Problem.

Squaresoft Enix should take a geography lesson?

I was invited for Final Fantasy 14 Beta test from Square Enix. was on my way to it, but run into a small "bump". I was asked to register my country of residence. So I searched HIGH AND LOW FOR "MALAYSIA" in Europe & Other Region.

(Note: There was 3 more categories

1) Europe & The Middle East

2) Africa

3) Oceania & Other Regions)

Since Malaysia does not belong in the category (1) and (2), category (3) should be the correct choice.

But HELL NO, there was no Malaysia and there wasn't even our closest neighbor, Singapore, not even Thailand or Indonesia.?

WTF?!@# Square Enix staff are either ignorant or they were just plain stupid to leave out countries like us.

According to the system, there is no way to change country of residence once I made the confirmation. So? what did I do? I emailed them 2 days ago, I still did not receive any reply regarding this. YOU TELL ME, SQUARESOFT ENIX. Should I still be excited about Final Fantasy XIV?!!

UPDATE:

I just checked the SQUARESOFT got my question answered.

Why is my country of residence not listed?

The list of countries provided are the countries that the Square Enix Account service is currently available in. If your country is not listed, then you will be unable to complete the Square Enix Account registration process.

Check the screenshot below to prove that I'm not lying.

WHAT THE HELL?! Isn't very discriminating to those people who are stayed outside Square Enix Account "coverage"?So, Squaresoft Enix, my opinion doesn't matter now?

I say let's all Singaporean, Malaysians, Indonesians gamers should rally up and boycott Squaresoft Enix games. [but I don't feel like boycotting Deus Ex : Human Revolution :( ]

Squaresoft Enix, if you're reading THIS. PLEASE JUST PUT THE GOD DAMN SQUARESOFT ENIX ACCOUNT in our COUNTRY or WHATEVER. JUST LET US PLAY FINAL FANTAST XIV BETA OK?!

Online hardware and software stores in Malaysia

Hardware Only

www.pcspec.com.my

Hardware and software

www.cresdo.com.my

www.qwerty.com.my

www.online365days.com

Software / Games

www.tsb.com.my

www.youbeli.com

Please update me if you have any other online stores in Malaysia

Thanx

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 launch (IV)

Continued from Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 launch (III)



But the nightmare continued after Walter Wong presented about Windows and SL4 Development. Walter Wong knows his stuff but wasn't able gain my attention at least (result of heave lunch?). But his great knowledge of Visual Studio 2010 is a plus point. After Walter Wong, there was short speech from someone in Dell Group something something, after him , someone which I can't remember the name talked a bit and passed the floor to a Lai Hoong Fai from Microsoft Malaysia.


I can't remember him passing the floor to this Hoong Fai.For a short while, we saw a few person from the event management company fiddling around with some PCs on stage for around 10 minutes. The guests wasn't informed about what was going while the people on stage trying to work their magic. Some thought this would a good opportunity to go to the washroom. Finally,when everything was almost done, the guests were informed to stay put because the event was about to start. When the "Web and Cloud Development" talk started, we were informed by Hoong Fai that they were trying to get the Internet up 10 minutes and FAILED.So, he had to present with some limited features and what not.  Since the Wireless Internet was provided by P1/ Packetone, I'm not sure if it's same to assume the Internet used by Microsoft is provided by the same party as well?  PREPARATION FAILED x 2 . (which also proves that products that depend on Internet access will not sell well here thanks the instability of the Internet connection.)

Then came MIMOS to talk about Team Foudation Server, which was still okay. There is also some products demo by MIMOS , what MIMOS does and all that.

Then the final blow was, during the SharePoint and Office Development talk, Foo Shen (correct spelling??) kept making mistakes about his program. Finally, after 2 failed attempts of making his code work, he chose to present with some other sample code in his PC. I'm very upset about this talk as well, because it seems to me that even Microsoft own staff has poor understanding of Visual Studio 2010, are we supposed we are getting good support from this product in the future? PREPARATION FAILED x 3 .

Before I forget, Microsoft indeed had some "door gift". There are actually 2 ways to get them:
a) Buy them  - There's actually a booth selling Microsoft brand products, eg.T-shirts, Jackets, Ball-pen (4 for price of RM10), Water tumbler, Name card holder, cap and etc.

b) Get them (free?) - After submitting the survey form, every guests is entitled to 1 x Windows 2008 R2 DVD with a 180 days limit and  Visual Studio 2010 Trainking Kit. This just seemed like some cheap-ass trick to reward those submitted the form and cheapskate of giving our door gifts. COURTESY FAILED x 2.

Overall, I'm very upset about how the event went. It's either Microsoft had insufficient budget for this event? or the event management company did a plain bad job. Then again, it could be both. If sufficient budget was provided and the event still turn out like shit; I, as Microsoft would fire the events company and make sure it never makes any presence in that industry. I think Microsoft's reputation was seriously screwed on this event.

Microsoft , you either buck up or prepare to go bust.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 launch (III)

Continued from Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 launch (II)..

So, off we went to have some tea / coffee (and some cupcakes?) WHAT?!!@# just tea adn coffee. Man, is there something wrong with my eyes? I scanned through tables the whole serving area, no finger food, nothing , just tea and coffee.Probably Microsoft was trying to promote healthy living, so they skip the cakes / finger food, or they were just plain CHEAPSKATE.  Well, a person's loss is another person's gain. As we sat down for early breakfast in Starbucks Sunway Pyramid (since it's the only place that we saw opened so early, around 8am.), we saw quite a number of customers who are also holding the same Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 booklet as us.Anyway, Micrsoft's Courtesy. FAILED.

We finished breakfast and head back to Convention Centre around 9am.Event started on time and the first person who delivered the speech was Azli Jamil (General Manager, Local Software Innovation at Microsoft).(Click here for Azli Jamil.) If you need some pointers on how NOT to give a speech, Azli Jamil is definitely the RIGHT person to go to. Normally, one would say something like this "Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to have you , our business partners, our customers to attend this launch today." But, Azli had to delivered this way, "Ladies and gentlemen, *looks at screen* we are proud *looks at screen* to have  *looks at screen* you, our business *looks at screen* .............." Well, you get the drift. He was pausing so often to look at the screen on what to say, his speech constantly interrupted. That my friend is. PREPARATION. failed.

eenThe nightmare seemed to have ended once Dave Mendlen (Senior Director of Developer Marketing at Microsoft Corp) , and David Salomon (I forgot what's his post in Microsoft) started talking about the features of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. Both Davids were able to project an energetic feel and presentation. Although hearing numerous "awesome"  remarks about Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 , can still be a bit annoying. Anyhow, PRESENTATION. YAY

To be continued....

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 launch (II)

4 days ago, Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 was launched in Malaysia. The launching was held in Sunway Convention Centre.

Compared to Lotusphere event which I attended in 2007, this event was a far cry compared to this event.
Firstly, lack of signage. There were hardly any signs pointing us to the Sunway Convention Center from the car park. Well, to be fair, Lotusphere was held in Sheraton Subang , which at that time still has a small car park located quite near to the Lotusphere event venue. So, it was relatively quite easy to find the (with minimal effort by with some signage).

For Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 launch, there were hardly any signage pointing us to Sunway Convention Centre except the one signage  near the escalator heading up to the Convention Center. I know there are signboard by Sunway Pyramid shopping centre pointing us to the Convention Centre but I won't mind if there were more signs pointing us to the venue. No signage of where is the washroom either. It seems either Microsoft or the event management assumes that the guests know their way around or expects them to check out the hall themselves.Proper signage. FAILED.

So, we (my superior and myself) somehow managed to find our way to the venue via the Fire Exit lift. Anyhow , we arrived and gave our name cards was provided with these (insert photo).

No pen, no notepad, or at least a key-chain, but we were given some brochures. They probably figured most of us just "write" on smartphones, so there's no need for paper. Yea man. way to go Microsoft.  There wasn't even an agenda provided. Well, we can see the programmes lists from the survey form (more on that later). I was very surprised, did last year's failing economy hit Microsoft so bad, that they can't even afford to provide each guest an agenda? I later found out that agenda was provided on 2 black cardboard stand which guests have to gather around to check out.Information.FAILED.
 
To be continued...

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 launch

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 has been launched in Malaysia yesterday (12/04/2010) . The launching in Sunway Pyramid sucks. PERIOD.

why does it suck?. more news coming soon.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not fan boy of Linux or whatsoever. But, seriously it sucks.

Malaysia Broadband , you should check them out

Sorry for the long hiatus, haven't been posting anything important. There will be Nokia 5230 review coming out soon.

In the meantime, for all those who find redesignmalaysia.com news update being TOoooooOOoo slow / old. (The latest post was dated June 8 2006 at the time of this posting ), you guys should check out Malaysia Broadband News.

The latest news is February 12 , 2010.

Good job. Malaysia Broadband News, I'll definitely bookmark this site or keep it on my RSS reader.

How to sync Sony Ericsson phone contacts with Sony Ericsson PC Suite

 http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=5a4304f1138a20ab&hl=en

Spotted at a bank

Spotted at an ATM machine , (hint : the one with the Lion head, most Malaysians will know this bank)

Mr / Ms-Know-it-all

My dearest called me to asked me about a problem that her neighbor is facing. Her neighbor, an old man (affectionately known as "uncle") said that his PC was fine the afternoon, but turns off by itself after it loads up Windows while he was using the PC at night. My dearest who is an IT grad, suggested that the problem should the power (which might be accurate). In this case, I believed she done good job advising the uncle what's the problem. She faced this problem before and solved it by installing an Auto-Voltage-Regulator, which suggests the problem was the power. Kudos to her!

But, how many times have we met with IT-illiterates trying to show off claim they are smarter over an IT graduate? This reminds me of my previous company, which a manager openly challenged me and claiming that I cheated him. While my boss and colleague wasn't around (because they were outstation), Mr. smarty-ass-pants wanted to borrow a Windows XP CD. Since we do not have any Windows XP CDs, what we have were actually image of Windows XP (IT literate should know what I'm talking about) which only work on *certain* brand of PCs, so I told him off that I can't lend him. Even if I did, he couldn't install on his PC and it won't work.

I guessed Mr. smarty-ass-pants didn't buy it and went home and asked his friend. So, I'm not sure what the so-called-smart friend of his told him what. The next day, I got a scolding from Mr. smarty-ass-pants, saying that his friend told him there's no such thing as a (insert-whatever) installation CD, he said I was treating him like a kindergarten kid. Not long after that, I was briefed by my boss saying don't mess around with Mr. smarty-ass-pants.

Being insulted even though I was right, that just never felt right.

So, have you met annoying users lately?

I have not come across any "I-know-it-all" users in my current company. Hopefully I won't. :)

of TMnet monopoly and Satellite Internet

It is not strange that monopolisation occurs in every single field including IT , or Information Technology (or ICT, whichever suits you).

The benefits of monopolisation is that it allows everyone to follow one's standard, one's way of progress and one's way of handling of problems, procedures' and all that. When you follow all the above,this will avoid deviation from the standards created by monopolising company / organisation. Everyone will just follow with no questions asked.
In the end, everyone is happy (or sad) and life goes on.

BUT, there's a BIG BUT (no pun intended) here. Because monopolisation does not encourage deviation, it forces everyone to accept whatever standards created by monopolisation organisation , be it good or bad.

In the case of Broadband providers in Malaysia, it seems everywhere you go. The cheapest still is Streamyx from TMnet. (yea I know you TMnet fckers, smile as much as you want). But, everytime someone applies for TMnet Streamyx is like a "try-your-luck" experience. Sometimes you have to wait for "port-to-be-available", sometimes you don't. Basically, there's just no guarantee that you can ALWAYS get TMnet Streamyx. I mean what is this?! Because TM monopolises the Broadband market, other players can't do shit about it. It's a take it or leave it situation. There's no saying of "oohh since TMnet can't provide Internet to me, I'll go for another company". There's no such luxury for broadband users in Malaysia (unless you live in the urban areas of course). I assumed that politics does play an important role to ensure that TMnet is one and cheapest broadband provider around all broadband players. However, there's a still a little hope. Introducing 3G, the next "cheapest" solution. As with alternative solutions, there's always a problem.

Coverage. Although 3G coverage has improved a lot over the years, (Celcom touted the widest 3G coverage of whole Malaysia), it is still insufficient. The rural areas are still in the meagre GPRS coverage speed which is only up to 115.2kbps, which sometimes even dial-up can be much better. The only drawback is for dial-up there's no unlimited package, while GPRS has unlimited usage package (eg. Digi prepaid unlimited RM149, when your GPRS data usage is up to RM149 within the month, it will not incur any more charge WITHIN that month). Some of you may argue why these people staying in these rural areas needs fast Internet access anyway, well, some of these people are staying there because of their work. People who work in agriculture industry usually have their agriculture site, eg. nurseries, estates situated far away from town. These people need Internet access to check with their suppliers / vendors about any issues related the agriculture products they are using. Imagine driving 2 hours to town just hand in an Excel report in a USB drive. Times that by 5 or 6 days, this will caused wastage of fuel, time and financial resources. By this time, you will wondering is there still hope yet for rural areas to get high speed broadband access. Fortunately, there still is. Enter Satellite Internet. The final frontier. sort of.

The marvel of Satellite Internet is that it basically has no geographical issues. There's no "you're too-far-away-from-our-exchange" issue or coverage issue. This is because regardless of where you are, satellite receiver should be able to beam as well as receive signals from the satellite in the sky. So, no matter where you are, you're covered. 1 satellite or another. Again, there's a catch. For satellite Internet, it's always more expensive than Streamyx that is providing the same bandwidth, say for the 1Mbps package, it costs around RM100++ for monthly access fees, but for satellite Internet with the same speed , the monthly access fees can costs up to 4-5 times the price of Streamyx access fees. So, again it's up to the cusstomer to decide. Take it or leave it. Again, politics plays a role to make sure that prices have to be more expensive than Streamyx. (If not, everyone will be running out to get satellite. Now, THAT would really hurt Streamyx. TM, you won't be happy if this happens right?)

In the end, I guess the monopolisation of TMnet (as well as politics) has played an important role to ensure that Streamyx survives the day while its competitors hold to whatever scraps left by them. In other words, no one is playing fair. Those who claim they are, are just a bunch of lying bastards. THE END.

Blogger new feature! Blog in future

well, not exactly blog in the future. But you can write a blog and post it at a later date or day or time. which might be the day that you can't access blogger to blog your post.

"Scheduled post publishing, which we talked about testing on Blogger in draft last month, is now live for everyone. If you set a post’s date into the future, Blogger will wait to publish until that time comes."

for more info, check out this link for more info.

Street Fighter IV!!! ooh yeah

It has been quite a long time that Street Fighter series appeared on PC. The Street Fighter game I remembered was Street Fighter II Alpha. correct if I'm wrong (in the comments. :P).

Now, there's a new Street Fighter series being announced. Enter STREET FIGHTER IV. From the debut trailer, it seems quite good. (of course all trailers look good, :P) .

One of the reason the trailer caught my eye, it seems to have this very HK-ish comic style look. Exaggerating lines and color and all that, sometimes it just feels like a drawing with all the strokes of a paint brush. Indeed a great job done by Street Fighter demo team. Kudos to all of them.

Looking from the gameplay video. There's a lot that has been buffed up as well. The animation of the street fighters look better. More colorful and vibrant looking colors. The background characters are more lively as well, although they still don't do much tho.not that they are expected to do anything anyways.

Here's 2 videos of Street Fighter IV. The first a debut trailer of Street Fighter IV.


Here's one of a the gameplay video



All the above videos are from Gametrailers.com

Overall, it does seem like a game to look forward to for all Street Fighter fans.

Nvidia to acquire AGEIA

AGEIA, the industry leader in game physics has recently been acquired by NVIDIA, (Nasdaq: NVDA), the world leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the GPU.

click here for more details.

what could this mean? could the developers still get the free SDK for their own development or will the developers have to pay good money to get these SDKs? after the acqusition.


interesting question to ponder.

Halo 3

Forum.Low Yat.net down?!

This is what I saw when I tried to log into forum.Lowyat.net this morning around 9.50am. hmmm....

Update :
When I check in the forums November 28, 2007, 9.15pm, it's A-OK.

forum.lowyat.net, Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition

I only knew about this OS when I read about this thread from forum.lowyat.net

It's cool that you can learn and read about lots of things from forum.

I also found that Lowyat.net's forum also has a forum for Hardware sales. Most of their prices are cheaper than those on market. REALLY COOL. REALLY COOL.

Well, there's other piece of good news.

Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions Beta 2 Available for Download NOW!!!!!!

click here for more information.

Jing .. Jing ... Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnngg!!!

After reading an article about Jing Project, I was kinda impressed about it.

So, what is Jing? Well, Jing Project is basically a software allows to share what is on screen either showing the person in contact list with screen shot or capturing what is happening on screen in video format.

This is how Jing Project describes about their product. "The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere."

Give JingProject a try. Do share your comments with me ya?

Honored and Shocked!!

Medal of Honor : Airborne demo to be released on August 30th!!!

Bioshock PC demo will be released before August 21st!!