Skyjuice

The Missing DVD Drive in Windows

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:33:00 +0000

26 September 2011

Introduction

After using some software, one might find that Windows 7 can no longer able to use the IDE DVD drive because the icon was missing from the drive tables and also, one could not find the DVD drive in the Device Manager. The DVD drive is gone. The Windows’ trouble shooter will say there is no optical drive connected to the computer and the Device Manager’s hardware scanner refuses to pick up the missing DVD drive. All known attempts, sometimes, including system restore, failed to reinstate the presence of the DVD drive.

What Happened?

The solution suggested that the driver for the DVD drive could have been replaced by the use of the "nasty" software and now becomes just another ATA device under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. The system was not able to recognise it as the DVD drive.

The Solution

The solution is actually quite simple i.e. to uninstall the “device” from the Device Manager and let the computer’s "plug and play" picks up the DVD drive and install the correct device driver. However, there is catch because under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, there will be more than 1 ATA device. Now, which one belongs to the DVD drive?

One way out to find out is to check the device detail of each device but the easier way is just to uninstall all the ATA devices, one by one, in the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller and let the computer restores all the drivers. After removing the devices, restart the computer, one should happily see the return of the DVD drive in the drive table “without having to pull out one’s hair”.

Turning Off Windows CE ActiveSync

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:16:00 +0000

9 August 2011

Introduction

Many smartphones and mobile devices use Windows CE Mobile 6.1 and the likes as operating system. Many users of these devices have experienced one common problem; the ActiveSync program will run every few minutes in the background. This program drains battery power.

How To Detect?

Goto Task Manager. ActiveSync will turn on and run every few minutes after one has cleared and stopped it.

How to Remove This ?

There are few methods being circulated in the Net but the correct method is to modify the Registry of the mobile devices.

Would This Affect the Auto-Synchronizing?
No. However, there may be a need to start Windows Mobile Centre in the PC or NoteBook first before plugging in the USB cables.

What are the Steps?

1. Download PHM Registry Editor from here or the correct version from SKTools

2. Copy the cab files to the mobile devices after having a connection and install. One should see the PHM icon under "Program" ;

3. Run PHM Registry Editor ;

4. Click “Tool” and also “Find” to bring up the Find screen;

5. Click Keys, Values and Data checkboxes and click “Find Next”

6. Program will find “KeepAlive” element; double click it to bring up the editing screen;

7. In the Editing screen, change the Value Data from 1 to 0 and close the screen;

8. Done

To Lockup Roof Top Access Doors in HDB Blocks?

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 02:30:00 +0000

1 July 2010

Introduction
A dead body was found in one of the 8,000 HDB blocks in Singapore. The Town Councils that manage the HDB blocks just announced that they would strengthen the security of the roof top access and replace all locks at the roof top access doors with better ones. The keys to the new locks cannot be duplicated easily.

The Cost
The total cost is around S$ 10 millions for the security measures and about S$ 3.3 millions will be spent on the new locks

The Arguments
For:

a) The new locks are more secured as they cannot be easily duplicated;

Against:

a) Not effective if the doors are left opened after use by the workers;

The Proposal
Installing an additional telemonitoring point to the access doors.

The Supporting Reasons
a) Why Doors not locked?
Lift motor rooms and water tanks are often located at the roof tops. Lift mechanics are the frequent users. They often left the doors opened for their own convenience and forgot to lock the door after the repair work.

b) Fire Escape to Roof Tops?
Roof top is often used as one of the fire escapes for highrise buildings. In case of a fire in the middle floors, the only fire escape will the roof tops. This is especially true in the case of HDB Point Blocks where the staircases are close to each other.

c) Stop Crimes at Roof Tops?
A secured locking device will never stop crimes. It is a false sense of security if the locking device is not monitored. It merely delay crimes from happening.

d) What will be the Cost?
For every HDB block, there is already a telemonitoring system that monitors the lifts. One could always find a spare monitoring point that could be easily programmed to alert the lift monitoring operators when there is an intrusion.

This monitoring point can link all the electrical limit switches at the roof top access doors all in one circuit.

This proposal is expected to cost around S$200/= per block or about S$1.6 millions for 8,000 HDB blocks. This proposal is about 9 times cheaper than the $10 millions proposed to spend by the Town Councils and will be much more cost effective.

Micorsoft Silverlight Installation Problem in Windows 7

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:24:00 +0000

2 Feb 2011

Introduction

When Silverlight was first installed, everything will work fine. After it was updated to a new version, Silverlight failed to install and gave error ID of 1603. All attempts made to re-install the Silverlight failed including removal of existing program and edition of registry.

Why?

Some keynames in Internet Explorer Registry were locked for security reasons and they disallowed Silverlight installer to change the keywords. Silverlight installer just gave error id with no further explanation.

How to Detect?

Use Winrar or similar unzipping program to inspect the "silverlight.exe" file and locate the "silverlight.7z" zip file. In this zip file, click and run silverlight.msp. The program will start to install silverlight and report any error found.

Uninstalling the Silverlight.exe in the control panel will also report similar errors.

What Kind of Errors?

The following keywords in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\] are locked from any editing. Note that Wow6432Note is the folder for LOCAL MACHINE32.

FEATURE_SCRIPTURL_MITIGATION
FEATURE_Cross_Domain_Redirect_Mitigation
FEATURE_VIEWLINKEDWEBOC_IS_UNSAFE
FEATURE_RESTRICT_OBJECT_DATA_ATTRIBUTE
FEATURE_SHOW_APP_PROTOCOL_WARN_DIALOG
FEATURE_BLOCK_LMZ_SCRIPT
FEATURE_BLOCK_LMZ_OBJECT
FEATURE_BLOCK_LMZ_IMG
FEATURE_ACTIVEX_REPURPOSEDETECTION

How to Unlock?

Note: Before proceeding to diagnose and unlock the registry keyname, it would be good to try restoring the system to the earlier date using system restore function.

1. Once the locked keyword is identified, use "regedit.exe" to locate the keyword in and then, rightclick and select "permissions" to open the “permissions” window.

2. In the opened permission window, click “Add” button in the “group and username” section if there is no name in the block and the following screen should appear.

3. Selecting the “Advance” button to open up the following screen.

4. Click “Find Name” button to add “SYSTEM” as the username.

5. Click "OK" to return to the 1st opened permission window.
Note that the checkboxes in the "Full control" and "Read" cannot be set until one has reclaimed the ownership of the keyword.

6. To reclaim ownership, click "Advance" and in the next window, select “owner” tab and then change the owner’s name to reclaim ownership of the keyword.

6. Return to 1st opened permission window and click “Full control” check box.

7. Click “OK” button and then test if one can open the keyword in the registry editor.

Quicker Way to Unlock?

Instead of unlocking the keywords one by one, one can release all the locks in the sub keyname under the keyname “FeatureControl” by releasing the lock in the “FeatureControl” keyword. To do so, one must click the checkbox "Replace owner in subcontainer and object" when reclaiming the ownership of the keynames. Repeat same for the "permission" tab.

Repair Spin Mop or Magic Mop

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:36:00 +0000

14 December 2010

Introduction

Magic mop or 360 degree mop are spin mops. The earlier model has a foot pedal with gearing system that will spin the cage as the pedal is being “pumped”. This article will describe how to repair this kind of spin mop.

How Spin Mop works?

The spin mop has a set of gearing system. When the pedal is stepped on, it will spin the centrifugal cage. The heart of the system is a “one way bearing” that allow the force to be transmit to the shaft of the centrifugal cage.

This bearing has about 8 small little needle bearings in it that are arranged to “lock” the gear to the shaft whenever a force is applied to turn the gear. As soon as the force is removed or when one stops the pedal “pumping”, the needle bearings will “unlock” themselves, allowing the centrifugal cage to continue spinning freely with the “one way bearing” now acting as a normal bearing. The animation of the “one way bearing” can be found here

What Can Go Wrong?

After some use, these little needle bearings will wear out and no longer able to “lock” the gearing system to the shaft of the centrifugal cage. The centrifugal cage will stop spinning.

What can be done?

a) Dismantle the gearing mechanism

1. Unscrew the 4 screws that attach the gearing block from the pail

2. Remove the small pinion gear that is attached to the shaft

3. Remove the "one way bearing" by knocking the old one out

4. Replace the “one way bearing”. Check to rotate the shaft by hand to ensure the correct direction of the bearing before inserting the bearing. The “one way bearing” will not work if it is inserted in the wrong direction.
5. Re-assemble the gearing block.

How to Sharpen a Knife or Chopper

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 10:06:00 +0000

10 December 2010

Introduction
There are tons of articles and videos on the web telling people how to sharpen a knife or a chopper. Some are shown by professional chef. However, none could help a layman sharpening a knife or a chopper properly

Why?
The secret of sharpening a knife is to have the knife always maintaining at a constant angle of about 20 degree to the surface of the sharpening stone or sand paper when sharpening a knife. If the knife edge is irregular, the knife will never be sharp.

How?
To maintain a constant angle, one can use something like a thicker steel ruler to provide a shim or a spacer to “wedge” the knife at about 20 degree angle to the surface of the stone. The trick is on how to stick the ruler to the knife while sharpening the knife.

A Simple Method
a) Find a piece of PVC electrical trunking about the length of the knife. One may be able to get one free from the electricians as they often have some waste piece lying around in the work places; the PVC trunking will usually have a "tongue and groove" arrangement to snap the cover in place;

b) Remove the cover of the PVC trunking which should have a “groove” in it. Cut the “groove” piece out of the cover and snap the piece to the knife as shown.

c) Start sharpening and one will always have a knife or a chopper sharpened in a professional way.

How to Sharpen a Planer Blade

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 04:48:00 +0000

8 November 2010

Introduction

There are many ways to sharpen a planer blade instead of replacing and throwing them away. This article will introduce one easy way.

The Planer and Planer Blades

The planer used is as shown. It has 2 blades, each has a length of 3-1/4" and are made of HSS steel.

When the blades are blunt, it will not give a good cutting surface on the wood and the surface will have a fluffy feeling.
The Sharpening Tools

The usual way to sharpen the blade is to use a standard blade sharpening tool which has adjusting screws for angle and other adjustments. Grinding stones are often used. The sharpening work will require some professional skill to prepare grinding stones etc. This article will introduce a simple and yet effective way for DIYs using tools that can be made in just less than ½ hour. No professional skill really required.

The Materials

a) A base made from a piece of plywood measuring around 100 mm x 75 mm ( 4” x 3”) or with the width to suit the length of the blade;
b) A 15 mm PVC tube of about 75 mm (3”) in length;
c) 4 wood screws and washers; 2 shorter ones to tighten the blade to the base and 2 longer ones to tighten to the base to a PVC tube for adjustment of the blade angle;
d) 2 pieces of water base sand papers; one of 240 grade and the other of 300 grade or finer
e) Optional: a set of rollers to be mounted underneath the 15 mm PVC tube so that the base can slide freely on the sand papers. One can use the small rollers that is stripped from the spoilt computer mouse for this purpose.

Other tools required are electric drills and suitable drill bits

The Set Up

a) Drill 2 rows of holes and 2 small holes as shown on the base
b) Drill 2 small holes on the PVC tube to hold the longer screws

The Completed Assembly

Note:

1. One can omit having rollers mounting beneath the PVC if one can always place the PVC tube outside the sand paper area. Anyway, PVC tube are replaceable if they are worn.

2. Constantly check the grinding surface of the blade and adjust the angle of the blade to be grinded. When the angle is correct, make a marking on the PVC tube and the base.

3. When the blade is ready, one should feel the blurs on the opposite edge of the blade. Dismantle the blade and grind away the blur on a fine sand paper. To ensure the blade is always placed at a small angle to the sand paper, one can use a steel ruler or the back of another sand paper to "jack" up the opposite end of the blade when grinding away the blurs.

Access Denied in Windows 7 Registry

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 03:30:00 +0000

Introduction

Windows 7 is fast and easy to use but many users said they had tried and went back to XP. They said Windows 7 was not stable. Some complained about program not able to run or run slower than XP after some usages. Reinstallation of these programs often failed. This article will describe a way to solve some of these problems.

Why?

One of the problems is the denial of access to change certain keys required by the programs in the Registry. After some period, the ownership or the permission of the Registry key will be changed for some reasons, probably caused by User Account Control (UAC). The programs will lose the privilege to access and change these keys under normal operation. The solution is to restore the ownership and permission of these keys.

How ?

a) Prepare to check which key was denied the access.

To monitor the Registry, download Process Monitor . Install and run.

3. To limit the number of events to be display, in the “Filter” menu, select “Filter”

4. In the Architecture dropdown box, select “Result” and type in “ACCESS DENIED” in the box as shown

5. Click ok. The monitor is now ready to capture any access denial events for study.

b) Run the faulty application or installation or any program again. this time, check if there are Registry keys being denied access. Note down this key and use “Regedit” to reclaim ownership or permission to change these keys.

What if there are plenty of Registry to Change?

When there is a lot of keys to reclaim ownership or permission, it may be necessary to reset the entire Registry to the defaulted ownership or permission.

How ?

Important Notes: It is advisable to backup by exporting the entire Registry or otherwise save in another disk or partition. The reset of ownership or permission by SubInACL can upset some programs.

1. Download SubInACL which is a program that will enable administrators to manage files, registry keys, and services.

2. Unzip and run SubInACL. It will create a new folder called “Windows Resource Kits/Tools” inside the Program Files (x86) folder.

3. Start up “NotePad”. Copy and paste the following

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=system=f

4. Save NotePad file as “Reset.cmd” in the “Windows Resource Kits/tools” folder.

5. In the box of the Windows Startup Button, enter “cmd” (without quotes) and rightclick “cmd.exe” when the file appears at the top of the window and select to run as Administor.

6. Type “cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools” at the prompt, follow by “reset.cmd”

7. The program will run for the next 3 minutes to change all the ownership and permission of the entire keys in the Registry to the default value

The Tokyo Tunnel - G-Cans

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:51:00 +0000

24 August 2010

Introduction
The Tokyo flood tunnels – G-Cans project started construction in 1992 and completed in 2004, about 12 years later. It was just in time to be tested in tyhoon 22 in 2004 when 14 families were reported to be affected instead of 236 families before the completion of the project. The tunnel collects water from Tokyo downtown district and discharge it into the Edogawa river.

The Tunnel
The tunnel is 10m in diameter and about 6.3 kilometers (four miles) long. It is buried 50 metre under the ground in the Tokyo suburbs.

It has 5 concrete silos, each having a diameter of about 32 metres and is about 70 metres tall.

The tunnel is connected to a gigantic water tank measuring about 78m width, 177m long and 25m tall (or 350,000 m3). The tank is propped by 59 numbers of gigantic pillar, each weighing about 500 tons. As the pillars look like those in ancient temples, some named this water tank “the underground temple of Tokyo”.

Connected to this water tank are series of water pump that have a total output of 14,000 hp or 10 MW. They can discharge flood water up to 200 m3 per second or one Olympic pool water in 10 seconds.

The Cost
Estimated to be about US 2.0 billion

The Volume
The tunnel can hold approximately 640,000 m3 of flood water.

Web Query Hangs

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:01:00 +0000

23 August 2010

Introduction
Users of Microsoft Excel and other web query software, like IMACROS, often query websites to get the web information for stocks or other purposes. These users will write scripts to automate the process. Sometimes, the process will hang causing lost of data. This article will describe methods to overcome this problem.

Why it Hangs?
The process will hang either because the website is down or because the web traffic is high. A webpage usually takes 5 to 6 seconds to download may take up to 10 minutes or even hours.

How to Over come?
The following methods have been tried without much success.

a) Introduce timeout events in scripts or VBA
The script is waiting for a webpage to download and will not activate the timeout under such events.

b) Ping the website before proceeding to download
This will only help if the website is down but it will not help when there is a delay due to heavy traffic.

The better method is to modify the window registry’s internet setting with a timeout of appropriate delay. This is because most browsers use this delay in the internet setting.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/181050

How to Modify the Registry?
The timeout is not native in the registry’s internet setting. It will have to be created under
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]. The keyword is "ReceiveTimeout”. Its value will depend on normal delay in webpage download.

The Window default is

Internet Explorer 4.0 and Internet Explorer 4.01 --- 5 minutes
Internet Explorer 5.x and Internet Explorer 6.x---- 60 minutes
Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 ------- 60 minutes

In VBA, add the following code before downloading the data

Set myWS = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")'write registry keymyWS.RegWrite
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet " &
_"Settings\ReceiveTimeout", "15000", "REG_DWORD"

The value of “15000” means a delay of 15 seconds. Insert the same code just after the download script and change the value to suit normal surfing.

Error Message for Dynamic Link Library mscvp90.dll

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 03:38:00 +0000

21 August 2010

Introduction
When installing Ad-aware program, one will get the following error message for some PCs:

"procedure entry point?_xfunc@tr1@std@@YAXXZ cannot be located in the dynamic link library MSVCP90.dll "

Why?
This error is due to a wrong version of msvcp90.dll being installed by some programs for some reasons.
The dll is one of the C Run-Time Libraries for Visual C++ and programs such as Ad-aware use them.
According to some descriptions, there are 2 versions of such dll having the same name, msvcp90.dll, one for 64 bits and the other for 32 bits machine. XP operating system is a 32 bit machine.

What Next?
If one is using a XP operating system and has encountered the problem.

Step 1: Download the correct version of Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86) from the following website for XP machines

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/confirmation.aspx?familyId=9b2da534-3e03-4391-8a4d-074b9f2bc1bf&displayLang=en

Step 2 : Locate the directory C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC90.CRTxxxxx. In the directory, one should find 3 Nos of 90.dll files. Rename these files with an extension of .tmp. If one has 2 directories of similar name, do the same.

Step 3: Run the downloaded installation program called “credist_x86.exe”. The installation program will automatically uninstall and reinstall the correct version of 90.dll programs.

Step 4: Locate the directory C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC90.CRTxxxxx again. One will find the new 90.dll programs. Copy all the 3 programs to “c:\windows\system32”

Marina Barrage - Fighting With Nature

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:49:00 +0000

Introduction
There was recent spate of flooding in Singapore. The famous Orchard Road was under 300 mm of water. Some blamed the Marina Barrage that was completed 3 years ago. This article will examine how the barrage works and if it can alleviate flooding in low-lying areas.

The Marina Barrage
The Marina Barrage (Chinese:滨海堤坝) is a 350 metres low level dam in Singapore built across the mouth of the bay, between Marina East and Marina South. It was officially opened on 1 November 2008.

The barrage serves 3 purposes:-
a) Provide Water Supply
b) Perform Flood Control
c) Lifestyle Attraction

The video about the barrage can be found here

How the Barrage Works?

During heavy rain, the series of 9 crest gates at the dam will be opened to release flood water into the open sea when the tide is low. The 7 Nos of 40 m3/s (about 2.5 MW @ 3.5 m head) pumps, capable of pumping an Olympics-size swimming pool per minute will work when the tide is high. This mechanism is supposed to alleviate flooding in the low-lying areas in the city such as Chinatown, Boat Quay, Jalan Besar and Geylang.

The video of the crest gate and the pumps can be found here and here.

The Marina Basin

The Marina Basin has a surface area of about 240 ha (240,000 m2). It is linked to a 100-km2 rain catchment area shown green in the attached model. During raining days, the drains and canals will channel the flood water into the Marina Basin.

The flood
A series of flood occurring after the Barrage was completed

Can the Marina Barrage Cope?
The Barrage and the basin will not eliminate flooding totally if there is a very heavy downpour and the tide is high. This is because the rain fall from the water catchment, if more than those on 17 July, may raise the water level Marina Basin by more than 4.0 metres (discounting the retained water on the surface of the catchment and the buffer in drains/canals/river) during a heavy downpour as shown in table 1.

2o August 2010
What Can We Do?
a) Reduce the Water Catchment Area
If we were to reduce the catchment area by 40%, this will reduce the water level rise in the basin by about the same proportion to 4.5 metres per hour without pumps and 4.0 metres per hour with pumps in full operation. The alternative is to regulate the flood water flow from higher areas.

b) Allow More Buffer Capacity In Basin
With the present barrage, there is a limit on how much a buffer can be created in the basin because the gates are not totally water tight. There will be seawater leeching into the basin if there is large difference in the level of water in the basin and the open sea; also, the pumping electricity cost would be high if we keep the water level in the basin low.

Reducing the water catchment area appears to be a better of the 2 solutions for the present setup at the Marina Barrage.

Where Long Term Funds Park Their Money

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:43:00 +0000

25 July 2010

The Long Term Funds in US

The Investment Company Institution (ICI) keeps in touch with the Fund Managers (The Funds), their shareholders, directors and investment advisers regularly. They aim to facilitate the effective functioning of Funds under the U.S. legislative and regulatory framework. They keep and release the Funds' investment in local as well as in foreign countries. This article will aim to introduce ICI as well as to analyse the data they have collected for the information of the readers.

The Data Collections

The data collected by ICI can be found here in this PDF file.
The data tabulated out how much the Funds have invested in Foreign and Domestic equities as well as in bonds and other investment vehicles.

Graphical Plot
The following is a graphical plot of the data kept by ICI for Foreign and domestic equities.

(Doubleclick to enlarge)

The chart shows that the US Long Term Fund (LTF) has withdrawn about US$300 bln from the domestic equity market since January 2007. Lately, they withdrew a total of US$ 50 bln in May 2010 and June 2010. They increased their withdrawal and withdrew about US$ 7.0 bln in the first 2 weeks of July 2010. As for the Foreign Equity investment, LTF maintained their funds at around US$ 150 bln to US$ 200 bln during the periods shown.

Divergence Between Equities and Funds

There is a divergence between DOW and the US domestic funds as shown in the following graph. This graph illustrates that the US domestic equity Funds decreases as DOW increases in value during the period between March 2009 and April 2010. The LTF withdrew even more funds from the domestic equity market during period between April 2010 to present date.

(Doubleclick to enlarge)

Where LTF Parks their Money ?

To find out, please click here

Conclusion

LTF are buying bonds instead of equities ever since the last recession that started in 2007/2008. The pattern appears to have the tendency of repeating again.

Will History Repeat Itself?

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:07:00 +0000

19 June 2010

Introduction
Many used to say that history will repeat itself in the stock markets; what has happened will happen again. Therefore, Technical Analysis Technicians have come out with many shapes, patterns, trendlines and formations to predict the futures of a stock or currency market. This article will examine the DOW index from a technical prospective and check if it is possible for DOW to repeat itself.

What will be used?
Trendlines. There are many different types of trendline; some are called necklines, others are just simple trendlines. Necklines are usually found when there is a “head and shoulder” formation. Once a neckline or trendline is broken, there will be large movements in prices.

The Occasions
There are 2 occasions recently when DOW broke necklines or trendlines and sent stocks plunging. One was in January 2010 due to debt crisis in Dubai; the other was in May 2010 when debts in Greece shocked the markets.

In both occasions, the necklines were broken. The Dubai incident was soon forgotten. Will they forget the Greece incident?

The Technical Analysis
The Dubai and the Greece incidents are shown in the following chart marked wave 3-4 and wave 5-1 respectively.

a) The similarities
1) A “dead cross” when the 20-day MA crossed under the 50-day MA.
2) A broken neckline.
3) At the point where index regained and touched the neckline (As shown in blue vertical line)
a. The stochastic was oversold and just about to cross under its own moving average
b. The Bollinger bands had just contracted
c. The 20-day MA had just flattened with the 50-day MA reducing its decline

b) The differences
1) The Greece’s 20-day MA moved further down from the 50-day MA
2) DOW and its 20-day MA in the Greece incident crossed below the 200-day MA
3) The Greece’s depth of fall from its neckline did not satisfy the conditions of the “head and shoulder”. The depth of fall must be equal or more than the height of “head” measured from the base of the neckline.

(Double click for larger image)

Will DOW Break the Neckline This Time?
Similar pattern and lots of similarities occurred in Nov/Dec 2007 when the credit crisis caused a plunge in the markets. For example, DOW broke a trendline sending index plunging below the 200-day MA and regained to touch the trendline. This pattern is more similar to the Greece incident.

The analysis suggests that DOW is more likely to reflect from its neckline than to break the neckline.

(Double click for larger image)

When Will DOW Makes the Decision?

The candlestick chart shows that DOW has made 3 spinning tops in the last 3 sessions. The appearance of a spinning top candlestick always signify that there is indecision in the market. The following chart suggested that DOW would be making a decision pretty soon if history is repeating itself.

(Double click for larger image)

What to Do Next?
If one is long, it would be prudent to “buy insurance” by hedging or other similar methods. It is recommended to stay away from the markets until DOW’s 20-day MA crosses over the 50-day MA. Even then, it is good to check if the neckline has been broken.

Disclaimer:
Information here is for sharing and learning. It is not intended to give any advice on any stock or movement or trend of any index. If a price or movement of a stock/index is given, it is only intended for illustration. The reader shall verify the information given here before using them.

How To Replace Hard Drive in Laptops

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:37:00 +0000

28 March 2010

Introduction

Have a faulty hard drive? Want to replace it? This article will how to replace the hard drive in Fujitec S7110 laptop that has a SATA drive.

What is SATA drive?

SATA is a interface standard that allows connection between the hard drive and the motherboard's hard drive controller. SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment or Serial-ATA.

What’s needed?

a) A small Philip screw driver; and for those who need to modify or clone the old hard drive;
b) A workable desktop with a spare SATA connection;

For those who need to convert the SATA hard drive using software, such as Hitachi or IBM drives;
For those who needs to clone the hard drive – will need a software such as Acronis True Image or Partition Magic or equivalent

Degree of Difficulty

a) Just to replace the hard drive - Easy
b) To modify or clone the hard drive - Need to read up the software instruction sheet.

Why Need to Convert Hard Drive?

Newer hard drive most likely comes with SATA II or SATA III hard drive interface that enable faster transfer speed. Unfortunately, laptop of more than 3 years old have SATA I standard interface and it may not be able to detect or recognize the newer interface.

How to Convert the Hard Drive

If the hard drive comes with extra jumpers, it would be as easy as reconfiguring of this jumper to convert the hard drive to SATA I interface. However, when you have Hitachi or IBM hard drive that does not come with the extra jumper, a conversion software will be required. In this case, follow the instructions given in the "Change SATA Settings" by the software. Select 1.5 Mb/sec and disable the "Spread Spectrum Clocking".

To Remove the Hard Drive
a) Remove the 2 screws securing the cover and slide the cover in the direction shown
b) Remove the 3 screws and remove the bracket that attach the hard drive to the laptop
c) Pull the plastic tag to the left to disengage the hard drive from the laptop.
d) Remove the hard drive pocket from the laptop and remove the hard drive. Pay particular attention to the contact blade.

To Re-install the Hard Drive
Reverse the step as described in the section “To remove the hard drive” stands for Serial-ATA

Bicycle chain kept jumping out of the sprocket

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:26:00 +0000

14 Jan 2010

Introduction

Bicycle chain kept jumping out of the rear gear sprocket, making plenty of noises and causing jerky pedals when riding. This article will suggest a fix for such problem.

What Can Go Wrong?

Misalignment between the gear sprockets and the chain. May be caused by :

a) poor Rear Derailleur Adjustment
b) Faulty components such as
1) A faulty chain;
2) A bent sprocket at the pedal;
3) A bent or faulty gear sprocket at the wheel;

Adjustment to Rear Derailleur

Many websites have step by step procedures or helpful hints on how to adjust the rear derailleur. The adjustment involves 2 stop or limit screws; one to prevent the chain going beyond the smallest gear sprocket and the other, beyond the biggest gear sprocket when there is gear shift. The following video gives a good understanding on how derailleur works and how to adjust it.

In words

Place the bicycle upside down as shown

1. Put the shifter in high gear and turn the wheel. Tighten the high gear screw in one direction until one can no longer shift beyond the smallest gear sprockets into high gear then backup the screw in the other direction until a larger gear is engaged. After that, turn the screw a little more until the derailleur shifts smoothly onto the smallest gear sprocket.
2. Put the shifter in low gear. Tighten the low gear screw until one can no longer shift beyond the largest gear sprockets and repeat the same as the high gear screw.

What if the Derailleur Adjustment Does not Work?

Check the condition of the gear sprockets at the pedal and the back wheel. If the bicycle is in good condition, the gear sprockets should run truly vertical without any wobbling when the pedal and the wheel are running. If the gear sprocket wobbles, it could suggest that either the sprockets are damaged or the pedal/wheel shaft is bent. It is time to dismantle the back wheel and examine the sprocket or shaft for damages.

Why Shaft bends?

The pedal shaft seldom bends because they are usually of larger diameter; however, when the chain jumps out of the rear gear sprocket, the chain could be caught between the gear sprocket and the bicycle frame. Any subsequent heavy forces applying onto the pedal could bend the shaft.

Actions to be Taken

If one is lucky and the sprockets is not damaged, it will just be a matter of replacing the shaft or having the shaft straightened. Replacement of the shaft is recommended because bent shaft will require special tool to straighten. A little bit of wobbling usually won't cause gear jumping.

Web Query of Excel Hanged

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:14:00 +0000

4 January 2010

Introduction

We often use the Web Query function of Microsoft Excel to extract data such as stock quotes from various websites. Many a time, Excel just hang without reporting any error message. The only way to resolve the problem is to terminate the Microsoft Excel application program. This article presents a simple and effective way of resolving this problem.

What’s Required?

Some experiences in macro or VBA programming.

What Has Been Tried?

The Web offered many solutions to resolve this problem but none could work better; either because the solutions, such as introduction of scheduled (OnTime) procedure, do not work or they have complicated macros or VBAs that no one can understand. Error trappings using Error handling loops do not help either because the Website being queried was only down and not out.

What is the Solution?

Write a short macro to “ping” the website before initiating the web query command.

How?

a) Using the API function of VBA and putting a Public declaration in the top or heading of the macro or VBA.

Private Declare Function InternetCheckConnection Lib "wininet.dll" _
Alias "InternetCheckConnectionA" _
(ByVal lpszUrl As String, _
ByVal dwFlags As Long, _
ByVal dwReserved As Long) As Long

Private Const FLAG_ICC_FORCE_CONNECTION = &H1

b) Writing or using the recording function of Excel to create a macro for the Web Query and insert the following macro to the Web Query VBA

Sub downloading()
Dim sUrl As String
sUrl = “http://yahoo.com”
but = InternetCheckConnection(sUrl, FLAG_ICC_FORCE_CONNECTION, 0&)
If but Then
…initiate web queries
Else
… announce website is down
End If
End Sub

Quick Fix for IPOD error “Firewire Connection Not Supported

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:42:00 +0000

29 May 2009

Introduction
Many IPOD members had this to say: “I was getting this error and I tried all things without luck. I got another new iPod and within a month it started giving me this same error "Firewire Connection Not Suported...". Pressing the center button makes it go away for less than 1 second and it scrolls right back again. I can't select songs, turn it off, or anything! Nice paperweight right now. I am going to be one dissatisfied iPod owner “

What Happened?
Dirty IPOD connector. Very often we neglect to look after the IPOD cables and its connectors. The cables are often left idling around and the connectors exposed to the air without any cover. They will accumulate dusts and this dusts will be transferred to the IPOD’s blades of connector. Over time and with enough moisture, these dusts will turn into dirts and cause a connection between the blades of connection. Somehow, the IPOD detects this as an attempt to connect the IPOD via the firewire.

Tools Required
a) WD 40
b) Tooth pick
b) Cotton wool

Method
1. Spray some WD 40 directly into the window of the connector as shown and wait for a few minutes;

2. Put some cotton wool and row it onto the tooth pick and make attempts to clean up the blades of the IPOD; repray some WD 40 into the window;

3. Reset the IPOD if needed be and the “Apple” screen should reappear without the error. If not, retry step 1 & 2.

4. Clean up the residual of WD 40.

Common Network Problem - Limited Connectivity

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:35:00 +0000

15 April 2009

Introduction
Every now and then, one would receive error message in the task bar saying one's network has limited connectivity or no connectivity. Very often, fixing the known bug in SP2 and clearing and resetting the TCP/IP stack etc just do not work. Then it may be worth the while to fix it by resetting the modem and also, re-installing the network drivers.

What could have happened?
Devices such as network controller are often assigned an Interrupt Request(IRQ) by the system during start-up. Because there are limited numbers of IRQ, many devices would have to share the same IRQ. Most computers nowadays are ACPI compliance. The ACPI will assign these IRQs during start up according to its default settings. It may cause competitive use of the IRQs and corrupt device drivers. If that being the case, the only fix is to re-install the driver. It is necessary also to resolve the IRQ conflicts to fix the problem permanently.

How to Confirm the Problem is not caused by ISP ?
It is always good to check the connection using another PC or noteb0ok just to confirm that the problem is related to the computer.
It is also good to take the opportunity to reset the modem to ensure that it has been reloaded to default setting or the manufacturer's setting. To reset the modem, one often need only to turn-off the modem, wait a few seconds and re-connect the modem again.

How to Re-install the Network Driver?
1) Bing up the device manager
Click start, then run. In the dropdown box, enter "devmgmt.msc" (without quote). One could also start up Device Manager using the Control Panel. The following Device Manager screen should appear.

Look for the "Network Adaptor", expand it and then double click the network device to bring up property screen. When in the property screen, select the driver tab and click the "Uninstall" button to remove the network driver.
2) Re-start the computer.
If the network driver is still in the window system folder, the computer will find it and prompt user to re-install the network driver during start-up. However, in case the computer cannot find the driver or the driver in the window system has been corrupted, one would have to re-install the driver using the motherboard disk that come with the computer.

COPPOCK Indicator: When to Enter or Leave the Market

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 02:31:00 +0000

13 April 2009

What is COPPOCK indicator?
The Coppock curve or Coppock indicator is a technical analysis indicator created by Edwin Coppock, first published in Barron's Magazine in 1962.
Edwin Coppock developed the Coppock Indicator with one sole purpose: to identify the commencement of bull markets. The indicator was devised for use on S&P 500 but is suitable for use on other market indices or averages.

How COPPOCK Indicator is Calculated?
The indicator uses a monthly time scale. It's the sum of a 14-month rate of change and 11-month rate of change, smoothed by a 10-period weighted moving average;

In formula:
COPPOCK= WMA[10] of (ROC(14)+ROC(11))

and in words:
1. Calculate the 14 month Rate of Change (of Monthly Price) for the index.
2. Calculate the 11 month Rate of Change (of Monthly Price) for the index. 3. Add the results of 1 and 2.
4. Calculate the 10 month weighted average of the results

Where Can I Find This Indicator For STI and DOW?
There is no known source that can give updates for COPPOCK indicator on STI and DOW. However, it is not too difficult to build this indicator in the metastock or similar kind of software using the following formula:

Mov((ROC(C,14,%)+ROC(C,11,%)),10,W)/100 (shown red in attached charts)

Another formula to express COPPOCK in smoothened mode

(Mov(ROC(Mov(C,14,S),11,%),10,E))/100 (shown blue in attached charts)

Interpretation of COPPOCK Curve
When the indicator was published in Barron’s (1962), it was suggested one should enter the market only when Coppock Curve started to reverse from an extreme low.
However, one will notice that market will reverse its trend whenever COPPOCK curve reverses from its extreme low or extreme high.
Other observations are:
a) The first COPPOCK reversal from extreme low is often followed by the highest COPPOCK reading (highest momentum); subsequent ones are usually followed by lower peak COPPOCK readings, indicating weakening or aging market.
b) The market will rise when the COPPOCK crosses above the COPPOCK smoothen curve; otherwise, the market will fall.

Best Time To Enter the Market?
According to the original interpretation, the best time to enter the market is when the COPPOCK curve (red) reverses from its extreme low. The DOW's COPPOCK curve is now suggesting that it is still not the right time to enter the market.

As for STI, the picture is about the same.

However, it is suggested that one should not just rely on one or two indicators to decide when to buy, sell, enter or leave the market. COPPOCK indicator may have given the correct signals so far but that does not always mean that COPPOCK curve will be able to give a precise timing.

Application of COPPOCK in Other Charts
COPPOCK suggested to use monthly charts for his COPPOCK curve. Many Analysts have attempted to use it for charts of different time scales. One example shown here is its application on a weekly chart of DOW.

The chart shows clearly that the COPPOCK has a signal to enter the market on 21 Nov 08 (red curve) but the market continued its fall until March 09. However, if one were to study DOW's weekly COPPOCK curve carefully, one could find that DOW will always rise when the red curve (COPPOCK) cross above the blue curve (the smoothened curve); similarly, the market will always fall when it crosses under. May be those crosses make more reliable signals.

Last updated: 14 April 2009; 15 April 2009

DOW May be Trapped inside a Channel

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:42:00 +0000

24 January 2008

Introduction
After having broken the support of the bearish rising wedge, DOW continued to edge lower, hugging against the lower Bollinger Band. It was in dangerous and critical condition when DOW's ADX rose above 20, where tradings would become more and more volatile. However, DOW was able to resist the selling pressures thus far and rebounced at the end of the last few trading sessions with relatively higher trading volume. It may be because DOW has found another support in an Ascending Channel.

What is an Ascending Channel?
An ascending channel is a set of upward sloping parallel lines that restrict the price/index movement as shown in the attached. Price/index may not always be within the parallel channel lines that show the support and resistance for price/index targets. A breakout above the upper channel line can signal continuation of an upward movement whereas a breakout below the lower channel line can signal a trend change.

Abnormal Behaviour
Usually when a stock or index hugs and expands the lower bollinger band with ADX above 20, the tradings will not only be volatile but also brutal with daily falls expected to be more than 1%. However, DOW's behaviour in the last few sessions was quite abnormal. Instead of going down sharply as it should be, DOW was building up its resistances, showing bullish long tailed candlesticks with trading volumes above the norms. Such behaviour usually suggest that a support has been found and this could be the trendline shown blue in the attached.

click for enlarged view

This blue line together with the former major resistance line shown red in attached could suggest that DOW could be trapped in an ascending channel.

How about STI and Hang Seng?
The following charts suggest that STI and Hang Seng, which often track the movement of DOW, are showing similar resiliency and are trapped also in the ascending channel.

Trading Strategy
If one has no vested interest in stock or equity or index market, it will be good to wait for the confirmation that DOW is:

a) Not breaking the lower channel line;
b) rebouncing from this lower channel line with ADX changing its direction from going up to going down. For those who are vested and are preparing to ride through the "storm", it is good to watch that DOW will not break the final support @ 7,500 or to buy Put Warrants to hedge for the expected losses to be incurred.

1 Feb 2009 Update :
DOW rebounced but failed to break above the 20-day moving average. It is now sitting on a supporting trendline which was inadvertently shown as the lower channel line in the last posting. The updated chart will show that if this supporting trendline is broken, DOW may found support at the lower channel line. It will want to retest the low of 7,997 on 20 Nov 2008 when this lower channel line is broken.

It is quite likely that DOW would rebounce if the Obama's $825 bln stimulus package is passed by the Senate next week.

click for enlarged view

19 Feb 2009 Update:

The Obama stimulus package did not help to boost the market; instead, DOW broke away from the rising channel. It dipped 1.19% to a new low of 7,465 which is just below the November 2008's low of 7,552. It would appear that DOW had just formed another bearish flag, which would suggest 5,500 as the next target unless DOW could regain and reclaim its November 2008's low convincingly. DOW's present position is quite similar to the one in June 2008 as shown in the following graph.

click for enlarged view

18 April 2009
DOW found itself trapped in another channel after Feb 2009 as shown in the attached weekly chart. This time a bullish declining channel. DOW appears to have a bullish look with the following observations:

a) It has just cleared the bullish declining channel;
b) It has recovered the last break of the "bear flag" line (as shown red in attached chart);
c) It has also cleared 20-week average and now is sitting above it;

DOW is believed to be heading for the resistance line, originated from Sept 2008; then, it will test the upper Bollinger line.

However, there are dangers signs around, signified by the falling 50 and 100 week averages. The 100-week average, which is about the cut under the 200-week average, appears to have a dangerous look.

The COPPOCK indicator suggested that the present market is still a trader's market and not a start of a bull market where long term investor can safely enter the market.

DOW in Dangerous But Not Critical Condition

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:04:00 +0000

15 January 2008

Introduction
Last night, DOW lose about 250 points or 3% and fell from 8,448 to about 8,200. DOW is now in dangerous but not in critical condition. This is because the ADX has just reversed its direction but stayed below 20.

What's ADX?
ADX is a acronym for Directional Movement Index, which is another very important index in Technical Analysis. ADX will tell the direction in the movement of a stock or index. When ADX is moving down and suddenly reversing its direction to move up or vice versa, it signifies a directional change in the movement of stock or index. One would expect the stock/index to move up or down depending on the changes. If ADX moves above 20, it usually signifies an accelerated movement and when it it moves above 30, the acceleration will intensify.

The following Chart A will illustrate with red circle identifying the up movement and blue circle identifying the down movement.

Why Dangerous and Not Critical?
Earlier on, DOW formed many shapes and patterns. It finally selected the bearish one which is the rising wedge pattern. It then broke the supporting trendline that has been restricting DOW's movement since November 2008. Subsequently, it broke the 20-day as well the 50-day supports and presently hugs the lower Bollinger band with ADX changing its direction as shown in attached Chart B. This put DOW in a very dangerous position. However, the Bollinger band has only been expanded slightly and ADX is below the 20 critical line with the 10-day Stochastic chart in oversold region, these indications suggested that DOW was not be in a critical condition.

Trading Strategy?
If one has no vested interest in stock or equity or index market, it will be good to stay sideline until the situation has improved. For those with vested interest, it would be advisable to set targets for loss cutting or prepare to buy Put Warrants to hedge or compensate for the expected losses to be incurred should there be a serious downfall in stock market. Invariably, there will investors who would want to take the chance to short sell the market or go bargain hunting during this period.

Disclaimer:
Information here is for sharing and learning. It is not intended to give any advice on any stock or movement or trend of any index. If a price or movment of a stock/index is given, it is only intended for illustration. The reader shall verify the information given here before using them.

DOW Has Formed Many Shapes and Patterns

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 03:26:00 +0000

2 January 2009

Introduction
DOW re-bounced from its low of 7,552 on 20 Nov 2008 to the present high of 9,034 on 2 Jan 2009. It has gained about 1,500 points or 20% over a period of slightly over 1 month. It has moved up against the odd of many bad economic news.

Where will it move from here?
According to Chinese Zodiac, the next Chinese New Year is an OX year. It was speculated that years of OX were never a good year for equity or stock market. This has proven to be true for year 1973, 1985 and 1997 when markets plunged during these dreadful years.

Will it be true also this year?
Charts are not able to tell much about the distant future. However, the chart of Elliot Wave indicates that DOW is presently forming the "ABC waves". The Elliot Wave chart suggested that DOW could have just completed forming its downward "A wave" and presently, it could be forming the "B wave" as shown in the attached monthly chart:

The above chart also shows that DOW tested the 200 MA support line recently. If this important support line is broken, then one would expect DOW to extend its wave A movement and seek lower lows.

Can the Charts Read the Near Future Movement?
The following charts will show that DOW is presently negotiating a re-bounce and is forming all sort of shapes and patterns. It gave conflicting signals about its near future movements.

Although most of the signals are positive ones, there is one worrying signal that indicates that DOW will continue its decline as shown in the attached chart:

doubleclick for enlarged view

The above chart shows that DOW has formed 4 different shapes and patterns. They are:
a) The bottom Head and Shoulder pattern (bullish);
b) The ascending triangle(bullish);
c) The symmetrical triangle(bullish);
d) The rising wedge(bearish).

It is good also to note that:
a) DOW had broken the resistances of some of these shapes and patterns;
b) Its 20-day MA was about to cross over the 50-day MA;
c) The trading volume was low when DOW broke the resistances.

Isn't That Bullish?
By popular count, one can say that DOW is bullish presently; however, the trading volumes were quite low when DOW broke the resistances plus there were many bad news, one could not conclude that DOW will continue its way up; on the contrary, DOW may just turn bearish and continue its way down.

How's STI Doing?
With the 68 point gained last Friday, STI has broken the symmetrical triangle that has restricted the STI's movement over the past 3 months; again, this significant event was not supported by very heavy trading volume. It could mean that the investors were still doubtful about the STI's future movement.

Trading Strategy
Unless there is a trading breakout supported by heavy trading volume in the next few sessions, it is likely that STI or DOW will remain range bounced with a sideway movement or may even dip from the presently level.

It is therefore wise to remain cautiously optimistic until the 20-day MA can cross over the 50-day MA convincingly or when there is a trading breakouts supported by heavier trading volume.

Disclaimer:
Information here is for sharing and learning. It is not intended to give any advice on any stock or movement or trend of any index. If a price or movment of a stock/index is given, it is only intended for illustration. The reader shall verify the information given here before using them.

Monitoring Hard Disk Conditions

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:10:00 +0000

29 December 2008

Introduction
Very often, one faces the problem of computer failing to start up; sometimes, the computer just hanged and may even re-start itself before it reaches the usual welcoming start up screen. Besides a virus that can cause such problem, the harddisk's condition could just be another one of such causes.

Can We Prevent Harddisk Failure?
Harddisk failure is either caused by component failures due to electric surges or by damaged harddisk media due to normal fair wear and tear. The latter appears to be main cause of all problems. One of the many ways that we can prevent a harddisk failure is to monitor the harddisk's working condition, especially its operating temperature.

How to Monitor?
One can download this S.M.A.R.T software free from here.

What is S.M.A.R.T?
It stands for "Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology", first introduced by IBM in 1992. S.M.A.R.T will monitor about 40 different attributes of the harddisk from read and seek errors to airflow temperature in and around the harddisk.

How useful?
Among the many attributes monitored, one would find the temperature monitoring most useful. Very often, one neglects the proper ventilation of the harddisk. This S.M.A.R.T software can continuously monitor the temperature and warns us if the temperature has exceeded the preset level. This would often prevent premature harddisk failures.

Besides temperature monitoring , the software can scan harddisk surface and display the results in graphs. This will facilitate the repair and the revival the harddisk. The software could also point out the data transfer errors caused by faulty cables etc.

Doubleclick for enlarged view

How to install?
The HDDScan software to be download comes with installation readme notes as well as manuals for the installation and operation of the software. There are no complicated installation procedures other than having to extract the ZIP files into a selected directory.

Related articles
1. S.M.A.R.T. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. HDDScan, the HDDGuru

A Period of Indecision in STI

noreply@blogger.com (Sky Juice) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 04:27:00 +0000

26 December 2008

Introduction
One will heard endless arguments about where STI will move in the coming weeks. Some will say that a plunge is imminent while others will disagree. This is all because STI has entered a period of indecision.

Progress Todate
STI has plunged more than 54% since October 2007. It has just recovered about 8% or 130 points from its low at 1,613 on 20 November 2008. It has been moving sideway ever since and is presently trapped in a symmetrical triangle formation as shown in the attached graph.

doubleclick for enlarged view

Going Forward
Presently, US has been reporting very poor economy figures; the Singapore's economy figures are not any good either. Many analysts, including Mr. Daryl Guppy, had projected selling pressures in STI although they were not too sure of the exact market movement next because of the symmetrical triangle being formed in the STI's chart.

Mr. Guppy had 2,300 on the upside and 1,250 on the downside.

What the Chart is Telling Us?
The above daily chart shows the symmetrical triangle that Daryl Guppy has mentioned. The chart is also telling us that:

Bearish looks:
a) STI has formed another bear flag with its based at 1,600;
b) It tried twice recently but failed to break the upper triangle trendline

Bullish looks
a) Its 20-day MA is rising and the 50-day MA, flattening out; the 20-day MA is about the cross the 50-day MA;
b) It's Stochastic has reached the oversold region.

Neutral looks
a) It's volume is thinning out as it goes sideways or slightly lower;

Future Movements
The chart also tells us the future movement; for example:

a) Heading lower when the lower trendline of the symmetrical triangle is broken.
If the last low of 1,600 support is also broken, STI will want to target for 1,250, which is the equal length measured from the 1,600 base of the flag pole to its last high. If this target of 1,250 is broken again, the next target is likely to be around 1,050.

b) Heading higher when the upper trendline is broken.
If the top of the Bollinger Band (shown dotted in red) is broken, it will want to target for the 100-day MA line. Next, it will target for the 200-day MA line which happens to be the trendline of the peak since October 2008 (shown blue in the chart)

However, for both events to happen, there must be also a surge in the trading volume; otherwise, STI might just continue its sideway movement, much like the breakout of the triangle on 9 December 2008 (shown dotted in blue)

Disclaimer:

Information here is for sharing and learning. It is not intended to give any advice on any stock or movement or trend of any index. If a price or movment of a stock/index is given, it is only intended for illustration. The reader shall verify the information given here before using them.