Song of the month April 2011

Bloodhound gang - Uhn tiss uhn tiss

Okay... screw the 1Malaysia email...

There has been quite a noise around twitterjaya about the MyEmail aka the 1Malaysia email project headed by local company Tricubes and most of it, lets be honest has not been great. At a press conference held this morning, Tricubes Chief Executive Khairun Zainal Mokhtar was on hand to set the record straight by addressing all the issues that Malaysians had with the project.

With a concept like MyEmail, which is essentially a way for the Government to easily send emails to you as well as get certain bills and statements to one inbox, security is of the utmost concern. The first level of security is at the point of registration: When you register for the MyEmail service, your Full Name and IC number are taken but you will not be able to complete your registration until you authenticate yourself at either JPN or have Tricubes send you a USB fingerprint reader to do at home (with a slight extra cost). As I understand, the USB fingerprint reader is not tied to one account and can be shared with as many people as you please.

Article continues after the jump

While the MyEmail service is voluntary and free to have, there has been a gross misunderstanding with regards to whether Tricubes would be charging per email. As it stands, emails sent and received on the MyEmail service will not incur any costs to you as a consumer. The biggest misconception however is with the delivery of digital bills. While the cost of "not more than 50sen" is there for this service, it is not incurred by you, the consumer, rather Tricubes will charge the agent involved that fee. It will be a little silly if you had to pay for something that costs nothing if sent to you via the post, more so for something that is asking you for money like a bill. In the post office analogy that Khairun regularly went back to, the bill sender would have to pay the post office to send stuff to you, but in this case, instead of paying them, they will be paying Tricubes. The only cost that you will potentially bear is an optional one; It will cost a small fee to have your emails encrypted for a more secure experience. Khairun could not comment on the exact amount at present.

Finally the MyEmail service won't just be an email account, but rather Tricubes hopes to implement a portal which contains many value-added services such as content aggregation, market place, online bill payment and even social networking. Khairun also mentioned that a mobile app was in the works which would bring your MyEmail experience into the mobile setting.

Khairun also went on to say that despite the government's ambitious target of getting ever Malaysian over the age of 18 on board, that value was more of a yardstick and they were aiming for a more modest 5.4million subscriptions when they launch the service in July. Khairun also assured us that the MyEmail project was and will be all privately funded and there were no funds obtained from the government.

I for one will be seeing what the fuss is about when it launches in July, who knows, it may be a useful service rather than just the lifeline for Tricubes as many people see it to be. While I'm still a little skeptical, all I know is that seeing is believing. Bring it on Tricubes.

http://www.lowyat.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4314&Itemid=1

50SEN FOR SENDING ONE EMAIL?

Free email vs Free wifi

Free Email

-Microsoft/ Tricubes can read your sent/received emails

Free wifi by the Malaysian Government

-Bound to be abused by many

-EVERYTHING you sent/receive can be accessed/analyzed

I say, forget the email, forget the wifi and change the whole damn internet infrastructure of Malaysia instead. It's HORRIBLE.

Thoughts on the 1Malaysia email

www.myemail.my
username@myemail.my

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/161903

Recently the government of Malaysia had announced that a private sector Tricubes Sdn Bhd will be in charge of executing a project while provides emails to every Malaysians aged 18 and above. The project which is said to cost RM50mil up to the year 2020.

Many Malaysians cry outrage as initially it was assumed that the government will be funding the private sector project which many disagree to as most users already have their own email accounts (hotmail, google, yahoo, etc). People became more skeptical and began questioning motives when they found out the owner of Tricubes was family related to our current PM Najib and that the company was on the brink of being unlisted as a valid company in Malaysia.

One reason for this email is to link the government and citizens in a more secure manner by sending out government notifications, bills, information as the emails will be tied to the users' MyKad (Malaysia ID card). Even so, it is said that the emails will be a joint venture between Microsoft and Tricubes and that the email contents will be read. Information obtained from the email will then be used to display ads on the website/ while viewing your mail. Privacy and more secure? I don't think so...

Another issue I'm concerned about this is the privacy involved. With Tricubes holding our information as a private sector, they are also able to sell off our email addresses and information. Isn't the first time I experienced this as I believe my current university (ISU) does the same as I keep receiving unwanted spam mails (thank you gmail for filtering out everything). As a private sector I'm sure their goal is to increase profit (after their primary goal of avoiding getting delisted).

So assuming that by selling our information and emails addresses along with ads is their main source of revenue, they would need to get more people to use their service. As of now, the registration of the email is VOLUNTARILY. Since there are so many people right now who condones the idea, I doubt they will be able to get many subscribers. They'd have to figure a way to get people to register.

One way as probably intended by this project is to link tax paying or other electronic bill paying methods to this and ONLY this email account. You are no longer allowed to use any other emails for bill paying online. People will retaliate but knowing Malaysians, they'd probably just register for the email rather than waiting in line (at the tax paying/ bill paying stations).

So what if this doesn't work? They require more money since usually Malaysian projects are under budgeted (or over budgeted as some would like to believe) and require more cash? I believe this is where they'll receive government funding. A project of this national "importance" after being announced by our PM will definitely won't die away that easily... especially if the man whose company is in charge of this project is family related. They would want it to succeed so aside from the method above of obtaining revenue, I'm sure the government would provide funding and think of other methods to get people to use the email service. After all, it'll be an embarrassment/a loss to both parties should the project fails to achieve its goals. People will begin to doubt on these projects and there will be an outcry.

Right now on facebook, there is a page retaliating both this project and the 100floor 1Malaysia tower. Many are saying the money could be spent elsewhere such as providing internet for those in rural areas. Now if this project were to go down the drain... well, one can only imagine the result...

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/in-1-malaysia-email-fears-of-a-privacy-breach/

Update : It seems the email is based upon windows live....

http://www.lowyat.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4286&Itemid=1

I guess that's where Microsoft gets involved... I still don't see how it involves RM50mil~
Though Microsoft's service provides 25mb of space but myemail is said to provide users with 25GB instead. Typo maybe?

Gintama 2011

One of my fav anime has been resurrected for a new season.

Was sad that the anime ended/went on a hiatus last year but now I'm happy after seeing my house mate watching it... At first I thought he was watching the old eps but I noticed I have never watched that ep before... then I noticed... IT'S BEEN REVIVED!!

HOORAH!

More dreaming...

So I just woke up from an epic nap but weird at the same time...
dreamt I was possessed and was able to manipulate my surroundings with the wave of my hand.

I'm surprised how fast my brain was able to process different images at the wave of my hand...
I have on one hand a bunch of play cards, as I wave my other hand over it, the cards changed in to pictures of my past instantaneously. I kept doing it over and over and over and somehow my brain was able to process different images from my past on to the cards...

Was pretty creepy and felt so real... somehow there were images that didn't exist but other people in my dreams saw the pictures and told me that it happened.

Resurfacing issues

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/dont-test-patience-of-malays-perkasa-warns-christians/

It seems that I was right. There's definitely gonna be some groups displeased with the results....

Even went as far as to say that using BM affects our national security. Personally I don't see how our national security can be compromised that way. Just another ruse for him to abuse his power and gain more headless followers...

Again, I hope this issue gets put to rest ASAP... religion can be a good thing without going to the extreme..

Bible in BM issues settled

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/2/nation/20110402183658&sec=nation

I have to say... I'm impressed that this actually went through and is now (hopefully) over.

Just hope that some extremists don't go crazy over this...

Last I checked, facebook fans supporting against the use of BM in Bibles are about 3 to 1...

Who knows what'll happen. I just hope things don't get out of hand

Friday by Rebecca Brack analysis

Waking up at 7am eating cereal = normal

Then later.... you had makeup on your face = Going to school with makeup on?

Waiting for the bus = normal

Friends in the car = WTFH? Aren't you THIRTEEN?!

and then you hopped in with them... pity the bus driver wondering where the hell you disappeared to.

In the chorus, "Party party party fun fun fun" ? = AREN'T YOU THIRTEEN?!

and finally... after waking up at 7am, eating breakfast and waiting for the bus, you NEVER turned up in school and INSTEAD went to party.