The first installment of "It came from Lowyat!". In this section I will be looking at the latest things that I find interesting from Lowyat.net's Trade forums. Good deals and quirky things will get posted up here, so enjoy the first part! =)
1) Paypal funds: This is an interesting service being provided by various forumers at Lowyat. Basically, Paypal is an online bank of sorts. You can choose to deposit money with them and use it as a sort of e-account to pay for things in all sorts of places like online auction sites, hotel bookings etc. Right now the problem with Paypal is that Malaysian users cannot get money out of the Paypal system, due to whatever legal and monetary restrictions put in place. As a result, they have resorted to these kind of services. Basically, you can choose to buy or sell Paypal funds to these people on Lowyat at their own rates. This link will give you a trader who is selling $US1 for a low rate of RM3.16. This service is excellent if you hold foreign currency, because you can simply exchange your $US into RM at a rate of about RM3.2 per US1 right now, then use the funds to buy back $US Paypal funds and earn a little profit on the margin. Link.
2) Baby hedgehogs for sale! No price mentioned, but they sure look cute! Link.
3) Programmable coin telephone. I've only heard about this one but apparently now you can own one too. It's basically like a public phone and you can program it to work by accepting a certain amount of coins then giving out a certain amount of call time. Link.
4) Sony discount vouchers. This guy probably works for Sony or has access to a whole load of vouchers for Sony products.
Rm500 discount voucher for Sony Blu-ray disc player ( BDP-S3000) SRP : Rm3999
Rm500 discount voucher for any of the Sony Home Theater system listed here : DAV-DZ850KW :-SRP Rm2999
DAV- IS10 :- SRP Rm2799
DAV-FXG9K :- SRP Rm2600
Rm300 discount voucher for Sony Mini Hi-Fi :- (DHC-AZ550) :- SRP Rm1799
Rm100 discount voucher for : Sony Bluetooth Stereo Micro hifi ( CMT-DH5BT) SRP Rm1499
(CMT-HX5BT ) SRP Rm1699
:Sony Portable DVD Player ( DVP-FX810) SRP Rm1399
:Sony Home Theater accessory ( WAHT-SD1) SRP Rm499
(TDM-BT1) SRP Rm399
(TDM-IP1) SRP Rm399
(TDM-NW1) SRP Rm399
:Sony HDMI DVD Player ( DVP-NS78H) SRP Rm499
:Sony Bluetooth wireless headphone (DR-BT50) Rm659
(DR-BT30) Rm439
Rm50 discount voucher for Sony Cyber shot : DSC-T200 SRP Rm1599
DSC-T70 SRP Rm1399
Sony Accessory : Speaker( SRS-D211) SRP Rm259
HDMI cable ( DLC-HD30) SRP RM299
Unfortunately these things are expiring around February next year, so better hurry up and grab one. It'll make a nice CNY gift. Link.
It came from Lowyat! (1)
Posted by Reign226 at 7:17 AM | Labels: lowyat Wednesday, December 26, 2007Last week i went on a family vacation and i had a blast!!!
First I went back to Malacca. We were on our way to Singapore for an xmas holiday so we stayed there for a night..Anyway, we left on Thursday morning around 6am from Penang. Stopped by Ipoh for breakfast. If u ever are in Ipoh in the morning be sure to stop by Fohsan Tim Sum shop. That place is awesome! Everything there so far is good…..(takes a moment to reminisce). At 11am we were on our way to Malacca again. We got there around……2pm but our hotel was so far that when we checked in it was already 3pm. there was a huge crowd of koreans waiting to check out. i think they were there for some conference or something because while exploring the hotel we found a blackboard fully scribbled in korean. check it out(cio). all i see is bla bla bla adultary! bla bla bla you guys rock! lolz.
mind you, these tour group consist of teens haha. interesting eh? anyone read korean here?
this is a made of real buscuits
ive stayed in malacca for about 5 months already but i never knew that malacca has beautiful beaches. my hotel happened to be a beach hotel so i got to enjoy one of the most beautiful views when i woke up the next morning. the first night we had dinner in a place called Sampan. It serves western food, a little bit of chinese food and japanese food. a senior took us there when i first moved to malacca to study but then i didnt had a camera with me. this trip i had two cameras so i was able to catch a few pics of the charming place.
definately goin back soon....
The next day after breakfast we decided to hit the road. My mum managed to secure a house for us to stay in at Singapore bt we must check in by noon. Problem with Malaysia road signs is that they are useless!! we end up finally finding the highway again around 9am. That leaves us with only 3 hours barely to get to Sg and check in. We rushed all the way there. When we finally settled in and everything, it was already 3pm. We missed lunch.
the view from my singapore house
My uncle came over to take us to his house to hangout for awhile until its dinnertime because the place is nearer to his house. He is a coffee lover. So he made us a cup of espresso each. From scratch. Its a very facinating process. First u have to pick out the kind of beans that you want. They have SO many types! The beans from Africa has a burnt kind of flavour to it. The beans from India is slightly bigger and the beans from Brazil smells very very flowery. First you have to roast it in a special container over the fire. Basically you are burning the beans. When you hear the skin break like popcon popping in a microwave twice, you stop roasting. The beans have to be aired for awhile to release all the carbon monoxide. After that, keep the beans in an airtight jar where they will stay fresh. Roasted beans can only last for a week the most. After that it wont taste good anymore. Whenever you feel like having a cup of coffee, take the beans that you want and put them in the grinder. The beans will be crushed til its in a powdery form. The coffee powder is then compressed and transferred into the espresso maker where the machine will produce a small teeny tiny cup of really strong coffee....no kidding about the strong. We went to this place called Modestos for dinner. Its mainly famous for its pizza. haha. Me and my cousins got a big kick out of the italian names and how to pronounce it
tee hee!
Orchard road
Day two my parents woke me up to go swimming at 8am. since i slept at 330am i was the biggest complainer lol. We manage to get to my uncles house by 1pm. Had my grandma's cooking for lunch.YUM!!!!!! sorry no pic. the dishes didnt last long enough for me to take pics lol. after lunch my auntie and her family came over. I got my xmas gifts!! lol. They are all great. Thanks guys! We hung out at my uncles house again, catching up. When it was time for dinner we went to this awesome restaurant. Im gonna make your mouth water haha
ben, daphnes,me and my bro
when it was taken away....muahahaa!So after the delicious meal, my cousins took me kai kai in singapore...went to alot of places bt all oso i dunno d name wan haha...
city hall
up close of Singapores city hall
Third day we slept in a little...tired ady ma....we rented only 3 days and 2 nights so we had to checkout on dat day. Took all our bags and left them at my uncles house first then headed for brunch. Tim sum! It was very delicious. Again, all the food disappear so fast i hadnt had time to even pull my camera out haha. We went to Vivocity after that. Shopped the whole day but bought nothing haha.
Teabreak while shopping.....Dinnertime came and my last meal in Singapore was as splendid as my first.
My uncle had one last place to take us and boy werent we surprised! The view was breath taking. Theres a recreational spot situated above the hill where you can see all of Singapore. We went at night so Singapore looked like a piece of flat land covered by thousands of fireflies.... beautiful. My camera takes lousy pics of lights at night so i wont do it justice by posting the pics up.
hehe i got a little carried away.... this light tank has been put there for displayWe finally said goodbye to Singapore at 6am. My dad likes to drive when the suns just about to come up. We had a blast. Ill miss Singapore but i was glad to be home. Theres nothing like home sweet home. =)
ahh this looks like Penang...home sweet home....wait a minute.....is THAT a double decker?!! huhu....im still in singapore T.T
baby donuts. Heeheee!
Something cute i saw haha
It was the best Christmas holiday ive been to so far. Ironically we left on Christmas eve lol.
Still awake? I hope u enjoyed the pics. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas too. and a Happy New Year!
Digi Promotions: Free IM
Posted by Reign226 at 5:39 AM | Labels: Digi, promotions Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Digi always have something going on, and this is just another stuff they are trying out: Mobile IM. IM, or instant messaging, is popular with the teenagers today because it allows them to stay in touch in real-time. Digi is now bringing this convenience to your phone, allowing you to IM-on-the-go. What's more, the service is offered FREE until the 31st of December 2007.
To activate, you need to download the application for your mobile phone and the best method is to just use their user menu:via *128# UMB
You will be sent a link to download the Java app, which weighs in around 250kb, and this will cost you RM2.50 if you are using prepaid (GPRS charges of 10kb/10sen). After that, install the app and you are good to go! On the PC side, you can get access to the IM platform offered by Digi by downloading a small PC software from this link. Install it and you are good to go (you might need to install .NetFX platform if you don't have it yet. Don't worry, the installer will direct you to the site automatically).
Step 1 : Dial *128#
Step 2 : Select Mobile Service > GPRS > Phone Setup >
More Settings > MIM
Once everything is set up, it behaves just like any other IM platform (MSN, Yahoo, etc). You get a log in page, where you enter in your particulars and use Digi's OCS code as the password. After you are logged in, you can start chatting! The service allows you to send IM even to people who didn't subscribe to the service, as your message will automatically be converted into SMS and sent to that person.
Right now the service is in trial so it's free until the end of this year. After that, you will need to pay RM2/day or RM25/month to enjoy unlimited use of the service. GPRS charges will be waived when using their MobileIM application. This is wonderful for people who message a lot. Personally, I think I spend close to RM35 every month messaging my gf, so I can save quite a bit. Not sure if there will be a catch yet, because as I see it right now, for a low fee of RM25, you can have UNLIMITED SMS to send to anyone, any network. So for message-freaks out there, this is one deal you don't want to miss.
Opting out of Digi's MMS and SMS promotional messages
Posted by Reign226 at 4:41 AM | Labels: mobileDon't you hate it when Digi sends you their latest promotions? Sometimes, they give you a heads up on important things, like the free calls after midnight Fu-Yoh promotion. But more often than not, I get messages about events in KK that I'm never going to attend. This is how to stop getting these messages:
If you wish to opt out from DiGi’s SMS and MMS Promotional Messages, please send either one of the keywords <OUT> or <KELUAR> to 1994. Of course, important messages such as network service, Government Directives (I kid you not, it's listed on their website. I guess next time we will receive promotional messages telling us which BN candidate to vote for) and other important messages will still be sent, which is fine. If you want to receive promotional messages again, you'll have to call the Digi helpline.
Good to know.
rssHugger is a new service that I have stumbled upon via Pixyflick and it's a unique new service that allows your blog to reach the World Wide Web.
The service allows visitors to discover new blogs with on a topic of their interet, in other words encouraging visitors to visit and hopefully stumble upon something interesting. It is strictly for bloggers and will charge a $US20 for participation fees, but you can join them for free right now by registering with them and providing them with an honest review. Once they review your review, they will then add you to their directory and you can start benefiting immediately from increased viewership, while rssHugger gets free publicity.
Hopefully I will be hearing from them soon about my approval. Anyway, you should check this site out if you are a blogger and while the promotion last!
Links:
rssHugger: linking bloggers with readers in the Online Age
Pixyflick: get more traffic to your blog
Not sure what to make of this, but there is a new prepaid service called Happy and it's a telecommunications plan that offers the following:
* Calls at 1sen/second to a maximum of 99sen, after that it's free
* MMS RM1
* IDD RM5/min
* GPRS Activation RM2 (One time fee)
* GPRS RM0.50/10Kb
* Call Center (014-3333800) charges RM2.00 per call
It's a really amazing plan because even though it's one sen per second (which works out to 60sen per minute), there is a cap at 99sen, after which you can talk however long you want. That is what the website claims, but in reality, users report that after 45 minutes, the phone will automatically disconnect you.
The service is actually part of Digi, because it rides on the same carrier signals as Digi. As of now, I would assume that this new service is targeting Digi's prepaid user base because the rates are directly competing against Digi's prepaid service, and with such an astonishing rate, who would want any other provider?
Unfortunately though, there is no Friends and Family list, which really sucks because smses from Happy are 0.10sen each, which is wayyy high. I am used to smsing my girlfriend at 1sen per sms so I will be sticking to my Digi's Fuyoh plan which also allows me to call her after midnight at 45sen/hour. However, I think I will be getting this prepaid starter pack all the same, because 99sen/45mins is a very good deal.
The only thing though, is the fact that I have certain doubts about this service. According to Lowyat.net, the service is doable because Happy is getting rid of all the marketing and extra fluff that a normal prepaid like Digi, Hotlink or Xpax is doing and in doing so, the savings are passed down to the consumer. I, on the other hand, think that the pricing also helps. 10sen per sms allows them to earn quite a lot considering most smses are priced less than that and if you are just calling up people for a minute or two, it's going to cost you a full 60sen/minute, way higher than the normal 15sen/minute or 38sen/minute that's typical of the other prepaid services. So the maths should balance out.
On the other hand, a lot of Malaysians will probably jump at the opportunity and get the SIM card for a second-handphone, and use this only when they expect to call someone for a length of time (business collegue, girlfriend, family, etc) and milk the service for all it's worth. Anyway, right now there isn't much information around regarding this service beyond what is printed on the website. As time goes on, I think more details will surface as to how Happy intends to keep their 99sen/45minute service going while still maintaining a profit. If this is long term, then Hotlink and Xpax, as well as the rest of the telecommunications industry in Malaysia, will be looking at a whole new ball game.
Right now, I'm feeling excited, but with a healthy amount of skepticism. As should you.
Links:
Happy.com.my's Website to order your SIMpack now
Pixyflick's take
Jeffooi's Screenshots's take
Lowyat.net's take
Scientific American Nov 2007
Posted by Reign226 at 11:24 PM | Labels: science, torrents Sunday, December 16, 2007The November issue of Scientific American is out and I have read it. As usual, a lot of great content. I've always been a fan of Scientific American because my university's library stock it, along with Popular Science and Discover, two other great magazines writing on popular science.
You don't really have to be a scientist to enjoy magazines like this, although having an interest will certainly help. This month's issue talks about a range of issues. First they have something on CarbonWrap, a new material that's being used as a bridge repair tool and is likened to Band-Aid for steels.
The cover page story is about the nuclear bomb and how it function in today's modern society, which I don't find terribly exciting but if you are into the whole socio-political impacts of modern nuclear armaments then this issue should interest you. There's also stuff about the universe's inflation, new impacts of vitamin D on cell defence, a possible therapy for those suffering from Lou Gherig's disease (the one that cripped Stephen Hawking). On the high-tech side, they have a story on new displays that can work even under the sun's hot glare.
Even if you don't like much of the main content, the regular columns such as Skeptic, Ask the Experts and Fact or Fiction? are often more than a good read. Check out the November issue in the following link.
Download Torrent Here
I'm a Bit Torrent fanatic, because where else can you expect to have such a huge library of movies and music for your download at any time of the day? Today, I have some nice torrents that I want to share and here they are:
Butterfly on a Wheel / Shattered (US)
I read about this movie from Wikipedia, and it sounds pretty intrigueing. It stars Pierce Brosnan, Maria Gello and Gerald Butler, but the ex-James Bond star attracted me to it. I never did give consideration to who stars in the movie in the past, but now that I have become a movie afficionado, that seems to be a pretty important criteria. I still base my decision to watch a movie based on the premise and the storyline, but if a well-known actor is in it, I might just watch it, for that reason alone.
Anyway, the whole plot revolves around the bad guy (Brosnan) psychologically torturing a couple in a cat-and-mouse game. There's supposed to be a twist in the end, so I'll leave it to you to find out what it is. It did pretty well with an IMDB rating of 7.3/10.
The meaning of the movie's title is actually:
"It can be taken as referring to putting massive effort into achieving something minor or unimportant, and alludes to "breaking on the wheel", a form of torture in
which victims had their long bones broken by an iron bar while tied to a cartwheel."
So, that's quite a relevant title then. But I wonder why they dumbed it down to Shattered for the US audience. Perhaps in the US market, nobody cares about a movie if it has more than three words in the title.
Torrent Download Here
Eureka: Small town, big secrets.
This is actually a series on the Sci-Fi channel, revolving around a town filled with smart-people, created by the government in order to advance scientific research. It's a pretty quirky show sometimes, with a mix of comedy, action and suspense. A good Sci-Fi series at the very least. Seasons 1 and 2 are already out, and I highly recommend it to everybody.
Torrent Download Here
The Lost Room
Another Sci-Fi show, this time a three-part miniseries. It has an incredible 8.4/10 over at IMDB, so it's a must watch even if you're not a fan of science fiction themed shows. In short, the plot outline is about a couple of detectives investigating a motel room which turned out to be a portal for an alternate universe. Kinda like John Cusack's 1408 (another nice show). A surreal show, and definately a must-download.
Download Torrent Here
That's about 8 gigabytes of download already. You can start them now and check back here next week for more 'Must-have' shows. Until then. =) Click Here to Read More..
Christmas is coming!
Posted by Reign226 at 4:24 AM | Labels: Christmas, girlfriend Saturday, December 15, 2007Christmas spirit is in the air! I've given this blog a whole new facelift, I hope you will like it. I changed the counter above. It's supposed to count down to Christmas, but I studied the code (it confused the hell out of me) and made a few changes here and there and now it counts the days that have passed since me and my girl started dating. Nice huh? Now I don't have to do the counting, let the computer do it for me. That's using technology to your advantage =)
I am still doing some preparations for my her Christmas/Birthday gift. It's taking up more time than I thought. Fortunately I have lots of time on my hands, and it's still more than a week away. I figure I'll finish up the video by tomorrow or the day after, then put her gift in the mail in the same period of time. I'd better start cracking on it! Pictures later when the event has passed. Can't risk her checking this site out and finding out.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Wow, I forgot about this! I was actually so busy I forgot. That, and the fact that I didn't really have an Internet connection at my hostel just made this less of an issue. But now I'm back!!
A lot of things have happened in the past few months. This entry is short...but as I celebrate my 4th month with you, Vivien, expect a few surprises. =)
You might not have read this in time, but Happy Christmas and Merry Birthday!
