Padini Group Fair @ IOI Mall Puchong

FYI, Padini Group is currently having a clearance sale in IOI Mall Puchong for their brands including Padini, PDI, Padini Authentics, SEED, Miki, Vincci, and Tizio.

Miki Kids, Miki Baby, PDI Men and PDI Ladies items are selling as low as RM9 only.

Date: 22 July - 2 August 2015
Venue:  Ground Floor of IOI Mall Puchong Sky Dome Atrium (Old Wing outside Aeon supermarket)

Free TM WiFi access for UniFi users

If you are a UniFi broadband user, and your mobile device is able to detect a WiFi hotspot called "TM WiFi" in a restaurant, shopping center, or any one of the 28,000+ TM WiFi sites in Malaysia, you can connect to it to have free WiFi Internet access, thus saving your valuable mobile data usage quota.

To connect to the Internet with TM WiFi, select "TM WiFi" as your WiFi network provider, then open your mobile web browser and browse to any website.

Your browser homepage will be automatically redirected to a TM WiFi login page that looks like below:

Select "UniFi" as your TM WiFi ID Type. Your login ID is your UniFi login username without the "@unifi" behind. Your password is your UniFi password.

You will be able to access to the Internet with TM WiFi upon successful login.

To find out where you can get the TM WiFi Internet hotspots, go to the webpage below:
https://www.tm.com.my/OnlineHelp/CoverageCheck/Pages/TMWifi.aspx

Popular Bookstore has gone online, finally

Popular Bookstore in Malaysia has finally gone online, and their website is https://www.popularonline.com.my.

Although this online bookstore website has both Simplified Chinese and English version, most of the contents are in Chinese. As a result, if you switch to the English option, only the framework language of the webpage will change to English, the content will remain as Chinese.

From today until 2 August 2015, if you found any bug in this online bookstore and report to them, they will give you a 30% discount voucher.

If you register a new account in this website before 2 August 2015 (inclusive), they will also give you a RM8 cash voucher, but the redemption period is until 9 August 2015 only.

Do you really need an inverter water heater

Nowadays inverter technology applies to quite a lot of electrical appliances.

You can find inverter air-cond, inverter refrigerator, inverter washing machine, inverter fan, and even inverter water heater.

Inverter motors generally operate quieter than their a/c counterparts, and their warranty period is normally longer too. They are also suppose to save more electricity.

For many water heaters in the market, the inverter technology actually applies to the water pump in the water heater and not to the water heating mechanism, although some water heaters also apply the inverter technology in water heating.

If the inverter technology only applies to the water pump, and you seldom use the water pump to boost up the water flow during shower, then it would not be necessary for you to spend more in getting an inverter model of the water heater. It only make sense for you to buy a water heater with inverter technology if you turn on the pump almost every time you shower.

For you reference, below are 3 different models of Alpha brand water heater:

• Alpha Smart 18E (without pump) - RM410
• Alpha Smart 18EP (with pump) - RM570
• Alpha Smart 18i (with inverter pump) - RM620

Upgraded my TM UniFi Internet service from 10Mbps VIP10 to new 30Mbps package

Recently, I received a call from Telekom Malaysia Sales Centre promoting the new 30Mbps UniFi HSBB Internet service to me as an upgrade to my existing 10Mbps UniFi VIP10 package.

Today, I received an email informing that the upgrade has been successfully done.

My previous package: UniFi VIP10 @ RM179 per month +6% GST
My current package: UniFi 30 + HyppTV Aneka Pack @ RM199 per month +6% GST

A test with Ookla Speedtest website shows that my Internet download speed has increased from previous 10Mbps to 30Mbps. However, I also found out that my Internet upload speed has reduced from previous 10Mbps to 5Mbps. I have just contacted TM to clarify on this reduce in upload speed.

If you are also a UniFi subscriber and has received this upgrade offer from TM, here is the information about the RM199 upgrade package that I would like to share with you:

• 30Mbps Internet speed (but the 5Mbps upload speed yet to receive clarification from TM)
• Unlimited quota (same as existing UniFi)
• Free nationwide phone calls to TM numbers (same as existing UniFi. I heard that new subscriber will not get this anymore)
• Free TM WiFi access at over 28,000 access points (same as existing UniFi)
• HyppTV Aneka Pack (32 channels)
• HyppTV Everywhere Plan A to watch HyppTV in 2 devices (PC, Android, or Apple). Need to install the HyppTV Everywhere app. Password will be given by email when service activated.

This upgrade is done seamlessly. It uses back all the hardware devices in existing UniFi package (broadband termination unit, WiFi router, TV set top box, cordless phone), and it is not necessary for any technician to come to your house for the upgrade. All you need to do is to restart the BTU and WiFi router after receiving the email upon successful upgrade to enjoy the new Internet speed.

Korean Biocera laundry washing ball with ceramic pebbles

I saw this Biocera laundry washing ball with ceramic pebbles at their road show counter, and bought home for a try.

This washing ball is said to be able to replace the function of detergent and softener when placed in our washing machine. It is able to clean, sterilize and deodourize our clothes and laundry by "activating" the water during the washing process.

It is said that each of this soft rubber ball with ceramic pebbles inside can be used for up to 1,000 washing cycle, which is at least a few years for normal household use. We only need one ball for laundry up to 6kg, and two balls if the laundry exceeds 6kg.

Here are my 2 Biocera balls in my 9kg washing machine, ready to use.

I was told to immerse the Biocera balls with water for about 30 minutes before their first use. I found some small black particles in the water after the 30 minutes immersion. Perhaps this is the reason, or else the small particles might cause blockage in the washing machine drum.

Panasonic NI-100DX cordless non-stick dry iron

This Panasonic NI-100DX is a basic dry iron, without fancy features and not of the steam iron type. As such, its price is very affordable too.

What makes it different is that it is formed by 2 separate parts: the main body and a base.

Its base contains the power cord to be plugged into the wall socket, and there is a storage compartment for this power cord, making it tidy and easy to carry around, suitable to be a travelling companion.

When the iron parked at its base with power on, its non-stick soleplate will heat up within 1-2 minutes and ready for use. This base also ensure you'll place it properly when you remove your hand off its handle, without accidentally heating on surface that not suppose to contact with its hot soleplate.

The iron with ergonomic handle is only 1.4kg. It is very easy to maneuver without any attached power cord during ironing. You can now iron in any direction and free from the hassle of tangling power cord.

I have been using it for several weeks. Its cordless feature really brings a good user experience.

Multifunctional digital alarm clock with calendar, temperature, humidity, weather display and time projector

Today I would like to share with you a China made multifunctional digital alarm clock with cool features and cheap price, which I purchased online. The model no. is DS-8190.

This clock can operate either using 2 AAA batteries or 4.5V DC current input.

I called it an alarm clock because when operate using the AAA batteries, its backlight will turn off to conserve the battery life, and you need to press its top button to turn the backlight on in order to see a clear colourful display on its screen. The backlight will be off again within a few seconds.

Without the backlight, the screen is too dim, although you can still be able to see the screen display with close observation. This is ideal for it to be an alarm clock, because its screen will be too bright with the backlight on.

On its screen, this clock is able to show the time in either 24 hours or AM/PM format, a full calendar from year 2001-2099 with the day of week, and it has sensors to track the humidity and temperature. Based on it tracked humidity and temperature data, it is able to estimate the weather condition.

The backlight of the clock is always on when it operates with 4.5V DC current. You need a separate AC/DC adaptor for this to work. I use a Lemax 500mA universal safety AC/DC adaptor with polarity dial (model S69D), and this is my setting for it to work with the clock:

Somebody has shown in Youtube about how he modified the circuit of the clock to make its backlight always on when operated with batteries. Perhaps he hasn't tried using the AC/DC adaptor, which serves the same purpose without the need of hassle to modify the clock internal circuit.

On the right hand side of the clock is a small projector, which will project the time onto the wall or ceiling when its backlight is turned on.

The projected time is quite bright and can be seen even at daytime. It seems to be even brighter and able to reach a longer distance when the surrounding is dark at night.

This feature is pretty interesting, enabling us to easily check the time when we awake at night. However, its backlight is too bright and glary at night. Perhaps it should have a setting to turn on the projector while still keeping the backlight of the screen off. That will make it perfect.

Lastly, as an alarm clock, when the alarm mode is turned on, it will beep when the preset alarm time is reached. The beeping interval will gradually become faster and faster, until you press down its top button.

Alert: your password stored in web browsers can easily be retrieved and revealed by WebBrowserPassView

WebBrowserPassView by NirSoft is a Windows freeware password recovery tool that can reveal the websites password information that you have stored in web browsers including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera.

This means that anybody who has physical or remote access to your computer, or any malicious software that gain access to your computer, can easily retrieve your login name and password stored in the web browsers.

These user names and passwords might include login access information to Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, forums, and even your Internet banking accounts, as long as you have stored them in your web browser under the AutoComplete or AutoFill feature.

Therefore, it is advisable not to store your password in your web browser. You can store your password in a more secured mechanism such as Norton Identity Safe which provides you the similar autocomplete feature but storing your passwords in a more secured way.

Recuva - freeware to recover deleted photo / video / music / document / email from SD card / hard disk / USB thumb drive / iPod

If you want to recover or undelete your deleted or lost files (photo, video, music, document, email, etc.), you can try a Windows freeware called Recuva by Piriform.

Recuva works on any rewriteable storage media you have, including internal and external harddisk, SD card, USB thumb drive, and even iPod. It is possible to recover from damaged or formatted disks too.

Beside that, it is also able to try to recover your deleted emails from MS Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, or Mozilla Thunderbird.

It can even try to recover unsaved MS Word document after a MS Word crash.

Using Recuva is pretty easy and straightforward. You just need to specify the location of your lost file...

... and then the file type...

... then Recuva will start to do the searching.

It will then list out the recoverable files for you to choose and restore them in a new storage location of your choice.

Beside the free Recuva, there are also paid version including Recuva Profession and Recuva Business Edition which include advanced features and professional technical support from Piriform.

Jisan JS-510 51000mAh Li-Polymer slim power bank

There is a Jisan brand 51000mAh high capacity Li-Polymer power bank selling online in some Malaysian e-commerce websites at pretty low price.

It claims to be manufactured in Korea, but when you search the Internet about "Jisan power bank", there is not much info other than the e-commerce webpages. The domain name "jisangroups.com" is even inactive. Most if not all the selling websites are based in Malaysia.

The power bank does have a premium metallic look and feel, but its packaging doesn't match the premium feeling. The English on the packaging (both the language and the text content) is not up to standard as well.

It provides 1 year limited warranty, with a Warranty Card inside, but there is no manufacturer detail nor contact, and the Warranty Card is not professionally designed and written. In fact, the warranty is provided by the dealer.

It says its protection circuit module is based on "Yeonhan Technology by Jisan".

All these signs make me suspect that this power bank is actually made in China by a manufacturer related to OEM factory called Yeon Han, and OEM to a Malaysian dealer with the Jisan brand, and possibly nothing to do with Korea.

This power bank is quite long (about 15cm), but not too heavy.

Given its slim design, I believe it uses the single cell 3.7v Li-Polymer flat cell as battery. This kind of battery is the same kind of Li-Po battery commonly used in hand phones and compact cameras nowadays, and is lighter and better design than the Li-Ion 18650 battery pack used in some other power banks.

However, looking at its size and weight, unless it uses a new kind of battery technology which can have extremely high energy density, I doubt its real capacity can be as high as 51000mAh. Its size and weight is more realistic for it to be around 15000mAh instead. I haven't tested on its real capacity yet, hopefully I am wrong and it really can discharge near to 51000mAh from fully charged state. Then it will be really value for money at its price.

Hopefully it has a good protection circuit module as it claimed. I do notice that its temperature doesn't change much during charging, which is a good sign.

After all, I believe this should be a good quality product, although seems to be overly done in marketing propaganda.

My home audio-visual system comprises Samsung 7-series UHD 4K smart TV, 4.2 channels wireless soundstand and Blu-ray disc player

I have just set up a new home audio-visual system comprise of 3 Samsung products:

• Samsung UA40HU7000R 7-series 40" UHD 4K Flat Smart TV (cost: RM2349)
• Samsung HW-H600 Wireless Soundstand (cost: RM639)
• Samsung BD-F5100XM Blu-ray Player (cost: RM179)

Total cost including GST = RM3167

All 3 of them are of last year old model. If I were to buy them when they newly hit the market, I might need to fork out double the cost or more to take them home. This is kind of delayed gratification to get the same thing at lower cost.

I have checked the running hour of the Samsung TV and confirmed that it is new and never been used before.

Also connected to this Samsung TV are my existing devices:

• Astro B.yond set top box (main source for TV programmes)
• HiMedia Q5II Android 3D TV box (main source for Internet streaming videos + TV games)
• UniFi HyppTV set top box (backup source for TV programmes)

I have chosen a 7-series UHD 4K smart TV, although a lower series Full HD TV is cheaper, because besides the UHD 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160, the 7-series also equipped with 4 HDMI ports, 3 USB ports, LAN port, built-in wireless LAN, analog audio out, digital optical audio out, 2 composite input groups, 1 component input groups, and other connectivities which is pretty comprehensive and sufficient.

If I choose a larger 50" screen of the same Samsung 7-series UHD 4K smart TV, I would need to fork out additional RM1200 from my pocket. By choosing the 40" screen model, I can upgrade it with a wireless soundstand and Blue-ray player, yet the combined cost is still cheaper than buying the 50" screen model.

The main reason to go for Samsung LED TV is for its picture quality and vibrant colour display. The UHD 4K screen offers 4 times resolution than the Full HD screen. The TV supports 4-steps UHD up-scaling to convert lower resolution content to a level of clarity that is almost like Ultra High Definition.

This TV is equipped with Clear Motion Rate (CMR) technology of 200 powered by Ultra Clear Panel and quad-core processor.

Being a smart TV, when connected to the Internet either using wired LAN or WiFi, you can access to Samsung Smart Hub and install apps to the TV, browse websites with its built-in browser, and perform firmware update over the Internet.

It also comes with Samsung Smart Remote Control, which can act as a pointer, and also be used as voice input device to issue voice control command to the TV.

There is an IR blaster gadget comes together with this TV. Connecting it to the IR Out port of the TV and place the round blaster in front of my Astro B.yond set top box, I can use the TV remote control to switch the Astro box on/off together with the TV, and can also use the TV remote control to change the Astro channel (instead of using the Astro remote control).

This TV is supposed to support Screen Mirroring from Samsung mobile devices, but I have difficulty in making it works with my Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0.

This TV also supports the Samsung Smart View 2.0 app for my smart phone to share multimedia content with it, and also act as a remote control. I do find the remote control in this app better than the Samsung Smart Remote Control, as the physical remote control lack of physical numeric keypad and more difficult to directly change to a preferred channel.

The Samsung HW-H600 4.2 Channels Wireless Soundstand greatly enhance the sound quality of the TV, especially when the Surround mode is turned on. It is designed to lay flat and be placed under the TV. This design saves space, and eliminate the clutter of having many speakers in normal Hi-Fi system.

This Samsung HW-H600 is classified as a mid-range Hi-Fi device, so do not expect it to perform the same as those high end Hi-Fi speakers, which costs more than 3 times its price. Its 4.2 channels comprises of 4 bass-reflex speaker drivers and dual built-in subwoofers, which is richer than those 2.1 (stereo + subwoofer) sound bars.

There are many ways it can connect to the TV, including the wireless TV SoundConnect, wired HDMI ARC connect, audio cable connect, etc. I find the audio cable connect is more straightforward and easier to configure.

The Soundstand has a USB port, and can play MP3 music when connected to a USB thumb drive with MP3 files in it.

It also can pair with mobile devices to play MP3 music or receive phone audio output via Bluetooth connection. It comes with an NFC sticker to facilitate easier Bluetooth pairing with smartphone that support NFC.

The Blu-ray disc player completes the audio-visual system by adding ability to play music, video or photo stored in Blu-ray / DVD / VCD / CD disc.

This Samsung BD-F5100XM does not support playing of 3D Blu-ray movie. It supports full HD (1920x1080) and can upscale DVD to this level, but it does not support UHD.

It also comes with a USB port, which function similarly with the USB port in the TV and Soundstand.

It has a LAN port to connect to the Internet, and comes with some apps including Youtube, Facebook, etc. However, I prefer to use the Youtube and Facebook apps in the smart TV, which can be accessed more directly. It does not support WiFi connection.

There is newer Blu-ray player model that support WiFi connection, 3D Blu-ray movie playing, UHD picture quality, etc. The cost will be at least double the price of this Samsung BD-F5100XM.

My Toshiba AW-DC1000CM 9kg washing machine

I have just replaced my Panasonic NA-F90GS 9kg washing machine with a new Toshiba AW-DC1000CM 9kg washing machine.

The main reason to finalize on this Toshiba model is because it has similar footprint with the Panasonic NA-F90GS, and can fit into the same place without any problem. Furthermore, this Toshiba AW-DC1000CM comes with a generous 2+3+13 years of warranty.

The Toshiba AW-DC1000CM features a Direct Drive Inverter Motor and Zero Standby Power technology, which I believe can save more electricity than its predecessor.

It doesn't come with Toshiba's latest Magic Drum innovation, as I can't find any Toshiba DD Inverter washing machine of 9kg capacity with Magic Drum in it, otherwise I will consider getting the one with Magic Drum feature.

For Regular mode washing, this Toshiba AW-DC1000CM washing machine operates similar with the Panasonic NA-F90GS, but much more quieter.

On top of the Zero Standby Power, this Toshiba AW-DC1000CM has some other features that are not found in the Panasonic NA-F90GS, including lid lock and child proof safety, tub clean, quick shirt wash, etc.

It lacks the small water filter, which is a special feature in the Panasonic NA-F90GS. However, my Bacfree ER-19 rocket-style outdoor water filter works pretty well, so the small water filter in washing machine is not a necessity.

My Panasonic NA-F90GS is still working fine, and will be moved to my apartment to continue its service.

My Panasonic NR-BW465XS 2-doors fridge

I have just replaced my Toshiba GRH-47MTV 3-doors (470 litres) refrigerator with a new Panasonic NR-BW465XS 2-doors (450 litres) refrigerator.

The main reason to finalize on this Panasonic model is because it has similar footprint with the Toshiba GRH-47MTV, and can fit into the same place without any problem.

Although the gross capacity of this Panasonic fridge is smaller than its predecessor, its net storage capacity  of 400 litres is in fact slightly larger than the 395 litres of the Toshiba fridge.

This Panasonic NR-BW465XS refrigerator is of energy saving type with inverter technology, U-Vacua vacuum insulation, and ECO NAVI sensors. It has a 5-star energy efficiency rating.

Its freezer has a star rating of 4, which means it can freeze fresh food and store frozen food for 3 to 12 months.

The design of this fridge is also "inverted" when compared with most other fridges. Its drawer-type freezer compartment is at the bottom. Its height-adjustable shelves are located on top of the refrigerator compartment, followed by a 47 litres vegetable case, then its chilled case.

However, the design of its door shelves is "normal", with 2 egg shelves on top, and then 2 bottle shelves at the bottom.

It has a Quick Freezing button on its door panel, which function is pretty well self-explained. Once pressed, it fridge will go into Quick Freezing mode for 150 minutes before returning to normal mode. Quick Freezing can be cancelled by pressing the same button again.

It has Ag+ anti-bacterial feature, which is quite common in modern refrigerators nowadays. Beside that, it also has deodorizing function, and it utilizes blue and green LED lights for fruits and vegetables to maintain vitamin C contents. The vegetable case stores the fruits and vegetables in high humidity of about 91.5% and constant temperature to keep them fresh and remain juicy.

When this fridge operates to cool down its compartments, you can hear some noise when you are near to it. The noise will reduce after it stabilized for a while.

The only drawback of this Panasonic NR-BW465XS refrigerator is that, its vegetable case is smaller than the vegetable compartment of Toshiba GRH-47MTV. Other than this, I would see it as an upgrade to the Toshiba GRH-47MTV in all aspects.

My Toshiba GRH-47MTV is still working fine, and will be moved to my apartment to continue its service.