Well well, just on my last day of work in my co-op semester, I found out that one of my office friend has the Bose AE2i headphone.

What a pleasant surprise, it’s about time for me to post another headphone review also before the year 2011 ends. So I immediately borrow the headphone and give it a quick test. So, does the sound quality justify the price tag? Let’s see..

Sound

Just a reminder, it’s an around-ear headphone so I expect a good sound isolation from the Bose AE2i, and it really has it, I can hear detail sounds clearly.

Bass test was a bit disappointing, PX100 beats it on the same volume level. You can get very good bass punch from AE2i if you raise the volume, but that also means raising the risk of having ear damage. This might be due to the impedance difference, but since Bose doesn’t release the specifications, we will never know.

There is no question for the mid and treble sound, they are just really good.

I tested different songs genre, and I think it doesn’t sound quite fit for any type of songs that have a lot of bass sounds (such as techno and some rock songs). If you prefer instrumental, R&B, Jazz, or Pop, this headphones is a good choice.

Detail : 5/5

Bass: 3.5/5

Mid: 5/5

Treble: 5/5

Physical Form

Like all other Bose headphone, it looks aesthetically pleasing (it’s quite big, but not bulky) and also very comfortable to use. Besides, the Bose label is just too cool for people to unnoticed.

The one that my work colleague has is the AE2i version, so it can be connected to phones and it has microphone and volume control (unfortunately the volume control doesn’t work in my laptop).

Price

It’s $162 on Amazon. What can you say, it’s Bose.

Buy it or Not?

Though it’s priced at over $100, it’s actually not so expensive as the other Bose headphones. But with the same price, I think you can find headphones with better sound quality from other brand. It’s just that it won’t have that “Bose” label.

I’m not saying that it’s not a good headphone, considering sound quality only, I think I can give it 9.0/10. But considering the price, I would give it 8.0/10.

The sound quality definitely more than enough for most of the people, but it won’t satisfy a hi-fi aficionados.

If look is a very important thing for you, then Bose AE2i can be your choice. It’s not $300, and it will instantly give you a cool factor when wearing it.

Songs used in this review:

Chicane – Halcyon – MP3
Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory (MP3) and Meteora (FLAC) Album
Maliq & D’Essentials – Heaven – MP3
Bayu Risa – Fire – MP4

For the past week, I’ve really into Agile software development practices, especially Scrum.

So far, to learn more about Scrum, I’ve read the Scrum Primer (which I believe is still the very best brief introduction to the Scrum world), Do Better Scrum, and What Every Product Owner Should Know. If you’re interested, you might check them out.

If you, however, prefer video tutorials, Rally Software provides free Scrum video tutorials on their wiki site. They’re not stellar (I would give 3.5/5 stars) but they provide good information if you want to know more about Scrum and Agile development.

Think of starting Scrum Agile Development in your team? but you’re not so sure where to start? read the Scrum Primer!

It’s not a book, it’s a 22-page introduction to Scrum.
It doesn’t cost anything, it’s graciously given free.
It’s not a dry whitepaper, it’s an interesting information about Scrum.

It explains quickly some of the Scrum buzz words, such as Sprint, Backlog, Burndown charts, and don’t forget, the ScrumMaster!

So, spend an hour or two to read it, and I guarantee you will have a lot clearer picture about Scrum.

The Little Martin LXM is a travel guitar that is about 3/4 size of a full size guitar. My roommate has it and he said he hasn’t play with it for a while, but it looks like a perfect guitar to review in my blog.

Sound

It sounds pretty good, but then you can still hear sometimes it sounds like ukulele. One of the factor must be the top wood, it’s not solid. I believe if it’s for fun time or just jamming around, this little guitar can make you happy.

Playability

The neck size and length is very similar to the full size guitar, so there is no compromise for that. However, since the body is 3/4 of the regular guitar, it feels funny when I hug the guitar. I don’t have a guitar strap though, so I don’t know how it feels to play it while standing with a strap.

Durability

It feels pretty tough, though again, the laminated top wood makes it feels a bit… fragile. The neck wood looks like the same one Martin put on their full size guitar, and that’s what makes the guitar heavy. Although I don’t weigh it, it feels like it’s heavier than my Voyage Air guitar. Doesn’t sound really good for a travel guitar.

Looks

It’s ok, it looks like a standard guitar, only smaller. Nothing stands out.

Price

In Amazon, the Little Martin price is $289.99.

Conclusion

The Little Martin LXM sounds pretty good… for a traveller guitar, that is. Unfortunately, to make the guitar portable, Martin sacrifice some of the important things, such as the top wood quality. What makes me unhappy is, it still use the heavy wood for the neck. Why not use lighter wood for the neck and keep the solid wood for the top?
In the end, I don’t recommend this guitar unless you really need a portable guitar to travel with you. Though, again, I still rather buy Voyage Air guitar for that.

*though you still want to consider this guitar if you need guitar for your children.

Little Martin Demo by IPlayMusic2.

Think of proving your knowledge in programming Java?

BlackBeltFactory has an interesting concept of using belt system common in martial arts to the Java (and other programming language too) certification system. Unlike other certification, the questions are created and reviewed by its members, this ensures a wide variety of question, certainly a good example of crowdsourcing.

I found the website just recently and registered to start my journey to be a black belt, and here’s my profile.

So far, here is what I think about the website:

Pros:

• Taking tests are free
• Exclusivity and Pride (to be a black belt one must pass a lot of exam)
• Practical knowledge tests (includes Spring, Hibernate, and XML)
• Constantly growing courses and exams (crowdsourcing)

Cons:

• Not all courses are free (well, maybe it’s not really bad anyway if we want quality)

Anyway, go ahead and check BlackBeltFactory website and register yourself to start your journey to be a black belt in Java (literally).

After only four months living in US without a guitar, I wasn’t able to take it anymore and I looked for a guitar. However, one basic problem, having a guitar will add to my problem whenever I need to move.

So I was thinking to buy just some pretty basic guitar that I probably can just leave someday, or won’t really bother if it get damaged if I travel in airplane. But then, I found Voyage Air Guitar models that sounds too good to be true. It’s a foldable guitar and so it can be carried inside the cabin.

Long story short, I bought the Voyage Air Guitar VAD-06 last February, and this is what I found out so far with this guitar.

Sound

This is my first steel string acoustic guitar, so I didn’t have any previous guitar I have experience to compare the sound with. However, the top wood is a solid spruce, and the sound is bright enough.

The VAD-06 is also a dreadnought guitar, so in theory, the bass should sound deeper than the standard steel string acoustic guitar. Yet, it still sounds less deep than the Martin DCX1E that my roommate owns.

Although it’s categorized as a travel guitar, since it is a full-size dreadnought guitar, it doesn’t sound like any travel or compact guitar.

For me, the guitar sounds quite alright.

Playability

The action is lower than the Martin DCX1E, but it still feel quite high for me. Maybe I should try to bring it to a guitar service to have it lowered a little bit more.

Again, it has a full-size guitar size, so it feels like playing any regular guitar.

Durability

It feels good enough, but not as rugged as the Martin DCX1E especially on the side and back part. I think I should take a good care of this guitar.

One note so far, I’ve broke the 1st and 3rd string and they broke not when I tighten the strings, but when I loosen them. I’m not really sure whether they broke because of the frequent strings loosen and tighten or not, since for this guitar we may need to loosen and tighten the strings more often than any guitar. I will update my findings in the future.

Looks

The VAD-06 series is the middle series of the Voyage Air Guitar line, so it doesn’t look really special with natural wood glossy top. Having said that, you still will always awe people when they see you fold the guitar.

Price

I bought the second-hand guitar from Musician’s Friend for $480. The price for new guitar in Amazon is $599.

Conclusion

If you travel a lot, or for whatever reason you need a travel guitar that can be transformed into a full-size guitar, than this is the guitar for you.

The company really had a very great idea inventing a foldable guitar so the portability won’t compromise the sound quality.

Anywhere I go with this guitar, people couldn’t believe what they see when I fold the guitar.

But what if you don’t travel at all and just need a guitar with a good sound? In that case I don’t suggest this guitar because the price seems a bit too expensive for guitar with this quality.

Still curious how it sounds? Check this Youtube video by guitarij:

After bunch of earphones, headphones, now is the time to review the Altec Lansing VS2621 that I bought last year’s black Friday sale.

To be honest with you all, I never planned to buy this speaker. I went to Staples to buy the Logitech Wireless Mouse M510 that I’ve reviewed also in this blog. Then, I saw the speaker with a price that almost hard to resist. The next thing I know is, I’m carrying the speaker box out of the Staples. :p

I’ve used the speaker for more than four months now, and here I’m sharing the review of what I think about the speaker.

Size and Form

First I want to clarify first that the Altec Lansing VS2621 is rather a small 2.1 speaker set compared to other Altec Lansing speaker I’ve seen. Back when I was in college, the brand was simply a standard choice whenever my friends are buying a complete PC set.

The speaker packaging box somehow quite mislead me. The sattelite speakers are small and also the subwoofer. But rather than disappointed, it actually made me happy . Because I still move places quite often, the small size of this speaker set made it quite portable.

The subwoofer are just a standing black box made of wood, with a hole in front and speaker membrane on the side (4″ side firing). While the sattelite speakers are two small speakers (2″ drivers) with volume and tone adjustment know on the right sattelite speaker.

Sound

The golden rule of choosing an audio gadget, ‘never judge the sound quality by the brand’. Okay maybe you’ve never heard that before, because I’ve also just made it up a few minutes ago. But that’s really how I review all the audio gadgets in this blog.

I’ve heard a good Altec Lansing speakers before, and I’ve also heard a pretty bad ones too. So where the Altec Lansing VS2621 fall into? It’s in the middle I should say. Not so bad, but nothing that made me very delighted as well.

Probably this is due to the fact that my previous speaker was a Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX Certified speaker system. It has two drivers on each sattelite speaker and bigger power subwoofer.

Anyway, to be fair with the VS2621, I guess the sound quality is good enough, considering the size and price (Bose speaker has smaller size).

Bass sounds are good enough, though somehow I hope it can be a bit deeper.

Mid and trebles also sound good enough, the tone knob can be use to adjust the brigthness of these sounds, anyway, I’ve got no complain.

The speaker system total power is 28 Watt RMS (2 x 7.5W speakers and a 13W sub). Well, if I consider this small power, then the VS2621 sounds really good.

For more information of the specification, check this document.

Extra Features

Volume and Tone knob adjustment, and auxilliary mini-stereo jack in front of the right satellite speaker. No remote.

Price

Ah, the reason why I bought this speaker. It’s $20 on the black Friday sale in Staples . At Amazon it’s around $40 as of this writing. (Altec Lansing VS2621 2.1 Channel Speaker System)

Conclusion

If you need a 2.1 speaker and you want a very affordable speaker that sound good, Altec Lansing VS2621 can be your choice. However, don’t expect an exceptional sound from this speaker.

I believe casual music lovers will definitely love this speaker, but an audiophile will never consider it.

For gamers and movie fans, I think a good headphone will better satisfy their experience than this speaker.

Lastly, here’s a video of a YouTube user reviewing the speaker.

My roommate who is a guitar player happens to have the Martin DCX1E acoustic electric guitar, and as fortunate as I am, I can review the guitar without owning one.

Back in Indonesia, Yamaha seems to dominate the acoustic guitar market since it also has a manufacturing line in Indonesia. But in USA, when it comes to acoustic guitar, one USA brand dominates the market and it’s name is Martin.

Although there are definitely Martin guitars sold in Indonesia, it’s not pretty common. The biggest reason for that, I believe, is the price. Martin guitar price usually starts at $700 and in the country where that still sounds like more than two months salary, it’s easy to guess why it doesn’t sell really well.

My roommate who is a guitar player happens to have the Martin DCX1E acoustic electric guitar, and as fortunate as I am, I can review the guitar without owning one.

Sound

Martin DCX1E is a dreadnought guitar. What does it mean? It means that it has a wide butt, and a deep bass sound. Just a little bit of guitar history lesson, it is Martin also who first created the dreadnought guitar, so they must know how it supposed to sound very well.

The sound is pretty good, something that should be expected from Martin guitar. The solid spruce top is certainly one of the factor for the good sound.

It’s an acoustic electric so it has a Fishman classic 4 pre-amp attached. Unfortunately, I don’t have an amplifier to test the guitar sound when it’s plugged, so I can’t say anything about it.

Playability

I’ve always been a classic guitar player and only started to learn to play steel string acoustic guitar this year, so I can’t say a lot also whether it’s comfortable to play or not. Somehow I feel the action is a bit high, but I suppose that can be fixed by some guitar shops.

It has a cutaway, so yeah you can play the high frets without any problem.

Durability

The Martin DCX1E looks and feel really solid, and although I’m not sure how old the guitar is, I think it can handle some mishandling and accidents quite a bit.

Looks

It looks like… just any Martin dreadnought guitar I suppose, and since it can be considered an entry-level guitar, the rosetta is really simple, and nothing fancy.

Price

The retail price is $699, but my roommate said he got it second hand for around $300.

Conclusion

Depending on how much money you have, and how much you love guitar, you may or you may not want this guitar.

Yes, it’s Martin, it sounds good, and it’s acoustic electric. If that’s all you need, then this guitar might be for you.

But it’s not really special since it’s an entry-level, it’s not all solid (only the top is solid), and it’s not fancy. So if you really appreciate great guitars and got money, then you might want to check the other Martin model.

In the end, I found this Youtube video that also review the guitar, so you can see how the guitar looks like and sound.

link to the guitarlessons.com.

(Note: This post was written by me two years ago for Youth Insight Resource magazine, but I think it’s still aplicable, *other than the Facebook part* )

In this web 2.0 era, collaboration is what makes the web interesting, and I believe the youth ministry can benefited much from it. Sometimes the best information doesn’t come from the article itself, but from the comments written by the article readers.

When it comes to a great youth ministry web resources, I primarily look for two things. First is the fresh activities ideas because this was what I, as a youth leader, was always constantly looking for. Second, is the stories and tips of other youth leader experience with their youth groups.

I scourge the web for different websites that can be useful for youth ministry and found the following websites worth mentioning. (Sorry guys, but Facebook does not belong to the list, at least not yet..).

#1. Insight

http://insight.typepad.co.uk/insight/

Insight is a blog about youth ministry and leadership by Grahame Knox who has  27 years of experience as Christian youth worker and trainer.

What I like most are his two ebooks, the “Creative Bible Study Method for Youth Leaders” and “40 Icebreakers for Small Groups”. These two free books are definitely a good ebook for every youth workers.

The Insight blog contains a lot of free resources and ideas for everyone involved in youth ministry, and they are not only limited to games only. You can also find some discussion starters and Bibly Study methods.

#2. Creative Youth Ideas

http://www.creativeyouthideas.com/blog/

Another blog full of free resources for youth ministry is Creative Youth Ideas created by Ken Sapp. Ken had almost 20 years of experience of youth ministry with teens from around the world.

There are a lots of resources that can help your youth ministry, ranging from devotionals, dramas, and other activities. Most of the post are short and thus quick and easy to read.

#3. EGAD! Ideas

http://www.egadideas.com

EGAD! Ideas is created by Chris Fane and he claimed his website has the largest collection of free youth group games online. With over than 1,700 free games and resources (and growing), the claim may be close to true.

What I found interesting from this website is the fact that not all 1,700 resources are created by Chris himself. Most of the resources are actually submitted by the site visitors. Now, this is the web 2.0 collaboration I’m talking about.

#4. The Source for Youth Ministry

http://www.thesource4ym.com/

Now, when it comes to the completeness resource for youth ministry, this website created by Jonathan McKee definitely is on top of the list. Not only it has lots of games, activities and discussion ideas, it also has podcasts, questions and answers section, and Jonathan’s personal blog.

I like the movie and music discussion sections of this website. I believe these two sections can be a very great activity ideas for your youth ministry if you haven’t implemented them.

#5. Tim Schmoyer

http://timschmoyer.com/free-youth-ministry-resources/

This website of Tim Schmoyer is unique in that it’s really full of free resources packaged in web 2.0 style. A section called “free youth ministry resources” in his website has more than what you asked for.

I  enjoy his articles and video tips about youth ministry, check out this website and hope you can also find some ideas that can be useful for you and your youth ministry.

#6. Pastor 2 Youth

http://www.pastor2youth.com/index.php

The website is created by Ryan Nielsen and loaded with hundreds of games.

To unlock all the resources available in this website, you have to register first (free) and login to the YM Exchange. Without registering, you still can access the games and several papers though.

I recommend you to spend several minutes to register and check the YM Exchange in this website. It contains great discussion starters, illustrations, Powerpoint games and lessons.

Conclusion

Although I listed only six websites, there are so many other sources in the internet that you can find to help you with youth ministry. Some websites that may not contain specifically free youth ministry resources but still can help you includes Youtube, Google Books, Wikipedia, and Facebook (yes, an AY leader friend of mine use Facebook to spread the church AY announcements effectively ).

Have a great time with your youth ministry and God bless you!

Ever since I posted my blog post of “Five Free iPhone Apps for Seventh-Day Adventists”, I got a significant number of visitors to this blog from search engines. Though I don’t want to make a quick conclusion, it somehow means that there are a lot of SDA who are curious about what kind of apps related to the church are available in the iTunes store.

In this blog post I’m going to review three more SDA apps that are specifically related with the information media.

1. SpiritRenew

by: SimpleUpdates

Last week I received a blog comment from Rich DuBose regarding the SpiritRenew app that he mentioned is produced by the Pacific Union Conference. So I immediately downloaded the app and see what is it about.

The app basically contains Christian articles and stories that covers a lot of topics from career to the women’s world. It is interesting to note that the website version is called AnswersForMe.

One major drawback of the app is, it cannot run offline. It seems that the app doesn’ download the articles and thus it requires internet connection to run it.

2. Spectrum

by: Association of Adventist Forum

Spectrum is the iPhone app for the Spectrum magazine. If you’re not familiar with the magazine, it worth to check their website here.

So what’s good about the app? It’s just a simple app to read the blog posts and articles in the west from the iPhone, nothing really fancy. However it downloaded these articles whenever we access them for the first time, so we still can read these articles offline.

The bad sides? Some of the app features are not working yet (the Cafe Hispano and SS Lesson) and it seems that the app is really at an early stage of development, hopefully we’ll see some updates in the future.

3. iRecord

by: Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SPD) Limited

iRecord is the iPhone app of the Record magazine, the official news magazine of the SDA in the South Pacific Division.

This application looks a bit more sophisticated that the previous two apps. It enables us to read the blog, watch videos, and read the latest issue of the magazine.

The good? It also downloads the articles to the iPhone so it doesn’t require constant internet connection to run. It’s also more colorful and interesting to see compared to the SpiritRenew and Spectrum.

The bad? For a reason that I cannot understand, the picture of each articles takes almost half of the the screen and it stays there when we scroll down the article, as if the screen size is not small enough.

Another thing is, the magazine issue is not optimized to be read in a mobile device. I notice some loading time overtime I scroll to read the magazine. The problem that is caused by the large size of the magazine PDF file (~7.1 MB).

Conclusion

I’m really happy to see there are more SDA appestat have been developed for iPhone and Android. I hope we will see a lot more interesting apps in the future.

All of these apps are all free and they are worth to have if you have iPhone or iPod touch. Have a great time playing around with these apps and God bless!