2008 | Ady's Blog

The Most Expensive “Baju Melayu” I Ever Had

Or frankly the title should be “The Most Expensive Baju Melayu I will have” because I have just sent the fabric to the tailor a couple of hours ago at Wisma Yakin near Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. The thing is I am unsure whether I will get a more expensive ones later in life.

For those who are wondering what it is, go here for Wikipedia page on Baju Melayu.

I am not getting this one especially for the coming Eid ul-Fitr, but for my niece’s wedding ceremony in August. And since it is pricey I will also use it for Eid.

The fabric is RM200 and the tailor charge is RM120. It maybe normal for certain people but since all of my previous Baju Melayus were tailored by my mom and using normal fabrics this is the most expensive one for me.

The reason I didn’t go for ready-made ones is that they might not fit well, and the ones I found are either too cheap (equals bad quality) or too expensive. The turquoise Baju Melayu will be ready during the last week of July, just in time for the wedding on August 8th.

MasterCard/Visa Promotion Fraud Attempt #2

Back in January I wrote about an attempt to squeeze my credit card numbers by a caller using a private number.

On July 4th, I received a call from 016 336 8916 but since I have my phone on private mode they were not able to reach me. However a couple of minutes later they sent me a text message: “Hello mr/mrs Ady Romantika. I’m Ros from Visa/master card voucher department. Because of your loyalty to us, you are entitled for complimentary vouchers. Please come to our office with your spouse to collect your vouchers. Unit 515, Level 5, Block E, Phileo Damansara 1, No. 9, Jalan 16/11, Off Jalan Damansara, 46350 Petaling Jaya Selangor. Please come anytime from Monday to Sunday between 3pm to 8pm. Please also allow us at least 45mins of your time. Thank you and see you soon.”

It was a long text message indeed. I sent them a reply that they are scammers, and they were bold enough to reply me. Their message now have been sent to the Royal Malaysian Police and the media via email. I am unsure whether any action will be taken to investigate it but I shall wait and see.

As I mentioned in my previous post, there is no logical chance that Mastercard and Visa are running a promotion together. I am pretty sure if I show up they will ask me for my credit cards and take the chance to copy the numbers, expiries, and CVV/CV2 numbers. Then they are free to use my credit cards online.

For the less cautious this might be a trap they might easily fall into. Beware!

Compressing WordPress Output

While toying around with NextGen code so that I can activate my custom image mirror, I saw the output from Firebug. I noticed that my HTML output is not compressed (by the absence of gzip content-encoding).

Some Apache servers have this module already enabled (previously mod_gzip a 3rd party module in Apache 1, and now built-in in Apache 2 as mod_deflate).

But what if you don’t have access to the Apache configuration, such as in a shared hosting environment?

I have the answer for PHP. I always include this line in the bootstrap code of the applications I build using Zend Framework:

ob_start("ob_gzhandler");

And the output will be gzipped prior to sending it to the browser. The result? Faster transfer to users.

For WordPress you can put the line in index.php:

< ?php ob_start("ob_gzhandler"); /* Short and sweet */ define('WP_USE_THEMES', true); require('./wp-blog-header.php'); ?>

Easy, isn’t it? Here are Firebug screenshots, before and after. Notice that I managed to cut the size of my front page by 1/5?

[As the screenshots are too wide please click on Continue Reading to see them]
Continue reading Compressing WordPress Output

PHP Framework Benchmark

In April I wrote about Eclipse PDT, Zend Framework, PHPUnit.

AVNet Labs have executed a comprehensive benchmark against popular PHP Frameworks.

It looks like they are also using Zend Framework for their development. I’ll stay with Zend as well, because I believe in vendor-product compatibility. I will not ask for support from Adobe if I have a problem with Microsoft Visual Studio, so it’s the same concept here.

Zend is The PHP Company.

Thanks to Rizal for the heads up.

Chitika Oh Chitika

On 10 April 2007 I tried to apply for Chitika eMiniMalls just to try out my luck even though my number of visitors is much lower back then. I received a reply which I totally understand and accepted:

In an effort to bring value to our publishers, we carefully consider each submission. During our review process we have determined that Chitika | eMiniMalls might not be a good match for your website.

On 27 June 2008 I received an email from Chitika:

Hi Ady,

Great news! There have been a lot of changes over at Chitika recently – so although our ads were not a good match for your website in the past, we believe that we may be a much better fit for you now. Why? Because the Chitika network now serves Premium ads for ALL types of site content like: Finance, Health, Travel, Family, & more. (Previously we focused mainly on product-related websites.)

We now offer a LOT more than eMiniMalls too – our new Chitika|Premium ads target your search traffic, and are showing extremely high CTRs and eCPMs for our publishers. So if you have a good amount of US search traffic, Chitika|Premium will be a great fit for your site!

Re-open your Chitika application here, to get started. (You will be able to edit your information such as website, email, and PayPal info before you submit) or head over to the “Chitika | Premium” page for more information.

And I received a reply:

Hello,

The email address you used doesn’t match the domain that you submitted, and it also does not match the email that was used to register the domain, so we cannot tell if you actually own this website.

If you do own this site, please re-open your application using the link below and supply an email address from the domain, or the email address that was used to register the domain.

If you cannot do this, then please re-open your application and tell us why in the “Comments” field. Thanks. Looking forward to your comments.

This is because I used my GMail address for the registration. If I enter my email address for this blog domain I immediately get “Invalid Email ID!”. I stated in the comment field of the registration form but I guess it was not taken into anyone’s attention. But then again, the reply did mention “If you cannot do this, then please re-open your application and tell us why in the “Comments” field. Thanks. Looking forward to your comments.” WTH?

Not that Chitika is bad or anything but as an Internet user I expect an established site updates the list of TLD frequently. I also had the email not matching problem with Nuffnang but they received my application without any problem.

Maildir Storage in Thunderbird

I am doing research before deployment of a Postfix + Dovecot HA cluster tomorrow morning, on converting existing mailboxes to Maildir format. The existing mail server is running Sendmail + Unidentified POP3 on a Fedora Core 2 box. It’s ancient and that’s why my client need it to be scrapped or turned into something else.

Maildir will certainly help a lot in improving performance and avoiding the need to think about mailbox slowness and lock-ups that is a normal problem with mbox.

As an avid Thunderbird user since the project was started years ago and since Firefox 3 have just been released, I can’t avoid wondering whether Thunderbird is considering adding an option for Maildir storage in version 3. Of course, this have no relation whatsoever with the servers mentioned above. For those who are unfamiliar with Thunderbird, it currently store mailboxes in the mbox format.

Searching high and low for an answer, I don’t see any mention of Maildir, anywhere. However Thunderbird 3 looks promising in terms of feel and usability. Mac users will be very happy that Thunderbird 3 is a native Cocoa application and integration will be better. Other platforms will have to make peace with Gecko 1.9.

I’m too lazy to become a tester this time around so I am just going to wait. What about you?

Welcome Firefox 3; Good Bye Google Browser Sync

Following from Firefox 3 download day yesterday, I was eager to try out the new, all-improved Firefox 3. As a matter of fact, I am writing this post in Firefox 3.

There is certainly a significant improvement in speed and responsiveness, and the overall feel have changed. It’s a lot more elegant now.

However it’s sad to learn that Google will no longer update its Google Browser Sync service to support Firefox 3.

I’ve now migrated to Foxmarks. So far it works very well. One thing I shall miss is the password sync option which I use for low risk sites such as private torrent trackers.

Other add-ons that are available for upgrade includes Firebug, Alexa Sparky, Google Notebook, Google Toolbar and of course, Foxmarks 🙂

Anyway, bravo to Firefox for a job well done.

You Don’t Need To Work Hard To Take A Break

Fancy a 4 days 3 nights vacation at Club Med Kani Maldives or Laguna Bay Redang with your 3 best buds?

Steps:

Post or update resume
Answer 2 simple questions about Monster
Send email to 3 friends

Click the image below for more information. This is NOT a paid advertisement and I don’t receive anything for this post. Seriously.

Hell I wish I am eligible for this promotion 😉

US Visa Collection

It has almost been a month since I wrote my last post. I’ve been busy, yes. Busy enough that I didn’t have the chance to write.

I have been away to the United States and back. While there I was tired more than normal simply because of the commute to work and the different weather conditions. I’ll post some pictures from Boston in the next posts.

Back to the collection of US Visa in Wisma MCA in KL. The procedure is there is not that cumbersome. One quite important thing if you want to spend the littlest time there is to come early. 2.30pm is considered early for next-working-day pickup of the Visa and your passport (if you are picking up a Visa applied weeks ago you can come in the morning). The US Visa office have a lunch break time (compared to UK Visa office which is closed at 3pm with no lunch time).

Anyway, when you arrive at Wisma MCA you have to register at the lobby – mention that you want to go to VFS. The “receptionist” will swipe your card at the computer and produce a slip. Once you reach the floor, you’ll report to the security guard and form a queue at the corridor in front of the office. I was the 5th in line. Write your name and contact number at the back of the yellow card you obtained at the embassy.

Your turn in the queue is important as this is the order they will call you once you are in the office. I was out after 5 minutes the office started processing. They were quick.

Try not to bring a big bag or important things as you’ll have to leave everything outside. Just like when you were in the embassy you’ll have to switch off your handphone here too.

The bottom line is to be early. At least half an hour before the office opens. I guess this applies the same if you come in the morning. It’s important if you want to spend 30-40 minutes max there. Believe me, the line was very long.

US Visa Application

If you are planning to go to the US for any reason whatsoever, do consider confirming your trip as soon as possible so that you have ample time to get your Visa.

Consider this: you have to go pay your Visa fees (RM440) at Alliance Bank at least one day before scheduling for an interview at this website. You will also need to pay RM27 for the processing fees by VFS. That is 2 days being used just for scheduling an interview. To my surprise a lot of people are applying for US Visa and this is a concern because it this will effect the earliest date available for an interview. This can be 2 or 3 days, or even a week from the day you schedule the interview online. And then, the completed Visa (and your passport) can only be collected the next business day at the VFS office.

Be sure to check your checklist.
Continue reading US Visa Application

International Driving Permit & JPJ Portal Joomla

I was looking for information on getting an International Driving Permit when I arrived at the new JPJ Portal. I am not sure if the portal was “developed” by a third party contractor or internally but I have a hunch that says it was built externally.

There may be other Government portals that are built on top of Open Source solutions but JPJ is obviously using Joomla. What’s worst is that the keywords used in the portal are insanely irrelevant. Obviously MP3 is not at all related to Road Transport Department!

I am not saying that it is wrong to use Open Source projects to cater for Government sites but I think if this project is external, JPJ is getting ripped off.

Changing topic to the International Driving Permit, it’s easy to get one. All you need is a passport sized photo, copy of your NRIC, copy of your driving license, and RM150. Your driving license must be valid for at least 1 year after the date of IDP application. This is also a rip off since in return I get a hand-written card with some thin paper pages in it with a few languages. I would feel ashamed to show it to the cops if I were stopped by them in a foreign country. Seriously.

A friend of mine mentioned that you don’t need an IDP if you are staying less than 3 months in the United States. I tried to find information on that but to no avail. Anyone?

TMNet New IP Block 124?

3 days ago I was alerted by my DNS-O-Matic script that my IP has changed. Usually I don’t care much because the script will do its job in updating my dynamic IP. One interesting thing is that I usually get IPs beginning with 60 but now I am receiving IP beginning with 124.

TMNET New IP Block 124

I am not sure whether TMNet acquired a new IP block from IANA or something. Anyone has any news about this?

Nevertheless, nothing has changed with the speed. It’s still snail-paced. 😉

Changing WordPress Permalink While Still Maintaining Accessibility

I’ve been wanting to change my permalink structure for a while now but I was afraid to lose pageranks on some of my pages. However since I realize that I have been penalized and none of my page have ranks anymore, I’ll just change it.

But there is another issue that you should be worried about if you change your permalink: incoming links from other blogs / sites. They will be rendered unusable.

I used to use /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/ (Day and name) as my setting. After a while it looks ugly and long with so many numbers. https://blog.adyromantika.com/innotek-virtualbox/ looks much nicer than https://blog.adyromantika.com/2008/04/26/innotek-virtualbox/.

The issue here is that we want the latter to still work.

There is a simple remedy to this problem. You can edit .htaccess file to add some rules to rewrite your old permalink structure to the new one. The rule I will explain below will redirect the page to the new permalink.

The default .htaccess looks like this:

# BEGIN WordPress
<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</ifmodule>
# END WordPress

Continue reading Changing WordPress Permalink While Still Maintaining Accessibility

WiMAX Delayed In Malaysia

It has been a while since I last heard anything about WiMAX plans for Malaysia. Well, from the news in The Star I gather that this problem is not specific to Malaysia.

The WiMAX Forum who provide standards and certification is now focusing on the US roll out. While some expert argues that the number of equipment needed for Malaysia is not as many as in the US, we still have to wait for them if we want best interoperability between providers.

My take is that I am willing to wait for it to become close to perfect. I want something reliable, and cost does not matter much. I’ll pay as much as RM500 per month for a stable and reliable service with good coverage. Currently, 3G or “wireless broadband” services provided by local telcos are not reliable. Not that it’s anyone’s fault – it’s the technology itself.

How much would you pay for a good WiMAX service?

As usual, click on Continue reading for the original news just in case the original source has been removed.

Continue reading WiMAX Delayed In Malaysia