tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60788962024-03-13T12:39:27.988+08:00Jason Ong's Blog - Personal + TechnologyJust another guy living life on the Net...Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-76783584530608711012012-02-17T03:47:00.001+08:002012-10-03T12:36:31.190+08:00Enhancing UniFi HyppTV Experience with Powerline-Ace<p align="left">Back in mid-2010 when I had just got my <a href="http://www.unifi.my" target="_blank">UniFi high-speed broadband service</a> installed, I wrote <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-unifi-iptv-setup.html" target="_blank">a detailed post</a> describing my setup. Since then, I had received numerous questions from blog readers pertaining to UniFi installation in general. It’s 2012 now and I’m writing this post because I’ve got an interesting technological bit to share. Read on…</p> <a name='more'></a> <p align="left"><strong>My UniFi Setup – A Recap</strong></p> <p align="left">As described in my earlier post, here’s how my devices are set up: The fibre broadband termination unit (BTU), the residential gateway and the DECT phone are situated near the middle section of the house. The IPTV set-top-box (STB) is located next to the TV in the living room. I felt that it wasn’t practical for me to pull a cable from the middle section of the house to the living room to stream IPTV content to the STB; so, I settled for a pair of HomePlugs (or Power Line Communication Adapters). These HomePlugs transmit network data via existing home electrical wiring. No unsightly long cables. Pretty cool right?</p> <p align="left"><strong>The HomePlug “Gotchas”</strong></p> <p align="left">The HomePlug solution does work…well, to a certain extent. Yes, I was able to get UniFi HyppTV to stream to my TV. However, the streamed video would occasionally stutter—visibly seen in the form of pixelated blocks on screen. The experience is analogous to watching Astro while it’s raining…if you know what I mean.</p> <p align="left">Although my Aztech HL110E HomePlugs are rated at 200Mbps, from what I understand, the numbers are usually no where near that under real-world scenarios. </p> <p align="left">It’s recommended that for best data transfer rates over power lines, HomePlugs should be plugged straight to the wall socket but unfortunately, I don’t have that luxury. As mentioned in my <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-unifi-iptv-setup.html">earlier post</a>, both my HomePlugs are plugged into a power strip on each end, respectively. Having other devices sharing the power strip introduces “noise” to the power line and therefore impacting the data transfer rate. In fact, other appliances within other parts of the house are also adding noise to the power line.</p> <p align="left">During usage, the Aztech units in my setup were mostly showing “red” on the data transfer rate LED (green = best, amber = good, red = fair, none = failed). This is certainly far from ideal!</p> <p align="left"><strong>The Solution for the Solution</strong></p> <p align="left">It came to my attention lately that there’s a new add-on device that can solve the transfer-rate issues typically associated with HomePlugs. This device is developed by <a href="http://cal-lab.com/" target="_blank">Cal-Lab</a> (the Malaysian-based company known primarily for its patented lightning isolators) and is called <strong>Powerline-Ace</strong>. I had the privilege of testing the product out during this pre-launch phase.</p> <p align="left"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-He9Vx-9JXas/Tz1dSW4EnCI/AAAAAAAAAKY/ZME6lWTm4CE/s1600-h/DSC02836%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; display: inline" title="DSC02836" alt="DSC02836" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-hEoqO7dH6Yc/Tz1dT6-lHPI/AAAAAAAAAKg/UNBMA504Kkc/DSC02836_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a></p> <p align="left">The Powerline-Ace model as shown in the picture (above) has three sockets. One socket is reserved for the HomePlug and the remainder two sockets are for attaching other electrical items like a power strip. Apart from being a power line network conditioning device, the unit is also a lightning isolator. On the side of the unit, there are two available grounding points for attaching earth leads from Cal-Lab LAN lightning isolator—for example.</p> <p align="left">In my test setup, two Powerline-Ace units were added to the mix i.e. one unit on each end. Other than that, nothing else changed.</p> <p align="left"><strong>The Result</strong></p> <p align="left">After about a month of usage, all the video streaming issues that I had mentioned before has gone. Even the HyppTV HD channels like Travel Channel and LUXE.TV streamed flawlessly.</p> <p align="left">This was evident by the transfer rate LED on my HomePlug. Both HomePlug LEDs sustained at green (previously red) throughout usage.  I have a mini-HiFi which is on the same power strip as the TV and STB. Even with all of these appliances turned on at the same time, IPTV streaming remained smooth and the HomePlug LED remained at green.</p> <p align="left">In fact, when other noise-generating appliances (e.g. the water heater, rice cooker, etc) from the other parts of the house were in use, the Powerline-Ace units remained steadfast—performing admirably.</p> <p align="left">In the following video, I documented how turning on the vacuum cleaner did not negatively affect the HyppTV viewing experience at all. Also, take note of the middle LED on the HomePlug.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:3514c7d4-260d-4ca6-bc18-e9060274149f" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="7ae67d31-a300-4302-be2a-267a82122f04" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eF8FslFY8Y" target="_new"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-iSBqtS_9BPU/Tz1dUukXXSI/AAAAAAAAAMA/LgL4nDVB2nc/video7ef7bcd5b305%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('7ae67d31-a300-4302-be2a-267a82122f04'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/0eF8FslFY8Y?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/0eF8FslFY8Y?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Powerline-Ace Test – Streaming UniFi HyppTV content over power line with vacuum cleaner turned on.</div></div> <p align="left">For a more robust experience, Cal-Lab also offers a single-socket power line network conditioning device (see below – <em>left</em>) for attaching to noise generating appliances. I had the opportunity to test these units out too.</p> <p align="left"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-tdduGao6oeE/Tz1dVTuXAfI/AAAAAAAAAKw/AudR-ZfDewg/s1600-h/DSC02899%25255B11%25255D.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; display: inline" title="DSC02899" alt="DSC02899" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-MDfDuDsDY5U/Tz1dW1bQsFI/AAAAAAAAAK0/kCODpLUe06I/DSC02899_thumb%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="302" /></a></p> <p align="left">Since I already had good results without these additions, there was nothing much else to look out for (with respect to my HyppTV viewing experience). I suppose these units would make a difference if the HomePlugs were used for regular Internet usage (i.e. surfing, P2P transfers) where squeezing every bit of the bandwidth matters more or if complete lightning protection is required.</p> <p align="left">To sum it up, the Powerline-Ace units performed exceedingly well and it definitely enhanced my UniFi HyppTV viewing experience. Now I know there’s finally a technically viable solution for HomePlug or power line network related issues!</p> <p align="left"><strong>Update (October 2012):</strong> Powerline-Ace is now available in Malaysia.</p> Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-520974365707727002011-02-11T16:21:00.006+08:002023-03-19T22:32:15.000+08:00Discovering Windows Phone 7 – Part 2<p>Having played with a demo unit of the HTC HD7 at a roadshow (as mentioned in <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2011/02/discovering-windows-phone-7-part-1.html">Part 1</a> of blog post), I was left drooling but it’s not enough to make me splurge well over RM2K for a no-contract set for a few reasons.</p> <p>Not having an official apps marketplace for the country is a big no-no for me for a high-end smartphone. Apps are what make a smartphone smart, right?</p> <p>At time of writing, only 30 countries in the world have official Marketplace access. So, the only way to have some form of Marketplace access is to fake the country that is tied to the Windows Live ID bound to the phone.</p> <a name='more'></a> <p>With that, accessing free apps or trial apps from the Marketplace is at least possible. To buy apps, one need to register their credit card info but then, the country information would not match…so this is an issue. </p> <p>Well, I thought if I were to spend so much on a WP7 smartphone, I’ll wait till Marketplace access is officially supported for the country but I don’t mind owning a WP7 phone “now” if I can get it for a real bargain but I guess it’s only a dream…NOT…read on…it gets better!</p> <p><strong>The Opportunity</strong></p> <p>It was just about a week before Christmas of 2010 when I came across a Facebook posting about a HD7 contest or more formally the Microsoft Web Camps @ KL HTC HD7 contest. I read the details of the competition, and hey…this is no big deal for me!</p> <p>As mentioned in Part 1, I had already developed a few WP7 apps though these apps were not quite complete. In a heartbeat, I jumped at the opportunity and got myself registered for the contest.</p> <p>The contest required participants to write a WP7 app and the top 3 apps win. The top two prizes were HTC HD7 phones and the last one, a Zune HD player.</p> <p>There was an informal community meet-up to discuss about the contest details at a Starbucks just 10 minutes walk from where I live. How convenient!</p> <p>Since I already had a basic working app which was capable of displaying live traffic cam images, all I needed to do know was to add the features required to meet the contest criteria. These criteria included integration with one of Windows Live services or Bing, <em>and</em> Facebook or Twitter.</p> <p>I did get some useful ideas from the Microsoft MVPs who were also part of the organizers. We had about two weeks to complete the app from the time of meet-up. </p> <p align="left">So, my app would enable users to pick the nearest traffic cams from the current GPS location from within Bing Maps, and show a live traffic view which refreshes every few seconds. The user is also able to alert other Twitter users by posting a tweet and a snapshot of the current traffic image (via Twitpic). On top of these, there are many more “convenience” features in the app <strike>which you can read about here</strike>.</p> <p>I submitted my entry on the last day of the contest and kept my fingers crossed.</p> <p>To be continued in Part 3…</p>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-4153449153229078962011-02-10T19:46:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:14:16.674+08:00Discovering Windows Phone 7 – Part 1<p align="left"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="HTC HD7" border="0" alt="HTC HD7" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TVPQGFf_luI/AAAAAAAAAIM/rpQRq1VIb18/hd7%5B17%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="170" height="295" />Just two weeks ago, I became the proud owner of a brand new HTC HD7 phone running on the new <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/default.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft Windows Phone 7</a> (WP7) OS. Woohoo!</p> <p>I thought I share a run-up on how I first got to know about the new phone platform, and then learnt how to develop apps for the phone, and finally, got the phone in full flesh itself.</p> <p><strong>Getting to Know About Windows Phone 7</strong></p> <p>I had my first glimpse of Windows Phone 7 in action at a local developer event way back in early 2010.</p> <a name='more'></a> <p>What intrigued me was the phone UI. It was…radical. It’s nothing like the UI on the iPhone, Android, or even Windows Mobile. At that time, I had my reservations on how well it would work in the real world though.</p> <p>In fact, I thought the use of lots of text, black background (much like in the DOS era), and the absence of chrome for the UI were a little strange for a modern smartphone. Other than that, the animated transitions seem fluid and contemporary.</p> <p>Apart from the new UI, what was under the hood of WP7 was then still pretty much a mystery at that time…</p> <p><strong>Diving into Windows Phone 7 App Development</strong></p> <p>Just when the WP7 range of phones were officially launched in the US in October of 2010, my growing curiosity with the new mobile platform eventually led me into tinkering with the newly released WP7 software development kit (SDK).</p> <p>The nice thing for developers is that, apart from the SDK, Microsoft has provided the phone development tools including the emulator for free! The emulator allows testing apps for the phone without requiring a real WP7 phone. The learning experience was made easier with the many online tutorial videos already available then.</p> <p>Thankfully, the learning curve was manageable since I can leverage on my existing WPF programming skills. The development platform uses a flavor of Silverlight (which is very much based on the regular Silverlight and WPF) and C#.</p> <p>There is an alternative development platform called XNA used mainly for developing games but unfortunately, my current hardware just couldn’t support it. Ideally, one would need a DX10 graphic card. Mine is only a DX9. It works for Silverlight phone development but apps run slow on the emulator as they can’t take advantage of full GPU acceleration. Guess it’s time to upgrade my graphic card?</p> <p>What I also later discovered is that developing for the new platform is not solely about having the right coding knowledge and skills but also a good appreciation and understanding of the new Metro UI design language and the Marketplace app requirements. The Marketplace is Microsoft’s version of of the iPhone App Store or the Android Market, if you will.</p> <p>Microsoft imposes strict certification guidelines for apps that wish to make it to the Marketplace. At time of writing, the only legit way to load apps onto the phone is via the Marketplace.</p> <p>Armed with some newly acquired knowledge, I took upon a challenge on myself to develop simple apps that could potentially appear in the Marketplace some day. I thought that would be the most effective way to master the platform in the fastest time. In the process, I developed several proof-of-concept apps like a Malaysian live traffic cam viewer, a traditional board game, a physics game, and other silly utilities.</p> <p><strong>Marketplace Woes</strong></p> <p>Unfortunately, not only is Malaysia NOT in the list of countries having access to the Marketplace, Malaysia is also NOT in the list of countries eligible to enroll in the developer App Hub… i.e. I can’t sign up as a registered WP7 developer and list my apps for distribution in the Marketplace! Oh bummer!</p> <p>The irony is that Microsoft has officially launched the phones in Malaysia. I gather it’s only a matter of time before Malaysia appears in the supported country list.</p> <p><strong>Getting a Feel of the Real Thing</strong></p> <p>After much publicity of the phone in Malaysia, I decided to drop by at one of the truck roadshows to get a feel of the real phone. I managed to spend some time toying with one of the HTC HD7 demo units.</p> <p>Because the roadshow truck was parked outside of a mall, the sunlight was interfering with the experience; I could hardly see the stuff displayed on the HD7’s LCD screen. I thought a more conventional indoor roadshow would have been more effective. </p> <p>Anyway, after having played with the OS on the emulator, it’s good to finally have a feel of the real thing. At least now I get to experience the phone dialer, Office, the various “hubs”, utility apps, etc. which are not available in the emulator version.</p> <p>To be continued in <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2011/02/discovering-windows-phone-7-part-2.html">Part 2</a>…</p>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-63581440713957780672010-07-30T19:22:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:14:03.603+08:00UniFi HyppTV Review<p>In my last blog post, I’ve written about <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-unifi-iptv-setup.html">my UniFi IPTV setup</a>. In this post, I thought I share my brief experience with the UniFi IPTV service itself — namely, <strong><a href="http://www.unifi.my/hypptv/" target="_blank">HyppTV</a></strong>.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK1wBnMO0I/AAAAAAAAAFE/6jNmOqgDBMM/s1600-h/DSC02172%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Main menu" alt="Main menu" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK1w3VmZmI/AAAAAAAAAFI/VAoLsXzRhzg/DSC02172_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <a name='more'></a> <p><strong>Channels</strong></p> <p>The HyppTV IPTV service runs on its own dedicated network. For IPTV, TM has allotted 8Mbps of bandwidth which is good enough for HD streaming and more than enough for SD streaming.</p> <p>There are currently 22 channels with <a href="http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20100713180141/Article/index_html" target="_blank">more channels to come by the end of the year</a>. Out of these channels, only 2 channels are in HD.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK1xVVhx2I/AAAAAAAAAFM/BMV9ITrvd1k/s1600-h/DSC02159%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="DSC02159" alt="DSC02159" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK1yJrNkbI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/aWehlKSNajE/DSC02159_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p>Channels are classified into three — Live TV, Video On Demand (VOD) and inter@ctive.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK1y7RYq5I/AAAAAAAAAFU/vRCjxCeIwUc/s1600-h/DSC02174%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Remote control" alt="Remote control" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK1zaYtOeI/AAAAAAAAAFY/FVHKRz6EJ68/DSC02174_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p>Live TV includes local and international broadcast channels. Local channels include free-to-air channels like TV1, TV2, TV3, NTV7, 8TV, TV9, etc. Some of the international channels include Australia Network, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Knowledge, Fashion TV HD, LUXE.TV HD, Star Chinese Channel, etc. Some of these channels are Premium channels.</p> <p>Come September 2010, for VIP5 and VIP10 customers, a separate subscription will be required for Premium channels. For VIP20 customers, the Premium channels will be part of the package.</p> <p>In VOD or pay-per-view if you like, there’s a selection of Hollywood, Malay, Chinese as well as Bollywood titles. </p> <p>Movies typically have a validity of 24 hours. Within that 24 hours you can watch the movie as many number of times as you like.</p> <p>One of the highlights in the VOD offering is the Hollywood Premiere Series; this selection contains the latest TV series — available 24 hours after the US release. </p> <p>For TV series, validity is typically 30 days or longer.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK10IZnIhI/AAAAAAAAAFc/vRT457Vd_Nk/s1600-h/DSC02163%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Video On Demand" alt="Video On Demand" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK103aC0pI/AAAAAAAAAFg/1UYlSmJGyn8/DSC02163_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p>For some titles, free previews or trailers are available on demand. Purchasing a VOD title is easy; just select the title from the on-screen VOD catalog (<em>see above</em>) and enter a PIN. During this preview period, TM is giving out free trial tokens.</p> <p>Once purchased, the title is ready to be watched immediately or anytime within the validity period.</p> <p>For VOD, playback control is available i.e. pause, fast-forward, reverse and bookmarking.</p> <p>There’s even an option to rate a title. The average rating for a title is displayed in the on-screen VOD catalog.</p> <p>inter@ctive channels include flight info, Malaysian history, Malaysian football and games (<em>see below</em>). I understand more interactive services will be added on later. Can we expect a YouTube channel? That would be nice isn’t it?</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK11nDqUhI/AAAAAAAAAFk/5PstToB2meg/s1600-h/DSC02164%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Flight info" alt="Flight info" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK12SpVWpI/AAAAAAAAAFo/BvGIgpuhITU/DSC02164_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK13Miyu2I/AAAAAAAAAFs/hTs7hdnwoYI/s1600-h/DSC02168%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Games" alt="Games" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK135zsa0I/AAAAAAAAAFw/rNofU_TsCIg/DSC02168_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p><strong>IPTV Video Quality</strong></p> <p>In general, the colors from IPTV seem more vivid compared to the colors from Astro — at least on an SDTV. HD channels will still play on an SDTV but the aspect ratio need to be manually adjusted.</p> <p>Though UniFi’s IPTV service is not affected by the rain as in Astro, occasionally, there’ll be those nasty picture artifacts similar to Astro. Nevertheless, those artifacts often disappear fast enough before becoming annoying. Note that I’m using HomePlugs for <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-unifi-iptv-setup.html">my IPTV setup</a>. A wired network connection to the IPTV may give better experience.</p> <p>Switching between channels is almost instantaneous but I’ve observed some stuttering in the first few seconds after a channel switch — possibly due to buffering?</p> <p>There’s also Picture-in-Picture (PIP) (<em>see below</em>).</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK14U5kO7I/AAAAAAAAAF0/ff1dWLySz3A/s1600-h/DSC02160%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="DSC02160" alt="DSC02160" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TFK15OhHcLI/AAAAAAAAAF4/rjxLZTfl-v8/DSC02160_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p><strong>Concerns</strong></p> <p>To view IPTV on the television set, all equipment necessary to support IPTV like the fiber broadband termination unit, residential gateway and set-top box (STB) must be turned on. If HomePlugs are used in an IPTV setup, that must be switched on too. So, as you can see, should any of the equipment fail, IPTV won’t work! </p> <p>To add to the concern, the residential gateway (DLink DIR-615) provided by TM has been reported to be very fragile; it tends to get fried. </p> <p>I’ve placed the gateway unit on a heat sink and hooked it to a surge-protected electrical socket as one of the measures to add more robustness to the whole setup.</p> <p><strong>Is HyppTV another Astro?</strong></p> <p>Well, one of the inevitable questions is whether TM’s new IPTV service is a worthy replacement of Astro. </p> <p>At least for now, I don’t think so. Content is a bit limited at the moment though there are channel overlaps. However, things might change in the future!</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:bd602c93-6d94-4969-8c84-4e050935a531" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tm" rel="tag">tm</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/unifi" rel="tag">unifi</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hsbb" rel="tag">hsbb</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/broadband" rel="tag">broadband</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/iptv" rel="tag">iptv</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hypptv" rel="tag">hypptv</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com88tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-20008710844025157992010-07-26T16:47:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:17:52.061+08:00My UniFi IPTV Setup<p>It’s about 3 weeks since I’ve got my UniFi high-speed broadband service deployed. In my previous posts, I’ve written about <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2010/07/unifi-installation-experience.html">my UniFi installation experience</a> and some <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2010/07/unifi-speed-tests.html">speed tests</a> that I’ve done.</p> <p>This time around, I’m going to share my experience on one of the UniFi service triple-play component, namely the <a href="http://www.unifi.my/hypptv/" target="_blank">HyppTV IPTV service</a>.</p> <p><strong>Getting IPTV Up and Running</strong></p> <p>As part of the UniFi VIP5 offering, an IPTV set-top box (STB) is provided free by TM (<em>see below</em>). The STB connects to the TV via a regular set of A/V cables. An HDMI cable is also provided but we’ve only got a Standard-Definition TV (SDTV).</p> <p><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgrJ7Y_QI/AAAAAAAAAEo/z7RlWQC4ljw/DSC02139_thumb13.jpg?imgmax=800" /> </p> <a name='more'></a> <p>This STB is connected to the residential gateway which in turn is connected to the fiber broadband termination unit. The IPTV stream runs on a separate LAN (a Virtual LAN or VLAN) at an allocated bandwidth of 8Mbps. On the TM DLink DIR-615 residential gateway, the VLAN for IPTV connects to one of the ports (i.e. port 4).</p> <p>In my home setup, the broadband termination unit and the residential gateway are placed in an area where the internal CAT5 wiring from the bedrooms terminate. This area is near the center of the house. The CAT5 wiring was done several years ago.</p> <p>However, there’s no permanent wired network connection leading up to the living room where the TV and STB are located.</p> <p>During installation day, I loaned the TM technicians a loose CAT5 cable for setting up and testing the IPTV service. Testing went well but I still need a permanent network connection for the IPTV.</p> <p>Why not go wireless? For one, it’s simply not reliable for IPTV streaming. Wired connection seems to be the way to go but then I’ll need to pull a cable up the ceiling. Having wires snaking around wouldn’t play well with the home aesthetics either — especially the living room.</p> <p><strong>HomePlugs to the Rescue!</strong></p> <p>At the end, I settled for a pair of <strong><a href="http://www.aztech.com/sg/homeplug_hl110e.html" target="_blank">Aztech HL110E 200Mbps AV HomePlugs</a></strong>. Each unit comes with a yellow 2-meter CAT5 patch cable (<em>see below</em>). It’s pricey but at least there’s no need to drill holes through the ceiling. Essentially, the <a href="http://www.homeplug.org/" target="_blank">HomePlug technology</a> utilizes the wall electrical wiring to transmit network data. Pretty smart eh?</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TE1LlynCHMI/AAAAAAAAAEs/0n2jivSFFBQ/s1600-h/DSC021704.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Aztech HL110E - Network hub area" alt="Aztech HL110E - Network hub area" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TE1LmtNJruI/AAAAAAAAAEw/xnJl3M3jLaU/DSC02170_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TE1LnC3KcOI/AAAAAAAAAE0/0IvllcopOxQ/s1600-h/DSC021694.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Aztech HL110E - Living room" alt="Aztech HL110E - Living room" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TE1Ln7KZDOI/AAAAAAAAAE4/A0Inzz4B0WI/DSC02169_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p>200Mbps sounds like an overkill for a max 8Mbps video stream. Operational speed actually depends on many external factors. In the worst case, both HomePlugs won’t even detect each other.</p> <p>It’s recommended that a HomePlug be plugged directly to the wall socket for best signal quality but I didn’t have that luxury. There are simply not enough wall sockets in the house. I had no choice but to plug each of HomePlugs to a power strip on both sides (network hub area and living room).</p> <p>Here’s my exact setup:</p> <p><em>1. Network hub area:</em></p> <blockquote> <p>Residential gateway  > HomePlug > Surge-protected power strip > Lightning isolator > Wall socket</p> </blockquote> <p><em>2. Living room area:</em></p> <blockquote> <p>STB > HomePlug > Power strip > Lightning isolator > Wall socket</p> </blockquote> <p>Despite getting only a red LED status (green = best, amber = good, red = fair, none = failed) on the HomePlugs, IPTV streaming still works although the setup wasn’t very ideal as you can see.</p> <p>Note that I didn’t get it working the first time; one old power strip caused a failed pairing but a newer one works. So, a little patience and experimentation paid off.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TE1LouQmiII/AAAAAAAAAE8/0fLOzE7Ax_o/s1600-h/DSC02158%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="LUXE TV" alt="LUXE TV" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TE1Lpb-3h3I/AAAAAAAAAFA/kCzwejtq3Y4/DSC02158_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a></p> <p>Now that everything works, I’ll follow up with a <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2010/07/unifi-hypptv-review.html">detailed review of the TM UniFi HyppTV</a> service next. Stay tuned!</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:3e1a8f0b-f82f-4c2f-ab31-632eca77136b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tm" rel="tag">tm</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/unifi" rel="tag">unifi</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hsbb" rel="tag">hsbb</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/broadband" rel="tag">broadband</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/iptv" rel="tag">iptv</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hypptv" rel="tag">hypptv</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/aztech" rel="tag">aztech</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/homeplugs" rel="tag">homeplugs</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com97tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-6639864688481859562010-07-22T19:35:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:13:39.789+08:00UniFi Speed Tests<p>Having been using TM’s <a href="http://www.unifi.my" target="_blank">UniFi</a> high-speed broadband service for slightly over two weeks now, I’m quite pleased with the service. It’s been surprisingly stable for me.</p> <p><strong>Internet Speed Test Results</strong></p> <p>I’m currently on the <strong>VIP5 package</strong> (over FTTH) i.e. 5Mbps download and upload. In my previous post, I had written about my <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2010/07/unifi-installation-experience.html" target="_blank">UniFi installation experience</a>.</p> <p>Here are the speed test results from <a href="http://www.speedtest.net/" target="_blank">Speedtest.net</a>:</p> <p><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/887961477.png" /> </p> <a name='more'></a> <p><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/887964595.png" /></p> <p><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/887966316.png" />  </p> <p><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/889137683.png" /> </p> <p><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/887965378.png" /></p> <p><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/889141940.png" /> </p> <p><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/887967546.png" /> </p> <p><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/887966866.png" /> </p> <p><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/887985479.png" /> </p> <p>As you can see from the above, download speeds were generally within the package speed limit. </p> <p>I believe some of the upload figures from Speedtest.net were slightly inflated.</p> <p>It appeared that there was some kind of speed throttling going on here as I saw the upload speed meter going down in sudden decrements at certain intervals as the upload test progressed. Had the upload test been longer, I would think it would have stabilized at around 5Mbps.</p> <p>I have seen various speed meter movement behaviors over the past two weeks which lead me to think that TM was probably experimenting with various traffic flow or routing configurations?</p> <p>In fact, in the initial days after I got my UniFi service deployed, I had seen insane speeds from Speedtest.net — even up to 50Mbps; but that has changed in the recent days.</p> <p>Note that for some servers around the world, I got lousy speeds and slow ping times (<em>see below</em>).</p> <p><img src="http://www.speedtest.net/result/887983958.png" /> </p> <p>My guess: This could be caused by a slow server or slow path to the server or both.</p> <p><strong>Ping Performance</strong></p> <p>Pinging to Google’s public DNS (8.8.8.8) averaged 4ms. I also got the same results pinging to a local web server.That’s pretty fast. On Streamyx, I normally get about 11ms. </p> <p>Foreign server ping times were more or less the same, if not, just slightly better over ping times on Streamyx (typically >200ms for US servers). This is understandable since foreign traffic for both UniFi and Streamyx is probably routed over the same international backbones. The ping time advantage came mainly from the local side.</p> <p>That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more UniFi reviews!</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:92365d19-2e1c-4f3f-88d5-bd99bdb5c7bf" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tm" rel="tag">tm</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/unifi" rel="tag">unifi</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hsbb" rel="tag">hsbb</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/broadband" rel="tag">broadband</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/ftth" rel="tag">ftth</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/speedtest" rel="tag">speedtest</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-35359143403617381952010-07-12T17:30:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:13:31.813+08:00The UniFi Installation Experience<p>In my <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2009/11/getting-hyped-up-over-hsbb.html">post on HSBB last year</a>, I wrote about the arrival of FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home) in my area of residence.</p> <p>Well, I finally made the move of switching away from Streamyx broadband for the newly-introduced <a href="http://www.unifi.my" target="_blank">UniFi</a> high-speed broadband (HSBB) service. In particular, I signed up for the VIP5 package which is a triple-play service i.e. 5Mbps Internet, IPTV and VoIP.</p> <p>In this post, I thought I share my experience on the UniFi installation process.</p> <p><strong>Installation</strong></p> <p>It was a Tuesday morning at 10am on July 6, a crew of four installers from TM came with two reels of cables (<em>see below</em>) and big bags containing equipment. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgdJkwcAI/AAAAAAAAADc/gR00etCM1sk/s1600-h/DSC021327.jpg"><img style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="Cable reels" alt="Cable reels" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgdwLepVI/AAAAAAAAADg/2IwtDclCEjs/DSC02132_thumb5.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <a name='more'></a> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgemiZ6gI/AAAAAAAAADk/GRFM3JxlKHs/s1600-h/DSC021349.jpg"><img style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="Drop cable (black)" alt="Drop cable (black)" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgfSAkKUI/AAAAAAAAADo/8ajq6QBzqN0/DSC02134_thumb17.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="307" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgf-rLjVI/AAAAAAAAADs/q3pXGR649z4/s1600-h/DSC021357.jpg"><img style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="Indoor cable (white)" alt="Indoor cable (white)" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrggi-Lg3I/AAAAAAAAADw/S8bVx5zmVSI/DSC02135_thumb7.jpg?imgmax=800" width="399" height="300" /></a> </p> <p>After the normal introductions, I lead the crew to the back of the house where the nearest pole with the fiber distribution box is located. I also took them to the rooftop. </p> <p>I told them where I wanted the broadband termination unit, residential gateway, phone and IPTV set-up-box (STB) were to be placed.</p> <p>After a quick survey, the crew leader briefed me on how the installation was going to take place.</p> <p>In no time, they started working — first tackling the aerial fiber distribution box on the pole. At the same time, the crew made a hook on the side of a concrete structure on the rooftop (<em>see below</em>).</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrghk_hOlI/AAAAAAAAAD0/ZVtnwrq7l50/s1600-h/DSC0214210.jpg"><img style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="Pole to premise" alt="Pole to premise" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgiDpaLRI/AAAAAAAAAD4/kJb8l5RuFIo/DSC02142_thumb14.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgi72majI/AAAAAAAAAD8/4WDXrfNwZDw/s1600-h/DSC021434.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Cable hook" alt="Cable hook" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgjlo6AJI/AAAAAAAAAEA/TnFeESEepP8/DSC02143_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p>That hook was to hold the black fiber cable pulled from the pole. The black cable ran along the side of the concrete structure leading to another fiber box which was affixed to the concrete wall (<em>see below</em>).</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgkRLg28I/AAAAAAAAAEE/DmWubYPPtQw/s1600-h/DSC021454.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="On-premise fiber box" alt="On-premise fiber box" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrglYgnjfI/AAAAAAAAAEI/nfvUdO2bjZo/DSC02145_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p>From this box, a thin white fiber cable was pulled to a nearby window. The cable was so thin that only a small gap at the bottom part of the window was sufficient for the cable to gain entry into the house (<em>see below</em>). </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgmOE9vfI/AAAAAAAAAEM/evkhSTnFX64/s1600-h/DSC021486.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Fiber cable premise entry point" alt="Fiber cable premise entry point" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgmx55EdI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/X0UCpjrmZBg/DSC02148_thumb9.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="299" /></a> </p> <p>Though not the most elegant way of bringing the cable in, at least there was no need to drill a hole through the wall as in some other installations. </p> <p>Inside the house, this white cable ran straight down to another fiber box (<em>see below</em>). For this cable-run, the crew housed the cable in a conduit.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgnRsdtEI/AAAAAAAAAEU/6GfV9NgB2Wk/s1600-h/DSC021505.jpg"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="Indoor fiber box" alt="Indoor fiber box" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgoKaxzgI/AAAAAAAAAEY/YipngIdYvCo/DSC02150_thumb3.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a>It was about 11:15am (after about an hour plus of outdoor work), all crew members gathered indoors and started hooking up and configuring the equipments (<em>see below from left to right: DECT phone, broadband termination unit, residential gateway</em>). They brought their own laptop for configuration and testing.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgo7QXK6I/AAAAAAAAAEc/FmIzsVXSqoM/s1600-h/DSC021409.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="DECT phone, broadband termination unit, residential gateway" alt="DECT phone, broadband termination unit, residential gateway" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgpaVOaXI/AAAAAAAAAEg/sIc3r27pJsA/DSC02140_thumb7.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p>Since the household TV set is in the living room (front part of the house), I wanted the IPTV STB (<em>see below</em>) there. I provided them with a long CAT5 cable to connect the STB with the residential gateway for temporary testing purposes.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgqfOIHOI/AAAAAAAAAEk/akp1etm9ACQ/s1600-h/DSC021395.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="IPTV STB" alt="IPTV STB" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/TDrgrJ7Y_QI/AAAAAAAAAEo/z7RlWQC4ljw/DSC02139_thumb13.jpg?imgmax=800" width="402" height="298" /></a> </p> <p>All these configuration and testing took about half-an-hour.</p> <p>I was then given a sheet of paper containing several access passwords for different services.</p> <p>Happy that everything was working, I did the sign-off and the crew left in their van at about 12pm. </p> <p>So, the complete installation only took them 2 hours — a big contrast from the full day installation that I was initially told. </p> <p>By the way, hats off to the TM installers. They were an efficient bunch and I appreciate their professionalism. I don’t normally give such a compliment after having had a bad experience with my Streamyx implementation in the past.</p> <p><strong>Terminating Old Phone Service and Streamyx</strong></p> <p>After doing some testing on my own and satisfied with the outcome, I went to TMPoint Bangsar to terminate the old phone service and my Streamyx broadband service just before their counter closing at about 5:30pm. I returned their old phone to them to avoid a penalty.</p> <p>So, there you have it! I hope to share about my experience with the UniFi service itself in the near future.</p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:86eb1a43-da3c-4383-96ba-5df38362523b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tm" rel="tag">tm</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/unifi" rel="tag">unifi</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hsbb" rel="tag">hsbb</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/broadband" rel="tag">broadband</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/ftth" rel="tag">ftth</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-32496899726954903892009-11-19T00:44:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:13:22.261+08:00Getting Hyped-Up Over HSBB<p>There’s so much buzz around <strong><a href="http://www.tm.com.my/about-tm/hsbb/default.asp" target="_blank">HSBB (High-Speed Broadband)</a></strong> in Malaysia lately that I can’t help but write a blog post here.</p> <p>Word has it that HSBB residential customers would be offered download speeds between <strong>10Mbps and 100Mbps</strong>. These speeds are unheard of for residential “broadband” users in Malaysia and should get a lot of people excited — me included.</p> <p>For years, Malaysian broadband users have been lamenting over the poor speeds. Being one of the early Streamyx adopters, I had my fair share of complaints.</p> <p>The fact is the law of physics also plays a role here. The copper lines can only do so much. As they say, wired-broadband in Malaysia will never progress much until something is done to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_mile" target="_blank">last mile</a>.</p> <p>And indeed, certain prime areas will finally see something done to that tune. These areas will have <strong>fiber connection</strong> to their premises or homes.</p> <a name='more'></a> <p><strong>Triple-Play to the Forefront</strong></p> <p>Data services is only part of the HSBB equation.</p> <p>TM, the sole HSBB provider is aiming to offer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_play_%28telecommunications%29" target="_blank">triple-play services</a> (voice telephony, data, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPTV" target="_blank">IPTV</a>), made possible by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_to_the_x" target="_blank"><strong>FTTx (Fiber-to-the-X)</strong></a><strong> </strong>technology. Triple-play is something new to the general Malaysian consumers.</p> <p>Quite possibly in the future, we could have a new Astro alternative when TM’s IPTV offering comes into reality. With IPTV, residential users can look forward to Full HD programming.</p> <p>For a peek of what the home of the future (enabled by HSBB) is, check out <a href="http://www.mybroadband.netmyne.com/v2/index.html" target="_blank">TM’s Digital Home</a>.</p> <p><strong>International Bandwidth Capacity</strong></p> <p>All the speed advantages promised by HSBB will come to zilch if our international Internet lines are still choked up. </p> <p>Let’s face it, a bulk of the traffic is international traffic. As the <a href="http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2009/10/21/planned-international-internet-bandwidth-for-hsbb/" target="_blank">international bandwidth capacity is being gradually increased</a>, we could see stricter fair-usage mechanisms to be put in place.</p> <p><strong>HSBB Roll-Out</strong></p> <p>HSBB is due to be <a href="http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/business-news/151973-tm-to-launch-hsbb-service-in-4-areas-by-1q10.html" target="_blank">launched at the end of Q1 2010</a>. Residents from Bangsar, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Subang Jaya and Shah Alam will be amongst the first to experience HSBB.</p> <p>In the past weeks, the TM guys were seen stringing fiber cables along the existing telephone poles in Bangsar.</p> <p>The picture below is the pole just behind my house. Notice the aerial fiber distribution box that is marked with a TM logo and FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home). Click to see larger picture.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/SwQkaWLRQII/AAAAAAAAAC8/jRrgXnUwI-s/s1600-h/ftth%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="FTTH" alt="FTTH" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/SwQkbC0ku0I/AAAAAAAAADA/StzXHO5z1sE/ftth_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="300" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/SwQkbwSyekI/AAAAAAAAADE/XdWtKKHbr8o/s1600-h/ftth-splitter%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="FTTH Splitter" alt="FTTH Splitter" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_c_uiP8hR2KM/SwQkcv5030I/AAAAAAAAADI/Sg8gWAH3bf0/ftth-splitter_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" height="365" /></a> </p> <p>With the residential infrastructure <strong>already in place</strong> in the key areas, HSBB looks set to see the light of day!</p> <p><strong>Now, the big question:</strong> How much would subscribing to HSBB cost?</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:db852b2f-48e2-43e0-9dda-7edfdc31e596" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tm" rel="tag">tm</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hsbb" rel="tag">hsbb</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/broadband" rel="tag">broadband</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/ftth" rel="tag">ftth</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/fttx" rel="tag">fttx</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/triple+play" rel="tag">triple play</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/bangsar" rel="tag">bangsar</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-87804689186482677682008-09-25T19:00:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:13:02.194+08:00US 2008 Presidential Debate at My Alma Mater<p>The <a href="http://www.olemiss.edu/debate/" target="_blank">first US 2008 presidential debate</a> will be held at my alma mater — The University of Mississippi (also known as Ole Miss). Ole Miss is where I got my four years of Computer Science education from; that's slightly more than a decade ago. </p> <p>US foreign policy and national security issues will be the focus of the debate. The debate will be held on September 26, 8pm Mississippi time (September 27, 9am Malaysian time).</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/jongkb/SNtvOZUAfrI/AAAAAAAAACY/nZ9dw83nGS4/s1600-h/PresidentialDebate08%5B3%5D.jpg"><img height="205" alt="PresidentialDebate08" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/jongkb/SNtvPPeNxtI/AAAAAAAAACc/atwNiv1KlDA/PresidentialDebate08_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240"></a> </p> <p>It's rare to see my alma mater on such an elevated platform. All eyes of America (and perhaps the world) will be set on the debate between the two presidential hopefuls — McCain and Obama.</p> <p>The countdown to the debate has started. I hope to catch the debate live on CNN via Astro!</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:90630b5e-9588-4026-a2c5-548831ebf0da" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/presidential%20debate" rel="tag">presidential debate</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-63697999498147956382008-09-15T12:11:00.000+08:002012-05-07T18:23:25.689+08:00I'm Tech·Ed SEA 2008 Blog & Win Contest August Winner!I was doing some housekeeping on my personal mailbox today and discovered an e-mail that I had earlier missed during my daily checks. It's a notification message that I'm the 4th round (August) winner of the Tech·Ed SEA 2008 Blog & Win contest!<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/jongkb/SMs-6hD-q-I/AAAAAAAAACA/CzqS7s4nMHE/s1600-h/MicrosoftMouse%5B4%5D.jpg"><img alt="Tech.Ed SEA 2008 August Blog Winner" height="210" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/jongkb/SMs-7vfhNcI/AAAAAAAAACE/78V-fYoP38w/MicrosoftMouse_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="193" /></a> <br />
I get so many junk mails these days that authentic mails do get overlooked occasionally. Having several email accounts to check does not help either! <br />
All that aside, I'll be going to collect my prize coming Monday. It's a <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=068" target="_blank">Microsoft Wireless <strike>Optical</strike> Laser Mouse 5000</a> (updated). Woo hoo! <strong>This is what I just need!</strong> My current A4Tech BatteryFREE Wireless Optical Mouse is acting quirky — it's double-clicking when it should only click once and the scrollwheel is losing traction; I certainly look forward to its replacement!<br />
<div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:568d8214-6b46-4ed2-9c28-95f2087f72c7" style="display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tech.ed" rel="tag">tech.ed</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-22701000643349503612008-09-13T12:57:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:12:31.906+08:00Downloading the Tech·Ed SEA 2008 Conference Slides<p>Having been to several back-to-back Tech·Ed conferences in the past and having to miss this year's edition (due to other pressing commitments) is quite a departure from my annual "routine". I hope I didn't miss too much this time. I did manage to slip in a few hours at the venue and I've blogged about it <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2008/08/teched-sea-2008-just-popping-in.html">here</a>.</p> <p>Well thankfully, the conference slides are available for public download at time of writing.</p> <p>I'm downloading the <strong>Developer Tools & Languages Track</strong> slides (64.2MB zip file) and the <strong>Web & User Experience Track</strong> slides (66.6MB zip file) as I type this post.</p> <p>Here's the slides download landing page URL: <a title="http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/techedsea2008/" href="http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/techedsea2008/">http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/techedsea2008/</a></p> <p>I hope to gain a few juicy tips out of reading the slides even though it's nothing like having the speaker taking you through the slides and demos.</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:56530668-2757-4ac8-bccf-b233ee781547" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tech.ed" rel="tag">tech.ed</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-73555139759961426502008-08-29T01:07:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:12:19.519+08:00The End of Software Piracy in Malaysia?<p>If you're using pirated software, watch out!</p> <p>Here's an excerpt from The Star (August 28, 2008):</p> <blockquote> <p>Starting Wednesday, users with pirated copies of Microsoft Corp's Windows XP Professional operating system (OS) on machines that are Internet-capable could find their computer displays going black and with no screen icons visible. <p>There are 8.6 million users of Win XP Pro in Malaysia and about three million are expected to suffer the “blackouts,” according to Microsoft Malaysia.</p></blockquote> <p><strong>Ethical and Practical Issues of Using Pirated Software</strong> <p>I <strong>never</strong> subscribed to using pirated software. Using pirated software is like using stolen stuff. Let's ponder about it: Would you own a stolen car? Would you use a stolen phone? Why the double standards when it comes to software? Obviously, there are hypocrites amongst some of us, isn't it? <p>By using pirated software, the hardworking people who made the software is being deprived of their livelihood. <p>On the issue of practicality, pirated software may bring unknown risks to your PC and even you; some unscrupulous programmer might have embedded a keylogger into the pirated executable and the next thing you know is that your credit card information is in someone's hands. <p><strong>The "Software is Too Expensive!" Excuse</strong> <p>I suppose that software being expensive is the biggest excuse for using pirated software. Then let's ponder on this point: If one can't afford a BMW, does that give the person the right to steal one? <p>Thankfully, there are some very good shareware and free software out there. Some of them are almost as good as their commercial equivalents. So, if you can't afford those commercial software products, give shareware and free software a try! <p>It's encouraging to see that Microsoft Malaysia has made some of its software more affordable to home users and students. For instance, students in some institutions of higher learning can now enjoy big discounts on certain Microsoft SKUs. Recently, Microsoft Malaysia has lowered the price of the retail version of Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (which comes with 3 licenses for non-commercial use). <p><strong>Towards Responsible Consumerism</strong> <p>Will we see the end of software piracy in Malaysia soon? If consumers create a demand for pirated software, then the piracy problem won't disappear overnight for sure. Let's hope that there'll be more antipiracy awareness campaign in the future.</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:19c64b2f-8a40-4681-9e34-c3d20cf54550" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/software%20piracy" rel="tag">software piracy</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-22047815898046018962008-08-13T16:49:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:12:04.224+08:00Tech·Ed SEA 2008 - Just Popping In<p>Even though I'm skipping the Tech·Ed SEA conference sessions this year, I managed to squeeze in a few hours at the venue.</p> <p><a title="Tech.Ed 2008" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/2759510040/"><img alt="Tech.Ed 2008" src="http://static.flickr.com/3182/2759510040_5e89d9d271_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p><strong>Lunch with Steve Riley</strong></p> <p>As mentioned in my previous post, a friend of mine, Jessica has won a lunch date with Microsoft Security Guru, Steve Riley. I'm honored to be brought along as her guest. </p> <p>Lunch was at Traders Hotel, just next to the conference venue. There were just five of us — Steve Riley, my friend Jessica, myself and two other Microsoft staff based in Singapore.</p> <p><a title="Tech.Ed 2008 - Lunch with Steve Riley" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/2759507698/"><img alt="Tech.Ed 2008 - Lunch with Steve Riley" src="http://static.flickr.com/3264/2759507698_8c7480d633_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p>All in all, it was a friendly and cozy affair. It was fun listening to Steve talking passionately on security-related issues. It wasn't long before the topic of conversation turned from IT security to the all-universal topic — food!</p> <p><strong>A Lap Around Tech·Ed SEA 2008 Exhibition</strong></p> <p>I took the opportunity to take a short tour inside and outside the exhibition area. Here are a few candid pictures that I caught:</p> <p><a title="Tech.Ed 2008" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/2759509672/"><img alt="Tech.Ed 2008" src="http://static.flickr.com/3043/2759509672_7baae87333_m.jpg" border="0"></a><a title="Tech.Ed 2008" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/2758668193/"><img alt="Tech.Ed 2008" src="http://static.flickr.com/3036/2758668193_51e1994674_m.jpg" border="0"></a><a title="Tech.Ed 2008 - Cybercafe" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/2759508668/"><img alt="Tech.Ed 2008 - Cybercafe" src="http://static.flickr.com/3172/2759508668_acebde6e0d_m.jpg" border="0"></a><a title="Tech.Ed 2008 - Microsoft Merchandise on Sale" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/2759509432/"><img alt="Tech.Ed 2008 - Microsoft Merchandise on Sale" src="http://static.flickr.com/3060/2759509432_44efb832db_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonong/tags/teched2008/" target="_blank">More Tech·Ed SEA 2008 pictures here...</a></strong></p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:4c4962cb-03e1-4671-9a27-a17b1b367174" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tech.ed" rel="tag">tech.ed</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-24152225760600000982008-08-12T22:26:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:11:50.453+08:00Skipping Tech·Ed SEA 2008<p>Due to other pressing commitments, sadly, I'm skipping this year's conference. I've been to the previous four Tech·Eds in Kuala Lumpur and so I really miss the informative sessions at the conference.</p> <p>Despite my missing the conference, I'll be at the Tech·Ed exhibition for a few hours tomorrow and for a lunch date with security guru and Tech·Ed speaker, <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/steriley/" target="_blank">Steve Riley</a> — thanks to <a href="http://njessica.com/blog" target="_blank">a friend of mine</a> who's taking me as a guest.</p> <p>I've not been to Riley's talks but I've heard he's a highly rated Tech·Ed speaker.</p> <p>Hopefully, I'm able to capture a few interesting scenes on camera tomorrow and post them in this blog.</p> <p><a title="Tech.Ed SEA 2007" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/1455738283/"><img alt="Tech.Ed SEA 2007" src="http://static.flickr.com/1436/1455738283_7136e3fbe7_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p><em>Last year's Tech·Ed SEA exhibition (above)</em></p> <p>Incidentally, <a href="http://www.aspnetworld.com/blog/2008/08/12/VS+2008+SP1+And+NET+Framework+35+SP1+Released.aspx" target="_blank">Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 went RTM</a> today!</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:74aa95da-774e-4113-9752-e01f64498b70" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tech.ed" rel="tag">tech.ed</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-14253058931975607152008-08-10T23:58:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:11:22.223+08:00Night Out at August KL Technite<p>I was at August KL Technite at the Starbucks outlet at Bangsar Village II today. I enjoyed the talks as they were both informative and yes, entertaining — a rare thing in techie talks! </p> <p>Maung Maung Phyo did a sleek demo on LINQ, followed by Edwin Sarmiento on Windows Small Business Server, and finally, Sarbjit Singh Gill on collaboration services. Amazingly, Sarbjit did all of his presentation on MS Paint! </p> <p>I've been to many talks and conferences but this is the first time I'm listening to the three speakers.</p> <p>Here are the photos of the speakers in action:</p> <p><a title="August KL Technite - Maung Maung Phyo" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/2750134842/"><img alt="August KL Technite - Maung Maung Phyo" src="http://static.flickr.com/3075/2750134842_b614942db9_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p><a title="August KL Technite - Edwin Sarmiento" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/2750135074/"><img alt="August KL Technite - Edwin Sarmiento" src="http://static.flickr.com/3289/2750135074_ec97318154_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p><a title="August KL Technite - Sarbjit Singh Gill" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/2749298099/"><img alt="August KL Technite - Sarbjit Singh Gill" src="http://static.flickr.com/3116/2749298099_e2f05aa957_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p>The speakers will in action again in the <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2008/08/teched-sea-2008-coming.html">upcoming Tech·Ed SEA 2008</a> conference.</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:103a93d3-6ede-4fe1-afe7-3b2ebee4e5e8" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technite" rel="tag">technite</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tech.ed" rel="tag">tech.ed</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-69869519787581569702008-08-09T20:41:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:11:02.828+08:00Run-Up to Tech·Ed SEA 2008 - August KL Technite<p>I just got word of this event: <strong>MIRC - iTrain August KL Technite</strong>.</p> <p><strong>Venue</strong>: Starbucks Coffee Outlet, Bangsar Village II</p> <p><strong>Date/Time</strong>: 10th August 2008 (Sunday), 8-10pm</p> <p>There'll be talks by MVPs such as Edwin Sarmiento, Sarbjit Singh Gill, and Maung Maung Phyo (who are also presenters of the <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2008/08/teched-sea-2008-coming.html">upcoming Tech·Ed SEA 2008</a>).</p> <p><a href="http://mind.com.my/blogs/teams_blog/archive/2008/08/06/iTrain-TechNite-August-10_2C00_-2008.aspx" target="_blank"><strong>View the Technite flyer here</strong></a></p> <p>I might just drop by there since I could literally walk to the event from where I live. LOL! </p> <p>Should I be there tomorrow, I hope to take a few photos and include them in this blog. So stay tuned!</p> <p><strong>Update</strong>: <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2008/08/night-out-at-august-kl-technite.html">I've posted the photos here</a></p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:4578a4c2-73c9-4faf-a89f-3687adb1b4d5" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tech.ed" rel="tag">tech.ed</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technite" rel="tag">technite</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-46861316138015273612008-08-07T23:55:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:10:50.526+08:00Web Development Sessions at Tech·Ed SEA 2008<p>Continuing with my blog series on the <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2008/08/teched-sea-2008-coming.html">upcoming Tech·Ed SEA 2008</a> conference, the following are the ASP.NET or web development sessions to be held:</p> <ul> <li><strong>WUX211</strong><strong> - The future of ASP.NET is near</strong><br><strong>Session Level:</strong> 200<br>Speaker: Oliver Scheer<br></li> <li><strong>WUX241</strong><strong> - Creating a web enabled corporate data access layer</strong><br><strong>Session Level:</strong> 200<br>Speaker: Prasanna Amirthalingam <br></li> <li><strong>WUX332</strong><strong> - How to Build an App like Twitter?</strong><br><strong>Session Level:</strong> 300<br>Speaker: Dirk Primbs <br></li> <li><strong>WUX322</strong><strong> - .NET: ASP.NET MVC Framework</strong><br><strong>Session Level:</strong> 300<br>Speaker: Chad Hower<br></li> <li><strong>WUX325</strong><strong> - New Enhancements for Web Developers in Visual Studio 2008 and Beyond</strong><br><strong>Session Level:</strong> 300<br>Speaker: Jeff King<br></li> <li><strong>WUX242</strong><strong> - Breathe Life Into You Apps With Windows Live</strong><br><strong>Session Level:</strong> 200<br>Speaker: Rohan Thomas<br></li> <li><strong>WUX234</strong><strong> - Build Your Next Web 2.0 Windows Live Application </strong><br><strong>Session Level:</strong> 200<br>Speaker: Li Vooi Chong<br></li> <li><strong>WUX233</strong><strong> – Fly with Popfly</strong><br><strong>Session Level:</strong> 200<br>Speaker: Rohan Thomas</li></ul> <p>In addition to the above, there are two <strong>Silverlight 2</strong> sessions:</p> <ul> <li><strong>WUX224</strong><strong> - Introducing Silverlight 2 – Media</strong><br><strong>Session Level:</strong> 200<br>Speaker: Oliver Scheer<br></li> <li><strong>WUX331</strong><strong> - Silverlight 2 – Building Rich Internet Applications Using Microsoft Silverlight</strong><br><strong>Session Level:</strong> 300<br>Speaker: Oliver Scheer</li></ul> <p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/techedsea2008/session.mspx" target="_blank">Full synopses of the sessions are available here</a></p> <p>In the past Tech·Eds, I would typically attend the web sessions, though I wished I could attend all of the other tracks. </p> <p>Looking back at the yesteryears, I really missed <a href="http://www.hanselman.com/" target="_blank">Scott Hanselman</a>'s zen-inspired sessions. Hope he'll come to Malaysia again some day. I also missed <a href="http://staff.newtelligence.net/clemensv/" target="_blank">Clemens Vasters'</a> sessions. Oh, in case you don't know, Clemens is the guy who created <a href="http://www.dasblog.info/" target="_blank">DasBlog</a> — an ASP.NET blogging platform. </p> <p>Anyway, I'm sure the coming Tech·Ed SEA will be a blast. If you're an ASP.NET developer who wants to get a taste of what's coming in the very near future, the <strong>ASP.NET MVC Framework</strong> session by Chad Hower a.k.a. "Kudzu" is the one to look out for. Here's my shot of Chad Hower in action taken last year:</p> <p><a title="Tech.Ed SEA 2007" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/1456603974/"><img alt="Chad Hower @ Tech.Ed SEA 2007" src="http://static.flickr.com/1043/1456603974_dfa770f226_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p>While we count down the days to Tech·Ed SEA, don't forget to visit <strong><a href="http://www.aspnetworld.com/" target="_blank">ASPNETWorld.com</a></strong> for my compilation of <a href="http://www.aspnetworld.com/" target="_blank">ASP.NET-related resources</a>.</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:14532f83-482f-4a9d-b928-24925cb53d48" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/asp.net" rel="tag">asp.net</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tech.ed" rel="tag">tech.ed</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/web" rel="tag">web</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/silverlight" rel="tag">silverlight</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-33021160657982025062008-08-05T15:50:00.000+08:002012-05-07T18:09:46.657+08:00WPF Sessions at Tech·Ed SEA 2008<p>Still on the <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2008/08/teched-sea-2008-coming.html">Tech·Ed SEA conference fever</a>, here are the WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) related sessions for this year:</p> <ul> <li><strong>TLA312 - Building Smart Clients the Smart Way <br></strong>Session Level: 300<br>Speaker: Maung Maung Phyo<br></li><strong></strong> <li><strong>WUX338 - Creating Dynamic UI with Windows Presentation Foundation</strong><br>Session Level: 300<br>Speaker: Hoong Fai Lai & William Lim <br></li> <li><strong>WUX223 - Ultimate Data Visualization Experience with WPF</strong><br>Session Level: 200<br>Speaker: Walter Wong <br></li> <li><strong>WUX221</strong><strong> - WPF Performance & Best Practices</strong><br>Session Level: 200<br>Speaker: Dirk Primbs<br></li></ul> <p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/techedsea2008/session.mspx" target="_blank">Full synopses of the sessions are available here</a> <p>As an aside, if you're looking for <a href="http://www.wpfplex.com/">WPF-related resources</a> such as WPF controls and WPF designer/development tools, take a look at my latest resource site — <a href="http://www.wpfplex.com/"><strong>WPFPlex.com</strong></a>. <p><a title="WPFPlex.com" href="http://www.wpfplex.com/" target="_blank"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="219" alt="WPFPlex.com" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/jongkb/SJgP_cGOeuI/AAAAAAAAAB8/degP56YdyIo/WPFPlex%5B9%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="260" border="0"></a> <p>Feel free to add your own review of any of the WPF resources featured there or suggest your favorite WPF resource to be added in the directory.</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:dcd5f697-98dc-461f-a00a-3e4d4d2ce660" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tech.ed" rel="tag">tech.ed</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/wpf" rel="tag">wpf</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/windows%20presentation%20foundation" rel="tag">windows presentation foundation</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-3492498110567496292008-08-05T15:25:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:09:27.797+08:00Tech·Ed SEA 2008 Coming!<p>There's just a week more to <strong>Tech·Ed SEA 2008</strong> — Microsoft's premier and largest annual conference in the Southeast Asia region. It'll be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center on August 11-14. </p> <p><a title="Tech.Ed SEA 2007" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/1456605538/"><img alt="Tech.Ed SEA 2007" src="http://static.flickr.com/1401/1456605538_d1eb470038_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p>Since it's Tech·Ed fever, here are a few of my old postings on the past Tech·Ed events that I've been to:</p> <p><strong>Blog Postings</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2007/09/looking-back-at-microsoft-teched-sea.html">Looking Back at Microsoft Tech·Ed SEA 2007, Kuala Lumpur</a></li> <li><a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2006/10/looking-back-at-microsoft-teched-2006.html">Looking Back at Microsoft Tech·Ed SEA 2006, Kuala Lumpur</a></li> <li><a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2004/09/when-ceos-let-their-hair-down.html">When CEOs let their hair down</a></li></ul> <p><strong>Photos</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonong/tags/teched2007/" target="_blank">Tech·Ed 2007 Photos</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonong/tags/teched2006/" target="_blank">Tech·Ed 2006 Photos</a></li></ul> <p><strong>Video</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyEOAq21zM4" target="_blank">Tech·Ed 2006</a></li></ul> <p>I have a few more videos in my personal archive. I'll upload them when I have the time (the videos need editing).</p> <p>To learn more about Tech·Ed SEA 2008, <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/techedsea2008/default.mspx" target="_blank">visit the official site</a>.</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:5f0d42a4-bacb-45f6-902c-136d735cc581" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tech.ed" rel="tag">tech.ed</a></div> <ul> <p> </p> <p> <ul></ul></p></ul>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-5554253075890604222008-08-05T12:51:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:09:14.391+08:00Shopping for a Budget Lappie<p>I was shopping for a budget notebook not for myself but for my other half. I was "given" the liberty to decide on the spec. The budget? Around RM2,000 or less.</p> <p><strong>The Lappie Hunt</strong></p> <p>So came PC Fair 2008 in KL last weekend and my plan was to get the new lappie there. I went to the venue on Friday but alas, all the car parks around the area were full! </p> <p>I could have queued in line but I didn't have the luxury of time. I had to get the notebook that very day as the following day I had to head to Ipoh to "deliver" the new lappie.</p> <p>In the end, I settled for an Acer Aspire 4715z for slightly less than RM2,000 at an Acer roadshow at MidValley Megamall. I believe it's a good deal and the specs are as follows: Pentium Dual Core 1.86Ghz, 1GB RAM (upgraded to 2GB), 160GB HDD, DVD Writer, WiFi ready, webcam (super clear!), Windows Vista Basic, 1-year Acer warranty, and a host of trial-wares (McAffee anti-virus, Office Home and Student 2007, games, etc.).</p> <p><strong>3G-ing with Celcom Broadband</strong></p> <p>Coupled with a Huawei 3G USB modem (on Celcom 3G broadband), the Acer-Vista combination worked beautifully. From Ipoh, I was able to get 300-400kbps on the downlink and 80-90kbps on the uplink. Ping times to local servers were in the 200-400ms range -- a little big on latency but not surprising for a wireless broadband technology.</p> <p>A day later, we were in Teluk Intan. 3G is achievable there but the connection is not as fast as what we got in Ipoh. However, there is no 3G reception in a remote village in Bagan Pasir (quite expected); nevertheless, GPRS is still available.</p> <p><strong>Mission Accomplished!</strong></p> <p>The weekend hunt for a budget laptop ended well. My other half was happy with the buy. Now she can boast that her notebook is better than mine. I'm full of envy!</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:a1be6989-1788-4536-b93c-d60b9bb4ff7c" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/acer" rel="tag">acer</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/notebook" rel="tag">notebook</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/celcom" rel="tag">celcom</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/3G" rel="tag">3G</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-20380205465524799702008-06-12T16:39:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:08:59.800+08:00First Experience with Mozilla Firefox 3<p>I've always been excited over new web browser releases. I still remember the early days of Netscape where I promptly downloaded each new release as it became publicly available. Now that Netscape is gone, I've been quite excited over the upcoming version of <a href="http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/" target="_blank">Firefox</a> i.e version 3.0.</p> <p><strong>The Browser War</strong></p> <p>In the mid 90s, Netscape used to rule the browser war until IE came along. I've been an IE fan since. However, of late, IE seems to be having some serious competition. I have all the mainstream web browsers on my main desktop i.e. IE, Firefox, Opera and Safari. Since I develop web applications, having those browsers for testing are necessary.</p> <p>I admit, I wasn't too excited over the early versions of Firefox and it wasn't only until the release of version 2 that I took Firefox seriously. Last night, I've decided not to wait for the final Firefox 3.0 release on June 17; instead, I decided to give Firefox 3.0 RC2 a try after reading that the release candidate is stable enough.</p> <p><strong>First Observations</strong></p> <p>The following are some of my own early observations of Firefox 3.</p> <ul> <li>The new UI is more in sync with Vista's desktop theme;</li> <li>Speedier browsing especially with Javascript or AJAX-oriented sites;</li> <li>Smarter autocomplete functionality in the location bar;</li> <li>Early beta versions of Silverlight plugin will cause Firefox to crash; however, the latest Silverlight plugin (Beta 2) works fine;</li> <li>Firebug extension won't work (a new version of Firebug is in development and will work with Firefox 3 but I couldn't get to the Firebug download site at time of writing);</li> <li>Consistently consumes less memory than IE7;</li> <li>Able to save tabs for the next start on closing down Firefox.</li></ul> <p><strong>Speedy Gonzales...</strong></p> <p>I've read of the <strong>multifold</strong> speed improvements in Firefox 3 and on subjective testing, the statement holds quite true. This is probably the strongest reason to upgrade to version 3.</p> <p>So, go give Firefox 3 a try or wait till June 17 for the final release!</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:7aff061d-dcb9-4e24-addf-62397ecea528" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Firefox" rel="tag">Firefox</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-72608522091733388772008-04-28T00:40:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:08:26.587+08:00Best of Online Maps Covering Kuala Lumpur<p>I've been using online maps for quite a while and I've noticed that the map coverage for Malaysia has improved over the years but freely-available <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocoding" target="_blank">geocoding</a> services covering Malaysian city streets are still sorely lacking.</p> <p><strong>Multimap</strong></p> <p>However, one mapping service comes close. It's <a href="http://www.multimap.com" target="_blank">Multimap</a> (now a wholly-owned Microsoft subsidiary). While street-level geocoding support for KL is not quite there yet, there's postcode geocoding. The street map quality is much more detailed than the one in <a href="http://maps.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Maps</a>, <a href="http://www.mapquest.com" target="_blank">MapQuest</a> or <a href="http://maps.live.com" target="_blank">Microsoft Virtual Earth</a>.</p> <p>In Multimap, you can view the lot number of homes/buildings and names of street landmarks. However, Multimap's aerial/satellite view (which leverages on Microsoft Virtual Earth) is not the best for Malaysia. In that respect, Google Maps offers much higher-resolution visuals.</p> <p><strong>StreetDirectory.net.my</strong></p> <p>Another cool street mapping service for KL is found on <strong><a href="http://www.streetdirectory.net.my/malaysia/kl" target="_blank">streetdirectory.net.my</a></strong>. You can enter street names or even building names. It even lists how far away a location is from nearby landmarks such as banks, restaurants, monorail stations and even pubs!</p> <p><strong>Google Earth and Google Maps</strong></p> <p>For virtual 3D visualization of KL, there is Google Earth (essentially 2D Google Maps mapped on a 3D terrain). With Google Earth 4.3, you can view photo-realistic buildings for several cities around the world. As for KL, you'll only find the Petronas Twin Towers in 3D though.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/jongkb/SBSw_uCwzvI/AAAAAAAAABs/8tMJ7V18Eec/s1600-h/gearth_petronas%5B9%5D.jpg"><img height="325" alt="Google Earth - Petronas Twin Towers" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/jongkb/SBSxAuCwzwI/AAAAAAAAAB0/gTpdBMmOJk0/gearth_petronas_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="360"></a> </p> <p>One thing to note is that the satellite images in Google Maps (hence Google Earth) for most parts of KL are not very recent. Most of the image tiles date back to 2005. However, Putrajaya has more recent visuals (May 2007). </p> <p>I'm looking forward to the day when we can enter a Malaysian street address in Google Maps or Google Earth and the specific location is returned. At the moment Google Maps supplements the search results with community-tagged locations. Quite often, there's too much redundancy in community-based results and it only adds to lots of noise.</p> <p>So while we wait for real geocoding service from Google on Malaysia, we'll make do with the services mentioned above.</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:f11ea22e-6917-4399-b256-3026f6b15e0b" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/google%20maps" rel="tag">google maps</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/mapquest" rel="tag">mapquest</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/multimap" rel="tag">multimap</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/microsoft%20virtual%20earth" rel="tag">microsoft virtual earth</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/geocoding" rel="tag">geocoding</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/kuala%20lumpur" rel="tag">kuala lumpur</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-35752430332529329022008-04-15T23:09:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:08:07.516+08:00Lightning Scare<p>Just about more than a month ago (on March 7th), both my Aztech broadband modem and D-Link wireless router were fried by a nasty lightning strike. </p> <p><strong>More Misery</strong></p> <p>Two network cards within my home network later turned casualties too. Within weeks, my two-year old <a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2005/12/brother-hl-2040-x64-simply-works.html">Brother laser printer</a> refused to work. Brother customer service told me that the printer mainboard could be the issue. Repairs would not have been worth it.</p> <p><strong>The Belkin Deal</strong></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/jongkb/SATIsAGdYwI/AAAAAAAAABY/557XscJ9tMY/s1600-h/Belkin7632%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="115" alt="Belkin7632" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/jongkb/SATIsgGdYxI/AAAAAAAAABk/B-KwQU64urc/Belkin7632_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="115" align="left" border="0"></a> I replaced the router and modem with a Belkin 7632 wireless router cum broadband modem combo and it came with a lifetime warranty and one-to-one swap deal. For that, Belkin's product came at a premium price and it took some convincing before I decided to put my cash into it.</p> <p><strong>Lightning Strikes Back!</strong></p> <p>Not taking anymore chances, from that day onwards, I was diligent in disconnecting my network equipment on the slightest sound of thunder. Thunderstorms are getting more frequent in KL these days. But today, I missed the hint by probably a few minutes. There was slight rumbling of the thunder and without much warning, my Belkin was zapped...just like that!</p> <p><strong>The Calm after the Storm</strong></p> <p>I went to the dealer and got the Belkin checked. Within 10 minutes, I was given a brand new unit (in shrink-wrapped box). They didn't even need my old box! So, the one-to-one swap was indeed a real deal. The unit I was given has an updated firmware and slightly different port arrangement. Other than that, it looks the same. I must thank the original sales rep who sold me the product. </p> <p>I got back home and got the new Belkin configured for Streamyx broadband within minutes. Thankfully, so far, no problems with my network cards.</p> <p>So, if you're living in a lightning prone area, I strongly recommend getting a Belkin even if you have to pay a little more!</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:d0a81ef4-8568-4f40-9e22-7d030a229e28" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/belkin" rel="tag">belkin</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/modem" rel="tag">modem</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/router" rel="tag">router</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/lightning" rel="tag">lightning</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-83863036970050447662008-02-25T14:12:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:07:44.605+08:00Random Reboots, Driver Updates and Vista Activation<p>Of late, my Windows Vista desktop system has been terribly unstable. I'll get several random BSODs and lock-ups in a day and the reboots have become more frequent. I'm inclined to believe that my hardware is to be blamed.</p> <p><strong>Northbridge Chip</strong></p> <p>A few months back, my Abit KV8 MAX3 motherboard Northbridge (NB)fan made grinding noises and one day the stock fan just died. I got a Cooler Master NB heatsink to replace the fan and added an additional Cooler Master casing fan (bringing it to 2 casing fans). The NB and CPU temperatures looked okay (both hovering around sub-40C) and yet the random reboots continued.</p> <p><strong>RAM and CPU</strong></p> <p>Could it be the RAM or CPU then? I tested the RAM modules with Memtest86+ as well as Vista's own memory test utility. No reboots during the tests and not a single error. I ran Prime95 torture test, I didn't get any errors but there was one occasion it blue-screened.</p> <p><strong>Power Supply</strong></p> <p>I was thinking of more suspects and I came down to the power supply. The power supply of my system came with my casing and it has a 200W continuous power output rating (450W standard output rating). It's able to offer only 10A on +12V. I thought with that spec, the power supply would not have been able to provide enough juice for my system. So, I replaced the original power supply with an <a href="http://www.vertex.com.my/enermax_tomahawk500w.htm" target="_blank">Enermax Tomahawk 500W</a> dual rail power supply with 80%+ efficiency. The Enermax is able to offer 22A on each +12V rail. Cool....but alas, my system was still acting up.</p> <p><strong>BIOS Settings</strong></p> <p>Next, I took a closer look at the motherboard BIOS settings. I lowered the FSB speed from 204Mhz to 200Mhz and adjusted the CPU core voltage accordingly. That made a difference! No more blue screens but I now got Vista to lock up at random though not frequent. Could it be a driver issue?</p> <p><strong>Chipset Driver Update</strong></p> <p>While I always use the latest Vista device drivers for my system, I have neglected updating the third-party VIA chipset drivers all these while. So, I updated my system with the latest VIA drivers and guess what? Vista is now deactivated and I have 3 days grace to reactivate it. What's going on? How can a simple driver update trigger a Vista deactivation? That led me to this article: <a href="http://apcmag.com/vista_activation" target="_blank">WARNING: device driver updates causing Vista to deactivate</a>.</p> <p><strong>Windows Vista Activation</strong></p> <p>I tried reactivating Vista online but it reported that my activation ID has already been used (yes, by me...duh!). I called up Microsoft "toll free" automated activation service on my mobile but got an automated reply that my activation request is denied. So I opted to speak to a customer service agent, explaining the reason for activation and finally got Vista activated. However, it is not without incurring a call cost of over RM10 on my mobile.</p> <p>So, it's now a wait and see game. As I type this long post, my system has not crashed and I hope it stays that way...</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:04071d25-14f8-47a8-9eee-9239b5fd9d95" contenteditable="false" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/vista" rel="tag">vista</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/via" rel="tag">via</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/abit" rel="tag">abit</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078896.post-61593363459341163482007-10-02T19:56:00.001+08:002012-05-07T18:07:34.335+08:00Windows Vista Launch Flashback<p>It's coming to 8 months since Windows Vista was launched in KL. I thought I share some of the pictures I randomly caught on launch day (Feb 3, 2007). By the way, the launch venue was Low Yat Plaza.</p> <p><a title="Windows Vista Launch (Kuala Lumpur)" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/521298930/"><img alt="Windows Vista Launch (Kuala Lumpur)" src="http://static.flickr.com/237/521298930_068dfdcbb9_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p><a title="Windows Vista Launch (Kuala Lumpur)" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/521327735/"><img alt="Windows Vista Launch (Kuala Lumpur)" src="http://static.flickr.com/250/521327735_5a6a479976_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p><a title="Windows Vista Launch (Kuala Lumpur)" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36776208@N00/521327829/"><img alt="Windows Vista Launch (Kuala Lumpur)" src="http://static.flickr.com/203/521327829_058da5cdea_m.jpg" border="0"></a></p> <p>See more of my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonong/tags/vistalaunch/" target="_blank">Windows Vista Launch Day pictures here</a>!</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>My Vista Experience: The Story So Far...</strong></p> <p>I bought my copy of <strong>Windows Vista Ultimate</strong> (genuine copy...mind you!) on May 22 -- just about the time when my then existing Windows Vista Ultimate RC1 copy was about to expire.</p> <p>My experience with Vista has been mixed. While I love a lot of things about Vista, some features take some getting used to. e.g. the UAC (User Account Control) feature. </p> <p><strong>The Blue Screens</strong></p> <p>I've been getting frequent mysterious BSODs (blue-screen-of-death) and I couldn't pinpoint on what is really at fault. Perhaps it's a driver issue, or perhaps it's a hardware issue...I don't know. </p> <p>The Vista problem reporting logs did record down the "unexpected shutdowns" but the log details were too cryptic for me to interpret. I did a <strong>chkdsk</strong> ... no problem. I did a RAM test ... no problem. I checked my motherboard temperature and voltage parameters... don't see any problem there. However, my chipset fan has been giving me this grinding noise but looking at the chipset temperatures, nothing indicates there's a problem.</p> <p><strong>Windows Update Problem</strong></p> <p>Recently, I've been encountering error 80073712 (yeah...go figure!) in Windows Update. Some googling led me to <a href="http://saintjohnshawn.com/2007/09/16/windows-update-error-code-80073712/" target="_blank">a few possible solutions</a> but none of them worked. </p> <p>I did a scan (using <strong>sfc</strong>) to check the integrity of the system files and indeed, some corruption had occurred and the errors couldn't be fixed. I suppose the frequent BSODs might have caused some system files to be thrown into a zombie state.</p> <p><strong>In-place Upgrade</strong></p> <p>This prompted me to do an <em>in-place upgrade</em> i.e. upgrade Vista with Vista. I pop in my Vista DVD and after two hours, the upgrade successfully completed. I got my Windows Update functioning again and all of my previously installed applications seemed to work fine except for one -- Visual Studio 2008 Team System Beta 2.</p> <p>I uninstalled VS2008 beta and attempted to reinstall it but .NET Framework 3.5 beta failed to install. So, I went back to scouring the web for possible solutions and <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2007/08/08/4303984.aspx" target="_blank">I found one</a>. I uninstalled IIS7, installed .NET Framework 3.5 beta manually, reinstalled IIS7, and then pop in the beta DVD and to my relief, the installation went smoothly.</p> <p>I guess I'll stop here before I start to rant endlessly. :-)</p> <p><strong>Read also:</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://jasonong.blogspot.com/2006/09/evaluating-windows-vista-rc1-build_29.html">Evaluating Windows Vista RC1 Build 5600</a></li></ul> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:b944e781-6302-4146-9713-a7bf5288e2f9" contenteditable="false" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/windows%20vista" rel="tag">windows vista</a></div>Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744355609233205207noreply@blogger.com0