Arquivo do Autor: lucaslongo

GADGETS

After having sold EVERYTHING I owned in Brazil – car, motorcycle, camera, video, dvd player, home theater, windsurfing and kitesurfing equipment, bikes, stereo and so on – I have purchased some new toys 😉

Felt good and at the same time funny to look at my 2 travel bags, some cases of books and clothes, and realize that it was all I owned… great feeling… start fresh.

Did some research and got the following:

1 – MacBook Pro 15″

I switched!! Did the switch from PC to Mac and must say that I am absolutely LOVING it! Have to admit that one of the reasons I actually switched is precisely because you can install Windows XP on it!

BUT when I started using it I realized that I might do it just to test it and might never really use it. During an interview, Apples PR guy said that he was not worried about people buying their hardware and using Microsoft’s software since once a PC user tried Mac OS X they would not go back to Windows XP… thought it was a fantastic and bold (and probably well thought of) comment.

Mac OS X is amazing – just like the ADDS say – it is ready straight out of the box – configuration is simple and you cannot go wrong. All the tools you need are there, even if you are an advanced user you will find that the simplified tools are great for the basics.

Thought about getting the 17″ one but the performance is the same and it simply is a little too big to lug around.

2 – Helio mobile phone

Decided to steer away from the traditional mobile operators and go with the new 3G MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) owned by Earthlink’s founder and a Korean investor I believe.

Only 2 but very cool phone options… all you can eat data services which I loved… free videos… the phone I got has great features – amazing screen – 2 megapixel photo camera with “flash” and digital zoom – vga video – mp3 player – voice recorder

Did not like that it is still not compatible with the Mac and some of the features like shortcuts are not all customizable… also did not find a way to store bookmarks while surfing for sites…

3 – Specialized Tarmac Expert

Was going for the Cannondale CAAAD 8 but after the guys at the shop told me to try the this one I fell in love with it… don’t know if it was the full carbon frame or the modern geometry but it just felt right… loved it…

To go with it got top of the line Specalized shoes (carbon), Time pedals, Bell helmet, Polar heart rate monitor with wireless speed and cadence transmitters, and Specialized goggles that adapt to the lighting conditions.

Still want to buy the Canon EOS 30D and the Apple Cinema Display 30″ but waiting to move into my official apt to get that.

Well… now will also have to spend some money furnishing my apartment… but that is from a different budget… mentally 😉

My Temp House

You cannot imagine the position I am in…

Well – the bed is in the middle of Henry’s living room – I was staying in a little room behind his office (adjacent to his apt – connected) but now they are renovating the office so the office moved into the room I was staying in… And the bed came into his living room…

Just sooo thankfull to him for having let me stay here…

It gets better – I am on the bed – my laptop on the floor – wireless keyboard and mouse with me on the bed and me in my undies typing away – oh yes – have the Apple “zoom” feature on so that I can see a little better what I am typing… Eheheeh…

As far as the aparment hunting goes, I have decided that I will stop the hunting and just go to Stuyvesant Town… It is not the “cool” place to be in and not the fancy neighborhood but I think it is the best deal… It is simply so much bigger than everything else I saw… Got a good one today via email but then there is the brokers fee… One month worth of rent just evaporated… I can furnish the place with that money 😉

The Switch

So many options – so many widgets for my new Mac – so many tools

Ran away from using MySpace as my bloggin tool – even though my Helio phone is integrated with it…

Figured the Blogger Widget would be more usefull… or maybe not… this just seemed like a cleaner, faster, and more customizable blogging tool.

This was my old blog (from which I copied the entries into this one 😉

My Space – Lucas Longo

Thats it for now!

Second Entry

Second entry… this might actaully become adictive!!

Zipped around on my rollerblades with great music blasting through my iPod while systematically going through the list of potential apartments for rent.

Started off at Graduate Housing who told me that there were no more subsidised apartments available… nothing more than expected.

Went to Styuvesant Town to check it out… inside the “complex” it feels like you are not in the city… reminded me that I wanted to be in the middle of it all to counterbalance the time when I lived on dead-by-night Wall St 10 years ago.

But also realised that it would be a big plus to have a nice quite area that I could call “home” in the middle of this bubbling city… also at a different stage of my life where you start caring more for the smaller details, the fine pleasures – as opposed to the hustle and bustle of the frenetic street life the Village can offer.

Not too close to NYU but could use the walk – no 1 bedrooms available – for now – but good excuse to get Otto here 😉

Funny how when I first saw it I figured I would end up there… same way that happened with the Wall St apt – something similar about them – the one owner/big complex/leasing/no broker style.

And I actually saw it while being shown the very first apartment I looked at here… it all happens for a reason I guess…

It is all connected…

An interesting topic to explore artistically/technically at ITP – how this small world effect/coincidences/”fate”/subliminal messages affect our daily lives and how we actually look at art and technology differently depending on what we have experienced in the past few moments…

Ok – that`s it for now…

Getting sleppy 😉

First Entry

First blog for me… lets see if it becomes a habit…

Figured friends and family back home might enjoy reading some news about what is going on here… even thought that is quite an ego-trip to think that all will be interested in what I am doing here…

In any case – today was the first day at ITP – student orientation at least – very interesting crowd of people – everything from musicians, dancers, writers, electric engineers, designers, computer scientists and some random people of course…

Almost half international – Korea being the most represented country… 2 other Brazilians – a girl from Rio and a guy who I did not get a chance to meet yet… + 2 other people who actually speak Portuguese – a Turkish girl whos name I will remeber soon – lived in Brazil for about a year – says it was the best year of her life… and another guy who’s mother is brazilian – and cousing with Fabio Laniado who went to school with me at Graded!!

Small World…

Bought almost all of my toys already – MacBookPro 15, Specialized Tarmac Expert – full carbon road bike, and Rollerblades…

Still thinking if I should buy the Apple Cinema Display 30″, an extra hard drive for backup, and a Canon EOS 30D… lets see…

Well… that is it for now 😉

Cheers!