Month: September 2005

TM Bill

Cool screenshot from the telephone bill I received today. As I came back at almost 10.00pm the customer support is closed. Will try to call them tomorrow. Since forever I thought that Streamyx ADSL bill will not effect phone bill. Note the date, I registered my phone line and Streamyx in May, but it says here starting 05 Mar 2005? I really don’t want to say much as it will sound ugly…

phonebill.png 

(please click the picture for actual image)

EDIT 30 September 2005:

Called TM phone support and it appears that their billing system screwed up after the merging of phone and dialup bills. They also mentioned that this happened to many customers. Still, I wonder how many people almost died from heart attack receiving this bill. 

Online (Residential) Communities

While ‘running’ around the net, I found two online residential communities close to my area. The first one closest to me is the Puncak Jalil Online Community. This is an example of a great effort to utilize IT resources for good use. Another one is Lestari Putra Online Community. I remembered seeing such sites being brought up a couple of years ago (for other townships) but eventually died. No idea why.

The Puncak Jalil Online Community seems a lot more established that the Lestari Putra Online Community. Patrick has done a very good job. I have also created accounts for both sites to support them. The creator of Lestari Putra Online Community needs to come out to the front and put his name, as people don’t like anonymity in such sites. The forum for Lestari Putra Online Community is also quite deserted compared to Puncak Jalil Online Community. I’ll try to crowd up the place soon.

Thumbs up to both sites! 

3G Data Card

I am so frustrated by 3G providers, Malaysian and abroad. I have a Merlin U530 from Novatel Wireless with me now (not mine), and tried to use it for Maxis. Of course, it wouldn’t work as the card was bought in Hong Kong. The provider is Hong Kong Three :-(.

The problem is the data card is LOCKED by the provider. I heard that the Huawei‘s E600 data card is also locked by Celcom. I don’t have to guess that Maxis locked their version of the Merlin U530.

What happened to this world? Can’t anything be open anymore… *sigh*.

And people actually pay more than a thousand Ringgit to BUY such data card! If it’s rented, I can understand. But in this case, people OWN the card.

Huawei E600:

Merlin U530:

Maxis 3G connect:

Everybody wants to add their logo to the card, and lock them up. The one with me have the Three logo on it to indicate that this is provided by Three:

I’ll get my own 3G data card when providers decide not to lock them. When, you ask. I don’t know. 😉

HP Offers Notebooks Without Windows XP

I just bought a notebook today for my nephew. Well, helped in buying it as it’s his father’s money. It comes with FreeDOS. Cool. Now users can choose whether or not they want Microsoft® Windows® on their notebooks.

At first I was looking for Compaq Presario M2232, but it was already replaced with Compaq Presario M2241. The difference as I can tell was only the processor speed (1.6GHz vs. 1.73Ghz). For the same price, I was happy to get a higher clocked processor. Plus it’s new Centrino, with 802.11b/g (the Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection) – speed up to 54Mbps. 😀

The notebook specifications taken from HP:

presario_m2000_b.gif 

Processor Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 (#) supports Enhanced Intel® SpeedStep Technology (1.73GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB)
Operating system FreeDOS
Standard memory 256MB (1 x 256MB) DDR SDRAM (333MHz)
Maximum memory Upgradeable to 2GB max (with discard)
System memory 256MB (1 x 256MB) DDR SDRAM (333MHz) upgradeable to 2GB
Cache 2MB Level-2 Cache
Hard drive 40GB (4200 rpm)
Optical drive DVD/CD-RW combo
Graphics Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (up to 64MB Shared Memory)
Modem High speed 56K modem
Network Integrated 10/100 LAN Ethernet, integrated wireless LAN 802.11g
Battery 6-cell Lithium-Ion battery
Display 15" colour TFT XGA (1024 x 768 resolution)
Pointing device Touchpad pointing device with 4-way scroll
I/O interfaces (1) 6-in-1 Digital Media Reader slot, (1) IEEE 1394 port, (1) S-video port, (1) VGA port, (1) Notebook expansion port, (1) Headphone, (1) External Microphone, (1) AC power connector, (1) RJ-11, (1) RJ-45, (3) USB 2.0 ports
Security features Kensington MicroSaver lock slot
PC card slots (1) Type I/II PC Card Slot with support for 16-bit PCMCIA and 32-bit Cardbus
Status display System Power, NUM Lock, CAPS Lock, SCROLL Lock, Battery charging, HDD/Optical activity, Media slot, Mute, Wireless
Audio Altec Lansing branded speakers, AC97 audio, volume control and mute button
Keyboard 101-key compatible keyboard
Dimensions 3.81cm(H) x 36.32cm(W) x 28.45cm(D)
Weight 2.95kg – may vary, depending on configuration and components

At last, consumers have the power to choose what they want and don’t have to pay extra RM300.00 for the unwanted Operating System. This is a very good news especially for *NIX users. Way to go HP! I really hope that this same option is made by HP all over the world.

Too bad I bought mine with XP preinstalled. 🙁