Facebook Luminous Halo

Does above recall your memory?

If you're same age or generation with me, I believe screen shot above is no stranger to you, especially to guys. Look at one more screen shot...

It's a popular game in the earlier generation of game console, commonly known as Micro Genius 小天才 in BullehLand. One of my favorite games beside Mario Bros series. If you were like me, you may recall the widely known cheat code of this game, ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A START to gain unlimited life (or was it from 3 lives to 30?). With that, I could finish the whole game. And I was sorta "expert" of this game in one of the shopping malls, Great Wall near my primary school till my dad caught me playing games over there and I got delicious spicy rotanss on my butt for few days. Yeah, I was a truant and he was damn upset with it. Hmmm... Dad, you're just over conscious, weren't you? At the end I still scored full distinction in my UPSR. ;)

Now, the cheat code is alive! You can now use the cheat code in Facebook! No Contra game in FB but you can use it! It won't gain you unlimited life but you can see some miracle halos over the FB page whenever you type and wherever you click. Check it out in ZDNET by Zack Whittaker for how to. You can also see a live video of the effect here...

Cool huh? It's exactly the same cheat code used in Contra! May be the FB developer was one of the fans of Contra game too! LoL.

I only managed to do it using Google Chrome, not in IE (returned some script error). In Firefox 3.5.5, you may not be able to try the code due to a Quick Find bar...

The bar appears when you type B A in the cheat code. Go to Tools - Options - Advanced - General to deselect "search for text when I start typing" option...

Try it out now. Happy FBing!

SonyEricsson TrackID

On a weekend when almost everyone was cracking head what to wear for the prom night, I was heading to somewhere for a dinner. People asked me why, 1. I antisocial; 2. I hate to hangout in KL; 3. I hate formal attire; 4. I hate formal dinner (gotta behave) and prefer casual, light and easy. 5. Family time! I always tell my friends I can never be a boss because of this. Hehe..

While waiting to pick up my friend (at the same time I was thinking "Ok, I'm not bringing you to prom night, don't have to makeup kau kau and make me wait till the flowers withered"), I was playing with the TrackID feature for the first time and found it quite interesting. Check out the video (a little juddery) for a live demo that I captured...

Pretty cool with 100% result! The first song was MJ's Smooth Criminal, followed by Leave Me Alone. I thought the server might not have the entries for Chinese song, so I then played the 3rd song by S.H.E, Yes I Love You. The captures were started during the intro (without vocal) and all got the correct result.

I got my Jack Bond phone last year. I decided on SE C902 over iPhone that time was because of its 3G feature, good 5MP camera and video recording, A2DP wireless music streaming and its compatibility with Microsoft Outlook. I read through the entire thick manual to learn about the features, there are many other that I think are "flowery" or "useless" features, or features that only limited to Europe or US market including the TrackID. Until I tried it for the first time now and thought it's quite interesting feature to have fun with. I have difficulty remember people names and sometimes too on the song names. Often that friends ask, "hey, what is this song?" and I knew I heard the song before but I just couldn't recall the name immediately. Now with TrackID, perhaps it could help in certain circumstances, though I have yet to try it over a noisy surrounding.

I also thought, "Hmmm... Since I sing so well like Jacky Cheung, let's try to see if TrackID could recognize what I sing." The result...

May be I should capture a video than photo for my singing hor? Hehe... :P

Chef Choi Restaurant

It's close to a month since my last post about food. Not that I puasa or fasted for the past month, few good meals but allow me to get this dated food post out. Not going to be a long one, quick one 'cause only 2 dishes ordered.

Per the subject and photo above, it's Chef Choi Restaurant located at Jalan Ampang.

The appetizer...

Yeah, the yummy roasted pork as appetizer. This appetizer cost RM12.

The vegetable noodle...

And the honey barbecue pork...

Overall, the dishes were good, as tasty as that you would go back again after first visit. The only thing that may hold you back is the price...

I must admit the price is a bit on the high side. However, I believe you would think the price is worthy after you try the dishes. I yet to have time for another visit.

Here's the location...

click to enlarge

It's beside a Chinese temple, Po Ling temple. Hmmm... It's not in the MFM map v091012, not sure if the restaurant is still in operation after my last visit. Perhaps I should plan for a lunch there to find out.

How To: Use Your Phone as 3G Modem

I talked about DiGi 3G and I blogged in summary with some configuration info on how to setup 3G connections for major ISP in Malaysia. Now let's get into detailed step by step on how to setup mobile phone as 3G modem for internet connection, in particular using SonyEricsson C902 as DiGi 3G modem on Vista machine.

First, of course you must have a 3G phone and DiGi 3G service activated. Once activated, go to DiGi website to setup your phone. There are 2 ways, either through SMS or web. I prefer via web...

Click Configure Internet and follow the on screen instruction. You will receive the setting right to your phone, click install. Repeat the same for WAP, MMS and Mobile TV. Once that is done and your 3G service is activated, try browse the internet using the phone, this is to ensure your phone is configured properly.

Now you have 2 options to prep your PC / notebook. The easiest way is go to SonyEricsson website to download SonyEricsson PC Suite software. Install and launch the software...

Click on How to Connect for first time setup. Follow the on screen instruction and connect your phone to the PC when ask to. I recommend to use USB cable for the first time to ease troubleshooting if you face problem later. You can setup bluetooth connection once everything is successfully tested.

After that, your phone should be connected in Phone mode as shown in the PC Suite software...

To establish the internet connection via the phone, make sure you have no other internet connection i.e. disconnect your wireless or wired network. Then click on Internet Connection and click Connect, you will be connected automatically. The software actually pulls the settings from your phone and configures itself. So make sure you phone has the necessary settings mentioned in the early paragraph. Fire up your browser and test browsing now.

Second method is manual and a little technical. You need to install the modem drivers, the easiest way is to install PC Suite mentioned above so that all required modem drivers are properly installed. You may doubt now, if PC Suite is required to get the drivers, why need the second manual method to connect? I install PC Suite for the modem drivers and of course I can use PC Suite to connect to the 3G service like mentioned above, but I just don't like to launch a separate software just for dial up, consumes the system resources for nothing. You can stop here if you prefer, continue if you want to learn the manual way.

If you have PC Suite opened, close it now and disconnect any established internet connection. If you've disconnected the phone from the PC, connect it and select Phone mode. Click on the network icon on system tray, go to Network and Sharing Center...

Click Setup Connection or Network...

Follow the screens below...

Take note on the dial up number *99***1# in particular digit 1, you may need to change it later. Oh ya, no user name and password required, leave it blank. Now let it connect, open up your browser and try browsing. If you can browse internet, that's all! You're done! So in future whenever you want to go online using the phone as modem, click Connect To, select the dial up connection you manually created above, sit down and enjoy the wireless broadband!

But if you can't browse internet even the dial up connection was established, more works to do. Now disconnect the connection, go to Control Panel and open Phone and Modem Options...

Click on Modems tab. Reconnect your phone properly if you see "Not Present" on "Sony Ericsson Device...". Click on Sony Ericsson Device 0017 USB WMC Data Modem and click Properties...

The modem properties dialog box will pop up. Click on Diagnostics tab follow by Query Modem...

Scroll down the Command list box to look for diginet...

It should read +CGDCONT: 3,"IP","diginet"... ... Take note on the number after +CGDCONT. In the snapshot, it's 3. Now go back to Network and Sharing Center, click on Manage Network Connections on the task pane. Right click - select Properties on the dial up connection you've created...

Change the phone number from *99***1# to **99***X# where X represents the number that you found from above. In this case, it's **99***3#...

Try connect again. You should be able to establish the connection and browse internet now.

If you want to have lesser clicks to establish the connection in the future, you can deselect "prompt for name and password, certificate, etc" option in the dial up properties...

Hope this post helps you. I believe it should be identical for other SonyEricsson phones and applicable to other branded phones with slight change. The key is to obtain the modem drivers from your phone manufacturer and you can use this post as reference to setup your 3G dial up connection. Drop comment if I am able to offer help, should you encounter any problem.

DiGi 3G Performance

Yes. If you don't know, now you can get 3G or HSDPA from DiGi right from your mobile phone, you don't need an USB dongle like those mobile broadband service. You can now make video call if the receiving party also has 3G enabled on his/her phone with video call feature. But make sure you are not bare naked when making call. Hehe...

After some glitches switching from DiGi EDGE unlimited to 3G unlimited, I guess it's time to find out the new 3G performance.

I performed some tests over Maxis 3G and DiGi EDGE previously, perhaps that can be used as reference. This time I did the test differently, I referred the coverage map in both ISP's site...

Coverage map of Maxis and DiGi respectively. I am subscriber for both but not Celcom, so no Celcom in this test. The only thing was I couldn't find a spot to have good signal strength for both, so I ran the test in 2 different places where I could get constant signal strength ...

Full bar on DiGi 3G network. And for consistency, I ran the test using speedtest.net. Here's the result...

Wow! Impressive! With an announced average speed of 700kbps download and 200kbps upload on the website, this result certainly is outstanding!

I then went to youtube...

I did not press the pause button at all. Clearly you can see that the playback bar was far behind the buffer bar, it couldn't beat it like MJ's MTV. Hehe...

I simply tried a download from a local server...

MFM map download from its main server with average of 120kbps download speed. Fast, no?

Move on to another test. I could not get full bar on Maxis 3G, the best spot I could get was only constant 4 bars...

And the result...

Very disappointing result. But it matched with my recent experience. I have been using Maxis 3G day to day and the speed is really touching my nerve since few months ago. From a good result to this result, the service is really degrading these days. Not only that, if you are Maxis 3G user like me, you may experience this...

Whenever I attempt to logon to Maxis 3G, I stuck at this screen for minutes before it eventually lets me connect. Sigh. Anyhow, I tried youtube streaming like what I did for DiGi 3G above...

As expected, bad result. This time the playback bar beat the buffer. You can see the playback overlays the buffer bar. I could not stream instantly because the buffering was so slow, I had to pause until the entire content was fully buffered before I could have a smooth play.

In short, you can see yourself the performance of new DiGi 3G service. The test may not statistically prove, benchmark and rank an ISP, but from a consumer like me, I just want to get connected whenever I need and I could get decent speed that makes me feel worth paying the monthly fee. You can also see the rating in the result above. That's not my rating but a collective rating from speedtest.net users to respective ISPs. Perhaps that could be another supplement fact to my result above.

Performance aside. One commonality all ISPs have is they don't extend their 3G coverage to my hometown. Sigh. But when I viewed the coverage I was happy that DiGi 3G covers the area that I will hang out often in the near future...

It's one of the 3G areas closest to Klang. So I ran the test again...

Consistent result. It looks promising. But it's still new, we shall see when the subscriber base grows bigger.

Finally He Followed Me

Exactly 1 year! I did my best to chase after him and follow him closely. Almost gave up, and finally I got him followed me back!

Err... Sound like I'm a gay~ I followed him and he followed me?! Hmmm...

Let's analyze further if I am gay...

My story with him started with this and then a year ago I finally followed him. Surfing through the stable excellent EDGE I evaluated, I was eagerly waiting the promised DiGi 3G services. I was disappointed when DiGi announced its broadband. I inquired but was told I could not subscribe to this service with my phone, it must be a different SIM card. Mobile or wireless broadband on an USB dongle is not my preference, why should I buy and carry an extra device when my Jack Bond phone can function the same? Plus, I can connect with bluetooth and my phone can never enjoy the 3G service with the USB dongle.

Few of my friends are on Celcom 3G and have been everyday persuading me to switch over to Celcom. 3 days ago I gave myself a last hope whether to follow friends or still follow him, I surfed to DiGi website and was attracted by this...

Not the familiar broadband service logo that I've seen many times...

I clicked on it to discover more...

Yoohoo! This is what I have waited for 10 months!! Be calm, let's check on the price...

Damn! It's even cheaper than my current EDGE unlimited package of RM66 per month! There's also a comparison chart with other ISPs that I intended to join one of them. I got excited but typical me, I calmed myself and studied through the FAQ and T&C. 2 hours later right after work, I walked into a DiGi center...

My turn. I told the pretty customer service representative at the desk, "I want to change my EDGE package to unlimited 3G package".

"Did you mean broadband?" She asked.

"No no no. Not DiGi Broadband but DiGi 3G. The one that I can surf internet using my phone," I explained.

"No. You can't do that on your current SIM card, you have to get an USB modem and a different SIM."

I was little furious. Again, the same old story I was told previously.

"Girl, do you have access to your company website? Please go to www.digi.com.my/internet. Now click on 3G. This is what I want!"

She was be at one's wits' end.

After a while to scroll through pages, she called her supervisor for help. Again, he was with the similar reaction like her, but double shot as he was handling a nonsense customer at the next desk who claimed he lost his phone in the center. After a minute or two, my desk went empty...

The pretty lady and supervisor went into the backroom to check further with HQ! Ha! After few minutes of waiting, they came back and apologized to me that this service is too new that they have not been communicated internally, and the lady wanted to explain the package to me.

"No need, I've read the T&C and FAQ. RM48 per month for 12 months and RM58 per month after that. 3GB data size cap and speed will be downgraded if exceed. Anything extra to add?"

"No, sir. Look like you know better. Your 3G service will be activated tomorrow, nothing you need to do but just wait," she smiley replied and I happily left the center.

I continued enjoying the stable performing EDGE network while waiting the new 3G service...

Youtube streaming on EDGE without hiccup.

1 day. 2 day. I was still on EDGE and I started to lose my patience and logged on to D' Chat during lunch hour...

2 hours later, after 2 days, "he", the DiGi 3G service finally followed me...

Not only 3G but HSDPA with its H icon on top left.

But a big sigh. Look like DiGi never or way way way way way to go to improve. I had a bad experience when switched over at DiGi authorized center, so this time I purposely walked into DiGi center expecting a better hassle free plan switch. Unfortunately, the staff did not know the new service, and I needed to re-communicate to get my 3G activated. Do they think it's more than enough to just apologize every time and give empty promises that they would improve, like what's written in the comments of this post and this post? Would customers revisit a stall that serves the best chicken rice in the world when the stall always serves the food with cockroaches as topping? The company badly needs a process improvement manager to oversee the end-to-end customer service and experience. The company may have better customer service than other ISPs, but definitely not a company that warrants good customer experience to its customers. Miserable customer experience I would swear with my blood.

Anyway, I hope I won't be disappointed with the new 3G service.

Oh, if any DiGi personnel reading this, I don't need another "I feel sorry" or "rest assured" type of comments. I have enough from previous post and this round. Just show me and other customers your improvements to have seamless, hassle free and better customer experiences and services if you ever care to improve. If one would comment, I hope is the CEO Mr Johan Dennelind not any ciku giving empty promises. If the CEO is of the same attitude, then no thanks, please let my blog clean from lies.

click to enlarge