Colin Charles Agenda

So, I don’t read dead tree newspapers (dislike newsprint, think I get more unbiased news online, anyway), but I wish I had got The Star from a few days ago. Why?

Because Anas Zubedy published an amazing ad. He spent about RM40,000 on it. The gist of the message?

Please stop the power chase, call for a truce and focus on the economy.

Malaysia is about the only country that seems to focus largely on political power plays in this time of day. Every other country has a news service and a government that focuses on the economy. Our economic news seems to hardly cover the mainstream — lowering interest rates, losing value to the USD, job loss, and more. Politics though, still the focus.

Stop the fighting. Its childish. We didn’t elect a government to lead us into more screwups. Fix the economy. If you’re Malaysian, read the ad. If you’re not, realise that we might say we’re “Truly Asia” and multicultural, but that’s just on the surface — finding a “Malaysian” is hard (note: I feel for Zubedy, because I too like to call myself Malaysian — but I’m a rare breed), so maybe you’ll get a true picture from reading the ad.

And if you want to know more about this colourful character, there’s an interview with Zubedy, where he focuses and strives on unity. We need more forward-thinking Malaysians like Zubedy. We need Malaysians, period (you know, stop focusing on racial lines — stop race based parties, etc.).

I have lamented before, that Apple should sell the device, in more markets, especially here in Malaysia. I experimented with grabbing one here, and it turned out to be a pleasant experience. I can only sing praises for iWorld’s customer service, and quick delivery, and more.

But I think I’ve come to a realisation as to why the iPhone 3G is not ready for the Malaysian market yet, despite it being a groundbreaking device. So assuming you’re pining for one, you might want to think again, and settle for what is available in the market currently.

1. The camera is nothing to shout about – who cares for a 2MP camera, with no flash, no video recording by default. The quality is passable, but no different from my old Nokia E61i. I’d have expected a lot more from Apple, clearly.
2. No Multimedia Messaging (MMS) – don’t you think this is short-sighted? You’ve snapped a nice photo, and now you want to share it, and your only method to do it, is via email? Especially when the cost of MMS is a lot less than the cost of sending one email – unless you have an unlimited data plan, and that comes at around RM99/month via Maxis.
3. No video calling – the whole idea of a 3G network, is that you have a lot more bandwidth to use, and you would make video calls. In fact, Maxis doesn’t charge you any more to make a video call, than they charge you to make a voice call. Is this forward thinking? I believe so. But with the iPhone 3G, you cannot make a video call, which seems kind of daft. Its useful, when you’re out shopping, or just wanting to see what the other person looks like…

So, unless you’ve got an unlimited data plan (they don’t come cheaply), you’ll find the iPhone 3G lacking. In fact, even with an unlimited data plan, its kind of lacking, in comparison to what you can get from Nokia and other providers. Apparently, not only I think the iPhone 3G is semi-daft – APC magazine came out with ten reasons too (though to be fair, cut&paste works now, I believe).

And until the iTunes Music Store becomes available, I don’t see it being too useful. In fact, I see a lot of iPhone’s being used these days, but I can assure you the use of the AppStore is limited – so, even if I were planning to develop applications for the local market, I would think again.

On local developers
I would however like to highlight that there are local iPhone/iPod Touch application developers. Take a look a ApptivityLab with their mistletoe application, as well as the wabbit studio’s shizi app, that is a Chinese & Hong Kong units translator.

I always remember writing units translators when I first learn a new language. Its one of those exercises that you do, similar to Hello World.

At some stage, it would be great if there were local applications, that provided more integration with the A-GPS, and more. I have plenty of ideas, but its a chicken and egg situation – I’ll have to wait for Apple to bring the device here. But Apple won’t – because the device is lacking. So maybe, we’ll see something new at WWDC 2009? I doubt it, but I have hope. Why? Because Apple designs for the American market largely, and the American cell networks, are just not nearly as advanced as those, outside America.

As an aside… I’m surprised it was ready for the Singaporean market. I’d have assumed that MMS, a phone that records video, video calls, and more, would be required.

So, its a few hours before MacWorld 2009, and I’m contemplating getting an iPhone 3G. December 2008 has come and gone, and there is no sign of Apple partnering with any telco, or deciding to sell unlocked units in Malaysia, much to my annoyance. No, no, I love my Nokia E71, I’m just researching the iPhone 3G.

David runs MyMacBuzz, and has a useful resource available: Where to get legally unlocked iPhone 3G (updated). Many folk on Twitter also helped, and pointed me to iWorld (horrible Flash based website).

iWorld sells the 16GB edition for RM3,099, and the 8GB one for RM2,899. Its all unlocked, and nice. I couldn’t help but mosey over and compare it though, with other countries (I’m told unlocked versions are sold in Singapore too, I just couldn’t find the price online, easily).

• 8GB: iWorld (RM2,899), NZ Vodafone (NZD$979 = RM2,005), HK Apple Store (HKD$5,400 = RM2,437)
• 16GB: iWorld (RM3,099), NZ Vodafone (NSD$1,129 = RM2,308), HK Apple Store (HKD$6,200 = RM2,806)

This is what I like to see – seen at the Apple Store Hong Kong

Apparently, Optus is selling the iPhone 3G 8GB for AUD$729 (which is only RM1,820), but to unlock it you’ve got to be on a contract (I wonder if my AUD$5 contract applies? Probably not).

iWorld apparently provides a warranty for seven days, but beyond that, you’re on your own – they’ll help you out if need be, but I guess if something goes wrong, you’re on your own.

I know there have been lots of MacWorld predictions and wishes, but my hope is that we’ll see iPhones available in more regions, unlocked, even.

Today I found Must Go Lah, a portal for events happening around Malaysia. Its a WordPress-based site (still 2.5), run gratis, by Orangedot Technologies.

I even disabled AdBlock Plus to look at the site and found no monetary business model (read: ads). I’m impressed – I wonder how long it will last. Do we really need another site for events listings, considering there already is Upcoming? Turns out of course that there are more events listed on MustgoLah, then there is on Upcoming. I’ve added it to my RSS reader.

Are there more event portals in Malaysia that you know of?

Via Ditesh:

Interesting aside: the bus stopped in a ${RANDOM} town in Johor for food, and at the cashier, I spotted the cashier using KC POS which had a prominent “Powered by MySQL” text and the Sakila logo. Very cool!

This was a small town coffee shop, using a cash register, powered by the mighty Sakila. Similar to the chain of restaurants, Old Town White Coffee.

The whole blog post from Ditesh itself is interesting, but knowing you can find MySQL just about anywhere, showing the ubiquity of the database, just makes you proud to know, you work at/on/with MySQL.

More for my reference than anything else…

I originally read it in the dead tree edition of The Edge. Its a pity they don’t place all their content online (worried about people not buying your paper for RM5? Place it online after a month, its “dated” enough to be free).

Facts:

• According to Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop, only 1.2 million of Malaysia’s 10.5 million workers earn more and pay income tax.
• Only 38,500 earning a taxable income of RM100,000 and above are in the highest tax bracket.

The above via Malaysians brace themselves for higher cost of living. If you can get past the opinion, most of the article is quoted in this comment.