Members special rate

Members special rate for hotel bookings up till 2014.

Get Bali specials.

MAS strategy is hurting the rakyat again

MAS new strategy of setting new 7 weekly flights into Kathmandu is not a strategy at all. If the management had learnt its lesson, this system does not help the rakyat nor its profitability.

They did the same thing 3 years ago by following whatever new route AirAsia and AirAsia X in particular did. Remember Perth, Melbourne and Sydney - those flights were launched by AirAsia X. Then MAS did several "low fare" promo to those destinations. Yet they could have made promo flights into say Adelaide that is not served by AirAsiaX. Adelaide is not a small town, yet it is clear MAS wanted to "take back passengers" from whatever Azran Osman Rani created. He created passengers. Not steal passengers. MAS (lazy) management did not understand 21st century analysis.

Now since AirAsia X made Kathmandu their new X route, MAS is doing the same lame shameless tactic that does not help the average rakyat - and will certainly not help their share price - wow it is below 50 sen for a MAJOR airline. A hedge fund manager in London or Tokyo will see with laughter a HUGE MAJOR airline worth 15-20 cents USD (when seen in their calculations they surely think in that currency). Why? No not why they view it this way. WHY our country's pride is worth so little and not making money ever since the great Idris Jala was removed from the helm of the national carrier?

Extra insider info: do you know or would you be surprised that AirAsia pays MORE for their crew than MAS?

Now back to this lame tactic (I can't label it strategy since a strategy composes complex tactics, long term views, calculated risks and evaluations by proper planning and thinking). It will not work and does not bode well for Malaysia. Yes Malaysia. Our country. Not BN. Seems the govt machinery is always about NOT for Malaysia.

MAS could have lobbied for routes say at the same distance and same target market and geographic area - Bhutan. Bhutan is a close neighbour of Nepal and the sub-continent. It has high-value customers since they implemented a rigid system of tourism, that promotes their core cultures and not allowing (anyhow) certain levels of tourists by way of a daily minimum tour cost that consists of accommodation. (they amount is about 150-200 USD per day - please check Google / Wiki).

MAS could have done a better job of say introducing better connectivity to China's 2nd tier airports. 2nd tier in China is not 2nd tier in Malaysian terms. It usually it top notch, many eager travelers. And AirAsia is progressing so well with the launch of Nanning and Kunming. Oh don't follow the routes. CREATE new routes. Vladivostok!

Korean Teochew Language Discovery: Hyusig or rest and Han Seung-yeon

Korean Teochew Language Discovery: Hyusig or rest and Han Seung-yeon: Hyusig or rest. In Korean "휴식" (hyu sik) Well in teochew it is "hyu haeg". "Haeg" means tired. "Ching h...

Firefox Operating System for Mobile Devices

Firefox is sneaking to be the number 4 or 5 mobile phone operating system. There is Android and ios. Then there is Windows Phone 8 and BB10. These two are fighting a duel to the end. Windows might prevail with the support of the desktop OS and Xbox OS. But still 3rd place of the Champions League.

Now there are a few new surprises and nothing is more murkier than the orb of the tech world.

Firefox OS. Mobile OS.

There is another linux flavoured OS - Ubuntu OS. The system that almost completely gave a new accessible front for garden variety users to try to use Linux in a GUI without knowing too much of cat or dog commands, grape and grep.

That is not the final list.

There is Tizen. Something from Tarzan's book? Nope. It is a completely open sourced system that was formerly merge by some other sub entities and scraps of HP's OS and another open OS.

There is also the existing Nokia Symbian (from S60) and MeeGo. Nokia Pureview 808 is the final hardware that has Symbian on it.

If this seems like a inter-stellar operating system war, Star Wars and Star Trek combined, isn't it interesting that we are the audience or part of the participants?

Back in the days of DOS, there was a micro war between DOS (and Win3.11) with Mac (I forgot what their OS is called) and another by IBM called OS/2. Operating System Slash 2. It would have been totally cool if it existed during the heyday of Slash of Guns n Roses. So as a small history lesson, OS/2 simply died even though it had a huge Empire backing. Huge. Big. Like Facebook's money.

The OS war was won by Bill Gates aka. DOS and Win 3.11 and Win 95 and WinXP. If Microsoft hadn't helped developed some port of Office for Apple products, Apple itself would have closed shop. The irony was sympathy for the devil really wasn't called for. Now Apple's hardware department bigger than Despicable Me's wall of ion cannons and great white sharks.

Viewnet Price List 2013

ViewNet Pricelist:
My perennial favourite, Viewnet tried to start a cafe within it's labyrinth-ian mothershop - that didn't work. Now they have upped the ante with NO CREDIT CARD charges for any products bought in the shop. Even for a 23 RM Dlink USB Wifi receiver you can pay with credit card. Just like the matrix they have several tentacles - small shops scattered all over the Plaza. Plus one huge camera shop.

Overhaul of tech price list 2013

We have made an entirely new system for all price list of tech products. Check it out and comment.

Xbox720 MUST be branded as Xbox8 wrt to Win8

The last article I touched upon was PS3's next generation. So-called PS4. And my simple suggestion was Sony should name it as PS Z. In line with their top premium Xperia Z, and Xperia Z Tablet. Put them in a synchronised family. Just what purple VAIO was supposed to be in the 80s and 90s.

Similarly, here at Microsoft's battlefield 2013, they MUST continue their branding of 8. Windows 8. Windows Phone 8. Xbox 8.

With a strong and ubiquitous naming, the "8" range of operating system, phone operating system, and gaming operating system, will be unified seamlessly.

Samsung has their perfectly done "S" like. Galaxy S line. Even the Galaxy Note like is remarkably done. South Korea has arrived. BIG TIME. Gangnam Style was not the beginning. It began 10 years or so ago. The momentum keeps going upwards. It is "han" in Korean way of saying things about bettering the next generation, in order to show respect to the elders(parents). It is duty-bound. You must improve, innovate. It is Confucianism and modernism. Their Kpop stars such as KARA, T-ARA, BigBang, BoA, they train years(!!!) before "debut"ing. That's right. There is intense training, speech, exercise, language, nutrition, music, composition, poise, handling cameras, crowds, promoting, how to maintain privacy.

I'm moving there end of this year. Where? South Korea.

Sony Xperia Z SOLD OUT in Malaysia

Latest news regarding the potent 2013 flagship smartphone of Sony - the Xperia Z is SOLD OUT in Malaysia, as published in their official website.

Sony Xperia Z SOLD OUT in Malaysia.

Sony PS4 is called Xperia PS Z

Why not? There is the fabulous Xperia Z, water proof, superb camera, and perhaps the flagship saviour of the entire Sony clan.

There is the Xperia Z Tablet. Super thin, top performance. Made in Japan.

So surely Sony MUST come out with a new clan of Z. A triumvirate of tech wizardry.

If Microsoft has the all seeing eye 2 years ago to unify their whole system, Xbox, Windows Phone and Desktop OS into a supreme Super 8 kind of trinity, then perhaps Sony should have this futuristic view.

Sony is a powerful beast. They have a very strong camera department. If they can gather enough momentum and unification in their devices, ie. phones, camera, tablets, gaming consoles - wow a miracle could happen.

The competition:
Microsoft has the trinity of triple playing console, OS, and phone.
Apple in their own system - no console.
Google is just phone OS. No gaming console, no real defined OS.
How about other possible players?
Nikon? Great camera, that's it.

Canon! Camera and Printer - converged and they have had a wonderful run since the beginning of the digital age of photography. But can they move further? Shouldn't they have an Android camera and printer to go forward? I think they should. NOW.

Samsung has conquered the phone world. Tablet. No console. But look at their other devices. Here devices mean anything nowadays that has some electronics and some basic brain CPU power. Remember the notion of "IP everywhere"? "IP on everything". Look at Samsung carefully. They have drones of devices, huge robotics. Yes! Refrigerators, microwaves, washing machine, dish washer, dryer, electronic door lock (PIN, bio, NFC capable). I bet vacuum cleaners and those robotic floor sweeping machines too. They should be eventually connected somehow. If there isn't a wifi they should have some sort of NFC system, or low-powered Bluetooth. Your vacuum cleaner could be fitted with GPS too. Your fridge is connected via Ethernet and it will notify an order for eggs and milk when they run out, since these are surely the easiest positions in the fridge to have some way of checking the level of milk and eggs. Perhaps rice too.
Coffee machines.

Hwaiting! (Ha Ji Won)

What about Seoul, Korea? LG too is big in the white goods, household goods. Refrigerators and microwaves.

Samsung has jumped the huge leap again with the defining Android Galaxy Camera. If Canon and Nikon does not take note of this in their top management's thinking, they might be going the days of Hayes.

Compare Malaysia Thailand prepaid mobile costs

Here is a shocking fact. Malaysia's prepaid mobile phone cost are astronomical. See this photo I took using my DTAC (happy.co.th) account.

And look a the internet fees. It is calculated by time instead of megabytes. Using DIGI to just simply check a gmail account would have triggered 1MB (at 10 sen per 10K).

Instead in Thailand, it is 0.17B or about 2 sen. Say you login to Gmail, and do some quick check on your account and some news and weather plus Social Networks. That is perhaps 2-5 minutes (for quick check, not like we are glued). That's virtually 2 sen x 5 mins = 10 sen!

Perhaps a good time to rally to the government about telco's obnoxious way of over-charging and getting users addicted to keep using and paying extremely high fees.

I Love Android

I Love Android Sticker!

Sandisk Microsd Prices slightly up

Microsd price slightly up for Sandisk.
Was 49 RM last month, then up 55RM.
Price list by Viewnet.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/75088862/viewnet_diy_pricelist_35.pdf

Hardware prices for PC parts are still one of the lowest across Asia in Malaysia. There is no official GST nor VAT on IT products. Compared to Thailand, there is a 7% VAT (Value Added Tax).

Compared to Singapore they have a 5% GST (Goods and Services Tax).

While although Hong Kong is an entreport that has no tax of Goods, their relatively higher labour cost and rental cost (imagine 5 times the cost of Lowyat), so their products are priced at a higher level, and usually lower level items aren't as easily available. An entry level Logitech Keyboard can be had for 30 RM in Lowyat. While in HK, they prefer and usually do not stock those that are below 100 RM for branded products such as Logitech. Mostly they are the mid to higher end range.

Melaka - where murtabak ayam is priced at 4.00 ringgit

Norton Internet Security Bid-Away

Offer open for all members. NIS 2 license up for grabs.

Bid-away Seagate Goflex Portable HDD

More details directly in the Facebook page.