Monthly Archive for September, 2007

Music: Amazon launches DRM-free MP3 store (and Wanderer’s feeble attempts to buy a track)

Amazon.com MP3 Downloads

Engadget, Gizmodo and Lifehacker simultaneously posted the following interesting tidbit, Amazon launching its new DRM-free MP3 store. So, in the interest of scientific discovery, I shall show support for the greedy recording companies hardworking artists and attempt to purchase a track or two from Amazon’s MP3 store. Click on the link below to read more about my adventures in brash consumer optimism.

Continue reading ‘Music: Amazon launches DRM-free MP3 store (and Wanderer’s feeble attempts to buy a track)’

Announcement: Expect some downtime

WordPress just released version 2.3 of their popular blogging application and me, being the upgrade junkie that I am, will be riding the wave of early adopters. So, in preparation to upgrade, please expect some downtime between posts as I backup my current WP database and files. Please come back later if you are getting 404’s, thanks. Wish me luck!

Grafitti: Check out what somebody drew for me on Facebook using Grafitti

Street Fighter II

A friend of mine recently drew me this on social-networking site Facebook, using an app called Grafitti. With it, you can doodle or even create minor works of art such as shown below. Go check it out if you have the time. Facebook can be pretty addictive, so if you don’t have the time nor the self-control, don’t even think about it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Sample Grafitti on Facebook #1: Dustin Sohn

Sample Grafitti on Facebook #2: Javier Sedillo

News: reCAPTCHA is on the fritz

At the moment, reCAPTCHA isn’t working properly for me. Is it working for you? Anyway, as a contingency, I’m disabling the captcha plugin for the time being. So that means that I will hold your comments for moderation, so expect a delay of up to 48 hours (24 normally) for your comments to show. Sorry, it’s either this or you lose your comments.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Edit: It’s all good now. A big thanks to Ben, from reCAPTCHA, who got in touch with me regarding this issue.

Thoughts: Will mobile number portability really take off in Malaysia?

Lim Keng Yaik once again reminded us that the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications is pushing ahead with its plan to implement a mobile number portability (MNP) system in our fair country. MNP basically means that subscribers will be able to take their number and subsequently their business to another carrier/network in the event that they are not satisfied with the incumbent for whatever reason whatsoever.

I, for one, will welcome such a scheme, as it would surely spur the carriers to look after its subscribers. As a long time subscriber to one of the big carriers here, I feel neglected by my current carrier, as it is concentrating its efforts on getting new subscribers (and hence market share), rather than looking after the churn rate.

Now, I’ve been itching to switch to another carrier for ages now, but what’s holding me back is the hassle of getting everybody updated on my new mobile number, in the event of the switch, but with this new MNP system in place, I can just hop-on and hop-off as I please, without barriers to change. What this system will ideally achieve would be to force competition between carriers to another level. Carriers will now have to pay more attention to the churn rate, as well as provide incentives for existing subscribers to stay with the carrier, perhaps tying subscribers down with a free phone & contract tie-in, or entice users to switch by providing switching incentives or packages.

I foresee a certain amount of stalling being carried out by some of the big carriers, but internally, I’d bet they must be gearing up face such a challenge in the local telecommunications service provider industry. I’d place my money on Digi being at the forefront of this new development as they seem to me to be a pretty innovative company, rising above odds to compete against bigger competitors. I don’t want to shill for them but it would be interesting to watch what happens. Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below.

The Star Online

[via The Star Online]