DR KOH KHO KING

With the advancement of technology, it is so good that a phone can perform like a portable computer for you to bring everywhere! So many data and information you can store inside, some even like to use it as a camera to snap “private” photos.

It will be such a disaster if your smart phone is lost…cost of the phone is one thing, but the information inside the phone is the most important and of concern to all.

Being a phone, which can be bring around anywhere, the possibility of it getting lost is extremely high. Some might even get robbed! Yes, I have heard and read stories about that (don’t ever put your phone on a table when having lunch or dinner in open market).

So, what IF your Phone is lost? What security does one provide for the phone?

Apple has been demonstration remote lock and remote wipe features in their iPhone during the first generation launch. It is really a peace of mind thing. If a phone is lost, you can remotely lock it and / or wipe out all the data inside the phone. In some countries, you can even trace and locate where your phone is! (some countries do not allow it due to privacy issue)

Now…Android phone being so HOT and POPULAR now…does it has such feature? I wish it has but I was disappointed. I was really concerned about the information I have in my Samsung Galaxy S, and I did “lost” it once (later only found it inside my car). There are just way too many private data in the phone and security concern that should not get exposed to. I searched and google around and found two:

• wave secure
• mobile defense

When I tried to search for it in Android market via my Galaxy S, I just couldn’t find them. Not sure why, maybe is not available to my country (Malaysia).

Today I discovered and tested out ONE nice built in feature in Galaxy S! I have actually noticed that feature on Day 1 of buying my Galaxy S, but I didn’t understand the function of it and forgot about it. I did asked the salesman at Samsung Mobile Shop, and he doesn’t know as well. Today, after google for it, I finally understand it and IT IS ACTUALLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR! Yes, it is the REMOTE WIPE, REMOTE LOCK and MOBILE TRACKER!

Samsung Mobile Tracker

This is a unique feature given by Samsung to their phone users! I think only Samsung Galaxy S and Samsung Wave have this function at the moment. I won’t go into detail on how to set that up, as you can read that from Samsung website.

http://www.samsung.com/my/support/…

I set up my Galaxy S with the Mobile Tracker ON, and I tested it few minutes ago to LOCK my phone. Yes, my phone is locked after receiving an SMS. This is GOOD! Restart won’t bring OFF the lock screen. There is a PHONE password that you need to type to UNLOCK the phone. Yes, the lock screen is just like your phone keypad that allow you to type from 0 to 9. I am not sure how many time it allowed you to try out the password, as I read somewhere that a few wrong tries will result your phone being lock permanently.

Ok, I didn’t try the REMOTE WIPE feature, as I don’t want to reinstall and reconfigure my phone again (Just did it this afternoon after upgrading the firmware). I suppose REMOTE LOCK is better as REMOTE WIPE will clean all the data in your phone including the Mobile Tracker information (by default is OFF). That might render your phone to original factory condition and allowing whoever got your phone to be able to use it as a new phone. Not sure if I was right or wrong on this…

Locate my phone feature is not available in Malaysia. Too bad…

Samsung Dive

To remotely control your phone, you will need to login to Samsung Dive website.

http://www.samsungdive.com

It is a free service from Samsung for their mobile users. You can register account from your phone during the setup of Mobile Tracker on your phone.

Ok, now I have a peace of mind. Will set the Mobile Tracker on my wife’s phone later.

Last night when playing around with Kies (Samsung software for the computer to communicate with Samsung phones), I noticed a notification of Firmware Update is available at the lower right corner of Kies.

New Firmware: PDA:JG4 / PHONE:JG4

I remember two weeks ago when I use Kies, there is no firmware upgrade available. So this must be released only recently.

This is NOT Android 2.2 (Froyo) yet. Samsung has announced in their Korean website that there will be Android 2.2 for Galaxy S in September 2010. Definitely a MUST upgrade later (going through the pains again…).

Since my wife’s Galaxy S is new, I so thought why not upgrade it! (no valuable data inside it yet).

It took around 15 mins to complete the firmware upgrade, depending on your internet speed as it need to actually download the firmware (binary files) from Samsung website. I am on a 4MB/s Streamyx line.

Upgrade will actually DELETE and ERASE everything from your phone, back to factory default. So beware! You need to back up a few things first before attempting the firmware upgrade:

Contacts

• Contacts (if you are using Google Contacts, then just sync it with Google)
• Contacts in Phone (Copy and backup using Kies first to your PC)
• Contacts in SIM (again, can copy and backup in Kies first to your PC)

SMS / MMS

I am not sure how to back this up. Kies seems not able to view my SMS stored in my Galaxy S. A bug in Kies? It should by right…else how am I able to backup my messages?I don’t know and I have tried several times by plugging and unplugging my Galaxy S to my PC, still Kies can’t load or find my messages.

Nevermind, not that those messages are of super important, so I just proceed to upgrade my phone.

Installed Software

I am not sure how to back this up. I don’t think there is any option to backup the installed software. So, manually note down what you have installed and wanted to install, as you will need to reinstall them later.

Upgrade? What Change? New Features?

I am not sure. Samsung did not mention it during the upgrade. One obvious change I saw after the upgrade is a new Apps Running icon, which you can click to see what apps are running in your phone and can choose to kill it as well. Good feature I would say.

Upon searching for the upgrade info in the internet, I saw some mentioning about the improvement in speed and reducing lag time in using the phone. Also improvement in sound quality. I am currently upgrading my own Galaxy S, will know later after upgraded and played around with it for a while.

It is actually GOOD to upgrade the firmware if you want to CLEAN and put your phone back to its original factory condition!

Just bought another unit today…for my wife this time.

Same price, RM2500.

I also learned that there are AP set from Singapore and other countries, selling at around RM1.9k (8GB) and 2.1k (16GB) via Lelong.com. In Malaysia, there is only 16GB version from Samsung Malaysia.

Paying RM2k for a phone, I think it is safer to get an official warranty set.

Can only dream about this car…Mercedes CLS 2011 model. I just love the BIG Merce logo in front. Classic yet fierce look!

The current model is around RM800k before roadtax and insurance. Can get rob when driving it on the road in Malaysia…yeah…not anybody can “afford” one. Need not just $$$ but guts too.

The first thing that people will ask (especially in Malaysia) when talking about online shopping is…CAN TRUST OR NOT!

Noticed that I did not use ? but !, because those who asked this question are actually already set their mind to “CANNOT TRUST Lah!“. They are not seeking for answer, not asking a question but TELLING YOU what they think (Cannot Trust).

Online shopping in Malaysia is still relatively new. Thanks to AirAsia, most have to force to learn to shop online, at least to grab the so called “Free ticket“. AirAsia have managed to kick start online shopping experience in Malaysia since their first launch in early 2000, but that’s not enough. AirAsia is a big company, so people trusted them. How about other online shop?

ShaShinKi – the First & Largest Online Camera Shop! (in Malaysia lah…)

From time to time, I receive phone call and email from potential customers asking what if they paid but never receive the goods that they ordered. Can they trust ShaShinKi? Guest what…I told them NOT to trust me, but google for ShaShinKi and see what others are saying about ShaShinKi.

• http://www.google.com.my/search?q=shashinki

Of course, I also told them who am I (Dr. KOH Kho King). Hahaa…you might ask…who are you?! (“in shout mode”)

I am Dr. KOH Kho King

1. Co-founder of Photo Malaysia (www.photomalaysia.com) – First & Largest Online Photography Community! (We have Canon, Schmidt, Futuromic, Shriro, etc. big companies in Malaysia advertising with us)
2. Founder of Fotolah (www.fotolah.com) – Fastest growing Chinese Photography Forum in Malaysia!
3. Founder of PentaxWorld.com (www.pentaxworld.com) – International Pentax Forum.
4. Founder of BlogMalaysia.com (www.blogmalaysia.com) – Largest blog directory in Malaysia with over 10k members!

If the above still not enough, then take a look (detail study) at ShaShinKi website.

ShaShinKi.com – How much does it worth?

Malaysia’s First & Largest Online Camera Shop!

http://shashinki.com

We are the FIRST and LARGEST Online Camera Shop in Malaysia! Started in Dec 2005, we have been in the business for more than 4 years with lots of satisfied customers! We have nearly 5000 active products online, over 20k customers, very detail and smooth shopping system!

ShaShinKi has been in the business for more than 4 years, and we are the distributor of many big brands in the market (Domke, Maha PowerEx, Photo Clam, Phottix…etc.).

How much do you think that worth? A rotten egg (cheating) can easily spoil the whole pot of soup, and we will not let that happen to us and crashing the reputation and brand name that we have built.

Still worry?

Check out our Facebook account.

• http://www.facebook.com/shashinki
  

We communicate with our customers. We keep in touch with our customers. We make ourselves available for our customers. If we have cheated, people can find us easily and bad comment about us!

We have hundreds of satisfied customers that have left feedback at our website:

• http://shashinki.com/shop/guestbook.php
  

ShaShinKi advertises in TWO popular magazines in Malaysia MONTHLY!

• Digital Camera Magazine
• Hardware Magazine Malaysia

Go get a copy and you can find ShaShinKi’s advertisement and coverage in the magazines in the last 1 year and the many coming months!

Affiliates, we have lots of them!

We have lots of Affiliates that advertise for us too! If you happened to see ShaShinKi’s banner at some blogs, facebook, personal website, most probably those are our Affiliates. They earn commission by introducing customers to ShaShinKi, most of them are actual satisfied customers of ShaShinKi!

We Care!

Since the early day we have been implementing SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) in our website to protect the data sent over the internet from our customers to our secure server.

We are serious in the business, and we know how important and valuable our customers’ data are.

Not to mention that ShaShinKi is served from a dedicated dual Xeon processor server located in Malaysia too! (costs us $$$ every month to rent the server)

So What? you might say…

We spent lots of money in building up our brand, our reputation. Just like AirAsia.

In cyberworld, domain name is everything. It is the most worthy part of an online shop. An online shop can try to cheat their customers, but that can’t last long. Words will be spread easily (especially in online world, where everybody got their FB, blog, twitter now).

Try us once, I am sure you will love the convenience of the internet!

My sister and brother in law has just opened up a very nice online shop!

http://www.toddlersnbabies.com/

Products are of reasonable price and great quality (mostly sourced from UK!)! Refreshing web design and easy to browse and shop. Highly recommended!

Shop with trust and confidence, highly recommended by ShaShinKi!

Did some cleaning work at home…sitting in front of the computer till 5am (Friday night ~ Sat morning)…continued some tidying stuff on Saturday and it is finally done.

No, not house cleaning, not physical shop cleaning, but my online shop – www.shashinki.com – cleaning. I remember a saying: the design of your shop is DONE on the day you decided to close it. There will always be improvement and modification work that you need to do from time to time. How very true from the day I start up ShaShinKi (Dec 2005), the work has never been completed and my job is never stopping.

You might not notice any difference at ShaShinKi.com, it is just some minor clean up work and tidying job, making browsing and shopping more pleasant. If you have noticed it, thank you! (You must be a frequent visitor or customer to ShaShinKi!) (Or…you are a dealer from another shop? No problem and you can contact us for cooperation. We do supply things to many other dealers in Malaysia. )

There are many more work to be done…and will be done. Do not hesitate to contact us at shop@shashinki.com if you found any bugs or room for improvement. Thanks ya!

Took few hours ago… My lovely wife and Megumi…

Took in a rush, my SB-800 was flat without battery…so I have to use the built-in flash to fire and grab a few shots before Megumi went upstairs…

Capacity by time since charged

Maha Imedion scores highest in holding charge inside a battery from day 1 to months! Maha Imedion also shows as the highest capacity among the other LSD batteries in the market!

Review 1

Imedion being the blue line with the highest score!

(Source: http://protog.com.au/blog/index.php/low-self-discharge-rechargeable-aa-battery-test-results/)

Quote from the Original Reviewer (archae86):

Among the AA cells the Maha IMEDION have the best 4-week results. The Kodak are respectable second, and low price and high availability will make them the preferred choice for many.

Review 2

Imedion being the green line with the highest score!

Sorted summary capacity mAh data:

AA low self-discharge NiMH
battery initial 1-hour 1-week 4-week 3-month 3m/1h%
IME 1831 2186 2053 2008 1940 89% MAHA IMEDION 2100 mAh
KPC 1723 2124 2021 1950 1874 88% Kodak Pre-Charged 2100 mAh
GRY 1687 2116 1992 1938 1872 88% GP Recyko 2100 mAh
DPC 1515 2010 1906 1857 1821 91% Duracell Precharged 2100 mAH
HYB 1619 2026 1918 1870 1808 89% Hybrio by Ultralast 2100 mAh
AMX 1645 2078 1936 1856 1784 86% Ansmann Max-e 2100 mAh
ENO 1189 2017 1904 1854 1768 88% Nexcell EnergyON 2000 mAh
ENL 1438 1980 1847 1811 1746 88% Eneloop by Sanyo 2000 mAh
RHY 1738 2021 1867 1795 1716 85% Hybrid by Ray-O-Vac 2100 mAh
RSK 1505 2024 1868 1808 1705 84% Radio Shack pre-charged 2000 mAHr
ACC 1737 2022 1899 1790 1696 84% Acculoop 2100 mAh
TPE 1009 1932 1847 1795 1590 82% Titanium Power Enduro 2100 mAh

AA ordinary NiMH
battery initial 1-hour 1-week 4-week 3-month 3m/1h%
PW20 * 1963 1804 1677 1259 64% Powerex 2000 mAh NiMH
LC20 * 1727 1595 1498 1212 70% LaCrosse 2000 mAh NiMH
KOD * 2072 1917 1673 1012 49% Kodak 2100 mAh NiMH
SY23 * 2091 1899 1615 888 42% Sanyo 2300 mAh NiMH
TI26 * 2001 1745 1495 781 39% Titanium 2600 mAh NiMH
RAY * 1579 1471 1273 605 38% Ray-O-Vac 1600 mAh NiMH
NEX * 1239 1211 978 533 43% NEXcell 2200 mAh NiMH
TI24 * 2109 1859 836 0 0% Titanium 2400 mAh NiMH

-500 hours capacity as delivered
0 hours zero-time capacity after at least three cycles
168 hours–one-week capacity
672 hours–four-week capacity
2184 hours–three-month capacity

(Source: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/772566)

Few weeks ago, I went to McDonalds to buy some “junk” food for myself and my family at night. I used the drive through method to make the purchase with my little kid in the car. It was like around 9pm.

Everything was smooth, drove through, purchased, reached home.

When opened up the package at home (together with GCB burger), to my dismay…the french fries in the bag is only HALF package! I paid for LARGE set and I got only HALF the fries! Not that I wanted to eat that much but I felt being cheated. There is no way that the waiter in McDonald can’t see the package is HALF full when they packed it for me!

Got really frustrated with such service from McDonalds.

The next day I went back to the McD and asked to see his manager. Told him the story and my disappointment. The manager is such a young guy (looks like only 20+). He offered me a new french fries which I rejected to take. No, I am not there to beg for a new french fries junk food.

Where is the McD? The one besides the Shell station at Skudai UTM. Next time if you purchased things via drive through, make sure you check the content before leaving.

 Joe McNally trusts Maha PowerEx for his Flashes! Yes, Joe McNally uses Maha PowerEx too!

Joe McNally shoots for TIME, Newsweek, New York Times Magazine, and National Geographic. Joe is a published author and voted as one of the most influential photographers of the last decade. Joe McNally uses Maha PoweRex products is a great testament to their performance and reliability for any pro photographer!

Joe McNally is known internationally for his ability to produce technically and logistically complex assignments with expert use of color and light. An acclaimed American photographer and long-time photojournalist, Joe is a 20 year contributor to National Geographic magazine. He is renowned for his photographic series on “The Future of Flying”, a 32-page cover story published in December 2003. The story was the first all digital shoot for the magazine, and that issue was a National Magazine Award finalist, as well as one of the most popular NationalGeographic covers.

What’s in Joe’s Bag

http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/whats-in-the-bag/

From 1994 to 1998, Joe was LIFE magazine’s staff photographer, the first one in 23 years. His most well known series is the “Faces of Ground Zero – Portraits of the Heroes of September 11th”, a collection of 246 giant Polaroid portraits shot in the Moby C Studio near Ground Zero in a three-week period shortly after 9/11.

In 2008, McNally published his critically acclaimed, award winning book, The Moment It Clicks, which has been touted as, “one foot on the coffee table and one foot in the classroom.” In 2009, McNally published his newest, much anticipated book, The Hot Shoe Diaries. It immediately cracked Amazon.com’s top ten list of best sellers within the first week of publication.

He has shot cover stories for Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Geo, Fortune, New York, Business Week, LIFE and Men’s Journal, among others.

• http://www.joemcnally.com

Maha PowerEx – Malaysia’s Distributor – SHASHINKI DOT COM

• http://shashinki.com/shop/maha-powerex-m-13.html

The next time you make your booking at AirAsia…do take note on the Convenience Fee that they are going to charge you if you use your CREDIT CARD to pay for the ticket.

Yes, by default they will want you to pay via Credit Card, so that they can charge you the Convenience Fee (RM5 per person if I remember correctly). If you chose to pay via local bank (Maybank, CIMB…etc.), then you will see that the Convenient Fee is automatically waived off. However, my last use of AirAsia is that they don’t allow me to pay via local bank, as the page is NOT working right for Other Banks. So I am FORCED to pay using my credit card and have to pay extra RM15 for 3 person booking. I pay one time, but they are charging me as per person’s booking.

My total paid amount is RM265, while the convenience fee is RM15. This meant I paid 5.66% for using my credit card.

Is this legal? I thought Master and Visa forbidden merchants from charging customers when using the credit card?

AirAsia…they will try to squeeze whatever that is possible from you…

(Update: Just found out that AirAsia has this Convenience Fee page:

http://www.airasia.com/bd/en/confees.html

So called to subsidize the costs of the payment systems at AirAsia website…yeah…right…)

See our Black Rapid RS-W1 coverage at Digital Camera Magazine – August 2010 Edition (Malaysia).

The Cover

RS-W1 Page

Black Rapid strap can be bought at:

http://shashinki.com/shop/blackrapid-m-128.html

Upgraded to Streamyx 4MB/s package line recently. RM140 per month. Finally I can enjoy smooth YOUTUBE video…and smoother work at my computer. Used to be 384kb/s (RM60) package. Initially the 384kb package was fine, but in the last few months it has become too slow or painful to use. So finally have decided to upgrade.

Used 3 independent internet speed test website to confirm my current internet speed. All of them showed above 4MB/s download, though upload is very slow at only around 400kb/s. Anyhow, I am satisfied with the performance of the internet BB right now. Let’s hope the speed will NOT degrade after the 2 weeks “trial” period (the guy who came to set up my line told me that he is responsible / guarantee for 2 weeks services if anything goes wrong).

http://www.speedtest.com.sg/speedtest.php

http://speed.p1.com.my/

http://www.speedtest.net/