Scholarship2u website and Scholarship Fair 2016

Scholarships2u.com is an interesting website, acting as a one-stop gateway portal to scholarship information and application for Malaysian students of secondary school, college, or university up to Master degree, to study either locally or abroad.

The website aims to make finding the right college and scholarship faster than before with just a click of the button. Students can apply to scholarship offered by multiple institutions, and are required to sit for a scholarship test as assessment to the application.

The basic criteria to meet scholarship eligibility are school transcripts, achievements, family background and etc. The criteria, however, differs from country to country, state to state and even college to college.

The website is a good initiative for parents and students seeking for scholarship as financial aid to study. However, I find that improvement could be made for the website to list the scholarships offered in a better way, and to provide a better search function. Apparently, the website is using Wordpress as its platform, which has many limitation for its feature expansion and future growth.

The website is organizing Scholarship Fair 2016 with over RM10 million worth of scholarship to be offered for studying in  world class schools, colleges and universities from Australia, Malaysia, Switzerland, USA and United Kingdom.

Date: 23 July 2016 (Saturday)
Time: 1pm - 6pm
Venue: Eastin Hotel, Petaling Jaya
Admission: Free for first 1,000 registrations

For registration and more information about the Scholarship Fair 2016, click here to visit to Scholarships2u.com website.

Updated the firmware of my Samsung Xpress M2885FW printer to version 3.00.01.13

I have just updated the firmware of my Samsung Xpress M2885FW printer to version 3.00.01.13.

You can download the latest firmware from Samsung support webpage of this MFP here.

Firmware update can be done via the Samsung SyncThru Web Service, by accessing the printer's IP address using your web browser.

Note that you need to login as administrator user in order to perform the firmware update.

Here are the steps to perform the update:

• Download the latest firmware, and unzip the file.
• Locate the firmware file with extension .HD, such as M2885_V3.00.01.13.hd.
• Open your web browser and access to the printer's SyncThru Web Service.
• Login as administrator.
• Go to Maintenance > Firmware Upgrade.
• Click the Upgrade Wizard button.
• Select the firmware file, e.g. M2885_V3.00.01.13.hd.
• The file will be uploaded, and the firmware update process will begin.
• The printer will restart, followed by the firmware reflash procedure.
• Upon successful update, you can check the firmware information in Maintenance > Firmware Version screen.

And here is the changelog of the firmware for this printer for your reference.

Upgraded my home MFP to Samsung Xpress SL-M2885FW/XSS mono multifunction laser-class LED printer from Dell 1355cn colour multifunction LED printer

My Dell 1355cn colour multifunction laser-class LED printer has served me for more than 4 years before I hit with a paper jam problem that I'm unable to resolve by myself (probably due to faulty in either its sensor or paper feed roller alignment).

Considering its high toner price and I found difficulty to get a printer repair shop who are willing to repair this Dell printer, I decided to replace it with a new Samsung Xpress SL-M2885FW/XSS mono multifunction (print/scan/copy/fax) laser-class LED printer.

 

I have chosen a mono laser printer this time rather than a colour laser printer, as I found out that I seldom need to do colour printing. This BLI award-winning mono laser MFP which cost me RM698 (inclusive 6% GST) is much cheaper than the colour laser MFP available in the market. In addition, it only has black toner to replace instead of 4 toners which cost a lot when replaced at the same time.

One of the beauty of this Samsung M2885FW printer is that its imaging unit is separated from the toner, which helps to bring down the cost of the toner. The imaging drum unit MLT-R116 has a page yield of up to 9,000 pages and cost around RM175 for replacement, while its high-yield toner MLT-D116L  with page yield of up to 3,000 pages cost about the same price with the imaging unit. There is an alternative standard-yield toner MLT-D116S with page yield of up to 1,200 pages cost around RM100 only.

The easiest way to setup this Samsung M2885FW printer is to first connect it to the computer using USB cable, configure its TCP/IP settings so that it is accessible with network cable or WiFi LAN. The printer also supports WiFi setup using WPS method.

There are 2 ways to obtain and install its required drivers and software applications. One way is to install from its installation CD, another way is to install the Samsung Printer Software Installer and Samsung Printer Diagnostics which you can download from Samsung support website for SL-M2885FW/XSS.

You can make use of the Samsung Printer Diagnostics software to install and update the drivers and related applications to the latest version.

Other ways to setup the printer's TCP/IP network settings including using its control panel with 2-line LED display, which might not be convenient, and to connect to the printer using WiFi Direct, then continue with the configuration, which might need some technical know-how before the attempt succeed.

There are 2 important software that you need to install namely Samsung Easy Printer Manager and Samsung Easy Document Creator.

The Samsung Easy Printer Manager has 2 modes. The Basic Mode (or I call it end-user mode) is a clean and straightforward screen that tells you the printer's status, and provides quick button access to its scanner functions (which handled by the Samsung Easy Document Creator application), fax functions, user's guide (which is a comprehensive user manual) and some other basic functions.

The Advanced Mode (or I call it administrator mode) provides more detailed information about the printer, including its serial number. It also allows you to perform some settings configuration here.

There is a reason I said setting up TCP/IP for the printer is important. Apart from making the printer accessible via the network once the TCP/IP setting is done, it also enables you to have access to its powerful Samsung SyncThru Web Service which you access by connecting to port 80 of the printer's IP address using your web browser.

The number of information you can get in SyncThru Web Service is even more than Samsung Easy Printer Manager Advanced Mode. It also provides you much more control to the settings of the printer.

You can gain even more access by login as administrator in SyncThru Web Service. The default username is admin and its default password is sec00000. Once logged in, you can replace this username and password with your own.

You can also perform print, scan or fax function from your mobile device through the Android app called Samsung Mobile Print. If you are using iPhone or iPad, there is Samsung Mobile Print for iOS too.

What I like about this printer?

• It prints and/or copies really fast, at speed of up to 28ppm. Much faster than the Dell 1355cn.
• Its print output is of high quality. Resolution can be as high as 4800x600 dpi.
• Its scanner support high resolution of up to 1200x1200 dpi optical, and 4800x4800 dpi maximum.
• It has built-in support for automated double-sided printing, which is a feature normally available in printers of higher range.
• It has built-in support for ID copy to easily copy double-sided cards (e.g. IC, driving license, business card, ...) onto the same page of A4 paper.
• It has built-in support for Google Cloud Print, Samsung Cloud Print, and Apple AirPrint.
• It is small in size, even slightly smaller than the Dell 1355cn.
• It has low power consumption of 1.6W during power save mode, 2.4Wwhen sleeping with WiFi direct on, 50W during standby, and 400W when printing.
• Its paper tray is of drawer type, not exposing the papers in front of the printer. The tray has input capacity of up to 250 sheets of papers.
• It has easy to use Eco Mode which helps to save toner and/or paper usage.

What I dislike about this printer?

• Its 2-line LCD display panel has limited display area. It is not practical to perform setting directly using its control panel.
• When putting in A4 paper in its paper tray, there is still slight exposure of the paper at the back of the printer.
• It supports NFC, which needs to function together with WiFi Direct. However, my phone's NFC contact with the printer most of the time not successful to bring up the Samsung Mobile Print app. It is not easy to make use of this function.
• The Samsung Printer Installer unable to detect and download the latest firmware for the printer, and the Scanner Driver is always in "update needed" state even if the latest version already installed successfully.

Online free search of registered company name and purchase of their company profile with SSM e-Info website

If you are going to start up a new business in Malaysia and would like to check whether the company name you thought of is available or not, now you can check it online for free, with SSM e-Info website.

Other than the above purpose, you can use the same website to check a Malaysian company's information at a small fee payable online. Available information including:

• Company profile: consists of company information, summary of share capital, directors/officers, shareholders, company charges and account summary.
• Company charges: extraction of information from Form 34 (Statement of Particulars to be Lodged with Charge) and Form 40 (Certificate of Registration of Charge).
• Financial comparison: extraction of information from 2 most recent Audited Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Account of the company.
• Business Profile (for LLP, sole-proprietary, partnership): consists of business information, business address, nature of business, branch information (if any) and current business owner.
• Business Termination Letter: certification of termination of registered Business from SURUHANJAYA SYARIKAT MALAYSIA which verify that the Business is expired or terminated.

In the good old days, you need to go to the office of Companies Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia, SSM) to perform the searching, checking and information purchasing. This SSM e-Info website eliminates the hassle by making the service available online.

Before you can perform any searching in the website, you need to register a user account by clicking on the "Register Now as e-Account Member" image link on the website. The registration is free and once your account is successfully registered, you can immediately login and make use of the services available.

You can search the company or business by name or by registration number.

If no search result displayed, then the company name you searched for is probably available for new registration application.

If the search found any matching company/companies or business/businesses, it will display their registration number, name, city and state in search result, and you can click a button to purchase further information of the company/business.

My Avantree CGTR-520-W desktop power station with 5 USB charging ports and 2 AC outlets

You've probably read about my Belkin B2E027 4-port 2.4A full rate USB power charger before. It is still working fine and I am still using it.

Recently, I discovered something even better, which is the Avantree CGTR-520-W desktop power station. It comes with 5 smart USB ports, which each single port able to charge up to 2.4A and the total combined charging capacity is 8A.

It also comes with 2 AC sockets (maximum 10A loading) with surge protector of 1,700 Joule and power rating of 1,250W (for 125Vac) or 2,250W (for 225Vac).

You've probably seen it in action when I talked about my KCX-017 USB current and voltage tester in my previous post.

This power station is handy when you have limited wall sockets, as it won't occupy your wall socket and at the same time it extends another socket for your use. You can use its sockets to charge your laptop and other bigger devices that need to be charged with electrical socket instead of USB.

My KCX-017 USB current and voltage tester

Sometimes you will face problem with USB charging such as charging speed slower than normal, unable to charge, or worse still, you encountered a "reverse charging" whereby current is drawn away from the battery of your device instead of charging it.

The problem could be due to faulty charger, faulty USB cable, or faulty USB port of the device to be charged.

In addition, certain 3rd party USB cables are having quality issue with unstable current flow, or only allow low current flow through it.

A USB tester such as the KCX-017 will be handy to diagnose such situations.

This small gadget only cost around RM25, and works well with wall charger, car charger, power bank, etc. by connecting its attached USB cable to the charger, or by connecting the charging cable to its micro-USB port. It will measure the input voltage and display on its LCD screen.

Its other end is a USB port which you can use a USB cable to connect to a charging recipient such as mobile phone, tablet, GPS navigator, etc. Beside the voltage, it will also measure and display the current drawn by the recipient, and also calculate the mAh value of the charging session.

In summary, this gadget is used to:

• Test no-load voltage of the power supply
• Test output power of USB output devices
• Test working voltage and current of the USB output devices
• Test voltage and line loss of charging cables
• Perform real-time monitoring of the charging status

Its specified working environment is as below:

• Voltage range: 3-7V
  
• Current range: 50mA-3,500mA
  
• Capacity range: 0-19,999mAh

When the input voltage is lower than 4.7V or higher than 5.3V, its LCD screen will flash with an arrowhead indicating under-voltage or over-voltage.

This device can record up to 10 sets of readings. There is a button near to its LCD screen.

• Double click the button, the display will start flashing. Single click the button to switch to different memory slot (from 0 to 9). Double click again to use the current memory slot displayed on screen.
• Long press the button will reset the next memory slot reading back to 0000.

This device is able to memorize the last reading when unplugged. The next time when it is turned on again, that reading will be displayed on its LCD screen.

It is a handy device to troubleshoot USB charging problem, as well as to test for the charging quality of USB cables.

My VST-706 3-in-1 car battery voltage monitor, digital thermometer and USB charger

I have just bought this VST-706 car gadget which plugs into the car cigarette lighter socket and function as 3-in-1:

• Battery voltmeter
• Digital thermometer
• USB 2.0 charger

This little car gadget cost less than RM30 and works with car using 12V battery or 24V battery.

The interpretation of its voltmeter reading is as follow:

Its thermometer measuring range is -9 ~ 80 degree Celsius.

The maximum output current of its USB charging port is 2.1A.

With it, you can always monitor the voltage of your car battery and be alerted of its faulty and timing for its end-of-life, before it went flat. The thermometer and USB charger are extra features that good to have too.

My SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive 3.0

The price of USB flash drive has eventually gone cheap. Nowadays, you can get a genuine 16GB SanDisk Ultra dual USB drive 3.0 with plug-and-play support to OTG-enabled Android devices at the price of less than RM20.

This SanDisk Ultra dual USB drive 3.0 has 2 connectors. At one end is a USB 3.0 connector that is able to transfer file to computer at a speed of up to 130 MBps (or about 1 Gbps).

Note that there is another product called "SanDisk Ultra dual USB drive" without the "3.0" behind, selling at slightly cheaper price, which the USB connector is a USB 2.0 connector and the data transfer speed is much lower than the 3.0 version.

At the other end is a micro-USB connector that can work on the fly with OTG-enabled Android devices.

Similar with the warranty period of most SanDisk Ultra range of products, this SanDisk Ultra dual USB drive 3.0 comes with a 5 years warranty.

Once plugged into the micro-USB port of the Android device, this USB flash drive is auto-detected by Android as one of the external storages and is immediately accessible by File Manager of Android system.

SanDisk also provides a free mobile app called SanDisk Memory Zone for user to access the USB flash drive and to transfer file between it and the device's internal storage or flash memory card installed in the device.

However, I found the function of this SanDisk Memory Zone app is very limited. It doesn't work with the folders in the USB flash drive so you can only copy file to its root directory, and the copying process is pretty slow.

The only Android app I found that can work with it without hassle is ES File Explorer Pro (or its free version ES File Explorer).

ES File Explorer Pro is able to detect and use this OTG drive upon plugged in, and all file operations of copying, moving, renaming, deleting, creating, opening with associated app, etc. can work well without problem.

ES File Explorer Pro works equally well to access my SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive 3.0 with my HTC One M8 smartphone running on Android 6.0 and my Samsung Galaxy Note 5.0 tablet running on Android 4.4.2.

OCBC Bank launched open API for developers to integrate apps with their open data

In line with Singapore Government's Smart Nation Initiative and the Monetary Authority of Singapore's vision to create a Smart Financial Centre and move toward an open API architecture, OCBC Bank has on 17 May 2016 launched their open Application Programming Interface (API) platform, namely CONNECT2OCBC,  that allows software developers to integrate their apps or websites with OCBC's open data related to their products and services.

OCBC claims to be the first in Southeast Asia to introduce such open API service, playing a bigger role in growing the FinTech ecosystem.

For a start, 4 APIs are made available:

• Branch Locator provides a list of OCBC Bank branches with their respective location details and operating hours.
• Credit Card Advisor provides credit card suggestions based on user's lifestyle.
• ATM Locator provides a list of OCBC Bank ATMs with their location details to facilitate users in finding them.
• Forex provides a list of updated currency exchange rates by OCBC, allowing the integrated apps to perform calculations across currencies.

Although these 4 APIs looks limited, it is deemed as a good start. Hopefully more APIs will be made available for broader and deeper usage in the near future.

Click here for more information about the CONNECT2OCBC APIs.

Besides, OCBC has also established a new business unit called The Open Vault @ OCBC, which is a FinTech innovation center aimed to incubate FinTech startups, helping them make products and services that the bank can add to its digital banking arsenal or bring to the market.

The 5 areas of interest of Open Vault @ OCBC are:

• Wealth management
• Credit and financing
• Insurance
• Cyber security
• Artificial intelligence

The center has partnered with Hong Kong venture capital firm Nest to run the OCBC FinTech Accelerator incubation program to provide selected start-ups with business and technical expertise mentorship.

SSPN-i declared 2015 dividend

The Federal Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, has just declared the dividend for Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional (SSPN-i) of year 2015 on 6 May 2016.

The 2015 SSPN-i dividend payout rate is 4%, amounting to RM60.8 million. This rate is slightly lower than the previous 4.25% payout for 2014.

Historical SSPN-i dividend payout rate is as below:

• 2015: 4.00%
• 2014: 4.25%
• 2013: 4.25%
• 2012: 4.25%
• 2011: 3.75%
• 2010: 3.25%
• 2009: 2.50%
• 2008: 4.00%
• 2007: 4.00%
• 2006: 4.00%
• 2005: 4.00%
• 2004: 3.00%

If you have opened an SSPN-i account for your child, you should be able to check the amount of dividend received in the account by now (9 May 2016).

Click here to read about how to view your online SSPN-i statement of account.

Today is World Password Day

Today is the  first Thursday of May, the World Password Day! It is observed to create awareness of the need for good password security practice.

Nowadays, password is used everywhere,  being a commonly used security mechanism for:

• identity verification
• authentication of access control
• encryption/decryption key to protect our private information

Here are the 4 steps action to secure your online experience, recommended by organizers of World Password Day:

Why the first Thursday of May? Perhaps this day itself is an interesting day, being observed in:

• 5 May 2016
• 4 May 2017
• 3 May 2018
• 2 May 2019
• 1 May 2020

For more information, visit to : https://passwordday.org/

Warning! Touch n Go cards must be used at least once per year, or you will lose money!

Perhaps not many people aware that their Touch n Go card, if stayed unused for 12 months consecutively, will be deactivated and suspended into dormant state.

The dormant card cannot be used anymore, and your money balance in the card will be locked and rendered unusable, until you get Touch n Go to reactivate the card.

There is an admin fee of RM5 plus GST (total: RM5.30) to reactivate the dormant Touch n Go card.

If you continue to keep the card staying inactive, they will still charge you RM5 plus GST (total: RM5.30) of maintenance fee in every 6 months interval. The maintenance fee will be deducted from the balance in the dormant card, until it reached zero. Then, it becomes a junk plastic card.

In addition, every Touch n Go card has a lifespan of 10 years only, and the expiry date is printed behind the card.

Upon expiry, you can buy a new card and transfer your balance from your expired card into your new card. There is an admin fee of RM5 plus GST (total: RM5.30) for Touch n Go balance transfer too.

Today, there are several highways in Klang Valley that no longer receive cash as toll payment and made compulsory to pay with Touch n Go.

If you are staying outside Klang Valley and were forced to buy a Touch n Go card just to pay the toll during your visit to KL once in a blue moon, you are likely to be affected by this.

According to Touch n Go, you can avoid this situation by using the Touch n Go function in your MyKad instead of purchasing the standalone Touch n Go card. Your MyKad will not become dormant even if you don't use it as Touch n Go card for more than 1 year.

About Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) and its funds performance at end of April 2016

Launched in 2012, the Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) is a voluntary (non-compulsory) retirement scheme in Malaysia for employees and also self employed to have another option of forced saving for their retirement.

In order to encourage savings under PRS, Malaysian government granted personal income tax relief of up to RM3,000 for individuals tax payers from their PRS savings amount deposited during the taxation year. 

Employers are also provided with tax deduction on contributions to the PRS on behalf of their employees above the statutory rate of 19%.

Note that this income tax relief for PRS is available for 10 years only, from tax assessment year 2012 until 2021.

Also note that the sales and admin charges deducted from your PRS contribution is not eligible for tax relief, you can only claim the amount from your net PRS contribution done within the year, up to RM3,000 per year.

Your PRS contributions will be deposited into your Private Pension Administrator (PPA) account, after your PRS fund provider deducted the sales and admin charges.

Your money in your PPA account is split into 2 sub-accounts (a bit similar to your EPF account). Once your money is parked in your PPA account, you can forget about it until you finally retire, because:

• 70% of your fund is parked in Sub-account A, which cannot be withdrawn until you retired.
• 30% of your fund is parked in Sub-account B, which you can only withdrawn once a year, and subject to an 8% tax penalty on the withdrawal amount.

Your money in PPA account is then allocated for investment by your fund manager with your selected fund scheme, which could be of category of growth, moderate or conservative.

There is no guarantee that your PRS fund will give you return. In fact, you can also lose money if your fund is not performing!

How is the performance of the available PRS funds so far?

Morningstar is tracking the PRS funds performance (there are 79 of them as at 30 April 2016) on a day-to-day basis.

As of today (30 April 2016), only 19 or 24% out of the total 79 PRS funds have made a positive year to date return. AmPRS - Asia Pacific REITs is the champion with 4.79% return YTD.

Those 19 PRS funds that have positive return year to date, and their YTD return are as below:

(Screen captured from Morningstar's PRS fund performance tracking website, double click on image to enlarge)

The worst PRS fund performer YTD, CIMB Islamic PRS Plus Asia Pacific Ex Japan Equity fund, has caused a 8.92% lost in 4 months time.

Anyhow, YTD return is for monitoring of latest return performance of the funds. If you see your fund continuously not performance well over a couple of months, you should consider switching over to another fund that is performing well over the same period of time.

Now, let's look at their full year return in 2015. There are a total of 75 PRS funds active in year 2015, and 74 of them had brought positive return, only 1 has lost money.

The champion in 2015 is AmPRS - Islamic Equity Fund with a return of 16.3%. The top 10 PRS funds in 2015 are:

And the bottom 10 PRS funds in 2015 are:

So, does it worth to lock down your money in PRS, and put it in the hand of your PRS fund managers to bring return or lost to you? You decide.

U Mobile attacked competitors again with free video streaming on top of existing data quota

If you have a smartphone or tablet attached with U Mobile postpaid and prepaid service, and you have been using it to watch online videos, here is a good news to you.

U Mobile has just launched their Video-Onz service, providing free additional quota on top of existing data plan for you to watch videos using the apps from the following 12 providers:

• YouTube
• YouTube Gaming
• Youku Tudou
• iflix
• Astro on the Go
• HyppTV Everywhere
• Viu
• Eros Now
• tonton
• Herotalkies
• ONFM
• Pocketimes

This mean that when you are watching videos with these apps, you are given additional quota on top of your existing Internet data quota for the video streaming, for free by U Mobile under the Video-Onz service.

The monthly allocation of the free Video-Onz video streaming quota on top of the existing Internet data quota of various U Mobile postpaid and prepaid plans is as below:

There is no Video-Onz quota imposed for P70, i90 and i130 postpaid plans, meanings you can watch videos or movies with the above 12 video streaming apps as much as you wish, as there is unlimited Video-Onz data for these plans. 

Nowadays U Mobile marketing is really aggressive in capturing the market share by providing competitive package that really can shake and disrupt its competitors, which is a good news for all mobile consumers in Malaysia.

Let's see what will Celcom and Digi offer to counter attack this. Maxis? Maybe their customers need to cry and scream and swear for another time again for them to finally react.

Meanwhile, the P1 (now known as Webe) under TM has been making a lot of hoo-haa recently, but until today the general public is still unclear about what they are going to offer to join this intensified competition.

Earth Day and the story of bottled water

We've just celebrated our Earth Day on 22nd April. This event has once again brought some world attention to the story of bottled water, with a video produced back in 2010.

Here is the video, which has been viewed over 4.7 millions time in YouTube:

So, what's wrong with the bottled water? It is a multi-billion business, sold 290 billion liters in 2014 and expected to continue growing at a CAGR of around 8.5% between 2015 and 2020.

Well, we are told that about half of the bottled water is sourced from tap water, and priced a few hundreds time the price of tap water. It is expensive, sometimes even more expensive than petrol.

Another half is sourced from underground or spring water. What will be the impact to the environment when millions of gallons of water is extracted away 24x7 everyday? Will it change the soil moisture, deplete the wetlands and narrow out the rivers? Will it in turn affect the surrounding ecology, and the aquaculture and agriculture condition?

Anyhow, the main issue is more on the plastic bottle itself than the water contained in it. In order to manufacture the plastic bottle, millions barrels of fossil fuel is consumed, and another millions tonnes of carbon dioxide is generated.

Each year, more than 4 billion pounds of PET plastic bottles end up in landfills or as roadside litter, or worse still, floating in the sea endangering the birds, fishes and other ocean animals. Only less than 20% of plastic the water bottles are actually recycled.
In the United States of America, selling of bottled water is banned in more and more schools and colleges, and even parks.

Therefore, to save our earth and its environment, we should only drink bottled water when necessary, and not to substitute our daily drinking water with it. We should resume our traditional way of drinking filtered or boiled tap water, and use reusable water container to carry some water with us for outdoor drinking.

Negative interest rate - get paid from borrowing and get charged from saving

If you think that you can earn some interest by depositing your money in bank, and you will be charged with interest for borrowing money from bank, you have to reverse your mind-set in certain places that are having negative interest rate policy now.

I'm not kidding. The European Central Banks (ECB), Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden are already having negative interest rate for quite some times. Lately, Japan has joint the league too!

(Chart produced by Toronto Star)

The ECB started this game by charging banks that hold their cash overnight and at the same time offering a premium to banks that borrow in order to extend more loans.

During economic uncertainty time, people tend to be conservative with spending and/or investing and more keen to hoard money in their bank accounts. They are willing to do so even with zero interest rate. This brings the danger of deflation, and as an extreme measure to counter this situation, the banks started to "punish" people that keep money in their bank accounts by charging interest instead of giving interest, and to encourage people to take up loan for business and investment activities by giving interest instead of charging interest.

When this negative interest situation occurs, the traditionally safe havens to put your money, namely bank deposit and bond market, will become the places that most likely cause you to lose money. Yes, fixed deposit is dangerous, bond market is dangerous, because your money will go down the drain if you put it there, in the era of negative interest rate.

However, this measure doesn't seem to be effective to stimulate the economy, as people there are still very cautious and tend to hoard with their money. With the negative interest rate, they are forced to take out their money from bank deposit account, and then they are keeping the money in their drawer or safe instead of spending it. (Reuters: Negative ECB rates fuel demand for safe deposit boxes, German banks say)

The impose of negative interest rate in Eurozone and Japan has shown unfavourable sign of worldwide economy. What will be next after quantitative easing and negative interest rate? If there is no more option ahead, we can foresee a huge economic catastrophe forming and will hit all of us at anytime.

Are you prepared for it? And the question is: how to get prepared for it?

Income tax declaration of property rental - which expenses are deductible and which are not?

For most property owners in Malaysia who rented out their property, the rental collected from tenant is regarded as a non-business source of income and therefore is charged to the owner's income tax under section 4(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1967.

The amount of property rental income need to be declared is the gross rental income deducted by certain expenses incurred by the property in order to generate the rental.

The expenses that are income tax deductible including:

• Assessment
• Quit rent
• Property loan interest
• Fire insurance premium
• Expenses on rental collection
• Expenses on rental renewal, including the stamp duty
• Expenses on repairs and maintenance
• Expenses on replacement of rental assets
• Property service charges, maintenance fees, sinking fund, and Indah Water bills
• Legal expenses on renewal of tenancy agreement, recovery of rental arrears, etc. 
• Expenses on pest control
• Property agent fees/commission to renew the tenancy

The expenses that are not income tax deductible are initial expenses before the property is rented out, including:

• Advertising cost to get the tenant
• Property agent fees/commission to obtain the tenant
• Legal cost and stamp duty for initial tenancy agreement
• Expenses on renovation and improvement to get higher rental or to be more attractive to potential tenant

If the total rental income received is less than the total deductible expenses for the year, which shows that you have rental income loses instead of rental income gains for the year, then your taxable rental income for that particular year will be zero.

Note that rental income losses cannot be used to offset your other taxable statutory income of the year. The losses also cannot be carried forward to the next taxation year.

For more comprehensive information, you can refer to LHDN Malaysia Public Ruling No. 4/2011 : Income From Letting of Real Property.

WiFi technology - from Beamforming to MU-MIMO

Modern WiFi routers come with new selling features such as Beamforming and even MU-MIMO. What are these new features about? Will your home and/or office WiFi network be benefited with these new features? I also have the same questions, and here is the answer from my research.

Beamforming Technology

Beamforming is a kind of wireless transmission method introduced to reduce interference and improve the reliability of WiFi signal. It is adapted in the 5th generation WiFi standard 802.11ac.

Beamforming is based on Digital Signal Processing (DSP) logic and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology. Using a procedure called channel calibration or channel sounding, it changes the phase and relative amplitude of the signal, creating a constructive interference and destructive interference to make the signal in preferred direction stronger and others weaker.

In this way, the WiFi router can focus the signal towards the direction of your WiFi devices connected to it, making the wireless connection stronger, more stable, and further reaching. As effective WLAN bandwidth degrades with weaker signal and longer distance, beamforming can help to reduce this degrading effect, therefore making the network faster.

However, bear in mind that your WLAN network is still limited by the maximum supported bandwidth of the WiFi router and the WiFi client, and your Internet bandwidth is still limited by the maximum bandwidth of your subscription package. Your network still won't be faster than these limitation.

Certain 802.11n routers and devices also support beamforming, but unlike 802.11ac, there is no common standard with beamforming in wireless-N.

In order to benefit from the beamforming technology, both your wireless router and wireless device (computer, tablet, handphone, smart TV, etc.) must support this technology. If they are of wireless-N device, then the beamforming of the wireless client must compatible with the wireless router as well, preferably from the same brand or manufacturer.

Beamforming is standardized in wireless-AC, but that does not mean that all wireless-AC has this feature. You have to ensure your wireless-AC device comes with beamforming technology to get its benefit.

MU-MIMO

Traditional wireless router or access point, even with MIMO technology, can only serve one wireless client at one time. If it is connected to multiple WiFi devices, each of the devices take turn to be served. The more wireless devices you connect to the WiFi router, the less bandwidth is available for each one of them.
Multiuser MIMO (MU-MIMO) is introduced in the 5th generation WiFi standard 802.11ac. In a wireless system that uses MU-MIMO, the router can direct separate streams of bandwidth to up to 4 different devices simultaneously, as long as the devices are also able to use MU-MIMO technology.

For a MU-MIMO router with 4 antennas, each antenna can serve an individual MU-MIMO supported wireless device. Each of these devices can utilize the full WLAN bandwidth supported by the router.

If there are more devices, then the 5th onwards still need to share antenna with other device.

So, one MU-MIMO router is equivalent to 4 virtual MIMO routers, in the condition that the wireless clients connected to it also support MU-MIMO technology.

What if your wireless device is not supporting MU-MIMO? The router is backward compatible to act as single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) router just like the older MIMO, and you won't enjoy the benefit of MU-MIMO in this case.

My MEC iPort G9000 PR1C 1HP portable air-cond

I have just purchased this MEC iPort G9000 PR1C 1HP portable air-cond last month for a small room in my house that is without wall mounted air-cond, and now the weather has become so hot that I feel this purchase was rally made at the right time.

MEC is a Malaysian brand. The size of this portable air-cond is in fact larger than my perception from its photo. It is quite thick, with the dimension of 458 x 745 x 348.

It looks stylish, with an automatic sliding panel that will completely cover up its louver blades outlet when it is turned off, to cover it from dust. The panel will automatically slide down when the air-cond is turned on.

This portable air-cond comes with quite a lot of accessories, including the standard accessory of remote controller with battery, and exhaust hose with wall exhaust adaptor. In addition, it also comes with window slider kit and 4 pieces of foam seal that can be applied to most vertical and horizontal windows. It also comes with a water drain hose for dehumidifying mode usage.

 

This portable air-cond has a modern look, with quite a lot of air filters, located behind it and also at its both sides. It has all the functions that you need, including the louver auto-swing feature, 4 selection modes of Auto, Cool, Dry and Fan, 4 fan speed selection of Low, Med, High and Auto, Sleep mode, Timer setting, LED display, intelligent self-diagnosis and auto-protection function, panel Lock function, auto-restart after power cut off, 3 minutes protection before resuming operation, etc. It makes use of the condensed water for cooling, evaporating the water during the process, therefore for normal operation with this self-evaporating system, it doesn't need to drain out water.

One unique feature is the Follow Me button on its remote control. In Follow Me mode, the remote control will send signal to the air-cond every 3 minutes, and the air-cond will direct the cool air to its direction. So, you just need to put the remote control beside you to get the breezing cool air blowing towards you.

This air-cond is pretty quiet during operation, and quite energy saving too. It has a current rating of 4.4A with 1000W power input, cooling capacity of 9000 Btu/h, EER rating of 8.9, airflow of 440 cubic meter per hour, which is equivalent to 259 CFM.

Overall, I am satisfied with this portable air-cond.

You might be interested to also read about:

• How to select air-conditioner wisely

Ambidio - new audio technology that enables normal speaker to play super immersive surround sound that beats high-end 7.2 speakers

Ambidio is a new start-up in Los-Angeles founded by 29 years old Taiwanese girl Iris Wu and her friends, specialized in revolutionary sound technology. The company is backed by multiple-times Grammy award-winning artist will.i.am, and private investment arm of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing - Horizons Ventures.

So, what's so special about this Ambidio technology? Well, it brings a high quality, immersive sound experience by just using computer software technology, which can instantly enable normal low-end speaker (preferably stereo) to play sound with effect of the standard as produced by expensive high-end surround sound systems.

Ambidio offers a new way for people to experience sound. It has a range that is at least 3 times wider than conventional methods that simulates three dimensional sound, using traditional speakers and headphones, allowing for a fully immersive experience.

Don't believe me? You can try yourself with this demo video provided by Ambidio, using your low-end speaker, and tell me what you think after listening to this 1 minute demonstration.

Ambidio has enlisted Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Sound, which has been redefining immersive sound for nearly 4 decades for film, TV and videogames, as a strategic advisor to assist with Ambidio's technology and creative development.

“Technology is transforming the way we experience music and, as an artist and producer, I’m always looking to what’s next – where the innovation is. Ambidio brings music to life through immersive sound, giving people a chance to experience music in a whole new way,” says will.i.am of his involvement.

The idea came about while music lover Iris Wu was attending graduate school at New York University, and was trying to create a quality listening experience but was dissatisfied with the results due to living in a small New York City apartment. She began experimenting with sound engineering through code rather than hardware and Ambidio’s technology began to take shape.

“The brain is a powerful mechanism that can interpret the directional origin of different sounds in everyday life,” says Iris, “however, when consuming content on a device, such as a laptop, sound consistently comes from a fixed point – the front.”

Ambidio made it by treating our brain as a decoder and creates a continuous sound field with a sense of depth and dimension. It creates an immersive sound experience using only stereo speakers by inserting common cues into audio files that the brain then uses to identify and perceive where different sounds within the audio stream would have come from. Essentially, our brains process the sound the way it does in everyday life.

We look forward for Ambidio to disrupt the entire audio industry.

The ultimate comparison of TP-Link Archer C7 vs C8 vs C9 wireless routers

TP-Link has been well-known for wireless routers with performance comparable or even better than Asus, Linksys, Netgear, etc. with a much cheaper price. More importantly, most of its routers support UniFi and MaxisNet fibre broadband, including the IP phone and IPTV functions.

Let's compare 3 of the TP-Link Archer series of wireless-AC routers at the price range between RM400-RM600: the C7, C8 and C9. Below is the comparison table (click image to enlarge):

The Archer C7 is the oldest among them, with old housing and old web user interface. However, it seems to outperform its successors C8 and C9 in terms of network throughput and maximum simultaneous connections supported, with the help of its 6 antennas (3 internal and 3 external). It has the lowest price too.

The Archer C8 is a new design with new housing and newer, more user friendly web user interface. It also has a dual core CPU. Its USB performance is better than the C7. However, its 3 dual band antennas are shorter, and seems to perform weaker than the C7, despite it comes with Beamforming technology.

The Archer C9 has the same design with C8. It comes with a faster dual core CPU, newer Broadcom chipset, and even better USB performance than C8. However, its network throughput is a bit disappointing in the comparison.

If you are familiar with TP-Link old user interface, here is how its new user interface looks like:

TP-Link is phasing out C8 to replace it with C9, so the availability of C8 in the market is very rare now. However, the C7 is still widely available in the market.

So, there are both pros and cons among them in terms of user interface, specification, performance and price. If you were to choose one of them for your home Internet, which one will you buy?

References:

• The Best Wi-Fi Router (for Most People)
• TP-Link Archer C7 V2 Reviewed
• TP-Link Archer C8 Reviewed
• TP-Link Archer C9 Reviewed

Book: Marketing Management 15th global edition by Kotler and Keller

I would like to recommend a book about marketing which I just finished reading. It is the 15th global edition of Marketing Management written by marketing gurus Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller.

In fact, this is the text book or official reference book in many marketing courses. However, being an academic book, it is not boring at all, and pretty interesting to read through. It is colourful, with many up-to-date pictures and illustrations, real life examples, and most importantly, very comprehensive and informative.

I'll show you 2 of its pages to visualize my description above:

 

The 15th edition is the latest, published in 2015. It has several variances, and even published by different publishers, but I think the content should be the same.

The topics are pretty recent, with discussions on digital communications management of online, social media, and even mobile technology. It talks about Marketing 3.0, and addresses the change in consumer behaviours from the marketing perspective. It explains about the evolution of traditional 4 P's of marketing (product, place, promotion, price) to newer 4 P's (people, processes, programs, performance) and the newer alternative of 4 A's (acceptability, affordability, accessibility, awareness).

This is a nice book for business owners, marketing managers, MBA students, business school students, and anyone who is interested to know more about the topic.

Top 3 cash back credit cards to suit your lifestyle

With hundreds of credit cards now available in the market, it can get really confusing especially when you consider the fact that not all of them are created equal. However, these days many Malaysians optimise their credit cards spending with cash back credit cards.

Essentially, a cash back credit card is a credit card that rewards the cardholder a rebate based on their spending. This can be then further broken down into the cash back tier, monthly cap and cash back categories.

Cash back tier means how much you have to spend to earn that amount of cash back. For example, if you spend RM300 you get 4% cash back and have to spend RM2,500 and above for 8% cash back.

Next up is the monthly cap which is the amount that the rebate is capped at every month (ranging from RM10 – RM100 or more), and the cash back category is the type of retail transaction or spending you need to perform to qualify for the cash back rebate.

However, if you are looking for a cash back credit card that suits your spending habits, we’ve shortlisted three of the best ones for you to choose below.

Hong Leong Wise Gold Card

Looking for a cash back credit card that offers you a variety of choices on the cash back categories? The Hong Leong Wise Gold lets you enjoy 10% cash back on spending for two of your chosen categories (there are ten available) when you make a minimum of any 10 retail transactions (minimum RM50 per transaction) in a month.

Do take note that to change categories at any time, you will have to pay maintenance fee of RM10.60.

Recommended for:

Malaysians who use their credit card for a variety of transactions and want more control on their cash back based on their spending habits.

Qualifying Criteria:

• Minimum age of 21 years old and a minimum income of RM2,000 per month (RM24,000 per annum)
• Annual fees: RM169.90 for Principal cardholders and RM84.80 for supplementary card holders

Shell-Citi Gold Credit Card

Always on the road or just want more money back from all your petrol expenditure? The Shell-Citi Gold credit card lets you enjoy a cash back rebate of up to 8% when you fill up on petrol at any Shell station nationwide.

Recommended for:

This cash back credit card is ideal for Malaysians who spend more on petrol every month and prefer to visit Shell petrol stations to earn cash back rebates.

Qualifying Criteria:

• Minimum age of 21 years old and a minimum income of RM2, 000 per month (RM24,000 per annum)
• No annual fees for the first year by using the card three times within 60 days of card approval.
• For subsequent years, RM206.70 per annum for principal; RM106.00 for supplementary cardholders.

OCBC 365 MasterCard

The OCBC 365 MasterCard is a great choice if you are a first time credit card owner looking to earn cash back on all of your spending.

You will receive 1% cash back on the first RM1,000 you spend and 0.5% for all subsequent spending –  making it a hassle-free and easy to manage cash back credit card.

Recommended for:

Malaysians who are looking for their first credit card and wish to enjoy cash back rebates for all of their spending.

Qualifying Criteria:

• Minimum age of 21 years and a minimum income of RM2,000 per month. (RM24,000 per annum)
• No annual fees for the first year, only for first time OCBC credit card customers or customers who last held an OCBC credit card more than 12 months ago.
• RM106.00 per year for principal and RM53.00 per annum for supplementary cardholders.

For more information on how to compare cash back credit cards, check out this handy guide here by CompareHero.my.

Note: This is a guest post by CompareHero.my, a Malaysia’s financial comparison portal which helps consumer in finding the right financial products at the right price.

Malaysian credit and debit cards are evoluting from signature based to PIN and Pay

You might be aware that credit and debit cards issued by banks and financial institutions in Malaysia are gradually changing from the traditional signature based to the new PIN and Pay system.

With the introduction of this new system, cardholders will receive a new card that support PIN and Pay latest by mid-2017, and after that, signature will no longer be accepted to authorize your card payment at the merchants Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal. Instead, you are required to key in a 6 digit PIN at the device to authorize the payment transaction.

The use of 6 digit PIN is similar to the way you use your ATM card to login to the bank's ATM machine.

(Photo by iStock)

This evolution is aimed to protect against fraud due to lost or stolen cards, as the card and the PIN are required to make a payment at the terminal.

All card issuers in Malaysia are required by Bank Negara Malaysia to upgrade payment cards to PIN and Pay type. Your card issuer will decline your old signature card 3 months after issuing you a new PIN card or after you are notified to collect your new PIN card from the branch.

Note that PIN and Pay is NOT applicable to Internet payment transaction and over the phone payment transaction. You should NOT disclose your PIN over the Internet or over the phone. Internet payment is still verified by CVV number as usual, and there is no change to it.

Click here for more information about the PIN and Pay system.

10 signs of a bad working environment

I would like to share with you an interesting article contributed by Dennis McCafferty to Baseline Magazine, which listed out the 10 signs of a bad working environment (or so called toxic workplace) that you must beware of.

The 10 signs are...

1. Tasks are assigned without explanation
You are constantly asked to do something that isn't likely to contribute value. When you question why, you're simply told, "Because we need you to do it."

2. Favouritism abounds
Bosses reward those who are skilled at playing politics, even though they never make productive contributions.

3. Senior management MIA
If your leaders are always out of the office, or hiding in their offices, or unable to be reached, that's an indication that something is seriously wrong.

4. Cliques are everywhere
Instead of a united team, you have factions that threaten to tear the team apart.

5. Attempts at innovation are suppressed
When you propose something new and innovative, it gets shot down in a hurry because it's "not something we normally do".

6. Efforts to improve processes are shot down
Management counters your suggestions with, "This is the way we've always done it, so why change things?"

7. Critical topics are never discussed
Avoiding transparency, leaders refuse to discuss important subjects, including company finances, failed projects or internal scandals.

8. People are removing personal items
If you notice that co-workers are removing family photos and personal files a little bit at a time, it may be because they're not planning to stay much longer.

9. Managers ignore questions about raises, recognition
When the stock response to these inquiries is, "You are lucky to have a job!" its probably time to go.

10. Nobody smiles or laughs
When you walk around the office and see nothing but frowns, you can conclude that a toxic environment has taken hold, and likely can't be reversed.

If you find these signs in your working place, then you are probably surrounded by atmosphere of low morale, destructive cliques, company secrets, counter-productive policies and/or high employee turnover.

McCafferty is a freelance writer for Baseline Magazine.

 

 

- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/10-Signs-of-a-Bad-Work-Environment-876005?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BL_NL_BB_20160217_STR1L1&dni=303975746&rni=23731907#sthash.ocwIR2WT.dpuf

McCafferty is a freelance writer for Baseline Magazine.

 

 

- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/10-Signs-of-a-Bad-Work-Environment-876005?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BL_NL_BB_20160217_STR1L1&dni=303975746&rni=23731907#sthash.ocwIR2WT.dpuf

McCafferty is a freelance writer for Baseline Magazine.

 

 

- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/10-Signs-of-a-Bad-Work-Environment-876005?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BL_NL_BB_20160217_STR1L1&dni=303975746&rni=23731907#sthash.ocwIR2WT.dpuf

McCafferty is a freelance writer for Baseline Magazine.

 

 

- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/10-Signs-of-a-Bad-Work-Environment-876005?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BL_NL_BB_20160217_STR1L1&dni=303975746&rni=23731907#sthash.ocwIR2WT.dpuf

McCafferty is a freelance writer for Baseline Magazine.

 

 

- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/10-Signs-of-a-Bad-Work-Environment-876005?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BL_NL_BB_20160217_STR1L1&dni=303975746&rni=23731907#sthash.ocwIR2WT.dpuf

McCafferty is a freelance writer for Baseline Magazine.

 

 

- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/10-Signs-of-a-Bad-Work-Environment-876005?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BL_NL_BB_20160217_STR1L1&dni=303975746&rni=23731907#sthash.ocwIR2WT.dpuf

McCafferty is a freelance writer for Baseline Magazine.

 

 

- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/10-Signs-of-a-Bad-Work-Environment-876005?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BL_NL_BB_20160217_STR1L1&dni=303975746&rni=23731907#sthash.ocwIR2WT.dpuf

McCafferty is a freelance writer for Baseline Magazine.

 

 

- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/10-Signs-of-a-Bad-Work-Environment-876005?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BL_NL_BB_20160217_STR1L1&dni=303975746&rni=23731907#sthash.ocwIR2WT.dpuf

Dennis McCafferty

Dennis McCafferty

Product feature, advantage and benefit

In the business world where sales and marketing activities are key function to bring in revenue and profit, there is a saying that if you focus in selling your product feature, the sales process will generally be more difficult than selling your product advantage to the customer; and if you focus in selling your product advantage, again the sales process will generally be more difficult than selling the benefit that your customer can get from your product.

There are 3 motivations for people to buy something:

• Fear
• Need
• Greed

And people see or evaluate the value of a product offered from these 3 points of view:

• Money
• Time
• Risk or Effort

You can sell the benefit to your customer by understanding their major concern.

Normally, if your customer is in need of something you have, you can just sell them your product. So, if need is the major concern, your customer will most probably hunting for it, and what you need to do is to tell them you have exactly what they need.

Are they fear of losing money? Fear of having shortage in time? Fear of being exposed to risk? What can your product help them? Coming from the "fear" perspective, you can sell them the advantage of your product, which will probably reduce or eliminate their fear.

It is said that most business selling is through the greed motivation, which you need to tackle by selling the benefit. Can your product helps to bring in more revenue or reduce more cost? Can your product helps to speed up process? Can your product helps to mitigate the risk? Can your product helps to eliminate some of the effort?

What is the different between advantage and benefit? This can be explained by using some examples:

Example 1:
Product: Light
Feature: LED illumination
Advantage: Use much less electricity, has longer lifespan, less heat generated
Benefit: Save electricity cost, reduce hassle of replacing faulty unit, less risk of catching fire

Example 2:
Product: Printer
Feature: Laser jet
Advantage: Faster printing, handle high volume printing, waterproof printout, quality output
Benefit: Save printing time, presentable printout that you can confidently handover to customer as sales material, no risk of water smearing which is a major problem of inkjet printing