iPhone wait is over......

Mark your calendar today for mobile phone history has a new chapter! The iPhone 2.0 wait is finally over and it is launched on my mum's birthday (no kidding) on 11 July 2008 at least at 22 countries ONLY (excluding Malaysia, Singapore and other countries though).

Yes, we have had heard much hype about this revolutionary mobile marvel by Apple and there are even hard-core fans queueing for it two days before the launch (in Japan)! Besides upgrade to support 3G, the surprise was that the newer version is actually cheaper than its predecessor! The iPhone is also thinner and spots a different back cover material. 

But prospective owners need to be alert that the suggested retail price was tagged along with a subscription plan from a service provider, normally for 2 years. Depending on the country where the phone is bought, the subscription plan differs and tends to falls on the higher tier category. 

I am not a hardcore Apple fan and has no plans of the switch but not until I see what wonders the additional application that the phone now allows users to download and install can do. Check out the review here:  (http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/8_Cool_Things_You_Can_Do_With_Your_iPhone_2DOT0). I was kinda blown away after seeing how amazing the small applications with a little or no cost at all can do more wonders on the already marvelous iPhone! I gotta admit I am quite tempted and hope I won't be joining the hardcore fans queueing for two days when it is launched locally.

Cross your fingers for the arrival of the phone in your country soon!

Dr. Oz's Food Hall of Shame - - 5Nutrition - MSN Health & Fitness

Check out this page on MSN:

http://health.msn.com/nutrition/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=100170901&imageindex=5

Dr. Oz has listed 5 types of food in his Hall of Shame that shouldn’t be included in our daily diet or should be reduced for a healthy living.

Enjoy!

**Another healthy living tips blogged**

More moeny pumped into the 9MP...but who benefits?

The government has announced a RM 30 bil increase to the investment capital for 9MP from the existing RM 200 bil already-allocated fund. See the full story here: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/26/nation/20080626133019&sec=nation

An excerpt of the news article is shown below and my comments in RED
"Among the main initiatives topping the agenda are:
·eradicating poverty [duh, it has beent he slogan for god-knows-how-many-years-ago];
·providing affordable housing to the low and middle income [with low cost material as well??];
·providing access to water and electricity [with higher utility tariffs?];
·enhancing health care [from worst to worse, I guess, keep it up];
·improving the standard of living of marginalised groups [this is lame, HOW?];
·narrowing intra and inter ethnic income and wealth gaps [more bumiputera-centric development project? NEP in a new face??];
·strengthening human capital [Errr.... lame again];
·upgrading public safety [Yeah, nice to hear this but again, HOW?];
·improving environmental management and conservation [well, this is laudable!];
·and developing regional corridors and accelerating development of Sabah and Sarawak [... in respond to SAPP claim??].

I appreciate that government is putting so much interest with people centric development, the announcement sounds nice to the ears but it really depend on the capability of the government to deliver them. Not just giving out candy, walk the talk, please!

We have yet to see solid plans for each of the promises above but money has already been allocated. It remains a puzzle how it would be FULLY utilised to reach the goals. With the rising cost of living, the government should really rethink the way to help Rakyat cope with inflation. My humble opinion is that the average Malaysian is underpaid in terms of salary. With a stagnant or with small salary increment, if not above the infaltion rate, will definately reduces the ability to cope with the spiraling rise of the cost of living.

By the way, where is the LRT for JB that has been promised since the last petrol price hike? Hope the government puts in more efforts to enhance public transportation system not only in KL but also in other cities and rural areas as well. Building more roads and higways is not the way.....

What could have happened to my PC??

Last Sunday, 8 June, I woke up to find that the screen of my computer monitor has gone amok! The display properties shown that I am viewing the screen at 8 bit (lowest colour setting) and the resolution set to 800X600. A check on my Adapter properties shows that it does not recognise the nVidia GeForce4 M440 graphic card which I have been using since my clone computer was born on 2002 (I guess). This indicates that something has gone wrong with my display card. Probing further, I check the hardware properties under the Device Manager (Oh, FYI to readers, I am using Windows XP on a AMD Athlon XP +2100 processor). The nVidia graphic card is indicated as not functioning properly and several reinstall of the driver does not help but worsen the problem. I am not unable to log on to Windows as the monitor turned black after the welcome screen.

Next, I boot up in Safe Mode to reinstall my Graphic Card driver and the result was the sam. After every restart to complete the installation, I got a black screen waiting for me after the Windows Welcome screen :( Convinced that it could be due to hardware failure, I opened up my Computer casing to find that the cooling fan for my graphic card is not rotating, hence I thought my Graphic Card could have reach its time to retire.

After doing some research online of the price and the compatibility of the AGP version of PCIE Graphic Card do no harm to my system, I purchased an AGP nVidia 6800 XT chipset Graphic Card. However, after installation, the problem persist. My computer is displaying lowest colout bit rate with the default vga driver loaded. The installation of nVidia's Forceware is not successful either as the computer is greeting me with black screen again after loading Windows.

With me running out of idea to solve the problem, I decided to send it to the nearest computer repair shop located at Kip Mart. Initial diagnosis could not identify the problem and the repairman bet with me by claiming that if the problem persist after installation of a newly formatted HDD with Windows, he will not charge me, if otherwise, I will be charged RM55 for service fee. Confident with the status of my HDD which already 3 years old and no big changes has been done to my OS lately, I accepted the bet. The next day, the repairman proudly shows me that with new HDD loaded with Windows XP OS, my pc was running normally without display issue. Almost convinced, I demanded that my old HDD to be fitted into the system to check for compatibility of running two HDD at one time. However, when fixing in my old HDD into the system, the repairmen claimed that a sad-faced smiley has appeared on my CMOS screen and the system cannot detect my old HDD now as a slave drive because of suspected hardware failure.

I have never received any failure regarding my HDD and no virus attack before as the repairman says the hardware failure can be easily caused by virus attack. I look at him with total disbelief. After weighing long time about the available options in front of me, I have decided to pay off the service charge and get cracking on my own to find the solution to my problem. Since I now know that the botht he graphic cards are in working condition and it could be working on my machine after I formatted my C drive with a fresh new install of windows.

The next day, I moved all my stuff to other partition to back them up and moved on the reformat and reinstall Windows. To my delight, the reformat has solved the problem finally but what makes me worried more is whether my HDD is working perfectly or not? After the reformat, I am also unable to install my TV card properly... heck the problem just keeps popping out one after another!

Wish me luck as my battle to get my PC going continues!

I had a bad movie experience with GSC

I had a bad movie experience with GSC at KungFu Panda screening on 15 June 2008, 2.40pm, Pelangi Leisure Mall.

The following is the actual comment posted on the cinema website www.gsc.com.my: 

Using the ticket reservation service from GSC.com.my, I have made my reservation for the movie on Friday. Everything gone well with GSC sending me a confirmation email to my registered email address. Due to wrong number of ticket reserved during the first attempt, I had made two reservations consecutively as there is no option for me to edit my reservation. (one time for two person ref: 713999 and another time for three person ref:714002). HOWEVER, to my astonishment, the officer at the ticketing counter shocked me by telling me that there is no record of my reservations (both of them) at all!! I queried her about how this could have happened but she is as clueless and unhelpful at all. She suggested that I buy the ticket on the spot and forget about the reservation. Luckily I was early to get the bad news at 1pm, I was able to get a good seat despite the blunder.

After taking my lunch, I arrived at GSC Cinema, Hall 5 at Pelangi Leisure Mall at 2.30pm only to find that my seats (F12 to F14) was occupied and the occupant showed me their ticket originally printed with seat number R12 to R14 that had been strike off using pen to indicate new seat number as F12 to F14. I have no clue who could have done that. Feeling frustrated and ultimately dissatisfied, I had contacted the GSC officer to resolve the dispute. After much clarification and delay, the reluctant occupants left the cinema with the officer. Their relocation of seats might be due to the moving disability of one of the occupants. However, the cinema should always check and relocate to EMPTY seats instead. 

The worst is not over as the whole movie experience was spoiled by the previous incidents and the malfunctioned air-conditioning, setting me to fume throughout the movie. Thanks you for giving me a "MEMORABLE" KungFu Panda experience. 

PS: It would be best if you could cast some lights to the course of sour events that had happened, especially to the online reservation blunder, thanks!

N82 is black?

For those who follow closely on N series phone, you should have known that Nokia has unleased the most-feature-packed phone in the phenomenal N Series range, the N82 which hails to beat N73 out of its throne of being the best market seller.

Being a Jack of all trades, one shouldn't expect it to be a master of none though. The latest offering from Nokia incorporates 5 MP Carl Zeiss optic lenses autofocus camera with blinding xenon flash in a sleek candybar form factor. Taking pictures in the night has never been better with the newly improved flash light.

You will never get lost too with the N82 in hand as the A-GPS pre-loaded in the phone will point your way to your desired destiny by foot or driving. Got bored while travelling? Hook up your favourite head phone to the standard 3.55mm earphone jack to enjoy your mp3 or listening to radio. Got tired of wires? Go wireless with a Bluetooth headphone to enjoy stereo streaming of songs using AD2P profile right to your ears wire-free!! The phone is also running on latest Symbian S60 v9 FP2 OS featuring an enhanced user interface. I particularly was amazed by the Multimedia menu where you can access the media files in your device easily through a scrolling interface much like the iTune's album scroll.

Connectivity wise, it has rode on the wifi bandwagon inheriting the N80 range legacy which sees increasing popularity nowadays for mobile internet browsing. Being wirelessly connected also enables user to install thrid party softwares such as FRING, WIDSETS, MOBILE WEATHER, YAHOO! GO on the generous 2GB micro SD storage that comes in bundle with the phone without feeling the pinch in the pocket while accessing content using wifi.

Although there has been some complaint of the plastic outlook of the phone design, the designers in Nokia are listening and responding to public feedback by introducing the N82 in sleek sexy black. For a glimpse of the sleek N82 in black, peek here http://www.nseries.com/index.html#l=products,n82

So, should I wait for the black beauty or go ahead to grab it now? Your comments are welcome!

It's been (MIA) a while......

Hi all,

Thanks for reading once again. Was glad to receive one comment on my posting recently albeit the comment was about the time lapse between my posts on this blog. It certainly hit me that I need to put more effort to mantain this dedicated online space about my life.

Well, since my last post on Dec 7 (if i remembered correctly), things has changed. I have moved on to new company and their IT restriction policy has somewhat directed my attention away from Facebook which I have been spending most of my precious work time at old company. I swear to post more in the coming months as I rediscover blogging......

That's all for now, there has been a few topics in my mind but just couldn't find time to compose them or find it kinda irrelevant to post it here. Please bear with me while I sort it out and you may soon see new postings.....

Ciao!