Thursday, July 10, 2014
Google Drive as a good alternative to Dropbox or OneDrive
Monday, June 30, 2014
Practical considerations for new home renovation
- Always make your home convenient for old folk, pregnant lady or disabled people, particularly on the design of steps, stairs, etc. Think about having proper handrails along staircase and in toilet. Use non-slip flooring materials especially in toilets and bedrooms.
- You will need quite a number of wall sockets near your TV for all your audio-visual equipments.
- If you plan to subscribe to satellite TV such as Astro, plan for the location of its dish and conceal a signal line from the dish to your TV.
- If you have an apartment/condominium/studio unit with open kitchen concept, or you plan to have an open kitchen in your house, you need to plan properly to avoid cooking fumes from wide-spreading all over the place with its smell and grease. Some major considerations include proper external ventilation, installing a cooker hood with high air suction power, etc.
- Normally, fire accident starts from the kitchen. Make sure your house has fire extinguisher, smoke detector and fire blanket placed nearby the kitchen.
- If you are going to have an open kitchen, make sure your smoke detector will not easily give you false alarm from the kitchen's cooking fumes.
- Without the isolation of walls and fire-resistant door, fire from open kitchen could spread faster and fiercer. To reduce the risk of fire, consider using electrical cooker instead of gas cooker.
- Plan for the location and size of your washing machine, dish washer, etc. These machines need power supply as well as water inlet and drainage.
- Dustbin that will conceal behind your kitchen cabinet might look cool, but beware of the smell. It is better to have ordinary dustbin with cover, located outside the cabinet.
- Most of the time, we use shower much more often than bathtub. Shower saves more water than bathtub too. If your house does not come with a bathtub and you plan to install one in your bathroom, think carefully either it is a "need" or "want".
- Most of the time, people with Jacuzzi in their home does not use it often too.
- However, bathtub can be useful to soak and wash your bed sheets, curtains, etc.
- Ceramic basin is a better choice than glass one. Dirt and stains are very visible on glass surface.
- It is always a good idea to have ceiling fan on top of your dining table, and/or air-cond in your dining room.
- Install water heater with built-in pump. It won't cost much more for the pump function, and you will appreciate it when water pressure is low.
- If you want to have washlet toilet (electronic toilet seats with water spray feature) either now or in the future, make sure there is wall socket around to supply the electric power.
- If you want to have hot and cold water piping, include them in your renovation before you move in.
- Install some hangs and hooks inside the bathroom. There is always clothes, towels, etc. that you need to hang.
- New couples that plan to have kids, make sure to allocate some space in your master bedroom for baby cot beside your bed.
- Dressing room with open wardrobe looks nice, but get prepared for the dust. Wardrobe with doors is more practical. Flipping doors are more durable than sliding doors.
- It is better to have more wall sockets than having to pull power extensions later. Plan the position of your wall sockets properly. Some wall sockets might be wasted if you put big furniture and cover them up later.
- Plan for all air-conds location, and conceal their piping.
- Energy saving light bulbs are de-facto standard, and LED lighting could be an even better choice.
- Buy an aluminium ladder and keep it in your store room. You will need it for house cleaning and maintenance, for example, cleaning ceiling fans, dismantling air-cond filters for washing, replacing light bulbs, etc.
- Floor colour in living and dining halls should be light, and floor colour in kitchen should be deep. This will make your floors look cleaner.
- Plan for as much storage place as possible. You need to have sufficient cabinets and cupboards in kitchen, dining room, living room, bedrooms, etc. There is always a lot of things to keep.
- Crystal lights are beautiful, but difficult to clean. Most of the time, you won't switch them on too.
- Bookcase, cupboard with doors can isolate dust from settling on your books and whatever thing you put inside.
- Up-facing lamp shade will collect a lot of dust too, compared to traditional down-facing lamp shade.
- Use black filler for floor tiles instead of white one, because after some times, the white filler will become black too.
- It is a good idea to have a small cabinet on top of washing machine to put detergent and laundry accessories.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Headphone, speaker out and headset selection for Realtek combo audio jack on laptops
- Headphones - a.k.a. earphones, are pair of small speakers that are designed to be worn close to your ears. There are headphones that sit at your outer ears, and also in-ear type (a.k.a. in-ear monitors (IEM) or canalphones).
- Headset - is a pair of headphones with attached microphone, normally used for voice chatting.
- Speaker out - external speaker or sound bar, normally with sound amplifier.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Revive the gadgets functionality in Windows 8 / 8.1 with Windows Desktop Gadgets 2.0
Desktop gadgets was introduced in Windows 7 but removed from the subsequent Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.
I find desktop gadgets functionality pretty useful and handy in monitoring statuses and activities such as real time CPU usage, GPU usage, memory usage, network usage, hard disk usage, temperature readings, etc.
If you miss the fun of having desktop gadgets in Windows 8 / 8.1, you can get back that functionality by installing a 3rd party software called Windows Desktop Gadgets Revivied 2.0.
When it is up and running, you will get back the Gadgets option in Windows Desktop context menu and the Desktop Gadgets setting section in Control Panel's Appearance and Personalization. It behaves very similar to the desktop gadgets functionality in Windows 7. With it, you can now install those gadgets designed for Windows 7 into your Windows 8 / 8.1.
Get back the Start Menu in MS Windows 8.1 with the free IObit Start Menu 8
Microsoft has removed the Start Menu since version 8 of the Windows operating system. The Start button at the bottom-left corner of the screen now acts as a toggle between Windows Desktop and the Metro UI interface.
If you are using MS Windows 8.1 and you miss the Start Menu in previous versions of MS Windows, you can get it back with 3rd party software.
I use IObit Start Menu 8 to achieve this, as it is free, and very easy to customize and use.
This is what you can get with IObit Start Menu 8 installed in Windows 8.1:
The appearance of Start Menu can be configured to use the Default Theme, Classic Windows 7 Theme, or the Windows 8 Theme.
You can also select your favourite Start Button, as it is configurable.
Similar to the Start Menu in Windows 7, you can customize how the links, icons and menus look and behave on this Start Menu.
With this, you can get back your user experience in using Windows operating system the same style as before.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 soccer match schedule
The FIFA World Cup Brazil has just started and will last for one month until 13 July 2014.
You can look up to the schedule of all its matches in this website:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html
The time shown on the webpage is Brazil local time. Just click on "change to your time" to switch it to your local time. Remember to adjust the date yourself because the date shown on the webpage will remain as the date in Brazil.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Impact of Malaysia GST to Investors
Malaysia is expected to implement Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 1 April 2015 at the initial rate of 6%. The cost of a lot of things will be affected, including investment vehicles and products.
I believe nowadays everybody deals with banks. How the GST will impact our deposit, interest, loan, credit card, bank charges, etc.? Refer to the table below.
How about insurance policies? Your premium paid to life and education policies will not be imposed with GST, but it seems that most if not all other insurance policies are affected. Note that general insurance products including car insurance, house/fire insurance, accident insurance, etc. will be affected too.
For those who invest in precious metals (gold, silver), jewellery, collectibles, etc., if you trade with the physical product, you are affected.
If you trade with a gold/silver investment account with a bank without touching on the physical product, you are probably not affected.
A 6% GST of PAMP Suisse 100g gold bar selling at RM14,000 will be RM840, quite a big sum.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Sending my kid to learn WeiQi (Go) at N-World Go Academy
WeiQi (a.k.a. Go, 围棋) is a kind of strategic chess game originated from ancient China.
I just found out that there is a WeiQi academy for kids called N-World, operated by a small team of young people. They have classroom in Setapak and Puchong.
They offered a trial class, and my son seems to like it. Therefore, we signed him up for the WeiQi lesson, which we believe will provide good training to his brain as well as personality.
If you are also interested in N-World Go Academy, here is their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/NworldGo.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
The worst reason in the world to buy anything is just because someone else did
How many times you can find yourself buying something as a result of just following the crowd or because someone else did?
It could be a hand phone, a gadget, a book, a music album, a drink, a food, a car, a property, or even an investment instrument (stock counter, futures, forex, mutual fund, etc.).
Why is it being the worst reason in the world to just follow someone else to buy something? Well, the keyword in the sentence is "just".
It is really a bad idea to blindly follow other people, particularly in buying, without your own reason(s) to do so.
Always remember the saying: one man's food is someone else's poison.
So, do not simply buy a stock just because Warren Buffett bought it. You need to find several other reasons to convince yourself before making the order.
Do not simply buy a property just because people around you have bought theirs. You need to assess your own financial situation, your gut feeling about the property, your planning, your willingness to manage it, etc.
Do not simply buy certain brand of smartphone just because people around you are using that phone. Have you find out the pros and cons of the phone? Have you find out the features and map them to your own need? Have you compare it with some other alternatives?
A lot of time, if we chose that worst reason in the world to buy something, we might end up buying the wrong thing, or buying the unnecessary, or even buying a nightmare. This is particularly true in the investment world.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
EPF i-Account Android app launched
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF, a.k.a. Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja, KWSP) has recently launched their Android mobile app called EPF i-Account, which is now freely available in Google Play Store.
You can click here to download the EPF i-Account app from Google Play Store.
It is an HTML5 based mobile app, which you can login your EPF i-Account with the same username and password which you've setup in the web-based EPF i-Account at https://secure.kwsp.gov.my/secured/member/login/
The EPF i-Account Android app enables us to view our EPF account status and the monthly contributions detail. The EPF statements for current year and previous year are also available.
We can also see our personal profile info stored with EPF.
Other features are listed as in the screenshot below.
Currently, the EPF i-Account Android app can only be used to view information. It doesn't have function to make withdrawal request or make change request.
This app is currently having Malay language user interface only.
So far, more than 10,000 people have already installed the app. Have you?
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
BNM to postpone execution of 50 sen cheque processing fee from 1 April 2014 to 2 January 2015
There is insider news from local media that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will soon announce a postponement of the execution of 50 sen cheque processing fee from 1 April 2014 to 2 January 2015.
About one year ago, I have written here that BNM reduced the processing fee of Interbank GIRO (IBG) money transfer performed online via internet banking or mobile banking to 10 sen only, effective 2 May 2013.
At the same time, BNM intended to discourage the use of paper cheque by imposing a processing fee of 50 sen per cheque transaction on top of the existing 15 sen stamp duty, making the transaction per cheque to cost 65 sen to be borne by the cheque issuer. This is supposed to start soon on 1 April 2013.
Now, we are glad to hear the news that this policy will be postponed until year 2015.
In my previous article, I ended by saying that BNM really need to think through carefully before enforcing the "discouraging mechanism" of using cheque in order to get people to use electronic money transfer.
Now that after one year, we are still having a lot of questions which need clear direction, including:
- We can write cheque that honours a large amount of money transfer, such as hundreds of thousands to millions. How will this be handled in electronic transfer, which only allows a small amount of money to be transferred per day?
- We can have current account that requires 2 valid signatures on the same cheque before it is honoured. How will electronic transfer handle the requirement for co-signature?
- In certain scenario, we can make use of cheque to act as deposit/guarantee, which is kept by the recipient but will not be banked in immediately. How can electronic transfer handle this kind of requirement?
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Rooting the HiMedia Q5ii Android TV box
You might wonder why you need to root the Android TV box in the first place. Well, I also never thought about this, until the recent Chinese version of Q5ii firmware taken away the Google Play Store, and I need root access to restore the Google Play Store in the HiMedia Q5ii Android TV box.
In order to gain root access of the HiMedia Q5ii from your computer, you need to put connect them to the same local network. Then, as usual, you'll need the famous Android Debug Bridge (ADB.exe) which is distributed in the Android SDK Tools in Android Developers website. All Android developers and/or hackers should already have this Android SDK Tools in their computers.
Alternatively, you can also install ADB in your computer by downloading and installing the Minimal ADB and Fastboot package from XDA Developers website.
If until this point, you don't know what I am talking about, and you have no idea what is "root", you should not continue. This is because rooting an Android device, if not handled properly, might introduce risk and damage to your Android device.
If you still keen to continue, then copy these 3 required files to a new folder in your computer:
- adb.exe
- AdbWinApi.dll
- AdbWinUsbApi.dll
Download Superuser-3.2-arm-signed.zip here, unzip the file, and copy these 2 files into the folder where you put ADB just now:
- su
- Superuser.apk
Go to Windows command prompt by executing "cmd" in Run...
Go to your folder with ADB, and issue the following commands:
- adb connect your_himedia_ip_address:5555
- adb root
- adb remount
Then continue with the following commands:
- adb push su /system/bin
- adb push su /system/xbin
- adb push Superuser.apk /system/app
- adb shell chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
- adb shell chmod 4755 /system/xbin/su
- adb shell reboot
After the reboot, you should be able to gain the root access to your HiMedia Android TV box now.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
CIMB credit card Statement of Account Delivery Instructions form
Effective 1 April 2014, CIMB Bank will force all their credit card members with online CIMB Clicks account to access to their monthly credit card statements via CIMB Clicks website. The bank will no longer send out the monthly credit card statements to them.
If you are affected, and wish to receive your monthly credit card statements by email or in hardcopy by post, you need to inform CIMB by filling up the so-called Statement of Account Delivery Instructions form and fax to 03-2381 7198 or email to cardcentre@cimb.com.
If you are looking for the form, it is available here as below:
You can also click here to download the CIMB credit card Statement of Account Delivery Instructions form in PDF format (English and Bahasa Malaysia).
You will receive a Notice on CIMB Bank Credit Card eStatement and its Terms and Conditions together with you March 2014 credit card statement sent by CIMB. Click here to download the softcopy of the Notice on CIMB Bank Credit Card eStatement and its Terms and Conditions.
I wonder if CIMB Bank has any legal standing to force their credit card members to accept such change in such a short period of time using this manner. Any lawyer reader here who can give some comment?
Updated my HiMedia Q5II Android TV box firmware to Mango Hi Q v1.0.6
After the successful upgrade of my HiMedia Q5II Android TV box firmware to Mango Hi Q (芒果嗨Q) v1.0.5 in January 2014, I have now updated its firmware to the latest Mango Hi Q v1.0.6 without much problem. This new firmware v1.0.6 was just released on 8 March 2014.
You can download the Mango Hi Q v1.0.6 firmware for HiMedia Q-series dual core Android TV boxes here.
Make sure you download the firmware that matches with the model number of your HiMedia Q-series dual core Android TV box. If the label on your box has the wording of "eMMC" (which is the newer version sold to the market since November 2013 onwards), download the firmware for EMMC version. Otherwise, download the firmware for non-EMMC version.
The update process is pretty simple. Just put the downloaded file in a USB thumb drive, then plug the USB thumb drive into one of the USB port of the HiMedia TV box, and perform the update from System Settings option.
This version of Mango Hi Q v1.0.6 brings the long awaited support for DVD ISO replay function, support for Apple iOS 7 Airplay and Airplay Mirror, WiFi hotspot function, user defined wallpaper, and bug fixes.
Unfortunately, my WiFi Analyzer app disappeared from the Application Management screen after the update. The app is still there, just that it is not showing up in the listing in Application Management screen. Hopefully this new bug can be fixed soon.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Youtube for Google TV that works with HiMedia Q5ii Mango Hi Q Android TV box
If you have a HiMedia Q5ii Android TV box with Mango Hi Q firmware and find that it doesn't work well with Youtube, I've found the solution for you.
If you install the Youtube app (for Android smartphones and tablets) from Google Play Store into your HiMedia Q5ii Android TV box, you might face the problem that the Youtube always showing a black screen without any video, while the audio can still be heard.
The solution is to install Youtube for Google TV version 1.7.3 and it should work fine.
Youtube for Google TV was once available in Google Play Store, but is now unavailable. Anyhow, you can still download its APK file from here to install into your Android TV box.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
MSWG Seminar on Privatization & Take-Over Matters
As a result, the Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group (MSWG) is organizing a seminar themed "Privatization & Take-Over Matters", to be held at MSWG Training Centre on 25 March 2014.
MSWG aims to look for a particular outcome from each of the current privatization or take-over bids in question to curb what is seen as short-term motivations, delivering a target listed issuer easily into the hands of the bidders.
The seminar will discuss and look at various matters and issues pertaining to privatization and take-over bids, including:
- Factors leading a listed company to consider a privatization or a take-over bids
- Review of legislations and regulatory rules governing privatization of listed companies
- Role of various parties and relationships in a privatization or a take-over bids
- Privatization or take-over implications: Voluntary general offer vs mandatory general offer scheme of arrangement (SOA), selective capital reduction/repayment, assets & liabilities acquisition, offerors and parties in concert
- Practical issues, and useful tips, Qs and As on case studies in question
Click here for more information and Registration Form of this MSWG Seminar on Privatization & Take-Over Matters.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Garmin nuvi 2565LM Sing/Mal GPS firmware v8.00 update
I have just updated the firmware of my Garmin nuvi 2565LM Sing/Mal GPS from v7.60 to the latest v8.00.
This new version is said to have improved the route calculation issue.
You can find this firmware update here: http://www.garmin.com.sg/products/ontheroad/nuvi_2565lm_sg_my/#updateTab
The instruction on that firmware update webpage is very clear and easy to follow.
Besides, the latest MalFreeMaps 2014.10 with latest Singapore MCE (Marina Coastal Expressway) data is also available now. You can find it here: http://www.garmin.com.sg/mapupdate/
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Family retreat weekend to Felda Residence Hot Springs, Sungkai, Perak
Last week, my family had a nice retreat weekend to Felda Residence Hot Springs, Sungkai, Perak.
Sungkai is a small town near to Bidor, accessible from either North-South Expressway or federal trunk road.
The Felda Residence Hot Springs is quite some distance away from Sungkai town, hiding deep inside an oil palm plantation area. Not to be worried, there are a lot of sign boards showing the way to this attraction along the way, so it is pretty easy to find.
We booked a 3-bedroom villa from MATTA Fair quite some times ago. The price was RM600 for one night stay including breakfast for 6 persons.
After entering the entrance, we need to register our stay and get the key of the villa from the reception, located in a building with a large car park in front of it. The hot springs park and villas are located quite some distance away from the reception building.
The 3-bedroom villa is very nice. It has a quadrangle design with a private Jacuzzi at the center.
It has a nice living room with flat panel TV...
... and a fully furnished kitchen.
Its 3 bedrooms are large and comfortable. This is the master bedroom.
The Felda Residence Hot Springs has a cold mountain springs swimming pool...
... and of course, the natural hot springs pool.
In the place where hot springs flow out from underground, we can have egg boiling activity. The water temperature there is close to 100 degree Celcius.
We had our dinner in Sungkai town. There are a few famous Chinese restaurant in the town, such as Choy Kee (财记) and Sun Kee (新记).
The next morning, we had our buffet breakfast at the restaurant within walking distance from the villa. There is nothing much to shout about the food, but considered quite OK if you don't have high expectation.
One thing to note is that, Celcom has a good HSDPA Internet coverage at Felda Residence Hot Springs in Sungkai, while the Internet speed of Maxis and Digi there is pretty slow.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 - my first wireless mouse
Recently the mouse attached to my desktop PC became less responsive and less precise to scrolling, and I decided to replace it.
I have been using wired mouse all the while, be it PC or laptop. Wired mouse has the advantages of being cheaper price, lightweight, operates without the need of battery, and precise pointer handling.
However, wireless mouse is cool, can operate quite a long distance away from the computer, and its price gap with wired mouse has gone narrower and narrower. I decided to give it a try.
I have finalized my selection between Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 and Logitech Couch M515 Mouse. Their similarity being able to work on almost all type of surfaces, can scroll sideway by tilting the scroll wheel, and has a comparatively bigger size than most other wireless mice (though still slightly smaller than normal wired desktop mouse).
The price of Logitech Couch M515 Mouse is higher, and I doubt the M515 is still in production as it can hardly be found in the market. Therefore, I settled down with Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000, which cost me around RM70 (bought from Lazada with credit card discount campaign).
The Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 comes with a nano transceiver running on 2.4Ghz wireless technology. It can be stowed at the bottom of the mouse, which will intelligently turn off the power of the mouse. When first plugged into the USB port of my PC, the installation program is automatically loaded, and it will automatically pair with the mouse.
All the 4 buttons on the mouse (left button, right button, scroll wheel button and left button) are programmable with Microsoft Mouse and keyboard Center which is automatically downloaded and installed when first use.
The wheel button can be used to quickly flip through opened applications in Windows 7. It is be programmed for other function too.
The scrolling speed of its wheel is also programmable.
I like the smooth scrolling of this Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000, particularly the accelerated vertical scrolling function.
This is a 1,000dpi mouse, which I find it moving quite slow on the screen. This can easily be solved by setting the pointer speed to be faster under Windows' Control Panel > Mouse Properties > Pointer Options.
Despite it weights heavier than my previous wired mouse, and the need of changing battery in the future, I like this mouse very much for its ergonomic design and size, good set of programmable functionalities, precise BlueTrack Technology that can even work on glossy surface, and being wireless with freedom to operate from any location near to the computer.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Converted my CIMB Petronas Platinum Mastercard to CIMB Cash Rebate Platinum Mastercard
Recently, I have successfully converted my CIMB Petronas Platinum Mastercard to CIMB Cash Rebate Platinum MasterCard, and the process is more straightforward than I thought.
I just made a call to CIMB credit card customer service center to request for the card convertion, and upon approval (1 week later), the conversion was done and I received my new CIMB Cash Rebate Platinum MasterCard.
- The credit balance of existing card will be transferred to the new card.
- The auto-payment arrangement (for utility, telco, etc.) with existing card is automatically carried across to the new card. The auto-payment seamlessly continues in the new card.
- The CIMB 0% Easy Pay instalment payment plan with the existing card seamlessly continues on the new card.
- The CIMB Touch 'n Go Zing card that tied to the existing card will now be tied to the new card. I have successfully made an auto-reload to the Zing card just as before.
- The RM50 Government Service Tax period continues from the existing card, and will only be charged upon expiry.
- The new card has a new expiry date, which is later than the existing card.
- The CIMB Cash Rebate Platinum MasterCard is capped with a maximum credit limit of RM20k only. If your existing card has a higher credit limit, it will be reduced to RM20k.
Monday, February 17, 2014
PDF Split and Merge (PDFsam), free tool to split, merge, extract, rotate, reorder pages in PDF files
If you want to extract a few pages from a PDF file to another PDF file, or you want to insert a few PDF pages (such as the cover page) into an existing PDF file, what tool will you use to accomplish that?
There are several commercial tools available, which require you to buy a license. There are also several shareware tools and online tools which imposed a lot of limitation to the PDF file, such as with an accepted maximum page of a small number only.
I am using a free tools with the open source GPL2 license to do this. It is called PDF Split and Merge (PDFsam) Basic, developed by an Italian guy Andrea Vacondio and his team.
PDF Split and Merge Basic is able to:
- Split your PDF documents (into chapters, single pages, etc.).
- Merge many PDF documents or subsections of them.
- Extract sections of your document into a single PDF document.
- Mix alternate pages taken from two PDF documents in straight or reverse order into a single document.
- Rotate pages of the selected PDF documents.
- Visually reorder pages of a selected PDF document.
- Visually compose a document dragging pages from selected PDF documents.
- Save and load your workspace to automate your recurrent jobs.
- Manage PDFsam settings and set a workspace to load at start up.
It has a simple and clean user interface, making it pretty easy to use.
You can download PDFsam here: http://www.pdfsam.org/download/
There is also an Enhanced version of PDFsam, which the source code is available. The developer has requested for a donation of any amount, and he will provide you with the compiled executable file and installer.
The additional functions in PDFsam Enhanced version are:
- Encrypt your PDF files (RC40 bits, RC128 bits, AES128 bits) and set permissions on them.
- Add a PDF document as front page or addendum (or both) to your PDF documents.
- Mix alternate pages taken from two PDF documents in straight or reverse order into a single document.
- Extract attached files from a PDF document.
- Decrypt your PDF files.
- Set viewer options to tell the viewer application how should open the document.
- Set the metadata of a document (author, title, subject and keywords).
Sunday, February 16, 2014
EPF declared 6.35% dividend for FY2013
With the approval from Minister of Finance, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF, a.k.a. Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja, KWSP) declared on 16 February 2014 for the dividend rate of financial year ending 31 December 2013 to be 6.35%, representing a dividend payout of RM31.20 billion to its members, up 13.66% over the RM27.45 billion paid in FY2012.
EPF gross investment income from Malaysian Government Securities & Equivalents and from Loans & Bonds have decreased from previous year, while the income from Equities, Money Market Instruments and Real Estate & Infrastructure have increased.
As the EPF membership rose to more than 13 million, a total of RM4.91 billion was required to pay every 1% dividend rate for 2013. This was 10.06% higher compared with RM4.46 billion paid for every 1% dividend rate for 2012. The amount needed to pay a 1% dividend would continue to grow between 8%-9% annually.
The Fund’s total overseas exposure constituted 20.97% of its total investment assets based on book value as at end December 2013, registering a rise from 16.98% the year before. During the year under review, the EPF had outsourced USD2.20 billion to the external fund managers for global equity mandates, while a total of RM2.25 billion and RM850 million were injected into domestic fixed income and equity mandates respectively.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
SMB and Media Server sharing of my external harddisk with TP-Link TL-WDR3600 router to PCs, tablets and TV box
I have just purchased a Transcend StoreJet 25A3 USB 3.0 1TB external harddisk from Lazada at the cost of
RM189 (with discounted price of RM219 and Lazada Chinese New Year voucher of RM30) and successfully shared it out with my TP-Link TL-WDR3600 router to my PC, laptops, Android tablets and HiMedia Q5II TV box using the SMB (Microsoft Server Message Block network file sharing protocol) as well as Media Server service.
This article is to record and share out my experience in setting up this external harddisk sharing.
By default, the Transcend StoreJet 25A3 is formatted with a single FAT32 partition occupying all its 1TB storage capacity. I learnt that the FAT32 partition type has the limitation in file size capped at a maximum of 4GB only. 4GB is just too small for partition image backup, for HD movie images and some other files which have big size.
I have tried to format the Transcend StoreJet 25A3 into different file systems, and here is my finding:
- NTFS - this is supported by my TL-WDR3600 router. However, it is not a preferred file system for Linux (which is used in the firmware of the router), and its read/write speed is slow.
- EXT2 - this is the most preferred file system for external harddisk connected to a Linux host. However, it is not supported by the stock firmware of my TL-WDR3600 router.
- EXT3 - this is basically EXT2 with a journalized file system. It is also not supported by the stock firmware of my TL-WDR3600 router.
- EXT4 - this is the most commonly used file system in Linux today. It is also not supported by the stock firmware of my TL-WDR3600 router.
The harddisk partitioning and formatting was done using MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition, which is a free harddisk partition management software running on Windows that is capable of dealing with FAT32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3 and EXT4 file systems. Most other Windows based partition management software can't deal with Linux file systems such as EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, etc.
After the partitioning and formatting, I made a Windows system image into the NTFS partition of the external harddisk, which is a crucial Windows restoration data that will be critically useful when the Windows system is corrupted (when infected by virus, critical system file is damaged, etc.). This can be done from within Windows 7 by going to Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore > Create a System Image.
Then, I plugged the external harddisk into one of the USB port of my TL-WDR3600 router. Both the NTFS and FAT32 partitions are detected and ready to be shared out.
The stock TP-Link firmware supports USB file sharing using SMB (Storage Sharing), FTP (FTP Server) and Media Server.
Once a folder with photos, videos and/or music is shared out using Media Server, the TP-Link router will be detected as one of the Media Devices in the Network section of Windows 7, and the shared media files are accessible from there. They are also accessible from UPNP media access in HiMedia Q5II TV box.
As for the SMB sharing, it is accessible from Windows by opening Windows Explorer and key-in "\\tplinklogin.net" in the address bar. It is also accessible from Android devices by installing apps that is able to access SMB server, such as ES File Explorer. It is accessible from HiMedia Q5II TV box from SMB media access using the IP address of the router running the SMB service. You need to start the Samba service of the TV box in its Settings page before searching for the SMB server.
For easier future access, I have also mapped a drive in my Windows PC to the shared external harddisk partition.
I heard that the Asus RT-AC68U router supports USB sharing with Linux partition format. You can also add support for EXT2, EXT3, EXT4 in TP-Link router's USB sharing with custom firmware such as OpenWRT. There is reason why I didn't changed my TL-WDR3600 router to use custom firmware, which you can read here.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Updated my HTC One to Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) with Sense 5.5
My HTC One received its OTA update from Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) to Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) yesterday (7 February 2014).
The Sense UI version remains as 5.5, so there is not much changes to the UI from previous version in this update.
Here are some of the noticeable changes found in this update:
- The battery bar in the battery icon changed colour from green (as in Android 4.3) to white.
- There is a new icon for the Quick Settings screen called HTC Mini+ which can configure the phone to pair up with a HTC Mini+ device.
- In Settings > Wireless & Networks, we can set the Default SMS app for the phone.
- BlinkFeed can restrict auto refresh to use WiFi only. Can also configure for offline news reading. Its menu is now accessed by swiping from left side of the BlinkFeed screen.
- New Location settings screen. The GPS toggle is controlled by the Mode setting here. Anyhow, you can still toggle GPS sensor on/off with the Quick Settings icon as it is still available as before.
- Change in Gallery app and Music app.
- Camera screen showing estimated video time and number of photos that can be taken with current storage available. The notorious purple-tint problem is still there, but seems to have improved from previous version (HTC One with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean has the worst purple-tint issue, worse than 4.2 and 4.4)
- Built in support for Google Cloud printing. You can find a new Printing item in Settings menu.
- New settings for Do Not Disturb found inside Sound settings.
- Can switch over to QWERTY keyboard from the T9 keyboard in call dialer, and vice-versa.