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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Source: http://www.speedtest.net/awards/MY)

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

I have received this SMS from U Mobile too!

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

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

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

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

Auspicious dates for baby first haircut (Mundan) in 2016

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

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

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

Auspicious dates in 2016 for getting a baby

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Comexe
• DyDNS
• No-IP

Among the three of them, Comexe provides free DDNS service, and doesn't need periodical account confirmation.

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

There are 5 fields for you to fill in:

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

When you are done, click on the left button "注册" below to register your account. The right button "取消" is a cancel button.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Auspicious dates for moving to new house / office in 2016

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

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

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

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

Such official Android apps for various Malaysian telcos are:

• U Mobile: My U Mobile
• Digi: MyDigi
• Maxis: MyMaxis
• Hotlink: Hotlink Red
• Tune Talk: Tune Talk
• XOX: MyXOX

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The available IPv6 Internet connection types are:

• DHCPv6
• Static IPv6
• PPPoEv6
• Tunnel 6to4

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

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

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

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

To make use of Google DNS servers, set your primary and secondary IPv6 DNS servers to be

2001:4860:4860::8888 and 2001:4860:4860::8844 respectively.

Leave the LAN IPv6 Address Assign Type as SLAAC.

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Guest Network

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

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

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

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

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

2. Application Layer Gateway (ALG) for SIP

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

3. IPv6 Support

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

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

4. New login mechanism

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


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

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

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

Important note:

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

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

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

Auspicious dates for renovation in 2016

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

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

Auspicious dates for opening business in 2016

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

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

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

Solved unable to sign in Norton Identity Safe problem

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

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

The symptom is like this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Six lessons that project managers could learn from elephants

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

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

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

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

1. Learning from mentors

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

2. Awaiting recognition

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

3. Developing a thick skin

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

4. Optimal use of strength

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

5. Effective communication

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

6. Surviving against adversity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And the effective interest rate I got is 7.46%.

Back to the question: is this interest rate attractive?

I would say it is quite attractive to me.

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

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

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

Olympus Global Open Photo Contest 2015

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

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

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

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

• Birth
• Place to preserve
• Smiles and laughter
• Macro
• Art

Each entrant may submit up to 5 photo entries for each theme, and each submitted photo must be in JPEG format and be 15MB or smaller.

In the contest website, you can also view all the photo entries already participated in this contest.

 

The Grand Prize winner will be awarded the latest Olympus PEN camera and lens, along with 1,000,000 Japanese yen (about US$8,350).

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

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

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

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

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

• 1x high-torque NutriBullet power base
• 2x tall cups (24 oz), one with handled lip ring and another with regular lip ring
• 1x short cup (18 oz)
• 1x colossal cup (32 oz)
• 1x flip-top to-go lid
• 2x stay-fresh resealable lids
• 2x stainless steel extractor blades

You can also find 3 books inside...

• 1x NutriBullet Pocket Nutritionist
• 1x NutriBullet User Guide & Recipe Book
• 1x NutriBullet Life Changing Recipe Book

This NutriBullet is not like other blender or juicer in the market.

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

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

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

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

Zero fee for MEPS Interbank Funds Transfer (IBFT) service from 1 Oct 2015 to 31 Dec 2015

There are generally 2 ways to perform interbank money transfer in Malaysia using either online banking, mobile banking or ATM machine.

One way is using the Interbank GIRO (IBG) service provided by Malaysian Electronic Clearing Corporation Sdn Bhd (MyClear). The transaction will take time from a few hours (if the transfer is made early in the morning before 9.30am of the same day) to a few days (if the transfer is made over the weekend or holiday) for clearance. The fee per transaction is RM0.11 including GST.

Another way is using the Interbank Funds Transfer (IBFT) service provided by Malaysian Electronic Payment System Sdn Bhd (MEPS). Unlike IBG, IBFT money transfer is real time and does not need to wait that long time for clearance. The fee per transaction used to be RM1.06 including GST, and has been reduced to RM0.53 including GST from June 2015 onwards.

Now there is even better news for using IBGT. The transaction fee is completely waived, and therefore no GST incurred as well, within the promotional period from 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2015.

Note that this zero fee IBGT promotion is applicable to online banking and mobile banking only. The IBGT done using ATM machine still has a normal fee of RM0.53 including GST per transaction.

Currently, there are 15 banks that offer IBFT instant fund transfer service via their Internet Banking website. They are:

• Agrobank
• Affin Bank
• Alliance Bank
• Bank Islam
• Bank Muamalat
• Bank Rakyat
• CIMB Bank
• Citibank
• Hong Leong Bank
• Kuwait Finance House
• Maybank
• OCBC Bank
• Public Bank
• RHB Bank
• Standard Chartered Bank

There are 6 banks offering IBGT instant fund transfer service via their Mobile Banking service through Android and/or iOS apps. They are:

• Bank Islam
• CIMB Bank
• Citibank
• OCBC Bank
• Public Bank
• Standard Chartered Bank

Source: MEPS zero fee IBFT promotion webpage.

Buying guide for computer power supply unit (PSU)

Time flies. My Dell Studio XPS 8100 is 5 years old now. It is still working fine, except of some occasional auto restarts during cold boot up.

I decided to replace its stock Chicony CPB09-001A 350 Watt power supply (PSU) as an attempt to fix this auto restart problem. So far, this problem doesn't occur again after I replaced the PSU.

After all, the PSU is a very important component of the computer that converts the AC current from wall socket into DC current of various voltage and distribute them to power up all the electronic parts of the computer. A faulty PSU might fry up the motherboard, introduce bad sectors and/or damage the harddisk, introduce error to memory, burn up the graphics display card, etc.

Not all branded PC can swap in with power supply of other brand, because of proprietary cabling or setting. Luckily, this Dell Studio XPS 8100 uses a standard ATX power supply, and therefore can fit in with another standard ATX power supply, regardless of the brand.

I looked for a low cost but reliable PSU, so that the computer can continue to serve me for another 3 years or so.

Initially I wanted to buy the Corsair VS450, but there was no stock in the shop I went to. I ended up purchased a Cooler Master B500 ver.2 to replace the stock PSU in my desktop.

I have made some study on how to choose a suitable PSU for my computer before I went to the shop, and would like to share the knowledge here with you.

Choosing Suitable PSU Wattage

The first thing to consider for a PSU is how many Watt of PSU is suitable for the PC. Choosing a lower wattage PSU increases the risk of system to become unstable and louder noise from PSU. Choosing a higher wattage PSU decreases efficiency at lighter loads, and the price is higher too.

You can refer to my article about calculating the recommended power supply wattage for desktop computer. However, this time, I used another website at http://powersupplycalculator.net/ to calculate for the wattage recommendation.

Typically, the CPU and the graphics display card (with GPU on it) are the 2 components in the PC that consume the most power, and high end GPU can consume much more power than the CPU.

For normal PC with normal CPU and one normal graphics display card, a high efficiency power supply of 400-500 watt should be sufficient. You might need more wattage if you have high end GPU, or multiple graphics display cards in the same PC.

PSU Efficiency and Certification

What is the efficiency of power supply? Well, when the PSU converts the AC current to DC current, certain portion of the electric will be lost in the form of heat.

If a power supply is 80% efficient, it can convert 100W of AC current into 80W DC, dissipating the remaining  20W in heat.

Therefore, a high efficiency power supply will waste less electric in the process of converting the AC to DC, produces less heat, and requires less cooling fan speed (and hence runs more silently).

There is a certification body called 80 Plus that will test and confirm if a model of PSU always has an efficiency of at least 80%.

There are several certification grades, from just 80 Plus, to bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and titanium. The higher the grade, the more efficiency is required, and normally the more expensive will be the PSU.

The Cooler Master B500 ver.2 is 80 Plus certified. You can click here for its 80 Plus verification and testing report.

Normally, the PSU has the highest efficiency when it is loaded with around 50% of its capacity. It has lower efficiency at lower load (eg. when the computer is at idle state) or higher load (eg. when all the CPU cores, GPU and memory are at high utilization state).

The 80 Plus test result of Cooler Master B500 ver.2 shows its efficiency rate as below:

• 20% load - 82.75% efficiency, power factor of 0.97
• 50% load - 84.55% efficiency, power factor of 0.99
• 100% load - 81.51% efficiency, power factor of 0.99

You can find the list of all other brands and models of PSU that are 80 Plus certified in their website.

Beside 80 Plus, this Cooler Master B500 ver.2 is also ecoPSU certified. You can click here for its ecoPSU  Level 85 verification and testing report.

The test result with ecoPSU shows even better efficiency than 80 Plus.

Note that both the 80 Plus and ecoPSU also define the minimum power factor requirement in their certification. What is power factor then?

Power Factor Correction

The power factor of an AC electrical power system is defined as the ratio of the real power flowing to the load to the apparent power in the circuit.

In an electric power system, a load with a low power factor draws more current than a load with a high power factor for the same amount of useful power transferred.

The PSU has power factor correction (PFC) circuits to increase its power factor. The PFC circuits type is either passive, active, or dynamic. Low grade PSU uses passive PFC, better one uses active PFC, and dynamic PFC is just too expensive for use in computer PSU.

Therefore, "Active PFC" is probably one of the keyword you search for when considering a PSU. The Cooler Master B500 ver.2 uses active PFC circuits.

The +12v Rail

The Cooler Master B500 ver.2 has a single +12v rail with maximum rating of 38A, 456W. This is the most important rail that supply electric to the high power consumption components of the computer, including the CPU and GPU.

Some PSU has dual or multiple +12v rails to split out the current, especially those PSU with high +12v rail maximum rating of above 40A, so that you can use one rail for CPU, and another for GPU, to balance up the load on the +12v rails.

The Cooler Master B-series of PSU used to have dual +12v rails, but version 2 has switched to single rail design. You can click here to find out the reason why Cooler Master made the change.

Modular vs Non-modular

The Cooler Master B500 ver.2 is non-modular. All its cable rails are attached with the PSU and cannot be detached from its outlet. A PSU with modular cabling system provides a detachable cabling system, offering the ability to remove unused connections, which can reduce clutter and improve air flow in the computer.

Modularity isn't my main concern, as the chassis of Dell Studio XPS 8100 is pretty spacious.

Lifespan and MTBF

The life span of a PSU is usually specified in mean time between failures (MTBF). The Cooler Master B500 ver.2 has an MTBF of 100,000 hours.

This should mean that the PSU has a probability of more than 75% to survive more than 3 years (and therefore has about 25% of chance to fail within 3 years). Also, it has around 25% probability to last as long as 100,000 hours.

Protection Circuits

Modern PSU has protection circuits to prevent the computer components such as the motherboard and harddisk from being fried due to excessive current drawn, or overheat, etc.

These are the keywords you can look for a PSU protection circuits:

• SCP - short circuit protection
• OPP - overpower/overload protection
• OCP - overcurrent protection
• OTP - overtemperature protection
• OVP - overvoltage protection
• UVP - undervoltage protection

The Cooler Master B500 ver.2 has SCP, OPP, OCP, OTP and OVP. Its manufacturer doesn't mention about UVP for it.

Connectors

The Cooler Master B500 ver.2 has the following connectors, which are sufficient for my Dell Studio XPS 8100 PC.

Visualized map of real-time air quality index and forecast of air pollution level

It has been for quite some times the haze resulting from huge forest fires in Indonesia has created a cloud of smog over itself and the neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and southern Thailand.

Here is a website that gather official data of air quality index (AQI) or air pollution index (API) from all around the world, and publish the information in a visualized map and charts. Its URL is: http://aqicn.org/map/

From the website, you can immediately know the current and also forecasted air quality level of a country, region or city.

The URL for Malaysia AQI map is:
 http://aqicn.org/map/malaysia/

(Screen captured on 15 September 2015)

The URL for Singapore AQI map is:
http://aqicn.org/map/Singapore

(Screen captured on 15 September 2015)

The URL for Kuala Lumpur AQI map and chart is:
http://aqicn.org/city/kuala-lumpur/

(Screen captured on 15 September 2015)

Colour indicators in the map and chart:

• Green = healthy
• Yellow = moderately unhealthy
• Orange = unhealthy
• Red = very unhealthy
• Purple = extremely unhealthy

My Sharp IG-DC2E-B Plasmacluster ion generator (in car air purifier)

I applied a new HSBC Amanah Credit Card in March 2015 and was promised with a Sharp in car air purifier (worth about RM350) as signing free gift by meeting the required terms and conditions.

After waited for about half a year, I finally received this free gift from HSBC.

As a car ionizer, this Sharp IG-DC2E-B functions in my car to:

• Purify air by settling airborne particles and dust
• Disinfect viruses
• Deodorize bad smell
• Remove adhered mold and suspend further mold
• Remove allergens from dead dust mites and dust mite faeces

The unit is cylindrical in shape, looks like a typical water container, and fit in the cup holder in the car.

Installation is pretty easy, just need to remove its back cover to plug in the power connection cable, route the power cord to come out from either one of its two outlets (one near its middle, and another near its bottom) , then cover back the back cover. Plug the other end of the power connection cable to the car's lighter socket, and it is ready to operate.

There are 3 available operation modes:

• Low: ion density of 7,000 ions per cubic centimetre, quiet, consume less power (1.1 watt).
• High: ion density of 25,000 ions per cubic centimetre, noisier, consume more power (1.8 watt).
• Turbo: ion density of 50,000 ions per cubic centimetre, noisiest, consume most power (2.7 watt).

The IZ-C75CE Plasmacluster ion generating unit can be seen after removing the back cover of the IG-DC2E-B. It has a lifespan of approximately 19,000 hours (more than 6 years) and need replacement upon end of life.

Now my car has 2 ionizers, the existing Medklinn mobile ionizer (I've already made an upgraded to Medklinn Asens Auto from the one shown in the linked article) and this new Sharp Plasmacluster ion generator. The Medklinn claims to be able to produce much more ions (2 millions per cubic centimetre) than the Sharp.

I have no problem connecting both of them to the car's lighter socket, as I have an  HSC YC-401 Car 1-to-3 Cigarette Lighter Sockets with 2 USB ports in my car.

Khan Academy - the free online tuition website

I would like to share with you a great online tuition (e-learning) website called Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/), founded by Salman Amin Khan (a.k.a. Sal or Khan, born 11 October 1976) with the ambition "to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere".

Salman Khan is a Bengali American who graduated with multiple Bachelor degrees  (mathematics, electrical engineering, and computer science) and multiple Master degrees (electrical engineering, and computer science) from M.I.T. He is also an MBA graduate from Harvard Business School.

Khan is not only very knowledgeable in mathematics and science, but also very good in explaining and teaching things in a very easy to understand manner.

He started this venture in 2003,  tutoring his cousin Nadia mathematics over the Internet using Yahoo!'s Doodle notepad. His tutorials are so interesting and attracted more and more relatives and friends of Nadia to join in, until he established the Khan Academy channel in Youtube to upload his tutorial videos and made free access to everyone.

Today, Khan Academy website hosted thousands of educational video lessons, encompassing mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry,  organic chemistry, health and medicine, cosmology, astronomy, economics, finance, history, music, arts, computing, etc., from primary school level until college level.

These videos  have been viewed over 500 millions times.

As a non-profit educational organization, Khan Academy operates solely on donations. It doesn't charge you any money to access the website and all the content in it, and the content does not have any annoying advertisement too.

The Khan Academy website is simple, straightforward and easy to use. Parents and teachers can link their account with their own children and/or students to monitor and provide guidance for their learning progress in Khan Academy.

This is a very good online tuition website for yourself as well as for your children and/or students. It is fun to learn from its video tutorials. It is highly recommended by many people who has benefited from it, including Bill Gates.

TPC Plus (TPC, 7176), will it be the phoenix rising from the ashes?

TPC Plus (TPC, 7176) is a high quality (mainly Grade A) egg producer in the poultry farming industry. It is based in Melaka and has been listed in Bursa Malaysia (KLSE) since 2003.

Among its range of products are TPC Lower Cholesterol eggs, TPC Omega eggs, TPC Organic Selenium eggs, TPC Golden Corn eggs, TPC Farm Fresh eggs, washed-sanitized-coated (WASACO) eggs, etc.

In spite of producing high quality products, its financial results were not so attractive, especially after 2006.

In 2010, London Biscuits (LONBISC, 7126) which is in the cake confectionery business whereby egg is a major raw material, acquired TPC by buying about 32% stake in TPC from its then executive chairman Yee Tiam Teck and managing director Jimmy E. Pian at the price of RM0.30 per share.

After that, LONBISC had made a voluntary takeover offer at RM0.30 per share for TPC, but the respond was not good. It ended up with 33.65% holding in TPC.

Shortly after that, LONBISC sold off all its egg business, comprised 23.29% of Lay Hong (LAYHONG, 9385) to QL Resources (QL, 7084) and this 33.65% of TPC to Huat Lai Resources (HUATLAI, 7141).

HUATLAI acquired the 33.65% stake of TPC from LONBISC at the price of about RM0.30 in 2011. After that, HUATLAI had made a conditional takeover offer at RM0.30 per share for TPC. It ended up with 51.05% holding in TPC in 2012, and TPC becomes a subsidiary of HUATLAI till today.

Since then, HUATLAI took over the management of TPC and replaced its board of directors with own management team. The managing director of HUATLAI, Mr. Lim Yeow Her is now also the managing director of TPC.

The management has undergone several restructuring exercises to strengthen the financial of TPC. We also see TPC expansion in production with new layer houses and pullet houses. The financial results of TPC gradually improves since HUATLAI's acquisition.

Chart taken from http://www.malaysiastock.biz

And the share price of TPC also gradually moves from the range of RM0.2x (when with LONBISC), to RM0.3x, and then to RM0.4x.

In February 2014, TPC was classified as a PN17 listed company after its auditors expressed concern over a net loss of RM4.1 million in the financial year ended 2013, and also took into account TPC’s shareholders equity as at 31 December 2013 was less than 50% of its issued capital.

Its share price dropped back to the range of RM0.2x immediately after the PN17 announcement, but gradually climbed back as seen in the chart above.

On 31 July 2015, TPC has obtained approval from Bursa Malaysia for its proposed regularization plan to uplift from PN17, which entails a proposed share premium reduction, proposed par value reduction, proposed rights issue with warrants, proposed capitalisation of amount owing to its holding company HUATLAI, as well as proposed amendments to its memorandum of association and articles of association.

TPC has called for an EGM to be held on 17 September 2015 to get shareholders nod on this proposal. Click here to read about the circular about this PN17 upliftment proposal.

Shareholders of TPC are proposed with Rights to purchase new TPC shares at the indicative price of RM0.20 per share on the basis of 3 Rights Shares for every 2 TPC shares held. For each of the 3 Rights Shares subscribed, the shareholders will get 2 free Warrants.

Under this proposal, TPC will be listing up to 180 million new shares for its proposed rights issue with warrants and proposed capitalization. Besides, a total of 80 million warrants with exercise price of RM0.20 will be issued pursuant to the proposed rights issue with warrants.

The proceeds to be raised from the proposed rights issue with warrants will be utilized by TPC for the purchase of layer houses, pullet houses,  equipment, working capital and expenses in relation to the proposed regularization plan.

TPC currently has 80 millions issued share listed in Bursa Malaysia. As reported in TPC Annual Report 2014, HUATLAI currently holds 52.91% stake in TPC. Only 54 shareholders own more than 100,000 shares in TPC after HUATLAI, which is equilvalent to 31.53%. About thousand over shareholders hold the remaining 15.56%.

As of today 10 September 2015, TPC share price closed at RM0.525. Its trailing 4 quarters EPS stood at 6.07sen, forming a PE ratio of 8.65. This is calculated based on its existing 80 million issued shares.

After the rights issue, its number of shares will immediately become 260 million, not accounting the 80 million warrants convertible to shares at the price of RM0.20. Not accounting for the result of share premium reduction and the proceed from rights subscription, its adjusted EPS will be 1.87sen. If taken those proceeds into account, the EPS figure will be higher.

TPC needs to maintain 2 consecutive quarters of operational profit in order to get upliftment from PN17. Will TPC be the phoenix rising from the ashes? Let's see.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for sharing of point of view only. It is not an advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of the mentioned stock counters. You should do your own homework before trading in Bursa Malaysia.

A family trip to Royal Selangor Visitor Centre

Located at Setapak Jaya, an outskirt quite some distance away from Kuala Lumpur city center, the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre is a modern building with built-up area of 40,000 sqft. It is known as the world's largest pewter factory and showroom.

The company was originally called Selangor Pewter, and was awarded with its Royal charter by the Sultan of Selangor in 1992.

Outside the building, there is a world's largest pewter tankard as recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. This is a nice place to take some photos.

We are assigned with a pretty guide after registration at the front counter. She accompanied us throughout the visiting tour, explaining about the displayed items and answering to our questions.

The first station we visited is a museum about the founder, Yong Koon, founded the company in 1885, the pewtersmithing tools used at that time, some of the products including the old tin currency in animal shape and money tree.

On the wall, there is a giant touchmark with the Chinese words "玉和足锡" (meanings Jade, Peace, and Pure Tin) which Yong Koon used during the early days of his pewtersmithing workshop.

There is also a giant weighting scale that can accommodate a few children to stand on it.

After talking about the history, the next station talks about the science of pewter. It explains that pewter is an alloy with majority of tin and some copper and antimony.

The next station is the Chamber of Chimes, where we can produce musical sounds with cast pewter cylinders of different length. There are also some other cylinders made of wood, hang down from the ceiling.

Then we entered into the Hall of Finishes, with a lot of pewter tiles with different patterns and textures displayed on the wall.

The next station is the Hall of Frames, with many pewter made photo frames displayed on the wall.

On another wall, there are hand prints of all the craftsmen who worked more than 5 years with the company.

There is also a replicate of the Petronas Twin Towers made up of many tankards, which is about 2 storey high.

The next station displays a giant container with 1,578kg of pewter swarf, and some pewter pots made by recycling the pewter swarf.

At the end of the tour, we have a look at the pewter factory with about 400 craftsmen working at their well organized workstation. Complimentary drinks of 100 Plus is served in pewter cup. Only limited workstations can be closely visited by visitors, the rest we can only see from the visiting bridge but cannot enter into their area.

There is a place for visitors to experience the process of creating a pewter dish/bowl using traditional tools of hammer and wooden mould. A fee of RM63.60 per person was charged for this session. Our children liked it very much. It took about 30 minutes for them to make their own dish with hard knocks. The finished work can be taken home, together with a certificate of completion.

Opposite, there is a pewter foundry for visitors to experience the process of casting, polishing and decorating a pewter accessory. The fee is RM159. We didn't try this one.

Entering the showroom, there are many pewter products available for sell. They told us the most famous type of product sold is the tea caddies, ideal as gift as well as for own use. There are also Star Wars collections which are pretty nice.

Beside the showroom, there is a café serving light meals and ice-cream.

If you plan to take a visit to the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre, you can probably take down their GPS coordinate here: 3.196, 101.724.

Inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2017

I have posted the list of auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2017 a few days ago, and here is the reverse, namely the inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2017. The list below is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

If you are concerned, then you should probably avoid getting married on the listed days above.

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