Renewable Energies

Hi Everyone,

In the wake of the Lynas controversial rare earth project at Pahang, let us evacuate the various renewable energies and the pros and cons of each of them.

Renewable energies comes from natural sources and can be reused. It includes hydroelectric, wind, solar and also nuclear.

Hydroelectric

The main source of hydro electricity is water. Water is present in over 70% of the Earth. Hydroelectricity is generated by huge amounts of water located at a very high terrain such as waterfalls and dams. Huge amounts of water streaming down a waterfall will generate a high amount of kinetic energy which in turn generates enough power for electricity.

Currently, hydropower powers over 24% of the electricity in the world and supply more than 1 billion people with power. It is one of the largest renewable energy source in the world.

To know more about how hydroelectric works, please visit How Hydropower Plants Works¹ website powered by HowStuffWorks.com.

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of hydroelectricity:²

Advantages

Constant electricity production
Clean source of energy
Cost less then fossil fuel
Recreational activities

Disadvantages

Expensive to built and needs to be high quality
People need to move out of the valley when a dam is built
May cause serious geological damage

Wind

Wind can be converted into energy through the use of windmills for mechanical power, wind turbines for electricity and wind pumps for water pumping or drainage. A large wind farm may consists of hundreds of wind turbines that are connected to the power network.³

 A wind turbine operating at a wind farm normally generates 65% to 80% of the time. The wind speed may not be at optimum levels. The capacity factor is about 30% to 35%.<sup>4

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of wind energy:4,5</sup>

Advantages

Free and renewable resource
Less expensive to construct
No air or water pollution

^{Disadvantages}  

Noise generated by the wind turbines (rotors)
Negative impact on wildbirds and bats
The glistening blades of windmills are an eyesore
Wind blows intermittently
Good wind sites are loacated in remote locations

Solar

Sun is present everyday in our lives, more so in countries nearer to the Equator. It is also present in Australia during summer.

Leveraging on the presence of sun, it can be used as a source of clean and renewable energy. It is also used in devices such as a calculator.

There are two ways to capture solar energy that is passive and active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distributable solar energy⁶. Active solar technologies use photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. Passive solar include orienting buildings to the Sun and designing speaces that circulate air. 

Solar energy uses include water heating system, electric vehicles, electricity, running satellites that orbit the earth, power convertors for electric motor drives and for emergency lighting^7,8.

Malaysia is also going to have its solar power plant that is going to be located at Putrajaya. It is an initiative by Tenaga Nasional (TNB)⁹.

Below are the advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

Solar energy is free
Good for sunny countries especially in areas that have no easy way to get electricity
Efficient energy

Disadvantages

There must be presence of light to generate solar energy
Expensive to build solar stations
Not reliable in a climate that is not sunny

Nuclear

Nuclear through the process of nuclear fission can be used to generate electricity as well. Nuclear power plants has provided about 6% of the world's energy and 13% to 14% of the world's electricity. Among the countries using nuclear energy are the U.S, France and Japan¹⁰. 

It is widely debated that nuclear energy is good. On one hand, nuclear can be a clean energy resource but on the other hand, if safety measures are not implemented thoroughly, it may cause harmful radiation to be released.

The most talked about nuclear disaster were Chernobyl (Russia) and the recent Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan which was damaged during a tsunami last year. It also prompted the unhappy reaction of residents over the proposed Lynas rare earth project in Pahang, Malaysia.

Advantages^10,12,13

No emission of any poisonous gases
Generates a high amountt of electricity energy in a single power plant
Readily available

Disadvantages


Safety of nuclear reactors are top priority
It may be used to produce nuclear weapons
Health risks and environmental damage


Here are also some myths and facts about nuclear energy from Nuclear Energy Institute:
Myths and Facts About Nuclear Energy

In a nutsheel, each renewable energy has its pros and cons. Which one is the best one of all?

Nuclear energy may have its advantages but many are still sceptical about it. 

The highest risk would be nuclear energy as well. The source of energy that has the lowest risk would be solar and wind. 

Hydroelectric and solar energy are a better renewable energy sources in most parts of Asia because of the climate and weather. Wind energy is used more in western countries and Australia. 

For me, it should be hydroelectric and wind energy. These sources are the cleanest of all. There may be an issue regarding the issue of building a hydroelectric dam as it can damage the environment and wildlife but it is also a source of energy that is low risk.  We can say the same for wind but it may not run at full capacity at all times. Wind energy is not suitable for countries like Malaysia because there isn't enough wind here to generate the electricity.

Solar is the alternative choice being that it may take a long time to generate enough power. It is great for countries that have sunny weather all year round such as Malaysia and Indonesia. 

Nuclear power is clean but the radiation it emits may cause health risks even though the amount of radiation is very small. Safety also remains the top concern for nuclear power reactors for it may be harmful when the radiation is releaded. There is research that shows nuclear power plants are safe though¹¹.

Discussions and more detailed research can also be done to have a better understanding of all these source of energies. It may be further discussed in different posts in the future. This is only a summary of the sources of renewable energy. There can be different opinions on all these as well.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

¹Bonsor, Kevin.  "How Hydropower Plants Work"  06 September 2001.  HowStuffWorks.com, http://www.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/hydropower-plant.htm   
Accessed: 31 March 2012.

² What are the advantages and disadvantages of hydro-electric power - Answers.com, Wiki Answers, http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_advantages_and_disadvantages_of_hydro-electric_power, 
Accessed: 1st April 2012 

³ Wind power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power, 
Accessed: 1st April 2012 

⁴ National Energy Education Development Project: Energy Infobooks - Secondary, http://www.need.org/needpdf/infobook_activities/SecInfo/WindS.pdf
 Accessed: 7th April 2012 

⁵ Wind Energy Bascis, Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS, http://windeis.anl.gov/guide/basics/index.cfm
 Accessed: 7th April 2012

⁶ Solar Energy- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy
 Accessed: 7th April 2012

⁷ Energy Resources: Solar, www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/solar.htm
 Accessed: 7th April 2012

⁸ Solar | Department of Energy:, http://energy.gov/science-innovation/energy-sources/renewable-energy/solar
 Accessed: 7th April 2012

⁹ The Star Online: Malaysia's first solar power plant:, http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/23/business/8114613&sec=business
 Accessed: 7th April 2012

¹⁰ Nuclear Power- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power
 Accessed: 8th April 2012

¹¹ Nuclear Energy Institute - Myths and Facts About Nuclear Energy, http://www.nei.org/newsandevents/nei-backgrounders/myths--facts-about-nuclear-energy
 Accessed: 8th April 2012

¹² Benefits of Nuclear Power, http://www.benefitsofnuclearpower.com/
 Accessed: 8th April 2012

¹³ Pros and cons of nuclear power | Time for change, http://timeforchange.org/pros-and-cons-of-nuclear-power-and-sustainability
 Accessed: 8th April 2012

Trillian 5.0

Hi Everyone,

Want to have a IM client that can connect to Windows Live, Yahoo!, Google Talk, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? There are a few of them currently available and the one I am talking about is Trillian 5. I have downloaded and installed Trillian 5 for Windows. 

Trillian 5 is good. It integrates all the networks together. I have no problems using Trillian 5 so far. Contacts can be sorted by name or by service. You can also display the services (Windows Live, Google Talk) next to the contact. The services are now displayed as logos in Trillian 5.0. Previously in Trillian Astra 4.2, it is displayed as text.

The loading time has been improved. It is faster than Astra. You can also customise Trillian using themes and sounds.

When you are using Trillian, you may miss some features like file sharing and video calls depending on the respected IMs. However, you do not need to download each IM client to chat with your friends. Everything is combined into one IM client. 

I recommend Trillian 5.0 to all of you.

Here is the link:

Trillian

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Android vs IPhone

Hi Everyone,

I have used both IPhone (3Gs) and Android (Galaxy Mini). Some of you may know that I lost my IPhone few months back and I got an Android powered Galaxy Mini. 

The specifications are the same except for the internal memory of the Galaxy Mini. Galaxy Mini only has 155MB of internal memory. However, it has an expendable memory up to 32GB. I am using the default 2GB card provided by Samsung in the box.

Well, I can say that I still prefer iOS but Android is on par with iOS. Either one is fine for me. Here are some comparisons:

1. Menu Options

Both IPhone and Android have easy menu options. Using IPhone is a breeze. It takes a little longer to get used to the Android menus. The options for both are nearly the same. Android seems to have more features though. Higher end smartphones running Android have more features than lower end smartphones.

2. Speed

Speed for Android is as fast as IPhone or can even be faster. I have tested HTC Desire before and it is fast! Galaxy Mini is not as fast as IPhone 3GS though. It does hang and lag. Playing Angry Birds is a little slow sometimes. The IPhone 4 however has a 1GHz processor. Most Android have 1Ghz processors now as well.

3. Features

Bluetooth compatibility

=================

IPhone can only perform Bluetooth 2.1 compatibility with iOS devices unlike Android. IPhone is an amazing phone but its Bluetooth connectivity can't be used with other Bluetooth devices. Transferring photos from IPhone to a Sony Ericsson or a Nokia or a Motorola phone can't be done. Lol.

After I switched to Galaxy Mini, I can easily transfer the photos taken using my phone to my friend's phone. No problems with detect. Both devices can detect each other.

Flash

====

There is no Flash for iOS. There are programming / coding that makes Adobe very difficult to develop Flash compatibility for iOS devices. Perhaps HTML5 can solve this. Most official music videos in YouTube can't be seen using iOS devices (for e.g Katy Perry's E.T Official Music Video, Taylor Swift's Mean etc). We can only watch other videos that plays the same song.

Flash based YouTube videos appear on Android devices YouTube search feature. There are no issues with Android devices.

Camera

======

Quality of pictures taken for iOS and Android seems to be almost the same. My Galaxy Mini's 3.2 megapixels camera pictures looks good. Good enough for internet.

4. App Store

Apple's App Store remains the best so far. Over 200,000+ apps to download. Furthermore, the interface is the best. It is easy to use. Prices are displayed clearly at the app store. The interface is sleek and you can write comments and reviews on the app. No limit on characters. There are a lot of good apps to download from the app store. Updates to apps are also easy to download. App Store will check each time you access it and lets you know which one to update.

Android's Marketplace is growing with more apps coming. Apps may be different than Apple's App Store though. The interface is not as clean as App Store. You can also write comments and reviews but it has limited characters that you can write. It does not look as nice as the App Store. Android can continue to improve its Marketplace even though its usability is ok.

Conclusion

=========

Some of you may disagree with this. Please comment. I am happy to receive them.

As I said, I still prefers Apple iOS. Android is on par with iOS. Therefore, no matter which smartphones that you choose, there is no wrong buying an IPhone, IPad or an Android based device. Both of these operating systems are good. Android is fast catching up with IPhone now.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Maxis first to offer phone with WP7

Maxis first to offer phone with WP7

Mozilla Concept Phone Is a Glimpse of the Future

This story was originally posted at PCWorld.com.

Mozilla Labs is showing off a cutting-edge concept mobile phone developed by a designer in his free time.

The complete story can be found here:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,206109/article.html

We hope you will find this story interesting and informative. PCWorld, an IDG publication, has been providing independent, unbiased, reviews, news, and information about technology since 1983.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Music Players

Hi Everyone,

iPod, media players or imitation IPod? iPodhas 3 models to choose from namely iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano and iPod Touch. The latter is bundled with Wifi and touch screen.

After saving and considering other MP3 players, I still choose the IPod Nano 4G personally. Bought it a year and a half ago on January 2009. I considered the Sony and Creative MP3 players by researching on the web and comparing all the features. Also I researched the features of the iPod Nano 4G. 

Creative and Sony may offer more features including FM Radio and support other media formats such as midi and wav files but overall the IPod seems to attract me personally.     

 

 

Now the iPod Nano 5G, the current generation comes with a FM radio and a video camera. For the previous generation, a radio connectivity set costs more than RM100. Prices of the iPod in Malaysia remains the same at RM599 and RM799 for the 8GB and 16GB models respectively. Even though the price is the same, it has more features.

Sony, Creative and Samsung also have their models to compete directly with the iPhone. The Creative Zen MX is one example. It offers the capabilities to play more music formats including the Windows Media Audio (WMA), Midi and WAV files. It also offers radio. This is the same for Sony and Samsung. Radio is a standard for MP3 players nowadays. Only the IPod did not offer any radio features at that time. iPhone can only support MP3 and AAC3 (MP4) files. To play a WMA file on the iPod, you need to use iTunes to convert it to MP4 format first or other softwares to convert it to a MP3 file.

Sony, Creative and other brands also offer better battery life on the MP3 players. My iPod Nano can last about 3 days or so. The claimed battery life for the Nano 4G is 24 hours.

At the end, it is all up to you to choose.

For more information, please visit these websites:

Apple - Play music and more on iPod.
Creative MP3 Players and Accessories - ZEN and MuVo Series: 
Portable Audio : Consumer Products : Sony Malaysia:
MP3 Player | SAMSUNG:
Products | Zune.net:

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Smartphones

What comes to mind when you think of smartphones? Phones are getting more advanced nowadays combining phone, entertainment, games and business into one device.

The IPhone 4 and its predecessors, Android, Blackberry, Nokia E-Series and Windows Mobile 7 are some of the most common terms that we heard. I am using IPhone 3G(S) myself. Basically, I can do anything with the IPhone 3G(S) from productivy applications to multimedia applications which include games, music, movies, bibles, news, e-books, flashlight and photo uploading and enhacement applications. I can also use the IPhone as a GPS and as a universal remote control as well.

Which is the best of all of these? IPhone seems to be the benchmark now. Followed closely is the Android, the mobile operating system by Google.  Brands such as HTC, Motorola and Samsung has models using the Android operating system. When I was at Mid Valley yesterday, I tested the HTC Touch Diamond at the Digi Smartphones Fair in front of MPH / Coffee Bean. It has one of the smoothest touch screen UI after the IPhone. It is closely competing with the IPhone. Blackberry Storm or the Nokia X series touch screen phones does not come close. The models do not have a very smooth touch screen UI. It uses a different technology then the IPhone / Android. 

Blackberry is now the leader in smartphones for businessmen and businesswomen. With its push e-mail technology, you will receive office and personal e-mails on the go anywhere and anytime. It will definitely keep you busy. There are less applications compared with IPhone. Applications such as Facebook, Twitter, bibles and others are available but still are limited. IPhone and Nokia E-series may have push e-mail technology also but Blackberry are still th best in push e-mail. For IPhone, I have to launch the Mail application to view my e-mails but for the Blackberry, it is pushed to the phone immediately similar to a sms.

The Nokia E-Series is also good for business users. It has push e-mail, calendar and other productivity features. Samsung Omnia 2 is also a very good phone with vivid images and very good UI. It uses the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. It is one of the most powerful operating systems of the mobile world and can support a lot of features. The only thing is that the speed may be slow and Windows Mobile may hang or crashes similar to Windows crashes.  HTC also has Windows Mobile based phones. It used to be very cool.

Other phones that you can consider are the Samsung Corby and LG Cookie. These phones have less features but still features touch screen and other features.

What would you choose between these phones?

Let's talkback.

Here are the selections / choices:

1. IPhone 4 (also IPhone 3G(S) etc)
2. Samsung Omnia
3. Samsung Corby 
   
4. HTC Touch Diamond
5. HTC Magic
6. Other HTC Phones
7. Nexus One
8. Blackberry Storm
9. Blackberry Bold
10. Blackberry Pearl
11. Nokia X-series (X6, X3)
12. Nokia E-series (E61, E65, E71, E72 etc)
13. Nokia N-series (N95, N99, N85, N86, N81)
14. Motorola Q9h
15. Motorola Droid
16. Motorola Aura / Dext
17. Other Motorola smartphones
18. LG Chocolat
19. LG Smartphones
20. Sony Ericsson Xperia
21. Sony Ericsson Satio, Aino...
22. Sony Ericsson P9i
23. Just the normal phones (Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG, Samsung...)

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Outstanding IPhone Apps

Productivity / Management Apps

1. Awesome Note (BRID)

• Great note taking, to do lists and diary application
• Cool interface and very easy to use
• Group notes into categories and colours
• Insert pictures
• Free version has limited features (7 notes) but for $3.99, you can get unlimited notes and features
• It is really worth it to buy

2. Intuition (Icon Apps)

• Adapted from mother's intuition, it is an awesome to do list application 
• Great interface and easy to use 
• It has reminder alerts that can remind you twice for the to do items of the day
• Ability to group and filter to do items by locations and categories
• Find out what is happening in the community and the locations near you
• Recipes for you to try out andlifestyle tips provided in the app
• This app is free

3. Sticky (Tap Factory)

• This is a Sticky Note application
• Recently upgraded to the full version at 1/2 price
• Create sticky notes and badges will be displayed to indicate how many notes are there
• Various fonts are available
• Opt to export the note as a wallpaper (photos) and show it as a wallpaper

4. Spending (AppCheer)

• Keep track your expenses and income easily 
• Password protected (Full version) 
• Group expenses and income with categories. Can create your own as well.
• Charts and average spent 
• Comes with calculator 
• Available in a lot of currencies 
• Free to try the Lite version 
• $2.99 for full version

5. Convert Units for Free (FreeTheApps), Calc0Currency(Uplake Media LLC), GlobeConvert (GlobeMaster)

• Apps to convert units and currencies
• Covers units like cm, m, inches, km/h, miles per hour etc
• Calc0Currency supports a lot of currencies including $USD, $AUD, Euro, pounds, Indonesian Rupiah and RM

Games

1. Tap Tap Revenge 3 (Tapulous)

• Awesome game
• Great gameplay. Tap the music beat balls on when they land on the targets
• Need to be fast when playing at higher difficulties
• Free songs for downloads are available for downloads. Song packs from popular artists are also available at a cost
• One of the best games

2. Zombie Farm (The Play Forge)

• Grow zombies in your own zombie farm from normal zombies to girl zombies and mini zombies 
• Invade other farms to earn more coins

3. Tap Fish (Bayview Labs)

• A fish aquarium game
• Grow and feed all your fishes 
• Cleaning the aquarium daily would prevent your fishes from dying 
• Can also decorate your aquarium 
• Breeding is also available. I have two new species now after breeding namely green clown and sammy clown fish

4. Parachute Ninja (Freeverse and Zeptolab)

• Another great game. Keeps me playing more and more
  Full version has 30 levels and survival mode 
• Be a ninja and complete all the 30 story modes. The levels get harder each time 
• Try out the survival mode too with all the challenges and difficulties of all the levels

5. Magic Ludo (GameFront Singapore)

• A ludo game made for the IPhone 
• New ludo challenges. Can kill or knocked off your opponents Ludo pieces if you rolled your dice to their position and vice versa 
• Addictive

6. Tap Farm (Streetview Labs)

• Similar to Farmville in Facebook where you can grow and maintain crops on your farm. 
• Harvest the crops when it is fully grown to earn more income. 
• Build the most beautiful farm of all.

7. Traffic Rush (Donut Games)

• Control the traffic at a intersection. 
• Move the cars to the left and right quickly when there are no cars. The same going straight and the opposite. 
• Be careful though when there are more cars coming from all directions.
• Game over when a car or lorry or motorcycle crashes onto each other.
• Very addictive game.

8. Sentinel (Origin 8)

• Guard your towers and bases from enemy attacks with weapons
• 60 waves of attack each round. More difficult enemies each wave
• Open Feint

9. Sudoku (Mighty Mighty Good Games)

• Sudoku game for the IPhone
• Ability to make numbering notes during the game
• There are a few levels of difficulties
• Full version contains more than 700 puzzles with the same features ($2.99)
• Free version is available with plenty of puzzles of well but less than the 700 puzzles in the full version (I downloaded this)

10. 28 in 1 Game Box (Triniti Interactive Limited)

• 28 top Games in one app
• Open Feint compatible

11. Fingerzilla (Inert Soap)

• Godzilla like game. Try to destroy as many buildings as possible and earn money through it. There are additional game packs for you to download too.

12. Millionnaire (Savy Soda)

• Monopoly game for the IPhone

13. World Championship Table Tennis(Skyworks)

• Great table tennis game
• Tournament, Arcade, Head to Head and Practice modes available in Full version ($0.99)
• Addictive

14. Bubble Tap, Tap Tap Free, Speed Tapping, Tap Tap Ants, Tap Tap Ants 2 (RiseUp Labs)

• Great tapping games
• Bubble Tap - Tap to break all the bubbles as fast as you can, great gameplay, stress reliever
• Tap Tap Free - Tap all the balls as fast as you can
• Speed Tapping - Tap as fast as you can
• Tap Tap Ants and Tap Tap Ants 2 - Tap as many ants as possible as you can. For Tap Tap Ants, you can only tap at the highlighted area. For Tap Tap Ants 2, you can tap it anywhere

15. Space Deadbeef (I.D.P)

• Shoot at all the planes coming to you by tapping where the planes are
• Another great game
• Each level increase is more difficult than the previous levels

16. Action Bowl Free (Kronos), Shrek Kart (Gameloft)

• Action Bowl Free is a bowling game for the IPhone. 
• You can use the sensor controls on the IPhone to play the game
• Like Nintendo Wii, u race by tiliting the IPhone left and right in Shrek Racing. 
• Race using Shrek characters in the game
• These two games have great game play too

17. Can Shooter (NC Japan K.K)

• Shoot the cans into the dustbin within the time limit
• Wind free mode will appear in the game
• Time limit for higher levels decreases

Other notable IPhone games include Mafia Wars, Street Racing and Scramble from Zynga. Of course, there are plenty of great games available for the IPhone. I also downloaded Solitaire, Payload, Monkey Party, You Vs Wall, Air Assault, iChess and Water Slide among others. These are only a subset of the total number of games.

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

• Dian Hua Dictionary (Powered by CC-CEDICT)
• Wikipedia
• Dictionary.com

News

•   Channel News Asia, Thomson News Pro Bloomberg, MSNBC, Bernama, MKini2, Time Mobile, ESPN Score Centre, Eurosport, F1 Racing, Engadget among others
  

Christianity

• YouVersion Bible (YouVersion) - Free app
• Logos - Free App
• Our Daily Bread Inspirational - Free App (not related to RBC's Our Daily Bread)

Social

• Facebook, Twitterific (IconFactory), Skype

E-Books  

• The Valley of Fear (BeamItDown)
• Classics (Andrew Kaz and Phill Ryu)
• 101 Classics (Sun Scroll)
• IPhone Tips and Tricks, Battery Tips

There are many more apps available for the IPhone. You can measure things or check out information on space when you download the NASA app. You can also find hotels and book air tickets (MAS has an app) as well. Google and Yahoo also provides apps for their mail services, weather, photos, news, Google Earth, Google Calendar, Google Earth and other information and services. Apps for the IPhone camera such as providing flash effects and other camera features and effects such as A+ Camera Flash and 10xCamera Tools are also available. Photoshop Mobile is an another app to manage your photos. There are also apps to download for the IPhone such as wallpapers, check BMI app, health tips and check music lyrics. The list of apps for the IPhone goes on and on.

In the nutshell, you can do anything with the IPhone.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Kayaking on Saturday, 23rd May 2009 and My Favourite Stuff

Hi Everyone,

This is a CNET TV Video talking about Palm Pre and that the IPhone 3G is not so good in the US. It talks about the AT&T service in US.

I joined my cell group members for kayaking at the Kelab Tasik Putrajaya located at Precinct 8 on Saturday. It cost RM10 per person for 1 hour. It is a serene place with a great pond (tasik) and great view. Besides kayaks, there are different types of boats available depending on what you want to row on. The kayaks can be a single kayak or a double kayak. It was my 1st time to go for kayaking. I thank God that nothing happens to us when we rowed the kayaks. There were no overturned kayaks. We managed to have the right weight balance while rowing the kayak. The weather in Putrajaya was good. It rained heavily in Cheras but it did not rain in Putrajaya. Occasional thunders were heard during the kayaking but there was no rain at all. We rowed for about 1 hour and then we showered or changed our clothes.

 

I went kayaking on a double kayak with my cell group leader, Kevin. I was at the front seat and he was at the back. At first the oars were easy to hold on to but as we went further, it became harder. Using the oars required a lot of strength from the left and right shoulders. For first timers, you can get tired after a while. To turn the kayak, the back person will row to the correct direction as the front person continues to row it as normal. I had a little difficulty of sitting at the kayak initially and when I was coming up to the land after we had finished rowing. I need to make sure that I don't fall into the water or make the kayak unbalanced. :P. First time of course. Don't really know how to actually sit on it. If the kayak drifted away to the pond, I would have gone to the pond. :D

 

Overall, it was a fun experience to go kayaking. Need to use a lot of strength to use the oars. It was a great exercise for the day. Our cell group should organise more fellowship activities so that we can know each other better. It can be a bonding exercise with the other members of the cell group members as well.

 

My Favourite Christian Songs

At The Cross

Be Thou My Vision

Before The Throne of God

Everlasting God

Everything That Has Breath Praise The Lord

Forever

Give Thanks

Hallelujah to the Lamb

How Great Is Our God

In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found)

Jesus, Messiah (Chris Tomlin)

Kau Sahabatku, Kau Saudaraku

Knowing You Jesus

Living with Jesus

Love The Lord Your God

Made to Worship

My Hope is Built 

My Life Is In You

Servants of the Gospel

Shout to the Lord

Sing Sing Sing

Thank You For The Cross (Worthy is the Lamb)

Unfailing Love (Chris Tomlin)

We Are The Reason

You Never Let Go

 

My Favourite Songs

Abba: Dancing Queen, Take A Chance On Me, Lay All My Love For You, Chiquitita, Fernando, One of Us

Avril Lavigne: Complicated, When You're Gone

Bee Gees: To Love Somebody

Billy Joel / Westlife: Uptown Girl

Colbie Caliat: Realise

Damien Leith (Australian Idol 2006): I Still Miss Us, Night of My Life, Unchained Melody

David Archuleta: A Little Too Not Over You

Guang Liang: Tong Hua

Il Divo: Amazing Grace, Angelina, Caruso, La Luna, Una Noche, Unchained Melody

Jason Mraz: I'm Yours, Lucky (with Colbie Caliat)

Josh Groban: You Raise Me Up, The Prayer, To Where You Are

Kelly Clarkson: Because of You, Breakaway, My Life.....

Leona Lewis: Better In Time, Bleeding Love, Yesterday

M2M: Don't Say You Love Me, The Day You Went Away

Maroon 5: Good Night, Won't Go Home Without You

Michael Jackson: Bilile Jean, Heal The World, Man In The Mirror, Thriller, You Are Not Alone

Mozart: All

Miley Cyrus: The Climb

Nickelback: Gotta Be Somebody

Rihanna: Take A Bow, Umbrella

S Club (S Club 7 initially): Have You Ever, Never Had A Dream Come True 

She / B3: IOIO

Taylor Swift: Love Story

Westlife: Seasons In The Sun, Something Right, Us Against The World

Westlife / Ruben Studdard: Flying Without Wings

and other similar genre of songs

 

My Favourite Animes

Blood +

Dragon Ball

Fate / Stay Night

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Lamb (Animax Production)

La Corda Doro Prima Passo

Nodame Cantabile

Slam Dunk

Sergeant Keroro

Solty Rei

Tears to Tiara

The Chronicles of the Wings

The Law of Ueki

Yu Yu Hakusho

 

That's all,

 

Rogerkoo

Sony Bravia S400 LCD TV

Hi Everyone, I also want to wish all Buddhists a Happy Wesak Day today. Our TV was spoiled last week. As a result, we have decided to buy the Sony Bravia S400 LCD TV. The images produced on Astro channels are very sharp for some channels depending on the shows. Overall, still display good and sharp images. Animax, MTV, Channel V, Disney, E! Channel, CNN, BBC and the sports channels have very sharp images. Wah Lai Toi is not bad either. Star World is not as sharp but still better than average. Certain shows in Star World are quite sharp. 8TV is not bad. Here are the LCD TV:

Gadgets / Things That I Would Like To Have As A Techie

Hi, I currently own a Motorola L72, Ipod Nano 8GB and a Olympus Camedia C-350 camera. This post talks about some of the gadgets that I would like to have but not necessarily have it. I am content with what I have at the moment. If giving the chance though or if I can afford it, I may consider buying one of these or try using it. :) :P Also, I will tell you other interesting things about me after the gadgets / things section. Click the link below to go immediately to the section.

Other Interesting Things About Me

Mobile Phones / PDAs

Apple IPhone 3G (I may consider buying this after my current phone has spoiled and if better Maxis IPhone plans are available)

Blackberry

LG Cookie

Motorola RAZR V9

Motorola Q9h

Palm Treo Pro

Samsung Omnia

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Camera

Canon IXUS Cameras

Olympus U-Tough

Olympus DSLR E-Series

Sony Alpha

Music Players

Apple Ipod Touch (would rather get IPhone 3G though)

Sony MP3 Players

Creative Zen Stone

Zune

Console Gaming Systems

Microsoft XBox 360

Nintendo Wii (This one I think)

Sony Playstation 3

Software Development & Database Suites

Adobe Creative Elements CS4

Microsoft Expression

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

Microsoft SQL Server 2008

MySQL 6.0

Oracle 11

Television

Panasonic Plasma TV

Sony Bravia LCD TV

Samsung LCD TV Series

Toshiba Regza LCD TV

Watches

Casio G-Shock (wearing one now)

Seiko Kinetic

Swatch

All these things are what I think of as I grow o until now. It does not mean that I need to have these things. That would be very materialistic. Now that I am earning, I can use my discretion to buy but only those which are necessary. Maybe in the future only I will have some of these things. It does not mean that if people have these things, I also want to have. What's the point if we keep spending and spending? Sooner or later, you would end up don't really have much.

Other Interesting Things About Me

1. My favourite colour was pink at one stage when I was very small. :D. Now my favourite colours are green & blue
2. I use facial / skin care products  _ _ _ _ _ _    _ _ _     _ _ _ _ _ _ 
3. I use sunblock products
4. I started to have the idea of having pink clothes last year. Think it's cool and I want to be unconventional
5. I picked up reading books again during college. This was about 6 years ago at Taylor's College when I started borrowing Agatha Christie & John Grisham books from the library
6. Changed schools when I was in Standard 2 from S.R.K. Jalan Pasar to S.R.K St.John (2). It was due to some misunderstanding between the teacher and me
7. Wasted a big watermelon at home when I was small. Tried to carry it but too heavy and dropped onto the kitchen floor!! :D
8. I learnt to play the piano from primary school up to PMR. I took Grade 5 Practical & Grade 5 Theory. Now seldom play.
9. I like to watch Animax
10. I am not good at drawing. :) As in art.

More interesting things about me may be coming soon. I will write again soon. Will decide the topics of the next few entries. Stay tuned.

Il Divo: The Promise

Hi, I have bought the Il Divo: The Promise Luxury Edition Album which comes with a DVD containing 3 performances and an interview with the group. I enjoy listening to their songs. They did a beautiful version of The Winner Takes It All and Amazing Grace. The whole CD has a total of 11 songs and all of them are easy listening. It is a great album. Bought it at Speedy Video, 1 Utama Branch. Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is now in the Malaysian market. It looks sleek and it is the first time that Sony Ericsson utilises the Windows Mobile 6.1 Operating System. It has a keyboard hidden underneath the phone and can be slided out sideways. It looks cool. The phone can be divided to 9 different panes. It has a touch screen too.

This Week

Hi,

These are some pictures that I have taken in front of KPMG Tower & IBM Plaza:

I have almost finished reading Duma Key now. But still about more than 100 pages to go. It is getting very exciting now. Stephen King is good.

I am using my Motorola L72 now for about 9 months now. It is a good mobile phone. I have not seen a lot of people who are using this phone though. I do not know why. It is not as popular compared to Motorola L6 & Motorola L7. Sometimes, I thought I've seen the same model but it is actually a L7. Have a look at the website for more details.

Heroes Season 3 will be starting soon on Star World. Looking forward to this season. Season 2 is a bit boring. Did not watch Season 2 that much. Now I am following CSI:New York, CSI:Miami, 24 and both Amazing Race & Amazing Race Asia. 

I have finished reading 1 Kings and 2 Kings finally. I have read the first two chapters of 1 Chronicles. More information will be posted soon about 1 Kings & 2 Kings. Stay tuned.