Env-Friendly Technology

One of my uncles (a taxi driver) in KL is trying to persuade me to change my car to run on Autogas.
For those who are not clear about this term, Autogas is an alternative to fuels (potential to reduce harmful exhaust emissions from traffic), it is the most important and accepted alternative fuel in the automotive sector.

Photo taken from Caltex

According to him (my uncle), most taxi in KL already converted to run on Autogas to reduce their expenses on keep on increasing fuel price; which will also increase their earning in the order words. It saves more then 60% of their expenses on fuel itself.

Converting your car to Autogas will easily cast you around RM 2-3k. Take myself for an example, my fuel expenses is around RM 200 per month. If I would able to save 60% of it, means I just spend  RM 80 per month for my fuel expenses.

I would be able to save RM 120 per month (200-80=120) on fuel itself. Let’s say I convert my car to Autogas for RM2500, it will take me 1.7 years (2500/120/12 month per year) to recover from my converting cost.

I think that it’s a wise choice for the conversion, but what worried me is that will our car price depreciate tremendously if we convert our car into Autogas?

More information will need to gather before the move…for instances, if you have any doubts on Autogas, I personally think that this self-explain information from Shell will help a lot. For your reading pleasure…   

Technorati Tags:  autogas, green, global warming

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There is another easy for us to save to earth and be more environmental friendly. Enroll for electronic statement for your credit cards.

I did noticed about this until i received by credit card statement for month of October. There is a promotion by Citibank to encourage its users based to be more environmental friendly, that’s to use electronic statement and being paperless.

As what quoted in their promotion, "You’ll help save trees while reducing the energy consumption and waste by-products involved in paper production.". During this promotion you will get 888 rewards points. It’s really a great initiavite to create the awareness to save the environment, print less and only when it’s necessary!

So, if you are a Citibank credit card users, enroll now and you got nothing to less…let’s play some part in saving our earth!

Technorati Tags:  environmental friendly, paperless, global warming

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There are two methods that i normally practice to get rid of my used computer.

If the computer is still usable and in good condition, i will donate it to charity society. If the computer already broken, i will then try to disassemble it into individual parts like hard disks, RAM, graphic cards, CD or DVD ROM. I will use back the component if it’s compatible with my new purchase of hardware, if it’s too old or incompatible with my new hardware, i will them give it out to my friends or family who need it as a spare or replacement. The rest of the item i will sell it to the local shop for some cheap (really so cheap) price.

Now it seems that we have more options to choose from for unused computer. HP environmental: Product Return and Recycling program will help to manage your unused computer environmental friendly. You can either choose to trade in, return for cash, recycle or donate it. Which is a better practice that save the environment rather then you throw it into the dustbin.

You can trade in your old computer and upgrade it to new HP technology; Recycle HP inkjet and LaserJet cartridges for free or even you can choose to donate you used computer equipment.

Everyone shall make a small changes that will contribute to be a big changes to save our environment.

Visit HP Environment for more details.

Technorati Tags: hp, recycle, global warming

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We are always told to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink before we do any purchase in order to save our earth from Global Warming.

We can reduce the usage of our electricity by or set timer or increase our air conditional temperature to 24 degree or more; we reuse our own food container to reduce the usage of plastic or PVC food container; we rethink before we buy any new electronic products or electronic accessories, but have you ever think of that we shall reuse the sewage water as our drinking water?

I came across an interesting article from Asia News Network that Singapore converts its waste water into crystal-clear liquid that look and tastes like any other bottled water. This crystal-clear drinking water is produces by Singapore’s NEWater Centre.

You dare to drink it? I’m amazed with their technology and according to the informations provided in NEWater’s website, this is a high grade water purified using a 3-step process involving advanced membrane technologies like Micro filtration, Reverse Osmosis and the final disinfection of the product water using ultraviolet light. With these technologies, they claimed that NEWater is cleaner then PUB Water. It’s very clear and sparkling.

As we all know, Singapore is short of natural resources compared to Malaysia and Indonesia, but the growing of its population and economy has pushed there but their technologies in to the next level. They have been more advance in this area compared what we have in our country.

Mindset and attitudes is the most important factor to success. Will that means that only country with less or even no natural resources will be more appreciate to what they have and take the initiative to preserve them? As a country that full with natural resources like water, gas and petroleum, we really need to start look for other alternatives not only to improve or maintain our economy competitiveness against Asian country but also to preserve our natural resources before it’s too late.  

Technorati Tags: global-warming, global warming

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What did you do what your old MP3 player or old mobile phones?

With more and more new models rolling out means that there are more and more numbers of obsolete models, how are you going to handle those expired models?

Electronics devices contains a lot of metals and chemicals such as lead which is not environmental friendly. It really needs to handle with care else it will be harmful to our environment. Songs downloading via internet has made us buy less from the local song’s CD stores, but it ends up with the sales boosts of empty CDs to keep our songs or data in CDs.

The only to help in this is the 4R’s. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE and RETHINK before you buy.

I have been taking about buying “ENERGY STAR” electronics and changes of energy saving light bulbs. Here are more ways provided by MyGreenElectronics.

Visit MyGreenElectronics for more tips. 

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Running out of battery for your lovely gadgets like Digital Camera, iPod, mobile phone or PDA?

Worry not with this solar backpack, it charges your gadgets with the power of our nature, the sun. I come accross this ad from TreeHugger, it’s a Voltaic backpack that have solar panels. It comes together with a car charger as well in the package, you can still charge your gadgets with your car charger (cigerette charger in our car) even your does not have access to the direct sun for a full recharge. Price is from $199 and above.

I would said that is expensive to me. However, if your have the badget and plan to buy a branded backpack, why not consider this solar backpack to give support to these environmental friendly product?

 One of the disadvantage of this backpack is it does not designed to charge laptop. It will definitely a plus to its usage if it can support laptop battery recharge…

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I think this cool cap is most suiltable to be used in tropical country like Malaysia, the hotter the sun shines, the fan turns faster, and you will feel cooler…

What make the fan turns? Thanks to the Solar top panel, with this we can have alternative to the usual cap and go for this value added ‘Cool Cap’…

Source : Select Solar

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We are always encourage to use reusable dining set and get rid of those disposable one to save our environment.

I have seen those charity groups like Tzu Chi who always prepared their own set of reusable dining set whenever they held their activities.

This Picnic for One is specially designed for sportsmen and adventures. It can be used as a plate, cup, spice castor. But i do think that it’s suitable to use in any outing activity as we prepared our own dining set and save the environment by get rid of those disposable plates and cups.

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I come across this product from PC World and I drafted this post during last Friday when i was in the office. Plan to upload it to this blog as my next post. This few days I’m engaged with 2 wedding dinners and some setup stuff with my own domain at Horeki.com, i only got time to post it now.

I realised that this topic have been posted HongKiat.com and even JohnChow. Since i have written my post, no point i kept it, so i decided to share this out, as this post is only based on my personal opinion to this product.

Microsoft’s Multi-Touch Surface Table

I’m sure every one shall have coffee table in our house. I used to put some plants as decoration.
Will it be cool if we can have some life digital photos display on you coffee table?

We have heard of digital photo frame which will display our digital photo dynamically,
Do you want to put some extra colours to your living room? Now you can have some excited moments in you living room with this Microsoft’s Multi-Touch Surface Table.

You can even drag to enlarge or screw the photos size.

Share your enlighten moment with your friends or family with a cup of coffee and photo at the ease of your finger tips .

As mentioned here, the surface computer uses infrared sensors to identify real objects placed on the glass and give users tactile, truly interactive control of content such as photos, music, and maps–all while chillin’ on the couch with a brewski.

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My 4 years old AMD based motherboard finally burned. Once i connected to the internet, the on-board network interface always caused my windows hanged. I have been struggling around to find a notebook as my desktop replacement.

Until yesterday, i decided to buy on first notebook after some survey done on several outlets. Compaq V3204AU, yeah, it’s AMD processor for me again this time. I have no complaint on AMD processor so far on its performance except it really release more heat compared to Intel based processor.

 Windows Vista Basic as its OS, Compaq V3204AU comes with 120GB Hard Disk, NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150, DVD RW, embedded ALTEC Lansing, built in 802.11a/b/g wireless, Bluetooth and 6 in one cars reader. Sounds quality is superb as for my personal requirement.

I bought this notebook for RM3199. Extra 512 RAM for RM153. Targus back pack for RM99 and extended it to 3 years warranty for another RM199. Total up to be RM3650.

Compaq V3204AU is running on AMD Turion 64 x 2 1.60 GHz processor, which is equivalent to Intel Duo Core Processor. I upgrade it to 1GB of RAM with no regret as Vista is really a RAM sucker… with few program running simultaneously, the RAM usage is always on 40-50% utilization. If you got budget, an upgrade to 2GB RAM is really recommended for a better Vista experience, expeacially for Vista Premium with AERO. I’m going to try to increase its page size, hope it will give some extra resources for my RAM usage.

At first i was afraid that driver compatibility issues for Vista with my HP 1210 All-in-one printer. Luckily this issue was not exist as Vista automatically detect my printer drivers and no software installation required for scanning purposes. All scanning can be done in Windows Photo Gallery. Much more convenience compared to my previous Windows XP experience.

As of current, i will consider it a overall good performance for my Compaq V3204AU notebook, so now i can continue blogging.

Technorati Tags: compaq, reviews, notebook, vista, tech gadget

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My previous post on Is Google Controlling The World, i mentioned some of the Google Apps which have been largely used. PC World evaluate the 100 best product for year 2007 and Google Apps Premium Edition has scored No.1 in the list. You will find most of the things you needed in Google Apps like Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheets, Page Creator and Start Page, everything is hosted by Google and you have no/minimum installation to be done to your hardward or software.

If you are interested, you may try the Standard Edition here which is free. Premium Editoin is going to cost $50 which aimed for Small businesses or Enterprises level. You will have 2GB of email storage space for Standard Edition and 10GB of email storage for Premium Edition.

Seems what i mentioned is going to be true as more and more users are get to use with Google applications and it has created a significant challenge to Microsoft’s products. With the data patent that we type daily in Google Search Engine, appointments that you saved in Google Calender for example, Google is going to know what is your interest area in the near future.

Intel Core 2 Duo super fast processor scored No.2; for those gamers, Nintendo Wii scored No.3.

Some of the other products are Apple iPod (80GB) 、Google Gmail、Google YouTube 、Mozilla Firefox 2 、Google Picasa 、Skype 3、Yahoo Flickr 、Apple iPod Nano (8GB), Lenovo ThinkPad X60 、Google Maps for Mobile、Microsoft Office 2007、Apple iTunes、Adobe CS3 & Microsoft Windows Media Player 11.

You may refer PC World for more info…

Technorati Tags: google, ipod, apple, nintendo wii, tech, gadget, top, lenovo, best products

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#10 - Climbing clock . It hangs above your head and starts climbing while it rings. Don’t wake up fast enough, and you won’t be able to shut it up without a ladder.

# 9 Wake Up Puzzle . You have to build the puzzle to make it stop

# 8 Wake or Curse . You can ask it what the time is and it will answer. But if you don’t wake up quickly enough it will curse you.

# 7 High Tech . This one has a vibrator, 95 db alarm and police style rotating light that you cannot ignore.

# 6 Find The Pin - You need find the right pin to stop it’s ringing. Not going to stay sleepy after this mission.

# 5 Chicken and Egg Problem - The egg laying alarm clock. It will only quiet down after you put all the eggs back.

# 4 GI Joe . You will wake to the sound of your commander’s wake up call. Don’t mess with it.

# 3 Floating Around - Will float around the room until you’ll catch it.

# 2 Kaboom - This acoustic grenade will wake the neighborhood with it’s ultra loud sound level.

# 1 Hide and Seek - The winner is the hide and seek alarm clock. Once it begins to ring it falls down to the floor and finds a random place to hide.  Chase it down or else you’re doomed.

Which one you prefer? I prefer none of them. I prefer to wake up by myself every morning…

Technorati Tags: alarms, alarm, top 10, gadget, tech, tech gadget

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I always have difficulties on remembering my online accounts password. While we need to save guard our password and there is always a good practice to have a strong password (with combination of capital letters, numbers, characters and special characters). It’s also advisable to change our password very 3 months. I have been practicing this and now it seems that sometimes I will type my password wrongly (since we cannot use a same password for all our online accounts) and sometimes even I need to click on “forget password” to recover my password.

Currently there are many devices like Notebook and PDA already have finger print device attached; so that those unknown users are unable to guess your password.

With these devices called Eikon form UPEK, security made simple, you no longer have to remember your password. You can easily access to numerous types of website (Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, Citibank or even VPN) with just a swipe of your fingerprint.

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GPS has been broadly use in the tracking devices & navigation system. Using the GPS coordinates, appropriate software can perform all manner of tasks, from locating the unit, to finding a route from A to B, or dynamically selecting the best route in real time, and its usage is very common in Pocket PC or PDA.

I came across this interesting product so called SkyKap, from a magazine and let me share with you all how this product looks like:

This GPS enabled cap will able to provide you with information about distance to things such as the pin, water hazards and fairway boundaries, and it whispers the info into your ear. For starter to golf, this will be a handy gadget to wear around…

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I came across an article from Nanyang Daily said that Malaysia are going to have it’s first IPTV soon. This service will be provided by Yoonic, where users able to watch TV with just a broadband connection, and it’s price is just like a cups of CoffeeBeans…

According to this article, even users who are currently using 512k like me can still watch movies with no interuption & delay.  I have tried other broadband TV like PPLive, TVAnts, SyokTV…etc, the results was really dissappointed with my 512k broadband connection.

Hope that Yoonic can give us a better choice & alternative and then i can consider to unsubcribe my Astro. Which i think Astro monthly subscription are expensive but anyway, a good competition among providers always benefits it’s end users…

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