Oil price falls further to $118

It's about time. Experts were months ago predicting that the economic will restore its order once the demands go down amid the ever rising oil price. Now, not just the demands go down, the oil stockpilings are also being increased by OPEC esp the #1 producer, Saudi Arabia after a plea by the US. Nevertheless, this could just mean a rather temporary decline with the things going around the globe esp the depleting of the most important nonrenewable resource. Click the link for full news from BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7542766.stm

A Rather Inspiring Story

I got this from the net. Worth the 5 mins reading.

my parents got divorced when i was 17, just a few days shy of my SPM exams. before that, my family was quite well off since my dad works in one of the GLC and was getting quite a lot per month. when my dad left, my mom had to work as dad left us with nothing at all and no monthly allowance.

my mom only finished standard 6 of school, broke, and heartbroken.

none of my rich uncles (my dad side, one datuk, one tan sri) wanted to help. my mom looked like a beggar.

and the govt didn't help at all. until today, my mom's name is nowhere to be seen on the "ibu tunggal" list. call it weird, call it overlooked case. but everytime i went to Baitulmal to get some help for my mom, i was shunned away.

ok. before my parents got divorced, my mom bought herself a van. it's easier for us (kinda big family) to travel in it. so what my mom did? she started to drive kids to school (without permit, coz it'll cost a bomb to apply for a school bus permit)

first 6 months was hell to us. i remember waking up on raya morning only to find there's no food in the house and my mom was crying quietly in her room. that was one of the saddest day of my life. being the eldest child, i feel that i have a mountain to climb to save my family.

i sacrificed my studies. i never got the chance to finish college. i went to work here and there. sometimes double shifts just to support my family.

sometime later my mom's business got better. she got herself the permit she always wanted (took her 4 years to get it), bought a proper bus.

on the other hand, knowing that i will never have the chance to learn properly in college, i started to learn from tutorials on the net. this was during 1998, when the net was at it's infancy in malaysia. i learned everything from photoshop, to java, to video editing, etc. i saved some money (waiter during the day, burger stall during nite) to build myself the best rig that time (AMDK6-2 350Mhz, 256mb RAM, 20GB HDD) and use it to learn. after i've completed some freelance projects, my confidence grew and made me try to apply for work.

finding work without a cert is VERY HARD in malaysia. no matter how good you are, if you dun have the paper, nobody would want to even read your resume.

i found a job after about 8 months of hunting.

fast forward to now, i own an advertising company with client accounts ranging from SMEs to big boutiques. and soon i will expand to singapore (hopefully by year's end, God's willing). my mom got 3 school bus with more than 300 kids as her passengers. my sister finished university with Bsc (Hons) in Business Admin, my third bro just finished level 4 of his SKM with job offers from workshop here and there waiting for him and my youngest bro is about to take his SPM, with options to go ICOM or ASK to further his interest in music later.

my story shows that malays do not need help or being spoonfed. all we need is determination and willpower to do it. and let no one say no to our dreams.

my journey is still long. i'm just glad my family pulled thru our darkest period together. that made us closer and made me realise that how valuable my family is.

i know most part of the story will be hard for another malay family/person to live thru. but that's the harsh reality of life. and it made me realised that all this stupid NEP, ketuanan melayu BS is just benefiting the high society of malays, not ppl like my family.

i have plans to make my mom's journey into a documentary. i hope to sell the documentary to either discovery channel or natgeo. i want the world to know that my mom is a superwoman. and she did it all my herself. i'm proud of her..

The Unsung Hero

He was the European most valued goal scorer when in Milan. Now, still regarded as one of the finest in history. Unfortunately he made the bad choice coming over to Chelsea FC. I am a Chelsea fan but I do believe Andriy Shevchenko will do a lot better even up until now had him chosen to stay in San Siro. Nevertheless, I've still seen some of his magic with Chelsea. Below are the great collection of those.

Incredulously Higher Laptop Price

This is actually my response in lowyat.net (lyn) on a complaint made by a buyer who bought a laptop for RM4900 at a kiosk but later found out that the laptop was sold at RM3588 elsewhere. That is RM1312 difference.


"i went 2 evernew it solution n brought an asus m51vr laptop on 20 july for RM4900, but at the beginning i was looking for an acer 6920g, 1 of the evernew sales supervisor name lee recommend me purchase the asus m51vr n bluff this laptop is the latest n more powerful than the acer 6920g!!!!!!! after he bluff me how powerful is it, he told me that thay r having an exchange policy that allow me to change another laptop if i`m not satisfy with the 1 i purchase within 1 month!!! this is 1 of the main reason makes me to buy laptop with them!!!! after that i test it at home, what he said the latest is true but powerful is a naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cant even play devil may cry4!!!!!

i sent warrenty for the dvd rom problem after 3 days, but at time i felt satisfy because they sattle my proble in only 3 hr. but when i went 2 pc fair yesterday i found out that they a selling asus m51vr at only RM3588 WITH worth 800++ free gift!!!

i stun there for a few sec n after that i quickly start calling the sales person n he gives me a bunch of excuses to not let me exchange to another model with lower price also!!!!

i'll do further action to this company if they dont gine me a reasonable feedback.

every brothers n sisters please be aware with the sales supervisor name "LEE" in evernew IT solution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

My reply:

This scenario happens. A lot of kiosks sell laptop way above standard lowyat price. Some kiosks were selling HP TX2032 for RM3'999 tho the price was alredi reduced to RM2799 to RM3099. Now they are selling HP DV3029 for RM3'999 tho the price now is RM3499.

This happens bcoz they buy the units from other resellers themselves at roughly consumer prices say RM3'400 or RM3'450 for the DV3029. They make RM500 profit while other shops make around only RM50-RM200 usually.

This is possible due to the fact that all they pay is for the spot and some cabinets. Get some units for demo which later they could sell for demo price or worst, as a apparent new unit. They don't have ready stock, if customer want, they get from reseller, say, Sri Computers.

The risk is kept at minimum. All they need to thrive is the ppl who don't actually know about laptop pricing. I seen a lot of Malay girls fell into this group.

I won't say their promoting skill is good as most of the promoters are quite young, worst, they don't even understand what they talking about. Try pulling their leg by asking about Puma Platform, the most possible answer u get is 'AMD has two processors only: athlon and turion', worse, they still trapped in the belief that Centrino is a Processor (instead of Platform), they even still believe firmly that Core2Duo with Broadcom Wifi is still Centrino.

Last 2 days, there was an AP set HP Pavilion DV2000 special verve edition in 1 of the kiosk. It got both Core2Duo and Pentium Dual Core stickers on it.
I'm sure some of u noticed this. It has only Intel Integrated graphic chip. The price was RM5'999 which took me aback. The promoter simply said 'this is different, special edition'.

If u wanna buy laptop, try to avoid the kiosk unless ur a lowyat 'regular'. I bought 2nd hand Fujitsu S2210 (that time cost RM4k) for RM1750. Very like new. Full set.

Yeah, if ur a regular surveyor, u cud get lucky from these kiosks.

Here Comes PUMA

After a long hiatus of new platform and processing chip, Advance Micro Devices (AMD) finally introduced their most anticipated PUMA platform, to compete with Intel's Montevina or officially known as Centrino 2. At the heart of is AMD hyped Griffin processor (now known as AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core). Graphic is processed by ATI HD3000 graphics series (can be integrated into the system or discrete). The platform will accomodate AMD 7-series chipset, AMD M780G and AMD SB700. Computers experts (inc. AMD Sr. staff) and geeks are saying that the speed offered by the new CPU still could not match that of Core2Duo beasts but added that graphic and components communication are more efficient with the technology like HyperTransport, AMD Enhanced PowerNow!, ATI CrossFireX & ATI PowerXpress (both come under ATI Hybrid Graphics Tech).




Below is the full article I quoted from laptoping.com.

AMD today announced “Puma“, company’s new notebook platform. “Puma” features the latest Turion “Griffin” processors, chipsets, ATI Radeon Mobile GPUs, and wireless modules, as well as advanced power-saving and security features.

“The AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile processor includes top enhancements including AMD Independent Dynamic Core Technology, a new mobile-optimized memory controller, and power-optimized HyperTransport 3.0. The new mobile AMD 7-series chipset, AMD M780G and AMD SB700, features integrated ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics and delivers support for Microsoft DirectX 10″, the chip maker says.

According to AMD, the integrated graphics in “Puma” deliver “up to three times” the 3D graphics performance of comparable competitor graphics. The platform also offers the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 discrete video cards, including the new ATI Mobility Radeon 3800 Series and older Radeon 3400 and 3600 Series.

AMD Puma-based notebooks can have both integrated and discrete graphics, which can run together to boost performance. That feature is called ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology. Other graphics technologies include ATI CrossFireX, enabling multiple discrete graphics processors to work together, and Avivo HD Technology for smooth video playback in high-definition formats. “Puma” supports HDMI, DVI and Display Port outputs and multi-monitor functionality.

The next-gen notebook platform incorporates the latest in wireless connectivity, such as 802.11 draft n and 3G modules by Atheros, Broadcom, and Ralink.

For longer battery life in laptops, AMD Puma uses the new power management technologies, including AMD Enhanced PowerNow! and ATI PowerXpress.

“AMD Enhanced PowerNow! Technology provides independent and dynamic control of core performance, and the ability to shut off areas of core logic when not in use to preserve power. ATI PowerXpress Technology, in turn, provides the high performance of discrete graphics when plugged into a power source and dynamically switches to integrated graphics when unplugged, saving up to 90 minutes of battery life,” AMD explains.

Regarding security, the company says that Puma supports Trusted Platform Module and Enhanced Virus Protection.

According to AMD, notebooks based on the new AMD notebook platform are now available from OEM customers.

The Never-Give-Up AMD

Undoubtedly, Intel is the leading name in computer processors. Now they just launched the Centrino 2 platform with 45nm Penryn Processor. For many, laptops which use CPU other than Intel are considered economical. More economical than Pentium Dual-Core. By economical, I mean AMD chips are bought to save money not performance seeking.

Say what you want, but I noticed I actually lean towards AMD in term of CPU craze. I'm not saying that I will definitely buy AMD now. In fact, I'm now using Intel Core2Duo with Santa Rosa Centrino Platform. For the moment, yeah, Intel is horizon away ahead of AMD.

Nonetheless, I found I would rather wiki on AMD Puma than Intel Montevina. I much rather read on AMD Fusion than other stuff summed up together by Intel.

I believe, as a previous leading name in Processing Chips, AMD will at least close the gap significantly with Intel. The AMD Fusion is expected to debut somewhere in 2009. It features the fused CPU and GPU. Meaning super efficient data transport between the 2 components (actually, it virtually need no bus to transport them since they are fused together). AMD purchase of ATI years back certainly mean this.

Intel hasn't mentioned any research on the fused chips yet. It is a no wonder, since Intel graphics chips have described as abysmal by many critics and users. To have a fused technology, they would need to pour more money to work with and buy from Nvidia as there is insignificant chance that AMD will let them fused with ATI chips.

Given that, come 2009, I will DEFINITELY buy laptop based of AMD Fusion.

Picture above I got from gizmodo.com which I think would be apt to attach with the article. Hehe.