First, if you're wondering, what in the world is a picture of a man doing in my blog entry? Don't scared - as my inner chinese self would say - the man is Joey Yap - A feng shui master who likes being called a Feng Shui Youngster coz it apparently makes him sound old :)

Anyway, we had him on the show yesterday and man... it was an eye opening experience. This dude just took a quick look at Fabes' face and immediately he could tell exactly the kind of person he is. I've known Fabes - if my calculations are right, almost 8-9 years already... and if there's anything to know about his personality - I think I'd be the best judge - Joey was right down to the nitty gritty details!

So since Chinese New Year - the year of the Ox is just 2 days away, I decided to pick on some of the things Joey mentioned... and have it passed on to make the Year of the Ox a better one for all... 

South East Sector

This new year, according to Joey has a lot of the positive energy located in the South East sector... which pretty much means this... if you've got a room, stand in the middle of the room, grab a compass and look for the South East section - if there's a window, use that window more often (I don't mean jump out of it). If there's a door, use that door more often. In essence, spend more time at the South East Sector. 

BUT what if you've got no door, nor window? Joey suggests a water feature. If could be a mini fountain or an aquarium with running water (ie. water filter ectc). It is not mandatory to have fishes living inside - although it'd be great to eat up the mosquitos that might be breeding... Just a side note, I HATE MOSQUITOS... they treat me as a buffet spread whenever I get a close encounter...  

Relationships

Want to get great relationships in the family? No problem. Joey suggests that families and couples should spend more time in the southern area of the home. So if you've got a toilet at that area of the home, get the whole family to join you when you're doing your TANG... :P 

Arguments?

The quarrelsome area of the year of the Ox is located in the North East area - to quarrel less or avoid quarrels, use this area less. Put a plant of something so you'd spend less time there. Instead, spend more time in the North West area of the home which promotes harmony and happiness. 

So there you go, a little feng shui talk for you to equip yourself for the year of the Ox... oh yes, one more thing, was going through some feng shui websites and found this!

A feng shui BED! Jeez... these people can figure out just about anything don't they? :P

Happy Chinese New Year, drive safe, eat loads, be merry and may you have great health, wealth and happiness in the year of the Ox! Kong Xi Fa Chai!

Yesterday was one of those days where I got a little 'gloomy' - and so with EVERY gloomy day I've got, it usually ends with something that would cheer me up. Some people go the food method, some chocolates, some ice-cream, some binge shopping - you get the idea. Me? Gadgets and toys...

Since I didn't feel like spending any cash, I went ahead and downloaded Windows 7! Yes, Microsoft recently released a beta version of the touted latest and greatest version of the Windows Operating system.

To be honest, I've always been a Windows fan... then Apple came and decided to make all things nice and sweet - cuddly and just 'nice'. To make matters worse, Microsoft worked on an operating system called Longhorn and took literally the longest time... and finally got it released as Windows Vista - amidst all the hype - it was a product which didn't exactly live up to the expectations of the tech gerbils of the world. Some people say it was too slow, incompatible with older software, was cluttered up - my reasoning it was simple - Microsoft simply promised too much, couldn't meet up with expectations and as scholars around the world would tell you - people simply don't like too much change.

With Windows being the core software of Microsoft - coz without Windows, there'd be no operating system for Microsoft applications to run on - the largest and greatest software company on the face of this earth would be as good as dead.

So Microsoft went back to the drawing board and created Windows 7 - why 7? Apparently there's a whole explanation for it and Vista was 6 so Windows is 7 or something like that. If you REALLY want to know why, checkout this link.

I must say, Microsoft might have just out done themselves this time around. It's not just Vista with a new skin. It's Vista that was MEANT to be.

When requirements are A LOT less...
I don't want to delve too much into technical details (other sites or blogs would have spoken about it) - but Windows Vista if you recall - required quite a bit of souped up hardware - specific graphic cards, 2GB RAM etc for the ultimate Windows Vista performance... and guess what?

Tada! Windows 7 runs easily on my NETBOOK - and it's not Windows 7 with the bare-minimum experience - it's the whole glassy-aero effect, the bomb-diggidy - as Fabes would say.

You're talking about a 1GB Memory Machine, Intel Atom 1.6Ghz processor, 120GB drive and other basic items like built-in WiFi, Camera etc. Vista will NEVER run at full performance with such specs.

A pretty much plug and play experience
From the many blogs I read, Windows 7 seems to excel in areas of Plug and Play - plug-in something and it works. Since my Netbook didn't come with bluetooth, I bought a bluetooth dongle which required the cumbersome driver installation on XP and Vista - but on 7, it was PLUG - 15 seconds later - "Hardware is ready for use!".

Streamlined taskbar
The start menu and taskbar are now LOADS more intuitive - almost mac-ish looking. Running applications no longer show as icons and names, just icons. Multiple windows of the same application are stacked together instead of occupying space on the task bar the length of the Great Wall. Hover on one of the icons and out comes miniature windows showing what's currently showing on that application...

A mini conclusion...
It's just my first day of using Windows 7 Beta - and I must say, what other people have said about this Beta version; that it's as close as it gets to the release - I can most definitely agree. This is the bomb-diggidy... faster, more streamlined, much much easier to use, much much lower requirements, ZERO hiccups during installation... and that's just what I can see within this first 24 hours - can't wait for more discoveries... Try it out yourself today and download Windows 7 beta... - congratulations Microsoft!

A mini ending...
What is an ending to a blog entry without a strange picture. Here's one - caught in the studio this morning. Fabes experiencing what he calls the 'head baby massage' - performed by the GREAT Amrita - our producer :P

Drop me a comment if you've got something to say! :)

Just 1 more week to Chinese New Year! Yay! Can't wait... this year is going to be different coz it'll be the first time Stella and I celebrated it together as husband and wife :P

Okay fine, in case you're wondering why exactly am I so 'emo' nowadays, it's Gossip Girl - yes, you may think it's a chick flick but NOOOOOO... you're sooo wrong... I initially thought of that too but it's not just about super rich teens in high school. It's wayyyy more than that... it's about relationships, about life, about the bridging of 2 communities, life lessons etc... it's much deeper than what most people would have thought. Plus, what's not to like about a show that's got Serena Vanderwoodsen & Blair Waldorf? :) It's amazing how I can remember the character names :P

Anyway, now that I've said my peace for Gossip Girl... I'll be my manly self now and speak of the weekend... ate a dish which had it's name named after mua - Eggs 'Ben'edict. Absolutely scrumptious but light breakfast... combines the good of leafy greens, two poached eggs, chicken ham, bernaise sauce - all stacked on lightly
toasted french bread - maybe it was Italian?

Then there's this...

Was having breakfast in the wee hours of the day - arrived at the studio, sat down and saw it! What the heck is it?


I have no idea, it either was already on my pants when I came in or the stain came from the chair.

My guess is, it's probably egg yolk that came from my half boiled egg meal earlier and it's most definitely not some gross / obscene excretion which Fabes and Nadia thought.

If you needed to know, I took a whiff of it (shouldn't have done that but I JUST HAD TO KNOW!) - it didn't smell funky so it's definitely not some dung the Fly FM Night Flight or Rush Hour guys left behind :P

Have an awesome one! Leave me a comment if you've anything to say!

Wassup! It's a FLYYYYYDDDAAAAYYYY... almost feels celebratory - the weekend is finally here, I can finally sleep all the way past 4am... (I can hardly sleep past that on workdays).

I just thought I'd write a little community service blog. Was reading my e-mail when I found out someone just got scammed close to 5,000 ringgit. That's FREAKING 5,000 BUCKS! I can buy a handphone, a brand new netbook, a computer, tonnes of gadgets... but of course... HOW DID THE UNFORTUNATE DUDE GET CONNED?

Simple... he saw an e-mail... said something about "maintenance by Maybank" and asking him to follow a link...

You guessed it... he followed!

That's just it! NEVER EVER EVER follow links asking you to update / check or do whatever with your banking account. Here's how you can spot a scam site... in case you ever get led to a 'banking' looking site - forget about the nitty gritty details like how genuine the logo looks or how professional it looks - just look at the "arrow - above".

Yes, for the uninitiated - that's the URL bar, address bar or you can just call it the 'blank' space. That's where you key in your website's address. If the address looks strange - in this case, the address is hardly anything related to Maybank, I suggest you to thread with caution. In doubt, just close the window and go to your banking account the regular way.

How does banking scam get executed?
After looking at a few of the screen shots, here's how the scam's executed.

Step 1
Send you an e-mail telling you something's wrong with your account - asking you to click a link to update your account

Step 2
You get to this page which 'looks' genuine - you key in your regular username and password and click "submit"

Step 3
Surprise surprise - it says you're logged in! It says hold on, a tac will be sent and asks that you wait for 5 minutes

Step 4
Scammer gets your username and password, logs on into your REAL bank account and asks that money gets transferred into his / her account - but but he needs a tac - he / she requests for the tac

Step 5
Scammer clicks the "request tac" button, you get the TAC message and you key it into the scammer's page after recieving it

Step 6
Scammer gets your tac and keys it into your REAL bank account page and money is TRANSFERRED

Step 7
You get scammed

Now that you know the workings behind online scamming activities... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE practice caution when accessing your bank account online. Surf safe & have a BRILLIANT WEEKEND!

Photo 1 - My dog named Girl Girl and my mini notebook

The message? In the future, dogs may learn to use such mini notebooks also known as netbooks. Toy dogs, although toy-ish in size may be secretly learning to use computers to rule the world. Do NOT... I repeat DO NOT fall for the cute little doggy eyes and that antennae looking hair-do.

Photo 2 - A shot in the studio... and a bent headphone jack

The message? The jocks from Fly FM have the power of barbarians... most in the area of strength. Even a thing as solid as a headphone jack that btw is gold plated to ensure sturdiness succumbs to such greatness... one push from the barbarians and it gets bent.

So there you go, my blog for today. Not much to say but... oh yeah, these pics were taken using my iPhone 3G killer - the one featured in my last entry...
bet the iPhone 3G doesn't take pictures anything close to this sharpness and clarity... hehehe...

Got something to say? Drop me a comment! :)

If you've been following my blog, you would've discovered that I bought myself a phone the moment the clock struck 12 on the 31st of December 2008! The HTC Touch Pro - to cut the story short, it was a great phone, but was just too much for me to handle... so I decided to let it go... at a FANTASTIC price... someone OUT THERE has gotten a good deal and I know my ex-phone has landed on good hands...

Alas, it's time to speak of what this blog entry was meant to talk about - the iPhone has been dethroned... the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

Looks familiar? If you've watched The Dark Knight, you could have caught a glimpse of this phone!

Firstly, let me give you a lowdown on what this phone has compared to the iPhone...

• GPS with directional guide (not in iPhone)
  
• 3D Stereo Speakers - rated as one of the best speakers on a mobile phone according to some professionals (iPhone's speakers suck)
  
• 1st ever phone in the Nokia world to have touch screen
  
• Tactile feedback - allows you to 'feel' every button touched (not in iPhone)
  
• 3.2 Megapixel autofocus camera (iPhone only offers up to 2.0 megapixel with NO autofocus)
  
• 640 x 480 video recording (not in iPhone)
  
• 8GB Memory standard - upgradeable to 32GB (iPhone - NOT UPGRADEABLE)
  
• WiFi
  
• 3G with HSDPA (iPhone only offers 3G)
  
• Plays Video
  
• Plays Music
  
• Uses Windows Media Player or simply drag & drop to drop in Songs / Videos (iPhone requires iTunes)
  
• MMS (not in iPhone at time of writing)
• Cut & Paste (not in iPhone at time of writing)
• Bluetooth profile supports bluetooth stereo, sending of business cards, images, files (neither feature is available on iPhone)
• 3G Video Call (not in iPhone) 

As you can see, there are many things the iPhone 3G doesn't offer compared to Nokia's latest. Price tag? RM 1,499. Compare that to some of the non-contract iPhones you can pickup from our neighbour Singapore - RM 2,600 - that's a ridiculous RM1,300!

Plus, to begin with, the iPhone 3G is not even officially available in Malaysia - pick one up in Singapore or elsewhere, you'd not get official Apple warranty and service in Malaysia.

With so many points and so many glaring disadvantages compared to the 5800, in my opinion, iPhone's been dethroned, here's Nokia's latest, greatest, better alternative the 5800. I'll write-up an indepth review on the 5800 later but in the mean time, keep an eye on this latest baby - it could just be changing the phone landscape.

Drop me a comment if you've got something to say!

Ho ho ho merry christmas everybody! Christmas officially ends today... Anyway, since I just got back from the holidays, I don't usually like to gloat about what I got but this year, it is just too good to pass!

Let's start it off with some of the things I got from my family...

My wife, she got me a Nintendo Wii! Yay! I know I mentioned it on air before because she got it while we were in Paris... Couldn't resist it, so I had to get it opened up a little earlier :) thank you very much my love... FANTASTIC exercise machine I tell ya - the Wii I mean :P

Next comes my parents who got both Stella and I tickets to watch the musical Mama mia! Thank you thank you... The musical was awesome btw.

Then there's my sis and aunt who each got me a pair of very nice cuflings (hope I spelled that right) and a pair of classy and cool looking wedding themed photo frames...

Okay... Now on to me me me... :) I'm sorry... I'm just so proud of my recent acquisition... Here it goes...

If you don't know by now, I have always had this obsession with mobile phones. There was this time where I used over 50 phones in a span of 1 year! 2008 was different... I made a promise to myself not to change my phone until the end of the year.

So January 1st 2009, I was wide awake at 5am. Took me 6 hours to finally get Stella (my wife) and eventually our dog out of bed and then the journey began... The hunt for a phone shop that was open on a public holiday ;) ... Hours later, I found it and tada!

I'll blog about the phone in a future entry... but the gloating continues...

And as if that wasn't enough, I was shopping for a mouse when I came across this!

Remember my little Christmas wish I had in my last blog entry? Well, there it was staring at me. I went closer... And then the unbelievable happened... It was on a major 50% off! Just 2 more units left! My hands reached my toy to-be faster than I could send my brain a message and yes, needless to say... I own one now! Yay!

Ok... I'm done gloating :) wanna share with me what you got for Christmas? drop me a comment and oh yeah... Happy New Year 2009!