Happy Labour Day (or some call it May Day)

Wow it's a labour day today, I never thought of anxiously waiting this particular public holiday previously. Although it is just a day to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers, for me getting out of the month of April is worth of a celebration because April of 2008 is the longest month that I ever experience in my life. Why? I'll tell you why in short while, but first let just celebrate the day by smiling and knowing that the trio burglar who broke in our office last week were arrested last Sunday and are now remanded in Penang. (Read the full news here).

Let's get back to the story of the longest April in my life. It started on 1st April itself. My wife called to inform that she invloved in a car accident. I wish it was April fool prank so that I knew that in the end everything is a lie, but it was not. My wife and her friend were fine and the damage looks minor to me, but to be involve in an accident is a tedeous process. Initial police report and waiting the police to investigate for 2 weeks is fine, after all it is written on the wall. But what they failed to tell us all is that you need to wait another 2 weeks to get the printed investigation report after the investigation is done. Until now the car still in the workshop. I wish this would never happened again, ever.

As the day reaching 4th of April, my former CEO informed me that NCE is having a financial difficulty (perhaps the suitable word is financial disaster). But he promissed to pay the March salary on 8 April. After changing the date 3 times, it was never happened. It was a clear sign to me (after so many signs) that I need to move on. An entire family at a stake here. I did calculate the financial damage done here would affect us for at least 5 months. Damn. I wish this would never happened again, period.

15th April was my new chapter at Papyrus Media. It is a new company setup, I even acted as photographer during the official Papyrus Media Open Day ceremony. But a week after that, 3 indian burglars broke in and took all notebook including my external hardisk, and other stuff. The estimated total lost were around RM 24000. I thought it wouldn't happen to me but I thought wrong. See the full CCTV video footage below.



To a relief, I recieved a message that NCE would pay my March salary but 3 days after that the bank called to inform that they can't process the cheque. Yup, rejected. Sob sob, don't you guys tested my patience enough?

Well that is the whole story of my life in April 2008. Could it be a lot more worse than these? You bet, but who knows, maybe something good come could out of this mess.

SOA based apps

Justin has compiled a useful SOA based applications or some called it as service-oriented business applications (SOBAs). What ever it is, for each application, you just need a browser to do the task, no desktop based application required (some may require browser plugin).

... read on 40 Excellent Web Based Tools to Help You Design from Anywhere.

15 April

I woke up this morning and I heard Mazidul Akmal Sidek and Abby Fana talking in the MHI about what happened on 15 April for the past years or centuries. If I can remember some of it are something like the following:

The birth of Leonardo da Vinci
RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic
Hillsborough disaster - 96 people died (all fans of Liverpool Football Club)

and some others (if interested check Wikipedia's On This Day for a lot more events). But the main point of 15 April in my life this year is that I change job again. Yup, again. Although I add this as reserved plan but I never thought of using it this fast (just over 3 months). To be honest I really hated changing work place too often but nothing much I could do to improve the situation. What really happened? I rather not saying this to the public but I could say that a father, husband or son could do anything to protect what really maters to him. Well in my case, my big family of course. I also did some thinking for the past 2 weeks and a lot of kick ass apps start pouring in my brain. It just a matter of time to complete each one of those app. Well wish me luck.

How to keep focus at work?

Did you ever feel that time really flies? You start your day by browse through your email, read news, click on link, spend hours and hours on unrelated-to-work website. When you knew it, the time is up and you're still wondering what did you do all day. Did you ever wish to overcome this? Well it is up to the individual to improve them self towards a better job or service done.

Another scenario is when you are working alone or self employed. How to keep track your time spend or how to analyze your time management towards your goal.

Yet another scenario, if you are an employer, did you ever wish that you could analyze the time spend by each of your employee?

I'm not sure how other people solve those scenarios but the way I see it there is a tool out there that specifically solve all of those (or at least half of it). Why don't you try the RescueTime. Yup the tools literally could save your time.

RescueTime is a web-based time-management tool that allows you to easily understand how you spend your time. One of the coolest things about RescueTime is that there is NO DATA ENTRY. You install a doohicky on your computer and they "magically" track all of your time usage. Take their product tour for better understanding.

Getting Started - JSP

I realized that not every time you could closely work on project with different technology or platform, even if you had power to do so. In this case we get the opportunity to develop a project using JSP, which is something new to us. But one thing for sure, it takes lots of energy and guts to start kicking. So whoever reading this post, this is how we execute the project from ground up.

What is JSP? Java Server Pages (JSP) are an afterbirth of Java Servlets. When Java Servlets were introduced it opened many avenues to a Java programmer. Java became a full fledged application server programming language

Before to get started, the first thing you need to do is to setup the environment for JSP programming. As with any other Java technology, the first obvious tool you need is of course the JDK. If you do not have any JDK installed you can start by downloading and installing JDK. Unlike any other Java program which can run on a JRE (Java runtime environment) a JSP page needs a JSP container to run

A JSP container is nothing but a web server such as Apache or Tomcat that supports JSP hosting. So you will need to download and install Tomcat. Other servers that supports JSP hosting are BEA weblogic, IBM's Websphere or SUN's Sun Java Application server. While all these servers require a licence before you can use, tomcat is free. Tomcat has evolved to be a very stable and open source server and is widely in use in many commercial applications. So for all your development as well as hosting your JSP applications you can use Tomcat. But if you feel adventurous, the other option is GlassFish server.

Once you have these two, the next step is to get an IDE for Java development. There are many quality IDE such as Codewarrior, JBuilder, Borland etc. There are also a few free development tools such as the Sun Java Studio or the Net beans current version 6.0.1 (as in current posting date) or Eclipse.

So you should have any combination of the above three tools for JSP programming and JSP hosting. An ideal total open source free combination will be JDK, Tomcat and Netbeans. Once you have installed these three you are ready to learn the fundamentals of JSP and start coding and testing.

WTF - Semakan Maklumat Pemilih Online

I don't know how to say this, but today I have to share this to the world. What is the worse than failure (wtf) when you openly disclose the thing that you say you never done it? Well, in this case the Suruhanjaya PilihanRaya Malaysia (SPR) reveal what is the real record inside their database. SPR providing the online facility to check the location of polling for the 12th general election to all registered Malaysian citizen. You can check it Server 1 or at Server 2.

Last few weeks I saw an interview (I think the chairman himself) regarding the Malaysia 12th election. He explains all issues regarding how SPR will organize the election and some info about the registered Malaysian who qualified to poll. When answering about what happened to the deceased record. He said it will be removed from their database. Based on that statement, the record above clearly doesn't show it that way. However if his claimed is true, the record displayed on their website is the one that fools us all. How could be the 128 years old person still in the SPR record.

But when looking carefuly at I.C no (don't ask me how did I get it), I'm quite certain the explanation is simple. If the I.C is valid & the person is still alive, they should limit their calculation condition up to 1900 for the age. Agree?

Fashion show

This is a 3 hours job to create a fashion related website for a local company. Wish he all the best with the new website.

2008 - Challenging year for us all

Why did I said that? There are so many thing happening to our family (or other people) before even reaching February. Let me see...

• Qalbi turns 3 months old in 7 days,
  
• I joined a new company,
• The new company moved to a new premise,
• Another child missing (Sharlinie) causing the biggest child search ever made in Malaysian history,
  
• Proton launched the new SAGA,
• My 1st sister in law getting married in 2 weeks time,
• Thaipusam were declared as a public holiday for Kuala Lumpur,
  
• The economist predicted 2007-2008 as an economic downturn period, and
  
• The last but not least, my wife getting fired/dismissed from IMPSA without reason with just 2 weeks notice.

Even though not all mentioned above is a bad news (the new SAGA pricing rocks) but what matters to me is the BAD news. The worst case scenario is when all the bad news above combined. If that ever happened our family could barely survive through out the year.

Particularly the last news surprised me. A global respectably company, IMPSA could abruptly laid off some staffs without any strong reason, without asking a show cause letter, without warning or advice from superior, only the Malay / Muslim staff effected, without any compensation with just 2 weeks notice and expecting the poor staff to get back to other job after 2 weeks time in current economy. I'm not sure if this is a standard practice in Argentina, but the terms are definitely not favorable to any workers in Malaysia ever.

.....to be continued (follow the IMPSA tag)

Malaysian Immigration Department - Applying for a group pass within ASEAN Country

We were just get back from the Malaysian Immigration Department in Pusat Bandar Damansara. This is our first time applying for a group pass to enter Singapore, so we do not sure the procedure at all. So what we did, we tried to call the help-line but there is no response, not even an auto response machine. Browsing their website did clarify a few things but there no online form (which is rare now a day). Feeling helpless, we went to Pusat Bandar Damansara our self to ask some questions about the procedure. The officer at the ground attending us and suggest to buy some application forms. For each sheets, the charges is RM1.

Looking at the form, the department really need to upgrade their application form, period. Here are some info they failed to inform to us (through form or verbally):

• The current fee is RM200 per group not RM65 as stated in the form.
• Each IC copy must be attached back to back, or ask the photo copy attendant to do the same effect.
• The group leader requires 2 copy of IC.
• To measure high, please use centimeter. The instruction in the form just stated metric but which one is unclear (cm,mm,meter,kilometer)
  
• This one, nothing to do with the form. On Friday the counter will close (the whole building) from 12PM to 2:45PM. There is no need to que-up in advance at the entrance door simply because you don't know which counter are suitable with your type of application.
• Oh, for those producing your own passport photo, please use light blue background, make sure to measure from top to chin is at 3 centimeter and don't use glossy paper.

Android Demo

Here is a demo on Android (based on my previous Android entry) found in YouTube.

ZDNet's Top 10 IT disasters of all time

This is my Friday morning laughing dose of the week.

1. Faulty Soviet early warning system nearly causes WWIII (1983)
2. The AT&T network collapse (1990)
3. The explosion of the Ariane 5 (1996)
4. Airbus A380 suffers from incompatible software issues (2006)
5. Mars Climate Observer metric problem (1998)
6. EDS and the Child Support Agency (2004)
7. The two-digit year-2000 problem (1999/2000)
8. When the laptops exploded (2006)
9. Siemens and the passport system (1999)
10. LA Airport flights grounded (2007)
    

For more details check it out on ZDNet's Top 10 IT disasters of all time

Android Developer Challenge

Google's Open Handset Alliance Project just released the Android software development kit (SDK) on Monday (Android Site). On top of that, the alliance offering $10 million reward to any developers with promising mobile apps built on Android platform (no string attached). If you are wondering what Android is all about, Android is another ambitious project initiated by Google to come out with an open source software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. The mobile suite is expected to power phones in the second half of 2008.

For further information, Android Documentation is the best source of reference. Among some of the technical details and features about Android:

• Android is a platform based on the Linux 2.6 kernel, a set of libraries, multimedia interface and phone applications;
• The platform includes the Dalvik virtual machine;
• Android is based on the Apache v2 open source license.
• Integrated browser based on the open source WebKit engine
• Optimized graphics powered by a custom 2D graphics library.
• SQLite for structured data storage
• Media support for common audio, video, and still image formats (MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, GIF)
• GSM Telephony
• Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi
• Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer
• Rich development environment including a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE

For any Malaysian developer out there this is your chance to materialized your idea and get recognition on global scale. Any takers?

Web Services - Why and How to Build

Have you ever interface a web service before. A web service consists of a server to serve requests to the web service and a client to invoke methods on the web service. Web Services is a modern and very popular technology. Some popular public sites that offer their web service are Flickr, Facebook and so many social site like MySpace, LinkedIn, Hi5 and others though Google's OpenSocial web service.

With Web services readily available, and as the pool of XML Web services grows, you will be able to find software modules that can be integrated into your own application, by finding it and integrating it through XML Web services. Integrate with existing Web services instead of reinventing them. The bottom line is that you will be able to develop much faster than before.

Here are some reasons why Web Services should work where prior approaches have failed

1. Universal Support. Previous de facto, or de jure interoperability standards usually lacked participation by one or more key vendors.
2. Protocol not Platform. It doesn’t require the adoption of a common platform, just adherence to the standard protocols.
3. Low Product Costs. Sure vendors will want to sell products that optimize the Web Service experience in some way, but the basic needs are going to be supported essentially for free as part of the platform or as an adjunct to some existing product. Nor are they expensive to adopt in term of development effort. Everyone can play this game without major investment.
4. Evolutionary. Long term, Web Services will likely usher in some revolutionary new ideas that force the replacement of existing systems. In the meantime consider Web Services as evolutionary and use them to leverage your existing applications and infrastructure rather than requiring rip and replace - another low cost benefit.
5. Business Oriented. Web Services don’t just appeal to the technician, but directly address real business needs of today. The business didn’t care about OO or CBD, but should care about Web Services, particularly where they directly reflect some meaningful business concept, and especially where they are being exposed external – and hence are a reflection on the business.

The list of protocols and technologies related to Web Services grows every day, but SOAP is probably the most important. It is rapidly becoming the standard protocol for accessing Web Services. So you might want to consider to add web service on you current development plan.

So now probably you are wondering how to build your own web service based on your current application. Since web service is a protocol, platform doesn't really matter. You probably could build a web service from ColdFusion, PHP, ASP or JSP but for a start let just pick PHP. There two methods of creating web services in PHP, SOAP Web Service & XML-RPC Web Service.

Deepak Vohra wrote an excellent tutorial on how to create web service with SOAP & XML-RPC in PHP 5 for a beginner. I've tested the code and I'm quite sure you'll get the idea pretty quick.

What do I hope from all this? I would like to see more and more web service coming from our soil, specifically Malaysia. Perhaps the web service could create some degree of access in some of our government agencies database. Maybe directly pay the Hulu Selangor's land tax through Maybank2u or other payment method so that they won't receive another "Penyapu" award next year from Khir Toyo. Still, anyone could contact me if you need further consultation.

To Scale up or Scale out

I can't sleep so I read lot of boring stuff tonight and hopefully I'll be sleepy by the time I finish up this blog entry. I've been thinking and wandering what are the easiest or the cheapest way to scale any enterprise level web application. I've seen how it done in Windows Clustering but now I'm looking how open source solutions handle this.

One of the article that explain this well was written 3 years ago by John Lim in his blog (caution some links are broken), Enterprise PHP. You can read some guide on scalability, load balancing & high availability. At least you will get some general ideas to start with.

Another good reading material for a load balancing beginner is written by Vivek Viswanathan,
Load Balancing Web Applications. This article are complete with illustration but only cover the load balancing part. I used to had a round robin software solution before and the advantages are clearly pointed out. However I never had a chance to try out the hardware load balancer option.

To sum up, scaling any web application is an expensive venture because it involves hardware and data centre cost, hence you need rack space to relocate your servers. So make very sure you need multiple servers. Try other methods to cater your user traffics like use the Quad-core processor, boost up the ram to the max, use high speed SCSI drives or move out the database into a bigger server with 100 mbps connection between the application server.

One of the term than I learned through all this reading includes, scale up or scale out, derived from the database product literature. Scale up means scaling by moving to a bigger, more powerful server, while scale out means scaling by adding more CPU boxes to a cluster of database servers.

And this is my favorite, the KISS Principle. KISS = Keep It Simple, Stupid is self-descriptive and recognizes two things:

1. People (including product and service users) generally want things that are simple, meaning easy to learn and use.
2. A company that makes products or furnishes services may find simplicity an advantage for the company as well, since it tends to shorten time and reduce cost. (Where the company is trying to use the principle on behalf of users, however, design time may take longer and cost more, but the net effect will be beneficial since easy-to-learn-and-use products and services tend to be cheaper to produce and service in the long run.)

Thats should cover it. Now I feel a little sleepy.

Maxis Broadband

I tagged along with Azwa to Maxis building to get her phone number back. Her phone were stolen on Deepavali eve at Mid Valley shopping complex. Poor thing.

Anyway I manage to get a clear pricing on Maxis Broadband

Starter
- 384 kbps
- RM 68/month

Advance
- 640 kbps
- RM 78/month

Power
- Up to 3.6 mbps
- RM 98

Their one-time charges include:
- Activation - RM 100
- Installation - RM 88 (not applicable for self-installation)
- Deposit - RM 100 (waived)
- Registration - RM 50 (waived)

Maxis Power package look attractive, just RM98 compared to RM120 from Celcom package. And no cost on modem itself. But bare in mind you have to sign in 18-month contract period. But this is the best price you can get compared to other wireless broadband services out there. You decide.