iPhone 4 mini review

Well, can't say much since I have been using it for only half a day (exactly 12 hours, minus 3 hours of sleeping).

The network reception is really bad when we are holding it like how we hold Nokia cellphones all the time. Maximum signal we get is 1 bar or 2 bar only. But when we hold it using finger tips, avoiding contact with the phone, then the signal can go up to 4 bar or full signal reception.

Touch interface is new to me and the on screen keyboard is a challenge to me, since I'm used to normal physical keypad, and recently, the QWERTY keyboard on Nokia E series, which allows us to type so much faster. One nice feature is the automatic correction for most of the English words, so when we make one or 2 mistakes, the automatic correction tool will fix it for us, as soon as we move on to another word. I know this is an old feature, but somehow I feel that the iPhone tool manage to guess most of the words correctly, compare to other text editor application.

The phone is fast, no visible lag when switching from application to application. Maybe the phone is still not loaded with application yet, therefore, the performance has not taken any hit yet. Probably we need to benchmark again when it is heavily loaded.

Touch and glossy surface would mean, lots of fingerprint! Screen protector is a must if we want to keep the phone as clean as possible. Or else, just get a case to hold the phone. I doubt if anyone will use the phone without any additional item to wrap the screen. Touch touch.. ewwwww.

That's all for now. Shall update more later peeps.

Thanks dear for the phone!

Virtual Network Editor in VMWare Player

After deploying a lot of VMWare ESXi, deploying VMWare using VMWare Player seems like so cumbersome, there is no advance networking tool like virtual network editor in the free VMWare Player!

Hopefully, VMWare does bundle the virtual network editor together with the installation package, just that when we choose the GUI installation, we won't get the tool installed somehow.

It is still possible to extract it, like this:

If the VMWare Player setup program is named 'vmware.exe', just invoke the command prompt and type this

C:/Temp/vmware.exe -e C:/Temp/vmtemp

All the installation files will be extracted out to the C:/Temp/vmtemp directory.
There is one *.cab file we have to extract, that is the network.cab

Open the compressed archive with any zip/unzip sofware, like WinZip, 7zip or WinRAR, etc.

There you go, the file vmnetcfg.exe is the Virtual Network Editor tool.

The virtual network editor tool is very version specific, when we are using VMWare Player 3.1.2.301548, we will need to extract the vmnetcfg.exe out from the exact setup package. Any other vmnetcfg.exe will not work.

Cheers!

Cisco VPN client and Nortel VPN client issue

Used to have a configuration that works in Windows XP with Cisco VPN client version 4.8 and also Nortel VPN client version 5.

Now some of our customer have upgraded to new Nortel VPN version, and the client version would need to be upgraded too.

Recently we installed Nortel VPN client version 8 into the Windows XP machine and poooooof, Cisco VPN client failed to work - with the reason like unable to initialize the virtual adapter.

I am trying to think of the best way to keep 2 VPN client in one PC without further tweaking everytime they release a new version, right now I have a temporary workaround, that is to install 2 different Windows on top of my current Windows XP running on VMWare (VMWare Player is free) and install Cisco VPN client in one of the VMWare and Nortel VPN client in the other one.

The downside is that, we need to purchase 3 Windows license instead of one, perhaps Microsoft should release a Windows license for VMWare usage only.

And also, the time needed to boot all 3 machines up, it's not that bad, takes approximately 20 minutes.

Guess this is the safest and most future proof method for multiple VPN clients.

Rules in Public Water Closet

Click on the image to zoom.

Surely their imagination is good.

Group of people raising their hands when peeing. Wow, who would have thought of that.

Surely they have been through a lot of come up with these stuffs.

Bruce Lee

Click on the image to zoom.

Taken from:
http://kr.news.yahoo.com/cartoon

Presentations

Bah, I hate preparing these slides.

Now I have just reached 61 pages, still thinking of ideas to add more stuff.

Ideas ideas come to me please.

Bak Kut Teh

Finally, we went back to Sem Kin after a few years of absence. The uncle which was cooking last time, is still there. But now I think his son - a young chap - is helping him in the shop.

It is not as nice as the one we had in Pavilion or in Connaught there, and they have also increased the price a bit.

Still it is a satisfying meal.

Looking forward for more Bak Kut Teh in the future!

Crazy schedule has arrived!

Last time when I was in Jakarta, I did not sleep at all for 3 days straight. Booking of hotel seems to be wasted, the only time I went back to hotel was to change to a new clean set of clothes and also to take a shower, then I'll go out again.

This time round, there won't be much difference, landing at Cengkareng airport at 8 am, will proceed straight to customer office at south of Jakarta, then on 2nd day, flying out of Cengkareng airport at 8:30pm.

Will be taking Air Asia this time around, it's time to buy overpriced water again.

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity

When there is a a difference between their real and their declared aims, they will blurt out long reasons and excuses, like a squid squirting out black ink, to prevent us to pursue them any further.

What is the desirable ability in politicians?

It is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.

Confusing questions

For example:

Have you stopped beating your wife?

Well, if we answer 'yes', we admit we were doing it.
If we answer 'no', then we admit we are still doing it.

What were you doing on Independence day?

We were busy catching trains from Paris to Brussels, and from Brussels to Amsterdam.

Just watched Resident Evil last week, storyline is so-so, some minor fighting scenes, it's ridiculous that in the beginning part, they fired so many bullets, not a single one hit or even scratch the skin of the protagonist.

I missed out on The Expendables, I'm wondering if it's good.

Phua Chu Kang sucks big time, too short, plot is too obvious, not funny and their acting failed. Oh well, maybe it's just that we are growing up too fast.

Mandarin Grill

The price is comparable to Prime in Le Meridien and the main course too.
Dessert is bit lacking and they don't give free tap water!
More variety of side dishes but not all are equally tasty.

Lobster bisque is a bit too thick and urgh, I don't like it at all.

Bread is hard, like biscuit.

Lighting is very bright and it's hard to see outside, especially at night. It's wasted to have a window seat then. Lighting level in Prime is just nice to have a romantic dinner.

Parking is MYR 8 per entry from 7pm to 7am, ample parking space.

It's my birthday treat!
Thanks Ms. Jesslyn.

Eid Mubarak

To all our Muslim brothers and sisters.

After the heavy rain yesterday, weather today so much nicer.

Hari Raya is coming!

For those who will be traveling back to their kampung, hope you will have a safe and pleasant journey. Even though our holidays is just 2 days compare to those Arab countries where usually they have from one week to 10 days of holidays, well, more work and less slack will make us smarter somehow.

Since my mom is not in Malaysia during this holidays, guess I won't be going back as I have no place to stay.

从以前我就很怕华文的科目，因为它的笔画很多，觉得很复杂。
所以就专攻英文，对华文不理不睬。
一阵子就过了几十年，头发也开始白了。
忽然间想想起来，能明白华文是多么的好啊。

When we were in Paris, there was a metro station name George V.
They would pronounce it as jeojhe-san.
French is a nice language.

Adjusting back to GMT +8

After been in GMT timezone and GMT +1 timezone for about 1 week plus, it seems really strange to be back in GMT +8 timezone.

First thing I noticed is that, our old Putra LRT train here is so short here compare to theirs. Gee, no wonder our train is always so congested all the time.

Another thing is that, our sky gets dark really early. Over there, the sky is still like normal daytime at 8pm.

Time to drive again after walking and sitting/standing in tube/metro for more than 1 week.

Shall take a day off now to adjust back to the weather here.

Lots to catch up in work.

:(