List of smart watches, bands, weighting scales and wearable devices that can be linked with Huawei Health

Huawei Health is an integrated mobile application for health management, physical activity journaling, professional exercise coaching and wearable device management. It is available for free download in Google Play Store, Apple App Store and also Huawei App Gallery.

 

Although Huawei Health can work as a standalone mobile app in the smart phone, its power is only unleashed when it is wirelessly paired with smart watch, smart band, weighting scale and/or other wearable devices with Bluetooth.

Huawei Health has a pedometer which can intelligently takes your step counts collected from the handphone and also from all the connected devices, and display the composite result.

It can display the total distance travelled by your body from combined activities of walking, running, climbing and other. It can also display the amount of calories burned from such activities. It can even display the height climbed by your body from the composite data recorded through the barometer in your smartphone and connected wearable devices.

It also provides dashboard for heart rate records, SpO2 blood oxygen saturation measurement, sleep quality analysis, stress level analysis, weight measurement, exercise records, and even menstrual cycle tracking for women (by using data from another mobile app called Huawei Cycle Calendar).

Huawei Health is also a wearable device management center for paired devices. You can use it to upload and change watch faces, upload and manage music in the wearable, configure device settings, and even perform firmware update to the wearable.

Currently, the list of officially supported devices that can work with Huawei Health are as below. Devices not in the list are not yet fully tested by Huawei for their compatibility with Huawei Health, which you can still try your luck to find out if their can successfully paired with Huawei Health without much problem.

Huawei Health supported smart watches:

• Huawei Watch GT 2 (both 46mm and 42mm)
• Huawei Watch GT 2e
• Huawei Watch GT (both 46mm and 42mm)
• Huawei Watch 2
• Huawei Porsche Design Watch
• Huawei Fit
• Honor MagicWatch 2
• Honor Watch Magic/Dream

Huawei Health supported smart bands:

• Huawei Band 4 / 4 Pro
• Huawei Band 4e
• Huawei Band 3 / 3 Pro
• Huawei Bend 3e
• Huawei Band 2 / 2 Pro
• Huawei TalkBand B5 / B5 Lite
• Huawei TalkBand B3
• Huawei Color Band A2
• Honor Band 5i
• Honor Band 5 / 5 Sport
• Honor Band 4 / 4 Running Edition
• Honor Band 3

Huawei Health supported weighting scales:

• Huawei Body Fat Scale
• Honor Scale 2
• Honor Smart Scale
• PICOOC S1 Pro Body Fat Scale

Huawei Health supported heart rate monitors:

• Jabra Sport Pulse Wireless Headphones
• Suunto Smart Belt Heart Rate Strap
• Polar H7 Heart Rate Chest Strap

My Tx8 3.5mm AUX to Bluetooth 5.0 converter for audio transmitting / receiving

My Ruizu X02 MP3 player is without Bluetooth output function, and I think it would be good to add Bluetooth function to it, so that it can output audio to wireless earbuds, Bluetooth speaker, soundbar, etc.

There are cheap AUX to Bluetooth converters available, some even priced below RM20. Based on their product description and customer review, the follow shortcomings are quite common to them:

• Single function of either Bluetooth receiving or transmitting only.
• Poor and short distance connection.
• Sound is lagging behind due to low transmission rate.
• Battery only works for short hours before recharging needed.
• Product quality not so good with high faulty rate after some times of use.

Anyhow, I managed to find this Tx8 2-in-1 Bluetooth transmitter and receiver, at the cost of below RM30, with the following features:

• Supports Bluetooth 5.0 for better audio data transmission quality.
• Can work for 8-12 hours before battery recharge is needed.
• Transmission distance exceeding 33 feet.
• Able to remember the paired devices.

It is very compact in size, easy to carry along. It even has a fixed folder design. It comes with USB charging cable, AUX cable, RCA cable, and a user manual.

I have purposely put my Logitech M590 mouse beside to give a better idea about its size.

By connecting the Tx8 with cable to the audio output of MP3 player, computer, handphone, tablet, TV, and any other devices with AUX audio output port, the Tx8 can transmit the audio wirelessly through Bluetooth connection to wireless earbuds, speaker, sound bar, Hi-Fi system, car audio system, etc.

On the other hand, by connecting the Tx8 with cable to the audio input of a speaker, radio, sound bar, and any other audio devices with AUX or RCA input, the Tx8 can receive the audio wirelessly through Bluetooth connection from handphone, tablet, computer, TV, media player, smart watch, etc.

The Bluetooth pairing is pretty fast, and the connection is pretty stable.

If you are looking for similar gadget with an affordable price, you can consider this one.

Raspberry Pi - fully working computer at the cost of RM300++ (best for home use during and beyond MCO period)

During current Movement Control Order (MCO) period, there are quite a lot of schools have resorted into online teaching and learning mechanism. There are also quite a lot of companies practicing work-from-home (WFH) concept.

However, this raised a question: what if the family does not have a computer at home? And, what if the family only has one computer at home, but needs to be shared by parents who need to WFH and also multiple children who need to learn from home?

Well, you can buy a fully working computer online, including additional computers needed for all your family members, at the cost of RM300++ each, in the condition that you have a screen (either computer monitor or TV) at home, and Internet access (either phone's hotspot sharing or broadband Internet).

The full set Raspberry Pi (recommended for Version 4 model B with 2GB RAM) with all its required accessories, is a fully working computer at the cost of about RM300-RM360 only. Beside its low cost, it also consumes minimal amount of electricity and requires minimal storage space due to its small size.

It is good enough for normal online learning, doing assignments with office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation slides, database, etc.), and some entertainment including games.

With about RM360, you can buy the following full set of computer:

• Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with Quad core CPU and 2GB RAM - RM174
• Casing for the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B - RM25  (*1)
• Official Raspberry 15W power adapter - RM35
• Micro-HDMI to HDMI cable - RM10
• Wired earphone - RM15 (*2)
• 16GB micro SD card preinstalled with NOOBS - RM36 (*3)
• Logitech MK220 wireless keyboard & mouse - RM65 (*4)

*1: The casing is an optional item. Without the casing, the Raspberry Pi will be a naked computer board as shown in the image above. With the casing, it will look like below:

*2: If you connect the Raspberry Pi to your TV using HDMI cable, you can make use of the audio output from your TV. You need an earphone or speaker, either wired or Bluetooth, to listen to the audio from Raspberry Pi if you are using a monitor without audio output.

*3: Raspberry Pi makes use of micro SD card as its "harddisk". You can also buy a blank micro SD card, which is much cheaper, and download NOOBS for free from Raspberry's website. That will require some basic computer knowledge to download and install NOOBS into the micro SD card. NOOBS is an installer that will prepare the SD card for Raspbian (including partitioning, etc.), and automatically download and install the operating system into it.

*4: Alternatively, you can also use cheaper USB wired keyboard & mouse to further reduce the cost.

The recommended operating system will be Raspbian, a scaled down version of Debian Linux. It has fully functioning Chromium or Vivaldi web browser, LibreOffice resembling the Microsoft Office, and tonnes of installable free softwares in Raspbian repository. This is good enough to access to Google suite of applications (Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Hangout, ...), watch online & offline video, listen to online & offline music, access to learning portal and other websites, attending audio/video conferencing, etc.

There are also programming tools and graphic design software available in Raspbian for learning purpose.

In fact, you can install a full LAMP stack in Raspbian and turn your Raspberry Pi into a web application server as well.

The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B also supports webcam and voice input with additional module, which will need additional cost to buy and some technical skill to assemble.

Beside Raspbian, there are other choices of operating system that works with Raspberry Pi too, including Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Edition, which you can explore if you are enthusiastic with them.

Using Android phone's camera as webcam for computer with DroidCam

You need a webcam in order to do video conferencing, or to do vlogging, or to perform online talks, ...

You might have a desktop computer with a monitor that without a camera (which is usually the case), or you need a better camera than the one on your laptop (which usually has a low resolution), or you need a replacement for your malfunctioned laptop camera, or for whatever reason that you need a webcam for your computer, wait a minute and read this before you go and purchase a physical webcam, because you can turn your Android phone into one.

DroidCam is a solution to let you make use of the camera on your Android phone to become the webcam of your computer running on either Windows or Linux operating system.

It has a pretty low hardware requirement, so you can easily turn your old Android phone with a functioning camera into your webcam. Of course, it is even better when you run it on Android phone with better specs.

All you need to do is download and install DroidCam Wireless Webcam by Dev47Apps from Google Play Store, and then download and install DroidCam client into your computer.

• Download webpage of DroidCam for Windows
• Download webpage of DroidCam for Linux

Beside video, DroidCam is also able to optionally stream audio from the microphone of your phone to your computer.

DroidCam can connect and stream to your computer either through WiFi, USB or HTTPS connection. WiFi is the preferred one, as it is the easiest to setup and use.

When you run the DroidCam app in your phone, you should be able to see its connection information, including the internal IP address of your handphone, and the DroidCam server port.

By default, DroidCam is using the back camera of your phone (which usually has a better spec than the front camera). You can switch it to the front camera in DroidCam setting.

If you run the DroidCam Client in your computer with the IP address and port number as shown on the DroidCam app in your phone, and click the Start button, you should be able to see the video captured by your phone's camera in DroidCam Client.

For example, before clicking the Start button in DroidCam Client, there is no webcam video shown in Skype. It will show a blue or green background.

After clicking the Start button, Skype will immediately captures the webcam video.

Note that Skype install through Microsoft Store is not working with DroidCam. If you encounter this problem, just uninstall Skype and install the Skype desktop version from the URL given below. It should work then:

• https://www.skype.com/en/get-skype/

On your DroidCam screen in your phone, you can also find 2 HTTPS links.

The first link is accessible from your web browser such as Google Chrome, and it will open up the DroidCam web client.

The second link is accessible with video streaming client, such as VLC Media Player. The setting for VLC Media Player is as below:

DroidCam has a feature to allow you to protect your HTTPS access with username and/or password.

DroidCam is free for use, with in-app ads support. You can also buy DroidCamX Wireless Webcam Pro in Google Play Store to remove the ads and to get more features.

You might probably also be interested to read about:

• Using Android phone's camera as webcam for PC and Mac with Iruin

Logitech MK220 wireless keyboard and mouse combo - work well with Raspberry Pi Zero W

The Logitech MK220 is a combo of Logitech wireless keyboard K220 and Logitech wireless mouse M150, both sharing the same USB receiver communicating using 2.4 GHz band with effective connection range of up to 10 meters or 33 feet.

The keyboard is powered by 2 AAA size batteries, while the mouse is powered by 2 AA size batteries. The batteries in the keyboard can last as long as 24 months, while the batteries in the mouse can last for about 6 months.

The keyboard is very compact in size, makes it easy to carry around and also need less space to store. Despite its compact size, it has full size keys of the same size like normal keyboards, except for the first row of function keys which are only half the size of the other keys. This keyboard is pretty quiet. It is also spill resistant.

The mouse is of the same size like other normal mice. It doesn't have fancy features, just 2 buttons and a scroll wheel.

I can't find any power on/off switch on both the keyboard and mouse. I think they are designed to be always on, and will go into standby mode when connection is not made with the USB receiver.

This Logitech MK220 is plug-and-play to Windows, Linux and Android systems. I find this combo pretty ideal to be used as input devices for Raspberry Pi.

It works flawlessly with my Raspberry Pi Zero W, by connecting its USB receiver with a micro-USB to USB converter to the Raspberry Pi's micro-USB port.

Using Vidmore video converter to convert MP4 / MKV / MOV / WMV / AVI / FLV video to AMV format

AMV is a kind of compressed motion JPEG (M-JPEG) video format, commonly used in MP3 and MP4 players.

For example, the Ruizu X02 MP3 player can only play one type of video file, which is AMV. I would need to convert music video (MV) in the format of either MP4, MKV, MOV, WMV, AVI, FLV, etc. into AMV before my Ruizu X02 MP3 player can play the video without any issue.

There are several websites in the Internet that claimed to be able to online convert uploaded video file into AMV format. There are also several video converting software that claimed to support conversion to AMV format. I have tried some of the popular one, but all of them failed as the AMV file produced by them end-up with "invalid video format" error when I tried to play in my Ruizu X02 MP3 player.

Finally, I managed to find one video conversion software that works, which is Vidmore video converter, and it is surprisingly very easy to use for AMV file conversion.

Vidmore is a freemium software, in which the free version only allows conversion of video of length not more than 5 minutes. This is good enough for music video conversion, because most of the songs are less than 5 minutes long.

Another restriction to the free version is that, you can only convert 1 file at a time. This is also OK for me, as I only need to convert a small amount of MV to put into my Ruizu X02 MP3 player.

To perform the conversion, set the "Convert All to" selection to "AMV AMV General" and leave all the settings as default. Leave the resolution setting to be 170x144.

Then, open the video file one at a time, and click on the Convert All button to perform the conversion.

The output AMV file should be able to be played in the Ruizu X02 MP3 player.

How to update latest firmware to Ruizu MP3 player

I have mentioned that the default firmware in Ruizu X02 MP3 player is not so user friendly, as its navigation is a little bit weird. For certain function, you need to press its left and right button to navigate up and down on the screen. This has been fixed in its latest version of firmware. The new firmware also brings in additional functions to the Ruizu X02 MP3 player, such as the 3 additional games.

New firmware for Ruizu MP3 players, be it X02 or other model of their range of products, can be downloaded from their official website.

You can click here to reach the Ruizu X02 MP3 player product page, and the click on the Newest Firmware tab to download the latest firmware file.

Alternatively, you can also click here to reach the Manual & Firmware page of Ruizu range of MP3 player products, search for the right model of your MP3 player on the screen, click on its photo, and then select Firmware to download the latest firmware file.

In order to perform the firmware update to your Ruizu MP3 player, you will need a computer installed with the firmware update application called Actions Multimedia Product Tool v2.07 which you can click here to download it. After download, just uncompress the file and install it.

The steps to perform firmware update to Ruizu MP3 player is pretty easy.

1. Download the latest firmware from Ruizu's website. Make sure the firmware file belongs to the matching model of your MP3 player.
2. Uncompress the downloaded firmware file in your harddisk.
3. Connect your Ruizu MP3 player to the computer with a USB data cable.
4. Launch the Actions Multimedia Product Tool v2.07 application.
5. The software should show 1 USB Device Detected on its screen. If there are more than one, make sure you select the correct destination, which is your MP3 player.
6. Load in the uncompressed firmware file.
7. Uncheck the FLASH_ERASE checkbox. If you didn't do this, the internal storage in your MP3 player will be formatted, and all the files you stored in it will be erased.
8. Click on the firmware update button to perform the update.
9. When finished, you can then safely disconnect your MP3 player from your computer.

 



Yoodo provides free weekly additional 1GB data plan until end April 2020

Currently, Malaysia is undergoing a Movement Control Order (MCO) to prevent the widespread infection of COVID-19 corona virus. Most people are ordered to work from home.

In view of this, Yoodo has announced to provide free additional 1GB data plan on every Monday to all their active users. This free additional 1GB data is given automatically, and users need not do any setting to enjoy the free data.

The first additional 1GB data has been allocated on Friday 20 March 2020. Thereafter, on every Monday of every week until 27 April 2020, active users will automatically get another additional 1GB data in their plan.

Note that if you did not subscribe to any Yoodo data plan during the period, you will still get this free 1GB data as long as your account is still active. However, the 1GB data will not be seen in your Yoodo app's dashboard.

If you have an active data plan, you will be able to see 1GB added on top of your remaining data quota in the dashboard screen. However, the 1GB free data will not be added to your total data plan value.

In the example above, the active data plan is 2GB, and 0.03 GB has already been used. The remaining is 1.97GB. Then, the additional 1GB is added, so the remaining is now 2.97GB instead.

Unifi Mobile #bebas prepaid provides 7 days FREE unlimited LTE data pass during 2020 Malaysia Movement Control Order period

Currently, Malaysia is undergoing a Movement Control Order (MCO) to prevent the widespread infection of COVID-19 corona virus. Most people are ordered to work from home.

Unifi Mobile has just announced that they are providing a 7 days FREE unlimited LTE data pass to all their  #bebas prepaid users.

Note that this 7 days FREE unlimited LTE data pass, namely BEBAS Weekly, is not given automatically, and you have to subscribe to it from within the mobile@unifi app.

All you need to do is to tap on the BUY NOW! button at the bottom of the screen, go to the Data menu, and select BEBAS Weekly at the price of RM0.

I believe after 7 days, when this free data pass is expired, you can go to the same place and subscribe for another 7 days, until this option is eventually revoked from the menu.

Huawei Watch GT 2 46mm (LTN-B19) and 42mm (DAN-B19)

Recently, 2 smart watches have entered into my family life, one for my wife and another for myself.

Due to the size difference, the larger, 46mm Huawei Watch GT 2 (LTN-B19) is more suitable for gentlemen, while the smaller, 42mm Huawei Watch GT 2 (DAN-B19) is more suitable for ladies.

There are a lot of similarities in terms of features and functions between the 2 of them. However, the Huawei Watch GT 2 46mm is slightly more expensive than the 42mm version. Other than a larger screen size, the Huawei Watch GT 2 46mm (LTN-B19) contains several features more than the 42mm version. The key differences are:

• 46mm LTN-B19 (41 gram) is 30% heavier than the 42mm DAN-B19 (29 gram).
• 46mm LTN-B19 has a slightly wider strap (22mm) than the 42mm DAN-B19 (20mm).
• 46mm LTN-B19 has longer battery life (typically 14 days) than the 42mm DAN-B19 (typically 7 days).
• 46mm LTN-B19 supports making phone calls through favourite contacts list and also receiving incoming phone calls, while the 42mm DAN-B19 doesn't have this feature.
• 46mm LTN-B19 can play music on the watch itself as well as through connected ear buds, while 42mm DAN-B19 does not have built-in speaker to play music on the watch itself, but able to play music through connected ear buds.

The Huawei Watch GT 2 is more than a smart watch. When connected to a smartphone with Bluetooth and working together with the Huawei Health mobile app, you will realize that it can function as a personal digital coach for health, exercise and lifestyle.

Its basic functions as a smart watch including:

• Time and calendar
• MP3 music player
• Barometer
• Compass
• Make and receive phone calls (46mm version only)
• SMS and notifications sync from smartphone
• Weather reporting
• Stopwatch
• Timer
• Alarm
• Flashlight
• Find my phone
• Monitoring and recording of steps, heart rates, calorie burning, etc.
• Workout recording

In terms of MP3 music, it can play music streamed from the connected smartphone, or play music directly stored in its storage. For 46mm version, the watch can play the music by itself. Both 46mm and 42mm versions can play the music with connected ear buds. It supports MP3 information written in Chinese.

For the coaching functions, this smart watch can work together with Huawei Health mobile app to provide comprehensive report about your night sleep quality with improvement suggestion.

The watch can also vibrate and remind you to move your body when you are detected to be sitting at the same place for a long time.

It can continuously monitor your heart rate and alert you when your heart rate is too high or too low.

It can also monitor and provide report to your stress level.

It has comprehensive work-out programmes, able to record down your body condition during exercise, and come out with work-out report and coaching advice.

When connected to a digital weighting scale, it can also monitor your weight change and provide advice accordingly.

There is even a simple breathing exercise to guide you to breath and relax.

One thing I want to emphasize is that, its sensors and data measurements are more accurate than most of the cheaper smartwatches and smart bands in the market.

U Mobile GoPayz e-wallet with virtual and/or physical prepaid cards

GoPayz is a challenger e-wallet operated by U Mobile Services. It is a second e-wallet in Malaysia after AirAsia BigPay that issues physical prepaid card to its users. It is the third of its kind in Malaysia that issues virtual prepaid card, after BigPay (Mastercard) and Boost (UnionPay).

In fact, GoPayz has gone one step ahead of BigPay, which only issue virtual and physical prepaid Mastercard to their users. GoPayz accounts by default have 3 virtual prepaid cards, namely UnionPay, Mastercard and Visa.

On top of that, its users have the option to also carry physical prepaid card(s) with a one time card issuance fee of RM16 per card. There is no annual fee nor yearly SST to keep the GoPayz physical card.

Unlike BigPay which  has a large stored-value capacity of up to RM10,000, this GoPayz e-wallet only has a capacity of RM5,000 for its Premium Wallet Accounts (RM200 for Basic Wallet Accounts). The capacity limit is shared among all the UnionPay, Mastercard and Visa prepaid cards.

With a physical card on hand, you can use GoPayz to pay to merchants that accept UnionPay/Mastercard/Visa at their outlets. Another advantage is that you can withdraw cash from your e-wallet at local banks ATM machine, with a very low cash withdrawal fee of RM1.00 only. You can also withdraw from overseas ATM machine, with the cash withdrawal fee of RM10.00. This rate is in fact cheaper than rival BigPay Mastercard.

Beside being yet another e-wallet just like the others in the market, GoPayz seems to have ambition to disrupt the traditional financial services, including the insurance market, unit trust market, and even foreign currency exchange market.

GoPayz introduces self-service financial services for its users to buy insurance and/or unit trust at a very affordable rate, by eliminating the agent commission and reducing the administrative expenses involved. It works together with licensed life insurance company Sun Life, general insurance company Chubb, and online unit trust company FundSupermart Malaysia to come out with its financial services products.

Should their self-service financial services business model be successful, it will affect the insurance agents and unit trust agents who make their living through sales commission. We can foresee that the sales commission rate might be significantly reduced in order to compete with market disruptors such as GoPayz financial services.

My CyberPower UT800EG 800VA/400W UPS with built-in AVR

It is really value or money to use RM128 to get a branded Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) system with capacity of 800VA/400W to provide power protection for my desktop computer and Internet connection devices.

This CyberPower UT800EG UPS has a very compact size, about the same with a typical  2-bay network attached storage (NAS) system.

It is very easy to operate, with only one on/off button. It uses 3 LEDs and a beeping buzzer to show its status and condition.

Selling at this kind of cheap price, it is within my expectation that it only has basic UPS function that generates simulated sine wave (instead of pure sine wave), and basic Single Boost, Single Buck type of Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) function. It has electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter and radio frequency interference (RFI) filter.

It uses internal current limiting  and a fuse for overload protection. It has a relatively low surge suppression rating of 125 Joules.

Beside its cheap price and compact size, another thing I like is its 3 universal type power outlets. With this kind of power outlet, I can directly plug in my equipment within the need to use special kind of IEC-320 power cord.

Another thing I like is its patented energy saving feature called GreenPower UPS Bypass Technology, which is claimed to be able to save substantial amount of power consumption.

When use with normal desktop computer and 27 inches LCD monitor, it is able to provide slightly more than 10 minutes of power outage protection.

This UPS comes with 2 years warranty, which registration can be made online.

My HuntKey SZL307 3 gang universal socket power extension with USB power output and surge protection

I just bought this HuntKey SZL307 3 gang power extension for about RM50. It has all the features I wanted, namely:

• Long and thick power cord (2 meter)
• Universal power sockets
• USB fast charging ports
• Independent on/off switch for each socket
• Surge protection against overload, voltage fluctuations, surges and spikes
• SIRIM approved

This HuntKey SZL307 power extension comes with 2 USB charging port with fast charging output of 5V/2.4A, handy for charging mobile devices without the need of their power adapter.

Its surge protected sockets are universal type, can fit in various types of 3-pin plug and also 2-pin plug.

Unlike its competitor Belkin SurgeMaster which only has one on/off switch for all the sockets, this HuntKey SZL307 has individual on/off switch for each of its 3 power sockets, and there is LED indicator light for each of the switches.

It comes with 3 years warranty. Most importantly, it is SIRIM approved with a SIRIM sticker on it.

There are other variants to this product, such as the HuntKey SZL407 which has 4 gangs and selling at a more expensive price.

Using handphone to pay Selangor & KL street parking and parking compound with Smart Selangor Parking mobile app

The traditional ways of paying street parking to municipal council is no doubt inconvenient, be it using the parking meter or parking coupon.

Using parking meter means you need to get ready some shillings, park your car, find and walk to the parking meter, feed the parking meter, print out the receipt, walk back to your car and display the receipt on your car's dashboard.

If you need extra time, you have to wait until the parking period on the receipt is about to expire, then rush to the parking meter, feed it and print out another receipt to be displayed on your car's dashboard.

Using parking coupon means you need to buy the coupon from its sales agent, estimate your parking time, scratch the parking coupon(s) after you parked your car, and display the coupon(s) on your car's dashboard.

If you need extra time, you have to walk back to your car, scratch additional coupon(s) and display them on your car's dashboard.

With the initiative from Smart Selangor Delivery Unit (SSDU), now you can pay for street parking in Selangor state as well as in Kuala Lumpur area by using their Smart Selangor Parking mobile app, available for download in Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

In addition, you can also pay for parking summon compound in Selangor state and Kuala Lumpur area using the same mobile app.

Although the user interface of this Smart Selangor Parking app is quite ugly looking, it is indeed a very handy app for you to pay street parking and parking compound in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. You can use it to monitor the remaining time before your parking period expire, and use it to extend your parking period with ease too!

This app supports payment to multiple councils in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, and it is able to detect your location and automatically decide which council you should pay your parking to.

The supported councils are:

• Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya (MPAJ)
• Majlis Perbandaran Kajang (MPKJ)
• Majlis Perbandaran Klang (MPK, newly added recently)
• Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ)
• Majlis Daerah Kuala Selangor (MDKS)
• Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS)
• Majlis Perbandaran Sepang (MPSepang)
• Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam (MBSA)
• Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya (MPSJ)
• Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL)

Before using the app to make payment, you need to reload it in a similar way you reload other e-wallets in your phone. Note that the money you loaded into the Smart Selangor Parking app cannot be withdrawn at this moment, so it is not recommended to load too much money into it.

Then you need to register your car number plate in the app. You can in fact register up to 10 number plates under one user account in this app, and select which car number plate to pay for the parking when you use it to make parking payment.

Despite there are still many rooms for improvement in this app, I still strongly recommend it to car owners in Klang Valley area, as it is really very convenient to pay for the parking.

Using Boost to make cashless payment at merchants that accept UnionPay QR code

One year ago, Boost, the e-wallet operated by Axiata Digital, has announced its partnership with UnionPay.

Now, the UnionPay services in Boost e-wallet is finally launched! If you activate the UnionPay services in your Boost account before 31 December 2019, you can get RM3 cashback from Boost.

To activate the UnionPay services, tap on the UnionPay New Payment Service under Explore Exciting New Features in Boost's Home screen.

Then, tap on UnionPay Malaysia under Enable other Payment Services, and follow the instruction to enable it.

Don't worry, if you don't like the UnionPay services in Boost, you are given the toggle to disable it.

With the Boost UnionPay services, you can make cashless payment with Boost at all merchants that accept UnionPay QR code. You just need a handphone with active Boost account with enabled UnionPay services, and no need to have any UnionPay card or UnionPay account to make such payment.

Payment using UnionPay in Boost is similar to using Boost QR code payment. Both modes of you scan the merchant's QR code or the marchant scan your payment QR code are available. The payment amount will be deducted from your Boost e-wallet accordingly.

In Malaysia, UnionPay is widely accepted in airports' duty free shops, hotels, Chinese restaurants, e-commerce marketplaces, convenience stores, and other places that display the UnionPay acceptance signboard.

If you are not a Boost user yet, you can download the Boost e-wallet app from Google Play Store or Apple App Store. When you register a new Boost account, remember to use this Invite Code foocnm9 so that you can get RM3 cashback after your first spending of RM10 in a single transaction with Boost.

Note that you can load Boost e-wallet using BigPay prepaid card, which in turn can be loaded using your credit card, debit card or bank online transfer. In this way, you can earn AirAsia BIG Points from loading Boost with BigPay.

Free 3 months Unifi with Pay Nothing year end promotion

Currently TM Unifi is running a Pay Nothing promotion targeted to both new and existing Unifi high-speed broadband users, which waives the monthly subscription fee until 31 December 2019.

For new users, all you need to do is subscribe to new Unifi Home or Unifi Biz Internet service from the list below:

• Unifi 30Mbps unlimited @ RM89/month
• Unifi 50Mbps unlimited @ RM99/month
• Unifi 100Mbps @ RM129/month
• Unifi 30Mbps VDSL @ RM139/month
• Unifi 100Mbos + TV bundle @ RM159/month
• Unifi 300Mbps @ RM199/month
• Unifi Biz Pro 100Mbps @ RM139/month
• Unifi Biz 300Mbps turbo @ RM249/month
• Unifi Biz 500Mbps turbo @ RM299/month
• Unifi Biz 800Mbps turbo @ RM349/month

and you will be able to enjoy your package fee waiver until 31 December 2019. At the most, you will get fee waiver for 3 months consecutively (October, November and December).

For existing users with no outstanding bill payment, all you need to do is to have a new 24 months contract with TM Unifi to enjoy the Pay Nothing year end promotion. You can opt to either:

• remain with your existing plan
• upgrade your plan with a new one from the list above
• downgrade your plan with a new one from the list above

It is advisable for existing users who are enjoying special discount or special package benefit in their existing Unifi subscription to think carefully before opting to change their existing plan, because their current plan could be more attractive than the new plans available.

If you join the promotion and choose to stay with your existing plan, then your plan and price will stay the same as it is, but the contract period will be extended for another 24 months. Upon approval from TM, you will start enjoying the Pay Nothing period until 31 December 2019.  At the most, you will get fee waiver for 3 months consecutively (October, November and December).

Note that the Pay Nothing fee waiver is applicable to your base Unifi subscription plan only. If there is any one time charge or pay-per-use service such as Video On Demand, etc. in your monthly bill, those additional items are still chargeable.

You can apply to join in for this Pay Nothing year end promotion through Unifi website or MyUnifi mobile app. Existing users who do not want to be restricted by the new 24 months contract period can just ignore this promotion and need to do nothing.

You can visit to this webpage for more official information about this promotion from TM Unifi.

Check for bad sectors in USB thumb drive and fix it with AOMEI Partition Assistant

I have a USB thumb drive which I suspect it is having bad sectors because accessing certain files in it will prompt out read error.

MS Windows has a disk error checking tool which you can access by right-click on the drive in Windows Explorer, and go to Properties > Tools > Error checking then click on the Check button. However, it reported no error found. Using the chkdsk command at command prompt produced the same result: no error found.

Is it really no error found? Or the tool that comes with MS Windows just unable to detect the error?

I found out the bad sectors when I checked the USB thumb drive with AOMEI Partition Assistant. Therefore, the answer is clear: MS Windows Error Checking or chkdsk just unable to detect the bad sectors!

To check for the bad sectors, execute AOMEI Partition Assistant, right click on the disk you want to check, select Advanced and then Check Partition.

After that, select "Check whether there is bad sector on the partition" and click the OK button.

This function just helps you discover if there is any bad sector, but it won't help you to fix the bad sector(s) found.

This is how I repaired the bad sectors in my USB thumb drive: copy all the files from the USB thumb drive to a folder in my hard disk. There are certain files unable to be copied due to the bad sectors problem, and need to be replaced by backup copy.

After that, reformat the USB thumb drive. Do not use the "quick format" option, make sure it is a full format. I reformatted my USB thumb drive using AOMEI Partition Assistant too.

Then, check for bad sectors using the steps above again to the reformatted USB thumb drive. If the bad sectors can be recovered, they will become usable sectors again.

Finally, copy or move back all the files from hard disk to the USB thumb drive. Run another bad sector check, and my USB thumb drive is fully recovered now!

Click here to download the AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition software for free. It is free for both personal and commercial use.

You might be also interested to read about:

• Format 64GB SD card to FAT32 with AOMEI Partition Assistant

WhatsApp tips: how to make the message text become bold, italics, strike through and/or monospace

Feeling bored with the plain WhatsApp text and want to make it livelier with bold, italics, strike through and/or monospace?

In fact, this is a built-in feature inside WhatsApp.

To make bold effect, put an asterisk (*) at both side of the text that you want to bold.

The make italics effect, put an underscore (_) at both side of the text that you want to italics.

The make strike through effect, put a tilde  (~) at both side of the text that you want to strike through.

These formatting effect is not only can be used for alphanumeric characters, but also can be used for Chinese characters as well.

You can also combine the effects onto the same text, such as bold and italics.

There is another formatting which change the text's font into monospace. But the effect is not so obvious, and it has no effect on Chinese characters.

To change the text into monospace font, put three backticks (`) at both side of the text.

It would be nice if WhatsApp can include the underline effect as well. But currently, I am unaware of any support from WhatsApp to underline its message text.

AirAsia BigPay e-wallet with prepaid Mastercard

BigPay is an e-wallet operated by AirAsia. It has a large stored-value capacity of up to RM10,000.

BigPay is especially beneficial to frequent travelers who fly with AirAsia flights. You can not only save money on your flight booking, and also save money when you spend in foreign currency.

You can also make use of the BigPay Mastercard to withdraw money from ATM machine overseas, so you need not to carry too much bank notes with you.

You can download the BigPay mobile app from Google Play Store and/or Apple iTune App Store.

One of the common problems faced by e-wallets is their acceptance coverage by merchant outlets, which takes a lot of time and effort to build up the network. If the e-wallet is not commonly accepted as payment method in most of the shops, it will in turn face difficulty in getting users to use it. This is a chicken and egg problem.

BigPay smartly overcome this problem by partnering with Mastercard. Each BigPay account will be issued with a Mastercard prepaid card, which linked with the BigPay e-wallet, and can be used in all credit card terminals that accept Mastercard. In this way, BigPay leverages on the huge network of Mastercard and can be used in all of the shops that accept Mastercard payment. What a brilliant idea!

The BigPay Mastercard is a prepaid card which will deduct money from your BigPay e-wallet when you use it. It supports the traditional magnetic swipe (for use in overseas when the terminal only support this kind of card payment method), smart chip with 6-digit PIN for payment confirmation, and also PayPass contactless payment.

You can also make use of this BigPay Mastercard to withdraw money from your e-wallet at the ATM machine of partnering banks, both in Malaysia and overseas. Withdrawal of money from BigPay using local ATM will cost RM6.00 per transaction, and withdrawal from foreign ATM will cost RM10.00 per transaction or 2% of the withdrawal amount, whichever is higher.

The joining fee to become a BigPay member is RM20. Anyhow, this RM20 will be credited back into your e-wallet and made available for use. So, technically speaking, there is no cost to join BigPay. It just needs an initial loading of RM20 into your e-wallet.

Among the advantages of using BigPay are:

• Option to use mobile app and QR code for payment, or to use the physical Mastercard.
• Worldwide accepted and can be used at any terminal or online platform that accepts Mastercard.
• No annual fee for both the e-wallet and the Mastercard.
• No annual government SST as it is a prepaid card. All credit cards and debit cards issued in Malaysia are subject to SST annually.
• Money can be withdrawn using ATM machine, locally and also internationally.
• When making payment or cash withdrawal in foreign currency, there is no expensive surcharge to the currency conversion rate. The conversion rate is very close to the one published in XE.com.
• Collect AirAsia BIG Points when you spend with BigPay.
• Reload your e-wallet with cash rebate credit cards and enjoy your cash rebate with those cards.
• Earn referral reward of RM10 per new account activation using your unique referral code.

Note that the first time you use your physical BigPay Mastercard, you need to key-in your PIN at the terminal. After that, you can choose to use the contactless payment method without the need to enter your PIN.

Below is the product disclosure sheet of BigPay (click image to enlarge).

On top of the above advantages, as a BigPay member, you can also enjoy the following benefits when buying air tickets from AirAsia:

• No processing fee. (AirAsia will charge processing fee if you pay with other brand of credit card or debit card)
• RM2 discount per pre-booked item on flight baggage and food.
• Early access to AirAsia deals, including the free air tickets offering.
• Link your BigPay account with your AirAsia BIG Loyalty account to collect your BIG Points whenever you use BigPay, as well as easily check the amount of your BIG Points from within the BigPay mobile app.

To become a BigPay member and receive your free Mastercard, you need to install the BigPay mobile app into your smartphone.

Your phone number will be verified by the BigPay app using SMS. After the verification, you will need to provide your personal information.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to key-in IGR22QDU1C into the referral/promotion code column to get RM10 loaded into your e-wallet. If you missed this step on the above page, you will miss your opportunity to receive the RM10 from BigPay as welcome reward.

After that, you will need to take a photo of your identity card or passport, followed by a selfie photo of yourself. This procedure is a requirement from Malaysia government to all e-wallet issuers. You might have the similar experience if you have registered yourself to use other e-wallets in Malaysia. It is a bit tedious but is a strict requirement during the process to have an e-wallet.

You are also required to load RM20 into your BigPay e-wallet at the end of the process. This can be done by using online transfer from your bank account, debit card or credit card.

If you done the above process correctly, you will have RM30 (RM10 from referral code, RM20 from initial loading) inside your e-wallet by the time you receive your BigPay Mastercard by post.

Tips: if you have Touch n Go e-wallet, you can configure your Touch n Go e-wallet to be reloaded using this BigPay Mastercard.

With the BigPay mobile app, you can use it to:

• Transfer money and receive money with your family and friends (who are other BigPay users).
• Split bill with them.
• Use QR code at merchant terminal for payment.
• Check your AirAsia BIG Points.
• Keep track on your e-wallet money usage with the built-in Analytics function.
• (upcoming function) transfer money to local banks and also international banks.
• Share out your BigPay referral code and receive RM10 from each of your successful referrals.

I also highly recommend you to also install the AirAsia BIG Loyalty mobile app from Google Play Store and/or Apple iTune App Store.

The AirAsia BIG Loyalty app enables you to manage your BIG Points and also allows you to redeem your points. You can also perform BIG Points exchange with other partnering loyalty programs here.

Tips: One way to earn AirAsia BIG Points without spending your money, and in a larger amount, is through CIMB AirAsia Savers account.