Daily Jots @ d2zone.netMy jots and almost everything else under the sun

Just taking the opportunity to wish all my muslim friends, Selamat Berpuasa and Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

WiMAX is expected to launch today.

Michael Lai, the Chief Executive Officer of Packet One (P1) Berhad said that the company will officially roll out its first stage of WiMax services which will cover the Klang Valley in around KLCC, Setapak, Sentul, Gombak and some areas of Subang. Prices for the services ranges from RM60 to RM100 depending on the speed of the broadband internet access. He said “We intend to be a regional player. We have been talking to some new WiMAX licensees in the region and are exploring opportunities for potential collaborations,”

- MalaysiaToday.com

But…

Only few coverage areas? Waitaminute…isn’t WiMAX’s coverage is within 100km radius or something? What are they launching anyway? WiMAX or WiFi?

If it’s truly a WiMAX, then those who are within 100km radius of KLCC should be able to get the signal. Right? I’m in Damansara area, and KLCC to Damansara is way less than 100km. So I should be able to get WiMAX too. But why the limited coverage?

This is so sad. Most of us have been waiting for WiMAX for a long time already, and these people have been delaying their services too many times already. And finally when they are ready to launch, I don’t see it as WiMAX, more like juiced up WiFi only.

Guess we have to wait again…

In the marvels of modern medicine, we soon may abandon the use of medical drugs in time to come.

Example: If someone been having a severe back pain for years takes medical drugs to ease the pain, that drug may cause other body system to fail.

Now imagine this, that same person who suffers from severe back pain goes for the Sonotron Therapy, he or she may eliminate the pain for good, without any drugs or side effects. Doesn’t that sound good?

That is the way of the future…kinda reminds me of Star Trek kinda gadget thingy, the hand held thing they use to “scan” the pain area and cures it.

Well, that technology is here now. Only thing is that not many people knows about it. Which is why I’m writing this.

So what is Sonotron Therapy?

Sonotron Therapy is one of the quickest, if not the quickest, safest and most effective, totally non-invasive alternative medical therapy for patients with chronic and acute pain in their joints, and other soft tissues, without needing to use drugs nor does it give any adverse side effect.

Sonotron Therapy is recognized by most medical professionals as the medical solution of the 21st century, available today.

This alternative medical therapy is performed by the use of a Sonotron which is a totally non-invasive, patented device that was invented by Dr. Alfonso Di Mino of the United States of America in 1987.

It works by means of a Corona Discharge Beam (patented) that’s produced when a low radio frequency of 430 kHz, pulsed at a low sound frequency of 1 kHz is applied to an electrode situated inside a hand-held Applicator.

The Corona Discharge Beam is then directed to the spot or area of difficutly above the skin of a patient.

During therapy, the device does not touch the patient at all. The therapy is thus totally non-invasive and external, requiring no drugs, comfortable and painless.

It has been proven safe for use.

It increases almost immediately the speed and range of motion of an arthritic joint.

Besides, pain relief can be achieved in as fast as 15 to 45 seconds. Significant results are obtained for most chronic conditions of pain within a short period of time.

Sonotron Therapy is effective for an almost immediate relieving of pain due to Osteo-arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis, Tennis elbow, Frozen shoulder, Stiff neck, Lumbago, Housemaid’s knee, Ankylosing spondylitis, Cervical Spondylosis, Sports injuries that affect muscles and that cause swelling in tissues.

It hastens the rehabilitation of stroke patients and healing of skin diseases.

Sonotron Therapy is also very good for speeding the improvement of chronic asthmatic patients.

The area to be treated can be an arthritic joint, a set of muscles or any site underlying the skin of a patient in difficulty.

Most patients will walk away with significant improvement, almost immediately after the therapy session.

Need more info? Check out www.panmedic.com.my to find out.

Since I’m in a new environment, I won’t be blogging as much as before. So this is probably my one and only blog post for this month, but I surely hope this won’t be the only one.

I will try my best to post up something in days to come during my free time.

Till then…cheers for now.

Intel Centrino 2 vs AMD Puma…which one?

Again, I come to a point of making a decision.

Right after Intel launches its new Centrino 2 processor for mobile computing, AMD wants to come out and play too. AMD Puma has been launched in Asia and already being sold in IT vendors around town.

I have always been a huge fan of AMD and I’ve been using AMD ever since the K2 processor era. I think it’s because I feel that AMD has a better processing power when it comes to 3D games such as Counter Strike back when I was a hardcore gamer…kinda. But that was during the era of desktop PCs.

Now…almost all IT geeks and enthusiast are looking for mobility power, with minimum battery consumption.

I have done few readings and research on my own to know which processor would suit today’s lifestyle when it comes to mobile computing. I have evaluated laptops that uses Intel and AMD. I find that Intel has a slight edge over AMD in terms of usability and battery consumption. And the WLAN on Centrino machines are stronger in terms of its radio signal to catch the available WiFi AP in the surrounding area.

As for AMD on laptops, I can still “feel” the power when it handles heavy graphics and 3D games. It still renders 3D very well even on a low memory laptops. Of course, it also depends on the graphic card. I think it was a GeForce Go with 128MB memory on nForce motherboard.

But now both of the chip makers are out playing in the field again with their new processors. We have seens lots of dual-core machines out there and some even have quad-core. Yet to see is the 8-core laptop PCs, like the one being used by Mac Pro desktop. That would be awesome.

Here’s a snippet of an article I found for the new Centrino 2 processor:

Computing performance

Using the latest 45nm chips, the Penryn Core 2 Duo processors are said to be faster while consuming less power. According to Intel, the 2.8GHz Penryn chip takes 30 seconds less to perform a single task compared with the previous-gen 2.33GHz model, while, at the same time, using 60 percent less power.

The Intel Turbo Memory feature has also been given a boost, with the maximum RAM upped to 2GB. This component is supposed to reduce boot times while increasing battery life and performance. However, its previous iteration didn’t really impress reviewers all that much, so we’ll have to wait and see if the new implementation has improved.

Graphics

Integrated graphics has finally entered the DirectX 10 era. The GM45 and GM47 mainboards hold Intel’s X4500HD video chips which are capable of decoding HD movies natively without the use of third-party software. The GM47 version has slightly better performance in this area, thanks to its 640MHz GPU, compared with the 533MHz model in GM45. PM45 chipsets are reserved for machines which hold discrete GPUs. With more and more LCD TVs being found in homes, it’s also timely that HDMI ports are part of the Centrino 2 standard.

However, an interesting twist to this story is that there is now an optional feature which allows the user to switch between the integrated GPU and discrete video card. Though this functionality has existed on Sony VAIO SZ series notebooks, the Centrino 2 implementation kicks in automatically and does not require the system to reboot. Unfortunately, unlike AMD’s Puma platform which lets the system use both integrated and discrete solutions simultaneously, Intel’s version is an either-or model.

Connectivity

Anticipating more prevalent HD video downloads as well as greater penetration of home media networks, Centrino 2 laptops will come with Gigabit Ethernet ports and 802.11n radios as standard. Moreover, as one of its primary supporters, Intel is offering WiMAX connectivity as an option on the new platform.

Security

This one is for the cubicle warrior. The latest Centrino 2 with vPro machines hold all the advantages of the vPro platform, but now include an anti-theft component. When the stolen PC is connected to the Internet, the system administrator can wipe out the encryption key on the hardware remotely, thereby rendering the data on the harddisk useless.

And here’s a snippet that I found on the new AMD Puma:

Instead of playing the number-crunching game, AMD is, instead, leveraging on the graphics technology from ATI. Its latest mobile platform, codenamed Puma, offers a tight integration between the CPU and video chipset for exceptional gaming and multimedia performance. As Dirk Meyer, AMD president and chief operating officer, put it during his keynote at Computex Taipei 2008, “It’s not about creating technology for technology sake, but for an immersive experience… The future of computing is visual.”

Consisting of the new dual-core AMD Turion X2 Ultra mobile processor (codenamed Griffin) and Series-7 mainboard (M780G and SB700), the most exciting feature must surely be the AMD PowerXpress technology. The mainboard comes with an integrated ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics processor, a DirectX 10-capabilty solution which AMD claims offers 3x the performance of its competitor. But alongside, a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 or HD 3600 graphics card (GPU) can be included. In this case, PowerXpress kicks in to seamlessly switch between the integrated and discrete GPUs, depending on whether battery life or performance is required.

Yet even while the dedicated GPU is in use for tasks like HD video or gaming, the integrated chipset continues to handle less video-intensive needs like Vista’s Aero interface, thanks to ATI CrossFireX technology. AMD claims the synergy between integrated and discrete graphics gives a 70 percent boost to graphics performance.

This is one of the reasons that, despite reports of the Griffin chip drawing more power than its predecessors, AMD promises longer unplugged time as the system uses five times less CPU clock cycles for multimedia tasks. All this is nice and dandy on paper, but one of the most challenging issues faced by AMD is that there are comparatively fewer models compared with Centrino systems. However, with the launch of Puma, there are twice as many designs based on the latest AMD chipset compared with the previous Turion X2 chip.

Well yes. I’m in a dilemma again. Intel is gaining my interest when the time I’ll choose my next machine. But I’ve always remained faithful with AMD.

From the two articles that I found, I see that both chip makers are really going head to head on this one. Both have similar functionality and similar graphic performance.

Should I remain faithful to my all time favourite AMD, or shall I try out something new like the Centrino 2? I guess I have to depend on my budget on this one.

Every year, I made a point to set my foot in Sarawak. It’s my yearly tradition. Mainly it’s because Geena’s hometown is there, but for me, I just love the place.

No other place in Malaysia that can put me in complete peace of mind. Being there is so relaxing. One thing for me, I’ll be away from work for sure. And more time to relax.

There are many things that I look forward to when I travel to Sarawak. First thing would be the ever so delicious Kolo Mee where you can’t seem to find it anywhere in KL. Even if you do find it, it’s just not the same.

Le Famous Kolo Mee

It’s also one of Kenna Sia’s favourite dishes. I understand why he likes it so much. It’s just awesome. But it’s quite difficult to find the halal version of Kolo Mee, luckily there’s one in Geena’s hometown in Saratok that serves halal Kolo Mee, and it’s quite nice.

Another type of noodle that I enjoy is the Mee Sapi a.k.a. Mee Daging (Sapi means beef). Not bad too.

Now food’s aside.

Another thing that I look forward too are the places in Sarawak, mostly in Kuching and the places along the route to Saratok.

In Kuching, the Riverside area is probably the place to visit for first-timers. I have been to Kuching’s Riverside back in 1995 but that was a long time ago. Time really changed the look of Kuching since then. And the Riverside is now best known as the Water Front. I like it.

Overview of the Riverside

The last time I was in Kuching was last year during the Regatta. The picture above was taken from my hotel room at the Habour View Hotel and from here I can see the river and the ongoing Regatta event. It was awesome.

By the river

I remember the first time I traveled away from Kuching, meaning on the way to Saratok via the trunk road passing along smaller town areas were quite fun for me. And the first stop, Serian.

Serian Town

Reminds me of PJ area in Seksyen 14

Serian is a must stop for those who are traveling to and from Kuching. It is sort of a last stop for fuel and toilet before a non-stop long drive towards the pedalaman areas. There are many other small towns along the way, but Serian is the prefered pit stop.

One of Geena’s university friend, Tessa, is from Serian. So this is her hometown.

The market area

The market area is a must go. Coz there we can find many fresh items to buy like vegetables and other fresh goods. That’s also where I had a strong black kopi “o” before the long drive to Saratok.

Fyi, the drive from Kuching to Saratok usually took about 6–7 hours. I broke the record by taking only 3 hours 20 minutes from Saratok to Kuching at one point driving a Kancil. Yeah, I was speeding. The road was empty mah. Lucky me. And only one time stop for petrol.

Anyway, after Serian there’s no other places to stop. So we have to travel for hours before the next stop in Simpang Semanggang, the rest area before the junction between the route to Sri Aman and Saratok.

The road is only a single lane all the way, for about 400km.

Another thing that I look forward too then traveling along the way is the awesome landscape. We can see many breathtaking view of the mountains and seeing green along the way. This can be matched with Zainal Abidin’s song “Hijau”. Ku lihat hijauuuu!!!

This is probably a common sight along the way.

I came across an article in the newspaper the other day about a place in Sarawak called Bario. After reading the article, I made a promise to myself that I will, one day, go and visit Bario. From what I read, the writer said that Bario is an untouched place in Sarawak and the people of Bario are indeed very friendly. Note to myself, go to Bario.

A picture of Bario that I Googled. Very nice…

But the thing I look forward to most would be, my “family” in Saratok.

I wonder how Joanne would look like nowadays. By the time I get to Saratok next month she would turn 2 years old, just in time to celebrate her 2nd birthday.

Joanne, in 2007.

Joanne, in 2008.

I know she is getting naughtier by the day. Whenever the phone rings, she would be the first one to pick it up. If she’s not the first, she would fight with the person who is.

I always have a great time when I’m in Saratok. There’s always so much things to do, places to go and people to meet. It is also good to know that I have already been accepted as a family member. I just love them so much. Darn, now I can’t wait…