Canon Ixus 300 HS, Ixy 30s, Powershot SD4000

My friend Edward apparently got his article published on BaikBike.Com. You might want to look at it as, he went and design a parking lot for the bike to be placed in his campus. Apparently from what he told me, his campus is the first campus that has a proper parking place for cyclist. Check out his article : A Cool Bike Rack Design.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption="Opening Ceremony Picture"][/caption]

As you all pretty much guessed it right now, yes I just purchased a Canon Ixy 30s.  I haven't really played with it much yet as after I took 3 shot I passed the camera to Deluxe to try.  I have been thinking of replacing my old Canon Powershot A70 for long time already.  This baby has served me well for over 7 years already, and it's still alive and kicking.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption="Miniature Settings"][/caption]

The reason why I wanted to get another compact camera is because I find it difficult to carry a dslr around especially with Esther.  As Deluxe and myself have only 2 hands, and it's a bit troublesome to carry the camera as well as Esther at the same time.  Not to mention whenever we go out, plus not wanting to draw any attention to us.  And the worst case scenario if either one of us have to go to the toilet, and basically everything else stays behind with the person who's not going to the toilet.  Eventually I started using back the Canon A70, but as you all know Esther is a hyperactive girl so taking photos is not easy.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption="Swap Accent. Not too sure how it works though"][/caption]

So I thought it's about time that I got myself a present, hence I thought of getting the Ixus 300 HS.  At first I was looking at Canon Ixus 130 IS, then I saw an ad on TV which was promoting the 300 HS as well as 1000 HS.  So I did a little research with 2 cameras, and the major concern that Deluxe seems to have is taking pictures of Esther in low light condition.  So apparently the 300 HS was the clear winner.  As for zooming wasn't our priority, so I guess that's how I ended up getting the 300 HS instead.

Plus I got it from this seller miyamondo, and it was really a bargain. It came with a free case, 8GB SD Card and a screen protector. Apart from the screen protector being too small which I don't find it a problem. One more thing, because this camera is not from Malaysia, so the warranty you only have 1 year and you can just send it back to him to claim FOC. After 1 year you can send it to your local Canon Dealer.

Well, Deluxe is really happy with it so I guess it's a good sign.  Especially after taking the pictures it was so much easier compared to the A70 and her phone camera.  So you'll be sure to see more pictures of Esther really soon!  As I told her that, since she has the camera now she should use it more often to take more pictures of Esther activity.  Hahaha.  Plus right now at least we can bring it around whenever we go out with Esther.  But when she showed me the pictures that she took, I was really amazed with the quality.   Anyway, here's an unboxing video that I made for it.  Will do more tomorrow night.  You guys have a good weekend!

Why?

Feeling less inspirational now.  Don't know what to blog about.  Anyway, here's another song that I've composed years back.  Hopefully I can start get blogging by tomorrow. Hehehe.




Why?

Why does my heart keep on aching?
Why do I feel this pain?
Why does my tears keep on flowing?
It started when you left me that day.

Why do I feel lonely?
Why do I feel so cold?
Why do I feel so empty?
It started when you left me that day.

Was it something I said?
Was it something I did?
That made you leave me.
Is there something I could say?
Is there something I could do?
That would make you love me.

In my life I never felt so much like this before,
In my life there's only you by my side,
Now you're gone, I only wish that you come back to me,
But I know it's just too good to be true.

Bersatu (Original Song)

One of the 1st song that I've wrote back in 1998-99.  This song was performed by Alban, Ben and myself. Apparently our forth member Mars wasn't around that time, not sure where he was though. Probably in KL studying if I'm not mistaken.  Anyway, here is the song :-

Bersatu
Pada kali pertama kita bertemu,
Ku mendapati ku cintai mu,
Kau telah curi, Hatiku ini,
Kaulah gadis yang ku nanti.

Hari demi hari, lambat berlalu,
Fikiran ku mula bercelaru,
Ku rasa sunyi, tanpa kau disini,
Mengapa kau harus pergi?

Chorus:
Janganlah bimbang, Ku akan menunggu,
Ku berjanji pada suatu hari,
Kita kan bersatu.

Ku takkan lupa peristiwa yang lalu,
Ada yang sedih, Ada yang lucu,
Hatiku gembira, mengimbas kembali,
Sebab ku jumpa cinta sejati.

Ada yang menyatakan cinta sementara,
Ada yang menyatakan kita tak sehala,
Ku tak kisah, Apa yang dikata,
Asal kita gembira.

Bridge:
Dari hari ini, Ku berjanji,
Seluruh dunia sebagai saksi,
Ku tetap cintamu, Dari hati yang rindu,
Ku takkan menghampa mu.

HolanTV #01 – Introduction to Holan TV

This is my very first Vlog, which I've been thinking of doing for a very long time.  Since I didn't have a co-host for my podcasting series, I thought of doing a Vlog instead.  Anyway, thought it was weird looking myself into the camera and talking.  Anyway, it's all good but I think I might need to find other software to edit the video as Windows Movie Maker wasn't really helpful especially with some of the effects that I wanted to do.  So I'll just upload it raw.

In this episode, I pretty much just did nothing much but rather a few stupid I suppose. Oh well, I guess it's all good.  So sit back and enjoy the show. Hehehe.

Beware of Torchlight Stungun

Ok. Not too sure how true this is.  But never the less we should always be careful.  Was supposed to do a Podcast tonight, but won't be doing it as I'm not  really feeling too well.  Anyway, read on.

You can buy this at Lorong Kulit!  Less than RM100!

Please be aware, especially the ladies, and be extra careful as with the slowdown in the economy you can expect some people to resort to crime to make ends meet.

Must Read!: Torchlights (Stungun) Beware (to all drivers)

Hi There,

FOR YOUR INFORMATION, latest weapon used by robbers.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. NO MATTER HOW BUSY YOU ARE, YOU MUST GIVE YOURSELF AT LEAST 3 MINUTES TO READ THIS!

I just thought to let know what my doctor told me recently. I don't think she was lying and neither am I, so please pass this on to your friends. Her clinic is in SS2 and you know how congested that place is.

One morning a few months ago in broad daylight, a girl was getting into her car when a few men approached her with what looked like a  torchlight. Quite harmless looking. They pressed the "torchlight" into her back and immediately she went limp and very pale. So she wouldn't be able to fight back, they slashed her thigh with a parang and sped away in her car.

There were many people around and they quickly took her to the  nearest clinic which was my doctor's clinic. There were two doctors at that time and they managed to stitch up her wound but the girl remained pulse-less and still pale as paper. No pulse, no BP (blood pressure). Just like dead.

My doctors were confused as to how one wound on the thigh made the girl almost like dead? They managed to revive her and save her life.

After some checking around, the doctors found  out what actually happened was that the girl was made unconscious not by a torchlight but actually a high voltage weapon. I forgot how many watts she mentioned. 1000? Anyway, it was high enough to kill a person by electrocution.

It seems this weapon is from China. It's not rampant in Malaysia...yet; but with this thing, a person can rob, rape, kill, kidnap, and practically do anything to you. My doctor said that if the girl weren't taken to the clinic immediately she would have died because there was no pulse on her.

So please just beware of your surroundings, if anybody is lurking around with a torchlight-thingy and approaches you, just scream or run away. Better to be embarrassed than ZAPPED and fried, right? Take care.

This item is called "stungun".

Installing Android Froyo 2.2 onto HTC TYTN II Kaiser

Ok.  This may seem an long overdue post as I didn't really had time to actually write a guide about it. The method I'm listing down here is installing Froyo onto your SD card, so that you won't need to worry about flashing your phone for this to work.  Ok on with the show.

Things You Need

1. Minimum of 1GB SD Card
2. HTC Kaiser TYTN II Phone (Best if your using WM6.1)
3. Andboot
4. Incubus26Jc's Super FroYo 2.2 - Current version RLS15 (02-09-10)

Preparation

You can use partition for the SD card if not just make sure your SD card is formatted to FAT32.  Read here on how to Partition your SD Card.  You need to create 4 partition if you are using this method.

Partition 1 = ext3 at 260mb, Partition 2 = ext3 at 260mb, Partition 3 = Swap at 80mb and the remaining balance is for Partition 4 formatted at Fat32.  If you don't want to partition it's fine as well.  Just make sure your card is formatted to Fat32 and you're good to go.

Let's Go

1. Unzip the file ANDBOOT.
2. Copy the whole folder on to the SD card
3. Unzip the file Incubus26Jc's Super FroYo 2.2, and you should get a file andriodinstall.tgz
4. Copy the andriodinstall.tgz into the Andboot folder that you have placed inside the SD Card.
5. Once copied reset your phone.
6. Run File Explorer on your phone, go to Storage Card --> andboot --> run the program haret.

The next step here is very important and you might need to be aware of.  Once you run the program haret, you should see the linux penguin on the top left and it will have a lot of words running down.  But it will stop for about 2-3 seconds when you see something like this.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Hold The Middle Button"][/caption]

7. When you see that message, quickly hold the center of the D-Pad Button then it should bring you to an installer as shown as below.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="456" caption="Installation Menu"][/caption]

8. If don't partition your card it will look like the one on the left.  If you did, it will look like the one on the right.
9. Press Install System
10. Select Yes to wipe system. And Yes again to wipe data.
11. Just let it run until you reach back to the Main Menu.  Once you reach there, select EXIT.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Welcome Screen"][/caption]

Once you exit it should run a few more command lines before you should see the welcome screen like the above.  And a few seconds after that you should see a green ball eye kinda thingy.  And it will take quite a while before it loads up Froyo.

12.  Once you've got Froyo running inside your phone, don't set the time, data or sync with your google account.  Just skip any process you see until the main page on your phone.  Next step is very important.

13. Don't touch the phone, and leave it for 30 minutes.   From what I understand is that, Froyo is in the midst of copying files and building some data or some sort.
I know you've all been dying to play with it, but best leave it for at least 30 minutes.  I left mine for at least an hour, and not only it improves on performance but also prevent a lot of errors compared when I straight away played with it once it finishes installing.  So be patient!

14. After your 30 mins long wait is over, hold the power button and select reset the phone.
15. Run File Explorer --> Storage Card --> Andboot --> Run Haret.
16. This time just by pass the dpad instruction and let it run through till you reach the Andriod Main System.

Now you are ready to go and play with your newly installed Froyo on your HTC TYTN II.  It's way much cooler compared to Windows Mobile that's for sure.  Anyway, there are still limitations on this system whereby I think they still have a bit problems with the bluetooth audio, and of course the front camera is not working.  But I seldom use those features so I think it's ok.

If you have problems whereby instead of getting the welcome screen, but rather those funny color lines flying here and there.  What you need to do is :-
1. Go to Andboot folder in your sd card
2. Edit the file startup.txt
3. Change the panel_type =3 to either 1 or 2 to see which one works.

If you would like to sync your outlook contacts with your freshly installed android phone.  I would suggest CompanionLink.  It's free for 14 days, just enough time for you to sync all of your contacts.  You need to go to the market place for android and install a client for it to link later.

Small issues that I face when running this OS is that, it consumes a lot of battery usage.  One way of conserving the batteries, was disabling all the extra animation features, switching to 2G only, and turning off the data usage.  And make sure you always turn off the wifi before your phone goes to sleep as wifi will still be on even in sleep mode.  But apart from that everything else seems fine.

In conclusion, it's really fun being able to run android on my HTC.  Somehow it sort of prolonged the life span of my phone in terms of usability.  As you all know that most of the software being developed currently are for blackberry, iphone and android phones.  So, at least I'm still able to play with my phone till I decide to replace it with another one.

Good luck and have fun!

Credits goes to :-
1. The developing teams of Incubus26Jc's Super FroYo 2.2 for making all this possible.
2. ghghgh14702 for preparing a flawless kernal and image files. (Believe me after 1 year of searching for the kernels and image files separately, his one was the best matched with no problems)
3. j101399j for preparing easy to use image instructions, you can actually get them here.

Mohawk Madness #03 - HUET Training

We're back again, and sorry for the delay due to podomatic have been down, so was not able to update last week.  We pretty much talked about Kevin experience when he went for his HUET Training.  Listen on if you want to find out more about it.

Host : Alex & Kevin
Quote For The Day : It's Every Man For Themselves





Download here


Reference : -
IFAP Website : - http://www.ifap.asn.au/

Mohawk Madness #02 - Farting

Apology to all of our listeners out there for the disappearance on our show, as we were all brain dead on what to talk about.  Anyway, tonight's topic we pretty much gave away from the title is about farting.  Ever wondered why and how we do it?  We have an unexpected guest who joined us at the very last minute, so we were fortunate to have him with us.  Sit back and enjoy the rest of the show.

Host : Alex & Kevin
Guest : Elmund
Quote for the day : We should fart proudly from today onwards.

Reference :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farthttp://www.heptune.com/farts.html

Download Here

DiGi iPhone 4 Real

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Is this 4 real?"][/caption]

Seriously, someone might need to check Digi's marketing plan or someone who came up with this plan.  It's really freaking awesome, because it has a very low monthly commitment which is something I really love when I plan to subscribe to a plan.  For the RM58 monthly charges comes with 200 mins of talk time, 200 sms, 20 mms to all networks.  If you think about it, Digi has this 1 Malaysia spirit written in them.  They even show it on their plans itself, check out the free calls, SMS, & MMS to local networks.  Now how can you not love that.  Since many of my friends are in different network, I'm still able to call them using the 200 mins talk time.

And the best part is that, you won't get any extra charges when you use their internet.  Even if you exceed your monthly quota they'll just lower down your bandwidth which I feel is fair.  I remembered an incident where a friend of mine who is on a different network was given free internet for a certain amount monthly.  At first he thought it would be sufficient, and there was one time he pretty much forgotten about his monthly quota and was shocked with his bills when it came.  He went and called their customer service line, and was told that he must have mistaken their plans for a different carrier.  But fortunately for him, it was capped at RM250 so he pretty much learned his lesson and decided to jump ship.

If you would like to find out more about Digi's iPhone 4 plans you can check it out here.  They even have packages for those who use a lot of talk time.  It's really worth checking it out.  Anyway, I love Digi Iphone 4 plans so much that I even came up with a song for it.  So here it is.  Enjoy!

Download Here


Everything has gone up lately,
I really don't know why,
The only thing that's going down is,
Digi Iphone 4 plans.

If you subscribe to autobilling,
Another RM5 down,
This is just because it's Digi Iphone 4 Great Plans.

I love Digi Iphone 4 plans,
Because it saves me dough,
I know I won't get extra charges, Cause Digi told me so.
I love Digi I phone 4 plans,
Because it loves me too,
If you're a cheapskate just like me,
Switch to the digi Iphone 4 plans too.

Sending SMS is just a breeze,
You can send it to all your friends.
Because this is Digi Iphone 4 plans,
You won't have to worry if they're not in the Digi clan.

If you subscribe to autobilling,
Another RM5 down,
This is just because it's Digi Iphone 4 Great Plans.

I love Digi Iphone 4 plans,
Because it saves me dough,
I know I won't get extra charges, Cause Digi told me so.
I love Digi I phone 4 plans,
Because it loves me too,
If you're a cheapskate just like me,
Switch to the Digi Iphone 4 plans too.

Holankia Talkshow #9 - Iphone4 Digi Vs Maxis

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption="Holankia Talk Show"][/caption]

Ok, tonight show is basically me going solo due to the fact that Kevin wasn't able to join me due to the fact that he was sick.  So I've decided to go ahead, even though I wasn't feeling too good as well.  So tonight's topic is deciding factor on which telco provider is cheaper for Iphone 4.  Earlier on when I did a rough calculation I thought the difference would only be 1-200.  But when I used Excel to calculate, it seems that Maxis will only be cheaper provided if you tend to make more phone calls.

So in conclusion, I think it goes down on which type of users will you be at the end of the day.  If you tend to talk more(over 200 mins), I suggest you use Maxis.  But in terms of SMS and Data plan, Digi will be a better choice as the free SMS offered by Maxis is only applicable to Maxis users only.  And their data plan is charged at RM0.10/10kb and will be capped at RM250.  Anyway, you can download the excel file which I've created for your reference only.  And the calculation was based on calls, as I didn't do in terms of SMS or Data plan.  So you decide on which provider you would like to use.

Anyway, in this show I managed to call Richard and check up on him to see how's he doing.  And at the end, I did a cover of Runaway Train by Soul Asylum.  Sit back and enjoy.

Download here

Host : Alex

Guest : Richard Ling - http://www.richardling.net

Reference Link :-

Comparison Excel Rate - http://bit.ly/ddPTBx

Maxis Plan - http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/iphone4/rates.asp

Digi Plan - http://www.digi.com.my/iphone/getone_want_iphone.html

Maxis rebate RM1K - http://www.malaysianwireless.com/2010/09/maxis-iphone-trade-in-rm1k/

Mohawk Madness #01 - Interior Designer With Alvin Shim

[caption id="attachment_1443" align="aligncenter" width="495" caption="Mohawk Madness with Alex & Kevin"][/caption]

Since Ruey can't make it for the time being as she is busy till next month, I've decided to open up another segment of the Holankia Talkshow.  As you've pretty much guessed it, it's called Mohawk Madness.  Anyway, on to our show.  We had an interview with Alvin who is happens to be an interior designer.  Find out more on how this Megatronics Engineering graduate ended up as an Interior Designer.

Host : Alex & Kevin
Guest : Alvin Shim
Quote For The Day : "Don't end up like you, when you paid for the registration and you didn't get anything out of it." - Kevin

Download Here


If you would like to wish to contact Alvin for his services you can contact him via e-mail at alvinshim14 [@] hotmail [.] com

Samples of his works

TVC #02 - Hello Ireland

[caption id="attachment_1423" align="aligncenter" width="363" caption="The Vertical Connection with Alex & Larry"][/caption]

The Vertical Connection is running it's 2nd show.   Ok apparently this was a short talk as we talked about Larry beginning to start a new life in Ireland.  Pretty much an introduction with him there, and hopefully we would be able to get more details in the next segment, next week.  You guys enjoy.

Host & Co-Host : Alex & Larry

Quote for the day : As the Irish would say. Things are grand here, and I hope you have a grand time at home.

Download Here

Annual Trip Home To Jakarta

Just realized I haven't really been updating here as of late.  Been busy doing practically nothing.  As I'm still currently in holiday mood mode.  Should really shake it out already by now.  Oh well, hopefully will start something tomorrow.  I would like to emphasize on my "hopefully" part.

Ok, just to get things started.  Our flight actually started out from Kuching to Singapore, so here we are on the way to the airport while calling a taxi to ferry all 3 of us there.  We arrived about 7.30am, and after we checked in we decided to head over to McDonald for breakfast.  After we finished eating, we head into the departure hall only to find out the plane was about to take off.  And that was like 8am, whereby our flight was scheduled to fly off at 8.40am.  So we pretty much rushed to the gate to pretty much find out that we were the last to board.  The flight was ok, considering it was slightly a bit packed but both Deluxe and myself managed to get a free seat vacant so it helps with a little bit of extra space.  Especially when Esther tends to sleep all the way through the flight, which was good.  The flight took about 1 hour and 20 mins.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="377" caption="Posing at Terminal 3 Mini Garden"][/caption]

Upon arriving Singapore, apparently I pretty much underestimate the timing on when AirAsia will actually arrive.  If only I knew that we would arrived early, I would have purchased the following flight at 11.55am but I guess it's too late for that now.  So here we are going round and round Changi Airport, where I was pretty much impressed with everything there.  So Deluxe, Esther and myself went around from Terminal 1, to Terminal 2, to Terminal 3 and back to 1 again.  As we were still lugging along our luggage because we couldn't checked in first.

After the 1 round of sightseeing outside the terminal, the counter departing for Jakarta finally opened and so we managed to get ourselves checked in and our next destination was to hunt for food as all of us was pretty much tired and hungry from all the walking.  We ended up in one of the Taiwanese restaurant, was pretty much exhausted from the walking and I wasn't feeling too good either.  So no pictures of the place, sorry.  We spent about SGD19, which we thought was ok (Please don't ask me to convert. FYI we changed our notes and it was at SGD1=RM2.37).

Not long after that, we decided to went into the departure hall and waited for our flight.  There seems to be a slight delay about 30 minutes, as our plane had not arrived yet.  So I went and called my father in law just to let him know, and we talked briefly for less than a minute.  Xpax charged me RM30 just for that 1 minute call.  So you have been warned.  Anyway, when the plane finally arrived this time we given priority to board as they were following the seat numbers.  So we were fortunate enough to get those seat and off we go to Jakarta which will take another 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Unlike the previous plane where it was managed by the Malaysian crew, the Indonesian crew was so much much better.  I'm not being bias or anything but their action does speak louder than words.  Well, first thing they noticed that Esther was with us so one of the stewardess went and got those mini life jacket for her and pretty much explained all the necessary details before the flight take off.  Plus we were given complementary water and nuts, before the actual in flight purchased.  So the next time you decided to take a flight to Indonesia make sure you take notice of the QZ flights instead of the AK ones.  Ok, going back to the story..

So we finally touched down in Sukarno Hatta International Airport.  Clearance was faster because the foreigner lane was clear, where as the locals were queuing up quite long.  So after collecting our luggage we waited a while before Deluxes' brother came by and picked us up.  There's one thing I definitely won't miss about Jakarta is pretty much the traffic jam.  But it wasn't that bad when we arrive, but it got worst when we arrived at Kelapa Gading.  It wasn't like that the previous year we went back.  Anyway, after we dropped our stuff at home we went to the mall and had dinner there.  By then I was pretty much air & car sick, so by the time we reached back home.  I quickly went and took a shower and pop one panadol and head to sleep.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="378" caption="Venice & Esther"][/caption]

After a good night rest, I felt much better while Deluxe was already up and began preparing a bowl of kolo mee.  It didn't make me missed Kuching so much.  So after breakfast, Esther and Venice were at it again getting reacquainted after the long drive from yesterday.   Because Venice on speaks Bahasa Indonesia, while Esther had a little knowledge on it whereby her major language was in Hakka.  So there were indeed a lot of awkward moments and a lot of hand gestures.  But it was cute how they communicate with one another.

On the 2nd day we didn't do much apart from heading to the shopping malls and started to lepak around there.  I took most of my pictures with my phone compared to the DSLR, as I was honestly a bit lazy lugging around shopping malls after being warned once last year.  After we had lunch, I noticed there was a couple just sitting at the entrance.  Both of them were on their blackberry.  And to make matters even more interesting, they were pretty much chatting away with each other using the blackberry.  Seriously, I think they need to get a life.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="317" caption="Massive traffic jam. This is not considered that bad."][/caption]

Day 3 was when we headed to one of Deluxes' aunt place.  It was a long weekend as Indonesian Independence day fell on 17th August, so people used this opportunity to head over to places such as Bandung as well as Puncak.  So we didn't head there due to the massive traffic jam predicted by my brother in law.  Anyway, traffic was heavy but I was told this was ok as it could be even worst.  At least we're moving every 2-3 mins, whereby for some reason it would be faster if you crawl compared being stuck in this jam.  So most of the time it is best to sleep else don't think too much about it.

After that, we headed to my in laws shop which was situated at South Jakarta, and the picture taken was from Northen side of Jakarta.  Traffic slightly improved after a while, because it was the weekend as some of the offices were not opened.  By the time we reached the shop was already close to dinner time.  So we went and had dinner at Ny.Nita Ayam Presto.  I'll talk about the food in a different post, but just to let you know.  The chicken was fabulous, and you even can eat up the bones as well.  I don't know how they do it, but you eventually eating up the whole chicken including the bones.  After eventually we went back home and that was pretty much about it.

4th day, we woke up kinda early as we were heading to church.  The church we went to was Gereja Reformed Injili Indonesia.  Because it wasn't combined the service started at 7 am.  I went and followed my brother in law, while Deluxe and Esther followed her Sister in law to Sunday School.  Probably it may be slightly different for her, as everyone was talking in Bahasa Indonesia.  But from what I understand is that she didn't had any problems blending in.  After that we had breakfast and headed to Deluxe Uncle house which was not far away.  We spend some time there for quite some time before heading to another Aunt of Deluxe.  Esther was overjoyed when she received new goodies, as one of them even looks exactly like her cousin Venice shoes.  So she was pretty hyped about it.  After that, we headed back home and rested before going out for dinner at again a nearby mall.  There are quite a number of shopping malls in Kelapa Gading, as the largest mall is also there.  So you pretty much need 1 day just to visit one area.

Day 5 was we headed over to Mangga Dua ITC, which is one of the favorite places Deluxe loves to go.  The reason is that most of the cheap stuff are normally located here.  But if one was not careful, one can easily get lost in this huge maze.  Seriously, you wouldn't want to get lost there.  Plus with so many things around, and people going around you have to be extra careful with your belongings as well.  After purchasing Deluxe pants, and some clothing for Esther we headed to Golden Truly, whereby it's kinda like the feel of Ngiukee.  Sales all year long, haha.  But their gado-gado there is excellent.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="335" caption="Gondola Ride"][/caption]

Day 5 was when we headed over to Ancol, which is one of the tourist attraction in Jakarta.  Because it was 17th August, the entrance fee was like 50%.  We headed to craft area first to have a look see Indonesian arts and crafts.  And they are seriously really good.  We went and visited the art gallery as well as the local craft.  After that we went and sit on the Gondola.

We didn't go to Dunia Fantasy (disneyland), even though we had the promotion brochure.  Whereby it was slashed down to like 40-50%.  Which was very cheap, compared to the other sections of Ancol.  Never the less, Esther had fun running around the huge space.  But was a bit frighten from the gondola ride.  But it was all good.  After that, we headed once again to Golden Truly for dinner.  Yup, you've guessed it, Gado-Gado once again for dinner.  Hehehehe.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="236" caption="Venice, Esther & Nathan"][/caption]

Day 6, nothing much to talk about as we were stuck in traffic the whole day.  We were basically stuck in traffic the whole day.  Anyway, day 7 we were heading back Kuching but will transit in Singapore for 2 nights before heading back.  Upon arrival in Singapore, we took a cab and headed to our staying place which was at People's Park Centre.  Quite a nice place to stay actually considering that there were a lot of food to eat plus MRT is extremely nearby.  So we headed off to another aunt of Deluxe place and pretty much stayed there till evening before calling it in.

The following day, we went and visited Deluxe's cousin.  Here Esther & Venice got to know another cousin of theirs whom they met for the first time.  From the photo on the left, I guess it was those priceless moments when it was the first time we met our cousin when were their age.  So one was speaking Bahasa Indonesia, one Hakka, and the other one spoke in English.  But again, as children even though they can't speak the same language.  They can sure have a good time together.  This was a picture before Venice actually leaped out from the swing, dragging  Esther along.  And unfortunately Esther didn't know what was actually happening fell on the ground.  She was fine, but as you know the rest of the adults were worried and screaming already by then. Hahaha.  But it's all good.

Anyway, after that we headed back to the hotel and pretty much rested there for the next few hours.  I was able to catch up with Bong for about 20-30 mins as he went and sort of catch snake just to meet up with me.  But from what I understand his office was not far from where we stayed.  So it was all good.  It was good catching up with him, and he's been putting on weight as well.  Ah well, he was pretty much my partner in crime most of the time.  Hahaha.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="364" caption="Deluxe, Esther, Grace & Juliany"][/caption]

Towards the evening, Deluxe friend Juliany and her husband Hendry dropped by and visited us. Esther was introduced to Grace and surprisingly both of them were very quiet.  Haha, I guess they were trying to make a very good first impression.  But it was good to see that they eventually slowly broke the ice.  Grace is about 8 months older than Esther.  After that was done we pretty much packed up our stuff and get ready for the following day to go home.

We pretty much got all of our stuff, and managed to get a cab.  But unfortunately for us, quite a number of roads have been closed.  But I was a bit skeptical of the taxi driver as he was making rounds two times even though we went through there again.  But I guess they were just trying to make an extra buck I suppose.  Ah well, never the less.  Once we arrived at the airport, Juliany was there again to send us off.  So that was basically our trip in Singapore.  As we didn't really had much time to explore actually.  Never the less, I guess it's a good experience for Esther.  And we believe that we won't be seeing Singapore for the last time.  We shall be back ;)

ARK #02 Part 1 - Mooncake Festival *Updated

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="188" caption="Mooncake"][/caption]

We're back again but this time with more guest.  On this edition we are currently talking about Mooncake Festival, Animal Abuse & Merdeka Celebration.  I just finished editing this first part, and will work on Part 2 after I completed uploaded  this episode.  Here are the references which I talked on about during the show.  Sit back and enjoy :)

Host & Co-Host : Holankia & Kevin
Guest : Kieng Tung & Chung Ang (a.k.a Ketam)

Segment :-
Victim : Chung Ang
Mooncake Reference :-
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival
Stories of Mid Autmn Festival - http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/midfallstory.htm
Mooncake Recipe - http://chinesefood.about.com/od/foodfestivals/r/mooncakes.htm

Part 1





Download Here

---

Part 2

Ok.  This is the part you've all been waiting for to pretty much complete the previous recording.  So we were talking about animal abuse.  Here are the reference on what we came up with.

Shark Attack : - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1303744/Nicholas-Edwards-Australian-surfer-great-white-shark-attack-dies.html

Shark Fin Soup : - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_fin_soup





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Installing Software U Mobile Sou aka Verzio Duplii

Before I go on, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dennis for lending me his gears on Tuesday. With it, I was able to successfully change Deluxe Sony Ericsson K850i LCD. The LCD cost itself was only less than RM37, compared to the ones they tried to charged me about RM110-RM180 to get it replaced. Anyway, it's functioning properly now despite being slightly darker compared to the previous LCD. Anyway, I had to refer to this website on how to dismantle Sony Ericsson K850i.  So it's all good now, and saved about RM80, which I think can be used to buy something else ;)  Thanks again Dennis.

Ok for those who are currently owning the U Mobile SOU or also known as Verzio Duplii.  You might be wondering how in the world you are going to install applications onto your phone.  Well, for starters you won't be able to install it via the PC Tools that came along with the CD.  Kinda disappointing don't you think.  In order for you to install software onto it, you need to be connected to the Internet.

What you need is to locate the software for your phone before you can install them.  For your information, the LCD screen size for the phone is 240 x 320.  So any java games or applications that has that screen size, you should be able to install it to your phone.  For starters you can head over to operamini.com and install an opera browser on your phone to pretty much understand how it will work.  And to locate the program on your phone, it is under entertainment and you should see java box there.  Inside the java box is where all the applications will be stored after the software that has been installed.  But if you have internet based software or software that requires you to connect to the internet, you must first set the proxy address in order for it to work.

For those software or applications that you probably developed or got it from a friend.  What you need to do is first compile the .jar extension files into into a .jad files. I use Jadmaker which you can easily google and download it for free.  Open up the Jadmaker and drag and drop the .jar files into the program.  It will automatically create a .jad file.  Upload both the .jar and .jad files onto your server, and point your browser to the .jad file, and voila.  You're good to go and begin installing programs onto your phones.

Good luck :)

ARK #01 - Opening Night

It's official, as we've decided to call it the Lost Ark segment where it will be consisted by Ru, Kevin and myself. In this segment we talk about a few things such as my trip back to Jakarta. And we found out that a lot of people do bring their work back. Never the less, you can listen to our conversation here.





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Holankia is Back!

OK.  Holiday time is over.  We'll be starting producing again in the next few days. Apparently The Vertical Connection made it's debut last week while I was still holidaying.  So you guys can have a listen to what is all about it here : - http://alexjong.podomatic.com/entry/2010-08-16T22_21_08-07_00

Hopefully for the coming few weeks, there will be more shows to be posted in order to bring in more traffic and of course pushing the ratings up!  So we'll be looking forward in producing hopefully more quality podcast for your listening.  See you guys real soon.

Happy Indonesia Independence Day

Well, it's been almost a week here in Jakarta. And we've pretty much be going around a lot as of late. And also Ｉfinally managed to do something with my toe which has been bugging me for many months. I had a pedicure, at one of the nearby malls here. And boy was it fun.... NOT! I almost died when they tried to cut off the toe nail which was causing me a lot of pain. Well, after the 1st time they did it, it was ok.
The one I had yesterday was crazy, as this time I didn't know what they did. But it was worst compared to the first so called operation without any pain killers or that thingy you make it numb. But at least now, the bleeding practically stop now. But I was told that I am required to go back and get it done in 2 weeks time. Probably might go around Kuching and see if there's anyone doing it back there.
Anyway, as the title suggested. Today is Indonesia independence day. From what I understand, the city should be very quiet and there is no one going around. Places such as Mangga Dua also been asked to close to celebrate this day. Not sure where are the happening places though, but it seems very quiet as usual. Might go out and have a look later and see how the traffic is like.
We'll be leaving for Singapore in a few days time. And apparently we'll be staying there for another 2-3 days. So most likely will go shopping there for an early Christmas present. Hehehe.. Then again mebbe not. Ｗe'll see how it goes. I think I'll just stop here for now. Will upload the pictures once I get back to Kuching. Currently using dad in law's laptop. As he installed some chinese software which always seems to turn on by itself every one to two minutes. Either that I could have entered some special key or something that seems to activate it. Anyway, it's all good. YOu guys have a good day now.

Holankia Will Take A Break

Yes. It's been a while since I went for a holiday.  So, the Holankia Talkshow will pretty much be put on hold for at least 2 weeks.  But in the meantime, don't worry.  Just got news that, Larry will be interviewing someone whom I think is very talented.  I've seen just one of his work, and I thought to myself that guy is a genius. Hahaha.  Never the less, it's all good.  Anyway, this week podcast apparently turned out to be an MTV of Larry doing an original.  So for more details head over to this link here :- http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=419560182141&ref=mf

SEe you guys in 2 weeks time :)

Holan, Kevin & Kieng Tung

We had a good session with Kieng Tung. Just that I accidentally deleted the 2nd part of the interview while editing the track this morning. Anyway, really wished that it was the 1st part that got deleted. Haha. Oh well, it's all good. We did this interview over skype once again, but the only difference is that I called Kieng Tung on Skype instead. Do check it out, and our next topic will be on the difference between guys and girls thinking. Enjoy :)



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Late Nite Edition with Holankia

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the original talkshow which was scheduled for this coming Sunday has been brought forward to last night. Tonight topic was pretty much on laws of Malaysia. But a brief on it, as we believed that there is more to that. It's about a 40 mins interview, so I've broke the interview into 2 parts. Anyway, do hope that this would enlighten you.

We'll be having Ru back again next time as we believed there are a lot of cases which we haven't really talk about. But anyway it's good. So if you want to ask a lawyer a question, just leave me a comment here or in Facebook. And I'll ask her the next time we do it. So sit back and enjoy :D All interview done via Skype

Part 1



Download here




Part 2


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Holankia Talkshow #7 With Kevin & Larry

Sorry a bit late, as I was distracted the whole day. So didn't had time to convert yesterday podcasting. Never the less, here's a few things we touch about :-

1. What annoys you?
2. What can we get for RM5.80/day ?
3. Kevin, Larry & I sang My Girl by the Temptation



Download Here




You can check out some pictures here I posted on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Holankia-Talkshow/144774688866368?v=photos.

For all the listeners out there. Thanks for your continuous support. Would be great if you like my page and follow me. :D

It's been a while

It's been a while since I last posted here. Whereby I've moved to a new destination to blog actually. You can follow my actual blog at http://www.alexjong.com. I'm thinking of hosting my podcast here instead. Maybe that might do some good. Hehehe. Will see how it goes.

Stay tuned, as the Return of Holankia will be back really soon. Hehehe.

Holankia Talkshow #6.5 - Special Edition with Kevin

Special Announcement:
Just received news that, Nancy Khiu is in need of blood type A+.  If you know anyone who has this blood type, please help her by donating it in Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching.  For more information you can contact Galvin Chung at 016-8972472.  Nancy is currently suffering lung cancer, and is coughing blood non stop.  Do pray for her, and also if you know anyone that has that blood type.  Please help.  Thank you.

Well, tonight is a special edition of the Holankia Talkshow.  I was suppose to do it with my co-host Larry this coming Sunday, but apparently my main man all the way from Perth decided he wanted to join me instead tonight.  So after hooking up the system, I was able to get him online.  But do mind the quality, as we are still in the initial stage of doing it online.  Apparently there seems to be a humming sound which we couldn't get rid off.  I would like to thank Kevin for spending his time with me to make this show.  So sit back and enjoy.

Download here

Holankia Talkshow #6 Guest Larry, Dennis & Richard

All right.  Starting next podcasting, I shall call it Holankia Talkshow.  Thanks to Richard & Larry for helping me to finalize the name. Hehe.  So it's all good.  Tonight I had the pleasure of having Larry who will be going into medical field soon as my guest.  Here are a few things we discuss.

1. Larry's background
2. Phone call to Dennis
3. Fuel & sugar increase starting 16th July 2010
4. Larry singing Daughters - John Mayer
5. Phone call to Richard

Would like to thank Larry, Dennis, & Richard for coming to my show.  Sorry for the conversation with Dennis as it was a bit noisy.  Anyway, if you want me to talk about something or call somebody do leave me a comment, and I'll do it the next time round.



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Late Night With Alex Jong

Ok. Didn't know what to put as the title.  Probably I should start thinking of a proper name for my podcasting series.  So pretty much nothing to talk about last night.  Had to delay my podcasting because last week was a bit hectic especially night time as there were a lot of activities going on.  So that was pretty much about it.  And of course I managed to catch up on Luke regarding his current stay in Shah Alam.  So I believe he's having a good time there.  Anyway, it's all good.  Do leave a comment if you would like me to call someone and bug them or what soever.

P.S Mr.Richard Ling, you seriously have been MIA for a very long time already. Mana lu pigi?



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Episode 4 - Farewell Luke

This episode, nothing much as it was a bit late.  And I was testing my brand new Samson C01U microphone.  Had some initial problems setting it up, but after that. Everything was cool.  Just realized that microphones are mono input devices.  So you might need to change it to mono before recording.  But everything turned out well, and I had to adjust the volume a little bit softer because it's even picking up the sound outside the shop.  But it's clean, and I like it.  Anyway, here are a few things that I talked about.

1. The Samson C01U microphone
2. Luke's departure
3. Larry completing his exams
4. Pos Malaysia new tarrif rates
5. Me singing "When You Say Nothing At All"

That's pretty much it. Will do more again next time.  You guys have fun.



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Episode 3 - Special Guest with Kieng Tung

Ok, in this episode of my podcast I've decided to give Kieng Tung a call. And of course, my mic went ballistic halfway through. So ended up editing a chunk of information out. Which really is a waste. Sigh..

Anyway, towards the end I dedicated a song to Proud To Be Skinny. Something which I thought was appropriate for everyone actually to brighten up their day.

Anyway, it was Xpax Active15 whereby I was given 7 days free calls to all 15 numbers starting from Sunday. But I was busy doing other stuff ended up only able to do it today. So it's all good :) Digi gave me RM50 for my birthday. So still probably think that free credits is much better compared to free calls because, I don't really make a lot of phone calls apart from peak season. Hehehe.

So that's it for this week episode of my podcast, which I'm finding it very fun already. And I seriously can't wait for my microphone to arrive, as you notice the heavy breathing the whole time. You guys have a good night! See you all tomorrow.

Oh yeah. The software I'm using was Audacity. It's really good total size was 126mb, and when I convert it ended to less than 3mb. Unlike my previous recordings even though it's shorter but the file size was double the size.

Episode 3 - Special Guest with Kieng Tung

Alex Jong's Podcast

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Just for the sake of Podcasting

Ok guys.  This is my second edition of Podcasting.  Find it kinda fun in a very weird way.  Anyway, at least I can pretty much multitask.  Whereby while I was podcasting, I was actually fixing up the shop website.  Anyway, here were the topics I was talking about.

1. Inspiration of Podcasting
2. Samson C01U USB Microphone & Cad U37 USB Microphone
3. World Cup
4. Business

Anyway, that's all.  Was suppose to call someone but totally forgotten because I was watching the match between Argentina Vs South Korea.  Will promise to do more next time.

Episode 2 - Just for the sake of podcasting

Alex Jong's Podcast

Download here

My Very First PodCast

Welcome to my very first Podcast. Actually I signed up some other services, but unfortunately I didn't know which server did I host them with. Never the less, is my first podcast which I briefly talked on a few things.

1. St. John Ambulance
2. Treasury disputes Idris Jala’s data
3. Sarawak opposes sports betting
4. Credit Cards
5. Birthday Wishes

P.S Probably you might want to turn down the volume a little at the beginning as I was using a wav file for my intro. Lol. And maybe you just let it buffer first by pressing the pause button, so you'll have a smooth listening to hear me talk about nonsense.

Episode 1 - The Beginning

Alex Jong's Podcast

Download here

Digi 3G now in Kuching

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="3G detected on my HTC TYTN II"][/caption]

Yes, finally 3G has finally arrived here in Kuching. Apparently it was here for quite a few weeks already if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, you can read the real press release here. Miri is expected to receive 3G by mid of this year. So I guess it won't be long now before Digi will start to dominate in Sarawak really soon.  Apparently Digi seems to have the lowest fare compared to the other telcos.

Before I forget, in order for you to activate 3G for Digi, you need to call in their customer service at 016-2211800 and get them to help you activate that services for you.  You don't need to change your sim card, so I think that's great whereby you can straight away use.  If you still can't get any 3G signal, just make sure your phone is set to GSM & 3G.  If nothing happened after 10 mins try restarting your phone.  Then voila you managed to get 3G connection already.

Anyway, so what happened was that I sort of managed to max out my RM5 cap yesterday and did a trial run with Digi's 3G feature.  I was told that currently they are only able to make video calls within the same network.  I tried to do a video call to my mom but unfortunately I was not able to get connected.  But I did a test call to Deluxe's phone and apparently it worked. Quality wise was ok, but due to the fact that both the phones were near to each other ended up giving up feedback instead.  Hehehe.  So I think it's not really a problem.

Next up, I was testing their internet connection.  Somehow rather I ended up instead of getting 3G, but rather a HSPDA connection when browsing the Internet as well as downloading some stuff through my phone.   Soon another friend of mine from Brunei so by happened to be online last night so I got him to try and have a Skype conversation.  Connection wise started to go a bit funny as it drops down from HSPDA to 3G then to Edge and vice versa.  So my friend asked me to pretty much force my phone to lock it at 3G, which pretty much solve the problem.  And the conversation was clear, despite the 1 second lag and he was using speaker phone.  As far as I know that Celcom and Maxis had already blocked VOIP whereby I was able to hear what my friend was telling me, but he was not able to listen what I said.

I've forgotten to try Youtube so I guess I'll try it out some other time.  I noticed something today, when I was downstairs in my shop my connection dropped to Edge, and when I went up stairs to get something it goes back up to 3G again.  No wonder the customer service person asked me to switch on to dual mode which was GSM & 3G.  But when I tried out forcing it to stay connected to 3G, my phone connection was cut off.  Hehe, so I guess I might need a booster antenna or something in order for me to receive the signal.

I was still able to receive incoming calls as well as SMS during my connection via 3G to the internet.  But I think it got temporarily cut off whereby priority ended up to the phone calls as well as SMS when it came in.  Never the less, I'm pretty much happy with the fact that Digi has finally stepped up its game in providing this service for their loyal customers.  Lol.  And another thing was that I did sort of post Digi a question via Twitter if they were going to provide prepaid users blackberry services.  Well, apparently I got a reply from them "We would if u want us too ;-) Y r u looking at prepaid? Have u seen this hot hot plan? http://cot.ag/c8WWD6".  And I immediately replied them Yes Please!.  So let's see how are they going to do this, and see how they are going to beat the other telcos in terms of pricing.

Oh the reason why I asked for blackberry was that, if you notice on the bottom right of my phone there's a blue thingy.  Well, I just installed the blackberry software which enables my phone to act like a blackberry now.  Which I think would be cool especially when I go out and leave my messenger on.  Lol.  And of course will still be able to receive incoming mails especially from important clients.  But apart from that, it's all good.  So thumbs up for Digi, and I hope you can continue to make us happy.  By the way, they're giving out one free BlackBerry Curve 8250 for some lucky person with the most creative post of them with a Blackberry.  You can check it out on their facebook page.

Another funny thing happened, in the midst of trial and error.  Apparently my dual sim card sort of went hair wire because my other Sim which was using Celcom was not able to detect at all.  Whereby, Digi was still able to detect 3G signal despite that I was using that sim card adapter.  Why I say this was that, whenever I would want to use a 3G connection for my Celcom sim card, I need to take out the adapter and installed the ghost sim so that I am able to use 3G services.  But to my surprise I didn't had to when I switch back to my Digi sim card.  Will try to figure out how to fix it, if I'm able to use both services then I won't need to switch my sim card all the time.  Hehehe.  Have a nice day everyone!

Will Be Porting in 24 hours

Ok.  I've decided to keep it short.  While I understand there are a lot of ping backs right now.  So sorry for the inconvenience caused.  I've managed to transfer most of my post here.  So it won't be long now till I shift this blog to the main address.  And there were a few glitches that was needed to fix the template.  So hopefully by tomorrow I will get everything running back in order.

Was busy trying to find a way to move from Joomla to Wordpress.  I guess, as much as I love Joomla.  But it's not showing me any love with SEO as well as TLA.  So hopefully things will start to pick up once again when I move back to wordpress.  Yes, it's a long and hectic job.  But at least I got most of my post converted.  The only last thing I need to do is basically sorting out the categories for each post.  Never the less, I won;'t be adding any tags to it as I'm a bit too lazy for that now.  So what I plan to do is sort them into categories maybe phase by phase.  And hopefully everything will be sorted out before this end month.

There were a lot of post I would love to post about.  But due to fact that I couldn't move from Joomla to Wordpress which pretty much took a lot of my time.  And as for the template, I've decided to go back to the regular blog format as I was getting a lot complaints because it was difficult to access my site.  And not to mention it took a while for a page to load.  Never the less, it's all good.  And I've found quite a lot of nice plugin for this site.  So hopefully I won't need to move back to joomla again.  Lol.  It's all good.

Anyway, closing time now.  Catch up with you all soon :)

Having Problems Migrating

Yes, I'm migrating back to Wordpress from Joomla.  As I've been getting a lot of problems with adding some codes to the post.  As much as I love Joomla, but I don't think it's suitable for me, despite the fact that I love every features it has.

Anyway, I'm still in the midst of trying to port over from Joomla to Wordpress.  There are wizards that enables me to do so.  But somehow it just don't work.  The only thing that work now is that I can actually port sections into wordpress.  But the problem is that it just doesn't fit into the category.  So I have to manually change the categories now.  And it would be a pain because I have like 500+ posts.  Lol.  Oh well.  Slow and steady wins the race.  Never the less, I think I'll go back to my posting now.  Will update once I finish porting over.