Santini KLCC
At about 12:30pm today (3 September 2010), went to lunch at Santini in KLCC.
Specifically asked for the lunch time promo menu. Being a Friday, it was Fish and Chips. Ok, so we thought. Free drink sommore? So I pointed, Fish & Chips, pointed the *free drinks* column and demanded Ice Lemon Tea. He paused, then said “Yeah.”
Nice meal, good presentation (read more at kyspeaks) and overall nice quiet lunch at KLCC.
Bill came up to RM 50 and some change for 2 people, same lunch promo set. Suddenly RM 14.90 deal become RM 25 bill!
Definitely felt cheated.
Then again, we should have been more careful as to what drinks is allowed under the promo. The waiter should have gently reminded us of the extra charge. Instead we ended up with a RM 50 bill for two. What’s worst, the Ice Lemon Tea wasn’t refillable.
Bleh, maybe next time we should get more street-smart restaurant hunters to join us lunch~!
Mayor of Dang Wangi Ya’ll!
Like, whhhaaaaaaat…?
The funny thing was, this morning as I checked in, a girl came and asked me, “Excuse me, where is the monorail?”. Not knowing then I was the mayor, I gave her the appropriate directions! Hmm… could she be a 4Sq user and saw my icon there and bla bla bla? Mission, accomplished!
Wimax Inside
Tomorrow Thursday, I will return the MSI U135 netbook that was lent to me by the folks from P1 Wimax.
Here are my top 3 plus points about the product / services:
1. It works. It just works right out of the box. Good enough for your social needs, and whatever e-mailing / web browsing requirements you may throw at it.
2. When it’s good, it’s very darn good. At it’s best it can top 600KByte/s (~5mbit/s) or, at it’s worst (1 bar signal), you get about 20-40KBps. In most cases, it is “usable” in many areas of KL / PJ areas.
3. Technology for the future. Definitely. if iPhone 4.1 comes out with 4G wimax specifications, then it will be a hit. The only thing different in terms of technology, is the 3G chip has an expensive license tag and telcos have invested heavily in 3G equipment (think BILLIONS of ringgit) whereas 4g is pretty much the same (15 by 15 millimeters) but requires new investments that traditional telcos won’t like.
My Singapore boss actually uses a netbook as he travels heavily. Full sized 13-15″ notebooks are very bulky. So in that respect, netbook wins.
Now, the downside:
1. One GB of memory only? Should come with 2GB.
2. Pricing. While P1 is relatively cheap, it cannot compete with ANY wired broadband, no matter how primitive it may be! It has to offer more competitive services like voice, video, net meeting, or something compelling to utilise the bandwidth.
I must say though, the netbook keyboard was quite fun to type on. Very nice chiclet keyboard which responds well to very fast keystrokes.
Last words?
If you’re looking for a mobile broadband service provider, my recommendation is do not commit now, HOLD til early December. We’ll see how the landscape is like then. 
Otherwise, props to P1 Wimax (Green Packet) for the good effort in raising awareness (especially with the Potong ad campaign).
Blackmailers are epic
Woman CEO files RM20mil suit against telco
Privacy
I was just sharing about how GSM is very hackable. ON a 2G GSM network, your calls, SMS and even EDGE data is trackable and can be sniffed by hackers with the right equipment. That equipment used to cost hundreds of thousands, but recently in DefCon, it is proven that parts and software are available for US$1500. Essentially you’re setting up a rogue base-station for GSM traffic. [defcon link]
Don’t worry though. 3G phone calls, data is very much secured (for now). SO what the hackers do is that they jam the 3G frequencies, bump you down to 2G and badda-bing, badda-bong you’re owned. [Youtube video]
Now this woman CEO who got printouts of her conversations and thumb drive of her voice exchanges, is definitely an insider job. Even low level employees like customer service or call center staff *might* have access to all these sensitive information. That is why terrorists (at least on the movies, like 24) use Satelite phones in their dealings!
So how can we prevent this mishap? And who will win the lawsuit? And what is she hiding? mmmm… corrupt practices by this woman CEO? Only time will tell.
Are you Safe?
I guess it gets even less secure if you’re using internet based services. Then again, data theft doesn’t happen much in Malaysia. It’s just the spammers and marketers who wanna collect information on your surfing habits so they can spew advertisements at you.
BPL Quick Update
It’s good for Man United. Berbatov’s goal was a joy to watch!
Currently sitting pretty at 3rd place behind Chelsea and Arsenal with 7 points.
Merdeka 2010
It’s finally here; a much needed break. I think need to spend time gymming today as Wed – Sun = busy! Gonna have a second shot at Dew Crew handling the camera! (see what I did there?) It’s gonna be fun, fun fun! At the expense of my weight 
I think I’m gonna touch the magic century in kilograms!
UMW joke
Whilst on the train, an employee of UMW Engineering (Oil & Gas division) boarded the train at Bangsar and landed at KL Sentral. Looking at his shirt, noting that he’s in the O&G sector, I decided to play along with their company’s latest problems.
“Eh, how is your girlfriend, the Naga 3, ah?”
Naga 3 is the jack up rig that caused the company a lot of losses. The other divisions like Perodua, Toyota all doing great, with higher than industry standard profits. But O&G hasn’t been too good. Lest, they can find a big fish contract soon.
But I didn’t, cuz he was tall (6 footer) and I don’t wanna look like an ass Maybe, just maybe, if he was friendlier or in a cheerier mood!
The History of 1024
Did someone just plucked that number off a tree?
Ten-twenty four by seven sixty eight (1024 x 768) is a specification for screen resolution that is common for at least the past 20 years. If you were around long enough, the early CRT monitors that carried this gigantic size needed to be 17″ monitors. Only leet haxors had so many pixels to play with, for their codes, tools palette and of course for the “movies needs”…
As time goes by, technology advances. We started seeing 15″ laptops running on this 4:3 aspect ratio specifications. Later, early LCD panels had it (but eventually went to higher stratospheric levels a bit later)
But why is this 1024×768 so popular?
It is because it was popular in the age of the internet boom. Where every school, office and homes have to have a computer. To a certain extent, we have to thank the Y2K doomsday predictors, for I believe they accelerated the computer purchasing patterns. Good marketing created the need to upgrade your 486 box with green monitors running DOS and hop on to this thing call teh internetz.
At the turn of the millennium, pixel density increase manifold. Just recently, that 1024 horizontal pixels by 768 vertical pixels got squashed into a 9.7″ IPS display found on the iPad. And if you think that is impressive, then the iPhone 4 has a 960 x 640 (not too far away) resolution screen on a 3.5″ display. Just head over to Apple’s product page website and you’ll get all the technical jargons explained.
1024 is very special because it is 2 ^ 10 scientifically. And if you divide the two numbers, you get 4:3 ratio. Recently, the geeks found out later that our eyes are more suited to a 16:9 ratio, much much wider. I’ve seen Philips TV that tries to mimic the cinema experience by going 20:9. Now that’s super long.. but unfortunately all content are optimized for 16:9.
I find the above 3 shots interesting for a couple of reasons:
1. WHOA!! Looks awesome on my MSI U135 netbook with Wimax with LED panel! The Macbook Pro’s screen is yellowish already and not as bright…
2. Green screens are awesome! With the power of Final Cut, it makes things so easy!
BTW, we’re a news company reporting on the share markets, also involved with Business customers in their video needs.
About Last Night…
I attended a YTL Communications “round-table with the CEO and team” session at Lot 10. One of the participants (Ahem, I know who you are), asked the CEO Mr. Wing “What is YTL Wimax’s USP?”
There was a long pause.
His team of experts had a slight pause as well.
Only a handful knew that he was referring to unique selling point!
I guess this exchange opened my eyes to the differences in education system, differences in the choices of words used, of personality, and how to answer tough questions. To me, yesterday was like Management & PR class. It was nice.
WOOHOO… It’s the weekend! Dinner with the family. It’s been way too long since we had a sit down quiet family dinner. Way too long!
Apple Music Event
New iPod Touches?
By 2nd September, Thursday, our mouths will be drooling and frothing for yet another Apple product. This time round, it probably will be refreshed iPods. The Touch with FaceTime will take center stage. Potentially it can do VOIP via Skype, so essentially it is a dumbed down iPhone 4
Dinner
Yesterday whilst having dinner with a bunch of college kids (heh, I feel so old) I saw how culture has changed. Got to the restaurant, sat on the table and everybody whipped out their smart phone. Small bursts of conversation still goes on, and laughter aplenty. But the main center of attention is all about their iPhones and Nokias and Touches.
No longer is there eye contact. Maybe briefly, but much of the conversation is filled with “huhs?” because they were engrossed with the gadgets. It’s funny how we make a point to meet up but spend time more on the clickety-clack of the keypads.
Getting Married?
In cell group, I had too much laughter. The charades 2.0 game was awsm and the lesson that day was how to look good, presentable, and how to give a good first impression. Now, that is some practical advise! And I have a sense the cell is pushing for members to get married asap. Cuz, if not, it would be an “unhealthy relationship”. THEY DIDN’T SAY THAT, but I’m guessing it is implying that young adult’s current stay-together arrangement brings more problems in the long run. And as with the church’s position, a strong community begins with a strong family.
Meaningful conversations
Spoke with George (Twitter). He’s a guy with interesting stands and views. I like people who push the limits and has a different perspective to the norms. One thing to keep in mind: It is important to keep your feet on the ground, and know when to back off.
Character
I’m the argumentative type. Just like a trouble-maker, I find joy in poking people. I like to challenge their beliefs, to un-reason their reasoning and to make them subscribe to my beliefs (haha, nah, not so much nowadays…) For a long period, I was an Apple Evangelist.
I still believe in Apple; but now that they’re this big bully in the playing field, I tend to shy away!
Efficiency
Signing off with one of my favouritetopics. Three tips I’d like to share with you:
1. When walking, walk straight. You may seem like a robot. Your path may not be conventional. But trust me, you’re doing a whole world of good. “Take the RACING LINE“
2. Decisions. Some decisions might not be time CRITICAL, but it sure is time sensitive. Example: Choosing where to go for dinner. Whilst I won’t die waiting 10 more minutes for you to decide, (or what to eat) I’d really appreciate some form of “orderly decision making process” where we are accountable to one another, considerate to the budget constrains, yet make a compromise so that the least amount of members of the party is inconvenienced. Phew. That was a mouthful.
3. Prioritise. We all have 24 hours a day and x amount of salary per month. 53% of the world lives on under US$2 a month. In every sense of the word, we are all filthy rich. How do you spend your time? How do you spend your money?
That’s about it lah.
Here are some old posts:
http://philipkhor.com/i-dream/2009/how-many-times-you-say-ha/
http://philipkhor.com/i-dream/2009/predicting-trends/ (same situation 1 yr ago)
http://philipkhor.com/i-dream/2009/see-you-soon/
[When the current iPod Touch 2009 didn't come with camera, you can feel the rage half way around the world. Let's see if Apple fixes that problem; and give us one or two more surprises!]
Warning: Cloverfield-esque footage
Here I am doing a video review on the bus with shaky hands
Warning: Stay at least 3 feet away from your screen. DO NOT put fullscreen, unless you have a vomit bucket ready hee hee..
To be honest, although best in the class in term of netbooks, the MSI’s keyboard takes a bit of getting used to. Being spoilt with a 15″ Macbook Pro at work having a full sized laptop keyboard, so much more is expected. Then again, I am able to type full speed (when the MSI netbook is laid on a table).
Here is a quick video report of the experience so far. [coming soon]
