Just a thought

11 01 2012

Someone mentioned to me today how it’s amazing that my interest involves two opposite sides of the spectrum. We were talking about how I am into the I.T./technology field AND the performing arts.

I don’t think I have mentioned it here yet before in this blog, though I know that some of my friends do know these two sides of me. Actually, there can be a lot of sides to me. I am unique. I am simple, but also complicated. I know that I’m not the only person who is like this though. Well, it’s different living in this side of the world, because not a lot of people are like me in the sense of interests – so some people can be surprised to hear what I do. FYI, dear people – this is not uncommon if you grew up in Asia.

These are just some thoughts that come to mind on this Wednesday night after a long day of some ‘performing arts’ stuff.

Back to regular programming soon on this blog.





Just Thankful

20 06 2011

Okay, I know it’s been an incredibly long time since I last made a post. I guess I just was not inspired to write for these past few months. I need to get back on track.

One thing that made me write this post is that I am just thankful for the recent new position I accepted at the company I’ve been working with for the past 10 months. It has been a challenging, rocky journey to get to this place right now. The road blocks are still many ahead, and I have to learn how to pass through them. The learning never stops. The opportunities continue to broaden.

I hope and pray for better things for everyone I care about as well.





Nokia N8 Launch Party (Canada)

12 11 2010

Two nights ago on November 10th, 2010, I attended the Nokia N8 Launch Party in Toronto, Canada where I was invited by Chris from WOM World/Nokia. It was held at Bang & Olufsen at 175 Avenue Road.  It was a cool place and a cool party. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres were served, hip music was played. On one side was a section where anyone can play games using the Nokia N8s which were plugged into two big screen TVs.

There was a section where someone was showing the game/apps features of the phone, and another section where someone was explaining the technical specs of the N8. I got to try out playing two games on the N8 — Avatar and Angry Birds. The screen was nice and very responsive. I noticed though that when you have 2-3 apps open while playing, it slows the game down. So if you ever want to play games on it, better to close all the other apps that you have running.

-More after the jump-

When I headed over to the technical section, the guy who was there was still talking to someone. So I stood nearby kind of waiting. And then Glenn, the nationwide sales manager of Nokia Canada who was standing nearby too, asked if he could answer any questions I had although he probably wouldn’t be more specific as the N8 technical guy there. He was really nice as he answered my inquiries about the phone. I mentioned that it was really light and I was curious what kind of material was used to make it; he said it was anodized aluminum. I probably wouldn’t have needed to ask that question if I did some homework on the product before going to the launch party. We talked about how good its touchscreen was. I mentioned that based on my experience with other Nokia models with touchscreens, this one was really good while the older ones were not so good. Also the N8 has 16GB internal memory but is expandable up to 32GB with a MicroSD card.

Welcoming remarks were made after an hour I was there by another important person from Nokia Canada (sorry can’t remember who it was) and also the host that was the owner of Bang & Olufsen. It was mentioned that the N8 is sold only on Rogers Wireless for $79.99 on select 3-year plans. Also on a side note, interesting that the host mentioned that Bang & Olufsen and Nokia had something in common, that is they are both Scandinavian. And then they showed a video on the big screen which was shot with the Nokia N8. It was sharp and had good picture quality.

After the welcome remarks, I hung out for a bit more, had some more hors d’oeuvres and played again with the N8 in the games section, then I had to go home because I had work early the next day. Anyway, eventhough I’ve had a short experience with the N8, I was already really impressed by it. I can’t wait to test it out for a couple of weeks (coming soon!).

Oh yeah, I got a free Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-804 in a small giveaway Ovi bag. That was pretty cool.

P.S. The photos I took are kinda crappy because I didn’t have my camera with me so I used my BlackBerry Curve.





Linksys NAS 200 Tech Support – Part 2

26 06 2009

[Part 1 of this topic HERE.]

I took out and checked the hard disk drives and it turns out I actually had two 1000 GB (1 TB) hard disk drives put in the Linksys Network Storage System NAS 200. So I actually was supposed to have a total of 2 TB capacity (or technically, 2 x 931 GB = 1862 GB). Got even worse since only 858 GB was showing, eh?

Linksys NAS 200I tried the Separate Disks drive configuration and it showed the correct capacity. The problem was when I had it configured as JBOD/LVM. I tried installing two, then just one. But still the same.

When I contacted chat support on Day 2, the agent tried to suggest solutions and walked me through them, but they didn’t work. I wasted about 40 minutes with him for this. Then I had to cut our conversation short since I had to do something else at that time.

In the end, that afternoon I found out the solution on my own. I simply needed to flash the NAS 200 with the latest firmware which is Version 3.4R75. In the release notes, this is specifically what I needed:

11. Fix the issue that the drive size can not be recognized correctly when hard drive size over 500GB under JBOD/LVM configuration.

The tech support agents should have asked me the question what firmware version did the NAS 200 have but they didn’t! Problem would have been solved sooner if they had. Note to self: Check for latest firmware version of equipment always!

If you ever encounter a problem with equipment not showing proper capacity or anything similar whatsoever, check for the latest firmware always on the product website. Or if they don’t have updated firmware, third-party sites might have (use Google to search for these).





Linksys NAS 200 Tech Support: Unsatisfactory

18 06 2009

[Update/Part 2 of this topic HERE.]

“The Linksys by Cisco brand is known and respected worldwide through products designed to fit each country’s networking requirements…”

“Why Choose Linksys by Cisco…
…Technical Support.
Our call centers are recognized worldwide for quick response and the ability to solve problems…”

I found these statements on Linksys by Cisco’s About Us page. With this, you would surely be confident of the technical support they would give you, right? NOT! That is not the impression I had today when I contacted their technical support for the first time. Let me share what happened to me.

I was working with the Linksys Network Storage System NAS 200. I configured and set it up on the local network. It has two SATA hard drive bays and also two USB ports where external hard drives can be attached. In the drive configuration for the NAS 200, four choices are given on how you want to set it up, depending if you want (A) maximum storage, (B) maximum data security, or (C) maximum speed:Linksys NAS 200

  • 2 separate disks — A
  • 2 disks configured as one large disk (JBOD/LVM) — A
  • Mirroring (RAID 1) — B
  • Striping (RAID 0) — C

I put in two 500 GB SATA hard drives, a total of 1 TB, and configured it as JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks). Expected total capacity should be about 931 GB. What did it show me? Only 858 GB. Where did the 73 GB go? No idea. So I called tech support, explained the situation, and asked why this is so. A lady agent received my phone call around 4:35 PM EDT.

  • Conversation ~ 2 minutes
  • On hold ~ 4 minutes
  • Agent asked more questions and gave me a vague answer then told me I should probably speak to her supervisor ~ 2 minutes
  • On hold ~ 10 minutes
  • Agent told me supervisor should be with me in one minute and asked that he can either call me back or if I will wait. I said I will wait (after all, I’ve been waiting already and wanted an answer right away, right?). I wanted to make sure so I asked her “one minute?”. She said, “Yes, one minute.” So I confirmed again that I will wait. ~ 1 minute
  • On hold ~ 3 minutes ( ! )
  • Agent apologized that the supervisor wasn’t available because he was still on the phone with someone else. They will have to call me back in 20 minutes. Exasperated, I just agreed.

Guess what? She nor the supervisor didn’t call me back. They just wasted about 22 minutes of my time!

I tried to search for answers online but it was getting late so I didn’t find much. I tried the e-mail support instead but I got an automated response that they no longer have e-mail support and recommended an option for live chat support instead. Good thing is I was able to chat to an agent and was more enlightened by his responses. He recommended that I connect the hard drives directly to the computer to check its exact capacity. I figured if the total capacity would still be 858 GB when connected directly, then the problem has to do with the hard drives. If it indeed shows ~931 GB, then the problem would be their storage system.

Tomorrow I’ll check the capacity. I’ll write an update about what happens.

P.S. I’m hoping their phone support was only poor for today and not regularly.

[Update/Part 2 of this topic HERE.]

Photo Credit: Evil Erin








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