Sure, I was uploading a porn photo, or trying to bet on my favourite Thai horse, or I was planning to assassinate the king. All I was doing was merely posting this article on presentations. I think they need to upgrade their filtering processes and hardware. I wonder what they REALLY censor.

On the other hand, Thailand is wayyy ahead of Malaysia in terms of broadband connectivity. Here’s a banner that I encountered at a local Chiang Mai shopping mall that touts 10 Mbit broadband connections at a mere 1490 Baht per month (at present, that’s about USD43.80 or RM154 per month). In Malaysia, there isn’t even an option for anything beyond 4 Mbit! So much for progress.

To many, public speaking is even worse than death or taxes! I however, am wired a little differently, perhaps thanks to a presentation subject I did while at university. I’ve even bought my own audio gear that travels with me when giving presentations – I’d rather not rely on the crappy mics that you sometimes are given, but be comfortable with my own Sennheiser G2 wireless pack and Countryman mic.

• It’s more difficult to process information presented both verbally & on #preso slides. Show less on slides, explain more.
• #Preso tip: If you write out yr speech, don’t read from it. Refer only when REALLY needed! Bullet points might help you.
• One reason why many a #preso is ineffective is because people do not step back & assess what really is important.
• Because most presentations are mediocre, it gives you a chance to be different & shine. Read @presentationzen – it’s good!
• #Preso tip: If your session is recorded, grab a copy, watch it and you’ll improve heaps for the next presentation.
• #Preso tip: DO NOT apologise before starting, unless you really made a mistake. Too often I hear, “Sorry, I’m nervous…”
• #Preso tip: To improve your presentation skills & slides, watch “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore: he’s truly a whiz!
• #Preso tip: Listen to your audience & respond accordingly. Gauge what topics interest them and expound on them.
• #Preso tip: Photographers, the rule of thirds applies to your slides too! Place your subjects along the same grid.
• #Preso tip: Show up early to make sure the projector & sound system speak the same lingo as your notebook.
• #Preso tip: Improve your presentations by watching free presentations by preso guru, Steve Jobs – http://bit.ly/mHdJc
• #Preso tip: PLEASE sprinkle some media to break the monotony of your presentation. A simple YouTube clip can do wonders!
• #Preso tip: Just in case Murphy comes by, bring a copy of yr presentation on a USB drive. Keynote users, bring a PPT ver.
• #Preso tip: Who says your company logo must be on every slide? Less is more! Don’t clutter slides with the unnecessary.
• #Preso tip: Preparing a detailed handout keeps you from feeling compelled to cram everything into your visuals.
• #Preso tip: Well designed slides have plenty of empty space. It helps draw attention to what’s truly important.

Here are some slides from a deck that I prepared from the most recent presentation. Some information has been changed, as it’s still P&C.

For the iPhone 3Gs, I did use the tap-to-focus on the subject feature. All photos are not touched up, and are saved at the highest quality after adding the watermark in Photoshop.

Initial observations are that the tap-to-focus on the iPhone 3Gs also is for metering, and in certain cases, can over or underexpose images depending on where you tap. Overall, the images from the iPhone 3G pale in comparison, as the iPhone 3Gs adds vibrance and a certain warmth to the images. Gone too is the milky film that overlays the iPhone 3G images.

I was honored to be given the opportunity to record her live, and she even addressed me as “the camera-man“. This clip has not been edited to incorporate footage from another camera we had, due to time constraint. We felt it was timely to upload it as soon as possible for the viewing of all Malaysians.

Do share your thoughts on Yasmin Ahmad and how she has impacted you in some way or another, via the comments section.

In this short 15 minute talk, Yasmin humorously speaks of herself as a film dabbler and how she chooses actors and actresses, and turns nobodies into somebodies. I personally found it hilarious how Yasmin subtly pokes fun at the “Malay papers”, “idiot minister” and even her husband who is an “Apek from Teluk Intan” – so, so funny.

You will be missed by many, Yasmin. I too want to be a film dabbler like you.

Fast forward to 2009, our minimum packages offered by Telekom Malaysia (oftentimes referred to as Terrorkom Malaysia) are now errr, still 384Kbps, while the fastest are 4.0Mbps. Wayyy to go, Malaysia.

Now, let’s look at our neighbours, Singapore. A quick check on Starhub shows they offer 100.0Mbps for a mere SGD$124.12 per month!

Streamyx packages - they suck

Starhub, oh so glorious!

With packages like those offered by Telekom Malaysia via their product Streamyx, it’s a wonder we have any e-commerce at all in our country. How do you expect progress for a nation like ours?

Why oh why do you think many companies choose to set up office in Singapore (paying more for rental and staff) and not our Multimedia Super Corridor? My belief is that the Internet hindrance is one of the major factors.

Couple that with our Science and Technology minister, Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili who in a recent interview, comes up with statements like “I think that the target speed of 20Mbps for the high speed broadband for the commercial sector and not less than 2Mbps for the general population especially for Sabah and Sarawak can be achieved within the next three years. Price is difficult to determine but the proposal of PIKOM i.e. RM30 per month is a reasonable target to achieve.”

We have to WAIT for 3 years before the general population gets 2Mbps? Are you kidding me? Are we aiming that low? What becomes of the quote by Les Brown which states: “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss it you will land among the stars.” A quick look at our neighbours shows once again, that they are aiming for 1Gbps for every home in Singapore. Read more, and weep here.

Furthermore, not only do we have SLOW broadband, we also have bad connectivity. The fact we have 384Kbps connections is made exponentially worse by the erratic behaviour to the Internet. Some days we can access interantional websites, and some days we can’t. We should set up a gambling ring just to bet on speed of connections, and whether we can get access or not. How’s this table for a start.

Take a gamble on Streamyx

Days like this, I have virtually no access to international sites, and you can witness the effect on Twitter, but of course, no one at Telekom Malaysia will be online to monitor it (not even their PR/ad agencies are). In the last hour, here’s a list of tweets with the hashtag #StreamyxSucks.

StreamyxSucks hashtag on Twitter

Come on, Streamyx and all those with fancy titles in front of your names. Do something for your country lah, Datuk-Datuk, Tan Sri-Tan Sri.

Sure it beats the Microsoft error messages of “An exception 06 has occured at 0028:C11B3ADC” (Do I locate that on Google maps? Or is that on someone’s Tee?), but it was still pretty darn foreign to me.

Microsoft mystery exception errors

After doing some research, I found the solution, which was hidden under a haystack, under another haystack. In case you encounter an error message like the following, I will share the solution with you – “Some actions taken while the account your-account was offline could not be completed online.” and “Mail has undone actions on some messages so that you can redo the actions while online.”

Just follow these instructions, and you’ll be fine.

1. Be not afraid. You may never have used Terminal or even heard of it before.

2. Close Apple Mac Mail. Force Quit, if you need to.

3. In Finder, navigate to Applications and Utilities. Look for Terminal and run it.

4. From the blank screen, follow the instructions below.

5. Start your Apple Mac Mail again and rejoice! It should have been fixed.

P.S. Perhaps the error could have arisen because I was sending out a 50MB email and didn’t have enough time to let it complete. I shut my notebook, and hopped into the car. From there on, I was using my iPhone for mail and Twitter too, of course!

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY ever calls their support line to say, “good job, mate. I’ve got fast Internet”. Conversely, the flood of calls comes in the second there is an Internet hiccup anywhere along the line.

These guys are the frontliners, and have developed a natural skin polymer that is lined with kevlar to protect against the endless firey bullets that head their way.

So, let’s cut to the chase. Thank you, Integricity Technology, and do keep deflecting those bullets!

Perhaps you should take a moment to think of your team mates and other colleagues. Do send them a card or a note. (Preferably one with a large smiley face!)

Please leave me a comment if this helps you, or if you have better ideas on organizing your Twitter client.

If you’re new to Twitter, get Tweetdeck. You need no other application. It works on Macs, PCs and iPhones. Believe me, it’s the most advanced Twitter client and I’ve tried several. It’s easy to use, pretty and works well.

So here is how my Tweetdeck screen looks like.

What do the columns (also known as groups) mean? Well, “All Friends” is the standard column for everyone I follow. This column updates the most frequently, and the fastest. My philosophy is, if I miss something here, so be it. Once in awhile, I scroll down a little, then back up. But ONLY if I am absolutely free.

“50kmh” is for friends I’m more interested to keep tabs on, and I’ve got a subset of “All Friends” here.

“25kmh” is for even closer friends whom I know well in real-life and “NEED” to keep tabs on. This column moves the slowest, and has even less people in it than the 50kmh column.

A common misconception is that the faster lane is always the better one. Not true. Sit back, relax, sip your latte and enjoy the slow lane!

“Mentions” is yet another standard column that comes with Tweetdeck. Anytime someone mentions your @username or in my case, @TheBackpackr, it will appear here.

Finally, “Direct Messages” is another standard column where personal messages that no one else is privy to appear.

You may decide to structure your Tweetdeck columns differently, but this is how I do it. I know some who want to keep track of their fellow countrymen specifically, and have columns for “British”, “Australians” or “Malaysians”, but I follow diverse individuals and prefer this method. You may also decide to categorize by interest group such as “Photographers” or “Golf-mates”.

Whatever you decide on, do realize that using the columns feature is extremely useful. To start a group or column, click on this icon, name it and select the members you want to add to it.

Here’s a productivity tip: Turn off the “Show notification window”, “Include All Friends notifications” and “Play notification sound” in the settings menu. It will help you focus on your work, believe me.

I was interested to see what he would have to say and how live the interview would be. I was deeply unimpressed as there was really no form of active interaction between the audience and him. For all we know, he could have been asleep at home, while all this was going on.

There was more life in the Twittersphere and there were active conversations going on. Here is a transcript of the live interview, for those who might have missed it. And at the end, are some responses from the Twittersphere.

3:36 The Star Online:

Good afternoon and thank you for joining The Star Online today for our exclusive live blogchat with Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister. Dr Max has kindly taken time out of his busy schedule today to respond to some queries that you folks out there might have.

3:37 The Star Online:  We are getting Dr Max ready to reply to questions, so we’ll be ready to begin in a few minutes.

3:40 The Star Online:  The theme for today’s chat with Dr Max is “The Internet: Is speed all that matters.

3:40 The Star Online:  We would like to invite all of you tuning in here to leave your comments and questions for Dr Max, and we will try to fit in as many as possible over the next hour. We will also be posting several questions from readers of The Star Online who responded for our call for advance questions for Dr Max.

3:43 The Star Online:  Along the way, we will be uploading segments from the earlier video interview we conducted with Dr Max at Studio V at 1-Utama Shopping Centre in Petaling Jaya earlier.

3:47 The Star Online: It appears that Dr Max is ready to join us. Welcome Datuk.

3:47 Dr Max: Hello everyone, thank you for having me here today.

3:47 The Star Online:  Datuk, we have questions coming in live, and some advance questions as well. The first one comes from Shermaine.

3:47 The Star Online:

Hi Dr Maximus,

The Internet is the basis of much technological development. It’s not surprising that while Malaysia has a wealth of IT talents, and has been actively investing in technology and education, Internet usage still falls behind. Two factors plays a vital role, cost of internet and speed, this is largely due to lack of competition. The last time I was home, about a year ago, Internet service start from RM67 per month (not including phone line rental), mobile broadband costs a whopping RM 130 a month (apologies if these numbers are not exactly accurate). I am currently based in London, my Internet costs £15 a month, which after coversion to RM still works out about the same if not cheaper. This means Malaysians are paying London rate!
What are plans in the pipeline to at least make Internet connection more affordable and reachable for Malaysians?

Regards,
Shermaine

3:49 Dr Max:  Thanks Shermaine for your valuable input and questions

3:49 Dr Max:  Actually it is a chicken and egg situation.

3:51 Dr Max:

As I said earlier, the infrastructure for broadband is only starting to roll out. Hence, it has been costly for the existing infrastructure. We need major roll out of the broadband plan in order to reduce costs. PIKOM has proposed that the cost should be no more than RM30 per month to makebroadband accessible to all and increase Internet access.

3:51 Dr Max:  Once the broadband roll out is completed, the costs will average out and achieve the PIKOM proposal.

3:52 [Comment From Gabriel] what is the fucntion of MDeC within MOSTI and how does it differ from MSC Malaysia?

3:53 Dr Max:  MSC Malaysia is the flagship for the development of Multimedia Super Corridor and MDeC is the agency that spearheads the MSC development.

3:53 [Comment From Bob Chua] Good Afternoon Datuk – Glad to see you in Cyberspace. As a fellow Sabahan, do you see Sabah playing a role or having the opportunity to position itself as an ICT hub, perhaps via SDC (Sabah Development Corridor) or MSC Sabah?

3:56 Dr Max:

Thank you Bob. When there is a development, there is always an opportunity for the use of ICT to drive modernisation. I have already asked the Sabah state government to submit   a proposal for an MSC centre as a start before we talk about MSC Sabah. I understand that the proposal is being prepared and MOSTI will do its best to take the necessary action.

3:56 The Star Online:

This is another advance question, Datuk, from Fikri Salleh from the University of Melbourne.

Dear Dr. Ongkili,
I am an Electrical Engineering undergraduate from the University of Melbourne, currently majoring in telecommunications. In Australia they charge you for download quotas, where the more you download, the more you will have to pay, say 100 GB @ $100 versus 20 GB @ $20, after which the speed is throttled down (slowed). By charging more for more quota, this can improve overall connection quality. The heavy downloaders can still download, but now they have to pay more. Thus we normal users do not have to put up with the network being bogged due to these heavy downloaders, because there will be fewer of them.

Regards,
Fikri Saleh

3:58 Dr Max:  Hello Fikri, thanks for your comment. I totally agree with you. I will convey the concern and proposal to my colleague Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim.

3:58 The Star Online:  Datuk, this is a follow up question to your response earlier on the broadband rollout.

3:58 [Comment From Jerome] Hi Dr, when will be the projected completion time for the roll out? Surely we have an expected time line, don’t we?

3:59 The Star Online:  While we wait for Dr Max to respond, if you would like to listen to the earlier exclusive interview with him, please refresh your page and click on the audio links available.

4:02 Dr Max:  Thank you for your question. The whole broadband initiative will take 10 years to complete. But the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)  has organised the period into two-year plans. Priority will be given to Zone 1 i.e. the business, commercial and residential sectors. Of course, we are asking that the rural sector i.e. Zone 3 should be given attention at the same time. I will not agree that we have to wait 10 years to enjoy the Internet spoeds enjoyed by developed countries.

4:02 [Comment From CHEWLP] How can the ministry play a role to make sure consumer get what they pay for ?

4:06 Dr Max:  As I said, MOSTI deals with technology and content of the ICT and Internet services. We will voice out to the Cabinet and the relevant ministries our concerns regarding making Internet access as affordable as possible. In   fact, we have already done that.

4:06 [Comment From Firedauz]

Good evening, Dr Max. How do you see the future of Internet service in Malaysia? Will one day we will be able to grace the ultra-fast, fiber-optic Internet speed of Japan, which only cost around RM50 per month for the consumers? I have been based in Tokyo for several years now, enjoying the luxury of the quality services and speed of Sofbank and Yahoo! BB, which is why I hope that one day for the average citizens of Malaysia, I see them enjoying the same benefit as I do. Thank you — Firedauz.

4:09 Dr Max:  Thank Firedauz. My desire is to ensure all Malaysians could enjoy the same Internet speed as what developed countries like Japan enjoy. It is possible with the political will of the Government and the cooperation of all key industry players including state governments. As I said, we should not wait 10 years to enjoy that level of Internet speed in developed countries. My own expectation is that there will be a major achievement within the next three years.

4:09 The Star Online:  This question from Azlan, Datuk, is a follow up question on the broadband rollout replied earlier.

4:09 [Comment From azlan] What speed do we get in 10 years? and will the price be reasonable?

4:12 Dr Max:

Thanks Azlan. I think that the target speed of 20Mbps for the high speed broadband for the commercial sector and not less than 2Mbps for the general population especially for Sabah and Sarawak can be achieved within the next three years. Price is difficult to determine but the proposal of PIKOM i.e. RM30 per month is a reasonable target to achieve.

4:12 The Star Online:

Here is another advance question we received.

Datuk, can you elaborate a little bit on the MyIdeas portal?

Thank you, – JR

4:18 Dr Max:  Hello JR. About MyIdeas portal, it is to be launched by the Prime Minister in the next two weeks. It is a portal aimed at inviting the public to submit ideas to MOSTI regarding 2010 Year of Creativity and Innovation. The public can submit ANY ideas  regarding how we should solve the economic, social and technological problems that Malaysia is facing. Excellent ideas will be developed further by scientists and the final idea patented or ‘copyrighted’  to the original proposer. Such ideas or innovations will then be showcased during next year’s Year of Creativity and Innovation. So watch out for the portal launching on July 8th and please participate and submit your great ideas.

4:18 The Star Online:

I  would suggest some community/rural area projects to be implemented at a lower cost such as the design and development of a broadband/satellite services for a wireless connection at a lower cost for rural areas. This will benefit many like teachers, students, and people who are unable to travel or get connected. This will also indirectly motivate and make full use of ICT applications.

We also need to have applications for video conferencing, distance learning, VoIP, internet education and community service besides e-Government applications.

Thanks and best regards,
Dinesh Wasoo

4:20 Dr Max:  Good afternoon Dinesh. I share your concern and proposal. That’s why for broadband for the general population (BBGP), we are proposing that we should opt for WiWi technology i.e. combination of Wimax and Wifi through the use of satellite infrastructure rather than laying out fibre-optic lines.

4:20 [Comment From Xtina] Hello Datuk, you proposed a National Innovation Foundation when you first became the MOSTI Minister. What has become of that plan?

4:24 Dr Max:  Hello Xtina. The National Innovation Foundation (NIF) has started to roll out its activities. The MyIdeas portal will be managed by NIF. It will also spearhead the organising of the 2010 Year of Creativity and Innovation. As part of the preparation, there will be creativity competitions at district and state levels. It will also embark on innovation awareness programmes for students, youths and woman groups  commencing in August 2009. NIF website will be up and running by August 1st and the public will be able to visit it and participate in the various programmes planned.

4:24 [Comment From Chee Yan Kuan] National Innovation Policy is good.How do you monitor the progress of the National Innovation Policy?

4:28 Dr Max:  Hello Chee. A national implementation committee chaired by the Chief Secretary to the Government has already met three times in the last one year to spearhead implementation of innovation policies and programmes. Various briefings at sectoral and state levels have been undertaken. Exhibitions and competitions on innovation are held twice yearly.

4:28 [Comment From John] Hi Datuk, I always heard about CyberSecurity Malaysia in the radio station. what is the function of CyberSecurity within MOSTI

4:33 Dr Max:  Hello John, thanks for the question. If you’re in the Peninsula I   invite you to visit CyberSecurity Malaysia and have a first hand feel of the latest technologies used to keep cyberspace in Malaysia safe. CyberSecurity Malaysia is the national specialist centre delivering and ensuring cyber security. It deals with education and awareness programmes, training, digital forensics, certification, international networking and collaboration and policy research, and acts as a help centre including Cyber999. I will be launching Cyber999 on July 7th. So hope you could make it there, John.

4:33 The Star Online: One last question, Datuk.

4:33 [Comment From MD] Datuk, will foreign player be allowed to roll out broadband services here?

4:36 Dr Max: Thanks MD. Malaysian infrastructure industry has always been open to national and international players. You can see that from the number of service providers in the country that are foreign-based. As usual, priority will be given to national ICT companies that have international networking and partnerships.

4:36 The Star Online:  Sorry folks, but that’s all the   time we have with Dr Max today. We have received many questions and comments from you. Those that we have not managed to pose to the Minister today will be forwarded to MOSTI.

4:36 The Star Online:  Just a reminder, the video on the exclusive interview will be uploaded shortly. In the mean time, the audio version is already available. For those of you who are not able to see the link, please refresh your page.

4:36 The Star Online:  Thank you for your time, Dr Max.

4:37 Dr Max: Thank you for giving me the time to answer your questions. If you still have further questions, please send me an email listed on MOSTI’s website at www.mosti.gov.my or directly to me at ongkili@mosti.gov.my. Take care and have a good evening everyone.

4:38 The Star Online: Thank you all for joining us today and for sending in your questions. Please make use of the two email addresses provided by Dr Max to send in your queries and comments. Have a good evening ahead of you.

Polls held during the live interview…

Random tweets…

Post interview tweets…

Most of them are full of crap, and I have witnessed first-hand how a friend’s account was hacked. I was suddenly getting a plethora of lewd messages about “come watch me play with my 12inch toy LIVE”. (Are they talking about the new Optimus Prime Transformers toy?).

But since her username was changed to sexaddictchik, I gathered it wasn’t the transformers toy. They didn’t change her real name, so I was able to contact her and alert her to this account takeover. If they had done that, I don’t think I’d be able to tell who it was.

In summary, ensure the site you key in your Twitter credentials at is a reputable looking site, and others have used it too. If they promise you too much, they probably are lying. If in doubt, don’t key in your username and password anywhere except the main Twitter site.

UPDATE: 5:49pm, 23 June 2009. Yet another account has been hacked.