ZAR - Zero Assumption Recovery

My Nikon D70 DSLR behaved a little weird today displaying 'FOR' on the display screen and corrupted 100+ image files that I had on the Compact Flash card. I do get the 'FOR' message before and all I need to do was turn off the camera, take out the CF card and re-insert it and everything would go back to normal. But not this time.

After searching the web, I did not find the solution to this problem but I did find a software that would recover the corrupted files. Tried many of them and only "Zero Assumption Recovery (ZAR)" would recover almost ALL the files that was corrupted.

You can download the software and use the digital camera image recovery function for free from http://www.z-a-recovery.com/

To use other functionalities of the software, you would have to buy the license.

VL Rating: Excellence

Free Money? Get Paid to Surf The Web?

Stay away from them. When I say 'them', I meant ALL of those people trying to convince you to pay a fee to join to make money by surfing the web. I can say this because I know someone who is a victim of this scam....

Check out the following sites:
http://hospitalera.com/inetglobal-scam/
http://patrickpretty.com/

Also note that that this is not limiting to making money by surfing the web scam. There are countless other scams that required you to pay a fee to join or buy the 'secret' of making ton of money. Stay away from those as well.
Just remember, if you have to give out your personal information or pay to join, do NOT do it.

Please spread the words

Logitech Revue Companion Box with Google TV and Keyboard Controller

Logitech Revue Companion Box
with Google TV and
Keyboard Controller (keyboard and box)

This box combines TV and Internet. Use Google Chrome to browse the web just like using a computer. You can watch shows and movies whenever you want with Netflix or Amazon Video On Demand. You have to pay the service fees for these services. You can browse the web and watch TV on the same screen at the same time. You can use your Android phone or iPhone to control your Google TV in place of a remote control. You can even use your voice to search.

Technical Details (from Amazon.com)

·         Integrates with your HDTV and cable or satellite system to provide seamless access to the Web, your TV programming, compatible DVRs, and Android apps

Logitech Revue Companion Box
 with Google TV and
Keyboard Controller (back)

·         Connects to your HDTV with a small companion box giving you full access to the Internet

·         Searches and controls with an intuitive keyboard controller with built-in touch pad

·         Unifies all your entertainment systems with one controller ? no extra mice or remotes needed

·         Requires an HDTV with HDMI port, cable or satellite box with HDMI out, cable or satellite subscriptions service and Internet access

The Boxee Box by D-Link

This device is similar to WD TV Live and the O!Play where you can play Movies from a hard drive (Network drive etc…) on your HDTV with additional features like:

1) Full QWERTY keypad on the remote control

2) Thousands of shows and movies

You can preorder now from Amazon. Click on the Amazon icon at the end of this blog to bring you directly to the product page.

Boxee Box (Front & Remote)

Product Specs: (from Amazon.com)

·         Dimensions (LxWxH): 4.5" x 4.5" x 4.6"

·         Language Support: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish

·         Network Protocol Support: IPV4, ARP, TCP, UDP, ICMP, DHCP Client, DNS Client, DDNS Client, HTTP Server, Samba Client, RTP/RTMP, VPN: PPTP, DLNA 1.5 (DMP)

·         Wireless: 802.11n/g/b

·         Ports: HDMI 1.3, 10/100 Fast Ethernet, 2x USB 2.0, Optical Audio (S/PDIF), Analog Audio (RCA L/R)

Boxee Box (back)

·         Memory Card Support: SD, SDHC up to 32GB, MMC

·         Audio Formats: MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AIF/AIFF, AC3/AAC, OGG, FLAC, DTS, Dolby Digital/Dolby True HD

·         Video Formats: Adobe Flash 10.1, FLV/On2 VP6 (FLV/FV4/M4V), H.264 AVC (TS/AVI/MKV/MOV/M2TS/MP4), VC-1 (TS/AVI/MKV/WMV), MPEG-1 (DAT/MPG/MPEG), MPEG-2 (MPG/MPEG/VOB/TS/TP/ISO/IFO), MPEG-4 (MP4/AVI/MOV), DivX 3/4/5/6 (AVI/MKV), Xvid (AVI/MKV), WMV9 (WMV/ASF/DVR-MS)

·         Image Formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF

·         Playlist Formats: M3U, PLS, WPL

·         Subtitle Formats: SRT, SUB, SSA, SMI, ASS

·         Supported Resolutions: H.264: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps; WMV9/VC-1: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps; MPEG4: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps; MPEG2: 1080p at 30 fps, 1080i at 60 fps

Boxee Box Remote Control

·         Two-Sided RF Remote: with 4-way navigation and full QWERTY keypad

What's In the Box

·         The Boxee Box by D-Link

·         1x HDMI Cable

·         1x AC Power Adapter

·         Remote Control with Full QWERTY keypad

Dickey's Barbecue Pit (McKinney, TX)

I never had BBQ (at the restaurant that is) until 5 years ago when my wife and I took our first trip from Dallas to San Antonio. We stopped by a town near San Antonio (I forgot what the town name was), we decided to try American BBQ for the first time. We just picked randomly a BBQ restaurant (I forgot what the restaurant name  was) and went in. It was lunch time and the line was amazingly long. Seeing every one buying ribs by the pound and bring to the ‘picnic style’ tables and eat, we decided to try the regular and the baby ribs. I couldn’t believe how amazing it was.

After coming back from that trip, we were looking around for BBQ restaurants around our areas and even tried a very famous one down in Dallas. Nothing came close. We eventually settled for “Spring Creek BBQ” (on Warren and Preston in Frisco) and “Dickey’s Barbecue Pit” (on 75 and 380 in McKinney). Though not as good as the one we tried down south, still enough to satisfy our craving for BBQ. These two places have distinct taste to themselves and we thought we like them both….until Dickey’s Barbecue Pit opened another branch in Mckinney at the north east corner of Custer Road and 121. Everything from this branch taste fresh and far better (to me at least) than the other places. Give it a try. Yum Yum BBQ.

BTW, kids always eat free here with an adult entry. Plus, FREE yummy ice cream. You gotta try the Peach cobbler too. You can pick the cobbler as a side if you decided to try.

Website:

http://www.dickeys.com/index.aspx

Address:

8628 Hwy. 121 
McKinney, TX 75070

Phone:

(972) 727-1300

VL Rating: Excellence (for Mckinney/Frisco area)

Founders' Plaza Observation Area (DFW)

I have been here a couple of times now with my son who loves to see airplanes landing and taking off. He would run back and forth and try to take pictures of the airplanes. He loves this place.

From this plaza, the view is better to see the airplane landing than take off. The plaza has parking, picnic tables (some with covers so you don’t have to sit under the sun), telescopes, historic information, a commemorative monument and a radio that broadcasts LIVE air traffic control communications from the FAA tower. This is definitely a good spot to bring kids to spend for 30-60 minutes and it’s FREE.

Website: http://www.dfwairport.com/founders/index.php

Direction:

Exit at Highway 114 on to Texan Trail and head south towards the Airport. Founders’ Plaza is at Texan Trail and N. Airfield Drive.

Click here to view the map to the plaza location.

VL Rating: Excellence

Allen Premium Outlets (Allen, TX)

If you’re in the DFW area and want to shop for great deals, a half an hour drive would bring you to Allen Premium Outlets. This place has about 100 stores with brand names like Banana Republic, BCBG Max, Brooks Brothers, Calvin Klein, Coach, Polo Ralph Lauren, Nike just to name a few and Neiman Marcus Last Call.

I wouldn’t say it is the best outlets out there but it is one of the closest to Dallas. The best outlets in Texas would be the Prime Outlets and the Tanger Outlets (they’re literally next to each other) in San Marcos, TX. You can literally shop until you drop there. But this Allen place is good for at least a few hours and it is close by.

On the other side of 75 (Central Expressway) are the Village at Fairview and Village at Allen. You can find Target, Best Buy, Macy’s and a long list of stores and restaurants. Check out this link for a complete list.

The Allen Premium Outlets:

Address: 820 West Stacy Road, Allen, TX 75013 
Phone: (972) 678-7000

VL Rating: Good

Pho Pasteur (Richardson, TX)

Tried this restaurant the other day. The decor is nicer than most other Vietnamese restaurants in the area. The room was large and clean. My wife and I both ordered Pho. She got the combination and I got the Tai. I have to say the Tai meat here is the best so far around DFW area. The soup is very tasty but I think they put a little too much spices. I remembered trying here a couple years ago and did not have a good impression about it. But this time, it passed my OK mark for the environment and Pho.

Address: 1342 East Belt Line Road Richardson, TX 75081-3709
Phone: (972) 680-0001


VL Rating: GOOD

Grapevine, TX

Grapevine Mills

About 30 minute from Dallas and just a few minutes from the DFW airport. Grapevine Mills is an indoor mall with some outlet stores. This is a plus since summer can be hot here and anything indoor is always welcome. It has over 180 stores to choose from and work is on the way to add LEGOLAND Discovery Center and SEA LIFE Aquarium in the Spring/Summer 2011. It would be great for kids.

There is also plan to build a World Villages of Grapevine next to Grapevine Mills with Asian garden, retail, dining etc... There is also a rumor that it will also include an indoor ski slope called “Texas Alps”. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the indoor ski slope.

VL Rating: COOL

Vietnamese Cuisine

Vietnamese migration to the US (and other countries in the world) starting from 1975 when South Viet Nam fell over to the North. More and more Americans are getting familiar to Pho, a National Vietnamese dish that can be eaten during any time of the day. However, I have come to know that many people are still not familiar to Vietnamese cuisine in general. A lot have not even tried it yet even though DFW has the 3rd largest Vietnamese population in the US. I have to admit that not even one Vietnamese restaurant that I have tried here in the US can come close to what I have used to in Viet Nam, but some are pretty good.

One thing to keep in mind about Vietnamese food is that each restaurant has their own specialty. So you have to know where to go and for which food.

Another note is that if a Vietnamese restaurant has dishes that sound and taste like Chinese food, they’re Chinese food.

Important:
Vietnamese food usually need to be eaten in a certain way. Please ask the waiters/waitresses if you have never eaten a Vietnamese dish before.

Below are a few popular dishes. See Wikipedia for a still incomplete but longer list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_cuisine

1)    Pho

Rice noodle in Beef broth.

One thing to keep in mind is if the Pho soup tastes like beef soup, it’s NOT Pho.
Note that restaurants in the US tend to give you a long list of choices of meat. However, the original version is "Tai" only which is Steak meat. Adding any other kind of meat (except for beef ball) will change the taste of Pho. Talking about beef ball, you should try Vietnamese beef balls.

Just like every other Vietnamese dishes, it comes with a dish of raw vegetables. For Pho, it's usually basil, bean sprouts, lime, chili/Jalapeno and saw leaf herb. If this is your first time, I would recommend adding a few of each and eat together with the rice noodle. For the saw leaf herb, you would have to break them up very small (a few time smaller than the basil leaf).


On the table, you should find at least 1 chili paste and 1 hoisin sauce.
I usually mix these 2 in a small dish. Chili paste 3 times more than hoisin sauce.
Some people just use chili paste or just hoisin sauce. This is for dipping the meats that come with Pho.


Pho Bang (Jupiter and Walnut in Garland) is worth a try.

2)    Hu Tieu

Chinese/Cambodia influenced Rice noodle soup. Pork based soup.

This is not for everyone since I still can’t find one that I can call good.

But there is a Hu Tieu place on Walnut in Garland that you can try.

3)    Com Tam

Broken rice with pork chop or grilled meat.

I always like the pork chop version but it’s very hard to find one that is truly good.

The one in Saigon Mall food court is worth a try. (Beltline and Jupiter in Garland).

When ever in doubt, pick the grill pork instead.
Also, if the restaurant offer shredded pork meat and skin with Com Tam, give that a try and you wont regret.

It's important that you pour the Nuoc cham (fish sauce) that come with the dish seperately on the rice and mix everything (except for the meat) really well. If this is your first time, pour a little and see how it taste. I usually dump the whole thing in the dish. :-)

Important: Insist on getting the broken rice and NOT the normal jasmine rice. There is a big difference in taste and texture between broken rice and normal rice. That's why we call this dish Com Tam which literally translated "Broken Rice"

4)    Ca Phe Sua Da (literally Iced coffee and milk)

Vietnamese Coffee (French coffee with Condensed milk)
Try it out and you'll know why people calling it Vietnamese coffee and not French coffee with condensed milk.


Ca Phe Sua Da usually come with a tall glass with ice cubes, a filter already filled with coffee and hot water sitting on top of a cup which contain condensed milk. You will need to wait until all the water has dripped down to the cup below. When the water in the filter is empty, remove the filter from the cup and put it on the cover that come with the filter. Use a spoon stir the cup with coffee and condensed milk inside. Stir until all condensed milk has dissolved then pour everything into the glass filled with ice. ENJOY!


Note:
That if you don't like iced drink, you can opt for Ca Phe Sua (Coffee and milk).


Warning:
The coffee is as strong or stronger than most espresso. If you have never drink espresso before, please take small sips and see how it goes.

See the picture from Wikipedia on how it's supposed to look like.
Wikipedia - Vietnamese Iced Coffee

5)    Bun

A kind of rice noodle that is used to eat dry with Nuoc Cham poured over and mixed with beansprouts and fresh vegetables..

Grilled pork is popular but a number of other choices of meat is available including Vietnamese eggroll and Jumbo shrimp (A fresh water shrimp that can be as big as a lobster in size with 2 skinny and long claws. You have to go to Viet Nam to eat this fresh.).

6)    Goi Cuon

Vietnamese Spring roll (aka Summer roll)

Contains shrimp, pork (sometimes Cha lua), noodle, fresh vegetables and eaten with peanut sauce.

7)    Cha Gio

Vietnamese Egg Roll – Eaten with fresh vegetables and Nuoc Cham.
Use a piece of lettuce as a wrapping paper, put an egg roll inside and add a little bit of each mints that come with it. Carefully wrap the lettuce and dip one end in Nuoc Cham and take a bite from that end. Dip again before taking another bite.

Bistro B (Audelia and Walnut in Garland) sells 4 for $1 (for take out only and does not come with anything else beside the egg rolls). It's pretty decent. Eat in is more expensive.

8)    Che

      Sweet drinks or pudding.

Many restaurants and supermarkets sell a variety of Che.


Check out "Che Hong Kong" in the food court next to Hong Kong Supermarket (Audelia and Walnut in Garland).


Che 3 Mau (3 color sweet drink) is one of the most popular Che.
It is an iced drink with a few kind of beans, jelly, coconut milk, peanuts and others.
Give this a try and you won't regret it.

9)    Banh Mi Thit Nguoi

Vietnamese sandwiches which contain homemade pate, butter, soy sauce, Vietnamese ham (Cha lua), other cold cut meat, cucumber, cilantro, Jalapeno and shredded carrot and white radish pickles.

Quoc Bao (Jupiter and Walnut in Garland) is the best around here.

I hope after trying out these dishes, you would be more venturous and try other dishes.

Check out this link for the best Vietnamese in DFW by DallasNews.

Update (2/7/201):
I have recently started a list of my own best Vietnamese restaurants in Dallas Fort Forth. Check it here.

Mckinney, TX

This is my home town. Moved here 5 years ago from NY. Love the environment here. Everything is bigger, cleaner and nicer. This is almost the perfect place to live except it’s a little hot in the summer but luckily it’s not humid. The Winter is super nice here around mid 50s F.

Mckinney, TX has been one of the fastest growing cities in the US for many years.

The CNN Money magazine put it in the 100 best place to live in 2009 and this year, 2010, Mckinney is in the top 5 Best Places to live.

Check out this video: http://money.cnn.com/video/pf/2010/07/09/m_best_places_mckinney_tx.moneymag/

VL Rating: Excellence

Master Grill Brazillian Steak House (Frisco, TX)

Went there last week with my family to try it out the first time. I have to say it would be the last. Some of the meats were salty, some were dry and none were good. The décor was nice but that was it. Won’t be coming back again.

VL Rating: Poor 

Stockyards and Fort Worth Water Gardens, Fort Worth, TX

Stockyards

(http://www.fortworthstockyards.org/)

Cowboy Celebration Parade

Stockyards is an historic place in Fort Worth that can’t be missed when visiting the DFW area. Every times we have relative come visit, I always bring them there. This time when my family came for 10 days, we went there on July 24, 2010 when they had the Cowboy Celebration Parade. On that day, they also have FREE activities for kids like riding real horse carousel, watermelon eating contest etc…

My nephews and nieces played the Cowtown Cattlepen Maze. They were exhausted after running through the maze for almost an hour…

Cattle Drive

Also, twice a day, they have the Fort Worth Herd Cattle Drive through the heart of Stockyards.

Everyone had a great time…

On the way home, we stopped by the “Fort Worth Water Gardens” located at

1502 Commerce Street

Fort Worth, TX 76102

Fort Worth Water Gardens

Water cascading from all sides to the pool in the middle below. It is a must see if you’re visiting Fort Worth. The picture on the right does not do justice for this amazing place.

VL Rating: Excellence

SanDisk Sansa Fuze MP3 Player

Bought this player for my brother-in-law to play music in his car. I’m still amazed to see how small and sleek it is. It was easy to put all MP3 files to the player. Just drag and drop the files in and the player recognized all of them automatically. The audio quality was great. I have to say it is as good (or better) as the old iPod that I have. One neat thing about this player is you can add more memory if needed.

Information (from Sandisk website):

Capacity Matrix 2GB* 4GB* 8GB*
Hours of Video 6 hours ** 12 hours** 24 hours**
Number of Songs 500** 1000** 2000**
Number of Pictures 1200** 2400** 4800**

Features:

Plays videos, music, photos and audio books*
Digital FM radio
Voice recording with built-in microphone
Bright 1.9" screen
Up to 24 hours for audio playback and 5 hours of video playback with internal rechargeable battery**
microSD^TM /microSDHC^TM slot for additional content expansion
Music subscription ready
1 Year Limited Warranty
Dimensions: 3.1 x 1.9 x 0.3 in. (HxWxD)

Minimum System Requirements:

Windows® XP or Vista
Linux and Mac OS (under MSC mode)
Windows Media Player® 10 or 11
CD-ROM drive (For all regions except US)
USB 2.0 high power port required for Hi-Speed transfer and charging

VL Rating: Execelence

Manny's Tex-Mex Grill (Frisco, TX)

Went there the other day with my coworkers for lunch. There were ton of people there. I have to say it is the best of all the Tex-Mex restaurants that I have tried so far. The ‘free’ soup and chips with salsa was great. I ordered 2 beef Enchiladas. My coworkers one ordered a porkchop and the other ordered chicken and beef Enchiladas. They were all great. Definitely will come back again to try something else.

Address: 7210 Main St, Frisco,TX 75034

Phone: (972) 377-6765

VL Rating: Excellence

ASUS O!Play Air (HDP-R3)

I’ve been using the O!Play Air for more than half a year now and is really happy with it.

I owned WD TV Live before this one and I have to say I like the O!play Air better.

First off, O!play Air comes with built-in wireless N. No need to buy additional adapter. It works fine even with my Wireless G router (but not for large HD Video files). I would expect to upgrade my router to wireless N for large files. It supports a long list of video file format including mkv, avi and rmvb and play DVD folders. It has built in memory card reader and e-SATA input.

So far, it plays every files (Video, audio and jpeg) flawlessly.

Specifications (from ASUS website)

Supported Formats	Video: MPEG1/2/4,RM/RMVB,VC-1,H.264 Video File Extension: .trp,.mp4,.mov,.xvid,.avi,.divx,.asf,.wmv,.mkv,.rm,.rmvb,.flv,.ts,  .m2ts,.dat,.mpg,.vob,.mts,.iso,.ifo Audio: MP3,WAV,AAC,OGG,FLAC,AIFF,Dolby Digital AC3,Dolby Digital Plus,DTS Digital Surround,Tag ID3,Dolby True HD (downmix) Image: JPEG,BMP,PNG,GIF,TIFF Subtitle: SRT,SUB,SMI,SSA,TXT
I/O Port	Input: DC Power In 1xUSB 2.0 Port 1xUSB 2.0 / eSATA Combo Port RJ-45 LAN Port Card readers CF, SD+MMC, MS+MS Duo 802.11n Wireless Networking Output: Composite Video Composite Audio L/R S/PDIF Out HDMI 1.3
Accessories	AC Adapter Power Cord Remote Control Composite A/V Cable Quick Start Guide CD (User Manual)
Dimensions	181.0mmx125.3mmx47.7mmmm(W x D x H)
Weight	479g
Power	Power Source: 12VDC, 2A Power Consumption: <10W Operating Temperature: 5°C(41°F)~35°C(95°F)
Supported File System	FAT16/32, NTFS, HFS/HFS+, ext3

VL Rating: Excellence