Malaysia Broadband Access Services – When and Where to Complain

Foreword

I'm blogging about this subject as I came across several people (and that's bad) who were either having difficulties in approaching their ISP or had failed to get their ISP to act responsibly -- leaving them to unreasonably make do with the poor quality of their Internet connection.

A slow/poor Internet connection can be frustrating and in some instances mean loss of opportunity and also make you spend more time than you intended. 

Broadband combines connection capacity (bandwidth) and speed. Recommendation I.113 of the ITU Standardization Sector defines broadband as a “transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) at 1.5 or 2.0 Megabits per second (Mbits)”. https://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/birthofbroadband/faq.html

Let's Get Started

There is an authority in each country that acts as the regulator for Broadband Access Services, as like the MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) does in Malaysia.

Whether you a residential or business customer subscribing to broadband access services from an ISP (Internet Service Provider), your rights are the same – that is, you are entitled to complain to your ISP when the quality of the service falls below your expectations.

Quality of Service is rated on connection availability, bandwidth availability, latency, jitter and packet loss.

The MCMC does not regulate jitter (the variation in latency as measured in the variability over time of the packet latency across a network). A network with constant latency has no variation or jitter.

It does however set the minimum requirements for the rest as follows,

Network Availability 99.9% of the time, excluding scheduled ISP maintenance works
Bandwidth Availability > 70% of your subscribed speed, 95% during busy hours
Latency < 85ms
Packet Loss < 1%

Note: Bandwidth is a measurement of how much data can be transferred at a time while speed is a measurement of how fast things are done.

According to “protocol”, you are expected to lodge a complaint with your ISP prior to any contact with the regulatory agencies. Why agencies as in plural?

Yup, there is another party to contact –

Communications & Multimedia Consumer Forum of Malaysia (CFM),
Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC),
Off Persiaran Multimedia,
63000, Cyberjaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.

Hotline : 1800 18 2222
Fax : 03 8320 9083
Email : aduan@cfm.org.my

Working Days : Mon - Fri, 9:00am to 6:00pm


The former acts to mediate between you and the ISP to resolve your complaint, while the latter is supposed to protect your rights as a consumer.


CONSUMER PROTECTION & COMPLAINTS BUREAU
Malaysia Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC)
MCMC Tower 1, Jalan Impact, Cyber 6, 63000 Cyberjaya Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Hotline : 1800 – 188 – 030
Fax : 03 8688 1880
Email: aduanskmm@cmc.gov.my
Website: http://www.skmm.gov.my

Working Days: Mon – Fri, 8:30am to 5:30pm


WHY go through all the trouble to complain when most of the time all I need to do is to restart my connection?

Simple,

• To make sure you're getting what you pay for. A speed test is useful if you feel a slow connection or want to see how your Internet is performing.
• Avoid the inconvenience from too frequent and too many restarts.
• Avoid allocating time for attending to the ISP’s service technician, who will come and find nothing wrong with your line signal quality and speed at the time of his visit.

Do the right thing today. When you don’t, nothing will improve.

How I Replaced My Old Inspiron 1520 Hard Disk with a Sandisk Ultra SSD

Literally for dummies, not that we are.

Firstly, why SSD and not just replace it with the same Hard Drive type? SSD is actually a data storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data. Hence, SSDs contains no actual "disks" nor motors that will wear out over time from so many Read/Write during operation and has faster data transfer rates.

After 7 years, my DELL Inspiron 1520 is probably the longest and most lasting Laptop. See? It's a Laptop and not a Notebook, but I won't delve any deeper into mobile computing history. It's more interesting to learn how simple it is to replace the Hard Disk, right?

Here goes,

Common signals that your old RPM Hard Drive is about to fail when you get the Blue Screen hard disk error message (the more frequent in-between, the closer it is to its demise) and/or when the sweet sound it used to make while spinning internally has developed into something louder as noise!

When I encountered the said signals, the first thing I thought was to replace it with the latest in storage drive technology, the Solid State Drive or SSD in short. As we all know, the better it is (say storage), the higher cost it is to buy.

The Inspiron 1520 I have came standard with a 60GB RPM Hard Drive. Before I went out and actually bought a SSD - I unscrewed the screws to the Hard Drive slot and removed it so that I could verify the connector type on this drive before I plugged it back in. 

Once I verified that it was the same as the SATA connector of the SSD, I went ahead and got one from the 2nd most expensive IT retailer in Malaysia, namely Thunder Match Technology. SO BEFORE YOU BUY A SSD, DO CHECK AROUND.

Since the original Inspiron 1520 Hard Drive is a 60GB dinosaur, I went ahead and got myself a 128GB Ultra Sandisk SSD.

I wanted the entire old Hard Drive contents replicated on the SSD so that it would work the same (bootable) once plugged in and used the Acronis True Image Backup software for this purpose to backup the old Hard Drive into an extra 500GB USB Samsung External Drive*.

* Acronis was chosen for their easy step by step options while the external drive was used because the old drive simply did not have sufficient space for the backup.

It took me nearly an hour to fully backup the old drive. Once that was over, I used the Acronis software to "restore" the backup into the new SSD drive which took slightly over 30 minutes to complete. Then I removed the old drive and plugged in the SSD.

I press the Power Button and Voila it works!

Step by Step Walk-through:

1. Power down Laptop, shutdown.

2. Remove battery and plug from power adapter.

3. Perform a Static Discharge as a safety precaution by press holding Power Button for 10 seconds.

4. Remove screws locking the Hard Drive (I removed the 4 screws as marked).

5. Gently pull out the Hard Drive.

6. Verify the SATA connector to be the same as that of the SSD.

7. Gently return the Hard Drive back to its slot, making sure it goes in all the way and connects properly.

8. Return battery and plug from power adapter.

9. Plug in USB External Drive to free USB port.

10. Plug in SSD with USB-SATA converter to free USB port.

11. Power up Laptop, press Power Button.

12. After Windows loads up, select Acronis True Image from desktop (first you have to download it).

13. Select the easy to understand options in Acronis to backup your old Hard Drive (refer to their guide if unsure). Also ensure Antivirus is off and all other applications are closed before backup.

14. Once backup is complete, use the Restore option to "restore" the backup to the SSD (again, refer to their guide if unsure).

15. Once restore is complete, exit Acronis and perform Windows shutdown.

16. Unplug the external Hard Drive and SSD.

17. Repeat Steps 2-5.

18. Unscrew the old Hard Drive from plastic slot cover.

19. Remove the USB-SATA adapter from the SSD.

20. Screw the plastic slot cover to the SSD (same as how it was previously attached to the old Hard Drive).

19. Repeat Steps 7-8 

20. Secure the "Hard Disk" SSD in its slot with the screws removed earlier in Step 4.

21. Power up Laptop, press Power Button.

22. Need there be a Step 22?

By the way, I went through all these steps because I didn't want the hassle of digging up the installation disks for all the various loaded programs or copying data -- some of you may shorten the process by doing a clean install of everything.

Cons: Antivirus now doesn't work and I had to reinstall.

Pros: Overall system speed improved.

Why Acer is Making Losses and Fail to Deliver

Anyone considering buying Acer should read this post before they do.

Maybe just possibly, problems like the ones you read here made its founder Stan Shih to retire when he did...although outgoing ACER CEO J.T. Wang claims it's only due to the write-off of its old inventory "worth" billions!

Always the staunch supporter of Acer, I believed in its brand philosophy, promise and quality -- even after experiencing a motherboard failure with one of its "best in class" (at the time it was bought) Notebooks - the Aspire 4736G.

Just Google it and you'll know what I mean.

Here's my rather disappointing Acer Experience at the recent PC Fair at Mid Valley in early November this year:

The Wrong Decision: After being told by the Dell person at the Dell Booth that the particular Dell desktop model I was interested in was sold out (at that on my 2nd day visit to the PC Fair!) and out of stock - I took it as a clear signal that buying Acer would be a better choice. How wrong I was!

It was our 2nd day visit to the PC Fair. We had spent the day before, browsing and sifting thru the various offers available.

We settled on the Acer Aspire TC603 which according to the brochure handout, is a model with the 4th Generation Intel Core i5-4430 Processor. The package included an Acer V206HQL 19.5" LED-backlit Monitor, 3 Year Extended Warranty, Speakers and 16GB Pendrive.

According to the salesperson, we could take delivery "immediately" if we took the 3rd Generation version of the same model and upgrading it to the 8GB we wanted would only be a few hours OR we wait for a week for delivery for the brochure version.

We opted for the version stated in the brochure as we were willing to wait out the 1-week delivery time. Honestly we were pleasantly surprised when the salesperson said that they could send it to their outlet nearest to us in Desa Park City for collection.

No After Sales Information...

After anticipating delivery (with exception of the in-between Awal Muharram public holiday), I started to feel uneasy and referred to the official receipt - it had no contact number stated on it! I then googled Thunder Match Technology and completed an online query form on their website, and 72 hours later no response.

Reachable, NO!

By this time, I had already obtained the contact number for their Head Office and started my attempts to call them up. 

After spending the whole morning right up till slightly after 2pm, the best I could get out of the various options from the automated telephonist, was a foreigner who finally answered and asked me to call back again  - as he was only the security guard! 

Swell!

Varying Versions...

I called the next number I had -- which was their outlet in Mid Valley. When I informed the person who answered that, I would like to know the status of the delivery for the TC603, he replied that it was out of stock and a discontinued model - all the time stating that it was the 3rd Generation version. Okay so I'll check with Acer Malaysia!

Dissatisfied with the response, I called Acer Sales and Services (Acer Malaysia - AM is short) at their toll free number 1800-88-1288. After providing details of my complaint, I requested that they clarified the matter with Thunder Match Technology (their appointed dealer, TM in short) and revert to me.

While waiting for AM's call, TM's Mid Valley rep calls to say that the TC603 was not in stock and when asked when it would be in stock,... he replies that he was unsure and instead offered an exchange to another product or, a full refund in lieu. 

Good news? Fat Chance!

After telling him that I would consider, I hung up just in time to receive the AM rep's callback. She basically repeated the same information of the TC603 being out of stock and even went a step further by saying it was discontinued after having checked with TM.

I told her it was impossible and this is when the AM rep said it is discontinued as it is a 3rd Generation version as per the brochure she had in hand. Luckily for me (or maybe not) the brochure I have stated it otherwise. After further questioning she reveals that the version I wanted had yet to arrive from Acer Taiwan!!! 

I then thought, "Why not escalate my query to Acer's HQ, Acer Inc. in Taiwan?" and asked her to send me an email contact for the said purpose.

"Great I thought" as I checked my Inbox to see that she had indeed sent me an email. When I opened it, I was beyond shock (after having been overly drained by all the stress and time wasting activities from what was supposed to be a simple purchase of an Acer Desktop) - she had emailed me alternative models for selection while stating that the TC603 is "not available in the Malaysia market" and Acer Inc's telephone and fax!

What !?!

Does this mean the brochure printed in Malaysia (most likely) for the Malaysia market with the listed model TC603 with the 4th Generation Intel Core i5-4430 Processor and further confirmed by the salesperson accepting the order over a week ago is WRONG !?!

Always Forgiving...

Extremely disappointed I then did the unthinkable, I counter offered to take the alternative model which was priced lower while insisting that all other items remain as per the initial package.

As I end this post I wait and see how AM and TM responds tomorrow.

P/S Just to add, there was an instance when the TM rep said that the TC603 was 4th Generation but differed inside !!! Now that really makes me wonder...

Endnote:

 Questions seeking answers with some you already know the answers to,

- This only happens in Malaysia?

- When will Acer make itself customer friendly by providing top level e-mail contact info?

- Does having a strong visible market presence ensure "proper" after sales service/support?

- Is Explore Beyond Limits referring to exceeding the tolerance limit for bad after sales service/support?

Google+ by Google, Inc.

Google+ is in limited Field Trial still since it's launch on June 28th, 2011... (I should know, I'm waiting patiently as you are)...

Seen now (no longer a rumor) as a great replacement to Facebook, Google+, a social network operated by Google, Inc., allows great integration across a number of Google products that include Buzz and Profiles.

One key element of Google+ is it's focus on targeted sharing within subsets of your social group, which Google calls Circles. Circles are simply smaller groups of people that you can share to, each with names like friends, family, classmates and co-workers.

In Google+, there's a section specifically for viewing, managing and editing multimedia. The photo tab takes a user to all of the photos he or she has shared, as well as the ones he or she is tagged in. It’s not just about photo tagging. An image editor (complete with Instagram-like photo effects), privacy options and sharing features is incorporated too.

And here's how I think Google+ beats Facebook -- the super cool “Hangouts,” Google’s new group chat feature. Un"like" Facebook (pardon the pun) where you normally would directly ask a friend to join a group chat, Google-plusers click “start a hangout” and they’re instantly in a video chatroom alone. At the same time, a message goes out to their social circles, letting them know that their friend is “hanging out.” Friends can then join the hangout as long as they have been placed in a circle that was invited by the person who created the Hangout.

At the moment, Google+ is testing with a small number of people, but it won't be long before the Google+ project is ready for everyone.

Interested? Leave your email address at the link above (title) so that you'll be the first to know when Google+ is ready for you.

What the Server Market Will Look Like in 5 Years

Today, the enterprise requires the data center to handle top business workloads, run broad hardware options, and operate stable product roadmaps.

In order to increase performance and lower cost, CIOs are looking to consolidate their mission-critical applications on fewer, faster servers and to virtualize those applications to make more efficient utilization of their data center resources, both human and natural.

All the best in your plan for a high-performance, low-cost application solution that fits your data center needs.

Facebook Add or Act, Friend?

Ever wondered how easy it is to add someone who's a complete stranger as "Friend"? Well that prompted me to think and come out with this statement, "Act as Friend". Sure fits the bill rather than Add as Friend, right?

C'mon be truthful, just how many of our "friends" on our list do we really know on a deep level that can really be considered as a real friend? Remember the days back in school, classmates numbered around 40 at average. The max, kindergarden? 20.

Do the maths, then tell me whether its an Act or Add...

Boy' this has gotta' be the shortest blog in the world!

Cheers, love your life :)

Now Anyone at Your Café Can Hijack Your Facebook Account

A new Firefox extension lets anyone sharing an open wireless network at your neighborhood café or workplace easily access your Facebook, Twitter and myriad other online accounts. It's a terrifying tool designed to highlight a longstanding problem.

Seattle programmer Eric Butler's new Firesheep extension can show you a graphical list of the online accounts of everyone sharing an open wifi network with you. With one click on an icon, you're instantly logged in as them.

"HOLY CRAP" sums up the general Twitter reaction, as compiled by TechCrunch.

The vulnerability exploited by Firesheep has been there for years. Many major websites transmit the keys to your account — your login HTTP "cookies" — completely in the clear, with no encryption whatsoever. That's not a problem when you're on a well secured wireless network; for example if your local cafe uses WPA encyrption on the router, you'd almost certainly be fine. The vulnerable networks are those that are totally open, as well as, possibly, networks that use the weak WEP password system. You'll typically see these types of vulnerable networks in college dormitories, cafes and restaurants, or at other businesses that never bothered to modernize their wireless infrastructure.

Vulnerable sites include Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Google, nytimes.com, Tumblr, Twitter, Wordpress, Yahoo and Yelp. These sites could fix the problem by routing cookies through the secure HTTPS protocol. Indeed, encouraging them to do so is why Butler created Firesheep:

Websites have a responsibility to protect the people who depend on their services. They've been ignoring this responsibility for too long, and it's time for everyone to demand a more secure web.

Judging from internet reaction to Firesheep, that's already happening.

Update: This vulnerability exists outside of the browser, so it's not Firefox specific, and switching to Chrome will not help, as some commenters have suggested. It also shouldn't affect cellular data networks, including 3G networks, so we've updated our wording above to make it clear we're talking about wifi.

Although the problem is fundamentally in the wifi networks and the destination websites, there is a Firefox extension that tries to route around the problem by redirecting cookies through encrypted HTTPS connections. Since many web servers don't offer HTTPS, your experience with that extension will be hit or miss. You can also ensure your GMail is locked down by checking the HTTPS toggle in your Gmail settings (it is secure by default). Your best bet, for now, is to avoid using open wifi networks.

Chelsea Kate Isaacs and Steve Jobs

(Read from the bottom up)

From: Steve Jobs
To: XXXX@my.liu.edu
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:27:36 -0700
Subject: Re: Mr. Jobs - Student Journalist Concerned about Apple'sMediaRelations Dept.

Please leave us alone.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 16, 2010, at 5:32 PM, XXXX@my.liu.edu wrote:

> You're absolutely right, and I do meet your criteria for being a customer who deserves a response:
>
> 1. I AM one of your 300 million users.
> 2. I DO have a problem; I need answers that only Apple Media Relations can answer.
>
> Now, can they kindly respond to my request (my polite and friendly voice can be heard in the first 5 or 10 messages in their inbox). Please, I am on deadline.
>
> I appreciate your help.
>
>
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>
> ——-Original Message——-
> From: Steve Jobs
> Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:10:12
> To: XXXX@my.liu.edu
> Subject: Re: Mr. Jobs - Student Journalist Concerned about Apple's
> MediaRelations Dept.
>
> Nope. We have over 300 million users and we can't respond to their requests unless they involve a problem of some kind. Sorry.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Sep 16, 2010, at 4:37 PM, XXXX@my.liu.edu wrote:
>
>> Thank you for your reply. I never said that your goal should be to "help me get a good grade." Rather, I politely asked why your media relations team does not respond to emails, which consequently, decreases my chances of getting a good grade. But, forget about my individual situation; what about common courtesy, in general —- if you get a message from a client or customer, as an employee, isn't it your job to return the call? That's what I always thought. But I guess that's not one of your goals. Yes, you do have a creative approach, indeed.
>> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>>
>> ——-Original Message——-
>> From: Steve Jobs
>> Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:19:13
>> To: XXXX@my.liu.edu
>> Subject: Re: Mr. Jobs - Student Journalist Concerned about Apple's Media
>> Relations Dept.
>>
>> Our goals do not include helping you get a good grade. Sorry.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Sep 16, 2010, at 3:22 PM, XXXX@my.liu.edu wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Mr. Jobs,
>>>
>>> As a college student, I can honestly say that Apple has treated me very well; my iPod is basically the lifeline that gets me through the day, and thanks to Apple's Final Cut Pro, I aced last semester's video editing project. I was planning to buy a new Apple computer to add to my list of Apple favorites.
>>>
>>> Because I have had such good experiences as a college student using Apple products, I was incredibly surprised to find Apple's Media Relations Department to be absolutely unresponsive to my questions, which (as I had repeatedly told them in voicemail after voicemail) are vital to my academic grade as a student journalist.
>>>
>>> For my journalism course, I am writing an article about the implementation of an iPad program at my school, the CW Post Campus of Long Island University.
>>>
>>> The completion of this article
>>> is crucial to my grade in the class, and it may potentially get published in our university's newspaper. I had 3 quick questions regarding iPads, and wanted to obtain answers from the most credible source: Apple's Media Relations Department.
>>>
>>> I have called countless times throughout the week, leaving short, but detailed, messages which included my contact information and the date of my deadline. Today, I left my 6th message, which stressed the increasingly more urgent nature of the situation. It is now the end of the business day, and I have not received a call back. My deadline is tomorrow.
>>>
>>> Mr. Jobs, I humbly ask why Apple is so wonderfully attentive to the needs of students, whether it be with the latest, greatest invention or the company's helpful customer service line, and yet, ironically, the Media Relations Department fails to answer any of my questions which are, as I have repeatedly told them, essential to my academic performance.
>>>
>>> For colleges nationwide, Apple is at the forefront of improving the way we function in the academic environment, increasing the efficiency of conducting academic research, as well as sharing and communicating with our college communities.
>>>
>>> With such an emphasis on advancing our education system, why, then, has Apple's Media Relations team ignored my needs as a student journalist who is just trying to get a good grade?
>>>
>>> In addition to the hypocrisy of ignoring student needs when they represent a company that does so much for our schools, the Media Relations reps are apparently, also failing to responsibly handle the inquiries of professional journalists on deadlines. Unfortunately, for a journalist in the professional world, lacking the answers they need on deadline day won't just cost them a grade; it could cost them their job.
>>>
>>> Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Chelsea Kate Isaacs
>>> Senior
>>> CW Post - Long Island University
>>>
>>> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Speed up your PC

By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer and keep it running smoothly.

Free up disk space
By freeing disk space, you can improve the performance of your computer. The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk. The utility identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.
Use Disk Cleanup to:
•Remove temporary Internet files.
•Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).
•Empty the Recycle Bin.
•Remove Windows temporary files.
•Remove optional Windows components that you don't use.
•Remove installed programs that you no longer use.
Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.
Speed up access to data
Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer. Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.
Detect and repair disk errors
In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility. As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.
Protect your computer against spyware
Spyware collects personal information without letting you know and without asking for permission. From the Web sites you visit to usernames and passwords, spyware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer's performance. To combat spyware, you might want to consider using Microsoft Windows Defender, which is included in Windows Vista, and is available as a free download for Microsoft XP SP2. Alternatively, there are other free anti-spyware software programs available.

Virtual murder an online reality

Police say woman logged on virtual reality game and ended ex's avatar.

TOKYO - A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher's sudden divorce from her online husband in a virtual game world made her so angry that she logged on and killed his digital persona, police said Thursday.

She used his identification and password to log onto popular interactive game "Maple Story" to carry out the virtual murder in mid-May, a police official in northern Sapporo City said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

"I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.

Search Web on Facebook Via Microsoft Live Search

It's been almost a year since Microsoft invested $240 million in Facebook. What does that type of cash get you these days? A search box, apparently. Facebook announced this week that it will include an option to search the Web via Microsoft Live Search without leaving Facebook.com.

"By integrating web search into Facebook, you can increase the information available to share with your friends, family and coworkers on the site," according to a Facebook blog post. Not quite sure what your friend's latest status update means? Google--uh, I mean, Live Search it in the Facebook search box on the upper-right-hand corner. A drop-down menu will give you the option to search the term within Facebook.com or on the Web. Live Search will produce search returns within Facebook, but clicking on a link will produce a pop-up window directing you to your link of choice. Facebook said it is "working on a number of other new ways to leverage all the web has to offer" but did not provide additional details. Facebook made no mention of whether search terms will show up in a users' news feed, but let's hope the social networking site has learned its lesson on that front after the Beacon debauchal.

Vodafone and Verizon to offer new touch-screen BlackBerry

Research In Motion is taking on Apple with a BlackBerry phone that puts a new twist on touch-screen technology.

RIM is known for its e-mail-oriented phones with large keypads. With the new model announced Wednesday, called the Storm, RIM is giving up for the first time the physical keypad in favor of a large screen, similar to the one on the Apple iPhone.

But RIM has listened to users who find the iPhone's glass screen awkward to type on because its virtual buttons provide no tactile feedback. The Storm's whole screen is backed with springs; when pressed, it gives under the finger.

The long-rumored Storm will be available before the holidays from Verizon Wireless in the United States and from Vodafone Group in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand, the companies said. The price has not been announced..

The iPhone's facility with Web browsing and movie playing are big reasons for its appeal. The Storm will initially lack an equivalent of Apple's iTunes movie store, though shorter clips will be available through Verizon Wireless's VCast service.

As a Web browser, the Storm more closely emulates the desktop experience than the iPhone does. That is because the screen can distinguish between light touches and firm pressure. A light touch can move around a cursor, while firm pressure activates a link, much as moving a mouse cursor has a different effect from clicking a mouse button, said Mike Lazaridis, co-chief executive of RIM.

Google puts tunes from YouTube a click away

Google introduced a new type of e-commerce ad that YouTube users can click to buy digital goods from Apple's iTunes or Amazon.com.

In its continuing effort to find a way to make money from its YouTube unit, Google introduced on Tuesday a type of e-commerce ad that YouTube users can click to buy digital goods from Apple's iTunes or Amazon.com. Under the new program, viewers of a video with a music track, for example, would be able to click on an icon to download that song from one of the two music stores.

Protect your data

Today, nearly all corporate information exists in electronic form, so it stands to reason that enterprises must secure their databases as part of any information protection and control (IPC) strategy to protect sensitive information and comply with policy regulations. The growing internal threats to business information, the impact of government regulations on the protection of data, and how enterprises must adopt database security best practices to prevent the loss of sensitive customer data or company information. Protect your data.

Phones that are music to your ears‏

Do you like music on the go, but don't want to compromise on design, imaging and video?

Next to offering great sound, they also provide a splendid camera and excellent screen quality. Not to mention their looks...matching accessories...

Two new Walkman® phones that will fondle your ears and please your eyes. The W902 has a 5 megapixel camera, 8GB memory under the hood and a crystal clear 2.2" display.
The W302 is the most affordable Walkman® phone to date with a 2 megapixel camera, FM radio and TrackID in a slim & stylish package.

MS Office for Android G1 is Coming; MS Exchange, Maybe Not

The T-Mobile G1 may have some serious problems getting traction with working folk because of two key, missing features: lack of Microsoft Exchange e-mail support and lack of Microsoft Office document support. Quickoffice says they're on the case for MS Office support, and working as fast as they can. Since they're trying to do Blackberry, iPhone and Symbian clients, too, their manpower is limited, they said. "We're currently developing our software for the Android platform and are very excited by the promise we're seeing with the ecosystem. The openness of the platform will help third party developers, including Quickoffice, build robust, applications for the device. We believe the G1 phone addresses consumer demands for devices with a slick user experience and high-quality applications, and are looking forward to being a part of system," said Paul Moreton, VP of product management at Quickoffice. Dataviz, makers of DocumentsToGo, said they aren't working on an Android product right now. Unfortunately, we don't have as happy a tale to tell about Exchange support. We asked both QuickOffice and DataViz (both of whom have worked with Exchange on other platforms) whether they were building Exchange conduits for Android. Both companies said no. Who do you think might step up to the plate?