corresponding drink.

iPhone and iPad is the hype of the season, it makes the biggest sale for this Christmas season on eBay. Yes, there are other popular gadgets like kindle which is Amazon’s biggest sale this Christmas. However almost everyone admit they’re some what iPhoneatic!

Look at the design of this piece of furniture – it’s so iPad inspired.

Accidentally the rounded corner rectangles have been quite popular shape lately.
What next a rounded corner fashion wear? bags or shoes perhaps? I really wonder how that’d look like.

see more pictures.

1. Save pictures and images from the web

Simply touch and hold an image (it’ll automatically save inside your camera album) or choose copy to paste into an MMS or email.

2. Customize your iPhone wallpaper

Easy steps:
1. go to settings and choose wallpaper
2. click the lock and home screen
3. pick either wallpaper or camera roll
4. then tap on a picture you’d like to use
5. it’ll prompt you to set/cancel > choose set
6. and next it’ll prompt you either set it for lock screen only or home screen only or for both > pick one option then you’re all set

3. Send multiple pictures at one time through email/MMS

Step by step guide:
1. Go to your camera roll until you see all your thumbnail pictures
2. then click the bottom left “foward” icon and start tapping on pictures you want to select and iPhone will display check mark icon on each of the chosen one
3. then press “share” button or “copy” button (when you choose copy nothing happen but you can go to your email and then tap and choose paste all your selected pictures will be paste there) and if you choose share you get to choose between email or MMS
Tips: when you select more than 5 pictures one button may be disabled either “share” or “copy” depending on your iPhone OS, here on my phone I showed that if I selected more than 5 and less than 10 I have my “share” button active by my “copy” button disabled in some may be the other way around. And if you choose share above 5 and below 10 pictures the email option is gone only left me with MMS option. The trick is to just copy after 5 items and do multi tasking menu choose email app and paste in then do multi tasking menu again and back to camera and select more then copy and back to email again to paste it.

4. How to do multitasking in iPhone and lock screen orientation

Whenever you are inside the app or from your home screen simply double click the iPhone home button to bring up the multitasking interface.
You may swipe to the left to see more running applications or you may swipe to the right to see the lock screen orientation and iPod menu. For multitasking just tap on any app you want to switch into and to close the app from running tap and hold on any app until the negative (-) sign appear and then you can click on this (-) sign to close an app form running. And to do portrait orientation lock simply swipe to the right and tap the portrait orientation lock once to turn on and again to turn off.

5. How to do screen capture on iPhone

Sure been a while since I have time to blog. Work has been very busy. Finally holiday season is just around the corner. I bet all of you have done your shopping. However just right after Christmas season many of places have their sale reduced even further and here are some items I found quite catchy this morning:

kate spade new york Cole Velvet Weave Small Tote
$375.00 (sale become $262.50) from bloomingdales.com
The above look resembled bottega veneta weave tote bag with mixing of channel famous leather chain strap, for the original bottega veneta weave tote bag it could cost well over $3,000 easily. here’s the look of bottega weave ostrich leather tote bag:

Another good find:

Juicy Couture Quilted Leather Duchess Tote

$398.00 (sale become $278.60) from bloomingdales.com

this Juicy couture bag reminded me of looking into a  marc jacobs quilted tote bag (priced at 1,295.00 went on sale at Neiman at 582.00):

Hoping I could spot some more cool finds. Happy Holiday!

Rudolph the red nose raindeer costum:

Not to worry too much these days selections for children room and furniture are amazing. I stumble upon a site that sell beautiful children furniture named Rosenberry Rooms when I am looking to buy for myself a white table for my home office. Here are some of my favorite picks:

Emma Treasures Mansion Bed

Emma Treasure Vanity Bench

Isabella Vanity Computer Desk

Princess Bed

Wooden hanging letter

Japanese people are just crazy neat! Even for food their preparation is endless hours and thoughtfully presented, thoroughly designed and deliciously cooked. see these you tube bento collection and some pictures I collected from internet:

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Bear faces Charaben

Poodle Doggie Charaben

Teddy Bear Charaben

Three Little Piggies Charaben

Winnie The Pooh Charaben

Hello Kitty Charaben

I recently tried to cook one of annathered.com Japanese hamburg, of course I didn’t spent crazy time decorating like hers but her Japanese hamburg recipe was good and my husband ate 4 patties out of 6 patties I cooked after finishing his take-out thai meal, so it was THAT good because he can ate that much on his second round of dinner =)

what is Japanese style hamburg? it’s basically ground beef patty with sauce:

I did try one food art – to make the peanut butter with chocolate hazelnut spread (like nutella spread from Italy) sandwhich. It taste like the usual sweet spread sandwhich but I love the look I created, it’s inspired by annathered.com (so after reading her blog I just went and try out to make some food art) see my creation below: