Acasis Dual Bay 2.5” SSD HDD RAID Enclosure Review

While browsing around the Lazada online shopping app, I came across this Acasis Dual Bay 2.5” SSD HDD RAID Enclosure. I thought this would be useful since I got a bunch of spare hard disks lying around salvaged from various old laptops. After studying the product information and reading through some buyer’s comments, I’ve decided to give this hard disk case a go!

Alcatroz Xplorer Go! 100BT and Rapoo 8000s keyboard review

Recently I got myself two keyboards, the Alcatroz Xplorer GO! 100BT (Bluetooth) and the Rapoo 8000s dual keyboard mouse combo nano wireless. With this review hopefully would help anyone out there who may be planning between a bluetooth type devices and wireless type devices.

While waiting out during this Covid-19 virus lockdown and working from home, I went ahead and purchase th Alcatroz Xplorer Go! 100BT keyboard thinking that it might a good idea to use bluetooth to connect to my PC and other devices without having to sacrifice a USB port, especially on my laptop where there is a limited number of slots available. However after using it for awhile, this didn't turn out to be such a good idea, plus this keyboard design was not going the way that I've planned out.

Fixing Pokemon installation and Failed to Detect Location problems

So the Pokemon go crazed is sweeping over the world! And here is no different when the app was launched recently. However trying to get it to work was another matter. This new type of augmented reality games required quite an advance mobile phone in order to work. Although it the Pokemon website it said it need minimum Android version 4.4, the Google Play store didn't allowed me to install into my Samsung Note 2. I did finally found a way to overcome it.

Android Phone is the most popular OS for Smartphones

The Android onslaught has made it the most popular smartphone O/S. The recent IDC figures shows a whopping 79.3% market share domination! Leaving the other competing platform in the dust. The nearest contender from Apple IOS only managed a miserably 13.2% market share. And my second favourite Windows Phone platform still has a lot of catching up to do standing at 3.7%.

LiveScribe distributor Big'Ant in Malaysia is no more

Talk about bad timing! Big Ant (M) Sdn Bhd under the K-One Technology Berhad who was authorized distributor of Livescribe Pulse and Echo digital pen products has gone bust! Just at the time when my 2GB Pulse pen just ran out of ink and I thought of buying a refill ink cartridge.

I found it strange when my usual IT haunt at All IT Section 14 PJ suddenly removed all the Livescribe products. At first nobody seemed to know what was happening and they weren't able to sell me any of the accessories and replacements. So I searched online and obtained the contact number for K-One Technology / Big’Ant division. Called them up but nobody picked up the phone. After several futile attempts, it dawned onto me that this company may have gone bankrupt.

Device failure one after another! Must be Murphy's Law

Just my luck, I got several electronic device failure one after another. Must be Murphy's Law at work here! First after a battery change, my wife Toyota Wish car remote control didn't work. The Toyota service people should have known better than to change the car remote batteries. Now it needs to be reset in order to work. That's probably minor compared to my car remote when I accidentaly shorted my Toyota Altis car remote while changing the broken casing. Should not have used a screwdriver to pry out the electronics. Now it doesn't work anymore. Next was the old HP fax printer, the modem was strucked by lightning long time ago but still could be used for printing and scanning. While trying to print some documents, the roller was making a ruckus, and finally I got ink cartridge error. I could try buying a new ink cartridge since the current one was already very low on ink anyway. After giving it some thought better not. It could be more than just a faulty cartride because the roller was making such awful noise. Besides ink catridge are expensive and I would have wasted money if the HP printer would not print. So that' the end of life for this HP printer. And finally the church PC which I was attempting to reinstall Windows XP. Well some people weren't too keen on using Ubuntu Linux though it would be far more virus resistant than Microsoft Windows. So I got down planning to dual boot it. The partitoning went fine without a hitch. Installing Windows XP was a different story. First round I got boot error. Strange, tried reinstalling a second time and the PC just hung after the initial booting diagnostic start up screen. Tried several reboot still got the same "hanging there not going anywhere" leaving me scratching my head. It could be the BIOS going crazy on me. For now the PC is not working. If the BIOS goes, the motherboard is just another dead wood. Schucks! And this good old Pentium 4 Intel 3GHz with an Intel 915GEV motherboard is a rather good piece of hardware. I should know, I picked the parts myself when I bought it in 2005. But now it no longer works. Argh! Looks like I will need some replacement hardware starting with a new printer like this Epson Stylus T13. Oh, well.

[update 15/11/11]

Fixing my Intel D915 GEV computer system

Spend the better part of my late nights fixing up the good old Intel D915 GEV motherboard PC. Apparently the hard drive died causing the whole system to freeze up. Hard drive kaput means just change the dead drive without having to purchase the entire PC system, because if the motherboard died, it would be a major replacement. Unfortunately due to the flooding in Bangkok, Western Digital plant is underwater, and that plant account for 50% of the world's hard drive supply.

Which means there is a shortage of hard drive in the market driving up the prices 100% or more! When last I check some vendors are selling at double and some at triple the price! And in All IT Digital Mall section 14 PJ, much to my indignation the sales guy didn't even want to sell to me and was reluctant to give me any price indication!

I'm not going to spend that money yet until Bangkok recovers and Western Digital production is back online. Fortunately I still got an old 40GB PATA IDE WD 7200rpm drive. Well it won't be as fast as a SATA drive, but it will have to do for now.

Maxis Multi-SIM 1 Line

Finally went and applied for the Maxis multi-SIM 1 line service. I think it would be useful considering that I got spare mobile phones here and there. Besides, my Sony Ericsson X10 mini pro battery seems to knock out very fast these days. So perhaps a second phone with the same line might come in handy. However, after getting the new multi-SIM card it didn't work with my X10. Hopefully when the 2nd line SIM card becomes activated would work. Now waiting for activation which takes 24 hours. So keeping my fingers crossed. Otherwise I would need to visit the Maxis center again to sort out the issue.

Meanwhile, I'm using the main SIM on my old Palm Centro nicknamed 'the Whiteberry'! Haha! The SIM card has no issue with this mobile phone.
It's been a long while since I typed on the teenie weenie keyboard so it is a little slow to tap out this blog!

iPhone IOS 4 update is a pain

Updating iPhone IOS 4 to the latest version is really a big headache! Why can't Apple provide a separate file download? Why must it go through the iTunes 10 software for update? Mind you the file size is really huge at 666.6 MB (uh, the number of the beast too?) that's about the size of a CD-ROM. I know, I know, it takes me just as much trouble to download the 700 MB Ubuntu Linux ISO file, but I can use those helpful download software like uGet to continue my download if the connection breaks and also split my downloads to a couple of days if the server is really slow.

 

 

And this Apple update server is indeed really crawling at a snails pace! Could be Streamyx throttling my speed due to large download file. Or perhaps both, a slow server from Apple plus Streamyx broadband throttle, now that would really make your download day a super slow event. Wish they have a separate file for download. That would really make things it easier. I wonder why they don't do that? Perhaps they are afraid hackers would get at their code and reverse engineer it?

 

Whatever the reason, it makes for a poor user experience. That's why I don't always want to update my phone software, be it Apple's iPhone or Google's Android. Fortunately the Android update was far more faster, took me only about an hour plus for the update to be done.

 

However, my wife complained that the Apple iPhone was getting cranky and according to her fellow iPhone users in her office, that the mobile phone needs an update to make more stable. Her colleague left the phone overnight with the PC to download the update. Uh, with 666 MB and a slow server and broadband throttling, I guess that's the way to go about it.

Otherwise to keep your sanity the other option is to bring it over to the Telco (after all they bundled the phone in the mobile phone plan package) for the update since they have far more faster connection and perhaps even have the software at hand or they simply just have ultra fast broadband connection without being throttled.  

 

Anyway, I'm going to give this self-updating of Apple iPhone IOS 4 a go before crying surrender if it fails. Anything for dear wife!

 

 

Digital Pen Livescribe 2GB Echo now at MYR399

Prices are coming down, the digital pen Livescribe 2GB Echo model has drop to MYR399. Ouch! If I have known I would have waited instead. I bought my 2GB Pulse model some 3 months back.

So what's the difference?

The new Echo model has new features, it is more ergonomic and rubber grip. That should help ease my aching hand from prolong usage.

And it uses a cable rather than a dongle, so you can use it like a mosue while connected to your PC.
And they not round like a cylinder so it won't roll off your table.

These are little extras. Initially they were marketing it for MYR699. That price too steep lah. Now at MYR399 then more reasonable. If between Pulse vs Echo at same price, then Echo is the better choice.
Well, too late now. Will just have to make do with my Livescribe 2GB Pulse digital pen instead of the improve 2GB Echo version

My review of Livescribe 2GB Pulse model
Big'Ant Malaysia / K-One Technology, distributor of LiveScribe has closed shop

New devices for my PC hobby

Seems like i'm having a shopping spree on my IT gadget devices recently. Although Malaysia is having sales everywhere in the shopping malls. The same cannot be applied for computer gadgets.

With rather limited time, I haven't gotten around to blog about my new found gadgets.

Basically, i bought myself a LiveScribe 2GB Pulse smartpen as they were letting go at RM400 which was within grasp for me to give this smartpen a go. This model may not be new, but still works just as good.

I've also upgraded my modem coz my old wireless-B router already knocked out sometime ago and i was mulling whether to get the Belkin share router modem. But when Aztech recent lauch their new router modem wifi-N with a usb port for NAS, it was 1/2 the price of Belkin, at RM149, so I went for it.

And finally, I couldn't wait any longer and decided to iindulge myself with the SanDisk Cruzer 32 GB. I could only get it from PineApple computer store meeting up with old friends. I use to patronize their shop however their prices are not as competitive against the Low Yatt based shops in Digital Mall. Still they gave me a reasonable price. Which wasn't too bad.

Now preparing it for security and perhaps even install Ubuntu Linux into this thumbdrive since it got quite a lot of space!

Faulty free gift - USB thumbdrive

If ever a free gift looks too good to be true, this is it. Spend 10 difficult to get points from All IT to redeem a faulty Microsoft free USB thumbdrive gift. Thought I would use it to store MP3 songs for my Red Fox wireless MP3 player. Unfortunately the data kept getting lost after transfer. Even back to exchange for another USB thumbdrive, but that too turn out to be faulty.

The All IT PIC wasn't very keen to entertain me the first time round and to change the second time round to another gift would probably be a bigger hassle. Talk about consumer rights and poor customer service hiding behind the policy of redeemable free gifts are not entitled for exchanges. Looks like I will just end up using this as a useless pretty looking keychain. I guess if I ever want to store important precious data, I should only use brands that I know, at least the defect would be under controlled and at the very least warranty against product defects. Next time I will be more weary about unknown generic IT brands. Always better to pay a little more for peace of mind!

[update]
While browsing around the internet, I found people actually bought fake branded flash drive. How the fake flash drive worked is by showing false capacity, ie if the counterfeiter would make the chip inside the pen drive show up as a 2GB capacity thumb drive, but in actual reality, the memory chip could only hold 512MB of data. I guess the same falls for this faulty thumb drive that I got from All IT.

Why do they do that? To save money from putting in the required memory chips and sell it at the market value of the higher capacity, but in the end the product is faulty and you can't use it at all.

However there are some tools out there where you can fix the reported capacity to the actual capacity and thereby you could still use it but up to the real capacity. Well, kinda too late now that I have thrown it away.

Anyway at the current rate of decreasing price of flash drive, I could get a 4GB thumb drive for as cheap as RM20! Anyway, I have many flash drive and I'm aiming at the high capacity ones with my latest procurement at 64GB! Wow! And yes, it is not cheap!

Changing to HTC Desire Z - thinking

I'm considering to change my android phone Sony Xperia X10 mini pro to HTC Desire Z. Sure I've just updated the firmware for this X10 and i liked the new updated stuffs. But there is still one drawback: the tiny fonts. At my age a larger font would go easier on my eyes especially since i do a lot of texting and mobile blogging. I couldn't find the font size adjustment in this Xperia and many of the rich text mail has extra tiny fonts. Fortunately the road sync has very nice comfortable fonts but it only allow one email account though. So my next best option is to plough in some dough perhaps trade in or sell my Xperia X10 and upgrade to HTC Desire Z. I know HTC got font sie adjustment base on my short lived experience of using HTC Wildfire. So it is just a matter of time for me to change my mobile phone.

Faulty Kingston DT mini 10 USB drive

Looks like it was just pure bad luck when I redeemed the Kingston DataTraveler mini 10 USB thumb drive from Bonuslink. I redeemed two DTmini 10 8GB thumbdrive, one for me, and one for my sister-in-law. I was fortunate that mine had no issues at all and currently now using it to store my MP3 to be played in my car's Red Fox MP3 FM Modulator player. My sis-in-law on the other hand seemed to get into the 5%-10% fault range of most defective digital device. Just a matter of probability, a 50-50 chance between mine and hers and of course a 5-10% defect rate and hers was it.

If you thought a 5-10% defect rate was high, think again. Most computer devices are getting ever tinier that if a speck of dust gets in, the digital device will not function well. Though the manufacturer will try to use class 100 clean room for their production, you never know some dust could be introduced in their manufacturing process by accident. Looking at some of my digital devices that failure rate seemed fairly consistent at about 5-10% defect rate. This rate feels high and if you are one of the few unlucky ones that tend to get the defective item like my brother-in-law who felt he always get faulty digital devices like digital cameras and such, well there you go, Murphy's Law at work!

So now is a matter of claiming the warranty and since my sis-in-law didn't test it till recently (lapse about a few months), we can't send back to Bonuslink to exchange, instead we have to send it directly to the vendor to claim warranty.

The Bonuslink Kingston vendor contact is different from the Kingston Vendor contact that I got from All IT Digital Mall. Anyway we will just follow the directions of Bonuslink vendor instead since it was them who supplied to Bonuslink:

Hit On Sdn Bhd
No 8, Jalan LP 2A/2,
Taman Lestari Perdana,
43300 Seri Kembangan,
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Phone No : +603-8943 4193

The ALL IT Digital Mall Kingston vendor is:

Able Action
401D, Level4 Tower D, Uptown 5
No. 5 Jalan SS21/39
Damansara Uptown
47400 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-7665 3939

Hmm.., looks like there are two Kingston suppliers in the Klang Valley.

[update: 20/1/2012]

Recently I bought some higher capacity USB flash drive, and decided to use my older workhorse SanDisk Cruzer Micro 16GB for my Red Fox MP3 player. Initially I reassigned my Kingston DT Mini 10 for watching HD movies on my Sharp LCD TV. But turned out to be a bad idea. The slimmer connection style of USB-A type, lacking an outer case meant the connection can be rather loose on some USB port. Thus it was very difficult for the LCD TV to detect this Kingston DT Mini 10.

My sis-in-law felt that slim type connection was not so good because:
a) Difficult to figure out which way was the correct way to insert into USB port
b) Even if inserted correctly the USB port has difficulty to detect it as the slim USB-A connector without the casing makes it difficult for the connector to connect to each other

I should think so too, never really quite liked this slim styled USB-A connector, though it did make USB flash drive much smaller than the usual standard flash drives.

So I decided to use this as DT Mini 10 as Readyboost device for my Windows 7 instead. If you plan to totally use the 8GB capacity for readyboost, you should reformat it to NTFS or exFAT, since FAT32 has filesize capacity limit of 4GB max. For me, I decided to keep its original FAT32 format and use the balance 4GB space for file storage.

[update: 15/10/2020]

Finally this Kingston DTmini10 gave up on me. I suppose it wasn't hardy enough to withstand the constant readyboost duty. And of course the poor design of the connector points could also be at fault. After testing it on my other PCs, confirmed that the electronics was fried. Still I was able to use it for about 10 years which was not too bad. As the years went by, USB flash memory gets cheaper and cheaper. Now I have a bunch of them and many of my older and smaller capacity flash drives were relegated to readyboost duty for the older PCs and laptop or used as USB boot drive for Linux, Cloudready Chrome OS live CD / installer. Newer PCs and laptops were blazingly fast and didn't require readyboost to help speed up.