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Brawn and brains

The 2009 Formula 1 Season is finally up and running again with the customary first race in Melbourne. Being the first race of the season, where every team are still not 100%, Melbourne usually creates a lot of surprises, like Mark Webber's one and only podium finish in his debut race in a MINARDI, which was a really really bad car, struggling at times to even finish in a fast enough time to start the race! But to many, the 2009 Melbourne GP has yielded THE most surprising result EVER, with Brawn GP, a NEW team which has risen from the ashes of the Honda F1 team, popping their cherry by getting a VIRGIN 1-2 finish in their VIRGIN race!

But IS it really a big surprise, or even a FLUKE? Well, NO. So okay, for a manufacturer-backed team, Honda were abysmally bad for the last couple of years. But then Ross Brawn, who helped Schumacher win all those titles with Benetton and Ferrari, unexpectedly joined Honda as Team Principal at the start of last year. As the first few races proved that last year's car was a dud and there was no point spending resources improving it, Brawn quickly set on developing the car for 2009. With the raft of new changes introduced for 2009 which almost meant that all the teams had to start from scratch, this decision to develop the car much earlier than others proved significant. So if Honda were still around, their car WOULD be the Brawn car. I'm not sure how better the customer Mercedes engine is, but I doubt it has given them significant advantage over the Honda engines. Anyway, as we have learnt over the years, the chassis aerodynamics and tyre choice make much much more difference to lap times compared to the engine itself. This was proved at Melbourne where the top 3 teams in practice all had controversial rear diffusers which the other teams are protesting. The protest is still under appeal, and if found guilty the Melbourne victory for Brawn might be taken away. So all is not as rosy yet.

So what team do I support then? Well, it has always been Williams. A lot of the so-called local F1 fans don't know that before the era of Schumacher and Hakkinen, the Williams F1 team won a few titles in a row with DIFFERENT DRIVERS. Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Jacques Villeneuve, Damon Hill. Year after year, title after title. They've been in a bit of a rot recently once BMW left and they turned private. But even then with customer Toyota engines, they consistently beat the bigger-budgeted Toyota team. The new 2009 rules seemed to have brought new hope, with Williams doing well in testing, and Nico Rosberg even topping all three of the Melbourne practice sessions. He was on course to get at least 3rd place in the race before a disastrous pitstop and the wrong choice of tyres at the end meant he was lucky to come home in 6th. The less said of his teammate Nakajima the better. I'm just happy for him to FINISH a race, which was a target too far for him in Melbourne as he crashed his car on his own. You could see that his being in Williams is part of some deal that involved the use of the Toyota engines.

On to Sepang then. Should be interesting to see if Brawn can build on their strong start. Also, to see if Ferrari and McLaren can do something about it. But with the race coming so soon after Melbourne, and with similar racing conditions, I doubt it. Accidents and mistakes aside, I FULLY expect the podium to be taken up by drivers from Brawn, Williams and Toyota. Thanks to the Missus' employers, we got a good deal for seats in the K1 stand, which to me provides the best view in Sepang. It's at the end of turn 1, which gives you a view of the starting grid, and the first few turns, where usually most of the overtaking (and accidents!) happen.

Review of my MacBook Mini

I've had about a week now to play around with my Leopard-installed Dell Mini 9. As a Mac user, I absolutely LOVE it, but then again also as a Mac user, the Mini (unsurprisingly) is not a true Apple device and ultimately does have a few nags.

Pros:

• It's a small, light, portable, fully functional Mac OS laptop!
• It's FULLY FUNCTIONAL. Everything works - wifi, built-in 3G, trackpad, built-in webcam, audio out port (for headphones).
• The built-in wireless broadband is particularly useful. You can go online ANYWHERE without having to look for a hotspot! Even in the car!
• The LED-backlighted screen is gorgeous.
• Has a built-in SDHC card slot, which means that the internal storage space can be boosted by the mere insertion of a SDHC card. To save space on the internal SSD, I'm even running apps off the SDHC - Firefox, iLife '09 etc. Loading may be SLIGHTLY slower than on an iMac, but once loaded, it works flawlessly.
• WIth the internal SSD (Solid State Drive) storage, and no fan nor DVD-reader, the Mini has NO MOVING PARTS. Which should make it more robust to knocks while carrying it around.

Cons:

• The keyboard really needs getting used to. I'm still getting more than my usual amount of typos. The alphabet-keys are OK, just that the other keys are are not aligned the usual way, and some are REALLY tiny! The two buttons adjoining the space bar which are mapped as the Command (Apple) buttons are even smaller than the tip of my fingers!
• I was never really a fan of trackpads, especially on non-Apple products, but the Mini's trackpad is just BAD. It's overly sensitive, and there's too much friction. Remedied this problem by getting myself a Microsoft (!) bluetooth mouse which pairs beautifully.
• It can get really hot after prolonged usage - but that's expected considering it has no internal fan. Anyway, I'm used to having my MacBook Pro literally ROASTING my thighs!
• Maxis 3G is a bit hit-and-miss. If you're in an area with good HSDPA coverage, then it's excellent. But it's rather slow otherwise. Having said that, connection in EDGE areas are not THAT bad, comparable to Streamyx most of the times (which doesn't say much). One problem with connecting to the net via 3G on a Mac is that the built-in dialer doesn't tell you whether the connection is on HSDPA, 3G, EDGE or plain GPRS. But I guess that's a minor problem as you can easily check the type of coverage using any 3G-enabled phone.
• The sound output is a bit dodgy, particularly when playing back movie files using VLC. At first I thought this had something to do with the speakers, but plugging in headphones yielded the same outcome. Probably a driver update would fix this.
  
• The built-in camera, at 0.3MP, is understandably grainy, especially in low light.

So there you have it. Probably the photo above encapsulates the features of the Mini. As you can see, I'm sat outside by the KLCC lake and I'm happily connected to the net, checking my emails, facebook and the latest football news. The photo is snapped using the Mini's integrated camera (which explains the graininess), but I fixed it up a bit using iPhoto '09 software which is readily installed on the Mini.

Anyway, with this Mini, there's less excuse not to blog on a more regular basis!

MacBook Mini

A new trend in the computing world emerged in the 2nd half of 2008. Before, bigger was always better, and computer manufacturers were enticing consumers with larger hard disk storage, faster processors, better graphics cards, bigger screens, faster wireless connections, etc. Thing is, does the average user REALLY need all this? In the modern day of the internet, you can argue that 90% of home PC users only EVER use the home PC or laptop to surf the net, write emails, type the odd letter and maybe watch the latest Britney video on Youtube (well the latter applies to me, anyway). So manufacturers had this idea - why not produce a scaled down machine that's light, portable and CHEAP? And thus the Netbook market was created. Appropriately named, a netbook would be simply a device whose main purpose would be to connect to the internet. No CD/DVD drives, and specs that are unable to handle heavy resource-intensive games and applications. But they would be really small (most with 10-inch or smaller screens) and light (just over the 1kg mark), and thus are really appealing to those who need to surf, blog, and reply emails on the move. I was really tempted to get one, but with one small problem - they all ran Windows or Linux! But over the months, the Dell Mini 9 emerged as the best model to be Hackint0shed, i.e. "hacked" to run the Mac OS.

Now in Malaysia, the Dell website does not have the Mini 9, but some retailers in LowYat Plaza do have it (or used to, anyway). Better still, Maxis has a deal where for RM89/month for 24 months, you get the Dell Mini 9 with BUILT-IN 3G, 6 months' worth of unlimited Maxis Broadband subscription, and the option to continue the subscription after the 6th month for only RM77/month (RM22 less than the normal rate). Sounded like a good deal to me, especially as it had a built-in wireless 3G card, which means you don't have to attach any unsightly dongle to connect to the net. From my "research" at LowYat, no one seems to be selling this card separately. So I went for it.

Registering for the Dell Mini at the KLCC Maxis Centre was easy enough - received it via courier less than 2 days later. Tested it a bit - didn't notice it being slower than any normal machine on Win XP, and the Maxis 3G connection was BLAZINGLY fast (provided there's a good HSDPA signal). So got myself a copy of the Mac Box Set (Mac OS 10.5.6 + iLife '09 + iWork '09) and went ahead with turning the Dell Mini 9 into a tiny MacBook.

The whole installation process was done using the simple step-by-step process given by the folks at mydellmini.com. I used the first 2 USB drive method, as it means I don't have to source for an external DVD drive. Just needed to insert the Mac OS installation disc into the iMac, then mirror it to a 16GB SDHC card. I did have to jump through a few more hoops though as the Dell Mini from Maxis only comes with a 8GB SSD, which is too small for a full installation of Mac OS Leopard, so I had to do a custom install, removing most of the unnecessary stuff to slim down the OS. I have to admit I did encounter several other problems along the way, but a quick search through the mydellmini.com forums shows that these were known problems and can be easily remedied.

In the end, installation of Mac OS Leopard onto the Dell Mini 9 was a SUCCESS, and the best thing is, EVERYTHING WORKS! In particular, the built-in wireless 3G works and I can connect to the Maxis 3G network. Only problem under Mac is it just tells me that I'm connected, there's no indication on type of network (HSDPA, EDGE, GPRS) or even how strong the signal is. Hoping to find a remedy for this in the next few days. The lack of a DVD-drive is no problem as the package of drivers downloaded from mydellmini.com includes a driver that makes the Dell thing that it's a MacBook Air. This enables the Remote Disc feature, which means that it will WIRELESSLY use the DVD-drive on my iMac as its own! So if I need to install programs or watch DVDs, all I need to do is insert the required DVD into my iMac, and it will turn up on the Dell screen as if it was inserted into its own drive! The Dell even automatically added the NAS (network attached storage) that I have connected to my router. After allowing for the OS (or what's left of it anyway), I only have less than 1GB of storage left on the internal SSD. However, the earlier mentioned 16GB SDHC (Class 6) inserted in the built-in card reader gives the needed additional space. Partitioned it into 2 separate partitions - one for Time Machine and another for applications and files. I installed Firefox, VLC and iPhoto on the SDHC, and there's really no noticeable lag.

So there you have it. I now have my very own 8.9-inch, 1.04kg MacBook Mini! Now all I need is to find away to remove that hideous Dell logo.

The 'Ol Switcheroo!

One thing about me that really irks my friends is that I seem to change my mobile number at least twice a year. About a year ago I switched providers from Maxis to DiGi. Reasons being:

1. Rates and charges were cheaper than Maxis, and as the Missus has a supplementary number, calls and SMS's between us are free WITH NO LIMIT.
2. I opted for the unlimited data plan, which was cheaper at RM66/month, albeit EDGE is the fastest speed available. Which was fine with me, as my 1st-gen iPhone has no 3G anyway (boohoo!).
3. When I signed up for the unlimited data plan, there was a promotion of free 12 month's use of the Airzed wi-fi network, which is the most widely available in KL.

So, all's good then? WRONG. The reception is just so POOR it's laughable. HYSTERICAL even. I have virtually no reception in my room at my in-laws' at Taman Duta, which has led me to MISS so many calls my friends and parents have almost GIVEN UP on trying to get hold of me in the evenings. If I'm in a lift or if I just go one floor down a basement level, there's just NO POINT even checking for reception. "That's expected" I hear you say. Well, that was not the case with my old Maxis number. Worked fine in lifts (well the ones in my office building anyway), and basements weren't too much of a problem unless I went REALLY FAR DOWN.

After having suffered this INCONVENIENCE for about a year, I decided to switch back to Maxis. And the Mobile Number Portability scheme in place in Malaysia now makes the process easier, as we get to keep our DiGi numbers! Only downside is the unlimited data plan under Maxis is RM99/month. But then, it is 3G, and though I can't benefit from it yet, I do expect to do so in a few months, when hopefully I can get my hands on the 3rd generation of the iPhone!

So I made my way to the Maxis service centre in Bangsar and told the guy we had learnt our lessons, have SEEN THE LIGHT and would now hope that Maxis can forgive us and take us back. The whole process was surprisingly easy. Just handed over my IC, gave the guy my home address, current DiGi phone number and which Maxis plans I wish to subscribe to - and voila! Now I just need to wait for an SMS confirming the switch before I can insert my new Maxis sim. The best part - I don't need to call DiGi to inform them of the switch. Everything should be done automatically!

Remote-ly crazy!

Everyone who knows me personally know that I'm a geek with a capital G. I am very passionate about tech, and do own more than my fair share of state-of-the-art gadgets. However, besides a few posts on my beloved iPhone, I've never really talked about my other toys. Until now. I'll start with my Home Entertainment System, and I think there's no better way to do it than to look at the remotes!

1. Astro MAX

When I was studying for my Masters in London a few years back, we subscribed to Sky+, which was basically the UK version of TiVo. With Sky+, YOU were in control of your own time. You can rewind live TV at any time in case you missed that goal or didn't hear what the film dialogue the first time round. But better still, you need only tell Sky+ that you wish it to record a certain TV programme, and it would continue to record and save each subsequent episode of the same programme until you tell it to stop. But what I loved most about it is that I always watch TV programmes 10-15 minutes after it has started. Then, whenever there's an advert break, I can just speed through the adverts!

So what about Astro MAX then? Well, it's supposed to do the same things as Sky+, only difference is that Astro MAX is CRAP. They should rename it Astro MIN instead. It is EXTREMELY buggy. Hangs all the time, and not a day goes by without my needing to hard reboot the system by pulling out the power cord. And when it doesn't hang, it suffers from serious lag, having to wait a couple of seconds for a button press to register. Lately a new problem has cropped up - at random times it just goes haywire altogether. Press "5" on the remote, and the decoder would recognise it as "4". Nothing to do with the remote, as this happens on more than one remote! It is telling though that on the astro homepage, there is no mention of Astro MAX, and under the "Packages & Decoders" section, it is stated that "... the Astro MAX decoder is no longer available".

2. JVC TH-V70 Home Theatre System

Got this by winning a slogan competition organised by The Star a number of years back. It's a 5.1 system and the DVD player has glowing lights and can be mounted either normally or vertically. The front panel slides down a bit everytime you need to insert or eject a DVD. And the sub-woofer is quite heavy and powerful. Everything in the room literally shakes whenever I watch a film on it. The TV is also connected to the JVC, so turning it up when I'm shooting down enemy soldiers in Call Of Duty on the PS3 is just AWESOME!

3. Sony Trinitron DRC-MF 29" Flatscreen CRT TV

Another one I won through a slogan competition - yup, I am just that good at slogans! A real massive TV which needs at least 3 people to carry around. It's a CRT, but unlike most CRTs it has multiple component/RGB inputs and progressive scan. The picture quality is just perfect, and there's no trace of the many horizontal lines that you can see across normal CRTs. Don't use it as my main TV ever since I got the LCD, but I put the footie on it on weekend nights while I watch TV or play games on the LCD.

4. Pioneer DV-585K DVD Player

An inexpensive model that I received as a wedding gift. Nothing much to shout about, except for one thing - it plays DivX files! No more watching downloaded TV series on the computer screen. Just burn the DivX files onto a DVD-RW, insert disc into DVD player and voila! So it's a dedicated DivX player until recently when I encountered less troublesome ways to enjoy my downloads.

5. PlayStation 3

Now, to the uninitiated (me too at first), the PS3 is nothing more than a games console, albeit a pricey one. Only difference between this and the older PS2 was just that the PS3 had better graphics. Oh how wrong that is. The PlayStation 3 is a full-blooded home entertainment system. With its 1080p HDMI output, you can watch high-def Blu-Rays and normal DVDs. It has built-in wifi, which means that apart from being able to play games online with fellow gamers around the world, you can also surf the net from the comfort of your living room sofa! This can be done by connecting ANY normal PC keyboard and mouse into the 2 USB ports. Or, if you prefer, just connect the peripherals wirelessly via the PS3's built-in Bluetooth!

The thing I like most about the PS3 though is its ability to play numerous media formats, which includes DivX movie files. And, via wifi, you can wireless stream files directly from your PC or Mac! So no more having to transfer files! You can literally browse the folders on your PC or Mac directly using the PS3! However, the PS3 does not recognise certain DivX codecs, and won't even attempt to read high-def MKV files! Which is where the next device comes in...

6. Western Digital WDTV HD Media Player

The WDTV is a small device, but connect a portable HDD via one of its two USB ports, and it will play virtually ANYTHING you throw at it! And this in HD too as it has a HDMI port that supports up to 1080p!

7. Nintendo Wii

Everyone knows about the Wii's unique "physical" game controls, and is a sure hit at parties. When I'm playing it alone though, I favourites are Guitar Hero (with wireless guitar "controller"!) and Resident Evil 4 (superb game controls where you hold the Wii controller like a gun and aim at the screen to shoot!).

8. Sharp Aquos LC-32A33M 32" HD-Ready LCD TV

LCD TV prices are dropping faster than Liverpool are dropping points in the EPL, and this model from Sharp is a real good deal. You can get it as low as RM1,600 in certain shops, and with its natural, not-over-saturated colour, 3 HDMI inputs and ambient light sensor, it doesn't compromise on features. It's not 1080p, but at 32" it doesn't really make much difference.

9. Logitech Harmony 525 Universal Remote Control

With as many gadgets as myself, you can probably guess the problems I face just by looking at the main photo. Each device comes with its own remote, and it's a nightmare just trying to organise them as neatly as possible, let alone avoiding confusion each time you need to change a channel or turn up the volume! This is where the Harmony 525 plays its part. With it, I can keep away ALL of the remotes in the photo above (apart from the PS3 and Wii). Setting up the remote is done using the included software which connects to the Logitech servers. This is good as it can then tap into the database of virtually all products that have infrared remotes. And I mean ALL. It has the settings for the Astro MAX settop box, the WDTV media player, and even other non-entertainment devices such as air-cond units! The downside of this though is that with no internet connection, you simply CAN'T configure the remote, and the process tends to be a bit slow and buggy.

So once you've added each device to the remote, next step is to set up your "activities", such as "Watching ASTRO", or "PS3 time". The software would ask you a series of questions - What device do you use for sound? Which device would display the video? On which input channel should the TV be on?. This process, though seemingly straightforward, may take a few attempts to get right through a trial and error process. But when it's done, it's just PERFECT. For example, if I want to watch normal TV I just need to press ONE button on the remote. The remote would then switch on the TV, Astro set-top box, and home theatre system, and set both the TV and home theatre system to the correct input. Say I then want to watch a DVD. Again, with another press of a button, the remote would switch off Astro, switch on the DVD player, and change the input on the TV. When I need to do something else I just press the power button on the remote and it turns off EVERYTHING. Again I stress, all these things are done by just pressing ONE BUTTON! And it's also smart enough to map the right controls to the remote. So when I'm watching TV, the volume buttons would control the home theatre system, but the number buttons would control the Astro decoder. No more fiddling around with multiple remotes. You are happy as everything's a breeze to control, and the missus is happy as half the coffee table is not taken up by numerous remotes!

So there you go, a "brief" introduction to my gadgets. I'll write more in detail about one of the above gadgets, or even write about the other gadgets that I own, in a future post.

Surviving the Slim River rapids!

DELL-iberate farce!!

When my mom-in-law asked me to get a new PC for the house a few months back, I straight away went to the Dell website to look for a cheap system. I'm not really a fan of Dell computers, having had TERRIBLE experience with them during my IT Manager days at the office. However, for a small fee they do have a comprehensible warranty package, which covers EVERYTHING for 3 years, including accidental damages.

So, AS EXPECTED, the brand new Dell PC failed to work after ONLY a few months. Switch it on, and NOTHING happens, apart from a louder than usual whirring of the cooler fan. This was the time then to make the extra dosh spent on the warranty pay. Unfortunately, it happened on New Year's Day. Called the number, Answering Machine Man said that they're not available on public holidays. Didn't call them them on Friday as I forgot to bring the PC serial number with me to work, so tried again on Saturday. Guess what? Answering Machine Man says that they're not available on weekends too. So far so bad. Called them again on Monday nevening after work. Voila! This time wasn't Answering Machine Man at the end of the line but Mr Technician Guy (TG from now on). Explained the problem to TG, and he asked me to carry out some diagnostic tests on his behalf.

At first, the tests were simple enough - switch off the PC and on again (DUH!), disconnect everything bar the monitor cable and see again if the problem persists. Still no change. Next test then - set the CPU on its side, OPEN the casing, and remove both sticks of RAM!!! The whole reason I opted for the full warranty was that it would make it easier for my mom-in-law and my wife's zero-technical-expertise siblings to simply call Dell whenever there's a problem with the PC, so that they won't be too dependent on me. HOW ON EARTH would you expect a 50+ year old lady or worse, a 12-year-old child, to open the CPU casing (using a screwdriver which Dell do not ask you to have beforehand) and remove the all-too-fragile RAM sticks? Thing is, I doubt most people even KNOW what a RAM stick is in the first place, let alone remove the safety and (gently) pull it out!! Of course, this was bread-and-butter for me, but I did inform TG of my concern. What if the RAM is removed wrongly, or inserted again the wrong way, and it breaks? "Oh, don't worry, the warranty will cover that", was the answer. Okayyyyy, but what if something worse happens, say the wrong components or wires are pulled out, resulting in the user getting an electric shock!!?!?!??

Why can't the technician just come over once a report has been made, without all this fuss? "Oh, we need to run the tests so that the technician can bring the required items", TH replies matter-of-factly. B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T. You know EXACTLY what components I have, down to the individual serial numbers for all the components, so I see no reason why the technician can't just come over with spare parts for ALL the components, do the tests HIMSELF, and replace whatever needs replacing. The call lasted quite some time, including time spent to look for a screwdriver, remove the screws, restarting the PC numerous times, and putting everything back together again. And in the end the problem was not resolved over the phone, AS EXPECTED, and TG put in a request for a technician to come over. But oh, as it was already in the evening after the cut-off time, the technician could only come over IN TWO DAYS!!

Anyway, the PC's okay now. The problem? Needed a new PSU.

Doner KeBABI

One thing I miss most from my student days in the UK is the food. Greasy fish and chips, drenched in vinegar; fresh hot doughnuts oozing with sweet strawberry jam; soft scones with dollops of cornish cream; rhubarb crumble drowning in custard. And last but not least, who can resist a big, fat doner kebab. I always preferred mine big, with ALL the salad and ALL the sauces. My favourite kebab shop in London was one naughtily named Lolita in Paddington. It had the doner kebab TO DIE FOR.

Yeah, we have the so-called local "kebab" chain restaurant - Kyros Kebab. Guys, that's just a TRAVESTY to the fraternity of kebabs! The few times that I gave it a try (mainly due to lack of any other choices) it was always dry, stale and utterly DISGUSTING.

Anyway, everyone knew how UNHEALTHY those kebabs were. I mean, insurance proposal forms should have an additional box to tick - "How many kebabs do you normally eat in a typical week?" - and those who've eaten a big amount should pay THROUGH THEIR TEETH to get covered! Eating more than your fair share of doner kebabs should lead you needing a doner of another type - HEART DONOR! And they always CLAIM that it's supposed to be "lamb". Errmm... WHICH PART of a lamb is it? Surely tastes really different from the normal lamb that I also happily consume.. lamb chops, lamb shank, lamb stew, lamb beriyani etc. I've got to admit that NONE of them even REMOTELY taste like the "lamb" kebab that I love.

So, like the Radiohead classic, I said NO SURPRISES when the results of a survey of kebabs in UK found that they contained "...shocking levels of salt, fat and calories..". But what did SHOCK me was that from 494 samples of kebabs, six were found to contain PORK!! And what's worse, two of the six were claimed to be HALAL!! So there were those who thought they ordered a kebab, but got a keBABI instead! I am truly dissappointed.

And I wonder how many of the other 488 samples which actually were lamb didn't turn out to be halal after all. So, to my brothers and sisters in the UK, please do make sure before you buy your next kebab. I always made sure that the shop was indeed halal, and the men working there were indeed Muslims before I felt comfortable buying.

Kembara ANSARA 2009

First hunt of 2009. First one for quite a while, actually - more than a month since the MENSA hunt. Not a great start to the year though. Turned out to be quite disastrous, both in terms of the hunting experience and our performance.

Same old story with the team - I have never yet hunted with the same team for two different hunts! Originally we had two of my colleagues joining us. They were both from MRSM, so together with me we fulfilled the criteria to get the special ANSARA prize for highest placed ex-MRSM team. But at the 11th hour the Missus couldn't make it, so we had another colleague joining us. So there we were, The MERCERnaries, confident of at the very least finishing as the best ex-MRSM team. OH how wrong we were. In the end, we finished with 60+ points, and the 15th team out of only 34 got 79 points. Shows how far off we were. WE WERE NOT EVEN CLASSIFIED!

On hindsight, what did us in was mainly two things - carelessness and poor time management. Two of the REALLY important things that one must avoid when treasure hunting - so no excuse, really. There were a few clues where I figured out the answer, but not the SPECIFIC answer. And there are no half-points in hunting - either you get it right or wrong. And we got it wrong. One example:

Right! So be it to notes.

I managed to figure out that "Right!" stands for "R", and "So be it" is "Amen", giving me "Ramen" which was the name of one of the restaurants in the sector, which I put down as the answer. However, I stupidly didn't follow through with the rest of the clue - "notes". On the same signboard, there was the name "Ramen Wang Sdn Bhd". Now "notes" can be to mean "wang" ("money" in Malay). Therefore, "Ramen Wang Sdn Bhd" is indeed the only correct answer.

There were at least a couple other clues where I did the same mistake of not reading through the clue properly, and was punished. Saying that, there were also a few clues where I really "tembak" the answers, as the answers I had only half-answered the clue, but somehow they turned out correct!

Time-management was the other big mistake. You can argue that poor time management and not reading the clue properly go hand-in-hand. Not deciphering the clue makes it harder to find the answer, which in turn means that you spend more time than neccessary at the sector looking for the answer. We really suffered in the latter stages of the hunt, rushing back to the finishing point, what with the massive traffic near One Utama on a Saturday afternoon. We didn't get the points for 5 of the last 7 clues, which with more time I'm sure I would've got most of those.

All in all, a frustrating hunt, but on the bright side, a HELLUVA lot of lessons learnt!

MENSA Treasure Hunt 2008

We took part in the MENSA Malaysia Treasure Hunt 2008 on Sunday. It was yet another iteration of Team Teh Tarik, with our fourth different teammates in as many hunts. After the hunt though, it seems that we have finally got a permanent team!

Anyway, the hunt, organised by Laurence Hie, was themed "Planet Green". The questions were almost entirely environment-based, and every single treasure item also had something to do with conserving the environment, which included bringing in at least 20kgs of old newspapers before the flag-off!

This is our first hunt that's not organised by Time Out, and I have to admit that the clues, though fair, were easier than Time Out's. Some of the clues were solveable even before we reached the relevent sector! There were surpringly a lot of general knowledge clues, but thanks to my trusted iPhone and Iskandar's 3G-enabled MacBook Pro, we managed to Wiki our way through them. However, we were stumped by a couple of clues, as the answers were really really small(!) or we just didn't do enough research on the Wiki.

This was also the very first time we managed to get ALL the treasures! As we the final hunt sector was in the Mutiara Damansara/Damansara Perdana area, we all thought that we could easily get everything at Tesco Mutiara Damansara. How wrong were we. They didn't have the right brand of garbage bags, nor did they have the EXACT type of light bulb that was specified! So ala Amazing Race we sprinted next door to Ikano to try our luck at Ace Hardware and Cold Storage. We managed to get the correct brand of garbage bags, but still no light bulb. In the end, considering that at 8 points, each treasure was worth almost 3 whole clues (3 points), we decided to drive around to look for a specialist lighting store. We managed to find one in Uptown, and were we happy when we found the exact brand and type at the very first store!

We went back through some of the final sectors to search for some answers we missed, but in vain. We decided to cut our losses and since we had less than half an hour to the deadline, we decided to go back to the checkpoint at Sri KDU School. As we had a wee bit of time left when we got there and we weren't happy with our answers from the first sector, we dropped Nini off at the checkpoint with our answer sheet and treasures and headed to the sector again. With two minutes to spare, I had a hunch for one of the tie-breaker clues and called Nini to give her the answer. The answer turned out to be the correct one and it proved vital as we were tied on points with another team!

In the end we managed to finish among the prize-winners in a respectable 18th place, which out of 40-odd teams may not seem as a great achievement at first. However, considering the who's who of the Malaysian treasure hunting scene took part in the hunt (including Cornelius Koh who flew all the way from KK just for this!), we did feel rather proud of ourselves in only our 4th ever hunt (and the very FIRST hunt for Iskandar & Kamariah!). Indeed, the MENSA Hunt is regarded by many as one of the four "Grand Slams" of local treasure hunts, so you can see just how respectable our 18th place was.

As I said at the start of this post, we think that we finally finalised the lineup for Team Teh Tarik. Everyone did a very good job, and we are raring to go for our next hunt together, with high hopes of climbing swiftly up the rankings. Watch this space!

More details of the MENSA Treasure Hunt 2008 can be found at Michael Pang's site.

Jack Bauer's back!

Yup, after taking a break for one year due to the Hollywood writers' strike, 24 Day 7 is finally upon us! The "pilot" for Day 7, a 2-hour special called 24: Redemption, was aired in the US over the weekend and is already on the torrents. This time there's no CTU as Jack's now relocated to Africa, on the run from the US government who hold him responsible for the numerous killings and tortures Jack has done to protect the US of A. But this being Jack, he can't hide from action for long, and we soon see him embroiled in a coup.

To celebrate the new season of 24, The Independent has written a really good critique of the whole 24 phenomenon, pointing out the obvious plotholes (how can ANYONE go a whole day without sleep, food, drink or even a quick visit to the loo?), and the numerous torture techniques that Jack has done for the "greater good". It also has some interesting little-known facts about the TV series. Really good piece which I recommend to all Jack Bauer fans.

iPhone 2.1

So I finally took the plunge and installed firmware 2.1 on my 1st-gen iPhone. The update's been out for a few months now, but I wanted to wait until a stable and reliable "hack" becomes available. And also an easy and foolproof installation method. I did ask around at Low Yat Plaza though for fees charged for them to do the upgrading - RM200 is the common quote. So I did some research on the net, found in QuickPWN a simple GUI based installation "program", and a really helpful step-by-step guide (with screenshots!), and went ahead. It was a smooth process alright, and apart from a small problem where the iPhone did not recognise my DiGi simcard after the process was complete - solved after doing some Googling on the problem - it was perfect!

The result? Well, I now have an iPhone 3G!! Apart from actually having 3G and GPS of course. But then, the reason why the iPhone 3G is such a hit is not the 3G capability itself (no significant increase in speeds), nor GPS (at least until applications from Garmin, TomTom and the like make it to the iPhone). The single reason why iPhone 3G is such a huge improvement over the previous version is the opening up of the iPhone platform to thousands of 3rd-party programs via the iTunes AppStore. Yeah, people have been installing programs onto jailbroken iPhones before. However, this "legal" method of installing means that big corporations with huge budgets, experience and resources are now developing iPhone-specific programs.

There are a MULTITUDE of apps available on the App Store - free and paid - but here are a few of my favourites so far:

• PocketMoney - The application I use most. I'm one of those who records EVERY single transaction I make, and PocketMoney lets me do this, separating the entries for the various bank accounts and credit cards that I have.
• EPL Live! - A must-have for all English Premiership football fans! Latest standings, fixtures, results. The killer feature - LIVE text commentary and match stats!
• Remote - Free app from Apple that lets you use the iPhone as a remote control for the iTunes library on your iMac or MacBook!
• midomi - Ever wondered what song is on the radio, but missed what the DJ said? Or have that tune in your head that you just can't remember who sang it? Well fret no more. With midomi, either put the iPhone to the radio speaker, or SING/HUM the tune into the iPhone, and within seconds midomi will give you the name and artiste of the song! Seriously, it works! Try it yourself at the website.
• Facebook - An iPhone app with virtually all the features of the FB website - including FB chat, and the ability to snap photos using the iPhone camera, tag your friends and upload it straight to FB - closest thing to a fully-dedicated FB camera! A must-have for those who don't have access to FB in the office (me!).
  

Anyway, I've literally got a brand new phone with the 2.1 update. Am still browsing the web for recommendations on which apps to install (especially those worth paying for!). I'll hope to rave about more apps I've found in a future post.

Apple Malaysia Online Store is open for business!!

Apple have FINALLY launched an online store for Malaysia! No big deal for many, as almost every major shopping mall in the Klang Valley has at least one Apple reseller. But it's significant to me, for various reasons:

• We can now browse the latest Apple products and accessories online, with actual prices in RM. Prices would include for various customisations - additional RAM, HDD, etc.
  
• It's another "player" in the local Apple market, and there could be good deals to be enjoyed. At the very least, the brick-and-mortar resellers are now encouraged to come up with good deals of their own to counter the perception of the advantages of purchasing from the "official" store.
• This is THE most important reason - could this be the precursor for the official launch of the iPhone in Malaysia? Fingers crossed!!
  

Top 10!

Ladies and gentlemen, Team Teh Tarik has arrived! In only our 3rd ever hunt, and with our 3rd pair of teammates, we have managed to finish a very respectable 9th out of 50 teams.

The Top Gear Malaysia Motor Hunt 2008 was the least stressful and, dare I say, easiest so far. Well, for the latter I guess our experience in the past two hunts have helped us tremendously in knowing how to solve the clues and what to look out for in the answers.

The hunt took us via the North-South Expressway to Hulu Bernam, Tanjung Malim, Ipoh, Butterworth and to the final station just before the Penang Bridge. As there were only 50 teams and the hunting areas were well spread out, we didn't have to battle for room and space with other teams and the morning breakfast crowd. Busy Puchong on a Sunday morning this certainly is not. Most of the clues were found without stopping and searching on foot. Which is just as well, as some of the hunt sectors were along the main road. And the distance between sectors - more than an hour at one point, provided ample time to recharge our batteries and wring our brains to solve the treasure clues.

I did my homework on the hunt sponsors the night before, and boy was I glad I did! Quite a few of the clues (including the treasures) assumed knowledge of the sponsors - nothing too detailed, basically just based on stuff in the goody bags. In the end, we got 30 out of 35 answers right, but only got 1 treasure right. Must work harder on the treasure clues!

During the prize-giving ceremony, each team's points total was not mentioned, so we really didn't know what to expect. As other teams' numbers were called out as the finishing positions got higher and higher, we honestly didn't know what to expect - on one hand it is a good sign that we have a better chance of finishing higher, but on the other hand, maybe we did so bad that we weren't even classified! 20, 19, 18... the positions got higher and higher, and still no mention of our team. 13, 12, 11... then we got to the magic number of 10th position, STILL our team wasn't called out. And then for position number 9, FINALLY we were called to the stage! 9th! And all we wanted at the start of the day was to finish in the top 20! Only bummer though was that our reward were these steam facial sauna thingamajigs. Yeah, I hear you laughing. And to think that teams BELOW us won cufflinks and Ray-Bans!

All in all, a great weekend in Penang. And we even brought back RM200 worth of DVDs back as souvenirs! Our next proposed hunt would be the MENSA Hunt on 14th December - apparently one of the Grand Slams of Malaysian treasure hunting. Now, getting Top 10 in that hunt would be REALLY special.

Treasure Hunting for Dummies

After joining my first two treasure hunts, I've learnt a lot of tips on getting the answers and treasures right from my experience. I'll write them down as a Treasure Hunt 101 for other newbies and potential hunters.

1) Look out for the indicator word

Most of the clues you need to solve are cryptic clues, where a lot of time and skill is required to decipher the clues before you even start looking for the answers! The first step to solving these cryptic clues is to look out for the indicator. The main ones are:

• anagram indicators (Change, mix, sort, could be, perhaps, awkwardly, perm, chaos etc)
• backwards indicators (returns, recall, etc)
• rhyme indicators (sounds like, I hear, etc)
• initial indicators (Firstly, initially, etc)

Once you've figured out the indicator, then you're already halfway there. Most are obvious, but the hardest to spot are the anagram ones, as they can be ANY word that can carry the meaning "to change" or "mixed up". But usually when the clue doesn't make sense grammatically, then it can either mean two things - (a) it's a cryptic clue and you need to play around with the words/letters to find the answer, or (b) the clue-setter just has a poor grasp of the English language!

2) Know the sponsors

Well the sponsors did not pour in so much of their money for nothing - they do want some publicity in exchange. I have found that for some of the clues, really knowing about your sponsors (or at least being aware of them!) would really help. The name of the sponsor itself could be the answer, or you may need to know the business or motto of the sponsor. Even the treasures themselves could be one of the sponsor's products (it may even have been included in the goody-bag all along!).

3) Know your Roman numerals

This is really important. There would be clues which may contain the words "hundred" or "five" or even "a number" where you're actually needed to substitute these words with the corresponding Roman numerals. So do look out for any reference to numbers, especially if they're specific single digit Roman numerals such as below:

I - One
V - Five
X - Ten
L - Fifty
C - One Hundred
D - Five Hundred
M - One Thousand

4) Every. Word. Counts.

Yup, do not dismiss or overlook ANY word. And this goes for both the answer as well as the clue. If you think you get an answer, try see if it can somehow fit in with the clue. If only part of the clue describes the answer, then chances are the answer is wrong. If only part of the answer fits in with the clue, then chances are that answer is wrong too.

5) Mind your language

Having a decent command of the English Language is imperative! You no speaking England, you no win Treasure Hunt.


So that's all the beginner tips I can think of for now. I'll add more in the future as I gain more experience in this new hobby/sport of mine.

Top half!

Yup, after a TIRING day spent hunting, we managed to finish in 100th place out of 240 teams. Top half, which is a marked improvement over our bottom half finish in the Lexis Nexis hunt, and especially as it was only our SECOND EVER hunt! But to be fair, we did get 12 questions out of 35 wrong, and the fact that most of the other teams were newbies did contribute to our position. Encouraging achievement, anyway, and keeps our hopes up for the Top Gear Motor Hunt this coming weekend - only 50 or so teams, so we have an excellent chance of finishing in the top 10!

Anyway, Philips were the prize sponsors and the winners won a 37" LCD TV - for EACH team member! Our prize for coming in 100th? A Philips steam iron each. Well, it is something, and is waaaay much better than going back empty handed! Onwards to Penang and the Top Gear Hunt!

Maradona the gaffer?

Seems that Argentina have PANICKED and have made the seemingly BAFFLING decision to appoint one Diego Maradona as the new head coach of the national team. Yup, the same Maradona who single-HANDedly won the 1986 World Cup for his country, and the same one that ballooned into a cocaine-addicted ikan buntal after his retirement (and we always thought that drug addicts were all skin and bones!). He has almost ZERO EXPERIENCE as a coach, but at least he would have Carlos Bilardo, the man in charge of that 1986 triumph, as his right hand man. So expect most of the more important decisions to come from Bilardo, then.

Some may argue that Argentina are full of great individuals, you can put any Tom, Dick or Juan in charge and they'll still come out winners. Well just take a look at England then, 10 Englishmen started the 2008 Champions' League Final, but with a muppet like McLaren in charge of the national side, they still managed to fail to even qualify for EURO 2008. And look at them now under the guidance of Fabio Capello - their best EVER start to World Cup qualifying with 4 wins out of 4, including 2 tricky away games.

But then, Argentina haven't done too well themselves in their own qualifying campaign so far. I guess all they needed was some sort of inspiration, some sort of MIRACLE. And to most Argentines, Maradona IS God, so all fair to them for turning to him. But I do secretly hope that it all goes balls-up and Argentina fail to qualify for World Cup 2010, as this would mean that Carlos Tevez would have a proper rest before the 2010-11 season - provided he's still with us!

Spa Retreat!

The missus and I went on a deserved weekend break to Avillion in Port Dickson. Really nice and scenic place, staff were very professional, and the place was really clean - even the beach (surprisingly for PD!).

Anyway, the highlight of the trip was our couples session at the Avi Spa. A spacious building set on stilts right above the water, with an unrestricted panoramic view of the Straits of Malacca!

The Hunting Season Begins!!

We really enjoyed our first ever hunting experience, so we decided to sign up to two back-to-back hunts in November! The first one is the all-famous theSun Motor Hunt, where there'll be a total of 250 teams! Well, actually more than 250, as we registered after the maximum number of teams have already applied, but received a call yesterday confirming our late late participation! It's on this Sunday 2 November, flag-off from Sime Darby Convention Centre in Bukit Kiara. So with the huge number of teams involved, those of you early birds on Sunday look out for stickered vehicles on the road, and expect HEAVY traffic at the designated hunt sites, with lots of people wearing the same tshirts STARING at the shop signs looking for the answers!

The next one we've signed up for is the Top Gear Malaysia Treasure Hunt. An interesting one this, as it starts in the Klang Valley but ends in Penang, with a night's stay at Tanjong Bungah inclusive! This is Top Gear Malaysia's inaugural hunt, and with ONLY 50 teams, I expect really attractive prizes - and the goody bags should be interesting too! Only snag with this hunt is that two sets of couples who agreed to join had to pull out due to unforeseen circumstances, so anyone who's interested to have a fun weekend, please do email me ASAP!

I'll let you know how we did in the above two hunts in future posts.

WISH US LUCK!!!