MacBook + iPhone 3GS + Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) + Bluetooth + Tethering = Issues? Solved!

So for the longest time my iPhone and MacBook have not played very well when I need to do Bluetooth Tethering.

Long story short, the resolution is to go to System Preferences > Network > delete Bluetooth PAN and create a new Bluetooth PAN.

Don't bother with pairing and unpairing - it's nothing to do with that.

Network Cable DIsconnected...

Sounds like a very simple problem right? Well, it took me an hour to fix and the solution is so simple but it's never the first thing that comes into mind.

So yesterday I came home and Joey was asking my why Youtube upload keep failing, and upon inspection, the network connection was down. Here are the steps that was taken in sequence.

• Check LAN connection on router - connection was intact
• Check LAN connection on PC - connection was intact
• Unplug LAN cable from PC and plug into my MacBook - MacBook detected LAN working - therefore PC LAN port fried?
• Plug cable as peer from PC to MacBook - no problem, APIPA assigned and can ping each other (after turning off firewall at Windows 7)
• Both LAN ports on PC and MacBooks seems OK. Router issue? Tried all 4 ports from Linksys WRT54G to PC - no connection - no lights at all and Windows says that Media Disconnected
  
• Tried all 4 ports from Linksys to MacBook - all ports working!
• Took out my 8 port 10BaseT hub and connect to Linksys - no problem - lights on
• Plug my MacBook into 10BaseT hub - obtained DHCP and able to browse Internet
• Plug PC into 10BaseT hub - lights we on but no DHCP IP
• Restarted DHCP Client service - no help
• Disabled NIC and reenable - no help
• Uninstall NIC driver and reinstall - no help
• Rebooted PC - numerous time - no help
• Changed the NIC card auto-negotiation setting to both 100Mbps and 10Mbps - no help

At this point - you must be wondering that it's a hardware issue - well it's kinda. The solution is ... <drum roll> ...

• YANK the power cord from the PSU, wait for a few seconds to make sure all power is discharged - and turn PC back on. Everything works fine now.

Conclusion? I think it's a combination of a few things:

• The house had a power trip that evening,
• It was never an issue before coz I had a UPS
• The UPS died last year
• Somehow the NIC card thinks that the Linksys caused the power trip and therefore actively rejects it - until a complete power cycle (from the mains power, that is) is performed

Weird.

Engrish - KCH Edition

Having lunch nearby my parents place, we came across this...



Hmm. What kind of beans need that much protection? Maybe it was Jack's.

Cruise down further and it dawned upon me.





It is suppose to mean 哈尔滨, a place in China.

ZLD.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Lorong Seladah 8,Kuching,Malaysia

Quick Blurp - Snow Leopard and Lock Screen

Got this tip from a comment here => http://www.gkoya.com/2006/11/23/locktight-for-mac-os-x-intel/

As of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, there is one more way to accomplish this, without any extra or third party software.

Use Automator to create and save a ‘Start Screen Saver’ service that accepts no input and is available to all applications. You can find the appropriate Automator action under ‘Utilities’. Then you can simply assign this new service a shortcut from the Keyboard Shortcuts preference pane.

If you would prefer to lock the screen rather than use a screen saver, use Automator to run a shell script with the following command:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend

Then set the keyboard shortcut as before. Huzzah!

Perth Trip – Snacks and Breakfast

Of (unfounded) fear that I would die from not having a chance to eat lunch and no mamak stalls around at night (which is true), I bought tons of snacks on the first day.

Made my own sandwich. The loaf of bread was so big that I could not finish it in time.

The fruit cake from Woolsworth was surprisingly OK.

Here is the horde or food that I bought, which many of them I could not finish in 2 weeks coz I was so stuffed all the time. More on that later.

   

Did not miss out having to taste ultra fresh Royal Gala apples, my favorite type.

 

I thought ang moh’s cannot stand spicy food, but hot damn, these Kettle chips were smoking. Took me 3 nights to finish these.

Perth Trip – Hotel Room

I took too many pictures during my trip to Perth that I got to post these in small batches… Starting with the hotel I stayed, which is “The New Esplanade Hotel”, located on, surprise surprise, The Esplanade Road, which in front of the esplanade. You get the idea.

The rate was going like about AUD110, which is rather cheap. I think they gave quite a fair amount of discount since I stayed there for 14 days straight.

The rooms were pretty decent, with a queen size bed and another single. Had a ViewSonic flat panel and small fridge. Room was clean, but toiletries were minimal. Just towels, no toothbrush.

Here’s the view from the hotel room at daylight.

 

And at night. The Eye of Perth was on display, but did not bother to try out, as there were many more things to do, and eat. Will show you guys in pictures in coming posts!

iPhone 3GS Maxis Malaysia Pricing is out!

http://www.maxis.com.my/iphone3gs/rateplan1.asp

Too bad no price drop for the previous 8GB iPhone 3

One Tiny Painful Step Forward...

No dates yet, but confirmed this month (d'oh). http://www.maxis.com.my/iphone3gs/index.asp

So Easy Even Isaac Can Do It...

Singapore Science Center

Here are some of the vids I took at the SCC:

Rotating Tesla Coil

Tesla Coil super spark

Wireless energy transference

Tesla Coil goes Ka-boom!

SCC has a IMAX theater too, and we watched "Space Station", which was narrated by Tom Cruise, using actual space footage taken from Space Shuttle missions and from the ISS. The theater is not like the one in Berjaya Time Square, because the screen was round, like a football cut in half! Definitely a very difference experience, especially looking down the Earth from ISS.

Singapore Trip/Exchange 14 Ignite

So I was down at Singapore for about a week to attend the Exchange “14” Ignite, as well as to take some time off to get around and about. Here are some of the slightly more interesting stuffs that I saw during my trip. (56kbps warning!)

First up, for LCie: MOS burger!!! I think I had it for at least twice.

I was so excited that I ordered 2 burgers! Yay! But I was in a rush that I left the 2nd one on the table. Darn.

For Juls, CH and Ivy: Look at the big cannons!

For Justin: Star Trek in DLP was awesome! And with some UOB credit card the tix price would just be SGD6.

For Andy and Corra: Although it was on sale, it was still too expensive (for me) la. SGD240 for slippers? Ended up with Nike @ SGD55.

Singaporeans really like their arts. This was on the MRT station wall @ Chinatown aka Niu Che Shui. Took these while waiting for CK.

For Funj: Here was how the event look like. See? I saw in front row, good student leh. Cham didn’t like it at all though :P

For Funj: Without breaching the NDA, here is one shot of the Dell Latitude 17 inchers that everyone was using with 8GB of RAM. That’s almost 200 units in one room…

 

For Justin: They had the Maverick in transparent case! Is this authorized version or china ciplak?

For Daniel and LCie: Asahi beer from the tap! Damn smooth! SGD9.90 per pop. Too bad the ramen so so only. Thanks Joseph for insisting to pay for the dinner!

Toilet also got flat panel TV, don’t play play OK. Even my house is still on CRT TV :(

For Justin and Julian: Tons of camara bags, @ top floor Sim Lim Square. Not sure about pricing though. Kata, National Geographic, Tamrec, Lowepro – complete collection!

For LCie and LH: Went to Night Safari with Cham. Thanks LH for the recommendation! It was well worth the SGD22 tix. Came out and lo and behold, a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlor! You’d wouldn’t find this in Malaysia… (fresh anyway.)

For Funj: Only wish that I could lug these babies back! SGD160 at South East Asia computer store @ Funan.

For Julian: This is the Intuos that I saw, it was huge! Too bad I am artistically crippled :P

Ah here is the place where I had the Asahi beer on tap. Shokudo. I heard there is a outlet in KL?

For CK and Isaac: I went to the Singapore Science Center, and I think it was well worth the visit. SGD25 and we spend the whole day there.  SSC had a huge animatron T-Rex at the entrance. It was huge and very articulate, compared to the Dino and Monster expo at Midvalley…

Look closely. The model is even made to be “anatomically correct”…

All Red Alert fans: SSC has a real tesla coil on demo! Video @ next post.

Me and CK were very lucky as the Da Vinci expo was there and it was suppose to be the only stop in South East Asia. Too bad no pix allowed inside.

McSpicy (Singapore) = Chicken McDeluxe (Malaysia).

 

One more round of MOS burger before going back! Yakiniku Rice (beef).

 

For Edwin: I did get to Computex after 3 train line changes and 1 bus ride later…. Thanks for the info anyway :)

For Funj and Cham: Polycom units on sale…but why no stock one leh. Challanger @ VivoCity.

For Joey: The garden is actually on the roof of the building! @ViviCity.

Isaac would had love it there.

Pseudo lake garden on the roof – magnificent!

 

For LH: ALDO was on sale, 20% off.

For Justin: National Geographic’s signature outlet was at VivoCity – it has a zero Celsius chamber to test out their winter wears… but even a sweater costs SGD250…

For all burger/hotdog lovers: This is the ultimate place to go. Albeit the corny name, the burger I ordered was fantastic! Check next pix!

 

Ben and Jerry’s again! For SGD3 more on top of the meal.

This is the Super Burger. Aptly named, the meat patty consists of BOTH beef and pork. And I ordered extra bacon and eggs… inside the burger! Yom yom yom!

For all Sarawakians: Kolo mee rocks! @ LG2 VivoCity.