Year: 2009

Importing Your Blog Posts into Facebook “Notes”

I have always find it difficult to find the import link, even when I wanted to change my settings. So here is a quick note for myself and to others who are interested in importing their blog posts into the Facebook notes. There may be a shorter way to access the notes page but I failed to find it. So this is my route to the notes page to import and update my settings.

1. On the top right of any page, hover on “Settings” and click on “Application Settings” in the drop down:

facebook-notes-import-blog-1

2. Click on “Notes”. If you don’t see it change your “Show” settings on the upper right corner. It defaults to frequently used applications.

facebook-notes-import-blog-2

3. When you’re on the “Notes” page you will see a box on the right that looks like the one below. And yes, you click on “Import a blog”.

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4. The next page you see is where you enter the RSS feed URL to import. Indeed, this tool is using RSS feeds to import blog posts. It’s not a mystery and it makes sense.

facebook-notes-import-blog-4

When you have actually imported a blog, you will see that the “Import a blog” link has changed into “Edit import settings”:

facebook-notes-import-blog-5

And of course:

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You can also set privacy settings for the notes. Facebook says that your blog post will be imported within 3 hours, and if not you can always report at http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=import_notes.

Facebook is a fun way to share your posts. You can also import from any blog that you are interested in, but the thing is there is a limitation. You can only import 1 blog/feed at a time. However I have a workaround for that, and by looking at my screenshots you might get a clue. The key is to consolidate multiple feeds into 1 to import in Facebook. But that’s for the next article, if I am able to find the time.

Have fun importing your blog!

Remember that this article was written on December 3rd, 2009 and since Facebook evolves very rapidly there will be a point that changes are made to the system and renders this article useless.

Malaysia PayPal Users Can Now Add Local Bank Accounts

My better half told me yesterday that we can now add our local bank accounts in PayPal. It was too good to be true so I decided to check. I went to check my PayPal emails first just in case I missed an announcement. However, I don’t see any. It’s kinda weird that when a new language is available PayPal sends us an email but not for something as important as this?

▼ A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Oh well, not a big deal. I am all hyped with this new ability, and am already thinking of ditching my Al-Rajhi account (debit card account used for withdrawals).

Adding a bank account is very easy. On your “My Account” page, click on “Profile” which will reveal a drop down where you select “Add/Edit Bank Account”.

malaysia-paypal-step0

Next, you just enter your details:

Details

Don’t put in the wrong routing code. Always double check. This routing code is also sometimes referred to as the SWIFT code. I am amazed on the considerably long list.

malaysia-paypal-bank-routing-code

And that’s it. The next thing you will see is that it’s listed in your bank account page:

malaysia-paypal-done

Please, be sure that you entered the correct bank name, account number, and routing code. As the fee list suggests, you will be charged RM15 for every rejected transaction:

malaysia-paypal-fees

You’ll be charged RM3.00 for amounts less than RM400, free otherwise. I think it does not get any clearer than this.

Enjoy your new ability! It does not involve in eating brains this time.

Big Bad Thursday

I spent 6.5 hours from 9.00AM to 3.30PM at Puchong Naza Kia service center, wasting time because I didn’t realize they have free wifi.

As planned, we rushed to the Big Bad Wolf book sales at Amcorp Mall. The traffic was moderate, but Amcorp Mall was packed with people. Arriving at the outdoor parking space we can already see people carrying boxes and plastic bags sporting the Big Bad Wolf logo. When we reached the 3rd floor we were relieved to see that there are still pile of books ready to be taken away.

It wasn’t easy to go through the crowd, and it was even more difficult after office hours that day as there were an even bigger crowd. We managed to go for lunch after the first session, and came back for the 2nd session.

big-bad-wolf-1st-day

Here are the results of the first visit. 41 books altogether, plus one for a friend. I only got myself 3 technical books which are dirt cheap at RM15 each compared to the shelf prices that may reach more than a hundred ringgit. And I don’t have any favorite author either. The last fiction I read was the 4 books from Dan Brown and I am waiting for the paperback version of The Lost Symbol to be published. It’s just too tiring to stay there too long. I am getting old.

big-bad-books

The interesting thing is that when we return home to look at the website at http://www.bigbadwolfbooks.com the site was suspended because it went out of resources. Too many visitors perhaps? It was back up on Friday, though.

Things didn’t change the second day when we went there with a niece, except for there are less management books available. We didn’t see any change for the children books either. They have added more technical books, but most are references for outdated technologies.

I didn’t get any books for the second visit but my better half and niece found theirs.

big-bad-wolf-2nd-day

big-bad-wolf-2nd-day-niece

Estimated off the shelf price for both days: RM2000

Spent: less than RM500

This does look like reckless spending if you don’t read, but for book lovers this is the best you can get. They don’t get any cheaper than this.

The sales continues until 2nd December at Amcorp Mall. Although they say that they unbox new boxes everyday I am not sure what is available at the days approaching the end. Look for them in Facebook. I hope there will be more books for me the next time they organize the sale.

Is 5GB Per Month Enough? Fair Usage Policy

I don’t think so. Last week, I was on leave for the whole week and did some light browsing at home. To avoid contamination with other PCs in my house, I conducted this test while purely tethering on my BlackBerry device. WIFI was turned off.

The only objective is to see how much data I am using per day to browse the Internet – lightly. No streaming, no gmail, no gaming, no real facebooking. Facebooking was done on the lite interface at http://lite.facebook.com.

▼ A d v e r t i s e m e n t

From the simple test I was able to determine that I use around 420MB per day for light browsing. Multiply that by 30 days and I will get 12900MB which is roughly equivalent to 12.6GB!

Now that explains it why at the end of each month my connection is in snail mode because it’s most likely that Maxis is capping my speed because of overuse.

Bear in mind that this is only for 1 computer.

maxis-daily-usage1

I have been starting to miss Streamyx which I used to hate so much. At least they are slow because of the International link and such, not because they intentionally limit my speed. To me, Streamyx’s BitTorrent capping is fair.

Plus, these Telco are changing their packages like changing underwear! (If they do!)

maxis-new-packages

And of course:

maxis-fup

I can’t wait to have Streamyx back. Currently I am limiting browsing at home, so that my better half will not encounter problems doing her business online.

INDONESIA & MALAYSIA Should Be Friends

Another hot issue in South East Asia, and a sad one. The issue of ownership between Indonesia and Malaysia.

We have seen so many events happening in Indonesia that reflects the hatred of some Indonesian people towards Malaysia. Burning of the Malaysian flag, “sweeping” of Malaysians from the streets of Jakarta, and the “GANYANG MALAYSIA” campaign, just to mention some.

As a Malaysia citizen I am deeply saddened by these events, but it hurts even more as I am half Bugis (ethnic groups of South Sulawesi in Indonesia). Why can’t we all just get along?

The issues that are being brought up are merely nuisance to the world, such as Jemur Island being listed as a Malaysian island in the Internet, and the Pendet dance featured in the Enigmatic Malaysia footage by KRU Studios. Even if Jemur island is mistakenly listed as a Malaysian island I don’t think money will flow into Malaysia if tourists visit it. I should add that the websites are not even Malaysian websites so how can we say that Malaysia claims the island as its own?

Let’s see who owns traveljournals.net:

Domain name: traveljournals.net

Registrant Contact:
Nea Internet
Andreas Sjolin ()

Fax:
Vegagatan 22
Sundbyberg, 17234
SE

For other cultural claims, hey, as we all know Malaysia have so many Indonesian-based ethnicities including Java, Banjar (Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia), Bugis (ethnic groups of South Sulawesi in Indonesia), Boyan (Bawean Island), and many other smaller ethnicities. When people migrate they take along their culture. This, of course not taking into consideration the pure Indonesian citizens who are currently making a living in Malaysia.

In many of the issues being considered, the cultural factors are not even claimed as owned by Malaysia but merely displaying the availability of such culture in Malaysia. If Waroeng Penyet at The Curve decides to venture into a promotional video would it be an issue since the food is obviously Indonesian? The owners are respected Indonesian business people.

When the Western world creates promotional videos showing China Town in their cities, does the China government or the people of China went into distress and creates a riot? No, because they are proud that their culture has traveled the world. For the record, I am proud too as I am 50% Bugis and 50% Chinese.

Malaysians love Indonesia culture, and are very comfortable with it because we all came from the same origin. A few of my friends visited Bandung many times (separate families), and enjoyed it very much. (I want to include links to their blog posts about their Bandung visits but maybe later as I need permission to do so). That is money flow into Indonesia! It’s a classic case of “Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery”. Can’t we share?

So what are these people thinking? They are hurting Indonesia more by causing havoc, as tourists will definitely be afraid to visit. I know, their views might not be shared by every Indonesian but it’s a disgrace to both countries. These are the same people who called their own President cowards. I personally view them as extremists, same as the religion extremists of the Middle East. Nothing extreme is good.

To Malaysians, please be civilized and not to do anything stupid. Does not mean that you can’t argue, but do it nicely so that we all can be good friends someday.

I am closing comments, as I don’t need any. I just know both countries should get along and be friends. I like tempe.

Tips When You Know I Am Going To Interview You

If you by any chance, by any way find out that I am going to be the person interview you for a job you need to know the following:

  1. Don’t come late. 1 minute late and your resume or CV will end up in the shredder or the trash can. Do your location research the day before the interview. If you really can’t, leave home 2 or 3 hours early. If you’re going to be more than 10 minutes late, don’t bother coming. Call the person who arranged the interview and cancel your session. If you see my carry no pen, you have already failed the interview.
  2. Don’t come too early. The earliest you should arrive is 10 minutes before the interview. Technical interviewers have other tasks too.
  3. Do your research about the position you are applying, and if possible about the company. This reflects on how resourceful you are.
  4. Don’t hesitate when answering questions.
  5. Be very interested to ask questions about the job, and about the company.
  6. If you don’t know, don’t try to deviate the question. Just say you don’t know and you will be better respected. Nobody knows everything.
  7. Try convincing me that you will be able to, and are interested to learn things you don’t know.

Good luck.

There Are Still Uncivilized People Using The Internet

Sad to admit, but it’s true.

I am helping a friend to get rid of a very old HP laptop but instead of throwing it in the trash I decided to try and sell it off at Mudah.my so that he can get a netbook.

I am not surprised to receive quick responses from the site, but this is evidence of Malaysian (Streamyx IP) being a moron and a pain in the butt. I am unsure of the real purpose of the coward to send a message like that. Perhaps he has no life, and send messages to every item in Mudah.my he dislike. Of course, that’s not even a real name and email.

mudah-nx9010

Here’s a link to the original spec – what is the official name again?

Get a life!

Italiannies Sunway Pyramid

This is an overdue post that I wanted to write right after I came back from there on Tuesday, but I couldn’t.

That day, I went back home earlier than usual as my other half was craving for pasta. Pizza Hut and Kenny Rogers pasta were also candidates but we like the Carbonara at Italiannies best because of the full flavor. It was our second time at Italiannies Sunway Pyramid, as the first was on Father’s day where I enjoyed a free Grilled Salmon Oreganata (that is a RM44++ meal gratis). I like the branch in Sunway Pyramid better than the one in The Curve as the restaurant is bigger, the air conditioning is a lot cooler, and the environment is much calmer. Plus, the service in Sunway Pyramid is superb.

If you have been following my posts, you will know that I am easily annoyed with bad service. I was annoyed at first with the weird, hard to understand accent but it faded away when they gave their best service. The first time I went there they helped me carry the stroller up the stairs (we used the wrong entrance by the pub to the smoking level). This time, they brought a pillow for my kid’s back support when they saw that I had to use one of my hand to support the kid’s back on the considerably large high chair. They paid good attention and gave help without the need to be asked. I felt so grateful I almost shed some tears but fortunately I didn’t.

If tipping is practiced in Malaysia those two servers would get a fat tip from me. Well I would still tip them if I feel like I have money to spare but not right now. Maybe some day, hopefully soon.

Italiannies in Sunway Pyramid consists of two levels – the lower level is the smoking level and there is an entrance near the pub (I can’t remember the name). If you’re coming from inside the mall, the entrance is at the back of TGI Friday’s. Yes, you have to enter TGI Friday’s, go left and straight to the back where there is a door waiting for you. I personally prefer this entrance.

I will go there again, to try the Sicilian Pizza. I ended up having the salmon again since they were out of ingredients for the pizza (it was quite late in the evening).

So what about you, do you like Italiannies and what can you recommend to have there?

Do I need to reboot the machine after increasing the maximum number of open files at /etc/security/limits.conf?

No, you don’t need to. This morning I struggled to convince someone that the server does not need a reboot. It was because of this: Increasing the number of file handles on Linux workstations.

ulimit – Provides control over the resources available to the shell and to processes started by it, on systems that allow such control.

limits.conf is configuration file for the pam_limits module

It takes effects immediately upon re-login. It’s hard to explain things that only you understand internally. I wish I have a formal Red Hat training so that I can explain better.

In the end I just rebooted the system so that other person who thinks (he/she) knows everything will be satisfied. Now (he/she) is.

Those struggling to get some proof you can probably forward this url which should have better reputation than this blog.

Allianz Auto Assist

My car refused to start on Sunday, and as a car dummy I didn’t expect it was the battery. I thought the maintenance-free dry cell would last longer than acid lead batteries. That incident caused me to miss a friend’s wedding, but I am happy to see the pictures posted in many other blogs as well as in Facebook. I wish them a lifetime of happiness.

Back to the car problem, I tried to contact some of the workshops nearby home but to no avail. So since I have just installed the new car road tax and the Allianz Auto Assist sticker on my wind screen I decided to try calling them. 1-800-889-233

A female picked up the phone and asked me whether I have tried jump starting. Of course not because I didn’t expect it was the battery. Plus, it was Sunday and nobody was around. In 10 minutes Allianz called me back and told me that they are sending people. In another 10 minutes I received a call from the person responding to the case. And for every 10 to 15 minutes after that Allianz called me to ask for progress. It was a nice gesture. Although I had to wait for the auto assist van to arrive for 1 hour (nearby agents had other cases so they had to come from PJ), it was overall a nice experience with Allianz.

The battery was changed, and I went out with my family not to the wedding as it has ended by then but just to get out.

Kudos to them for providing a great service. I will stay with Allianz as long as I can. Anyone else have good experience with their car general insurance provider? Share them!

Zee Avi

A friend posted a link in Facebook to Zee’s video on YouTube, and I started to look for her songs. I really love her music and voice, as there is a certain old feeling to it, not quite the same but I can relate her to Norah Jones. And I commented on that Facebook link: “I like her music so much I’m gonna buy her album“. The reply I received was that I shouldn’t buy but simply download the music. Since I am very particular about music quality and I am happy to see a Malaysian artist making a name Internationally, I said I want to support Malaysian artists. That’s also a reason why I am broke almost all the time.

When I went to The Curve on Sunday with my family, we went to Rock Corner to look for some Mozart CDs. Lazy to look, I asked the guy there whether Zee’s album has arrived in Malaysia (who knows it might arrive late since it was released in US in May). And there it was, at the front counter along with all the new arrivals. To my surprise it was cheap… I was prepared to pay ~RM50 for an imported CD. I like Rock Corner because the guy over there is knowledgeable and helpful.

zeeavi

As usual, I made a backup copy of the CD for the car and ripped it to FLAC for my computer. To my friends, go buy one yourself if you want to listen. I don’t support piracy.

The best music is the music you buy. I kept my promise by actually buying the album.

Here’s Kantoi with the full English translations:

Delayed Yahoo! Messenger Custom Message Updates

Borrowing Google’s term – I have lately been using a flaky connection when connecting to the Internet. What I noticed is that my Yahoo! Messenger list becomes static and no custom messages are being updated. When I looked at my friend’s list, the custom message I set wasn’t showing. I was also not able to see when people get online or offline. I’m using Yahoo! Messenger 9.0.0.2161 for Windows.

I’ve tried all that I can think of – changing connection preferences, clearing message archives because I thought they grew too big, and up to the extent of reinstalling the whole application. I even blamed Symantec Endpoint Protection for it.

I found a simple remedy today – disable the “Always sign in to my mobile phone when I sign out of Messenger“. I have always thought that this option is convenient, especially when someone wants to convey a message for me when I’m not online. Well, okay I admit being lazy as this can easily be done by clicking on “Sign in to <cellphone number>” in the menu.

It turns out that the server is confused when you are online/offline so frequently – flaky connection. It’s a bug, yes.

Why am I not using Pidgin? Because I still want to separate my identities with the “send-as” functionality. With Pidgin I always revealed my identities to different group of people, and I don’t like it. I’ll reuse it once this feature is added.

So if you’re facing the same issue and have the option turned on, try to disable it.

Battery Powered Server

For real?

googleservermedium

The black box with two terminals is a 12V battery, and it looks like a lead-acid battery. Is it a DELL? Is it an IBM? Is it an HP? No, it is a Google. That’s right people, it’s a unit of many Google’s server inside its data center containers. It’s a 2U thick server, with a Gigabyte mainboard holding 2 CPUs, 2 hard disks, and 8 pieces of RAM.

It’s not really battery powered, but the battery kicks in once the main power is lost. This effectively eliminates the need for more expensive and space consuming giant UPS’s (uninterruptible power supplies) which are batteries anyway. Is this a better solution? You be the judge.

If you ask me, I’d like to have one of those Magnetek power supply unit to install on my PC. The battery can nicely fit in a tower casing, much better than having separate UPS units. However I think the mainboard itself must be custom because the 12V to 5V conversion takes place there. The power supply unit only outputs 12V (approximately 13.65V).

However I can’t find any info on how long can the battery can actually supply power.

Story found on CNET: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10209580-92.html