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

Many of us experience running our own web sites through blogging. The first steps are pretty straightforward; register with Blogger or WordPress.com and put our thoughts into writing. Then we learn a few tricks like embedding images and videos into our posts.

Later on, we start to explore other blogs for ideas and inspirations; leaving comments along the way. By this time, we will get comments on our blog posts too… and I’m sure it’s exciting to start getting regular readers on our blogs!

What many people discover next though isn’t as exciting as the first few steps. Some got irritated by the lack of control of their free blog hosting service. Some would like to monetize their content through ads but couldn’t do so as the terms and conditions of their free blog hosting provider doesn’t allow it.

So what’s next? Self hosting is where most people move on to… but who can we trust with our web content? How much is it going to cost?

In this post, I’m going to review the offers made by two of Malaysia’s leading web hosting provider; Exabytes and Shinjiru.

Read the rest of Malaysian Budget Hosting Faceoff: Exabytes vs Shinjiru »

Photo Credit: Kojach

So Ops Sikap ended yesterday and major newspapers covered the increase in road accidents and related deaths. Almost every interview that covered this topic has some politician or public figure commenting on society’s attitude towards road safety being the primary reason for our blood smeared roads.

In a recent interview broadcasted on TV3, Malaysia’s IGP; Tan Sri Musa Hassan, had even remarked that even if traffic offences are punishable by death, Malaysians would still drive dangerously and with disregard to other road users.

Whether this is true or not, I doubt we’ll ever find out. I’m sure that there are just too many bad drivers in Parliament that will shoot down the dossier to shreds in a heartbeat.

However, I can’t understand why those who gather these Ops Sikap stats are only obsessed with getting the number of accidents, deaths, vehicle type and location. This data merely covers the facts directly related to the accidents.

I’ve yet to see these reports coupled with important supplimentary data like the number of road tax renewals for the past 18 months, or sales figures of road vehicles for the past year.

Read the rest of The Ops Sikap Syndrome: Attitude Problem? Whose? »

Photo Credit: 水泳男

I’ll be honest and say it very early on; I don’t consider myself a fan of the late Yasmin Ahmad’s films. What I do admire her for is her work in the advertising sector.

Yasmin has the knack of delivering strong messages in very short time periods. In TV advertising, what you can deliver in a few seconds decides whether your campaign is a flop or success.

In this context, I cannot find any other Malaysian director who delivers this as consistently as Yasmin.

With this, I share with you some of her amazing work. Al-Fatihah, Yasmin… you will be missed.

Read the rest of Remembering Yasmin Ahmad, A True Malaysian Talent »

Photo Credit: pmorgan

Lingua-nazis in Malaysia are having a field day. The government has decided to abolish the Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English (more popularly known in Malaysia by its Malay acronym PPSMI) in 2012; after six years of poor planning and implementation.

In that six years, PPSMI has endured endless assaults by neophobic politicians and so-called academics and sociologists.

Yesterday, the got the best news of their lives; PPSMI will be phased out.

The terrorists have won.

Read the rest of A Dark Day for Malaysia’s Education System »

For the recent Chinese New Year holidays, I took a trip to KL (as usual whenever there’s a long break). Spent some time at KL Butterfly Park and took night trips to Putrajaya and KLCC.

Why am I mentioning this? Of course there’s an ulterior motive; I want to share some of the photos I took

Read the rest of Pictures From My Last KL Trip »