Tan Eu Hong and Sumant in the lead

The Malaysian Chess National Closed 2007 is turning out to be an interesting affair. The favourites Tan Khai Boon and Ismail Ahmad have taken a fall and the leaders are now Tan Eu Hong and Sumant Subramaniam. Both are with 5.5 points out of 6. Eu Hong according to the polls conducted at my website is the least likely favoured to win the National Closed. Just shows how wrong public expectation can be compared to reality.



It's not over yet as there are 3 more rounds to go. Anything can happen. Check out the results at GilaChess.com

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iPhone coming out in June 15

Here's another unverified rumour started by this letter below:-

To: All Company Owned Retail Employees



From: [Name removed]



Subject: iPhone Launch Period



Date: May 4, 2007



As previously announced, Apple and AT&T will soon debut the iPhone,

which combines a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and

breakthrough internet communications into one small and lightweight

handheld device. The new AT&T has a multiyear, exclusive agreement to

provide U.S. service for the iPhone.



To ensure proper staffing during the product launch period, Sales personnel

planning to take approved time off are encouraged to schedule their

vacations before June 15 or after July 15 to participate in the iPhone

launch.



Previously approved vacation will be allowed where voluntary rescheduling

is not feasible



No additional vacation requests will be approved during the launch period

(6/15 – 7/15).



I want to thank you in advance for your understanding as this is likely to

be the biggest selling period we have seen in a few years.



Happy Selling,



[Name removed]



I really can't wait to see an actual iPhone after all the hype it generated.

National Closed in Penang

It's already 4 rounds and there is three leaders out of a total of 64 players in the Malaysian Chess Closed.



This year is very different as there are no titled players or players who are considered very strong. This has made the whole competition an open race and anyone can win. Arguably one of the weakest National Closed we have had but it'll be interesting who will become National Champ.



One of my picks is this fellow, Tan Khai Boon.





Here he is just defeating Sarawak champion (right) Lim Kian Hwa.

5xmom appears in The Star newspaper

Well it's her blog anyway. She says her blog appears on The Star today. I'll have to buy a copy on my way back from work afterwards.

Then again, my Make$ Money$ got mentioned is an honour already. Just to make it clearer, I have made RM1,400 since nuffnang was launched.

Chan Lilian or 5xmom actually makes big bucks from her 10 or more websites (mostly blogs) and she is quite a character. Very outspoken and quite popular judging from her 3000 unique visitors per day on one of her blogs. I can't even get 100 visitors :(



Anyway, folks, if you want a sifu or mentor on money making 5xmom is a very good choice.

Check her out on 5xmom.com and chanlilian.net (she should have booked chanlilian dot com :) )

Malaysia Economic Growth to pick up in 2nd half

MALAYSIA'S economy probably started the year on
a slower note during the first quarter, mostly due to weaker external
demand, economists say.

They said the robust services sector, mainly
tourism activities, will likely offset the weaker performance recorded
by the manufacturing sector during the year's first four months.

The
economists however believe that overall economic growth is likely to
pick up during the second half of 2007, largely on stronger
investments, better fiscal spending and an improved global electrical
and electronics industry.



Read more from Business Times



Good news indeed. I have a feeling that things are beginning to pick up.

Sitting in your car getting arrested for stealing WiFi

Sam Peterson was arrested under a Michigan law barring access to anyone else's network without authorization; he is being prosecuted for using a cafe's free WiFi from his car. The cafe's WiFi network was reserved for customers – Peterson never came into the Union Street Café – and instead used its free WiFi from the comfort of his car, every single day. A police officer grew suspicious of Peterson and eventually questioned him as to what he was up to. "I knew that the Union Street had WiFi. I just went down and checked my e-mail and didn't see a problem with that," Peterson told a reporter.



Under Michigan's "Fraudulent access to computers, computer systems, and computer networks" law, Peterson's actions could result in a five-year felony and a $10,000 fine. However, prosecutors do not plan to throw the book at him, as they don't believe that Peterson was aware he was even breaking the law. Instead, he will pay a $400 fine and do 40 hours of community service, and the arrest will not go on his record. Coincidentally, the cafe owner that Peterson was leeching WiFi off of didn't even realize that what Peterson was doing was a crime at the time. Neither did the police officer. "I had a feeling a law was being broken, but I didn't know exactly what," said Sparta police chief Andrew Milanowski.

News source: Ars Technica



My 2 cents:



That's just plain stupid. How can you fine a person USD 400 for using WiFi while in your car outside a coffee shop. I've done this many times. Sometimes I stop at a Mamak stall that has WiFi signal creeping in from a nearby Starbucks cafe. Should I be arrested too?



I can just imagine if there was a mugging or a robbery nearby and we see this cop arresting this innocent young man sitting in his car, checking his email!



That's just wrong.

Malaysia goes high tech vs Pirates

Hey if you are watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 there may actually be real pirates in the cinema crowd! :)

Night vision used to catch film pirates. 28/05/2007. ABC News Online


Malaysian cinemas have found a powerful new weapon in their fight against movie pirates - military-style night vision goggles.

After showing people to their seats, trained ushers strap on the
goggles and scan darkened cinemas around the country to spot anyone
trying to make illegal copies of movies with hand-held video recorders
or mobile phones.

The Motion Picture Association, which is training Malaysian ushers
to catch the pirates, say cinemas have caught 17 people in the past two
months, during which Hollywood studios released blockbusters like
Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Wow 17 people already caught! Has anybody seen the ushers wearing those goggles? And in which cinemas? TGV?

Converted PostNuke website to WordPress

My main website, GilaChess.com was running on PostNuke for 6 years already!!



However, after using WordPress for quite some time I find that WordPress can actually act as a better Content Management System (CMS).



So last Sunday night when I recovered from my fever, I just installed WordPress over GilaChess.com to see how it looked with my old GilaChess content. It looks great!! Also another bonus is that I get to keep my old content without overwriting the old CMS files. So I didn't have to go thru the headache of converting all the old content to WordPress. Instead I just link to the old content and will probably call the link "archive".





Another reason is WordPress is better at bringing in the search engines. I want Google to know GilaChess.com exists!



I'm confident with WordPress my site will rise in traffic rankings from Google, Alexa and Technorati in no time.

Bedridden for the weekend

I overworked myself on Friday night and didn't sleep till Saturday morning.



I was working on some office work and I really hate it when there are deadlines like this to meet.



What's worse was that when I woke up in the afternoon, my head was spinning with a low-grade fever. Didn't  see the doctor as I really hate doctors! On Sunday morning I was better but still tired and weak. Was supposed to work on some websites but just didn't have the mood or energy. So I tried to rest fully on Sunday as Monday will be another hectic work day. :(

I bought Susan Polgar a gift domain name

I bought Women Chess World Champ Susan Polgar a domain name for her 2nd year blog anniversary. At the beginning it was for her wedding to Paul Truong but when I sent the gift, she told me it was also her blog anniversary. The domain name I bought : SusanPolgarBlog.com



I bought the domain name from GoDaddy.

Google going after LinkFarms!

It's great news that Google is going after website owners who try to make money by filling up their websites with Google ads but little content.



What's surprising about this is that Google is like saying they don't mind making less money (websites actually pay them for the Adwords that they post on their sites) in favour of clearing up the web of junk.



I salute Google efforts to clean up the internet.

Dell Ubuntu more expensive than Dell Windows

Last week Dell began shipping computers with Ubuntu linux on them.



That's a revolutionary move from Dell but it's curious why the Linux pre-installed machines costs more (slightly) than the Windows-installed machines.



The reasons I think would be:

• Since Linux will invariably need more support, Dell is protecting themselves with a little 'padding' as they anticipate customers will start calling them on Linux problems.
• Those junky pre-installed 'free' software actually makes money for Dell. The Windows software makers actually pay Dell a dollar or two to have it pre-installed for customers. With Linux there's no crapware for Dell to install.

What do you think?

Google buys Feedburner for USD 100 million

By now everybody knows this.



I guess Google will really know more about me than me myself. Not only do they know my search habits but they also know what I read online! That's really evil if you ask me :)

Wish I was in Penang

This is world police champion, Ismail Ahmad, who is one of the favourites to win Malaysian National Closed 2007. I usually go and watch the National Closed tournament even though I have never played. This time I cannot attend since it's in Penang and I can't get leave from my employees in KL. :(



This year will be interesting as no titled or really strong players are taking part except for a handful like Ismail Ahmad. So although the quality of competition may have dropped, it will be interesting to see if any 'dark horses' can steal the show and become the new Malaysian Chess National Champion for 2007.

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Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Health Concerns

Malaysia's prime minister felt weak and appeared to totter during a public function and had to be held up by officials, raising health concerns about the 67-year-old leader.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi later dismissed rumors that he had fainted while attending the outdoor function in the northern state of Perak, and attributed the incident to heat and lack of sleep.

~ full article on The Star.