2008 Olymipc Day Run...

Before the race...
One for the album...
pingat tali rafia was awarded half way through the race..hehehe

We ran for 7km yesterday. Today, my whole body is aching! It's painful for me to move around. At times I had to practically drag my feet to walk. But it's ok, I won't blame myself for doing this. It's all part of the therapy. I needed to sweat my stress away!

For about an hour, I only had one thing in mind. To complete the race. Nothing else matters. It's just me and the road. It's one occasion where I get to stay focus and be connected with my whole body. My mind was all about crossing the finishing line that I let my body parts work independently. As if functioning with their own brain! I practically said to my legs, "you know what to do, just do your job, we all have work to do here" hahaha..

We are what we eat

I did my weekly groceries shopping last Saturday at Tesco. I've never seen that place so packed with shoppers like this before. It was 10am but I had to look hard for a parking space. I had to wait to get the trolley as well. The place was just crowded.

I noticed something really different about customers behaviour that day. Everyone was going after the really cheap items. At one isle, I overheard a conversation between a mother and her small daughter. They were looking for the cheapest instant noodle available on the shelves. Hmm...to me Maggi is already cheap, what is cheaper than Maggi?

What a routine....and it's getting more expensive

It never felt so hard to make a decision to buy a pack of 10kg rice. I move up and down the same isle looking for the best bargain. I used to spent about Rm30 per 10kg of Beras Wangi but today they cost me closed to RM50! Price of other essential items will slowly but surely rise. It's a matter of time.

I kept counting my blessings. I'm thankful that I can still manage and absorb this rising cost of living. I said to my self, no matter what happens I will get the best for my kids. I will not compromise on their health, education or safety. I'm prepared to sacrifice and change my lifestyle.

It's hard to imagine what will happen to our country in the next 15 to 20 years. It's going to be challenging. It's going to be super competitive. We need people with super capabilities to manage the country. We need strong and healthy citizens to support and develop the country. But with lower purchasing power today, how can we afford to build future 'hyper citizens'?

There is a need to educate people about nutritional diet. Especially for children. With rising price of essential goods, citizens needs to be empowered with knowledge on what to consume to ensure maximum nutrient intake at minimum costs. We need to be smarter and wiser now. So it's not simply about stocking up kitchen cabinets while saving some money, more importantly, it's about providing our body with a balanced diet.

Knowing what to eat is one thing. Knowing about what you eat is another. With today's IT and network infrastructure, we should be able to know more about what we eat. Nutrietional facts are just the surface information. We should be able to 'drill' down deeper to know other facts like where it's been produced, facts about livestock breed and age of animals. If this is possible, many things would not be homogeneous anymore. It shifts our focus from economies of scale to economies of abundance. It's hyper differentiation at its best.

Many sheep...with RFID technology, we can track, store and distribute data on food sources

It's a bit in the future but with hyper differentiation, I might not need to go to Tesco and shop. They need a bigger retail space to display and store their almost unlimited type of stocks. The best is to display and sell on the internet. Cyber retailing is not limited by shelves space which I think is very good. At least I dont need to go out to buy grocerries and I get to spend more time at home. Lesser carbon mission as well. The 'smart' fridge will stock up on its own, all done via the internet!

I want to do my Masters....

I've been looking around, browsed the internet and attended open days. Last weekend I went to OUM and inquired about their Master's programme.

"Encik submit dulu application form, nanti kita bagitau when we can start the course". I kept quite.

"Maybe January we will conduct the classes" she continued with a very reluctant voice.

Then I asked her "Previous intake ramai tak student for this course?".."Emmm..ada laa"

Not very convincing to me... And the search continues.....

Gunung Tahan...June 1992

Managed to scan some of the photos taken during our expedition to Mount Tahan. It was way back in 92 when me and my school friends led by Ustaz Ahmad embarked on this most memorable trip. Every time the old gang meet up especially with Ustaz, we never failed to talk about it.

At Kuala Tahan...day 1...

We hiked for 3 nights to reach the summit from Kuala Tahan and I tell you, I don't think I'll ever experience this again. Not that I regretted, but the trip was so challenging and fulfilling. We survived on Nasi Kepal (Rice cooked with salt, wrapped in plastic) for lunch and maggi for dinner. I remember one time when me and Mafeitz at Padang Camp ate raw chillis and onions! We were starving! We said to each other.."Ehhh sedap eehh??" hahahahaah. For most part of the journey, we had to ration our food because we underestimated the amount of food to carry. But we hiked along and I'm glad we survived.

We did it! Just by eating Nasi Kepal! One of us wears a shin guard!

Other climbers were equipped with portable stove but we had to make our own fire to cook. Apart from that, we had to cramped ourselves to sleep in the tent. To us, a two men tent is actually for four at least!

Very cold this place...

I don't know when I will climb Mount Tahan again. It would be interesting to have the same gang hiking up again, for nostalgia sake. This time around, rest assured that we would be luxuriously prepared! Kita bawak steak kepal! hahaha

Scottish Highlands...

Landscape photography is one of my favourite interest. The opportunity to visit Scotland is definitely not to be missed, especially to an outdoor or photography enthusiast. When we were studying in Edinburgh, we got the chance to travel north, to the Isle Of Skye. I couldn't believe my eyes as the highlands were just simply breathtaking. We didn't really mind the unpredictable and cold Scottish weather. I just love it.

The fact that we studied geography during our foundation programme, it made my understanding and appreciation towards the British isle geological formation even better. On many semester holidays to the Highlands, I explained to other fellow Malaysians on how the Scottish landscape was shaped and created from the glaciation process.

I want to visit this place again one day. How can you stand looking at these pictures. I feel like packing my bags already.....

"Next stop...TTDI..."

It won't be long until we hear this announcement on the LRT. Great news today as the new Kota Damansara-Cheras LRT line is set to be in operation by 2012. I imagine how I would be able to commute to my office in Bangsar. I don't know where this station would be located in TTDI, but I think the most suitable area would be somewhere close to Aminuddin Baki area. Hahaha. It would be great if we, the residences could have some say on this (Mafeitz, you see how this 'tv' project can play a role here, national news-local perspectives!).

Hopefully, this new LRT line will help alleviate traffic congestion surrounding the One-Utama area. As the train runs on electricity, and knowing that it will run through the most densely populated area in Klang Valley, substantial reduction in carbon emission from private transportation can be expected.

By 2012 they say...we shall wait and see...

I don't know whether the authority realise this or not but we could actually trade the carbon savings from this project in the carbon exchange. Estimate how many vehicles we expect to be off the road and measure the tonnage of carbon emission savings per year. We can sell carbon credits to heavily industrialised countries who would want to offset their carbon surplus.

If the government wants to go 'green', which I think would be very popular in the wake of global oil price increase, they can be actively involve in carbon trading. Tie every development project that has an impact in carbon reduction and start to measure the savings. If we are daring enough, we can extend this model to every citizens of Malaysia, not just to the public and corporate sectors. Imagine if each one of us has a Carbon Account that can later be converted into money. The lesser the consumption of carbon emitting energy, the more carbon credit can be converted into money.

With carbon trading, money does grow on trees!

Today, most government's conservation model is based more on penalties by way of reducing subsidies. The lower income group suffers and it's politically unpopular. I say it is time that we develop a reward system. A reward system that encourages people to reduce carbon emissions. A system that links citizens account to the state level account. Accumulated Carbon credits traded by the government in the global exchange can be distributed back to the citizens. So the more credits that you accumulate, more rewards you can get from the government.

How on earth are we going to implement this model when simple solution like giving subsidies to the right group of people is already difficult. But this is a reward system you see. Not to penalise. It works just like the tax system, but only this time the citizens can redeem their carbon credits for money. To accumulate credits, keep receipts from usage of public transportation or purchases of recycled items or any items that conserve energy, plant more trees and don't own vehicle that uses petrol. These are just examples. It's a sweetener for everyone so support and ideas will come in drove on how best to implement this model.

The time is right because the oil price is not going to go down. I foresee that the carbon exchange would one day be as important as the stock exchange. It's a bold measure but if it comes true, our economy can be shaped and driven by using renewable resources. So wherever our country's next stop is in managing our energy needs, I hope it includes carbon trading.

I Slept The Whole Day....

Yesterday I was like recovering from a jet lagged. Since Friday, we have been busy with Linda's nikah and bersanding ceremony which ended late Saturday. So on Sunday, I was totally flat. I slept the whole day. When I woke up in the evening, I didn't know what day it was! Perghhh..penat gile! Everybody was glad that the ceremony is finally over... I will blog about the wedding later..Oh yess.. After much consideration, I decided to sing a song that night! hahahaha..what an experience! I will post on youtube later!

Mad Rush For 1.92....Where's the solution?

Heard the news about the petrol price hike today. It is official. Tomorrow, 5th Of June 2008, we would be paying 78 sen more per litre of petrol. Like any other car owner in the country, I rushed to the nearest petrol station to fill up the tank. My last 1.92. I'm glad that I did this early because at around 6pm today, traffic at petrol stations were really congested.

the scene at Mobil station taman tun...

My next full tank will cost me about RM47 more. Multiply that by 5, that's RM234 more a month. Times that by 12 months, that's like RM2,808 a year. The cash rebate that I will be given later is RM625 a year. My question is, what about the ripple effects? Wouldn't it result in increase in other prices of goods and services too??

So how to do? Definitely have to change lifestyle. Cycling to work suddenly doesn't sound so ridiculous does it? Personally, I say let the petrol price increase. Let it sky rocket. It is the only way that we can wean ourselves from this addiction. The addiction to oil. Dr Jude said that despite the fact that we are in the 21st century, we are still dependent on stone age technology. He's referring to how our ancient ancestors discovered fire through striking stones and generate spark. Today we use spark plug to ignite gasoline in our engines. We have tremendous advancement in engine development but we still use stone age combustion technology, hence our addiction to fossil fuel.

I simply don't understand why there is little effort in developing and commercialising alternative and sustainable source of energy. Is it too costly? That's what I always heard. It could be costly, but our dependence on fossil fuel has cost us even dearly. You have to take into account carbon emission/global warming effects, political and social economic imbalances and the worst is the cost of human life from the so called war collateral damages. It is far more costly than the cost of developing and supplying alternative energy sources.

I don't deny the role of oil in developing the world economy. In fact, the World War II was won by the Allies simply because they have better control on oil supply to power their war machines. That's why the German's submarine U-Boat targeted merchant ships carrying supplies. The alliance depended on the Americans for oil and it was the major factor why they won the world war. Just to highlight the value of oil in the past.

Today however, it's a different story. We depended far too long on fossil fuel. It's hard to understand why there is no proper transition plan from using oil to other alternatives. I guess people always go where the money is isn't it? Where there is demand, there will be supply. And when there's lack of supply to meet demand, price will go up. Bring in the speculators into the equation, you get havoc. Speculators make money out of people's misery. I say we stop the demand.

With the prevailing condition, people will start to do things differently. They will start to accept things which is beyond their norms or culture. I would really want to push for this Telecommuting concept. It's a concept to encourage people to work from home. With broadband, we only need to go out to work only when it is necessary. Other than that, we can have internal meetings or discussions via web conference. Files and documents can be shared through secured network from the comfort of our home. Lesser travelling means reduction in business operations costs as well as improving our environment through the reduction of carbon footprint. Workers can spend more time at home and be closer to their family too.

working from home...saves money, time and improve productivity

Looking at our current situation today, Telecommuting is an important and timely value proposition that Broadband can give. I believe that the government should take the leadership. Act as an example and the others will follow. If the government succeeded in implementing this concept, they can also trade carbon savings in the Carbon Credit Exchange under the Kyoto Protocol. My bos Dr Jude believes in this strongly and I agree with him.

give telecommuting the green light....

Let the price increase. It's a bitter pill to swallow but who says curing addiction would be easy? Malaysians addiction is worst because it is being subsidised by our generous government. So the pill is not only bitter, but could be acidic to some. We have been subsidised for too long. We have to adapt. This is a stick approach and I'm taking it positively. I'm sacrificing for my son and my grandson's future. I'm doing my part. Come to think of it, now is the chance for Proton to come out with 'Green' cars. As a company that flies the national flag, they can work with the government to make this 'green' car project a reality. Be the first country in the world that has an active engagement between the public and private sector to commercialise fossil fuel independent cars. Perhaps using palm oil. It's not so hard isn't it? What's stopping them? Puzzling....

To China..On A Bicycle?

I stumbled upon this news today, about a senior citizen's attempt to cycle for 9,000km to China from KL. He wanted to make it in time for the Beijing Olympics! You can read about his journey which he updates on his blog.

Now I don't know whether this news was just a coincidence or not, but it came after Mafeitz wrote something about our childhood. About us being adventurous, pushing ourselves to the limit. Today, I can hardly believe that we have actually cycled to Subang Parade from Tmn Tun! We were daring, considering that we were just in our early teens. I can't wait to tell this story to my kids (when they are 13). I don't think they will believe it either. There was no digital camera at that time. If not, I would have taken plenty of pictures! All that memory is locked up in our heads.

Now this guy, a 66 years old veteran is about to face the toughest challenge in his life. At his age, he's going to travel to China and back on his bicycle for 80 days.

"Age should never be a factor, as long as you have the right kind of spirit and passion, you should pursue your dreams. I want the younger generation to be inspired by this" said Adnan.

Yes sir I'm inspired! But to me, age IS a factor. A factor that would push you even further. We havent got much time left isnt it? As far as the body can take it, just push it. So to my friends, how about it? Another trip on the bicycle perhaps? Need to go beyond subang parade or titiwangsa for that matter! Should we wait until we retire??

Atuk Chik On Facebook!!

Hahaha...I'm speechless! My grandmother is on Facebook! Atuk, welcome aboard!!

This is wonderful. Perhaps now I'm feeling what my grandchildren will feel in the future. Being able to get in touch with your grandparent in the Cyberworld is something that we never thought of before. I don't think this will give you the excuse to visit them less. On the contrary, it made me missed her even more! Based on her Facebook status, she's currently in Kota Damansara at my auntie's place. Would love to see her before she goes back to Kluang.

Broadband has a very important application went it comes to health care especially to the elderly. Remote monitoring, sensing and diagnostic can provide great benefits to clinical practises. With Bluetooth and Wifi coverages, my grandmother's health condition can be monitored from a distance. Any abnormality in her body temperature and heart rate, can be feedback and we can attend to her conditions immediately. Imagine if we can receive SMS or email telling us about our loved ones condition? "Your Atuk's body temperature today is...NORMAL..Heart rate NORMAL..". Simple information like this can make you smile the whole day.

Cucu : "Atuk, Atuk demam ke?Saya dapat SMS kata Suhu Atuk tinggi ni?"

Atuk: "Tak ada lah..Atuk kat dapur ni..tengak kacau(masak) HARISA!"...

Cucu: "Ooooooooooohhhh"

Visit By PT Telkom...

Group photo, Menara TMentrance - (picture taken by Bukhari)

About two weeks ago, we had visitors from PT Telkom, Indonesia. PT Telkom is the incumbent operator and currently the biggest, based on number of subscribers (close to 50 million subs). They came here to look at how TM manages their fixed line businesses in the face of stiff competition from other operators. People who came were VPs led by Pak Nyoman, Telkom's Consumer Director . For two days, we met people from Costing, Pricing, Product House and Billing learning and exchanging ideas. We were honoured went we get to meet Dato' Zam who shared TM's success stories. He provided insights, the do's and the dont's in turning around fixed line business.

I must say that I'm very impressed with TM's hospitality. The guests were overwhelmed not just because TM was a good host, but they were very generous in sharing their experiences. In many ways, I think both sides benefited from this. I would like to thank my staff from Telsoft, Bukhari and Hafiz for coordinating this whole visit. Very well organised. Great job guys!

Telsoft's office..(picture taken by Hafiz)

"Handphones more dangerous than smoking"

This was reported in The Star website today. He should expand his research on other wireless devices namely Bluetooth, WiFi, Wimax, etc.. They could be our No.1 killer disease one day! Please use your fixed line whenever possible.

Wednesday May 28, 2008 MYT 4:52:32 PM
CAP: Handphones more dangerous than smoking
By ANN TAN

GEORGE TOWN: Handphones can be more damaging to health than smoking, the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) said.

CAP president SM Mohamed Idris said research by award-winning neurosurgeon Professor Dr Vini Gautam Khurana from the United States had indicated that using mobile phones for more than 10 years could double the risk of brain cancer.

Prof Khurana, who has received 14 awards over the past 16 years and has published more than three dozen scientific papers, had conducted a 15-month "critical review" of the link between mobile phones and malignant brain tumours.

The subject in the study were heavy mobile phone users who had relied on handphones for at least 10 years. "Previous studies which found no evidence of a link between mobile use and an increased risk of cancer often did not include enough long-term mobile phone users in their study samples," Mohamed Idris said.

Prof Khurana found that cancer takes at least a decade to develop."The incidence of malignant brain tumours and associated death rate will be observed to rise globally within a decade from now, by which time it may be far too late to intervene medically," Prof Khurana said in his report.

Prof Khurana said smoking kills some five million people worldwide each year, but three billion people now use mobile phones worldwide and the number is growing daily.

Mohamed Idris said children who used mobile phones were at greater risk because they were more susceptible to the radiation than adults.

"Parents should not allow their children to use mobile phones and consumers should use the speakerphone function, so that the phone is held more than 20cm away from the head. Use landlines whenever possible," he said.

CAP also urged the Government to take appropriate measures to address the fact that mobile phones could represent a public health time bomb.

"Government should use the mass media and run campaigns to educate and warn the public of the dangers of radiation exposure from mobile phones," Mohamed Idris said.

Prof Khurana has posted the results of his findings on www.brain-surgery.us and his research paper is currently being peer-reviewed for publication in a scientific journal.

A Conversation...

I had this cool conversation with Raidi last weekend. I just popped this question for him:

Abah: Raidi, bila Raidi nak sunat?

Raidi: December nanti boleh tak?

I kept quiet. More like shocked. I honestly expect Raidi not to answer this question at all. Maybe he doesn't know what's waiting for him?? If he really understands what he's saying, then he answered the question like a man. We'll see how it goes this December!

"I'd rather have a root canal"....

"What's your excuse not to do your scaling every six months?"...

"How old you are now? Your last visit to my clinic was when you're 15!"...

"Now you know why you need to do scaling every 6 months"...

I just kept silence as the dentist repeatedly made those points to me today. I was at his clinic this afternoon and as you might guessed already, it wasn't a scheduled visit. I've been having this toothache for the past couple of days and I just couldn't bare the pain any longer. It hurts and I couldn't sleep at night, concentrate on my work and I can't chew my food well. After taking some pain killers, I went to see this dentist in Tmn Tun. I randomly chose a clinic and to my surprise, I had my name registered there before! More than 15 years ago! Hahaha... Talk about fate...

"You have to decide now, either do a root canal or a tooth extraction" the dentist said, obviously referring to this tooth decay that I have. I asked him further about the options and I decided to go for root canal treatment. He proceeded with the 1st treatment, drilling and filling the unhealthy tooth. It wasn't really painful and I thought the pills that I took earlier at the office helped to reduce the pain further. I have to come back for 2 more follow up visits before the dentist can crown the treated tooth.

An apple a day, keeps dentists away..

I don't know which one is more painful. To suffer from root canal or to know the estimated cost for this therapy? I'd rather suffer from root canal! Haiyaaaa...It cost me a bomb! I guess that's the price I have to pay for not visiting the dentist regularly. Now I'm contemplating whether I should crown all my teeth. It is so expensive! I need to do more research on this. Maybe go to India where the cost could be 10 times lower than Malaysia..hehehe

Hyperconnectivity = Hypertension

I've been blogging about how the world today is so connected in the cyber world. To many, hyperconnectivity brings about phenomenal advancement in product innovation. They call this hyperdifferentiation. Some even believe that it could impact civilisation like how the industrial revolution was sparked by the discovery of steam and petrol engine.

The Netizens, an always 'on' society, continuously sifting through the cyber world, creating, editing and exchanging information transcending race and cultures. Being informed, we allow ourselves to evolve in a more efficient way. We have been innovating before but the speed that we are doing it today is mind boggling. We're transforming society to be collaborators as we've witnessed how state and corporate level policies are being influenced by the people's vote. Democracy are at it's best when decisions are made bottom up.

The world at light speed. Can our mind and body cope with this?

Add mobility with connectivity, you get information exchange in a ubiquitous way. It's a powerful combination. Imagine a world that can be updated at the same time. It gives new and profound meaning to the cause and effect equation. Are we in a brink of a perfect economy? An economy that lives on perfect information exchange?

There's 2 sides of the coin for hyperconnectivity. One side says that it enables K-Economy. However, government's and corporate bodies are increasingly worried about cyber security. The threat is real as it can cripple the economy. But my worry is more on social security. We are witnessing today how the news on oil and food crisis are affecting the world. I believe that this threat could somehow be blown out of proportion. Interested parties could manipulate the situation by creating uncertainties in the market place. With hyperconnectivity, these negative sentiments can infiltrate the mindset of people in a much more effective way. Any sort of crisis can ring alarm bells in people's mind. It heightens anxiety and it could stress up the market. It's a dangerous and most effective propaganda tool.

Today's effort are concentrated more on reducing cyber threat rather than content censorship. People say that there should be freedom of expression in the cyber community which I totally agree. What I don't agree is when people use it for their own gain by manipulating and exploiting others. Freedom of expression is good, but it is those who does this irresponsibly that should be controlled. We need a system or a framework that authenticate contents. Just like how job placement services requires job seekers to authenticate their resume before being posted on the Internet.

How can we achieve this? Certainly, it requires strong political and corporate leadership. Companies like Google and Yahoo should show more responsibility and sharpen their effort on content authentication. What we need is someone or some framework to help net community to choose between fact or fiction materials. Web space like Wikipedia is a great source of information and knowledge as contents are continuously being updated and edited by readers themselves. But the fact is, they are not being authenticated by the correct authorities. I think Wiki should be more honest and start to provide authentication services for their content.

Anytime, anywhere communication....the promise of a digital world..

Uncertainty and anxiety leads to greater risk. And there's a high price to pay for this risk. Hyperconnectivity will force the world to work in unison. The problem is, countries are at their different wealth and social maturity level. It is in my opinion that poor countries will have no time or opportunity to learn from the developed economy as the world is already acting as one. They can never catch up and I'm afraid that they will always be under developed. The rich becomes richer and the poor becomes poorer. Hyperconnectivity will reveal capitalism's ugly face.

I have no doubt on the benefits of the true connected world. I just hope that in our quest to achieve these outcome, there must be mechanisms for check and balance. Connectivity will bring about new business models in the commercial world. Social and political engagement will be taken to a new level too. Thus, we need to continuously review our capability in managing these changes. Not just looking at the technology, but every other aspects the technology impacts on; financial, legislation and especially our social fabric. If we are honest in our quest, we can evolve human race to the next civilisation plateau or move up the value chain in a sustainable way.

Champions Of Europe...Again!

TDM Quits UMNO...

What a shocker! For someone who has been with the party for a long time, his decision to quit UMNO took everyone in the country by surprise! Perhaps he wanted to tell the whole world too. His announcement was made concurrently with the 2008 WCIT in KL today. Delegates from 88 countries meet up in the capital city for what is known as the Olympics for IT. Refer to Tun's blog for his unofficial announcement: http://www.chedet.com/2008/05/pengumuman-keluar-dari-umno.html

Cherating Lagi??

I didn't know what got into me last weekend when I took the kids for a trip to Cherating, again. I woke up on Sunday and I simply decided that I wanted to go to Kuantan. After picking up Raidi from his tuition in the afternoon, myself, Raidi and Zidani headed straight to the east coast leaving behind Ayu. She was busy preparing for her sister's wedding. There we were again, on a very familiar trip, just the three of us. The kids were excited and they didn't really mind the long trip as they slept almost the whole journey. We arrived at Cherating after 2 1/2 hours and checked-in into this little resort. As expected, we had the whole resort to ourselves yet again!

We went to the beach and the kids love playing with the sand. At last we flew the kite that Raidi bought long time ago. He bought it just in case we hit the beach again someday. After the beach, we jumped into the swimming pool. For this trip, I forced Zidani to join us in the pool. He usually sit by the side as he's quite afraid of the water. Not this time I told him. So I literally dragged him into the pool and he enjoyed it in the end.

At 5pm the same day, we head back to KL. So that's 5 hours of driving in a Mazda 6 (Zoom-Zoom factor), about 2 hours of play time with the kids in an empty resort (quality time) and we suffered for couple of days from sunburn (no sacrifice no victory!). But the satisfying smile on our faces? Priceless...Worth it...

Wedding Singer???

On the 6th of June, my sister in-law Linda will be getting married. Her dinner reception will be held at the Dewan Komuniti TTDI. Preparations are under way and everyone are busy doing their part. On that day, I have the task to put up road signage leading to the hall. I was given another task though and I'm still thinking about it.

Linda and Ayu requested me to sing a song in front of all the wedding guest. Me? Singing in a formal wedding reception? Have they gone mad? Are they willing to take the risk that I'm going to spoil the function? Ayu told me that the MC will keep on calling my name until I take the microphone and sing. They said they want 'Anuar Zain' to make an appearance that night! hahahah..tolong laahh..eee tak kuasa. You are talking about a wedding here, not a KTV session! Haaiiyaa..But could it be an interesting experience to Blog about later?? HHmm...I have to think first...gelabah aahh

No Astro?? No Problem...Youtube Kan Ada...

It's been more than a month for us living without watching Astro. The boys have been watching cartoon on DVD alternating with the mother. Who says we can't live without Astro? I myself finding it quite an experience spending more time watching contents from the Internet. And that explains why I'm actively blogging again!!!

I can't wait until this country has another broadcaster besides Astro. Like any other monopoly companies, profiteering is their one and only ambition. Often, customers are forced to accept whatever level of service provided as there's no other alternatives to choose. True that most of the content already belongs to Atsro, to me, this is not an issue. Content is the important pulling factor, but other differentiating strategies can be deployed to be competitive. I wish that movies, sitcoms or programmes could be on-demand so that I can watch whatever I want and whenever I want. I don't want Astro to control my daily schedule but instead, I want to have control on the programmes. We, the customers determine what and when we want to see from TV. The technology to do this is already here and I think TM is conducting some trials with some of their customers in Penang. With IPTV (an IP based TV platform), the experience of watching TV would be more interactive and personalised.

The Americans seems to have everything in abundance, including time to watch TV....

Like any other industry in Malaysia, the government's role is to ensure that the long term interest of the end users are met. Usually, to do this, government tends to break down monopolies to create competition with the intention of improving quality of service and keeping prices low (but not necessarily affordable). In Malaysia, when the government liberalised the telecommunication industry way back in mid 90's, we saw how other players came into the picture and compete for customers. We Malaysian benefited substantially. Although I do have some reservation in this, but in general, today we are constantly being offered and bombarded with attractive call prices and packages. However, for too long, we are being choked with basic voice and sms offers.

My question is, how can the government effectively create the same competitive market in the satellite broadcasting industry. Some might argue that the market is too small for other players to co-exist and the infrastructure cost would be astronomical for the new entrant. Well, there's one obvious solution for this barrier of entry. Tell Astro to open up their network and let other players leased their capacities. New entrants wouldn't have to invest huge money for infrastructure but instead leased unused capacities from Astro. As for content, I think there's enough out there to feed viewers appetite. Malaysia has the most diverse viewing profile compared to other countries. Multi ethnicity and religious background brings about different content viewing preferences.

There's a need for content to be more specialise and specific to meet different market segment requirements. The future of media business is to sell more of less. Today, if I want to watch big movie hits, I've got plenty of options to do so including Astro. But if I want to watch something very specialise and specific like how to play badminton like a pro, I would go to youtube. Youtube is an example of how future of business should be. Selling more of less. Even when there's only a single viewer, the video is still on the cyber-shelf to be viewed.

Are we ready for triple play services?

I'm blogging about this tonight because I think we seriously need a competitor for Astro. The fact that I can't choose any other satellite broadcaster, democratically, it's like denying my rights to 'vote'. To beat a monopoly, the new entrants would require assistance from the government. The government must provide market and regulatory mechanism that creates a level playing field for the broadcasters. However, it is crucial that they only do this with the customer's interest in mind. I hope that the convergence between TV and IP services would happen fast enough to break the dominance of satellite broadcasting in Malaysia. Just Imagine when the current Astro decoder is replaced with your computer's CPU as your lifestyle changing technology. The value it can create for the business community is immense as customer's interaction and engagement would be taken to a new level.

Until the arrival of this new media, I need to find my Astro card. We still haven't found it. If I call Astro for a new replacement card, I'll be charged for it for sure. But so far without Astro, no problem for me at least. I'll just stick to youtube while the kids are happy watching Transformers movies and cartoon repeatedly. We have many cartoon version of Transformers collection by the way. Gosshh..I'm surprised how this missing card inspired me to blog!!