Nokia 5800 XM Stuff

I do acknolowledged that this phone has been getting more and more popularity among penangites...especially in my working place. Recently I have found some useful stuff in the net and thinking to share it with you all here...Enjoy :)

1. Disassembly Guide (Just in case, you need it but highly recommended NOT to do it if the phone is still under warranty)
2. Game: UNO
3. Game: Sudoku

Let me know if you have other interesting applications/games to share...

Brain Drained...

(This post is coutersy of email from my wife's friend...)
Thought of the day...
The man who invented USB pen-drive is a young modest Malaysian who can't even get into a local University but invented the most versatile, indispensable computer peripheral today. And helped his adopted country, Taiwan made $31bil in the process. The rest is history....

Pua's mighty 'Pen'
Fact file

Name: Pua Khein Seng
Age: 31
Hometown: Sekinchan, Selangor
Education: SJKC Yeok Kuan, Sekinchan; Pin Hwa Independent school, Klang;
Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Occupation: Engineer/ president of Phison
Electonics Corp
Current base: Taipei, Taiwan
Years abroad: 12

WHEN he set off for Taiwan in 1993, Pua Khein Seng's only aim was to complete his degree in Electrical Control Engineering at the renowned Chiao Tung University and return home to work in Malaysia.

Never did he envision himself heading a multi-million dollar Taiwanese company that developed the world's first USB flash removable disk, which they called Pen Drive.

Pua Khein Seng went to Taiwan to get his engineering degree but ended up staying on, starting his own company and inventing the pen drive.

"I went to Taiwan to pursue my undergraduate degree. I chose Taiwan only because it was too expensive to study either in the United States or Singapore.

"However, I did well in my undergraduate programme and was offered a place to do my masters," explained Pua, who was back in Kuala Lumpur recently for a holiday.

After completing his Masters in July 1999, Pua worked for about six months in a local company before deciding to set up his own venture company with four fellow engineers who had studied with him at Chiao Tung.

"We were confident that we had the know-how and ability to start our own business, which is focused on USB technology. The company is called Phison because there are five of us - two Malaysians and three Taiwanese engineers," said Pua, 31, who hails from Sekinchan, Selangor.

Phison Electronics Corporation was set up in November 2000 and within six months the young entrepreneurs came up with their first invention - a USB storage device called Pen Drive.

"We were the first company in the world to develop the USB Drive SoC (System On Chip) and we were very confident that the market for USB will be huge. At the time, no one believed in us so we had to do everything ourselves - from developing the technology, the chips to the product itself.

"We were only 27 at the time and inexperienced. But we were confident that we could design good systems and chips but we didn't know anything about selling. So, we sought partners or traders who could help sell our products for us," Pua added.

Through smart partnerships and shrewd strategies, Phison soon made its way into European, American and Japanese markets. One quick move was securing Japanese tech giant Toshiba as Phison's largest shareholder and customer.

"We launched Pen Drive in June 2001 and by August the same year, we broke even! From September 2001, we were reaping monthly profits from our invention and there has been no turning back since."


Having established himself in Taiwan, Pua is in the midst of setting up Phison's branch in Malaysia, due to begin operations this
February.

"I am starting a branch in Malaysia because this is my country. I would like to do contribute to its development.

"We have about 100 engineers at Phison in Taiwan, 20 of whom are Malaysians. Though they studied in Taiwan, I had to re-train all the engineers I hire because, like most fresh graduates (in this field), they are not industry-ready upon graduation.

"Unfortunately, some of the Malaysian engineers want to return home after a couple of years because they are homesick, about to start a family and so on. Some prefer to work in Singapore, as it is closer to home. Instead of losing them to competitors, I decided to set up an office in Malaysia where they can still work for me," said Pua.

Another problem faced by returning computer engineers from Taiwan, Pua added, was the lack of job opportunities for hardware engineers in Malaysia.

"There is no environment or support for design engineers here in Malaysia. One of my Malaysian engineers from Phison returned home and ended up as a teacher in a Chinese school! I was shocked and thought, 'After all that training and re-training, he is going to just teach?' I told him to hold on till I open up the Phison branch in Malaysia."

Though he has been in Taiwan for the past 12 years and married to a Taiwanese, Pua is not sure how much longer he will remain there.

"I have really no idea where I will be in 20 years. Maybe Taiwan, maybe Malaysia, maybe somewhere else ... it all depends on my business. The industry is moving so fast that I cannot predict what or where I will be," he said.

For the moment though, Taiwan is home for Pua, his wife and two children even though he misses the Malaysian way of life.

"I come home once a year for Chinese New Year and will usually stay for about two weeks. There are several things I really miss about Malaysia. One is the food! For the past 12 years I have been craving for Malaysian food ... I miss laksa, curry noodles, chee cheong fun and all the other delicious dishes we have here.

"I also miss the lifestyle and quality of life here. When I come back, I am always amazed to see people hanging out and relaxing at mamak shops at night. In Taiwan, most people would still be at work at that time of the night!

"Before I got married, I used to work for 15 to 17 hours a day, everyday. Now that I have children, my wife has forbidden me to stay so late. Now, I go to work at 9am and come home by 11pm. These hours are quite normal for the Taiwanese."

Penang to go green every Monday starting next month

I fully supporte this effort..make sure you all in Penang to put more plastic bags in cars or bags (re-use one of cause) when go shopping especially on monday... Go Green!!!

Penang to go green every Monday starting next month
GEORGE TOWN: Penang will make every Monday a “No plastic bag day” from next month in a bid to become the country’s first ‘green’ state.

It is learnt that shoppers who do not bring their own reusable bags will be charged 20 sen for each plastic bag when making purchases from shopping complexes and hypermarkets.
The money collected from the sale of plastic bags will go to the fund to help the state’s hardcore poor, a state government source said.

State Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said shopping complexes and hypermarkets have agreed to the state government’s initiative but there must be wide publicity to make it a success.

The state had distributed declaration forms to shopping complexes and hypermarkets to secure their commitment to the “No plastic bag day”, he told reporters after chairing a meeting with some 20 shopping centre representatives.

Phee said the first batch of “No plastic bag day” posters would be handed out to shopping centres a week before the end of the month.

Among the issues raised during the meeting were the high cost of giving out eco-bags and whether it was appropriate to use them for fresh produce.

Something funny...

I just cannot stop laughing when my wife forward to me this..Enjoy!!

She is eighty-eight years old and still drives her own car.
She
writes:
Dear Grand-daughter, The other day I went up to our local Christian
book store and saw a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker.

I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting.

So, I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper.

Boy, am I glad I did, what an uplifting experience that followed.

I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good he is, and I didn't notice that the light had changed.

It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he
hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed...

I found that lots of people love Jesus! While I was sitting there, the guy behind
started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window
and screamed,

' For the love of God! ' ' Go! Go! Go! Jesus Christ, GO!'

What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus!
Everyone started honking! I just leaned out my window and started waving and smiling
at all those loving people.

I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love!
There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a sunny beach.

I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle finger
stuck up in the air. I asked my young teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant.

He said it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something.

Well, I have never met anyone from Hawaii , so I leaned out the window and gave him the
good luck sign right back. My grandson burst out laughing.

Why even he was enjoying this religious experience!!

A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment

that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me.

I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended,

but this is when I noticed the light had changed.

So, I waved at all my brothers and sisters grinning, and drove on through the
intersection. I noticed that I was the only car that got through
the intersection before the light changed again and felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared.

So I slowed the car down, leaned out the window and gave them all
the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away.

Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!!

Will
write again soon,

Love, Grandma

New Car on the way...

Me & my wife have been aiming for a new car for quite some time although my current 8 years old Iswara Aeroback is still performing up to expectation :) Still traveling almost monthly to my mother-in-law house in Sitiawan without any problem.


So, the decision of upgrading the car is not because the existing car is having problem but we think that it's about time to change :). So, if you all come to this post & interested to purchase a 2nd hand car, feel free to email me :)

Talk about car selection, we are targeting for Japan made car. Although we never drive a foreign made car (Malaysia Boleh!) before but as a common & regular Malaysian, we frequently heard about the comparison result between local & foreign made car. Choosing non-local made car will make your pocket’s hole grow wider, thanks to the hefty import tax imposed.

There are few rules of thumb when deciding your affordability & sustainability prior any car purchase:
1. See how much you have in your bank account J for down payment. Assuming X
2. See how much you can afford to pay for Hire & Purchase Loan installment
*Loan Calculator: http://www.meshio.com/car-loan-calculator/
*Road Tax Infor based on cc: http://www.meshio.com/malaysia-road-tax-rate-and-road-tax-calculator/

Then of course you have to set aside~RM3-5K for your glass to be tinted, accessories such as shades (Not the one you put on your face L :) ), stereo system maybe?

Recently, I am surveying on the best interest rate available for Hire & Purchase deal in various Banks...but the standard answer I get is 3.4% for 6-9 years loan while 3.25% for <5years>.

I am still seatching for the lowest rate as my car will only available by Sept'09...plenty of time to still search around...Let me know if you have better kang tau....heheh..