Blogjer - Technology at a glance

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus Personal Review

Admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 10:28:20 +0000

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus was announced on September 2011 before released to the market 2 months later. Which mean, it is already 6 or 7 months by the time this post published. Yet, I still feel excited about this tab.

But why wait for 6 months? I personally feel the initial RRP (recommended retail price) at RM1799 is quite overpriced. So when Samsung slashed the RRP to RM1399 last month, I wait no more and get this a unit for my family. This unit bought from Celcom for RM1008, with 12 months contract and monthly commitment RM88. Minus the monthly rebated Rm25 (paid Rm300 upfront), additional rebate RM10, and minus the Rm3 for autobilling, the monthly commitment is not that high after all.

Considering countless review on Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus readily available on the net, so I thought it just need little introduction. Galaxy Tab 7 Plus is the successor to the original Samsung Galaxy Tab 7, the first 7 inch Android tablet from Samsung. Samsung has polished this 2nd generation tablet on almost every angle, making it not only one gorgeous tablet, but very powerful as well. We’ll come to that on later paragraph ok?

I’ve read through many review, watch the youtube video, before I decide this is the table we’re looking for, on top of iPad 1 that I bought 2 years ago. That’s common things considering that you’ll have to fork more than 1K here to own decent gadget here in Malaysia. The first impression is very important to influence your purchase. So yeah, I’m impressed with this stunningly beautiful gadget.

When I first hold Galaxy Tab 7 Plus, I can feel the thickness and lightweight. Yes, it is very thin, measured only 9.9mm (for comparison, Galaxy S2 is at 8.5mm). It grip well in my palm, and I feel comfortable holding it in one hand for very long time. My wife share the same feeling when we try it on the Celcom’s Bluecube store. There are only 2 color available, black and white. We prefer black color, but out of excitement, we only realized we’re given white color only when we reach home.

Samsung Galaxy tabs 7 Plus comes with clean and minimalist design. There are power button and volume rocker on the right side, headphone jack at the top. Samsung properity connector occupied the bottom part, and sim card slot and micro sd slot at the left side. There is no HDMI or USB port, unlike some tablet already in the market.

To us, the only caveat is, unlike US version, the version sold in Asia Pacific region doesn’t come with IR sensor. I found this little bit disappointing initially because we plan to make it universal remote control for all electrical appliance in our house.

Galaxy Tab 7 plus screen is equally gorgeous as it’s physical dimension. The screen use PLS-LCD (Plane-to-Line-Switching) technology which not only have high resolution, but also better viewing angles and according to an article that I read before, it is 10% brighter image than the iPad’s IPS-LCD. So, in layman terms, the screen is brighter, the image is clear, the colour is vivid and the list goes on..

Now I mention before that Galaxy Tab 7 Plus is better in every angle compared to the original Galaxy Tab. That’s pretty true except the screen resolution which still set to 600 x 1024 pixels, 7.0 inches (~170 ppi pixel density) and primary camera which still at 3.15Megapixel. The rest such as CPU (bumped from single core to dual core 1.2GHz), RAM (bumped from 512MB to 1GB), and the Android version (bumped from Froyo 2.2 to Honeycomb (3.2) has seen pretty impressive upgrade. Extensive comparison can always be viewed at GSMArena.

Let’s move on to the OS that power this tablet, which is Android 3.2. My first Android phone is HTC Magic, which run on Android 1.6, which I upgrade to Android 2.3 using Cynogemod ROM. There are major improvement on the Android OS, which I very much appreciate it and loving it.

According to certain post like this one, the newer Galaxy Tab line including Galaxy Tab 7 Plus will receive an upgrade to Android 4.0 aka ICS, but no estimated date provided when that’s going to happens. So live with it for time being. As usual, the Android tablet/smartphone sold by Samsung comes with the customized version of Android called TouchWiz.

Honestly, I’m not a big fan of customized Androd including TouchWiz (i prefer stock Android), but I don’t bother to root it, and install the customized ROM or even the stock Android. There are also Samsung Store with over 40K application as alternative to Google Play Store. The thing I like most about Samsung tablet is, it comes with Polaroid Office by default. So opening/editing any office documents is a breeze, without hassle to install or purchase other office application. If you’re heavy social media users, you may find it is very useful as it combined major social media, email and messaging in one place.

But Android is very customize-able OS, so it didn’t take long for us to change the default launcher with GO Launcher.GO Launcher with GO Store offers whole lot of customization to satisfy your needs and craving of beautiful interface. There are tonnes of themes you can choose from, be it free or paid version. For time being, I prefer moderate customization and the free themes are more than enough.

With 3.5 megapixel camera, it does not produce stunning photos, but the quality is still there. After using this tablet for about a month, the most frustrated part is inability to capture moving object propertly. The auto focus in my opinion is working pretty slow to capture the moment. The LED flash is helpful to capture night shot, but the lighting is inadequate to provide decent quality photos. The video audio playback is also pretty good. It able to play 1080p movies perfectly. One thing I found useful especially if you have young kids is, the lock function to lock the screen when you play the movie. This will prevent the movie from stopped or the control panel being displayed on the screen when the screen is touched.

1 plus point that original Galaxy Tab 7 and Galaxy Tab 7 Plus has is the call function. It is little bit bulky to be called phone but the call quality is equally good. It little bit awkward initially to answer or make a call on the 7 inch tablet, which obviously not the same manner as phone, but over the time, we’re pretty okey with that. The speaker and microphone is well placed, so there is no problem on the quality of the call. The only thing to do is to ignore the staring look from passerby, you’ll be okey.

As conclusion, I can’t really find any weakness on this beautiful and multi funstion. It is very affordable, compared to Galaxy Note which is RM500 more expensive. It is portable,value for money and gorgeous. For moderate use, the battery can last for a day or more, and only require recharging during the night.

There are many so thing you can do with this tablet. First and foremost is it’s dual function as tablet and phone. With Waze, I can turn this phone to be GPS instantly. And it works very well. I can use it as education tool, entertainment tool for kids and my self, and others. Good buy indeed!

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This post originally came from Zaki's Blogjer.com

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iPhone 4S Available Outright In Apple Online Store Malaysia

Admin — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:52:41 +0000

Well, most of you probably already knew, that iPhone 4S will be finally available in Malaysia on 16 December 2011.. via carriers aka telcos. But most not probably aware of is that, the iPhone 4S will also be available outright (no contract) in Apple Online Store Malaysia.. surprise?? Pretty much as this is the first time, the new iPhone is released both with telcos and outright at the same time, just like iPad. The new sales channel obviously welcomed by people lived outside of Klang Valley (where iPhone stock is limited) and those that willing to pay higher for outright iPhone 4S.

There is no price tag yet at the moment, but indicative price is likely more than RM2000, considering that iPhone 4 8GB is priced at RM1799. Pretty steep, but at least you have the choice not to be in contract with any telcos. To be sure that you get iPhone on time, be sure to check Apple Online Store Malaysia again by 16 Dec.

source: Apple Store

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HTC Wildfire S, ChaCha, Salsa and Sensation Price Drop

Admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:31:09 +0000

HTC Malaysia has slashed the price of HTC Wildfire S, ChaCha , Salsa and Sensation effective immediately. The price cut though not really significant, that ranges from RM50 to RM150, is surely accepted well by new customer . Except HTC Sensation, the other 3 phones are considered sub 1000 phones suitable for beginner or user that do not fancy high end smartphone.

Interestingly all phones are running on Android OS. Price cut usually linked to poor sales or new product are set to be introduced soon. The new price below is recommended retail price, which usually higher than the price offered in the retail shop. So if you still seeing these phones selling at higher price, at least you can just simply ignored them

MODEL	NEW SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE
HTC Wildfire S	RM 899
HTC ChaCha	RM 799
HTC Salsa	RM 999
HTC Sensation	RM 1,799

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Legacy Of Steve Jobs Book For Free

Admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:38:14 +0000

Another Steve Jobs book is coming!

But before i spoil your excitement even further, the deal(that’s the keyword) is only valid in Malaysia and…. yeah it is coupon deal by Groupon Malaysia. So to cut the story short, The Legacy Of Steve Jobs book is only free if you subsribe to Fortune magazine deal that worth at RM130.

If you think this is old or outdated book, then you’re absolutely wrong. This is new title which still not available in the market. A quick check in Amazon.com found that the book is already opened for pre-order but it will only be released on 15th November. Pre-order price is $13.57 (international delivery add $7), so I think this is pretty good deal. You got discounted price on Fortune mag and at the same time get this book for free.

Hit the source link for more info.

Source Groupon, Amazon

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Fujitsu Light Weight Notebook Coming Soon

Admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:44:17 +0000

Back to year 2006, Fujitsu Lifebook is considered among the thinnest and lightest notebook available in the market. I still admired it’s thinness even now. But the price ain’t cheap either, close to 4 thousand required to own one, which was powered by Centrino at that time.

Fast forward to year 2011, the new category of light weight notebook, known as ultrabook has emerged, thanks to low power consumption processor from Intel. And Fujitsu’s very own ultrabook will soon be launched as well on 24th October, slightly later than it’s rival such as Acer and Asus.

Fujitsu remain tight lipped about the model but, if I were to guess what is the model is, the answer would be Lifebook SH76/E (simple Google would do). Alas, the spec is not really impressive, but won’t disappointed you either. You can expect Core i5 processor, SSD drive and gigantic ram among other.

What is not surprising here is the expected price, and as usual be ready to dig deep into your pocket if you wish to have one. Watch this space again for update on the pricing.

Via Media Advisory

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Switching to U Mobile

Admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:14:53 +0000

C is my best friend for 8 years before I met U. Undoubtedly, C is a trusted ,mature, experienced and knowledgeble friends. Friend that seldom to let you down. This relationship grow stronger from year to year, and I also bought couple of stuff from C. My boss’s wife than become C’s friend as well.

If I were to analogy C and U, C is like Maggi mee, pioneer, tasted good, everlasting and easily available everywhere and every time. M meanwhile is like Mee Sedap – tasted good, still in learning curve, not widely available but has proven itself, that it is too is reliable friend.

But with globalisation and moderisation, C has become richer and doesn’t want to really change. C nevertheless still a good and reliable friend, as good as old days, but it doesn’t really readying or fit itself well into current economic situation. C still C – nothing less and nothing more.You get what I mean.

U meanwhile has grown stronger and better. U offers it’s friend extra service that C can’t provide, and then charge my boss less. U also provide couple of free service to it’s frinds, isn’t that wonderful?

My boss finally foresee that there will be no radical change going to happen to C in near future, so I guess the time has come.. My boss end my relationship with C and swith to U. It took 3 days for everything to complete. I now breath a better life. I can access new things that I can’t before. My boss is even happier too.He can access www, fb and twt and many more for less.

To me, I consider my boss has made the right wise decision, economically. To win me back, C should work harder, lower it rate and add extra service for nothing. Possible??

**Btw, C and U is buddy, U rely on C to go to places it can’t reach on it’s own(roaming). Indirectly me and C is still buddy too

I :mobile phone
C :Celcom and
U :U-Mobile
Boss :Author

U Mobile rate VS the rests

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Budget 2012 – Goodies For Middle Class?? Forget it!

Admin — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:49:25 +0000

I considered myself middle class in Malaysian society, which usually contribute the bulk of income tax to government. As salaried man,the taxes were cut in advance from our salary. Mind you, middle class is not something that most people will proud of. To say it is a burden, one will call me aggravating it, but the truth is, it doesn’t sound as nice as to be!

The Times latest edition stated in the US that people who earn between 100k to 500k pay 26% in tax, 500k to 1million lesser than that, but the most insane of all is that, the 400 riches is paying merely 16% tax. ‘Great’ isn’t it?? I don’t have that figure in Malaysia, but I sense that situation is not much different.

Speaking of which, the Malaysian’s budget 2012 had just be announced this evening. And as I usual, I scrambling the online newspaper trying to figure out if there is any goodies for us. But the outcome is not that surprising. Almost none. And to me personally.. zero. Serious!

I’ve no intention to write longer, I’m still quite frustrated, courtesy of TheStar Online, I pick the point that sound relevant to me, but I quite missed it or it is too broad

My First Home Scheme will be expanded to increase the limit of house prices from a maximum of RM220,000 to RM400,000 – If you have already own residential property forget it!
The theme for Budget 2012 is “National Transformation Policy: Welfare for the Rakyat, Well-Being of the Nation” – I see, ok.. pass
In the spirit of “People First,” all subsidies, incentives and assistance totalling RM33.2bil will be continued – All folks enjoy regardless of their nationalities, even imigrant enjoy it what, eg fuel, gas and sugar
We will abolish payments for primary and secondary education, making these free for the first time in our history – Good news, but my eldest son is just 3 years old!
Full exemption of import duty and excise duty on hybrid cars and electric cars will continue to be given until 2013 – I’m still serving national cal installment that I bought 5 years ago.
Budget focuses on developing human capital, creativity and innovation and 2012 will be the National Innovation Movement year – Probably if Mdec still willing to contribute to MNC in cyberjaya
RM29.8bil has been allocated for investment in infrastructure, industrial and rural development - Too broad.
Govt will identify areas in the vicinity of MRT, LRT and other public transport to be developed by PR1MA - I live in Seri Kembangan, there is elevetead highway passing the town, but not even entrance built to it. MRT?? Out of picture la
The Govt will give tax exemption for contributions to educational institutions and all places of worship – No sincerity, but all doing it for the sake of tax exemption
The real property gains tax will be reviewed so it doesn’t jeopardise the ability of low- and middle-income groups to buy homes – Oh man, don’t increase this please

As comparison, this is what goverment servant receive. Well, I’m not againts them first of all.

Civil servants will be given an additional bonus of half-month salary and pensioners RM500
600,000 Govt pensioners will benefit from an additional annual pension increment of 2%

Other point worth noted:

- One-off assistance of RM500 to households with a monthly income of RM3,000 and below will be provided

- For those in private sector earning RM5000 and below, employers’ EPF contribution will increase from 12% to 13%

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Steve Jobs: You’re Legend

Admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:48:07 +0000

iPhone 4s was announced yesterday, and I feel like I want to blog about it, but I’ve changed my mind at the

very end. I’m still not in the mood to update this blog, the blog which has been left without new post since last December. Close to one year.

But I change my mind today. This morning at 7:00AM GMT-8, as usual I browse Techmeme.com.. my must-read website.. and I stunned. Steve Job, the man that need no introduction had just passed away today at the age of 56.Don’t you suprise if you read it

The great-great Apple event were just yesterday and today this man has gone. Can you imagine what will happen if Steve passed away the same day iphone 4s was launch. I’m sure his death news will overshadow iphone 4s news.

By the time I post this post, the news related to his death has grown longer in Techmeme, and in fact almost half of news are related to it.

In many occasion, I just read Steve or Apple related news and just ignored it. But today, I feel quite sad with his death. I’m not the fanboy (although I own 4 of ‘I’ devices) but as human being, I honestly feel he is a great man with a great vision. You’ll be missed. Apple will never same again without you. RIP Steve.

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HTC Desire Z Now Available At Maxis

Admin — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:13:59 +0000

So, the HTC Desire Z is finally here via Maxis amid the influx of new smartphones and table launched by Maxis itself and it’s rival, Celcom and Digi. HTC Desire Z, is the third smartphone in Desire series, the Android phone that well received by users due to the sleek design, and powerful specification. With Maxis, HTC Desire Z got the price tag RM1440 for 2 years contract. Also available is 12 and 18 contract with RM1699 ad RM1599 price tag.

Source Maxis

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Motorola Defy Released, Available At Maxis & Brightstar

Admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:32:37 +0000

Motorola Defy is the latest addition to the growing list of Motorola’s Android smartphone model in Malaysia, though some may still wished that it is Droid series that making it’s official appearance here. Officially released in Malaysia this evening, Motorola Defy is the fist rugged smartphone running on Android available in Malaysia, if I recall it correctly. The stellar feature is the scratch proof display screen thanks to Corning Gorilla glass, water resistant and dust proof.

But put aside the rugged features, Motorola Defy itself is pretty gorgeous phone. You may mistakenly thought this is HTC phone at a glance. The size, dimension and button are pretty close to what HTC smartphone used to be. Or does all phones looks the same lately?

There are long list of spec, but to cut it short, this phone comes with 3.7 inch screen size with 480×854 resolution, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, 800MHz TI OMAP3610 core processor, 512 RAM and 2GB internal storage which I think is too small even for smartphone nowadays. And sadly, it still running on Android 2.1.

Motorola Defy will available before Christmas although no specific date given. Recommeded retail price is RM1599 but it will available that Maxis for RM999 with plan.

PRESS RELEASE

Motorola Announces DEFY™ in Malaysia – a Smartphone Built to Survive your Active Lifestyle

Dust-proof, water and scratch resistant and complete with all the features of an Android™ smartphone

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 15 December 2010 – Motorola Mobility, a subsidiary of Motorola, Inc., today announced the launch of Motorola DEFY™ in Malaysia. DEFY is a slim, pocketable Android™ smartphone that comes equipped with advanced Web-browsing capabilities and a 3.7” high-resolution touch screen display that provides edge to edge views of your favorite photos, videos and websites.

Motorola DEFY is water and scratch resistant as well as dust proof, protecting you from life’s little challenges like a splash from the pool, spilt drink, or dropping your phone in the sand. It also features a large, resilient display made of Corning Gorilla Glass™ which has outstanding resistance to impact and scratch damage. CrystalTalk® PLUS vanquishes noisy environments with two microphones which intelligently filter out background noise and amplify your voice, so you don’t have to shout.

“DEFY has been designed to handle everything an active lifestyle can throw your way,” said Robert van Tilburg, senior regional sales director for Motorola Mobility in South Asia. “With all the features consumers expect in a smartphone, DEFY packs advanced web browsing, entertainment and messaging capabilities as well as a design that withstands the challenges of everyday life and can go with you everywhere you want to go.”

An Adobe^® Flash^®Lite^® enabled browser and 3.7” WVGA screen allow users to view more of the Web than standard browsers. Create your own entertainment with the 5-megapixel camera with flash, digital zoom and auto focus that lets users capture the best of their social life. DEFY is Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)-enabled to stream, store and share content with compatible devices around the home like HDTVs, game consoles and PCs. DEFY also acts as a 3G mobile hotspot to connect up to five WiFi® enabled devices, so you turn practically anywhere into a hive of productivity.

The Connected Music Player brings song lyrics to your songs and enables you to discover, stream and identify music, right from your phone. Choose from over 100,000 applications, widgets and games on Android Market™ and enjoy access to Google™ services including Google Search™, Google Maps™ and Gmail™.

Availability

In Malaysia, Motorola DEFY will be available before Christmas 2010 at all Maxis Centres nationwide, selected Maxis Exclusive Partners and at retailers near you, at a recommended retail price of RM1,599. Maxis is pleased to package the Motorola Defy with pricing from as low RM999 with Maxis Value Plus plans and a data bundle. The Motorola DEFY is distributed by Brightstar Distribution Sdn Bhd.

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Seagate Ships Industry’s Highest Performance “Green” Desktop Hard Drive

Admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:45:46 +0000

Seagate today announced the availability of Barracuda Green hard drive, the industry’s highest performance eco-friendly 3.5-inch desktop drive for low-power personal computers, multi-drive home networking systems and external PC storage.

The Barracuda Green hard drive, formerly Barracuda LP, combines the industry’s highest spin speed (5900 RPM) with Seagate’s SmartAlign technology to deliver best-in-class performance.

Barracuda Green hard drives also support Seagate Think Green programs for a greener more sustainable world.

Press Release

Seagate Ships Industry’s Highest Performance “Green” Desktop Hard Drive

Barracuda Green features Seagate SmartAlign technology for seamless transition to 4K sector desktop hard drives

MALAYSIA, 15 December, 2010 – Seagate today announced the availability of the Barracuda Green hard drive, the industry’s highest performance eco-friendly 3.5-inch desktop drive for low-power personal computers, multi-drive home networking systems and external PC storage.

The Barracuda Green hard drive, formerly Barracuda LP, combines the industry’s highest spin speed (5900 RPM) with Seagate’s SmartAlign technology to deliver best-in-class performance. SmartAlign technology enables all the benefits of the new 4K sector standard while simplifying drive installation by eliminating the need for utilities often required to ensure optimum drive performance. The cool-running, lower-power Barracuda Green hard drive delivers whisper-quiet acoustics and helps reduce system costs associated with the fans and power supply devices often required for power-hungry systems.

Barracuda Green hard drives also support Seagate Think Green programs for a greener more sustainable world:

• 70 percent or more of the materials used to build the drive can be recycled.

• All Barracuda Green drives use low halogen components to reduce the negative environmental impacts related to these substances.

• Barracuda Green is designed and built to the highest environmental standards.

“Not only do Barracuda Green drives offer environmental improvements in power consumption and material usage, but these drives are also among the first hard drives from Seagate to offer SmartAlign technology,” said BanSeng Teh, vice president and managing director of Seagate Asia Pacific and Japan. “This is important because the industry is transitioning to 4K sector formatting called Advanced Format to improve capacities and maintain strong error correction. However, the transition to Advanced Format without SmartAlign technology can be complex and require additional integration steps and software utilities to avoid performance degradation. SmartAlign technology removes these concerns and makes this transition virtually invisible for our customers.”

The Barracuda Green hard drive, offered in capacities of 2TB, 1.5TB and 1TB, is now shipping to the worldwide distribution channel

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Digi Unveil HTC Mozart 7 And Immediately Sold Out

Admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:31:45 +0000

Except iPhone, I never see any newly released smartphone sold out immediately. Well, that’s just happen to HTC Mozart 7, the first Windows Phone 7 smartphone available from Digi which was released couple of days ago. I don’t know for sure if this is actually true or just marketing gimmick or perhaps due to limited stock Digi has in hand. But if you really want this phone, it looks like you got to wait.

Price wise, it is pretty reasonable, starting from RM1249 with 2 years contract. And with Digi Smartplan for sure. After HTC HDC 7 which available exclusively at Maxis, HTC Mozart 7 is the 2nd smartphone running on Windows Phone 7 available in Malaysia. The third would be LG Optimus 7 which will be available at Celcom soon. How is your experience of using Windows Phone 7 so far? Are you happy with it?

source Digi

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Celcom Start Selling Samsung Galaxy Tab Tablet

Admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:57:07 +0000

Guess what, one the device offered in Celcom Year End sales is Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet, making it second carrier after Maxis to offer the tablet. And unlike Maxis which subsidized the tablet price only based on the contract period, the package offered by Celcom is vary, based on contract period and monthly commitment. Price begin from Rm1368 for 18 months contract with Rm250 monthly commitment, which is the lowest you can get.

If you prefer low monthly commitment from RM78 permonth, Galaxy Tab is priced at RM1828 for 12 months contract. It is actually slightly cheaper than Maxis package which priced at RM1849 for the same contract period (12 months) with Rm108 (voice + data) monthly commitment.

That’s why competition is good for consumer.

source Celcom Sale

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Maxis Drop Selected Smartphone Price On Year End Sales

Admin — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:29:48 +0000

Maxis has kicked off the year end sale with quite tempting offer on selected smartphone, minus iPhone. Yeah, no discount on iPhone (demand is still high I guess), but there are still pretty steep discount on Android and Blackberry.

Samsung Galaxy S is the most discounted smartphone; the price drop to RM1099 from original price RM1499 with 2 years contract. Other smartphone such as Nokia N8, Motorola Charm, Blackberry Bold 9700, Curve 8520 and Pearl got Rm200 price cut. The least discounted item is Galaxy Tab, which receive only RM50 price cut.

Be wary that above promotion comes with it’s own plan and package in order to enjoy the discounted price. But if you prefer contract free, the only available choice is Nokia X6 and Nokia N97 Mini. And here is the price comparison between normal price VS discounted price for your own use.

Blackberry Curve RM99 (normal RM299)

Blackberry Pearl RM399 (normal RM599)

Blackberry Bold 9700 RM699 (normal RM899)

Galaxy Tab RM1699 (normal RM1749)

MotorolaCharm RM599 (normal RM749)

Galaxy S RM1099 (normal RM1499)

Nokia N8 RM799 (normal RM999)

source Maxis Year End Sales

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Brighstar To Unveil New Motorola Android Smartphone Next Week

Admin — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 15:34:26 +0000

Brightstar, an official distributor of Motorola smartphone in Malaysia, is set to unveil new Motorola Android smartphone on 15th December in KL city. You might want to know which model it is, which I, myself has no idea as well. The only hint is, the smartphone has Corning Gorilla Glass display, which AFAIK is available on all Motorola Droid series smartphone. But of all Motorola Android smartphone released recently, Droid 2, Droid X (CDMA only) and Droid Pro are the only model I believe could pose serious threat to other brand in this market.

The only complaint is, the smartphone is pretty late to be launched here now, when it was launched couple of months back in the US as well other region. By this time, grey importers as well as other Android smartphone model has reaped the benefit from the lack of official distributorship of this smartphone here, in our shores. Anyway, watch this space again on 15th December for more information.

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Seagate Debuts GoFlex Home: Easy-to-Use Centralized Storage For the Whole Family

Admin — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:47:47 +0000

Seagate last week has unveiled GoFlex Home network storage system, the latest addition to its GoFlex family of hard drives. A recent report by In-Stat predicts that the consumer network storage market will continue to grow between 25 and 50 percent over the next five years.

When GoFlex Home network storage system device is connected to a wireless router, an entire household can centrally store, easily access and continuously back up files wirelessly from both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems on the home network.

Press Release

Seagate Debuts GoFlex Home: Easy-to-Use Centralized Storage For the Whole Family

Wireless Backup, Sharing and Streaming of Music, Photos, Movies and More from Multiple Computers in the Home

MALAYSIA, 10 December, 2010 — Seagate today unveiled the newest addition to its GoFlex family of hard drives—the GoFlex Home network storage system. When this easy-to-use device is connected to a wireless router, an entire household can centrally store, easily access and continuously back up files wirelessly from both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems on the home network¹. The new centralized storage system simplifies the backup process by being compatible with Apple Time Machine, as well as including a version of the backup application for both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. With the GoFlex Home storage system, families can also wirelessly stream photos, movies and music to most network connected DLNA devices, such as game consoles or a GoFlex TV HD media player, from any room in the house. With just two cable connections and a simple, illustrated, step-by-step installation tool that gets the device up and running in minutes, the GoFlex Home system solves the household storage puzzle in a snap.

Available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, the GoFlex Home storage system provides plenty of room to help safeguard precious digital memories for the whole family and is ideal for use with home laptops, netbooks, or other devices with limited storage. Unlike other single-drive network solutions, its modular design also enables the included drive to be upgraded when needed by simply removing the drive from the base (no tools required) and replacing it with a higher capacity GoFlex Desk hard drive. Families can also add more storage to the GoFlex Home system by simply connecting additional drives to the USB port. Additionally, this same USB port can be used to wirelessly share a USB printer with every computer on the network.

“With broadband and home networks reaching higher levels of penetration and operating at higher speeds, consumers are increasingly downloading and streaming content into their home and wanting to access that content from anywhere,” said BanSeng Teh, vice president and managing director of Seagate Asia Pacific and Japan. “The GoFlex Home system makes it easy for families wanting to quickly and effortlessly backup, enjoy, and share their favorite home movies music or photos from any room in the house. We spent a lot of time focusing on simplicity with this product and believe people will find it very intuitive to set-up and get started. With theGoFlex Home system, now home networking is within reach for today’s digital households.”

A recent report by In-Stat predicts the consumer network storage market will continue to grow between 25 and 50 percent over the next five years. In addition, the number of devices connected to the home network, and the number of devices that are mobile or portable, are creating desire for consumers to move in and out of their home networking environment with their content². Using the included remote access and file sharing service on GoFlex Home system called Seagate Share service, families can easily access movies, music or photo files stored on their GoFlex Home system from any internet connected computer in the world. The Seagate Share service also allows families to share photo albums, home movies and documents with friends by simply selecting the files or folders they want to share and typing in an email address. Those friends will receive a notification with a direct link to a customized webpage where they can view the shared files.

“Consumers are showing increased interest in downloading and streaming content from the Internet into the home, connecting devices in the home to social networks, and demanding easy access to content both within the household and beyond the reach of home networks,” said Norm Bogen, vice president, Research, Digital Entertainment with In-Stat. “Solutions designed to help access content from multiple devices in the home, distribute it over the home network and stream to other devices and products, will be appealing to active digital media consumers.”

The GoFlex Home system also offers a premium service option—the Seagate Share Pro remote access service—that allows families to access content stored on the drive from mobile devices such as an iPhone, iPad or BlackBerry, integrate photos or files with Facebook and Flickr, and keep friends and relatives updated with the latest shared files using Integrated RSS (Really Simple Syndication) notifications.

In addition to delivering quick and easy wireless, file access, streaming and multi-computer backup of digital files, the GoFlex Homenetwork storage system has been designed with the cost and environmentally conscious households in mind. The GoFlex Homesystem also includes a power saving (idle) mode that automatically runs after 30-minutes of inactivity and a power switch that allows it to be shut off while families are away for extended periods.

The new GoFlex Home network storage system can be purchased through select retailers and resellers, for a suggested retail price of MYR 488 for 1TB and MYR 688 for 2TB.

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Digi Prepaid Blackberry Now Available In 6 Plans

Admin — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 05:36:05 +0000

That’s happen when there are just too many users with different needs and things they don’t needs. That’s how I guess why Digi comes with ‘What Berry Are You’ promotion. From 2 plans initially , there are now 6 Blackberry prepaid plans to choose from from RM0.50 perday to RM68 permonth. Just choose what you needs, BBM only, social + IM, email + IM, or full internet access.

But sadly full internet access is still without BIS, how is that?? If you spend RM68 permonth on Blackberry plan, you might as well get Digi Smartplan. You get everything including BIS, that’s it for RM68 and minus RM5 if you prefer e-billing. Err, would Digi call center personal able to identify the difference between this?

source Digi

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Digi Begin Selling HTC Desire HD

Admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:29:34 +0000

The latest HTC Android flagship smartphone, HTC Desire HD is now available for purchase at Digi stores. The pricing structure had just popped out on Digi website today.

Digi provide quite steep discount up to RM900 for 2 years contract, while 1 year contract is getting RM600 discount from the retail price RM2299. Each smartphone is bundled with Digi SmartPlan with RM68 monthly subscription. As usual, hit the source link to visit Digi website.

source Digi

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Copy and Paste In Windows Phone 7 Demoed

Admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:53:00 +0000

If you miss the copy and paste in your Windows Phone 7, stay tuned, it shouldn’t be long. The feature which appears to be ready is demoed here on developer device. As you can see, the implementation of copy and paste is slightly different here from what you seen on iOS or Android, with a tiny icon that appears on the screen to copy the highlighted word and then paste the copied item. Interesting huh?

via Engadget

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Here Comes First Chrome OS Notebook, Cr-48

Admin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 03:39:01 +0000

Google finally lift the curtain for it’s first Chrome OS notebook, simply called Cr48. With black color and plain design without any fancy stripe or even Chrome logo, it looks like the notebooks from 90′s era. It is not as sleek as you’re expected, but this working prototype is meant only for pilot program, which currently open only to folk in the US. The end product most likely from notebook vendor, should looks better than this one.

Cr48 is equipped only with basic specs that’s include Wifi and 3G (which is a must as you’ll live on the cloud) as well as webcam. But it is underneath the notebook that will be most interesting, the Chrome OS that promise to boot in 10 seconds, resume from sleep instantly.

Other specs include 12 inch screen, battery which can last for 8 hours active usage and a week standby. As noted earlier, the only way now to test the notebook is via the pilot program which only open in the US, hit the source link for further detail and to register your interest. For the rest of the world, wait till Q1 2011 ya!

source Cr48

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Google Unveil Nexus S With Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

Admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:29:11 +0000

What started as rumors few weeks ago turned to reality yesterday. Are rumors becoming more accurate nowadays thanks to efficient journalism and tipster, or is that planned leaked?

So, this is the second Google branded Android smartphone, named Nexus S, maintain the Nexus brand which already synonym with Google’s own branding. Why not Nexus 2, and what letter ‘S’ means here? Unlike Nexus One which is co-developed with HTC, Nexus S is the workmanship of Samsung with Google, so you can guess where the S coming from here (hint Galaxy)?

What differentiate Nexus series phone with the rest of Android smartphone is, it run on plain Android OS, without any customization interface on top of the OS. It meant to provide truly Android experience without sometime annoying third party customization. And for Nexus 3, it has an honor as the first Android smartphone shipped with Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread. Now this is one worthy phonel!

The phone looks a lot like Samsung Galaxy S, no doubt about that. Only the second looks will tell them it is different phone. Galaxy S is proven smartphone platform and hugely successful with 3 millions units sold so far. It has great looks, very light phone and other feature you can’t found on other Android smartphone. On certain aspect, the spec are almost identical but Nexus S is obviously superior than it’s original platform.

At the heart of Nexus S is the 1 GHz Humminbird processor, the same processor found on Galaxy S. And of course it comes with 4 inch AMOLED multi touch capacitive touch screen with 480 X 800 resolution, second only to iPhone 4 and Sharp phone (can’t recall the model) which has greater resolution. Storage and RAM is pretty much standard, with 16GB (expandable) and 512MB RAM. 5 Megapixel camera with flash and front facing camera is now standard features including in this phone. Oh wait, it has 3-Axis Gyroscope as well! Hit the source for more spec ya!

Google won’t sell this phone directly or make it available online. It will be available though T-Mobile store in the US and Best Buy stores after 16 December and couple of more location after 20 December. Unless you live in the US, there is no easy and cheap way to get it. Just wait grey importer bring it here, and be prepared to pay premium price for this piece of gadget.

source Google Android Blog, Nexus S

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Sony Ericsson Begin Android 2.1 Update To Xperia X8, X10 & X10 Mini

Admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 07:44:54 +0000

image credit to FontaineVirgile

Though it is just an update to Android 2.1 aka eClair, this is something that Xperia users will be please to have it. Why not, they have been asking it for ages, and only now it becomes reality. The update finally begin last week in the Europe before gradually rolled out to other part of the world as well. All 3 Xperia series, X8, X10 and X10-mini are getting update. The list of so called ‘SI-Numbers’ (found on the back of the phone) for Xperia model that has received update has been posted on the source link below.

source Sony Ericsson

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Fortinet November Threat Landscape Report Highlights Reduced Spam Levels after Bredolab Takedown

Admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 05:16:51 +0000

Fortinet November Threat Landscape Report highlights a 12 percent reduction in global spam after Dutch authorities dismantled a large Bredolab network by taking more than 140 servers offline.

Koobface, a botnet well known for spamming popular social media sites, was taken offline on November 14 when UK ISP provider Coreix took three MotherShip servers offline.

FortiGuard labs disclosed zero-day vulnerabilities in Adobe Shockwave, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Office PowerPoint, and Apple QuickTime.

More info available on the press release below

Press Release

Fortinet November Threat Landscape Report Highlights Reduced Spam Levels after Bredolab Takedown

Koobface Servers Taken Down on November 14 Reconfigured to New Control Servers Five Days Later

MALAYSIA, 6 December, 2010 - Fortinet – a leading network security provider and the worldwide leader of unified threat management (UTM) solutions – today announced its November 2010 Threat Landscape report, which highlights a 12 percent reduction in global spam after Dutch authorities dismantled a large Bredolab network by taking more than 140 servers offline.

“Bredolab was often used to load spam engines, which are typically used to sell fraudulent pharmaceuticals,” said Derek Manky project manager, cyber security and threat research at Fortinet. “The scale of this Bredolab botnet had a huge impact on spam levels, dropping as much as 26 percent one week after it was dismantled.”

Koobface Takedown

Koobface, a botnet well known for spamming popular social media sites, was taken offline on November 14 when UK ISP provider Coreix took three MotherShip servers offline. Koobface used intermediary servers (proxies) to communicate with these MotherShip servers through HTTP port 80.

“We confirmed that on November 14, when the primary servers were taken offline, the intermediary servers failed to proxy content, which effectively crippled the botnet,” Manky continued. “Unfortunately, we saw communication restored five days later on November 19th. This is likely due to the fact that Koobface contains an FTP harvesting module.”

Operators may use stolen FTP credentials to hijack Web servers for intermediary/proxy use. By reconfiguring their intermediary servers to new MotherShip servers, the operators seemingly regained control of their botnet.

Adobe, Microsoft, Apple Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

In November, FortiGuard labs also disclosed zero-day vulnerabilities in Adobe Shockwave (FGA-2010-54), Adobe Flash (FGA-2010-56), Microsoft Office PowerPoint (FGA-2010-58), and Apple QuickTime (FGA-2010-61). In addition to the four zero days, 146 additional new vulnerabilities were covered by FortiGuard IPS; 40 percent of which were actively exploited in the wild. As of this writing, a zero-day vulnerability is still being exploited in the wild for Microsoft Internet Explorer (FGA-2010-55). All five vulnerabilities were critical, and had the potential to allow attackers to execute arbitrary code from a remote location.

New and old vulnerabilities will continue to be exploited, so it’s important to keep all application patches up to date. Additionally, a valid intrusion prevention system (IPS) can help mitigate attacks against both known vulnerabilities and zero-days. With the use of communication through common protocols, application control is becoming more important to identify malicious activity on the application level.

FortiGuard Labs compiled threat statistics and trends for November based on data collected from FortiGate network security appliances and intelligence systems in production worldwide. Customers who use Fortinet’s FortiGuard Services should be protected against this vulnerability with the appropriate configuration parameters in place.

FortiGuard Services offer broad security solutions including antivirus, intrusion prevention, Web content filtering and anti-spam capabilities. These services help protect against threats on both application and network layers. FortiGuard Services are updated by FortiGuard Labs, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. For customers with a subscription to FortiGuard, these updates are delivered to all FortiGate, FortiMail and FortiClient products.

The full November Threat Landscape report, which includes the top threat rankings in several categories, is available now. Ongoing research can be found in the FortiGuard Center or via FortiGuard Labs’ RSS feed. Additional discussion on security technologies and threat analysis can be found at the Fortinet Security Blog.

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Andsense Ads Disabled? How To Get It Back

Admin — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:27:59 +0000

So your website no longer showing Adsense ads? I have read a lot about it before, but never cross my mind, that I will one day experience it as well.

I have this issue with adsense couple of weeks ago when the adsense ads was disabled in this blog. It started when Google issue a warning that I have violated their policy with regard the ads placement in that particular stage. The ads placement has been there quite a while, but the warning only comes when the earning are extraordinarily high for few days (high earning sometime is not a good thing). I review the ads placement, reading back the T&C, but to cut the story short, it didn’t please Google and the ads were totally gone in the next few days.

Panic? Of course I’m. But please calm down after a moment.

1. So the first thing that I did is re-read following things multiple times. Yeah, especially if English is not your mother tongue, you may miss or misunderstood something there. Usually the warning hint the area that you’re violating, but do no take that as the final word, as you may violate other areas as well. So as I said, read and understand it, even for multiple. You have nothing to lose here, but you’ll lost more if you failed doing so.

program policies (highly suggested in the warning message).
Term of use

2. The warning issued to me is related to ads placement. I’m not going to go in detail here, but believe me, I think what I was right, and Google is wrong. But at the end of the day I was wrong, and Google is right, and so it’s end up what I’m fear most, the ads are disappeared. If you’re unsure what is not right, clear or remove the ads that you have doubt on it, or you think it is 50-50 right. Google has no tolerence with that. So here are couple of thing that you can do.

Reduce the number of ads in that page, although it still within the number allowed in program policy. I retain the number of ads unit, but I reduce the number of Adsense for seach, and link ads.
Use “sponsored links” or “advertisements” to label ads - Contrary to 5-6 years ago when Adsense is relatively new, it has matured and even without the label, visitors still knows which one is ads and which is not.
Modify the placement of the ads. Eg If it is too close to your header or subjects, make more space with it. Or move your ads placement to be on top of the header and etc.

3. After you have absolutely satisfied with the changes, and you have confidence that your website is now fully compliance with Adsense rules, appeal through this Invalid Activity Appeal form. Patient is absolutely the key here. Please take your time filling up this form, as this is what will determine if you’ll get back the ads. Be honest but keep an eye on the detail.

Google will reply in couple of days, but there is no exact days how soon they will. It too me 5 days for them to reply, but I even read that they reply in 2-3 weeks. Congratulation is they lift the ban, but if you failed, try again.

The lesson that I learn here is that, please take the warning from Google seriously. Don’t take it for granted. And do the right thing at the first time, not when the punishment has already taken place.

As I said earlier, extraordinary earning will sometime trigger something unexpected action from Google when they become suspicious of the activity on your website. Perhaps, it is best that you become proactive, by contacting Google if you suspicious with the income or click that you receive on any particular day. Being proactive give impression to Google, that you’re monitoring your website diligently although that doesn’t mean they will trust whatever you report to them.

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Sony Ericsson Xperia Xperience Program

Admin — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 13:24:56 +0000

With 35.3% of mobile population in Malaysia are Sony Ericsson user, it is just great idea to provide their loyal users with something in return. Even if it is in the form of workshop, with it’s newly found partner that made their financial book turned black recently, Android. The so called Sony Ericsson Xperience Xperia program is meant to provide information about Android in Xperia series phone that Sony Ericsson is trying hard to push it to the world.

The event will take place in KL on 18 December 2010, so if you think you have interest with Xperia smartphone or an existing users, hit the source button to register your interest.

source : Sony Ericsson Facebook

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iPad As Promotion Tool, Including For Honda & Merc

Admin — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 03:54:13 +0000

You may notice how the trend of rewarding customer for any sales has shifted from consumer electronic such notebook or LCD TV to smartphone or tablet like iPhone or iPad. It become even obvious especially when iPad is more affordable and available from local reseller.

The coolness factor, huge demand, and the appeal of such devices to consumer, attract industry to use it as their marketing tool. It is now common to see such promotion that giving away iPad to customer as seen on the ads below. If the choices that you have is tied in almost every aspect, but the other one rewarding something cool, why not taking it, right?

And so this promotion that rewarding iPad, only if you buy Honda or Mercedez Benz from following dealer, so be cautious. But if one can afford Merc or even Honda, iPad is just as additional gift that these peoples can get anytime they want.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab Hits 1 Million Units Mark

Admin — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 10:31:17 +0000

It looks like Samsung Galaxy Tab has finally positioned itself as the first true iPad rival, with quite impressive sales figure. Sales of Galaxy Tab worldwide has reached 1 millions unit since it’s released. The word comes from Samsung itself, to confirm the rumors that surface earlier on, although no further detail revealed just yet. Though the 1 millions sales milestone is accomplished not in the pace of iPad which reach that feat in a record 28 days, Samsung can still proud of the record that none of iPad rival wannabe achieve so far.

There are still more rooms for improvement. Samsung can close the gap if they could come out with different flavor of Samsung Galaxy Tab. It’s chief rival, iPad has 6 variance which difference by storage capacity and wifi-only or wifi-3G model. Samsung Galaxy Tab on the other hand, has only 2 model difference only by storage capacity, when they should come out with Wifi only model. The problem with this is, Samsung Galaxy Tab has no direct model to compete with WiFi-only iPad that sold cheaper than Galaxy Tab 16GB model.

Take this for instance, the lowest retail price of Samsung Galaxy Tab is RM2699, while the newly release iPad 16GB wifi only model is competitively priced at RM1549. Though Samsung Galaxy Tab has more features than iPad, but in the market that sensitive to price different, Apple iPad is the obvious winner here. So think again Samsung!

via Samsung

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HP Xmas Mega Sale at Jaya One

Admin — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 05:19:11 +0000

HP Xmas Mega Sale 2010 is still going on Jaya One from 2-4 December. I know it is quite late, but you still have today to shop for desktop, notebook or any HP gadget. Heard that you can trade in used but in working condition notebook/desktop with brand new computer as well.

source HP

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Buying Blackberry 6 OS Smartphone Might Give You BMW X6 In Return

Admin — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 03:16:47 +0000

AFAIK, this is perhaps the most luxury price ever offered to use this particular mobile OS. No wonder the BMW X6 is the price, as the mobile OS that you need to use if you dream of this car is the latest Blackberry OS, also with 6, Blackberry 6. The only things you need to do to participate in this contest is to buy and use any Blackberry smartphone running on Blackberry 6, such as Torch, Curve 3G and Bold 9780 from the authorized reseller which are Brighstar, Celcom, Digi and Maxis. Buying smartphone from grey market doesn’t qualify you to this contest. No T&C or FAQ available on the contest page, so the only way to know about it, is buy it. Contest begin from November 3rd to February 28th.

Source RIM

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Google Reader App For Android Released

Admin — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 03:15:29 +0000

One app that I’m sure many Android users would love to have, Google Reader is finally released by Google last week. It is available in the App Market, but for some unknown reason, it is not available from My HTC Magic which run on Android 2.1. Nevertheless it is a must have app for those that rely on Google Reader as source of information. Some of the feature offered in the app is multiple accounts, sync preference, full subscription features and etc. Scan QR code below to install the app, which works on Donut (Android 1.6) and above.

source Google

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