Hey all I will be going to Cambodia for a short holiday from 10-14 March 2010. I will have intermittent internet access then (will check in the evenings) but Pit Boss and Chris will be handling account generation and support queries.

As such during this time, for those few people who do have my phone number, don’t call me! PMs will also unlikely be answered in a timely manner until I get back.

Any good suggestions on places to eat and go in Siem Reap, let me know!

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We have been receiving several reports that people getting 175.x.x.x with Streamyx have limited connectivity to a couple of international sites. It doesn’t seem to be restricted to P2P sites or show any evidence of censorship so we are unsure  what is going on. Changing the DNS also does not seem to work. The only way it was overcome was if someone used our VPN and proxied their surfing through and then the sites became accessible again. Read the ongoing discussion here.

Opera has been on the back-foot a lot compared to giants such as Firefox, IE and Chrome but it’s been coming up with interesting takes on browsers with features such as Opera Unite (turn your computer into a filesharing/webserver platform) and has generated some good will through its mobile browser Opera Mini.

Now Opera 10.5 is released and they are claiming that it’s the fastest browser there is…I could not locate performance benchmarks for this build though tests on the beta by PCAdvisor/ComputerWorld confirm this claim.

I haven’t had extensive time to test Opera 10.5 myself but have set it to be my default browser and will report my results over the next few weeks. Initial impressions are good and the browser does feel speedy. Interface is kinda too Chrome-ish for my liking but I’m reserving judgment till I have had more time to familiarize myself with it.

Is this a new beginning for the Opera browser?

So after the debacle yesterday and after I had CONFIRMED my purchase (since I didn’t want to pay the RM80.00 charge), I decided to check if there had been any updates on my order. Lo and behold, I got the Order Cancelled…and no charge on my credit card. Now I’m confused!

We have completed our investigation of the transaction below and were unable to find evidence of unauthorized access to the buyer’s account. This case was denied to the buyer and no funds were recovered from your account.

Eat that Mr. Siokien Ng of faculon@hotmail.com. Hope the spam bots pick up your e-mail and spam you to death.

I have been an ardent supporter of Dell in the past with all our company purchases going through Dell. Their support has been usually top notch and perhaps the best thing is that I can fully see the prices and customization options from the comfort of my own home. Compare this to HP or Acer’s site and it’s easy to see how easy it is to order on Dell’s site as compared to even figuring out prices on Acer/HP.

On the 22nd February, in an impulsive moment, I bought myself an Alienware M11X netbook. I picked the Maybank 0% 12 month installment option and was given a Dell acknowledgment e-mail. I waited, and waited and the online tracking system kept on showing the status as ‘Order Received’ with no updates as to when I would receive my item. In fact up till t0day which is the 3rd March, it still shows ‘Order Received’.

Trying to e-mail their customer support was an exercise in futility with 4 e-mails sent and only one replied JUST today telling me that they require my Order #IRN…when I have provided them my Order Number already though I assume IRN means ‘Internet Reference Number’. I figured it out but seriously, do you expect your average customer to do so?

Dear Reuben,

Thank you for contacting Dell Customer Service.

Kindly advice us with your order#/IRN# to further assist you.

Thank you.
Dell Customer Service

Very ‘helpful’.

I also had tried to call 4-5 x and was put on hold for more than 20 minutes before I gave up.

I finally managed to talk to a customer representative today. I almost thought I was speaking to a robot as she spoke in a monotone and very slowly. I suppose this is part of their training in ensuring she’s heard. I was told that the order was actually already in the factory and that if I wished to cancel, I would have to pay RM80.00 as a cancellation charge. I asked as to why there was such a delay in answering calls and e-mails. She honestly told me that Dell was facing a parts shortage and as a result many customers were calling for a status update…Good to know! I was told that my netbook was now expected to arrive late next week making it a wait of more than 3 weeks.

So if you’re buying a Dell now, just take note that you may have to wait a while for it.

Here’s hoping that my frickin netbook is decent at least:

So much for 1Malaysia, according to this article from Utusan Malaysia Online, mixed marriages are not encouraged because out of 10 mixed marriages, only 3 succeed. Although the article mainly focuses on marriages between Caucasians and Malays, the undertones of the message are troubling.

My interpretation of what Rais meant is this:

1. Mixed marriages are more likely to be failures
2. The reason of this failure is a culture clash and religion
3. People who enter into mixed marriages tend to be short-sighted
4. It is better to marry a Malaysian or even better, one of the same race

He tries to distinguish Caucasians and non-Muslim Malaysians but you cannot escape the fact that the culture/religious clashes of a Malay with a Chinese/Indian will always be there.

Now obviously, mixed marriages can be more challenging due to culture clash and religion but it shouldn’t be discouraged. The main reason why culture and religion act as such deterrants to mixed marriages is not because the culture/religion is at fault, but more because Malaysian society has become increasingly unaccepting and close-minded to anything that’s ‘different’. Mutual respect is often preached but in practice, its more of a ‘you leave me alone and I leave you alone’ situation which is a different animal altogether.

In a mutual respect situation, we allow the practice of their respective religions and we DO NOT PASS JUDGMENT on them. In the latter situation, it’s more about as long as I don’t have to interact with you, it’s ok. Perhaps Rais should take a deeper look into the cause of breakup in those marriages. Was it because of the couples not getting accepting each other’s culture or was it a result of pressure from family/friends that resulted in this rift? In my experience, it was quite often the latter as if the culture/religious issue was a problem from the get go with the couple, they wouldn’t have gone ahead with the relationship in the first place.

Islam preaches tolerance of other religions which is a basic tenet of the Prophet Muhammad who allowed other religions to co-exist with each other. It is unfortunate that this is often conveniently forgotten.

With a country whose citizens are easily swayed by media/government, I think it is a very dangerous thing for a minister to issue blanket statements like these. After all, the government’s job is to administer the country and keep the peace and I feel that Rais’ comments overextended his duty in putting his personal cultural and religious views into an official statement. Then again, this IS the same guy who implied that Facebook promoted bad culture (did he forget that Facebook is generally the culture of YOUR FRIENDS).

For those of you not in the loop, you can read about the whole drama of religion in Malaysia here.

Here’s a sneak peak into what we’ve been working on

Complaining in style!

Click on the thumbnails for a larger view