Hi! I’m Nick.

Funny how from simple things, the best things begin. 

Hans Rosling: Asia's Rise - How and When

I watched this video a little over 2 weeks ago and I was fascinated by Mr. Rosling's presentation to when exactly will Asia (specifically China and India) dominate the world economically and be on-par with the current economic powerhouses (USA, Europe, Japan).

Should you want to know more after this video, you can check out Han's Rosling's gapminder.org and his twitter: twitter.com/hansro

I checked out the countries of South East Asia on gapminder.org. Such a big economic loss we (Malaysians) endurered in 1997, and how Singapore grew drastically to reach the upper echelon of developed countries of the world during the 90's.

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   content snacks   economy  

Comments [0]

Free Download: iTunes LP Christmas Album

This holiday season, iTunes US is giving away (for one week) an iTunes LP Album with 20 songs from popular artistes listed below. An iTunes LP is an enhanced album that comes packed together with artiste bios, photos, and lyrics. The theme of this album is obviously Christmas, but the genre is mixed - so there's a pretty good variety.

  1. Amy Grant - O Come All Ye Faithful
  2. David Archuleta - The First Noel
  3. Silent Night - Sarah McLachlan
  4. Carol of the Bells / Jingle Bells - Barry Manilow
  5. It Snowed - Meaghan Smith
  6. Above the Nothern Lights - Mannheim Steamroller
  7. Baby It's Cold Outside - Lady Antebellum
  8. We Three Kings - Toby Keith
  9. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Rascal Flatts
  10. Silent Night - Wynonna
  11. Twelve Days of Christmas - Weezer
  12. We Wish You a Merry Christmas - Weezer
  13. A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like a Kiss) - Glasvegas
  14. Another Christmas Song - Stephen Colbert
  15. Greensleeves - Vince Guarald
  16. Dream a Dream - Charlotte Church
  17. The Nutcracker, Op. 71, Act 2: Character Dances (Divertissement) - Kirov Orchestra & Valery Gergiev
  18. Angels We Have Heard On High - Aretha Franklin
  19. O Holy Night - Musiq Soulchild
  20. Auld Lang Syne - The Lonesome Travelers
Happy Holidays!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/itunes-holiday-sampler/id344104720

 

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   my recommendations   usa  

Comments [0]

The Failing Maxis 3G at Bandar Utama

It's atrocious to see how Maxis 3G has deteriorated during the recent month. Reports have been coming in from my circle of friends that I'm not the only one. I live in the Bandar Utama area, Persiaran Bandar Utama - which is close to OneUtama shopping centre, and MediaPrima. @maxiscomms on twitter has contacted me to open a report - which I did, and I was glad to get a phone call telling me that they will look into it. I provided a report along with both the screenshots you see below taken with my iPhone 3GS. Jaw dropping for this day in age isn't it?

The Maxis personnel that called me asked how I did the test, and I explained about speedtest.net's iPhone app. She countered me by saying that's not the way to test a mobile broadband, and instead I should see how many bars I have. I explained that I was within coverage in a variety of areas and I always have full bars (or close to it). Sometime later, she called me back saying that they've checked and the network within my area isn't congested, then closed the case.

I was asked to survey amongst my friends within the area and open a new case. Me? I fail to see why can't the customer satisfaction experience take top priority - give a warm call to 3G customers around my area and ask about the network. It will impose a good lasting impression - you can never have too much of that.

Well, that's my opinion anyway.

   
Click here to download:
The_Failing_Maxis_3G_at_Bandar.zip (212 KB)

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   ethics & responsibility   malaysia  

Comments [0]

I Found Rei Ayanami...

I was unpacking some of my boxes and I found an old picture frame of Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion) - which I bought when I was a college freshman. I can fondly remember the laughs when friends tried to talk me into selling it, or how my ex-girlfriend gave me that wierd look when I gave the nerdy rundown of who Rei Ayanami was - what she went through, and the constant struggle she had to find herself. Ahh, college junk.

Now to find my Asuka Langley animation cel...

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   my life  

Comments [0]

Alexander's New Mobile Number

I sent a text message to confirm my colleague Alex's new number. He replied...

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   funny   my conversations  

Comments [0]

Trillian Astra for the iPhone, Finally Approved

This is good news indeed for the Trillian community. Finally Apple has approved the app for the iTunes app store, full details over here: http://blog.ceruleanstudios.com/?p=815

Now if only Cerulean will allow us to search for contacts with their name instead of their email. Also there's this annoying delay when you search :(

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   My recommendations  

Comments [0]

I Lost My Camera

Sadly, I lost my Sony W80 camera today while I was having supper with Kenneth and Jessica. I had alot of good times with that crappy shit of a camera. When I bought it, it was expensive and the output wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. But still, good times we had.

Cheers to you, ol' buddy :(

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   my life  

Comments [0]

Lovin' the Trillian Astra

I've been using Trillian Astra for 2 weeks now, and it's simply amazing. Not only have I got all my instant messaging networks connected, but also my email, gtalk, and facebook chat. I've took a few screenshots below with a custom skin, Avion Pro. The Astra works on various platforms: Windows, Mac, iPhone, and web.

Find out all of it's 400 features here: http://www.trillian.im/learn/tour-features.html

           
Click here to download:
Lovin_the_Trillian_Astra_tag_m.zip (365 KB)

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   my recommendations  

Comments [0]

Today, I Lost 3 Teeth


My left wisdom tooth was giving me some issues for the last 2 weeks. It caused me immense pain at night, which obviously kept me awake - even after taking Ibuprofen painkillers. It also gave me a mild fever. I decided that I should get this checked out immediately, and I was advised to remove it once and for all. But before I could have done that, I would need to complete my medication to eradicate the infection that it has caused. I did just that, and scheduled my surgery on a Friday, so I could get well over the weekend and get back to work on Monday.

Bad luck for me, on Thursday morning when I got out of bed I felt my throat was sore. I thought maybe it was just dry from the aircond, and used my positive willpower to shrug it off. By 11am while I was working, I felt that it was getting worst, and I knew I had a sore throat. Infact, I also had a mild fever, which prompted me to get it checked out ASAP because I was going into surgery the next day. I didn't want to postpone and I hoped to squash the fever bug on that day itself.

I went to my regular doctor, a fantastic rad doctor I like very much - a comical skinny singh guy. He laughed at me after checking my throat and said I was a complete wierdo because my throat was very badly infected and that there was no way I didn't feel anything for days. I said to him, no, nothing, just a little ticklish this morning and I can still eat solids. He laughed again, and said I have an abnormally high pain threshold. Anyway, he gave me a bag of meds and told me I can still go for the surgery tomorrow.

So today, I went and got my wisdom tooth extracted, and the 2 molars. I had about 7 injections, it was a sting - I held my breath. The injections that hurt (immensely) were the ones onto the wall of my mouth - to numb the nerves to pull the molars. Alot of drilling, and it the whole procedure took about 2 1/2 hours. Painless, didn't even feel my molars coming out but there was alot of drilling and pressure applied.

The reason I didn't extract the other wisdom tooth was because it didn't give any complications, and it's not pushing my other teeth. The doctor extracted my 2 molars because it was coming down onto my gums, and making my mouth crowded. Now, after the surgery I feel immense pain when I spit or suck (I was advised to stay away from sucking a straw). Also, now that my teeth row is shorter, it feels quite wierd haha! Next week I go back to remove my stitches. Thanks Shawn, for being there for me - you know how much I appreciate this.

Have a good weekend folks! :)

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   my life  

Comments [3]

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition


  
(download)
What can I say except that LucasArts has impressed me immensely. Not only am I happy that they are refreshing the Monkey Island brand, but the latest 'The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition' was done so well, I have to give it two-thumbs up. A stellar show that they aren't just in it for the money, but also to make fans like us (yeah we're old) happy.

At only 800points on XBox Live arcade, or US$9.95 on Steam or D2D, this is well worth it. As you can see from the picture above: a comparison of the original game and the remastered. Full voice acting, special effects, high-quality music score, and the ability to play the original version - makes this a well-worth it purchase. If the demand for this game is high enough, LucasArts will remake 'Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck's revenge' - the best game of the series.

So until then, I will be promoting this game to all my (old) friends. 2D adventure games like these don't come along often anymore in a 3D generation. So, what are you waiting for?
           
Click here to download:
The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island_Sp.zip (1319 KB)

 

 

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   my games   my recommendations  

Comments [0]