Looming economy nightmare

I'm no expert in analyzing world economy, but with so many master class investors shorting the US economy, there is no reason why we are not caution about our own investment... after all, that's our hard-earned money

“We are probably going to have one of the worst recessions we've had since the Second World War. It's not a good scene.”
- Jim Rogers

For more story on interviewing Jim Rogers, please follow this link:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/30/news/international/okeefe_rogers.fortune/index.htm

Jim is not alone with the pessimistic view. At hindsight,Soros had expressed this a year or so ago
"Almost inevitably, they have got to overshoot because they can't stop (raising interest rates) until the economy shows signs of a slowdown. By the time it shows these signs it may be a little too late. I happen to be on the pessimistic side."
- George Soros

And this is latest statement from him again...
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/people,601,soros-predicts-worst-recession-for-50-years,13683

I can only hope my investment will not bleeding further, since 2008 start, i already lost ~2% my portfolio, this is really not something i can proud of... :p

Warranty backed overclocked PC

This is the collaboration between processor and PC industry, wonder how far we can push our limit further. Good to hear all these innovation though.

In the case of the Dell XPS 720 H2C, cooling is not a problem. The 720 is the first PC from a major OEM that includes a warranty-backed overclocked processor (currently an Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor overclocked to 3.67 GHz from stock 3.0 GHz). The key ingredient to support that supercharged processor is the 720’s unique two-stage cooling system.



Sauciuc worked directly with Dell engineers to design the cooling technology, called “H2Ceramic cooling.” The system actively cools the processor under high loads, and throttles down during less-demanding use or at idle. The result is a PC that CNET called “superquiet,” when compared with other boutique gaming systems, noting, “Dell's system stands out for its low noise level.”

“The H2C went from concept to consumer in only a year, which is unheard of in our industry,” says Sauciuc. “The engineer-to-engineer relationships we’ve forged make this kind of breakthrough happen.”

An inspring story about Jobstreet success

Jobstreet, which is a familiar name to those job-seekers in South-east asia, has caught attention from forbes.com today. I, myself, had found a few opportunity via this job sites in the past. I believe so do some of my readers who came from Malaysia, Singapore etc. I really amaze on those who can weathered all the problem and make history themselves.

Here goes the story:
http://www.forbes.com/global/2008/0128/014.html

Also, a side topic for those work in Cyberjaya, Malaysia... the travel allowance list goes as follow:

EDS = RM 0
HSBC = RM 0 (packaged separately)
Motorola = RM 150
Intel = RM 200 + (10% x base pay)
IBM = RM 300
Dell = RM 300
Satyam = RM 300
TRW = RM 400
Atos Origin = RM 400
DHL = RM 700
Shell = RM 1000 (travel & housing allowance combined, manager = RM1400)

marriage proposal from a girl

I found this entertained news from web... here it goes...
She, Ines Gomes Mont, is a reporter from Mexico' TV Azteca. On Super Bowl XLII Media Day Tuesday, this Latin beauty who was apparently in wedding gown proposed to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in front of 4,000 so-called media members at University of Phoenix Stadium. Needless to say, Tom Brady, who is currently dating super model Gisele Bundchen, rejected her marriage proposal (politely)

"I'm in love with you," Gomez Mont said. "Marry me, please."

"Wow, I've never had a proposal," Brady said.

"I'm the real Mrs. Brady," she yelled.

"I got a few Mrs. Brady's in my life," Brady said.

"Could I be one of them?" the woman said.

"I'm a one-woman man," Brady said. "But you are a beautiful and anyone who would have the opportunity to marry you would be a lucky man."

Later, an unabashed and stunningly unaware Ines Gomes Mont pulled the same stunt on the counterpart, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, whose fiancee is Abby McGrew, and was rejected also.

So, my guy buddy, if it ever happened to you, would you say "I do" or "I'm flattered, but..."?

What's new in Visual Studio 2008 ?

I had attended MS tech sneak preview two weeks ago, and i think they have make a few improvements:

* Multi-target - the new visual studio able to compile and build different version of .NET project
* CSS designer - i found this itself quite useful. No longer need to manually mess up with all CSS text files.
* Javascript real-time debugger - this time it's really fully integrated and you can breakpoint it just like your normal .NET code.
* WPF "Cider" designer, designer support for WPF/WinForms interop
* ClickOnce enhancements
* Syncronization Services for ADO.NET
* Client Application Services


Saurabh Pant has a deck covering these new features and more at http://blogs.msdn.com/saurabh/archive/2007/03/26/smart-client-whats-new-in-orcas.aspx.

China Snow Storm

Recent snow storm in China.
This is call Glaze or Freezing Rain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freezing_rain

過冷卻雨滴或毛毛雨滴在物體(溫度低於0℃)上凍結，就形成雨凇，俗稱「樹掛」，也叫冰淩、樹凝，形成雨凇的雨稱為凍雨。雨凇還號稱「桐油凝」，極不易剷除，其破壞性極強。

Not sure is this the byproduct as depicted in An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Tech Update

Fujitsu has introduced its suite of 3.5G-enabled mobile companions.Fujitsu has made high speed connectivity available in seven different stylish models, spanning across display sizes of 5.6” to 14.1” wide. Consumers can choose from Fujitsu’s ultra mobile PCs, tablet-convertible notebooks, ultra-portable as well as thin-and-light series.

p/s: 3.5G, aka High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is a 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.4 Mbit/s. Further speed increases are planned for the near future. The networks are then to be upgraded to Evolved HSPA, which provides speeds of 42 Mbit/s downlink in its first release.

Cannon Fodder

憑甚麼你認為你不會成為炮灰呢?
what make you thing you will not become the cannon fodder?

even Issac Newton, the famous physicist, lost some of his money due to speculation in The South Sea Company stock in the 1720s. Issac Newton lost over 20,000 pounds (£1.68 million in today's money) of his fortune. As a result of this crisis, he stated "I can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people".

Genting enter 7.20 - 29, Jan.

關於死亡 about death

as i grow older, i learn more about it... when i still kid and first realize by this "phenomenon", i am frightened about where people will go after they died. But in other way, it appears very remote from my life, it just seems so unreal.

but after i lost a few relatives and one my best fren last year. I know it for real, and the death itself, it carry no feeling, it just like the seasons, when autumn come, the leaf will wither, if it knows of anything, it just know thats its task, and it execute it with no mercy, no evil, no compassionate, no impartiality, no more and no less.

成功 success

On sport - He achieved the peak, he is enjoying what he doing now, and most of all, he is fun... i feel this defines success.

For companies, the 2008 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For is released.

Take note that, top paying company however can be found here.

Jeju Island

while i housekeeping my photo, i accidentally spot this one, i am glad to visited this place before. The place give me a sense of tranquility. Smile

reckless move

resorts and maybulk on jan 21... this is reckless. must have remember this lesson.

storage ... favoritism

i had bot one portable disk at RM 280 with 160 GB, i still remember not long ago, couple of years back, a 256 MB pendrive cost me about RM100. Just a glimpse on the figure, you may realize how fast the technology had advanced.

talking about office favoritism, is it real or perceived? for me, i think that's inevitable. Of coz, your own competency do really make a difference, but eventually your future still lies at the hand of the one who matters. There is no exception in Intel and everywhere else.

about google

I can only take the rumors that goggle will setup office in malaysia with a pinch of salts.
Fortune recently rank goggle as the top company to work for, but that doesn't make it the top-paying company. I review the list and found most best pay companies are lawyer firm. may be i have taken up the wrong profession. Tongue out

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0801/gallery.bestcos_toppay.fortune/