Category: Uncategorized

I got called up by HP today with regards to my Streamyx upgrade. They called me up to get my credit card details so that they can bill me for the free PC and the Streamyx line. In the end, I got up-sold to a larger screen because I was planning to buy a new one anyway. The machine that I will end up getting is also slightly better than the original one in the brochure. It will have the following specs:

CPU: Intel Atom 330 1.6GHz
RAM: 2GB DDR2*
HDD: 250GB 7200RPM*

This is good for me because I will be using the machine as my virtualisation farm – or cloud in today’s parlance. If I choose to run Xen on it, I would probably be able to run a mixture of about a dozen VM in it. If I choose to run OpenVZ on it, I can probably squeeze in at least three times that number. Since I have begun to grow tired of OpenVZ, I might just choose to move over to Xen instead. Or I could do what some people do that is to run OpenVZ under Xen!

As for the monitor, I got the upgrade to a 23″ screen. I had planned on getting myself a new 24″ screen this month anyway. Turns out that it is cheaper to just get them to upgrade it for me. After all, as a headless virtualisation farm, it does not need a monitor to go with it. So, I am happy today. Today was a good day. I managed to accomplish another purchase. I just hope that they deliver it to me soon.

By the way, my first IKEA furniture arrived yesterday. It is very neat! I will post pictures once my room is completely done up.

A friend consulted me a few days ago on her Dell computer purchase. She had this auntie instinct that told her that she was being scammed. While I will not say that she is being scammed, I certainly told her that she need not pay so much money for her computer. In the end, I spec-ed her a different machine that saved her RM2,000 which she is more than welcome to spend on me!

Then she asked me why it was that the Dell salesperson tried to sell her a machine that was so much more expensive. So, I thought that I should write about some of these reasons.

Firstly, it is the job of the salesperson to up-sell their customers. You see this everywhere, even at McDonalds. Whenever you order a meal, they will try to up-sell you on larger drinks, larger fries or even an added sundae. It is in their best interest to help you to spend your money. Otherwise, they are not doing their job. In addition, these sales people are often paid by commission of up to about 20%. So, there is no reason why they should try to sell you a cheaper machine when they can sell you a more expensive one.

Secondly, computers these days are commodities. One model is pretty much the same as another. In fact, the prime differentiating factor between computers these days is often the aesthetics. Two machine that are of similar specs can cost several thousand ringgit more simply due to a better quality built. Of course, you are getting more for what you paid for but do you actually need the more beautiful machine. If you can afford to pay a premium on looks, spend it on an Apple.

Thirdly, the performance difference is negligible, especially for normal home use. A ultra high speed graphics card coupled with a ultra powerful processor is not going to help Word/Excel/Powerpoint run significantly faster. Now, if my friend was using the computer for engineering simulations or video rendering work, that is another issue altogether. But all my friend needed was a computer for office work, surfing the internet, watching some videos and playing Sims 3, which is something that the most basic machines can do today and do it really well.

So, I advised my friend on getting the cheapest hardware that Dell had and to upgrade certain components that will give you a better overall experience. I told my friend to spend the savings on my consultation fee, a new handbag and maybe some clothes. That’s a much better use of her cash.

PS: Some of the things that are worth upgrading – single-core to dual-core, a higher resolution monitor, more RAM. Everything else is a worthless upgrade.

The Internets was abuzz with the launch of the newest Apple hotness, the iPad. However, the message that struck me the most about the iPad wasn’t that it was a well designed table, nor was it because of the iBooks store, nor was it because it wasn’t multi-tasking – it was because it came with Apple A4 – a custom designed System-on-Chip from Apple.

Now, as a processor guy, it naturally piqued my interest. However, after looking it up, it turns out that it is just a regular ARM Cortex-A9 CPU paired with an ARM Mali GPU core. Boring! There is nothing at all sexy about this SoC. I was hoping to see the PowerPC make a comeback into the Apple stable, maybe with either an ARM emulation layer or a co-processor.

The business side of me thinks that this marks a big shift in Apple’s business. Now that Apple owns its own silicon, you can bet that the A4 will find it’s way into all other Apple devices, starting with the iPhone and iPod that already use the Cortex-A8. However, the Cortex-A9 is gunning for Intel’s neck. It is the next-generation ARM processor that is capable of running applications as fast as Intel’s processors can but at a fraction of the power envelope. So, I can also see this processor moving into other Apple products including their AppleTV, laptops and desktops in the future.

Don’t be surprised if Apple completely shifts their devices over to the A4 because Apple has already done it several times. The original Apple PCs used a 68K, then a PowerPC and finally an x86 processor. If there is any company that can execute an architectural shift smoothly, it is Apple. They have already proven their ability to do so more than once, while still maintaining backwards compatibility with their older applications.

If Apple wants to take on the server market, this would be a good processor to do it too. They can stuff the A4 into a bunch of blades and house them all inside a sexy rack. They will instantly provide a differentiating factor to the Intel based servers – high-density and low-power computing with the ability to accelerate some floating point applications and not just integer ones. ARM has always said that it’s processors were good for data-centres, but there hasn’t been a kit released from any Tier-1 vendor.

You know what, it’s going to be like the 80s and 90s again!

I totally agree with what Anas Zubedy said in his Nut Graph article:

But in terms of politics, I would like to see us moving beyond a two-party system. I think we need a two-plus-one system. In this system, we’d have BN and PR, and also 30 to 40 Members of Parliament who are totally independent and who can vote entirely according to their conscience. I think this will make us a stronger country.

That is why I have often reminded people that with two ballot boxes and the ability to cross out any box, there are actually four outcomes. That is a mathematical certainty. I will quote a previous blog of mine, “The Maths of a Single Ballot”:

Problem: There is a ballot sheet with two boxes on it. One is labelled BN while the other is labelled Opposition. A voter, who has decided to go to the polls to have his/her voice heard, is asked to make a choice by crossing out any of the boxes according to his/her preference. By selecting a random voter, determine the possible outcomes of the single vote.

Gahmen’s Truth: There is only one choice, of course cross out BN lar!
Opposition’s Truth: There is only one correct choice, of course cross out Opposition lar!

Mathematical Truth: With two boxes and the possibility of crossing out any box, there are four possible outcomes, namely:

1. Cross out the box labelled BN.
2. Cross out the box labelled Opposition.
3. Cross out both boxes labelled Opposition and BN.
4. Cross out neither of the boxes and leave both empty.

Subjective Analysis: Assuming that the ballot reflects the voter’s true feelings, from the possible outcomes, determine the kind of voter for each possible outcome.

• Supports BN.
• Supports the Opposition.
• Supports neither the Opposition nor BN.
• Undecided.

Conclusion: There are many other ways that this result can be analysed. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to analyse this and draw whatever conclusions that they wish to draw. This blog wasn’t about the conclusions. It’s about the mathematical fact that there are four possible results for a single ballot in a straight fight between two parties.

In fact, I had tried explaining this concept to some of my colleagues and they cannot seem to fathom any of the other two possibilities. I think that is partially due to fear, uncertainty and doubt. We definitely need the third vote. I agree with Zubedy that we need 30-40 MPs who do not need to tow any party line but need to respect the wishes of their constituents.

However, that would only happen within a mature democracy – not ours.

I came across this when trying to get my Daily Fix of IGN today with Jessica Chobot. Note that it says: “A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation.” Made me laugh.

When someone swings a crude 100-pound bludgeon at you, what do you do? Some people duck and hide. I swing back.

Some things happened at work today and I got caught in a massive political game. If there was some finesse in it, I would still be afraid of a knife in the dark. However, there was none of that and I was just totally pissed at the crudeness of it – what a waste of my time and energy.

Truly, I would have appreciated it if there was a knife in the dark. However, I could see this bludgeon coming from miles away. So, I had already taken steps to avoid it but the bludgeon continued to come. I guess that is why it is called a bludgeon. Since the bludgeon was aimed at me by a 1-tonne gorilla, I blocked it with my shield and swung back with my scimitar.

For now, I am just taking a step back and looking at the situation. If the bludgeon decides to try another swing, I will swing back with my scimitar for my blade was forged in Damascus and this time, I will not hesitate to take off the swinging arm.

PS: Finished playing Assassins Creed last month. However, I’m not really looking forward to the sequel.

I am in a rather foul mood today and unfortunately, a few people moving objects got in my way today. Since I have an extremely low tolerance for stoopidity, I whacked a couple of heads today.

The first one is someone who I gave a briefing to last week. Everything seemed fine and he seemed to have a clear picture on what is happening. Then, over the weekend he must have lost his brain. This morning, he began asking me questions on how to do this and that. At first, I pointed him in the right direction but after a while, I just told him – “I am sorry but If you expect me to spoon-feed you, it is not going to happen.”

Then the next one is someone whom I have never met or even spoken to. He is probably a new guy who has been unfortunately saddled with the job of dealing with me. He presented me with a document that clearly showed that he failed to understand the whole concept. So, I suggested that he do some reading on the concept to catch up with what is happening then we can talk. He had the gall to tell me that he does not have the time to read and since I am the ‘expert’, I could walk him through it. I just told him – “If you do not know how to read, maybe you can look at the pretty pictures in the document that I included.”

In both cases – silence ensued. I can be particularly nasty when I am in a foul mood.