Too little, too late from Maxis?

Maxis thought it held monopoly in the broadband market until new kids like U Mobile and YES started offering 15Gb + unlimited calls for 70 and 16Gb for 88. Even Digi offer 9Gb + unlimited calls for 128. Maxis recently jacked up its freebies for the MaxisOne 128 package to 8Gb + unlimited calls. Even that doesn't come close to these newer players who have levelled up with their infrastructures. If Maxis users ported out under protest it is understandable.

Subscribers want value for money and Maxis packages are the priciest. Brand recognition means nothing when rivals begin to provide better coverage and shorter latencies. Unless Maxis react fast to lower the commitment fees, and take a huge loss, it will lose more in the coming years. Not only will porting out continue, new subscribers learning of better offers will subscribe elsewhere. 

Soon sales of discounted smartphones or giving the cheaper ones away free will no longer attract customers who hate to be tied down to a 24 months contract and a mandatory 500 opt out penalty. Price rules and the war of giving the better deals with no strings attached has begun.

Look out for 5Gb + unlimited free calls to all networks for just 50-60 in a year's time. Those with the largest subscriber base will survive.

It is coming .... Windows 8

MICROSOFT will pull the covers off Windows 8 - a radical rethinking of the operating system that runs most of the world's computers. And it has one clear goal in sight: The iPad.

The software giant will talk about the forthcoming release on that date and hold what is essentially a massive public beta of the next-generation operating system, an overhaul intended to stress the growing importance of tablet computers and smartphones to the overall world of technology, reported Fox News.

Users will most likely be able to download the software for free that day, though Microsoft refused to confirm when it would be available.

The new operating system boasts a completely revamped user interface Microsoft calls "Metro."

It will run on top of the conventional interface and is intended to work not just with the world's hundreds of millions of Windows computers but also with the emerging mobile devices that have taken consumers by storm.

The new interface will display applications as tiles for quick and easy access, while also allowing them to toggle back to a classic Windows look.

Other user interface changes already unveiled include a new "lock screen" for the operating system that gives far more information at a glance than the current iteration of Windows and pervasive touch input controls - yet another a signal that Microsoft will be focused on devices that emphasize touch.

[Source: NewsCore]

Now I don't feel lonely anymore

iPhone4s aka "Siri" will soon be hitting our shores and from the looks of it, many are going to have loads of fun with this upgraded version. "Siri" is voice interactive with a stern female voice but if you are in the UK, you will get a male voice instead. Lucky us. However the drawback is that it cannot understand Singlish or Manglish and you may end up either frustrating "Siri"" or yourself.

SIRI can get emotional too ...

So the next time I feel lonely, I can always chat with "Siri". Heard that certain people have even become infatuated with Siri. Talking about falling in love with technology.

Welcome to the future - the world of GLASS

The passing of the Apple icon

Steve Jobs, the mastermind behind Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac and iTunes, has died, Apple said. Jobs was 56.

Apple did not reveal where Jobs died or from what cause -- though in recent years he had fought pancreatic cancer and had a liver transplant.

"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," read a statement by Apple's board of directors. "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

The homepage of Apple's website this evening switched to a full-page image of Jobs with the text, "Steve Jobs 1955-2011."

Clicking on the image revealed the additional text: "Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 and, with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak, marketed what was considered the world's first personal computer, the Apple II.

Shortly after learning of Jobs' death, Wozniak told ABC News, "I'm shocked and disturbed."

Industry watchers called him a master innovator -- perhaps on a par with Thomas Edison -- changing the worlds of computing, recorded music and communications.

Jobs rivals in the development of personal computers, Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, immediately reacted to his death and highlighted his importance to their industry.

Allen called him "a unique tech pioneer and auteur who knew how to make amazingly great products."

Gates also extended his condolences, and added via a written statement, "Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.

"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come," he added. "For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely."

Jobs continued to innovate in recent years even as he battled severe health problems that prompted leaves of absence from Apple.

In 2004, he beat back an unusual form of pancreatic cancer, and in 2009 he was forced to get a liver transplant. After several years of failing health, Jobs announced on Aug. 24, 2011 that he was stepping down as Apple's chief executive.

"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know," Jobs wrote in his letter of resignation. "Unfortunately, that day has come."

[Source: Yahoo]

Bersih was technologically driven

On July 10, a day after the momentous rally, I blogged about how the government have been outwitted by a new generation of communicators, the Facebook generation. Here is an article by one Lo Hai Hung [July 19] which commented on the same issue.

If you think the way the authority's handling of the July 9 Bersih rally is bad, wait until you see their responses to the rally after it had happened.

Bad is an insufficient word to describe their reactions to the rally and the subsequent allegations of police brutality against the peaceful assembly.

It's obvious that the many statements released by the CPO of Selangor, the IGP, the home minister and the health minister are in direct contradiction to the mounting video and photographic evidence spreading like wildfire on the Internet via YouTube and social networking sites.

By their statements, they have betrayed themselves as liars releasing false information with the intention of covering-up, twisting the truth and spinning stories. They are shooting their own feet on live TV.

It has even started to become comical how these ministers and senior civil servants, when confronted with the mounting evidence, are somehow able to stick to their stories with a straight face.

Many are feeling appalled at the mass denial syndrome displayed. It is as if they still live in the 80s before the days of YouTube,Facebook, and Malaysiakini. The ruling regime and the authorities have not learned their lessons. They have not caught on with the Facebook generation.

Malaysians have largely awakened politically, and the mainstream media no longer hold the monopoly of truth or news reporting. TheFacebook generation now has many more channels to access the latest news. Also, much of this information is accessed and captured not via a PC, a laptop, or a camera, but via smartphones and other mobile devices like the Ipad.

Thanks to mobile Internet technology, we no longer live in an era where government officials could get away with issuing false statements to save face and get away with it.

The people have moved into the 21st century, while our government, correction, the ruling regime it seems has not.

In afterthought, It is funny as I have just discovered an 8TV news video clip on YouTube clearly showing the FRU water cannon truck shooting water into the Tung Shin Hospital compound.

What is really ironic is that the scene was played out while the news anchor was quoting Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai's statement that the police did not barge into the hospital to arrest people but were merely sending injured demonstrators into the hospital to get treatment.

Migrating to Windows 7? Here are some helpful tips

For many, the hardest part about using Windows 7 is actually getting up the nerve to migrate to it. After all, you have all of your data files, email, photos, addresses - and more - stored on your existing operating system. What if you should lose some of it in the move? It's a reasonable concern. But with some careful planning, you can have both a seamless transition to Windows 7 and set yourself up to make future upgrades even easier. Here's how. Before you make a move, look at what's attached to your existing PC. Special sound card or audio interface? Exotic video card? Brand new webcam? A printer from the dark ages? Spend some time surfing for the latest drivers for these devices. You might not actually need the drivers, since Windows 7 comes with the best driver support of any previous version of the operating system, but you won't really know until you install Windows 7. XP or Vista drivers will probably work if you can't find drivers that specifically say they are compatible with Windows 7. Assemble your drivers on a USB flash drive or an external drive, and then proceed to the next step. Some software companies today - especially Adobe - are requiring you to deactivate your software on your existing machine before reinstalling it on a new machine. If you fail to take this step, you will probably have to suffer through a frustrating and time-consuming call to tech support to get your serial numbers deactivated before you can be reactivate the software on a new machine. Avoid this hassle by taking an inventory of the software on your existing computer now, and deactivate any software that has a "deactive" option in the Help menu. Even when deactivation is not required, take stock of the software you rely upon every day and make sure you have installation disks and serial numbers for anything you'll want to use on your new Windows 7 installation. If you store your files - documents, photos, music, and videos - in the locations chosen for you by your applications and you're running Windows Vista or XP, you can simply use the Windows Easy Transfer utility to back up your files to an external hard drive or USB stick. Windows Easy Transfer comes with Windows Vista. It's simple to use both for backing up and restoring your data. XP users can download a version for their operating system from Microsoft (http://bit.ly/az13Dl). XP users who want a migration utility that handles not only data files, but the transfer of applications, may want to consider Zinstall (http://www.zinstall.com). If you want an extra layer of protection against losing data in the migration to Windows 7, don't install the new operating system on your existing hard drive. Instead, buy a new hard drive - perhaps a much faster one than you now have. Install the new drive in place of your existing one. You'll find plenty of instructions online that tell you how to do this. If you're not comfortable tinkering with you computer, have the new drive installed at a computer store. What you'll gain from this move is complete peace of mind. If something goes wrong, you can simply pop the old drive back into your computer and everything will be as it was before the upgrade. You'll also have access to any files that you may have forgotten to back up. The icing on the cake is that, if you buy a new hard drive that's faster than your old one, you'll get a performance boost. Plus you'll potentially have an extra hard drive (your old one) that you can repurpose as a backup unit. With the preparatory steps out of the way, you can now safely install your Windows 7 operating system, choosing Custom (advanced) when asked which type of installation you want to perform. The Custom option installs a new copy of Windows, leaving you with a clean installation of the operating system, uncluttered with the detritus of your old setup. Once Windows 7 is in place, install any missing drivers, and then move on to installing your application software. Finally, you can use Easy Transfer to restore your files from your previous operating system. Once you have your new Windows 7 system up and running, with the drivers and applications that you find essential, consider creating a backup image of the system in that pristine state. A backup image is a type of backup that allows you to restore everything, including your operating system, to a new drive in case your existing one fails. Windows 7 itself contains imaging software, so start there. Open the Start menu, type Backup, and then click the Backup and Restore option that appears. In the left-hand pane of the resulting Backup=dialog box, you'll see links labeled "Create a system image" and "Create a system repair disk." Perform both operations. - DPA/Bernama

iPhone4 or Blackberry Torch 9800? OMG, I am having a headache choosing

The time is finally here. I certainly need to upgrade my present Sony Ericsson K530i to a better mobile phone that will meet my needs, both for business as well as for personal use. So with the recent launch on iPhone4 and the hype that went with it, choosing the right mobile phone is not as easy as it seems. So I decided to ask around, amongst my friends, which do they think serves me better for someone who is in business and loves music as well. There was a 50/50 feedback, both recommended either the new iPhone4 or the Blackberry Torch 9800.

Anyone out there, can help me out?





There is currently a confirmed rumour that LG will be launching their new model (brand not known yet) in November, which has better capabilities and far more less costly than iPhone4 or Blackberry. Technology just never failed to amaze me how fast we are evolving as a wired-up society.

Get ready for Internet Explorer 9

Just when I have yet to warm up to the current IE on Window 7 which was installed onto my PC three weeks ago, here comes Internet Explorer 9. To add salt to the wound, after I have installed Window 7, I found out that my HP LaserJet 1015 and my HP ScanJet 4370 are no longer compatible. Heck I have to cough up an addition RM800 to acquire a new printer and a scanner. I sincerely hope that there will be no more changes in future versions as I am sure, like other PC users, it is slowly burning a hole in our pockets.

Microsoft Malaysia has announced the beta availability of its new web browser, Internet Explorer 9 (IE9).

According to Microsoft, the new browser delivers a fast, clean, trusted, and interoperable online experience to the users.

The IE9 focuses on a comprehensive approach to performance which includes the introduction of a new scripting engine, Chakra, that uses common multicore central processing units (CPUs) in PCs to deliver significant performance gains.

IE9 is also the first browser with full hardware acceleration of HTML5. It harness the power of the graphics processing unit (GPU), reallocating much of the graphic processing to the GPU instead of the CPU.

By using the GPU, IE9 unlocks 90 per cent of the PC's power that went previously untapped by Web browsers.

It has a robust set of built-in security such as SmartScreen Filets, In-Private Browsing, and Filtering, to keep customers safe online.

The new browser has built-in support for HTM5L, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), CSS3 and other modern Web standrds.

These new set of capabilities allow developers to write one set of markup and know that it will work and look the same in all modern browsers.

Some of the notable features of IE9 include pinned sites which allow users quick access to their most frequently visited websites from the windows taskbar; and tear-off tabs by simply dragging it out from the browser.

Notifications no longer appear as pop-up windows but at the bottom of the browser, and the search box is integrated with the address bar.

To experience some of the new sites using IE9 Beta and to download, visit www.BeautyoftheWeb.com

Seagate and 3TB drive

Putting more terabytes in the hands of consumers worldwide, Seagate, the leader in hard drives and storage solutions, today announced the world's first 3 Terabyte (TB) external desktop drive.

Available immediately, the 3TB FreeAgent GoFlex Desk external hard drive helps meet the explosive worldwide demand for digital content storage in both the home and office.

With 3TB of capacity, people can store up to 120 HD movies, 1,500 video games, thousands of photos or countless hours of digital music.

A key addition to the company's recently introduced GoFlex family of hard drives, the 3TB GoFlex Desk external drive couples immense capacity with the flexibility to adapt the drive's USB 2.0 interface to a USB 3.0 or FireWire 800 connection to meet varying performance and transfer speed needs.

Consumers can easily create, store and access content from either a Windows or Mac OS X computer on the GoFlex Desk external drive, thanks to an included NTFS driver for Mac.

In a statement today, Dave Mosley, Seagate executive vice-president of sales, marketing and product line management said: "Consumer capacity demands are quickly outpacing the needs of business as people continue to collect high-definition videos, photos and music.

He said Seagate has a tradition of designing products that break into new storage frontiers to meet customer requirements and the 3TB GoFlex Desk external drive is no exception - delivering the highest-capacity storage solution available today.

- Bernama