My Satria Neo

Best Nagios Configuration Tools

2011-06-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

Service monitoring can be a pain in the @$$. This is worse especially when your organization has hundreds of servers around the world and having a team to monitor is just not enough. Nagios is the industry standard in enterprise-class monitoring for good reason. It allows you to gain insight into your network and fix problems before customers know they even exist. It’s stable, scalable, supported, and extensible. Here is a list of Nagios 3.x web front ends or GUI tools that you might find useful if you are scouting for a web interface to administrate your Nagios configuration.

Nconf

NConf is a PHP based web-tool for configuring the Nagios monitoring software. It differs from similar tools by offering enterprise-class features like service templates, dependencies and to configure a large-scale, distributed Nagios server topology.

Website : http://sourceforge.net/projects/nconf/

Centreon

Centreon is a network, system, applicative supervision and monitoring tool, it is based upon the most effective Open Source monitoring engine : Nagios.

Website : http://www.centreon.com/

Lilac

The Lilac Platform is a collection of tools to enhance existing open source monitoring applications. Currently the focus is on the Lilac Configurator, a configuration tool written to configure Nagios, a popular Network monitoring application.

Website : http://www.lilacplatform.com/

NagiosQL

NagiosQL is a web based administration tool for Nagios 2 and Nagios 3. It helps you to easily build a complex configuration with all options, manage and use them. NagiosQL is based on a webserver with PHP, MySQL and local file or remote access to the Nagios configuration files.

Website : http://www.nagiosql.org

IGNORAMUS

This is the Ignoramus- A Nagios Config Generator project (“ignoramus-anagi”).IGNORAMUS is a Config Generator / Editor for Nagios 3.0.

Website : http://ignoramus-anagi.sourceforge.net/

Monarch

Monarch is a web-based engine for the configuration and management of the Nagios network monitoring system. It is included as a component of GroundWork Monitor Open Source, a full featured and highly integrated IT monitoring solution.

Website : http://sourceforge.net/projects/monarch

Nagios Control PaneL (NCPL)

NCPL is a webbased solution written in PERL for configuring Nagios. NCPL gives you centralized control over remote Nagios systems from a central server and permits to edit and install new config files. It uses MySQL to store configuration data.

Website : http://sourceforge.net/projects/ncpl/

Nag2web

A PHP/MySQL web front-end for Nagios setup. With the ability to add/remove/edit the config items. The web front-end for NAGIOS has the ability to test the config. We want to build a simple possibility to find and show all the features in NAGIOS.

Website : http://nag2web.de/

Opsview

Opsview is a fully integrated monitoring tool that incorporates popular Open Source software including Nagios, Net-SNMP and RRDtool. The Catalyst web framework provides an extensible monitoring and configuration user interface. Opsview server software runs on Linux and Solaris 10. It will monitor all common operating systems including Linux, AIX, Solaris and Windows.

Website : http://opsview.org

OSSIM

Ossim stands for Open Source Security Information Management. Its goal is to provide a comprehensive compilation of tools which, when working together, grant a network/security administrator with detailed view over each and every aspect of his networks/hosts/physical access devices/server/etc… Besides getting the best out of well known open source tools, some of which are quickly described below these lines, ossim provides a strong correlation engine, detailed low, mid and high level visualization interfaces as well as reporting and incident managing tools, working on a set of defined assets such as hosts, networks, groups and services.
Integrating Snort, Acid/Base, MRTG, NTOP, Nagios, NMAP, Nessus and RRDTool we want the user to have full control over every network or security aspect.

Website : http://www.ossim.net/

NagiosAdmin

NagiosAdmin is a web-based management tool for Nagios written in PHP. You can easily add new servers to the running Nagios-installation.

Website : http://www.nagiosadmin.de

Nagios Configurator

Nagios Configurator is PHP based webinterface, import/export nagios configuration files, graphical representation of services, dependencies etc. for confirmation and documentation of Nagios implementation. Works independently with all versions of Nagios

Website : http://sourceforge.net/projects/nagiosconfig/

2011 Hyundai Genesis

2011-02-19T10:29:00.000-08:00

Have you had the chance to see the Hyundai Genesis car yet? If you haven’t, I highly recommend taking a ride to Florida Hyundai Genesis Dealer and inspect one out. Hyundai has taken comfort, safety and style and pieced them all together to form this magnificent automobile.

The Hyundai Genesis has established to be the ideal blend of luxury and feat. Palm Beach Hyundai is the nation's premier Hyundai Genesis Dealer, selling more parts and accessories than any other. They transport parts and accessories nationwide. If you are in the marketplace for a lavish vehicle offered at a reasonable price, you should consider the 2011 Hyundai Genesis. This full sized sedan is stylish, packed with great features and is fun to drive.

The Hyundai Genesis has made a enormous splash into the luxury car market. Ironclad performance backed by a nice, quiet drive makes every trip as gentle as possible. Thanks to a succulent interior that delivers space as well as creature comforts, driver and passengers alike have no issues feeling right at home on the inside this gorgeous machine. The only thing that’s missing from the vehicle is your touch. That problem is easily solved inside Napleton’s selection of Hyundai Genesis Accessories and parts!

If you are ready to see this car in person and slide behind the wheel for a test drive, then call Florida Hyundai Genesis Dealer to schedule an appointment or simply stop by the dealership at your convenience.

Knowing Your Risks....

2010-09-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

If you have a high mobility in your life, it is important for you to have your own vehicle. By having your own means of transportation, you can go to everywhere you like. The most favorite private vehicle which you usually found is car. Car is become the best solution for you to complete your mobility.

There are many kinds of car that you can find in the marketplace today. Sometimes, you may feel that it is significant for you to take care of your car. If it is something happen with your car, it would be very rigid for you because you need to spend more funds.
If you want to make your car has a safety service while there is something broken, you can try car insurance.

If you want to get reliable car insurance, you can go to www.autoinsurancecenter.com. It is the best insurance for your car which will gives you the lowest quote. You can easily get low auto insurance rates and quotes in just a minute. Besides that, in this site, you may find any information about car insurance.

Satria Neo Lotus R3 Edition

2010-07-04T19:15:00.001-07:00

As usual, i always post news of the latest edition late on my site. Anyway, Proton in conjunction with Lotus has recently launched a limited edition of Satria Neo known as the Satria Neo R3 Lotus edition. The 145bhp car is priced at RM115,000 (in which i'd rather get a Lancer GT) is able to perform 0-100km/h in just 9.2 seconds and tops speed of up to 200kmh compared to the 10.5 seconds and 190kmh for the Neo CPS MT edition.

The car is equipped with a carbon fibre bonnet (still doesn't do justice to the price tag) featuring Lotus Racing emblems. There's said to be only 25 units in production and they're almost sold out. Check out the following picture's to satisfy your thirst.

Streamyx Online Registration

2010-06-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

Streamyx online registration can now be done at http://www.streamyxonlineregistration.com/. The one stop portal allows customers to apply for Streamyx connection without the need of going to any TM Point, hence beating any form of queue or waiting period.

Simply visit http://www.streamyxonlineregistration.com/ and fill in the form that is available and apply instantly.

Car Towing The Japanese Way...

2010-05-24T06:08:00.000-07:00

Only the Japanese would have thought of coming up with a towing method such as this. And it does seem like a good idea too...

Online Replacement and Application for MyKad

2010-05-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

Unknown to many, replacement for MyKad's can now be done online at www.myeg.com.my. To do so, you need to have an account with myeg, in which registration can be done in merely a few steps, just like registering for any email account. The online application process can be completed in a matter of minutes, whilst the collection for the MyKad can be done at your selected JPN branch.

The application process however, may take up to 10 days, in which i believe is subject to the number of applications on the branch that you have selected.

Once you're logged in to your account, click on the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara option. After the user agreement screen, you will be given the following options:

Replacement Due to Card/Chip Damage
This is for replacement can be made if the card is physically damaged or the chip is unreadable during the verification process by the agency throughout any transactions.

Normal Replacement
This is for upgrading your current MyKad to the 64k version.

Replacement Due to Loss
The replacement can be made through myeg if application for lost card does not exceed 5 times. The compounds will be issued accordingly based on the number of report. An appeal can be made on the JPN counter at the branch.

On the same screen you will also be prompted to fill your credentials and the state and branch you wish to collect your MyKad once it's done. The following screen will be for the payment section.

The payment method that is available includes Maxis's e-Money and credit card payment. Apart from the replacement charges (First time is RM10), there will be an RM2 surcharge from myeg them self. It is highly suggested that you have a copy of the receipt printed out for smoother transaction during collection. JPN's (Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara) are from 8:00AM to 5:30PM. Be an early bird and you may just be done within half an hour in the collection office.

Arizona Immigration Law

2010-04-25T23:06:00.000-07:00

Phoenix, USA - Civil rights groups were preparing to fight controversial anti-immigration laws introduced in Arizona.

The action caught the attention of President Barrack Obama who criticized the move. Governor Jan Brewer ignored criticism from President Barack Obama and signed into law a bill on Friday that supporters said would take handcuffs off police in dealing with illegal immigration in Arizona.

Arizona also happens to be the nation's busiest gateway for human and drug trafficking from Mexico. Despite such issue, many feel that approval of this bill brings more damage than good to the current situation.

With hundreds of protesters outside the state Capitol shouting that the bill would lead to civil rights abuses, Brewer said critics were "overreacting" and that she wouldn't tolerate racial profiling.

With the senate bill 1070 (a.k.a. sb 1070), its hard to foresee the future of the state with such a law.

The All New Proton Satria Neo R3 Lotus Racing

2010-04-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Proton recently launched a special edition of their Neo CPS – the Proton Satria Neo R3 Lotus Racing. The Lotus engineered car, priced at RM115k, has various equipment upgrades including an engine tune-up. Producing a 145 bhp and 168 Nm of torque, the engine is a substantial 25 bhp and 18 Nm up on the standard CPS. 0-100 km/h is now done in 9.2 seconds and top speed is 200 km/h, compared to 10.5 seconds and 190 km/h for the standard Neo CPS M/T.

RM115,000 is a lot of money to pay for a Satria Neo, but this doubled price tag over the standard Neo CPS comes with much more than just a carbon fibre bonnet and Lotus Racing emblems. There’s some serious performance upgrades that should make it quite a hoot to drive, and these improvements are not just reflected in the vital stats.

Source: Paultan.org & Google.com

BMW Vision: A BMW Concept Car

2010-03-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-02-24T17:43:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-23T23:34:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-09T18:11:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-03T22:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-22T19:16:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-11T21:59:00.000-08:00

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.

BolehTVOnline : Why Download When You Can Watch For Free?

2009-11-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

I've been playing around with WordPress and came across some cool themes. Some fantastic theme's actually. So I decided to come up with my own online movie site. It goes by the motto "Why Download when you can watch for free?" and is called BolehTVOnline.Com. Do drop by and check out the site at www.bolehtvonline.com

It will be updated on a daily basis on all the latest tv series. Currently added on the site are tv series such as Californication, Dexter, Desperate Housewives, House MD, Heroes and many more. Do leave a comment or a word or two, so that i'd know if you guys hate it or love it.

http://www.bolehtvonline.com/

Peace OuT

SMART Tag & Touch 'N Go

2009-10-26T02:14:00.000-07:00

The SMART Tag, or better known as "System Membayar Automatic Rangkaian Tol", is an on board unit device that automatically transmits your Touch N' Go card information [RFID] to a receiving beacon at the toll gate. This procedure allows monetary deduction to be done automatically instead of having you to roll down the window and physically touching your Touch N' Go card to the reader. Thanks to this system, transactions can be processed 4 times faster than a cash lane.

Why is this technology considered to be left behind? First of all, the device requires a 9V battery to beam its signal. The only benefit of the battery would be that it gives you real time balance information of your Touch 'N Go card. Assuming that your device ran out of power source, you are required to manually touch your card to the reader. I wonder if PLUS is selling batteries at their toll booths.

So how can this be improved? Why not implement a reader 6 feet tall beacon that scans for RFID presence from the side of the car? Instead of having your tag to beam the information, why not let it be read. Technology has advanced so much that today you can even print out RFID tags, which could be utilized by high powered antenna's. Even car parks these days implement this technology to identify season parking drivers. Now, PLUS merely wants to make SMART Tag more convenient by allowing drivers to travel at higher speed whilst passing through the toll booths, which I would say is fair yet pointless. This is as the SMART Tag device costs RM130 today. Why the increment from RM100?

Marketing for SMART Tag is equally as bad. SMART Tag is so difficult to obtain that at every toll booths that you stop by, they're usually out of it. Sale location for this device is even more ridiculous. Who would want to head all the way to KLIA to purchase SMART Tag? SMART Tag is being placed at KLIA instead of central KL which has a high population of road users.

Hopefully soon enough they'll be able to identify these weakness that they've been practicing for the past decade and make every drivers life a better one.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

2009-10-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA] is a law in the United States that criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures [a.k.a. Digital Rights Management(DRM)] that control access to copyrighted works.

Long story short, DMCA is the plagiarism from a copyright material. If you post or share a copyright material, DMCA is the law that allows your website [be it a blog or forum to be shut down]. Since implementation, DMCA has been criticized for making it easy for copyright material owners to get web site owners to take down the infringing content and links when it may not even be a copyright material.

When web masters receive DMCA notice, very few of them fight the cause and give in by taking down the related material. The question of linking to a site containing infringing material has been a hot debate among netizens. According to Stephan Ott of LinksandLaw.com states that "linking to infringing content is unlawful and that is also what most of the courts say". In Germany, things work differently as ISP's are not required to reveal the identity of its user. The law in Germany states that "An Internet access provider is not principally obligated to reveal the name and address of an Internet user who offers downloads of music files on the Internet, thus violating the copyrights or other rights of third parties", the Higher Regional Court's of Frankfurt wrote. In its ruling (PDF) handed down today, the Court overturned a lower court order to have the name of an Internet user who operated a music server via a German provider made known to a music firm (reference no.: 11 U 51/04).

Recently, google shut down my blog upon numerous DMCA notice. Word of advice, if you're ever planning to start a blog and go global, get your own private hosting or blog service from a country that does not comply with the DMCA. Countries that does not comply with DMCA includes China & Russia. The European Union (EU) countries uses EDEC.

A good guide to DMCA is available here PlagiarismToday

& Then Ther's The Remix...

2009-09-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

It's about time that I came out with my own remix. I dedicated a day to learn the trick and trade of remixing...End result?well, somehow managed to "somewhat" master the art of beat mapping using Sony Acid Pro 7.

Song choice? Recently I was over at youtube and found a clip by our very own local artiste Caprice Featuring Annatasha - Thinking Of You. I find the track really good. Something that I don't usually conclude when it comes to a Malaysian track. The only down-side is the repeated Celcom promotion on the verse...

Nuff said..Here's the outcome : Caprice Feat Annatasha - Thinking Of You(DJ SouL ReMix)

salut~

-SouL-

...

2009-09-11T05:21:00.001-07:00

Wonder how Rufus is..got a feeling you'll be reading this..

-SouL-

Testing A Infra-Red Remote Control

2009-09-06T09:39:00.001-07:00

Just thought of including some of my old school tricks on this blog. Ever wondered whether your remote control is working? These question tend to popup after placing a new battery pack onto your remote control (especially your Astro or TV remote control).

What you need is a digital camera or even your camera phone. Turn on your camera and point the remote control to your digital camera's lense. Start pressing on any random button and take a look on the LCD screen. If you see a blinking light, then bingo! Your remote control is definitely working. If your battery pack is new and there's no blinking light whilst pressing the buttons, then it must be your remote control.

There Goes My Neo...

2009-09-01T03:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I updated this blog. Recently I sold off my Satria Neo (1.3 MT) at RM27,000. The car has served me loyally for two years. Here's how consider my losses.

Purchased Market Price : RM43,500
(-) Cash Discount From Proton : RM500
(-) Additional Discount : RM3,500 (In the form of Toshiba Laptop)
(-) Sold At : RM27,000

If you do the maths, I made a loss of RM12,500 in that 2 years period, in which annually I would have lost RM6250. That's quite a high depreciation, which is not surprising for a Proton. All I could do is consider myself renting the car in that 2 years period.

Word of advice, getting a brand new Proton means that you suffer high depreciation on the first 2-3 years. On a usual case, driving your car back home on the first day from a Proton showroom would have made you suffer a lost of up to RM5000.

Foreign cars such as Kia, Hyundai, Volvo, Audi has a low resale value. This would mean that you suffer high losses. To make the best out of owning these cars is to keep it for a duration of 5 to 7 years. Everyone knows in Malaysia that cars with low resale value has high maintenance cost whilst cars with high resale value has lower maintenance cost. Take Honda, it has one of the best resale value in Malaysia with affordable maintenance cost. So if you're planning to get a brand new car, don't forget to think of its resale value. It does matter when you're planning to get rid of it.

Calvin Klein Man

2009-07-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

I just bought an 100ml bottle of this perfume at The Perfume Shop during sale. Cost me only 17 pounds. I don’t have to worry about such petty perfume concerns and my character is flawless with the new Calvin Klein MAN cologne. It’s a nice fragrance but even if millions of lads use it, it won’t shout its identity to the world — it's scent fits snugly into the men’s mainstream fragrance mold.

8th July 2009

2009-07-14T11:15:00.001-07:00

& it came to a good finishing touch...

Live Life

2009-07-03T03:15:00.000-07:00

Finally, i'll be a graduate..doesn't feel that great though. Just creates more question whether to pursue my masters or not..this past one month that i've been down, my holiday has been amazing..having alcohol spree and another random road trip is just part of the package i've enrolled for. Will be flying back next monday for graduation..& did i mention..my hair is all short now & that i had another accident..here's some snippits..salut~

Road Trip : France

2009-05-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

We left Stafford at 8PM (GMT 0) and reached Paris the next day at 6AM (GMT +1). We didn't manage to spend much time in Paris as it was too risky to park a car full of goods in anywhere in Paris. The drive around Paris was interesting enough though.

We then left for Lyon which was another 4 hours drive. Spent 2 days there before heading to La Clusaz, the alps. All in all, the 11 days trip covered much of France's major city. Annecy was beautiful, Marseille was amazing, Lyon was great, Relevant was classic and the list just goes on. The trip was ended with a 3 day 2 night party called Payes Ton Fohrain, the most wicked party I've ever been to.I'm definitely missing my white brother Daniel and ADS brother Stanislas. Can't wait for our next trip in Malaysia. I'm definitely going to make it worthwhile for you guys :)

Dinner At The Le Cortois's

Day 1 at Payes Ton Fohrain

Dinner at Lyon. [From Left: Daniel, Stanislas, Me]

Paris. [From Left: Stanislas, Daniel, Arnaud, Me]

Paris. [From Left: Arnaud, Daniel, Me]

Dinner in Marseille. [From Left: Me, Daniel, Stanislas, Marianne]

La Clusaz. [From Left: Daniel, Stanislas, Me]

Annecy. [From Left: Stanislas, Me, Daniel, Benoit, Marianne]

Annecy. [From Left: Stanislas, Daniel, Me]

Wireless Mobile Museum Tour Guide System Using RFID

2009-04-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

After all the hard work..The least I can do is share the proposal :P Do share your opinion.

Wireless Mobile Museum Tour Guide System Using RFID

The purpose of this system is to provide tourist or visitors of a museum a rich interactive experience on their visit. The system will be equipped with functions that will allow the user to obtain more information about the display and its artist. Information about the history of the artist, video presentation of the display and even peer to peer information sharing will be made available on this system. This helps to provide more exposure about the display to them. As an addition to the system, users will be able to locate any additional work of art from the same artist within the museum ground if it’s available.

Tourists who may find every display foreign to them will be able to obtain the history of the display. Basic information such as when the display was made, why it was made, and history of the artist will appeal to them to commemorate the trip.

Visitors may enjoy self guided tour around the museum with the system guiding them with directions from one display to another. During the trip, as visitors scroll through the museum, scanned RFID tags will provide them with basic information of the art. Optionally, users will have the choice to manually browse the displays by themselves. By doing so, tourists need to walk themselves all the way to the information desk to obtain information.

They may also save adequate time if the information desk is occupied at that point of time. Members of a tour group would find this system more informative as it provides a wider scope of information than the tour guide who is bounded to a limited time for every display.

Tha' Trip : Easter Break

2009-04-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

I've had nothing but a good break this time around..The whole week stay in Chelmsford has been warm and fuzzy (& that's how I describe London to Izza)..Despite feeling lost without my D40, I had to thank my Android for saving the day when I left my camera back at Daniel's. However, I still stick to my opinion that the G1 Android's camera is really lousy in terms of quality and settings alteration capability..That of course, is another story for the future.

Somehow, I manage to lose my debit card in the past few days. The last transaction that I could recall was at McD'z in Wembley park..Luckily I was quick to notice and called em' guys at Lloyds to have it cancelled. My new card arrived today even though I was told that it should arrive on Saturday.

Had a mild breakfast in the morning at Chelmford's McD before heading to London. It was a session that simply reminded me of the days back when we used to sit and chat at the mamak or some random place. London had another surprise in store for me. I met up with Izza after ages..she hasn't changed a bit! We had lunch at Nando's before we parted..Overall, it was a short yet fun trip..It's all back to FYP now...another 8,000 words and a functional system and i'll be all smiless!

1 Down...2 To Go...

2009-04-08T02:50:00.000-07:00

I'm almost done with London..this trip has been a really good surprise. We've been anxiously waiting for little Gavin to crawl out, but he's stayed put for over 5 days. It was the curry that finally did the trick. 04:49PM on 7th April is when this sneaky boy was brought to this world. It was a good experience to be one of the first-few see this new born.

The plan tomorrow is to hold up a banner saying "The Asians Kidnapped The Indian" while Daniel and Mun Hong is around :P Then again, tomorrow's gonna be my last day in London, gotta catch up wif Izza and Aliff if possible before heading back and dedicating the next 2 weeks to my project.

Bon Anniversaire Bastien

2009-03-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

Some of the wildest birthday celebration i've encountered, yet, it was nothing but pure fun. It started of with a game of hide and seek. Our birthday boy roamed Newall Avenue clad in a gold flaked g-string searching for hidden clues. These clues then lead him to the final destination, back to the kitchen at home where candles were placed throughout the kitchen, champange bottles and birthday cakes were placed on the table. His love for tomato ketchup earned him 10 bottles of tomato ketchup from different brands. cool eh..Well, his real gift was a t-shirt, which was nice..

[The Gents]

[The Ladies]
[The French & The Malaysian : Strangely both born on the same date]

[My Attempt To Learn French From The Birthday Boy]

[The Gang]

Making The Right Call..

2009-03-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

Apparently there's further development in my summer plan. If the road trip to Lyon does take place on 7th of May, it will be a week in France. And the development?It might be another week in Ibiza, Spain if cashflow permits. Ibiza does sound a.w.e.s.om.e...The one place dJ'z throughout the world head during summer to launch new beats and mixes...we'll see how it goes

VB.Net & MS SQL Tutorial For Retrieving Record

2009-03-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

I'm one of those programmers who's in love with Visual BASIC 6. Yes, it's a simple language, but that's what I love about it. Data manipulation in VB6 with database is done through RecordSet. A RecordSet will perform one continuous connection to the DBMS(MS SQL, MS Access) and retrieve requested data. When you're done with the retrieval, update or what so ever, you may close the connection.

Now in VB.Net, we have a Data Adapter, Data Set, SQL Command, and etc. Connection to DBMS in VB.Net is made when you request for the data. Basically, it connects to perform one operation, then disconnects. Unlike VB6 which is continuous. This is usefull for mass scaled database as a continuous connection will utilize server resources. In VB.Net, the data is retrieved onto the memory on a set of table, called 'DataSet'. To keep things short, here is the simplest way to make a connection to a MS SQL database and retrieve records in VB.Net. I created a simple login for so you could see how you can check on RecordCount as well to perform validations.

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Public Class frmLogin

Public CN As New SqlConnection("Data Source=localhost\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=WMTGS;Persist Security Info=True;User ID=dbWMTGS;Password=12345")
Public SQL As String

Private Sub cmdLogin_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles cmdLogin.Click

SQL = "SELECT * FROM Administrator WHERE Username = '" & txtLogin.Text & "' AND Password = '" & txtPassword.Text & "'"
Dim DA As New SqlDataAdapter(SQL, CN)
Dim DS As New DataSet("Credentials")
DA.Fill(DS, "Credentials")

CN.Open()

If DS.Tables(0).Rows.Count = 0 Then
MsgBox("Invalid Login Credentials. Please Contact Administrator.")
CN.Close()
Exit Sub
End If

CN.Close()

Msgbox ("Login Successfull.")

End Sub

The Game Plan

2009-03-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

So here's my game plan..

-Head London
-Probablity a roadtrip to France which may involve 17 hours of on road experience..
-Spend a week in France
-Head to Amsterdam

Game on...

Satria Neo 1.6 Auto Gear Box Q'

2009-03-21T14:23:00.001-07:00

Someone posted this question on my blog :

hi...i know this is off topic...but you seem like a reasonable guy who knows
quite a lot about the satria neo...i got a question for you...for an auto neo
using a 1.6l campro engine...will it change to a lower gear and result in high
rpm when going downhill as the accelerator is released as in the gen2 ? thx...

Frankly, I do not know much about the Auto gearbox for Satria Neo as I didn't get much time to experience it. Furthermore I'm no expert for auto gearbox. But for this question, it's clear to everyone that when you drop the gear and your speed is increasing, your RPM will rev higher[more torque i think]. This is due to usage of lower gear on higher speed. Your car would be in a mode where it's using more fuel. So yes, IF it drops gear going downhill, it will rev higher.

On your question will it drop gear, I guess it depends on your driving style as you should be able to control the gear shift[up or down] by playing with the accelerator. Hope that answers your question. :)

Weather In Arizona

2009-03-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

I've been asked by SFP to take a minute and state on the climate in Arizona. As I write this, it's currently 5 degrees C in Arizona. The average temperature there stays above 60 degrees. The average rainfall in summer is less than 1in per month. It often rains more in July and August, in a sort of Rainy season. Does sound hot over compared to the weather in Malaysia. It's warm, it's dry, and it's generally comfortable as long as you’re not particularly sensitive to heat.

This is a sponsored post by PayPerPost

Iphone 3G In Malaysia On March 20!

2009-03-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Maxis has finally taken proper action to bring in the iPhone 3G to Malaysia. The iPhone 3G 8GB will be for free under the iValue 4 plan from March 20 onwards. New tariff will be introduced starting at RM100..

More information can be found at The Star's website.

Source : Maxis To Bring iPhone 3G to Malaysia On March 20, Published: Wednesday March 11, 2009 MYT 6:14:00PM. (Last Accessed : Wednesday March 11, 2009 GMT +0 4:55PM)

Keyword : 01068b262f

Satria Neo Problem Solving Tips

2009-03-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

An anonymous comment was left on my blog, a tipster provided us with the following information that might be usefull. I'm not able to try it as I'm currently abroad, but hopefully it works on fellow Satria Neo aficionado's:

the problem with your radio always changing channel, just turn off the TA and the RDS function.. it will try to seek other channel that is more clearer but sumtimes it always change to another station.

and i dont have any problem with my burnt cd.. it plays nicely.. maybe the format of the file you burnt is wrong.. it is mp3 max bitrate is 192

And the CD problem that was mentioned, my mp3 qualities are 256 and above. On top of that, I use Imation CD-R which i deem as reliable. I did enquire on the problem to the service center. According to them, they'd have to extract the player and dispatch it to Penang for inspection and it may take couple of weeks. So I just took the easy way out to ignore the issue.

Satria Neo's One Eye Jack

2009-02-28T13:49:00.001-08:00

So someone posted the following:

"do know any ways to fix the one eye jack thing??
mine have been one eye
jack for so many times now.i keep on changing the bulb but still it
happens.sigh."

Here's what I've heard and concluded myself. Last year, a lady owning a Satria Neo took her car to a Proton Service Center. According to her, one of the junior technician in the center was fiddling with the lights[or somewhat like that]. On her way back, smoke started fogging out of her engine hood. She immediately parked the car at the side of the road. Moments later, the car exploded[Image Above]. Not as in the whole car exploded, but yea, it did explode.

My side of the story is that when my head light was burnt for the second time, I questioned the mechanic when I sent my car for its next service. According to him, it could be one of the cables touching the chasis of the car. I'm not sure how relevant it is, but a one eye jack neo is not uncommon on the roads of KL.

p/s : I failed to locate the owners blog, you should be able to get the full story back from there.

Daily Itinerary

2009-02-27T18:01:00.000-08:00

So here's what goes well with an amazing bottle of brandy dashed with a group of new friends that you get to know better. You get amazing tandoori & chicken curry[The Real Indian Style], you get to learn some weird ass card games..and well, you learn lots more about your roots. Who would have guessed that A.R. Rahman was a Tamil...I know I didn't..

Things just can't get any better

Caesar Cipher : WKH HQFUBSWHD WDON

2009-02-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

I was reading Robert Langdon's Digital Fortress and found it to be..not bad. Here's why, the story was quite boring, but the techy stuff did make it sound interesting. And as the topic says, when I say techie, we're talking about encryption. So my facebook has been bombarded by multiple encryption for a single message, which pretty much praised Julius Caesar's cipher. On top of that, the title of this post itself is partially encrypted.

So here's how Caesar's Cipher(also known as shift cipher) works. For each alphabet that you get, shift it 3 places to the right in alphabetical order. An 'A' would be D, 'B' would be 'E', while 'C' would be F. Simple right?Well it is.

But of course, this all depends on the person who encrypts it. What if someone sends you an encrypted message that is instead multiplied by 2 whereby 'A' would be B, 'B' would become D, 'C' would become I. This all depends on the cipher itself. You could also add multiple layers to your encryption.

Here's a simple encrypted message using Caesar's Cipher : MXOLXV FDIVDU LV D JHQLXV

And here's another one to blow your brains : 680a080253cb39dc5d6d134e7d54ad75b96c821f

-SoLoMoN-

Windows Installer Not Started

2009-02-27T08:25:00.001-08:00

If any of your installation fails and it comes with such message, it's most probably because the service is not started. However, take note that you can't start this service in Safe Mode as it restricts you from doing so. Simply perform the following action and you can avoid rebooting your computer

1. Click Start -> Run
2. Type "services.msc" (Without "")
3. In the list, look for Windows Installer and double-click on it.
4. Change the startup type to Automatic if it states otherwise.
5. Click on the start button.
6. Click Apply and then Ok.

WebHostingGeeks : By Geeks...For Geek Wanna Be'z

2009-02-24T12:16:00.001-08:00

Today, almost all my friend has a personal blog site. They’ve even took the liberty of purchasing an online storage space to feed this nasty hobby of theirs. So when they keep coming back to me about choosing a hosting company, I simply blurt out all the technical aspects without considering their technical computing level. So when they give me a blurry look, I recommended webhostinggeeks.com to my friends to help them find what best suites them.

Webhostinggeeks.com is a remarkable site that provides a list of top 10 web hosting sites of the year. On top of that, you have the option to choose the hosting company according to your trade needs as every hosting site is labeled as Editor’s Choice Hosting, Business Web Hosting, Cheap Reliable Hosting, Trusted Web Hosting and etc.

webhostinggeeks.com themselves proffer a basic class online on criteria’s that webmasters should opt for in a web hosting company. This small number of simple tutorial is not common in review sites as they usually provide charts of ranking. It is very interesting indeed. Another plus point for the site is that they are not flooded with advertisements all around. I only came across advertisement by Google on their site. Speaking of commercials, this is a sponsored post.

http://webhostinggeeks.com is definitely a site that I would recommend to anyone who’s looking forward to open up a hosting site.

12 Years In The Making...

2009-02-24T11:01:00.001-08:00

And it finally happened..Some awesome souvéinír from the event

[The Lady & Her Man]

[The Man & The Lady]

[The Man, Best Man & The Lady]

[Some cute random baby, Big Man, The Lady, Best Man]

[The Cripz : Simren, SoLoMoN, Piraven, Gulshen]

[Me & Gulshen]

[Part of the team : Jasdev, Gulshen, Inder, Simren, Me, Ravinder]

Holiday Frames at ZenniOptical.Com

2008-12-31T03:16:00.000-08:00

If you are a student and you're looking for affordable and stylish Holiday frames, then ZenniOptical.Com would be the ideal one stop website for you. How affordable you ask? Holiday frames are sold as low as $8 at ZenniOptical.Com. That's one bargain you won't get elsewhere. The secret to their low price would be dealing directly with customers.

This website is ideal for students and adults who often loose their eyeglasses. You can't be buying new expensive frames all the time, can't you? If you take a visit to ZenniOptical.Com, you could see that they have all range of eyeglasses.

To top it all, they even have tinted sunglasses lens, bifocal lens and progressive lens in their product line. Purchase payment can be made through Visa, Mastercard, Discover & even American Express. They currently have new frame designs coming in, so order now before they're out of stock. Shipping & handling charges are at a flat rate of $4.95. Regardless of how many items you ordered, the shipping & handling charge remains $4.95 for every order. Here's my favourite pair of glasses :

Windows Audio Not Working

2008-12-29T19:13:00.001-08:00

There are numerous occasions in Windows operating system where there your sound card does not function properly. On some occasions, you get a message that says "There are no active mixer devices available. To install mixer devices, go to Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Add Hardware". As you check the Device Manager in System Properties, the hardware may seem to installed correctly. This issue is usually caused by the Windows Audio service that is not started. To fix this issue, simply follow the following steps.

1. Click Start -> Run
2. Type "services.msc" (Without "")
3. In the list, look for Windows Audio and double-click on it.
4. Change the startup type to Automatic if it states otherwise.
5. Click on the start button.
6. Click Apply and then Ok.

The problem should now be rectified.

The Android G1

2008-12-19T19:17:00.000-08:00

Finally i got my hands on the G1 Android by HTC & Google. So far, I haven't come across any problem or usability issues with the phone. The phone proves to be reliable in all technical aspects including wifi connectivity, latency of loading, and even navigation.

The interface and the GUI is simply amazing. The G1 phone is manufactured by Taiwan's HTC while Android, the operating system is derived from Linux and developed to fit the mobile platform. I'll be posting up short tutorials soon on the tweaks and add-ons for the G1 Android. Salute!

Optical4less.com : Affordable Perscription Eyeglasses

2008-12-09T07:28:00.000-08:00

What would you do if can buy quality prescription eyeglasses online for just $15, would you take the trouble of going to the store to purchase one?

Optical4less.com offers high quality perscription eyeglasses at an affordable rate. No matter which part of the world you are, optical4less.com will deliver it to you.

Their range of products include complete prescription eyeglasses, Tinted sunglasses ,Bifocal reading glasses ,Progressive reading eyeglasses ,Photochromic sunglasses , and even Prism correction.

The Nikon D40 Story

2008-12-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

2 comments were posted on my site related to my Nikon D40. Here's the answer

1. Pertama complex is located in KL. You can get head there by taking a Star LRT to Sogo. Once there, Pertama Complex is just less than 5 minutes walk.

2. Other places with good camera pricing might be around Sg. Wang Plaza. As far as I know, there's just a lot of camera shop over there.

3. Nikon D40 seems to be a good entry-level DSLR. Most beginners do seem to opt for it as well. But do scout around

-SoLoMoN-

Law Enforcement Gears

2008-11-29T16:04:00.000-08:00

For those who into law enforcement, some tactical gears would be really helpful. I came across tacticalpantsusa.com that sells equipments such as training barrel, holster, thigh rig and even LBE Vest. The 5.11 Tactical Gear can be found here.

The 5.11 Tactical series is a superior product that features enhanced security, speed and performance for law enforcement agencies. The equipments are well tested according to different standards to ensure quality. Furthermore, shipping is free for orders above $50.

Mumbai Terrorist Attack

2008-11-29T15:57:00.000-08:00

It's quite shocking when I read the news on cnn.com about the attack on Taj Hotel in Mumbai. TheStar Online reported that death toll rose to 195, and that's not even the final count. The terrorist focused on tourists carrying British or American passports. How freaky is that? One of my coursemates recently went back to India for the holidays. Hope he's not around that area. Thank God the situation is finally over.

Here's a CNN clip that I found over at YouTube.com

2008 Smart Fortwo at TheCarConnection.Com

2008-11-19T09:39:00.000-08:00

Car, one of the most luxurious things we can have in life. That is why, when choosing a suitable one, we need to be sure that the condition, qualification and value are in the best range that we can pay for. It is a big blunder if we choose a car only by the facade without knowing much about it. Smart cars have been a market attraction these days due to the crunching economy crisis. The small sized car has an extremely low fuel consumption and high mileage. Smart shoppers who consider purchasing smart cars know the value of their purchase.

Going through smart car reviews does prove to be beneficial. Soon to be owners will learn the criteria that they need to assess before finalizing decisions to purchase the car. The review must be up dated year by year comparing newer and older cars. This year, smart car shopper should have the 2008 smart car reviews to see what’s in store for them. One of it would be the 2008 smart car Fortwo roadster, TheCarConnection.com's experts have specially chosen some of the most useful information from reputable reviews and make this especially relevant to shoppers who might be comparing the Fortwo to another model; the editors have included their own driving observations.

Online Revolution : Web Hosting Geeks

2008-11-18T17:02:00.000-08:00

I’ve been bombarded with questions from my friends who’d like to host their very own blog. Most of the questions are related to the hosting company of my choice. And of course, I need to justify my choice. For me, a good hosting company should be able to provide you a reasonable price and a reliable service. I’ve recommended webhostinggeeks.com to my friends to help them find what best suites them. Webhostinggeeks.com is an amazing site that gives you a list of top 10 web hosting sites of the year. On top of that, you have the option to select the hosting company according to your business needs as each hosting site is labeled as Editor’s Choice Hosting, Business Web Hosting, Cheap Reliable Hosting, Trusted Web Hosting and etc.

webhostinggeeks.com themselves offer a basic tutorial on what a web master needs to choose a steadfast website host. Quite a small number of simple tutorials on what people would need. Not so common in review sites. It is very interesting indeed. Good thing that this site is not populated with advertisements too much. Speaking of advertisement, this is a sponsored post. As far as I’ve came across, only 1 advertisement by Google.

http://webhostinggeeks.com is definitely a site that I would recommend to anyone who’s looking forward to open up a hosting site.

Google Chrome

2008-11-18T16:58:00.000-08:00

Google Chrome is the latest technology out of Google Labs. I'm sure most of you have heard about it. The architecture behind it is quite interesting. Compared to Internet Explorer, Google Chrome is said to have minimal number of crash due to infinite loops.

You can download Chrome at http://www.google.com/chrome

Proton Concept Bike From A Proton Wira SE

2008-11-11T06:02:00.000-08:00

I was going through my email archive and found this interesting email. It was about a Proton Concept Bike developed by Proton's very own Research & Development (R&D) department. Let me just say this once, this is not just any bike. This bike had 90% of it's part taken from a Proton Wira(I believe it should be aeroback SE). Imagine a 2-wheeled 1.5 litre Megavalve engine chopper! The back braking system on the bike was taken from the Proton Wira's disc brakes and the radiator of the car is used on the bike as well. The gear box for this chopper is a 5 speed gearbox from Wira. I'll leave it to the following pictures.

*Images are taken from the individual as mentioned on the watermark

Affordable Frames at ZenniOptical

2008-11-08T07:24:00.000-08:00

With the recent economy turbulence throughout the world, everyone has been cautioned to cut down on spending. That means, no more branded products, fine dine, movie marathons and etc. I personally have cut down on my spending habit, especially outings. On top of that, branded products are longer my preference.

ZenniOptical.Com is one of the company that produces cheap but high quality prescription glasses. You can buy eyeglasses as low sa $8. Compared to the branded ones, they're both of same quality. The secret is, ZenniOptical.Com sells their product directly to customers, hence cutting down any commission to the middle man.

A New Dawn: Barrack Obama, President Of The United States

2008-11-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Barrack Obama, has been elected as the 44th President of the United States of America. He marked history by being the first black president of the country. If such a country could accept citizens of different colour to be equally as good as them, I wonder when Malaysia will learn that every citizen should be given equal rights. Then again, i'm not surprised that the leaders don't learn.

Samsung Tocco F480

2008-10-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

So recently I purchased the all new Samsung Tocco from eBay for 180 pounds. It's quite hard to say if I got a good deal for it. What sucks is that the phone does not have WiFi built in. 3G service is something you ought to opt for to have internet connection. I mistakenly purchased the Tocco thinking that it was the Omnia that doesn't come with WiFi. Somebody shoot me!

One thing that I do need to point out now is that the ear piece that came along with the Tocco is amazing. Feels like a pair of Technics strapped on my head. The bass is simply amazing. The phone is excellent in terms of navigation. Widget is a cool tool to be messing around with as you can drag it along the screen. Not much hack information about the phone is available on the net. As of now, I'm trying to use my laptops Bluetooth to proxy the internet connection to my phone.

New Frames at ZenniOptical.Com

2008-10-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

If you a student and you're looking for affordable and stylish prescription eyeglasses, then ZenniOptical.Com would be the ideal one stop website for you. How affordable you ask? Prescription glasses are sold as low as $8 at ZenniOptical.Com. That's one bargain you won't get elsewhere. The secret to their low price would be dealing directly with customers.

This eliminates the expensive middle man fees that come by. It simply means that ZenniOptical.Com are still able to provide you quality eyeglasses at a discounted rate. They were recently recommended by a U.S. national radio show, The Clark Howard Show.

This website is ideal for students and adults who often loose their eyeglasses. You can't be buying new expensive frames all the time, can't you? If you take a visit to ZenniOptical.Com, you could see that they have all range of eyeglasses.

Virgin Broadband

2008-10-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

Compared to StreamyX, not only is it 10 times faster, it's 10 times more stable. Here's a sip of cable broadband connection. A 10Mbps broadband connection from Virgin Broadband.

Hari Raya At Stafford

2008-10-06T17:20:00.001-07:00

Here's an update on our Raya celebration in a little town called Stafford.

Satria Neo Vs Satria Neo R3

2008-09-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted much about the car recently. But here's a video that I found on YouTube compiled by ZeroToHundred. If you happen to be curious and what the pricing of Satria Neo is in England, here's where you can get it here. Do the converting yourself. The following video is a video testing both the Proton Satria Neo & Proton Satria Neo R3 at the speed circuit in Shah Alam. Details about both cars were not released, but I assume both the cars a stock factory version.

Car Loans Made Simple

2008-09-23T04:17:00.000-07:00

Living abroad definately gives us more simplicity in live. Such simplicity includes running errands online. Instead of going through the hassle of travelling to the bank to apply for a car loan, you could just do it online. One of the companies that offers such service is Basic Car Loan.

Basic Car Loan provides nationwide car loan service that offers quick online credit approvals for customers with good or bad credit. If you're one of the folks having a bad credit record, this is just the right oppurtunity for you to seize. Personally I think this would be suite students or fresh graduates who needs to get a car loan urgently. On top of that, anyone who has a bad credit trail could make use of this as well. I would make use of this to get a used car loan when I get a job that requires travelling. The website you're looking for is a http://www.basiccarloans.com/

RPK Vs Syed Hamid Albar

2008-09-23T03:40:00.000-07:00

The Internal Security Act (ISA) is one of the preventive detention law that is still in force in Malaysia after 51 years of independence. Other form of preventive detention in Malaysia includes Emergency(Public Order & Crime Prevention) Ordinance (EO) & Special Preventive Measures (Langkah Langkah Pencegahan Khas in Malay).

"If there is insufficient evidence, but the police believe they are involved, then they will be detained under the Public [Emergency] Ordinance."
—Former Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Noh Omar, June 2004.

ISA detainees are held due to suspicion of being a threat to national security. They are caught and then sent to a full paid holiday trip to Kamunting, Perak which includes accomodation, meal, and physical endurance activities. Solitary confinement is the fun part, you don't share your room with your fellow detainees. Emergency Ordinance is used when the police do not have enough evidence to convict the suspect in the court of law, yet they think they have sufficient evidence to put him(or her) away under Emergency Ordinance. EO detainees too get a full paid holiday by the government to a resort in Simpang Renggam which includes all benefit that an ISA detainee gets. Special Preventive Measures relates to the Dangerous Drugs Act 1985 which allows the IGP's boys to detain suspects for being the mastermind or linked in a drug ring. Again, same benefits like any other preventive detention in our country. Their holiday resort is located in Batu Gajah.

So yea, our government doesn't believe in "innocent until proven guilty", nor do they believe in the court of law. Such measures need not be taken if a suspect is guilty enough to be put away under the court of law. Detainees of these acts in Malaysia live today as innocent citizens betrayed by their government. Detainees are held between 60 days up to 2 years with indefinite renewal. It can be forever too.

What I have to say about it?Let's keep it as simple as possible, 'ISA is a way for the government to kidnap a citizen legally and not be bounded by the court of law'. For having the next 2 years in solitary confinement, good luck RPK.

Resource : Human Rights Watch

**Oh yea, if any of the statement above is not accurate. Leave me a note. cheers!

& When Things Fall Into Place..

2008-09-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

So yea, about time I enrolled myself after proscrastinating for 2 weeks. Went over to the finance department to update them on my fees and had them update my account. The rest of the day was spent in the lab filling out my online application. Tomorrow's going to be another day in town to get my bank account sorted out. Hope that goes well too.

The entire week has been great. Nothing more than great Malaysian food(Take that AJ & Yes!haha). We've had sambal tumis, ayam masak lemak & a few other. This has to stop. It's simply too much rice for me. Then again, I can't help it. Take note, good food!!!Only God knows what's going to happen when run out of 'Perencah Nasi Goreng Adabi'.

England...As We Know It

2008-09-09T12:15:00.000-07:00

So yea, it's been almost a week since i arrived. Met some bunch of French students staying next to my residence. Great & funny folks i'd say. Yet they're terrible in English, but that's where all the humour comes from :P

Stafford has provided nothing more than rain throughout the day. Which is really annoying. Things here are quite expensive i'd say. Not just because i'm a country with a strong currency. But even for the locals, they find things expensive too. Minimum wage has been set by the government as 5.50 pounds sterling. I was hoping on earning slightly higher than that. But then again, students like me are most probably going to end up working in McDonalds or Domino's pizza. That's exactly what i'm going to do.

My accomodation is from the Uni, for the rate of 57 pounds weekly, not inclusive of utility bills. Utility bills such as water and electricity is on my own. What's annoying is that my residence does not have a washing machine. I really wonder how the English people do things though.

The first few days was just crossing over to Tedder Road over to Daniel's place. My daily free internet access with a speed of 10Mbps. Yep, imagine download Prison Break Season 4 in 20 minutes. Too slow?nahhh...A trip town Asda in town for groceries and food helped fill my growling tummy. A 3kg macaroni cost me 2.77 pounds while the pasta sauce simply cost me 1 pound each. It's expensive if you convert, which is why you should do it.

So everyone says mobile phones are cheap here?I agree. A walk to town center brought me to an Orange mobile shop. Being the cheap sket that i am, i looked for the cheapest phone. So here's the deal that you get, a Samsung C300 + 10 pounds credit on your prepaid is only 25 pounds. For Malaysians, for RM150, you get RM60 credit and a Samsung phone. How cool?Yea, but the time being I don't need a mobile phone. So it's pointless for me to get one. I think i'm hit with fever. My throat is sore, my head is heavy and my body is weak and hot. Can't sleep too. Just having coffee to warm things up for me. That's all from me now. Till then. Wait, did you like..really read the stuff above?lame!

Web Hosting Ratings

2008-08-24T04:20:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine who runs his very own business asked me about web hosting companies recently. I wasn't able to provide him accurate answer on which companies are good and why they are good at it. So just like any other geeks, I went through Google for a website that provides rating for web hosting sites. One that provided me best navigation through the site is www.webhostingrating.com

The site is user friendly even to noobs(newbies). Ratings are listed by category on the left. If you're looking for companies providing UNIX, Windows, VPS or reseller hosting, a simple click on a link on the left navigation bar gives you all the information.

There's even hosting companies awarded with title such as "Best Budget Hosting" or "Best Blog Hosting". You can pretty much expect to get what you're clicking on. Online Discount coupons are given out if they're available. You might just get yourself a good deal through this site. If you've came across a hosting site that you'd like to compliment, you may cast your vote for which title you think that company deserves. The information listed out is quite specific, webhostingrating.com tells you what you get for your money for each of these hosting companies.

So if you're planning to start a new website and you're wondering which company should you pay to host your site, best web hosting can be found at www.webhostingrating.com

Drop In Fuel Price

2008-08-22T03:12:00.000-07:00

This just in....the sudden feel of being a reporter :P Anyhow, Bernama just reported that the prime minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi has made an announcement that prices of petrol (RON97) will be reduced to RM2.55 effectively on Saturday(23rd August 2008).

Another political move for Permatang Pauh?

Scorpion King Caught

2008-08-17T08:27:00.001-07:00

The other day me, Gulshan and Piraven took a drive to east coast of Malaysia. We made a pit stop at Kuantan to spend the night over and head to Cherating the next day. At least, that was the plan. So we took a room at Pine Beach Motel, which was just next to Teluk Chempedak. It costs us RM65 for a 2 single bedroom and an extra RM10 for the additional mattress.

The boys spent the entire evening sleeping in the room while I took a quick nap. Had a friend who happened to be a local to take me around. I was taken to Taman Gelora, a park by the beach. Not bad for photo session spot. So yea, my evening was taking photos of a park by the beach. Can't blame the rest for sleeping though, it was a 2 hours drive from KL to Kuantan after getting drunk in Heritage Row.

Soon after I headed back to the motel and woke the boys up. By that time, it was already 7PM. So we walked along Teluk Chempedak and had dinner in a food court like place. So we took a seat and started going around to order. Out of nowhere, comes this man from the stall opposite of our table and he goes like "Where did you order?This is my table". So we told him where we ordered from and he just went like "Nevermind lah. This one time only". Such kampung attitude for this folks who sees nothing but each others face everyday. Why can't they just work together in the food court.

So later in the night we headed town to Swing, said to be one of the happening clubs around. Pricing was alright. 3 buckets of beer(4 bottles per bucket) were going for RM167. There was live band and DJ performing as well. The acoustic of the club is very much for a feng tau joint. Somehow we managed to entertain ourself. When the night ended we headed back. To our surprise, there was a black scorpion crawling in the room. I trapped it for the night before we headed for the beach.

The next day the motel lady insisted on killing him. She was shocked to hear me say no. I explained to her that in KL, we have to buy scorpions :P The scorpion is now safely handed to a trusted hand(I hope). He should be doing fine now.

Windows Event Viewer

2008-08-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

The all time infamous BSOD(Blue Screen of Death) would have at least hit every single Windows operated computer out there at least once in a lifetime. On top of that, every Windows operating system out there would have encountered a sudden restart once in a blue moon. And this phenomenal event would keep on occuring again from time to time.

Most people would have resorted to reformatting the computer thinking that it would solve the problem once and for all. However, the critical error from BSOD could have been related to a faulty physical memory or even a badly installed device driver. If it was a faulty memory(RAM), ain't it pointless to reformat the computer?What about computer restarting by itself all of a sudden?Is that a software or hardware issue?

The next step that i'm about to show is pretty much software related. Windows Event Viewer is a utility designed to log error messages and information onto your computer before the catastrophe occurs, which is when BSOD occurs or your computer restarts. The following explains how to access Windows Event Viewer

Windows XP
1. Click Start -> Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer

Windows Vista
1. Click Start
2. On the 'Start Search' box, type "event viewer" (without " ")
3. On the top under Programs, click on Event Viewer in the breakdown

So how do you use it? When you open up Event Viewer you would notice that there's actually 3 items on the left navigation bar under Event Viewer(Local). The items are Application, Security & System. Following explains each of the items
a. Application

The application log contains events logged by programs. For example, a database program may record a file error in the application log. Events that are written to the application log are determined by the developers of the software program.

b. Security

The security log records events such as valid and invalid logon attempts, as well as events related to resource use, such as the creating, opening, or deleting of files. For example, when logon auditing is enabled, an event is recorded in the security log each time a user attempts to log on to the computer. You must be logged on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group in order to turn on, use, and specify which events are recorded in the security log.

c. System

The system log contains events logged by Windows XP system components. For example, if a driver fails to load during startup, an event is recorded in the system log. Windows XP predetermines the events that are logged by system components.

---

So say for instance that your computer just had a BSOD. So here's what you do, click on System on the left bar. Notice on the right display area you have a list of information sorted out by dates. Well, the latest Error with a red mark would be the one your looking for. Double-click on the error notification and read the message. From here onwards, google would be your best friend to identify the cause of the issue. Usually applications would provide error messages such as 'Service is not started'. From such message you would know that the program services is not started automatically and you could just head to services.msc and start it to resolve the issue. It might be quite tricky to get used to this. But it really helps in terms of identifying problems.

Sources : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

UK Student Visa Application

2008-08-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

Last week would definately be defined as an unfortunate series of event in my life. What should have been a single trip to the visa application department turned out to be a series of trips to the same office. It came to a point where the strict Gurkha guards with a straight face all day long, started to smile at me seeing me back again. So I decided this has to stop. The next day I took a trip to my old office in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng at 6am and parked my car at the usual car park.

I had myself equipped with my Nikon D40 to snap some shots of KLCC during sunrise. One thing I learnt is that if you're not good with DSLR, don't waste your time walking with it all around the city. So at 8am after breakfast with the guys, I walked to Wisma MCA which is located right next to Citibank building in Ampang. It ain't no short walk folks!

Unlike years ago when any form of visa application is done at the British Embassy, it's pretty much outsourced today. Which is a good sign as they ensure accurate information on hand before passing it to the embassy officials. The UK visa application here is handled by VFS (M) Sdn. Bhd. which is located at the 19th floor of Wisma MCA. For those who don't know how to get there. Simply take an LRT to Ampang Park and walk across the street.

The issue I faced was lack of information on the VFS website. On top of that, I wasn't able to refer to a friend in such short notice. Somehow rather they went missing for summer holidays. The website suggests that you make an appointment to VFS for your application, but that's not necessary. You could walk in as well. I would suggest to be there at 8am in the morning and you'll get everything done in less than 30 minutes. By the way, VFS's website is here/. Here's a list of things YOU MUST HAVE prior to going there. If you don't have one of these, well buddy, you get to go there again till you get em' right.

1. Student check list & Survey
-The checklist is simply of items that you include when submitting your application.
-The survey is a must to be filled out.
-Have both sheets filled out to save time.
-Can be downloaded from the following link under Students & Dependants of a Student
-The file format is PDF and you need to print it out.
-http://www.vfs-uk-my.com/download_app.aspx#8

2. Visa Application Form
-The application for this form is done online, and upon completion, a copy printed out.
-Head to the website at http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/
-Click on Apply For A Visa on the left navigation menu
-Proceed to register and complete the questionnaires. Once completed, print out a copy when you see a "Print Form" button
-The print result will include all the details you've keyed in the form

3. One Photograph Copy
-You MUST SUBMIT A WHITE BACKGROUND PHOTOGRAPH
-If you submit one with a blue background, it will be rejected
-In Ampang Park, there's shops providing service to have passport size photos for visa application. Just tell them for UK visa application. A set of 4-piece photo will cost RM15

4. Passport Photocopy
-The carbon copy of your passport is on the biodata page
-To be on the safe side, simply get them certified at a nearby school, police station, commissioner of oath and etc.
-If you have a previous passport, make photocopy and bring that as well

5. Financial evidence
-If you're not under a scholarship, then financial evidence could range from fixed deposit certificates, bank books, mutual fund statements and etc.
-Make a copy of these statements
-Get these statements certified from their respective banks
-If the statements comes from your parents Maybank, then only Maybank can certify the document.
-Remind the officer to include the date of the carbon copies being certified as well

6. Unconditional offer letter
-This is the official letter from your university abroad.
-I was informed by the officer that the letter should have some form of printed emblem as to certify its from the university
-My letter was a plain computer signed letter. But it carried an imprint of the university. So that was fine
-Make a copy of this letter and get it certified as well

7. Previous Educational Certificates
-Bring whatever you have previously to support your further studies
-I brought in my diploma and transcript

8. Bank Draf
-If your applying for student visa, the amount should be RM664.(But information should always be verified with VFS (M) Sdn. Bhd. first)
-Head to Maybank and fill out the form to make a bank draf to VFS (M) Sdn. Bhd.
-This doesn't require any copy

Once you have all the information as above, you're pretty much set to head to the office. Once you're there, processing should be fast as you have everything prepared. Once they receive your application, a receipt will be printed out for you with a tracking code. That tracking code can be checked online to know whether your Visa result is ready to be collected. Yeah, it doesn't tell whether its approved or not. Once you get the receipt, wait a couple more minutes before you're called back for a biometric scanning. They'll just scan your finger print. They've got rules for finger prints too. Just to simplify things, following are what you need

1. Student Check List & Survey
2. Printed copy of Visa Application Form
3. One Passport Size Photo(White Background)
4. Passport(Original & Certified Carbon Copy)
5. Financial Evidence(Original & Carbon Copy Certified by Banks)
6. Unconditional Offer Letter(Original & Certified Carbon Copy)
7. Previous Education Certificates(Original & Certified Carbon Copy)
8. Bank Draf

**Bring original & carbon copies
**VFS does not accept anyone in after 2:59PM as they close at 3PM!!!
**VFS can be reached at 03 21649323
**VFS does not approve or reject your application, British Embassy does!
**VFS website is http://www.vfs-uk-my.com/

Under Paid Advertising Service

2008-08-10T02:19:00.001-07:00

I've been a NuffNang member for what I think has been over a year. Probably less, but it's still close to a year. For those who don't know about NuffNang, they're an advertising service that brings advertiser's(companies) and publisher's(bloggers) to a platform where they can meet. NuffNang is the middle man providing statistical results about the blogger's website to these advertisers. This way, advertisers could pick offer advertisements to be displayed on blogger's website. In return, bloggers gains income for these advertisements that are displayed. Advertisers on NuffNang include McDonalds, Digi Telco, AMP Radio Networks, Microsoft, Samsung and etc. So yea, pretty much that's good money for them.

So what happens when you register to NuffNang?Well, you get this simple javascript code that allows you to display ads. If you look on the upper left on my blog, you can see the text "ads by NuffNang" right under the advertisement. When you register yourself with NuffNang, they collect information from your users. Information such as the geographical location of your user, the time that they visited your website and the total number of visitors in day. So when advertisers go through a list of blogger's website, they're able to short list visitors according to their preference. For instance, if your blog visitors are mainly not from Malaysia, it's pointless for Digi to promote ads on your site as that is not the target group. Pretty much the system is fair for advertisers and bloggers.

If your blog has what it takes, NuffNang is able to provide you a range of advertisers to pay you to display ads. When you earning has reached RM50, NuffNang allows you to cash out your earning and they will send you a cheque. My only complaint is on the payout for it. Couple of months back, I've received my USD$100 from Adsense, but being registered to NuffNang for a long period, the following image will tell you how much i've earned to date. I've got the total earning and highest earning in that list highlighted as well. Quite sad I'd say.

Perdana Replacement Model

2008-08-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

The rumours has been spreading around the cyberspace regarding this mysterious new car from Proton. The Proton Perdana Replacement Model(They might just call it PRM) is rumoured to be from the infamous Mitsubishi 380 that is made in Australia. It was apparently reported that even the sales forecast for the Mitsubishi 380 was lowered from 32,000 units to 27,000 units. Over a month ago Proton signed an agreement with Mitsubishi to have Mitsubishi 380 rebranded as Perdana Replacement Model. According to Jeff Ooi's site, Motor Trader was one of the first ones to report on this news. The detail of the collaboration can be found in the Motor Trader forum here.

Paul Tan reported that a team of Proton engineers met with Mitsubishi officials down at Adelaide in Australia. There was a shipment of a Mitsubishi 380 here for climate and government regulation approval testing. Here's the cool part, the Mitsubishi 380 is based on the U.S. version of Mitsubishi Gallant. It comes pre equipped with a 3.8 Litre SOHC(Single Over Head Cam) V6 engine producing 235bhp. Proton Perdana on the other hand comes pre equipped with Mitsubishi 6A12 2.0 Litre DOHC(Double Over Head Cam) V6 engine producing 147bhp. That's quite a difference in this two cars. Malaysia might just be Mitsubishi's alternative to have the sales improved. Regarding questions of having a lower CC engine to be fitted into the car, sources say that a minimum of 2.4 Litre engine is required to support its weight of 1,625kg compared to Proton Perdana's 1,300kg. Following are photos that are available on the net. It has been taken from Paul Tan, Jeff Ooi and few more resources from google.

WordPress Themes

2008-07-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had my hands on a wordpress based blog system. While I setting up the system, I had the choice of changing the layout theme of the blog site. Just like my current blog now being hosted by blogspot, wordpress's blog comes with easy to change themes as well. So I went on the hunt on Google to look for site's offering free & premium theme's for wordpress blogs. One of it was http://topwpthemes.com/.

On the main page of the site is a list of WordPress themes that can be downloaded. A Quick Info gives you information such as the number of columns, available widget's and even the location of the sidebar. Very brief yet informative enough. Bloggers who has tried the particular theme and would like to leave a note of appreciation could do so through the quick comments link. If you wondered how the theme would look, there’s a preview button to show you the theme of your choice.

I have to admit; I was new to WordPress and had no clue on how to use it. Imagine me wanting to change the theme as test the outcome. TopWPThemes has a page with step by step graphical instruction on how these themes can be installed. On the main page, there's a button titled Installation that brings you to the instruction page. I’ve tried going through the installation myself with one of the themes on the site, and it was done within a 5 minute period. Overall, this is the site if you're looking for wordpress themes.

TeleTech Finale Moments...Again

2008-07-31T02:07:00.000-07:00

Over a year has passed since I last stepped out of this office. I joined the company in August 2006 serving as a Level 1 & 2 support for McAfee Australia, New Zealand & Asia Pacific catering people across continents. And again a few months back, I joined this very same company to cater Hewlett Packard's North American consumers.

Unlike those days, things have changed a lot. We're missing the good old folks like JD, Sathish, Syed, & GK. Politics never existed & we're more than just colleagues. We treated each other like our very own best friends. Yet, the thrill has never changed with the new band of friends. The presence of my Team Leader Richard, gorgeus ladies from the ACE Team; AJ & Yesodhra, the thrill to be apart of this team still lives in me. I have never had more fun working anywhere else than here.

If you guys are reading this(Vijay, Shamini, Kev, Nickesh, Devit, AJ, Yesodhra, Richard), know this fact..You guys have definately made an impact in my life(I know, this sounds a little not like me).

Here's to Vijay being the best friend anyone could ever have.

To Shamini, being the hottest bully material. Like I always say, our morning is never complete without bullying you. Stay the way you are, cause someday I will be back. When that time comes, Vijay and I expect to have a good morning all over again.

Kev..ohh Kev..You turned out to be quite a trainer. In fact you're good at it. I never told you this..but then again, I never told you about my blog either..

To Nickesh..To date, you have been the most down to earth guy I have ever met. Sometimes I wonder if things I say to you might be offensive..No one could ever have a heart as kind as you..Wish you & Priya a beautiful future. I'm sure you'll be an amazing dad when you guys get married.

Devit..You're more of the silent cool dude..Little baby gurl is coming out soon & you'll have much to learn and experience. It'll be a wonderfull experience for you and your wife. Wish you best of luck in the future.

AJ & Yesodhra..Well you gurls have been nothing more than a happening party animal. The all new TeleTech that I've would be missing out a lot without ya'll. Thanks for all the good times during drinking session. & AJ, thanks for updates of hott chicks in your training class..

Richard..My ass would have been on fire without you. The amount of things you've done to save my back, only God knows. Thanks for everything. Never had a Team Leader as awesome as you. Your tutoring on photography is never to be missed. It was an honour to be apart of King Cobra. A team under your guidance.

TeleTech will forever be apart of me that I will remember. Here's a toast to you guys!

-SoLoMoN-

Nikon D40 Day Out In Taman Metropolitan Kepong

2008-07-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

After a whole day of running around and getting my errands done. I finally got back home at 6pm. Being myself, I stormed in the room and checked for my emails. Replied a few emails from my forum members and...well, i was done. By then, it was 6:30. I grabbed my Nikon D40 and headed to Taman Metropolitan Kepong for my first official nature shot. It wasn't as great as I expected cause the atmostphere was a little disapointing. Anyhow, when I got back at about 7:30PM, I compressed and went through the picture's that I snapped. Here's some of my favourite pic, the spider was as tiny as an ant. More pics to come though.

Buying Frames Online

2008-07-09T11:56:00.001-07:00

So what are the factors to consider prior to purchasing a pair of spectacles?Is it the design of the frame or the price on the tag?Then again, it could be both. ZenniOptical.com is one of the companies that sell stylish prescription glasses online. At ZenniOptical.com, there's a huge selection of frames, tinted sunglass lens & progressive lens at affordable rate. ZenniOptical.com retains low price by only selling their manufactured frames directly to customers. So there's no hanky panky of having middlemen raking profits in between. A complete single vision eyeglasses starts as low as $8.00.

Proton Satria Neo Bare Naked in WorkShop

2008-07-09T02:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a Satria Neo that I came across couple of weeks ago when we were over at Kelana Jaya to fix my friend's car. How heart breaking to see this.

Web Host Review

2008-06-26T01:58:00.000-07:00

These past few days, I've been researching a lot of web hosting sites. Partly because my current forum is requiring additional storage space. Now, based on my experience, running a forum is not going to be easy if you do not have a reliable hosting service. Some of my requirements include affordable price, fast stable connection, minimal downtime, reliable technical support team & of course, a good review from fellow internet users. This time, i'm thinking of getting a hosting for my blog. Been squeezing my time daily going through Google to find a good site. So far nothing suites me.

So here's what I need, a central site that provides me with all these reviews for my reference. One site that came across my search was http://webhostinggeeks.com/. This site is simply amazing! As you access the site, it displays the best 10 web hosting sites for 2008. Each site in the list is given rating such as Editor's Choice Hosting, Business Web Hosting, Cheap Reliable Hosting, Trusted Web Hosting and a few other. It's quite simply to understand it. Of course being the cheapskate that I am, I'd go for the Cheap Reliable Hosting.

There's one column in the ranking that's quite cool too, and it's called the Bonus Features. Under Bonus Features, additional benefit of being a part of the site is given. Freebies like Google Adwords or free domain names are listed. So you know what you get for choosing the hosting site. A simple click on any of the site in the list gives you a detailed review of the hosting site. The entire package plan offered by them, host rating, customer reviews, server uptime monitoring, and many more.

webhostinggeeks.com themself provide a basic tutorial on what a web master needs to choose a reliable web host. Quite a few simple tutorials on what people would need. Not so common in review sites. It is very interesting indeed. Good thing that this site is not populated with advertisements too much. Speaking of advertisement, this is a sponsored post. As far as I came across, only 1 advertisement by Google. Nothing else. Doesn't seem like they're a reseller for these hosting companies. Definately a choice for me to visit next time I consider hosting service.

Euphoria : By Ministry Of Sound

2008-06-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

I just received this in my email. Ministry Of Sound just released the launching date of Euphoria at Sunway Lagoon Resort. It's on 27th June 2008 & 28th June 2008. Complimentary admission on the launching day is before 11pm, whereby you'd have to pay RM20 for admission after the grace period.

To get yourself on the invitation list, you'd have to send an email to enquiry@euphoria.com.my with your full name(as in I.C.), a valid photo ID No & your mobile phone number. The registration date is from 18th of June to 25th of June 2008. Terms & Conditions (T&C) can be seen from the banner above.

Pulau Tioman

2008-06-19T05:53:00.001-07:00

So I just got back from a roadtrip to Pulau Tioman. & it was awesome!We left from KL to Kuantan for a pitstop. After dinner we had a good night sleep after 2 hours drive in the highway. At about 4AM we got up again before we hit the road. Another 2.5 hours drive to the Mersing jetty brought us closer to our destination. But that wasn't until I found out that it's gonna be another 2 hour ferry ride. I guess it's alright considering the location that we're heading to.

Now, I can verify the all time myth that Tioman is a duty free island. Yes it is! One of first thing I did when we got onto the bus was ask the driver to stop by a duty free shop. There we bought ourself a Absolut Peach Vodka, Smirnoff Citrus, Camino Tequilla & a mango rum. The mango rum was great to be mixed with mango juice. A bottle of Absolut Peach cost us RM45. It's slightly pricier compared to Langkawi, but I wouldn't blame them due to logistic costs. A bottle of 1 Litre Jack Daniels is at RM62, 1 Litre of Black Label was at RM80 and Chivas at RM75. Paradise would be the word!

Our crib was Berjaya Resort. Which was great. We even had the oppurtunity to break in the vacant room next door. But we didn't bother to use it though. Day 1 we hit Tioman was spent mostly in the pool. We had our lunch at one of the restaurant at the entrance of the resorts. It was this chinese restaurant that doesn't serve pork. Quite cool. An medium sized dish cost RM15 while a can of drink cost RM2.50. So do the math on an average meal that we spent.

After lunch, we made our way through the lobby to book a boat for snorkeling. We bargained our way through to get a boat for 11 with gears at the price of RM600. We called it a day after a short drinking session as everyone was tired after the whole travelling and swimming throughout the day. Day 2 started off at 9AM with snorkeling and attack from the jellyfish. Every stop that we went had a swarm of jellyfish attacking each one of us. That night we spent having a game over drinking session. Losers were made to down a shot of neat liquor. Day 3 came by so fast that we got ready to leave. All back safe and sound now in KL. Till the next hols then.

The Car Connection

2008-06-11T07:46:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to read reviews on new cars. The issue that I faced was being able to find a web site that provides complete reviews on every automobile there is out there on the road. This site that I came across, http://www.thecarconnection.com/ seems to provide information that I need. Having reviews on all type of cars ranging from sedan to luxurious, the site provides a review from their editors as well. Information about car shows and future cars can also be obtained from this site. Just like any average Joe down the street, I fancy fast cars!The site has reviews on almost all supercars that I'd like to know about.

In this site, cars are rated by a point system for its styling, performance, comfort & quality and safety features. For me, these are the basic necessity components that each car review should consist off in terms of summarizing the feedback. What's interesting with these guys is that they not only provide the price of the car from all range, but even the fuel consumption for city and highway driving. What more could we ask from today's world of escalating oil price. The site is quite user friendly to be navigated around. Check out the website at http://www.thecarconnection.com

Petrol Price Hike Up!!!

2008-06-04T03:44:00.000-07:00

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi just announced a petrol hike up of 78 sens from the current RM1.92 which brings the petrol price now to RM2.70. This news was confirmed via MalaysiaKini and The Star's website. As I see it, all petrol station around Klang Valley has start building up with drivers eager to fill their tanks up. I guess I might start riding a bike with this recent hike up.

Malaysian Artistes For Unity

2008-05-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

Coined by Pete Teo, Malaysian Artistes For Unity is a zero cost project getting everyone together to make a video on anti-racism and national unity. The song features Malaysia's finest such as Afdlin Shauki, Awie, Ning Baizura, Atilia, Jacyln Victor, Reshmonu, Jason Lo, KLG Sqwad and many more.

The video was taken in Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre. Titled as "Here In My Home", the song gives a mass sing along to anyone who hears it. One of the verse consists of a rap in Malay, Chinese, Tamil and English before hitting back to the chorus. That was brilliant!

The entire project consisted of contribution by everyone including corporation who played a part in supporting to make it happen. The song and video can be downloaded off their website at http://malaysianartistesforunity.info/. Here's a sneak preview of their video

Free Money With Google AdSense

2008-05-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

I just checked on my Google AdSense account and noticed that a payment was sent in the payment history. All these time that I have waited for finally paid off. Take note that Google AdSense will not send out payments to you unless you have reached a minimum of USD$100. Payment is made via postal cheque or Western Union Quick Cash. My preferred choice is Western Union Quick Cash of course.

For those who don't know, Google AdSense is a service by Google that allows webmasters to post Pay Per Click (PPC) based advertisements on their site. This advertisements will be posted accordingly to the content of your web page, so there's no worry on posting relevant advertisements according to page. Google AdSense has been a tremendous success and can be seen in almost all over the internet. In short, Google AdSense is a revenue generator for website's based on advertisements. Google fairly pays the publishers for every click on their AdSense advertisement.

The payment can be collected within hours after it's been sent. So I headed to the nearest CIMB Bank (one of Western Union's authorised agents) and filled up a form. However, I'm sure most of Google AdSense members are waiting for payment to be made via PayPal. But I have this hunch that it's not going to happen as Google came up with Google Checkout. Google Checkout is a service dedicated for secure online shopping transaction

In the form, all you have to do is fill in your details (Name, Street Address, City & Country) just like you registered with Google AdSense. Take note that it is crucial for your first name and last name to match from your Identification Card (IC) and the name of the receiver in Google AdSense's statement. If your IC's first and last name does not match with the receiver's name from Google, you will be rejected. You then have to update your Google AdSense account with your correct name.

Another important detail is the 10 digit Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN) provided by Google. This number is a tracking number given by Google to be filled in the Western Union form. With this number, the agent would know which transaction should be selected. I'm not sure whether transaction can proceed without this number, but if any of you guys know, do inform me.

The transaction is quite simple, upon filling up the form and providing my IC, I received the cash in matter of minutes. There's no account needed, simply head to the bank and fill in the form and you shall receive. Here's a copy of the Google AdSense statement that I have.

Modified Proton Satria Neo

2008-05-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

Found this over the internet. These modified Proton Satria Neo's are quite cool. Just 2 cars being modified. The green Satria Neo that is modified comes with a diffuser at the bumper. Something that i've wanted to fix on my car for quite a while. I haven't checked on its price, but will do soon.

This white credescent Satria Neo is my favorite. The modified front bumper looks very nice with the black patching that simulates a carbon fibre hood. A simple change of colour on the car's roof top gave this Satria Neo a furious look on the road.

NetStumbler

2008-05-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

NetStumbler is an awesome utility used for War Driving and to test the signal strength. This utility gives you the signal strength of an Access Point (AP). A GUI on the signal strength is displayed for easy monitoring purpose. Most of you would have probably came across this tool and i'm just being my self talking about it now :P

Couple of weeks ago when I happened to be at my friend's condo, we managed to get a few signals, but bad news is that they were all protected by WEP. Yep, it's weak and you can crack it. But I've got no Atheros cards that fits into my laptop. Anyway, we walked around the place and finally secured a signal that was not protected. We adjusted the laptop accordingly to get the highest gain of signal and voila!, we're surfing the net.

Unlike the Windows Wireless Network utility that comes built in to your OS, NetStumbler does not require you to continuously hit on any Refresh button. The result is provided to you real time. I've had the chance to have a USB wireless device attached to my laptop to benchmark the performance for an Intel Proset wireless against my USB device. Using 2 NetStumblers and juggling between both this device is not an issue. NetStumbler allows you to sort the Access Points by it's signal channel, protection mode, connection type (Peer or AP) and etc.

Overall, it's a good tool for geeks who'd like to walk around with their laptops looking for free internet access

Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa

2008-05-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

2:46 in the morning I got a text from my brother to get a few packs of nasi lemak antarabangsa. It has been the topic in our talk lately. Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa seems to be well known by everyone, yet we've just heard of it but yet to taste it. So as soon as I get off at 3AM from Mojo, i strolled straight to Kampung Baru.

I had no idea where this so called shop is supposed to be, the only clue i had was a huge arch. So as I drove, I took a turn right and immediately saw this white mini arch. I parked my car at the side of the road. The road was quite small though.

There was a few nasi lemak shop all around the area. As I got out and walked around, I saw a stall with a long queue. Mind you that it was 3AM in the morning! So as I walked closer, there was the sign I was looking for, "Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa". It was one of those mamak stall that you'd expect to see. I got in the queue and ordered 3 nasi lemak with ayam goreng (Fried Chicken). It totaled to RM15.60, which would make each nasi lemak with fried chicken RM5.20 a pack.

I packed them and straight headed home. It tasted ok, nothing great though. My brother and I preferred the nasi lemak down the road near our place. The sambal was a bit sweet, and the rice seems to be a little plain. Even though the pack was hot, the fried chicken that I had was quite dry making it hard for me to rip it apart. However, on a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa a 2.5. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me during this journey, but i will make it a mission to snap photos and upload them here.

Google Phone

2008-05-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

Rumour has it recently that Google will launching their very own Google Phone (also known as GPhone). This is a move by Google to outbid Apple's iPhone that has become a major hit in the United States. Apple recently took a major step to allow iPhone to be used in Asia. Some of the countries include Singapore, Malaysia however is not included in the list.

The GPhone is rumoured to be running on Android, a Linux based mobile software platform. The phone will be running audio and text based advertisements to endorse calls. The advertisements will be on usage with WiFi / WiMax. Time being, the company still remains tightlipped on this new prototype. What I can say is, IPhone, Black Berry, Palm, o2, watch out for the next evolution.

The phone is expected to be released in the United States next year under a signed contract with a limited number of telco company

P.S. I Love You

2008-05-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

Based on Cecilia Ahern's #1 bestseller novel, this romantic drama movie is definitely one of the best I've seen. That is after A Walk To Remember starring Mandy Moore. The movie is set in Ireland & United States. Starring Hilary Swank as Holly Kennedy & Gerard Butler as Gerry Kennedy, this movie is a romantic tale of a never ending love of a husband for her wife.

The movie starts off with the couple having an argument and patching back together, it then quickly jumps to Gerry's funeral in a pub owned by Holly's mom. After weeks of depression staying in her Manhattan apartment alone, Holly gets a surprise visit from her family and best friend(Starring Lisa Kudrow). That same night, a cake mysteriously arrives with a prerecorded tape message and letter from Gerry. Gerry instructs Holly to have the night out with the girls and party. Holly then continuously receive letters everyday with a message from Gerry. The following 9 letters marks a new journey with a hidden message for Holly from Gerry to move on in life.

The movie has an amazing flow and arrangement. No one could have done it better than Hilary Swank herself, and Gerard Butler was a charm as the ideal husband that any women would love to keep (not in a gay way). Every one of the cast did an amazing job in playing their part. The movie is different from any other movie that I've seen, which makes it really good. Call me old school, but i've never came across a movie with such a plot. If I weren't a man, i'd probably cry :P

Yasmin Ahmad's The Love of Tan Hong Ming

2008-05-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

I just came across an article on the newspaper regarding Yasmin Ahmad's recent award on a video titled "The Love of Tan Hong Ming". The advertisement was made in conjuction with Malaysia's 50 years of independence in 2007 by Petronas. Tan Hong Ming won 2 Gold Awards in the International ANDY awards.

From my point of view, the video points out to us as adults on reality through the eyes of a child. The clip starts with a boy named Tan Hong Ming being interviewed about a girl whom he likes named Umi Qazrina. The interviewer then proceeds to interview the girl. These 2 kids are really adorable in this 1 minute 32 seconds short clip. I'm not going to elaborate further as it'll just spoil the fun. But I do want to highlight the finale of the video that has a caption written as "Kanak Kanak Memahaminya" (Children's Understand It). That caption can be intrepreted in many ways by different people.

Online File Disk Storage

2008-05-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

Online file storage has been the hit of the internet era the past few years. For those who don't know, this service is provided to allow internet users to post files on a remote server so that it can be accessed by fellow users. This service allows users to upload files as large as 100MB. That's a huge file considering what you can send via email.

So why would you need such service?Well, say for instance that you would need to distribute copies of your assignment to your fellow group members. The problem is that the file rakes up to 30MB and you have 10 group members to send to. As far as i'm concerned, no email providers would allow you to send attachments that large. So you upload this assignment into an online disk storage, and once you've completed you will be given a link. Simply pass this link to your friends and they will be able to download it. Here are the few file service that I use :

1. MediaFire - http://mediafire.com/

Even though they're new, MediaFire has shown amazing performance. The speed for you to upload your file to them is pretty amazing. Unlike other providers, they allow you to use download managers such as FlashGet and Download Accelerator. They do not have time limits for you to download multiple files, hence eliminating the waiting period most providers impose before you're allowed to download the next file. Registration is quick and easy. MediaFire has been voted by PC Magazine as one of the Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites.

2. MegaUpload - http://megaupload.com/

MegaUpload is known to be the fastest among all providers. The downside is that for a free account, chances are you need to install the MegaUpload Toolbar for you to download files. This is because without the toolbar, MegaUpload imposes a limited number of allowed download in a day for each country. MegaManager is a tool by MegaUpload to manage your uploads and downloads. It makes the task far more easy by just adding the URL's to it. A premium account with this site gives you tremendous speed and the usage of download managers.

3. RapidShare - http://rapidshare.com/

RapidShare as I would say it, the most famous among all. The speed provided is average compared to MegaUpload. There's no need for you to install any tools to be allowed to download though. However, there is a time period before you can download the next file. A premium account with this site allows you to use download managers for downloading purpose.

-SouL-

PayPerPost

2008-05-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

I've finally made it. PayPerPost.Com has accepted my application. For those who's new to the realm of blogging, PayPerPost is a site professionally dedicated to bring corporate advertisers and bloggers into a different form of advertising. As you guessed it, the advertising this time is through blogging. PayPerPost has been ranked as one of the top sites in its category. PayPerPost has a strict requirement to ensure the quality and authenticity of every bloggers content so that advertisers get what they paid for.(Explains why i'm excited). In simple layman terms, PayPerPost is blog network for everyone.

Just a quick brief on its history, PayPerPost was founded by Ted Murphy, the very same guy who brought to us MindComet & theBlogStar Network, designated to meet bloggers and advertisers in a manual and non-marketplace network. (Source: Wikipedia)

PayPerPost works in a very simple manner. If you're a blogger and you wish to earn from it. By joining PayPerPost, you have the chance to meet advertisers who might be keen to have their product review on your site. For each review, you get paid. Payment is channelled through PayPal with no hassle. Reviews are done professionally and honestly. Many at-home bloggers has turned into professional bloggers thanks to PayPerPost. They have managed to self-educate themself to come up with professional reviews. All my friends are into it, I guess its about time i get into it.

Torrent Top Sites & Tricks

2008-05-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

I'm hooked back to my crazy Torrent downloading days. As most Malaysians know, our ISP has been throttling our Torrent downloading connection. That is, by limiting (close to fully blocking) users from downloading files using Torrent. Sad is that many countries have taken this measure to ensure consistent bandwidth flow among its users.

Let's start with the top torrent sites. Here are some of the site's that I think deserve's your time. Our main concern would be number of files, speed of search results, safety & etc. I'm going to talk about the top 3 as I believe having too many chef spoils the soup :P

1. Mininova - http://www.mininova.org/
Mininova has been recognized as one of the top torrent sites. It provides a safe web environment for users as it does not contain malicious popup's. On top of that, when queries are made, any similiar keyword will be displayed under the textbox. Which saves you a lot of time if you can't figure the correct spelling of your keyword. One great thing about the site is that the number of seeders are great.! Don't be surprised if the number of seeder for a file is a few thousands. The only downside about it that I would say is that loading of the page could be slightly slow during peak hours. Other than that, this site is a great resource.

2. Axxo - http://axxo.superfundo.org/
Talk about DVD quality movies. This is the place to be. Axxo has been a famous DVD quality ripped movies. If you search for axxo in any torrent sites, chances are you will have a bunch of these releases. There's no hanky panky such as registration or banner clicking that is required. Seeders in this site are great as they understand the need of others. Best resource for DVD Rips.

3. isoHunt - http://isohunt.com/
One of the top sites that I go to as well. I love how they simplify search results. They eliminate the need for you to access a different page and download the torrent file. The advertisements in this site is well arranged. It doesn't bother your purpose of visiting the site as a user. The site is quite fast to be accessed, search results tend to be fast as well. Chances are that if you can't find a particular torrent in any other site, you could find it here.

That's all for now. Next up probably i'll talk about VPN to remote servers for faster torrent access

Tune Money Visa Prepaid Card

2008-05-04T11:43:00.001-07:00

Tony Fernandez has did it again. This time around with a prepaid Visa card. It functions just like a Visa Debit Card. The difference is that the Tune Money Prepaid Visa card does not require you to have a bank account. It is preloaded with money through its partner such as CIMB and Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN). Unlike the debit card, spending limit for a prepaid Visa card is limited to the amount of cash you have in your card. Following are details of the much talked Tune Money Visa Prepaid Card.

More information about Tune Money Prepaid Visa card can be obtained from www.tunemoney.com. Registration is free and can be done online, which is way more convinient than what other providers are offering. It has been rumoured that this card allows Malaysians to withdraw funds from PayPal. I wouldn't be surprised if you could.

Google Visual Rank

2008-05-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

Google recently unveiled a image search engine that is simple and more effective. Details of this new technology was presented at a recent web conference in Beijing and is said to be one of the first search engine to examine the content of images. This new web gadget by Google will do what Google's current PageRank does, but instead for images. The VisualRank will rank these images in order of importance

The attempt to narrow down results from searching through images has deemed difficult till today for many giant search engine. Unlike text based search, images are harder to decipher and its caption plays a vital role to provide accurate result.

A trial run on Google Images with 2,000 of the most popular queries managed to reduce the number of unrelated images by 83 percent compared to the existing Google Images.

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad Blogging

2008-05-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

The title is correct, there's nothing wrong with your eyes. Malaysia's very own former Prime Minister (PM), Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is now a blogger. He has started his very own blogsite that can be accessed through www.chedet.com

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is Malaysia's fourth Prime Minister. Born in 1925 in Kedah, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad received his early education within state. In 1947, he gained admission into King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore. He has been active in the political arena since 1945. In 1946, he was elected as a Member of The Parliment following the General Elections.

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has been recognized for his leadership in bringing Malaysia into a whole new level in the eye of the world. During his tenure, he has brought development to our country through the Kuala Lumpur Tower, Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers (KLCC), Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA), and more. As a matter of fact, it was by his leadership that we Malaysian's manage to sustain during the 1997 economy crisis. Do visit his blog a leave a comment to this remarkable leader.

Regular Maintainance : Disk Cleanup

2008-04-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

Computers should be maintained on a regular basis. Question to many is how do they do it. There's many way that your computer can be maintained. One of it is to wipe out unnecessary files that hog on your computer for a while a remains there. These files are meant to be temporary on your computer and is safe to be removed anytime.

The two main folder that is always mentioned by everyone is the Temporary Internet Files and Temp folder. These two folders are meant to store files that are to be used temporarily or on a need to use basis. At times, trojan's tend to place themself in these folders to avoid detection.

One step to remove these files is to perform Disk Cleanup. Disk Cleanup is a utility that came along Windows Operating System. The following instruction guides on to perform these maintainance on your computer.

1. Click on Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup. 2. Select the drive that you wish to cleanup (Start with c:).
3. On the next window, tick on all the boxes available.
4. Press Ok. The process might take a while depending on the amount of files need to be cleaned.

It's quite common for the Windows Compressed Files takes a long time to be removed. So be patient in this case.

-SoLoMoN-

My Satria Neo Is Back!!

2008-04-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

Oh yea...I'd like to thank Mr. Yusma from Proton for keeping his word to me and having my car done. I'm slightly disapointed cause he did not do the slight damage at my back bumper. That was an old damage of course :P The total amount of my claim cost RM3,578.55. That's a lot!

I noticed a couple of past issues that has been rectified. One, it was my clutch pedal. It used to squeek sounds, but i guess the guys at Proton oiled it. My gear knob used to be loose, but its slightly tighter now(slightly loose still). The mysterious problem I have with my radio when I tune to hitz.fm has been solved too...Overal, i'd say good job Proton Edar! Photo of the car was taken with my Nikon D40

Nikon Digital SLR D40 Is Mine!

2008-04-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

Might sound like a late announcement. But last saturday I've bought the Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera. I believe i've got a good deal. I was told that Pertama Complex sells digital camera's at a cheap rate. Personally, i don't find the prices of cameras at Sg. Wang cheap. So this time i went along with the advice and headed to Pertama Complex on a Saturday afternoon. Following are the shops that I went in Pertama Complex

1. Selangor Photographers
a. Standard Nikon package (Camera + Lens 18-55mm + Battery + Charger+Strap+Drivers)
b. A bag for the camera. Small and unbranded.
c. 1Gb memory card.
d. Totalling to RM1,680 (After RM20 discount)

2. International Camera Service Centre
a. Standard Nikon package (Camera + Lens 18-55mm + Battery + Charger+Strap+Drivers)
b. UV Filter
c. Nikon bag for the camera.
d. 2Gb memory card
e. Totalling to RM1,690 (After RM10 discount)

Based on the bold text above, you can see that the second store provides higher size of memory card and a Nikon camera bag. On top of that, the second store provided a UV filter as well, something that the first store did not. Even being at RM10 more expensive, any fool would know which is the better bargain.

If you guys would like to check out the shop, here are the details and contact for it :

Winnie / Desmond
International Camera Service Centre
Lot 1.99, Pertama Shopping Complex,
Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman,
50100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel/Fax : 03-2698 6610

I spent the day taking shots at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre. Will post about that shortly.

p/s : I've got my Neo back..Will post pictures up soon!