My Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro 13-3332 multimode ultrabook laptop

I was searching for a new laptop suitable for home use recently. My selection criteria are:

• Portable lightweight ultrabook not more than 1.4kg
• Convertible to tablet with multitouch screen
• At least 4GB RAM
• Using SSD storage
• Windows 8.1 operating system
• Price slightly more than RM3000 (for optimum income tax relief)

I ended up with Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro 13-3332 (3332 is grey and 3333 is orange) multimode ultrabook laptop which has the following specs:

• Intel Core i5-4200U processor
• Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000
• Intel Wireless-N 7260 2x2 2.4Ghz 300Mbps WiFi adapter
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 13.3" QHD+ (3200x1800) LED screen with 10 points multitouch sensor
• 8GB RAM
• 128GB Samsung SSD
• 2 USB ports
• Keyboard with backlit
• 2 years limited International Warranty Service (IWS)
• Light weight of 1.39kg

I like the premium feeling of this Lenovo laptop, from the moment of its unboxing. The material used in its packaging, and the care taken to protect it in the box is really good. Even the sleeve that comes together with the laptop looks nice and classy.

The key unique selling point of this Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro laptop is of course its 360-degree flip-and-fold design. It is said to be a 75% laptop and 25% tablet, easily convertible into one of its 4 modes of Laptop, Stand, Tablet and Tent.

Its keyboard will only function in Laptop mode, and will be automatically locked in the other 3 modes. I find the keyboard a bit cramped, confined by its 13.3" form factor. I like the backlit feature of this keyboard, beautifully illuminating the keys in dark condition.

Tent mode has a small footbase and good for doing one-to-one presentation, small group discussion, watching movie, etc.

Tablet mode turns it into a 13.3" tablet, powered by the full 64-bit Windows 8.1 operating system.

I can't find any practical use of Stand mode yet. Stand mode is just like Laptop mode without the keyboard in front.

Its QHD+ 3200x1800 super-high resolution screen is superb. But having too high resolution sometimes is not good too. At that high resolution on a relatively small screen of 13.3", the font size need to be enlarged 250% or else will be too small to read and/or touch. However, certain applications are not well tested with this quad HD resolution, and might appear small, or the text overlapping after the 250% enlargement.

I ended up scaling it down to the HD resolution of 1920x1080 (1080p) with 125% font size enlargement setting, and all the applications look OK with this lower resolution (yet better than the 1366x768 resolution in many other laptops in the market).

With this lower screen resolution, its battery life improved too.

This Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro supports motion control and voice control, something fancy to play around with.

Being an ultrabook, this laptop only has 2 USB ports (1 USB 2.0 and another USB 3.0) and doesn't have a CD/DVD drive. Nowadays, we can easily use either USB thumbdrive or external harddisk to replace the CD/DVD, so not a big deal without the CD/DVD drive.

The storage capacity of its 128GB SSD is a bit small. In fact, quite a large portion of it already allocated as recovery partitions and some other system usage, leaving even smaller usable capacity of around 100GB only. Anyhow, this kind of storage capacity is still sufficient for normal use.

There is one important thing that I would like to warn all the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro buyers. This laptop sold in Malaysia comes with 2 years international warranty, but if you don't register your purchase with Lenovo, its warranty actually started from the date when Lenovo shipped it to the distributor. That date is printed on its box, and could be a few months before your purchase.

You can check for its warranty information with the Lenovo Companion apps, which you can find in the Metro screen of the Windows 8.1 in your laptop. You can also check this warranty information online by visiting to: http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/warrantylookup

To update the warranty start and end date of your Lenovo laptop, you just need to send an email to  their Services Sales Registration team at nasr@lenovo.com with information of your laptop model number, serial number, date of purchase and attach with proof of purchase (the sales invoice). I received their reply with warranty date updated within 2 hours after I sent out my email to them.

I have been using this Lenovo multimode ultrabook laptop for more than a week now, my experience with it has been wonderful.

There is a higher end version of Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro with Intel i7 processor and 256GB SDD, but the price is also a bit high for that model.

4 channel RC Skywalker quadcopter aerocraft drone

My kid has a new toy, a remote control (RC) Skywalker quadcopter aerocraft drone which I bought at the price of RM110.

This is an ideal RC drone for beginners, as the quadcopter is protected by its cage, so that it is less likely to hit on something and break its blade(s). In the event of a crash landing, it is cushioned by the cage too.

With this kind of design, it can be set to flying mode or rolling mode by adjusting its battery position. In rolling mode, its cage acts as its wheel.

This is its remote control system.

The drone operates on a 3.7V 300mAh rechargeable battery, while its remote control system operates on some AA size batteries. Each charge can last the drone to fly for about 6-10 minutes. When its battery gone weak, the drone is intelligent enough to gradually land itself instead of a sudden crash.

The left RC stick controls its flying height and facing direction, while the right RC stick controls its movement (forward, backward, turn left, turn right). You can also see there are several fine tuning switches to adjust its position.

To take off, gently push the left RC stick upwards. Landing is more challenging. You cannot land too fast and have to slowly pull the left RC stick backwards, or else it will have a sudden drop and crash. Landing on a designated spot will need some practice, but it is not that difficult.

The more challenging part is when there is wind blowing. You'll need to control the drone to counter the wind and fly according to your desired direction.

Enhance Windows 8.1 usability with Classic Shell 4.1.0

I have replaced the IObit Start Menu 8 in my Windows 8.1 PCs with Classic Shell 4.1.0.

Classic Shell 4.1.0 is more stable, and more feature rich than IObit Start Menu 8. The Classic Start Menu in Classic Shell 4.1.0 can also display properly in high screen resolution of 3200x1800, but the IObit Start Menu 8 appears tiny in such high resolution screen.

You can download Classic Shell for free here.

The key component of Classic Shell is Classic Start Menu, which brings back the Windows Start Menu in Windows 8/8.1 similar to IObit Start Menu 8.

There are many settings you can play around in Classic Start Menu 4.1.0.

Besides, Classic Shell also includes Classic Explorer which will add a handy toolbar to Windows Explorer.

This Classic Explorer toolbar is configurable too.

The 3rd component is Classic IE, which adds the following functions to Internet Explorer:

Adds a caption to the title bar so you can see the full title of the page

Shows the security zone in the status bar

Shows the loading progress in the status bar

Gyro-sensing fly air mouse with mini QWERTY wireless keyboard

I find that using the remote control of my HiMedia Q5II Android 3D smart TV + media player box to navigate its screen sometimes has some inconvenience, especially when I need to do typing using the on screen soft keyboard, or I have to navigate in mouse cursor mode.

This inconvenience can be reduced by installing HiControl in my Android smartphone and/or tablet, and making use of the Android device's touch screen to perform the soft keyboard typing and also the point-and-click action.

Recently, I bought a gyro-sensing fly air mouse with mini QWERTY wireless keyboard to work together with the remote control of the HiMedia Q5II box to have much better control to the system. It cost less than RM70.

The size of this gadget is about the same as the remote control, as shown below.

In order to use this fly air mouse-keyboard gadget, I just need to plug its USB dongle into on of the USB slot of my HiMedia Q5II box. It is plug and play and can automatically perform the necessary wireless pairing, then it can immediately function.

This gadget turns into an air mouse when I press on the Android key at its center. The mouse cursor will shows on the TV screen, which I can control by hand movement.

In any text input area, this gadget becomes handy with its QWERTY keyboard. Note that the original HiMedia remote control is still handy when come to typing numbers, and both of these 2 devices can work side-by-side.

This gadget can also perform sound volume control just like the remote control. The remote control is still important, especially when come to turning on and turning off the TV box.

Beside being a better input device that compliment the remote control, some of the TV games are designed to work with fly air mouse, making it the preferred game control device.

During idle and when the TV box is switched off, this gadget will bring itself into sleep mode, conserving its battery usage.

Logitech Wireless Mouse M525 - my second wireless mouse

I have just purchased a new laptop for my household, and decided to get the Logitech Wireless Mouse M525 as its input device companion.

This is the second wireless mouse I bought for my household computers. I have a good experience with my first wireless mouse, the Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000, except that it has a relatively short battery life of about 3-4 months only, despite I have a good habit to switch off the mouse everytime I shutdown my PC to conserve the mouse's battery usage.

This Logitech Wireless Mouse M525 is about the same size with Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000. Its scroll wheel and buttons are also functioning as good as Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000, and both can work very well on glossy surface.

However, the Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 has an additional left button, which I seldom use. The housing and cover material of Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 also looks more premium and has better feel. The cover of Logitech Wireless Mouse M525 is just too plastic.

It is also easier to stow the USB transceiver at the bottom of Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000. You need to open up the front cover of Logitech Wireless Mouse M525 to store its Unifying receiver into the mouse. The Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 power on/off switch is easier to slide too.

Anyhow, the Logitech Wireless Mouse M525 also has many pros against Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000. It claims to be able to have 3-year battery life! It will turn itself into smart sleeping mode while it is idling, to conserve the battery usage.

It can operate with either one or two batteries. Additional battery will give longer battery life, at the slight trade off of making the mouse weight heavier.

The mouse comes with 2 GP Alkaline AA batteries, which I've put aside, and use the Energizer brand instead.

The mouse can work immediately in Windows 7/8 once you plug the Logitech Unifying receiver into the computer's USB port and switch on the Logitech Wireless Mouse M525.

I'd recommend you to download and install the Logitech Setpoint software to get the best of this Logitech Wireless Mouse M525. Visit to http://www.logitech.com/en-my/support/wireless-mouse-m525 to download.

Beside Logitech Setpoint, you can also download and install the Logitech Unifying software which lets you perform pairing and unpairing Logitech devices with the Logitech Unifying receiver. If you are using Windows 7, you can also download the Flow Scroll software to get a smoother scrolling experience in web browsers such as Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

There are 2 types of installer available in the website. The Smart Installer with a smaller file size, and the Full Installer. I'd advise you to get the Full Installer. I tried the Smart Installer, which took a long time to run until I cancelled it.

The Logitech Unifying receiver can pair up with up to 6 supported Logitech wireless devices. The paired devices will show up in Logitech Unifying software. You can check for their status, battery condition, and even perform firmware update with the software.

The Logitech Setpoint software has more function than the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center used by the Microsoft wireless mouse.

There is a Game Mode Settings section for better gaming experience with the mouse. You can also configure the mouse to have application specific button settings.

The Setpoint software can also show the mouse's battery usage condition.

The Logitech Setpoint icon in Windows Taskbar notification area is also showing the battery condition in the mouse.

In addition, it can also show the keyboard Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock status, a handy feature for laptops that don't have any LED or indicator to show whether these keys are toggled on or not.

My first purchase experience with Tesco Online Shopping

Tesco is my favourite hypermarket for grocery shopping. Usually, I'll go to their physical store near my house.

Tesco Online Shopping service has been made available to my area for quite some times. Now they are having promotion to provide free delivery service (normally they'll charge for RM10 delivery fee) and also free potato chips as gift to online shoppers.

I just need to select the items to purchase from their website, tell them the delivery address, book a delivery time slot, and confirm the order. Payment will be made with credit card only when I receive the goods.

They sent out a confirmation email to me within seconds after the order was placed. I was allowed to make changes to the order or to cancel the order one day before the delivery is due.

Their delivery man called me to confirm there will be person waiting at home during the delivery time slot. The delivery van arrived pretty punctual. I was told that 2 of the items I ordered are out of stock. The rest of the items arrived in good condition, together with the free gift. I was charged for the actual amount and paid with on credit card on the spot.

Buying with Tesco Online Shopping save me time and effort to have to go to their physical store. I also no need to worry about the long payment queue at the store's cashier counter. It is really convenient.

However, here are a few drawbacks:

• The nearest delivery time slot might not be available. In this case, you might need to pick for a time slot that require you to wait for some times before you receive the goods.
• Tesco Clubcard vouchers and coupons cannot be applied for online purchase yet.
• I am not sure whether the Tesco Clubcard points collection is applicable for online purchase or not. There is no place to key-in Clubcard number during online purchase, and there is no device to swipe the Clubcard for points collection during goods receipt.
• I was not informed about the goods that are out of stock, until their delivery man arrived at my doorstep and inform me so.

After all, this is a good experience of grocery shopping with Tesco Online.

Bookfest Malaysia 2014 @ KLCC

During this Hari Raya holidays, I have visited to Bookfest Malaysia 2014 held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, which is crowded by overwhelming people.

There are a few parking places nearby KLCC with a parking rate of RM5 per entry, including Wisma Central, and an open car park beside Avenue K shopping complex.

Venue: Hall 1-5, Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, KLCC, Kuala Lumpur.
Date: 23 July - 3 August 2014
Time: 10am - 10pm
Entrance fee: RM2.50. Free for children and elderly person.

I feel the arrangement for ticket counter, entrance and exit for this Bookfest very awkward. The ticket counter is located far away from the entrance, and the exit is located at the center in between the English section (Hall 4 & 5) and Chinese section (Hall 1 & 2).

You really can get very good discount for the books in this Bookfest, which has attracted a lot of book lovers going there. There are also lots of activities and talks ongoing everyday, which you can find the detail schedule here: http://www.bookfestmalaysia.com/event-schedule.php

This event is a good chance for you to buy some books. Remember to keep the receipt for income tax relief to be declared in April next year :)

Converting your handphone / MP3 player to mini radio station with FM Transmitter

If your car CD player is capable of replaying MP3 music, you'll need to burn the MP3 files into a finalized CDR disc, which has a capacity of up to 680MB only.

If your car audio system has a USB port to play MP3 music, you'll need to copy the MP3 files to a USB thumb drive and plug it into the USB port of the car audio system.

What if your car audio system doesn't support the above 2 ways of playing MP3 music?

Well, you can convert and burn your MP3 files into an audio CD, which can store about 10 songs, and play it with your car CD player.

There also exist a kind of FM Transmitter that plug into your car's cigarette lighter socket, which you need to copy your MP3 files to an SD card and slot it into the FM Transmitter. Then, you can tune your car radio to the same frequency with the FM Transmitter in order to listen to the music.

But I have a better choice. I use the kind of FM Transmitter as shown below which can turn your handphone, MP3 player, or any kind of gadgets that support audio output to a universal 3.5mm headphone jack.

This FM Transmitter turns your gadget into a mini radio station with broadcast range of about 15 meters only. It supports devices with the 3.5mm headphone jack including handphone, MP3 player, voice recorder, tablet, laptop, etc.

The audio transmitted out can then be received and played by any radio device within the range. This could be your car radio, a normal radio, a Hi-Fi, a handphone with FM radio function, etc.

This FM Transmitter is able to transmit high-fidelity stereo sound with the digital PLL (phase locked loop) technology. It supports full range of FM transmitting frequency (87.5MHz-108.0MHz). It has stereo isolation of >= 38dB.

You can use it to output any kind of audio from the connected device, with audio frequency range of 100Hz-15,000Hz.

It has its own built-in 120mAh Li-ion battery, which can be recharged with its micro-USB port.

Its usage is similar to the cigarette lighter FM Transmitter. Just tune your car radio to the same frequency with this FM Transmitter in order to listen to the music.

Pretty cool isn't it?

HSC YC-401 Car 1-to-3 Cigarette Lighter Sockets with 2 USB ports

Nowadays most of us make use of our car's cigarette lighter socket as a kind of in-car power source for our gadgets rather than its original purpose (to heat up and light a cigarette).

When we carry more and more gadgets, we might find that one power source is not enough, and we find ways to extend it.

I make use of HSC (英才星) YC-401 Car 1-to-3 Cigarette Lighter Sockets with 2 USB ports to obtain up to 5 power sources in my car.

With this gadget, now I get:

• 3x 12V/24V 5A DC cigarette lighter sockets (which can plug in car chargers of gadgets)
• 1x 5V/1A USB charging port (suitable for most handphones or GPS)
• 1x 5V/2.1A USB charging port (suitable for most tablets)

This HSC YC-401 cost me RM3x. It has some prominent claims on quality, including:

• Dual power control IC (instead of one)
• Output power of 120W supporting all kinds of gadgets including car vacuum cleaner
• Stainless steel metal contacts that won't rust
• 10A/250V fuse (the package comes with 2 fuses, one for use and one for spare)
• Power cord of 85cm long with 82 copper wires

Online SSPN-i Statement of Account (for income tax relief)

You can check for the transactions and amount of savings of your kid's SSPN-i account with this website: https://www.ptptn.gov.my/saving/sspnlogin.html

In order to use this online facility, you need to make a registration first by clicking on the "Pendaftaran Online E-SSPN-i" link.

Currently, there is nothing much in the website. You can check for the updated account statement, and print it out for income tax relief of up to RM6,000 per year.

You might probably be interested to also read about:

• Does it worth to put saving in Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional (SSPN-i)?
• How to top up SSPN-i saving using Maybank2u

How to top up SSPN-i saving using Maybank2u

If you have opened a National Education Savings Scheme (Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional, SSPN-i) account for your kid, and you intend to top up your kid's SSPN-i saving by using Maybank2u online facility, this is the way.

Don't waste your time looking for the SSPN-i top up link inside Maybank2u online banking website, you can't find it there.

Instead, go to the webpage below:
http://www.ptptn.gov.my/web/english/sspn/debitpayment

Look for the black button with caption "Bayaran Debit Maybank2u.com Debit Payment" on that webpage and click on it, then follow the steps to complete the money transfer.

In order to use this online method to top up SSPN-i saving, you need to have all of the following:

• A Maybank savings or current account (to transfer money from)
• Activated Maybank2u online banking facility (through Maybank ATM machine)
• SSPN-i account (to transfer money to)
• A handphone number that linked with your Maybank2u account (to receive the TAC SMS during money transfer)

You might probably be interested to also read about:

• Does it worth to put saving in Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional (SSPN-i)?
• Online SSPN-i Statement of Account (for income tax relief)

57 mutual funds with 0% sales charge at eUnittrust.com.my

In conjunction with Malaysia's 57th year of independence (Merdeka) and the recent recent PhillipCapital 5th Annual Investment Conference 2014, Philip Mutual is now offering 0% sales charge to 57 funds available in their https://www.eunittrust.com.my/ website should you invest more than RM10,000 in the selected funds, or 0.5% sales charge should your investment amount is between RM5,000 and RM9,999.

This "eUnitTrust Raya & Merdeka Promotion 2014" will end on 31 August 2014.

You can trade unit trust funds managed by various fund management companies including Eastspring Investments Berhad, Hwang Investment Management Bhd, Kenanga Investors Berhad, etc. with this online  unit trust distribution channel.

For more information, visit to https://www.eunittrust.com.my/fundInfo/promotions.asp.

A family trip to i-City Theme Park @ Shah Alam

My family spent our recent Nuzul Al-Quran holiday at i-City Theme Park located near UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor.

When we reached there, there are still construction works going on around the place for the development of residential and commercial buildings. The theme park is also in the midst of building an outdoor attraction area.

I have to warn you that the ticket price for I-City attraction areas is not cheap. Luckily, there is a limited time promotion ongoing now for us to purchase an i-Card at the price of RM52 per person (regardless adult or children) which entitles us to visit to the following 5 attraction areas:

• Red Carpet all-stars interactive wax museum
• House of Horror
• Space Mission
• Snowalk
• Waterworld

This RM52 i-Card is only available for daytime visit, and not inclusive for the entrance to the famous Trick Art Museum nor the 5D Cinema in i-City, which need to purchase the tickets separately.

The Red Carpet all-stars interactive wax museum is transformed from a block of vacant shoplots. Now you don't need to travel to Hong Kong or New York to have a look at the wax figures of famous celebrities, politicians, athletes, scientists, and other personalities.

The House of Horror and Space Mission are also transformed from vacant shoplots.

Snowalk is located next to Waterworld. You can experience the winter coldness in this snow wonderland with igloo, ice sculptures and rides. If you want to visit to Snowalk, you'd better at least wear sport shoes. Don't go with slippers or sandals as it might be too cold and too slippery for your feet. Anyhow, non-slip boots are optionally available before you go in, at additional charge. Winter jackets are available for borrow for free (inclusive in ticket price), so don't worry about bringing your own jacket there although no harm for you to do so.

You might probably spend the most time at Waterworld. The main attraction in this waterpark is the Tornado ride. Lockers are available for rent in Waterworld at the price of RM10. You will be given an NFC watch to unlock the assigned locker. Make sure you return the NFC watch to the ticket counter to get a free ride to the Under The Sea attraction outside the Waterworld.

The Trick Art Museum is a place for photo taking. The paintings inside will come into 3D via illusion in your photos.

i-City at night features its City of Digital Light lightscape with colourful LED lights on trees and figures around the place.

We had our meal at Spice of Penang. I felt that it would be better to eat at one of the fast food restaurants around rather than this.

In most of the attraction areas, you will see photographer offer to take photo for you. Photo taking is free, but to take away the photo taken, you need to pay for it.

A psychology test on what you really matter in your life

This is a psychology test which is pretty accurate to help you unveil what you really matter in your life.

 

If you are interested, please have some patient to read through the story below.

 

A man M is going to marry his fiancée F, but there is a river getting in their way, and he has to borrow a boat to cross the river in order to meet with F.

 

Then he met a lady L who owns a boat. M tried to borrow the boat from L. But L fall in love with M and asked, "I love you, do you love me?" M honestly replied, "I'm sorry, I can't love you as I already have a fiancée." L was upset and decided not to lend the boat to M. She said, "I love you, but you don't love me in return. This is unfair, and I won't lend you my boat."

M was disappointed. He continued finding a boat. He met with a second lady S. S told him, "I can lend you my boat, with one condition. I like you very much, and I don't care whether you like me or not, but you have to stay a night with me, or you shall not get the boat." M felt awkward for he knew that there are only 2 boats available. He was unable to borrow a boat from L, if he didn't get the boat from S, he won't be able to cross the river. He was forced to make a deal with S in order to meet up with his fiancée. They have one night stand, and S fulfilled her promise by lending him the boat.

 

M felt guilty when he met with F. He confessed to F about his story with L and S. F was deeply depressed and broke up with M. She felt M had betrayed her and that was unforgiveable.

 

Then, M came across with another lady E, and they started a relationship. Sensing that M has something in his mind that troubled him, E asked is there anything he wanted to tell her. M told her everything about his relationship with L, S and F. Surprisingly, E just told him, "It doesn't matter to me, for I have no relationship with your past."

 

Now comes the question to you: please put these 5 persons (including M) in the order who do you think has the best character, and who is the second, third, forth and fifth.

 

Your answer reveals what is the most important to you in your life, and your order of value among:

• E - Enterprise (career)
• F - Family
• L - Love
• M - Money
• S - Sex

 

 

Google Drive as a good alternative to Dropbox or OneDrive

I have been using Dropbox to sync, backup, share and publish files for a few years, and I am still using it today.

 

Dropbox is pretty good, but it lacks of access control feature for sharing file/folder with other users. For example, you cannot make a shared file/folder read-only to your buddies, and you cannot prevent your file/folder from being deleted by your buddies.

 

I heard that Dropbox is now finally trying to introduce such collaborative sharing features, but they plan to limit the function to Dropbox for Business which is not free and requires subscription.

 

Meanwhile, Microsoft has evolved their SkyDrive into OneDrive and bundles it with Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 and Microsoft Office 365. When sharing file/folder in OneDrive, we can define it to be read-only (recipient can only view) or full access (recipient can edit).

 

There are other cloud based file sharing applications such as SugarSync, Box.com, etc. which also support for collaborative sharing access control, but such function is only made available to the non-free version of their service.

 

As such, I found Google Drive is so far the best cloud based file sharing applications in terms of feature, particularly on collaborative sharing access control. Besides, you get a free cloud storage of 15GB (shared with Gmail and Google+ photos) with Google Drive, compared with the 2GB initial free storage in Dropbox and 7GB free storage in OneDrive.

 

You can activate your Google Drive service if you have a Google user account. All Android phone/tablet/device users should have one, and if you are using other Google services such as Gmail, Blogger, etc. you also have it.

 

You can access Google Drive by browsing to https://drive.google.com. One that page, you can download and install Google Drive sync service into your computer.

 

Google Drive app for Android can also be found in PlayStore, and Google Drive for iOS can be found in Apple iTune Store.

 

The Google Drive installation process for PC is pretty simple and straightforward.

 

 

 You can set the file/folder access control the moment you share it out with Google Drive.

 

 

 Your buddies can even make comment to your shared Google Docs files.

 

And you can define if your editors with the "can edit" permission are allowed to add people and change permissions or not.

 

 

The table below shows the access control mechanism of Google Drive, which is pretty comprehensive and similar feature can only be found in subscription version of other alternatives.

 

 

 

 

Practical considerations for new home renovation

Going to renovate your new home before moving in?

 

Below are some practical tips for your consideration before you call your contractor to start the renovation work:-

 

Accessibility:

• Always make your home convenient for old folk, pregnant lady or disabled people, particularly on the design of steps, stairs, etc. Think about having proper handrails along staircase and in toilet. Use non-slip flooring materials especially in toilets and bedrooms.

Living Room:

• You will need quite a number of wall sockets near your TV for all your audio-visual equipments.
• If you plan to subscribe to satellite TV such as Astro, plan for the location of its dish and conceal a signal line from the dish to your TV.

Kitchen:

• If you have an apartment/condominium/studio unit with open kitchen concept, or you plan to have an open kitchen in your house, you need to plan properly to avoid cooking fumes from wide-spreading all over the place with its smell and grease. Some major considerations include proper external ventilation, installing a cooker hood with high air suction power, etc.
• Normally, fire accident starts from the kitchen. Make sure your house has fire extinguisher, smoke detector and fire blanket placed nearby the kitchen.
• If you are going to have an open kitchen, make sure your smoke detector will not easily give you false alarm from the kitchen's cooking fumes.
• Without the isolation of walls and fire-resistant door, fire from open kitchen could spread faster and fiercer. To reduce the risk of fire, consider using electrical cooker instead of gas cooker.
• Plan for the location and size of your washing machine, dish washer, etc. These machines need power supply as well as water inlet and drainage.
• Dustbin that will conceal behind your kitchen cabinet might look cool, but beware of the smell. It is better to have ordinary dustbin with cover, located outside the cabinet.

Toilets and bathrooms:

• Most of the time, we use shower much more often than bathtub. Shower saves more water than bathtub too. If your house does not come with a bathtub and you plan to install one in your bathroom, think carefully either it is a "need" or "want".
• Most of the time, people with Jacuzzi in their home does not use it often too.
• However, bathtub can be useful to soak and wash your bed sheets, curtains, etc.
• Ceramic basin is a better choice than glass one. Dirt and stains are very visible on glass surface.
• It is always a good idea to have ceiling fan on top of your dining table, and/or air-cond in your dining room.
• Install water heater with built-in pump. It won't cost much more for the pump function, and you will appreciate it when water pressure is low.
• If you want to have washlet toilet (electronic toilet seats with water spray feature) either now or in the future, make sure there is wall socket around to supply the electric power. 
• If you want to have hot and cold water piping, include them in your renovation before you move in.
• Install some hangs and hooks inside the bathroom. There is always clothes, towels, etc. that you need to hang.

Bedroom:

• New couples that plan to have kids, make sure to allocate some space in your master bedroom for baby cot beside your bed.
• Dressing room with open wardrobe looks nice, but get prepared for the dust. Wardrobe with doors is more practical. Flipping doors are more durable than sliding doors.

General:

• It is better to have more wall sockets than having to pull power extensions later. Plan the position of your wall sockets properly. Some wall sockets might be wasted if you put big furniture and cover them up later.
• Plan for all air-conds location, and conceal their piping.
• Energy saving light bulbs are de-facto standard, and LED lighting could be an even better choice.
• Buy an aluminium ladder and keep it in your store room. You will need it for house cleaning and maintenance, for example, cleaning ceiling fans, dismantling air-cond filters for washing, replacing light bulbs, etc.
• Floor colour in living and dining halls should be light, and floor colour in kitchen should be deep. This will make your floors look cleaner.
• Plan for as much storage place as possible. You need to have sufficient cabinets and cupboards in kitchen, dining room, living room, bedrooms, etc. There is always a lot of things to keep.
• Crystal lights are beautiful, but difficult to clean. Most of the time, you won't switch them on too.
• Bookcase, cupboard with doors can isolate dust from settling on your books and whatever thing you put inside.
• Up-facing lamp shade will collect a lot of dust too, compared to traditional down-facing lamp shade.
• Use black filler for floor tiles instead of white one, because after some times, the white filler will become black too.
• It is a good idea to have a small cabinet on top of washing machine to put detergent and laundry accessories.

 

Headphone, speaker out and headset selection for Realtek combo audio jack on laptops

If you have a laptop that comes with a single 3.5mm combo audio jack that controlled by a Reaktek audio chip which supports the connection of headphone, speaker out or headset, you will probably see the following dialog box automatically popup when you plug your audio device into that 3.5mm combo audio jack.

 

 

Now, what is the difference among the 3 types of audio device that is supported by the combo audio jack?

• Headphones - a.k.a. earphones, are pair of small speakers that are designed to be worn close to your ears. There are headphones that sit at your outer ears, and also in-ear type (a.k.a. in-ear monitors (IEM) or canalphones).

• Headset - is a pair of headphones with attached microphone, normally used for voice chatting.

 

• Speaker out - external speaker or sound bar, normally with sound amplifier.

 

 

If you find that your laptop's 3.5mm combo audio jack is not functioning, you might need to install the correct Realtek audio driver for the combo audio jack to work properly. The driver is normally preinstalled, and its installation file can be found either in the CD that comes together with the laptop or from the manufacturer's support website.

 

With the Realtek audio driver and software properly installed, you can use Realtek HD Audio Manager to configure your computer sound system.

 

 

 

Revive the gadgets functionality in Windows 8 / 8.1 with Windows Desktop Gadgets 2.0

Desktop gadgets was introduced in Windows 7 but removed from the subsequent Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

I find desktop gadgets functionality pretty useful and handy in monitoring statuses and activities such as real time CPU usage, GPU usage, memory usage, network usage, hard disk usage, temperature readings, etc.

If you miss the fun of having desktop gadgets in Windows 8 / 8.1, you can get back that functionality by installing a 3rd party software called Windows Desktop Gadgets Revivied 2.0.

When it is up and running, you will get back the Gadgets option in Windows Desktop context menu and the Desktop Gadgets setting section in Control Panel's Appearance and Personalization. It behaves very similar to the desktop gadgets functionality in Windows 7. With it, you can now install those gadgets designed for Windows 7 into your Windows 8 / 8.1.

Get back the Start Menu in MS Windows 8.1 with the free IObit Start Menu 8

Microsoft has removed the Start Menu since version 8 of the Windows operating system. The Start button at the bottom-left corner of the screen now acts as a toggle between Windows Desktop and the Metro UI interface.

If you are using MS Windows 8.1 and you miss the Start Menu in previous versions of MS Windows, you can get it back with 3rd party software.

I use IObit Start Menu 8 to achieve this, as it is free, and very easy to customize and use.

This is what you can get with IObit Start Menu 8 installed in Windows 8.1:

The appearance of Start Menu can be configured to use the Default Theme, Classic Windows 7 Theme, or the Windows 8 Theme.

You can also select your favourite Start Button, as it is configurable.

Similar to the Start Menu in Windows 7, you can customize how the links, icons and menus look and behave on this Start Menu.

With this, you can get back your user experience in using Windows operating system the same style as before.

FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 soccer match schedule

The FIFA World Cup Brazil has just started and will last for one month until 13 July 2014.

You can look up to the schedule of all its matches in this website:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html

The time shown on the webpage is Brazil local time. Just click on "change to your time" to switch it to your local time. Remember to adjust the date yourself because the date shown on the webpage will remain as the date in Brazil.

Impact of Malaysia GST to Investors

Malaysia is expected to implement Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 1 April 2015 at the initial rate of 6%. The cost of a lot of things will be affected, including investment vehicles and products.

I believe nowadays everybody deals with banks. How the GST will impact our deposit, interest, loan, credit card, bank charges, etc.? Refer to the table below.

The next of our concerns is our investment in the local stock market and unit trust funds. The brokerage and clearing fee will be affected, but not the stamp duty. The impact on unit trust funds is more severe, so your fund manager has to work much more harder to bring you a good profit after minus all the charges and fees and now the additional GST imposed.

How about insurance policies? Your premium paid to life and education policies will not be imposed with GST, but it seems that most if not all other insurance policies are affected. Note that general insurance products including car insurance, house/fire insurance, accident insurance, etc. will be affected too.

For those who invest in precious metals (gold, silver), jewellery, collectibles, etc., if you trade with the physical product, you are affected.

If you trade with a gold/silver investment account with a bank without touching on the physical product, you are probably not affected.

A 6% GST of PAMP Suisse 100g gold bar selling at RM14,000 will be RM840, quite a big sum.

Sending my kid to learn WeiQi (Go) at N-World Go Academy

WeiQi (a.k.a. Go, 围棋) is a kind of strategic chess game originated from ancient China.

I just found out that there is a WeiQi academy for kids called N-World, operated by a small team of young people. They have classroom in Setapak and Puchong.

They offered a trial class, and my son seems to like it. Therefore, we signed him up for the WeiQi lesson, which we believe will provide good training to his brain as well as personality.

If you are also interested in N-World Go Academy, here is their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/NworldGo.

The worst reason in the world to buy anything is just because someone else did

How many times you can find yourself buying something as a result of just following the crowd or because someone else did?

It could be a hand phone, a gadget, a book, a music album, a drink, a food, a car, a property, or even an investment instrument (stock counter, futures, forex, mutual fund, etc.).

Why is it being the worst reason in the world to just follow someone else to buy something? Well, the keyword in the sentence is "just".

It is really a bad idea to blindly follow other people, particularly in buying, without your own reason(s) to do so.

Always remember the saying: one man's food is someone else's poison.

So, do not simply buy a stock just because Warren Buffett bought it. You need to find several other reasons to convince yourself before making the order.

Do not simply buy a property just because people around you have bought theirs. You need to assess your own financial situation, your gut feeling about the property, your planning, your willingness to manage it, etc.

Do not simply buy certain brand of smartphone just because people around you are using that phone. Have you find out the pros and cons of the phone? Have you find out the features and map them to your own need? Have you compare it with some other alternatives?

A lot of time, if we chose that worst reason in the world to buy something, we might end up buying the wrong thing, or buying the unnecessary, or even buying a nightmare. This is particularly true in the investment world.

EPF i-Account Android app launched

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF, a.k.a. Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja, KWSP) has recently launched their Android mobile app called EPF i-Account, which is now freely available in Google Play Store.

You can click here to download the EPF i-Account app from Google Play Store.

It is an HTML5 based mobile app, which you can login your EPF i-Account with the same username and password which you've setup in the web-based EPF i-Account at https://secure.kwsp.gov.my/secured/member/login/

The EPF i-Account Android app enables us to view our EPF account status and the monthly contributions detail. The EPF statements for current year and previous year are also available.

We can also see our personal profile info stored with EPF.

Other features are listed as in the screenshot below.

Currently, the EPF i-Account Android app can only be used to view information. It doesn't have function to make withdrawal request or make change request.

This app is currently having Malay language user interface only.

So far, more than 10,000 people have already installed the app. Have you?

BNM to postpone execution of 50 sen cheque processing fee from 1 April 2014 to 2 January 2015

There is insider news from local media that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will soon announce a postponement of the execution of 50 sen cheque processing fee from 1 April 2014 to 2 January 2015.

About one year ago, I have written here that BNM reduced  the processing fee of Interbank GIRO (IBG) money transfer performed online via internet banking or mobile banking to 10 sen only, effective 2 May 2013.

At the same time, BNM intended to discourage the use of paper cheque by imposing a processing fee of 50 sen per cheque transaction on top of the existing 15 sen stamp duty, making the transaction per cheque to cost 65 sen to be borne by the cheque issuer. This is supposed to start soon on 1 April 2013.

Now, we are glad to hear the news that this policy will be postponed until year 2015.

In my previous article, I ended by saying that BNM really need to think through carefully before enforcing the "discouraging mechanism" of using cheque in order to get people to use electronic money transfer.

Now that after one year, we are still having a lot of questions which need clear direction, including:

• We can write cheque that honours a large amount of money transfer, such as hundreds of thousands to millions. How will this be handled in electronic transfer, which only allows a small amount of money to be transferred per day?
• We can have current account that requires 2 valid signatures on the same cheque before it is honoured. How will electronic transfer handle the requirement for co-signature?
• In certain scenario, we can make use of cheque to act as deposit/guarantee, which is kept by the recipient but will not be banked in immediately. How can electronic transfer handle this kind of requirement?

I hope that BNM can at least come out with a list of FAQ with answers, before the cheque processing fee is imposed, be it on 1 April 2014, or 2 January 2015, or other date.

Rooting the HiMedia Q5ii Android TV box

You might wonder why you need to root the Android TV box in the first place. Well, I also never thought about this, until the recent Chinese version of Q5ii firmware taken away the Google Play Store, and I need root access to restore the Google Play Store in the HiMedia Q5ii Android TV box.

In order to gain root access of the HiMedia Q5ii from your computer, you need to put connect them to the same local network. Then, as usual, you'll need the famous Android Debug Bridge (ADB.exe) which is distributed in the Android SDK Tools in Android Developers website. All Android developers and/or hackers should already have this Android SDK Tools in their computers.

Alternatively, you can also install ADB in your computer by downloading and installing the Minimal ADB and Fastboot package from XDA Developers website.

If until this point, you don't know what I am talking about, and you have no idea what is "root", you should not continue. This is because rooting an Android device, if not handled properly, might introduce risk and damage to your Android device.

If you still keen to continue, then copy these 3 required files to a new folder in your computer:

• adb.exe
• AdbWinApi.dll
• AdbWinUsbApi.dll

Then, we need the "su" binary and the Superuser.apk.

Download Superuser-3.2-arm-signed.zip here, unzip the file, and copy these 2 files into the folder where you put ADB just now:

• su
• Superuser.apk

Then, you need to find out the IP address of your HiMedia Q5ii Android TV box and use ADB to connect to its port 5555.

Go to Windows command prompt by executing "cmd" in Run...

Go to your folder with ADB, and issue the following commands:

• adb connect your_himedia_ip_address:5555
• adb root
• adb remount

An example of the command issuing and respond is as below...

Then continue with the following commands:

• adb push su /system/bin
• adb push su /system/xbin
• adb push Superuser.apk /system/app
• adb shell chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
• adb shell chmod 4755 /system/xbin/su

And finally, reboot your HiMedia Android TV box with this command:

• adb shell reboot

After the reboot, you should be able to gain the root access to your HiMedia Android TV box now.

CIMB credit card Statement of Account Delivery Instructions form

Effective 1 April 2014, CIMB Bank will force all their credit card members with online CIMB Clicks account to access to their monthly credit card statements via CIMB Clicks website. The bank will no longer send out the monthly credit card statements to them.

If you are affected, and wish to receive your monthly credit card statements by email or in hardcopy by post, you need to inform CIMB by filling up the so-called Statement of Account Delivery Instructions form and fax to 03-2381 7198 or email to cardcentre@cimb.com.

If you are looking for the form, it is available here as below:

You can also click here to download the CIMB credit card Statement of Account Delivery Instructions form in PDF format (English and Bahasa Malaysia).

You will receive a Notice on CIMB Bank Credit Card eStatement and its Terms and Conditions together with you March 2014 credit card statement sent by CIMB. Click here to download the softcopy of the Notice on CIMB Bank Credit Card eStatement and its Terms and Conditions.

I wonder if CIMB Bank has any legal standing to force their credit card members to accept such change in such a short period of time using this manner. Any lawyer reader here who can give some comment?

Updated my HiMedia Q5II Android TV box firmware to Mango Hi Q v1.0.6

After the successful upgrade of my HiMedia Q5II Android TV box firmware to Mango Hi Q (芒果嗨Q) v1.0.5 in January 2014, I have now updated its firmware to the latest Mango Hi Q v1.0.6 without much problem. This new firmware v1.0.6 was just released on 8 March 2014.

You can download the Mango Hi Q v1.0.6 firmware for HiMedia Q-series dual core Android TV boxes here.

Make sure you download the firmware that matches with the model number of your HiMedia Q-series dual core Android TV box. If the label on your box has the wording of "eMMC" (which is the newer version sold to the market since November 2013 onwards), download the firmware for EMMC version. Otherwise, download the firmware for non-EMMC version.

The update process is pretty simple. Just put the downloaded file in a USB thumb drive, then plug the USB thumb drive into one of the USB port of the HiMedia TV box, and perform the update from System Settings option.

This version of Mango Hi Q v1.0.6 brings the long awaited support for DVD ISO replay function, support for Apple iOS 7 Airplay and Airplay Mirror, WiFi hotspot function, user defined wallpaper, and bug fixes.

Unfortunately, my WiFi Analyzer app disappeared from the Application Management screen after the update. The app is still there, just that it is not showing up in the listing in Application Management screen. Hopefully this new bug can be fixed soon.

Youtube for Google TV that works with HiMedia Q5ii Mango Hi Q Android TV box

If you have a HiMedia Q5ii Android TV box with Mango Hi Q firmware and find that it doesn't work well with Youtube, I've found the solution for you.

If you install the Youtube app (for Android smartphones and tablets) from Google Play Store into your HiMedia Q5ii Android TV box, you might face the problem that the Youtube always showing a black screen without any video, while the audio can still be heard.

The solution is to install Youtube for Google TV version 1.7.3 and it should work fine.

Youtube for Google TV was once available in Google Play Store, but is now unavailable. Anyhow, you can still download its APK file from here to install into your Android TV box.