Monday, December 21, 2015

A families trip to Belum-Temenggor Forest Reserve

Do you know that located at the east of Penang Island about 155km travelling distance away, there is a world's oldest rainforest believed to have been in existence for over 130 million years, covering an area of over 300,000 hectares and surrounding the 2nd largest lake in Peninsular Malaysia.

The huge lake is called Tasik Temenggor, and the northern part of the tropical rainforest is called the Royal Belum State Park of Perak, while the southern part of it is called the Temenggor Forest Reserve.

There are many beautiful scenes of nature in this forest reserve area. The lake is pretty clean. It is like a mirror reflecting the scenes on it.


For this nature trekking trip, we took the 4 days 3 nights Temenggor Package of Belum Eco Resort. The package includes cruising, accommodation, activities, and 4 meals per day.

We parked our cars at the car parking area of Pulau Banting public jetty. The jetty is located after the 1st bridge of East-West Highway crossing the Temenggor lake and before the 2nd bridge.

We boarded on the boat from the resort and travelled south. We passed by Pulau Talikail, an island with a mountain, and there is a lookout tower on top of the mountain. Unfortunately, we were told that the lookout tower is under repair, so we have no chance to climb up the mountain for sight seeing at the tower there.

After about 30 minutes, we reached a small island at the heart of Tasik Temenggor where Belum Eco Resort is resided. The small island belongs to Uncle Steve Khong, who established and run the resort on it.


Located far away from civilized area, there is almost no phone signal coverage on the island, so you will be free from Internet disturbance during your stay. Water supply is pumped directly from the lake. Drinking water is properly treated by filtration process. Electricity is supplied with their own power generator, and only available from 6.30pm to 7.30am. That should not bother you much, as during daytime you will be out of the resort going for activities. Interestingly, the resort does have a modernized sewage treatment system to properly treat the waste water before discharging to the lake.

The green house on the lake in the photo below is where the diesel powered generator located. It is a bit noisy during operation, so it is purposely located some distance away.


There are 3 types of accommodation available. The boat houses are spacious and well equipped.


The 2nd type is double storey dormitories, good for large group of people staying together.

The 3rd type is where we stayed, small chalets with a queen size bed with private outdoor bathroom. Hot water is available with gas heater.


This dining area of the resort is clean and nice. I think this is a temporary dining area, as the actual dining area is located on a platform below this area, which is currently under repair.


There is a function hall upstairs. Every night, one documentary movie about the Belum-Temenggor Forest Reserve will be shown for visitors to have better understanding about the place and its nature. After the movie session, usually there will be Karaoke session at the same function hall.


Evening activities at the resort includes fishing, swimming, kayaking, photographing, etc. If you are lucky, you will be able to see hornbills and monkeys on the tree. There are elephants in the surrounding rainforest, but not on the small island of the resort.

Tilapia fishes are found in the lake, and if you are lucky, you can get Tilapia of easily above 2kg for additional dish in your dinner.

In front of the resort, there are many fish breeding facilities, but they are not belonged to Uncle Steve.


Travelling to other visiting sites in the forest reserve will require cruising of at least 20 minutes.

We saw old tree with big trunk like this in the rainforest.


The world's largest flower Rafflesia is also found in the rainforest. Unfortunately, by the time of our visit, the flowers are still at the budding phase and looked like a ball.


We also had some fun at waterfalls in Pulau Tujuh. The jungle trek to the largest waterfall upstream is a bit challenging to the young children. There were some wooden facilities downstream which were abandoned, probably damaged by elephants.

We visited to an Aborigines village.


Our children coming from urban area encountered with their children staying with the nature.


We passed by an island with white rock with dinosaurs age outcrops, on the way to a trekking area to explore the Sira Gajah salt lick. We couldn't find any elephant that day, but found some caves made by the elephants, and also their droppings.

After staying 3 nights with the nature, our vacation finished and we returned back to our urban live. I started to miss the 3 dogs and 1 cat living in the small island, and also the relaxing and email/messaging disturbance free moment at the rainforest!

Friday, December 11, 2015

Updated my HTC One (M8) to Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with Sense 7.0

My HTC One (M8) Developer Edition smartphone received its OTA update from Android 5.01 (Lollipop) to Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) last week.

In this update, its Sense UI also upgraded from Version 6.0 to Version 7.0.

 
Here are some of the noticeable changes found in this update:
  • Android Marshmallow introduces a new feature called Doze which can tremendously prolong battery life. After this update, my phone still has remaining 58% of battery after 19 hours of normal usage with several phone calls, heavy messaging, email checking, calendaring, and moderate BlinkFeed reading, Facebook, web browsing, Youtube, etc. This is really amazing to me. I believe the battery can easily last for 2 days usage without recharging with this new version of Android.
  • The Navigation Bar is now user configurable. You can now add more soft buttons to it, define which buttons to show, or even hide out the entire bar.
  • Now you can have control on the app permissions, defining what permissions to grant to the apps installed in the phone.

  • Configurable "Do not Disturb" mode

  • Option to format the SD card as internal storage.
  • Home Widget that can auto-switch the icons and widgets on your home screen based on your location (Home, Work, or Out).
  • More personalization to the Theme and accent colour.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Updated the firmware of my Transcend DrivePro 220 car video recorder from v1.0.7 to v1.0.8

I have successfully updated the firmware of my Transcend DrivePro 220 car video recorder from version 1.0.7 to the latest version 1.0.8.

The new firmware of Transcend DrivePro 220 can be downloaded from this webpage:
http://www.transcend-info.com/Support/No-692

Look for the Driver/Firmware section under the Support & Download screen, the click on the file download icon to download the firmware update package.


Here are the steps to perform the firmware update to the Transcend DrivePro 220:

Step 1: Remove the microSD card from the car video recorder and put it in a USB card reader.

Step 2: Plug in the USB card reader to your computer to access to the storage content of the microSD card.

Step 3: Backup all the videos and pictures in the microSD card to your computer.

Step 4: You will see a folder called System in the microSD card. Go into that folder. It is OK if you find the folder is empty.

Step 5: Unzip the firmware update package you just downloaded from Transcend's support website, you will find a file called DP220.bin. Copy this file into the System folder of the microSD card.

Step 6: Safely remove the USB card reader from your computer, and put back the microSD card into the Transcend DrivePro 220.

Step 7: Ensure your Transcend DrivePro 220 is fully charged.

Step 8: Turn on the Transcend DrivePro 220, and open the Settings menu.

Step 9: Go to the "Firmware Upgrade" option, and press the OK button.



Step 10: Confirm the firmware update, and press OK to proceed.



The firmware update will now begin. It will take several minutes, and your Transcend DrivePro 220 will reboot itself after the update.


After reboot, it should be running on the new version of firmware. You can check the firmware version inside the Settings > Information screen.


Wednesday, December 2, 2015

U Mobile awarded as Malaysia 2015 Fastest Mobile Network by Ookla and give 1GB additional free quota in December 2015 to all subscribers

Which mobile network provides the fastest 4G LTE Internet bandwidth in 2015?

According to the Ookla Speedtest results, the winner is... U Mobile, and the second place is... Celcom. The Maxis who made a lot of noise recently ends up at the third place, and the forth is Digi.


Right after winning this award, U Mobile has announced that all their postpaid and prepaid subscribers will get 1GB extra quota to their data plan for free in the month of December 2015.

I have received this SMS from U Mobile too!


Seems like I have made a right choice in switching my tablet network provider from Digi to U Mobile recently.

Meanwhile, there is news that P1 who invested heavily in the wrong technology (WiMAX instead of LTE) will make a strike back to the market under the umbrella of TM. This means that TM who all the while in the fixed line market, will soon enter into the competition world in the mobile market, after they bought P1 mobile business quite some times ago.

Things are getting interesting, especially if you still remember P1's advertisement about "potong", ended up they need the rescue from TM.

Anyhow, it is a good news for consumers to see more competition in the market. We look forward for more quality service and more "potong" in pricing among them.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Auspicious dates for baby first haircut (Mundan) in 2016

In many culture, religion and/or tradition, the first haircut of a baby is considered an important milestone for his/her life. The day is known as Mundan, Chadakarana, Halaqah, Upsherin, etc.

Here is the list of auspicious dates for baby first haircut in year 2016, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)


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

Auspicious dates in 2016 for getting a baby

Here is the list of auspicious dates in 2016 for getting a baby (求嗣), which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

The dates have good element(s) to embro/faetus. Traditionally, the dates are referred for conception planning (making love and expecting a baby to the family). Nowadays, people also make reference to them for Caesarian delivery of new born.



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

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Register free Comexe Dynamic DNS domain name and use it in TP-Link router

Dynamic Domain Name System (DDNS) is a way for you to access to your home network from the Internet even if your ISP is assigning dynamic (non-fixed) IP address to you.

With DDNS configured in your router, you can access your home network using a domain name, regardless of what the IP address of your router has changed to.

TP-Link router provides 3 options of DDNS to setup with, namely:

  • Comexe
  • DyDNS
  • No-IP
Among the three of them, Comexe provides free DDNS service, and doesn't need periodical account confirmation.

In order to use Comexe DDNS service, you need to register an account in their website:
http://www.comexe.net/member/reg_login.php


There are 5 fields for you to fill in:
  • The 1st field "用户名" is your preferred account name, comprises of 3 to 16 characters. For free Comexe DDNS service, your free dynamic domain name is fixed to be your_account_name.kmdns.net. So, set your account name carefully.
  • The 2nd field "登录密码" is your preferred password comprises 6 to 16 characters.
  • The 3rd field "确认密码" is to reconfirm your preferred password.
  • The 4th field "电子邮箱" is your email address, which will be used to reset your password in case you forget it in the future.
  • The 5th field "验证码" is a captcha verification. Just key in the characters you see in the image.
When you are done, click on the left button "注册" below to register your account. The right button "取消" is a cancel button.

The registration might take some time. Do not refresh your browser while it is still running. You need to be a little bit patient.

If your account is successfully registered, you will reach the screen that looks like below.


Now, go to this URL directly: http://www.comexe.net/member/domain_free.php


You should be able to see your free DDNS domain name is ready for activation. You need to click on the "立即开通" button to activate it before it can be used.

Upon successful activation, you will see the message similar to this:


Next, login to your TP-Link router, and go to Dynamic DNS configuration section.

Select Comexe (www.comexe.cn) as your Service Provider, then enter your DDNS domain name and provide your account name (user name) and password in Comexe.

Make sure you ticked the "Enable DDNS" option, can click the Login button.

If you see the word "Succeeded!" in the Connection Status, then your dynamic domain name is up and running now. You can then proceed to click the Save button to save the DDNS configuration in the router.

In future, if you want to disable the DDNS service, just untick the "Enable DDNS" option and click the Logout button.

You can go to System Tools > Diagnostic section of your TP-Link router to ping your dynamic domain name. You should be able to see that your dynamic domain name is now bound to the current IP address of your router's WAN interface.




Monday, November 16, 2015

Auspicious dates for moving to new house / office in 2016

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


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

Using My U Mobile app to check monthly plan quota usage and perform other account management

Nowadays most Telco already have mobile apps for smartphone in Android and/or iOS to check for our prepaid or postpaid subscription plan quota usage and perform other account management, including doing top-up or monthly payment, etc.

Such official Android apps for various Malaysian telcos are:

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any official Android app for Celcom (either postpaid or Xpax).

Among them, I found that My U Mobile is so far the best mobile app which is very clear and straightforward for checking quota balance with its simple user interface.

In its My Plan screen, you can clearly see what is the subscribed plan, what are included in the subscription package, and each of their individual real time quota usage, all displayed in one screen.

The mobile apps of other telcos also provide similar information, but might be spreading the information into several screens, and/or the user interface is not as straightforward to the user.

In the same My U Mobile app, you can also check your bill statements and perform bill payment with credit card too.

You can also use it to apply for U Card to collect points and enjoy privileges. The U Card can stay virtual inside your smart phone too.


I think My U Mobile is so far the best official Malaysian telco app in terms of design and development. However, it could be the worst in terms of maintenance and support.

Like you can see in the above screen about U Promotion, the same Starbucks 10% discount for U Card members repeated 3 times, showing poor quality control. We would expect it to show only once per item, or if it repeats, there should be some different between each items, and not exactly the same.

In addition, the server of this My U Mobile seems to be pretty unstable. Users can be completely cut off from the server for more than one week, rendering the app completely unusable. Worse still, there is no announcement or information from U Mobile explaining what happened to the downtime, and when will the service be available again, leaving their users in complete darkness.

So, I've experienced the best design and usability, together with the worst maintenance and support for this My U Mobile app. Can't we get the best from both side to have a perfect service?

Monday, November 9, 2015

Switched telco plan of my tablet from Digi Tablet 1GB plan to U Mobile U28 3GB plan

About 2 months ago, Digi started to offer a new RM25 SmartPlan with 1GB monthly Internet data quota.

I contacted Digi to find a way to switch over my Digi Tablet 1GB plan (RM29/month) to this RM25 SmartPlan. Disappointedly, Digi told me there is no way to switch over, unless I terminate the existing Tablet 1GB subscription, and reapply for a new RM25 SmartPlan subscription.

Since there is no flexibility to switch over to the new plan, I wondered if there is any other better postpaid plan from Celcom, Maxis or U Mobile for my tablet, and I found U Mobile U28.


The monthly subscription of this U Mobile U28 is about the same as the Digi Tablet 1GB plan, and is in fact RM1 cheaper.

However, it provides 3GB monthly Internet data quota, which is triple of what the old Digi Tablet 1GB or the new Digi RM25 SmartPlan is offering.

On top of that, there are free voice call minutes and free SMS every month, which is not available in the Digi counterpart plan. Anyhow, it is very rare for me to use the tablet to make phone call or send out SMS, although I do use it to receive SMS.

Similar to Digi SmartPlan, I can listen to KKBox music with U Mobile all day long without using up my Internet quota, with their free music streaming service.


U Mobile also provides free YouTube and Tonton video streaming, but only within the very odd time period from 2am to 10am everyday.

As a result, after terminated my Digi Tablet 1GB plan, I switched over to U Mobile U28 plan to have a try.

Now, after about 2 months of usage, I decided to stay with U Mobile.

I found that in many places in urban area, the Internet speed of U Mobile is about the same with Digi. I some places, it is even better than Digi. In certain rural areas where U Mobile only able to provide EDGE or GPRS data speed, I still have my Celcom First Plan in my smartphone as backup Internet. After all, Celcom is still having the best rural coverage among the telcos now.


Sunday, November 8, 2015

Upgraded the firmware of my TP-Link TL-WA860RE 300Mbps WiFi range extender to Version 3.15.8 Build 150820 Rel.40814n

I have just upgraded the firmware of my TP-Link TL-WA860RE 300Mbps WiFi range extender to Version 3.15.8 Build 150820 Rel.40814n.


The most visible enhancement to this new firmware is the addition of Proxy Mode on top of the existing Universal Mode and WDS Mode of operation.


The Proxy Mode is said to have the best compatibility with routers and access points of all brands. If your range extender has problem working in Universal Mode and WDS Mode, you can try using this Proxy Mode. However, it may decrease the overall performance.

Note that you might lost all your existing settings in the TL-WA860RE after the firmware upgrade. Anyhow, there are not much settings for the device, so you can redo all the settings without taking up much of your time and effort.

You can click here to download the firmware for TP-Link TL-WA860RE version 3.15.8.

To perform the upgrade, unzip the downloaded file to get the wa860rev1_en_3_15_8_up_boot(150820).bin file.

Login to the WiFi range extender, and go to System Tools > Firmware Upgrade to perform the upgrade.

I strongly recommend you to connect to the device using a LAN cable instead of connecting through WiFi to perform the firmware upgrade.



Saturday, November 7, 2015

Setting up IPv6 in TP-Link TL-WDR3600 router for TM UniFi Internet

IPv6 is finally supported in the latest Malaysian firmware version 3.14.3 Build 150605 Rel.53236n for TP-Link TL-WDR3600 router.

The available IPv6 Internet connection types are:

  • DHCPv6
  • Static IPv6
  • PPPoEv6
  • Tunnel 6to4
So far, I only able to make the Tunnel 6to4 work in my router. I am not able to obtain IPv6 address with the other 3 connection types.

Here is the way to setup the TP-Link TL-WDR3600 router to support IPv6 network with TM UniFi, using Tunnel 6to4 method.

Go to IPv6 Support > IPv6 Setup, and enable the IPv6, choose "Tunnel 6to4" as the WAN connection type.

Set the MTU Size to be 1472, which is 20 bytes less than the MTU Size of 1492 set for the IPv4 in PPPoE Advanced Settings page.

To make use of Google DNS servers, set your primary and secondary IPv6 DNS servers to be
2001:4860:4860::8888 and 2001:4860:4860::8844 respectively.

Leave the LAN IPv6 Address Assign Type as SLAAC.
 

Click the Save button and you are done. You should be able to see your IPv6 address and settings in the IPv6 Status page now.

You can test your IPv6 connectivity with this website: http://test-ipv6.com/


Note that you won't be able to get a 10/10 score with Tunnel 6to4 connection. The website will just give you a 7/10. This is absolutely fine, as long as you don't get MTU related error which is the common headache in IPv6 setting.

Next, you can compare your Internet access speed to Japan when using IPv4 and IPv6. Both connection speeds are, in fact, surprisingly very different.

URL to test IPv4 connection speed from your location to the Japan server: http://www.speedtest6.com/



URL to test IPv6 connection speed from your location to the same Japan server: http://ipv6.speedtest6.com/



Below is the ping result from my computer to www.google.com using IPv4 and IPv6:

Upgraded the firmware of my TP-Link TL-WDR3600 router to version 3.14.3 Build 150605 Rel.53236n with UniFi and Maxis Fiber support

I have just upgraded the firmware of my TP-Link TL-WDR3600 router to the latest version 3.14.3 Build 150605 Rel.53236n with UniFi and Maxis Fiber support from the previous Build 130829.


Noticeable new features in this new version of TP-Link TL-WDR3600 router firmware for UniFi and Maxis Fiber high speed broadband are:

1. Guest Network

This feature has been made available to the universal version of firmware for TL-WDR3600 router for quite a long time ago, but is just newly available for its firmware version with UniFi and Maxis Fiber support.

Now, we can provide guest WiFi Internet access to our visitors with a separated SSID and password, and can determine whether the guest connections can communicate with the other hosts (computers, network printers, etc.) in our LAN or not.

We can also restrict the upload and download bandwidth for guest network with bandwidth control.

In addition, we can define the time period that make available the guest network.

We also have an option to allow the guest network to have access to the shared folder in the USB storage device connected to the router, using a separate login and password, with different storage authority.

2. Application Layer Gateway (ALG) for SIP

This is to allow some multimedia clients to communicate across NAT.

3. IPv6 Support

This feature has been made available to the universal version of firmware for TL-WDR3600 router for quite a long time ago, but is just newly available for its firmware version with UniFi and Maxis Fiber support.

You can click here to learn about how I set up IPv6 in this TL-WDR3600 to work with UniFi Internet.

4. New login mechanism

The login mechanism of this new firmware has changed, and seems to be not backward compatible with the older version. You can no longer login the router with your old credential after the firmware upgrade.


You can click here to download the TL-WDR3600 firmware version 3.14.3 with UniFi and Maxis Fiber support.

To perform the upgrade, unzip the downloaded file to get the wdr3600v1_malaysiaVLAN_en_3_14_3_up_boot(150605).bin file.

Login to the router, and go to System Tools > Firmware Upgrade to perform the upgrade.

Important note:

Your router configurations will be reset to default after the firmware upgrade. Therefore, it is extremely important for you to copy down or screen capture all the existing router configurations before performing the upgrade, and reapply all those configuration to the new firmware after the upgrade.

This includes the login and password to the router will be reset to "admin" user with "admin" password, and its IP address reset to 192.168.0.1.

I have tried doing a configuration backup of the old firmware before the upgrade, and restore the backup to the new firmware. This will not work, because you can't login using your previous login and password, probably due to the change in login mechanism.


Friday, November 6, 2015

Auspicious dates for renovation in 2016

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


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

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Auspicious dates for opening business in 2016

Here is the list of auspicious dates for opening business in year 2016, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

It can be applied to new business opening, or reopening of business after a break/holiday. (Click the image to enlarge)


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

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Solved unable to sign in Norton Identity Safe problem

I use Norton Internet Security as the security solution for my home computers, and use the Norton Identity Safe that comes with it to store my web accesses identity information.

Few days ago, when I tried to open my vault in my web browser as usual, I found out that I can't login to Norton Identity Safe.

The symptom is like this:

When I tried to open the vault, I saw this "Get started" pop-up window.


Fine. Click on the "Sign in" button, I was required to provide my email address and password as registered with Symantec to continue.

I keyed in the email address and password, and the window showed it was connecting to the server. The next screen, instead of logged in, it went back to the "Get started" screen again.

I used the same email address and password to login to Norton website, I was able to login without any problem. This means that my email and password combination to login to Norton is correct.


After numerous trial and error, finally I discovered the solution!

Here is the trick: you need to logout from Norton Internet Security before you can successfully login to Norton Identity Safe.

To logout Norton Internet Security, open the application, then click on your email address shown in "Sign in as" corner, and click OK.


After that, go back to the web browser to open the vault.

This time, after entered my email address and password, I finally saw this familiar window:


Key in my vault password, and the vault is opened.

By the way, once successful login to Norton Identity Safe, you will automatically logged in to Norton Internet Security as well, even though you have logout just now.


Thursday, October 22, 2015

Six lessons that project managers could learn from elephants

Elephants are majestic creatures that have remained mysterious to humans though they have been domesticated thousands of years ago.

Tales of their bravery and intelligence have been carried through generations which can teach us a few things about community life.

Startups with brilliant plans and experienced project managers sometimes fail to implement their tasks or time or fail to recognize business opportunities and fall behind others.

Here are a few lessons that project managers can learn from these intelligent animals who have managed to survive for centuries in the midst of harsh environmental changes and pressure from human settlements.

1. Learning from mentors

Like a calf learns its first lessons humbly from its mother and other senior cow elephants in the herd and hones its survival instincts, project manager should also display humility before experts more experienced than them. Expertise and experience of seniors will help project manager avoid problems and maximize potential of success.

2. Awaiting recognition

The present trend among people is to work hard and achieve success at a faster pace to be considered as achievers in society and workplace. In this thirst for recognition and quick fame people fail to take time to appreciate efforts of others which have helped to bring them to this level. The ideal work culture should be to let your work speak for itself instead of hankering after glory.

3. Developing a thick skin

People in general lack a healthy attitude towards criticism and comparison and tend to develop negative reactions. The right approach would be to develop thick skin like an elephant which is extremely tough and take criticism in a positive manner to improve work standard and use it as an enriching experience.

4. Optimal use of strength

Just as an elephant uses its massive strength to pull a tiny shrub or a large tree with the same deftness, a project manager also should know where to use their expertise. Each individual is endowed with strength and ability to perform tasks and project manager has to recognize these abilities of team members and put them to effective use.

5. Effective communication

Elephants communicate with each other continuously to stay in touch and also to discuss about vegetation and water resources. In digital age man has much more tools of communication in hand to share ideas and convey progress reports. The key lies in sharing details at appropriate times to manage project progress.

6. Surviving against adversity

As firms grow and expand there will be bigger challenges for project managers as they will have to compete against bigger brands and people more experienced than themselves. Strong managers have to develop survival instinct to give a fair fight to all opponents and complete project successfully.

(Note: The above is excerpted from the Project Portfolio Management Playbook published by Thinking Portfolio)

Monday, October 19, 2015

CIMB CashLite and the calculation of effective interest rate from flat interest rate

I was called by CIMB and offered a credit card linked personal loan (a.k.a. cash advance facility) called CIMB CashLite at the flat interest rate of 3.99% for a tenure period of up to 4 years (48 months).

I was told that there are no fees involved (cash advance fees, processing fees, etc.) other than the flat interest rate. Of course, there is still a catch: every monthly instalment need to be paid promptly, or else there will be penalty charge (late payment charge) and finance charge on the outstanding payment.

I was also told that there are no lock-in periods or early settlement fees for this loan. Early settlement can be made by calling to their customer service.

Is the interest rate of 3.99% looks attractive? So far, this is the lowest credit card linked personal loan rate offered to me. Not long ago, I was also offered by HSBC at an interest rate of 4.99% which I had rejected.

To quickly calculate the effective interest rate, what I need is MS Excel. Google Sheets or Docs To Go spreadsheets in my Android phone can do the same calculation too.

Open a new worksheet, and key in the information for loan amount (principal), the flat annual interest rate, and the number of repayments.

For example, a loan amount of $10,000 at the flat annual interest rate of 3.99% over a period of 4 years is as below:


The total interest payable is =B1*B2*B3/12. This is because 3.99% is the annual rate, so we have to divide 48 months by 12 to get 4 years, and apply the 3.99% per annum rate to it.

The total repayment is =B1+B5. This is very straightforward.

The monthly payment amount is =B6/B3. This is also very straightforward.

Once we obtained the monthly payment amount, we can calculate the effective interest rate with this formula:
=RATE(B3,-B7,B1,0)*12

And the effective interest rate I got is 7.46%.

Back to the question: is this interest rate attractive?

I would say it is quite attractive to me.

If I take the loan and make an investment with CAGR of 3.99%, I would have gain 1694.09 from a 10,000 principal 4 years later. Deducting the interest paid of 1596, I still made 98.09 from it. That is 0.98% of 10,000.

If I take the loan and make an investment with CAGR of 10%, I would have gain 4641 from a 10,000 principal 4 years later. Deducting the interest paid of 1596, I will make 3045 from it. That is 30.45% of 10,000.

So, you guess, did I actually take up this offer by CIMB?

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Olympus Global Open Photo Contest 2015

"Photography has the power to bring people together from all over the world."

Currently Olympus Corporation is having an Olympus Global Open Photo Contest 2015 that is open to everyone, from amateurs to professionals, using any photographic device from smartphones to interchangeable lens DSLR cameras, of any brand.

The contest accepts entries until 11:00 am, Friday, 20 November 2015 (Japan time).

To participate, you need to go to the contest website and register for an account, then upload your photo into the appropriate category from:

  • Birth
  • Place to preserve
  • Smiles and laughter
  • Macro
  • Art
Each entrant may submit up to 5 photo entries for each theme, and each submitted photo must be in JPEG format and be 15MB or smaller.

In the contest website, you can also view all the photo entries already participated in this contest.
 
The Grand Prize winner will be awarded the latest Olympus PEN camera and lens, along with 1,000,000 Japanese yen (about US$8,350).

There will be 14 additional prizes given out per theme, and a Viewers' Raffle will be held with an additional 301 winners, totaling to 372 winners.


Sunday, October 11, 2015

My NutriBullet Pro 900 Series 900W Superfood Nutrition Extractor - more than just a blender

I purchased this NutriBullet Pro 900 Series 900W Superfood Nutrition Extractor online at the price of slightly more than RM200 a few months ago.


Its packaging box is quite thin, therefore you can see its corners got dented a bit along the way with the courier service when the online merchant sent it to me. Anyhow, the content inside is not hurt.

Unboxing this NutriBullet Pro 900 Series, you will find...


  • 1x high-torque NutriBullet power base
  • 2x tall cups (24 oz), one with handled lip ring and another with regular lip ring
  • 1x short cup (18 oz)
  • 1x colossal cup (32 oz)
  • 1x flip-top to-go lid
  • 2x stay-fresh resealable lids
  • 2x stainless steel extractor blades
You can also find 3 books inside...
  • 1x NutriBullet Pocket Nutritionist
  • 1x NutriBullet User Guide & Recipe Book
  • 1x NutriBullet Life Changing Recipe Book
This NutriBullet is not like other blender or juicer in the market.

Firstly, it is equipped with a much more powerful 900-watt (1.2 HorsePower) motor, which is able to spin its specially designed stainless steel extractor blade at the speed of 25,000 RPM. This fast action can break down, while pulverizing, all the thick and tough skins, stems and seeds of the nuts, fresh fruits and vegetables which contains all the essential nutrients hidden within it.

Secondly, its bullet-shape design with overturned cup in action produces a cyclonic action that break the pulp, skin, seeds, and stems of the plants down into tiny drinkable particles.

Therefore, its chewing, juicing, or blending result can't be rival by ordinary blenders. Ordinary blender just able to mix all the food items you put in it without breaking down into finer particles or smoothening it. This makes it to leave out pulp and fiber as a waste when you run the mixture through a strainer. The blender is fit to make a thinned out smoothie. NutriBullet on the other hand, leaves no residue of the food particles when you run the juice through a strainers as it pulverizes the food particles and converts it into a pulpy rich smoothie that is filled with nutritional value. It offers you a Nutriblast drink that is rich in fiber and nutrition.

With it, I can make delicious soups, juices, dressings, desserts, ice-creams, dips, sauces, peanut butter, baby foods, etc. There are quite a lot of NutriBullet recipes available in the Internet. There are also a few NutriBullet cook books available in the bookstores.

Hint: Click on the "Older Posts" link to continue reading, or click here for a listing of all my past 3 months articles.