Category: Technology

Taichung, Taiwan

Taichung City is a municipality located in center-western Taiwan. Taichung has a population of over 2.7 million people, making it the third largest city on the island after New Taipei City and Kaohsiung. An aboriginal revolt broke out there in 1731 after Chinese officials had moved in and compelled them to provide labor.

The city is now a modern industrial seaport but with many nature attractions and cultural attractions such as temples and a mosque (Taichung Mosque). Pic attached and attributed to Lina Chen El-fatih (https://www.facebook.com/zulfa.elmustfathsyatibi). Other pic @Zikra Yanti (https://www.facebook.com/zikra.yanti)/ All mosque and mosque related pics from Tachung Mosque’s unofficial Facebook Page.

I pinged my friend and Instagram follower @ping.l.y on IG, a Taichung school teacher and selfie specialist (pic attached) who pointed me to the amazing Gaomei Wetlands of Taichung with beautiful sunsets and wind turbines of the Taiwan Power Company. I contacted http://www.gaomei.com.tw and one helpful Vincen said I can use one of the pics suggested by Ping. (pic of wetland attached)

I love my job as the webmaster of MyCen Hotels, as I learn something new every day.

Many hotels in Taichung with reduced room rates found here: http://www.mycen.my/taichung-hotel-deals-finder/

#taichung #taiwan #wetlandands #gaomei #mycenhotels #sunset #japanesecolonialism #nature #travel #mosque #masjidtaichung

A Heartwarming And Heartbreaking Moment

As I was at Sup Hussin the other day,and while waiting for the breaking of fast, I saw something heartwarming. I saw a mamak (Indian Muslim) employee or maybe the boss himself feeding homeless cats with kibbles from a biscuit tin.

It can be more than altruism though. Hungry, homeless cats might beg by nudging the feet of customers and irritate or scare some people.

It was heartening and heartbreaking at the same time, for me. The scene triggered some sadness for me. I used to feed some random stray street cats from a biscuit tin previously too. I can no longer feed them because buying of pet food is so expensive and I have 5 other hungry cats at home to feed too.

I can’t work after my discharge from hospital and my revenue is down to a trickle. I worry about the nameless, faceless and homeless cats everyday.

I can look for them and continue feeding again if someone kind or generous can donate some kibbles or a little money by PayPal to tvsmith@gmail.com

Thank you in advance. Thank you, mamak for feeding the hungry strays, not with scraps but with real pet food. I will proudly patronize your shop more whenever I can.

#suphusin #cats #cat #homelesscats #straycars #animalwelfare #mamak #soup #hussinsup #animallover

Valuable Lessons Learned

Valuable Lessons Learned.

Sharing my experience so others may learn or benefit when it happens. My Unifi Internet broadband connection went down with the landline since last night. Contacted a friend in TM but she couldn’t help much. She did suggest something helpful. She said one surefire way to get their attention is to tweet @TMConnects.

Interestingly and unexpectedly I received a SMS text via my mobile phone saying “Dear TM Customer apolozize [sic] there may be some delay in restoring svc (my phone number) at your area. Expected new restoration date by 20/05/2017 06:59 PM”. Unexpected, because I have not made an official report to TMnet as yet. What does this means? It means TMnet is now proactive and is able to detect a fault on its own! Wow. Haha. It is contacting customers automatically when they detect a fault? Amazing!

Anyway, I tweeted TMConnects and received a prompt reply. The reply said they checked and a fiber cable was broken about 1 km from the exchange and that immediate restoration was underway. Damn. I thought this type of problem was over without copper cables but improperly done digging can still damage optical cables, if that was the cause.

The Twitter Support is much better option than calling a support number with an endless queue and clueless operator. You get quick answers on Twitter DM. The handler is friendly and good humoured. But have your TM account number ready. And always have a backup via a phone with data and a Twitter account to have access to this support option. Get both done before disaster strikes.

Then another problem came about.

I have preciously tethered my PC with wireless hotspot with my previous Samsung phone. Oddly, it no longer works with my new Asus phone this time. Didn’t work with my mom’s Samsung too. I surrendered and let Microsoft troubleshooter analyze the connection problem. I rarely do that. It found another connection active. The PC has its own wireless receiver or dongle on the motherboard. I forgot all about a network cable plugged in. Pulled the cable out and wireless hotspot started working again. Phew!

If you find the tips useful, save it somewhere accessible offline. You won’t have Internet to read this when you are in a similar spot.

Pic: Slow speed capture of streaming evening city traffic made it looked like light pulses (data) passing through a fiber optic cable.

#tmnet #unifi #fiberoptic #fiber #fibre #optical #telco #internet #tm #tmconnects

Need Your Advice

I have a non-functioning external WD hard disk. WD Elements or Passport USB type of 500G capacity. Went to a data recovery shop in Imbi Plaza. With just a cursory and dour faced examination, the guy quoted RM 1500 to repair and recover the data to another disk. He said it needs to be done in a clean room as the needle was skipping on the platter and making clicking noises. Will take 5 days it seemed.

I understand the work needed BUT

I can’t afford RM 1500. It is not sensitive or important company data that needs to be recovered by hook or crook. I think the service targets corporate clients with big budgets. I only have pictures and Photoshop files in it. They are important but I can live without it. I have so far.

SO dear hive minds,

Please advise through your collective knowledge on other options to take and maybe recommend a reasonable repair service in KL that you know. Thank you.

Picture by Western Digital.

#wd #diskfailure #hardisk #recovery #repair #hdd #westerndigital

Inside Imbi Plaza Today

There are many laptop repair shops, all manned by courteous Pakistani people.

It may look or feel no different from certain corridors in nearby Low Yat Plaza where many foreigners, who are sales personnel, try to lure you into repair shops when you window shop.

The Pakistanis are less aggressive here and less scary than the Ah Beng vendors at the mobile phone kiosks in Low Yat Plaza. Those greet you with an automated “Yes?” when you walk near or sneak a glance at their wares. I call them the ‘yes men’ of LYP 🙂

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f4, 1/60 sec.

#imbiplaza #mall #itmall #shops #history #malaysia #pakistan #kualalumpur