I found that I blog lesser and lesser.
Facebook is the quickest way to share things.
Am wondering if I have to maintain two sites.
The movie was slow but the big take away from the film, are the following lines
Matt: "Why did you stay with me all those years when you knew that we're doomed?"
Abby: "I didn't wanna hurt you"
Matt then commented on his relationship: We almost spent entire, the rest of our lives together, because we didn't wanna make the other person mad.
Personally I think religion shouldn't be part of the country policy, especially in the world nowadays, where pluralism is a norm.
First, many laws from the religion were created many many years ago - some of the elements might not be relevant to the society nowadays
Second, it's a nature that human will compare - if you apply law to a certain group, that others get different treatment, that's when the frictions started
What made the above two points worse is that, information flows easily nowadays, it's easy to compare with other people, other countries or even other religions
Just think of religion as a music genre: Would it make sense to play techno music in a classical music concert, and ask audience to accept it as it is?
No. The audience will leave, the audience will protest.
Therefore, in this country, it cannot be a wishy-washy hope that it is a secular state, as well as Islamic state.
Just my two cents - someone really need to make it clear.
It was midnight.
More 100 containers arrived at the port. The workers helped to unload the containers from the ship - they are all guarded by a team of armed forces
Lastly, the armed forces escorted the containers to a storage house nearby.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is a true story that just happened. It was not drug smuggling that you see in the movie.
It was definitely not human trafficking.
It was just police forces helping to escort the rare earth ore to the Lynas plant.
If you want to read the full story, you can go here
Let's try to flashback a bit - in my experience, I didn't see police escorting the cash delivery/collection at the ATM machine.
I didn't see police forces guarding Poh Kong jewelers shops
I don't think police forces would guard raw material for gold from the port to the plants.
Safely to say, I don't think police forces would have ever escorted the raw material for the Nestle Milo that you and I drink everyday.
So why the double standard?
What about street crime and robbery that happens at ordinary citizen's house. which is their official duty?
Look, this happened while anti-Lynas coalition Himpunan Hijau is holding a 300km march from Kuantan to Kuala Lumpur.
This rare earth ore is definitely something that Malaysian citizens do not want.
In short, we are double-screwed:
1) The police forces were helping to escort some raw material containers, instead of protecting citizen's safety (which is already at disturbing state)
2) Our delegate (i.e. the government) spent our hard-earned tax money to deploy police forces for such unwanted escort, because we had mentioned many times to this very delegate that we DO NOT WANT RARE EARTH PLANT.
Or put it this way, we had just spent our (tax) money to screw ourselves.
It will definitely happen again, in another form.
After more than a year since Tim Cook works as a CEO, the critics are mixed.
But I have only one question: in the past one year, does he look like, or did Apple make him a cult followers' figure?
Not really.
Now that is worrying - cos this was what Steve extremely successful at. He made Apple products seem magical.
Looking at the products lately, iPad mini can be replaced with Nexus 7 with similar battery performance, Nexus 4 is like iPhone 5 at half price.
It is true, Google has been catching up lately. The user experience has been consistently good and reviews showed that Nexus 4 has pretty good battery life: which has always been my buying point for a smartphone, I.e. to have good battery life to enjoy its features.
Further more, iPad mini and iPhone 5 come with the Apple Maps: the map that has been pain in the ass for Apple and its users
As of just now, it is still showing the lake nearby my house as a lake supposedly 30km away from my house.
If iPhone 6 or iPad 5 is not something that is truly revolutionary, that's the best time for you to sell their shares. If you have any.
That was perhaps the worst legacy left by the British before they left. (besides that, we are rather fortunate because they left a rather good parliament, judiciary system, as well as education system to start with)
Now the issue is, the jus soli method left by the British, which was used to divide and conquer different ethnicities back then, was used in even worse manner by the current government.
The result? A very sensitive nation.
After half a century, we are still practising divide and conquer method. We still brand ourselves as Chinese, Malay or indian
People will object or argue when they feel the Malay or Chinese or Indian rights were compromised.
The application forms are racist as well: there's no Malaysian option to select.
We have a privilege system for the majority "race", not minority.
We are a secular country that claims Islam as the official religion, with politicians claiming others for doing great harm on Muslim way of life, while they sit on the wealth from unknown source.
This is a confused nation, but with potential. At least it had great potential.
My summary? Voting for a different party to manage the country, for just 5 years, is worth the try.
By then, you will suddenly realise, you don't need the racial based parties: UMNO, MCA and MIC (in short:racist parties) to unite and run the nation.
They will suddenly become irrelevant.
So that's how the society is, nowadays.
Every year or every 6 months, you will get new (gadget) product release that sometimes confuses the consumers on what to buy (with introduction of Windows Phone 8 series, this statement will be even more valid)
With refreshing Facebook page as the hourly routine task, sometimes I wonder if that is necessary.
It's good to keep in touch with the people - knowing what they are up to, what's the new thing happening in town.
Also, an example of information overload, is that whenever a major event happens (be it disaster, civil war, president campaign, Euro crisis), you will see or hear many analysts giving their opinions non stop on CNN or other news channel.
They all look interesting at first, but after a several cycle, you will see that they are quite repetitive, and most importantly, their opinions won't really change the situation..
Come to think about it, I realized I had neglected self-improvement, that really matters.
All is not lost though - the FB+Gadget generation is the active user/participants of crowdsourcing. It's powerful & effective - recent example being PSY's Gangnam Style: FB & YouTube were the effective tool in crowdsourcing, the MV gained so much attention and generated many parodies, that even the singer PSY himself didn't expect all these for.
So,
(Information + Gadget) x (filtered for 'just enough' usage) = Powerful Knowledge
(Information + Gadget) x cool factor = Powerful Advertising
Since he had apologized and suggested for alternative - OK, that's quite a brave move, it needs hell a lot of courage to admit a mistake for a big corporation.
But how to move forward? Just a quick background, Apple Maps uses GPS data from TomTom. Based on those data, it does its own mapping.
At the same time, TomTom sells GPS app too, on App Store.
If you would like to purchase, it cost at least 60USD PER REGION.
Further research on Google, you will find that TomTom is a company that is on par with Garmin, which both make good GPS gadget.
The situation that most users wanted: Apple to put the Google Maps back on the iOS.
But by doing so, users will lose confidence on Apple Maps totally - even though it gets perfected next time.
Again, how Apple Maps will get perfected, is by users' input (crowd-sourcing).
Now Apple is stuck to get to that point, because users simply will try other alternatives.
One of the options, is to buy TomTom, the company.
Yes. To own TomTom.
Then, make those TomTom GPS apps -> Apple Maps.
They will instantly get the experts in making GPS + app.
If Apple wants to be kind to users who purchased TomTom GPS apps - well, Apple can refund by giving the iTunes/App Store credit, which users can spend again on other stuff.
Apple has more cash reserves than government of USA.
This shouldn't be hard to quickly gain the confidence, again.
So the quick conclusion here is, get a casing if you don't want the scratches on the premium product.
One good news, though, is that iPhone 5 has better built quality in an extreme test vs Galaxy S3.
In this video:
It finally broke during the 7th drop test while Galaxy S3 screwed on the 2nd drop test itself.
So, those hot news aside, I personally think it is an opportunity for Windows Phone 8 - you can say hardware spec wise, it matches with Android devices (some has even better hardware spec)
Further more, if you Google it, the battery life of those phones have mostly been iPhone > Windows Phone > Android
So for now, we understand from an amateur test that iPhone 5's battery is > Galaxy S3
Why do I keep talking about battery life? I personally think that battery plays an important part for a smartphone - without good battery, those great features can only be enjoyed in limited time.
So back to Windows Phone 8, it's kinda interesting how it will turn out to be.
What triggered me to think more is that, yesterday I bought a phone for my father to replace his old one.
He doesn't need those 'smartphone' features as he can use the iPad.
So end up, we bought a dual-SIM colour LCD phone, with 2GB storage, keypad & camera with 10.1 hours talk time.. all for RM150.
Come to think about it, he only needs the phone for communication purpose.
Whereby, for daily smartphone users like us, I believe the most needed features are:
1) Whatsapp
2) Facebook
3) Facebook Messenger
4) Youtube
5) Map
6) Some web surfing
7) Music
All these can be done on Windows Phone 8, too.
So, assuming the battery life of the devices will still be iPhone 5 > Windows Phone 8 > Android Jelly Bean
And plus, its interface which is simple and much more informative than Android or iOS at a glance..
I would say Windows Phone 8 really has the potential
If you would like to know what is it about, you can read from wiki >>here<<
What made me write this post is based on the observations on people as well as discussion with my friends.
Well, I'm one of the post 80's generation, but I found that some of the people, who are just 3 years younger than me, showed another category of Generation, I would call it as FYG generation, i.e. Facebook+YouTube+Google generation.
What makes them think they can do better than the rest is, in my opinion, that they read it from Facebook on how easily a person can be successful, or they watched youtube on how that person can easily achieve something, and get famous because of that.
One last thing, the reason why these people, including me, can get the information more organised and faster than the previous generation, is because we could make use of the internet, especially Google.
That made the FYG generation thought things can be easily done.
More than often, they seek for instructions on 'what to do', instead of thinking 'why this has to be done' or even 'how can I do this better'
Similar to the gadget that they own - they will think of 'what to own' instead of 'why do I have to own it?"
You can't blame them, as company such as Apple or Samsung are pushing the phone generation cycle yearly, while creating the 'must-have' feeling among those people.
Back to how the FYG generation react at work - they often think they have done a very good job, if you don't like it, it's ok, there's always a way out and there's another company which will appreciate me. (especially applicable if there's slight increment in another company)
They seldom seek for more responsibilities as they think they should work 'just enough'.
But of course, there are some people who are of exceptions - so this is just one of my random thoughts of the moment :)
I need to make a follow up on the iPhone 5 launch that I followed closely earlier this morning.
i) It is a good phone because it is based on an already exist & matured technology, better processor and better camera are something expected for a new phone, in fact it will be applicable to any new phone, be it Apple, Android of Windows Phone.
ii) I've had enough on their marketing phrase such as 'it's never been done before'
On App Store, Tim even claimed.
"90% of the apps in that 700k are downloaded every month. The average customer uses over 100 apps."
"It's a revolution. It's phenomenal."
Hello? How did they come up with the stats?
To my knowledge, none of my friends use over 100 apps.
His theory was indeed revolutionary.
iii) I'm unsure this will be Steve's second turn in his grave. His first turn has to be the naming of "The NEW iPad"
I laughed when Phil said "So a lot has changed, and it's time for the connector to evolve. Our
new connector is called Lightning. So we have Thunderbolt and
Lightning."
My instant thought was "Ya Phil, why don't you call yourself Thor"
Lastly, iPhone 5 doesn't really give a big 'wow' factor compared to previous releases, such as Retina Display or Siri.
Conclusion: Since iPhone 5 will arrive Malaysia no earlier than November (just my wild guess), you might as well wait for the wildcard in the making: Windows Phone 8, which will also arrive in November.
Samsung has clearly closed a lot of gap with their Galaxy series, and iPhone and Samsung's android seem to be pretty much on par (except on the battery performance & processor speed)
It remains unclear if Apple is able to come up with a revolutionary successor to iPhone 5, but if they can't, Apple's big expansion might become bubbles.
One observation that I found on Tim Cook, is that he is a figure based person (in all his previous presentation, he kept focusing the sales figure and market share)
I've no doubt that he is very good in running operations, but running operations and coming up with revolutionary ideas are two different things.
Nevertheless, iPhone 5 is definitely a solid good replacement on existing smartphone, at least it will work for the next 2 years.
- Kodak invented digital camera in year 1975, but mainly because they were still in film business, they thought digital camera would harm their traditional business.
I would say back then the technology might not have matured - that it would have been a very expensive device.
- But come to the digital age, they only introduced their own digital camera in year 2001.
During that time, most of the traditional camera companies had already started or transformed into digital camera business.
- In year 2006, they changed their logo
- Fast forward to earlier this year, they filed for bankruptcy.
Then, today, they announced that they will sell film, commercial scanner and kiosk division.
So, what is Kodak without its core business?
What struck my mind was somewhat superstitious:
For big companies that had changed logo for slightly worse looking, such as HP (looks like a detergent brand), KFC (why is Col. doing 45 degree tilting?), Kodak (for discarding the symbolic 'K' logo)
They are not doing really good.
Since the current Kodak CEO is, coincidentally, from HP, I hope they would sack him like how HP sacked the ex-CEO (for proposing to sell the PC business)
Now, come to the nearest event - Microsoft just changed its logo. I would say it looks much simpler, doesn't have the 'bold' feel - I do hope it will do good, cos personally, I am still struggling with Windows 8 - Microsoft's most ambitious OS to date.
The thing about the local film, Tanda Putera, is that - I find it unnecessary.
1) It features the director's view on 513 incident, which, the topic itself is not even allowed to be taught in details in primary or secondary school. Hence, the public never had a fair view on the incident - what gives the director to have the fair view on the incident?
Moreover, in the trailer, it clearly showed that the production team did not do enough research - some of the banners were written in simplified Chinese, whereby it was only introduced into Malaysia in the 70s.
2) Then comes about the timing - the movie will screen some time in November, which is just months away from General Election.
The title itself had already suggested that it is a movie dedicated to Tun Razak, who is the late father of current Prime Minister - Najib Razak.
So there's no doubt that this movie intends to remind people about Tun Razak's contribution to Malaysia.
This point is also strongly related to point#1, which, the movie is somewhat intended to demonize the Chinese descendant in Malaysia - as the cause of the riot.
To give yourself a much holistic view on 513 incident, I strongly recommend you to read the article on Wikipedia, and also an interview with Tunku Abdul Rahman - the ex-Prime Minister who was forced to resign after the 513 incident.
After reading both articles, you can somehow tell that there was indeed some conspiracies, and most importantly, both Malay and Chinese were both held responsible for causing the riot.
So, this movie at this timing, one may say that, somewhat it has intention to be in conjunction with General Election - to tell the citizens that the current government knows best.
3) There are better story to tell for a movie.
For example, how about a film about Tunku Abdul Rahman? There are so many stories to tell, from him being the Chief Minister of Malaya, to become the Prime Minister of Malaya, and his effort in getting Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore to join Malaysia, while witnessing Singapore departed from Malaysia.
That would be a much better topic to remind Malaysians how our leaders fought for independence, to appreciate and to respect.
My grandpa said "BN will lose in the next general election la... Year 55 of Merdeka means retirement ma.."
55 years = retirement.
What a nice number and beautiful coincidence.
The best is, it was a trollolol from a man who has witnessed Malaya's independence to the formation of Malaysia, and to the downhill presence.
He can't be wrong :)
When I read it here, I couldn't believe it.
If they leave mobile world - are they gonna cope with the shrinking PC market?
Tablet is so handy nowadays. Even my dad, myself and my sister can feel it.
Adobe Flash is one of the reason why I chose Android - and being proud of it.
Though buggy, but I can still get some basic function from those website with flash.
With Adobe Flash exiting Android, it's like Adobe succumb to the fact that HTML5 is gonna take over Flash.
Disappointing but that's life.
That's when I was sick of mainstream music on other radio stations, or with only music only station (which I could use Youtube playlist, or something like that)
The morning session, Breakfast Grill, which they will invite some top guns from many companies, be it private, public-listed or even government-sectors.
After the 'grilling' session, 3 DJs will share their opinions on the session.
Though it's very much business related - but it is a good opportunity to expose to ideas/opinions by those top guns.
It is a much neutral radio station, it even report the news covered by The Malaysia Insider, one of the good example is the progress of the Scorpine court case in France.
Thursday Evening Edition is an interesting session - audience are given a chance to call in to give their opinions on specific topics - I called in twice so far :)
Apart from that, BFM has interesting guests, such as Dr. George Lee, a Malaysian who migrated to UK, but chose to come back to serve Malaysia :) (who is also TC's favorite Malaysian Doctor)
One of Evening Editions' DJ, Uma, is an avid reader. So occasionally he will share the opinions on the books he read.
Now, just when you think BFM is all about Business, Mon - Fri 7.30PM will feature interesting sessions such as football talk, and my favorite 33 RPM (Tuesdays & Thursday) which the DJ will intro and play alternative music, ranging from 60's to recent years, that I seldom heard the names before.
There are other things that you might just need to switch to 89.9 channel to get what I mean.
But so far, listening to those talks and the alternative music do make my day :)
I hope this indie radio station will stay, it really is a hidden gem.
If you wish to know if government has done enough for this country, compare these list of things with your experience five years ago
1) You need water filter to get cleaner water
2) You paid for road tax, but yet you still need to pay for road toll
3) In order to watch F1 or some football matches - you need to subscribe to a satellite TV station
4) With option 3, you can't watch the TV when it rains (Malaysia is a tropical country, just FYI)
5) You start to buy clothes from Thailand or Taiwan, cos you find that they are much more cheaper
6) You use public transport, less than 10 times in the past 5 years, and don't plan to use it in near future
7) You started cooking cos you find it will save hell a lot than dining outside
8) You regretted for not buying a house 5 years ago
9) You own a car, and you spent at least 1/3 of your net income on car loan, maintenance, road tax, fuel & car insurance - and you don't plan to stop using the car in near future
10) You trust online media more than traditional paper or even the police.
If you agree more than 5 points I had mentioned,
Perhaps you might wanna consider again, whether the government has done enough, and will do that enough in the next five years.
To me, election gives you the chance to choose what you need in life.
For example, my family has been eating Gardenia bread, but as the time pass by, we found that the bread's size has shrunk, and not as tasty as before.
Then we tried High 5 bread - not bad.
And lastly we found Massimo - even tastier at even competitive price.
We've been sticking with it since last year.
Every loaf of bread has its expiry date.
Finishing a loaf of bread is like giving you a chance to choose the brand again.
That's the same purpose of election.
Old doesn't mean gold - discover yourself with the news on internet, read them.
Anybody who can vote, should be mature enough to think independently, on which party makes more sense, and whether the party's pledge meets your needs.
Then, you should be able to choose who you want to vote.
Government is just a product you choose to run this country - you have the rights to choose/switch to a better product that suits your needs.
I think Malaysians are nowadays quite mature, if not much more mature than they are - 10 years ago.
So if you wanna say that the country's security will be affected by some opinion on air - hello,
I think those who think that national security has been compromised - I think they deserve to watch more Hollywood movie to see the real meaning of 'national security compromisation'
Whatever :)
