Wimax Notebooks from Samsung

Dear Readers,

Happy to share you with the first wimax enabled notebook devices from Samsung.
It is not yet for commercial sales. Samsung might sell it via telco operators.



I happen to have chance to hold and try this gadget. It is great. Waiting for the official launch.



Thank you readers,
JS

Facebook Bug!!!

Dear Readers,

I had listened,read many articles about the facebook being slow and bugs that leads application to shutdown etc.

Here is one of the incident that happen to me.
I logged myself into my facebook and i can see FB "Suggestions" and it listed me to add into my friend. Below is the screen shot of the same. you can see my login name in the top (highlighted in circle) and right top widget suggesting my name to be added as friend.














Interestingly, i could click the link "add as friend" and completed the steps with out any error. Funny, isn't it? Or it is the feature of Facebook.

Any other stories to share?

Thank you,
JS

Tips for securing your wireless connection

Article from Sophos.
Dear Readers,

With over 50% of people admitting to having used someone else's wireless internet without permission, how can you stop your neighbours from stealing your Wi-Fi connection? Securing your wireless network is just a matter of following a few simple tips:

Use encryption
Wireless routers give you the option of encrypting your data, so bank details and passwords can't be intercepted. Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) is a much stronger encryption system for securing your communications than WEP, which can be easily cracked by hackers.

Use a passwordSet up a password for your wireless internet connection. Choose a strong password for securing your network - don't use the one that came with your Wi-Fi router or a dictionary word that is easy to guess or crack.

Don't broadcast the name of your wireless network
The name of your wireless network, known as the SSID, should not be broadcast to passers by. In addition, choose an obscure hard-to-guess SSID name to make life harder for Wi-Fi hackers. SSIDs such as 'home', 'wireless' or 'internet' are not good choices.

Use MAC address filtering
Wi-Fi routers and access points normally have the ability to prevent unknown wireless devices from connecting to the network. This works by comparing the MAC address of the device trying to connect to the Wi-Fi router with a list held by the router. Unfortunately, this feature is normally turned off when the router is shipped because it requires some effort to set up properly. By enabling this feature, and only telling the router the MAC address of wireless devices in your household, you'll be securing your wireless network against neighbors stealing your internet connection.

Securing your wireless network using MAC address filtering is not a total solution as it is possible for a determined hacker to clone MAC addresses and connect to your Wi-Fi network, but this measure should still be taken to reduce the risks.

Restrict internet access to certain hours
Some wireless routers allow you to restrict internet access to certain times of the day. For instance, if you know you will not need to access the internet from home between 9-5, Monday to Friday, then schedule your router to disable access between those hours.

Make sure your computers are properly secured
Check you have up-to-date anti-virus, security patches, and client firewall software, this will help to protect your wireless network by stopping malware-based connection to your Wi-Fi.

Thanks,
JS

RACING DOWN THE RIVER

Dear Readers,

Someone once said, "True freedom is not a question of doing as we
like, but doing as we ought."

Clovis Chappell, a nineteenth century minister, used to tell an
interesting story about two paddleboats.
The two boats, powered by coal, left Memphis about the same time,
traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they traveled
side-by-side, sailors from one vessel made some critical remarks and
jokes about the snail's pace of the other boat.

Heated words were exchanged between the men on the two boats.
Challenges were made. So the race began. The competition was hot and
heavy as the two boats roared through the Deep South.

Eventually, one boat began falling behind. The problem: it didn't have
enough fuel. There had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not
enough for a race.

As the boat dropped back, an enterprising young sailor took some of
the ship's cargo and tossed it into the boat's ovens. When his fellow
sailors saw that the supplies burned as well as coal, they fueled
their boat with the material they had been assigned to transport.

Guess what? They ended up winning the race. But they burned their
cargo.

How Does This Apply to Our Lives?

The men on the winning boat did what they liked, which was winning the
race. But the price for that victory was expensive. The boat's cargo,
the very reason they were traveling down the river in the first place,
was sacrificed. So they failed to do what they ought to have done,
which was to safely transport their cargo.

You may not have thought about it, but God has entrusted each of us
with cargo. Our cargo is other people, such as friends and family, and
the ability He has given us to help someone else. We are responsible
for this cargo, and ought to cherish it in our journey through life.

Thanks
JS

General safety tips for Facebook

Adjust Facebook privacy settings to help protect your identity
Unlike some other social networking sites, Facebook has provided some powerful options to protect you online - but it's up to you to use them!

Think carefully about who you allow to become your friend
Once you have accepted someone as your friend they will be able to access any information about you (including photographs) that you have marked as viewable by your friends. You can remove friends at any time should you change your mind about someone.

Show "limited friends" a cut-down version of your profile
You can choose to make people 'limited friends' who only have access to a cut-down version of your profile if you wish. This can be useful if you have associates who you do not wish to give full friend status to, or feel uncomfortable sharing personal information with.

Disable options, then open them one by one
Think about how you want to use Facebook. If it's only to keep in touch with people and be able to contact them then maybe it's better to turn off the bells and whistles. It makes a lot of sense to disable an option until you have decided you do want and need it, rather than start with everything accessible.


source:Sophos

Flowers..Photos..

Dear Readers,

The photo was taken using my new casia exslim camera (10 mega pixels) during my week end stay at a resort near puncak, indonesia. I don't know their "biological" names.


I believe this one very common one.

Taken around 3 PM, this flower falls off by evening.And new set of flower by the morning.

This is intersting photo like star flower. Look at them close, yes there is ant.

Reddish one...

Purple (Cone) flower..

See the rich of color...

This is one is another interesting photo. This is not a flower. A stem, it just started growing its leaves.

What you think..?

Red ones...

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Thank you, Readers

JS

Smart Boy

Dear Readers,

Here is what i received in an email.

First-grade teacher, Ms Blue (Age 28) was having trouble with one of her students.

The teacher asked, "Boy what is your problem?"

Boy answered, "I'm too smart for the first-grade. My sister is in the third-grade and I'm smarter than she is! I think
I should be in the third-grade too!"

Ms Blue had enough. She took Boy to the Principal's office.
The principal told Ms Blue he would give the boy a test and if he failed to answer any of his questions he was to go
back to the first-grade and behave. She agreed.

Boy was brought in and the conditions were explained to him and he agreed to take the test.
Principal: "What is 3x3?"
Boy: "9"
Principal: "What is 6x6?"
Boy: "36"

And so it went with every question the principal thought a third-grade should know. The principal looks at Ms Blue and
tells her, "I think Boy can go to the third-grade."

Ms Blue says to the principal, "I have some of my own questions. Can I ask him?" The principal and Boy both agree.

Ms Blue asks: "What does a cow have four of that I have only two of?

Boy, after a moment: "Legs"!

Ms Blue: "What is in your pants that you have but I do not have?"

Boy: "Pockets"!


Ms Blue: "What starts with a C and ends with a T, is hairy, oval, delicious and contains thin whitish liquid?"

Boy: Coconut

Ms Blue: "What goes in hard and pink then comes out soft and sticky?"
The Principal's eyes open really wide and before he could stop the answer, Boy was taking charge.

Boy: Bubblegum

Ms Blue: "What does a man do standing up, a woman does sitting down and a dog does on three legs?" The Principal's
eyes open really wide and before he could stop the answer....

Boy: Shake hands

Ms Blue: "Now I will ask some "Who am I" sort of questions, okay?"

Boy: "Yep"

Ms Blue: "You stick! Your poles inside me. You tie me down to get me up.. I get wet before you do.."

Boy: "Tent"

Ms Blue: "A finger goes in me. You fiddle with me when you're bored.
The best man always has me first." The Principal was looking restless, a bit tense and took one large Patiala Vodka
peg.

Boy: "Wedding Ring"

Ms Blue: "I come in many sizes. When I'm not well, I drip. When you blow me, you feel good."

Boy: "Nose"

Ms Blue: "I have a stiff shaft. My tip penetrates. I come with a quiver."

Boy: "Arrow"

Ms Blue: "What word starts with a 'F' and ends in 'K'
that means lot of heat and excitement?"

Boy: "Firetruck"

Ms Blue: "What word starts with a 'F' and ends in 'K' & if u don't get it u have to use your hand"

Boy: "Fork"

Ms Blue: "What is it that all men have one of it's longer on some men than on others, the pope doesn't use his and a
man gives it to his wife after they're married?"

Boy: "SURNAME"

Ms Blue: "What part of the man has no bone but has muscles, has lots of veins, like pumping, & is responsible for
making love?"

Boy: "HEART"

The principal breathed a sigh of relief and said to the teacher,

"Send this Boy to University, I got the last ten questions wrong myself!"

Good ya..

Thank you, Readers.
JS

Put the Glass Down Today

Dear Readers,

Nice one..

Put the Glass Down Today

Professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see & asked the students

"How much do you think this glass weighs?"

'50gms!' ..... '100gms!' .....'125gms' ...the students answered.

"I really don't know unless I weigh it," said the professor, "but, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?"'Nothing' …..the students said.

'Ok what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?' the professor asked. 'Your arm would begin to ache' said one of the student

"You're right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?" "Your arm could go numb, you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis & have to go to hospital for sure!" ….. ventured another student & all the students laughed

"Very good. But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?" asked the professor. 'No'…. Was the answer. "Then what caused the arm ache & the muscle stress?"

The students were puzzled. "What should I do now to come out of pain?" asked professor again.

"Put the glass down!" said one of the students "Exactly!" said the professor.

Life's problems are something like this. Hold it for a few minutes in your head & they seem OK. Think of them for a long time & they begin to ache.

Hold it even longer & they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything. It's important to think of the challenges or problems in your life,

But EVEN MORE IMPORTANT is to 'PUT THEM DOWN' at the end of every day before You go to sleep.. That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh &strong & can handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way! So, when you leave office today,

Remember friend to 'PUT THE GLASS DOWN TODAY

Thank you,
JS

What goes through your mind when someone says "Let's go for a drink"?

Dear Readers,

Interesting one..
What goes through your mind when someone says " Let's go for drink"...

Thank you,

JS

IT Quality

Dear Readers,
Here is the Paul’s list of great IT qualities (which I have edited) addresses both considerations.

1.The CIO reports to the CEO or, at least, the chief operating officer, giving the CIO clout and ensuring IT’s independence.

2.An IT steering committee, composed of C-level executives from the business units, makes allocation decisions based on a defined set of priorities and criteria such as ROI. The committee is necessary to ensure that investment decisions are made in the interests of the entire company and not just an individual department.

3.The organization spends an appropriate percentage of corporate revenue on IT, indicating the company’s level of commitment to IT.

4.A well-managed, highly visible security team is in place, since this is one of the most vulnerable areas of IT.

5.Disaster recovery plans and processes, involving users and a documented recovery plan, are well-established and tested regularly.

6.An ongoing commitment to training keeps IT staffers up to date. Organizations that don’t train IT folks and use lots of consultants are not sufficiently focused on in-house staff.

7.Rigid adherence to an appropriate system development life cycle, that both IT and the user community understand, is a priority. Documenting the selection process offers insight into the professionalism of the IT organization.

8.Well defined technical and managerial career paths let all workers achieve higher pay and status. This is the only way to retain top technical people who don’t want to manage others.

9.A monthly major IT project status report is widely distributed throughout the company.

10.The CIO participates in long-range, organizational strategic planning. If not, it’s clear the business views IT as an implementer and not a strategic enabler.

Thank you, Readers
JS

Bank Mandiri - Online Banking Problem

Dear Readers,

This year seems to difficult for the Bank Mandiri - nothing to do with the global economic crisis. It is about their on line banking system . I have two accounts with them and when ever i transfer from one account to another, fails. Same error always, i appreciate the consistency on the failure side.

This is the screen shot of the error window. Can you make it out anything?

Well, i went to the customer service to ask the same. First of all, they don't understand about my problem. I believe they thought i am such a stupid, does not know about internet banking or they don't understand at all.

She started explaining about how to use the pin and log in...all the shits. Well, i ask her "Can you show me how to do it?". "Sure" , she replied.

Using her system, we open the website, login, do the same thing. Thank god, the same error appeared.

Now, her reply - "May the system is under maintenance. Can you try at the ATM?".

Hmm..ok. I went to the ATM, trying to do the same stuff. This time, successful. But no money transferred to the account. Later i found that it is not deducted from the sending account too. Then what is the success message from the ATM.

I went to the Customer Service again, this time she said you can not do that since....bla...bla.. (which i dont understand and it does not make sense too). My question is, if you know that it is not going to work, then why you ask me to do it ATM.

Finally, i end up queue for teller.

So, what is the purpose of the internet banking from bank mandiri if the service is like this?

Thank you, Readers,

JS

Outsourcing - Book Keeping Services

Dear Readers,

I manage to secure a small outsource contract business for a US firm, which sells figh performance fuel pumps and injectors via their portal and through e bay.
Outsource job invovles, managing and maintain their Accounting Books.

We get the data of their transaction online, say for example we have given with view only account for their Paypal and we download the transaction history from there.

We enter those data into the accounting software, for this project we use Quick Books.
Reconcile them and upload the data back to their server.

We had automated few process of importing and exporting so that we can give cost effective and best performance for the customers.

Currently , i managing this through few university students who have some free time. So, it means cheaper for the clients.

If any one has any enquires for the similar services, please drop a email.

Thank you, Readers,
JS

Value Air / Jet star Booking web issues..

Dear Readers,

Those who travel and plan to use web booking for your travel,
please be careful on your selection on the website. I recently have to fly for day trip to Singapore from Jakarta. I thought i can manage by myself so i decided to avoid my travel agent and do it my self on the web. I decide to use valueair (since it is one of the cheapest at the booking date).

I knew and planned I will depart on 8th Jan 2009.

On the first booking page on the http://www.valueair.com/ website, I selected 8th Jan 2009 (value air / Jet star can check the web logs or audits if they record the logs from the customer) and I challenge my selection was correct.

On the second page, another selection of flight with timing appears and there is no clear indication of the dates what so ever.Please see the screenshot i capture here. The dates are displayed on the top “Tab” Panel. And you are provided with 3 days of flight details – First of all, I will question why this? I assume my selection was on the top (which is seems to be different date – sucks man) and proceed with the payment.



I notice when I was about to print and I want to change to the correct date (well, jetstar screwed this – it is not my mistake) and end up paying another USD 25 for the correction.

My question is, if I need to select again the flight on the appropriate row (which is confusing for me) why on the first place I had to choose the date?

In other words, why the system is not able to high light my selected date?

So confusing….sucks and screwed up.

Well, I wanted to call the call center and found the number from contact us page after few minutes of IVR and several minutes of ACD queue…I hang up.

The whole purpose of doing online booking is easy and convenience but looks like it does not work that way. If you are in rush, do not do any thing online (it is completely against it, isn’t it?) But that is what I found. Wanted to save few dollars by choosing cheap airline and finally I myself found paying more then what my travel agent proposed to me.

So, readers watch out…..

I hope the flight doesn't get screwed up.

Thank you, Readers
JS

Moving Virtual PC from Host's

Dear Readers,

Happy New Year - 2009.
I am happy to start with my blog on "Troubleshooting Virtual PC" as my first on this year.

Let is jump into the topic, which is "How to move a Virutal PC instance from host to host?"
I am not able to find (at least several pages of search results in google) correct answers though there are many posts available (i can say questions) on the same.

Here is the scenario, I had host machine with Microsoft Vista Home edition (this case is applicable for all Vista editions) and I installed virtual PC with sp1 (download available at Microsoft download center) and I had XP running on this virtual PC. I had separated the VPC in a partition and I did not combine with vista system directory.

All of sudden the host machine failed (Acer Aspire – Service center is still figuring out the issue) but fortunately I can recover the data from the HDD. I copied the Virtual PC Partition into a external HDD (the important file is *.vhd)

Now I need to run this instance on my standby notebook so that my work does not get disturbed (since it is outsourced job from US).

Here are the steps.
1.Install the virtual PC on the new machines. It can be any host operating system (xp, 2000 or vista). Important thing is make sure you use the same Virtual PC version.
2.After the installation restart the PC.
3.Connect the external HDD (via usb or whatever), where you had copied the file from your old host machine.
4.Start the Virtual PC console, select new.
5.The “New Virtual Machine Wizard” Will start, press next to continue.
6.Select “Create New Virtual Machine”
7.Specify the Name and location of the new virtual machine instance, - it could be into your host file system.
8.Select the operating system – should be windows Xp in this case.
9.Next, select the recommended RAM Settings
10.Next, this is important – select “Existing Virtual Hard Disk” , presss Next.
It is ask you to select the vhd file, now, you browse and choose the vhd file from the external HDD. That’s it.
11.Run the instance from the Virtual PC. There you go.


Hope this helps, if you need any further information on the same. Leave your questions here.

Thank you, Readers

JS