Padini Group Fair @ IOI Mall Puchong

FYI, Padini Group is currently having a clearance sale in IOI Mall Puchong for their brands including Padini, PDI, Padini Authentics, SEED, Miki, Vincci, and Tizio.

Miki Kids, Miki Baby, PDI Men and PDI Ladies items are selling as low as RM9 only.

Date: 22 July - 2 August 2015
Venue:  Ground Floor of IOI Mall Puchong Sky Dome Atrium (Old Wing outside Aeon supermarket)

Free TM WiFi access for UniFi users

If you are a UniFi broadband user, and your mobile device is able to detect a WiFi hotspot called "TM WiFi" in a restaurant, shopping center, or any one of the 28,000+ TM WiFi sites in Malaysia, you can connect to it to have free WiFi Internet access, thus saving your valuable mobile data usage quota.

To connect to the Internet with TM WiFi, select "TM WiFi" as your WiFi network provider, then open your mobile web browser and browse to any website.

Your browser homepage will be automatically redirected to a TM WiFi login page that looks like below:

Select "UniFi" as your TM WiFi ID Type. Your login ID is your UniFi login username without the "@unifi" behind. Your password is your UniFi password.

You will be able to access to the Internet with TM WiFi upon successful login.

To find out where you can get the TM WiFi Internet hotspots, go to the webpage below:
https://www.tm.com.my/OnlineHelp/CoverageCheck/Pages/TMWifi.aspx

Popular Bookstore has gone online, finally

Popular Bookstore in Malaysia has finally gone online, and their website is https://www.popularonline.com.my.

Although this online bookstore website has both Simplified Chinese and English version, most of the contents are in Chinese. As a result, if you switch to the English option, only the framework language of the webpage will change to English, the content will remain as Chinese.

From today until 2 August 2015, if you found any bug in this online bookstore and report to them, they will give you a 30% discount voucher.

If you register a new account in this website before 2 August 2015 (inclusive), they will also give you a RM8 cash voucher, but the redemption period is until 9 August 2015 only.

Do you really need an inverter water heater

Nowadays inverter technology applies to quite a lot of electrical appliances.

You can find inverter air-cond, inverter refrigerator, inverter washing machine, inverter fan, and even inverter water heater.

Inverter motors generally operate quieter than their a/c counterparts, and their warranty period is normally longer too. They are also suppose to save more electricity.

For many water heaters in the market, the inverter technology actually applies to the water pump in the water heater and not to the water heating mechanism, although some water heaters also apply the inverter technology in water heating.

If the inverter technology only applies to the water pump, and you seldom use the water pump to boost up the water flow during shower, then it would not be necessary for you to spend more in getting an inverter model of the water heater. It only make sense for you to buy a water heater with inverter technology if you turn on the pump almost every time you shower.

For you reference, below are 3 different models of Alpha brand water heater:

• Alpha Smart 18E (without pump) - RM410
• Alpha Smart 18EP (with pump) - RM570
• Alpha Smart 18i (with inverter pump) - RM620

Upgraded my TM UniFi Internet service from 10Mbps VIP10 to new 30Mbps package

Recently, I received a call from Telekom Malaysia Sales Centre promoting the new 30Mbps UniFi HSBB Internet service to me as an upgrade to my existing 10Mbps UniFi VIP10 package.

Today, I received an email informing that the upgrade has been successfully done.

My previous package: UniFi VIP10 @ RM179 per month +6% GST
My current package: UniFi 30 + HyppTV Aneka Pack @ RM199 per month +6% GST

A test with Ookla Speedtest website shows that my Internet download speed has increased from previous 10Mbps to 30Mbps. However, I also found out that my Internet upload speed has reduced from previous 10Mbps to 5Mbps. I have just contacted TM to clarify on this reduce in upload speed.

If you are also a UniFi subscriber and has received this upgrade offer from TM, here is the information about the RM199 upgrade package that I would like to share with you:

• 30Mbps Internet speed (but the 5Mbps upload speed yet to receive clarification from TM)
• Unlimited quota (same as existing UniFi)
• Free nationwide phone calls to TM numbers (same as existing UniFi. I heard that new subscriber will not get this anymore)
• Free TM WiFi access at over 28,000 access points (same as existing UniFi)
• HyppTV Aneka Pack (32 channels)
• HyppTV Everywhere Plan A to watch HyppTV in 2 devices (PC, Android, or Apple). Need to install the HyppTV Everywhere app. Password will be given by email when service activated.

This upgrade is done seamlessly. It uses back all the hardware devices in existing UniFi package (broadband termination unit, WiFi router, TV set top box, cordless phone), and it is not necessary for any technician to come to your house for the upgrade. All you need to do is to restart the BTU and WiFi router after receiving the email upon successful upgrade to enjoy the new Internet speed.

Korean Biocera laundry washing ball with ceramic pebbles

I saw this Biocera laundry washing ball with ceramic pebbles at their road show counter, and bought home for a try.

This washing ball is said to be able to replace the function of detergent and softener when placed in our washing machine. It is able to clean, sterilize and deodourize our clothes and laundry by "activating" the water during the washing process.

It is said that each of this soft rubber ball with ceramic pebbles inside can be used for up to 1,000 washing cycle, which is at least a few years for normal household use. We only need one ball for laundry up to 6kg, and two balls if the laundry exceeds 6kg.

Here are my 2 Biocera balls in my 9kg washing machine, ready to use.

I was told to immerse the Biocera balls with water for about 30 minutes before their first use. I found some small black particles in the water after the 30 minutes immersion. Perhaps this is the reason, or else the small particles might cause blockage in the washing machine drum.

Panasonic NI-100DX cordless non-stick dry iron

This Panasonic NI-100DX is a basic dry iron, without fancy features and not of the steam iron type. As such, its price is very affordable too.

What makes it different is that it is formed by 2 separate parts: the main body and a base.

Its base contains the power cord to be plugged into the wall socket, and there is a storage compartment for this power cord, making it tidy and easy to carry around, suitable to be a travelling companion.

When the iron parked at its base with power on, its non-stick soleplate will heat up within 1-2 minutes and ready for use. This base also ensure you'll place it properly when you remove your hand off its handle, without accidentally heating on surface that not suppose to contact with its hot soleplate.

The iron with ergonomic handle is only 1.4kg. It is very easy to maneuver without any attached power cord during ironing. You can now iron in any direction and free from the hassle of tangling power cord.

I have been using it for several weeks. Its cordless feature really brings a good user experience.

Multifunctional digital alarm clock with calendar, temperature, humidity, weather display and time projector

Today I would like to share with you a China made multifunctional digital alarm clock with cool features and cheap price, which I purchased online. The model no. is DS-8190.

This clock can operate either using 2 AAA batteries or 4.5V DC current input.

I called it an alarm clock because when operate using the AAA batteries, its backlight will turn off to conserve the battery life, and you need to press its top button to turn the backlight on in order to see a clear colourful display on its screen. The backlight will be off again within a few seconds.

Without the backlight, the screen is too dim, although you can still be able to see the screen display with close observation. This is ideal for it to be an alarm clock, because its screen will be too bright with the backlight on.

On its screen, this clock is able to show the time in either 24 hours or AM/PM format, a full calendar from year 2001-2099 with the day of week, and it has sensors to track the humidity and temperature. Based on it tracked humidity and temperature data, it is able to estimate the weather condition.

The backlight of the clock is always on when it operates with 4.5V DC current. You need a separate AC/DC adaptor for this to work. I use a Lemax 500mA universal safety AC/DC adaptor with polarity dial (model S69D), and this is my setting for it to work with the clock:

Somebody has shown in Youtube about how he modified the circuit of the clock to make its backlight always on when operated with batteries. Perhaps he hasn't tried using the AC/DC adaptor, which serves the same purpose without the need of hassle to modify the clock internal circuit.

On the right hand side of the clock is a small projector, which will project the time onto the wall or ceiling when its backlight is turned on.

The projected time is quite bright and can be seen even at daytime. It seems to be even brighter and able to reach a longer distance when the surrounding is dark at night.

This feature is pretty interesting, enabling us to easily check the time when we awake at night. However, its backlight is too bright and glary at night. Perhaps it should have a setting to turn on the projector while still keeping the backlight of the screen off. That will make it perfect.

Lastly, as an alarm clock, when the alarm mode is turned on, it will beep when the preset alarm time is reached. The beeping interval will gradually become faster and faster, until you press down its top button.

Alert: your password stored in web browsers can easily be retrieved and revealed by WebBrowserPassView

WebBrowserPassView by NirSoft is a Windows freeware password recovery tool that can reveal the websites password information that you have stored in web browsers including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera.

This means that anybody who has physical or remote access to your computer, or any malicious software that gain access to your computer, can easily retrieve your login name and password stored in the web browsers.

These user names and passwords might include login access information to Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, forums, and even your Internet banking accounts, as long as you have stored them in your web browser under the AutoComplete or AutoFill feature.

Therefore, it is advisable not to store your password in your web browser. You can store your password in a more secured mechanism such as Norton Identity Safe which provides you the similar autocomplete feature but storing your passwords in a more secured way.

Recuva - freeware to recover deleted photo / video / music / document / email from SD card / hard disk / USB thumb drive / iPod

If you want to recover or undelete your deleted or lost files (photo, video, music, document, email, etc.), you can try a Windows freeware called Recuva by Piriform.

Recuva works on any rewriteable storage media you have, including internal and external harddisk, SD card, USB thumb drive, and even iPod. It is possible to recover from damaged or formatted disks too.

Beside that, it is also able to try to recover your deleted emails from MS Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, or Mozilla Thunderbird.

It can even try to recover unsaved MS Word document after a MS Word crash.

Using Recuva is pretty easy and straightforward. You just need to specify the location of your lost file...

... and then the file type...

... then Recuva will start to do the searching.

It will then list out the recoverable files for you to choose and restore them in a new storage location of your choice.

Beside the free Recuva, there are also paid version including Recuva Profession and Recuva Business Edition which include advanced features and professional technical support from Piriform.

Jisan JS-510 51000mAh Li-Polymer slim power bank

There is a Jisan brand 51000mAh high capacity Li-Polymer power bank selling online in some Malaysian e-commerce websites at pretty low price.

It claims to be manufactured in Korea, but when you search the Internet about "Jisan power bank", there is not much info other than the e-commerce webpages. The domain name "jisangroups.com" is even inactive. Most if not all the selling websites are based in Malaysia.

The power bank does have a premium metallic look and feel, but its packaging doesn't match the premium feeling. The English on the packaging (both the language and the text content) is not up to standard as well.

It provides 1 year limited warranty, with a Warranty Card inside, but there is no manufacturer detail nor contact, and the Warranty Card is not professionally designed and written. In fact, the warranty is provided by the dealer.

It says its protection circuit module is based on "Yeonhan Technology by Jisan".

All these signs make me suspect that this power bank is actually made in China by a manufacturer related to OEM factory called Yeon Han, and OEM to a Malaysian dealer with the Jisan brand, and possibly nothing to do with Korea.

This power bank is quite long (about 15cm), but not too heavy.

Given its slim design, I believe it uses the single cell 3.7v Li-Polymer flat cell as battery. This kind of battery is the same kind of Li-Po battery commonly used in hand phones and compact cameras nowadays, and is lighter and better design than the Li-Ion 18650 battery pack used in some other power banks.

However, looking at its size and weight, unless it uses a new kind of battery technology which can have extremely high energy density, I doubt its real capacity can be as high as 51000mAh. Its size and weight is more realistic for it to be around 15000mAh instead. I haven't tested on its real capacity yet, hopefully I am wrong and it really can discharge near to 51000mAh from fully charged state. Then it will be really value for money at its price.

Hopefully it has a good protection circuit module as it claimed. I do notice that its temperature doesn't change much during charging, which is a good sign.

After all, I believe this should be a good quality product, although seems to be overly done in marketing propaganda.

My home audio-visual system comprises Samsung 7-series UHD 4K smart TV, 4.2 channels wireless soundstand and Blu-ray disc player

I have just set up a new home audio-visual system comprise of 3 Samsung products:

• Samsung UA40HU7000R 7-series 40" UHD 4K Flat Smart TV (cost: RM2349)
• Samsung HW-H600 Wireless Soundstand (cost: RM639)
• Samsung BD-F5100XM Blu-ray Player (cost: RM179)

Total cost including GST = RM3167

All 3 of them are of last year old model. If I were to buy them when they newly hit the market, I might need to fork out double the cost or more to take them home. This is kind of delayed gratification to get the same thing at lower cost.

I have checked the running hour of the Samsung TV and confirmed that it is new and never been used before.

Also connected to this Samsung TV are my existing devices:

• Astro B.yond set top box (main source for TV programmes)
• HiMedia Q5II Android 3D TV box (main source for Internet streaming videos + TV games)
• UniFi HyppTV set top box (backup source for TV programmes)

I have chosen a 7-series UHD 4K smart TV, although a lower series Full HD TV is cheaper, because besides the UHD 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160, the 7-series also equipped with 4 HDMI ports, 3 USB ports, LAN port, built-in wireless LAN, analog audio out, digital optical audio out, 2 composite input groups, 1 component input groups, and other connectivities which is pretty comprehensive and sufficient.

If I choose a larger 50" screen of the same Samsung 7-series UHD 4K smart TV, I would need to fork out additional RM1200 from my pocket. By choosing the 40" screen model, I can upgrade it with a wireless soundstand and Blue-ray player, yet the combined cost is still cheaper than buying the 50" screen model.

The main reason to go for Samsung LED TV is for its picture quality and vibrant colour display. The UHD 4K screen offers 4 times resolution than the Full HD screen. The TV supports 4-steps UHD up-scaling to convert lower resolution content to a level of clarity that is almost like Ultra High Definition.

This TV is equipped with Clear Motion Rate (CMR) technology of 200 powered by Ultra Clear Panel and quad-core processor.

Being a smart TV, when connected to the Internet either using wired LAN or WiFi, you can access to Samsung Smart Hub and install apps to the TV, browse websites with its built-in browser, and perform firmware update over the Internet.

It also comes with Samsung Smart Remote Control, which can act as a pointer, and also be used as voice input device to issue voice control command to the TV.

There is an IR blaster gadget comes together with this TV. Connecting it to the IR Out port of the TV and place the round blaster in front of my Astro B.yond set top box, I can use the TV remote control to switch the Astro box on/off together with the TV, and can also use the TV remote control to change the Astro channel (instead of using the Astro remote control).

This TV is supposed to support Screen Mirroring from Samsung mobile devices, but I have difficulty in making it works with my Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0.

This TV also supports the Samsung Smart View 2.0 app for my smart phone to share multimedia content with it, and also act as a remote control. I do find the remote control in this app better than the Samsung Smart Remote Control, as the physical remote control lack of physical numeric keypad and more difficult to directly change to a preferred channel.

The Samsung HW-H600 4.2 Channels Wireless Soundstand greatly enhance the sound quality of the TV, especially when the Surround mode is turned on. It is designed to lay flat and be placed under the TV. This design saves space, and eliminate the clutter of having many speakers in normal Hi-Fi system.

This Samsung HW-H600 is classified as a mid-range Hi-Fi device, so do not expect it to perform the same as those high end Hi-Fi speakers, which costs more than 3 times its price. Its 4.2 channels comprises of 4 bass-reflex speaker drivers and dual built-in subwoofers, which is richer than those 2.1 (stereo + subwoofer) sound bars.

There are many ways it can connect to the TV, including the wireless TV SoundConnect, wired HDMI ARC connect, audio cable connect, etc. I find the audio cable connect is more straightforward and easier to configure.

The Soundstand has a USB port, and can play MP3 music when connected to a USB thumb drive with MP3 files in it.

It also can pair with mobile devices to play MP3 music or receive phone audio output via Bluetooth connection. It comes with an NFC sticker to facilitate easier Bluetooth pairing with smartphone that support NFC.

The Blu-ray disc player completes the audio-visual system by adding ability to play music, video or photo stored in Blu-ray / DVD / VCD / CD disc.

This Samsung BD-F5100XM does not support playing of 3D Blu-ray movie. It supports full HD (1920x1080) and can upscale DVD to this level, but it does not support UHD.

It also comes with a USB port, which function similarly with the USB port in the TV and Soundstand.

It has a LAN port to connect to the Internet, and comes with some apps including Youtube, Facebook, etc. However, I prefer to use the Youtube and Facebook apps in the smart TV, which can be accessed more directly. It does not support WiFi connection.

There is newer Blu-ray player model that support WiFi connection, 3D Blu-ray movie playing, UHD picture quality, etc. The cost will be at least double the price of this Samsung BD-F5100XM.

My Toshiba AW-DC1000CM 9kg washing machine

I have just replaced my Panasonic NA-F90GS 9kg washing machine with a new Toshiba AW-DC1000CM 9kg washing machine.

The main reason to finalize on this Toshiba model is because it has similar footprint with the Panasonic NA-F90GS, and can fit into the same place without any problem. Furthermore, this Toshiba AW-DC1000CM comes with a generous 2+3+13 years of warranty.

The Toshiba AW-DC1000CM features a Direct Drive Inverter Motor and Zero Standby Power technology, which I believe can save more electricity than its predecessor.

It doesn't come with Toshiba's latest Magic Drum innovation, as I can't find any Toshiba DD Inverter washing machine of 9kg capacity with Magic Drum in it, otherwise I will consider getting the one with Magic Drum feature.

For Regular mode washing, this Toshiba AW-DC1000CM washing machine operates similar with the Panasonic NA-F90GS, but much more quieter.

On top of the Zero Standby Power, this Toshiba AW-DC1000CM has some other features that are not found in the Panasonic NA-F90GS, including lid lock and child proof safety, tub clean, quick shirt wash, etc.

It lacks the small water filter, which is a special feature in the Panasonic NA-F90GS. However, my Bacfree ER-19 rocket-style outdoor water filter works pretty well, so the small water filter in washing machine is not a necessity.

My Panasonic NA-F90GS is still working fine, and will be moved to my apartment to continue its service.

My Panasonic NR-BW465XS 2-doors fridge

I have just replaced my Toshiba GRH-47MTV 3-doors (470 litres) refrigerator with a new Panasonic NR-BW465XS 2-doors (450 litres) refrigerator.

The main reason to finalize on this Panasonic model is because it has similar footprint with the Toshiba GRH-47MTV, and can fit into the same place without any problem.

Although the gross capacity of this Panasonic fridge is smaller than its predecessor, its net storage capacity  of 400 litres is in fact slightly larger than the 395 litres of the Toshiba fridge.

This Panasonic NR-BW465XS refrigerator is of energy saving type with inverter technology, U-Vacua vacuum insulation, and ECO NAVI sensors. It has a 5-star energy efficiency rating.

Its freezer has a star rating of 4, which means it can freeze fresh food and store frozen food for 3 to 12 months.

The design of this fridge is also "inverted" when compared with most other fridges. Its drawer-type freezer compartment is at the bottom. Its height-adjustable shelves are located on top of the refrigerator compartment, followed by a 47 litres vegetable case, then its chilled case.

However, the design of its door shelves is "normal", with 2 egg shelves on top, and then 2 bottle shelves at the bottom.

It has a Quick Freezing button on its door panel, which function is pretty well self-explained. Once pressed, it fridge will go into Quick Freezing mode for 150 minutes before returning to normal mode. Quick Freezing can be cancelled by pressing the same button again.

It has Ag+ anti-bacterial feature, which is quite common in modern refrigerators nowadays. Beside that, it also has deodorizing function, and it utilizes blue and green LED lights for fruits and vegetables to maintain vitamin C contents. The vegetable case stores the fruits and vegetables in high humidity of about 91.5% and constant temperature to keep them fresh and remain juicy.

When this fridge operates to cool down its compartments, you can hear some noise when you are near to it. The noise will reduce after it stabilized for a while.

The only drawback of this Panasonic NR-BW465XS refrigerator is that, its vegetable case is smaller than the vegetable compartment of Toshiba GRH-47MTV. Other than this, I would see it as an upgrade to the Toshiba GRH-47MTV in all aspects.

My Toshiba GRH-47MTV is still working fine, and will be moved to my apartment to continue its service.

How many hours to wait before power on a refrigerator after moving it

If you bought a new refrigerator which will be delivered from the shop/warehouse, travelling on a lorry/van to your house, unloaded and placed at your desired location, you will most likely be advised to only turn it on after a couple of hours.

The timeframe of such advice can vary from 30 minutes to as long as 24 hours.

This waiting period also applies when you move your fridge from one location to another, be it within your house, or from your house to another house.

I have done quite an extensive Internet searching regarding this power on waiting period for refrigerator after moving, and believe that the following information is pretty reliable.

The waiting period is for the oil that lubricates the cylinders in the compressor of the refrigerator to settle down to where it should reside, with the help of the gravity.

You will need a shorter period (as short as 5 minutes) of waiting time if the refrigerator is always in upright position when being moved.

If you tilted the refrigerator for less than 30 degree, there will be chances for the oil to spill over into the tubes behind the refrigerator. This kind of tilting is common when it is loaded and unloaded from a lorry/van. It is better for you to wait for 1 hour to let the oil in the tube to gradually move back to where it supposes to be.

If the tilting is more than 30 degree, or the refrigerator has been laid down horizontally, it is better for you to wait for 4 hours or more.

If the refrigerator has been put in upside down position (which shouldn't be in common sense), then you will need to wait for 24 hours or more.

If you are unsure, just wait for at least 4 hours before power it on after it has settled down in its new place.

What are the dangers of turning on the refrigerator immediately or with too short waiting period?

• The motor might subject to damage due to lack of lubrication.
• The oil might clog in the tube, causing malfunction to the refrigerator.

Converting Samsung BD-F5100 Blu-ray & DVD player to become region free (unlocked)

Most genuine DVD and Blu-ray movie discs carry a region code, and the movie can only be played in a Blu-ray and/or DVD player with firmware having the same region code with the disc.

Depends on the manufacturer of the Blu-ray / DVD player, certain players don't implement the region code checking and restriction, and can play the dics from all region. Certain other branded players, particularly Samsung, Sony, etc. impose the region code restriction.

For DVD, the region code is assigned as follow:

• 0 = Playable in all regions
• 1 = North America, Hawaii and Bermuda
• 2 = Middle East, Western Europe, Central Europe, Egypt, French overseas territories, Greenland, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland
• 3 = Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan 
• 4 = Australia, New Zealand, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Oceania, South America
• 5 = The rest of Africa, Former Soviet Union, the Indian subcontinent, Mongolia, North Korea
• 6 = Mainland China

For Blu-ray, the region code is assigned as follow:

• A = East Asia (except Mainland China and Mongolia), Southeast Asia, North America, South America and their dependencies
• B = Africa, Southwest Asia, Europe (except Russia and Kazakhstan), Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand) and their dependencies
• C = Central Asia, East Asia (Mainland China and Mongolia only), South Asia, central Eurasia and their dependencies

The problem with this region code is that, if you are staying in Southeast Asia and want to play a Hollywood DVD movie in genuine discs, the movie might not play due to this region code restriction. This actually encourages people to look for pirated copy or to download the DVD ripped copy from the Internet.

Anyhow, there are methods to hack certain Bly-ray and/or DVD players by hardware chip modification, or just by unlocking the region restriction using the remote control.

I have a Samsung BD-F5100 Blu-ray & DVD player shipped with the latest firmware version 1019.0. Its region code for DVD and Blu-ray is stated on the label stuck behind the unit.

The steps to unlock this Samsung BD-F5100 Blu-ray & DVD player to make it region free and enabling it to play DVD from all the regions are as below.

Step 1: Take out any disc in the player, and power off the unit.

Step 2: Switch it on. Wait until the Main Menu of the player appears on the TV screen.

Step 3: Press the REPEAT button (the black button under the yellow "C") on its remote control.

Step 4: Use the keypad on remote control to punch in the following 5 digits, depends on the DVD region code stated in the label (the DVD region code in the picture above is "3").

For Region 1: 2 9 3 3 4
For Region 2: 5 7 5 3 8
For Region 3: 5 6 7 3 2
For Region 4: 7 6 8 8 4
For Region 5: 5 3 8 1 4 
For Region 6: 2 4 4 6 2

Step 5: Once you punched in the above 5-digit codes, you will see your current region code shown up on the top left corner in your TV screen. Before this region code disappears, quickly punch in "9" with your remote control.

Step 6: The number on the TV screen will change to "9". Wait for it to disappear.

Step 7: Power off the player.

Your BD-F5100 player should be unlocked to region free by now. Repeat Step 1 to Step 4 above, you will be able to see your region code has changed to "0".

Test it with a DVD disc from different region. The movie should be able to play in your player now.

Eco Breeze EB-2228 ceiling mount air circulator with LED lights and ionizer

I have recently installed an Eco Breeze EB-2228 ceiling mount air circulator with LED lights and ionizer.

It is basically a small fan with energy saving motor (claimed to be able to save up to 30% electricity) function to improve air circulation and regulate the room temperature, best working together with a nearby air-cond. It will boost the cooling effectiveness and efficiency of the air-cond, and claimed to be able to save up to 20% electricity consumption cost of air-cond too.

Under the fan is a 360 degree air jet rotation grill, which can let us manually direct the air blowing direction by stopping the grill rotation at a fixed position, or to let the air circulate 360 degree by keeping the jet rotating.

Surrounding the grill are several blue and white colour LED lights (the black dots in the photo above. They are off when the photo was taken), which will produce a soft, dim, aesthetic lighting.

There is a built in ionizer, which can be manually turned on or off.

At the outer part are 4 E27 lamp bulb base, which can put in LED bulbs. The light bulbs do not come together with the air circulator package, and need to purchase separately. In the photo above, I use the 5 watts warm white (yellowish) LED bulbs, which are pretty bright when all 4 of them are turned on.

This Eco Breeze air circulator comes with an all-in-one remote control, which can control separately for:

• Fan on/off
• Fan speed (slow, medium, high)
• Louver vent oscillation on/off
• Ionizer on/off
• On/off timer (2, 4, 6 hours)
• Light on/off
• Circulation among 5 lighting modes

The 5 lighting modes are:

• Single LED blue light
• 4 LED white light
• Air circulator internal blue light
• 2 diagonal light bulbs
• 4 light bulbs

After installation, this Eco Breeze EB-2228 air circulator is flat with the ceiling. It needs a 6 inches space above the ceiling to fit in completely.

The fan blades is pretty short though. Therefore, do not expect the wind produced will be as powerful as normal ceiling fan or wall fan, which has longer blades than this air circulator. After all, it is meant to circulate the air and best working together with nearby air-cond or ceiling fan, rather than blowing air like normal fan by itself.

Yale YKB/200/CB2 20 hooks security key cabinet box with combination lock

I have just purchased a Yale YKB/200/CB2 20 hooks security key cabinet box with combination lock to secure and organize my apartment keys.

This key box with powder coated black surface can be wall mounted. It can be secured with its 3-dial resettable combination lock. This keyless access design is the main attraction for me to buy it, as most other similar products are using normal key lock, causing the user to still need to carry the key to unlock the box.

This key box is pretty small. Its dimension is 20cm x 16cm x 8cm. It contains 20 key hooks inside, able to store many keys. You can lock your car's remote control and apartment door/lift access RFID cards in it too.

JetBox air-cond cleaning service by Dustbox Solutions

Dustbox Solutions has just performed an impressive cleaning service for the 4 units of air conditioners at my home today.

Engaging a good air-cond cleaning service provider is not easy. The price to clean one unit of split wall-mounted air-cond (for both indoor and outdoor unit) in Klang Valley can range from around RM75 to around RM200.

The price tag might or might not be related to the following factors:

• Type of cleaning (e.g. chemical clean, water clean, ...)
• Type of air-cond (e.g. inverter type normally cost more, higher HP normally cost more, ...)
• Technology use
• Comprehensiveness of the scope of service
• Workmanship
• After service warranty period

The Jetbox air-cond cleaning service by Dustbox Solutions cost me RM120 per unit, regardless of the HP of the air-cond, which I find is value for money. All my air-conds are normal type (not inverter type), and the one with the highest power is 2 HP.

The payment can be made using credit card on their website while booking for their service online. There will be surcharge if you opt to pay by cash when the actual service commenced on site.

The company sent 2 workers to my house, and they used about 45 minutes to clean one unit of air-cond with their JetBox power cleaning technology. They carry a blue JetBox with them to perform the cleaning, which I was told the machine is R&D from their own company.

They have even put up the video below in YouTube to explain about the JetBox indoor unit service.

The scope of service covers:

• Outdoor unit checking for compressor fan, running capacitor, refrigerant gas pressure, and copper pipe liquid.
• Indoor unit checking for swinging flap function, water leaking observation, visual check, air temperature check, and air flow check.
• Refill of R22a gas.
• Outdoor unit cleaning with chemical, rinse the condenser coil and compressor cover, check fan bearing and lubricate.
• Indoor unit cleaning with chemical covering coil unit, barrel fan, covers, filters, louver & drain pan, treat condensate drain with anti-algae, disinfect and wipe cover.

I was given a detail service report for each unit of the air-conds (the scope of service listed above is copied from the checklist in the report), and 3 months of workmanship warranty.

If there is any faulty in terminal wire, supply wire, relay/fan capacitor, compressor, motor, gas leakage, run capacitor, etc., their worker can perform a repair for you with additional repair charges.

I am satisfied with their service and will engage them again for air-cond cleaning service in the future.

Investment opportunity in TravelCenters of America (NYSE:TA)

Some background information provided by the company to its investors:

TravelCenters of America (NYSE:TA) is the largest publicly-traded operator/franchisor of full-service highway Refuel-Replenish-Refresh (RRR) travel centers in the United States.

As of 31 March 2015, the Company's business included 251 travel centers, 175 of which were operated under the "TA" brand name and 76 of which were operated under the "Petro Stopping Centers" brand name located in 43 states.

TA and Petro Stopping Centers have the largest sites on average, with full-service offerings that include diesel and gasoline fuel, truck maintenance and repair, full-service and fast food restaurants, large convenience stores, car and truck parking and other services dedicated to serving professional truck drivers and highway motorists.

As of 31 March 2015, TravelCenters of America also operated 60 convenience stores with retail gasoline stations, primarily under the "Minit Mart" brand name.

When the US market opened on Thursay 7 May 2015, TA share price hit a 52-weeks record high of US$18.10 right after it announced its first quarter result. Surprisingly, right after the stock price hit this 52-weeks high, it slumped down all the way to close at US$14.98 on Friday 8 May 2015, wiping out more than one month previous price gain since its rally from March 2015 onwards.

Graph snapshotted from Google Finance

What's going on? I think The Specialist has written a nice article to explain about the situation in Seeking Alpha website titled "Oops, TravelCenters Of America Did It Again - Buy Time?" and I am pretty agreeable with his view. I'm not going to repeat the content in his article here, you can click the link and read his report if you are interested.

The diagrams about TA below are taken from NASDAQ Stock Market website.

The chart above shows that TA's revenue (US$1.407 billion) dropped a lot in first quarter of fiscal year 2015, compared with previous years in 2014 and 2013.

However, its EPS (US$0.41) recorded in the quarter increased a lot compared with previous years in 2014 and 2013. This means its profit margin actually jacked up a lot, which is the key argument point of The Specialist in his article.

When we look further to more older data...

we'll find out that TA actually used to make lost in first quarter almost every year, and its earning has a cyclical pattern which is normally weak during the 4th and 1st quarter, and will turn strong during the 2nd and 3rd quarter.

From here, we observed that:

• TA's result in Q1-2015 is actually very impressive. It is a hefty 40 fold from previous year, not to mention traditionally it is "suppose" to make lost during this quarter.
• Barring unforeseen circumstances, we expect TA's result in Q2 and Q3 will be better than Q1, as that is its cyclical trend for years.

In fact, we can see the institutional investors have more buying than selling of TA during this price drop after it hit 52-weeks high.

One month ago, Zacks Equity Research has written a report explaining the 3 Reasons Value Stock Investors Will Love TA, and I believe the points are still intact as of today.

So, is this really a great investment opportunity given by its price drop? You can continue to find out more facts and figures about it.


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 the stock market.

Disabling customized ringtone in Whatsapp message notification

Recently, whenever a person in my Android phone's contact who I have set a customized ringtone sends a Whatsapp text message to me, my phone will play the ringtone as if the person is voice calling me.

This is very annoying and not a Whatsapp "feature" I want. Firstly, it really confused me as I always tought the person is calling me instead of sending Whatsapp message to me. Secondly, the ringtone MP3 is quite long to play. Imagine how frustrating to wait for it to stop everytime it plays just because a new Whatsapp message is received.

Luckily, I found the place to disable this annoyance.

To disable it in Whatsapp, go to Settings > Notifications and untick the checkbox of Contact Ringtone under Message Notifications.

This is another Contact Ringtone for Whatsapp calls which you can see when you scroll down the above screen, and I am OK with that.

If Whatsapp really want to put a feature for customized message tone, they should make use of the SMS tone instead of the call ringtone. I consider this as an annoying bug, and ought to be fixed in their next version release.

Updated my Samsung Galaxy Tab (GT-P1000) to Storm CyanogenMod 11 with Android 4.4.4 (Kitkat) from stock firmware of Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread)

My first generation 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab (GT-P1000) is aged, but is tough and still functioning well.

Although it only has a single core CPU, 512MB RAM and 16GB internal storage, it is still capable to handle most of the task as an Android tablet, especially with the newer firmware of Android Kitkat and above.

However, its official firmware by Samsung is stuck at the last generation Android version 2.3.3 (Gingerbread), last updated a few years ago.

Luckily, there are supporters and developers who keep working on its latest unofficial firmware. One of them is Storm31 who makes customized version of Cyanogenmod Android OS for this Samsung Galaxy Tab.

With this unofficial firmware using Android Kitkat, the Samsung Galaxy Tab runs even smoother,  more powerful and more feature rich than its latest stock Gingerbread firmware.

I have successfully updated my GT-P1000 from stock Android 2.3.3 to Storm CM11 Android 4.4.4, and I'll share with you how to do it.

First of all, backup all the data in your tab that you want to save to your PC or to its external SD card. Warning: this upgrade will wipe out everything and no user data will left behind in the tab. You better save all the data you want to save now.

Then, remove the external SD card from the tab. If you keep the SD card in the tab, the data in it might be wiped out too.

Download the following files:

• GB-Stock-Safe-v5.zip (287.91 MB)
• Samsung_GT-P1000_CyanogenMod_install_all_in_one.zip (192.24MB)
• cm-10.2-20131104-UNOFFICIAL-p1.zip (185.18 MB)
• cm-11-20150428-UNOFFICIAL-p1.zip (212.4MB)
• pa_gapps-modular-pico-4.4.4-20150308-signed.zip (99.2MB)

GB-Stock-Safe-v5.zip contains the latest official stock firmware for GT-P1000. You'll need this in case you bricked your tab along the upgrading process. This will restore your tab back to its original state with stock firmware of Android 2.3.3 (but without any user data).

Inside it you'll also find Samsung USB driver for Windows which you need to connect your computer to your tab in order to perform the upgrade. If you have already installed the Samsung USB driver in your computer before, then you don't need to install it again.

Inside it you can also find Odin 1.7, the firmware flashing tool to flash the firmware file(s) from your computer to your tab using the USB cable.

Samsung_GT-P1000_CyanogenMod_install_all_in_one.zip contains the ClockworkMod (CwM) Recovery, the CM 9.1 firmware, and a later version of Odin 1.85.

Note that you cannot upgrade your firmware from stock Android 2.3.3 directly to CM 11. You need to replace the stock firmware with CM 9.1 first, then update it to CM 10.2, then only to the latest CM 11 or upcoming CM 12.

You need to replace the stock Recovery in the tab's ROM with ClockworkMod Recovery in order to flash the CM firmware from the SD card (either internal or external) into the tab.

cm-10.2-20131104-UNOFFICIAL-p1.zip is the firmware flash file of CM 10.2.

cm-11-20150428-UNOFFICIAL-p1.zip is the firmware flash file of CM 11. If there is a newer version than this, you can use the newer version instead of this one.

CyanogenMod Android does not come with Google Play Store and Google Play Service, that's why you need pa-gapps-modular-pico-4.4.4-20150308-signed.zip to flash the Google Play Store and Google Play Service into your tab. Once you have the Google Play Store (previously known as Market) in your tab, you can use it to install more Google apps and Android apps into it.

After you have done backup of all the data you want to save from the tab to your PC, removed the SD card from the tab, charged the tab to at least 90% battery level, and installed the Samsung USB driver, you are ready to start this upgrade process.

Step 1: Unzip GB-Stock-Safe-v5.zip in your PC.

Step 2: Power off your tab. Then hold down its Volumn Down button, at the same time, long press the Power button. Your tab will go into Download mode with screen looks like below:

Step 3: Execute Odin3 v1.7.exe inside the Odin3_v1.7 folder.

Step 4: Connect your tab to your computer using its USB cable. You should see the first box in Odin's ID:COM section turns yellow.

Step 5: Click the PIT button and select the file gt-p1000_mr.pit.

Step 6: Click the PDA button and select the file GB_Stock_Safe_v5.tar.

Step 7: Click the PHONE button. If your tab is GSM-based (Asia/Europe/Middle East/Oceania/Africa/Rest of the world...), select modem.bin inside the folder JPZ Modem. If you are an American T-Mobile user, select modem.bin inside the folder T-Mobile Modem. If you are AT&T (USA), TelCel (Mexico) or Telstra (Australia) user, select modem.bin inside JK3 Modem instead.

Step 8: Click the Start button. The flashing process will begin. Let it run until you see a green PASS! box. Do not power off your PC or your tab, or disconnect the USB cable before you see the green PASS!.

In any event you bricked your tab, you can come here and perform Step 2 to Step 8 above to bring your tab to live again.

Step 9: Your tab should reboot. If not, reboot it. The Android initial setup screen will appear, don't bother to fill in any information, just tap on Next or Skip until you reach the home screen.

Step 10: Turn off your tab. Disconnect its USB cable from PC, and put it into Download mode again (Volumn Down + Power).

Step 11: Unzip Samsung_GT-P1000_CyanogenMod_install_all_in_one.zip in your PC.

Step 12: Now you can execute the newer Odin3 v1.85.exe inside the Samsung Odin3 v1.85 folder.

Step 13: Connect your tab to your computer using its USB cable.

Step 14: Click the PDA button and select the file CF-Root-TAB7_XX_OXA_JQ1-v3.3-CWM3RFS.tar inside ClockworkMod Recovery folder.

Step 15: Click the Start button to flash ClockworkMod Recovery into your tab.

Step 16: Power off your tab. Now you can plug back the external SD card to the tab if you want.

Step 17: Reboot your tab until you get back the Android home screen.

Step 18: Set your tab USB connection to Mass Storage Mode.

Step 19: Transfer the file cm-9.1.0-p1.zip inside CyanogenMod v9.1 for Galaxy Tab GT-P1000 folder to the tab's SD card (internal/external).

Step 20: Turn off your tab. Go into Recovery mode by holding Volumn Up button and at the same time long press the Power button.

Step 21: From the Recovery menu, select Install ZIP then Choose ZIP from SD Card. Locate and select the cm-9.1.0-p1.zip file, then confirm the selection. CM 9.1 will be flashed into your tab and replace the stock firmware. Wait for the process to finish. If there is any error, repeat this step again to reflash CM 9.1.

Step 22: Reboot your tab. The Android initial setup screen will appear, don't bother to fill in any information, just tap on Next or Skip until you reach the home screen.

Step 23: Repeat Step 18 until Step 21 for CM 10.2. The file to flash this round is cm-10.2-20131104-UNOFFICIAL-p1.zip. Note that updating from CM 9.1 to CM 10.2 might not be so smooth and might need to repeat Step 21 a few times before a final success.

Step 24: Reboot your tab. The Android initial setup screen will appear. This time, you can fill in your information, and connect to your local WiFi, until you reach the home screen.

Step 25: Repeat Step 18 until Step 21 again for CM 11. The file to flash this round is cm-11-20150428-UNOFFICIAL-p1.zip.

Step 26: Finally, flash the minimal Google apps. Repeat Step 18 until Step 21 again. The file to flash this round is pa-gapps-modular-pico-4.4.4-20150308-signed.zip.

Step 27: Reboot your tab. You will find the Google Play Store appears in your home screen.

Step 28: The keyboard that comes with CyanogenMod might be too basic and primitive. I replaced it with iFlytek Voice Input for Pad which you can install from Google Play Store.

Now, you can enjoy your GT-P1000 tab with new generation of Android and the CyanogenMod experience.

Updated the BIOS of my Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro to Version 76CN43WW

It was just shortly about a month Lenovo last released the BIOS security update Version 76CN42WW for the Yoga 2 Pro ultrabook laptop, now there is another new BIOS update Version 76CN43WW.

Lenovo informed that this BIOS for Yoga 2 Pro Version 76CN43WW release on 29 April 2015 will increase the stability of DRAM.

You can click here to go to the download page of the latest BIOS update utility for Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro.

The BIOS update is pretty straightforward. Make sure that the battery level of the laptop is at least 80%, and it is plugged on to the AC power supply. Then, run the downloaded BIOS Update Utility.

The new BIOS will be flashed with the InsydeFlash utility from Windows 8.1. After that, the system will reboot itself, and the BIOS update will be performed.
After the BIOS update completed, the laptop will reboot itself again and back to the Windows login screen.

There is no data lost for this BIOS update. Even the BIOS settings and passwords remain after the update.

Change Google Now cards temperature display from Fahrenheit to Celsius

If you have an Android smartphone with Google Now, and you would like to change the temperature display in your Google Now cards showing weather information of your favourite place from Fahrenheit to Celsius, or vice versa, I'll show you how I did it in my HTC One M8 running on Android Lollipop version 5.0.1.

Firstly, locate the 3 little dots on the top right corner of the weather card. Tap on it.

You will be asked 3 questions. The first question is whether you are interested in weather updates for the location, answer Yes, then swipe left to answer the second question.

The second question "what temperature units do you prefer?" is exactly the place for you to tell Google Now to display the temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Make your choice and then swipe left again for the third question.

Answer Yes to "continue to get weather updates". Then tap on the "X" on the right hand side of the question to return to Google Now cards screen.

Once you have answered these questions, you can find them in Google Now customize setting. To locate it, tap on the three bars on the left of Google to open the Google Now menu.

Then, tap on Customize.

Lastly, tap on "Everything Else".

You will be able to change your preference on temperature units here too.