Tien Soon's Tech Blog

Find Out More About Your Site Visitors from IP Addresses

2008-04-10T12:29:00.000+08:00

In blogging engine like WordPress, each comment is recorded with its associative commenter's IP address, to safe-guard blogger's right if any dispute arises from sensitive comments. If your blog is using eXTReMe site stats tracking, you will be able to find out the IP addresses of your 20 most recent visitors as well.

Oh well, what can IP address reveal, if you're wondering. For the uninitiated ones, IP address comprises of 4 octets (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx), 3 digits each. Formation of the octets is uniquely identifiable by geographical location. Thus, no surprise, that each and every IP address can reveal its geographical location.

How to Lookup IP Address

At present, I'm out-station for a career fair as exhibitor, and my IP is 203.106.59.248 (ooooops, I've just revealed my location).

Just to prove that geographical location is identifiable from an IP address, I did the following check:

Go to IP Lookup Tool
Type in my present IP address in the text field provided, and press "Lookup IP Address" button
Once the search is completed, I was presented with a result page, which displays the following summary:
- Country: Malaysia
- State/Region: 04
- City: Melaka
- Latitude: 2.1969
- Longitude: 102.2481

Yes, the above summary about my present geographical location is valid and accurate :) I'm not sure how about the accuracy of latitude and longitude reported though hehe, a bit lazy to fire up my GPS now :p

If any legal disputes arises, we can even take the IP address to internet service provider, and we will be able to know more about the user's identity, based on the specific date/time recorded. Never under estimate how much identity an IP address could tell ;)

- This is a sponsored content -

I'm GPS-enabled with SE P1i and Qstarz 818

2008-04-09T13:07:00.000+08:00

Nowadays, with the price of GPS devices getting more appealing to general mass, and community-driven GPS maps getting actively maintained, GPS becomes a common commodity among many urban folks.

Just in my workplace which comprises of 80 employees, at least 20% of my colleagues own a GPS device, either a smart phone/PDA phone with built-in GPS chipset or external bluetooth GPS receiver, or a dedicated GPS navigator for vehicles. These gadgets are proven useful when we convoy for weekend trips to places that we have never explored before.

Last year, when we visited Krabi as company trip, 16 of us actually convoy in the foreign land on a free-and-easy day, to visit outskirt areas far away from the Krabi town. I don't think that would be easily done without GPS devices and maps.

I'm currently using Sony Ericsson P1i, which doesn't have a built-in GPS chipset. But, not a big deal; I've bought a bluetooth GPS receiver - Qstarz BT-Q818, pair it to my phone with Garmin XT software, using GPS maps provided by Malsingmaps community.

What's your GPS configuration? Are you happy with yours?

Putrajaya Fireworks Photography on Merdeka Eve

2007-09-02T14:37:00.000+08:00

The Malaysia International Fireworks Competition currently held at Putrajaya is no longer a new story. Beginning from 18th Aug 2007, a series of fireworks displays are executed at Jambatan Seri Gemilang to light up the August night sky.

A theme park was setup at PICC (Putrajaya International Convention Centre) as the official viewing deck. But, the entrance is quite expensive! Even with entitlement for discount, each person will still need to pay about RM40 for entrance!!

“What if we go in a group of 20 persons? That gonna cost a whopping RM800!”

Luckily, this is a fireworks event. By the nature of it, fireworks are meant to be viewable from miles away hahaha.

Thanks to Joe Seah and John Lim, they have scouted out the Cyberjaya area on 25th Aug when Italy was performing fireworks show, and concluded a super dooper strategic location – Cyberjaya Perdana Lakeview.

You may refer to this map for its location. It located within a minute of driving distance from Cyberview Lodge.

The roadside lakeview is furnished with long-stretch of corridor and some seats. The closest landmark caught in sight is the magnificent Jambatan Seri Saujana. Towards the right, is where the fireworks firing zone located – Jambatan Seri Gemilang. All are clearly visible across a lake without obstacle. Without paying a single cent and we enjoyed the same fireworks display, only without musical pleasure.

A Troop of 25 Youngsters

Don’t get a shock, but we actually went Cyberjaya Perdana Lakeview on Merdeka even in a group of 25 people! If you were there, and you’ve seen a big crowd making noise on a strategic ground laid with plenty of posters as mats, that was me and my friends haha

After work, we left office in a few cars between 6.30pm to 7pm, and most of reached our destination by 8pm. There was quite a jam in LDP and Subang Jaya, but the traffic from LDP Sunway toll towards Cyberjaya was smooth.

No Toilet

At the Cyberjaya Perdana Lakeview, no public toilet was caught in sight. So, the first thing we did at Cyberjaya, was to “settle our business” at MDEC headquarter :p

Picnic and Entertainment

At around 8.30pm, some small crowds were spotted at Perdana Lakeview. But, soon by 9pm, the roadside is already full of double-parked cars.

Some of my other friends (didn’t join us one) were questioning how we could spend our time till 12midnight from 8pm. But seriously, no worry for boredom when I’m with this gang of friends. When we are around, we will definitely have lots of craps to share and do, even for 5 hours.

On the Merdeka eve, we’re all organized into a few groups with varying tasks:

Foods and beverages
Entertainment and birthday bash (make sure we never cornered into boredom till 12midnight)
On-site convenience (prepare things like mat and resolve as many convenience issue as possible)

In summary, this is how we spent our time from till fireworks display started:

Laid out plenty of posters on the ground as mats
We’ve ordered pizzas for dinner, and prepared Carlsberg beers and 100 Plus in ice-box.
Watched ‘Just Follow Law’ and Taiwanese entertainment shows with notebook PCs
Played Big Two (Choh Dai Di) card game
Camwhoring at the lake side
Celebrated birthday for Janet (31st Aug), Calvin (1st Sept) and Paullie (5th Sept)

Now you know how easy we could spend our time? ;)

First Attempt to Fireworks Photography

For a year as the owner of Lumix FZ30, this is my very first attempt to fireworks photography. Though I’ve learned some best practices from online resources, but theory is never fully applicable in practice. I didn’t put too much expectation on this first attempt of fireworks photography, but trying my best to learn another new photography domain.

At 11.30pm, I started setting up my camera on tripod. But I did a silly offence. Being too excited, I didn’t realize that I was blocking the view of another 2 girls sitting behind me, but they didn’t hesitate pointing out my mistake as well :) My apology to the 2 girls, if you so happen to read this post haha

These are the initial setting I prepared before the fireworks display started:

Manual mode - F/5 aperture and 4 sec exposure
Manual focus
ISO100
Landscape composition

The exposure works well when the fireworks first started. But I was soon proven wrong, when the fireworks were getting brighter and fired in more combinations. 4 second was too long and resulted in over-exposed shots.

Then, I have to quickly bring down the exposure to 3.2 sec, then later 2.5 sec, and 2 sec when firework explosions were getting even brighter and patterns were changing at faster pace, and even down to 1.6 sec when it came to ending.

Composition wise, landscape was fine in the first few shots. However, soon I realized the fireworks were fired only from one end, and thus leaving my shots loosely composed! Ended up no object of interest is found on the right side of the landscape composition.

Again, I got to quickly reacted and adjusted the tripod head to fit portrait composition. Yes, from my shots, most of the acceptable ones were composed vertically.

Overall, I’m not satisfied with my fireworks shot. There’s only about 20% of success rate in this first attempt hahah. But, none the less, it is a great experience. It’s not easy to stumble upon 20-minute fireworks display.

Skills aside, weather condition of the day has slightly ruined up the shots as well. There was no decent wind-blow on the Merdeka eve fireworks night. Thus, layers of thick smokes were accumulated and stationed in the air. Quite a number of my shots towards the last 7 minutes were “artistically and naturally” brushed by the smokes.

Yooooo Merdeka~! We met a group of people carrying Jalur Gemilang, and so they joined us for this group photo to add in Merdeka element to the shot.

Jam Jam Jam

As highlighted in newspapers and blogsphere, there was massive jam right after the fireworks show. Instead of rushing into the jam to waste petrol, we again, stayed at the lake side and camwhore.

Our friend's FTO also got to snail on the road :p

But it doesn’t take a long time for traffic at Cyberjaya to be leveled. At about 1.10am, the lakeside road was almost totally cleared from traffic jam. However, traffic was slow moving at the joint from Putrajaya side, after Lim Kok Wing campus.

The Myth about Sungai Jagung in Kedah Malaysia

2007-08-02T13:08:00.000+08:00

I’m pretty sure many of you have received chained email featuring pictures of the breath-taking scenery, claimed to be portraying a nature wonder in Kedah, called Sungai Jagung.

I’m sure you would agree that the pictures look so great to be true. Just a fantastic picturesque nature wonder, but why never seen it promoted by tourism board of Malaysia? I guarantee, our government wouldn’t let go any chance of promoting such an amazing place, if it exists in Malaysia.

But, if we don’t believe that the place shown in pictures exist in Malaysia, how does non-jungle-people like me could provide strong reasoning to justify?

The myth is finally unearthed! The author of ForestExplorers.com has written a good article to conclude that this chained email is a spam, and such nature wonder doesn’t exist in Kedah, neither in Malaysia!

In fact, the place is actually called Plitvice Lake National Park, located in Croatia.

How many email readers were fooled? And how much bandwidth were wasted on this spam?

How to Crash Windows Vista with 2 Fingers

2007-07-16T15:25:00.000+08:00

Wow, I couldn’t believe that Windows Vista is vulnerable to “denial of service attack”, which can be done by anyone, practically anyone, even a kid!

Most of you might know that, pressing Windows key + E is a handy shortcut combination to bring up Windows Explorer in Windows operating system, including Vista.

But, could you ever imagine that, the simple Windows key + E shortcut, which is easily achievable with 2 fingers, is the source of vulnerability or the shortcut key to Windows Vista crash?

According to a news article at Softpedia:

Keeping the two keys pressed will open a large volume of Computer windows. Want to crush Windows Vista? Nothing could be simpler. Just keep the two keys pressed for more than 20 – 30 seconds.

Frankly, I couldn’t believe this. So, itchy hand of mine, I tried to execute the said procedure.

What the hell, I only pressed Windows key + E for a slight fraction more than a second, and my Windows Vista Business was already hogging the computing resources, leaving everything inaccessible, and I was staring speechlessly at the LCD.

It hogs too much more of computing resources than my expectation.

I just can’t imagine what would happen, if I actually pressed the Windows key + E for another 2 seconds.

What is someone silly actually wrote a simple program to iteratively issue Windows key + E keys?

Bought Timberland Waterproof Shoe at 50 Percent Off

2007-06-21T15:23:00.000+08:00

After 5 years of rugged wear with my Camel Active suede leather casual shoe, it starts to tell its sign of aging with the torn sole. Ya, amazing isn't it, a shoe that last for 5 years, accompanying my feet from MMU campus days, till now the second year of my working life.

For everyday comfy, I don't really like to wear sports shoe. A matter of personal preference, I don't find Nike sports shoe as comfortable as suede leather or grain leather casual shoe. Further more, sports shoe never last as long on my feet. Maybe I'm putting my shoe into tough use (Hokkien people may say "co lo"), I always having problem with the shoe sole tearing off from my sports shoe, no matter which branded one it is.

But for shoes from the brands like Hush Puppies, Camel Active and Timberland, it's very easy to find a casual shoe which has its sole sewed to the shoebed. This reinforcement greatly enhances the lifespan of a shoe.

Let's analyze the requirements for a pair of shoes that suits my daily use:

Accompany me to work
Accompany me to travel
Accompany me for badminton, if I have external meeting on the day and yet lazy to bring sport shoe
Accompany me for outdoor activities
Keep my feet comfortable during raining day (you know la… when it's raining in KL and PJ, water everywhere on the road could be covering my feet)

Wah looks like it's not easy being my shoe. Have to multi-task so much hehe.

This Time, Timberland

Though the pair of Camel Active shoes is still perfectly wearable, except a hole at the sole, I know I would have to look for a new pair, before it totally say good bye to me.

So yesterday, while window shopping at 1 Utama after my meeting at Mont' Kiara, I had a slightly higher priority towards outlets selling men's shoes.

Firstly Hush Puppies; though I've short-listed a pair, but still not the very much preferred one. So, continue my mission at Camel Active, and then Timberland at Parkson.

What caught my attention was the Timberland Waterproof Washington Square, which is furnished with waterproof properties that become part of the leather during the tanning process.

50 Percent Off

Well, Timberland pricing is steep though. But, what came to my surprise is that the price tag of this footwear was labeled with 50% discount!!!

Wah lao e... Timberland wo... 50% discount wo... RM499 became RM249.50 wo

Who can resist the temptation??? Holy cow, a shoe that was released early this year, is now offered at half of its price.

But, again, I was hesitating, as I doubt if my foot size is available. Luckily, probably because the sale has just started, my common sizes are still available.

Tried size 8, 8.5 and then 9, I decided to grab a pair of 8.5.

So, mission accomplished! Now I've got a pair of new grain leather shoe for work, play and fun. It's with my feet now.

Firefox Failed to Start Up on Vista

2007-06-10T14:43:00.000+08:00

Windows Vista is not only introducing issues on support for old hardwares and devices (on Vista, anything more than 8 months is considered old!), but recently I've also encountered a critical issue with Firefox on Vista.

Frankly, I'm not fond of IE7, though there are a lot people trying to crack the Windows Genuine Advantage to get a grasp of IE7. So, though I'm on Vista, which comes implicitly with IE7, I still opt for Mozilla Firefox.

Ya Firefox rocks! I simply can't live without some powerful and useful Firefox extensions, such as Web Developer, Firebug and SearchStatus.

The installation completed successfully for Firefox version 2.0.0.4.

I also managed to install a few must-have-but-also-wont-die-without-it extensions – Gestures, Google Toolbar, SearchStatus, Web Developer.

But, good hour doesn't persist. Right after the installation of the mentioned extensions, my Firefox was revenged by Windows. It hung aka not responding.

Then, of course I tried restarting Firefox. But, guess what I get?

The program must close to allow a previous installation attempt to complete. Please restart.

What the hell is this? As far as I'm concerned, I've already completed the required installation. What other previous installation attempt is going on?

No worry, we always have Dr. Google.

I pasted the string “The program must close to allow a previous installation attempt to complete. Please restart.” into Google search, and voila, I got the answer from MozillaZine Knowledge Base.

As explained in the article, there are a few possible factors causing anomaly in Firefox start-up. One of the known reasons, is titled Windows-specific problems. It has to do with Vista!

Luckily, the solution is simple. Simply browse to C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox, and delete the file xpicleanup.dat will do.

Now, I'm with Firefox again.

Technology Can't Replace Sticky Notes

2007-06-01T10:09:00.000+08:00

I must admit, though I'm working in the software sector, but still I prefer scribbling on the real touchable sticky notes, to note down my to-do tasks of the week.

Just a personal finding, not sure if you experience the same, hope I'm not alone.

You might be saying “wah lao e... so old fashion meh... use the digital version of sticky notes la”

Ya very true indeed, that a lot corporate environments nowadays are using an internal portal to track and assign tasks, while some individuals would synchronize them into their Outlook organizer. In fact, the company I'm working in, is one of the big players in portal and knowledge management industry.

Undoubtedly, I do agree that a centralized management of corporate-wide task assignment and tracking is an effective way of achieving job efficiency. But, when it comes to personal touch, the personal efficiency of tracking with my own hill-high (not to the extend of mountain-high yet hehe) tasks, I still prefer the colored, small-in-size, writable, write-once-post-anywhere sticky notes!

I used to be practicing total-paperless in tracking personal tasks. Everytime when I want to view my to-dos, no big deal, I'll just Alt+Tab to the portal, and refer to the Tasks portlet.

But, that's a lengthy list of to-dos! A very long list in deed. All I need, is a sneak view of tasks for this week, or those that require my immediate attention. This is the situation where I still prefer to traditional square-in-size or rectangle-in-size (do we have round?) sticky notes.

I can simply filter the lengthy list to a few high priority tasks, write them down with the handwriting that not many people could read, and stick it anywhere I want – on my cubicle, on my table, or even on my laptop hahaha

That's why, we should only aim for paper less and not paperless

Some asked: “doesn't the sticky notes software suffice your need?” hm... well, not really. I don't like to have a messy desktop. I want my wallpaper to be clearly seen without much obstructions hahaha. So that I can admire at some pictures I took

By the way, this post is never meant to be a 3M commercial :D

Birthday Wishlist Fulfillment

2007-05-18T10:43:00.000+08:00

wah hahahahahah..... I've got 50% fulfillment on my birthday wishlist!

1. Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000

Personally, I find traveling with wired mouse to be a little bit of constraint in mobility. Each time when packing the laptop into my backpack, I have to tidy up the power cables, and also with “mouse tail”. Well, I admit I'm more to a tidy person, and I prefer to have all the cables properly tied up before putting into my bag.

So, I would prefer a wireless mouse, so that not much of tidy-up effort is needed hehe.

I requested for Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse 3000, but my friends are kind enough to give me a better one – Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000.

Hohoho.... but my friend didn't realize that there are actually 2 variations of 6000 series Microsoft wireless mouse. 1 designed for notebook, and another for PC. Ya, she bought the one for PC :p

The Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 is designed for desktop computer, and it comes with a big receiver attached with a long USB cable! It doesn't make sense for portability hehe, I want to get rid of the wires as much as I could haha.

So I brought to the shop, and exchange it with Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse 3000, the one I initially asked for haha. At RM99, the Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 is an affordable yet adequate mouse. It has a small receiver which comes in the size of a USB thumb drive, and it can be snapped under the mouse to further ease portability. Once the receiver is snapped under the mouse, power will be automatically turned off for optimum power consumption.

2. iPod Camera Connector

Besides the wireless mouse, the same group of friends also bought me the iPod Camera Connector hehe. If counting the iPod leather case aside, this iPod Camera Connector is the very first iPod accessory I have.

Since the camera is not with me now, I would not be able to test out the iPod Camera Connector, until tonight. I'm going for a 2-day food hunting trip at Southern Peninsula Malaysia on tomorrow, and a Bali trip on 2nd June. This iPod Camera Connector arrives at the right moment :D

3. Sony Ericsson P990i?

Hahaha ya, I was almost given a Sony Ericsson P990i, but I rejected the offer :)

On my birthday, my girlfriend given me a box, which contains a name card holder. But, the name card holder is not for me!

Inside the name card holder, is her Maybank Visa card, and she told me “You're allowed to use this card for once, use it to buy P990 if you want to”

Wah~~~~~~~~! What a special surprise from my dear! A high-end smartphone which almost costs her 1 month salary oi.

Hehe... but I rejected the offer. I'm going to fulfill this wishlist item by myself :) It's not a small figure though hehe.

I'm now waiting for the availability of P1i, to decide if I should stay with P990, or upgrade to P1 hehe.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to my birthday wishlist. *muaks*

Maxis M-Money Replied Me with German Language

2007-05-14T11:26:00.000+08:00

As a Maxis postpaid service subscriber, I got a SMS from Maxis this morning, with the following message:

Register for M-money service for FREE today & get RM10 credit into your account. Offer valid for the first 2,000 sign up only. Just type Mmoney and send to 27007.

I'm always excited to witness how far the electronic payment options have gone to in Malaysia. As long as the registration doesn't cost me much, I will give it a try.

So I searched Google for Maxis M-Money, but couldn't get useful results. So I went to Maxis official website, made a search, and found some useful details on M-Money.

Gone through some of the notes for better understanding, and finally decided to give it a try.

1. Type in Mmoney, sent to 27007.
2. As described in the registration process, I was replied with a SMS with menu options to begin with.
3. Replied with 1 for registration.

Guess what, I was replied with the following message, written in German language!

Die Applikation eMoney Red kann derseit nicht erreicht werden!

Hey Maxis, since when I told you I can read German language ha???

Luckily we have Google Translate, which helped me to translate the above statement into English, as follows

the application eMoney talk cannot that since not be achieved

Well, not that I understand the translated statement after all :p

Dopod Offers Windows Mobile 6 FREE Upgrade

2007-05-12T13:06:00.000+08:00

Dopod, a successful Taiwanese brand which has rapidly gaining popularity and market share in Asia’s PDA phones and Smartphones industry, announced to offer FREE upgrade from Windows Mobile 5 to Windows Mobile 6, for selected devices.

Click here for the official press release.

Eligibility

Owners of the following Dopod devices are entitled for this free upgrade.

838Pro

D810

P800W

U1000

Beginning in July 2007

The free upgrade is expected to be available in July 2007. Dopod International will offer current users of these devices a free download of the upgrade code which will enable users of these devices, currently running on Windows Mobile 5, to upgrade to the Windows Mobile 6.

Major Difference between Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6

Though the upgrade is available for free, but the pre-upgrade concern has always been, assessment on the difference between Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6.

Jason Langridge has published a useful chart summarizing the differences between WM5 and WM6. Click here to download the comparison sheet in PDF.

As the market of PDA phones is always driven towards the enterprise executive domain, the major enhancements done on WM6 is focused on enterprise mobile messaging. Though conventional e-mail client is available on WM5, but WM6 is featuring better integration to Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SharePoint portal.

Beside the significant upgrade on enterprise mobile messaging options, I don’t find much of other worth-noting upgrades.

Does Student Need PDA Phones?

Nowadays, it’s easy to spot some university or college students using PDA phones. But, at times, it makes me thinking, if they really need such a gadget?

In campus student life, notebook PC is undeniably introducing convenience and flexibility. But, does a student really need the features available in PDA phones? How frequent do they need to use the Microsoft Word Mobile? How frequent do they have a lengthy list of tasks and appointments to keep track of? How frequent do they need to stay intact with email messages on the go?

No offence, but are majority of these students using PDA phones for the sake of showing off?

Is Vietnam the Next Preferred IT Outsourcing Hub in Asia?

2007-05-08T10:49:00.000+08:00

Read in InfoWorld, that Toshiba is establishing a software center in Hanoi of Vietnam, which will be focusing on low-level software processes for Toshiba's digital consumer electronics products.

This is not the first time I'm hearing announcement from giant tech company setting up regional IT hub in Vietnam, or outsourcing IT services to talents in Vietnam. In fact, Fujitsu also has a software development center in Hanoi.

It makes me wondering, if Vietnam is emerging as the preferred IT hub in Asia, standing on its advantage of low wage costs for pool of skilled software developers. In the event of cost-saving strategy on IT services, Vietnam has caught global attention from big brothers in technology world, as a competent alternative to India and China.

Due to Dot-Com-burst in late 1990's, players in technology world have realized the importance of strategic cost saving by utilizing the benefits of outsourcing and off-shoring. The fact that India skilled workers are communicative in English language, and the half-day timezone difference between India and US, made India one the most preferred off-shore software development site.

But, as a result from rapid gain of global attention, India skilled workers, especially software engineers, are demanding for higher range of wages, surpassing the bar of competitive rate. As the objective of cost-saving off-shore solution is no longer realistic in India, industry players are looking for other alternatives.

Now, it looks like the tech world has generally identified Vietnam as one of most feasible solutions for low-cost off-shore software development. Though it's now still early to conclude if Vietnam will successfully emerge as one of the most talk-about IT hubs in Asia, but certainly, Vietnam has gained global attention to certain degree.

A successful symbolic example of software development outsourcing in Vietnam is set by a Ho Chi Minh-based company called SilkRoad. SilkRoad was successfully awarded a project from the government of the US state of Oklahoma, for development of a trade website.

As interesting document titled Vietnam Chases the Competition in the Software Development Industry (PDF) is available at Asia Pacific Business Network. Worth taking for some interesting facts :)

My Birthday Wishlist

2007-05-01T15:52:00.000+08:00

Fu Yoooohhhh, tomorrow is lim peh punya 24th birthday loo

Nothing especially special, but first time ever, 2nd May is met with public holiday, and thus everyone kiddie, young or old is benefited from an off day. A lot from the working community, including me, are enjoying a long long break hehe. Beside Chinese New Year and vacation leave, the chance of staying away from work for 5 days is rare.

For my friends' convenience, I'm disclosing my birthday wishlist here at this blog

1. Wireless Notebook Mouse

In order to further ease the convenience of traveling with notebook PC, I wish to cut the tail of my mouse, and thus a cordless one is needed :p My preferred and yet affordable models are Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 (about RM99), and Logitech V200 Cordless Notebook Mouse (about RM115).

Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000

Logitech V200 Cordless Notebook Mouse

Both of these notebook mices are featuring small receiver which can be snapped into the bottom to enhance portability.

Between these 2 models, Logitech V200 is claimed to feature a more efficient power management, which brings to the benefit of longer lasting battery life.

Just an additional note, please get me a dark color unit, such as black or dark grey.

2. iPod Camera Connector

Sometime when taking landscape pictures, especially during vacation, I prefer to capture in RAW instead of JPG for better quality. However, the stumbling stone of RAW photography comes from its demanding need for huge storage. My 2GB memory card would never be sufficient for vacation, if I were to shoot mainly with RAW.

One of the most feasible solution, is by procuring a iPod Camera Connector - a white adapter about the size of a thick Compact Flash card that connects to the iPod photo’s dock connector port and a USB cable plugged into your digital camera.

This would also allow me to better utilize the 30GB iPod, and at the same time shooting more pictures in RAW without any doubt on storage capacity. Well, according to the review, I still need to worry about iPod's battery life resulted from this power-hungry connector.

FYI, iPod Camera Connector is available in MacAsia at the price of RM129. iPod accessories ain't cheap.

3. 0.7x Wideangle Conversion Lens

One of the significant problems of shooting landscape and architecture pictures with my Lumix FZ30, is the relatively limited angle at 35mm focal length.

If I had a wideangle conversion lens, preferably 0.7x or 0.6x magnification, I would have opportunity diving into wideangle photography hehe

FYI, the diameter of my lens is 55mm. Please consult me for my preferred unit if you're generous to fullfil my wishlist

The Panasonic DMW-LW55 (0.7x magnification) is quite pricey though.

4. Sony Ericsson P990i

The most expensive item in my wishlist, is the need for a smartphone or PDA phone. Though there are tons of alternatives out there matching my requirements, but so far, Sony Ericsson P990i is still more preferable choice my mine, judging from the perspective of price vs features. Moreover, the Sony Ericsson P990i has a QWERTY keyboard.

Currently, I have 3 colleagues using Sony Ericsson P990i, and more are potentially counting.

OK la.. this list should be sufficient to cater your needs, should you be interested to contribute. But I believe the last item in my wish list, is to be accomplished by me haha. It really costs a bomb.

First Day at Bangkok

2007-05-01T14:26:00.000+08:00

Warning: Lengthy but interesting post ahead

As mentioned in the previous post on pre-visit impression for Bangkok, I actually went to Bangkok for a hiatus despite the negative rumors.

My mum, younger brother, girlfriend and I were boarding for AK880 scheduled at 8.25am of 7th Apr. Luckily there wasn't any flight delay. Must be attributed to the free AirAsia flight tickets, the airbus was full of passengers.

Suvarnabhumi Airport

The flight only took 2 hours and 5 minutes to reach Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport from
Sepang LCCT. At 9.30am of Bangkok time zone, we were already stepping at Survanabhumi Airport.

In comparison to KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport), the Suvarnabhumi Airport assembles a much simpler architectural design. Though a practical design, but nothing really special to shout about in terms of building architecture.

Right after claiming our luggage at baggage claim belt, we headed to level 1, the bus lobby, to grab a taxi. At level 2, the arrival hall, limo services are easily spotted in sight, but I'm not ready to be conned with expensive limousine hehe.

The taxi terminal at level 1 is a managed service, and passenger has to pay additional 50 THB (5.1 MYR) on top of the taxi service rate. I thought taxis at the taxi terminal of Suvarnabhumi Airport are charged according to meter rate, but they didn't.

I shown the address of my destination (HI Bangkok Centre, Sukhumvit soi 25) to the taxi terminal counter and we were quoted 400 THB (40.8 MYR), inclusive of the taxi terminal service charge.

Though I thought the journey shouldn't cost as much as 400 THB, but we agreed with it, as the cost is quite comfortably handled, with division of 4 (we have 4 of us). Moreover, I don't want to spend the hustle of looking for alternative meter taxis, as it was my first time at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

About 35 minutes later, we have finally reached Sukhumvit 25, the place where we will be lodging for 2 nights. There wasn't any significant jam, and thus the journey was relatively fast.

HI Bangkok Centre

I must agree that my vacation at Bangkok was somehow influenced by Che-Cheh to a certain degree. Prior to the trip, I was searching the blogsphere for genuine travelogues to assist my planning, and I stumbled upon Che-Cheh's Bangkok travelogue, which is in fact one of my highly preferred ones.

At first, I plan to book my accommodation at Asia Hotel Bangkok, situated right in front of the Ratchathewi SkyTrain station. However, after reading Che-Cheh's travelogue, I decided to just save on the accommodation, and go for the HI Bangkok Centre Sukhumvit 25 instead.

After reading Che-Cheh's travelogue, I was convinced not to mind at the category "hostel" tagged to HI Bangkok Centre Sukhumvit 25. Photos published in her blog shown that this hostel is really a clean and sufficiently equipped facility.

On top of Che-Cheh's recommendation, my confidence with HI Bangkok Centre Sukhumvit 25 is also further boosted with the fact that it is the first hostel in Asia and Pacific to received Hi Quality Assurance Certificate from IYHF head office in London.

HI Bangkok Centre Sukhumvit 25 is offering bed capacity of 1, 2, 3 and 6. Since we have 4 of us, I booked the triple sharing room, which costs only 1,296 THB (132.19 MYR) per night. This is undeniably an exciting rate to be found at Bangkok city, for a decent lodging facility.

At HI Bangkok Centre Sukhumvit 25, we were greeted with a friendly receptionist who can communicate quite well in English. With him, I also learned how to speak "thank you" in Thai language hehe.

In Thai language, the word "thank you" is slightly differing according to the gender of your intended recipient.

Thanking to male, speak as "kop khun khrap". On the other hand, thanking to female, use "kop khun kah".

Stepping into the room, I knew I've made the right choice to commit 2-night stay at this hostel. It's is relatively spacious, and equipped with sufficient amenities like TV, fridge, closet, air-conditioner, and private bathroom. Everyday, each resident is also given with a 600ml bottled water, and a complementary breakfast.

Activated carbons are found in the bathroom, serving as air purifier.

While traveling, I'm not too particular about the star rating of a hotel, but rather its satisfaction rating by visitors, and most importantly, the cleanliness. Even if the hotel is fitted with luxury facilities like swimming pool and sauna room, chances are I'll only have little time to utilize them.

If you share the same principal as I do, placing your importance only on the necessary amenities, facility cleanliness and strategic location, you will not go wrong with HI Bangkok Centre Sukhumvit 25. It's such a gem!

Have I mentioned that the HI Bangkok Centre Sukhumvit 25 is located within 10 minutes walking distance from Asoke BTS station and Sukhumvit MRT station? What a convenient way to travel.

BTS is Convenient, but Not Cheap

In Bangkok, there are 2 systems of light rail networks - BTS SkyTrain and MRT. A lot of tourist attractions in Bangkok city are accessible by BTS network.

Buying tickets at BTS station is easy. Though the self-service ticketing kiosk only accepts coins, but no worry, each BTS station is furnished with change counters to serve your needs. Just tell the counter operator the amount of coins you need, hand him/her money note, and he/she will responsively return you with the exact change. This convenience is something lacking in all the train systems in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. That's why, even though Putra LRT stations are furnished with a lot ticketing kiosk, but I rarely see them being utilized. Often than not, I always see foreigners pulling back and resort to the manual ticketing counter, after trying their hand on the automated ticketing kiosk.

Besides, BTS trains are also equipped with smarter sliding doors. I realized that the doors are actually fitted with sensors, which help in effectively managing the door opening time. If there are passengers going in and coming out, the door will not closed; similarly, it will only open for a very short duration, if no passenger movement is sensed.

Frankly, I must admit that the overall experience I had with BTS train system, is much better than any of the 4 light rail and commuter train systems (Putra LRT, Star Light Rail, Monorail, KTM Komuter) in Malaysia. As a visitor, I felt being valued when using BTS.

Though BTS is undeniably a convenient approach to travel in Bangkok city, but the rate is relatively expensive though. From Asoke (the BTS station nearest to HI Bangkok Centre) to Siam (the place where modern shopping complexes are centered), it costs 25 THB (2.55 MYR) per passenger, for the distance of 4 stations.

Rules of thumb, if you're traveling in more than 2 persons, go for meter taxi. You will be surprised of how much cheaper you get, by traveling with taxi. However, the light rail train can save you from potentially chaotic traffic jam though.

Modern Shopping Complexes at Centered Area

After getting down from the Siam BTS station, we were practically spoilt with the city jungle of shopping complexes. The nearest ones to Siam BTS station are Siam Center and Siam Paragon.

Siam Center and Siam Paragon are both high budget shopping places, which assembles the class of shopping standard at Suria KLCC and Starhill in Kuala Lumpur. In fact, some of the international fashion brands available at Siam Paragon are not even found in Suria KLCC.

At Siam Center, modernly dressed Thai teenagers are everywhere. Pretty and young Thai ladies are also easily spotted here hehe.

The top-most floor of Siam Center is a food court. Upon entry, you will be given a credit card, which is to be swiped for recording transactions, everytime you purchased something in the food court. Then, after your meal, you shall pay the accumulated bills recorded in the card, before leaving the food court.

My girlfriend and I were not hungry, but simply itchy tongue ;) So we ordered a small plate of pork satay and a piece of puff called Chicken Triangle.

Siam Paragon is situated next to Siam Center. The whole building is enclosed with transparent glasses. Mind you, there are Ferrari and Lamborghini show rooms in Siam Paragon.

Not far from Siam Center, is another popular shopping complex called MBK. MBK is the equivalent of Sungai Wang in Kuala Lumpur, in terms of shopping style. If the shopping budget at Siam Center and Siam Paragon doesn't appeal to you, MBK is definitely a better option. MBK is huge, and amazingly featured with a large number of shops of varying product and service types.

Due to its mass appeal, MBK is relatively crowded.

A food court is found at the 7th floor of MBK. Yes, we went there, again for food. We had seafood tomyam, which tasted so "ooooohhhhm"! Simply a satisfying indulgence. I'm now drooling while looking at the following picture :p

Bangkok Chinatown

After coming out from MBK, it was already 7.30pm (Bangkok time zone), time for dinner. Instead of eating at the city, we decided to visit Bangkok Chinatown.

On the way to Chinatown, we were passing by Hua Lamphong railway terminal. I must admit that the Hua Lamphong railway terminal was really a picturesque place at night. I was very tempted to ask the taxi driver to offer a stop for me to take picture, but I didn't.

The moment the taxi is approaching Chinatown, the feel of Chinese environment can be instantly sensed. Finally, we came to a place surrounded by Chinese words. I have no idea if Thai Chinese in general could read the words, but generally most if not all of the shops at Chinatown are having Chinese names and wording on their signage.

Wherever there is Chinese, there is food. Bangkok Chinatown has no exception. One of the uniqueness of Bangkok Chinatown, is that almost the whole street is surrounded by stalls and restaurants offering bird's nest and shark fin. There were so many of them serving these two featured foods. In average, a bowl of shark fin was priced at 300 THB.
Besides bird's nest and shark fin, seafood was also easily found at Bangkok Chinatown. Most of them were road-side stalls.

This is one of the famous (a lot people were eating at this stall) stall serving fried mee and kuey teow. There were a lot of newspaper cuttings for the review of this stall.

Personally, based on my experience, the foods crowded by Thai locals are generally tasted too sweet for my liking. Worse still, the locals still like topping their meals with sugar!! OMG, why they have such a high tolerance towards sweetness.

To be continue, stay tuned for the next post ;)

Track Your Friend’s GPS Location by Phone Number

2007-04-21T00:29:00.000+08:00

Maxis Friend Finder can help us to easily trace the geographical location of our friends and relatives, as long as he/she is a Maxis user. But, due to privacy concern, this service requires authorization.

Isn’t it amazing, if we can trace someone’s GPS (global positioning system) location, just by using his/her mobile phone number, regardless of the operator?

Surprisingly, this mobile phone GPS tracking service is not just covering Malaysia, but currently a total of 215 countries around the world! This service only works in countries with GSM technology networks.

Just select the country, key in operator code, following by phone number, and hit Start Searching button, to witness the surprise ;)

Doesn’t it Violate Privacy Guideline?

The advantage of such service, is enabling everyone to anonymously trace other’s location. Imagine being able to know your darling’s location, wherever he is, whenever you want to.

But the scary part is, everyone of us, is potentially threaten and invaded with privacy concerns. What is the service is abused by unscrupulous party?

Just an Online Hoax

Hehe… you must be wondering why I’ve written so long, but have not even mentioned about the said website :)

Well, the mentioned service is located at http://www.sat-gps-locate.com, but it’s just a JOKE. Once you’ve entered the phone number to search, your browser will display a mock-up screen of GPS locator, which in fact, is nothing real at all hehe. Try it out for yourself, just for fun.

But, never put in a real mobile phone number. You would never know, if this hoax is designed to hunt for phone numbers, and abuse for marketing spam hehe.

AirAsia Is Giving Out Free Tickets, Again

2007-04-17T09:13:00.000+08:00

What a surprise from AirAsia this morning. Yes, AirAsia is once again giving out free tickets!!! Twice within half a year. Wah lao e…

Booking Period
18 Apr 2007 - 20 Apr 2007

Travel Period
1 Oct 2007 - 29 Mar 2008

As mentioned in the mail, the free ticket blast will begin at midnight of 18 Apr 2007. Though it says the best time to log on starts from 1am, but I think we better try at 12am, no harm trying hehe.

I Not Planning Anymore Trip

Though AirAsia is generous enough to periodically giving out free tickets, but the beneficiaries like me will pok kai catching up with each of these blasts.

I went to Bangkok early this month, going to Bali on 2nd June, and another yet-to-be-decided oversea destination for Oct 2007. On top of that, I’m practically paying for 2 pax each trip. Really, I shouldn't itchy bud grabbing any more free tickets this year haha

Impression on Bangkok

2007-04-16T09:10:00.000+08:00

Recently, I'm loaded with tight dateline on my office works, which leads to lack of update in my blog. Ya I know, I've not been updating this blog for a week, and I feel quite uncomfortable as well. But no choice, after going back home at night 10pm, I don't feel like switching on my PC anymore.

Luckily I had a recent quick recharge from 3-day vacation at Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. With the free AirAsia flight tickets that I've secured early this year, I went to Bangkok with my family (mum, younger brother, gf) from 7th to 9th Apr.

Security Issues?

Before my trip, I've been frequently thrown with the same old concerns - Bangkok is dangerous; Bangkok is threaten with bomb blast; Bangkok is threaten with unstable political state. These concerns have been surrounding Bangkok for more than a year already, and yet, the tourism industry is still growing strong. It shows that tourists around the world in general are still confident with Bangkok, so do I.

I'm an optimistic kind of person. As long as my personal judgment of calculated risks shows an OK indication, I will not really bother about any rumor, and I will not care too much about what has happened to the place before. Well, if you mind too much, worry too much, how to travel with enjoyment?

Frankly, I never ever have any doubt about the security state in Bangkok at all, before visiting Bangkok. And I'm glad that I've brought my family to Bangkok as planned, or I wouldn't have experienced this fantastic trip. Yes, I really love traveling in Bangkok, and will definitely go back for more.

Pre-visit Impression

As my company has active business network in Bangkok, some of the colleagues are frequently visiting there for business assignments. Thus, Bangkok has sometime been a conversation topic. In general, none of them has given negative comments on Bangkok tourism. In fact, I've always been cultured with the idea of how nice Bangkok is as a tourism city.

Due to my personal interest in Asian cultures, I find each of the Southeast Asia countries (with exception to Singapore, as it's too near to us haha) to be featured with distinctive and interesting ethnical cultures. That's why I was truly enjoying my Siem Reap trip for the quest of learning the once-glorious-ancient-civilization. Thailand has no exception, and thus it has always been my wish to visit Bangkok. But, unfortunately, the plan for Bangkok trip has been withdrawn a couple of times since 2005, due to discouraging responses from my peer group, resulted from the bomb blast threats.

Before visiting Bangkok, from my experience of preparation for this trip, I'm impressed to learn about the supportive and well-structured public transportation network available in Bangkok.

Just by visiting the BTS official website, I was truly amazed with the sufficient amount of valuable information featured, especially the train station site map. Clicking on each BTS station, you can get a comprehensive map of the surrounding environment, which includes marking of restaurants, hotels, shopping complexes, and business entities. This is something that we can't find in any of the websites for all the 4 train networks available in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

During my visit at Bangkok, the taxi network is another public transportation infrastructure that I'm impressed with. As the main objective of this post is to give you an introductory view of my pre-visit impression on Bangkok, I shall "pen down" here, and will continue with a series of posts on my short traveling experiences at Bangkok.

Stay tuned!

Just Bought Casio Ex-Z750 at RM550

2007-04-13T11:29:00.000+08:00

Hohohoho…. I've just grabbed a super hot deal this morning.

I bought Casio Ex-Z750 compact camera which comes with all the manual settings (shutter priority, aperture priority, manual focus, burst mode, exposure compensation) that I'm demanding for, in card-size! Best of all, I got it in look-as-new condition at RM550.

This goodie is sourced from a colleague of mine who is using Canon 30D. He was using it before switching into the SLR world half a year ago. I'm never a fan of second-hand gadgets, but I know how well he taken care of his photography equipments, and so sure I trust in his handling.

The first second when I read his blasted memo about this offer, without second thought I booked this Casio Ex-Z750 from him. Sorry to others who needs it more than I do hahaha. Well, this goodie is one of the highly rated compact cameras among the armatures, and a lot of them are using it as compact alternative.

Why Buy a Compact Camera?

A lot of my colleagues asked me the same question - "why you buy this camera as you already have Lumix FZ30?"

Hehehe…. It's not for me. I'm buying this for my girlfriend. She doesn't like to carry the bulky and relatively heavy Lumix FZ30. The weight of Lumix FZ30 always discourages her from carrying it out.

Though I don't mind the weight of my Lumix FZ30 at all, and in fact very happily carrying it out, but at times I would also prefer a decent compact camera when going out for casual outing and dinner.

Excellent Review

The Casio Ex-Z750 is always one of my favorable compact camera, though its production has been replaced with Ex-Z850.

On top of that, my interest for this camera is boosted with the excellent review at KentRockwell.com. It's simply irresistible. Where else can you can such a decent compact camera at RM550?

Comes with Everything like New

In general, the Casio Ex-Z750 built with 7.2MP resolution, 3X optical zoom, and 2.5" LCD. Moreover, it comes with a Super Life Lithium-Ion battery with capacity of 1230 mAh!!

The box still contains everything original, including but not limited to leather casing, 512MB SD card, cradle, and cables.

General Impression

I've got some quick hands-on with Casio Ex-Z750, and I'm able to access most of the commonly needed settings without the need of user manual. The user interface is good, response speed is fast like wild dog, and it's furnished with nice metal touch.

I've tested a few hand-held indoor shots (fluorescent lighting) without using flash, it works great, and I can't sense any blurriness of the image at full-size view.

Hohohoh…. I'm really excited with this good deal.

Will post up some pictures taken with this goodie ;)

Don't Download Storm Codec from These Sites

2007-04-13T09:15:00.000+08:00

In Januaray 2007, I've posted an article to promote for the great use of Storm Codec as solution for universal media player.

Recently, when Jason Lioh was trying to download and install Storm Codec 6.11 from Softpedia on his new Vista-powered laptop, he couldn't successfully complete the download. So, I suggested him another 2 alternative sites, to download Storm Codec 7.02.01 from Free-Codecs.com, or BaoFeng II from its official China site.

Guess what, the installers from both Free-Codecs.com and BaoFeng.com were bundled with Trojan horse. Ya, even from its official China site, ridiculous isn't it? Avast! running on Jason's laptop has detected the claimed Trojan.

So, please be aware when trying to install downloaded freeware. At least, scan the installer against viruses before installation, or make sure you have an active anti-virus scanning engine running.

Storm Codec Alternative

Alternatively, you can also choose XP Codec pack as an alternative to Storm Codec.

How to Implement Third-Party Cookies without Privacy Prompt?

2007-04-05T10:31:00.000+08:00

Recently, I have a friend who asked me an interesting question.

"How to code cookies in another domain without IE prompting privacy alert?"

In my opinion, we should avoid implementing third-party cookies at all, as it violates privacy policy, if not implemented in the right way.

However, my friend replied with another thought-provoking query - "But why websites like Yahoo can plant third-party cookies for Double Click?"

True enough, Double Click's cookies are generally accepted by default browser privacy policies.

At this point, if you're still uninitiated about third-party cookies, you may find out further relevant information at Microsoft and Wikipedia.

As quoted from Wikipedia:

Advertising companies use third-party cookies to track a user across multiple sites. In particular, an advertising company can track a user across all pages where it has placed advertising images or web bugs. Knowledge of the pages visited by a user allows the advertisement company to target advertisement to the user's presumed preferences.

IE Blocks Third-Party Cookies That Do Not Comply With P3P

The default privacy control in IE6, which is set to Medium level, blocks third-party cookies that do not have a compact privacy policy.

In this case, the compact privacy policy refers to W3C's Platform for Privacy Preference (P3P).

Platform for Privacy PreferencesThe Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P) enables Websites to express their privacy practices in a standard format that can be retrieved automatically and interpreted easily by user agents. P3P user agents will allow users to be informed of site practices (in both machine- and human-readable formats) and to automate decision-making based on these practices when appropriate. Thus users need not read the privacy policies at every site they visit.

So, in order to implement third-party cookies with compliance to default privacy policy, you have to attach P3P compact privacy policy to HTTP header.

You may refer to the following references for details on deployment of P3P privacy policy in HTTP headers.

My Laptop Has GSpot

2007-03-30T09:20:00.000+08:00

Yes, I’m not joking, my workplace laptop has a GSpot!

Hey, don’t misinterpret, I don’t mean the biological G-spot that you are thinking now :p I mean there’s a program called GSpot in my laptop PC hahaha.

GSpot is a codec identification utility, telling which video codec and audio compression method is used and whether the matching codec is installed. It was installed as a package with Storm Codec 5.

I actually recommended a colleague of mine to install Storm Codec as solution for universal media player. He installed, and freaked up when he realized a submenu called GSpot 2.52. By looking at this name, he thought he has got a Trojan horse or malware installed without his acknowledgement haha.

Cannot blame him also la, this program is really named a bit horny. If I have a shortcut of GSpot on my desktop, I think my clients will look at me “one kind” when my machine is on projector at client site hehe.

Conflicted Intel Graphics Controller Driver Makes My PC Halt

2007-03-29T08:56:00.000+08:00

Imagine the following scenarios for yourself:

PC restarted by itself without any prompt or alert.
Yellow blots at the edges of a window.
PC hung, resolution downgraded to 640 x 480 pixels, and color quality degraded to 8 bit color depth. Besides, an alert of “The ialmrnt5 display driver has stopped working normally. Save your work and reboot the system to restore full display functionality” was also shown.

Ridiculously, all the above weird symptoms were randomly happening on my PC for the past few weeks!

The following screen shot shows a yellow-blotted window.

Checking at Windows Event Viewer (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer), I got some error logs of the following details:
Event ID: 108
Source: ialm
Description: The driver ialmrnt5 for the display device \Device\Video0 got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates.

Though I have no idea about the source identity of “ialm”, but the clause “display device \Device\Video0” in log description has suggested about its relevance to the graphic or video controller.

It’s really frustrated to face with these weird symptoms everyday. So, I consulted Dr. Google for solution, and I got a few relevant sites or forums discussing about this exact issue.

Based on the result findings, apparently my assumption was quite true. Majority of the discussions have attributed this “disease” to the faulty drivers of some Intel graphics controllers.

Being a non-PC-gamer, my PC doesn’t have any standalone graphic card, but just a simple on-board Intel 82865G graphics controller. My PC was installed with the driver of version 6.14.10.3889, but the latest available version is 6.1.10.4396.

No harm trying, since the possibility of conflicted driver is high, I downloaded relevant driver of latest version, and updated on my PC.

So far, the updated driver seems to have solved my problem. I’ve yet to meet any of the symptoms discussed for 3 days, in contrast to daily occurrence before the update.

Say No to Flying with Flight Mode?

2007-03-26T17:40:00.000+08:00

In recent years, with smart phones, PDA phones and similar wireless gadgets getting more sophisticated and feature-rich, users are being more dependent on these gadgets as well, even while flying at a thousand-mile high altitude. Realizing this, the manufacturers are popularizing the concept of “flight mode” in wireless devices, which will deactivate the phone function while having other features running as usual. In other words, the wireless radio part of the device is turned off for safe use on airplane.

Not just the smart phones, Sony Ericsson Walkman phones also has an option to offer entertainment features while having the phone function switched off as well.

However, if we as user, activating our phone to flight mode in the plane, will the air stewardess believe in us and allow us using the phone?

I’ve heard from friends, whom experienced being requested to switch off the phone, regardless of its mode. Well, the rationale is understandable; the flight attendants wouldn’t want to take the risk of allowing phone usage, regardless which mode it’s on. Further more, there are hundreds of phone models out there, and obviously it wouldn’t be possible for every flight attendant to be familiarize with verification of mode.

Isn’t there any scanning device, which is able to detect mobile carrier signals? The airlines can probably invest in this kind of scanning device, which helps flight attendant to tell if a phone is emitting and receiving wireless signal, and effectively verify if a phone is really activated in flight mode.

I personally believe that such a scanning device is a must-have instead of good-to-have for today’s airline carriers, as personal portable devices are getting more comprehensive than before. On the other hand, though there are airlines accepting usage of wireless devices in flight mode, but I learned that most of them are still banning the use of all phones during flight regardless.

Have you got any experience to share regarding smart phone’s flight mode?

Paper Less, not Paperless

2007-03-22T17:46:00.000+08:00

More often than not, a lot of corporate institutes and government agencies are initiating business process enhancement by implementing electronic systems, with one of the missions, so-called paperless!

Not surprisingly, but the term "paperless" is becoming more like a commercial and cosmetic terms in business proposal, or simply to make up more points in Mission Statements and Project Objectives :)

However, come to think about it, is paperless feasible??

Based on my career experiences in enterprise web-based systems, I've yet to see any production system which doesn't have a Print or Printable View button. Doesn't the print function require paper? So is it still considered a paperless environment?

The answer is definite, I personally believe no single business or government entity can get away from paper.

But, to certain extend, thanks to database-driven data management, electronic systems are meant to reduce the consumption or need for papers. So, shouldn't it be called paper less (minimized paper consumption), and not paperless?

Fellow executives out there, shouldn't you revise the usage of cosmetic term? ;)

Does Your Wills Covers Succession of Digital Properties?

2007-03-14T10:40:00.000+08:00

A guideline for proper and legal setup of wills on conventional property types, such as real estate, cash, stock market shares and business entities, has long in existent.

However, in today's Internet superhighway generation, shouldn't we take succession of digital properties into serious account? Yes, I believe we should.

Time has changed, and now we're presented with a lot more varieties of new generation properties to be taken care, but many people are treating the importance and weightage of digital properties for granted.

For example, if you own a domain name of PR6 or above with constantly high site traffic volume, this is definitely a valuable property that can generate some big greens if sold.

If you're doing online internet marketing, or making money online, most probably you would have a PayPal account with real cash. Recently with paid blog posting and blog advertising getting popularized, a lot of bloggers have big greens in their PayPal.

If you have a website generating incomes from Google Adsense context-sensitive advertising, this is also an inheritable property. There could be a lot more other similar programmes that are subscribing to.

What about email account? With webmail operators offering free and large storage capacity, you are most likely having some important emails stored; not surprisingly, account passwords.

The above scenarios are just some examples to illustrate the importance of new age digital properties. I'm sure these examples would inspire you relating them to some other important digital properties that you own.

What do these examples have in common? They all require a valid and authorized login account for management. Without it, it's definitely hard, or in some cases impossible, to legally transfer the account to new registrant. Not sure if you're of, but Yahoo for example, doesn't allow any account survivorship or transferability.

As quoted from Yahoo! Terms of Service:

No Right of Survivorship and Non-Transferability. You agree that your Yahoo! account is non-transferable and any rights to your Yahoo! ID or contents within your account terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate, your account may be terminated and all contents therein permanently deleted.

Wouldn't you want your successor to have access to them? Else, all your hard efforts will vanish without proper succession.

Just I thought, you should be aware of this ;)