Exciting Internet

I`m sure most of you HON SEA players are aware now that our international purchased account got blocked from logging in to the server since a month ago. I purchased this game for USD 30 two weeks ago, played 2 games (thats all) and now I got blocked. 2 games for USD 30 ain’t cheap I guess. Well for myself, I’m not really a hardcore DoTa or HON player, but I pity our fellow SEA players who bought the game and made new friends / clan from other players in countries such as Australia, Thailand, Europe etc. They bought a game that stated that they can play the game for life and free. Now their accounts got blocked and they have to re-register a new account in Garena to play this game. For those of you who don’t know what Heroes of Newerth is, watch the video below:

Now here’s the case:

S2 Games is happy to announce that we have chosen Garena as our strategic partner for key countries in South East Asia (SEA), namely Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Garena currently hosts the largest gaming community in SEA, making this a valuable partnership for both parties.

As announced earlier, Heroes of Newerth will be going to retail on Wednesday, May 12th. This means that players need to purchase a paid account to be able to continue to enjoy the game. However, Garena has decided to keep the game free-to-play for its target countries and gamers in these locations do not need to purchase a paid account. Due to this, we have to restrict the access of gamers from Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines from playing in our international servers.

Garena is currently still setting up their dedicated servers for the South East Asia region, so there is an expected lull time for users in these four countries wherein they will be unable to play the game. The Beta Testing Phase for Garena servers expected to start before the end of May.

At the start of closed beta, gamers from these countries will be able to redeem a Beta Key immediately if they are Garena Gold Members, while other keys are given away in other community efforts. Please note that countries not stated here (e.g. Indonesia, Thailand) will be unable to play on Garena servers, and would require purchasing a paid account to enjoy the game in S2 Games? international servers.

For more updates from the Garena Team regarding their Heroes of Newerth release, visit their blog at http://blog.garena.com or the official Garena Heroes of Newerth website at http://hon.garena.com.”

above was quoted by a S2 Games staff

• Its a 1 time purchase game and you can play free for life after that.
• Its leaver protection free, meaning players who are in game can’t leave the game as they wish (which is very important for this kind of game).

Now:

• A compensation that Garena offered was to give us (those who paid for an account) a 3 months Gold access account which we will have to pay for it after (that’s for sure), a closed beta acc key (whats the point?) and a 3 months HON special HON-Garena special membership.

• Garena is offering this game for FREE to all SEA players now. There will be leaver protection system but come on, if the game is free and you don’t have to pay for an account, a person can just leave game whenever they want and when they have bad rating, they can just remake a new account and be a leaver again.

I don’t wanna elaborate more now. I`m making this post to remind you guys to be careful with this gaming company called S2 Games. This is how they treat their paid customers after making all the promises etc.

Be careful when you want to play or purchase a game from S2 Games in future.

Do comment here if you still think its fair enough for them to do this.

 For iPhone users, many of you are already aware that iOS 4 is out with loads of awesome features and new things that you can play around with. Below are some of the top rated features that you might be interested in:    

• Multitasking – Running multiple apps at a time. There are pros and cons. Some users said its not a real multitasking. Not good enough compared to other phones / apps
• Wireless keyboard support - Not too useful. I think it`ll be better if they use this on iPad.- Folders – This is the coolest feature that I love about iOS 4. You can group up similar apps together in a folder by just using drag and drop.
• Even better mailbox  – you can check e-mail messages across all accounts on 1 unified e-mail inbox
• iBooks – cool stuff. Lets you browse easily for an iBook of your choice before purchasing it.
•  Create playlists – Good if you love listening to musics or watching movies on the iPhone.
• 5x digital zoom - Get closer to your subjects by zooming in up to 5x.
• Tap to focus video - While shooting video, tap the display to choose where to focus.
• Faces and places in photos – View photos based on who’s in them and where they were taken.
• Home screen wallpaper – Change the background wallpaper on your Home screen.
• Gifts app – Now this is something special. You can send roses app to your gf during Valentine if you want to.
• Spell checking - A built-in dictionary automatically suggests words and corrects spelling. It works in Mail, Notes, and other apps.

*Courtesy of : Apple.com and Maxis.com

Interested to know why I like these guys (Boyce Avenue)? Check out one of their songs below. A recommendation for those of you who love chillaxing songs. Enjoy!

The Boyce Avenue!

I`ve been asking myself a question since months ago; Can I survive without social media now? Social media existed since the first day Internet was created but it wasn`t widely used around the world mainly because Web 2.0 didn`t exists and most users were using dial up Internet connection. If you still remember, the first chat program that appeared was mIRC. Then, mIRC became popular and Internet users started treating it as an addiction and necessity to their lives. Few years later, came ICQ, a software developed solely to enable users to connect to each other around the Internet world. ICQ became so popular that some Fortune 500 companies took the opportunity to create a similar program of their own. Some obvious examples were Microsoft Windows Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

The evolution of these chat programs went on till Y2K when Web 2.0 was introduced and more than half of the world population subscribed to a broadband connection in their own home. I won`t elaborate more. You know what happened after that. Watch the interesting video below and you`ll know what i mean:

Now back to the question. How much has social media affected your daily lives? If one day the Internet crashes or all the social media sites got uninstalled/disconnected, what will you do? Will you be able to survive without social media? Look at the picture below and think again:

The fact is, at this moment when you are reading my post now, you are in the social media era. Blogging is a part of social media so, yeah i`m using a social media to share information with you. Besides that, i am depending on MSN Live Messenger totally to make sure my friends are around me all the time. What about Facebook? Everyone has a Facebook. I cant live without it. Every morning when i wake up or when i reach my office for work, the first thing i will do is to login to my Facebook and MSN Live Messenger to update my status etc. I`m sure most people does that. I`m sure you do the same too.

Now lets do some reverse psychology. Let`s say if Facebook and MSN Live Messenger don`t exist when you wake up tomorrow, can you survive despite the fact that your network is gone and your friends aren`t around you? I`ve experienced few days without MSN Live Messenger when my PC broke down last time and the feeling definitely sucks. I felt that I couldnt live without Internet and MSN Live Messenger.

The existence of social media definitely changed the way we live. In fact, its a revolution that will change the world and our future generations. Lets see how social media will evolve in the future and how we can live alongside it.

Recently I paid a visit to a DVD shop with the intention of buying some movies that i can watch during my free time at home. I was walking around looking for movies that i haven`t watched before hoping that some nice shows would pop up right before my eyes. After a 20 mins walk around the shop, I was dissapointed. There wasnt any shows that interest me until, I saw a box of US series that caught my eye`s attention. The thing that attracted me was, there are 3 producers for this miniseries (Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman). Well we all know that most movies produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were top rated movies. So I wondered, will this series be as exciting as other movies that these producers have created before?

The name of this 10-episode miniseries is The Pacific. Check out below for the descriptions of this show from Wikipedia:

The Pacific is a 10-part television World War II miniseries, produced by HBO, Seven Network Australia, Playtone and DreamWorks, that premiered in the United States on 14 March 2010.^[2]

The Pacific is similar to the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers. It focuses on the United States Marine Corps‘ actions in the Pacific Theater of Operations within the wider Pacific War. Whereas Band of Brothers followed one Army infantry company through the European Theater, The Pacific follows three marines (Eugene Sledge, Robert Leckie and John Basilone) in separate combat actions.

The Pacific was spearheaded by Bruce McKenna (co-executive producer), one of the main writers on Band of Brothers. Hugh Ambrose, the son of Band of Brothers author Stephen Ambrose, served as a project consultant.^[3]

The reasons why im recommending this:

1. Awesome storyline -- it tells the whole story during the Pacific war in WW2. From the battle of Guadalcanal all the way to Iwo Jima.
2. Very nice battle effects from gunshots, explosions, artileries etc
3. Good CGI.
4. Awesome acting -- you can feel their emotions and thinking in each episode.
5. Thrilling and exciting in overall

Overall rating = 9/10 for me.

Check out this series if you are interested in knowing what happen during the Pacific War.

Aft a revolutionary release of Wii by Nintendo few years back, more console companies are coming out with their “own” version of remote sensor console gaming device. Now let me introduce Microsoft Kinect, a remoteless motion-controlled remote sensor addon to the newer and smaller version of Xbox 360.

Well, for Wii you still have to hold onto a remote while doing your swinging or punching actions. For Kinect, nothing will be attached to any parts of your body as the addon will include a camera which will detect any movements of yours and thn send the signals to your tv screen.

Microsoft announced (in K3 Expo ystr) that this addon together with the newer Xbox 360 (with WiFi and 250GB HDD) will be put on sale officially on November 4th and it`ll hit all stores internationally during the Christmas period this year! 

It was stated that the brand new Xbox 360 will cost around $299 but there isnt a confirm price for the Kinect addon yet,which we expect Microsoft to announce it soon.

This official video has been out for a while. I remember i`ve seen it long time ago but it wasnt formerly announced. Here, the commercial again.

Another first for the gaming industry, with Kinect being the first console where users do not have to hold onto anything while moving their body to project their actions into the tv screen. Sony Move and Nintendo Wii requires the user to hold onto a remote.

Let`s see how much the price would be when it hits Malaysia.

The Story
I think some familiar faces here might know me looking at my nick in this forum. I started playing WOW during BC time when i was 24 yrs old. I started off at Alliance and my first character was a Human Mage. Then i rerolled a NE Hunter in Frostmourne and had been Pvp-ing for like 1 year after i hit 70. At that time I was a pure noob who dont even know what a “raid” is. I dont know what Kara and ZA is (not gonna elaborate more since i know you wont be interested).

My real journey in WOW started when i decided to try out Horde by creating a new rogue in Barthilas server. Since then I was invited into a guild and i was taught to raid and do pve progression. My history? Not too glorious. Just cleared Kara, Za, Mag`s Lair, Gruul`s Lair, MH and 5/9 Bt on my rogue before WOTLK was launched. Then, I was promoted to an officer rank in that guild during our progression towards WOTLK.

When WOTLK came out i decided to play a pally instead of a rogue cos, you know, not many ppl can stick to one char for too long .My pally healed thru Naxx and Ulduar when we cleared them. and I switched to tanking from TOTC onwards. I remained an officer/raid leader in that guild for almost a year. I enjoyed doing pally tanking that time and to be honest, i got addicted to the game becos pally tanking was quite imba that time, even today. After that I joined a new guild called Conclave when the guild I had been staying in for close to 1.5 years disbanded (GM quitting).

Life in Conclave was good and I got promoted rapidly to be an officer, thn to Guild Master of the guild. Well, maybe i was a bad omen. Conclave disbanded after that cos most officers got too tired of doing raid leading.

When that happened, it did came across my mind that quitting WOW might be the best solution for me but it then i decided to stay on for a few bit cos of my real life frens who are still playing. I decided to reroll a priest (so that my pally could remain in Conclave) and we joined a good guild called Fox River (Barthilas). There I took a short 1 month time to level my priest from lvl 1 – 80 and started hitting 6.1k gs after starting my raid as disc priest with my fellow guildies. Happy times passed real quick. In 2 months time (Mar-May 2010) we cleared ICC 25 (it took quite a bit of time for us to down LK 25  ). Fox River is 8/12 HM now and yes they are still doing Hm progression. As for me, I`d already quitted the game last week.

Reasons for quitting
- Game content is too boring. Its all repititive. I still prefer the type of raid contents during BC time.
- Gearing up was too easy now. My priest was able to hit from lvl 1 to a 6.1k gs lvl 80 in exactly 1 month time? Crap.
- This game is for kids now. Not adult gaming anymore. Chk out how many noobs are there in game these days.
- Internet line in Malaysia (or particularly in my area) cant support WOW effects and raid anymore. Trust me it isnt graphical lag. Its the Streamyx line thats not steady.
- Too tired of all the commitments I had to put in for raids that went on for like 2 years.
- Too tired of wipefest and ragequits and DCs

What I`ve earned and learned these 3 years in game and off game?
- Guild management skills [ingame]
- Politics [ingame]
- Golds [ingame]
- Teamwork [ingame]
- Patience [ingame]
- Guildies who`ll forget you after you leave guild [ingame]
- Money – NOTHING [reallife]
- Career still the same [reallife]
- No house [reallife]
- Most of my time spent in front of my pc at home [reallife]
- Less time for family and friends [reallife]
- Unhealthy dietrary and less exercise [reallife]

etc

Well, I`ve made my decision and to be honest, I`m glad that I made it now that my life is back to normal now. I could focus on my work and I could finally spend a lot of time doing things I love to do etc. I do play dota/HON casually sometimes when I`m free. But 1 thing for sure I dont have to stick to my monitor all night for all the wipefests etc.

After all the leakages and rumors surrounding the pre-release Iphone 4, yes its coming out end of this month in the US and it`ll be made available in Malaysia at the end of August -- mid Sept this year. A summary on Steve Jobs` keynote? Entertaining and attractive as always with all his humourous speech etc. Check out the keynote below if you havent:

Some of the new features include:

1. a faster OS, 24% thinner in size compared to Iphone 3GS
2. a camera added at the front of the phone for video conferencing purposes -- you might be wondering what`s so unique about video conferencing using iPhone 4? Well, Iphone 4 will be using WiFi instead of 3.5G for video conferencing. That`ll make video conferencing a lot faster and smoother.
3. better files and apps management in your phone -- the software will automatically group similar documents or apps in your iPhone 4 so that everything wouldnt look too messy in your phone.
4. new antenna technology -- the phone`s antenna, bluetooth, WiFi, GSM etc are all built and embedded inside the stainless steel casing that we see wrapped around the phone. Now this is something new.
5. in size -- smaller chip, bigger battery -- your iPhone 4 will last extra 1 or 2 days before you have to recharge the battery
6. new screen technology with higher resolution -- 720p. im pretty sure when they launch their next phone, it`ll be 1080p.

etc etc etc.

Above are some of the main changes they`ve made for this new generation of iPhone. The price will most probably be the same as 3GS when its made available in Malaysia. Now the big question is, will iPhone 4 be the start of a new revolution in smartphones technology? Will other makers follow up the trend by creating a better and more techy smartphone as a mean to challenge the iPhone 4?

I still remember 20 yrs ago when i was still a little kid and I saw my cousins started buzzing around and flashing their brand new Motorola Startac during our family gathering. Then, Startac was a black and white screen phone with no cameras and SMS features. Few years later, Nokia came up with a new series of coloured screen phones which totally changed the trend of mobile phone sales around the world. Then came the Sony Ericsson series and Samsung and now, a series of smartphones that uses operating systems such as Android and Iphone with their own specialized OS.

iPhone 4 uses WiFi for video conferencing. That`s definitely something new. Will this be a trend in future when 3.5G/4G isnt a need anymore and everyone would just hang out at places such as Starbucks or even their own office/home to make calls to each other where they can see each other face to face? Seems like it for me.

I’m wondering since Google can do this by collecting all our personal profiles, I suppose other social netowrking sites such as Facebook and MySpace can do the same? Remember to read the terms and conditions before you register for anything that requires your personal details guys.

Ever wonder what information Google knows about you? With a click or two, now you can find out.

Google released a feature Thursday that lets users see and control data that the Web giant has collected about them. Called Google Dashboard, the service provides an online summary of a user’s Google files — Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa photos and so on — by collecting pre-existing privacy controls in one place.

Dashboard users can review and delete recent Google searches, see recently opened and shared documents and survey their interactions with other Google-powered sites such as YouTube.

Google, which has come under fire from politicians and privacy advocates for its data-collection practices, announced the service with a blog post headlined, “Transparency, Choice and Control — now complete with a Dashboard!”

“Over the past 11 years, Google has focused on building innovative products for our users,” the company said in its official blog on Thursday. “Today, with hundreds of millions of people using those products around the world, we are very aware of the trust that you have placed in us, and our responsibility to protect your privacy and data.”

The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, which has been critical of the amount of personal data Google stores, called the dashboard a small step in the right direction.

“If Google really wanted to give users control over their privacy it would give consumers the ability to be anonymous from the company and its advertisers in crucial areas such as search data and online behavior,” spokesman John M. Simpson said on the group’s Web site.

“The Dashboard give the appearance of control without the actual ability to prevent Google from tracking you and delivering you to its marketers.”

Reviews in the blogosphere Thursday appeared relatively muted for a feature Google described as unprecedented in scale and level of detail.

“Sure, it’s nice to have all these in one place, should you ever want to review all your private information stored at Google at once, but there’s nothing really new about this list,” said Stan Schroeder, a blogger at social media site Mashable. “Unfortunately, it’s also an unpleasant reminder of just how much data you’re giving out to Google.”

Tech blogger Matt Asay, writing for CNET, said most Google users won’t bother with Dashboard because people are willing to sacrifice some Internet privacy in exchange for being able to store and share information online.

“Dashboard leaves Google in the prime position of being able to honestly say that it doesn’t control user data, while still delivering increasingly beneficial services based on that data,” he wrote. “It will not change the way that the vast majority of consumers use Google, but it just might change the way they think about Google.”

Courtesy of: Cnn.Com

Determine for yourself  if the apps i listed below are useful to you.

AudioBoo lets you record and share mp3 audio files up to three minutes in length.  You can add text, titles, photos as well as geolocation info. (Free)

PocketMeter allows you to measure any room or distance using sound to bounce off objects.  You just point the iPhone’s microphone at the floor or wall and tap on the screen.  The app emits sound and measures the time it takes for the echo to return.  It can calculate distances between 8 inches and 13 feet within 0.4 inches of accuracy. ($0.99)

Sonar Ruler similarly uses echoes to measure distances up to 60 feet. ($0.99)

AppSniper is an app about apps.  It allows you to track apps when they go on sale and it tells you when they are within your price range. ($0.99)

Boxcar conveniently sends you push notifications anytime you receive a mention or a direct message on your Twitter account.  It conveniently works with most Twitter clients, so you can view a message once you receive a push. ($2.99)

Pocket Universe, an augmented reality app, is a planetarium in your pocket.  Just point your phone up to the sky, and it simulates the exact night sky above you, complete with the names of all the constellations.  The app works best on the iPhone 3GS, which has a digital compass and an accelerometer. ($2.99)

AutoStitch lets you create panoramas out of multiple pictures you snap with your iPhone’s camera. ($1.99)

Geocaching is a global treasure-hunting game where players can locate hidden containers or ‘geocaches.’  The app uses the iPhone’s GPS capability to provide a list of real-time information about geocaches near your location. It’s available in English, Dutch, French, German and Japanese.  ($9.99)