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Archive for July, 2008

Keys of My New House

Published July 26, 2008 in Life Log. 1 Comment

Keys of My New House

Wohoho…. finally, my gf has received the house keys on Friday, not directly from the landlord or agent, but our legal matters stackholder - Yap Koon Roy & Associates.

These keys are different, as they cost us a lot hahaha. However, 6 months down the road, I’m sure this set of keys will be totally replaced when renovation work is completed :p

So, what’s the first thing to be done le??

  • draft the renovation work? wrong
  • re-activate the water and power utility account? wrong
  • take a picture of the house before renovation? still wrong

aiyo… of course try to open to house with these keys la hahaha :p

I need to get someone to cut the grass. Then, measure the whole house and digitize the floor plan with Microsoft Visio (or any other better and yet not complicated tool?)

I Need More Affordable Mobile Wireless Broadband

Published July 26, 2008 in Internet. 4 Comments

SingTel Mobile Broadband USB Modem

SingTel Mobile Broadband USB Modem

As shown above, is my brother’s SingTel USB modem which connects him to 1Mbps/384kbps (upload/download) mobile wireless broadband in Singapore. I’m surprised that it even comes with a 1GB SanDisk MicroSD card, which has approximately 8MB occupied for the modem installer, and plenty more free space left.

I must say that quality wireless broadband is freaking cheap in Singapore. The package that my brother is subscribing to, entitles him 50GB of monthly data usage at only S$16 (approximately RM40). 50GB is more definitely more than enough for his after-work internet usage, it’s like 1.6GB for a few hours at night. If you’re working earning in Singapore Dollars, S$16 plus is really nothing!

Seeing that, I couldn’t resist but to make some comparisons with what’s available to us in Malaysia.

Maxis Wireless Broadband - 3GB monthly data usage, possibly-throttled speed, RM118 per month

Recently, in Klang Valley area, banners promoting Maxis USB modem with animal print designs are easily spotted everywhere. Ya I agree that it looks nice, adding a little “wild factor” to the otherwise plain device.

What about the internet speed? Wah quite shiok lo.. everywhere you see, the banners and brochures say “up to 3.6Mbps“, it’s like 3 times faster than the RM88 Streamyx 1.0Mbps wired broadband. But, wait till you read this page:

3.6Mbps in Maxis High Speed 3G (HSDPA) coverage areas, 384kpbs in 3G coverage areas, 247kbps on Maxis EDGE in major cities and towns, 56kpbs on Maxis GPRS nationwide

In most cases, unless you’re using it at KLCC and some (very few) hot places in KL and Klang Valley, the 3.6Mbps Maxis High Speed 3G is not available. From my experience of surfing with Maxis 3G on my phone, you can tab to the 384kbps (theoritical speed only) Maxis 3G in most of the town areas in Peninsula Malaysia. Which means, most of the time, you are paying RM118 a month for 384kbps, unless you are residing in the very limited Maxis High Speed 3G coverage areas. This is a bit unfair; Maxis should offer cheaper price for 384kbps 3G package, to users who are out of HSDPA coverage areas. Continue reading ‘I Need More Affordable Mobile Wireless Broadband’

I’ve Got a LensPen to Clean My Camera Lens

Published July 22, 2008 in Shutterbug. 2 Comments

Thanks to Edwin for helping me to get an original LensPen from ShaShinKi through bulk order, at RM35 each. He submitted the order on last Thursday night, and received it on Saturday; a rather quick 2-day turnaround time.

LensPen

LensPen

LensPen Standard is about the size of Artline 500 marker pen, and it has 2 ends – one end with a retractable brush, and another end with a carbon tip for lens cleansing.

LensPen

I’ve seen a few friends (one of them is John) using LensPen, and I must agree that this is the most effective and yet economically-affordable lens cleaning tool that I’ve seen, which caught my immediate attention at the first sight. Unlike cleaning fluid, LensPen’s carbon tip doesn’t rely on any liquid, never dry-up and thus there’s nothing to refill. All it takes to clean an optical lens is simply to thoroughly stroke the tip on the lens surface, and you done.

Not just about efficient fast cleaning, it’s superbly effective too. I stroked the LensPen against my camera lens and filters for one cycle, and immediately I noticed a well-polished lens without having any small bit of visible mark or print. The lens surface looks like a brand-new production from the manufacturing plant. I’m completely satisfied.

I use the LensPen Standard to clean the camera lens of my SE P1i too :p

LensPen, blower and cleansing fluid

Please note that, though LensPen replaces the lens cleaning fluid, but it will never replace the blower. You will still need a rubber blower (not a plastic one please) to blow away the dust.

Now I’m wondering how long my LensPen lasts before it worn-out, especially the tip.

Windows Vista is Outdated

Published July 19, 2008 in Software. 1 Comment

When you think that the Windows Flip 3D effect in Windows Vista is the coolest desktop eye candy, wait till you see the amazing visual effects available on Ubuntu 8.04 with 3D effects powered by Compiz Fusion.

If you have never seen the breath-taking 3D effects available on Ubuntu 8.04, please watch the following YouTube clip, and I’m sure you will be immediately amazed with jaw-dropping reaction ;)

How to Enable Advanced 3D Effects on Ubuntu 8.04?

My Initial Experience with Ubuntu 8.04

I’ve recently formatted my home PC, made way for Ubuntu, and installed dual-boot with Windows XP Professional and Ubuntu 8.04. This time, I’ve made the Ubuntu 8.04 as the primary default boot, leaving Windows a secondary choice :p

FYI, my home PC is relatively old comparing to today’s de-facto standards. It’s running on Intel Prescott P4 2.0GHz processor with 512MB RAM and an on-board graphic card. This specification is a BIG NO to the resource-hungry Windows Vista.

Firstly, with Ubuntu installation CD, you can even boot and run the operating system from CD without installation. So, you can try out its compatibility with your computer and find reasons to convince yourself, before you commit to install it.

I’ve given my Ubuntu a 12GB partition, with 900MB swap area. It takes a set of very simple steps to install Ubuntu 8.04 with complete graphical interface. Yes, the installation is easy; it asks less questions comparing to Windows XP and Vista, and many configurations are automatically detected. For my case, it even prompts if I would like to import settings from Windows XP. Continue reading ‘Windows Vista is Outdated’

Labels and Stickers for Bolehland Malaysians

Published July 17, 2008 in My Thoughts. 3 Comments

I’ve created these labels from Warning Label Generator to match the current atmosphere in our Bolehland. Shall we print some stickers for our car windows?

Feel free to share your labels if you have created any hehe

Notice: I'm Boosting Economic Growth by Wasting Fuel in The Jam

Think: Go Nearby Mamak Tonight and Order a Plate of So Doh Mee

Be Careful: Don't Drink and Drive - There Are Many Road Blocks

Caution: Someone is Promoting Recycling Campaign by Recurring Similar News Headlines in 10 Years Cycle

Think: Our Government is Encouraging Full Utilization of Police Forces

Danger: My Fuel is Running Low. Don't Blame Me if My Car Suddenly Stop in The Jam

Weekend in Singapore

Published July 16, 2008 in Food and Travelogue. 6 Comments

I was in Singapore the last weekend. Just a short trip over the weekend. Well, for many Malaccans and Johorians, Singapore is such a neighbor – in many households, there are at least 1 family member or relative associated to Singapore. Either work there, study there, or married to there.

In my family of 4, 2 are currently working in Singapore. That’s exactly 50% My gf’s second eldest sister is also working in Singapore. One of my mother side aunties (ah yi) has also settled down in Singapore with family. And the list continues..

OK back to the main topic. So yes, I was in Singapore last weekend. The last visit to Singapore was a New Year trip from 29th Dec 2007 to 1st Jan 2008.

Many people commented that there’s no nice food in Singapore. However, I don’t agree with it. It depends very much on where you are eating. If you are willing to spend some efforts locating the nice food places, it’s not hard to stumble upon drooling delicacies at many food court stalls. However, in order to enjoy your food hunting journey, of course you should avoid multiplying the currency.

Less Than 3 Hours to Reach JB

We took 707 Express from Melaka Sentral to Singapore. 707 Express is by far the fastest Melaka-Singapore express bus, as it offers a real non-stop route (just 1 toilet break, no typical stop at Ayer Hitam or Yong Peng). In 2 hours and 40 minutes, we have already reached a place where Johor Bharu City Square was just like 500m in front of us. However, there was a massive traffic jam which took us quite some time to reach JB custom.

Woodlands, Singapore

This is Woodlands, the most popular gateway to Singapore. On the right of this picture is the railway. I always hope to capture a picture at this place, with a train passing by at the railway, but never stumble upon such a nice chance hehe.

Lunch at Bukit Batok Central

Mini Soon Kueh at Bukit Batok Central, Singapore

Sweet Potato Cake at Bukit Batok Central, Singapore

Had lunch at Bukit Batok Central food court. As shown above are the mini soon kueh (笋糕) and sweet potato cake (木薯糕) from a stall called Yi Jia (一家) Delicacies. The mini soon kueh was sold at SGD3 for 5 pieces and sweet potato cake at SGD1 for 3.

I like the mini soon kueh, which is a very close variation of chai kueh. Even though the skin was slightly thicker than my liking, but the whole piece as overall was in good combination, especially when it is complemented with the chili. The sweet potato cake was in very appealing colour. It tasted ok, but will be better if it was more aromatic. Continue reading ‘Weekend in Singapore’

BN, Please Concentrate in Minimizing the Economical Aftermath of Petrol Hike

Published July 14, 2008 in My Thoughts. 2 Comments

Yesterday, there were road blocks at many places of our highways in Peninsula Malaysia, especially the southern and central regions. Ya, Malaysia is so efficient in the utilization of police forces, and you can see neatly queued vehicles (wow.. so courteous, drivers dare not simply abuse the emergency lane also) at the highway speed lane. Friends, it was Sunday, the day when many people were traveling back from home sweet home to Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya for work.

This morning, if you’re working in KL or PJ, and if were driving to work, then congratulation, you have contributed in boosting national economic growth by consuming more fuel. Congratulation again, you have helped to prove that our police forces are efficient in conducting road block!

Why all these masses? Simply because BN “thought” there will be a crowd of protestors heading to parliament today for no-confidence motion against PM :)

End up, who were creating problems in busy metropolitan city this morning? I’m sure a lot of drivers and motorists were swearing all the way in the traffic, especially those who were rushing for important appointment.

Dear BN government, could you please focus your attention in the hot-like-frying-pan issues resulted from fuel price hike aftermaths which are troubling the average Malaysians? Defend as you like, as if majority of Malaysians are enjoying sufficient spending power to comfortably greet and welcome the financial burdens introduced to us after the recent fuel price hike. Continue reading ‘BN, Please Concentrate in Minimizing the Economical Aftermath of Petrol Hike’

Almost Legally Owned the House

Published July 11, 2008 in Life Log. 6 Comments

My girlfriend told me this morning, that the stamp duty is processed, and the sales & purchase agreement is also sealed by seller through our individual lawyers. For a moment, I was very happy. ‘Cos it means that we almost legally own the house already, as far as legal processing and matters are concerned. FYI, the legal processes started in early May.

Why do I say “almost”?? hehe.. ‘cos the house is not yet paid!

So, for the next second, the joyous feel is overwritten by money matters haha. The journey of digging out substantial amount of cash has officially begun. House renovation is the most painful part.

Now, the first party to pay is lawyer - RM3175, for all the legal services.

Java VisualVM is Now Bundled with JDK6 Update 7

Published July 11, 2008 in Java. 0 Comments

Java SE 6 has already been released for quite some time (ya… now already update 7 looo). Even though many monitoring and diagnostics features are enhanced and introduced in Java 6, but it has been lacking an out-of-the-box bundling of a convincing visual Java application monitoring or profiling tool, until the most recent JDK6 Update 7.

In this latest update of JDK 6 (version 6u7), the Java VisualVM - a visual tool integrating several lightweight profiling capabilities for troubleshooting Java applications, is bundled. After installation of JDK 6u7, you can find jvisualvm.exe in the /bin folder. By the way, VisualVM is similar to JConsole to certain extends, but a lot better than JConsole.

You might have heard of JProfiler, or even have some first-hand experiences with it. No doubt it’s an comprehensive Java application profiler, but it comes with a price tag :) Java VisualVM is FREE, free like a free beer!

How to take advantage with Java VisualVM?

Java VisualVM

Firstly, in order to benefit from the full profiling advantage of Java VisualVM, you must run your Java application on JVM 6. No worry, you can also compile your codes with Java 5 compatibility, and run the application on JVM 6, so that it is profilable by VisualVM.

For all applications running on JVM 6, you will be able to create CPU and memory profiler, take thread dumps, browse heap dumps, and more. For applications running on JVM 5, the most that you can monitor with VisualVM, is only the threads. Click here for more details on Java VisualVM features. Continue reading ‘Java VisualVM is Now Bundled with JDK6 Update 7′

Peninsula Trip Part 2 – Day 2: Merang Beach

Published July 8, 2008 in Travelogue. 0 Comments

Continue from:
Peninsula Trip Part 2 – Introduction
Day 1: Kuala Lipis, Gua Musang
Day 1: Kota Bharu
Day 2: Kota Bharu

After leaving the Kota Bharu pulut tapai cendol at 2.39:50pm, we were heading southward to the beautiful coastline of Terengganu – Merang. There was quite a heavy traffic, and it took us about 20 minutes to get out from Kota Bharu town. Just the 565m stretch of Jalan Pengkalan Chepa and we have spent 6 minutes 43 seconds.

After crossing the Kelantan-Terengganu border, we came to Besut district, which backdated my memory to 3 years ago, when I was boarding a boat to Pulau Perhentian with my university coursemates from Kuala Besut jetty.

Along the way from Kota Bharu to Merang

When we were approaching Setiu district at around 5.10pm, the journey was getting more excited. Why? Cos after a long stretch of dull trunk mainly surrounded by oil palm estates, we finally started to head towards the eastern coastline. In other words, we were getting a lot closer to see the sea!!!

We started to sing some songs in the cars, picking up some titles which are related to the blue sea. Soon, we were driving along the Penarik Beach, and I started to feel it as the real city-escape vacation.

Merang Beach and Kembara Resort, Terengganu

Finally, at 5.42:11pm, we have officially declared our arrival at Merang, better known as the gateway to Pulau Redang and Pulang Lang Tengah. Merang Beach is described as the most beautiful coastline of Terengganu. Its long sandy beach and stretches of tall coconut trees and sparkling crystal clear sea water is making Pantai Merang a good stop to enjoy the sea breeze.

Kembara Resort, Merang

Then, we headed to the first paid accommodation of our makan trip – Kembara Resort, which is a budget accommodation of kampung style chalets by the Merang Beach.

GPS coordinate: N5 31.948 E102 57.525 (show location map)

OK, let me think how I should fairly comment Kembara Resort. Hm.. the wooden kampung style chalets, which have accommodated us with 4 in a room, doesn’t really meet overall hygienic requirement. Firstly, the room floor was sandy, the bed sheets were not satisfyingly clean, and the washroom (individual washroom for each chalet) condition was.. erm.. not really well maintained as the pipe was leaking, making the washroom floor all-time wet and sandy, yet without proper dissemination. I don’t mind staying in any budget or backpacker’s lodge, but as long as the basic cleanliness and hygiene requirements are met. Continue reading ‘Peninsula Trip Part 2 – Day 2: Merang Beach’

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