Are you bored enough to continue staying on Earth? Let's colonize Mars' caves. Google and Virgin are picking up the tab:Go, go, Penguins!
I didn't know Virgin flies people to space too, hehe...
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 2
Google Fools
Are you bored enough to continue staying on Earth? Let's colonize Mars' caves. Google and Virgin are picking up the tab:Go, go, Penguins!
I didn't know Virgin flies people to space too, hehe...
Thursday, January 10
New Cars for New Year!
Happy New Hijra' Year 1429 to all Muslims and Muslimahs...
Just wanna say that this car looks cool (and cute!):
(Dubbed "The People's Car" revealed today on 1 MUHARRAM 1429H/10 JAN 2008, pictured with Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group of Companies, India).
And this one retails for just a little over RM8,000! Good for cash buyers, but I'm sure financiers are flocking to approach low-income earners for "take one home today" plans. And for 50 miles per gallon of petrol, it's 'green' too!
But I'm not sure I'd like one without an air-conditioner ;)
'
For many Malaysians, Proton BLM ("Base Line Model" dubbed the "comeback Saga" - I made that up!) would serve as a good new year's gift for well under RM40K - slightly more expensive than an Iswara but cheaper than a Savvy.
Maybe I should get a new car this year...
Just wanna say that this car looks cool (and cute!):
(Dubbed "The People's Car" revealed today on 1 MUHARRAM 1429H/10 JAN 2008, pictured with Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group of Companies, India).And this one retails for just a little over RM8,000! Good for cash buyers, but I'm sure financiers are flocking to approach low-income earners for "take one home today" plans. And for 50 miles per gallon of petrol, it's 'green' too!
But I'm not sure I'd like one without an air-conditioner ;)
'
For many Malaysians, Proton BLM ("Base Line Model" dubbed the "comeback Saga" - I made that up!) would serve as a good new year's gift for well under RM40K - slightly more expensive than an Iswara but cheaper than a Savvy.
Maybe I should get a new car this year...
Sunday, December 16
Which 'city' is the BROADBAND CAPITAL of Malaysia?
If you've guessed Cyberjaya being it is the first and foremost zone for Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project, or Kuala Lumpur being it is the largest city (and capital city of) in Malaysia [note: Putrajaya is the administrative capital city of Malaysia], you're a bit off by well over 300 kilometres!
The answer is Penang (or its "cities")!
As you might have known, since 2005, several zones in Penang Island and Seberang Perai had been gazetted as Penang Cyber Cities (PCC) by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC), as the first of its kind outside of Klang Valley (CyberJaya, KLCC, Technology Park etc).... [And I get to brag about it being my home town as well as my birth origin!]
Surprisingly though because neither Pulau Pinang (Penang Island) nor any of the towns in this world-famous travel destination are officially a "city" by administration or municipal governance, i.e. managed/maintained by Municipal Council of Pulau Pinang (MPPP) instead of a city council ("Majlis Bandaraya" in Malay language).
On the other hand, "Georgetown" or "Tanjung" as the capital of Penang is affectionately known for by the locals not to long ago had also been occassionally called "Bandaraya" (literally meaning "city") as showcased on several road signs, names of structures etc. (e.g. "Stadium Bandaraya"). In fact, Georgetown had been a city for a few decades since before Merdeka until around the 70s, when MPPP and MPSP (for Seberang Perai/Province Wellesley) were established by the state government for the task of municipal development. Such names and road signs had though continued to stay around until early 2000s when they were starting to be changed to "Georgetown" instead of "Pulau Pinang" or "Bandaraya", for instance, on road directional signs near the Penang Bridge.
Skipping the name sakes or "city vs. town status" for Penang, let's see what speedtest.net revealed in its latest broadband speed results:-
From the chart above, Penang clearly leads way ahead in terms of average Internet download speed at nearly 3-MBps -- more than double what average users in Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan (WP) are getting. Surprising eh? Not so... After all, despite the number of broadband users leading in Selangor (home of Cyberjaya town and the cities of Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya) and WP Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, there are more large multinational manufacturing companies in Penang, exceeding 200 in the towns of Bayan Lepas, Batu Maung and Prai etc. 
There are also many more high rises (buildings with ten or more floors) in Penang than in Kuala Lumpur etc, making Penang a top-25 "city" vs. KL ~ top-80 in the world in terms of the number of high rises. Such availability of high rises has made Penang a perfect candidate for fiber optic-backed wireless service which companies like PenangFon (subsidiary of MetroFon) had starting to take advantage of over the past couple years for instance.
Again, from chart above, a "cities" comparison shows that Penang towns dominate 60% of the top-10 ranking for Internet downstream speed in Malaysia, including for #1 until #5. Likewise, Penang also dominate the average upstream speed for its users similar to the downstream pattern.
Not just that, a Penang-based company/connectivity also ranks #1 in Asia, ahead of providers in Japan for instance. However, as I've noted in my previous blog during my brief visit to Tokyo, Japan clearly leads in average Internet connectivity speed surpassing 11Mbps, more than twice Internet users are getting in Singapore, the second fastest country in Asia in terms of Internet connectivity, with Hong Kong and Korea trailing closely behind -- All top-10 regions in Asia in terms of Internet speed are also in Japan (which is also fastest country in the world in terms of Internet connectivity speed, far ahead at more than twice the download speed compared to Singapore, France, Germany and the US at the bottom four in the top-10 global rank)!
Oh well, back to reality in Malaysia, it seems that it's not bad after all to be stucked in Penang all these years instead of following the steps of many who have migrated to Klang Valley in pursuit of better things that MSC is supposed to offer. However, as I've neither live in a high-rise nor in a city-like town (eg. Bayan Lepas, Gelugor, Georgetown etc.) any longer, I still have to settle with a ~1-Mbps downstream connectivity that TM Streamyx is offering at present.
It's worth to note that except for Penang which has superb fiber-optic choices, particularly for use by those big MNCs, Klang Valley and other areas of Malaysia are depending on DSL (mostly by TM, largest Government-Linked Telco), mobile broadband (200Kbps - 3.6Mbps for GPRS Edge or 3G-3.5G/HSDPA), iBurst (eg. Izzi etc), WiMAX etc.
At present, I still haven't migrated to 3.5G since I still haven't had the time to visit Celcom or Maxis to get them to bring me HSDPA in Balik Pulau without me having to ditch my cool DiGi vanity phone number (that phonetically spells both my name and commercial company brand!) -- still am waiting for the Number Portability scheme to reach the mobile scenes in Malaysia. And Streamyx at RM98/month (including the ridiculous service cut double penalty - only by TM, the monopolistic Telco of Malaysia.) is all I got besides the decent DiGi Edge that charges me as much as RM149/month -- Worse if compared to regions in North America, Europe, East Asia Pacific and Australasia, but not too bad if compared to elsewhere including South America and Africa.
This ends my sporadic spur of the moment rambling (and usual critiques) on the state of broadband in Malaysia.
I know, I know, I still owe you guys my good readers, comprehensive coverages from my back-to-back full week of ICT-centric social networking and learning experience through the events of Sifoo-Microsoft, PIKOM PC Fair (both in Penang and KLCC),
ICT for Development (i4D) Film Festival, World Electronic Media Forum (WEMF3), Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) Event on the Future (GK3), MiRC Penang ICT Week (including the Arabian Night at Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel), ICT Penang Meet @ DPMMPP etc. But I still have more networking to go thru during remaining of this week including TechBiz Penang meet @ PSDC, and miscellaneous MiRC Penang ICT Week events on Monday and Tuesday -- It seems that I had so little time to write when having to meet so many people from all corners of the world (I must have shaken hands and/or 
exchanged smiles/name cards with over 100 individuals from 50+ different nations, from students/young social entrepreneurs up to ministers of respective countries in the course of a single week), starting with conferences every early morning to gala dinners every evening. But, am anxiously waiting for Eid and Xmas 5-day holiday during which I'll hopefully have more time to write: blogs, business plans, company financial accounts etc. (unless of course if I were to take another vacation away from home).
The answer is Penang (or its "cities")!As you might have known, since 2005, several zones in Penang Island and Seberang Perai had been gazetted as Penang Cyber Cities (PCC) by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC), as the first of its kind outside of Klang Valley (CyberJaya, KLCC, Technology Park etc).... [And I get to brag about it being my home town as well as my birth origin!]
Surprisingly though because neither Pulau Pinang (Penang Island) nor any of the towns in this world-famous travel destination are officially a "city" by administration or municipal governance, i.e. managed/maintained by Municipal Council of Pulau Pinang (MPPP) instead of a city council ("Majlis Bandaraya" in Malay language).On the other hand, "Georgetown" or "Tanjung" as the capital of Penang is affectionately known for by the locals not to long ago had also been occassionally called "Bandaraya" (literally meaning "city") as showcased on several road signs, names of structures etc. (e.g. "Stadium Bandaraya"). In fact, Georgetown had been a city for a few decades since before Merdeka until around the 70s, when MPPP and MPSP (for Seberang Perai/Province Wellesley) were established by the state government for the task of municipal development. Such names and road signs had though continued to stay around until early 2000s when they were starting to be changed to "Georgetown" instead of "Pulau Pinang" or "Bandaraya", for instance, on road directional signs near the Penang Bridge.Skipping the name sakes or "city vs. town status" for Penang, let's see what speedtest.net revealed in its latest broadband speed results:-
From the chart above, Penang clearly leads way ahead in terms of average Internet download speed at nearly 3-MBps -- more than double what average users in Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan (WP) are getting. Surprising eh? Not so... After all, despite the number of broadband users leading in Selangor (home of Cyberjaya town and the cities of Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya) and WP Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, there are more large multinational manufacturing companies in Penang, exceeding 200 in the towns of Bayan Lepas, Batu Maung and Prai etc. There are also many more high rises (buildings with ten or more floors) in Penang than in Kuala Lumpur etc, making Penang a top-25 "city" vs. KL ~ top-80 in the world in terms of the number of high rises. Such availability of high rises has made Penang a perfect candidate for fiber optic-backed wireless service which companies like PenangFon (subsidiary of MetroFon) had starting to take advantage of over the past couple years for instance.
Again, from chart above, a "cities" comparison shows that Penang towns dominate 60% of the top-10 ranking for Internet downstream speed in Malaysia, including for #1 until #5. Likewise, Penang also dominate the average upstream speed for its users similar to the downstream pattern.Not just that, a Penang-based company/connectivity also ranks #1 in Asia, ahead of providers in Japan for instance. However, as I've noted in my previous blog during my brief visit to Tokyo, Japan clearly leads in average Internet connectivity speed surpassing 11Mbps, more than twice Internet users are getting in Singapore, the second fastest country in Asia in terms of Internet connectivity, with Hong Kong and Korea trailing closely behind -- All top-10 regions in Asia in terms of Internet speed are also in Japan (which is also fastest country in the world in terms of Internet connectivity speed, far ahead at more than twice the download speed compared to Singapore, France, Germany and the US at the bottom four in the top-10 global rank)!
Oh well, back to reality in Malaysia, it seems that it's not bad after all to be stucked in Penang all these years instead of following the steps of many who have migrated to Klang Valley in pursuit of better things that MSC is supposed to offer. However, as I've neither live in a high-rise nor in a city-like town (eg. Bayan Lepas, Gelugor, Georgetown etc.) any longer, I still have to settle with a ~1-Mbps downstream connectivity that TM Streamyx is offering at present.
It's worth to note that except for Penang which has superb fiber-optic choices, particularly for use by those big MNCs, Klang Valley and other areas of Malaysia are depending on DSL (mostly by TM, largest Government-Linked Telco), mobile broadband (200Kbps - 3.6Mbps for GPRS Edge or 3G-3.5G/HSDPA), iBurst (eg. Izzi etc), WiMAX etc.At present, I still haven't migrated to 3.5G since I still haven't had the time to visit Celcom or Maxis to get them to bring me HSDPA in Balik Pulau without me having to ditch my cool DiGi vanity phone number (that phonetically spells both my name and commercial company brand!) -- still am waiting for the Number Portability scheme to reach the mobile scenes in Malaysia. And Streamyx at RM98/month (including the ridiculous service cut double penalty - only by TM, the monopolistic Telco of Malaysia.) is all I got besides the decent DiGi Edge that charges me as much as RM149/month -- Worse if compared to regions in North America, Europe, East Asia Pacific and Australasia, but not too bad if compared to elsewhere including South America and Africa.
This ends my sporadic spur of the moment rambling (and usual critiques) on the state of broadband in Malaysia.
I know, I know, I still owe you guys my good readers, comprehensive coverages from my back-to-back full week of ICT-centric social networking and learning experience through the events of Sifoo-Microsoft, PIKOM PC Fair (both in Penang and KLCC),
ICT for Development (i4D) Film Festival, World Electronic Media Forum (WEMF3), Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) Event on the Future (GK3), MiRC Penang ICT Week (including the Arabian Night at Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel), ICT Penang Meet @ DPMMPP etc. But I still have more networking to go thru during remaining of this week including TechBiz Penang meet @ PSDC, and miscellaneous MiRC Penang ICT Week events on Monday and Tuesday -- It seems that I had so little time to write when having to meet so many people from all corners of the world (I must have shaken hands and/or 
exchanged smiles/name cards with over 100 individuals from 50+ different nations, from students/young social entrepreneurs up to ministers of respective countries in the course of a single week), starting with conferences every early morning to gala dinners every evening. But, am anxiously waiting for Eid and Xmas 5-day holiday during which I'll hopefully have more time to write: blogs, business plans, company financial accounts etc. (unless of course if I were to take another vacation away from home).Saturday, December 8
Sifoos of Design congregrate in KL
About 150 or more Malaysia-based digital graphic (master) designers and/or enthusiasts who call themselves "sifoorians"* will congregate at Microsoft Auditorium at Level 29 of Kuala Lumpur City Centre (Petronas KLCC Tower 2) this morning...
I first registered in its forum back in 2003, but this will be my first time meeting fellow Sifoorians or the group's activities (Hmm.. I missed the chix buffet!! Hehe, but 'been to Hartz's before... and banyak gak awek cun yer dlm design community!). Am not much of a designer though, but I marvel at the beautiful artworks these geniuses come up with all these years...
The highlights of the event has got to be Microsoft's bold entrance to endear with the creative community with its Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF, formerly code-named "Avalon") and Microsoft Silverlight (Hmm.. I didn't get to check that one somehow during Web 2.0 Tokyo because Microsoft's demo hall was quite exclusive from the rest of the expo vendors, but friend Rico must know much about this after some good photo snaps with them Jap ala-F1 girls). Microsoft's Rohan Thomas will showcase what Microsoft has in store for graphic professionals and amateurs, including MS Expression Studio (a successor to MS Frontpage, written using WPF itself) I suppose.
MICROSTATUS: It's 5 o'clock in the morning, and I'm blogging this after a brief power nap. Looks like I have to start packing as my flight is just two hours from now, and the Penang International Airport is some 30 minutes from my house after brazing some sloppy hills (Urgh, can't someone bring a mini airport here to Balik Pulau??). Will land at Subang airport the first time in twelve years -- the last time I was there was in 1995 during a short holiday from the United States, after which I've been touchdowning at KLIA-Sepang (and LCCT-Sepang) after all flights both international and domestic for Kuala Lumpur were moved to there. (Why, oh why, was AirAsia refused access to Subang, but when the government-owned Malaysia Airline wants the old airport for its Firefly, the new low-cost subsidiary, the approval seemed no-brainer?)
To fellow Sifoorians, see you guys at Microsoft-KLCC today!
* "sifoo" or "sifu" in Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese) means "teacher", and supposedly popularized in Chinese "kungfu" movies since back in the 80s with popular China/Hong Kong actors including Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
I first registered in its forum back in 2003, but this will be my first time meeting fellow Sifoorians or the group's activities (Hmm.. I missed the chix buffet!! Hehe, but 'been to Hartz's before... and banyak gak awek cun yer dlm design community!). Am not much of a designer though, but I marvel at the beautiful artworks these geniuses come up with all these years...The highlights of the event has got to be Microsoft's bold entrance to endear with the creative community with its Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF, formerly code-named "Avalon") and Microsoft Silverlight (Hmm.. I didn't get to check that one somehow during Web 2.0 Tokyo because Microsoft's demo hall was quite exclusive from the rest of the expo vendors, but friend Rico must know much about this after some good photo snaps with them Jap ala-F1 girls). Microsoft's Rohan Thomas will showcase what Microsoft has in store for graphic professionals and amateurs, including MS Expression Studio (a successor to MS Frontpage, written using WPF itself) I suppose.
MICROSTATUS: It's 5 o'clock in the morning, and I'm blogging this after a brief power nap. Looks like I have to start packing as my flight is just two hours from now, and the Penang International Airport is some 30 minutes from my house after brazing some sloppy hills (Urgh, can't someone bring a mini airport here to Balik Pulau??). Will land at Subang airport the first time in twelve years -- the last time I was there was in 1995 during a short holiday from the United States, after which I've been touchdowning at KLIA-Sepang (and LCCT-Sepang) after all flights both international and domestic for Kuala Lumpur were moved to there. (Why, oh why, was AirAsia refused access to Subang, but when the government-owned Malaysia Airline wants the old airport for its Firefly, the new low-cost subsidiary, the approval seemed no-brainer?)
To fellow Sifoorians, see you guys at Microsoft-KLCC today!
* "sifoo" or "sifu" in Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese) means "teacher", and supposedly popularized in Chinese "kungfu" movies since back in the 80s with popular China/Hong Kong actors including Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
Monday, December 3
Pesta Penang 2007 - Pakat mai sini!
Tibalah masanya orang Pulau Pinang dan tetamu-tetamunya berpesta sekali lagi di hujung tahun, dan seperti tahun-tahun sebelumnya, Pesta Penang kembali ke Tapak Ekspo Sg. Nibong dan banyak lagi destinasi di seluruh Pulau Pinang - yang saya pasti cukup momentos untuk ramai orang Penang termasuklah saya yang mula mengunjungi tapak pesta ini sejak dari di bangku sekolah rendah lagi (dibawa oleh 'abah' dengan motor skuternya - masa tu tiket masuk masih murah dan nak bayar harga 'parking' motor pun tak berapa mampu!). FAST FORWARD: Tahun lepas pula, saya dengan gahnya menyewa ruang 20mx30m untuk berniaga peralatan dan khidmat komputer. Tapi tahun ini, untuk menumpukan perhatian kepada pembangunan dan perniagaan perisian/khidmat Internet, saya hanya akan 'join' berpesta sebagai 'pelancong' ;) (Lagipun, supplier saya sendiri pula yang masuk Pesta Sg. Nibong pula tahun ni!)
Pesta Penang yang kali ini dirasmikan oleh Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi pada hari Sabtu yang lalu (1 DEC 2007 - serentak dengan perasmian Pesta Merakyatkan Seni Budaya di Padang Kota) menjanjikan pelbagai program menarik yang dirancangkan untuk sepanjang bulan Disember 2007.
Memandangkan pihak Tourism Penang tidak (boleh) melayan permintaan saya melalui telefon untuk 'flyer' versi digital, dibawah ini hanyalah hasil imbasan untuk kertas yang digumpalkan bersama-sama surat lain dalam peti surat rumah saya hari ini (download dari slideshare.net untuk versi PDF):-
[UPDATE (6pm): Tourism Penang bagaimanapun membalas emel saya beberapa jam kemudian dan menyertakan versi PDF yang lebih baik kualitinya. Terima kasih Siti Hanisah!]
Ini pula ialah lirik untuk lagu promosi Pesta hujung tahun Pulau Pinang yang diadakan setiap tahun:
(hingaq bingaq)
(pasai pa ni? pesta kat mana? bila, bila? dah start dah ka? la awat hang tak habaq!!)
Selamat datang ke Pulau Pinang!
Pesta Penang yang kali ini dirasmikan oleh Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi pada hari Sabtu yang lalu (1 DEC 2007 - serentak dengan perasmian Pesta Merakyatkan Seni Budaya di Padang Kota) menjanjikan pelbagai program menarik yang dirancangkan untuk sepanjang bulan Disember 2007.Memandangkan pihak Tourism Penang tidak (boleh) melayan permintaan saya melalui telefon untuk 'flyer' versi digital, dibawah ini hanyalah hasil imbasan untuk kertas yang digumpalkan bersama-sama surat lain dalam peti surat rumah saya hari ini (download dari slideshare.net untuk versi PDF):-
[UPDATE (6pm): Tourism Penang bagaimanapun membalas emel saya beberapa jam kemudian dan menyertakan versi PDF yang lebih baik kualitinya. Terima kasih Siti Hanisah!]
Ini pula ialah lirik untuk lagu promosi Pesta hujung tahun Pulau Pinang yang diadakan setiap tahun:
(hingaq bingaq)
(pasai pa ni? pesta kat mana? bila, bila? dah start dah ka? la awat hang tak habaq!!)
Kalau naik feri kena masuk ikut jeti
Kalau ramai kawan kena masuk ikut jambatan
Jumpa hidung mancung bukan semua pelancong
Combi anak tanjung, anak mami dok Jelutong!
Mailah sini...
Pulau Pinang menanti
Batu Feringgi, Padang Kota,
Naik beca pusing KOMTAR!
Pakat mai sini...
Pulau Pinang satu destinasi
Tengok pulau, Tanjung Tokong,
Pesta Penang Sungai Nibong!
Pestaaa !
Selamat datang ke Pulau Pinang!
Seas of people all over Penang...
The weekend that ended November and started December, the final month of 2007, has concluded and what an eventful one it was for Penangites and her visitors. Congregations of people can be spotted at various locations including at Sg. Nibong (for Pesta Eskpo that began last Thursday, 29 NOV), Padang Kota / Esplanade (for Boria shows etc during the Program Merakyatkan Seni Budaya (PMS) by KekkWa in collaboration with Pemuda Umno) and at PISA Bayan Baru (for the 3rd PC Fair season of the year, organized by PIKOM).
And I happened to be at each of these, plus two other wedding reception ceremonies during the short span of two days and two nights, so it was food, music, long walk and people watching for me all weekend long! While Pesta Ekspo and PMS managed to pull tens of thousands of people each day, PC Fair with 118 participating vendors (the 2nd largest PC expo in Malaysia after next week's in Kuala Lumpur, I think!) was able to garner 100,000+ people in a single day seamingly, at least from my observation on Sunday, its final MEGA SALE day. Check out this snap of heads there, cramping like clogged pipe (psst... captured using the very camera just purchased there just minutes earlier):
And aargh.... I just found out that the tablet notebook I bought less than two months ago has been replaced with an upgraded model (with slightly better Athlon CPU), and this new model retails for the same price plus all the same goodies (an extra 6-cell battery and an optical mouse). How fast these tech items you bought get devalued! With my good thumbs up, my good friend ended up buying eight pieces of this upgraded model for his staff, spending some well over RM20,000 in one place. I on the other hand kept my spending minimal to no more than RM1,000 because I was reserving for more purchases at PC Fair KL next week...
Talking about gadget buying, I must express how disappointed I am with e-commerce (online mail order) in Malaysia. While I used to get items delivered within the same week or much faster back in the US, the 3.5G phone I ordered nearly two months ago (from two separate vendors that have been approved by credit card companies of Ambank, MBF and EON Bank) still hasn't arrive, and both vendors seem too lazy to acknowledge much of the delivery status to me either via phone or email -- I ended up canceling on of the two orders and requested an item change with the other, but this vendor still failed to deliver within the five-day promise. (TIME TO CANCEL THAT ORDER and head to a local shop today!) Oh well, I also first learned at Penang PC Fair after long conversation with Celcom and Maxis vendors that after all the brouhahas I've heard about Maxis and Celcom now delivering 3.5G/HSDPA, it turns out that the service hasn't even reach Penang (or reach out of Klang Valley), bummer!
C'mon local telcos: Only 15% or so of Malaysia's population live in Klang Valley!!
Can't wait to get my hand on a 3.5G unit soon though, so I can start testing the service first-hand, now that I'm about to ditch TMNET Streamyx after a full-year of bad experience as it nears its 1-year contract expiration. Besides, I'm also thinking to ditch Digi for either Celcom or Maxis considering that after nearly two years with Digi Business, I can't believe the company's still (OVER)charging me for SMSes at 15-cent per outbound text message to other providers (while SMSes now cost for 1-cent or less each with most other plans and with other mobile providers)! But perhaps I should wait for Number Portability to arrive in Malaysia, supposedly sometime in 2008, so I can keep my vanity phone number (one that spells both my own personal name and one of my company's brand name)...
Now that the weekend with its back-to-back parties ended, it's time to shift back to work starting tomorrow morning, finishing up procrastinated stuff and gearing up for business meetings here in Penang and Kuala Lumpur before I continue with a full week of 'outstationing' in KL next week, for more and more events of course - Sif00-Microsoft Meet, KL PC Fair (about double in size or larger compared to Penang's!), i4D Film Festival, World Electronic Media Forum (WEMF3) and the Global Knowledge Event on the Future (GK3).
Then, it's back to Penang for MiRC ICT Week, and I'm already in the mood for a long Eid & Christmas holidays right afterwards -- gotta start to plan my holiday's travel now!
So how was your weekend my good reader? Feeling adventurous? Join me in KL next week!
And I happened to be at each of these, plus two other wedding reception ceremonies during the short span of two days and two nights, so it was food, music, long walk and people watching for me all weekend long! While Pesta Ekspo and PMS managed to pull tens of thousands of people each day, PC Fair with 118 participating vendors (the 2nd largest PC expo in Malaysia after next week's in Kuala Lumpur, I think!) was able to garner 100,000+ people in a single day seamingly, at least from my observation on Sunday, its final MEGA SALE day. Check out this snap of heads there, cramping like clogged pipe (psst... captured using the very camera just purchased there just minutes earlier):
And aargh.... I just found out that the tablet notebook I bought less than two months ago has been replaced with an upgraded model (with slightly better Athlon CPU), and this new model retails for the same price plus all the same goodies (an extra 6-cell battery and an optical mouse). How fast these tech items you bought get devalued! With my good thumbs up, my good friend ended up buying eight pieces of this upgraded model for his staff, spending some well over RM20,000 in one place. I on the other hand kept my spending minimal to no more than RM1,000 because I was reserving for more purchases at PC Fair KL next week...
Talking about gadget buying, I must express how disappointed I am with e-commerce (online mail order) in Malaysia. While I used to get items delivered within the same week or much faster back in the US, the 3.5G phone I ordered nearly two months ago (from two separate vendors that have been approved by credit card companies of Ambank, MBF and EON Bank) still hasn't arrive, and both vendors seem too lazy to acknowledge much of the delivery status to me either via phone or email -- I ended up canceling on of the two orders and requested an item change with the other, but this vendor still failed to deliver within the five-day promise. (TIME TO CANCEL THAT ORDER and head to a local shop today!) Oh well, I also first learned at Penang PC Fair after long conversation with Celcom and Maxis vendors that after all the brouhahas I've heard about Maxis and Celcom now delivering 3.5G/HSDPA, it turns out that the service hasn't even reach Penang (or reach out of Klang Valley), bummer!
C'mon local telcos: Only 15% or so of Malaysia's population live in Klang Valley!!
Can't wait to get my hand on a 3.5G unit soon though, so I can start testing the service first-hand, now that I'm about to ditch TMNET Streamyx after a full-year of bad experience as it nears its 1-year contract expiration. Besides, I'm also thinking to ditch Digi for either Celcom or Maxis considering that after nearly two years with Digi Business, I can't believe the company's still (OVER)charging me for SMSes at 15-cent per outbound text message to other providers (while SMSes now cost for 1-cent or less each with most other plans and with other mobile providers)! But perhaps I should wait for Number Portability to arrive in Malaysia, supposedly sometime in 2008, so I can keep my vanity phone number (one that spells both my own personal name and one of my company's brand name)...
Now that the weekend with its back-to-back parties ended, it's time to shift back to work starting tomorrow morning, finishing up procrastinated stuff and gearing up for business meetings here in Penang and Kuala Lumpur before I continue with a full week of 'outstationing' in KL next week, for more and more events of course - Sif00-Microsoft Meet, KL PC Fair (about double in size or larger compared to Penang's!), i4D Film Festival, World Electronic Media Forum (WEMF3) and the Global Knowledge Event on the Future (GK3).
Then, it's back to Penang for MiRC ICT Week, and I'm already in the mood for a long Eid & Christmas holidays right afterwards -- gotta start to plan my holiday's travel now!
So how was your weekend my good reader? Feeling adventurous? Join me in KL next week!
Friday, November 16
Broadband 2.0 coming soon in Malaysia?
Like most of you Malaysia-based customers of TM Net Streamyx and plethora other broadband providers (really? more like many in Klang Valley only, not elsewhere!), I'm one of the users of the 1-Mbps DSL (but down to 50Kbps for international connection most of the time) and 384-Kbps GPRS-EDGE (but normally around just 200Kbps). Say, if you've heard that half of the world's the billion plus Internet users have access to "Mega Broadband" (3-Mbps or faster), let me confirm to you that, that really is true:
Check out the speed I'm getting from a public Wi-Fi here at Web 2.0 conference room (shared by dozens/a hundred plus of people attending the conference blazing out YouTube etc.): 8-Mbps downstream and over 6-Mbps upstream (at least ten times faster than what we're getting in Malaysia)-- enough for some serious enterprise data center operation:
And unlike the Streamyx "Narrowband", this amazing download speed is not just within Tokyo, but all the way to Cyberjaya:
(notice how slow the connection into Cyberjaya (downstream for Malaysians 10-million plus PCs) and much faster for going out of Cyberjaya because we don't have that many servers yet.)
Heck, the LAN connection in the hotel room here at Cerulean Tower (costs 1050-yen per day -- about the price of a meal in Tokyo) even surpassed 30-Mbps!
[That's faster than connection at many "MSC-status universities", hence don't act so surprise when not a single Malaysian IPTA is in the top-200 global rank this year -- I remember how Dato Seri JJ lashed back to me confidently in front of 100s of technopreneurs at Vistana Penang, two years ago, on how he was betting on WiMAX to villages instead of upgrading Internet to higher learning institutions immediately... (I was commenting on how I suffered greatly being cut off from the entire fast-moving Web 2.0-world when I enrolled at a local IPTA in a remote town up north for my graduate studies - To Dato JJ: Where's your WiMAX all these years?? Our universities are in the dark, including in the only "5-star" Malaysian university!!)]
Drool on guys!!
(But I hope we'll at least get 3.6-Mbps 3G soon from Maxis and Celcom - and perhaps DiGi too, now that it has made a RM700-million move for TDC's 3G license... And I heard that Streamyx 4-Mbps is coming soon to Penang -- yeah rite! I'll dream on for the "mega town" of Balik Pulau...).
[Am blogging this during Zimbra show session in Japanese language with simultaneous English interpretation after Scott Dietzen completed his lengthy part -- the slides for both sessions were in Japanese though..]
Check out the speed I'm getting from a public Wi-Fi here at Web 2.0 conference room (shared by dozens/a hundred plus of people attending the conference blazing out YouTube etc.): 8-Mbps downstream and over 6-Mbps upstream (at least ten times faster than what we're getting in Malaysia)-- enough for some serious enterprise data center operation:
And unlike the Streamyx "Narrowband", this amazing download speed is not just within Tokyo, but all the way to Cyberjaya:
(notice how slow the connection into Cyberjaya (downstream for Malaysians 10-million plus PCs) and much faster for going out of Cyberjaya because we don't have that many servers yet.)
Heck, the LAN connection in the hotel room here at Cerulean Tower (costs 1050-yen per day -- about the price of a meal in Tokyo) even surpassed 30-Mbps!
[That's faster than connection at many "MSC-status universities", hence don't act so surprise when not a single Malaysian IPTA is in the top-200 global rank this year -- I remember how Dato Seri JJ lashed back to me confidently in front of 100s of technopreneurs at Vistana Penang, two years ago, on how he was betting on WiMAX to villages instead of upgrading Internet to higher learning institutions immediately... (I was commenting on how I suffered greatly being cut off from the entire fast-moving Web 2.0-world when I enrolled at a local IPTA in a remote town up north for my graduate studies - To Dato JJ: Where's your WiMAX all these years?? Our universities are in the dark, including in the only "5-star" Malaysian university!!)]
Drool on guys!!
(But I hope we'll at least get 3.6-Mbps 3G soon from Maxis and Celcom - and perhaps DiGi too, now that it has made a RM700-million move for TDC's 3G license... And I heard that Streamyx 4-Mbps is coming soon to Penang -- yeah rite! I'll dream on for the "mega town" of Balik Pulau...).
[Am blogging this during Zimbra show session in Japanese language with simultaneous English interpretation after Scott Dietzen completed his lengthy part -- the slides for both sessions were in Japanese though..]
Thursday, November 15
Rails are the new Gems!
It's been a while for me to have a long offshore trip, having had only short ones to Singapore, Padang and Bangkok during the past couple years. But last night, a full 14 hours starting at 6am (MYT) in Balik Pulau (Penang, Malaysia) took me to Shibuya-ku ("fashion shopping town" of Tokyo, Japan) for Web 2.0 conference and expo -- 
as mentioned in my previous post: the first big arrival in Asia by the "Web 2.0-man " himself, Tim O'Reilly. (Psst. the MDEC guys with me are pushing to bring these guys to Malaysia next, soon!)This
morning, we had three sessions so far starting with Tim interviewing Joi, and later IBM and Sun showcasing their commitments for the Web 2.0 community of civilians (business people) and developers (now techies sound like military people!)...
(to be continued after going to MIDA and shopping ;0)
[CONTINUED: 19nov07]:
When the first morning of Web 2.0 at the Cerulean Tower Hotel Banquet Hall concluded, we International delegates get shun off the entire 2nd half-day of the conference due to the fact that the were no interpretation made available for both verbal and textual versions of the remaining sessions of the day after the first three keynotes. And we paid full price about RM3,000 per person! (not including travel and lodging expenses for another ~RM4500 per person). [Hmm, like my friend Rico put it in our group Web20Japan blog, "Note to self: Learn Japanese!"]And to make things worse, all three morning keynotes were so boring that the speakers including O'Reilly could not get any excitement from the floors in the form of feedbacks or questions. Or maybe I was right about the "ninja codes" (see previous post) -- Asians especially Japanese people seem very secretive about their stuff, telling only on need-to-know basis, and only when they can show the real things (Unlike Westerners that market like crazy and raise more money than they could use -- like the Twitter guys (whom its co-founder I met when he was catching up with Joi Ito later the first night) before they even come up with any real products). Or maybe these smarties in suits were just shy for not being able to communicate well in English (I bet they were much more active in Japanese-only sessions just like the courteous hotel and event organizing workers who greet us all the time with long phrases -- which I understood nothing...)
And I wasn't alone who felt this -- later that night after we were done with shopping (and window-jakuning) at the Akihabara electric town, all my colleagues expressed their even worse opinions of the first day of Web 2.0 Japan.
Though, I still sensed some treasures from the first day, and by knowing ahead on what the second day would bring us, particularly from Opera and Twitter, I was the most upbeat for the next day's content, brushing aside possibly another off-side trips like the one we had to MIDA Japan on the first afternoon... After all, I felt the trip to Tokyo itself without any of the Web 2.0 sessions was already a huge eyes-opening experience, and let me me tell you my version/story on trains and rails:Having had great experience with American highways for ten years, I returned to Malaysia in 2002, and I must say how impressed I was immediately with Kuala Lumpur's latest and modern transportation infrastructure in the forms of its Light-Rail-Transit (LRT) trains, KTM commuter train and KLIA-KL Sentral ERL which I thought were more or less comparable to those in Detroit, Chicago and New York (I didn't had much experience with those though since it was much easier to cruise around with US$20/day rented pickup trucks bracing long and straight toll-less highways). And KL Sentral's integrated transit for four train lines look efficient enough. Or so I thought...
Boy, how wrong I was:
Tokyo on the other hand seem ten years ahead, in terms of its transportation efficiencies to accommodate its ~13-million highly active inhabitants (including gentlemen in their 50s and 60s who still lurk at video game hangouts!!): Tokyo metropolitan (one of the 47 prefectures in Japan -- comparable to a state/federal territory in Malaysia, e.g. Kuala Lumpur "metro") has at least 12 subway lines (I counted 17 lines on its metro guide map though) connecting most if not all of its 23 wards and 26 cities, and there seem to be at least 20 KL Sentrals of transits (with three or more connecting lines) in Tokyo prefecture alone -- How I wish I had more time to try many more trains than the two JR lines (Yamanote and Hibiya) we took for getting to Shinjuku (for dining), Kamiyacho (for business) and Akihabara (for electronics) during the two very expensive day-stay in Tokyo.
On the Web 2.0 side, Rails seem to be able to gain dominance in development world (just like how trains beat buses and taxis in Tokyo as the preferred mean of transportation) now that Robert Brewin has hinted in his first-day keynote on how Sun Microsystems itself has more confidence in Ruby on Rails (nicked "Rails" instead of "Ruby") than their own "beans"! -- So confident that Sun now supports Rails with grants to developers, hardware to hosts and support in its wide range of development tools.As a web host, I've constantly heard of Rails, and do offer it in my hosting packages, but it's time to check out Rails from now on for my on-going Web 2.0 projects. Back to business.... (later)
Nasir was lost in Haraju-ku but is now on clear path in Penang (after a 4-hour trip with Vios from KLIA due to missing his AirAsia afternoon flight -- COST: KLIA->LCCT by Avis driver: RM20, wasted AirAsia ticket: RM100, car - RM277, PETROL: RM69, TOLL: RM 53 = close to RM500 from KL to Penang => ARGH, TRAVELLING IN MALAYSIA IS KILLING US MICROPRENEURS!! ) . Wait, there's a Mastercard version: Being able to meet friends at Shah Alam on the way back, and later cruise at 170km/h trailing a speedy Benz (I'm not sure whether it does bear a special "Datuk" tag or not): PRICELESS!p/s: What else would I get from Akihabara for my little niece back in Sepang: a full set of bullet train (with three cars that moves really fast using just a single AA battery) complete with its rails and an inhabited station (with a couple of little people):
(this blues and a Nemo waterproof swatch were enough to make her all friendly with me again -- she normally runs away from males including from my two elder brothers)
Tuesday, November 13
Nanojobs?
Hmm...
Read on what pantipicon team wrote on the evolution of jobs from one to many, from big to tiny...
On the personal side, I am very excited this week:-
1. I'm going to Tokyo for the first time along with a couple of gentlemen from the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) of Malaysia and another Penang-based colleague. I have previously stopped over at Narita airport twice during en-route to USA, but this time, I'm going see more of Japan first-hand, not just through the portrayals in movies or the influx of everything Japan - cars, Sony, electronics, techno etc. and that chic tune from Gwen - Harajuku... Hmm, I didn't know a stay in a modest hotel there is going to cost us RM1,000+ per night! (that's about 1-2 months of car loan payment and the three nights stay can already buy me a new smashing notebook computer!)
2. It's the first time, the O'Reilly's Web 2.0 going to arrive big time in Asia having created the explosive buzzes in the States and just recently last week in Berlin. This Asia version will be shorter and cost less than the US or Germany counterparts, but I'm particularly even more enthusiastic to learn Web 2.0, Asian-style. After all, we've been too bombarded with Western version of Web 2.0 all these while with Friendster (US-originated that somehow find more than 80% of its audience from Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia, the Philipines, Indonesia and Singapore), Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google etc., I don't think I'd be learning much if I had gone to San Francisco instead. -- I can always look the American versions up in Wikipedia, YouTube and Slideshare, while the Asian ones, they remain secrets like the Ninja codes! (I'm not sure I know what I'm talking about this time ;-))
Read on what pantipicon team wrote on the evolution of jobs from one to many, from big to tiny...
On the personal side, I am very excited this week:-
1. I'm going to Tokyo for the first time along with a couple of gentlemen from the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) of Malaysia and another Penang-based colleague. I have previously stopped over at Narita airport twice during en-route to USA, but this time, I'm going see more of Japan first-hand, not just through the portrayals in movies or the influx of everything Japan - cars, Sony, electronics, techno etc. and that chic tune from Gwen - Harajuku... Hmm, I didn't know a stay in a modest hotel there is going to cost us RM1,000+ per night! (that's about 1-2 months of car loan payment and the three nights stay can already buy me a new smashing notebook computer!)
2. It's the first time, the O'Reilly's Web 2.0 going to arrive big time in Asia having created the explosive buzzes in the States and just recently last week in Berlin. This Asia version will be shorter and cost less than the US or Germany counterparts, but I'm particularly even more enthusiastic to learn Web 2.0, Asian-style. After all, we've been too bombarded with Western version of Web 2.0 all these while with Friendster (US-originated that somehow find more than 80% of its audience from Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia, the Philipines, Indonesia and Singapore), Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google etc., I don't think I'd be learning much if I had gone to San Francisco instead. -- I can always look the American versions up in Wikipedia, YouTube and Slideshare, while the Asian ones, they remain secrets like the Ninja codes! (I'm not sure I know what I'm talking about this time ;-))
Well, if iPhone didn't do much wonders in Asia (yet), let's see if Web 2.0 is and will...
Look forward to be blogging from Japan -- I hope the Wi-Fi there won't cost me arms and legs! And if web2expo buzz more hypes than real biz, I'll try to come up with my own Lost in (Shibuya-ku) Translation stories off the three nights there.
Hajimemashite... Konichiwa!
Monday, July 30
Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER)
Today's an 'awesome' day for many in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia after years of envying mega regional projects in central region (Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya, Putrajaya and Sepang) and later southern region (Iskandar Development Region in Johor) -- It's the day for the launching of Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) to cover the states of Perlis, Kedah and Penang and northern region of Perak. After the launching activities in Alor Star and Kangar earlier today, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi will resume launching activities in Butterworth, Penang and Kerian, Perak tomorrow.
We won't get additional (small) airports in remote areas like Balik Pulau or towns in Perlis...
But commuter and monorail trains are coming. Though, before folks in Balik Pulau get excited seeing the blue lines seemingly touching Balik Pulau, the line actually stops at Farlim, Air Itam. I had wish the we'd have train lines connecting the island of Penang and Seberang Perai, but we'd instead get a second bridge, one that is to supersede the existing Penang Bridge to be the third longest in Asia, bringing the number of bridges in Malaysia in the top-10 longest bridges in the world to two at number nine and ten respectively. And if only the high-speed trains would continue until Bukit Kayu Hitam and Padang Besar, the northern region would prosper at high pace... but I suppose, the thoughts that more people would go to tourism destinations in Thailand instead would spoil some of the benefits, entirely at our cost (unless if Thailand would share the financial cost and link it up all the way to Bangkok ;-))!
Though, Rapid Penang is going to be launched and start service tomorrow. Still, the routes doesn't seem that enticing for BP-ites as in order to reach Georgetown, they'd still need to go through the long routes using -- passing through the bumpy and dangerous roads of Genting and Teluk Kumbar, and a long trip from south of the island. An alternative public transport method is by taking Rapid Penang to Teluk Bahang, and another bus or two in order to reach destinations in Georgetown. I was imagining that Balik Pulau would be a major settlement area should the train or public bus routes would connect the growing district at the other side of the island to the high-growth areas of Bayan Lepas and Georgetown.
For now, residing in Seberang Prai, which would be a major transportation hub of the NCER seems rather enticing...
I really look forward to cruise the seaside expressway though, to enjoy good seafood in Kuala Perlis or make more ferry trips to Langkawi from Kuala Muda, Kedah. And shouldn't TEKIH connects with the 'Spine' expressway near Baling so we may make more trips to Ulu Legong Hot Water park. Hmm... I wonder what's in or will be of Kota Putra at the northern tip of Kedah.
Read the entire details on NCER (WEKU) blueprints from NCER brochure or read the entire launching speech by Dato Seri Abdullah today (in Malay Language)
Or browse the news clips below, as published on various media sources for a period of two weeks, from 11 JUL until 25 JUL 2007, as a prelude to this launching day:
More related updates from the online press over the past two weeks:
Wilayah Utara Malaysia adalah kawasan yang kaya dengan anugerah alam dan tinggi dengan potensi. Jika diberi peluang untuk berkembang dengan lebih giat, kemajuan wilayah ini akan dapat meningkatkan tahap daya saing negara dan memastikan hasilnya dirasai rakyat dengan lebih seimbang. Inilah rasional utama bagi penubuhan Wilayah Ekonomi Koridor Utara.
Pembangunan Koridor Utara juga akan menumpukan perhatian ke atas isu-isu sosial seperti pembangunan desa, modernisasi pertanian dan kemiskinan. Isu-isu ini harus ditangani melalui pendekatan yang lebih berkesan dan mesra-pasaran. Ke arah ini, penggubalan Rangka Tindakan Koridor Utara telah diterajui oleh sektor swasta bagi memastikan bahawa program-program yang dibangunkan berlandas prinsip-prinsip yang mampan dan komersil.
Yang Amat Berhormat
Dato’ Seri Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi
Perdana Menteri Malaysia
The North of Malaysia is a region rich in resources and potential. If the region is given opportunity to flourish, the country’s overall competitiveness will be strengthened and prosperity will be better distributed. This is the main rationale for the formation of the Northern Corridor Economic Region.Of all the details of this mega-plan, I'm most interested in the infrastructure that's coming up to this region.
The development of the Northern Corridor will also focus attention on social issues such as rural development, agriculture modernisation and poverty. These are areas that must be addressed with improved, market-led approaches. To this end, the Northern Corridor Blueprint was spearheaded by private sector input to ensure the development of commercially sustainable measures and programmes.
Yang Amat Berhormat
Dato’ Seri Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi
Prime Minister of Malaysia
We won't get additional (small) airports in remote areas like Balik Pulau or towns in Perlis...
But commuter and monorail trains are coming. Though, before folks in Balik Pulau get excited seeing the blue lines seemingly touching Balik Pulau, the line actually stops at Farlim, Air Itam. I had wish the we'd have train lines connecting the island of Penang and Seberang Perai, but we'd instead get a second bridge, one that is to supersede the existing Penang Bridge to be the third longest in Asia, bringing the number of bridges in Malaysia in the top-10 longest bridges in the world to two at number nine and ten respectively. And if only the high-speed trains would continue until Bukit Kayu Hitam and Padang Besar, the northern region would prosper at high pace... but I suppose, the thoughts that more people would go to tourism destinations in Thailand instead would spoil some of the benefits, entirely at our cost (unless if Thailand would share the financial cost and link it up all the way to Bangkok ;-))!Though, Rapid Penang is going to be launched and start service tomorrow. Still, the routes doesn't seem that enticing for BP-ites as in order to reach Georgetown, they'd still need to go through the long routes using -- passing through the bumpy and dangerous roads of Genting and Teluk Kumbar, and a long trip from south of the island. An alternative public transport method is by taking Rapid Penang to Teluk Bahang, and another bus or two in order to reach destinations in Georgetown. I was imagining that Balik Pulau would be a major settlement area should the train or public bus routes would connect the growing district at the other side of the island to the high-growth areas of Bayan Lepas and Georgetown.
For now, residing in Seberang Prai, which would be a major transportation hub of the NCER seems rather enticing...
I really look forward to cruise the seaside expressway though, to enjoy good seafood in Kuala Perlis or make more ferry trips to Langkawi from Kuala Muda, Kedah. And shouldn't TEKIH connects with the 'Spine' expressway near Baling so we may make more trips to Ulu Legong Hot Water park. Hmm... I wonder what's in or will be of Kota Putra at the northern tip of Kedah.
Read the entire details on NCER (WEKU) blueprints from NCER brochure or read the entire launching speech by Dato Seri Abdullah today (in Malay Language)
Or browse the news clips below, as published on various media sources for a period of two weeks, from 11 JUL until 25 JUL 2007, as a prelude to this launching day:
More related updates from the online press over the past two weeks:
- NCER Makes It Easier For Investors To Decide
- I Ticked Off MAS To Convey People's Displeasure - Zam
- NCER To Have Five Growth Corridors
- Malaysian shares close mixed on NCER boost
- Padang Besar To Become Halal Logistics Centre
- Abdullah launches NCER website
- Impact Of NCER Can Be Seen In Three Years
- RM177 Bln Investment Expected To Flow Into Northern Corridor
- Micro-Electronic Excellence Centre To Be Set Up At USM
- Malaysia to fund northern development
- Mardi looking to establish national seed genebank
- AGRICULTURE-MALAYSIA: Big Top-Down Farm Revival Powered By Business
- Malaysia in $51 Bln Plan to Transform North Belt
- Penang boost for MRCB with NCER launch
- Penang set for transformation into an integrated ...
- Volatile week ahead
- NCER To Transform Northern Region Into Modern Food Zone
- Better Infrastructure, More Connectivity Under NCER
- Northern corridor to draw RM177b investments
- Malaysia launches massive northern development plan
- Improving Farmers' Incomes Is Among NCER Steps
- NCER Blueprint Tackles Both Flood And Drought Problems
- Manufacturing Sector To Be Strong Growth Driver For Northern Corridor
- NCER To Diversify Into Modern Services, Focus On Tourism And Logistics
- Abdullah: NCER Programmes To Be Reviewed From Time To Time
- Highlights of the NCER
- Whole of Kedah waiting for Northern Corridor spin-offs
- Change comes to rural heartland of Malaysia
- No New Airport And Port In NCER, Says Masterplanner
- NCER To Re-energise Tourist Attractions
- NCER big boost for Penang
- Property market set to sizzle
- NCER Will Also Benefit Southern Thailand, Sumatra - Koh
- Malaysian shares close down sharply after Wall St, global markets ...
- NCER To Be A Boon For Rural People In Four States
- Perlis plans RM70m for proposed seed academy R&D
- Homing in on homestays
- Malay Entrepreneurs In ICT To Gain From NCER
- Reinventing and boosting tourism in the northern region
- Property firms to get NCER benefits
- Prosper-thy-neighbour is Penang’s strategy
- Farmers still waiting for that golden harvest
- Touch of IT for 400 school children
- Northern Corridor Development Pushes KLCI To New High
- Japanese Companies Keen To Invest In Penang, Says Koh
- LCL targets book order of RM1b by year-end
- 'Outperform' on Hunza Properties
- Moving up the manufacturing value chain
- Sime Darby Sees NCER From Foreign Investor Perspective
- Big Plans To Modernise Rural Farming Up North
- Small farms, big business
- Nestle, Tesco deal directly with farmers to bring down prices
- Harnessing cyber cities : Penang's plan
- Creating a modern food zone
- USM Research Findings Good For North Corridor
- Planting hope in the padi belt
- RapidPenang ready to hit the streets on July 31
- Northern corridor ‘to help 63000 farmers’
- Penang to become logistics hub
- Penang poised for makeover
- Northern Corridor Blueprint Set For Launch Month-end
Monday, July 23
Offshoring is part of the solution, not the problem
I've been away from 'home' (aka primary workplace) for quite the whole of last week which explains on the lack of most recent posts. Still, I managed to take care of several administrative work chores for my other businesses and put up a few blog posts on several other blogs from a remote location. More updates on my my recent outstation trips coming up, once I settle a few other pressing work -- got to take care of existing clients first ;-)
Here's a nice article on outsourcing vs. offshoring I picked up from the vast resource of Slideshare -- a very useful social sharing web 2.0 application indeed: instead of sharing just audio and video or plain files, this one lets you share presentations that can be viewed full-screen. The service currently supports Microsoft Powerpoint ppt and pps formats as well as OpenOffice (odp) and the popular Adobe Acrobat (pdf - for exports from other applications).
I prepared a slide as well last night for an upcoming promotion of instant website building service:
Don't hesitate to offer me feedbacks/comments on this slide and the overall slide-sharing service. Thanks in advance!
Here's a nice article on outsourcing vs. offshoring I picked up from the vast resource of Slideshare -- a very useful social sharing web 2.0 application indeed: instead of sharing just audio and video or plain files, this one lets you share presentations that can be viewed full-screen. The service currently supports Microsoft Powerpoint ppt and pps formats as well as OpenOffice (odp) and the popular Adobe Acrobat (pdf - for exports from other applications).
I prepared a slide as well last night for an upcoming promotion of instant website building service:
Don't hesitate to offer me feedbacks/comments on this slide and the overall slide-sharing service. Thanks in advance!
Wednesday, June 27
Desire the worst job? Get smart!
Earlier this month (on 14 JUN 2007), Popular Science returned with its famous annual (or bi-annual?) list entitled "The Worst Jobs in Science" for this year.
And this time, Microsoft-haters get more boosts to further make fun of the mega corporation (is Jason Daley/Pop Science picking a fight with Microsoft?):-
Oops, my bad... I love Microsoft!
[I do NOT want to be blacklisted by them]
Say, you think that you are 'brilliant' enough?
If you are accepted for any of these 'worst' jobs, then you'll know that you are brilliant, indeed:-
#10: Whale-Feces Researcher
They scoop up whale dung, then dig through it for clues -- this should be fun, especially if you get to meet Jaws instead.
#9: Forensic Entomologist
Solving murders by studying maggots -- you want them fried easy or done?
8: Olympic Drug Tester
Going to Beijing in 2008 anyone?
When your job is drug testing the world’s top athletes, there’s no way to win -- you get to 'play' with drugs and make friends with addicts.
7: Gravity Research Subject
They’re strapped down so astronauts can blast off
6: Microsoft Security Grunt
Like wearing a big sign that reads “Hack Me”
5: Coursework Carcass Preparer
They kill, pickle, and bottle the critters that schoolkids cut up
3: Elephant Vasectomist
When your patient is Earth’s largest land animal, sterilization is a big job
#1: Hazmat Diver
They swim in sewage. Enough said.
As a self-employed pajamaworking micropreneur, I had a very short salaried-employment experience. But I surely had my fair share of mundane jobs -- as a pizza delivery man [driving around was fun though!], a factory worker [I get to inspect rubber glovers, and 'professionally' trained to pull out those health products out of hot and fast-moving fiberglass hands], a computer programmer [close enough to 2007's Job #6] etc.
My worst job ever was not as bad as Pop Science's #1 in 2007, but close enough -- I once worked at kitchens and dining halls (and a fast-food restaurant) with tasks that involve cleaning pots and pans full of cooking oil residues priorly used for preparing meals consisting bacons, hams, pork etc, and you know how Muslims are suppose be at least 10-foot pole away from those! [I'm exaggerating... Though, after job would be going straight home for complete shower and ablution]
How about you? What was/is your worst job, to-date?
Related books:-
And this time, Microsoft-haters get more boosts to further make fun of the mega corporation (is Jason Daley/Pop Science picking a fight with Microsoft?):-
- ComputerWorld: Studying maggots a better job than being a Microsoft security grunt?
- Zhakonda: По горячим следам=) [I can't read this either ;-)]
- mi3ch.livejournal: десятка [Is this Russian too? Many hackers from there, so it's natural!]
- The Borjas Blog: ...The very definition of a live oxymoron...
- DumbCoder: 10 reasons to be thankful for your job
- Amazon Newstand: ...Longest To-Do List...
- Nicki's MOG: Be Glad You May Be a Pencil-Pusher
- Chocolanata: Don't complain yours anymore! [published on Microsoft Live Spaces]
- 2-speed: ...work 24/7 to address the security holes in Microsoft’s products...
- Andrew Hay: Worst Jobs in Science 2007 - Microsoft Security Grunt
Oops, my bad... I love Microsoft!
[I do NOT want to be blacklisted by them]
Say, you think that you are 'brilliant' enough?
If you are accepted for any of these 'worst' jobs, then you'll know that you are brilliant, indeed:-
#10: Whale-Feces Researcher They scoop up whale dung, then dig through it for clues
Solving murders by studying maggots
When your job is drug testing the world’s top athletes, there’s no way to win
They’re strapped down so astronauts can blast off
Like wearing a big sign that reads “Hack Me”
They kill, pickle, and bottle the critters that schoolkids cut up
Think Indiana Jones— in a Dumpster -- Love the trilogy!
When your patient is Earth’s largest land animal, sterilization is a big job
Nothing but bad news, day in and day out
#They swim in sewage. Enough said.
“The worst was at a factory pig farm,” says Steven M. Barsky, the author of Diving in High-Risk Environments, the industry bible for hazardous-materials divers. “A guy had driven his truck into the waste lagoon and drowned. Not only was it full of urine and liquid pig feces, the farmer had dumped all the needles used to inject the pigs with antibiotics and hormones in there.” Someone had to recover the body, and the task fell to commercial hazmat divers.
The divers are generally well-paid, but hey, so are accountants. “To be an expert,” Barsky says, “you need to be a chemist, a physician, a biologist and 10 other things. Not many people are.”
Read more at this month's issue of Popular Science.
Older lists:-
The top 10 worst jobs in science from Popular Science, 2005:
- Human Lab Rat
- Manure Inspector
- Kansas Biology Teacher
- Extremophile Excavator
- Nuclear-Weapons Scientist
- Volcanologist
- Semen Washer
- Do-Gooder
- NASA Ballerina
- Orangutan-Pee Collector [You can still stay in Malaysia!]
The worst jobs in science from Popular Science, 2003:
- Flatus Odor Judge
- Dysentery Stool-Sample Analyzer
- Barnyard Masturbator
- Brazil Mosquito Researcher
- Hot-Zone Superintendent
- Isolation Chamber Tester
- Fistula Feeder
- Prison Rape Researcher
- Carcass Cleaner
- Postdoc
- Metric System Advocate
- Corpse-Flower Grower
- Endangered Species Ecologist
- Astronaut
- Fish Counter
- U.S. Stem Cell Researcher
- Planetary Protection Officer
- Fusion Researcher
As a self-employed pajamaworking micropreneur, I had a very short salaried-employment experience. But I surely had my fair share of mundane jobs -- as a pizza delivery man [driving around was fun though!], a factory worker [I get to inspect rubber glovers, and 'professionally' trained to pull out those health products out of hot and fast-moving fiberglass hands], a computer programmer [close enough to 2007's Job #6] etc.
My worst job ever was not as bad as Pop Science's #1 in 2007, but close enough -- I once worked at kitchens and dining halls (and a fast-food restaurant) with tasks that involve cleaning pots and pans full of cooking oil residues priorly used for preparing meals consisting bacons, hams, pork etc, and you know how Muslims are suppose be at least 10-foot pole away from those! [I'm exaggerating... Though, after job would be going straight home for complete shower and ablution]How about you? What was/is your worst job, to-date?
Related books:-
- Tony Robinson's "The Worst Jobs in History" (March 2007) and "The Worst Children's Jobs in History" - Buy them and save at Amazon.
Friday, June 15
Ronggeng Merdeka @ Georgetown
"Ronggeng Merdeka" tells the story of five "ronggeng girls" trying to make it through the tumultuous 1930s till the Malaysian independence in 1957. The audience is invited to indulge into the world of the Ronggeng Girls, while following their journey through the British, Japanese and Communist occupations. This theatrically rendered interpretation of the events that took place during these years is presented by children and students from in and around Penang. The musical drama is further enhanced by live music and video clips of actual events that took place during World War II, the Emergency and the Independence.Energetic dance moves, vivid costumes and great acting by Penang's younger generation make "Ronggeng Merdeka" a must-see for all Penangites and tourists alike! Catch the final performance of "Ronggeng Merdeka" by Ombak-ombak Arts Studio this weekend at the following:
For more info, please contact Ms Yoke Pin at 012-3619113
Read more at Ronggeng Merdeka Blogspotand the preview in The Star.
the 'Fruitful' Citrarasa Penang 2007 starts today...
Citrarasa returns again to Northern Region and is being hosted in Penang at Tapak Eskpo Sg. Nibong Pulau Pinang starting today, Friday 15 JUN until Sunday 17 JUN 2007.
Event : Penang Food & Fruits Festival 2007 (Citrarasa Malaysia Peringkat Utara)
Begin Date : 15.06.2007 - Fri
End Date : 17.06.2007 - Sun
Time : -
Venue : Pesta Site, Sg Nibong
More Information :
The culmination of a month-long fiesta, the event boasts 100 food stalls, entertainment and more.
Organiser:
Tourism Penang, Tingkat 56, KOMTAR, 10000 PP
Tel: 04-262 0202 Fax: 04-263 1020
Enjoy the tastes from Malaysia Kitchens and Gardens... Ahh, the durians!!
More info on other Citrarasa events around the country:
Add this event to your calendar and plan to come!
Event : Penang Food & Fruits Festival 2007 (Citrarasa Malaysia Peringkat Utara)Begin Date : 15.06.2007 - Fri
End Date : 17.06.2007 - Sun
Time : -
Venue : Pesta Site, Sg Nibong
More Information :
The culmination of a month-long fiesta, the event boasts 100 food stalls, entertainment and more.Organiser:
Tourism Penang, Tingkat 56, KOMTAR, 10000 PP
Tel: 04-262 0202 Fax: 04-263 1020
Enjoy the tastes from Malaysia Kitchens and Gardens... Ahh, the durians!!
More info on other Citrarasa events around the country:
Citrarasa Malaysia (Flavours of Malaysia) 2007 showcasing the country’s variety of food and fruits will be held nationwide from 26 May until 24 June. The month-long celebration is organised by the Ministry of Tourism together with the State Government and State Tourism Action Councils.
Citrarasa Malaysia will be launched together with Colours of Malaysia on 26 May at Dataran Putrajaya.
Citrarasa Malaysia 2007 programmes will be celebrated nationwide as follows:
- Citrarasa Malaysia – East Coast Region
1-3 June at Dataran Shahbandar Kuala Terengganu
- Fiesta Kuala Lumpur Citrarasa Kuala Lumpur
8-10 June 2007 at MTC Kuala Lumpur
- Citrarasa Malaysia – Northern and Central Region
15-17 June 2007 at Pesta Pulau Pinang Site
- Closing ceremony of Citrarasa Malaysia month
Add this event to your calendar and plan to come!
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