Can you believe this? Finally, someone is offering us FREE Apple iPhone! Like what one of the recent comments said about the new iPhone 3GS, I literaly had to use my hands to close my jaws when I saw the promotion on iPay88.com!

Without wasting a single second, I called iPay88 to check out the details. But, I was told they are offering Free Touch Screen iPhone look-alike phones, and not the real Apple iPhone! Hahaha… what a nice promotion they are running! But it does look like one from the picture. It is actually called the D-Phone. If you were not careful, you might drop in the “trap” and get a nice D-Phone.

Anyway, I think he Malaysia Payment Gateway scene has changed so much in recent years. I still remember the early days when it was only Commerce Payment or the US gateways, (mainly 2checkout.com).

Now Commerce Payment has all but disappeared, but the local payment gateway market continues to hot up. The choices for Malaysian Merchants and Netpreneurs have truly mushroomed.

Leading provider iPay88 (part of the Mobile88 group) started an aggressive push some 2 years back. Since then other tech players are also eying a slice of this increasingly lucrative market. Not to be outdone, iPay88 launched en exciting offer yesterday: FREE iPhone!… ops, I mean FREE TOUCH SCREEN PHONE!

So what’s the catch?

To qualify, you just need to sign up to iPay88’s SME plan for 2 years.

Here is the cost of the SME package:

• One-time Setup Costs: RM488/-
• 2 Yrs Maintenance Fee @ RM500 per year
• Total Cost is RM1,488/-

iPay88’s transaction charges are pretty competitive, around 3%. If you are an iPay88 Reseller, you can get back some commission too.

I did an iPay88 integration recently and it wasn’t too bad. Of course the system was not quite as developed as something like PayPal, but their staff were helpful and very patient with me. If you need to setup iPay88 for your website, feel free to drop me a line and I should be able to help you out.

Wanna get a D-Phone for free? Be quick, as the iPay88 free phone offer runs until 31 July 2009 only.

Some 68% of respondents think of energy efficiency first when thinking about Green IT.

51 percent said their organization pursues green initiatives because of the potential cost savings, nearly 80 percent admit they have no set budget in place for green IT or sustainability initiatives.

Last week we saw the launch of 2 new models by HP.

HP dx2810 Special Edition Desktop PC

HP dx2810 Special Edition Desktop PC, which features an energy-efficient power supply and is 80 percent recyclable by weight. The special edition PC also features a grey and silver bamboo imprint on a black bezel design.

In HP’s Press Release statement, it said “HP dx2810 Special Edition Desktop PC’s breakthrough 85% energy-efficient power supply delivers excellent value and is packed with features including an energy-efficient Intel® multi-core processor that small and medium-sized businesses need to elevate productivity and achieve business impact.”

Apparently HP will be donating US$10 (RM35) from the sale of every HP dx2810 Special Edition Desktop PC to the WWF Coral Triangle Program (a conservation program for marine life in Indo-Pacific).

RRP: RM2,900

HP t5730w Thin Client

HP t5730w Thin Client – is a stand-alone, desktop PC alternative for small and medium-sized businesses.

A solid state design with no moving parts! HP claims that users will enjoy a reduction of as much as 60 percent in energy consumption over a traditional PC, thereby also resulting in significant IT cost savings. Comes with 18-inch monitor, keyboard and mouse and preloaded with Windows® XP Embedded. ENERGY STAR power supply.

RRP: RM1,520

In IDC’s Green IT Forum, IBM’s Steve Sams (Vice President of Global Technology & Facility Services) shared some insights on IT efficiency, noting that 77% of Data Center people don’t pay their own electric bills. So where is their economic incentive to improve?

Personally I don’t check my electricity bill, and I know that air-conditioning eats up most of it. I’m not too worried about Energy Efficient Computing for now, but I guess we are in recession now… most business are looking to cut costs and Green IT is a sexy buzz word.

iPhone 3GS new features:

• The “S” stands for “SPEED!”. This phone is now much faster in almost everything!
• 3 Megapixels camera with auto focus, auto exposure, and auto white balance.
• Supports video, 30 frames per second VGA with auto focus, auto white balance, and auto exposure.
• Better connectivity – Three band UMTS/HSDPA, Four band GSM/EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating!
• Magnetometer, which works with a Compass application.
• Voice control.
• Increased battery life.

Too much new features to list here, you might just want to read it on Apple.com.

With all these great features, you would expect I to love iPhone 3GS forever, but well, maybe not anymore… see why below!

Hey, I can SMS with US President Obama better on the Blackberry!

Wahahaha…

Okay, seriously. iPhone 3GS or Blackberry is your choice? Why? Share with us your preference and thoughts.

We often see in movies scenes, illogical sometimes, involving a person facing a problem of having to guess the password to the villian’s computer. Usually there are some creative ways employed that gives the hero inspiration for guessing the correct password, such as glimpses into the villian’s mind, piecing together clues and other literary licenses. However, in real life it’s not always the case.

Enter KON-BOOT.

For the first time, reality is better than fiction. By inserting this CD and booting the computer from it, the software dynamically patches the kernel of most major Windows and Linux operating systems allowing you to login as the administrator effortlessly. Once you are done, simply execute a command and KON-BOOT will wipe all traces of itself and your victim is none the wiser.

Head on over to the author’s website and snag a copy. It works for all versions of Windows up to 7. The author did not disclose much technical information on how KON-BOOT works, or whether it can be countered via a security fix by Microsoft. Whatever the case, feel proud knowing that you can PWN any password-ed computers you come across now.

A repository of Bookmarklets

However, getting your hands on useful bookmarklets have proven to be a less than friendly experience. Google searches brings up only a handful of relevant results and the majority of them are scattered all over the web. This is where Bookmarklet Directory comes into place. As more and more people come to understand and appreciate the simplicity of bookmarklets, there will be a growing number of user-generated bookmarklets and Bookmarklet Directory aims to collect and rate each submitted bookmarklet in a central repository, much like what Userscripts.org has done for Greasemonkey scripts.

There are a huge number of bookmarklets currently on the site, running on a diverse range of platforms including Firefox, Chrome, Safari and even the iPhone version of Safari. The site categorizes into highest rated, newest and also most popular. You can also browse by tags. However, missing is the option to browse by function, which makes it a tad bit difficult if you are looking for a specific way of achieving something via bookmarklet. The search function attempts to bridge this though.

Being so Web 2.0, Bookmarklet Directory also has a Twitter feed which you can follow @bookmarklets.

Things started off with Intel releasing their Atom processor aimed at low-priced low-power netbooks or devices that resemble notebooks but are only capable of doing basic mundane stuff like surfing the net, email and occasionally viewing video. Their entry is no doubt influenced by the success of products such as the EeePC and for awhile, they are the only ones providing the mass-market processors and appeared in most every netbooks produced so far.

Things are about to change with NVIDIA’sION platform, which aims to combine Atom processor with their powerful GeForce GPU to create netbooks that are capable of doing much more multimedia intensive tasks such as watching HD video and even some medium-level gaming.

Watch HD video and medium-level gaming on netbooks

Intel’s Atom platform uses the aging 945 chipset with onboard graphics that absolutely suck, but so far consumer have no choice but to put up. The ION led to some hostility between NVIDIA and Intel, involving the use of questionable statistics and outright lies.

Nvidia Tegra and Snapdragon

Regardless, two new competitors will be dropping into this convoluted mess and they are Tegra and Snapdragon. Both Tegra and Snapdragon are platforms based off ARM processors. ARM have been making ultra low power microprocessors for all sorts of devices such as digital cameras, watches, mouse and most of the popular MP3 players out there including the iPhone. However they have very successfully stayed behind the scenes, even though their processors can be found in almost every modern device except the computer. Well, that may no longer be true as they are about to bring pool together their resources to create the company’s first lineup of ARM microprocessors that aim to capture a share of the netbook and budget portable computer market.

The Tegra, also by NVIDIA, will mate together the older and less powerful ARM11 microsprocessor with their custom GeForce GPU subsystem, much like the ION. The GPU will be responsible for most of the rendering and post processing efforts as the ARM11 is rather toothless. However the marriage proved to be quite powerful with the Tegra 600 being capable of decoding 720p HD video with ease while the Tegra 650 can do 1080p. The Tegra was originally intended to be released for mobile devices, but so far the only product prototypes are of netbooks. If they are capable of bringing it to the mobile platform as originally intended, then things will certainly get more interesting. As of now, the Tegra is facing a question of whether its bringing anything new to the table since netbooks are the domain of the ION, another NVIDIA product.

With Snapdragon, developed by Qualcomm, is based off the Cortex processors from ARM, which is the aforementioned family of ARM processors created to target the netbook market. They are vastly superior to the ARM11 and has all the fancy HD decoding, GPS and WiFi capabilities wrapped tightly together into one nice little bundle. The ease of packaging the platform into a consumer electronics device will certainly make SnapDragon very friendly to netbook and even mobile internet device manufacturers. It was shown at CES 2009 powering an EeePC running on Android.

And there you have it, a little insight into the architectures that will be powering the next modern netbooks and portable media devices.

Having discussed heavily about various URL shortener services lately, it’s impressive that StumbleUpon has finally up its game in competing with DiggBar. Also, some believe that the new SU.PR will raise a strong competition against the all time favourite – Bit.ly, the famous URL shortener that offers click-stats for its users.

Just How Super It Is About SU.PR?

1. It offers real time click stats for users, as well as bookmarklet for convenient URL conversion.
2. Traffic builder: The use of Su.pr equalizes link submission to StumbleUpon, since it is linking directly to the main site. This offers the opportunity to get noticed and voted by the StumbleUpon community that closing up to 8 million users.
3. One-Click to send Su.pr to famous social media sites like Twitter & Facebook.
4. “Suggested Posting Time” for users to identify best timing to post their links for maximum traffic; also available in scheduling for future posting.
5. Su.pr provides the option for users to customize their URLs with own domain name. For example: kongtechnology.com/abc
6. Keeping track with retweet stats for your posted links.

Now some are skeptic about the 301 redirect issue for Su.pr since its service consisting framing, a similar layout to Diggbar or Ow.ly. However, it is said that once the su.pr is officially launched, site owners can then host the toolbar on their own site by inserting a Javascript within. Just how well it will clear the doubts of many, I guess we could only wait and see.

Since Su.pr is still in private Beta, StumbleUpon will be granting a few access rights to people each week through invitation code. So remember to follow StumbleUpon on Twitter for the latest scoops.

What’s your thought about the new Su.pr?

Microsoft’s Project Natal

The most interesting technology to come out of E3 this year is no doubt Microsoft’s Project Natal. Project Natal is a name for a new type of motion sensing device which will be sold as an extension to the Xbox 360 providing a bevy of interesting, powerful and unique capabilities that augment the traditional notions of gaming and elevates it to the next level of awesomeness.

The Nintendo Wii is undoubtedly the leader when it comes to motion sensing controllers, and it has proven to be a wild success, selling anywhere up to 10 times as many consoles as the Xbox 360 and PS3 combined. It brought casual gaming to everybody, literally everybody as the controller’s are based on motion sensors which makes gaming an intuitive experience without the need to figure out that which button does what on a traditional gamepad controller.

World’s first controller-free gaming experience

Microsoft claims to have been working on a similar project at Microsoft Research for a “very long time” and they finally revealed it to the public during E3 a few weeks ago and it’s the birth of three things; an RGB camera (the motion sensor), a 3D depth sensor and also an array of microphones. These three combine into a homogeneous platform collectively dubbed Project Natal and they claim it will be the world’s first controller-free gaming experience.

They demonstrated the technology by having a person stand in front of the device (not sure what they will call it yet, beyond the term Project Natal) and they have to deflect oncoming projectiles with their body. The sensor automatically senses and recreates the person on screen and her whole body becomes the controller. Microsoft says the device is so powerful as it has to crunch a huge amount of data in real time, using the microphones to do voice identification and allow for voice-activated controls and commands possible while the depth sensor and motion sensor is used to accurately scan and interpret data so that the device knows exactly how your body is postured and the data can be sent to games to be used.

Lionhead Studios also demonstrated a short video of something they call “Milo”, where a gamer interacts with an on screen character called Milo. The ‘gasp’ factor came when Milo asks the player to draw something and once the picture is drawn, it is ‘passed’ to the camera sensor which automatically takes a picture and digitizes it for Milo to use, all in one seamless movement. However, I doubt the authenticity of the video, as it smells like a planned segment designed to show off the ’spirit’ of the technology rather than its actual limitations, similar to what PS3 did when they launched stunning videos of purported ‘real-time’ gameplay which are nothing more than pre-rendered 3D cut-scenes.

Microsoft refuses to give a timeline for Project Natal, falling back to saying “it won’t be out in 2009″. They also revealed that the Xbox360 has enough power to last until 2015, giving the console a 10-year lifecycle. This proposition is certainly welcome given the uncertain global economic conditions, but I doubt Microsoft will be sticking to an aging hardware especially when so many developers have already maxed out the console’s power and would like more, please.

Smart-e-bear is a lovable and interactive friend who is fluent in Spanish, French or even Chinese! But yes, it is smart yet very cuddly and huggable. Best of all, your kid doesn’t have to pretend her plush is talking back to her by making the sound all by herself.

Using Smart-e software, smart-e-bear and his friends (smart-e-dog & smart-e-cat) can sing, play games, tells stories and other educational activities. And don’t be dismayed if you ran out of songs to play for your kids! Just go to their online store and download thousands of songs, fun activities and stories – your kids will not get bored for sure!

Oh yes, they can be personalized to call your kids by their names. There are 1000 names to choose from!

It’s actually available just about every toy stores everywhere for about US$79.90. So there you have it, a great companion for your kids! For more on purchase details and other information, check out their website at smartebear.com!

Why it’s Important to Claim Vanity URL for Your Username in Facebook?

Some of you may not even bothered to sacrifice your plans on THE DAY for a little silly trick like this. However, there’s something you need to know:

• Vanity URL is your digital identity.  If you plan for business or personal branding exposures via social media sites, there’s no reason why you should risk the chance of getting your very own vanity URL with Facebook – the world’s largest social networking site.
• An easier way to find your personal profile by search engine. Having it memorable and effortless for others to find you is the main idea.

Remember the domain-grabbing in earlier days? Pretty much the same type of frenzy. Only the webmasters are now fighting over it in Facebook.

The vanity URL grabbing spree will be conducted in first-come, first-served basis. Beneficial to users who owned their profiles before the feature was announced on 9^th June 2009. So if you’re a newbie in Facebook, well better luck on 28^th June then. Finger crossed that hopefully nobody will pick up the exact same branding name as yours. Also, don’t misspell your name, as it is not editable. And NO, You can’t try to sell Pepsi or whatever big names you grabbed either, it’s not transferable, and they could report you for infringement. So be honest and play fair, register your (brand) name only.

So all set for the game? Enjoy the Count Down… right now it says “0 days 11 hours 9 minutes 18 seconds”!

]]>