Dear Readers,

This year Christmas is a little quite here in Kota Kinabalu.. maybe because I spend more time at home then outside in the street. Every year there is a Christmas event in Gaya Street. Unlike last year, this year I never had the chance to visit Gaya Street and experience the Christmas evetn there.

In the shopping center or shopping mall Christmas carols can be heard. on the 23rd Of December I was suppose to have plan to attend my uncles event held at the City Mall shopping center his event was the last event before Christmas eve.

The plan was to attend my younger sister's father in law 69th Birthday celebration later proceed to the event at City Mall. We usually have small family gathering  of 10 in any of the local restaurant. usually start at about 7pm and lasted until 0830pm, but that day my sister did not mention anything about huge family gathering of 10 tables each table is for 10 pax. imagine instead of 1 table fit for family of 10 pax, that day about 100 invited guest attended the function. luckily I decided to wear my Jeans, normally with small gathering I would just go for a shorts Khakis. only thing is, on that day every body was wearing shoes, and I am the only one with "slippers". imagine that for a dinner function.

Anyway the dinner started at about 0830pm and lasted for about 2 hours. I left early somewhere around 10:21pm and missed attending my relative stage show at City Mall.

So this post is actually about Christmas, how streets were light in the night and decoration being prepared for this festive season.

I found this over the internet, and thought that I should share this to everyone. and hope 1 day I may have a chance to visit any of these place and spend the Christmas there with my lovely wife..

Christmas lights illuminate Vienna's city centre Am Graben. Source: Reuters ~ Lisi Neisner

A house is decorated with Christmas lights in a street in the village of Calle, near the northern German town of Bremen. The sign reads: Merry Christmas. Source: Reuters ~ Morris MacMatzen

Lit up entrance gate reading "Christmas Story" is seen at a country house estate in the village of Grabovnica near Cazma, central Croatia. The seven-hectare estate owned by the Salaj family is lit with 1.2 million Christmas lights and turns into a winter wonderland every December, attracting thousands of visitors. Source: Reutres ~ Nikola Solic

The Governing Mayor of Oslo Mr Stian Berger Rosland and his wife Mrs Marit Berger Rosland turn on the Christmas tree lights in Trafalgar Square, central London. The city of Oslo has donated a Christmas tree to Londoners every year since 1947. Source: Reuters ~ Olivia Harris

A decorated Christmas tree is lighted up at a Christmas market on its opening day in Dortmund, Germany. The Christmas tree of Dortmund is the largest in the world and is built with a scaffold, covered with 1,700 Norway spruces, 40,000 lights and is 45m (148 ft) high. Source: Reuters ~ Ina Fassbender

Installations of Christmas lights in the colours of the Italian flag are seen in downtown Rome, Italy.                      Source: Reuters  ~ Alessandro Bianchi

Woman takes picture in front of a Christmas tree during a lighting ceremony in downtown Sofia, Bulgaria.               Source: Reuter ~ Stoyan Nenov

People walk past bridges illuminated with Christmas lights in Ljubljana's old city in Slovenia.                                                  Source:Reuters ~ Srdjan Zuvulovic

People walk past bridges illuminated with Christmas lights in Ljubljana's old city in Slovenia.
Source: Reuters / Srdjan Zivulovi 

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is seen during its lighting ceremony in New York City. The event is the 79th lighting of the tree, which measures 74 feet (23 meters) tall and 46 feet (14 meters) wide and weights 10 tons. It is a 75 year-old Norway Spruce adorned with approximately 30,000 Christmas lights. Source: Reuters~ Andrew Burton 

Fireworks light up the night sky near a giant Christmas Tree display along a bay walk in Puerto Princesa, Palawan city, west of Manila. The Philippines, a mainly Roman Catholic country in Southeast Asia, celebrates one of the longest Christmas holiday in the world, playing Christmas carols in shopping malls as early as in September and putting up lantern and fireworks displays early in December. Source: Reuter/Romeo Ronoco

Fireworks explode around a Christmas tree during its lighting ceremony at Rodrigo de Freitas Lake in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Reuters/Andrew Wong.

Christmas lights in the shape of the Eiffel Tower shine near the Eiffel Tower (in the background) on the Rue Saint Charles in Paris, France. Source: Reuters ~ Mal Langsdon

Christmas lights illuminate Serrano street on the day they were turned on marking the start of the Christmas season in the Spanish capital. Source: Reuters / Sunana Vera

A tourist looks at a reindeer display lit-up in preparation for Christmas celebrations in front of the skyline of the   financial district in Singapore. Source: Reuters~Joel Boh

People walk in front of a lit Christmas tree at the Parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia.  Source: Reuters ~ David Mdzinarishvili 

What Happen in The Year 2011 (Part 6)

Dear Readers,

Today I will only post what had happen in November 2011 will keep December 2011 for the final day of this year..

7th November 2011

- Joe Frazier, Olympic Heavyweight Boxer (1944 ~ 2011)

8th November 2011

- The potentially hazardous asteroid 2005 YU55 passed 0.85 lunar distances from Earth (about 324,600 kilometres or 201,700 miles), the closest known approach by an asteroid of its brightness since 2010 XC15 in 1976.

12th November 2011

 - Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Prime Minister of Italy due, in large part, to the European sovereign debt crisis.

23rd November 2011

- Arab Spring: After 11 months of protests in Yemen, The Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh Signs a deal to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity.

25th November 2011

- Sudden violent storms strike southern Sri Lanka, killing 27 people and drowning many fishermen caught by surprise. Thousands of homes lose their roofs and several more sustain damage. Landslides along with flooding was reported on the mainland.

26th November 2011

- 2011 NATO attack in Pakistan: NATO forces in Afghanistan attack a Pakistani checkpost in a friendly fire incident, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others.

Now you can earn rewards by sharing through facebook and twitter with #ChurpChurp! How cool is that?

Now you can earn rewards by sharing through facebook and twitter with #ChurpChurp! How cool is that?

How To Properly Upgrade to iOS 5 in Five Simple Steps

Dear Readers,

I have an iPod 3G, and last month I have just upgraded my iPod to IOS5 without any problem, I have tried to provide an easy step by step guide on how to upgrade you Apple gadget, and I found this and thought it might be useful, yes there are so many Profession-APPLE users out there but this might be useful the all Apple newbies..

From improved notifications to iMessage goodness, here's how to make your iOS 5 upgrade go smoothly the first time. 

We've been putting the iOS 5 beta through its paces for the past few months. But today, the final release is available to all. Any device capable of running iOS 4 is eligible for an upgrade to iOS 5 — including the iPhone 3GS and third-generation iPod Touch.

If you've been waiting for improved notifications and iMessage goodness, this is your chance to see what you've been missing. But more important, here's how to make your upgrade go smoothly the first time.

1. Software Update

Before you begin, run software update on either your Mac or Windows PC. You'll need iTunes version 10.5 to make the latest iOS magic happen, and the upgrade won't work without it. While you're at it, feel free to update your apps as well. While you can certainly do so post-upgrade, you'll avoid any unforeseen compatibility problems by doing it before.

2. Make a Backup

To start, you'll want to perform a manual backup of your current iOS device. If you follow just one of our suggestions, it better be this. Should something go wrong during the upgrade process, you'll have a backup of settings and files to fall back on in a pinch.

Of course, the backup process is a long one to begin with, but there are ways to decrease the amount of time it takes. Pictures and videos stored in your camera roll are often the biggest culprits, so feel free to transfer these yourself. Removing particularly large files or unneeded apps beforehand is another smart practice. But keep in mind there's only so much you can do. From Safari browsing history to MMS attachements, iTunes simply has a lot of data to back up. Best let this process complete while you're out to lunch.

Finally, phone calls and text messages have the nasty habit of interrupting lengthy backups just as they near completion. To prevent upgrade issues and untimely snags, try placing your device in Airplane mode before you begin. Or better yet, remove your SIM card completely, if possible.

3. Encrypt Your Backup

You'll also have the ability to encrypt your iOS backup at this time. This option is visible under the "Backup" header when your device is plugged into iTunes. While an encrypted backup does take longer, you get the added benefit of having your various account and app passwords backed up as well. This might be useful for some, as you won't have to re-enter your passwords after your device has been restored.

Also, it's worth pointing out that backups can build up over time — and they do take up a considerable amount of space. If you want to remove past archives of your old iOS devices, and free up a couple gigabytes of space, you can find them in the following folder:

Mac: /Users/Tested/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Windows: C:\Users\Tested\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

4. Save Your Hashes

This next step is crucial for jailbreak users. If you haven't already, back up your blobs. If you have no clue what that means, read this post from the iPhone Dev-Team. Simply put, blobs, or signature hashes, allow iOS users to downgrade to previous firmware versions where jailbreaking is still possible. However, it's suspected this method of downgrading will no longer be possible post-iOS 5.

In other words, if you're interested in jail breaking, or retaining the ability to downgrade to iOS 4, download a copy of TinyUmbrella and backup your blobs.

5. Update to iOS 5

Finally, there is the iOS 5 upgrade process itself. In most cases, the actual install should be as simple as connecting your device and allowing iTunes to do its thing. This will perform what's called an in-place upgrade to iOS 5 — in other words, preserving all your file, settings and content as is. However, you also have the option of performing a restore upgrade. This route will wipe your device clean, allowing you to start your iOS 5 experience from scratch.

Of course, you can also do this process manually as well. By clicking Upgrade or Restore with the Option key held down (or ctrl for Windows users), you have the option of selecting a firmware file (*.ipsw) of your choosing. In most cases this won't be necessary, but it can be useful for performing firmware updates from multiple computers without having to download iOS 5 on each.

If all goes well, your iOS device should find itself running iOS 5. And if you'd like to take advantage of Apple's new wireless sync feature, you can activate this from iTunes before restoring all the content to your device. Just don't forget to let us know how your upgrade process goes.

 Conclusion :

After upgrading my iPod to the new IOS5, appart from the newly added features/application in the IOS5. I just found out my iPod voice control works perfectly when listening to music from my iTunes..

I tested instructions such as Pause, Play, Album,Next all with my iPod voice control feature...and this is GREAT..

 To view more comment on this go to tested site

What Happen in The Year 2011 (Part 5)

Dear Readers,

We are almost near to the end of 2011, with Just four month to go and a lot of things and event takes places everywhere around the world.

September 2011

7th September 2011

- Plane crash in Russia kills 43 people, including nearly the entire roster of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Kontinental Hockey League team

17th September 2011

 - Occupy Wall Street movement began in Zucotti Park, New York City.

20th September 2011

- The United States ends its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.

22nd September 2011

- CERN scientists announce their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light

October 2011 

5th October 2011

- Steve Jobs, American computer entrepreneur and innovator, co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc.
(1955~2011)

15th October 2011

- Global protests break out in 951 cities in 82 countries.
- Legoland Florida in Winter Haven, Florida Opens. This is the world's largest Legoland theme park

16th October 2011

- 2011 Nikki Reed weds Paul McDonald in Malibu

18th October 2011

- Gilad Shalit is released.

20th October 2011

- The former leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, and his son Moatassem Gaddafi are killed shortly after the battle of Sirte (2011) while in the custody of NTC fighters.

- Muammar Gaddafi, Ruler of Libya (1942~2011)

23rd October 2011

- A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Van Province, Turkey, killing 582 people and injuring thousands.

27th October 2011

- The Royal Australian Navy announces that they discovered the wreck of a World War II submarine in Simpson Harbour, Papua New Guinea during Operation RENDER SAFE - it is likely to be Japanese.

29th October 2011

- Record-breaking snowstorm in the northeastern United States leaves nearly 2 million residents without power for more than 36 hours.

31st October 2011

- The world population reaches 7 billion inhabitants according to the United Nations

How To Make Full Use of Your Android Phone's Voice Control

Dear Readers,

Thought I share this information to all my readers who are loyal fans to Androids...

This tips will show you how to make full use to your Androids Voice Command feature..Here how you do it..

Android has had voice commands for quite some time, but like many of Google’s services, there are some easter eggs hidden beneath the surface. Voice Actions is part of Google Voice Search and ties in with a number of apps and services. It can even be managed on Google’s back end dashboard for increased privacy. Unlike some other voice input solutions, Android voice input isn’t geared toward natural language; you have to know the commands.

Let’s go over the compatible voice commands, and see what sort of tweaking you can do to make Android’s voice input work better for you.

The Commands

The commands most users will make the most use of is the Call feature. This is handy when you have your hands full, or are driving with a Bluetooth headset in. Just say, “Call [contact] [phone type].” If the contact has multiple contact numbers in your phone book and you don't specify, the voice search interface will have you clarify by tapping on the number in a list. The other call command lets you just say the name of a business, as in, "Call [business name]," and Android will pull the number from Google and call it directly. The device will even understand if you add in a location, like a city.

Sending a text message is very useful, when it works correctly. For this one say, “Send text to [contact name] … [message].” If the contact name isn’t picked up correctly, the phone will toss some approximation of it in at the beginning of the message, thus messing everything up. To avoid this, make sure you say the name as it appears in your phonebook. If the contact has a last name listed, use it. You have the opportunity to check the text before sending. Words that Voice Actions was unsure about are highlighted, and you can tap on them to get suggestions.

Much like sending a text, you can send an email by saying, “Send email to [contact] … [message].” This works just like the SMS for proofreading. Voice Actions also lets you use email in another way. If you say, “Note to self [message],” the device will send off an email addressed to you with your thought saved for posterity. These emails arrive with “Note to self” in the subject line. It’s a little bit clunky, but it gets the job done.

There are two ways to make use of the web with Android’s Voice Actions. If you say, “Go to [website name],” the browser will launch and load the appropriate website. We find that this is usually very accurate for popular websites, but multi-word sites with a lower profile often get missed. You can accomplish the same task by saying, “Open [website].” For some reason, this command seems to pick up obscure names better. The other use of the browser is just to do voice searches. Leave off the commands and just talk. The address bar will have a green color when your results load to indicate that it matched your speech with a recognized block of text.

There are three map-related commands to use. if you want to navigate, just say, “Navigate to [location name or address].” We have found this one to be very useful as you’re likely in the car when it comes up. This command boots you directly into the Navigation app without going through the Maps app first. If you say, “Directions to [location name or address],” the Maps app just pulls up the directions listed for you without Navigation. Lastly, just say, “Map of [anything],” and Google Maps will open and do a search for your query nearby.

There is one last command in Android’s Voice Actions, but we feel it’s got the weakest implementation, despite having noble intentions. If you say, “Listen to [artist/song/album],” the music app will pop up with a search for what you said. It won’t actually search for some reason, but you can just tap enter. If you have an app like Last.fm or Pandora, the Voice Action will offer you the option of using one of those apps. It could be good, but this just takes too many steps.

Settings and Tweaks

There are two ways to access the Google Voice Input settings. When you have the voice input box open, you can hit menu and then settings, but there’s just a brief window before the system decides you’re not saying anything. You can also go into the main system settings, and find Voice Input & Output Settings. There, you can pick Voice Recognizer Settings.

There are a few default settings here that you might want to tweak. Safe Search is controlled separately for voice searches on Android, so you can disable that if you like, or change the default Moderate setting to Strict. In a similar vein, the default is to block “offensive words” from being recognized. We don’t need to tell you what those are, but if you fancy strong language in your text messages, this can be disabled.

The last setting here controls a feature that some users find concerning. Google uses a so-called “Personal Recognition” engine to tailor your voice commands to your own speaking style. The default for this is on, but you can turn it off if you just want to use the vanilla voice recognition experience. Android will warn you that no further automatic customization will occur.

The practical upshot of personalization system is that the more you use Voice Input and Voice Actions on an Android phone, the more accurate it gets for you. We have noticed that over time Android does seem to get better at knowing what we’re saying, so think carefully before you turn this off. However, that does nothing about the voice samples Google already has on you. For that, it’s off to the web.

Maximum Privacy

The last option in the settings page is a link to the Google Dashboard, which can also be accessed on a PC. This page is a one-stop-shop for all the things that Google knows about you. Everything from your Gmail to your Android Market purchases is listed here along with the applicable privacy policies.

Items that store personal data have the option to remove it, and Speech Recognition is one of those. You will see under the Speech header that your total recordings are listed, and the time of the last addition to the cache will be shown below that. If you click the link entitled “Anonymize recognition”, all that customization goes away.

Google pops up a message informing users that the action cannot be reversed, and will result in the deletion of all saved voice samples. If you choose to delete your speech models, voice recognition will get a bit less accurate, but you can rest assured that the Google mothership can’t fake your voice to impersonate you. That’s a real concern, right?

Google voice input can be a powerful tool if you know the commands. It would be nice to see an update of Voice Actions, but for the time being it’s good for a few things like sending texts and starting navigation. Even with all its faults, we like that Google allows the system to become more customized over time with Personalized Recognition. It’s even cooler that you can go in and wipe out all that collected data. How do you use Google’s Android voice control?

The Best Password Managers for Your Android Phone

Dear Readers,

Found this recommendation and tips about the best password managers you ought to try for your Androids phones safety and security...

1Password vs. LastPass vs. KeePass. Don't wait until its too late to get serious about security.

We’re going to go over the best password manages on Android so you can make the safe choice that’s right for you.

1Password

This is a very high-quality service that has won the hearts of many users. 1Password comes in the form of desktop apps, browser extensions, and mobile apps. New sites and passwords can be added with the desktop program, or more easily with the browser extension. It can also be used to generate complex passwords that no one will crack.

1Password cleverly integrates with Dropbox for keeping your encrypted password file synced. This means you’ll have to have Dropbox on your computer, but there are no worries about cloud security. Just choose to put the 1Password file in your root Dropbox directory, and the 1Password app should find it no problem.

The 1Password Android app is read-only, meaning you can’t add new passwords from there, but that’s not a huge issue. On start up, the app will ask if you’ve got the password file on the SD card, or in Dropbox. If you have it in Dropbox, you can sign in and 1Password uses the Dropbox API to log in, and find your database in a snap.

Once the file is loaded, you will have to enter your 1Password password to unlock it. Indeed, you have to do this every time you open the app. Your main page is the Logins list. You can sort these by title or domain, or just search. Clicking through to the login of interest displays a page with the URL, user name, and password. If you just need to grab the username or password, long-press on the password field to automatically copy it to the clipboard. For maximum security, hit the Autologin button and the site will load in the integrated browser and log itself in.

The UI in 1Password is very well-designed, but still serious about security. Users can even add an additional PIN lock to the app. We like that is has full support for the program’s other capabilities like software license management, form filling, and secure notes. But for managing passwords, it’s truly great. There is a 30 day trial of the 1Password service, but after that it’s a one-time license fee of $50.

LastPass

This password management solution takes a fundamentally different approach to handling your passwords, but on the user side it feels much the same. Users can still add their login details with a desktop app or the excellent browser extensions. The difference is that all the LastPass data is stored in an encrypted directory on the LastPass servers. While some may be concerned about not having control of their data, it affords the user some new options and means less time spent keeping track of a local file.

The LastPass app is more minimalist than the 1Password offering. When you log in, the app opens a scrollable list of all the sites organized by URL. There’s no sort control, but a search box is persistent at the top of the app. If you tap on any site, the app will boot you into the integrated browser and log in. 

Long-pressing on each entry offers options like copying the URL, user name, or password.

We also really, really love that there is an option in the long-press menu to add copy notifications. If you need to paste in the user name and password both, the app places a notification for each in the status bar. Just slide it down and tap one to copy the text, then do the other. No bouncing back and forth between apps. LastPass also allows editing of login details, as well as adding new details complete with complex auto-generated passwords. This is possible because the app is connected to the same LastPass servers where all your data is.

By default, LastPass won’t lock itself every time you leave it, but only when it is closed, or you log out. A PIN lock can be added in the settings to fix that. LastPass also has form fills, and secure notes like 1Password. The cloud storage is handy, but there is cause for concern. There was a data breach at LastPass several months ago. 

While it seems that no user passwords were compromised, it’s still a little worrisome.

LastPass is free for use on the desktop, but if you want mobile access, you need a premium subscription for $1 per month. LastPass will allow a 14 day trial on a single phone. This service gets our approval.

KeePass

If you have more of a “do-it-yourself” ethos, perhaps KeePass is up your alley. KeePass is a free and open source password vault that you can install on your desktop, or access via a third-party browser extension. It does all the usual stuff, like generating complex passwords. Like 1Password, this application creates an encrypted database file that you will need access to. However, it doesn’t hold your hand through the process at all. The software is not the most intuitive, and if you want the passwords on your mobile device, you have to manually add it to Dropbox.

There are a few KeePass compatible apps, but the most popular is KeePassDroid. In this app, you will first need to locate your database file. We used Dropbox to get it on the phone, and keep it safe in the cloud. Unfortunately, there will be no easy way of keeping that file synced other than to manually download new versions with the Dropbox app.

Once you have the file flagged in KeePassDroid, just enter the passcode, and you’re in. Any website you go to in your Internet Group (KeePass organizes data in groups like Internet and Network) and open the website you need to access. We quite like that KeePassDroid does the same handy trick with notifications to copy the name and password for a site, but it does this automatically when you open the database record.

The encrypted file is totally yours to do do with as you please. You can easily edit it right on the device, but then you have to get that back into Dropbox for use elsewhere. KeePassDroid adds a couple of good features with user-selectable time-outs for locking the app and clearing the clipboard.

KeePass isn’t easy, but it offers you the maximum of control. The entire system is totally free if you’re willing to assemble the pieces.

The password manager you use on Android will depend on your personal feelings about security. LastPass takes on all the work for you, but keeps your data a cloud you don’t control. 1Password has more limited functionality in the app, but you get to control the file however you like, even keeping it in Dropbox. The there’s KeePass and KeePassDroid that let you handle everything yourself. Do you use a password manager on Android? Let us know in the comments.

To view comments about this tips go to:  http://www.tested.com/news/the-best-password-managers-for-your-android-phone/3138/