Don't get me wrong, I'm not so partial to the iPhone. But I'm impressed by it not so much its feature set, but for its coherency, which in a way led to its mainstream success.

I think what Apple has done right with the iPhone that other phone manufacturers haven't is to deliver a product to the market that is relatively bug-free. The iPhone's feature list is tiny compared to the likes of Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung's competing phones, for example. But the iPhone nails its small feature list very well, whereas historically, the other phone giants tend to release their featureful phones with defect-ridden firmware, which only matures maybe in a year of the product being in the market.

I've long since been a bit apathetic towards Apple, however, for their flashiness. That is, they often give them impression that they are first to market for everything, when in reality, it wasn't their idea or technology at all to begin with. Perhaps that just shows the distaste of business and marketing at its finest in me... but I digress.

Nevertheless, when reports of the iPhone 4's signal reception issues, I curiously for once paid attention to the iPhone 4. Admittedly, the thought that came to mind was, finally, the apparently all perfect Apple has realized that they aren't so perfect after all. But would the consumers care? Probably not... everyone is in love with Apple. But then of course came the consumer report that actually rather bluntly said they would not recommend the iPhone to anyone, which I'm sure came as a blow to Apple's ego, since they do pride themselves on producing products that are first and foremost for the consumer. And they do a good job at it, for the most part.

So after the whole ordeal, I was pleasantly surprised by Apple's decision to give free cases to all iPhone 4 owners, along with their statement that they had made a mistake and were not perfect. Good on you Apple, I was for once impressed with your public relations.

But then I saw an article on a Symbian news website that reported that Apple actually pulled out some attacks against Nokia for having the same problem as Apple with reception. According to Apple, Nokia's phones have stickers on the back telling their users where not to touch. Admittedly, I have only seen a small portion of Nokia phones, so I can't acknowledge or deny this statement, but obviously the writers at All About Symbian have seen and handled nearly every Nokia smartphone on the market past and present - and they have never seen such stickers.

Nokia's response to Apple's attack is fairly mature and emphasizes that antenna design is something that Nokia prides itself in. They don't say anything more about Apple and just concentrate and talking about what Nokia does.

I don't know why Apple has to compare themselves to other manufacturers all the time. Their cute Mac vs PC commercials are always funny, but they're always selling Mac compared to PC. It's all about what the PC can't do. It's rare to see a modern Mac commercial that speaks to some of the really good points about Mac without talking about Windows. Interestingly, I find that Microsoft's Windows 7 commercials quite refreshing in that they highlight some of the key new features in Windows 7, but without even mentioning Apple whether implicitly or explicitly.

And now when Apple has some engineering errors, they pull all other industry leaders in the same boat and say, hey look, everyone else is doing it too.

It's funny. When Apple has no problems, they tell the world how much better they are than all other electronic companies. But now when Apple so clearly has a defect in their product, they do the exact opposite. In a sense, when its convenient to look like everyone else, they'll try their best to do so. What happen to standing out? Which is the Apple thing to do?

Either way though, they are still comparing and comparing. Which I suppose is how the consumer world works... but I mean, I would have been really impressed with Apple if they just left it as, "we made a mistake, here are some free cases."

It's like when Nintendo had the issues with Wii controller straps breaking. They addressed the issue quickly by offering free stronger strap replacements and free silicone bumpers for their controllers. They didn't go to venture into other territories by saying things like, "oh but look at this other game controller, which also caused damage."

But I digress, Apple still is, and will remain, the most worshiped electronics giant in North America.

So what's next?

I am currently looking for an apartment to rent in Ohio. I have a handful of places shortlisted and will be checking them out in person by the end of this month.

I'll then be moving down to the US at the end of the summer.

There will be a lot of new experiences.

Life is slowly transitioning into a whole new phase. It's exciting and things definitely seem to be moving faster.

And oh cool, I'll get to shop from the American versions of NewEgg and Amazon.

After five years of study, I have finally been awarded a Bachelors of Applied Science. After returning home from the convocation ceremony, I spent some time cleaning out my closet. To my interest I found my acceptance package from the University of Waterloo. Inside the package was an offer letter welcoming me to the Systems Design Engineering program.

Looking at the letter, I noticed that it actually contains a rough description of what Systems Design encompasses (it is always an on going joke among Waterloo engineers that SYDE students don't know what they do). The description reads as follows:

You will find that Systems Design will allow you the opportunity to explore systems where it is essential that electrical, mechanical and computer components are designed or analyzed simultaneously as well as investigating the business aspects of products.

In some sense, almost every modern engineering project requires these key disciplines.

The letter is full of promise and speaks nothing about the academic challenges that I would encounter during my five years in Waterloo. Nor does it speak to the innumerable amount of good times and friendships that I would form through vibrant campus life.

The five-year old letter looks just as bright as the degree certificate that I now hold, which equally promises an exciting future.

It's been a good five years over all, and I'm excited to see where the next five years of life brings me.

For amusement, I took a snapshot of my degree and offer package side by side. It's all together an end-to-end scene.

The Singapore pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 was a bit disappointing on many levels. It didn't speak to the progress that Singapore has made in the last 40 years. I'm sure with Singapore's vastly innovative talent, they could have featured something more than bouncing trampolines. (I mean, look at the Marina Barrage, the MRT system, NEWater, etc).

But I did enjoy the music video presentation. The only thing is that exclusively Mandarin artists were featured. Granted, the Expo is in Shanghai... but still, I thought that it would have been neat to include some Malay and Indian artists in the song.

Managed to find it online. Now I just need to find that cool background music from the Canada pavilion. Hmm...