HTNet - A Notepad of Tech, Business, Science and Self Improvement

I was made aware of Hotlink’s Voice SMS Service through TV advertisements and thought that this is a really cool service! Basically, as its name implies, it’s a short voice message system at an affordable rate. I decided to give it a try over the past few days.

Since this is a fairly new service, I do expect some teething problems… and some where glaringly apparent. Here’s a list of some of the service’s shortcomings that I noticed:

• “Lost” messages. Occasionally I get to hear messages that are obviously not for me. So, for you lovebirds out there, I don’t recommend blurting out saucy things using this service. Your message might be leaked to a third party.
• Inconsistent voice instructions. Sometimes the instructions are in English and sometimes in Malay. I’m just thankful that I actually understand both… but I can see how this inconsistency can be an issue for those who don’t understand one of them.
• There’s no way to identify the sender. The options available after hearing a message are just delete and reply. If I don’t know who the sender is, how can I make a good decision? At least with SMS we can make use of CLI, but there’s no such feature with this service.
• Inconsistent incoming voice SMS notifications. Sometimes you get it, often times you don’t.

If Maxis manages to fix all these issues, I have no doubt that it’ll be one of the most popular services in its stable.

Hmm… I never expected to write another entry regarding Proton, after this piece written in October last year. But recent developments have encouraged me enough to again, give my two cents regarding “Malaysia’s National Car Company”.

First off, how does this affect Malaysians in general? Unless you’ve been spending the last few years meditating alone in a cave, you’d have definitely noticed that Proton have made some really weird business decisions of late. Here’s a recap:

• Selling off Agusta SpA for €1: A company which has world recognisable brands such as Cagiva and MV Agusta.
• Introducing the Proton Chancellor, for which for the rest of the world is very much just an overpriced souped up Waja. Lots of interesting comments under this entry by Paul Tan.
• Attempting to label the butt-ugly Proton Savvy as “My first Lotus”, and (unsuprisingly) getting this response by the Brits.

I find it extremely unbelievable that a company with so much protection from the government can mess up so much. However, this is very much in line with my belief that governments should stay clear of owning/running businesses. The political mind is one of the worst ways of running a business… there’s almost always a “hidden agenda”.

Related posts: Proton-Volkswagen Partnership: no go! by Paul Tan and Proton Shares Slump by MageP.

It seems that the most primitive web browser in the market is not only a major source of pain for web designers and the internet community in general, but also for the people we least expected, its developers.

ArsTechnica has a decent write up on this topic. Insightful and interesting. Perhaps Microsoft should just bundle Firefox with Windows and get it over with.

It seems that Intel is undergoing a brand overhaul. Part of this exercise includes changing its corporate logo.

At present, the only page that I know of which showcases the logo is here.

Not revolutionary, but in my opinion, it sure looks nicer than the current one.

Actually, if this article from CoolTechZone is accurate, the deal is already sealed and done.

And here I was, sitting here wondering about the reason for Opera, the most well-knowned commercial web browser, going freeware. Where will they get income? Advertising has already been pulled out from their web browsers. Opera for mobile devices? Most users are already happy with their bundled browser, and I don’t foresee any IT professionals forking out cash for a browser on a device that they’ll at most, occasionally, use. I have read somewhere that Opera has clinched a deal to bundle their browser in a line of mobile phones, but I doubt that the deal was lucrative enough.

I guess this recent development makes everything much clearer now. Let’s hope that Microsoft will make full use of the technological advances available from Opera to make IE better. Honestly, how can such a highly successfully software company produce such a lame browser.

Update: This rumour has been proven untrue (Thank God!).