My SKROSS World Adapter MUV USB

If you travel to another country, it is a common problem that the power socket is of different type from your home country, and you need a power adapter as a converter to be able to plug in your electrical device to the wall socket.

My SKROSS World Adapter MUV USB designed in Switzerland (and made in Thailand) is my handy travel companion that can be used in more than 150 countries with its unique all-in-one sliders system.

It can be used with unearthed 2-pole devices, including charger for mobile phone, tablet, digital camera, GPS, razor, voice recorder, MP3 player, and even my Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro multimode ultrabook laptop.

However, it cannot be used with earthed 3-pole devices which normally have higher power rating, such as hair dryer, water heater, etc.

It does not convert the input voltage, and can work under voltage between 100-250 volts with maximum current of 2.5 Amperes (maximum power of 2.5 x 250 = 625 Watts). This means that if your device can only operate with less than 125 volts, and you try to plug it into a 220 volts socket, it will get burnt.

The SKROSS World Adapter MUV USB has a built-in T2.5A 250V fuse, which will break the circuit if the power drained exceed its maximum limit.

The SKROSS World Adapter MUV USB also has 2 built-in USB charging ports, which provide up to 2,100 mA charging power. Therefore, it is capable to connect to 3 devices at the same time, when 2 are charging with its USB ports and another using its output socket.

If you have a lot of devices that need 2.1A or 2.4A fast charging, you can plug in the Belkin B2E027 4-port 2.4A full rate USB power charger to get more full rated USB charging ports.

This adapter comes with 2 years warranty. Its price of RM149 is not cheap, when compared with non-branded alternatives, but you can have more peace of mind using this branded Swiss product.

My Belkin B2E027 4-port 2.4A full rate USB power charger

With more and more mobile devices and gadgets at home, which commonly use Type A USB for battery recharging, I've bought a Belkin B2E027 4-port USB power charger to charge up to 4 devices at the same time.

This Belkin USB power charger doesn't come cheap, but it is not as expensive as it listed price which you can notice in the photo above. I bought it for RM88.

So, what's the different of this 4-port USB charger from other cheaper alternatives, other than the Belkin brand which is a symbol of reliability?

Firstly, all the 4 USB charging ports support fast charging up to 2.4 Amperes each at full rate. Therefore, all of them are equally capable to charge tablets, iPad, and other devices that need 2 Amperes charging which won't charge on the normal 1 Ampere USB charging port.

Secondly, it comes with a $2500 Connected Equipment Warranty from Belkin.

Thirdly, it is attached with a 6 feet long power cable. The advantage is, it can be place at a nice location some distance away from the wall socket. The disadvantage is, you might find the cable too long to keep, especially when you are on the way bringing it with you from one place to another.

However, its size of about 5x4 square inches is quite big and takes up some space on the table.

See it in action below, when one of the ports is in used...

Travel tips to New Zealand (South Island)

I have just completed a family vacation to South Island of New Zealand. Here are some travel tips that I would like to share with you, if you are going to travel to New Zealand too.

Weather:

• Even though I went there during near summer time, the weather most of the time is cold with temperature around 5-15 degree Celsius. You will experience cool breeze at places near the seaside or large lakeside. Therefore, warm jacket in your luggage is a must regardless which month you travel there.

Customs:

• The customs check at Christchurch airport is pretty strict. If they suspect you to bring in or bring out forbidden items in your bag, your bag will be quarantined for thorough checking. That will cost you quite a lot of time. Forbidden items include any liquid in your hand carry bag.

Tourist information:

• Remember to collect a free copy of Arrival Magazine at the arrival hall of the international airport. You can find some coupons which is able to save you some activity cost in New Zealand.
• In every major town and popular attractions, you will probably find the New Zealand visitor information center called i-Site. You can ask for information, make booking, and get free maps and tourist booklet there. The toilet at i-Site is also available for your use (the toilet in petrol stations, restaurants, shops, ... only open to their customer only, if made available)
• Check for tickets at BookMe website for the attractions you plan to visit. You might be able to get discount price as high as 99% (in other words, pay only 1% for the ticket price).

Mobile telephony and Internet service:

• Free WiFi is available at Christchurch airport. Need a simple web-based registration before use.
• I purchased a Spark prepaid value pack SIM card at the price of $29 that come with 150 minutes talk time, 500MB data plan and unlimited SMS. The coverage is good, even got one or two bars of signal deep inside Mt Cook Hooker Valley. I always get the availability of Spark WiFi (free for Spark users, with daily quota of 1GB) at YHA various hostels, on top of the free WiFi provided by YHA.

On the road:

• The best way to travel around is to rent a car. There are a few car rental companies near Christchurch Airport. You will need a valid driving license issued in your country. You won't encounter any traffic jam in New Zealand South Island, and there are a lot of road signboards along the way.
• If you plan to rent a camper van, beware that it would be more difficult for you to find parking place. Besides, camper van can only park overnight at designated areas, normally located near major attractions.
• If you plan to rent a car, a GPS navigator with most recent New Zealand maps will be very useful. The mobile Internet data plan there is expensive for high quota usage. I would advise you to bring a Garmin GPS with you instead of using online map and navigation apps in your smartphone.
• The speed limit in town area is normally 50km/h only. The speed limit on highway is 100km/h. The highway speed limit that cross certain small towns is 80km/h.
• There are kilometres of unpaved road in farm areas. If you want to avoid going into such route, set your GPS avoidance accordingly.
• New Zealand drivers are generally courteous. Always follow the speed limit, obey the traffic light, give way to pedestrians at zebra crossing. 
• I didn't see any highway toll in New Zealand South Island.
• Passenger cars in New Zealand normally filled with RON-91 petrol. RON-95 is considered premium petrol in New Zealand. I didn't see any RON-97 or RON-99 pump there.

Parking:

• Most roadside parking is free, but has a maximum parking time from 10 minutes to 2 hours. Certain parking places in Christchurch need to be paid by feeding the machine nearby and display the parking ticket.
• Parking at shopping mall such as Countdown also has maximum parking time.
• Do not park exceeding the maximum time. You might get fined, and need to pay the penalty at the town council.

Accommodation:

• If you are looking for cheap accommodation with free WiFi internet facility, YHA hostel could be a good option. They are equipped with shared kitchen that have the necessary cooking utensils, dishes and glasses, coin operated washing machine and clothes dryer.
• There are quite a lot of motels in New Zealand. Make your booking early while there is still vacancy available. Note that not all of them come with free WiFi and laundry facility. You need to find out the availability before confirming your booking.
• If you want a motel that provide free shuttle service to pick you up from Christchurch airport to the motel during arrival, and from motel to Christchurch airport upon departure, and the pick-up time can be any time (even at midnight), try to look for Airport Gateway Motor Lodge.

Prices:

• The prices you see in New Zealand are inclusive 15% GST.
•  If you want to buy honey or chocolates, the price in small town could be cheaper than the price in airport's duty free shops.
• Don't forget there are discount coupons in Arrival Magazine, and Internet booking discount for certain activities at BookMe website.

Credit card:

• Credit card can be used at most of the places.
• Certain place will impost additional charge if you pay with credit card rather than cash.
• The credit card security measure in New Zealand seems to be very loose. Sometimes the shop doesn't even need your signature. Internet transaction also not making use of the 3 digit validation code at the back of your card.

Applying for ETA online to travel to Australia

I am going to travel to Australia, and I need a visa to enter into the continent. The fastest and easiest way is to apply for an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) online.

The ETA provides authorization for visitors holding a valid passport from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brunei, Japan, Korea, USA or Canada to travel to and enter Australia.

The ETA is valid for 1 year from the date of application, or until the expiry date of your passport, whichever earlier. With an ETA, you will be able to have multiple entries to Australia until its expiry date. for each entry, you can stay in Australia for a period of up to 3 months.

The service charge to apply for an Australia ETA is AUD$20 payable online with credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, or JCB) when making the application. If your ETA is rejected for any reason, this service charge is non-refundable.

You need to be located outside Australia when making an ETA application. You need to provide your personal detail, contact detail and an email address to receive the letter of confirmation. If you are travelling with your family members staying in the same house, you might find it a bit cumbersome as you need to apply ETA for each of them, and need to repeatedly enter the same contact information (address, phone numbers, etc.)  during each of the ETA applications.

I received the email confirmation almost instantly after making the online credit card payment.

For each of the ETA applications, you will be given a reference number, enabling you to check for the ETA status and expiry date in the same website.

Click here to go to the Australia ETA application and checking website.

Conditions apply to the Australia ETA:

• Working is not allowed.
• Taking short term study course is allowed, but you must not study for more than 3 months.
• You must be free from tuberculosis.
• You must not have any criminal convictions.

Ten questions you should ask during a job interview

The following is an inspiring list of 10 questions that job interviewee should ask during the interview session.

1. How will this position change after I’ve been here a while?
2. If this is not a new position where has the prior person gone? Did they get promoted or leave? How stable is the group that I am being hired for?
3. How will you use my skills if the activity I am being hired for is stalled or something unexpected arises?
4. What is the career path for this position? — to jobs with more responsibility? Management posts? Positions that require specific technical expertise?
5. What is the project/product road-map for the next one to three years?
6. What kind of training and support for ongoing education does the organization offer?
7. Is there an open door policy to communicate with upper management levels within he organization?
8. How will my role contribute to the overall mission of the company?
9. What outcomes will you use to measure those contributions? What metrics will be in place to measure personal and team performance?
10. Will I have opportunities to work directly with the line organization outside of my group?

Source: the blog of Janco Associates.

Index call warrants and put warrants listed in Bursa Malaysia

The stock market has gone volatile recently. During a volatile market, sometimes it could be a better option to trade on index warrant, which is a structured warrant that is issued by warrant issuer (such as CIMB, Maybank, RHB, Ambank, Kenanga, Macquarie, etc.) over an underlying stock market index, such as the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBMKLCI, 富时大马指数), Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HSI, 恒生指数), etc.

There are 2 kinds of index warrants listed in Bursa Malaysia. If you feel bullish on the market, you can look into the call warrants, and if you feel bearish on the market, you can
 on the other hand look into the put warrants.

Each of the index warrants has the following information:

• Expiry date: You can buy and sell the warrant in the market until its expiry date. Upon expiry, the warrant issuer will pay you money if your cash settlement amount is positive. Else, you will get nothing and your money invested in the warrant will be burnt.
• Exercise level (a.k.a. strike level): the index points to exercise the warrant. For call warrant, the lower the better. For put warrant, the higher the better.
• Exercise ratio: this is the leverage element of the warrant. It is the amount of warrants required to exercise one underlying index.
• Settlement level: the index points on the settlement day.

The cash settlement amount (CSA) is calculated based on the formula below:

where FX Rate is the forex exchange rate to convert overseas index warrant settlement value to RM.

The current index warrants listed in Bursa Malaysia is as below:

It seems like FBMKLCI-HB deserves some attention. You will break even if bought it at RM0.145 and KLCI drops to 1753.50.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for sharing of point of view only. It is not an advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of the mentioned stock counters. You should do your own homework before trading in Bursa Malaysia.

Inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2016

I have posted the list of auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2016 quite some times ago, and here is the reverse, namely the inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2016. The list below is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

 

If you are concerned, then you should probably avoid getting married on the listed days above.

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Related articles:

• Auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2016
• Auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2015
• Inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2015

Auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2016

Many couples plan for their wedding more than 1 year ahead in order to have sufficient preparation time.

Here is the list of auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in year 2016 (year of Monkey), which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Related articles:

• Inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2016
• Auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2015
• Inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2015

The Edge forum on 2015 Economy and Investment Outlook

The Edge Malaysia is organizing a forum on 2015 Economy and Investment Outlook - Make Better Decisions.

Date: Saturday, 1 November 2014
Time: 10.00am - 12.30am
Venue: Security Commission Malaysia, Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
Admission: Free

The speakers are:

• Jason Chong from Manulife Asset Management Services Bhd
• Chen Fan Fai from Eastspring Investment Bhd
• Datuk Tong Kooi Ong from The Edge Media Group

Are you shocked with the recent market turbulence and want to listen to the view of these renowned fund managers and/or investors?

Click here for more information and online registration to The Edge forum on 2015 Economy and Investment Outlook.

Fixed Windows 8 boot into black screen with mouse cursor problem

This morning, I found my laptop unable to boot up to Windows 8.

During boot up, it stuck at a black screen with mouse cursor. The mouse cursor is movable. There were harddisk activities which eventually stopped, and nothing happen next. No Windows logo shown, and no login screen.

I've tried the following but nothing worked:

• Press ctrl-alt-del, nothing happened.
• Press the Power key to turn off the laptop, then press the Power key again to start up. It went to the same situation.
• Press F8, F12, shift-F12, etc. during boot up, nothing happened. There was no boot menu shown up.

I searched the Internet and found that this is a problem faced by many. I fixed it by having an abnormal power off in the black screen with mouse cursor, and let Windows heal itself during the next boot up progress.

To do so, unplug the power cable, and remove the laptop battery while it is still in the black screen with mouse cursor, after the harddisk activities stopped. Wait for 30 seconds, then put back the laptop battery and plug back the power cable. Press the Power key to turn on the laptop. Viola! Finally Windows is back to normal.

The key to this fix is that, you need to abnormally power off the system. The problem won't fix if you press the Power key to shutdown properly and restart.

I checked the Event Viewer, can't find anything logged about this problem. Microsoft, why your Windows always caught us by surprise, and yet left us clueless to troubleshoot the problem???

Download and read the Handbook for Goods and Services Tax (GST) for Businesses

Malaysia government is going to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 1 April 2015.

The Royal Malaysian Customs Department has published a Handbook for Goods and Services Tax (GST) for Businesses, which is a very good reference book for everyone in Malaysia to have better understanding about this upcoming GST. You can download its e-Book for free from their website.

Click here to download the Handbook for Goods and Services Tax (GST) for Businesses.

The content of this 183-pages handbook consists of:

1. Salient features of GST

• What is GST?
• Proposed GST model
• Basic elements of GST
• Registration for GST

2. Accounting for tax

• Charging output tax
• Entitlement of input tax
• Apportionment rules
• Credit note & adjustment
• Debit note & adjustment
• Bad debt & adjustment
• Filing of GST return & payment
• Record keeping 

3. Implementation of GST and business preparation

• Preparation for implementation of GST
• GST implications
• Tax code
• Business preparation for GST
• Supplies spanning GST
• Non reviewable contract
• Special refund

Beside this handbook, you can also find many information about GST implementation in Malaysia from this official website: http://gst.customs.gov.my/en/Pages/default.aspx

Top 30 property developers in The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards 2014

The Edge Malaysia has just announced the Top 10 winners in their Property Excellence Awards 2014, which are:

• Sunway Bhd
• Sime Darby Property Bhd
• SP Setia Bhd
• UEM Sunrise Bhd
• Gamuda Bhd (Property Division)
• Tropicana Corp Bhd
• IGB Corp Bhd
• Eastern & Oriental Bhd
• Mah Sing Group Bhd
• IOI Properties Bhd

Following the Top 10 winners above, the subsequent Top 11-30 are:

• UOA Development Bhd
• I&P Group Sdn Bhd
• Bandar Utama City Corp Sdn Bhd
• IJM Land Bhd
• KLCC Property Holdings Bhd
• Glomac Bhd
• YTL Land & Dev. Bhd
• Eco World Development Group Bhd
• Naim Holdings Bhd
• Bandar Raya Developments Bhd
• WCT Land Sdn Bhd
• Selangor Dredging Bhd
• Wing Tai Malaysia Bhd
• MKH Bhd
• Paramount Corp Bhd
• KSL Holdings Bhd
• PJ Development Holdings Bhd
• OSK Property Holdings Bhd
• Plenitude Bhd
• TA Global Bhd

Congratulation to the Sunway Group for winning this award. Besides, their Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat also won The Edge-PAM Green Excellence Award 2014.

iCapital.biz newsletter RM25 one year subscription special offer

In conjunction with the 25th anniversary of iCapital.biz, this newsletter run by Mr. Tan Teng Boo is now having a special promotion of RM25 for one year subscription (normal price: RM720), a very generous 96.5% discount!

This newsletter, available in English and Chinese language, in printed and online platform, contains detail analysis of local and regional macroeconomics observation, their view on equity markets in Kuala Lumpur, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong, company news and analysis, several stock portfolios, trading picks, etc.

Considering the amount of effort, intelligence and skill required to produce this weekly newsletter, I believe RM25 is really value for money for all stock investors in Malaysia.

For the printed version, postage charge is free if you choose ordinary POS Malaysia service, and you will need to pay extra for other faster and/or safer delivery service.

Even if you choose the ordinary mail option, you can still access the updated content online while waiting for your printed copy to reach your doorstep.

Click here to find out more detail and online subscription to the iCapital.biz RM25/year special offer

Besides, Capital Dynamics is going to have their 2014 Investor Day on 11-12 October in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. You can click here for more detail and online registration to the event.

Full report for free download: ICT Job Market Outlook in Malaysia (June 2014)

Are you working in the ICT industry or as an ICT personnel in your organization? Or are you a student studying an ICT related subject now? If yes, you might be interested in this newly released  ICT Job Market Outlook in Malaysia (June 2014) by PIKOM in collaboration with Jobstreet and MDEC.

Given the orientation towards a service focus economy, the ICT Service (ICTS) segment in Malaysia is projected to register significant growth in 2014.

The ICTS segment grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.4%, lifting its value-added services from RM11.77 billion in 2000 to RM59.83 billion in 2013. The ICTS segment is poised to reach the mark of RM67.99 billion in 2014 by registering a repeat annual growth rate of 12.4%. In tandem, the share of ICTS in the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased from 3.3% to 6.4%, almost doubling over the period of 2000-2014.

The average monthly salary of an ICT professional in Malaysia in 2013 was RM7,152. This represents an increase of 7.2% from RM6,673 in 2012. The growth continues steadily, and this figure shows that ICT professionals in Malaysia, generally earn a higher salary in average than most other professionals.

The average salary over then past 3 years, by job category ranging from fresh graduates to senior management, is as below.

Interested to find out more detail? Click here to download the full report of ICT Job Market Outlook in Malaysia (June 2014).