freebies... yay!!!

the recent weekend was filled with fairs of all kinds. my fave of course was the ict fiesta organized by the sabah computer society with support from skmm and despite the smaller crowd flocking the fair unlike pikom's pc fair, there was a good selection of products and services to browse through.

however, i must say that this time round, the main focus was on laptops. practically all stores were heavily promoting laptops of all brands (except macs) and luring in customers with their freebies. most of the stores were offering either or freebie packages, some enticing customers with 10-12 free stuff.

my baby brother was at the time looking to get a new laptop since his previous one totally died on us all and was beyond repair, so this was a perfect opportunity to scout around and get some extra add ons to our purchase. lucky us, on day 3 of the fair, as soon as we entered the hall, we were immediately attracted to a sign that was practically calling out to us "Free 25 Items. Limited. 1st Come 1st Serve." We'd actually already decided to go for another store (from our trip to the fair the day before) that was offering 12 free goodies. But 25?!?! We must've been out of our minds to let that go. The fact that we were more familiar with this shop compared to the other one we'd initially thought of buying from made the decision all the more easier. after all, the laptop was the same price regardless which store we chose. hehe.


after taking the above photo, i realized we were missing one item. i can't even recall what it was. haha.

1. keyboard protector
2. LG headphone with mic
3. LCD screen protector
4. laptop skin (most useless of the lot)
5. sensonic usb speakers
6. notebook cooler pad
7. computer dust sheet
8. kodak a4 photo paper (20pcs)
9. bluetooth handsfree
10. LCD cleaning kit
11. mousepad
12. game pad
13. fm modulator (w/o remote)
14. usb mouse
15. earphone
16. eScan antivirus (never heard of it - the laptop came with McAfee)
17. 4 port usb hub
18. cd sleeves
19. dvd-r (2pcs)
20. camera case
21. notebook w/ pens (2x)
22. fossil name card holder (2x)
23. t-shirt
24. micro sd card reader (not in picture)
25. RM5 McDonald's voucher (not in picture)

this offer was limited to the first 20 customers to purchase any one of their laptops on the day. we were fortunate enough to be the last few. the laptop came with a nice backpack too!

then there was the heart of borneo exhibition at 1borneo set up by the sabah forestry department at the south atrium. too bad they'd close by the time we got there (which was about 7pm) but since it wasn't a particularly big exhibition, we managed to check it out from the perimeter and my baby bro had actually wanted to jump inside to have a look. haha. dropped by the m.a.c. counter while we were there. love checking out their latest makeup looks especially since it was halloween. haha. this year's theme was chucky. baby bro was sooo excited and couldn't resist the offer to draw a scar on his face. he left a happy camper. lol!!! the halloween makeup continued back home. so i rubbed off the scar from m.a.c. and started experimenting with my makeup collection to come up with a zombie-ish look as requested by the little boy. the results were awesome!!

i had to forego my blogger gathering cum halloween party that night cos (a) i had no costume and (b) the busy-ness that is my life. maybe next year.

ah yes. then there was the health and beauty fair in centre point. managed to browse through the booths while looking for something to wear for a wedding i was attending that night. the most interesting booth there??!!? the wig booth wins hands down. their wigs were soooo natural and silky soft. i don't know if it's made from real human hair or if it's synthetic. but the wigs were super cheap!!!! price ranged from rm45 (short hair) to RM65 (long hair) and the extensions ranged from rm25 and above. the actual shop is located at sinsuran. seriously, i would never have guessed. ooo. and if you're on a budget but love perfumes, one drop perfumes also had a booth there. their regular sets (pack of 8 tiny roller bottles) were priced at rm45 (celebrity pack at rm50) and mini sets (pack of 4) were rm27. there was also paradise perfumes (similar to one drop but with 6 bottles per pack) selling at rm35 a box. these are scents inspired by popular perfumes like gucci envy, estee lauder's pleasure and so on all pre-packed in sets for both men and women. personally, i don't think they smell anything like the perfume they were inspired by though. hehe.

i find askcleo.com.my doesn't give me enough flexibility in publishing my blog so i'll be moving blissful belle to blogspot soon. :) maybe if cleo is serious about their blogging feature for members, they'd look into other basic functions to provide to their bloggers.

on a different note, my mum's still in hospital and just underwent minor surgery again. she's been getting a couple bacterial infections in her hips and under the skin in the ankle region. since her body is lacking a lot of the essential nutrients she is desperately in need of, her oncologist has prescribed an intravenous nutrition programme to supply the necessary vitamins, minerals and diet essentials (carbs, protein, fat) for a few days. it's this huge sack with white liquid in it fueled into her body through controlled drips at 60ml/hr. at first i thought it has been a month but after thinking back, it's been more than a month already that she's been in here. most nights, the hospital is my second home accompanying my mum. when i'm off to work, my brother takes my place. some days, i don't get to go home and some days, i don't even get to see my two youngest siblings. praying my mum gets better soon.

Broadband Opportunities - A Series of Talks...

Last week there was a series of talk held over a 2-day period at Le Meridien, Kota Kinabalu organized by SKMM (a.k.a. Malaysian Commission of Multimedia and Commnications) entitled Broadband Opportunities. Unfortunately I was too engrossed in the talk that I totally forgot to capture the event with my handy phone camera. I was there of course on behalf of the company (a.k.a representing my employer/company) with a colleague of mine. Don't get me wrong, I was interested in attending the event anyways but am extremely fortunate that it is in a way part of my job to go.


Talk 1 by Sabah Computer Association representative, Mr Taitim Tulas, discussed the pros and cons of the Internet. Needless to say that at the end of his talk, we find that the pros far outweigh the cons. With the Internet, we have a vast knowledge pool which is accessible by everyone with a connection. Everyone's getting digitized and being part of this huge global community. Then there's the rapidly growing blogging population following the freedom of expression granted via the Net. Who can leave out social networking? Everywhere you go the words Facebook, Friendster, Myspace, etc will pop up. We have a steadily expanding e-commerce following with auction sites such as eBay and Lelong, online boutiques and online stores. People are even taking sewing and baking orders online these days. In our excitement over the advantages and opportunities that come with the presence of the Net, there's always a dark side to it. Net addition, inappropriate contents, viruses and a host of other downsides which warrants precautionary measures on our part as a responsible Net user, sibling, parent, etc.

Talk 2 was initially slotted for the State Library but there seemed to have been a slight change on the day as SKMM proceeded to elaborate on the development of ICT in Sabah. As usual there was the brief introduction to MyICMS 886 which is a government 5 year strategy (i.e. technology roadmap) comprising of 8 services, 8 infrastructure and 6 fields of development in the ICT arena. In addition to that, we were shown several slides illustrating the communication network currently available in the State and country in general as well as various promotions by local service providers. For those in rural areas, SKMM has been working hard to create ICT awareness and provide assistance and facilities to help bridge the technology gap such as the USP (Universal Service Provision), bringing telephony and broadband services to less urban areas, cooperation with local telcos (i.e. Maxis, Digi, Celcom, Time, TM, etc.) to expand coverage.

Next up was Mr Bruno Vun from SITC (Sabah IT Council) who spoke more on broadband opporunities driven by the community. First off he briefly introduced their vision and development model which included the e-Gov and K-society focuses. Moving on we were shown the various on-going programmes organized for the community namely Edu.Net, eMas, Desanet (Mobile Internet), e-Desa (Community Centres), ICT Fiesta, Hi-T Talk, ICT Camps and more. I reckon all these information would be online once SITC's website is out of renovation.

Talk 4 was conducted by Mr Sahrimin bin Mohd Iman, the Account Manager for TM Sabah on TM Leverage in Broadband. In other words, this was more of an explaination of the broadband technology for the non-technical audience. TMnet being the most widely used internet provider here did not let go of the opportunity to promote their products (i.e. 1515, 1315, 1525, Streamyx, SME options, VSAT) and current promotions (i.e. Streamyx Combo).

Talk 5 welcomed newcomer RedTone promoting upcoming WiMax facilities and services. Since this was a rather non-technical audience, a layman's version of the technology briefing was given with ample illustrations and examples. Can you imagine using WiMax technology for your car, fridge and who knows what else? We'll have to wait and see how this new technology develops here and how the market picks it up.

Day 2 brought about another 4 talk sessions (more like 4 1/2 with a late entry by Time dot com before lunch). Starting off the day with Talk 7 (Talk 6 on Day 1 was supposed to be from Astro who was unfortunately AWOL but did deliver those limited Astro Sports figurines at the end of Day 2) was MDeC representative, Mr Vernon Fernandez. Based on trends in the market, they've identified the 4 key verticals in the digital creative content area to be animation, games, mobile content and visual effects. And to fully support and develop Malaysian talents, many might not be aware of the M-CMCI or MSC Malaysia Creative Multimedia Content Initiative which was launched on April 10 two years back. The M-CMCI is involved in IP (intellectual property) funding, engaging strategic alliances, facilitating market access, encouraging skills development (especially in IHLs) and promoting digital media zones. Props to the Saladin team (hooked up with Al-Jazeera kids), Inspidea (Drop Dead was selected to be commissioned by Cartoon Network Asia, Mustang Mama was featured in Yahoo!, Johan, The Young Scientist on Johan.TV) and Red Turtle Animation (Tin Boys has won several awards and was shortlisted for the 2008 Delta Film Award (Manchester) Jury). In the spirit of encouragement, if you (or/and your team) are in this line of studies, grab this opportunity to showcase your talent!!

Now if I hadn't attended this particular talk series, I would probably never have known that SKMM apart from being a regulatory body affecting the work I do(*wink*), they are also handing out the Network Content Development Grant a.k.a. NCDG which is a fudn established to render financial assistance to talented, creative and well deserving aspiring Malaysians in the creative content arena. The NCDG focuses on 4 areas namely Information Based Content, Entertainment, E-commerce and Education. The grant is eligible to all Malaysian individuals/registered SME company in-line with the NCDG focus areas who have yet to be given grants and are not blacklisted or have records of failure in past project implementation upon receiving similar grants from other Government agencies. The grant covers up to a maximum 70% of the total project cost whereby the procurement of infrastructure is allowed up to 20 % of the approved grants. Only one grant can be extended to one applicant at any one time but subsequent grants are allowable up to 3 times. Detailed information on the grant can be found here.

Where does the line between Freedom of Speech and The Law fade? Ms Eneng Faridah Iskandar of SKMM gave us an insight on how it works in Malaysia. At the moment there isn't any one defining Act to refer to and is more the regulatory jurisdiction is still very limited. In some cases, articles of the Law tend to contrdict each other and there are a lot of grey areas to this matter. However, a rule of thumb is to avoid publishing content that is defamatory, obscene, of perjury, hateful, infringe copyrights, classified information, seditious and considered treason. Taking into account that the Internet domain is not confined to any one country or region, we still face difficulties in enforcing cyberlaws. Certain matters may be acceptable in one country but not in another. These conflicting views makes controlling the Internet a very difficult task. To summarize her talk, she urged that consumers/users take precautionary measures especially when it involves children having access to the www. The best way to go about it is to promote self regulation amongst Netizens and to simply be internet-savvy. I suppose Celcom's tagline describes it best, "It's in your hands".

Last but not least, the final talk session was by ASP Hazizi A Samad from PDRM's Multimedia and Cyber Crime Investigation Division in Bukit Aman relating the enforcers take on the Cyber Crime Trend in the country. Cyber crimes range from illegal cash transfers, service theft, information theft, fraud, viruses, cyber vandalism, cyber trespassing and so much more. Of course there are a lot of smart people out there, geniuses even, or just talented hackers if you may. Encodings, encryptions and lack of resources, expertise and information has been known to thwart police efforts in enforcing the law when it comes to cyber crimes. Those peeps on TV makes it look incredibly easy but as it is in reality, investigation in this field takes time and spreads even beyond the legal jurisdiction of our fellow enforcers. So everybody please beware of phishing websites, false threats, key-loggers and the likes. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

Well, the best part about participating in events such as these is the hotel food. And Le Meridien sure doesn't disappoint. I suggest that if you have the opportunity to attend please do. You'll learn new things, gain more information on the latest developments in the ICT industry, meet new people, expand your network and more often than not go home with freebies, ahem, memorabilia apart from the parade of food (breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea).