About Cloud Computing

If you are in the IT world, you'd probably heard about Cloud Computing, which is apparently a buzzword frequently mentioned by Gartner since 2007, and spread over the global IT industry nowadays. It is emerging at the convergence of 3 major trends nowadays, namely service orientation, virtualization and standardization of computing through the Internet.

Gartner defines Cloud Computing as a style of computing where massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided “as a service” using Internet technologies to multiple external customers. This term derives from the normal practice in network drawing whereby the Internet is always presented as a cloud symbol in the diagram.

With Cloud Computing, the computing resources will be consolidated from various data center locations linked up together in the cloud, and will be delivered to consumers on a service subscription basis, allow access from anywhere and provide economies of scale. The concept is similar to utility services that we all are familiar with, such as the electricity.

Consumers of Cloud Computing services purchase the required computing capacity on-demand, and are not generally concerned with the underlying technologies used to achieve the increase in server capability. The types of IT services that can be provided through a cloud are wide-reaching, and have now expanded past web applications to include storage, raw computing, or access to any number of specialized services.

Notable Cloud Computing service providers include:

• Amazon - Amazon Web Services
• Google - Apps engine
• IBM - Blue Cloud
• Nirvanix - Storage Delivery Network

Redhat and Elastra also provide cloud computing based on the Amazon Web Services.

To date, there are still a lot of confusion around this buzzword, and Gartner has clarified the following to be myths about Cloud Computing and should not be taken as true:

• Myth No. 1: Cloud computing is an architecture or an infrastructure.
• Myth No. 2: Every vendor will have a different cloud.
• Myth No. 3: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is the cloud.
• Myth No. 4: Cloud computing is a brand new revolution.
• Myth No. 5: All remote computing is cloud computing.
• Myth No. 6: The Internet and the Web are the cloud.
• Myth No. 7: Everything will be in the cloud.
• Myth No. 8: The cloud eliminates private networks.

Cloud Computing is a promising approach for highly scalable integrated computing service. It is still in its early stage now, and might take a few years to be matured.

OSIM OS-3200 iCare 200 Eye Massager

I redeemed this OSIM OS-3200 iCare 200 Eye Massager with my Citibank Rewards Points recently. The delivery was very efficient, as it reached my house within 2 days time right after the redemption was made through Citibank Online website.

The function of this electronic eye mask is to massage and exercise the eyes. I find it effective in relieving the eye strain and tiredness.

It is very lightweight, easy to carry, and operates with the remote control with 4 AA size Alkaline batteries. It doesn't use household electricity and doesn't have a power plug.

Its 3 main massaging features are: air pressure, heat and vibration. It also contains magnetic nodes said to be able to improve circulation around the eye area and enhancing the massage effectiveness.

There are 4 modes of air pressure, 2 modes of heat selection, 6 modes of vibration. It comes with 1 automatic massage program, and 6 manual massage modes. Selectable massage time are 5, 10 and 15 minutes. I find the default 15 minutes massage time is quite long. If you are impassion, better select a shorter time period.

I have also seen this product appeared in Maybank TreatsPoints reward list before. If you plan to redeem your points, probably can consider this as well.

How MYR has performed after de-peg from USD

Today is 21 July 2008, the 3rd anniversary after Bank Negara Malaysia (the central bank of Malaysia) announced the Ringgit de-peg from US Dollar on 21 July 2005.

To recap, during the the Asian financial crisis in 1997-1998, when the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced the impose of capital controls to the country, Malaysia Ringgit was pegged at 3.80 to the US Dollar in September 1998 after plunged by 60%.

The capital control measures were then gradually lifted several years later. Ringgit was de-peg a few hours after China announced the de-peg of Yuan to US Dollar on the same day.

So how has the Ringgit performed now, after 3 years from the date of de-peg?

The graph below shows the foreign exchange (forex) history of Ringgit and Yuan against US Dollar since 21 July 2005. It shows that the appreciation of Yuan is pretty steady, while the appreciation of Ringgit is more fluctuated. We can also notice that the Ringgit depreciated slightly since the recent election held on 8 March 2008 which caused some political instability as the ruling government become weaker in power.



Many people are also concerned about the forex rate with Singapore Dollar, and here is the graph.



Singapore Dollar has appreciated from the bottom of 2.22 in 23 May 2007 all the way to 2.39 in last week closing, and the appreciation rate of Singapore Dollar to US Dollar is all the way faster than Ringgit. This is because Singapore is making use of a faster rise in the Singapore dollar to curb their inflation.

Below is the percentage change of the Ringgit forex rate against some major currencies, between the date of 21 July 2005 and 18 July 2008:

Hong Kong Dollar (HKD): +17.56%
US Dollar (USD): +17.12%
South Korean Won (KRW): +14.71%
Japanese Yen (JPY): +12.62%
Indonesian Rupiah (IDR): +9.72%
New Zealand Dollar (NZD): +5.10%
British Pound (GBP): +2.85%

China Yuan (CNY): -1.55%
Canadian Dollar (CAD): -2.92%
Singapore Dollar (SGD): -4.28%
Russian Ruble (RUB): -4.75%
Thai Baht (THB): -5.75%
Swiss Franc (CHF): -6.26%
Philippine Peso (PHP): -7.00%
Australian Dollar (AUD): -7.79%
Euro (EUR): -9.75%

A simple judgement to the performance of Ringgit is to consider the imports and exports of Malaysia. The best condition is for Ringgit to depreciate against currency of exports-partners (so that Malaysian goods become cheaper to them) and to appreciate against currency of import-partners (so that their goods become cheaper in Malaysia).

Here are the top 8 exports-partners of Malaysia as reported in 2007:

• US 15.6% (RM94.52 billion)
  
• Singapore 14.6% (RM88.51 billion)
  
• Japan 9.1% (RM55.24 billion)
  
• China 8.8% (RM53.04 billion)
  
• Thailand 5.0% (RM29.98 billion)
  
• Hong Kong 4.6% (RM27.97 billion)
• Netherlands 3.9% (RM23.60 billion)
• South Korea 3.8% (RM23.03 billion)
  

And here are the top 8 import-partners of Malaysia as reported in 2007:

• Japan 13.0% (RM65.54 billion)
  
• China 12.9% (RM64.90 billion)
  
• Singapore 11.5% (RM57.96 billion)
  
• US 10.8% (RM54.69 billion)
  
• Taiwan 5.7% (RM28.71 billion)
  
• Thailand 5.3% (RM27.01 billion)
  
• South Korea 4.9% (RM24.93 billion)
  
• Germany 4.6% (RM23.42 billion)
  

Since Malaysia export Market still rely heavily on US, it is not favourable for the Ringgit to appreciate too fast against US Dollar. The depreciation against Singapore Dollar is OK since exports value to them is more than the imports. The appreciation against Japanese Yen is OK too, since imports value from them is more than the exports. However, Ringgit should follow the long-term strategy of slightly ahead of China Yuan, and current situation is unfavourable, since Malaysia imports from China is more than exports.

All in all, so far the Ringgit performance is intact and not too bad.

Is it wise to change your phone plan to Lets Talk?

I remember when TM first introduced their Let's Talk plan, nobody is interested because we felt that for most scenario, we'd end up having to pay more than maintaining the conventional home fixed line subscription.

Here is the comparison:

Home fixed line subcription:
Monthly rental: RM26.00
Local call: 4 sen/min (minimum 8 sen/call)
National call (within 50km): peak: 10 sen/50 sec, non-peak: 10 sen/60 sec
National call (within 150km): peak: 10 sen/20 sec, non-peak: 10 sen/40 sec
National call (exceed 150km): peak: 10 sen/7 sec, non-peak: 10 sen/14 sec
Handphone call (same area): peak: 10 sen/20 sec, non-peak: 10 sen/30 sec
Handphone call (other area): peak: 10 sen/8.6 sec, non-peak: 10 sen/15 sec

* Peak hours for national call: 7 am - 6.59 pm
* Non-peak hours for national call: 7 pm - 6.59 am
* Peak hours for handphone call: 9 am - 8.59 pm
* Non-peak hours for handphone call: 9 pm - 8.59 am

Previous Let's Talk 38 plan (obsoleted):
Monthly fee: RM38.00
Local call: free 500 min, thereafter 4 sen/min
National call: free 60 min (inclusive 20 min to mobile), thereafter 25 sen/min
Call to Celcom: 33 sen/min
Call to other mobile: 38 sen/min

Previous Let's Talk 68 plan (obsoleted):
Monthly fee: RM68.00
Local call: free for unlimited calls
National call: free 120 min (inclusive 30 min to mobile), thereafter 25 sen/min
Call to Celcom: 30 sen/min
Call to other mobile: 35 sen/min

Later, TM has revised their Let's Talk plan to a better rate as follow:

Current Let's Talk 38 plan:
Monthly fee: RM38.00
Local call: free for unlimited calls
National call: free 60 min, thereafter 18 sen/min
Handphone call: 30 sen/min

Current Let's Talk 68 plan:
Monthly fee: RM68.00
Local call: free for unlimited calls
National call: free unlimited calls
Handphone call: 25 sen/min

As a result, we can see that the Let's Talk plan is much better than before.

So, is it wise for you to change your home telephone plan to Let's Talk?

If your line is solely used for Streamyx Internet access, and you hardly make any call from your home phone, you'd better stay with the existing fixed line subscription.

If you make calls or faxes out from your home phone, and your average monthly phone bill charges is more than RM38, it could be wise for you to switch over to the Let's Talk 38 plan.

If majority of your calls from home phone is national or to handphone, and your average monthly phone bill charges is more than RM68, it could be wise for you to switch over to the Let's Talk 68 plan.

There is another Let's Talk 108 Plan, which provides substantial IDD discount (up to 80% off) and is suitable for those who makes a lot of international calls and phone bill charges is always more than RM108.

With the new Let's Talk plan, now we can see the savings and the rationale to switch over.

Send a cake in the birthday card to your friends

Wonder how you can mail a 3D cake by post to your friends and relatives?

Pigeon Card produces fancy birthday cards that can convert into 3D objects, such as cake, singer on stage, Formula 1 race car, alarm clock, etc. The video below demonstrates how it works.



The recipients would most probably put your card on his/her working table and remember you always.

Disclosure:

This article is part of a link exchange activity with KC Lau's blog. You can also get this new birthday card plus a link for FREE from KC Lau who blogs about personal finance.

New cool feature in Blogger (Blogspot) for blogrolling

I just noticed this new cool feature in Google's Blogger (a.k.a. Blogspot) today, which is called the Blog List. Now you can see this new thing in the side bar of my blog too, under the Blogrolls section.

Apparently it is an enhanced version of the existing Link List feature, able to show more details about the linked item, including the title of most recent article, date of last update, snippet of the most recent article, blog icon, etc. You can sort the listing alphabetically or based on most recently updated status.

The Blog List works well for any page that has an RSS or Atom feed, so we can get creative to link to blogs, news sites, podcasts, Twitter streams, search results, or anything else with a feed. It is also able to import subscriptions from Google Reader.

Pretty cool isn't it?

Super Home Ideas 2008 @ MidValley

There will be a home living and lifestyle event namely Super Home Ideas 2008 Exhibition to be held in MidValley Exhibition Centre (MVEC) this coming 24-27 July 2008 (10.30am - 9.00pm).

Admission to this expo covering an area of 128,300 sq.ft. is free. There will be over 350 booths of local and international exhibitors, and expected to attract about 40,000 visitors.

Among the attraction of this 4 days event are:

• Seminar, Workshop & Demonstration
• Home Property Crime Prevention Talks
• Organic Living Pavilion
• Kids World Pavilion
• Home E - Consumer Pavilion
• Pet World Pavilion
• Free Decor Interior Advice
• Better Living on Green Street
• Discover Condo Living Adventure
• Tour In House Fitness Centre
• Experience Healthy Living
• Super House Reno Gallery
• Antique Gallery
• and more at the expo...

You can click here to pre-register for your visit to this event.

Changing Jobs in 2008: It Pays to be Gray

ExecuNet, an interactive membership organization for effective career management, has just released their exclusive 16th Annual Executive Job Market Intelligence Report.

Innovation, agility and execution are the key watchwords for both the employee and employer. For year 2008, a growth of above 10% within the executive employment market is still expected by search firm and corporate human resource professionals, albeit at a slower pace with quite a lot of uncertainty.

Among the predicted high-growth industries for the year are:

• High Tech + Defense/Aerospace
• Healthcare
• Business Services
• Pharmaceutical/Medical/Biotech
• Energy/Utilities
  

Executives of all ages expect large increases in their pay if they change jobs this year. Overall, executive pay is expected to increase by 6.2% in 2008. But average pay increases for executives who change jobs are expected to increase by well over 10%, regardless of the executive's age or experience.



The complete report is made available to all ExecuNet members, and you can also click here to download the 2008 Executive Job Market Intelligence Summary Report.

Free for life platinum credit cards

Platinum credit cards are nice looking, great to have, provides higher credit limit, lets you enjoy better customer services, and more. If you earn a 5 digits monthly income, or at the high end of the 4 digits monthly income, you might want to have this type of credit card residing in your wallet.

However, the annual fee of platinum credit cards is normally much more higher than gold credit cards, and easily cost you a few hundred ringgit. The RHB VISA Infinite even charges you RM1,000 annually for that. It would be nice if the annual fee can be waived for a lifetime without any condition set.

To avoid the hassle with the annual fee, you might probably want to look for a free for life (ffl) platinum credit card, if you intend to apply for one.

The list below are some of the free for life (ffl) platinum credit cards issued in Malaysia, which won't charge you for any annual fee:

• CIMB PETRONAS Platinum MasterCard (provides cash rebate on spending, also ffl to supplementary cards)
• CIMB Platinum Business MasterCard (provides cash rebate on spending, targetted to corporates)
• CIMB VISA Platinum (also ffl to supplementary cards)
• CIMB Mastercard Platinum (also ffl to supplementary cards)
• CIMB Direct Access MasterCard & VISA Platinum (targetted for graduates and professionals, also ffl to supplementary cards)
• UOB Lady's Visa Platinum (targetted for ladies, also ffl to supplementary cards)
• UOB Lady's MasterCard Platinum (targetted for ladies, also ffl to supplementary cards)
• EON Bank Platinum MasterCard

So, which one do you intend to take? Or which one you've already taken?

25 days to go for Beijing 2008 Olympics

I believe most of us are aware that the Beijing 2008 Olympics (a.k.a. Games of the XXIX Olympiad) will be held from 8-24 August 2008. It is now only 25 days more to go.

The theme is this international multi-sport event is as below:


"One World One Dream" expresses the common wishes of people all over the world, inspired by the Olympic ideals, to strive for a bright future of Mankind. In spite of the differences in colours, languages and races, we share the charm and joy of the Olympic Games, and together we seek for the ideal of Mankind for peace.

The 5 official mascots of the event, Fuwa embody the natural characteristics of 4 of China's most popular animals -- the Fish (Beibei), the Panda (Jingjing), the Tibetan Antelope (Yingying), the Swallow (Nini) -- and the Olympic Flame (Huanhuan).

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.

Wishes all the best to Beijing and all the athletes, may the force be with you!

Conducting effective meeting

Having meetings is common in the business world. However, from my personal experience, a lot of meetings were held in a non-effective way. Sometimes, they are not productive too. The time wasted in those meeting could be very costly, imagine how much wages or salary were paid to the participants sitting in the meeting room during the time of meeting, and what if they were doing other more productive business activities instead of sitting in the meeting room.

I learnt some ways to conduct more effective meeting. I would define an "effective meeting" as a meeting that:

• meets the objectives and goals of having the meeting
• produces fruitful outcome and action plans
• lively discussion among the participants (not one-way communication from chairperson only)
• every participants are clear about their role and follow up actions
• used as little time as possible

In order to achieve an effective meeting, here are some guidelines.

1. Meeting is more for discussion than announcement

A lot of people like to conduct meeting just for announcement. Those meetings are of one-way communication. I believe most of the time announcements can be made in the form of memo, circular, email, etc.

Meeting can be held to discuss about the announcement, to ensure everybody understand the message clearly. The announcement should be made before the meeting. If calling up a meeting is just for announcing something, and that announcement is not something very significant or impacting, most of the time you might find that those meetings might not be necessary at all.

2. All participants should clear about what will be discussed in the meeting

It is a good practice to disseminate meeting agenda and related documents prior to the meeting. All participants should get well prepared for the meeting by understanding the discussion topics and get ready the material for discussions.

In this way, supporting documents can be well prepared and presented during the meeting. The discussion could be more lively and get everybody involvement as everyone already aware about the discussion topics and ready for their involvement.

3. When discussion has gone off-topic, chairperson need to control the situation

When discussion has gone off-topic, or there is a long debate within certain participants that couldn't be easily solved on the spot, the chairperson should control the situation and ensure that the time is managed as planned in the agenda.

Most of the time, it is wise to schedule a separate meeting for those discussions, or let the person involved to resolve the matter among themselves later, instead of wasting other participants' precious time in the meeting room.

4. Discussion should come to mutual conclusion and action items

The meeting is not effective if discussion produce nothing. The discussions should have outcome which is well minuted. The minutes of meeting should be disseminated to all the participants shortly after the meeting. Even for informal meetings, it is wise to produce a "disucssion notes" to record down the outcomes and action plans.

5. When the planned time on the agenda is over, get participants' input about extension

It is very irresponsible for the chairperson to let the meeting time drag on, which might affect the time schedule of every participants in the meeting room. When the allocated time is over, and meeting suppose to adjourne, but the discussions were not finished yet, the chairperson should get the participants' input for time extension, proposed new adjourne time, possible continued discussion at another time, etc.

Especially when it reaches the lunch or dinner hour, the meeting should decide if a short break is required for participants to go and eat, or food to be brought into the meeting room, etc. The chairperson should not just let the meeting continue on with hungry participants.

Guinness World Record for Firefox 3 downloads

Mozilla has set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of software downloads in 24 hours.

When they released the Firefox 3 web browser on June 17 2008, which is known as the Firefox Download Day, an amount of 8,002,530 downloads were recorded.

Firefox 3 promises exciting new features, including one-click bookmarking, the smart location bar and lightning fast performance. Other features include built-in spell checking, session restore and full zoom. It also offers more than 5,000 add-ons, including Shareaholic which allows you to share, bookmark, and e-mail web pages quickly via a wide array of web 2.0 social networking sites. Shareaholic currently supports: digg, del.icio.us, facebook, foxiewire, friendfeed, google bookmarks, google reader, healthranker, kaboodle, magnolia, mixx, myspace, pownce, reddit, simpy, stumbleupon, streakr, truemors, tumblr, twitter, ycombinator, bzzster, etc.

To date, more than 28 million downloads for Firefox 3 were made, and the counter keeps counting. You can click here to see the counter.

Windows XP patch screwed up Internet connectivity with ZoneAlarm

Just now, the Automatic Updates in my PC downloaded several patches for the Windows XP operating system, which require my confirmation to install them, and need to restart the PC after installation.

After the restart, I was unable to connect to the Internet anymore. I couldn't contact with the mail server and also couldn't browse the web. However, I found that I could still resolve domain names and perform the "ping" action. This mean the Internet line is still up and running, but somehow the outgoing TCP connections are blocked somewhere.

I disabled the ZoneAlarm firewall, and the Internet connection was back to normal. So, the problem is dealing with ZoneAlarm.

I enabled back the ZoneAlarm function, and looked into the log of ZoneAlarm firewall. Whenever I made an outgoing TCP connection, it is blocked by ZoneAlarm.

This problem is solved after I set the Internet zone security level in ZoneAlarm from High to Medium.

Then, I found out from ZoneAlarm User Forum that this problem is actually caused by the KB951748 Microsoft Update, which suppose to fix up the security flaws in Windows Domain Name System (DNS). This fix has changed some kernel file that ZoneAlarm is working with, therefore causing the problem.

If you are also having the same problem, you can try my workaround method as mentioned above, or you can try to uninstall the KB951748 security fix from the Windows Add/Remove Programs control panel.

Btrfs the new generation Linux file system

Todays storage system is scaling up from gigabytes to terabytes to petabytes all the way to exabytes. As a result, file systems need to scale in their ability to address and manage large storage, and also in their ability to detect, repair and tolerate errors in the data stored on the disk.

Announced by Chris Mason of Oracle in 2007, Btrfs (pronounced as "Butter FS") is a new generation of copy on write, snapshoting file system for Linux aims to replace the ext3 file system (the most commonly used file system in Linux nowadays) while removing a number of its limitations, particularly with respect to file size and total file system size.

The distinctive features of Btrfs include:

• Extent based file storage (2⁶⁴ maximum file size)
• Space-efficient packing of small files and indexed directories
• Dynamic inode allocation (no maximum number of files set at file system creation time)
• Writable snapshots
• Subvolumes (separate internal filesystem roots)
• Object-level mirroring and striping
• Checksums on data and metadata (multiple algorithms available)
• Strong integration with device mapper for multiple device support
• Online filesystem check and very fast offline filesystem check
• Efficient incremental backup and file system mirroring
  

Btrfs is licensed under the GPL and open for contribution from anyone. Currently it is still under heavy development, with Version 1.0 planned to release by 4th quarter of 2008.

Here are some of the benefits of Btrfs:

• Support for large storage, with maximum file size up to 16 EiB, maximum number of files is 2⁶⁴ and maximum volume size is 16 EiB.
• Ultra fast copy-on-write system which is capable of quickly creating snapshots of the state of the filesystem at any time.
• Online resizing possible to change the size of the file system while it is mounted and busy, such as shrinking the file system.
• Storage pools enabling the file system to span multiple devices.

So how can you be benefited from this new generation of file system? Perhaps you can get a faster Internet search result, more reliable banking data, and more robust stock exchange system. (Remember what happened to Bursa Malaysia on 3 July 2008 when their system faced a storage system faulty?)

Mastercard Malaysia Mega Sale Promotion 2008

If you have a Mastercard, be it credit card, debit card, prepaid card or Electronic card, and none of your immediate family members is employee of Mastercard, paticipating banks, auditors and/or advertising agents of Mastercard, every swipe of your Mastercard done within Malaysia between 5 July 2008 to 1 September 2008 could bring you a fortune.

The MasterCard Malaysia Mega Sale Promotion 2008 is organized by Tourism Malaysia with support from MasterCard as the official card for the promotion for all MasterCard cardholders who charge their purchases within Malaysia during the promotion period (from 5 July 2008 to 1 September 2008). It is not necessary for the Mastercard itself to be issued in Malaysia in order to get the participation.

There are altogether 6 prizes for 6 winners only:

• A Grand Prize of RM50,000
• 5 Secondary Prizes of RM10,000 each

The winners will be selected from transactions made during the promotion period. Only the millionth transactions will be short-listed as qualifying entries for the contest, i.e. the 1,000,000th, 2,000,000th, 3,000,000th transaction for the entire promotion period, to which 6 cardholders with the highest value transactions made during the promotion period will be contacted by the promoter.

The cardholders must then correctly answer the questions posed to them before they may win the prizes. The cardholder who answers the questions correctly and who had the qualifying entry made from the highest value transaction will be the Grand Prize winner. The remaining 5 cardholders who answer the questions correctly will be the Secondary Prizes winners.

Seems like it is not easy to win the prize although it is pretty easy to participate. The draw will be conducted in the office of MasterCard Asia/Pacific Pte. Ltd. on 22 September 2008.

Lesson learnt - what happen if bank account gone -ve balance

Recently, I've learnt a good lesson which cost me RM5, due to my bank account gone negative balance caused by miscalculation and wrong timing judgement. Luckily it was immediately discovered via Internet banking, and quickly rectified. If not it will cost more, and possibly will result in bounce cheque and penalty.

The story began when I discovered the troubled bank account balance has become RM-34.00 on 30 June. That was because it has a shortfall of RM29.00 and an immediate penalty "interest charged" of RM5.00 [indicator (2)].

The root cause:

I issued some cheques, calculated that the account will still have a balance of hundred over ringgit after all the cheques were cleared. However, I forgotten about a scheduled credit card payment with amount of hundred over ringgit [indicator (3)] which was slightly more than the remaining balance after all the cheques were cleared then.

I thought that would not be a problem, because I have another cheque banked in to the account, which suppose to be cleared on the same day [indicator (5)]. But due to "some technical problem" as explained by the bank's cheque clearing officer, that cheque clearance was delayed by one day, and hence causing my bank account to be in trouble with a negative balance.



To rectify the problem once discovered, I immediately transferred RM50.00 from my other account with the same bank to make the balance changed from the RM-34.00 back to RM16.00. Then, I quickly called up the bank, and was informed that one of my issued cheques [indicator (1)] did not have sufficient fund to clear out, and was advised to put in an additional RM100 to avoid that cheque from bouncing back. So I tranfered another RM100.00 to the account [indicator (4)].

The next day, I noticed 2 lines appeared in the statement [indicator (6)]. There was a "cheque repair credit" immediately followed by another "cheque repair debit". Luckily, that cheque [indicator (1)] still gone through and cleared.

Lesson learnt:

• Always check for the "future payment" and "future transfer" sections for scheduled payment made earlier, to ensure the account balance is sufficient to draw out money from it.
• Don't take for granted that the bank-in cheque will be cleared on time. The banked in amount can only be used after the cheque is cleared and the amount is made available to use in the account. Good news is, all the banks will use a new clearing system beginning 1 July 2008, which will shorten the time required to clear all the cheque transactions.

Global Leadership and Mentoring Congress 2008

For your information, the Global Leadership Mentoring Congress 2008 will be held in Singapore on 4-5 August 2008 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Ballroom. This year’s Congress organized by Research University on Leadership (RUL) in Singapore is themed “Leadership and Service Science: Research-Practice Synergy”. The Guest of Honour will be Singapore's minister Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan from Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Leadership and Service Science are two fast-emerging fields seen as the new frontiers of the global economy and absolutely critical to business and professional success. Presently, 70% of world economies are service-driven, a major shift in the global economy. Leadership and service emphasize broad-based and multilevel leadership structures involving people, technology and co-creation of value systems. In essence, leadership and service are two sides of the new millennium coin.

This two day programme will feature academic lectures, corporate presentations, panel discussions and open dialogue with speakers. The aims of the Congress are:

• To provide an inspiring and practical update through the stories and insights of global leaders and CEOs.
• Furthering the vistas of leadership and service as a science.
• Challenge participants’ understanding of leadership, and how leadership can promote service in a nation where human capital is its main asset.
• Stretch the limits of service through multi-disciplinary considerations
• View service as an essential part of capital building in every corporation, institution and organization.
  

Panel of speakers includes:

• Mr Philip Ng - CEO, Far East Organization
• Dr Loo Choon Yong - Executive Chairman, Raffles Medical Group Ltd
• Mr Ho Kwon Ping - Chairman, Mediacorp/ Chairman, SMU/ Executive Chairman, Banyan Tree Holdings Limited
• Ms Claire Chiang - President of Singapore Compact, Senior Vice President- Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd
• Ms Chua Sock Koong - CEO, SingTel Group
• Prof. Wong Yip Yan - Founder/ Group Chairman, WyWy Group of Companies
• Mr Peter Kok - Managing Director, UBS
• Ms Teresa Lim - Managing Director, IBM
• Prof. Steve Smith - Vice Chancellor, Exeter University
• Prof. Roger Maull - Professor of Management, Exeter University
• Prof. Irene Ng - Director, Centre for Service Research, Exeter University
• Dr Shirley Lim - President, Research University on Leadership/Research Communication International PL
• Dato' Dr Jannie Tay - Vice Chairman (Executive), The Hour Glass
  

The admission fee is S$1,250, and there is discount for early birds.

Click here for more information and online registration to GLMC 2008.

Appraising your current employer

Have you ever think of how satisfied are you with your company, in the quantitative way?

Every now and then, your employer and/or supervisor will conduct appraisal on your attitude, commitment and performance, usually as a formal basis for increment and/or promotion. In fact, you can also conduct appraisal to assess your job satisfaction, security, working environment, management commitment, career path, etc.

Currently, there is a survey ongoing to help you appraise your company, top management, immediate supervisor, and co-workers. All this will relate back to your job satisfaction and security. The survey is pretty comprehensive with quite a lot of questions, helping you to assess your company from every angle. You may expect to take about 20 minutes or more to finish it.

Good news is, beside being able to assess your employment, by taking part in this survey, you also have chance to win cash price sponsored by Cari Internet S/B.

Click here to participate in the survey.

You might also like to read my other post about identifying and getting your dream job.

Google to retire the AdSense Referrals program

If you have visited to this blog before, you might have noticed the invisibleShield ads that I put up recently. That heavy duty scratch-proof protection film for gadgets such as handphones, PDAs, digital cameras, etc. is really a superb product that I sincerely recommend to you. Now since Google is going to retire the AdSense Referrals program pretty soon, I've removed the invisibleShield referral ads from my blog.

The other two referral ads were Google Pack and Firefox. Google Pack consists of a bunch of free software provided by Google, including the famous Google Desktop, Google Earth, Picasa, Photos Screensaver, Skype, Google Talk, etc.

From Google Analytics, I know that close to 38% of visitors to my blog is browsing with Firefox, which shows that it is a good product recommendable to you. Click the image below to enlarge it and see the statistic as reported by Google Analytics for this blog.



Since Google is going to retire the AdSense Referrals program during the last week of August 2008 soon, the above 3 referral ads have been removed from this blog by now. Anyhow, I still strongly recommend them to you because they are really good products.

High inflation rate accelerated the M-shape society formation

During the parliament meeting on 23 June 2008, when answering a question from Tan Sri Dato’ Abd. Khalid (Member of Parliament for Bandar Tun Razak) regarding the hiking price in petrol, food and other commodities, our Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Amirsham A. Aziz stated that if we move the poor line condition (paras garis kemiskinan, PGK) from the current RM800 to RM1,500 (which reflects the actual situation more accurately), the national poverty rate in Malaysia will rise tremendously from the current 3.7% to 24.3%. He also mentioned that the government has risen the definition of low income group for those with monthly income less than RM2,000 now.

Frankly speaking, living is really very difficult for Malaysian family with household income below RM1,500 nowadays. Even those with income below RM3,000 can sense their situation as "new poor" in the M-shape society. Data from the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) as revealed by Datuk Amirsham above indicates that at least a quarter of the Malaysian family has fallen into the poor now.

If this critical situation is not tackled promptly and effectively, we can foresee an increase in crime rate and potential social instability that might risking to possible violent actions, which has already happened in certain regions on the globe now. We hope that our government, the ASEAN, UNESCAP, and all other international bodies can look into the situation seriously and come out with workable remedy plans to ease this globally affected economic condition before it worsen further.

Meanwhile, for us as citizen living in this hard time, we have to strive in finding our ways from falling below the poverty benchmark. As the inflation is fast moving, saving alone is not sufficient, we have to increase our income level to fight the rising poverty line, that might gone up to RM4,000 if the petroleum price climbs up to the scary US$200 per barrel. (I hope this will never happen, at least not in the near future.)

By the way, if you are interested to read about the debate in Malaysia parliament meeting on 23 June 2008, especially Page 6, you can click here to download the official statement document.

SocialSpark - social network for both bloggers and advertisers

Nowadays, there exist quite a sum of social networking websites which form virtual community for bloggers to get to know each other and getting publicity for their blogs. There also exist several blog advertising marketplaces where advertisers wanting to promote their websites, companies, products, services, etc. can look for suitable blogs to put their advertisement.

SocialSpark is a new concept evolved from the famous PayPerPost marketplace that get the best of both worlds. It brings both the bloggers and advertisers into the same community, encouraging them to have more interaction with each other. In fact, the boundary between bloggers and advertisers is seemless, and a user can even hold both identity at the same time.

Users in SocialSpark can vote for a user, a blog, or an opportunity with the Props and Drops option. Those with more Props will have higher position in listing and get more exposure. Opportunity for bloggers in the marketplace comes in 3 types:

• Sponsored post - similar to the PayPerPost concept, the advertiser is paying for qualified blogger to write a specific article in their blog.


• Blog sponsorship - this is a Pay Per Day concept whereby qualified blogger will be paid daily for putting up the required advertisement (normally in the form of widget, icon, logo, button, link, etc.) in their blog.


• Spark - this is a free opportunity for bloggers to promote each other, such as you write something about my blog in your blog, and in return I'll write back something about your blog in mine.

I've joint SocialSpark since 18 June 2008 and feel happy to make friend with the bloggers and advertisers in the community, visiting each other blogs and proping each other. Here is my profile page in SocialSpark with the URL at http://socialspark.com/bloggers/the-8th-voyager.

SocialSpark is a pretty new social network just started a few months ago. However, IZEA the team behind isn't new as they have experience in successfully running the renowned PayPerPost marketplace. To date, SocialSpark has a community of about 8,000 bloggers and about 1,000 advertisers. The number keeps on growing daily in a fast pace, as more and more people are getting known to it. Why don't you sign up and join the community too?

You can participate to monetize your blog with the various opportunities in SocialSpark as long as you are 18 years or older, your blog is verified by their Customer Love, and the following Code of Ethics adhired:

• 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure - you must disclose each sponsored post by putting a specific Disclosure Badge inside the post.
• 100% Transparency - your participation in SocialSpark marketplace will be made viewable by the public.
• 100% Real Opinions - your sponsored post must be honest and genuine.
• 100% Search Engine Friendly - to avoid being penalized by the PageRank system of search engine, sponsored links must carry the "no-follow" attribute.
  

You can easily differentiate my articles in this blog which are sponsored by SocialSpark from others, as all the sponsored articles will have a button similar to this one:

and yes, this is my first sponsored post.

Identifying and getting your dream job

For most of us as employee, it is undoubtedbly we have to spend at least 1/3 of our time in a working day for our job, and it is estimated that most people work for a total of 60,000 hours over a period of about 30 years in their lifetime. Remember our "HISC₅"? Career definitely forms one of those important elements that make up our life.

Are you happy with your job? Have you identified your career goal and found your dream job? Would you rather be doing something other than what you are doing now?

Loving what you do, having interest, being passionate and always be motivated are some of the key success factor to us to excel in our career. Being on the right track of career is in turn a key success factor for our life value, social status and financial rewards.

Noelle Lim has featured an interesting and excellent 12-pages article in the July 2008 edition (Issue #83) of Personal Money magazine which I find is pretty inspiring. In the article, she elaborated on the 4 steps to land your dream job, namely:

• Define your dream career
• Find out more
• Network and gain experiences
• How to nail that job

Along with the article, there are touching stories of 6 people who are bold and determined to leave their comfort zone and pursuit for their dream job, and they succeed. Featured on the cover page of the magazine, they are:

• Claire Kwok - from finance associate to fashion buyer
• Nazrin Hassan - from managing a busines in CIMB to giving entrepreneurs a helping hand in Cradle fund
• Alexandra Wong - from sales manager to writer
• Fiona Lim - from SAP team lead to photographer
• Toh Kong Eu - from chemical engineer to tap dancer and destiny consultant
• Rosie Hong - from marketing manager to MD of marketing agency

If you are interested in this topic, I encourage you to read the full article in the July 2008 edition (Issue #83) of Personal Money magazine.

The 2 strollers in my home - why their price are so much different

There are 2 strollers in my home. The left-hand-side one is a Sweet Cherry, cost RM150 (after 50% discount), and the right-hand-side one is Combi Super Mechacal DX, cost RM7xx (after 35% discount).



They have similar parts and functionalities, such as:

• Reversible handle
• Foldable
• Double wheel with suspension on each side
• Front swivel wheels with lock
• 3-points seat belt
• With canopy
• Removable front guard
• With storage basket
• 3 levels of reclination
• Footrest for toddler

But the Combi stroller is about 5 times the price of the Sweet Cherry. What make the different then? Here are the features of the Combi stroller that justify its higher price:

• It is very light weight. The metal material is different.
• The fabric material is different too. The baby can stay in it for hours without feeling hot or unconfortable. My son used to sleep in it during daytime.
• The seat cushion is more soft and comfortable.
• The seat cushion is fully removeable and washable.
• The suspension is pretty good. It is not so bumpy when going through uneven lands.
• It is more compact when folded.
• Its seat belt can hold the baby better and more comfortable.
• Its front guard is soft. Not made by hard plastic.
• It comes with shoulder strap for convenient carrying when folded.
• Its canopy has sufficient ventilation windows, and can fully cover until the front guard.

All in all, I find the Combi Super Mechacal DX well worth for its price. If you plan to buy a stroller for your baby/toddler, although price is a major consideration, convenience (to you) and comfortability (to the baby/toddler) are also important considerations that should not be neglected.

How to choose a stroller for your baby/toddler

Basically, there are 4 major kinds of strollers available - made locally, made in Japan, made in China, made in Western countries. I found their differences, in general, are as follow:

• Locally made and China made stollers are generally much cheaper than other imported one. They might have similar parts and functions with their counterparts, but the quality might be different.
• Japan made strollers are generally smaller in size than Western made. This might probably because the body size of Asian people is smaller. They are also easier and simpler to operate, practical in functionalities.
• Western made strollers are generally bigger in size, and more complicated to operate. I remembered the shopkeeper shown me a few times how to open and fold the McLaren, Peg Perego, Graco, etc. but I still can't figure out the way. Same to reclining the seat. Basically, more steps are involved, not as straightforward as the Combi.

The following are some considerations when choosing for stroller:

• Light weight - convenient to carry.
• Foldable - so that you can put in your car and bring it to shopping complex and other places. It should be compact when folded so that not taking too much space in your car.
• Durability and maximum weight support - you might want to choose one that can be used from new born until 3-4 years old.
• Quality of fabric material - your baby should feel comfortable, feel cool, not easily sweating within short period of time.
• Seat cushion fully removeable and washable - the stroller can gets dirty and need frequent clean up, especially if you seat your baby in it while feeding food.
• With canopy - to protect your baby from sun and sudden rain.
• Reversible handle - so that your baby can face forward (to enjoy the scene) or backward (to get your attention).
• Multilevel reclination - to adjust the position accordingly. Infant cannot sit too upright.
• Wheels with suspension - so that it won't be too bumpy.
• Easy to operate - especially when your baby is taken care by older people such as your mother.
• Availability of spare parts - especially the rubber-made wheels which are subjected to wear and tear.
• Basket - for your convenience to carry along some diapers, baby wipe, baby food, etc.
• Safety design - the stroller should not be easily overturned. It should have emergency brakes and other safety features too.

Last but not least, your baby must like it. It is advisible for your baby to actually sit in it and "test drive" for a while, make sure he/she like it before bringing it home from the store.

New Giant-Citibank VISA credit card

When I accessed to the Citibank's website today, I'm attracted by a new banner that Citibank has come out with new co-branded VISA credit card with Giant.

Holders of this new credit card are entitled for up to 10% rebate on their first spending with Giant if the card is applied before 15 July 2008 and the first spending is done before 31 August 2008. The rebate will be given in the form of cash voucher delivered together with the monthly credit card statement, and maximum rebate for the month is RM50 only.

Beside that, the card will enjoy a 2% rebate on all purchases made at Giant stores nationwide, and up to 1% rebate on other purchases outside Giant.

It will also enjoy benefits in purchase-with-purchase programs and members-only priced items in Giant.

1st year annual fee is waived. After that, annual fee will be RM90.

Person who apply for this credit card can also get an Olympus FE-330 8.0MP Digital Camera for RM349 (usual price RM829), with a delivery charge of RM50.

Click here for more detail about this Giant-Citibank VISA card.

Auspicious dates for moving to new house

Since I posted about the Auspicious Dates for Wedding & Marriage, several has shown interest in the auspicious dates for moving to new house.

Therefore, I have produced the following list of all the auspicious dates for moving to new house in the 2nd half of year 2008 based on the Tong Shu (通书、通胜) too.

Here is it (click to enlarge):



As reminder again, 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.

If you are looking for the auspicious dates for moving to new house/office in 2009, click here.

Can you survive in the urban jungle?

Crimes against civilians, especially women, are on the rise today whether in the city or on the road. Therefore Tribe Toyota, the online community for Toyota car owners in Malaysia, is conducting workshops to equip ourself with knowledge on self protection.

This Urban Survival Skills workshops are for individuals aged 12 years and above. 2 type of courses are available.

1. City Survival - for females only

Focuses on the prevention of criminal acts against women like bag snatching, sexual harassment, domestic violence, kidnapping, rape, car theft and mugging.

Date: 16 August 2008 (Saturday)
Time: 8.30am - 2.00pm
Venue: Sheraton Subang Hotel & Towers
Cost: RM40 per person


2. Road Survival - for both males and females

Focuses on dealing with road bullying, car-jacking and car accidents.

Date: 9 August 2008 (Saturday)
Time: 9.00am - 1.00pm
Venue: Sheraton Subang Hotel & Towers
Cost: RM40 per person


Click here for more information about the Urban Survival Skills workshops.

Hume Industries to sell out Hume Fibreboard to Evergreen Fibreboard

On 23 June 2008, Hume Industries (3328, 谦工业) announced that they had entered into a Business Transfer Agreement with Evergreen Fibreboard (Nilai) Sdn Bhd and Evergreen Fibreboard Berhad (5101, 长青纤维板) to dispose of the Assets, Liabilities, activity, business and undertaking pertaining to the manufacturing and sale of medium density fibreboard and related products and activities carried on by their wholly owned subsidiary Hume Fibreboard Berhad for a total consideration of RM213.23 million, to be satisfied by way of cash of RM170 million and the balance of RM43.23 million by the issue of 33 million new ordinary shares of RM0.25 each in Evergreen Fibreboard at an issue price of RM1.31 per share.

Evergreen closed at RM1.30 yesterday (24 June), dropped by 3 sen, while Hume Industries closed at RM3.88, rose by 8 sen.

I see this as a good deal for Hume Industries (which I am one of its minority shareholders) because after the deal:

• Hume Industries will hold a 6.43% interest in the enlarged and paid up capital of Evergreen. This will probably make Hume Industries to be the 5th largest shareholder in Evergreen then.
• This deal will result in a gain of RM114 million to Hume Industries, and will rise its EPS by 64 sen.
• The NTA of Hume Industires will be risen by 64 sen.
• The cash balance of Hume Industries will further strengten from the current RM131 million to RM301 million.

Evergreen has 480 million issued shares, and its 1st quarter profit after tax for 2008 stood at RM30.305 million. Assuming that its full year profit after tax to be RM120 million (without taken into the consideration of this acquisition of Hume Fibreboard) , with the price of RM1.31 per share, Hume Industries is obtaining the 6.43% shares in Evergreen at the PE of 5.24 only, which is a very good deal. Below is the calculation for the mentioned PE:

PE = Price/EPS = 1.31 / (120 / 480) = 1.31 / 0.25 = 5.24

Evergreen has pretty good fundamentals, showing satisfactory growth over the past 5 years. Its profit after tax has grown 5 times (500%) from RM21.725 million in 2003 to RM118.656 million in 2007. This deal would further increase Evergreen's production capacity and would make them the largest fibreboard producer in Malaysia and the top 12 producers in the world.

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.

20 litre free water for Selangor consumers finally materialized

Something new in my water bill this month. There stated starting from 1 June 2008 onwards, the first 20 litre of water usage for Selangor domestic consumers will be paid by the state owned company Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd (KDEB). An amount of RM8.81 is deducted from the bill as result.

This 20 litre free water per household for Selangor domestic consumers was proposed by the new Selangor government formed by Pakatan Rakyat after the recent election, and lead by Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. There were several hiccups and negotiations with the Selangor state water concessionaire Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) over the past few months before it comes to materialization now.

Although this proposal is criticized by some people that providing free water might make the consumers more wasteful and less concerned about conserving water, the determination of the new state government to overcome all the resistance and make it into reality shows their endeavour and sincerity in keeping their promise to the people, and this is definitely a good news, especially to the poor families during the current high inflation time.

Thumb up to the Selangor state government!

Babyjaya mid-year sale, up to 50% off

Good news to parents in Klang Valley!

Babyjaya Enterprise, a one-stop 3-storey baby shop located in Damansara Utama (near the Uptown Office Towers) is having a mid-year sale now from 21 June to 8 August 2008.

We can expect up to 50% discount on the following babycare and childcare items:

• play & learn
• healthcare & hygiene
  
• safety & control
• clothes & shoes
• food & beverage
• feeding
• nursing
• bags & warmers
• nursery
• travel gears
• skincare
• gifts & vouchers
• children furniture

Offered brands include 4M, Avent, Baby Art, Baby Bjorn, Babylove, Babyvision, Bebe Confort, Bumble Bee, Bumbo, Chicco, Creative International, Crocs, Dr Browns, Evenflo, Fabulous Mom, Farlin, Fisher Price, Fridge-to-go, Gerber, Graco, Halford, Innoform, Kiddopotamus, K's Kids, Lascal, Lamaze, Leap Frog, Lindam, Littlepods, Lollipop, Lucas Papaw, Lucky Baby, Maclaren, Mam, Maxi-cosi, Medela, Miamoda, Munchkin, My Lovely Closet, My Dear, Neo Geo, Nestle, Nuby, Nuk, Peg Perego, Pigeon, Pitter Patters, Puku Petit, Quinny, Recaro, Seba Med, Seni Daya, Simple Dimple, Spectra, Step 2, Tenderly, The First Years, Tiny Love, Tolo, Unite Safety, Vtech, Zibos, Zooper, etc.

For example, the The Easy Fit Alarm safety gate usually cost RM329.90 is now selling at RM197.94 only.

How to know the bull top and bear bottom

There are many ways to predict the bull's top and bear's bottom in investment market. And normally, an investor will cross reference with different methods to determine the market trend. Technical analysis is a useful tool to provide indication of a possible top or bottom too.

I observe the market reaction to news in order to know the current position of the market in a long term trend. This simple method is useful for long term cycle, but not enough for short term cycle.

The market sentiment always react to news, announcements, happenings, rumours, etc. We can divide them into good news and bad news, and we can grade the news into 5 degree of impact or intensity.

Here are some examples of good news: good quarterly financial result, good industry outlook, positive announcement, new major development, good dividend payout, bonus issue, buying of shares by big investor, encouraging government policy, etc.

Here are some examples of bad news: poor quarterly financial result, poor industry outlook, negative announcement, fraud case, natural disaster, warfare, economic downturn, high inflation, substantial selling of shares from major shareholders or directors, discouraging government policy (such as impose of heavier tax), etc.

And here are some examples of news that can be viewed as good during bull market, but viewed as bad during bear market: rights issue, merger & acquisition, major investment in new area, increase in borrowings to fund rapid developments, etc.

And here are my observations:

During the bull market, majority investors will treat:

• good news as reason for the price to break another record high
• no news as if good news is coming soon
• bad news as if no big deal (ignored)

And when it is near the bull's top, good news find difficulty to push the price with greater intensity, and the market somehow realise and react to bad news.


During the bear market, majority investors will treat:

• good news as if no big deal (ignored)
• no news as if bad news is coming soon
• bad news as if tomorrow is judgement day

And when it is near the bear's bottom, the damage from bad news reduced to minimal, and the market starts to realise and react to good news.

And remember, we have to divide the news into 5 degree of impact. The market might not react significantly to 3rd degree of impact, but still react vigorously to 5th degree impact. When it reaches the bear's bottom, even high degree bad news such as recession throughout the whole region will be treated as normal; and when it reaches the bull's top, high degree good news such as 300% profit growth will also be viewed as normal.

If you can observe and predict the bull's top and bear's bottom, then you can apply your investment strategy to "buy low and sell high".

You need double effort to gain back any investment lost

I wrote about withdrawing EPF money for investment purpose recently. That was due to a friend of mine who is agent to a unit trust company has approached me to do so. Is now a good time to take out your EPF savings and invest in unit trust? I don't think so.

As you can see that over the past few months, there are many uncertainties in the share market that have affected the investors sentiment. The oil price as well as many commodities prices are sky rocking, inflation is accelerated, people spending with more caucious, even the local political environment has become pretty unstable since the last election. As a result, we can clearly see that the unit trust funds are sinking, especially those with high proportion in the share market.

Although I agree that investing in unit trust funds might have a better chance of getting better return than EPF in the long run, but it is definitely not a wise choice to invest on something that is still in the sinking momentum. We have to wait for a better time to switch our hard earned money from EPF to unit trust. Even in the worst scenario, EPF will still pay us a 2.5% dividend, but how much probability do you think that your unit trust will perform better than EPF return by the time they declares for the next dividend? I see more chance of losing money in unit trust funds now than making any money in the short term.

And yes, you can opt for a unit trust fund which invests in the bond and money market. But unfortunately, I don't foresee the return in those unit trust to be better than EPF dividend payout, at least not in their past few years record.

We have to remember the fact that, for any lost we incurred in investment activity, we need double the effort to gain it back. For example, if you purchase a unit trust for RM1.00, and its value drops to RM0.50, that is a 50% lost. You will require the unit trust to gain back 100% from RM0.50 to RM1.00 in order to "break even" your initial investment. That might take you a lot of time, probably a few years to drop from RM1.00 to RM0.50 and regain back to RM1.00 again, and yet you are still not making any money. If you leave your money with the EPF fund, you might probably have earned more than 10% already for the same period of time.

I will seriously think about withdrawing my EPF savings for investment, when I feel that the right timing has come. Now is definitely not the right timing, although it is a right timing to invest directly in share market by picking those high DY, zero debt, good profit growth and low PE companies. You will notice that they have low PE probably because there is no or very limited unit trust fund has invested into them yet. I believe they are already in the radar screen of the fund managers. When the market sentiment become better, the fund managers will buy and push up their stock price, raise the PE to above 10. And when the fund managers start to regain the courage and confident to invest agressively again, that could be the right time we put our money in their trust.

Unit trust agents always like to mention a practice called "dollar cost averaging". In my opinion as an experienced investor in the share market, the "dollar cost averaging" can only be used if you are optimistic that the price has been bottomed up, and there is more tendency for it to rise rather than continue on sinking. If you don't feel that the sinking effect will stop soon, you should not dump in more money with "dollar cost averaging". In fact, you should seriously consider "cut lost" instead. This is because you need double the effort to gain back any investment lost you made. Be smart, when dealing with investment.

iProperty.com Expo and Investment Forum 2008

Every year, iProperty.com Expo attracts thousands of regional and international investors looking for the best property deals in Malaysia and beyond. The event presents to the investors with access to the best real estate opportunities in this rapidly growing region which is brimming with lucrative investment opportunities.

This property expo will showcases over 150 award winning developments from Malaysia, Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, UAE, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam. It expects to have 15,000 worldwide visitors.

The iProperty.com Expo 2008 will be held in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on 25-27 July 2008 10am- 7pm. Entry is free by registration.

In conjunction with the iProperty.com Expo, there will be Investment Forum to provide the public with wealth of knowledge and information, essential resources for home buyers and serious investors for their property investment decisions.

Among the seminars scheduled in the Investment Forum are:

• Insight and opportunities for Singaporean to invest in Malaysia
• Developer’s success story
• Outlook of local and regional property market
• Investment in emerging market - China-Vietnam-India
• Investment in the United States
• ... and so on

There will be also forums talking about:

• IT applications in real estate practice
• International opportunities in real estate
• Latest update on Malaysia My Second Home programme
• Taxation and legal matters
• Property hot spots
• ... and so on
  

Click here to download the detailed booklet about iProperty.com Expo 2008.

Click here to register online to iProperty.com Expo 2008.

Free IT security workshops from EC-Council Academy

The International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) is offering 2 complementary workshops as follow:

World of Hacker - Understanding the Threats & Countermeasures

This workshop introduces you to the world of the hacker; you will understand the tools hackers use and ways to prevent attacks. You will also be exposed to Computer Hacking Forensic Investigation, which covers the process of detecting hacking attacks, investigation and analysis of techniques to determine potential legal evidence. There will also be real life case studies and demonstration.

Date: 28 June 2008
Time: 9:00am - 1:00pm
Venue: EC-Council Academy Sdn Bhd, Phileo Damansara 1, Petaling Jaya.
Related certification: CEH (Ethical Hacking and Countermeasures)

Network Security & Disaster Recovery

This workshop will discuss about the fundamental skill needed to analyze the internal and external security threats against a network and to develop security policies that will protect an organization's information. Additionally, it covers the foundation for disaster recovery principles, preparation of a disaster recovery plan, assessment of risks in the enterprise, development of policies and procedures, implementation of plan a recovering from a disaster.

Date: 28 June 2008
Time: 1:00pm - 4:00m
Venue: EC-Council Academy Sdn Bhd, Phileo Damansara 1, Petaling Jaya.
Related certifications:
1. ENSA (EC-Council Network Security Administrator)
2. EDRP (EC-Council Disaster Recovery Professional)

EC-Council currently offers the following certification courses:

• CEH (Ethical Hacking and Countermeasures)
• CHFI (Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator)
• ENSA (EC-Council Network Security Administrator)
• EDRP (EC-Council Disaster Recovery Professional)
• ECSA/LPT (EC-Council Certified Security Analyst)
• ECSP (EC-Council Certified Secure Programmer)
• Project Management
• Cyber Marketing
• E-business Security
• Cyber Law
  

For more information and online registration, click here.

Why my home does not have a microwave oven

Microwave oven is a popular electrical appliance nowadays that you will probably find one in most of your friend's home. It is convenient to use, fast in cooking, and 3 times energy efficient (save electricity) than conventional oven. You might also observed that out of 10 electrical ovens displayed in shop, 8 are microwave ovens and only the other 2 are conventional ovens. My home has a Cornell conventional oven instead of a microwave one, because my wife and I are in doubt about the safety of microwave cooking. When still in doubt, we opt to play safe and use conventional oven instead.

There have been years of long debates over conflicting information on the safety of microwave cooking and their effect on the nutritional value of food, which is difficult to conclude till today. Obviously more research is required on this field, but most researcher unfortunately seem to be more interested in what happens if a microwave oven door malfunctions (danger of microwave leaking), than on the effects of eating microwaved foods.

In order to understand the debate subject, we need to have brief knowledge of how microwave oven works. The microwave oven generates electromagnetic waves (called microwave because the wavelength is short) at a frequency of 2,450 MHz. The microwaves bombard the molecules of water in the food. These molecules each have a positive and negative end, or “polarity”. The polarized molecules try to line themselves up with the electrical field, like compass needles trying to point North. But because the electrical field is reversing polarity at a rate of 2,450 million cycles a second, the water molecules end up rotating at the same speed. That activity generates heat, which cooks the food.

This violent movement of molecules causes substantial damage to some molecules, often tearing them apart or deforming them. People against microwave oven says that this action destroy the nutrients in the food, and might cause cellular mutation and deform the food into hazardous substances such as carcinogen (cancer causing agent). However, we have to also know that the same thing will happen to our food cooked in heated surface or directly burnt with fire. As a result, the United States' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that “foods cooked in a microwave oven may keep more of their vitamins and minerals, because microwave ovens can cook more quickly and without adding water.” (Click here to read the FDA's article)

This viewpoint is disproved by a study published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture in 2003, whereby researchers from the Spanish scientific research council CEBAS-CSIC found that cooking by microwave is the worst way to preserve at least one key nutrient in vegetables.

Some of the earliest research into the effects of microwaved food was conducted in the 1950s in Russia which indicated bigger dangers than destruction of nutrients. Russian researchers found that people who ate microwaved foods had a statistically higher incidence of stomach and intestinal cancers, a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues, and a gradual breakdown of the digestive and excretory systems. Due to chemical alterations within the food, they had lymphatic malfunctions, causing a degeneration of the body’s immune system. As a result of that research, the Soviets banned the use of microwave ovens in 1976 and issued an international warning on the health hazards, both biological and environmental, of microwave ovens and similar frequency electronic devices. This point is always heralded by people against microwave oven. However, the ban was lifted later in late 1980s, overturning their earlier decision, and the whole world appears not to have headed the warning at all.

Another article by Doctors Hertel and Blanc appeared in a Swiss environmental magazine entitled Journal Franz Weber, which stated that the consumption of food cooked in microwave ovens had cancerous effects on the blood as indicated by an increase of leukocytes, which could indicate cell damage, after eating microwaved substances. The authorities reacted promptly. In 1992, a powerful trade organization, the Swiss Association of Dealers for Electro-apparatuses for Households and Industry, known as FEA forced the Swiss courts to issue a “gag order” against them. The following year, Dr. Hertel was convicted for “interfering with commerce” and prohibited from further publishing his results. However, he fought the decision and both it and the gag order were reversed in 1998 when the European Court of Human Rights in Austria ruled that there had been a violation of his rights in the 1993 decision. As a result, Switzerland was ordered to pay him compensation.

The debates are still on, so we are still in doubt. Do you have a microwave oven in your home? Are you also in doubt about the hazardous sayings of it?

Withdrawal of EPF money for investment (Part 2/2)

If you haven't read Part 1 of this post, please click here.

Under the EPF Member’s Investment Scheme, you can withdraw a portion of your EPF Account 1 savings for investment with approved unit trust funds and/or fund managers if you fulfill the following:

• You are a Malaysian citizen or Permanent Resident, or a non-Malaysian citizen (expatriate) who became a member of the EPF before 1 August 1998.
• You have not reached 55 years old.
• Your EPF Account 1 have at least RM5,000 more than the Basic Savings amount based on your current age.

And here are the conditions for withdrawal:

• Withdrawal can be done at intervals of 3 months from the date of the last withdrawal (date of money transferred).
  
• Each time, you must withdraw a minimum of RM1,000 from your Account 1.
• Each time, you cannot withdraw more than 20% of the amount exceeding the required Basic Savings in Account 1.
• All investment must be using Account 1 savings. You are not allowed to make additional investments under the scheme using your own money.

How to proceed with the withdrawal?

You can contact the office or any agents of the approved fund management institutes under the scheme. An example of unit trust manager is Public Mutual Bhd, and an example of fund manager is Apex Investment Services Bhd STA-3 Securities Trading Account.

Here is an example of calculation on the eligible amount to withdraw from Account 1 for investment.

Mr. X, aged 35, has accumulated RM80,000 in his EPF Account 1.

Based on the Basic Savings requirement, his Account 1 must have at least RM29,000.

The excess amount will be RM80,000 - RM29,000 = RM51,000.

He can withdraw up to 20% of this excess amount for investment purpose. That will be RM51,000 x 20% = RM10,200.

Since he have to withdraw a minimum of RM1,000 under the scheme, he can invest any amount between RM1,000-RM10,200.

He can still invest 3 months later, if 20% of the excess amount in Account 1 by then is still more than RM1,000.

You can check for your most current EPF account statement using their online service, and see how much savings are sitting in your Account 1.

Withdrawal of EPF money for investment (Part 1/2)

Our EPF (a.k.a. KWSP) savings yield dividends which are generated from EPF’s investment activities and declared annually. The EPF’s investments are pretty conservative in nature and the historical highest dividend declared was 8.5% between 1983-1986 and the lowest was 2.5% between 1952-1959.

On the contrary, the EPF Member’s Investment Scheme allows contributors to withdraw savings from Account 1, in excess of Basic Savings, for investment in approved unit trust funds and/or fund managers under the scheme. During the bull market, these funds can easily outperform EPF dividend yield by a few times and provide chance for your retirement money to grow faster.

As a result, we have the following 3 choices for our EPF Account 1 savings to go for:

1. Retain the EPF savings in the account
Description: Don't withdraw and let your EPF savings stay and grow in your account.

Pros:

• The EPF ensures that your savings are secured and never make a lost.
• It has a guaranteed minimum dividend of 2.5% every year.

Cons:

• The savings growth is relatively slow.
  
• The dividend yield might not be significant enough to cover the inflation rate.
• You have no control over investment decisions. Some of EPF past investments are very questionable.
• Fund performance is only made known to public once a year when dividend is declared.
  

2. Invest in Unit Trust Funds
Description: Withdraw part of your EPF Account 1 savings and invest in approved unit trusts managed by approved unit trust managers. If you sell out the unit trusts, the money will go back to your EPF Account 1.

Pros:

• You do not need to fork out additional money from your pocket to make the investment.
  
• The investment will be professionally managed by licensed fund managers.
• Risk reduction through a diversified portfolio.
• Fund performance can be monitored with reports and price movement.

Cons:

• No guaranteed return (unless for certain guaranteed return funds) and there is a chance of making lost.
  
• You have no control over investment decisions.
• A service charge of up to 3% when buying the units under the EPF Member’s Investment Scheme.
• Switching and transfer funds might also incur service charge.

3. Invest with Fund Managers
Description: Withdraw part of your EPF Account 1 savings and engage the services for professional fund managers appointed by the Ministry of Finance and approved under the scheme. If you terminate the service, the money will go back to your EPF Account 1. There are 2 modes of fund investment service: discretionary and non-discretionary.

Pros:

• For discretionary portfolio, your investment will be professionally managed by the licensed fund managers.
• For non-discretionary portfolio, you have the final say over investment decision, similar to invest directly in share market with remisiers.
• Better chance to always outperform the best unit trusts if you are good in investment.

Cons:

• High entry level as there is a minimum fund size of acceptance to fund management. Usually your EPF Account 1 need to have 6 digits before engaging this service.
• No guaranteed return and there is a chance of making lost if not careful.
• For non-discretionary portfolio, you need to devote considerable time and effort to manage your portfolio.

Related links to EPF website:

• About the EPF Member’s Investment Scheme and eligibility info
  
• Table of required Basic Savings to retain in EPF Account 1 based on your age
• List of appointed fund management institutes under the scheme

To continue reading on Part 2 of this post, click here.

Oracle OpenWorld 2008 to be held in San Francisco this September

The upcoming Oracle OpenWorld 2008 presents more than 1,700 sessions organized into 4 streams—database, middleware, applications, and industries—in which Oracle experts and customers will share product road maps, tips & tricks, success stories, etc.

Date: 21–25 September 2008
Venue: Moscone Center, 800 Howard Street, San Francisco, California, US.

Early bird registration through 18 July 2008 to this event will enjoy special discount.

Click here fore detailed information and online registration to Oracle OpenWorld 2008.

MacWorld Conference & Expo to be held in San Francisco on Jan 2009

Managed by IDG World Expo, the Macworld Conference & Expo is the world’s most comprehensive Macintosh OS event, showcasing products and services for professionals involved in media and creative content development for corporate and home applications, as well as for consumers using the Mac at home.

The next Macworld Conference & Expo event will be held on 5-9 January 2009 in San Francisco, California.

This upcoming Macworld conference is expected to consist of 7 programs featuring over educational sessions taught by renowned industry experts that cover a wide array of themes that span the Mac industry trends and developments. From technical to hands-on to simply wanting to understand a particular functionality the Mac platform has to offer, the Macworld conference offers a full mix of content to appeal to enthusiasts of all levels.

This Macworld Conference Program includes:

• Users Conference – Skill Development across Mac-enables solutions
• MacIT Conference – In Depth topics for IT Professionals
• Power Tools – 2 day in-depth training on popular Mac software applications
• Market Symposiums – analysis and deployment of Mac technology in key markets
• Hands-on MacLabs - Hands on, focused training classes
• Creative Safari’s – Day long hands on and field work with key Mac tools
• Supersessions – Quick hits to get you up to speed on key Mac tecnology
  

Click here to keep track on latest news and info about this upcoming event.