All posts by The Artist

Travel

Information On Kid Friendly Hotels & Resorts

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While most of us are enjoying a little social time with our extended families and friends during this long festivities, my friend Francis, is busy checking out travel information on the web as he plans to take his wife and son on a short vacation.

Francis began fatherhood late in life so I am not surprised that he wants to provide for his son as much as he could, not only in terms of a secure future, but also in quality time and father-son bonding.

Although the kid is only about two years old and could be quite a handful, his passport is stamped more times than mine! Francis takes him everywhere he could but he makes sure that each vacation is a Kid friendly vacation so that the adults get to enjoy the vacation as much as the kid too.

Technology

Macintosh Is 25

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Tosh! Time really flies, doesn’t it? Macintosh turned 25 years old on 24th January, 2009!

Who still remembers the old chunky Macintosh systems? The monochrome screens and best of all, the old Mac games. Boy, I LOVE those and was addicted to many of them though I can no longer remember the names of those games that I used to play. Perhaps I was too young then. I only used the Macintosh to play games. That was all I knew. That was how young I was.

Over the years, I became a Windows convert. I guess when I had to buy my own computers, Windows were more budget friendly. Some people may disagree, though.

And then I got my grubby hands on an iPhone and once again, became an Apple fan girl. If Apple would price their products more competitively, I would have no qualms switching again, especially Macbook Air. LOL

Computing & Internet

China Starts Cracking On Porn on Mobiles

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Just a week after starting their exercise to clean up pornographic filth on the web and in the process shutting down more than one thousand pornographic websites, forums and blogs, where China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) also arrested more than forty people involved in the dissemination of adult content (I figure these are probably webmasters and owners of pornographic sites), China’s next move is to clean up adult mobile content.

I see China as this big brother controlling content on the web and mobile phones but I guess this is all for putting a halt to morale decay amongst the youth of China. I personally think that this is a good move forward but I am not sure how long they are able to keep this up.

While there will always be new pornographic sites set up to feed the hunger of the masses, web users in China could also surf to foreign pornographic sites using proxy sites. I am not sure if China would be able to catch people doing so. I am just pointing out that closing Chinese pornographic sites is not enough.

General

Home Protection Measures

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My mother has been nagging me to check on the internet for ways to keep our home more secure. If you have been reading my blog, you would remember that our house was almost broken into three times over the past few years. Although the burglars did not manage to come into our home, thank God, they did shatter our sense of security. Imagine not enjoying that in your own home.

Since then, my parents have taken various measures to keep our home secure. We have installed CCTV, home alarm system and installed a couple of fire-proof Home Safes to keep our valuables; not only jewelries and heirlooms but also other official documents like passports, birth certificates and college degrees of household members.

Home safes are also great for keeping computer data like external hard disks, pendrives and memory cards or just simple things like photo albums. I don’t know how many people do this at home.

Many people think that safes are just for the office, or perhaps they have underestimated the importance of home security, but there are also home safes of various sizes, designs and budget that are more suitable for home use. In fact, I think that a home safe should be standard in every home, regardless of the value of the house.

Computing & Internet

Microsoft Lays Off 1,400 Immediately

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Just after announcing that they would be laying off approximately 5,000 people from their workforce, Microsoft announced that 1,400 people would have to go immediately. Compensation plans were not mentioned but it is said that over the 1.5 years that a total of 5,000 jobs will be cut, they still plan to employ a couple of thousand new people, probably at a lower pay.

In addition to this, Microsoft, like Yahoo! announced that they will be freezing pay increases (hahaha!) but at the same time, may increase payroll for some departments.

I think that if you are with Microsoft right now, you should expect too much, you know what I mean? One would be lucky to not be a part of statistics in the 5,000 layoff. While 5,000 is still a big number, it is just a third of the 15,000 lay offs rumoured since last year.

In any case, this recession is going to be long and hard for many of us.

Computing & Internet

Yahoo! Freezes Pay Increases

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This has got to be the funniest executive annoucement that I ever heard. Yahoo! is said to be freezing pay increases of employees for this year in a cost cutting measure. What I would like to know is if there is anyone who dares to expect a pay increase. I think that he would be darn lucky not to suffer from a pay cut or to totally lose his job.

If you look at the various companies that have laid off their staff left, right and centre, you could see that the economic woes haven’t just touched the finance or credit industry or the auto industry only. Many other industries like technology and manufacturing are also duly affected. Microsoft has plans to cut 5,000 jobs within the next one to two years.

While companies lay off staff by the thousands, those that are lucky enough to remain have had to let go of perks and other benefits. Yahoo! themselves cut 1,500 jobs. So isn’t this announcement laughable?

General

For Greater Accessibility & Mobility

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A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to view a show house in a new residential housing development. It was quite a distance from where I am but since it’s a new place with innovative architecture, I thought that I should go and see what it was all about.

The kind of houses that were built is what we know as “town houses”. They are three-storied homes which are great for larger families, or families which have the intention to rent out one floor or something like that.

Although I think that this would make a great investment, seeing that the current economy isn’t good, hence the selling price for these homes is rather low for three stories, I think that what they lack are Stair Lifts. I think that if the developer had the foresight to install stair lifts to each home, they would be more appealing.

Of course, it is not too late for new homeowners to install one for greater accessibility for residents of the house, and offer mobility to children and older adults living in the house that may have difficulty climbing the stairs or may have suffered a temporary disability to the leg.

I think that a homeowner has to be far-sighted in making his home friendlier to people of all physical conditions.