Software Intro: SweetIM

One of the software that runs in my computer currently is SweetIM. Yes, I am not kidding. It does makes me sound like a gay or something for featuring this software but it’s fun nonetheless. It was actually introduced to me by my beloved sister, she loves it so much. It is because of its cute contents obviously.

What is it anyway? It is actually a software that act like an add on for Yahoo! Messenger, where it enhances messenger by adding emoticons, winks, audibles, sound FX, Display Pictures, Nudges and Games, enhancing the messaging experience and enabling instant messenger users to express themselves in fun and creative ways.

I don’t like it at first, because of the assumption that it comes with a catch, that it is actually an adware/spyware that will only give troubles later. That is a definite no no for me. I wouldn’t want to have an adware/spyware doing their athletic stunts in my computer, in exchange of appearing cute on Yahoo! Messenger.

But I was wrong. After going through several trustable resources on the Internet, it is safe to say that this piece of fun is actually a real deal. However, it will install SweetIM toolbar into Firefox and Internet Explorer, but you can actually uninstall them later, and SweetIM works just fine without any toolbar. A working Yahoo! Messenger is all you need for it to work. But I am not so sure about the technical requirements though.

For more info and download, hop on to SweetIM

Of Streamyx and Celcom Broadband and P1 Wimax

I am a user of TM’s renowned Streamyx 1.0 Mbps and Celcom Broadband 3.6Mpbs. Streamyx has been with our family for years, and it was a 512 Kbps package before it’s been upgraded to 1.0 Mbps not long ago. Celcom Broadband on the other hand was subscribed this year in February, following my nature of work, which requires me to travel to places all around Malaysia and the necessity to be online for work purpose. Both of the broadband providers need no official introductions I think, since their reputation (be it good or bad, u be the judge!) are well known among Malaysians.

Ever since I started working and been outside my hometown, Streamyx has not been fully utilised up to its full potential. Both of my parents used it merely for chatting online via YM with my sister, and for normal surfing. And as I have mentioned earlier, I do travel a lot and frequent, and that is why I decided to opt for Celcom Broadband, so that I can always stay connected anywhere I go.

Let’s start with Celcom broadband first. It has been with me for quite a few months and I am not totally satisfied with it. Technically speaking, its network performance does not match with the self-proclaimed “This is Celcom Territory” ad campaign. The ad itself, together with the tag line “The widest coverage” really tricked me into relying on their internet services. I must be fair to mention that, although there were times where it did deliver what it promised, the rest of the times, it failed to do so. Right now I am thinking of terminating my Celcom broadband service for good.

Streamyx, on the other hand, surprisingly serves me and my family well all this while, even though several hiccups such as network breakdowns and service interruptions do happen once in a while. Ever since I moved back to Penang and stayed at my home, I have been using Streamyx more frequently compared to Celcom Broadband. I must admit that I am totally impressed with the speed I got recently. As mention before in my previous post, the speed is excellent and enables me to download quite a hefty amount of dvd rip movies from the internet. An example is of the one shown below, where it managed to go up to 149kB/s from an overseas torrent tracker site.



But please don’t expect to get the speed by default; you have to work for it. I, for instance, have to fine tuned the utorrent with the correct settings and also do port forwarding on my router before miracle happens.

And finally, the long awaited P1 Wimax has made its mark on Malaysian broadband scene. To be honest, I have never experience the service first hand which automatically rule me out from making bias comments about it. I am however, quite tranced with the ad wars between P1 Wimax and TM Streamyx. If my stand is correct, P1 starts the ad war by their infamous “potong” ad. The ads is really catchy and does have double meaning, if you know what I mean, although what P1 wants to deliver to consumer is to cut down the wired broadband and opt to their service. To prevent its line from being cut, TM has answered by declaring ad war with P1 Wimax. Their first move is sarcastic enough by featuring a frustrated customer tries his best to get the signal out of his wireless broadband.

If that is not hurtful enough, that customer happens to resemble P1’s own CEO Michael Lai, ouch!

The ad war continues on tv, radio, and any mass media u can imagine, and it is fun to watch such healthy competitions, and more importantly, both P1 and TM come out with a very humorous way to battle each other. As for me, I will just sit back and enjoy the movies I have downloaded from the Internet.

Anyone that have any experience with any ISP here in Malaysia are welcome to share their thoughts by posting comments here.

Apple Iphone 3G entry into my life

Okay, it might seem a little bit outdated to be writing about this particular model here, since the introduction of Iphone 3GS in the market, but I will write about it anyway. Why Iphone 3G? Well, it’s the phone I use currently.

My journey with Iphone 3G started this year, around April, if I am not mistaken, I can’t remember the exact date when I bought it. Several phones that have been utilised by me before was Nokia 3310, Nokia 6610, Sony Ericsson K700i and Sony Ericsson W810i. Iphone was not really a love at first sight actually; I wasn’t bothered much with the hype and publicity given to this specific model during its first introduction. For me, that time it was just another product from Apple that comes with an astronomical price tag.

My first encounter with Iphone was when I was queuing in line at McDonald’s, and a customer next to my line was happily using it while queuing up. I was astounded with its bright, large screen, and the flow of the screen is so smooth. It is not the same as Windows handheld mobile touch screen, not even close. But I was just “okay” with it anyway, still not really bothered much and the astonished feeling went away immediately.

Second encounter happened when I was attending a course in Penang, where one of the participants was using it. I took my chance to try it for myself by borrowing it from him during lunch break. The smoothness and responsiveness of its touch screen really amazed me. But that was first generation of Iphone, also known as Iphone 2G. That time I started to have interest in having one of my own.

I do face difficulties buying it at first. It was not about money, it was about the market condition of Iphone 3G at that time, where demand was high but the supply was very low. I am talking about time when maxis was not supplying the Iphone here in Malaysia, officially. Lots of shop in Malaysia gets their supply from Singapore and oversea such as US, Hong Kong, Japan etc... And finally after several hiccups, I managed to have one of my own! 

Mine was bought from a shop in Imbi Plaza, and I found out about it from lowyat.net forum. It is a Singtel set, of which the price was astronomically high, but I still bought it anyway. We arranged a meeting in Petaling Jaya for COD, as I was there for a meeting, and during lunch hour I went out with my colleague, Rahmad, and we met up with the seller. I checked it thoroughly and the seller is kind enough to wait patiently for me to do full check up on the iphone before I gave him the money. Damn, I was so happy that day!

And now, 7 months later, I am still happily using it and it serves me well and I am emotionally attached to it already! Iphone is a phone that keeps getting better every single day. It really stands out from others and makes the owner gets special attention without being asked for, LOL.

I am planning to keep using it till the next generation of Iphone is introduced. I will skip Iphone 3GS though, it looks no different from its predecessor, albeit it possesses a little boost in technical specifications.

3 days of outstation transfer leave

As I mentioned earlier, i was actually on 3 days leave, after getting a transfer of workplace, from Ipoh to Penang. It was out of my knowledge at first, and I only knew about this eligibility from my fiancee. She too got transferred from Alor Setar to Penang, following a major revamp that happened in the company.

These three days leave really must have been the best moment that i've had in a while. Hmm,i  could have been exaggerating a little there, but seriously there are things that i have discovered/done that worth to be mention here.

I have already wrote about me upgrade my iphone and jailbreak it. Another thing was when I discovered my streamyx connection was high, it's like getting a marijuana supply from snoop dogg or something. It was so good that i was able to download quite a number of movies and the speed was excellent!. I could get up to 150kb/s even from oversea tracker, well that was really something indeed, considering the negative feedbacks streamyx always get from unsatisfied customers.

Following the unexpected high download speed, I managed to download several movies using torrent. However, don't expect to get such speed, if there's nothing done to set several settings in torrent client and modem/router used.

It's almost 4 a.m now, and I must sleep. I have life to live!

Iphone 3G jailbroken

It's 2.45 in the morning, and i have just finished jailbreaking my iphone 3G. It was running 3.0.1 firmware, jailbreak, and on day 3 of my outstation transfer leave, i decided to upgrade it to 3.1.2 and as usual, jailbreak. Yes, i skipped 3.1. What an odd way to start a new blog.

This is the second time i jailbreak my own iphone, the first time was when i upgraded my iphone from 2.2.1 firmware to 3.0 firmware, and jailbroke it. That time, I used redsnow 0.8 from Dev team. It was easy though.

And now, after a while since the 3.1.2 was released, I decided to upgrade and jailbreak it, and this time, blackra1n was used to jailbreak. To my surprise, it was easy! I just restored the iphone to 3.1.2 using itunes, and jailbreak it using blackra1n and thats it!

For those who dont quite understand all the processes mentioned, it's ok, it will not do harm to anyone's life in any way. My name is Hidayat Fahmi and welcome to my blog.