BMW Vision: A BMW Concept Car

Have you guys wondered how BMW would have their cars deployed for the future? Here's part of their vision, the BMW Vision:

Lotus Evora To Be Launched In Malaysia

The Star reporter (CHOI TUCK WO, Evora to vroom in next month) today that the Lotus Evora would hit the local market somewhere within the end of next month. Evora is said to be using a new Lotus car-platform since the introduction of Lotus Elise in 1995.

Here are the general specs i have extracted pertaining the car:
* Acceleration: 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds
* Top speed: 261 km/h
* CO2 emission: 205 g/km
* Fuel consumption: 8.69 L/100 km
* Drag coefficient: 0.337

From the looks of it, just like any other Lotus cars, the Evora has been designed to perfection in terms of aerodynamics as well as handling at high speed by having a wide wheel base and lower center of gravity. The launch of Evora is said to meet Lotus's mission of competing with Porshe's Cayman (though I don't see how that's relevant). The car is currently being sold in the UK market at 48,000 pounds. In fact it has been awarded as the Best Car under £50,000 by GQ magazine. Despite that, Malaysians can expect the price of Evora doubled (or more) due to Malaysia's fantastic tax structure on imported cars.

Basic AVG Troubleshooting

AVG is a complete internet security system providing end users protection from all end points identified as vulnerable. That being said, AVG does have its flaws when it down to the application by itself. Usage of AVG has been known to cause the "SYSTEM" process to utilize memory way higher than the usual. Following are the common issues when it comes to dealing with AVG

1. Installation issues:

a. MSVC Redistributables installation failed.
- The fix for this issue is available at the following AVG FAQ:
http://www.avg.com/faq?num=2654

b. Access Is Denied
- Ensure that you have Administrative privilage and download the following utility prior to installation:
http://www.avg.com/filedir/util/support/reset_access_avg9_en.exe

2. Firewall Issues:

a. Firewall cannot start because an error occurred in communication with driver
Perform a repair installation
- Download the AVG Setup file and run it. At the relevant screen select "repair installation"

b. HP Printer and AVG Firewall
- The easiest way is to go to "Firewall Settings" then Application. In the application list, select "Generic Host Process" and set it to "Allow All".
- Alternatively, you need to setup a Safe Network:
http://www.avg.com/faq?num=1218

3. Link Scanner Database is Outdated
- Disconnect from the internet and delete the following folders:
Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application\AVG9\Update (Delete Update folder)
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\avg (Delete the AVG folder)

Windows Vista
C:\ProgramData\avg9\Update (Delete the Update folder)
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\avg (Delete the AVG folder)

Hope that helps

Google Buzz: Taking on Social Network Giant Facebook & Twitter

Google is planning to take the social network giants by the launch of Buzz. The service, which is integrated directly with GMail will allow its users to post status update, share content as well as read or comment on posts by their friends. GMail which currently has 170 million users worldwide, is planning to take on Facebook with its nearly 400 million users.

Prior to this, Google released Orkut which hasn't proved to be much of a success. In fact, Orkut is not known to many worldwide. Let's just see how Buzz does.

Google Public DNS

Google recently launched the Google Public DNS [Domain Name Server], allowing users to bypass their ISP's DNS. DNS, or Domain Name Servers are used to translate domain names (all the .com's, .net's) into its respective IP address. They somewhat work as the backbone of the internet allowing millions of internet users to retrieve information from web sites based on domain names (google.com), instead of IP addresses (74.125.53.100).

Google claims that they want to provide users an alternative to their ISP's DNS to help make the internet faster, more reliable and somewhat more safer. Google engineers have been working on DNS for the past few months to improve its design and engineering. Instead of looking up from an ISP's DNS, Google DNS will be using its data-center and caching facility to resolve these domain name requests.

Google Public DNS will be using 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as its IP address. For users who are unsure on how they could change their DNS, Google has provided step-by-step instructions for all operating systems. The instructions can be accessed here

If you're wondering what Domain Name Server (DNS) is, well, simply picture sending a letter to "John Doe" via the postal office and the postal office will know where exactly to deliver the letter to. In this case, John Doe is the domain whilst his receiving address is the IP address.

Withdraw PayPal To Malaysian Bank Account

Finally PayPal can be withdrawed to Malaysian bank accounts. This has been going on sometime actually, just thought it's best if i key it down for you guys. The withdrawal is free for more than RM400 whilst any amount below that would be charged RM3 per transaction. Yes, it's free if you with more than RM400 from your PayPal account to any Malaysia banks. The duration stated is between 2 to 3 days.

Here are the sending / receiving fee details

For Domestic Payment
3.4% + RM2 per transaction or below (for transaction volume less than RM12,000)


For Cross-Border Payment ( fees for receiving payments from buyers outside Malaysia)
3.9% + RM2 per transaction or below (for transaction volume less than RM12,000)


To perform these withdrawal, here are the information that you will need:-

Malaysia Bank Routing Code (also known as SWIFT Code)
==========================================

Bank Name	MEPS Bank Routing Code
AFFIN BANK BERHAD	PHBMMYKL
ALLIANCE BANK MALAYSIA BERHAD	MFBBMYKL
AMBANK BERHAD	ARBKMYKL
BANK ISLAM MALAYSIA BERHAD	BIMBMYKL
BANK KERJASAMA RAKYAT BERHAD	BKRMMYK1
BANK MUAMALAT BERHAD	BMMBMYKL
BANK OF AMERICA	BOFAMY2X
BANK SIMPANAN NASIONAL	BSNAMYK1
CIMB BANK BERHAD	BSNAMYK1
CITIBANK BERHAD	CITIMYKL
DEUSTCHE BANK	DEUTMYKL
EON BANK BERHAD	EOBBMYKL
HONG LEONG BANK BERHAD	HLBBMYKL
HSBC BANK MALAYSIA BERHAD	HBMBMYKL
MALAYAN BANKING BERHAD	MBBEMYKL
OCBC BANK (M) BERHAD	OCBCMYKL
PUBLIC BANK BERHAD	PBBEMYKL
RHB BANK BERHAD	RHBBMYKL
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK MSIA BHD	SCBLMYKX
THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND BERHAD (RBS)	ABNAMYKL
UNITED OVERSEAS BANK	UOVBMYKL

How They Make Money From Web Sites

Recently I came across an article that was discussing "the art" of making money online. Blogging today, has been a rapid trend among netizens. Most of them have utilized this passion or hobby into becoming a source of income. In fact, one doesn't have to be a blogger to do so. Owning a website, knowing your audience, catering to what is in demand helps you to better improve you revenue. The whole subject of making money online is too broad as it branches out to many different ways.

In this article, we'll look into the different keywords used, as well as the insight of online advertising. Many of you would have came across the term Pay Per Click, Cost Per Action, In-Text Advertising and many more.

Before going into these programs, let's identify who is what in this arena. For instance, I would like to include advertisements on my website. I'm enrolled with Google AdSense program. Company A uses Google to advertise their products. whilst Google displays these advertisements on my site. So in this case, I will be known as a Publisher whilst Company A will be known as Advertiser.

Pay Per Click [PPC]
As the name suggests, PPC is an advertising model where advertisers pay you [Pubilsher] when a click is made on their ad. Google AdSense for instance, is a Pay Per Click service that displays ad on your web site based on the content that you display. Google AdSense is known to provide content based advertisements. Which is, when you write about camera's, they display advertisements from Advertisers who are in the business of dealing with camera's. The monetary flow is as same as every other agency:Advertiser pays the agency, upon click, agency pays you and take a cut.

Cost Per Action [CPA]
Cost Per Action or CPA is an online advertising model where the advertiser pays publisher for each specified action. This actions can come in the form of a form submission, filling up surveys, registering to a mailing list and etc. This advertising somewhat utilizes the idea of barter trading with visitors. Say for instance you provide a content on your site [e.g. eBook, Music, Video]. Using CPA Advertising, you could force your users to fill in the survey [or form] in order to access your content [the music]. This is done using a Content Gateway. Apparently this is a very successful advertising method. Put it this way, if the visitor wants to download that song from your site, fill in the survey or leave. The survey might just be worth USD1 each.

I wrote this article after coming across an amazing eBook tutorial on generating revenue using CPA advertising. It includes the entire step from starting the site up to marketing it to get visitors. It's not a gimmick, i've done my site and registered with the suggested CPA agency. The link to download the tutorial is included at the end of this article. As a return of my effort on writing this article, I hope you can fill in my survey to download that eBook tutorial that i used. After all, i'm not asking you to purchase it.