13 Jun

Samsung MS650 Sound+ 3.0-Channel Soundbar – Short Review

Get tired with the sound from my home TV (Sharp 60″ LCD TV).

Just Bought a Sharp 60″ AQUOS Full HD LED TV LC60LE650M

Have difficult time hearing clearly the voice from the movie, was suspecting that my hearing has deteriorated a lot?

Then, I decided to get a soundbar again for my TV. Again? Yes, I have bought one in year 2015:

Just Bought! Philips HTL-3140B Soundbar

Amazing sound from the Philips, but there is an annoying delay in syncing the movie and sound. The sound is always slightly delayed as the movie, as the sound was connected using Optical cable. The soundbar is now being used as a computer speaker for my wife.

Then few days ago, I decided to get another soundbar. Google for BEST Soundbar and the Samsung pop up.

Watched some Youtube video regarding the soundbar, and decision made. Placed order online (RM1228), and viola, I got the soundbar yesterday.

Highlights of the Samsung MS650 Sound+ 3.0-Channel Soundbar

  • 3.0-Channel Configuration
  • Nine Drivers with Dedicated Amplifiers
  • Distortion-Cancelling Technology
  • Simulates 5.1-Channel Surround Sound
  • Supports 96 kHz/24-bit Audio
  • Compatible with Samsung OneRemote
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Connectivity
  • Smart Sound Mode
  • Multiroom-Compatible
  • Includes Cables, Remote, AA Batteries

The main reason why I am attracted to this soundbar is because I believed it won’t have the sound sync issue with my TV, because it has HDMI IN and HDMI OUT on the soundbar. Meaning that my Astro decoder HDMI output will now be connected to the soundbar, passing the sound to the soundbar, and the soundbar HDMI OUT will connect the the TV, passing the video signal to the TV. This should avoid the sound / movie sync issue that I have previously encountered.

The soundbar was delivered to my office. It is HUGE, and and I couldn’t wait to get home to test it out.

So I removed it from the box, and place it side by side with my Philips soundbar and did a quite comparison in sound.

The Philips is sitting on top of the Samsung. You can see the huge difference in size between the two.

Frankly, I don’t find much difference in sound quality between the two. Both deliver crystal clear sounds played from my wife’s computer. The Samsung seems to have a bit of strong base (I didn’t test the base part in depth, as personally I don’t like heavy music).

Setting up the soundbar at home is quick and easy. The Samsung set comes with an HDMI cable, so you don’t have to go find one out there. The soundbar is HUGE, but it actually sits quite well on the table covering some of the cables coming out from the table to the TV. So it is quite nice. I noticed that the remote controller of the soundbar is exactly the same as the Samsung smartTV that I have in my office. Interesting. Some users said that you can control the soundbar and TV with the same remote if you paired them together.

Now the verdict…how’s the sound?

1. First and foremost, there is no lagging in the sound vs image. All sync well.

2. Default volume is 50. I find it to be good and loud enough to listen to. The Philips default volume is way too low, and every time I switched it ON, I have to turn up the volume myself.

3. In order to have the image on the TV, you must switch ON the soundbar, and you must select the soundbar to HDMI channel. Else there will be no signal sent to the TV.

4. Now…the sound quality. Yes, it does makes some differences. Voice and talk from the drama we watch now is clearly hear able. My wife said that’s because I turned up the volume, but I know that’s not the reason. I couldn’t or don’t want to test the before and after sound of the soundbar with the original TV sound, because it requires different cables. So, no need for that. Most importantly is that now I don’t have to torture my ears hearing movie drama that I can hardly recognise and have to always read the scripts on the screen!

In conclusion, yes I think this is a good soundbar. It solved the poor sound problem of my existing TV, and improve the movie experience at night.

Worth the money or not it depends. For me, I am fine spending the RM1228 on it to improve the poor sound quality from my TV.

 

 

 

28 Apr

Visit / Interview by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Students – Entrepreneurship

We are glad to have a team of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) students visiting us today for their Entrepreneurship project. They are the 2nd years students from the Faculty of Built Environment, FAB.

I shared the story of ShaShinKi, how we started the business, how to got the name from, what is the purpose of my business, what are the challenges faced…etc. It is a nice 1 hour sharing session with the youngsters.

22 Apr

Megumi and a BIG Pu Gong Ying flower!

She picked up this beautiful big pu gong ying on the sideway, and run to me to take photo.

She and Emmanuel blow the dandelion off before I could take out my camera and take more shots. The above was taking using my mobile phone.

22 Apr

Met my Sensei, Prof. Hironori Yasukawa, in Hiroshima University, Japan

A very important person in my life, Prof. Hironori Yasukawa. He was my doctoral degree supervisor in Japan, from 2005-2008. If not because of him, I won’t be in Japan, a place that changed my life forever.

We went back to Saijo, Hiroshima, Japan for our holiday from 5th to 14th April 2018. I went to meet with my sensei on the last day before going back to Malaysia, and he was surprised to see me. I waited an hour outside his room, as he was having class. It was a surprise visit.

I am glad that he is still in good shape, and I prayed to God that my sensei will get to know Him one day.

Goodbye, sensei!

22 Apr

Cotto 92202 Toilet Seat with Water Cleansing

We bought this Cotto 92202 toilet seat together with Cottom toilet for our new bathroom.

After coming back from our recent Japan holiday, we all (I mean all of us in the family: Lydia, Megumi, Emmanuel, and I) fall in love with the convenient and hygiene of using water to clean your private part after the big business.

So, we decided to have water cleansing toilet seat for all of our existing toilets, and there are 3 currently in our house. Today is a bit free, so I decided to try out the Cotto 92202 toilet seat with our existing toilet, to see if it fits. To my surprise, it fit perfectly!

After a hour work of dismantle the old toilet seat and assemble the Cotto toilet seat, it is all good to go!

Quite a big seat, but fit nicely!

The set comes with a T-joint pipe divider, so you can fit easily to the existing outlet of the toilet water pipe.

This is a non-electric style type, so is manual turning the knob and water pressure will push the nozzle out and dispensing water.

20 Mar

Wedding Anniversary, 14 Years Together

Bought this for my beloved wife…long time didn’t get her flowers…

We went for Japanese restaurant (和乐屋 Warakuya Japanese Restaurant) for dinner later on. I called to make a reservation before going, as it is always full house and waiting time can be 30 mins to an hour.

Ordered many food, and only RM210 total. Very worth it, that’s why many went to the restaurant.

http://bit.ly/warakuya

 

11 Mar

Multiple USB power adapter with Fast Charging

I have been using this LVSUN 34.5W 6 Ports USB Wall Fast Charger at home for several months. Previously we have another 4 ports model, but not eough for our growing usage, so I bought a 6 ports one for my home use from ShaShinKi. This new model is even better with a FAST Charging port.

We use it to charge our Samsung Note 5, Samsung Note 8, iPad Mini, iPad 3, Xiaomi Redmi 4A, mini robot…etc.

https://shashinki.com/shop/lvsun-345w-ports-wall-fast-charger-fast-charging-gopro-smart-phone-iphone-ipad-samsung-galaxy-note-sony-a7ii-a6000-digital-cameraetc-p-35077.html

Only RM95.40 (incl. GST) at ShaShinKi, covered with 1 year one to one exchange warranty. Can be bought from link above.

11 Mar

Free Chromebook from Google

Received a suprise yesterday. Another Chromebook from Google. Didn’t expect it, as I already got one from Google last year.

Didn’t know what was it until I open up the carton box.

Saw Chromebook name on the sticker, and I guessed it is from Google. Who else will send me such gift?

Made by ACER.

Safely protected.

Not the top specs, but for free what can you ask more?! The best part is that you get 2 years extra 100GB FREE storage from Google with every Chromebook! Yeah, I need that because my Google storage is already over 110GB now.

 

11 Mar

Making international driving license in Johor, Malaysia

Super easy I must say. No need to fill up any form. Just bring:

  1. Photocopy IC
  2. Photocopy driving license
  3. One passport size photo

Go to UTC Johor that opens from 8.30am till 9.30pm.

http://www.jpj.my/state_jpj_offices/JPJ_UTC_Johor.htm

I reached there at around 8.40am, got my international driving license just before 9am. That’s less than 20 minutes. Extremely easy and efficient.

Well done, JPJ!

8 Mar

Sofa in the Office, ShaShinKi Boss Room

A long due furniture in the office of ShaShinKi.

In our original design, we have wanted to have a sofa in the Boss room, yeah…that’s Lydia’s room. There is no urgency, no due date…hence has been delayed for nearly a year.

Tomorrow my friends will be visiting our office, so we decided to get a sofa for the boss room so that we can have a place for meeting and discussion later. Initially we have a meeting room in the original office design, but the room has now become our USED Products room + server room + store room.

So, we went to shop for sofa yesterday. Visited 3 places (one was already closed down), and finally found a set that we like (I think I like it more than Lydia, as she prefer purple colour in the first shop we visited, but there is no ready stock…).

We got the Sofa in blue, free two pillow (RM1999). We then found a set of coffee table for it (RM300), which i think match the set well. As there will be 3 friends visiting, so we decided to get a stool (RM150), and this is the only matching one we found in the shop. Love the colourful stool that add some extra colours to the whole set. Total = RM2499.

Added some snacks and drinks for the visitors. All ready to serve. 🙂

5 Mar

Bought Samsung Note 8 for my Beloved Wife

Finally, I have bought the phone. Samsung Note 8, for my beloved wife.

Samsung Note 8 was officially launched in September 2018, but from the previous bad history of Note 7, I decided to wait and see first before getting one.

Was tempted to get one earlier actually, but then the design doesn’t really appeal to me. Removing the front HOME button is somehow a change of my usual method of waking up the phone.

Then, I want to buy the Note 8 via Digi with significant reduction in price. Previously it was RM3400+ with 2 years contract under RM78 per month plan, but the Digi shop nearby my place always run out of stock of the Note 8. Few days ago when I went to Digi shop again, again no stock. However, I noticed a new plan offered by Digi. A Family plan with 5 lines at RM265 incl. GST per month, you can buy the phone at RM1736.28 incl. GST. This is quite a good deal! Currently I already have 4 lines under my name, and I have wanted to add another. My Digi bill is around RM230 monthly, only extra RM35 from the RM265 of the current family plan. Under the Digi Family plan, I get 60GB (weekdays) + 60GB (weekends) internet quota and unlimited call. Main line has 300 free SMS. So I think the deal is quite worth it for my usage.

Just a side note. Digi is also having another package for the Family plan, where if you do not want the Samsung Note 8 at RM1736.28 incl. GST, you can also opt for Huawei Mate 10 Pro for FREE. Yes, no money top up is needed. However, two of the Digi shops that I asked have no stock for the Mate 10 Pro phone. I guess free is hard to resist for most.

I did actually compare the photo quality side by side at the Digi shop (demo set) of Note 8 vs Mate 10 Pro. The wide angle camera of the Mate 10 Pro is wider, but when comparing to photo quality, I found Note 8 to be of more details. Maybe the Mate 10 Pro has too much noise reduction applied. Getting the Mate 10 Pro means risk trying a new phone / interface / design, which I am not so keen to do.

Samsung Note 8 is slim in design, but it is actually same width as the Samsung Note 5 that we are using. However, Note 8 is longer, but around 1cm.

The main reason why I am getting the Note 8 for my wife is because of the support of microSD memory card in Note 8. My wife’s Note 5 phone has been running out of memory space several times (64GB internal memory in Note 5, and does not support memory card). So, Note 8 is good to go to at least last 2 years without having to worry about memory space. Note 8 can support upto 256GB memory card, but since we have 128GB available in our shop, I just cut open one and put it to my wife’s new Note 8.

To protect the phone, I bought a Samsung flip case for my wife as well. RM259 at Samsung store. Quite expensive for a case, but this Samsung case support flip up to wake up the phone, and can have a see through screen or even pickup call without having to flip open the case.

When idle for long, the screen will just go dark.

Back side is a slightly soft material, good to hold in hand and not easy to get scratched.

The phone is actually gold in colour, but with the case attached, you won’t be able to see the colour. I decided not to go for the GOLD colour case, as it looks too flashy and gets dirty and scratches easily.

So far my wife is happy with the phone, and I am happy with the purchase. 🙂

22 Feb

My “New” MacBook Pro mid 2015, reinstalling / formatting macOS Operating System High Sierra

Should I say…this is my FIRST MacBook Pro.

Charging it to full power first.

I have never owned a MacBook Pro before. I have owned a MacBook, MacBook Air, but never a MacBook Pro.

Why “New”? Because it is actually a pre-owned unit from a friend. It is Mid 2015 model.

Running Itel Core i7 2.5 GHz, 16GB RAM.

Retina Display 15.4 Inch (2880 x 1800 pixels). With AMD Radeon R9 2GB display card.

Why “New”? Because it is not an new unit but pre-owned. I bought it from a friend at a good price. He prefers using his iPad Pro for his work, so selling this MacBook Pro away. Of course, because I asked about it, then only he is willing to sell to me.

Then the nightmare came…or should I say…learning process.

He has tons of stuffs in the MacBook. I bought a Seagate 1TB portable disk to backup the data for him using Time Machine (around 500GB of space required). Then proceed to “reformat” the computer.

Google is your best friend. Yes, a simple search revealed that you can do a complete clean install of your MacBook.

Step 1

Shutdown your computer. Restart and at the same time press COMMAND + R keys. You will be presented with the macOS Utilities screen.

Step 2

Go to Disk Utilities. Select Erase the disk and all data will be deleted. (there is no turning back once you do this. Make sure you backup any important files first).

Step 3

Reinstall macOS operating system. OK, this is where the problems start. I tried “Reinstall macOS” but it just won’t allow me to download the macOS installation files. I have connected to the internet correctly. Tried two different locations / WIFI, still same.

Tried for hours…and no go.

Google again and again, my steps were correct.

I even tried “Restore from Time-Machine”, but can’t.

Went home, brought the MacBook Pro with me home to continue troubleshooting. Repeat again and again to reinstall, no go.

Before I went to bed, I google and then read again the details on Apple website:

Start up from macOS Recovery

macOS Recovery installs different versions of macOS depending on the key combination you use while starting up. Turn on or restart your Mac, then immediately hold down one of these combinations:

Command (⌘)-R Install the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac, without upgrading to a later version.*
Option-Command-R Upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.**
Shift-Option-Command-R
Requires macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later		 Install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the version closest to it that is still available.
* If you’re selling or giving away a Mac that is using OS X El Capitan or earlier, use Command-R to make sure that the installation isn’t associated with your Apple ID.
** If you haven’t already updated to macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later, Option-Command-R installs the macOS that came with your Mac, or the version closest to it that is still available.

Yes, there is a hint there. Remember my first step of getting into the macOS Utilities was by pressing COMMAND+R keys, Apple seems to suggest that there are other options as per above.

So, I tried rebooting the MacBook with Option+Command+R keys. Yeah! Something different shown! There is an INTERNET icon running, showing that something is being downloaded I supposed.

Then I begin installing the macOS.

Sorry, NO GO.

A new error page shown that the installation cannot be done on the drive with installation file inside.

Stuck again.

Step 4

Erase the partition!

Yes, go to Disk Utilities again and erase the partition! You will see TWO partitions, and you can only erase ONE now.

Step 5

Go to “Reinstall macOS” now and you can now install macOS! It takes several hours to download the installation files, so be patient. Go take a nap or exercise! Don’t stare at the screen!

Step 6

Install and configure your new macOS system on the “new” MacBook Pro!

After successfully install a clean macOS operating system on my “new” MacBook Pro, I now understand why I can’t download the installation files in Step 3. My MacBook Pro is from year 2015, and the macOS of that time is Sierra, but the current version is High Sierra. So Apple does not allow me to download High Sierra macOS directly. I can only use OPTION+COMMAND+R to install the same old operating system available for my MacBook.

After installing a fresh macOS Sierra, Apple still allow me to download and update my macOS to High Sierra. In fact, my MacBook Pro is downloading the update now while I am blogging with it now.

or 

Above is my experience of installing a fresh clean macOS on my MacBook. I have been a Windows guy for years, so this way of reinstalling or formatting macOS is totally new to me. However, after this experience, I am now more confident of troubleshooting my mac now. It is actually quite easy once you know how it works.

Happy troubleshooting! Don’t give up!

5 Feb

Brinno BCC200 Time Lapse Contruction Camera Pro, distributed by ShaShinKi in Malaysia

Time Lapse Contruction Camera Pro by Brinno, BCC200.

Complete set with camera, weatherproof casing, clamp, 2GB memory card.

For long term project recording, one set of 4AA battery can last 80 days of recording none stop. Press one button and all photos will be combined into a time-lapse video.

ShaShinKi Sdn Bhd is the distributor of Brinno brand in Malaysia.

4 Feb

My breakfast, Dosa

Love this Indian food outside my house, dosa.

(Dosa is a type of pancake from the Indian subcontinent, made from a fermented batter. It is somewhat similar to a crepe in appearance. Its main ingredients are rice and black gram.)

RM1.50