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.

MSWG Seminar on Privatization & Take-Over Matters

The corporate scene has witnessed a spate of privatization and take-over exercises carried out particularly over the last one year. Launching of privatizations or take-overs seem to be the trend, and many are amazed or baffled with such news reported with increasing frequency.

 

Against this backdrop, the compelling and burning questions ringing in the minds of many is why the increasing need to privatize and exit from the public domain and particularly more important to minority shareholders or the non-interested shareholders is whether the price offered to them is fair and reasonable.

As a result, the Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group (MSWG) is organizing a seminar themed "Privatization & Take-Over Matters",  to be held at MSWG Training Centre on 25 March 2014.

MSWG aims to look for a particular outcome from each of the current privatization or take-over bids in question to curb what is seen as short-term motivations, delivering a target listed issuer easily into the hands of the bidders.

The seminar will discuss and look at various matters and issues pertaining to privatization and take-over bids, including:

• Factors leading a listed company to consider a privatization or a take-over bids
• Review of legislations and regulatory rules governing privatization of listed companies
• Role of various parties and relationships in a privatization or a take-over bids
• Privatization or take-over implications: Voluntary general offer vs mandatory general offer scheme of arrangement (SOA), selective capital reduction/repayment, assets & liabilities acquisition, offerors and parties in concert
• Practical issues, and useful tips, Qs and As on case studies in question

The fee for this seminar is RM80 per seat.

Click here for more information and Registration Form of this MSWG Seminar on Privatization & Take-Over Matters.

Garmin nuvi 2565LM Sing/Mal GPS firmware v8.00 update

I have just updated the firmware of my Garmin nuvi 2565LM Sing/Mal GPS from v7.60 to the latest v8.00.

This new version is said to have improved the route calculation issue.

You can find this firmware update here: http://www.garmin.com.sg/products/ontheroad/nuvi_2565lm_sg_my/#updateTab

The instruction on that firmware update webpage is very clear and easy to follow.

Besides, the latest MalFreeMaps 2014.10 with latest Singapore MCE (Marina Coastal Expressway) data is also available now. You can find it here: http://www.garmin.com.sg/mapupdate/

Family retreat weekend to Felda Residence Hot Springs, Sungkai, Perak

Last week, my family had a nice retreat weekend to Felda Residence Hot Springs, Sungkai, Perak.

Sungkai is a small town near to Bidor, accessible from either North-South Expressway or federal trunk road.

The Felda Residence Hot Springs is quite some distance away from Sungkai town, hiding deep inside an oil palm plantation area. Not to be worried, there are a lot of sign boards showing the way to this attraction along the way, so it is pretty easy to find.

We booked a 3-bedroom villa from MATTA Fair quite some times ago. The price was RM600 for one night stay including breakfast for 6 persons.

After entering the entrance, we need to register our stay and get the key of the villa from the reception, located in a building with a large car park in front of it. The hot springs park and villas are located quite some distance away from the reception building.

The 3-bedroom villa is very nice. It has a quadrangle design with a private Jacuzzi at the center.

It has a nice living room with flat panel TV...

... and a fully furnished kitchen.

Its 3 bedrooms are large and comfortable. This is the master bedroom.

The Felda Residence Hot Springs has a cold mountain springs swimming pool...

... and of course, the natural hot springs pool.

In the place where hot springs flow out from underground, we can have egg boiling activity. The water temperature there is close to 100 degree Celcius.

We had our dinner in Sungkai town. There are a few famous Chinese restaurant in the town, such as Choy Kee (财记) and Sun Kee (新记).

The next morning, we had our buffet breakfast at the restaurant within walking distance from the villa. There is nothing much to shout about the food, but considered quite OK if you don't have high expectation.

One thing to note is that, Celcom has a good HSDPA Internet coverage at Felda Residence Hot Springs in Sungkai, while the Internet speed of Maxis and Digi there is pretty slow.

Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 - my first wireless mouse

Recently the mouse attached to my desktop PC became less responsive and less precise to scrolling, and I decided to replace it.

I have been using wired mouse all the while, be it PC or laptop. Wired mouse has the advantages of being cheaper price, lightweight, operates without the need of battery, and precise pointer handling.

However, wireless mouse is cool, can operate quite a long distance away from the computer, and its price gap with wired mouse has gone narrower and narrower. I decided to give it a try.

I have finalized my selection between Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 and Logitech Couch M515 Mouse. Their similarity being able to work on almost all type of surfaces, can scroll sideway by tilting the scroll wheel, and has a comparatively bigger size than most other wireless mice (though still slightly smaller than normal wired desktop mouse).

The price of Logitech Couch M515 Mouse is higher, and I doubt the M515 is still in production as it can hardly be found in the market. Therefore, I settled down with Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000, which cost me around RM70 (bought from Lazada with credit card discount campaign).

The Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 comes with a nano transceiver running on 2.4Ghz wireless technology. It can be stowed at the bottom of the mouse, which will intelligently turn off the power of the mouse. When first plugged into the USB port of my PC, the installation program is automatically loaded, and it will automatically pair with the mouse.

All the 4 buttons on the mouse (left button, right button, scroll wheel button and left button) are programmable with Microsoft Mouse and keyboard Center which is automatically downloaded and installed when first use.

The wheel button can be used to quickly flip through opened applications in Windows 7. It is be programmed for other function too.

The scrolling speed of its wheel is also programmable.

I like the smooth scrolling of this Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000, particularly the accelerated vertical scrolling function.

This is a 1,000dpi mouse, which I find it moving quite slow on the screen. This can easily be solved by setting the pointer speed to be faster under Windows' Control Panel > Mouse Properties > Pointer Options.

Despite it weights heavier than my previous wired mouse, and the need of changing battery in the future, I like this mouse very much for its ergonomic design and size, good set of programmable functionalities, precise BlueTrack Technology that can even work on glossy surface, and being wireless with freedom to operate from any location near to the computer.

Converted my CIMB Petronas Platinum Mastercard to CIMB Cash Rebate Platinum Mastercard

Recently, I have successfully converted my CIMB Petronas Platinum Mastercard to CIMB Cash Rebate Platinum MasterCard, and the process is more straightforward than I thought.

I just made a call to CIMB credit card customer service center to request for the card convertion, and upon approval (1 week later), the conversion was done and I received my new CIMB Cash Rebate Platinum MasterCard.

Sharing out my credit card conversion experience here:

• The credit balance of existing card will be transferred to the new card.
• The auto-payment arrangement (for utility, telco, etc.) with existing card is automatically carried across to the new card. The auto-payment seamlessly continues in the new card.
• The CIMB 0% Easy Pay instalment payment plan with the existing card seamlessly continues on the new card. 
• The CIMB Touch 'n Go Zing card that tied to the existing card will now be tied to the new card. I have successfully made an auto-reload to the Zing card just as before.
• The RM50 Government Service Tax period continues from the existing card, and will only be charged upon expiry.
• The new card has a new expiry date, which is later than the existing card.
• The CIMB Cash Rebate Platinum MasterCard is capped with a maximum credit limit of RM20k only. If your existing card has a higher credit limit, it will be reduced to RM20k.

Conclusion: with CIMB, if you want to switch from one card to another, you don't need to cut your existing card and apply for the new card. Just make a call to the customer service center to request for the conversion. You will need to verify your identity over the phone with some questions and answers, but the good news is, you don't even need to fill in any application form for the new card. The auto-payment, Easy Pay instalment and Touch 'n Go Zing will also be automatically migrated to the new card without any hassle on your side.