AUTASPACE!

MIMOS Celebrates 25th Year in Research & Development - Tun Dr. M awarded recognition

2011-05-05T17:21:00.002+08:00

Today MIMOS celebrated it's 25th year in research and development for Malaysia. Starting from a pioneer team of less than ten people and RM5 million, MIMOS has certainly grown to great proportions.

The video is of Tun Dr. Mahathir's congratulatory speech to MIMOS, the recipients of recognition for IP contributions and for the pioneering management team.

The speech starts with Tun mentioning that MIMOS started with RM5 million, a small sum in comparison for today. Note: video has some cuts in between; not the full length. It doesn't have the part that Tun says "my job actually here is to congratulate them..."

Second video starts with Tun talking about getting funds for Proton to research on developing electric powered cars and comparing the minuscule budget to General Motors with a budget of $3 Billion.

Third and final video starts with Tun talking about how family owned Italian companies can produce very professional prototypes at a very high price. It ends with a book signing,

Apple guy: great artists steal...

2011-04-20T10:56:00.000+08:00

Now this is awkward. The saying goes that imitation is a form of flattery - or something to that effect and most certainly there isn't anything that hasn't been done yet. Sadly enough, that's the limitation of human existence. However there are some concepts and precepts which protect a creator or inventor - albeit in some countries for a limited time.

Recently, Apple sued Samsung for copying: 1. the iPhone and 2. the iPad. In the US sales statistics by ComScore show that Samsung by the way of Android made it's way as the smartphone of choice. Well no surprise there - the legal battles of the IT industry is rife with such claims and patent infringements.

Here's the Apple Guy:

Motorola Defy Dipped Served In A Glass Of Water For Your Viewing Pleasure!

2011-04-05T16:05:00.000+08:00

What's that you have in your mug? That isn't a giant roach is it?

A few reviews past I did for a magazine, I had the pleasure of reviewing the rugged Motorola Defy! A nice piece of kit in terms of engineering and design department when it comes to hostile environments! Needless to say, this was one of the favourite Android devices I've reviewed in recent memory. Granted however it still runs Android 2.1 (upgrade to 2.2 promised by Motorola soon, but dunno when) and it stutters a bit in some departments but the Defy nevertheless delivers what I expected it too while running on just an 800MHz processor.

Now the serving in a mug of water part, isn't actually covered under warranty - It's supposed to be just WATER RESISTANT and NOT water proof! But hey! If you make sure all the seals are shut tight and the backplate cover is fastened correctly, the Defy most certainly can take a dive, a splash and a fair bit of mud slinging!

One reviewer on another site actually had his review unit submerged in water and made the mistake of not checking the locks and seals. The result? The battery shorted out. The Defy? Well it got dried off and kept on running on another battery! Shows you how well made this baby is from Motorola.

Lights on: Fancy A Motorola Defy in your mug?

Besides being dipped in water and having water run over it from the faucet, the Defy sure can take some abuse: in the guise of several drops. A 3 foot drop onto a concrete floor didn't faze it save some scruff marks- they look cute and give it character...Just like the dinks on my Panasonic Toughbook.

So fancy having a cuppa with a Defy in it? Read on.

A pretty faced rugged Android phone

The Motorola Defy unexpectedly surprises us where least expected and mostly delivers what it promises to.

By Zeeman

Rugged Expectations

First impressions would say that the Motorola Defy is quite an ordinary looking mid-range priced Android smartphone; one with a black and glossy outlook. Judging by the size and you would never suspect that the Defy is meant for seriously hardy conditions. In other words it doesn’t look like it’s been popping in steroids. Looks however can be deceiving: folks this isn’t just an ordinary smartphone!

Motorola is however notorious when it comes to staying current with Android: the Defy runs Android 2.1 Éclair; but we’re willing to make some concessions here. Even if Éclair doesn’t support the off loading of apps to external microSD storage, the Defy has 2 GB (1.2 GB available) internal shared memory.

To top that off, Motorola actually made some very good enhancements and tweaks to the Android 2.1 flavour the Defy runs. Motorola will of course eventually offer an upgrade to Android 2.2 in due time.

First looks:

What surprises most people when they see the Defy is how unremarkably ordinary it looks like; not that it’s ugly. It’s actually quite elegantly designed or even dainty at just 118 grams to be a rugged device. What surprises them more would be the old dunk test where the Defy is served (with screen on) in a glass of water! Even if the Defy is only ‘water resistant’ and not totally water proof, it lives up to its name in this regard pretty well.

A closer look will tell you that the chassis was meant to take on the brunt of hard use, or even extreme conditions: the black metallic banding around the bezel complete with 9 torx screws, snug water resistant covers for both the 3.5 mm audio jack (rubber-like) and the microUSB port (harder plastic like), the rubber lined gasket in the battery compartment and the latch secured back rubberized plastic back plate. One note about the audio jack: when connected to an earphone, the connector doesn’t go in all the way in.

The display is a 3.7 inch WVGA, 480 x 854 pixel screen which is fine for reading small text as long as on a direct angle. One thing you won’t notice is that the glass is Gorilla Glass from Corning which is supposed to be pretty scratch resistant and tough.

You don’t see too many physical buttons on the Defy: there are Android standard touch buttons at the bottom of the screen (menu, home, back and search). On the top is the power button and on the right side is the volume rocker switch. On the back: top-left are the 5 MP and LED, what seems like a tiny microphone hole, a slide lock mechanism and what seems to be a cleverly designed speaker hole.

Screen time!

The Defy’s 3.7 inch WVGA, 480 x 854 pixels screen is actually quite decent for most purposes. Legibility is good except at odd 30 degree angles from the sides. When put to maximum brightness, the screen is quite readable outdoors compared to some other brighter and superior screens.

The touchscreen actually works very well. It’s however not responsive when submerged (not recommended, remember it’s only supposed to be water resistant, not waterproof). In fact, after fishing the Defy out, the capacitive multi-point screen is a bit unresponsive until you wipe it dry. So you can’t use it as a camera while underwater, although switching on video record before plunging it into water might work!

The innards

The processor doesn’t look impressive at first: a Texas Instruments’ 800MHz OMAP3610 processor, but playing around with the Defy proves that it’s serves well. There are however some episodes of lagging when switching between apps, but that’s quite occasionally. Overall, the processor seems to be able to handle scrolling very smoothly. Pinch zooming works well too.

Perhaps what helps in the hardware department is the built-in 2 GB internal shared memory (1.2 GB available), the 512MB of RAM which improves performance and the extra 2 GB SD card (which sits behind the battery).

The Lithium-polymer battery rated at 1,540 mAh seems to be quite well suited for the Defy that is if you don’t stretch it too much with streaming media. It has enough juice to last the entire day for normal geek usage (music, some YouTube, Tweeter and Facebook usage). You can also turn on the data saver function to limit not only the data usage; it also saves some power as it turns of photo downloads for social media. Tweaking on the frequency of your Gmail, Tweeter and Facebook updates will also save a lot on data and power usage.

User Experience

The user experience on the Defy is actually good with a few minor niggles. How can you complain about a phone that takes punishment and abuse and keeps on ticking? Test dropped (at a height of 3 feet) several times on the office floor and bare concrete plus several dips into glasses of water did not phase the Defy one bit. Some scuff marks aside; this is a phone you don’t have to worry about!

One issue that propped out would be the touchscreen’s quirk when playing Angry Birds. When zooming in and out a lot, it tends to become unresponsive; i.e. you can scroll and all, just that you can’t launch your birds. The Twitter app works fine but Tweetdeck seems to stutter a bit and then closes by itself. Granted however that these could just be game incompatibility issues (this is after all Android 2.1), but it’s annoying.

Unlike the earlier announced versions of the Defy, this one for Malaysia, besides missing some apps it also doesn’t have the word MotoBlur etched on its back cover plate. MotoBlur streams social network conversations, friends and favorites into your Motorola phone. Some argue that Blur isn’t really necessary given the better and newer social networking apps available. This isn’t a big issue.

Very surprisingly, one of the strongest features is the Connected Music Player. It plays your music, internet radio, music videos (library, YouTube, GoTV), connects to the TuneWiki Community and has Sound Hound sound identification. The music player is way better than the default Android version and besides playing your tracks, it also retrieves the cover art, lyrics (some songs have a karaoke-like lyric support), allows you to share on Twitter, search for related Music Videos and even view a Google Music Map to see what other tracks are being listened to in your nearby area! Besides that you can stream your media to DLNA supported devices if you happen to have any.

Browsing even in multiple tabs works fine and thanks to Adobe Flash Lite 3, you can play Flash video like from YouTube within the browser itself. You also get the option to open the YouTube app as well.

For user input, Swype is already the preset. It’s quite dandy to use once you get the hang of it. Altrnatively there are the Moto input method (includes handwriting recognition for English and Chinese) and Multi-touch keyboard.

Besides giving their own version of the Android soft keyboard (which is quite accurate), Samsung also gives you the option to use the Swype input method. Swype is supposed to make it easier by allowing to type without raising your fingers off from the screen. It traces the path and gives some educated guesses. In landscape mode however, this can mean a lot of distance in between letters.

The Defy can also be used as a mobile 3G hotspot. To connect to your Windows PC or Mac, you can use the USB or WiFi Motorola Phone Portal function which allows access to the Defy’s contents via a Web browser.

Snapshots and video

The 5 MP camera is not a strong point for the Defy. It isn’t really bad but using a soft-button on the screen tends to make it harder to take fast paced pictures; even if the ‘sport’ mode is selected. Try taking a picture of a toddler in action and all you get are blurred images.

Among the features are geo-tagging, scene modes (portrait, landscape, sport, night portrait, sunset, macro, steady shot, and auto) and some effects.

Pictures can be pretty decent with adequate lighting as seen in outdoor daylight shots. Indoor shots are similar, which is where having the LED flash helps.

For video recording it can get up to 30 FPS at a VGA resolution. For pictures and video there’s an instant sharing capability via Bluetooth, Email, Gmail, MMS or YouTube.

The verdict?

Although Éclair is getting pretty long in the tooth, the Motorola has a few trump cards of its own added to the Defy’s Éclair Operating System. Motorola promises eventual Firmware-Over-The-Air (FOTA) upgrades and a step up to Android 2.2. Otherwise the Defy performs reasonably well in spite of the mentioned quirks.

If you’re into rough and tumble activities and don’t want to be worried about the kit you’re carrying in your pocket, the Defy should definitely be on your list. ‘Peace of mind’ for this price, is well worth it.

Price: RM1,599

Standard Package: Motorola Defy, USB cable-cum-charger adapter, stereo hands-free.

Specifications:

Size/Weight: 107 x 59 x 13.4 mm, 118g

Connectivity: microUSB connector, WiFi (b/g/n),A- GPS, e-Compass, Bluetooth A2DP, 3.5mm audio jack

CPU: TI OMAP 3610 800MHz Cortex-A8 processor

Battery life: 1,540mAh

Network: EDGE/GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, HSDPA /WCDMA 900/2100 MHz

Camera: 5 MP, autofocus, LED Flash

"That Crazy Bitch Stole My _____!"

2011-03-22T16:10:00.000+08:00

This actually made me really LOL at the office! I don't want to spoil the ending as some of you guys might not have watched it yet.

Ubuntu 10.10 GUI Updated

2011-03-17T16:23:00.000+08:00

Overlay Scrollbars in Unity - implementation from Canonical Design on Vimeo.

Ubuntu has just gotten a nice tweak - yep it's just some scroll bars but still a nice tweak nevertheless. One must also see if the graphic adapters are supported by Ubuntu 10.10. Your's truly has been having issues with the Panasonic CF-29 Toughbook since it has an embarrassingly mundane graphic adapter - one of those older Intel Graphics ones.

I still love my Toughbook anyway!

David Letterman gives you 10 reasons why you should get the iPad 2

2011-03-17T12:19:00.000+08:00

David Letterman gives you 10 reasons why you should get the iPad 2

This was really cute! And actually very apt seeing how the way the world is caught in a downward spiral. I like David Letterman than whatshisname guy with the big chin. He's actually funny just being himself - he is the funny - in person!

So have you decided to get an iPad 2 yet? We'll be coming back with some stuff you should consider before deciding on that purchase!

CIA Contractor in Pakistan Saved by Syariah Law!

2011-03-17T11:47:00.001+08:00

Subtitled: CIA Kisses The Camel For Contractor Boo-boo in Pakistan

Link for story: CIA Contractor in Pakistan Apparently Saved by Sharia

This is rather ironic. Where the people against Syariah laws are generally speaking from the Western stance school of thought. This is a situation where Qisas and Diyat; portions under Islamic law have actually benefited a party which in the majority has been at best a vested opponent. I say vested since it depends on the current interests involved - alliances change all the time. Machiavellian as it seems, that's the way and rule of the jungle. Wars after all have for the longest time been fought on proxy.

The Islamic law on murder or Diyat, which has been invoked in this situation bears semblance to ancient laws of Arabia where the warring tribes were always squabbling and wresting for power an influence in between the many clans and families. It was to resolve a potential much bigger war between tribes; which things can easily escalate towards and can span over centuries in terms of family or clan feuds.

Excuse me for my limited knowledge on the matter, it wasn't a very complete course back in law school (in comparison for double degree courses for Islamic law practice). But what I can remember is that it isn't actually easy for people to make such payments - even in practice today it's not so commonly heard. Which gives rise to some thoughts:

1. That this is only happening because the contractor is worthy enough for the CIA to take responsibility off; probably to avoid potentially bigger embarrassment or risks to security.

2. CIA has the budget. Well that's just too obvious I suppose.

3. CIA is a name that a lot of people would fear if they had to deal with it. Duress might be a factor here.

Why in the world has this grabbed the worlds attention? Probably because the CIA is involved but its also because Diyat has been rarely been invoked to relieve such situations. Why you ask? In most cases, in today's context, you don't see to many settlements done this one since people will lack the bucks to compensate for the murder act.

The equation after all, has to do with the value of say (if memory serves) 20 camels for a life; of course it has to be mutually agreed by both families or clans so they don't go out to full scale war over the death.

That's a LOT of camels and camels, trust me, don't come cheap even by today's standards they are actually more expensive! The compensationary system in Diyat has rates right down to the broken tooth. It's of course a tooth for a tooth - as the Qisas portion of Islamic law would perpetuate, the recourse however would be a suitable amount of gold Dinars. I mean who wants to get a broken tooth anyway? It doesn't keep well and it isn't worth much and you can't use it to replace the one you just lost.

So all things considered, the CIA contractor is one very, very, lucky guy to get off a murder rap thanks to a rather obscurely used piece of Islamic legislation in Pakistan. Good for you and whomever that gets the money though. In honesty however, since taking into consideration no one would want to risk a feud with the CIA, the families involved probably did not have much choice. It's actually pretty nice that the CIA actually stepped up to plate instead of denying knowledge or something else equalling to that shit.

Angry Birds on Wood!

2011-03-03T15:35:00.000+08:00

Read it at Pocket Lint news

WOW! Why in the world did this happen? Or more importantly why didn't I think of doing this? This is just too screwyly and funnily kewl - to have Angry Birds in a board game genre.

Maybe if we ever get one here we can do a review! The novelty factor is evidently there and I can just think of other spin-offs like a Lego version with catapults and an educational one to teach physics in school; muahahaha!

You get 3 birds, 5 pigs, a catapult and blocks for the level settings. I expect that there should be an expansion pack somewhere in the works.

To be made by Mattel, the game will be out in about 2 to 3 months time.

Read more - click the link up thar'

This is really good Auta-stuff!

iPad 2 Launch - All the juicy details | t-break: Tech @ Its Fastest

2011-03-03T14:53:00.000+08:00

iPad 2 Launch - All the juicy details | t-break: Tech @ Its Fastest

It's finally here! The iPad 2. But is it too little to be bothered with? Starting with the dual-cored A5 processor is an expected step up for tablet evolution. I have to say that I was prepared to be disappointed with minimal improvements over the last iPad. However Mr. Steve Jobs has managed to dazzle us once more on the stage after a 6 week hiatus from his Apple related duties.

The specs in short: dual cameras for snapping pictures and video calls, dual-core processor, a one-third the thickness, lighter and a newer version of the OS. But wait what's this? Still no card slot??? Hmm, the way Apple wants to have control over things. This could be a good thing though in the long term considering the 55 malware apps found on the Android Market - which subsequently have been removed by Google.

The USD$100 price slash which seems to have been made official in Malaysia as well for the iPad 1 is welcomed of course; lest the Apple stores want to be stuck with the inventory after the newer version arrives. But is that enough? At about RM400 cheaper, would one opt for the newer and faster version instead? Of course the wait will be agonizing for some people.

Oh how the fruit makes the world run wild: Apple stocks went up 2 points when Jobs got on stage and then it fell 2 points after he made the announcement for the iPad 2. Strange? Not really. He has this effect on most people - some sort of dis-illusionary spectrum field thingy.

Whatever it is, click on the link to read on the specs up thar' and contemplate whether there's an iPad 2 in your future.

Eminem surpasses Lady Gaga as the most like living artist on Facebook | Pinoy Ambisyoso

2011-03-02T16:05:00.000+08:00

Eminem surpasses Lady Gaga as the most like living artist on Facebook

Wow. I didn't know that Justin Bieber has over 1.3 billion views on YouTube! Lady Gaga comes in second with Eminem just crossing over the 1 billionth mark. This is seriously ridiculously silly that it makes one wonder; what is the world coming to? What do we want to watch?

Of course there are some things to consider:

1. Justin Bieber probably gets a lot of eyeballs watching over and over again - screaming female teenagers with the Bieber fever. Maybe that's why the bandwidth has been a bit unstable these days. The influx of views upsetting the balance of the Internet microcosm kinda thing.

2. Lady Gaga? People get curious the first time but I doubt that people would watch the second or third time. So the views can be relied upon a bit more as being more reliable.

3. Eminem has gone up steadily surpassing Michael Jackson. Steady growth could make for better staying power on the YouTube chart so to speak; but on the Internet nothing's really that lasting is it?

Class Of 99; Wear Sunscreen

2011-02-25T11:01:00.000+08:00

I really like this one. I listen to it when I feel kinda down or slowing down. Nostalgic? Maybe. But very poignant actually.

Hairy Balls Government Center?

2011-02-18T13:02:00.000+08:00

What's the problem? I know it sounds funny and lewd to some at the same time, but Baals is spelled differently than Balls; although Hairy is well, spelled the way it sounds (so it seems).

Ba'al if I'm not mistakened, based on my shallow historical knowledge related to Hannibal the great general of old that shook the Roman empire. The Roman's feared him so very much and made sure that Carthage (Hannibal's hometown) would never rise again as a threat - they wiped out the nation out from the face of the Earth and made well sure that nothing would grow on its soil for generations to come.

Well; I digress. Catch the informative and entertaining news coverage on the Hairy Baals issue:

See more funny videos and TBT at Todays Big Thing.

How the Nokia-Microsoft Deal Could Boost Linux

2011-02-17T02:27:00.000+08:00

How the Nokia-Microsoft Deal Could Boost Linux

Android revelation: Roughly 3 years ago

2011-01-10T01:20:00.001+08:00

Yahoo Go!

Roughly about 3 years ago, I wrote this following piece in a daily. It concerned about some announcements by two giant search engine super powers: Yahoo and Google.

I guess it's pretty clear now, who has the upper hand in certain areas. Yahoo obviously didn't expect Android to be as big as it is now - they were treating it just as another Operating System and that they would land support to the OS.

As it turned out, Google wasn't goofing off - they now have a very significant chunk of the mobile OS market on tablets and smartphones.


First and last time to CES...

My guess is that after showing off how unfazed or rather how they were still retaining 'status quo,' Yahoo was actually distracted by a lot of things. Admittedly Jerry Yang made a very good impression when I was there among hundred of others at CES - he talked about how Yahoo was banking on its Yahoo Go! on mobilephones and such. He showcased cool location based services - well more like how it would work and look like, but not really ready yet at the time for the rest of us.

The two chief Yahoos: Jerry is on the far right, Boerries in the Middle.

The cafeteria even had halal food meats served on certain days!

One of the rooms they had their employees name

A week later, back in Malaysia we heard on the wires how Yahoo was laying off thousands of people! Yikes! And I actually liked the Yahoo headquarters that we visited in Sunnyvale; especially the cafeteria. The surroundings there made you feel that they cared for making their staff happy and that they listened to their people for ideas. They even have rooms named by employees and have hack days where anyone with an idea can and will be heard.

Now looking back in retrospect; thinking of what went wrong, I guess if there was anyone that should have seen it coming, Yahoo should have. If Yahoo didn't then I guess we can't blame ourselves for not seeing it coming.

But come it did...

Original URL was: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/techNu/Monday/Notebook/20080218152854/Article/index_html

Widget versus Android

IT might sound like a cult sci-fi movie title from the 50s, but it’s not. It does, however, concern two superpowers in the Internet realm – Yahoo and Google. The year 2008 certainly has proven to be a fast-moving one. It was just earlier in the year when Yahoo unveiled its plans at CES 2008, Nevada, and gave us glimpses into what the company’s future looks like.

A few weeks later, it was reported that Yahoo was suddenly laying off 14,000 staff. And just two weeks ago, the news came that Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo yet again after similar attempts in the past.

Last week came the news that the main Internet search engine, Google, has just released its much-awaited Android operating system at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona.

Well, it seems that the battle has just escalated to mobile devices. This is of course, not surprising, given that Yahoo’s projection said that the mobile market segment will reach four billion phones by 2010.

From the likes of it, Yahoo will have to be on its toes in order to survive all these external pressures. It is doing so with the power of widgets/widgetry if you please.

Ironically, the way that both Yahoo and Google are going about laying their stake on this new territory are one and the same. This involves making it easy for a lot of people such as developers, advertisers and publishers to get on board and be profitable.

In Yahoo’s case, the company wants to make it extremely easy for mini-applications called widgets to be made by anyone who is familiar with .XML coding. Yahoo has been widget crazy and driven for some time.

This is proven by its purchase of Pixoria, the company behind Konfabulator years ago. Pixoria used to make widgets for the Mac OS.

Similarly, in Android’s case, Google wants to make it easy for developers to quickly and cheaply write applications for mobile phones, minus the licensing fees.

Both ideas are the same as they are different: one wants you to invade your mobile/smartphone via a client called Yahoo Go (which is needed to run the widgets), and another wants to have its operating system on your phone.

The Yahoo Go 2.0 is supposed to be already available for over 300 devices. Such a “soft-invasion” might have better acceptance by various manufacturers, and it also means that widgets can be written once and used in many devices, regardless of manufacturers or platforms. Hence, the beauty of widgets.

In the case of Andriod, Google intends to provide what seems to be another platform altogether. However, just like open source OS such as Linux, this might pose some problems. Granted this can only be qualified in due time when we actually get to see, use and feel Android.

OSes also tend to require more time to mature into a stable platform. Take Windows Mobile, for example, it only started to reach a degree of reliability and stability after Windows CE 3.0 (Microsoft Windows Pocket PC).

Needless to say, the lesser Windows CE (or WinCE for short) 1.0 to 2.0 made a lot of people WinCE. In those days, Palm OS reigned supreme. But it serves to show that diligence and financial stability does make the OS better.

It all boils down to how long can an OS developer sustain itself to get better. Is Google game enough to do this? Only time will tell.

Teething problems and a rocky road will definitely be abound for Android. Google will have to toughen its resolve, especially since the company is not just aiming for the mobile phones market.

Google’s chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt believes that Android would start an entire new wave of innovation unseen before in the industry. He is confident that this platform will amaze users by the amazing things it will be able to do on their mobile devices.

What does Yahoo think about the invasion of the Android? Will it disrupt the Yahoo widget invasion plan for the mobile phone space in 2010?

Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoo Connected Life, cited at the recent CES that “Android is just another operating system. We’ll support it by giving its users a great user experience with Yahoo Go.”

Well, Yahoo Go on the Android? Now who’s invading who? Let’s see how it goes.

Run OS X, Linux or Windows on Chrome Notebook

2011-01-04T12:52:00.002+08:00

Link to Google Chrome OS Cr-48 running OS X & Win 7 videos

In doing some follow-up research with my attempts of running Android Live (for the PC), I'm also looking at other OSes such as Jolicloud, MeeGo and Chrome OS plus Chromium OS. Granted at least two will not run on my old test machines, since they're specifically made for the Netbook platform (which I don't really like, but they're cute and easy to take along).

I came across one article at Tom's Hardware (ok, so not everyone likes Tom, but this is still relevant) - it had some lucky guy who has two (count 'em) two Google Chrome OS test machines! And he even installed OS X & Windows 7 - whatever for? No idea. Maybe just to see if it can be done - to check out the hardware compatibility I suppose...

What do I have in my arsenal? An old Fujitsu P2120 Lifebook running on a now extinct 800Mhz Crusoe chip, a Compaq 1.5Ghz Centrino machine (forgot the exact model) which the power supply just got busted, an NEC Pentium 4 2Ghz machine and my favourite Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 1.3Ghz Centrino machine. All of these, were hand-me-downs, in exception of the CF-29, which I bought 2nd hand and fixed it up a little...The CF-29 has an advantage over the other machines though- it has a touchscreen, which makes sense installing an OS like Android which is built around the technology. It might not support multipoint - but it somewhat works.

The problem is that I have not been 100% successful in running Android Live on the CF-29. Oh, yes it runs, just that I haven't been able to get the OS to find stuff out of the box, i.e. the networking/WiFi, sound and some stuff are missing. Alternatively, the other route besides booting from the live CD, is to use the .iso image with Oracle's VM Virtualbox with the free Daemon Tools Lite (you can get these off the Net for free for non-commercial use).

You can imagine how my hopes were dashed when the touchscreen seemed to work in Android Live but you're all dressed up but you can't go anywhere :-(

I'll post up the progress when I make some headway on these teeny OSes on the PC. Does anyone have a Netbook to spare for testing?

Are these OSes going to have a niche on the PC? I reserve my opinions until I can say with confidence whether this is auta or not!

Motorola Defy Yowza! I wannit!

2010-12-30T14:50:00.005+08:00

Here's the sorta phone that I would really like to have - I'm a tough/rugged gadget enthusiast (due to all those SAS, Andy McNab books and such), a outdoorsman wannabe and a unrepentant tech geek. And the Defy would definitely go well next to my Panasonic CF-29 Toughbook.

It runs on Android! OK, so it's not like your garden variety Linux distro*... But it's a really geek-centric mobile OS. Plus its got tonnes of apps up for free at the Marketplace.

The Defy is a tough Android 2.1 phone and features elemental resistance to dust, water, impact and scratches of the harsh outdoors.

Great bod!

It has that familiar 'touch-tablet' form but with some great ruggerised features such as impact and scratch resistant Corning Gorilla Glass and built to withstand spills and dusty environments. It is also light at 118 grams.

I just love the fact they've tried to build it tough. I wish I'd have a review unit to try out to see whether it's all up to hype. I've seen some reviewer blogs plopping the Defy into a glass of water.

If I ever get one for review (my day job requires me to test out and review some models), let's see if the claims are auta or not shall we?

Display

The Defy comes with a 3.7 inch FWVGA (480 x 854 pixels) which is nothing much to shout about these days, but some concessions are necessary to allow the Defy to be made more ruggerised thanks to Gorilla Glass and overall body construction.

Processor

Defy has a 800Mhz OMAP3610 processor which is more than enough to run the Android 2.1 Eclair Operating System.

Memory

Defy has 512MB of RAM and 2GB of ROM and 1.2GB of user available memory. Adding to the memory is possible using the SD Card Slot.

Connectivity

Besides the regular phone stuff, the Defy supports HSUPA 2.0 Mbps, Corporate Sync, Bluetooth, Firmware Over the Air and USB.

Battery

The battery has been rated at 1,540 mAh, which Motorola rates up to 6 hours of talk time and 9.9 days of standby. I'd take this with a pinch of salt...

Camera

Defy has a 5MP camera with LED flash and video supports H.264 (VGA video playback at 30 frames per second) and MPEG4.

Price?
RM1,599! Which is not bad all things considered. Of course, there are others out there which can be had for less. There are Android 2.1 phones like from Alcatel and Samsung which cost between RM680 to RM860. But these are entry level ones. The Alcatel OT-980 has a cheap TFT 2.8 inch screen, which doesn't really duke it out these days...

What you pay, just like in the case of the Toughbook, is (no its not the macho, tough guy image) the premium grade materials and well thought of design to give you a bit more assurance that your gadget will survive harsh environments and rough usage...

Unlike the Toughbook though, the Defy doesn't look like that it can take a bullet. A toughbook actually stopped a 7.62mm round (the type used in the notorious AK-47). But alltogether this would be a phone that I wouldn't worry about much about for the bump and grind of daily life.

*Some folks would know that I'm a Ubuntu pusher - it's a sado-macho relationship. It stresses me out but it makes me really happy when I figure out how to fix or tweak things in Ubuntu. I like the challenge. Oh, I also have OLD hardware to up the difficulty level.

Fixed up my Toughbook

2010-12-30T13:01:00.002+08:00

I've fixed up my Toughbook. OK. It's not really brand new. In fact it's considered to be a bit long in the tooth: Centrino 1.3Ghz, 1.2GB RAM, 160GB hard disk drive and a bit banged up in the beginning. If you're one of my pals who've seen in before I did this paint job thing, you'd know there was a huge dent and flaked off paint, right above the centre hinge part of the magnesium alloy cover...

So I've plugged the hole up with some metallic-epoxy resin putty, sanded the CF-29 (that's the Toughbook model) and painted it errrr several times. I've done some customising jobs before on some older laptops and PCs sometime ago but those weren't very good jobs....

First I took the 'repainting the original' path and attempted to spray the beast silver after (sufficient masking to prevent paint going onto the screen, keyboard and other parts). Take my advice, the silver spray paint in the can makes your custom job look cheap - it made the anondized magnesium alloy cover look like plastic painted silver...

So what did I try next? Green & black - the 'x' crevice motif on the cover filled with black. Then I realised that: great now it looks too much like Ben 10! This was confirmed by a 6 year old too.

So Army Green from Samurai paints was the last colour I tried and my wife thinks the colour suits the Toughbook - or it could be that the family can't bear breathing in the fumes for so many days.

If you count all the layers of paint, after re-sanding the rough parts and respraying - I think I've got over 10 layers of paint on this thing.

Well. It's a project. Sometimes fixing up stuff and doing this sorta thing is somewhat therapeutic for yours truly...

My guess by now would be you asking & saying: Why in hell would you want to get a Toughbook? The one you've got is old and a Netbook would have sufficed! - That will be answered in the next post.

Not passing the Buck: A Golden Virtue?

2009-01-08T12:04:00.005+08:00

"That's what I like about you. You don't try to run away after you've done something," said Mr. Larsen, our Technology Class teacher at Dewitt Middle School, Ithaca, N. York. He said this to me in the presence of the other Grade 6 kids.

I was totally unprepared for the reaction - I really thought that I would 'get it' this time. The crime? Well those hack-saws with the flimsy blade break off very easily. Tech 101 is one of those classes where they teach you woodwork, metal sheet bending, how to do copper tooling, make cookie cutters, solder, drill stuff, make rockets (yep model rockets that actually fly) and even how to handle a blow-torch! It was a really cool class - I savoured the third or fourth periods when I had the classes twice a week.

Back to the saw- well the blade snapped off after trying to negotiate a curve while cutting a block of wood for a fish-shaped cutting board, if memory serves me. I left the saw in the tool box. When Mr. Larsen came in he asked: "who broke this?"

Every kid was looking at me, all quiet. Maybe they were afraid that one of them would take the fall. No one needed to. I raised my hand. Mr. Larsen smiled and said those words that I still remember today. Instantly, I knew I had done the right thing.

"These snap off quite easily - if you're not careful," Mr. Larsen said while he took out a brand new blade and replaced the blade. No fuss about it. This is where I learnt a lesson; a noble one which no school or university for that matter could teach you: fess up to your doing- don't pass the buck.

It was quite sometime ago; back in 1985-86 to be exact when my parents were in the States. My dad was finishing up his PhD. in Communications and Liberal Arts (whatever that is) in record time at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Similarly when I was in Standard 3 or 4, back in Serdang, Selangor I had another prior episode- but it didn't sink into me why I actually did it. We were told to keep quiet in class one day. I had to speak to my best buddy in class. We got into trouble and were told to stand on the desk. What did I do? I said that my buddy didn't talk to me - it was me that disturbed him. It was me that talked to him. Probably surprised, the female teacher (can't remember her name) took a few seconds to digest and told my buddy to sit down. They must have all thought I was weird. But I guess it's an ingrained feature seared into my fibres. I knew to let someone else suffer from my wrongdoing was morally wrong - karma and spiritually aside.

The point? Well if I can figure something like this out when I was still a kid, why do people that I see today, can't seem to figure this out? I see people and bosses that wash their hands completely and passing the blame, monkey, buck or whatever name you want to call it, to an underling. This is how they survive and progress in their career.

IT IS SICKENING. Especially when certain people profess to be of strong religious or moral character/fibre. A senior management person I know does this 'tai-chi' stunt often enough to bolster his position by not taking the blame and passing the buck. This management style, is no style at all- it is a cancerous growth that starts with a malingering git and destroys an organisation from within. Auta-betul!

Casino 01

2008-11-23T18:29:00.001+08:00

Casino 01, originally uploaded by zeeman01.

I have some shots of my trip last year to the Mobile GSMA Congress 2007 in Macau - was staying at The Venetian.

On the Road - Perlis MOSTI Roadshow

2008-11-21T17:09:00.002+08:00

I was up north in Perlis last week for another exhilarating round of the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation's nationwide roadshow - It was a good affair it seems with busloads of schoolkids ready to fertilize their minds with the endless possibilities that science can offer to them...

Second angkasawan Mejar. Dr. Faaez was there. Nice chap. I must say the popular public opinio that I gathered on the fair grounds was that he's the better liked amicable person. But that's a matter of opinion of course.

Now the reason why I'm writing this: remember the last blog entry about the National Science Centre? Well they did a good show in Perlis. A lot of people, schoolkids and teachers included made a beeline to their area...They took along some of their permanent exhibits and made up some new ones as well.

And guess what? Some of the exhibits which I wrote earlier, i.e. not working etc. , were in fact working fine at Dewan 2020 in Perlis! They apparently fixed them for this show! Well I hope they'll fix the others back in KL as well...

Pusat Sains Negara Visit

2008-10-22T16:19:00.002+08:00

Pusat Sains Negara Visit, originally uploaded by zeeman01.

I visited two weekends ago the Pusat Sains Negara - after not coming over for about 2 years or so.

What can I say? Just coming in, I was able to impress the kids of what cool and great things they could see and learn. It was a promising start with the fish, aquarium, the animatronic animals (the sea turtles were a favourite).

There was one exhibit which was a hit with my son- the one which demonstrated centripetal force via a perpetual motion-like machine. It involved cranking up balls up the different segments of the exhibit, which then fall into rails to demonstrate what perpetual motion can do...Some segments required another ball to be cranked up to set in motion stuff like King Kong climbing up a skyscraper and to trigger a boot to kick the other ball. When we got the third part of it, the ball skipped the rain and fell into the centre of the display with a thud! That's off bounds so we couldn't do anything about it. Seems like the machine hasn't been fine tuned for awhile...

In the end however, I couldn't help feeling a bit peeved and cheated since a lot of the exhibits were not working well and some were even broken...It was a weekend and I guess some of the science shows were not on.

Felt a bit hungry and peckish and the only place to eat was the souvenir shop which had a makeshift kind of eatery with toasted bread, instant noodles and sandwiches. Wished there was more so I can encourage the family to come more often though...

How are we supposed to cultivate science in the young then? We sent a man to space but we can't even maintain some permanent science exhibits, even when people pay to get in...*sigh*

Words of wisdom to adhere to...

2008-10-12T00:50:00.002+08:00

I've got some words of wisdom that got me as far as winning that job interview that I was aiming for. Some of these, can be used and when applied with skill, will be impressive I tell you!

1. That Starbuck's guy was right when he said "You got to challenge yourself every few years even when you're hitting home runs."

2. He also said "Don't be afraid to learn from people smarter than you."

3. He also said "Compromise on everything except you core values and everything matter (in terms of the little things that customers appreciate)"

4. "Live by the Golden Rule," - this is to be applied not said. Treat them as they you would like them to treat you.

5. My favourite, after it's all over and if the occasion arises and if they seem friendly enough: "I think it was the former CEO of AMD, Hector Ruiz who summed it up best when he said: You can get far in life, without being an asshole!" - mind you, I only use this to give a nice warm fuzzy feeling lasting impression when it seems that all seems well and friendly like. You don't want to seem cocky - friendly and sincere is what you're aiming for...

It's been awhile...

2008-10-04T12:18:00.003+08:00

Hello folks.

Yep. It's been awhile and after leaving the fraternity of IT journalists for awhile, it gives you some perspective how life is on the other side: corporate communications take note, is somewhat not for the faint of heart.

You see, although I'm still writing to some degree about IT and technology - and a lot more scientific related stuff- I've actually jumped from the purely IT journalism bandwagon since mid-June 2008.

I've got stuff to share if there are people around thinking of making that big shift from journalism to corporate communications. Right now, I'm doing this magazine which I'm beginning to feel is a farce of sorts- with no inkling about how a publication should be run. Too many cooks after all, spoil the broth- and I'm already sick of how my broth is being spoilt.

The Bray of the Malevolent Office dONKEY

2008-10-04T12:17:00.001+08:00

ONE with ethics and personal passion to succeed in what one does, in most cases will resolve to do the job as well as the situation demands it and to their limit of his or her abilities (of course everyone's entitled to have a full bull-crap day once in a while, to be down on the boondocks). So it comes as a surprise and the wild amazement of people, who continuously think about their future when they come into a new place of work and discover a species of work people (if you could call them that, they're more like fixtures or furniture or non-action hero figures) that are the anti-thesis of the work-people at large.

Work-people generally work to make a living and want to make a living because they have a future to think about and they don't want to put unnecessary burden on fellow workers. Enter the enigmatic species called 'The Donkey."

Donkeys or asses (scientific name Equus asinus) are actually, members of the Equidae or horse family...But at least these gentle creatures are useful beasts of burden, even if they do bray a lot. Donkeys, in the workplace context can be technically competent people and might in fact seem impressive in terms of the wealth of knowledge they seem to possess. Of course at the rate of the hot air and technical specs that they blow out, they can get very annoying in the first 5 minutes of the initial meeting.

Workplace donkeys can spew out a lot during those brainstorming meetings when discussing on projects. In one scenario at a technology-centric institution, assignment or project ideas are pitched by a head-honcho, with no one taking up the offer to take on the assignment. The lurking, silent Donkey then pounces into action! Lying innate at first, it then spews out an unstoppable flow of technical jargon, terminologies and a 20 minute pre-amble in the technologies involved. Hence, the terrible bray of the Donkey!

He or she then gloats proudly and rejoices how he has impressed everyone. Upon which the head-honcho will appoint the proud Donkey to take on the project (which actually wasn't Donkey's intention, he just wanted to prove how smart he is - and everyone hates a show-off Smart Ass). With no real sincere inclination whatsoever to actually do any work, this important assignment will just drift away into oblivion. The Donkey will get Scott Free on all charges.

Why is that? Well, the Donkey is notorious for having a supposed short-term memory capacity. He or she will conveniently 'forget' what the assignment was at the eleventh hour when the work is to be due. This puts the head-honcho under undue stress. So what does he do? He passes the burden and stress to an unsuspecting co-worker! The co-worker has not much choice. He or she hates the extra workload but thinking of the entire team and company reputation, he or she will slog through and scrape up something usable for the assignment's purposes. A backup if you please- of course this will lead to a downward spiral which will affect work quality since it is not done with proper resources and within a very limited amount of time. Eventually, if nothing is done the team will shrink, since co-workers will be disappointed and will think that they are not being appreciated for all their good efforts so far- given the sort of punishment they have to take.

In harsher environments, the Donkey will face very unforgiving farmers that will probably make donkey-sausages at the third time of being annoyed. Team members would have given the Donkey a good flogging. Too bad in some situations, people are just too nice and Donkeys tend to not have a belief system like Karma- what comes around goes around. They oddly enough, sort off believe that they're privileged.

While this is happening, the braying Donkey continues to bray a lot (impressing further other people not in his group of how cool and knowledgeable he or she is) and grazes around to find greener pastures and females but never succeeding to make marked improvement towards those objectives. Perhaps it is confidence. Perhaps he knows that he is merely a Donkey, not capable of doing real work or sustaining a long-term relationship. Or maybe he was just simply deprived as a child. Or he or she is just someone who is evil enough to think that people will tolerate his or her shortcomings because he or she is Top Donkey.

Everyone will probably notice that every place of work has a Donkey out grazing in the fields- or some subspecies of. The Donkey would do well to change himself, to become someone useful to society at large instead of being a pompous burden to others who are carrying him every time- not because they want to, but because they have no choice: slavery by proxy by Donkeys is a fate worse then death. Luck will run out and Donkeys will find that they'll be put to pasture soon enough if they don't make amends (probably turned into glue). Take note: people are people, they will not put up with Donkey crap for a very long time- it's just too stinking bad.

Some earlier CES 2008 & Yahoo! Photos

2008-07-26T22:15:00.001+08:00

Here's some pictures taken on the old Epson 3.2 MP camera I took along for CES 2008 in Las Vegas and the visit to Yahoo! HQ in Sunnyvale, CA. I've added some captions...If you'd like to see more just click on the link. Take it as a sort of vistual tour, I guess:

http://picasaweb.google.com/zeeman01/YahooCES2008/photo?authkey=s6-AlTAEfnk#5227321210498852930