I don’t agree with most of Rockys opinions, but I still subscribe to his blog to ensure I have at least a different view of politics. However, a post he made on the ’new’ Perdana really sent my blood curling. Rocky was defending the proton re-badging exercise, something I felt was completely unacceptable. Proton is a company that for years has thrived under government regulations and policies that were designed specifically protect it–and part of that protection included raising the price of all other cars in the market giving proton an un-fair advantage.

However, I’m here to tell you, that as a Malaysian–you want to hold off your pre-order. Now if you want to buy coin to show-off to your less tech-literate friends, then go ahead, but if you’re buying COIN thinking that it’ll simplify your wallet, you’ll be sadly mistaken.

Over the weekend, I saw the following tweet from the star, which I attributed to be either a badly timed April Fools joke, or a typo error:

Friday and Saturday are weekend rest days for Johor from Jan 1. What's your view? #Johornewweekend

— The Star (@staronline) November 23, 2013

Surely, a state like Johor that was trying to attract investment for the Iskandar region from companies like Frost and Sullivan, would not make such a catastrophic error. Alas, upon further checking, I found the information to be true.

Dear Tun,

First and foremost, let me start by telling you that I truly admire and respect your contribution to Malaysia. I remember shaking your hand when you attended my Convocation quite some many years ago. It was quite odd to see that while you were present, you didn’t give a speech, simply because you attended the function not as former Prime Minister of Malaysia, but rather as the spouse of the Chancellor–your wife Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah.

So  it saddens me deeply, that at another convocation–this time where you were giving a speech, you suggested that it is time to censor the internet to counter “distribution of pornography, questionable news and slanders”.

If I may be so bold Tun–censoring the internet is the single most destructive thing that can happen to modern day Malaysia, and something that must be opposed at every turn, even if it involves publicly correcting a senior leader such as yourself. As a citizen of Malaysia, I find it not just my right, but my duty to inform the Emperor when he has no clothes on.

Really cool infographic of the evolution of cell phone to smart phone and how the major players evolved over time.

A couple of things that stood out for me were:

1. Nokia gave up such a dominant position and never came back

2. Just the sheer speed at which Nokia went from Hero to Zero is astounding, it’s like as though Nokia died from a gunshot, as compared to Kodak which died a slow painful death from cancer.

3. Samsung comes on the scene in 1997, but doesn’t make an iota of change, up until Google decide to launch Android almost a decade later. That truly was a game changer.

4. Nokia and Samsung still sell more than twice Apple’s volume in phones, but Apple makes more profit simply due to it’s pricing scheme (a cut from the telcos) as well as the fact that Apple only sells higher-end models with higher margins (5C being the exception).

5. Motorola started it all–but then somehow disappeared. Being first to market counts for naught in this industry, neither Samsung nor Apple were first movers.

Do you know a Groupon Junkie?

It's those people that start and end everyday checking out what sort of 'deals' they can get online, the sort of people who'd buy completely unnecessary items purely because they were on sale. These people literally stalk websites like Groupon or livingsocial to see if they can get a iPhone powerbank for 40% off, or if the Japanese restaurant in Subang Jaya had a deal on Salmon Sashimi.

I was a Groupon Junkie once. I used to religiously subscribe to the mailing list of these group discount websites, and what I found was that I was actually spending more than I was saving. Sure I was trying out new places to eat, but in the end I felt I was spending a lot of money on things I never wanted in the first place--and the things that I actually wanted, were never on Groupon.

To me, the dream was always if I could get Groupon to pick out the items I actually wanted--rather than a random haphazard items that no one knew existed in the first place.

A friend of mine, might have stumbled upon the answer. You see Groupon is a random collection of deals--and the only thing that ties them together is that there's a deal on them. Visiting Groupon is like windows shopping at the 5 dollar store, sure you might find something useful, but most of the time you just bought yourself a bunch of nonsense just because it was on sale. The only thing in common the items in the 5 dollar store have--is that they're 5 dollars, other than that they range from cooking to gardening to stationary and even car care.

The solution to the problem is to have a specialized website. One that didn't sell everything under the sun, but a very specific niche offering, so that people don't feel they're in a 5 dollar store, but a store that was offering a deal on something they ACTUALLY wanted to buy.

But what sort of niche market would that be? What niche market is in high demand--but also would benefit from the concept of group buying.

Say it with me now people-- THE PROPERTY MARKET!

It's a great idea, because not only are properties in high demand, Property buyers are looking for discounts (after all what buyers aren't), and from that came the idea of Propertyplus.

About a year back, I wrote about how excited I was that Lazada was finally coming to Malaysian shores, however I never really got around to buying anything from Lazada until recently. As you know, I was in the market for a new Unifi router and after some online shopping I decided to settle for a Asus router from Lazada, not only was the price cheaper, Lazada promised free delivery and even an RM10 discount if I subscribed to the newsletter.

So I created and account, subscribed to the newsletter and purchase an Asus router from the website–thinking all I had to do was sit and wait, and the router would be at my doorstep within 3 days.

WRONG!

Payment under Review

What I suspect happened was that my payment was successful BUT Lazada ran out of stock, hence placing the order under review. The wording of the email was poor, and the whole experience left me unimpressed.

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Those maroons and stupid who complaining customer service should work before as customer service first you bastard!!! if you in thier postion than only u know thier pain… they can give you promise u asshole but who want to fullfill it???? if u want complaint complaint to higher management . dont try your bullshit by spoke with supervsior can resolve your problem. they cannot do anything there coz they have barriers asshole. pls go work as customer service before talk regarding them

A lot of people have asked me if indeed you can view Netflix or Hulu or any other streaming service in HD on a regular 5Mbps Unifi connection (that’s the slowest possible Unifi connection).

Yes you can! Check out the “Now Playing HD” bit on the bottom right hand of the image below.

To learn how to watch Netflix or Hulu from Malaysia, check out my previous post here.

When a new phone hits the market, we tend to get terribly excited about its new features. And rightly so: what are boundaries for, if not to push frantically? But with the release of the latest BlackBerry 10 handsets, perhaps the most important contribution to the future of the smartphone might come in the form of the continuing inclusion of an actual QWERTY keyboard.

While the iPhone has been holding steady at four buttons, and Android handsets are caught in a strange limbo between buttons and always-on touch-screen style soft keys, BlackBerry has held fast with its products’ trademark keyboards while also offering touchscreen options.