EVA Air Business Class Lounge Review

The Infinity Lounge | Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)

Last time, I tried the EVA Air Star Lounge at TPE, so this time I decided to try the Infinity Lounge. The Infinity and Star Lounges share the same entrance. The Infinity is on the right and the Star is on the left.

I saw a robot butler at the entrance, but I was not sure if it was functional or just for decoration purposes. After entering, I was little bit shocked by the lounge’s general decor. I was not able to get what kind of theme they were trying to show.

I immediately regretted not choosing the Star Lounge, which I had already visited. Although the Infinity Lounge was spacious, it was crowded and I didn’t feel I could relax there.

It has shower rooms with nice names like Metro Forest, Star Drops, etc., but most of them were occupied.

The food section was adequate, but I felt the Star Lounge food section was bigger and better.

I saw some decor on the ceiling that were created by projecting lights. These different shapes, like mostly round or curved, changed colors and blue ones were the ones I liked most. These different-shaped light projections were something unique and made visiting the Infinity Lounge worthwhile.

Overall, I found the Infinity Lounge is a lounge you should visit just to get the experience of visiting. If it’s not too crowded, it would be a nice lounge to visit and enjoy the themed decor and light projections on the ceiling.

Is Chromebook Going to Be A Bridge to The Future of Computers?

Google’s Attempt to Change Our Behaviour

First Published Date : May 18, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

Google just unveiled its new cloud-based laptop that runs on Google’s Chrome operating system. Acer and Samsung will the first to bring netbooks based on the Chrome OS platform. Bringing a computer based on a brand new concept is Google’s newest attempt to change how consumers use their computers and possibly build a bridge from the present to the future world of computers. However, will Google be successful building this bridge? Today, I am going to discuss some advantages and disadvantages of web-based computers like Chromebook and then you can decide whether it will succeed or will be a failure.

Advantages

You can forget about installing and updating software, running anti-virus, and so on. It’s all done automatically.

Takes 8 seconds to boot.

It’s always connected to the Internet, as Chromebook uses the Internet as its hard drive.

Low-power consumption and the battery lasts much longer than a traditional laptop

Runs much smoother than a traditional Windows-powered laptop

Disadvantages

People are not yet comfortable enough with cloud computing. It will be hard to overcome the psychological barrier of surrendering personal data on Google servers.

You will not be able to download and install programs you have known and used at length onto Chromebook. As you will not be able to use many programs you require on a daily basis, having a Chromebook will be meaningless.

As Chromebook is powered by the Internet, it will be dysfunctional (most of the applications) if there is no Internet access. However, as far as my understanding goes, some of the apps may work without the Internet. So, you are buying something for which you need to have an Internet connection 24/7 – which is not practical for many of us. For example, if you use the Toronto subway to commute or having a coffee at a coffee shop in the world’s largest underground shopping complex PATH in downtown Toronto, a Chromebook netbook will be useless.

Priced at $350 to $500, it’s not cheap and available only from two manufacturers.

Last Word

The main thing to overcome here is the psychological barrier. A product made to change our traditional computer experience will not be a smooth transition for sure. If you would like to get a feeling of what Chromebook will be like, try using only Google Chrome browser and all the applications only accessible via Chrome for a week – and you will get a feel for it. Coming back to our question – is Chromebook going to build a bridge to the future? It all depends on how consumers react.

Life in Canada Is Better Than Most Other Industrialized Countries

Canada Ranks High on OECD Better Life Index

First Published Date : May 24, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is a France-based organization to promote economic cooperation, progress, and world trade among its 34 developed member countries. The OECD launched its Better Life Index on Tuesday, an interactive tool that measures well-being based on 11 dimensions (as the OECD has identified) to have a better life.  

Canada ranks high in all measures of well being based on data from 2008 or later. An interesting part is that these data provided by private citizens, not economists or agencies, unlike this type of other indexes.

I am going to give you some highlights showing some of the Canadian and rankings:

Canada Average OECD Average

Housing

2.5 rooms per person. Number 1 ranking in the OECD. 1.6 rooms per person.

Income

Disposable Income is US$ 27,015/00; Household Wealth is US$ 59479/00 US$ 22,284/00; US$ 36,808

Jobs

72% of the working-age population has a paid job 65%

Education

92% of 25-34 year old population has a high-school degree 80%

Environment

Air pollution is 15 micrograms per cubic meter 22 micrograms per cubic meter

Health

Life Expectancy is 80.7 Years 79 years

Life Satisfaction

78% people are satisfied and has been steadily rising 59%

Safety

Assault rate is 1% in the last 12 months 4%

Source: OECD Better Life Index

Is Public Mobile $15 Unlimited Plan Worth Switching Home Phone For?

Is Public Mobile $15 Unlimited Plan A Threat To Prepaid Wireless and Landlines?

First Published Date : May 30, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

Looking to capture a chunk of landline and prepaid wireless market share, Public Mobile has aggressively launched a $15 Unlimited Plan campaign throughout its coverage area. However, the question lurking in everyone’s mind is will it be the end of the prepaid and landline home phone? Or, will the traditional home phone and prepaid wire even survive with this $15 Unlimited Plan being available?

Let’s talk about prepaid wireless first. I think Public Mobile will be able to put a noticeable dent in the prepaid wireless market share with this plan. The only two groups of consumers I see still going with the prepaid plans are those who use prepaid occasionally and do not know about this offer or don’t want to go through the hassle of going to a new company because of the use of prepaid on a very limited scale (but not occasionally).

How about the landline home phone? Will it become extinct? I don’t think it will. There are groups of people who will always be reluctant to give up their home phone lines for cell phones. The reason people have a home phone service is because they want something reliable and a physical line, whether it’s a phone line connected through traditional copper wire or a line through cable wire, so they have that mental peace knowing it won’t stop working due to signal issues or other unseen issues like a cell phone. Also, it’s a matter of convenience and reliance having voice messages left in an answering machine physically located at home than somewhere else on cell phone companies’ servers. It’s a lot easier to maneuver the big buttons on an answering machine and home phone than a tiny, hard-to-find cell phone buttons.

One of the groups that would be reluctant to give up their home phones is the baby boomers. Another group would be people who are just into their 50s and not too obsessed with cell phones. People under 40 will be those who are likely to give Public Mobile $15 Unlimited Plan a try, and Public Mobile should be able to put a dent in this group’s home phone market share with their cleverly-designed strategic ads.

For my own part, I do not use a home phone, although I have to have a home phone because of my older parents. My dad can’t press or find the right buttons on a cell phone because they are too small and my mom always flips the cell phone (meaning she puts the earpiece near her mouth and the mouthpiece near her ear) if she tries to make a call. However, if I was buying only for myself I would definitely cancel my landline home phone and save $20 a month with Public Mobile’s $15 Unlimited Plan.

Singapore to Taipei - Eva Air Business Class Flight Review | Travel Blog

Eva Air Business Class BR 226 - Singapore to Taipei

Singapore to Toronto via Taipei Dec 20, 2018

After completing airport formalities, I headed towards the business class lounge at Singapore Airport.  Eva Air business calls their business class Royal Business Class. There was no 1st class on this Boeing 777-300ER.

SilverKris Lounge | Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3

I talked about the SilverKris lounge in my previous post. The lounge had an extensive selection of foods and drinks.

The best part was its shower facility. Each shower room was private and lots of amenities were provided.

Inside the Business Class Cabin

Eva Air business class configuration is 1-2-1 reverse-herringbone layout. All lie-flat seats offer direct aisle access. My seat was next to the window.

The Amenity Kit

There was no amenity kit provided because I guess the flight was short and only 4H 30 M long.

Food & Drinks

Like my other EVA Air business class flights, food and drink selections were great. My main course was Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Shiitake Mushroom Brown Sauce, Mixed Vegetables and Lyonnaise Potatoes. My dessert was fruit Chocolate Mousse with Ginger and Apricot Chiboust Cream.

The Washroom

The washrooms were extremely clean and well maintained. So far, all my EVA Flight experiences were the same.

Entertainment System

There were fairly recent movies and TV shows, but I didn’t watch anything as the flight was short. Eva Air does not provide free Wi-Fi in business class.

Final Thoughts

I have had a few other EVA Air business class flights and they were consistent in terms of excellent service and satisfaction.