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I’ve always been intrigued with the idea of a detoxing, ever since one of my college friends explained to me the orific intricacies of coffee enema and how light it felt after that. Now dealt with a bulging waistline and fatty liver on my last health check, i thought i’d finally do something about it in the dying minutes of 2008.

My colleagues led me to Juvanex, a 7-days detox program that is supposed to flush out all kinds of stale matters dormant within you and makes you feel brighter, lighter and healthier at the end of the day. It comes with Total Cleanze(tm) which is supposedly a secret ingredient of fibres, probiotics and cleansing agents formulated into a lemon-ginger concoction.

On Day 2 i repeated my diet regime and by noon, i was getting a bad bout of carb withdrawal - i crashed. I weathered through it, ate the most fruits i’ve had in recent memories and had an early night as well. Needing a companion for this my wife joined me for 2 days on my day 3 and 4, where i was slowly adding back my carbs as there was just too many happenings and events to go to.  I ate healthily and consciously for most parts, and gulped down my final drink this New Year morning.

So does it work?

It’s really hard to tell. The effects was not drastic for a “solution” selling at RM135(discounted!) at Watsons. But one thing is for sure - when you are detoxing you tend to be super-sensitive of the food you consume and will naturally eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. You also tend to pay extra attention to your stool, inspecting it for special effects (hopefully of the nasty kind you never knew existed). End of day it does make me feel a bit lighter. Whether it’s due to the placebo effect of going on a detox or Juvanex itself i’m not too sure. Maybe both.

Not that i’m in the trend of setting new year resolutions but i would think eating right 358 days of the year is surely better than detoxing 7 days of the year. So here goes:

1. Breakfast - Gotta skip white bread. Eating muesli (need suggestions on brands most suck!). I’ve been taking lessons in carbohydrates
2. Lunch / Dinner - Gotta cut down on rice/starchy foods. Forcing through a portion of fruit or veg.
3. Workouts - Gotta fit in an additional day of aerobic sports in my week.

So there goes. Happy New Year 2009 !

Today is the day all chinese people get older, and families gather to eat glutinous rice balls. My mom-in-law has build an army of rice balls all from the natural colorings of dragon fruits, pumpkins and pandan leaves. Yummy.

Ok i didn’t take a picture of my phone as i’ve been using this for the past 3 weeks so the beautiful OLED screen is getting smudgy. Mine looks exactly like the well captured picture below - screen glare inclusive.

If you need extensive reviews get out of here and read some links below, like -

www.mobile-review.com -or- www.mobile88.com -or-  www.trustedreviews.com

because that’s how i decided to buy the phone, freaking reviews. And the fact that my Nokia Navigator 6110 was so badly abused it’s time to trade in a new one. Here’s my little Top 5s.

Top 5 +++++

1. Beautiful AM-OLED screen with excellent contrast
2. WIFI. 3G. Bluetooth…. and FM Transmitter !
3. Great Battery life. I turn on WIFI and Bluetooth the whole day it’s never turned off on me. Mini-USB charger.
4. GPS. Nokia Maps is constantly improving and the phone can geo tag images - of food.
5. It’s got Nokia’s menu. Everyone else’s don’t make sense.

Top 5  - - - - -

1. Keypads. The slimmer profile means the keys are more flushed and gives me finger ache.
2. Software Stability. Crashes once in a while needing a battery reboot procedure. Need firmware upgrade.
3. Totally Useless features - Navipad “wheel” navigation. Breathing? No wonder it’s in the same menu.
4. Sound levels. Even worse than my old phone and has a bit of cracking at top volumes
5. N-Gage Games. Totally Crap games. Stick to the PSP.

My Top 5 Uses

1. RoadSynch - i’m using this as Mail for Exchange can’t synch my corporate mail. I find Push mail really bad for spousal relationships but works wonders if you like .. work.
2. Opera Mini - i use this very much as an RSS reader to catch up at my bedside. Still the most intuitive mobile browser and it’s free.
3. Nokia Podcasting - i prefer short video podcast, but the good audio ones are great to listen to when travelling back in a car, with the FM transmitter in play.
4. Youtube - looks great on the OLED and streams great over WIFI
5. Audio Themes - Real fun to play with sounds. It makes me want to open and close the slide incessantly.

I’ve gotten this from one of my colleague, a factoid that has been floating around the web commenting on the recent reduction of personal EPF contribution from 11% to 8% -

Assume monthly basic salary is RM4000.
- If your monthly EPF contribution is  11% ( RM440 ), taxable income = RM3560, income tax payable = RM77.
- If your monthly EPF contribution is    8% ( RM320 ), taxable income =
RM3680, income tax payable = RM109.

Conclusion: If you choose to contribute 8%, you will end up paying more income tax to the government, which will make the government richer. Finance Minister Najib said this measure is meant to boost up the slow-down market, but from this example wee see that the money does not go into the market. Instead the money goes direct into the government’s pocket through the greater amount of income tax that we will have to pay. Obviously this measure does not help the market at all. Do we still want this kind of government that doesn’t have the best interest of the people in mind?

so curious as to how this affects me i have done a quick calculation (with assumptions) as below -

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=prZW_0CZISNyTEkq1vKAfRw

The RM6k Tax Relief is meant for both EPF+Life Insurance and is deducted off your annual gross pay. So if you currently have not maxed out your RM6k deduction with life insurance already, you might have a potential tax loss. Practically, This is reduced to a negligible amount via other forms of personal income tax relief like books, computer and welfare related reliefs.

So the real conclusion is that the choice depends on your current income tax relief status as tax is calculated on gross and there is a cap to how EPF affects your taxes, unless you die die want the 5.8% EPF dividend if it does not drop for the coming 2 years. In a crisis, some might actually like it !

Welcome to my virtual house … however it’s still under heavy renovation.

google’s lively is an in progress jab at linden lab’s pioneering second life. The anime influences for the avatars are unmistakable, and adds the fun factor to entice younger audiences. But otherwise, it’s really more of a novelty at the moment, with the typical google influences scattered all over it. Watching youtube on your virtual LCD and having a photoframe to show off your picasa web albums comes naturally with lively.

… or maybe one day i can accessorized myself with an android phone to surf the web with. Now that will be surreal (and a sign to get a life).

Can i vote for him ?

Obama’s gonna the next US president. No doubt about it - unless The Bradley Effect takes place. There’s a consistency and emphatic touch in his campaigns that’s the exact prescription for Americans holding on to the American Dream in very depressing times.

I pity McCain’s strategist. The rash choice of a Republican vice presidential candidate more suited for SNL in Palin and having a wrong kind of war hero in McCain just when the only war worth fighting is on America’s economic turf, doesn’t augur well for his campaign.

Read this Time article “The Lost Leader” for a great recap on why America’s choice does not matter as much for the rest of the world anymore, even if we do follow it with great interest.

Over the past month, i’ve given P1 a positive review followed by this not so great review. My conclusion is that while WIMAX shows great potential in Malaysia’s broadband landscape, early adopters might need to bear with stability issues.

I’m blogging about P1 because from forums and postings some already see W1MAX as a local broadband salvation, some are already not happy, some can’t be bothered changing (from Streamyx), and some are … waiting for a sign. It is however my believe that they are the ONLY real competitor to tmnet NOW. Hence their unfolding is worth blogging space.

Interestingly, I find that PacketOne’s greatest strength lies with it’s parent company greenpacket. Why ? Here you have a parent company who’s core R&D is in wireless technologies and has an internal software development team that is capable of building carrier-grade applications. Through it’s partnerships in China, P1/GP also has the ability to swiftly bring converged WIMAX devices to the market. If that’s not a great synergy for an ISP startup aspiring to go beyond broadband, i don’t know what is ! When can we expect to see a converged WIMAX, WIFI, VoIP and IPTV device from them?

The greenpacket stock has taken a dip past year due to concerns over their WIMAX investments. The global economic gloom aside, P1’s future can only be assured if they continue to refine their brand of converged devices and applications for a wireless home. Being a smaller player, they have a marked advantage of speed to market, and that is crucial with TM looming over the horizon with HSBB. But that vision can only be solidified if they have the right device and applications to promote consumer stickiness. Otherwise it will turn out to be a tough fight with TMNet, where it’s an open secret that IPTV is poised as the killer app post HSBB rollout. It’s just a matter of time before TM debut and aggresively push an ADSL/IPTV/etc converged device for their vision of a digital home. Judging by the number of college students forgoing the idiot box for youtube (not any smarter), that really sticks like glue.

On a parting note, It is really good to see that at least P1 has their marketing priorities right - with a series of viral ads and from what i’ve heard, engaging the online community (bloggers) to share it’s vision and product roadmap. For “other” ISPs - It’s the internet stupid ! What better way to read your user’s mind than to sieve through the wealth of review, forums and user feedback of exactly those that use your services. I laud P1 for at least getting that part of the equation right.

So will WIMAX be a success in Malaysia? All i can say is that it is interesting times ahead for the broadband community … but only time will tell.

Malaysians finally gets to enjoy Mobile Number Portability, after more than 2 years since work started in the industry. I for one will be watching out for the mobile ads, esp. what digi does with their ducks (kewl) or what maxis does with their donuts (lame) etc.

Here’s a snapshot of our beloved telco’s websites today, for posterity :

DiGi and Maxis did quite a bit of prep work. with “porting” portals (DiGi) and a rate plan recommendation engine (Maxis)

Celcom and Umobile’s was a bit more subdued.

Next to come - PRICE WARS. Or it had better lead to that otherwise it’s all in vain - as at the end of the day most expect it to be a zero sum game for the local telcos.

It’s a good day. Our phone numbers are now truly mobile.

Came back yesterday night and my mom had a big hoo haa over her latest blossom in the garden. She insisted i take a picture before it’s too late.

This, my friend - is the bloom of a dragonfruit. The dragonfruit, or Hylocereus undatus belongs to the cactus family and the flower above easily measure over 30cm.

According to this source, it is not only a night blooming plant but shows off for one night only. I am so glad my mom was right.

I can perhaps sum up my P1 WIMAX experience with 3 key words -

*

“Speed”

When it works, WIMAX is a speedy monster for most internet usage. But that’s also partly because we set ourselves very low benchmarks here in Malaysia (Read: Streamyx). It is afterall a wireless technology that was created specifically for Broadband. Some naysayers from the 3G camp expects it to fail, but who the hell cares? This is not VHS vs Betamax. Bring on good speeds in any technology at a reasonable price (not just “competitive”) and Malaysians will PAY, whoever comes first.

That is if you sort out the problems of …

“Stability”

We are guinea pigs. Some will wait. Some are too desperate they will try anything! But we cannot escape the fact that poor old streamyx brings us comfort in knowing we’re connected via a physical line. It is obvious that P1, like any WIMAX provider will need time to sort out the niggles. Some i can control, like placing the modem on the 2nd floor facing my grand window so the light on the modem is always green (short of consulting a feng shui master). But some you can’t, like feeling helpless when the connection is lost, rain or shine.

Downtime is rare for wired connections even if the speed is poor, but with WIMAX you’re truly a goner if it doesn’t hook on, for whatever reason. NO Internet. I can tell you that sucks. Heads will spin, some will fly.

I guess i needed to see this as a paying “experiment” in …

“Wireless”

as It’s inevitable that one day we will all want wireless broadband in our homes. Whether WIMAX is THE solution that pipes you up to the internet remains to be seen. For a start, the sensitivity of the WIMAX modem means that you cannot place it flexibly within the house. Unless you’re inclined to MIMO up everything and live life on the cutting edge, this can be an exercise in frustration for the average joe trying to get on the internet.

Ultimately WIMAX devices needs time to mature. Hopefully Intel can pull their weight and work their Centrino magic all over again, but this time the stakes and competition are much more higher.

1. Set up a moderated forum to help users. This is new tech so what about some official answers ?
2. Empower the Call Center with good cheatsheets to help users troubleshoot modem locale or technical issues.
3. Certify wireless router/APs to work with your black box, esp. when you lock the device. Everybody shares their internet and would be glad to have some assurance.
4. You have our phone numbers and location. Send out SMS to inform affected users on service downtime.

I’ve had my 15 days, so good luck with yours. The potential is always there. And try to be grateful you even have a choice !

… Now where the hell did i put my phone cable again?