8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees

Today I read about this great article written by Jeff Haden, and would like to share with you. The original article is published in Inc. website which you can find it here.

Here we go...

Great employees are reliable, dependable, proactive, diligent, great leaders and great followers... they possess a wide range of easily-defined—but hard to find—qualities.

A few hit the next level. Some employees are remarkable, possessing qualities that may not appear on performance appraisals but nonetheless make a major impact on performance.

Here are eight qualities of remarkable employees:

1. They ignore job descriptions. The smaller the company, the more important it is that employees can think on their feet, adapt quickly to shifting priorities, and do whatever it takes, regardless of role or position, to get things done.

When a key customer's project is in jeopardy, remarkable employees know without being told there's a problem and jump in without being asked—even if it's not their job.

2. They’re eccentric... The best employees are often a little different: quirky, sometimes irreverent, even delighted to be unusual. They seem slightly odd, but in a really good way. Unusual personalities shake things up, make work more fun, and transform a plain-vanilla group into a team with flair and flavor.

People who aren't afraid to be different naturally stretch boundaries and challenge the status quo, and they often come up with the best ideas.

3. But they know when to dial it back. An unusual personality is a lot of fun... until it isn't. When a major challenge pops up or a situation gets stressful, the best employees stop expressing their individuality and fit seamlessly into the team.

Remarkable employees know when to play and when to be serious; when to be irreverent and when to conform; and when to challenge and when to back off. It’s a tough balance to strike, but a rare few can walk that fine line with ease.

4. They publicly praise... Praise from a boss feels good. Praise from a peer feels awesome, especially when you look up to that person.

Remarkable employees recognize the contributions of others, especially in group settings where the impact of their words is even greater.

5. And they privately complain. We all want employees to bring issues forward, but some problems are better handled in private. Great employees often get more latitude to bring up controversial subjects in a group setting because their performance allows greater freedom.

Remarkable employees come to you before or after a meeting to discuss a sensitive issue, knowing that bringing it up in a group setting could set off a firestorm.

6. They speak when others won’t. Some employees are hesitant to speak up in meetings. Some are even hesitant to speak up privately.

An employee once asked me a question about potential layoffs. After the meeting I said to him, “Why did you ask about that? You already know what's going on.” He said, “I do, but a lot of other people don't, and they're afraid to ask. I thought it would help if they heard the answer from you.”

Remarkable employees have an innate feel for the issues and concerns of those around them, and step up to ask questions or raise important issues when others hesitate.

7. They like to prove others wrong. Self-motivation often springs from a desire to show that doubters are wrong. The kid without a college degree or the woman who was told she didn't have leadership potential often possess a burning desire to prove other people wrong.

Education, intelligence, talent, and skill are important, but drive is critical. Remarkable employees are driven by something deeper and more personal than just the desire to do a good job.

8. They’re always fiddling. Some people are rarely satisfied (I mean that in a good way) and are constantly tinkering with something: Reworking a timeline, adjusting a process, tweaking a workflow.

Great employees follow processes. Remarkable employees find ways to make those processes even better, not only because they are expected to… but because they just can't help it.

Adding maps and custom POI to Garmin-Asus A10 GPS smartphone

Just like all other Garmin GPS devices, Garmin-Asus A10 GPS smartphone also supports multiple map and multiple custom POI file.

You can add maps into this phone by creating a new "Map" folder either in /storage or /sdcard and put the Garmin map with .img extension inside that folder.

Putting the file in /storage will utilize part of the phone's 4GB internal storage, and putting the file in /sdcard will utilize the storage in your micro SD card in the phone.

If the map comes with JCV file, create a "Garmin" folder either in /storage or /sdcard, and then create a "JCV" folder inside your "Garmin" folder, then put the JCV file inside it.

To put the custom Point Of Interest (POI) files into the phone, create a "POI" folder inside your "Garmin" folder and put the custom POI files with .gpi extension inside that folder.

Besides, the maps that preinstalled in the phone are resided in the /storage/.System folder.

When you have multiple maps in the phone, you might want to choose which map to use for your GPS navigation. Here is the place to do the selection: go to Settings > Navigation.

Then tap on the phone's Menu key again to show this pull-up menu.

Select "Map Info" and you will finally reach the place to select/deselect your maps.

Enabling WiFi wireless tethering in Garmin-Asus A10 to share 3G Internet with Samsung Galaxy Tab

I have just mentioned that Garmin-Asus A10 smartphone is a very good companion with Samsung Galaxy Tab. One of the crucial function for this companionship is wireless tethering, which is definitely possible but also not so straightforward.

This is because Garmin-Asus A10 is running on Android 2.1 (Éclair) which doesn't come with tethering feature, and Samsung Galaxy Tab is not able to connect to Adhoc WiFi hotspot (the portable WiFi hotspot running in Android smartphone or iPhone) without some tweaking.

You will need to root both the A10 and Galaxy Tab in order to achieve this. Rooting can be done using DooMLoRD's Easy Rooting Toolkit v4.0.

Once successfully rooted, you can proceed to install Barnacle WiFi Tether from Android Market to enable tethering function in Garmin-Asus A10.

You also need to replace the stock /system/bin/wpa_supplicant file in Galaxy Tab to a patched one to enable it to connect to any Adhoc WiFi hotspot. Here is the detail instruction and here is the wpa_supplicant file suitable for Samsung Galaxy Tab running on Gingerbread.

Now, tethering is ready. You only have to do the above for one time, and can enjoy the tethering function for unlimited times.

To tether the 3G Internet of Garmin-Asus A10 to Samsung Galaxy Tab, run the Barnacle WiFi Tether app in A10 and start the tethering. Then, enable WiFi connection in Galaxy Tab, and you will soon see them associated.

If you have other Android smartphone running on 2.2 (Froyo) and above or Apple iPhone 3Gs and above, you can also tether to Galaxy Tab after replacing the wpa_supplicant file in the Galaxy Tab with the patched one as mentioned above.

Garmin-Asus A10 Android smartphone stock clearance sale (RM5xx) - a good companion for smart tablet

Garmin-Asus A10 Android smartphone is on stock clearance sale nationwide now!

This Android smartphone with Garmin Nuvi 1690 GPS features used to sell above RM1200 for the standard package itself, and now you can get a complete set with all the following items at a price of RM5xx only:

• The standard package - the phone, indoor charger, USB cable, earphone and battery
• Car charger and windscreen suction mount cradle
• A10/M10 desktop battery charger and 1 additional battery
• A10 anti-fingerprint screen protector
• 2 years warranty from SiS

This is really a very good deal to buy it as a companion phone for Samsung Galaxy Tab or some other Android smart tablet or Apple iPad, although we know that Garmin and Asus had discontinued their deal in producing future Garmin-Asus smartphone, and the Android in Garmin Asus A10 remains as 2.1 (Éclair) only.

Why? Because firstly, the Garmin-Asus A10 has a built-in Garmin GPS with Nuvi 1690 features, with a very fast responding and good signal reception GPS chip inside (compared with other smartphones with GPS or a-GPS feature). This phone can locate your location within seconds once its GPS feature is turned on!

The "Where To?" and "Where Am I" app are commonly used GPS feature. Beside that, you can also install additional GPS app into the phone, such as Sygic.

Secondly, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is too troublesome to use as a phone. The A10 with small 3.2" screen is nice to carry in your pocket and work as a phone. It has nice speaker that make your ringtone louder than most Android smartphones too.

So, with this companion, you can:

• Use the A10 as your phone, GPS, calculator, and perhaps basic camera
• Use the Galaxy Tab for Internet, gaming, reading, and other smartphone functions

In fact, I have found out a way to tether the Internet access of your A10 to Galaxy Tab, so you just need one SIM card with data plan in the A10 for this companionship to work seamlessly.

The pros of A10:

• Small size, easy to carry in any pocket. Good companion for tablet
• Superb Garmin GPS function
• Garmin maps are popular and have worldwide coverage. Free unlimited map update available for MalSingMaps (MSM), MalFreeMaps (MFM), etc. Many custom POIs and travel guides can be downloaded from the Internet too.
• When attached to its car GPS cradle, incoming phone calls are handled by the loudspeaker on the cradle. You don't need bluetooth or wired headphone for hand-free phone conversation
• Long lasting 1500mAh battery (can last for more than 30 hours without charging if not using GPS)
• Built-in 4 GB internal memory, and support additional memory (up to 32 GB) with micro SDHC card
• Its phone casing and accessories are solid and of good quality, same material with Garmin GPS products. Better protection from scratch and drop.
• The current cost of RM5xx is competitive to standalone basic GPS device and entry level Android phone. With A10, you get both of them in a single device! In fact, its hardware spec is better than Samsung Galaxy Y S5360 and HTC Explorer.

The cons:

• The 3.2" screen size with only 320x480 resolution is good enough for GPS and general phone function, but is small for other smartphone functions which you can use the 7" and above Galaxy Tab to handle
• The 3.2" screen is a bit small when use as GPS in car, but the voice is loud and clear
• CPU speed at 600Mhz and 512 GB RAM is good enough for GPS and general phone function, but not powerful enough for many apps that need higher resource, which you can use the Galaxy Tab to handle
• Latest firmware is Android is 2.1 (Éclair) update-1, able to install and run most Android apps in the Market, but lack of new features in Android 2.2 (Froyo), 2.3 (Gingerbread) and above. You will need to root it and install Barnacle Wifi Tether as tethering is only built-in in Android 2.2 onwards

You can consider this phone if you are still using Galaxy Tab as your phone (make this a good companion) or you are considering entry level Android smartphone such as Samsung Galaxy Y S5360, HTC Explorer, etc. At almost the same price, this phone has better hardware specs, Garmin Nuvi 1690 GPS functions, and come together with a lot of accessories.

Upgrade phone SD card and move data from old memory card to new one the safe and flawless way

I have just purchased a 16GB Class-10 micro-SDHC memory card to replace the existing 8GB Class-4 micro-SDHC memory card that comes with my HTC Incredible S Android smartphone.

The question is: how can I migrate all the data in the existing SD card to the new one, so that when I plug in the new SD card into the phone, all my data will remain there and all the apps continue working as before?

After some trial and error, I have found the following perfect way.

Step 1: Go to Settings > Storage of your phone, and tap on "Umount SD Card".

Step 2: Switch off the phone and take out the SD card from its external memory slot.

Step 3: Slot in the old micro-SD card into an SD card adapter, and slot in the adapter to your computer's card reader.

Step 4: Use XXCOPY to backup all the content in the SD card to your computer storage. You can download XXCOPY for free here.

I use this utility instead of the Windows copy-and-paste method to ensure all the data are copied over, and to preserve the directory date and attributes as before.

In order to use XXCOPY, go to Windows > Run... and key-in "cmd" to go to command console.

Sample command: xxcopy f: c:\backup\sdcard /backup
where f: is the drive where the SD card is mounted, and c:\backup\sdcard is the destination to copy the data over. The "backup" parameter tells XXCOPY to preserve all the dates and attributes of the original files and directories.

Step 5: When the backup is done, safely remove (eject) the SD card adapter from the computer's card reader slot. Take out the micro-SD card from the adapter.

Step 6: Slot in the new micro-SD card into an SD card adapter, and slot in the adapter to your computer's card reader.

Step 7: Format the new micro-SD card.

Go to Windows > Computer, right click on the SD card and select "Format..." from the menu.

Make sure the file system is FAT32 before you start the format action.

Step 8: Use XXCOPY to copy all the content in your backup folder to the new SD card. This is exactly the reverse of Step 4.

Sample command: xxcopy c:\backup\sdcard f: /backup

Step 9: When the copy is done, safely remove (eject) the SD card adapter from the computer's card reader slot. Take out the micro-SD card from the adapter.

Step 10: Slot in the new SD card with data into the phone's external memory slot.

Switch on the phone and you are done.

Creating cool zooming presentation slides with Prezi

Still using your MS PowerPoint or OpenOffice.org Impress to create your presentation slides? Here is something different, something new and cool called Prezi.

Prezi introduced the Zooming User Interface (ZUI) whereby the presentation materials (text, images, videos, etc.) are placed on a big virtual canvas, and it allows you to zoom in and out the area of discussion (i.e. the frame) along the presentation. This makes your presentation standout from the traditional MS PowerPoint or OpenOffice.org Impress presentation slides.

The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas and the connections between them. It results in visually captivating presentations that lead your audience down a path of discovery.

You can see it in action here:

The tool to make Prezi presentations is available on their website as a kind of Cloud-based SaaS service. The public access license is free, while licenses with additional features are chargeable on subscription basis. There is special discount for educational use.

HTC Android smartphones to get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update soon

HTC has just announced that they are planning to roll out Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update by March/April 2012 for at least the following models:

• Sensation
• Sensation 4G
• Sensation XE
• Sensation XL
• Rezound
• Vivid
• Amaze 4G
• EVO 3D
• EVO Design 4G
• Incredible S
• Desire S
• Desire HD

This is a good news for the users of above HTC Android smartphones.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 to get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update in February 2012

Source from AsusTek is saying that Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101, the predecessor of Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, equipped with Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS, will get its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update soon within February 2012.

This 10.1" Android tablet sets itself apart from other tablets on the market by featuring an optional docking station with full QWERTY keypad, touchpad, secondary battery, USB port, and SD card reader, making it convertible to netbook-like Android machine, has been selling very well since its launch in 2011.

With its new Android OS update, we can anticipate more fun and new experience in using this Transformer tablet.

Singapore ranked #1 in terms of smartphone penetration

According to recent smartphone penetration statistics from several sources including Netsize Guide, Informa, Google, Ipsos, and Go-Gulf.com, it is concluded that by December 2011, Singapore is the champion in terms of smartphone peneration, and also is the world's first country that have more smartphone than feature phone in used.

Singapore:
Population = 4.9 million
Mobile phone subscriptions = 8.1 million
(many people carries more than 1 phone!)
Feature phones = 3.7 million (45.68%)
Smartphones = 4.4 million (54.32%)

The top 10 countries in smartphone penetration as compiled by Go-Globe.com is as below:

How about Malaysia? Here is the data:

Population = 28.1 million
Mobile phone subscriptions = 36.6 million
(some people carries more than 1 phone!)
Feature phones = 31.4 million (85.79%)
Smartphones = 5.2 million (14.21%)

 

 

I think one reason for Singapore to achieve such a high smartphone penetration rate is that mobile operators in Singapore are offering smartphones bundled together with their data plan at very low price or even for free. In Malaysia, smartphone price is relatively high, and the discount offerred by mobile operators in their bundled data plan is not attractive enough.

 

 

Surprisingly, Korea (which Samsung is based in) is not in the top 10 list, yet. Here is the data:

Population = 48.6 million
Mobile phone subscriptions = 54 million
(some people carries more than 1 phone!)
Feature phones = 37.6 million (69.63%)
Smartphones = 16.4 million (30.37%)

 

 

And Japan:

Population = 126.9 million
Mobile phone subscriptions = 126.8 million
Feature phones = 108.7 million (85.73%)
Smartphones = 18.1 million (14.27%)

 

 

References:

• Smartphone Penetration Rates by Country! We Have Good Data (finally)
• Smartphone Usage Statistics 2012 [Infographic]

Security flaw in some HTC Android phones might expose WiFi password

It has been reported that a security flaw in some HTC Android phones might expose WiFi password stored in the phone to hackers.

This security bug was found by Chris Hessing and Bret Jordan back in September 2011, and they have posted the detail of the exploit in their blog recently.

Affected HTC Android smartphones include but not limited to: Glacier, Desire HD, Desire S, Droid Incredible, Thunderbolt 4G, Sensation, Sensation 4G, EVO 3D, EVO 4G, ...

HTC had been informed about this bug before it was published, and they have just announced that the fix has already been developed.

"Most phones have received this fix already through regular updates and upgrades.However, some phones will need to have the fix manually loaded. Please check back next week for more information about this fix and a manual download if you need to update your phone."

Inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2013

I have posted the list of auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2013 recently, and here is the reverse, namely the inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2013. 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.

Related articles:

• Auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2013
• Auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2012
• Inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2012
• Inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2014

Auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2013

Many couples plan for their wedding more than 1 year ahead in order to have sufficient preparation time.

Here is the list of auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in year 2013 (year of Snake), 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.

 

Related articles:

• Auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2012
• Inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2012
• Auspicious dates for wedding/marriage in 2014
• Inauspicious dates to avoid for wedding/marriage in 2014

Upgraded my home MFP to Dell 1355cn colour multifunction laser-class LED printer from Brother DCP-130C multifunction inkjet printer

I have just replaced my Brother DCP-130C multifunction (print/scan/copy) inkjet printer, which I blogged about it here quite some times ago which has been serving me for about 5 years, to a new Dell 1355cn colour multifunction (print/scan/copy/fax) laser-class LED printer.

The Brother DCP-130C MFP is still functioning well, but I have planned for its replacement to laser printer for quite some time because:

• its ink is water soluble and hence the printed area will be damaged by any drop of water. This is the weak-point of all inkjet printers using non-water-resistant ink.
• the printing needs 1-2 seconds or so to dry out, and will be distorted if the printed paper side touched with any kind of surface or object before the ink is dried. This is another weak-point of all inkjet printers.
• the inkjet print-head need frequent cleaning with its own ink, causing the ink in the cartridge to dry up eventually, even the printer is seldom in use.
• the ink and its cartridge has short expiry date, especially after taken out from its vacuum packaging.
• the print quality of laser printer is better than inkjet printer, especially in text printing.

Although the cost of my Brother DCP-130C MFP is just RM199, its ink replacement cost is high.

I have waited until today for the upgrade, because the cost of colour multifunction laser printer is high (normally above RM2k). Beside that, colour laser MFP is usually bulky and heavy.

Until recently, I found out there are 2 such printers selling at the price of RM1699 and also with compact size. They are Brother MFC-9120CN selling in Tech Hypermart and this Dell 1355cn selling in Dell Online Store.

I have chosen Dell 1355cn because reviews from a few sources in the Internet say that the print quality of Brother MFC-9120CN is below average, and the print quality of Dell 1355cn is above average.

Beside the additional fax and network functions, my new Dell 1355cn has much more features and settings than my Brother DCP-130C.

I like its network function. I connected the printer's network port to my WiFi router. This enable me to print from any computers linked to my home LAN, either wired or wireless. In fact, I can also print directly from Android smartphone using the PrinterShare app via Google Cloud Print service. The printer can also send out email alert/report to my email account directly.

There are several ways to do setting and configuration to the Dell 1355cn printer, such as directly using its panel buttons and LCD display, using web browser by accessing the printer from LAN, using a utility program named Tool Box. I prefer to use Tool Box as it is easier to use, and it can do the most complete set of setting, configuration, maintenance, reporting and diagnosis.

Just like my Brother DCP-130C, this Dell 1355cn printer has a USB port in front, enables it to print out photos or graphics directly from thumb-drive or connected digital camera, without using a PC.

The Dell 1355cn's paper input tray can hold up to 150 sheets of paper (compared with 100 sheets in DCP-130C). This is considered low capacity for laser printer, but good enough for home user like me. On top of the standard paper tray is another priority tray which can hold another 10 sheets of paper.

It is possible to set a 4-digit password to access its admin configuration functions, and to set a separate 4-digit password for its copy/scan/fax functions. This is a good feature to prevent children from playing around with the printer panel buttons.

There are many more functions and features of Dell 1355cn to talk about. You can find out more about this printer by reading its manual. At it price, I won't expect sophisticated feature from it, and these sets of functions and features already satisfied me as a home user.

Download user manual of Dell 1355cn colour multifunction laser-class LED printer here.

All in all, I think this printer is a good buy for home user to upgrade to colour multifunction laser/LED printer. If you don't need the colour printing function, the cost of mono B/W multifunction laser/LED printer is even cheaper.

However, there is some trade-off for this upgrade too:

• Obviously, the new printer price is much higher than its predecessor.
• The cost of laser toner cartridge is also much higher, but it can print more pages and also last much longer .
• The power consumption also increased a lot, from the previous inkjet's 20W to current LED laser printer's 320W. Anyhow, 320W is considered very low for laser printer class, thanks to the LED technology which is more energy saving than traditional laser printing, and as a home user I don't print a lot every month.
• The new printer has almost the same footprint as the old inkjet, as you can see and compare with their photos posted in my blog here. However, the height of the new printer is more than double the previous one.

Car windscreen repair

In one sunny day, I discovered a long crack (slightly more than 1 feet) on the left hand side of my car's windscreen. To replace a new windscreen would probably cost above RM800, and after the replacement, I would need to reapply V-Kool which will probably cost another few hundreds. After some thought, I decided to get the windscreen repaired rather than replaced.

I called up a windscreen specialist called Mr. Raymond Fong, and he turned up at my home within 3 hours on the same day.

He covered the part to be repaired from direct sunlight with an umbrella, then carefully applied some sort of glass compound into the crack with his tools. After that, he removed the umbrella and make use of the ultraviolet light from the sun to dry out and harden the compound. The whole process took less than 1 hour, and the crack become a slight scar which is not easily seen. This repair also prevents the crack from widening further.

I was charged RM150 for the job, with official receipt and warranty. If you are also looking for car windscreen repair service, I recommend Raymond to you for his professional and quality service.

Checking the Selangor state Quit Rent payment status online

If you are having property in Selangor state, you can check the Quit Rent (Hasil Tanah) bill and payment status online at this website: http://hasil.selangor.gov.my/

Just input the information of your property which are printed on your Quit Rent bill, and you can immediately check your account information, the address where your Quit Rent bill was sent to, the amount due, and your last payment detail.

This is particularly useful if you made your payment using online banking method, to ensure that the payment was successfully made and recorded. If you haven't received your Quit Rent bill, you can also check to which address the bill was sent to.

My Kenwood KDC-U353R CD / MP3 / WMA player with USB and AUX input in my car

After some years of operation, the stock head unit of my Toyota Avanza is having problem pulling in the CD, and I planned to replace it since several months ago.

I don't have high demand in car audio, and don't want to spend too much on it. However, I do have basic demand, which the quality of most of the China made brands not meeting my expectation. Therefore, I go for mid-range, and finally installed Kenwood KDC-U353R in my car.

This seems to be a new 2012 model, and cost me RM250.

Function wise, it meets my requirement to listen to radio and to play CD audio / MP3 / WMA with CD / CDR / CDRW or USB drive. In fact, this unit comes with a free 4GB USB Pendrive which can store several hundred MP3 files. I think this unit is unable to play AAC M4A file, which is something nice to have, but not a big deal if it doesn't have.

It also comes with a small remote control, a nice gadget for passengers in 2nd or 3rd row seat to take control of it.

Like most of Kenwood head unit, its faceplate is removable (so called Theft Deterrent Faceplate - TDF) and there is a special casing to keep the removed faceplate. Taking out and putting on the faceplate is pretty easy. However, there will be occasion to accidentally pressed the Eject button and cause the faceplate to come out from the panel, even if we don't mean so.

The Kenwood KDC-U353R head unit looks elegant at night, with red backlight and blue LED display. The brightness of the blue LED display can be adjusted in its function setting.

Radio reception is very good, better than the stock HU of Toyota Avanza 1.5G. The radio is still clear in some rural area where previously the stock unit will produce a lot of hissing sound.

Its sound quality is better than the stock HU too (this is as expected from Kenwood product). It works well with the stock speakers in Toyota Avanza, and I have added 2 tweeters in front to get more treble, especially when listening to radio.

RM88 CNY offer package for SmartTAG + Touch n Go or PLUSMiles card

Currently, there is a Chinese New Year offer package for SmartTAG + Touch n Go or PLUSMiles card selling at RM88 (normal price: RM120 + RM10 = RM130).

Offer period: 21 Jan 2012 - 29 Jan 2012

Where to buy?

• Touch 'n Go Hub at Bangsar South, KL Sentral or Wisma Nufri
• Reload 'n Go counters at Seremban R&R, Sg. Buloh OBR and Temerloh R&R
• Touch 'n Go service centre along PLUS Highway and MTD Highway
• Touch 'n Go SPOT counters at:
• Shell, Hentian Sebelah Juru, Lebuhraya PLUS Arah Utara
• Esso, Hentian Sebelah Juru, Lebuhraya PLUS Arah Selatan
• Shell, R&R Tapah, Lebuhraya PLUS Arah Utara
• Shell, R&R Tapah, Lebuhraya PLUS Arah Selatan
• Petronas, Lebuhraya Sg Besi Arah Utara
• BHPetrol, Lebuhraya Sg Besi Arah Selatan
• Petronas, R&R Ayer Keroh, Lebuhraya PLUS Arah Utara
• Shell, R&R Pagoh, Lebuhraya PLUS Arah Utara
• Petronas, R&R Skudai, Lebuhraya PLUS
• Shell, Gombak, Lebuhraya MRR2, Arah Batu Caves
• Petronas, Lingkaran Karak, Lebuhraya MRR2

Click here for more information about RM88 CNY offer package for SmartTAG + Touch n Go or PLUSMiles card.

Installed D-Plus pedal lock in my car

I have heard about the wonder of pedal lock such as Locktech in securing the car from theft for quite some times. Today, I finally installed one in my car when I visited Brother's shop. The brand is D-Plus, also made in Thailand as Locktech, and feature-wise it seems like both are very identical.

This lock has dual locking system. At the first level, pull the beige handle and the brake pedal will be locked and not depressible. At the second level, push the second lock beside the handle, and the second lock need to be unlocked before the first lock can be released. Both the locks are using the same key.

While this lock is engaged, the car engine cannot be started.

Somebody has uploaded a video to YouTube to show this D-Plus lock in action.

Balik Kampung, Rumah Selamat campaign - Get the police to watch over your house during long holiday

Are you staying in Klang Valley and going back to your hometown or long vacation during this coming Chinese New Year?

You can inform the police by filling up the Balik Kampung form online or download the form, fill it up and submit to your nearby police station. This will allow the police to increase patrols in your housing estates and pay particular attention to empty homes during the festive holidays to prevent criminals from breaking into your house.

The police mobile patrol units will leave the Police Visitation Forms in your mailbox as their visit report to your house.

This Balik Kampung campaign also covers gated and guarded communities in Klang Valley area.

What can you expect from Near Field Communication (NFC)

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a kind of wireless communication technology built upon the existing Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) standards. Research and development activities on NFC have been active since early 2000s.

The official NFC logo is as below. You might probably find it on NFC-enabled devices.

While RFID devices are generally expensive, NFC devices are much more cheaper, making it possible to be included as part of a handphone feature. In fact, the 1st NFC phone is Nokia 6131 launched in 2006, and the 1st Android NFC smartphone is Samsung Nexus S launched in 2010.

The characteristics of NFC are:

• 2 NFC devices can establish 2-way communication between them.
• Beside that, NFC devices can also establish 1-way communication to read, write or erase data stored in specific RFID based tags called NFC tags.
• NFC need very close contact between the devices or tag for the communication to occur. Normally, the gap between them must be within a few centimeters only.
• NFC communication set-up time is very fast, normally within 0.1 seconds. This make it attractive as data transfer is instant once the devices or tag are touched together.
• NFC communication is slow (about 424 kbps) compared with other wireless communication technology such as Bluetooth, WiFi, etc. However, this is good enough to transfer a small amount of data instantly. In addition, we can use NFC signal to initiate other faster data communications including Bluetooth pairing, WiFi connection, etc.

Today, as the amount of NFC-enabled devices available in the market has not reach its critical mass yet, this technology is still new for most of us. However, as more and more NFC-enabled handphones and other NFC-enabled devices roll-out to the market, we will have the chance to see it in action everywhere. It is estimated that, there will be over 500 million NFC-enabled handphones in use worldwide by 2015.

Industry players such as Google are working hard in making NFC to support electronic payment, electronic cash, electronic credit card, etc. for their Google Wallet. MasterCard is also working hard to make use of NFC for their PayPass contactless payment feature.

Right now, NFC tag has already shown its capability to do what the QR-code can do. This include storing of:

• Website URL
• Phone Number
• Email
• SMS message
• Any Plain Text
• Contact Information (vCard)
• Google Maps Location
• Google / Bing Search query
• Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn
• and more...

The advantages of using NFC tags than using QR codes including:

• QR code is printed and final. NFC tag can be rewritten (multiple re-use), or optionally made into read-only.
• QR code must be visible to the scanner. NFC tag can be hidden behind a label/poster/etc.
• NFC tag reading is faster than QR code reading.

And the disadvantages of using NFC tags than using QR codes including:

• QR code can be read from far, as long as it is visible. NFC need close contact to work.
• QR code can be in electronic form (a graphical image file) which can be easily transmitted and duplicated. You can also put it on a webpage and show it to all the browsers. NFC tag is physical.

Right now, we just have to stay tuned and wait for the day of NFC to come to our day-to-day live.

What can you do with QR Code

QR code (QR = Quick Response) is a kind of commonly used 2-dimensional barcode nowadays.

This is the QR code of my blog. I'm sure you have seen other QR codes elsewhere as well.

QR code is originally created by Denso Wave (a subsidiary of Toyota) to keep track of vehicle parts along the manufacturing process. It has been around since 1994. Today, it has been internationally adopted and used for many different purposes, especially in the Advertising and Promotion sector.

What makes QR code so interesting and commonly used?

• It can store much more information (as much as several thousands characters) than the traditional 1-dimensional barcode. 
• Other than alphanumeric, it can also store binary data, which can be unicode (such as Chinese characters), image, and almost anything that can be represented in binary data. And it directly supports Japanese encoding (Kanji and Kana).
• It has small printout size compared with 1-dimensional barcode.
• It has error correction capability, and still can be read without problem even when partially dirty or damaged.
• It can be read pretty fast, and from any angle (360 degree omni-directional capability).
• Other than black-and-white, it can also be printed in multiple colours.

QR code is readable by barcode scanner which support 2-dimensional barcode. Some airlines and cinemas have installed QR code readers at their check-in point and make use of QR code in their customers' self-printed tickets.

However, what make it so popular nowadays is that, there are plenty of QR code reading apps available for smartphones including iPhone, Android Phones, Windows Mobile Phones, etc. and most of the apps are free for download and use.

QR code is also easy to generate, because there are also plenty of software and web-based generator available. One of my favourite online QR code generator is QR Stuff.

You can encode the following into QR code:

• Website URL
• YouTube Video Link
• GPS Coordinate / Google Maps Location
• Twitter Profile / Status Update
• Facebook Profile / Like
• LinkedIn Profile / Share
• FourSquare Venue
• iTunes Link (music, album, artist, app, etc.)
• Any Plain Text
• Telephone Number
• SMS Message to a number
• Email Address
• Email Message to an address
• Contact Details (VCARD)
• Calendar Event (VCALENDAR)
• Wifi Login Information for Android device
• Paypal Buy Now Link
  

Feel free to visit to the QR Stuff website and generate your own QR codes for fun and perhaps profit.