Too bad I ain’t that influential enough for one of the PR guys to respond to me. Oh well, at least they did reply to my support ticket that I send to them. Within it I did put a link to the article that explains the situation in detail. Knowing that they will not give a damn at all, I gave a brief write-up of the situation I am facing. Guess what they’re response is? Read on to find out how they dealt with a complaining customer.

So here is the full reply cut and pasted here for your viewing pleasure:

Dear Mr. Lee,

Thank you for your e-mail and interest in PS products.

Please be informed that we have checked the repair records of this case. Please note that the power failure might be caused by faulty fuse on the AC switch. Probable cause may be due to short circuit on the motherboard or a power surge when plugging-in to the power AC. Even if the previous reason for repair service was due to power cut off, this may further result in other issues as the motherboard was not repaired or replaced.

Thus, this is an entirely different problem concerning different parts even if the symptoms are the same. We can only advise that you visit the service center for machine inspection so we can confirm the problem.

As for the reported part/s not properly connected, this might be due to the console being dismantled without specialized knowledge of the PS3′s internal structure.

For updated information regarding our PS products, please feel free to browse our web site at http://asia.playstation.com/sg/en.
If you have further enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us at http://asia.playstation.com/sg/en/support/contactus/.
Playstation product hotline tel: 800-8523-663 (Mondays to Sundays 09:00-20:00)

Due to the holiday season, our service centers will have the following changes in their working hours.

Christmas Eve (Dec/24/2010): 11 am – 5pm
Christmas Day (Dec/25/2010): Closed
New Year Eve (Dec/31/2010): 11 am – 5pm
New Year Day (Jan/01/2011): Closed

Thank you for your kind attention.

Best Regards,
Benny Garcia
Contact Centre
Customer Communications & Relations Department
Direct Touch Point Marketing Division

Ah… so let me break it down for you. If you’re not interested in the breakdown of whatever points they stated, what they have basically replied and after being summarized into one major point is: Hey it is not our fault. Go blame someone else.

First point they made:

Please be informed that we have checked the repair records of this case.

Wait what? I don’t remember giving you any of my console’s serial number nor did I have any follow up number that you can look into. Are you saying that you have spent time and effort to look for a case that has motherboard failure? I mean, seriously how many cases can there be within a time frame of a few months? Not many I guess but I really hope you got the right case. Can’t blame them though. This line is probably part of their template.

Please note that the power failure might be caused by faulty fuse on the AC switch

Let me get it straight, is the AC switch the back button of the ps3? If that is the case, I did mention that I tested for electric flow on the power unit itself. And yes, there was no flow at all, the power unit was damaged.

Probable cause may be due to short circuit on the motherboard or a power surge when plugging-in to the power AC.

Ok since I replied the first point of the faulty fuse being an invalid point, this serves no purpose at all. The fuse blown or not doesn’t matter, please explain why the internal power unit was damaged after sending in for repair or inspection, whatever you call it.

Even if the previous reason for repair service was due to power cut off, this may further result in other issues as the motherboard was not repaired or replaced.

Firstly, the previous reason for repair service wasn’t due to power cut off.

Secondly, why if the console was replaced back its original parts will result in further damages? Are you trying to say that your technicians are not qualified to do a proper job? And after they dismantle my ps3 they put back an xbox360 for me? Oh my, what are you saying? Because I didn’t want to pay to get my motherboard repaired or replaced, my power supply gets damaged and wifi gets dismantled?

Thus, this is an entirely different problem concerning different parts even if the symptoms are the same. We can only advise that you visit the service center for machine inspection so we can confirm the problem.

The symptoms aren’t the same, and no I will not pay for another damaging done to my ps3.

As for the reported part/s not properly connected, this might be due to the console being dismantled without specialized knowledge of the PS3′s internal structure.

Now pushing the blame to me? Oh come on, how is it possible that the internals get disconnected when I’m dismantling the external carefully. Besides if you know how the wifi component was connected, you wouldn’t even dare to make that statement. Please consult your technician first before making such statements. Oh of course unless your technicians rip apart consoles to see the inside, I don’t know.

And there you have a typical way of pushing the blame to everyone else except themselves. Please do reply, I really hope that you’ll shut my mouth for good. My mouth is kind of tired already. Or at least my fingers are.

I love the playstation console and I love products made by Sony. All I need is a proper explanation, and yes thanks for attempting but seriously whatever pointed out is way too generic and nothing actually applies. Oh well… and yes I might be getting a new console soon, Uncharted 3 anyone?

p.s: and of course this was the email content I sent to them (if you’re lazy to read the block of text in the other article):

Hello, Full story here: http://www.swiftworld.net/2010/12/19/be-careful-of-singapore-sony-playstation-service-center/ To cut short: I am very disappointed with the technicians or whoever that handled my PS3 console. After sending it for diagnosis, the PS3 returned was in even worse conditions then before. Your technician/personal called back to say that it was merely a “motherboard” problem yet in fact after it return even the power was not working. Opened up the PS3 myself and to my horror, your technicians did an extremely horrible job. Wifi component wasn’t plugged in at all! I have great doubts over how my working internal power supply has become faulty after your “diagnosis”. Will love to have a better explanation on this. Will do my best to bring this up as much as I can because I am very angry at how professional the technicians or whatever you guys did to “help” and “diagnose” my console. Thank goodness I didn’t send for you guys to “repair” the motherboard, god knows what might happen next. Regards, Lee http://www.swiftworld.net

[image by: shagy6six6 via flickr]

Not too long ago, I finally finished setting up a client’s website on WebFaction. Giving myself a pat on the back as it marks the end of a tough period for me too. To turn my depression into something cheerful, I have decided to write a review on my experience with WebFaction. Glad to have taken some screenshots of the control panel before things went wrong. This review is based on a month of usage of the web host.

Domains, Applications, Websites

My first experience with using WebFaction is a pretty strange one, as after all, the common CPanel isn’t present when I logged in to their control panel site. They were using their own control panel with a unique concept. Domains, Applications, Websites.

What does this mean? Well instead of uploading your files to a certain folder such as “www” or “public_html” like most hosting, you create an app. From 1 of it’s many choices, it can be a CMS (Content Management System) or framework app such as Drupal, Django or some generic static app that simply holds your media files. Their 1 click installer handles most things for you.

After creating your apps, you can begin linking your apps to a domain. This allows lots of customizations. For example you could have the following configuration:

2 apps linked to the domain called “example.com”

The 1st app would probably be your Drupal / Django / Whatever powers your main site which starts at ‘/’ the root of your site “example.com”

The 2nd app could be a WordPress app at ‘/blog’ which is located at “example.com/blog/”.

And so on. Pretty intuitive to set up once you got the idea. Want another portion of the site to be accessible through HTTPS? Just create another site entry. Want your blog to be located at “blog.example.com”? Another entry too.

Plenty of Tools, Fantastic Support

The other thing I like about WebFaction is the amount of tools it gave you to do your job. From SSH to Python support, it is hard to find a tool it doesn’t have (Sorry ASP.net users). These were all available from their VPS to shared hosting plans for a pretty reasonable price (Lowest at $5.50 USD per month)..

However the main show stopper to me about WebFaction is their support. Other than having fantastic documentation , their customer support is awesome. Several times I have contacted them during the set up of the website and the replies are often within minutes with detailed solutions to the questions I’m asking. Which eliminate the need for me to engage in longer conversations. I couldn’t ask for anything better. Sharp, straight to the point answers and educational material for me as well.

Final Thoughts

So, is WebFaction for you? Well, that depends on your needs. If you are a developer who like to play around with many different technologies or you have very special needs such as running a Django website or using PostgreSQL as your database back-end, values great customer support and service, then WebFaction is a very suitable choice for you. However if you just want to get a hosting account to run a personal WordPress blog straight away, then I think there are sightly cheaper options elsewhere if cost is an issue for you.

Last but not least, let’s look forward to the new year.

Here is the very brief outline of whatever that has happened. A few months back, my Playstation 3 (PS3) encountered a rather common problem, the yellow light of death (YLOD). The playstation just would not boot up, giving beeps and a yellow light after that. The first thing came into my mind was to bring it to the service center to see the problem. After a few weeks, they called and told us their diagnosis, the motherboard had failed. Changing the motherboard would set us back over $200, a price which we decided was not worth to pay. Went to the service center, got back my PS3 after paying for their initial diagnosis. Fair enough, brought it back home and never tried to on it again. Today, I’ve just discovered (Yes how stupid I am to not know this in the first place) a probable fix for the YLOD. Tried to turn on the PS3 and to my horror, there was no power at all. No light, no nothing. How? From a PS3 that had lights and beeping, to a dead black brick (after their “servicing”/”diagnosis”).

I was shocked, and am still shocked. Check for voltage in the power cord, yup there is. Check all external factors and eliminated almost all possible ones that I could have thought of. Thinking that it was probably the motherboard being the problem, I continued to open the PS3 apart. Carefully and cautiously, I stripped down the PS3 to its naked parts. The first thing I see that got me really pissed and angry was how terrible the internal state of the PS3 was. First, there was the Wifi component. What’s wrong with it? IT WASN’T EVEN PLUGGED INTO THE MOTHERBOARD. Hell I’m not sure if it is supposed to be like that but if it is not plugged in, how on earth is my PS3 supposed to have the wireless capabilities?

Moving on to the internal power supply: With professional help (a father very experienced in mechanical and electrical stuff) we check and verified that indeed the power supply was dead. I had only one conclusion after seeing the Wifi component not being plugged in and now the power supply being dead, the technicians or somebody that handled my PS3 had tempered and exchanged my power supply with a faulty one. No reason for it to be sent in and then coming back with a totally new problem. No reason for it to become a power problem and not a motherboard problem as they “diagnosed” previously. No reason for it to be in such a horrible state.

“Dude, your power supply might have died by itself. You can’t blame them”. Alright here is my logical reasoning to the conclusion to how I believed my perfectly working internal power supply (and god knows what other things) have been exchanged for a faulty one:

1.       My PS3 had the YLOD. Power was working, everything was working. Lights etc, just that not booting up.

2.       Sony Service Center’s technician/personal (whoever who called) mentioned that the PS3 had a “motherboard” problem. Nothing mentioned on the power not working.

3.       Sony Service Center’s technician/personal said that I had to “change the motherboard” for the ps3 to work. To do so, I had to pay for the motherboard plus handling charges which amount to over $200.

4.       I stripped apart my PS3 and found that the Wifi component was not even plugged into the motherboard. (Wifi was perfectly fine before)

5.       Tested the power supply unit to see if there was any charge/voltage but all I see is a big 0 (used a multimeter).

Because my power was working before, the Sony Service center personal told me that it was completely a “motherboard” issue and that I ONLY had to change the “motherboard”, the internal parts not even properly ensembled (Wifi component), and the power supply now magically not working. It can only be due to these conclusions:

1.       God didn’t want me to use my PS3 anymore.

2.       They damaged my internal power supply while the diagnosis.

3.       They exchanged my perfectly working internal power supply for a faulty one.

4.       I magically damaged my INTERNAL power supply.

With the reasons above (1 – 4), I can only say the probability of conclusions 2 and 3 are most likely. Magic is an illusion and using God to explain things just isn’t concrete enough. Oh well, what can I say, believe it or not is up to you. I put up my reasoning and argument and all I have to say is, be careful of all service centers. You never know what they do to your semi-damaged product. And of course in addition to that, Thanks for breaking my PS3 into even smaller pieces Singapore Sony Playstation Service Center peoples.

Goodbye my lovely fat ps3.

[image by: shagy6six6 via Flickr]

In today’s world where everyone is busy with work, study and other commitments, having a clear mind on what to do next is crucially important to maximize our limited time. A To-do list is a great aid in this aspect;  it helps us take note of what we plan to do in the next hour, day or even months ahead.

However many such To-do list applications are either too simple or too complicated. Simple in the sense that they provide just a single column for all your tasks, lacking of customizations and specifications. Complicated in the sense that they might actually be feature rich with tons of flexibility and customizations, it might be overwhelming for a normal end user. In my case, I simply need a To-Do List that gives me a quick & simple overview of what’s ahead for the week or month without the need to spend time cracking my head trying to fit in details into those single column only To-do list.

TeuxDeux is quite the perfect match for me. At first glance as you could see here, it simply just shows up a To-do list page for the next 5 days.

Intuitive isn’t it? How do you add tasks? Just type it in of course. Had something you want to postpone to tommorow? just drag the task to the next day. Oh and wait, there is a Someday tasks section at the bottom for procrastinators like me to place our no datelines tasks over there to constantly remind ourselves of what we haven’t done yet (:.

Here a video on how TeuxDeux works from the makers themselves:

p.s theres even an iPhone app that allows you to sync with the service!

I did mention in my previous review of my current host that I would do a follow up when 6 months passed. Here I am doing just that and I must say that so far everything has been fantastic. SharkSpace, for those who don’t know who or what they are, is a hosting company that SwiftWorld is currently being hosted by. This is a follow up review of the host and is based on the shared hosting services provided by the host.

There are many hosts out there that come and go within months. SharkSpace obviously ain’t part of that category of hosts and they don’t show any signs of entering such a situation any time soon. So far I haven’t faced much if not any problems at all. Uptime has been perfect, site loading times fast and server load maintained at a near perfect rate. Prices of the plans remained competitive and for such stability the price is totally worth it.

There was a period of time when uptime of my site lingered between 98% to 100% for around a week or so, not sure why but it didn’t really bothered me much since the impact was minimal and I doubt I suffered much lost or any implications during that period. After that particular week everything has been perfect so far.

For the mere pricing of $5 USD a month, SharkSpace not only provide excellent plans but also marvelous support and service. For those looking for a hosting solution, you might want to take a look at SharkSpace.

I’ve recently (around 2 weeks ago) shifted host. The main reason for doing so is due to the poor uptime of my previous host. That was not all, the loading time of the server is totally horrendous. I’ve tried optimizing to the best of my ability but the time taken to simply get a response from the server itself is way too long. That plus the free time I had since my examinations were finally over, resulted in the shift to a new host.

I search long and hard, looking for a host that is affordable and reliable. No point paying a dollar a month and then the server shuts down after a month. Reading forums and other people’s reviews, I decided to give SharkSpace webhosting a try. SharkSpace started in the year 2004, so I guess they do have some experience in this field. Their pricing is fantastically reasonable as well. To add on, they have an ongoing 50% off life discount that is currently available for certain plans. I’ll review the host based on first impression, my experience so far with their support and of course whether the server is performing for the price or the promises they made.

If you visit their site, you will be greeted with a pleasant web design. The colours are good and their mascot is cute. It is an animal (a shark) therefore it gets bonus points (since I like polar bears and they are animal as well).  Why is a web design important for a web hosting company? Firstly, it is the first impression it gives people. If you’re greeted with a design that is merely text and nothing else, would you even want to try the host out? First impression means a lot in business and for everyone. A good first impression in this case would convince a buyer to try out the service. A bad impression would simply put him off even with the numerous good reviews by people. SharkSpace has no problem in this department and the first impression they give me is fantastic.

Hosting plans are neatly presented, information on the webhost are detailed and sufficient. Everything was great in terms of design and presentation. With that said, I had to use the live support for some queries regarding the host and other payment issues. The live support might be a problem for some, especially those living in the time zone totally opposite to that of their main headquarters. This is simply because they only operate during usual office hours (8 am to 5 pm Central Time and is closed on Sunday) This meant that it is opened from around 11 pm to 7 am for me, Singapore. Therefore it was hard to communicate with their sales support at the start and I didn’t really feel like submitting a ticket for the trivial matters I had in mind so I just waited during one of the fridays to ask.

Their live support is fantastic. As in I didn’t have any major issues so far so whatever I’ve asked are simple questions but they are adequately answered and I’m always left satisfied when I close the window. Staff are polite and helpful, and I must definitely say patient for I asked several questions over and over again because I was rather cautious and worried for it is my first time shifting host and stuff. I did try their ticket support for some issue regarding the host background and stuff and they replied within 20 mins? (They say ticket would be replied within an hour and their current average support time is 10 mins) Something to take note was that the ticket sent was flagged (by myself) as low priority and still it got answered really quickly. Hmm, that is something really really good. Oh and their ticket support (technical department) is opened 24/7, meaning they will help you within an hour or much much less.

With that said I finally purchased a plan and started moving my stuff from my previous webhost over. The account creation was instant as soon as you pay the money. I receive the email regarding my account information within seconds after the payment by credit card was done. Everything went very smoothly. Transferring was fast and the uploading speed etc were great. For my internet connection to upload at around 100kb/s was amazing. cPanel was provided (even though I do not use much of it) and is a bonus for all. Fantastico is fantastic even if I didn’t use it. As in I’m just stating a general statement because cPanel is by far my most preferred control panel.

Uptime up till now is at 100% and of course things looks fantastic. The future is bright and I believe I’ll be back with another review by year end (not end month cause I think I’ll give it more time) and in that review I’ll be positive and happy. I’ll rate the host on their plans and pricing when I feel that I’ve been long enough with the host because some host promises so much yet they give so little or simply close down the next day. SharkSpace doesn’t seem to fit into that category but still I believe time will be an evidence to whatever I’ll be stating in future. For now, I rate the service and the hosting so far a 8.5/10. A 1.0 taken off because of live support not being 24/7 and a 0.5 because nobody is perfect.

Link to Host: SharkSpace Webhosting

Foreign Legion Buckets of Blood (FL:BoB for short), is an indie third person shooter. The game is developed by  Sakari Indie (http://sakari-indie.com/) and is now available through digital download and steam. The game is extremely simple, defend the building from the oncoming attackers until help arrive. In this building, there are several villagers. You are the last man standing and being the hero you are, you defend the villagers from the enemies. Simple as that.

The game currently plays for around half an hour or so. Having said that, 30 mins include a second round play through or even a third. The level completes within 10 mins, the estimated time when help arrives. There is only one level. Do the math, and you’ll realise this is one hell of a short game. Reading up on their site, the developers did say something about providing free extra maps later on, but as of now, yes the game finishes within an hour or less. You get to choose from several difficulty levels. Each increases the complexity of the way you go about defending the building. However, even with the difficulty changed, the game still remains the same. The same old enemies, weapons and so on. No rewards except a cool little highscore that you can use to challenge your friends if they actually play the game.

The game allows players to choose from 4 different weapons. They are, the pistol (default and infinite ammo), rifle, rocket launcher and an airborne strike remote controller. Whichever guns you use, you practically have unlimited ammo supply for them. You get to call for a support plane to drop some crates which acts as repair power-up as well as ammo refills. I’ve used all of the guns and felt the best to use was the rifle for it simply meant more people killed in the fastest amount of time. I couldn’t use the rocket launcher nor the airborne strike to the fullest of their abilities for unknown reasons. I just can’t seem to hit anyone even with the explosive power of the rocket launcher. I shoot, boom, I missed. Playing around with the weapons are fun, but the fun last for only a short period of time. After that, you’ll probably just stick to one or simply quit the game.

There are 3 enemy types in the game. One the normal infantry who holds a gun, second the suicide bomber who does nothing but rushes to the building to blow himself up, and lastly a heavy infantry who uses rockets to shoot at you. All are killed in the same way, however with an exception to the suicide bomber who explodes if you shoot his body. You are allowed to kill your opponent by shooting either the body, the head or exploding them. You gain points by chaining up combo kills. The higher the combo, the higher the score. There are chickens present in the game as well, kill them for points and achievement (steam users). That is practically all the game does provide.

With just one map and the cartoony graphics, one cannot help but say this game is way way too short for the price tag it carries. The graphics are fine, but nothing eye catching. Explosions are done the cute way so are the killings and blood. However, the animation of the character movement was rather poor but with the graphics being that way, I guessed I can’t comment too much. With all that said, all I can do is to wait for the new levels should there be any, otherwise, the game is currently being sold for around $6.95 (around $11 SGD?). With that price tag, I believe many gamers will be put off. $11 SGD can get you many iphone games you know, and they last even longer than FL:BoB.

Check out a gameplay footage I made:

I was/is/am horrified by what just happened. I saw some posts regarding Advertlets domain being expired and not renewed. Oh great, being curious I went on their site and indeed it is true. The domain had expired and Josh (owner of Advertlets, I think) did not renew it! To make it worst, whoever had Advertlets advertisement code within their site would be redirected to the holding site for the domain. Great, now people who went on to my site the past few minutes (luckily) thinks my site is merely a scam or in-active crappy virus site. This mistake is HUGE. Forget the $1 ruckus made by Nuffnang, forget the support tickets not being answered, and forget the cheques not being delivered or signed. Why? Because this is way WAAAY more serious than the past few mistakes and problems. Who would be angry? Both the publishers and the advertisers. And if you add both of them up you get everyone. Everyone gets affected and everyone ought to be angry with Advertlets.

Why would Publishers be angry?

Why shouldn’t they be angry when their sites get redirected to some holding scam like page? Publishers’ own visitors themselves might lose trust in the site they go to. This especially applies on new visitors. What about the big sites that publishes Advertlets? Within minutes a few hundreds if not thousands of visitors would have been redirected. I’m happy my site isn’t too established yet if not this mistake made by OTHERS would have cost me my site, my reputation and my viewers’ trust.

Why would Advertisers be angry?

They pay for what they do not deserve. That is why. But I doubt it is much of a problem most probably because Advertlets would extend their advertising period for free or refund them the lost during the period whereby their advertisements are not displayed.

Last Words

Some thoughts I have on the issue. You cannot go far if you make such mistakes especially when you have strong competitors. Such mistakes may seem so small and insignificant but the effects and aftermaths are great, greater than what you think or expect. Small sites will not be affected much but for the more popular and famous sites the damage created is huge and painful. With such an event happening Advertlets may have to build the site a few months again before they can regain trust from the bigger publishers. Well perhaps I am making a mountain out of a molehill but for me this is a mistake that made me lose all my trust in them. It is just renewing a domain, how difficult can that be? If you can even forget to pay for your own fees, what more about issuing publishers their payout?

That is so right! Now you can easily make your photos talk by using a software that enables you to synchronize your speech with the photo. Easily make your photo’s mouth etc move to mimic a person talking in real life! How awesome is that! And the company is giving away free copies for bloggers who blog about this in their own blog! Yay! Here is a demo of how the thing works. Pretty cool huh!

Official site visit it for more information on how you can get your free software!

There is also another free software that is almost the same in terms of concept and idea.  Check out the site! Fix8