Your Hotel Room (is not) always locked automatically

I had been in three different country back to back this week alone. On my last visit, I went to Bangkok and stayed in one of our corporate hotel. It was a good hotel (5-Star) in a good location, although the traffic jams are quite common in the area.

After completing check-in process, I went to my room to refresh myself before going for a dinner with a colleague. When I was about to leave the room, I closed the door and tried to open it again by turning the handle but without inserting the card key. Guess what? It won’t lock. Fortunately, I checked this, otherwise, anyone would have access to my room without any key.  I had two laptops, two phone and other personal valuables in the room.

I called the Housekeeping that eventually called the engineer who never came. I insisted to get a new room and finally was offered one after sometime.  The hotel staff also lied to me that they had sent a new card key for my new room. I waited 20 minutes and with two phone calls confirming the card had been sent to me, the card didn’t arrive.   After 30 minutes, I got my card and I knew the front desk officer lied, because at minute 25, concierge called me that they just got the key from Front-desk and going to send it to me.

I called the Duty Manager to inform him of the mess in his hotel. I got a box of chocolate for an hour of wasted time in taking care of getting a proper room.

Practical Advice

1. Always check if your room are locked before leaving the hotel.  In most cases, it will, but my experience above shows that it could happen
2. When inside the room, lock the room with two additional lock provided (slider lock and handle lock). This will prevent staff or people with key to your room to enter. You may be in the toilet and didn’t hear anyone knocking the door. When staff entered your room, it could be an awkward situation.
3. Request for room near to elevator or emergency exit. It helps to expedite your evacuation. I had been in a hotel that caught on fire in early morning.
4. Request for higher floor. Even it means a longer walk in emergency staircase, but it’ll provide some safety from bombs or explosion that can happen at ground level.

Mobile Roaming blues

Last updated: 31/05/2008

Do you ever get sudden drop of reliability and quality on your mobile service when roaming in different country? Well, you are not alone.  This articles discuss my experiences in few countries and a possible explanation what could have gone wrong.

I have access to two mobile service from Singapore: MobileOne (M1) and StarHub. The former being my business line and the later is my personal line. When roaming to different countries, I got into different sort of quality and reliability issues ranging from unable to make calls, unable to receive call, poor voice quality and a delayed call connection.  These are quite frustrating even for myself, how about for those non-technical consumer like my parents? They just have to accept such situation at face value.

The painful thing about roaming in different countries is that you can’t really contact your operator roaming partner in destination country.  To call your own operator back to Singapore, you’d spend a lot of S$ in IDD and they won’t likely be able to do anything either.

Let’s take a deeper look in few real life incidents:

1. Arrived in Manila tonight and my M1 service uses SMART Gold 3G with full bar. I didn’t get any welcome SMS or any kind of messages. I can make outgoing calls to Singapore but always stuck at ‘The number you called can not be reached, please check the number and call again’. I called both fixed and mobile line in Singapore.  I manually select GLOBE as the operator and I can make the calls and receive SMS.
2. Visited Jakarta, Indonesia many times last year and my M1 will always happily select XL as roaming operator. People from Singapore and Indonesia provided feedback that they can’t call me. When they call me, I got a single ringtone and the call will disconnect before I can answer. Switch to Telkomsel and all is fine.

The fact is each operator has a preferred roaming partner such as M1 with XL (Indonesia), TM (Malaysia) and SMART (Philippines). Preferred operators are the first one to be most of your roaming service unless the signal is not available, in this case the phone will automatically select the next available operator with roaming agreement.  In my experience, SingTel has the best and widest roaming partner followed by StarHub. I am having the most problem with M1 roaming partners.  As an example, SingTel uses Telkomsel in Indonesia (The best operator IMHO).

What could go wrong and some quick tips to avoid issues when roaming:

1. While roaming, it is very likely you’ll use more battery charge so take a spare battery or two and charge every night before going out from the hotel.  While roaming, your SIM card can access more than one operator, thus it keeps on searching the best signal available and switches as needed. This doesn’t happen in home country where it only need to search the strongest base station instead of changing operators (doing registration, etc).
2. Sending caller ID or own number to operator should always be enabled/allowed. In Nokia phones, there is a setting of ‘Sending my number’. If you set it to no, then the operator won’t know who is calling and unable to bill you, thus the call will not be allowed. Enabling it, will allow the call to be made successfully.
3. Set operator manually. This reduces battery strain and usually provide more stable mobile service. There are times when the signal of that chosen operator is not available or very weak, then you’d be prompted to select another operator manually. If you don’t, the phone remains off-network and uncontactable.
4. Set network to GSM/2G instead of UMTS/3G. GSM provides more run for the battery as it uses less energy. It is also the most stable network as in developing countries, the 3G network coverage has plenty of blind spot.  When going through such blind spot, the mobile will switch to 2G or operator which mean using more energy to perform the operations.
5. Check data and voice applicable charges, so that you don’t get shocked when getting the bill at the end of the month.
6. Get a local SIM card. This is the cheapest and the most reliable service you can ever get. The downside of this approach, it is mostly applicable when making outgoing calls or sending SMSes. Most of your contact won’t know your new number unless you tell them.
7. Get a permanent local SIM card if you visit a particular country very often.
8. Bringing a multiple phones won’t hurt.  Those portable battery charger (Sanyo Eneloop mobile charger, Energizer phone charger, etc) would be a good last resort when going over an extended field trip.
9. Check you roaming bill and ensure nothing out of the ordinary charged. Billing software can make mistake and sometimes you’d see ridiculous charge of unsuccessful call of 1 second charged for a full minutes. In roaming charges, one minutes of IDD can mean few dollars.

 Update (28/05): I am now in Kuala Lumpur and surprisingly the roaming with Maxis and TM are better in high-rise than it was before. Still when roamed in 3G, I would get disconnected in the middle of voice call with ‘Connection Error’ message for a few times. This is a repeat experience that I have in high-rise hotel in KL sentral area.

Update (31/05): I was in Bangkok. Received a call from Singapore in my office, I couldn’t hear anything on the other end and vice versa. Called with a local mobile phone, works just fine with the same operator. All is well back in my hotel. Just another example that roaming subscriber will get worse quality in some places even the local ones don’t. 

 

How many Internet connection is enough?

Are you one of those people who only use one Internet connection and feel it adequate? If so, you’re lucky. I’m not and I am writing my rationale for having multiple internet connection.

Where do I need Internet to be available?

• Anywhere in my home. If I can wish more, in pool side, gym, tennis court, parking areas
• My office (not the company Intranet access but a pure Internet access)
• In my Car
• Outdoors when I go to restaurants, shopping malls, parks, including when riding Singapore Flyer *ok That’s a bit extreme example*
• Airports

How do I access Internet?

• My mobile phones
• My work and personal computers
• PDA such as Nokia Tablet or PocketPC devices

Internal factors

First, it depends on the lifestyle and your characters. I’d like to be able to have information on my hand i.e. be able to find product reviews on the spot / shops, Get connected to Instant messaging while on the move, etc.  If this sounds familiar, continue to read more.

Second, it depends if you need to do work anywhere you go.  My work requires me to be connected i.e. push-mail or blackberry services whenever I go.

External factors

First, no Internet Service Providers or Telecommunication company can provide seamless ubiquitous internet service that follows me around. I mean, one company and one product that provide Internet when I’m at home, work, travelling or even abroad.

Second, no company can be best in different Internet services. Convergence of Internet in Singapore is not at the point where one can subscribe to only one Internet service.

Third, Internet connection must be available with the device I have and the location I am at that specific moment. 

Observation on available Internet services

1. Cable and ADSL Internet service, these services provide a well connection to constrained location e.g. home, office but are not possible to access it when we travel outside such locations.
2. Wireless broadband service, It aimed to be available everywhere (which is almost true for Singapore’s well coverage of mobile signal).  Some problems from this service include poor signal in high-rise area or slowdown due to excessive number of users on the same location (Cable Internet syndrome – Remember the Fat green pipe that apparently not wide enough for everyone?).  While in most places 3G and HSDPA grade networks are available, in other countries such high-speed connection only covers selected areas. You can’t use this service if you don’t bring your data card and a laptop with you.
3. Data service on mobile phones/smartphones.  Wireless broadband requires a data card and meant to be used with laptop. Data service here is tied to your mobile phone so that I can browse through it whenever I only bring my mobile phone.
4. Wireless Internet. Singapore’s IDA has a big role in making Singapore a well connected country. It has funded the Wireless@SGinitiative which I believe benefits many residents and guests. There are at least 4 companies offering such service at no charge for 3 years. Unfortunately, this service covers CBD (Central Business District), shopping malls and tourists area (e.g. Orchard Road) but none of the residential areas. 

My practical take on How many is enough.

Well, I need them all. They are serving different location and requires different devices to be used. So should one wants to have ubiquitous (Always available) internet service, they should have it all. My count at the moment on my internet connections:

1. Two from Starhub  for home (including MaxOnline and a free 1Mbps from HubStation which I don’t use). Read earlier post on ‘Locking in customer’ on why I didn’t terminate my service with Starhub after subscribing with SingTel.
2. SingTel ADSL service for home.  Apparently the fastest and the most constant service I ever had up till now.
3. Data plan from M1 SunSurf Plus, a data plan that allows me to use “unlimited” data service on my mobile phone with a flat charge with 3,5G speed. This is handy for my corporate push mail and to browse on the phone when I only carry the phone with me.
4. Wireless broadband from Starhub (Maxmobile). It comes ‘”free” with my MaxOnline when I forfeited my 15% discount of my monthly subscription rate. I am very happy with the service as M1 data service is disappointingly slow in areas that I use it.  I can get always my maximum capped speed of 1Mbps almost every time, every where with speedtest.net Singapore server.  Test with M1 data plan is rather low and doesn’t even reach 1Mbps most of time even if my cap is 3.6 Mbps.
5. Blackberry. I use this to retrieve my email boxes automatically. I travel a lot and being unable to get internet connectivity while travelling severely delay my ability read and respond my emails.
6. Wireless@SG(4 services). When it was launched, one would have to create multiple accounts as the provider of the service needs a separate username and password. Things are different now, Singtel accept QMax and Icellnetwork and more Single-Sign on are coming.  I seldom use this service as they are limited to a particular restaurant, cafe or shopping centre. I prefer to use my data plan or now wireless broadband. If there is a good signal, I’ll use it. Just like now.

So how many internet services did I get myself into? Whopping 10 services (Wireless@SGcounts as 4).  This doesn’t include those pay-as-you-use in my personal mobile line or pay services e.g. boingo or iPass.

SingTel and Starhub come really close in having capability to provide ubiquitous internet service.  Both companies have all Internet services covering from home all to the way to outdoor.  Unfortunately, they still productize their Internet services into separate and different product.

I envision a service in the future that allows one account, one plan that covers home, wireless, mobile, data broadband. 

 

 

STI: StarHub ‘blocking file-share program’

I read an interesting article this morning over Straits Times print edition.

Quoted from the article:

According to the report, released last Friday by a German research firm, only two other Internet service providers (ISPs), both American, block BitTorrent.

The report was generated by a German research firm. While Starhub did not really block the torrent protocol, it severely limits the upload speed.  Limiting upload speed will impact the download spead as the protocol encourages take-give principles.  This explains and confirms the ISP has been shaping its traffic for file sharing protocols.

There are debates if such protocols are allowable or should be blocked due to copyright infrigement. Well, Torrents are used both for downloading movies, music and also legal applications e.g. Linux CD/DVD images that are too big.  I see more and more websites provide torrent as a way to efficiently transfer their applications.  Most concrete example is those linux distribution such as Fedore Core, and others.

It would be very difficult to distinguish a non-copyrighted and copyrighted download for ISPs, but one thing for sure it is a bandwidth intensive application. Torrents are expensive for ISPs as their capacity is used up very quickly and had to upgrade before usual users complains about slow performance.  Alternatively, to limit/shape Torrent traffic until it is no longer a bandwidth intesive application leaving free capacity to serve more customer.

Does this decision has anything to do with legal and ethics, maybe, but the economic interest is more material than the former. Quoted from STI:

Another possible reason it did this may be cost savings. BitTorrent users are known to be huge bandwidth hogs, and are much less profitable for ISPs, compared to surfers who use their connection to surf or play online games.

Whatever it is, we should define ‘Unlimited’ term for broadband. Limiting users’ traffic in whaever way, would move away from the concept ‘Unlimited’. Similar to those mobile broadband Unlimited plan that was capped earlier at 1GB, then 5G and lastly 50GB.

Unlimited is Unlimited, Volume-based cap is not unlimited, Speed restriction is not unlimited if it hampers with overall performance significantly. 

 

M1: You deserve better – Really?

MobileOne (M1) has launched a campaign recently with its eye-catching TV ads.  This article discuss if it really sincere from a customer point of view.

[ youtube=http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=hayhKXu99iw]

As in my previous blog post, I have been with M1, as long as I can remember in 2001. I have switched to SingTel and Starhub, but had to switch back to M1 for one of the line. The line belongs to the company, thus it was not my decision to make.  I recall that I liked M1 during those days, they are challenging SingTel domination in the market and came with attractive services.  It didn’t last long, when Starhub merged with SCV, M1 seems destined to be the last of the three with lack of ‘bundling’ power.

The pitch from the ad ‘Some companies just don’t listen but we do….’

While I have not fully understood if the ad was directed to any or both of the other operators, M1 has also failed me in listening to the customer.  My reception has been very poor at my residential area for over two years. The engineer has visitted my building at least twice to take signal strength and quality, but no action is done.

When I enabled the cell-in on the phone, I see that my phone kept on switching base station even to one that is very far away.  Frequent disconnection, non-3G data connection seems to stay in my area until M1 has decided to really listen to their customer plight. 2 years is a lot of time to do planning and rectify the issue.

Oh well… hope we get something positive out of this PR campaign or the other two operators can responds with mock ads (recall Starhub fat green pipe VS Singtel’s dedicated pipe).
Here is the link to Survey from M1: You Deserve Better

Update (22/05): Straits Times published an article ‘Telcos go all out to snag ’switchers’ .  I still fail to see how this would better position M1 against the others. I’m happy with Starhub now and I used to be happy when I used SingTel before I had to switch to M1. If M1 wants to retain its customer, it needs to differentiate itself from the others. Surprisingly, starhub is the first one to come with HSUPA networks (up to 7.2 Mbit downstream and 2 Mbit upstream).  I would expect that M1 be the frontrunner in wireless broadband, because it doesn’t have anything else to distinguish itself from the others.

I await my days when I’m free from M1 services.

Lenovo Thinkpad price madness

I’m still excited with my new Thinkpad X61. It’s a good machine with a superb reliability.  This articles discusses the pricing madness with Thinkpad accessories.

Lenovo displays all available spare parts and accessories for purchase on its website (Link). There are so called ‘Web Price’ on each of the items. Surprisingly, you can’t buy from the web and will be referred to one of the reseller.  Here why I say there is pricing madness with the spare parts:

1) X61 4-Cell battery (40Y7001)

• SingNet special pricing: S$ 74 *bought on 21/01*
• Lenovo ‘web’ pricing: S$ 139
• Lenovo retail partner at Sim Lim square (Newstead): S$ 189
• Lenovo retail partner at Funan (Add-on System): S$ 189
• Deviation from web pricing:  40%

2) X1 8-Cell battery (40Y7003)

• SingNet special pricing: S$ 102
• Lenovo ‘web’ pricing: S$ 179
• Lenovo retail partner at Sim Lim square (Newstead): S$ 280
• Lenovo retail partner at Funan (Addon System): S$ 229
• Deviation from Web pricing: 60% from highest quoted retail price.

3) Thinkpad 2nd HDD Adapter (SATA)

• Lenovo ‘web’ pricing: S$ 88
• Lenovo retail partner at Funan (Addon): S$ 109
• Deviation from web pricing: 20%

As you can see, Lenovo displayed a grossly inaccurate pricing over the web and does not have control over market prices.  As these accessories are quite niche to power users, those buyer will have to pay the premium price to get it.

I called Lenovo Sales line and stated my frustration over errant partner who grossly sell the parts away from recommended web pricing. The gentleman admitted that he had some frustration too in the past and recommended me another retail partner in Funan. Although the later one was better, but their margin is still very high from the recommended pricing.

So why did Lenovo published those prices without intention of honoring or controlling the price? I’d really like to hear from them.  I would also wonder why was on those retailer mind by marking up the items over 40% (on top of whatever margin Lenovo give them before web price).

I’m really considering using those 3rd party parts from eBay…. for much less. While I don’t take chances with batteries, but harddisk adapter is fairly simple part.

Update (22/05): Won an eBay item on HDD adapter made by a Chinese factory. Will see how the quality will be.

If anyone knows why the pricing scheme is made so unreasonable, please enlight me.

 

Fixing weak signal in Wireless WAN (HSDPA Sierra) in Thinkpad Notebooks

Updated: 31/05/2008: I read two people having the same problem in one of a local forum. Seems to be a quite common defect in manufacturing.

Most of you would get a good working product usually, that unfortunately doesn’t apply to me. My new Thinkpad X61 has been plagued with problems: Unable to create recovery disc, error in restoring to factory default setting and the recent one was a very weak signal using WAN Modem (3G, HSDPA).

After a number of calls to Starhub and Lenovo, I decided to try repair it myself using some logics. I couldn’t find similar article or fixes in the internet, I hope this would help others having the same problem in the future.

Problem

When connecting to a mobile operator / mobile broadband with access connection, you’d get failed connection often or a very weak signal 0-15% in a well covered area.  One simple way is to use your mobile phone or other WAN Modem e.g. Huawei USB Sticks E170 or E220 to check on the network coverage. If you get a discrepancy that is significant enough, most likely you have a faulty WAN Adapter (Sierra MC8775 in my case).

What could have gone wrong

There are plenty of possible causes, here are some:

• Really bad network coverage in the area. Eliminate this possibilty by testing the coverage quality with other devices e.g. mobile phone, other similar laptop with WAN network adapter or broadband modem such as HuaWei or Vodafone datacards
• Faulty hardware. Eliminate this possibility by checking if SIM card can be accessed e.g. request for PIN, search for available network, attempt to connect to a network, normal status in device manager
• Faulty connection
• Faulty antennae

Resolution

1. Familiarize yourself with Thinkpad removal and installation of Mini PCI cards from Lenovo/IBM website. Read more here. The movie and instructions are easy to follow.
2. Open the laptop until the network card is exposed
3. Look for the card with ‘Sierra’ label, in my case it is in right side. There is a red cable that connects to the left pin. Ensure that connector is securely pinned into pin from the card. You should feel a click when pushing (gently) the cable pin into mini card’s pin.
4. Trace visually to see if the cables are routed correctly to right metal hinge just below the LCD.
5. Inspect visually (with torch light) on the WAN Antennae that nothing is broken.

In my case, I found that the red cable pin was touching the pin from WAN Modem Mini card but was not securely clicked. I simply push the pin and ensure they are connected securely and re-assemble the covers. Voila!!!! The software now reports 50-70% of signal strength, similar with what another X61 notebook reported.

 

This fault must be coming from factory where the assembly workforce may be ‘forgotten’ to ensure good contacts and diagnostics didn’t cover checking of such functionality.  Well, I’m glad that I can solve this on my own. It was very frustating calling Lenovo call centre.  I share same sentiments from some forum threads that I read, the customer service agents are unsympathetic and makes you do unnecessary things ( I was told to re-image my laptop, reinstall drivers, run diagnostic, etc ). Even a non-technician as myself can deduce logically that this must be hardware-related issue and any software reinstallation won’t fix the issue.

Disclaimer: By opening your unit, you may void your warranty and damage your system from static charges and other possibility. Do this at your own risk and I won’t accept any liabilities of damages from your repair.

Kudos to Starhub customer care agent, she went an extra mile to help me do a few elimination although we both agreed that this is hardware issue on laptop side and not on Starhub’s networks or its network adapter. One point down for Lenovo (IBM?) customer service.

Practical Advice

1. Try to do simple troubleshooting
2. Eliminate potential issue by logical deduction or experiment (careful of what you’re doing, it may damage the system).
3. Converse smart with the call centre agent, they need your guidance sometimes to take appropriate action.
4. Google around for similar article, who knows someone has a fix for your problem.

 

 

Practical Downgrade / Install Windows XP guide to Thinkpad notebooks

Most of the laptops/notebooks come with Windows Vista flavors these days and it is not what all consumers like. Some prefers to stay in Windows XP due to less demanding resources and quicker response.  I’ll touch a bit on why selecting XP over Vista and vice versa followed by how to do it (excerpt)

Windows XP or Vista?

Well, we should really moving to Vista by now ideally speaking. It is the current technology and a better product in some ways.  Windows XP was created in 2000 which mean it was 8 years ago!!! For an IT software, 8 years is a feat which is hard to beat.

Here is why you want to consider XP over vista:

• You require the maximum of what your hardware (Storage, Memory, CPU, etc) can deliver
• You are not ready to spend weeks or months to learn a new operating system
• Your machine that may not be able to deliver the same performance in Vista compared to XP
• Simplicity and familiarity are your primary criteria in evaluating this.

Bear in mind, there are some catches staying with Windows XP:

• Microsoft, in all its best economic interest, would not develop XP much further. It rather sell Vista or create a more compelling substitute of Vista.
• Service Pack 3 may be the last SP there is.
• In a couple of years, the support for it will end. There has been a strong demand for Microsoft to extend this, but I am not aware on the last update.
• Architecturally, it is less secure than Vista, thus improperly configured XP has higher vulnerability.

You may want to consider Vista over XP for:

• You want to keep up to date with current Windows OS life cycle
• You like the new User Interface and it’s cool effects
• You feel assured with increased security in Vista
• You don’t mind trading storage, performance for all benefit that Vista can offer
• You have new machines that are certified/designed to work with Vista.

Having said that, some people have opted to have a dual boot. I personally dropped the idea. It is simply too much work and often a failed attempt to make both OS working with the software that I’m running.  Even if I want to have access to two OS, I’d use two separate hard disk.

Now supposed that your notebook (In this case, I’ll pick Lenovo Thinkpad as an example) comes with Vista and you’d switch over to XP, there are options to do this. You can either purchase a XP recovery CD for the notebook (Only Vista Business and may be Ultimate have this option).  Once you get hold of the CDs, just boot-up using the first CD and follow the prompt. You’ll be running XP in no time with all drivers installed.  The most that you need is to install System Update and update all drivers to curent version.

If Recovery CD is not an option i.e. you are using Vista Home (Basic/Premium), then you’d need to do some work. The option is either to purchase a XP license or use your existing one. Using illegitimate means are not recommended as Microsoft can detect this and surpress any future updates that you need.

A very good article is written here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=188992 While it’s a good article, I can’t seems to follow every steps. So this post is meant to complement parts that I felt missing.

1. When downloading drivers for Wireless and Ethernet devices, it can be confusing as they are at least two options each. For X61, choose Intel Wireless and Intel Ethernet.  If memory serves me good, A centrino laptop should use Intel Wireless networking.
2. Slight deviation from the order did not make any adverse effect on my attempt.
3. The defrag from command-line didn’t work for me, so I use a normal GUI one
4. Ultranav utility and some others that are mentioned can be installed easily with SystemUpdate. Make sure you have downloaded and installed .NET runtime and then install the System update. It’ll detect any mising/obselete drivers (in most cases) and update them for you automatically.

Thinkpad advantage

I used to be on the Acer camp, as they are the first ones to come up with latest Intel CPUs and chipsets. The price are reasonably affordable.  After a few years, I stayed away from it. This is mainly due to its short product lifecyle.  Imagine you purchase a laptop today, and Acer only updates their drivers no more than 1 year.  So if price/performance is important, it can be your choice.

Lenovo (used to be IBM’s) Thinkpad were outside of the radar due to its price tag and relatively lower specification from the competitor. I came to reliase the best of ThinkPad later on.  Thinkpad are strong (you can drop it and it still survives), it has a longer lifecycle (>3 years in some produts I have), and the SystemUpdate is a major plus. Again, SystemUpdate is a piece of software that automatically detect your machine configuration and offers you to download and install everything at one go.  This is a time saver. Really.

The conservative design in ThinkPad seems to increase durability and quality of the product. The gripes that I have with the series is that the high-pitch noise when the machine is under standby and relatively hot when in use. 

I got my X61 recently, the first portable machine I have without sacrificing much of the computing power that I need. It’s about time the form factor and computing power to co-exist together…

 

Practical Advice

1. Consider carefully which Operating system you want to use. Opting for both when you don’t have a very good reason is a resource waste.
2. Known your technical capabilities in setting up the system you want. For those who are not familiar with reimaging or configuring a new OS would be better off with pre-loaded system
3. Always create Recovery CDs as soon as you get the laptop. They can be used later when you need to restore the laptop in working condition.
4. Consider building a clean XP instead of a bloated recovery CD. You’ll not get all those Shareware (Norton) and other unncessary software. You’d need to spend time to build the system though.
5. Create image of you system in stages, so that you can restore to each stages easily.

 

 

Road manners, Accidents and Traffic jams in Singapore

In this week alone, I have seen two accidents along AYE area near the entrance I usually pass through.  For the past two years, I can’t recall any serious accidents along this highway, which is different than accident-prone PIE.

Few days ago a heavy truck was rolled sideways and obsctucted two lanes. While efficiently is amazing in SIngapore, there was still quick a snaking traffic which goes very low about 5-10 KM/h.  Similarly today, another long queue about 1-2 KM before the accident area.  The funny thing is that once you passed through the accident point, the traffic was a breeze. Roads are empty and you can get on to normal maximum allowed speed limit 90KM/h. 

So what causes the excessive jam? Well, The other road users!! They are not affected by the accident but have a large curiosity. Every cars and motorcycles would slow down near the line of sight of accident area. They try to have a look at the spot as long as they can and sometimes ignoring their own safety.  A motorcycle driver in front of me took multiple glimpse of the accident point behind him and ignoring what is in front of him.  Should he lost his balance, i would have ran into his motorcycle…. Who is at fault then? How to prove this in case the accident really happen?

On another point, the low COE phenomenon from late 2006 has started to yield an undesirable effect. Car registration was taking pace faster than ever and there are plenty of new car owners in the past two years.  I have seen plenty of irresponsible drivers that do the following:

1. Swithing lane without signalling first. (Lazy, Laxy and Lazy)
2. Switching lane when there is not enough safety distance, even though signal light was given, it is dangerous, as the driver behind wouldn’t have enough time to react. (Just Follow Law, but never use it in context. In this case the signal light was turned on but not to negotiate traffic).
3. Doing a zig-zag into available lanes (F1 driver wannabes)
4. Not turning own main lamp during heavy rain and low visibility (They must have thought switching lights will use more petrol !!)
5. Stopping at double yellow line (There is a good reason why it is marked with double yellow line!)
6. Stopping without signaling and just brake at will without regards of other road users.

When I see cars with one or the above signs, I try to be careful and avoid these irresponsible divers.  While It is unfair to stereotype, Bulk of road users with the above signs are either lorry or Taxi drivers.  Taxis would stop with short or no warning at all, which may cause a multiple car accident.

Last week, there were multiple car crash in ECP just after Changi Airport. Guess who were involved? Well if you read my text above, you’d guess well. 2 Taxies and 1 private car in a consecutive crash.

How I wish that I can communicate and pass my message to those irresponsible road users to get their act together and follow the rules. When they endanger themselves, they endanger other road users.

Practical advice

1. When you see careless drivers (signs including the above but not limited to thoese), take extra precaution and keep safe distance.

2. Use headlamp and horn to remind such drivers and get their attention to be more careful. (Once I did this, usually, those vehicles who never bother to signal when switching lane, will do so)

3. Maintain safe distance when you’re in high-speed. Getting into a multiple crash if a nightmare

4. Ensure your lamps are working. I have seen a car with a faulty braking lamp, others won’t know when this car hit a brake.

 

A week with Nokia 8800 Arte Sapphire (Symbian Series 40)

My first Nokia phone was a 5000-series model back in 1998. It has a simple operating system and a largely independent device i.e. no synchronization with PIM such as Microsoft Outlook, etc. The subsequent phone includes a couple more of 5000-series and the first model with built-in antennae 3120.

From there, I switch to its flagship range – the 9000-series or widely known as Communicator. I used all except the very first communicator including 9110, 9210, 9210i, 9500, 9300, E90. While it’s bulky or rather a size of a wall brick, it has a number of function that I really use namely Personal Information Manager (Calendar, Alarm, Contact/Phonebook, etc). A couple important features are a full QWERTY keyboard and a wide screen.

Nokia launched the smartphone line sometime in 2003-4 (?) called Symbian Series 60 or S60 for short. It has a form factor of usual mobile phone but packed with plenty of features. I started to pick-up some phones on this range in late 2006 on their 3rd edition of S60. This is particularly useful when I don’t want to bring a ‘brick’ during weekends or non-business matters. Meanwhile, the older phone (basic) are called Series 40 or S40 for short.

I never really liked or interested to use S40 due to its simplicity and lack of smartphone features that I’m looking at. To my surprise, it has grown quite mature in the recent year e.g. from text-based to GUI-based. It started to impressed me with Nokia 6300 that offers a new user interface (UI) and a 3G support. It was also implemented in Nokia 8800 Sirocco, a luxury line of the phone.

Last week, I had the chance to use the latest and the most expensive Nokia phone (excluding Vertu range), Nokia 8800 Arte Sapphire (RRP: S$ 2088). Here’s what I found:

1. Synchronization with Microsoft Outlook 2007 is flawless supported by mature PC Suite software. Data synch-ed include: Contact, Calendar, Notes, Task, To-do. Perfect to bring all the data I need on the phone.
2. It has 1GB built-in memory, enough space for me to take pictures, songs and some other media or files. Previous model has a very limited memory and without possibility to use memory cards.
3. The camera has auto-focus capability
4. The screen was gorgeous and bigger than previous model
5. The leather cover both on front and back sides are really a plus. It offers good grip and less ‘fingerprint marks’ issues.
6. Sound quality really nice and no complaint during voice call even when I’m outside in noisy area. It has a voice clarity feature.
7. Ringtones are very crisp and clear
8. Voice dial for all contacts. Voice training is offered to enhance recognition quality.
9. Key sensitive keypad, an almost effortless experience in typing SMS-es
10. Java program such as Gmail, Google Maps, Opera Mini works and can be installed.
11. Support for 3G connection making it viable to be used all over the world

With those features, I have more than 60% of frequently used function on the phone. As it is small and has style, it is a good phone to be in my pocket when I don’t need to do any work. It is, however, no replacement for my E90 or N95 which has worldwide GPS navigation enabled, dictionaries, and other 3rd party utilities installed.

One most unfortunate feature that I’m missing is the ability to make/receive video call. Although it operates in 3G network, no video call can be made/received. At the moment, I haven’t been able to find information if data connection can be made in 3G or only limited to GPRS/EDGE.

I can’t have S40 or simple phone as my primary phone all week long, but I know it can complement me on certain situation. The Nokia 8800 Arte Sapphire is a luxury phone that offers good features compared previous model. In 2006, Nokia 8800 Sirocco Gold edition sells about S$200 cheaper but is not comparable to Arte Sapphire in terms of luxury and technical feature.

If you have the money to spend, this is one of the good phone to get for both functionality and style.

Practical advice

A S40 phone or simple phone can be a complement for those smartphone power users. There are times where we just want to enjoy life or relax and certainly not having a blackberry-enabled device would bring some peace for the family. It is also small and more comfortable to bring around.

Know where you’re going and only leave your S60 or advanced smartphone when you’re sure that you won’t need them. I usually bring two phones when I’m not sure if I need the advance smartphone features. It wouldn’t hurt and you have a spare phone in case you have a flat battery.

Opinions expressed in this article are mine and does not represent any affiliations to any organizations that I may have.