Ben's Photo Blog - in GIGA..PIXELS

iPhone 3G officially in Malaysia – YAY???

benjern — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:34:00 +0000

My beloved blog readers, inserted below is my UTMOST DISAPPOINTMENT in MAXIS’ latest iPhone promotion… yes it’s in Malaysia OFFICIALLY… but look how it’s played out on a Maxis customer? Below is an open letter I wrote to their customer care division…

Dear Maxis,

Being an extremely loyal customer of Maxis for the past 8 years and have literally grown with your company – with absolutely no doubt about your quality service and unparalleled customer service; a quick check on my account would reveal how closely I’ve followed your products, upgraded my plans from year to year – to my current usage of an average of @#$*@()* a month including my !@#!@# supplementary lines – this last introduction of iPhone 3G plans have been extremely disappointing.

My last change to my account was to sign up for a MyMaxis Phone Deal on the 1st of January 2009 with a contract of 24 months. Since I’ve been waiting for the longest time for the iPhone to reach Malaysia – I thought all hope was lost so I decided to leap onto the @#$@#$#@$ bandwagon.

Today, I discovered that iPhone has finally been brought in by my telco. It was a bitter sweet feeling.

Sweet – it’s here, I can have it and I made the right choice by sticking with maxis all these years.

Bitter – Price plans were good but not great. I’ve learned throughout the years that with quality comes price so it didn’t bother me much – but what about my existing plan? I still have at least 21-22 months left in the contract! So if I wanted the iphone, I’d have to get another line.

I was excited when I discovered this clause in your rate plan terms & conditions…

“If your Maxis mobile service is in contract and you choose to recontract and purchase an iPhone 3G your existing Maxis contract will stand and you will have another contract running concurrently starting from the date you collect your iPhone 3G. You will only pay the monthly subscription of your new plan, but should you have a temporary suspension of service, downgrading of price plan and termination of line pre-termination and/or liquidated damages charges for both contracts apply.”

Excerpt from : http://www.maxis.com.my/iphone/rateplan1.asp

The excitement was short lived… when I was told by one of your maxis consultants that it didn’t apply to my situation as I had 22 months of contract left to serve. The deal is this, IT DIDN’T ONCE MENTION about a minimum left-over of contract in the above clause! A typo? An oversight? Come on, this is maxis we’re talking about – the one with the best team in EVERYTHING – from great service to support…

To make matters worse, I was told later that once I’ve gotten an iPlan if I so decide to pay a penalty of over 800 ringgit and switch over to the new iPlan, I’d lose all the privileges both myself and my supp lines have been experiencing! No more free calls between myself and the supp lines, no more free sms, no more free video calls – in fact since I was on plan @#$#@$@, my supp lines’ per minute charges will be returned to the regular 15 cent / minute rate!

This is an OUTRAGE!

What is maxis really trying to do? Or was this an oversight? Either way, I hope this matter is looked into. I’m really really really disappointed in this as I doubt I’d be spending another @#$#@$# ringgit plus all the other charges to get the iPhone. If only the clause highlighted above was upheld the way it was written.

I look forward to your reply.

Thank you & Best regards,
Ben – a very disappointed Maxis customer

Honestly… I’m truly disgusted…

Woohoo! found another freebie! – Joiku

benjern — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:19:00 +0000

There are a few things in this world that really excites me – free and FREE and FREEEE and FREEEEE… Who doesn’t like free stuff? It was with this in mind where I scoured the web for gold and found Joiku.

For the uninitiated, don’t worry, it’s not an extraterrestrial with 12 ears and big bulging eyes, neither is it the name of superman’s pet alien. It’s a software. Something which you can install into your mobile phone and out comes a SUPER POWER – WiFi Access Point wherever you go!

How does it affect you? Well, if you’ve got (somehow in a magical manner) an unlimited data line where you can surf the internet all you want on your mobile phone – you’ll love this. Let me repeat, ONLY IF YOU HAVE AN UNLIMITED DATA LINE do you use this – otherwise you’ll be paying through your nose, ear hole and whatever hole you’ve got on your body.

If you don’t have unlimited data service, this service varies from telco to telco. Some offering the service from as low as 66 ringgit per month.

So if you’ve got it, GOOD ON YOU! Now, here’s how you can unleash the power of your mobile phone with Joiku.

Have the software installed and immediately the sofware will turn your mobile phone into a wireless access point (or you may call it wireless modem) where you can connect to and surf from whatever wireless device you may have! May it be a notebook, a PDA, an iPod touch… from WHEREVER – so long as you’ve got cellular coverage and mobile juice (battery life).

The possibilities are literally endless… need to find an access point? No worries, take out your phone, start Joiku and VOILA!

Okay, here’s the part where I say “with every free thing comes a price” – an oxymoron nonetheless… what does this mean to you? Sure, you can use Joiku for free – infact for an unlimited number of times with unlimited surfing time… so what’s the catch? You can’t use Joiku to surf to secure websites – or in layman terms sites with “https” – in front of the URL. That means no Gmail, no FaceBook, no banking sites… NADA… but of course there’s still the other 90% of the internet which does not use “https” – one of which is flyfm.com.my.

Here’s where Joiku releases a premium version of the product where you’ve got to pay around 15 EUROS (after a massive discount on their site). At that one time nominal price, you unleash the MAXIMUM potential of Joiku – surf at high speeds, no more restrictions – any website, anytime, anywhere… COMPLETE mobility…

Honestly, I think it’s a steal. It’s usual price is around 25 EUROS. Check it out and download for free at www.joikushop.com!

As captain planet would say – “The power is YOURS”…

The ultimate NECK cracker…

benjern — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:05:00 +0000

It’s the middle of the week, YAY! – one of those things I really look forward to… just 2 more days and I’ll be able to sleep late at night… wake up the next morning at whatever time I like. So what’s new in my life apart from the fact that I just had 3 mosquito bites on the feet – I’m telling you – MOSQUITOES LOVE ME… and I HATE THEM… they’ve got this strange fascination with my feet. Trust me, I’ve tried very very very hard to make my feet as hairy as possible in hopes that someday mosquitoes will get lost in a jungle of hair… but obviously, it isn’t exactly working.

Instead of me boring you with some dumb mosquito talk – I took a video of this a couple of days back – I call it, the ultimate neck cracker…

The SUPER NECK CRACKING action @ Yahoo! Video

Now that’s what I call ‘relaxxxxiinnnggg’

I won CA$H from a COW!

benjern — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:20:00 +0000

Woohoo! Monday is here and YES, it’s strange to sound so chirpy and happy on a Monday when everyone’s pretty much dreading to go to work. Strange true but sometimes it’s all about getting yourself psyched up – considering the economy crisis, people being laid off etc. etc… it’s good to know that you’ve got a job to go to on Monday So SMILE!

Then of course, WORK is even GREATER to look forward to when you’ve got colleagues who would PAY YOU MONEY! Yes! That’s exactly what happened. It was last week, Nadia, Fabes & I were listening to some station promos that went on air and Nadia commented saying this particular voice sounded like her BUT it wasn’t her. I checked it – the person sounded just like her, Fabes checked it – sounded like her, Amrita our producer checked it – sounded like her – 3 people can’t be WRONG! So I went ahead and said it was her.

Nadia was ADAMANT about it… she claimed it was NOT her and it would be impossible for her to not recognize her own voice. So fine, Nadia suggested that we each paid her 50 bucks if we lost the bet – our point of verification – the audio engineer Shah who produced the promo. Fabes and Amrita chickened out but I stood my ground…

That same evening, I asked Shah and she verified it – IT WAS NADIA! Muahahahha… I was right… and there’s this UPLIFTING feeling that I’d be picking up 50 bucks from Nadia…

Friday came, Nadia denied the claims – stating that it was a completely different promo we were listening to… (she tried to wiggle out of it)… of course I didn’t let go – being kiasu – I pushed… and pushed and pushed… the COW…

This morning, the cow fell over after all that pushing and voila…

50 ringgit in my pocket baby!

The lesson to be learned is simple – if Ben says betul – itu adalah betul hehehhe… feels great!

It’s the weekend and I’ve got something FREE for you!

benjern — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:54:00 +0000

Okay, more seriously, it’s not about what I’m giving you but more of what Apple computer is giving you. Yes, the same brand that created the iPhone (that’s taking a gazillion years to arrive in Malaysia officially), iPod, Mac, Macbooks etc.

Yes, they are pretty – very pretty in fact and this time around, instead of making money from people like us, Apple’s giving us something for FREE! A BRAND SPANKING NEW BROWSER!

It’s a web browser I’m talking about – they are in for a tough competition. We’ve got Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, Opera and a range of other smaller niche targeted browsers ie. flock etc.

The thing is, the fruit is not new in this competition. The fruit didn’t name their browser Grape or Durian but Safari – which; if you’ve used a Mac or owned and iPod Touch / iPhone, you’d be familiar with this browser – YES, it’s BIG in the Mac community but not Windows users.

The last time the fruit decided to enter the Windows market by giving away a free Windows version of Safari 3.0 – it hardly took off. Some people tried, I tried and found it to be clunky, wasn’t fast (although it was claimed to be the fastest browser – which in my opinion is just CR*P)
, had loads of incompatibility issues and simply wasn’t as nice as Firefox or Internet Explorer or any other Windows browser for that matter. In one word – for me, Safari 3.0 for windows FLOPPED BIG TIME – I’d be more interested in it if it was durian pulp, at least I’d be able to savour it’s pungentness…

So anyway, enough of history – the fruit is trying again – not surprisingly called Safari 4.0 – it’s said to be MUCH MUCH MUCH better and features some 150 features which would BLOW YOUR MIND!

Here’s a sneak preview of what Safari 4 features…

I love the fact that they have ‘coverflow’ in the browser and the whole ‘cinematic’ view when looking at the top sites you frequent.

The fruit might have just gotten it right this time – but only time will tell as while I type this blog entry, I’m having the browser downloaded.

Since it’s the weekend and all, why don’t you go ahead and grab this FREE GIFT from the fruit? It’s FREE and there’s nothing to lose I’ll post my review of the browser sometime next week…

In the mean time, CHILL, download and have an AWESOME WEEKEND!

Back to work and I’ve got FLY GOSSIP!

benjern — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:30:00 +0000

It’s a MONDAY! Back to work and usually, I’d talk about myself – what happened over the weekend blah blah blah but TODAY, I shall speak of Nadia first… we all know that she went for this whole speed dating thing (while having a boyfriend tsk tsk tsk…) then of course she found one dude particularly interesting – his name is Hafiz Abdullah…

Shamelessly, Nadia and the rest of the team gave him a call and asked if he’d like to date her – the conversation went a little like this…

Fabes & I

So Hafiz! Which girl did you find particularly interesting on the day?

Hafiz

Well, I thought so and so was great… (with absolutely no mention of Nadia)

Fabes & I

So Hafiz, what do you think if Nadia took you out on a date…

Hafiz

… (SILENCE) … (MORE SILENCE) … then… mmmmm OKAYLAR… (in a VERY reluctant voice) – poor dude

So the day came and Nadia came in EARLY in the morning, ALL GUNGHO and prepared! She even brought her hair ironing thingy for last minute fixes to make sure she’s presentable for dear ole’ Hafiz… don’t believe me? I’ve got PROOF!

Honestly, those pictures are not what you’d like to see if you just woke up… almost like a monster coming out of a dark, deep, black cave…

In celebration for Nadia’s date with Hafiz, the entire team rejoiced…

Prem decided to make every chick look like they belong to him

The team decided to do a group huddle

Simon our engineer decided to sell lipstick to Jules

He got a bit upset when jules decided not to buy his second hand lipstick

What happened on the date? Well, I’m sure Nadia will blog about it. What exactly happened to me though this weekend? Loads… one of which included something like this…

Hahh… dessert… who doesn’t love tiramisu…

benjern — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:02:00 +0000

Wassup! Here’s an entry which is a little late. Meant to have it uploaded last Flyyyyyday but I was stacked with appointments after appointments, events after events that I hardly had anytime to do anything else…

Back to the entry. Here’s a moment I caught when Fabes, Nadia, Amrita (our producer) and I were having ‘tea’ – yes, we feel British sometimes ole’ chap. Then this occurred.

Fly FM Pagi Show – The laugh of death @ Yahoo! Video

If the video is taking sometime to load… please wait for it… trust me, it’s WORTH IT!

Have fun!

Ben

What in the world were Fabes & Nadia doing at my place?

benjern — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:55:00 +0000

The nightmare was looming near, for the first time ever, Nadia and Fabes will be landing their feet in my compound… WHAT IN THE WORLD would they do? Mess up the place? Stamp my dogs with vegetable colouring? Turn one of my male dogs into a female by decorating him with ribbons? Ransack my fridge? Peel EVERY orange they see? The possibilities are endless… so are the nightmares…

The day came… and here’s what they did…

Eat… and eat… and eat… it was simple… all I had to do was to get them away from the ‘evil doings’ they had in mind… by presenting FOOD… glorious food…

With the help of my mum, she gathered her troops, got some food, placed it on the table and the clock struck, they went through the entrance, started making a heck of a lot of noise then…. SILENCE – they were trapped by the very presence of food… MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

They came, they sat, they ate, Nadia left some droppings in the loo and then they left… PHEW… They would have never guessed, WHY they came in the first place.

Someone is watching YOU at ALL TIMES!

benjern — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:56:00 +0000

I’m not kidding… this is the latest, coolest (in my opinion) gadget / tool that is ABSOLUTELY FREE! It’s Google’s latest thingy called Google Latitude.

So what exactly is it? It’s an application which you can download into your mobile phone called Google Maps from m.google.com. Use your phone browser, download it, select “Google Latitude”, get yourself registered and list whoever you want to view your location at all times…

Essentially, what this does is, Google Latitude will use your built-in GPS or Cell Tower location services through your mobile network operator and pin point where you are and keep your friends updated at all times.

A phone with built-in GPS would be recommended though as it’s more accurate compared to just using Cell Tower location services which is available on every cellphone.

Why have it?

I’ve come up with a few uses…

To avoid certain people

If the dude or dudette is in the vicinity – TIME TO SPLIT!

To tell if someone’s lying that they are stuck in a jam when they are at home

You are just 5 minutes away are you? Google Latitude tells me you are HOME! LIAR!

To tell if the person you like is nearby

This is nearing the idea of ‘stalking’ but hey, it’s not wrong to do-yourself-up and look great at all times near people you like is it?

To see if someone is cheating on you

What? You are in the office? Looks like you’re in a FANCY RESTAURANT and ABC is with you!

To see if your dog / cat / pet elephant is REALLY lost or just playing hide-and-seek with you

This would be pretty easy, buy a SUPER small handphone, hang it around his neck and voila! You’ve got a 24 hour tracker!

As you can see, Google Latitude has LOADS of uses – IF used correctly…

Oh just one more thing, this Google Latitude thing might use up a bit of your data plan – you might want to have a data plan setup before you play with this thing…

Have fun!

Valentines & Strange sights… on the show…

benjern — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 05:37:00 +0000

It’s a FLYDAY!!! Yay… just a day from Valentines day… to me, Valentines is a massive celebration for me. Though Fabes, Nadia and Prem wil NEVER understand why I’m so sucked into this. Their justification is “Why celebrate love when you can celebrate it all year round”?

Why? It’s because you’d be exhausted and be ultimately broke if you celebrate Valentines EVERY FREAKING DAY of the year… plus, it’s always good to have something to look forward to for you and your other half… SEE? Justification done

Anyway, I’m excited coz I’ve set up something special which I might share in my next blog… today though, I’d like to show you some strange sights of the show…

Fabes, Nadia and I were in the studio when 2 ‘BIG HEADED’ (quite literally!) babies decided to show their face… it was a little freaky if you ask me..

After the show, Fabes and I dropped by our brand new – refurbished cafeteria… took a potrait shot of him… I think I’ve got some future in photography… hheehee If the picture is out, it’s the model…

Then Amrita our producer showed up in a style called – Ala… Arabia…

On our way out, guess what? We saw the ‘BIG HEADED’ babies again…!!! Since Nadia was terrified of them, we shoved her into their arms

Hah… victory

Have an awesome-tastic weekend and happy valentines!