My Practical Info

Android ActiveSync Sync Issues

Leonard Ong — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:11:10 +0000

I just bought myself an Android phone a few days ago. That’s my first Android phone. Yes, you read it correctly, my first Android phone. I had seen a good one a couple years ago, HTC Hero, While I like the User Interface, I find it not mature yet. j

Fast forward a couple years to the present, HTC Sensation just released and I liked the large 4.3″ screen right away. It has quite a good hardware specifications and also running the latest Android software – Gingerbread 2.3.3, so I thought it was a good option to get this one. An alternative that I was considering was Motorola Atrix that can be docked to be a laptop.

Most of the function is quite straightforward although I find the User Interface is not linear and not as easy as iPhone. One immediate configuration that I need to get working was ActiveSync so that I can sync my emails, contacts and calendar with my corporate exchange server. I had hoped the Android software is mature by now, yet I am dead wrong about this. Synchronizing to my corporate exchange server always ended in failed sync – ‘Connection Socket timeout’. No log, No dialog box, No warning.

How can anyone troubleshoot this if there is no log? Well, at least I can’t…. Searching through the web, there were many hits but doesn’t solve the problems. Some of the potential solutions that have worked for some users:

1) Clearing categories

Select all calendar entries and clear the category (choose ‘no category’)
Re-categorize again the entries
Sync

2) Recreate accounts

Get assistance from your exchange admin
Remove your account
Create your account
Sync

Both solutions did not work for me and I had to do a painful sync over a small data at one time but I learnt a valuable solution. It seems that if you have quite a number of entries (mine was 300), Android ActiveSync client can’t perform initial / full sync and it’ll result in timeout – ‘Connection Socket Timeout’.

Here’s what I have done and I managed to get it working a few times:

Copy your calendar folder to a another folder or PST files in outlook
Delete all entries in your Calendar folder
Sync. This will clear all entries in outlook and Android device
Copy about 25-30 entries at one time and sync
Repeat until you have sync every entries.

Another alternative: (Sync only happens when your computer is powered on and connected to internet with Google Calendar Sync running)

Download and Install Google Calendar Sync for Windows
Sync 2-way or 1-way (depending on your preference) to your google account
Setup google account in your Android device
Sync Calendar. If you enable 2-way sync, you can create new entries on Android device and synced back to outlook.

There you go. I prefer the ActiveSync option, but the second option is not bad either. I hope this helps people having problems with their ActiveSync issues as well.

Turbo Charging your old computers / laptops / notebooks

Leonard Ong — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:27:11 +0000

The first MacBook that I owned was a MacBook Pro Unibody released late in 2008. It was a perfect timing to switch over from PC notebooks to Mac, not only the Mac OSX has really mature for consumers, the design and hardware configuration was just right. I paid really a high premium when comparing a similar hardware configuration on PC notebook platform, was it worth the price? My answer would be perhaps at that time. Now I would say, definitely yes.

At the present, which is 2.5 years later from the purchase, the MBP 2008 still going strong and I don’t feel it is being obsolete at all. The CPU which is a Core 2 Duo 2.53 Ghz remains more than adequate for business productivity and typical consumer usage. It can be used to play games but not those with high requirements. It comes with a 4GB memory by default and was limited as per such according to Apple specification. Thanks to OWC, I had it upgraded to 6GB. This brings extra performance and speed when I use Parallels Desktop (VMware-like software to run windows/other operating systems under Mac OSX). A few months ago, OWC again has revised that it is possible to upgrade the RAM to 8GB. I did that and had not need to worry ever again about bottleneck from memory.

Tips #1: Upgrade memory to the maximum capacity within reasonable cost. Higher memory will avoid any swap or virtual memory using slower persistent storage (hard drive). I added extra condition ‘within reasonable cost’ as with newer MBP, upgrade is possible to 16GB but the cost of the 2x8GB RAMs is over US$ 1500…

I also replaced my standard 320GB 5400 RPM HDD with a faster one from Western Digital – WD Scorpio Black 500GB. It does certainly bring incremental speed improvement overall. With these two upgrades, the computer felt new again.

Tips #2: Upgrade your Hard disk to 7200 RPM. The incremental cost between 5400 and 7200 RPM no longer wide as it used to be.

Now, where is the Turbo portion? ssst, it is SSD (Solid States Drive). Computers have three main components: CPU (The Brain), Memory (The working space) and Persistent storage (where most data are). Out of these three components, the slowest of all is always the persistent storage e.g. Hard Drives, DVD / CD / BlueRay, Thumbdrives, and so on. No matter how fast your computer’s CPU or memory is, if it can’t retrieve the data fast enough to process, overall computing operation is slow.

Tips #3: While SSD is faster than any other types of persistent storage, not all SSDs are created equal. At this point, Sandforce-based SSDs are leading the bechmark. It may come in different brands.

These video clips will shows you what I just stated above and how an old computer can be faster than newest model by far margin:

Test case 1: Macbook 2011 Intel i7 with SSD vs HDD.

Test case 2: 4 way comparison

SSD prices have gone down significantly, however, it is still expensive. I bought OWC’s 120GB SSD at US$ 249.99 before shipping half year a go, it is now US$ 209.99. We can get 2x2TB harddrive for that price tag. While it is expensive, and it has limited lifecycle, it really worth the money. Think about it, if I save 40 seconds on every boot-ups, 2-5 seconds opening an application and multiply these by the amount of boot-ups and application opening in a year, I would have saved myself a few hours easily.

When a decent SSD is installed, now this is where a faster CPU makes a difference. I found out that a Core 2 Duo processor released in 2008 still a very good performer for everyday and business productivity usage. It perhaps even will beat the lastest Intel i7 computers equipped with standard HDD in usual operations such as booting-up or launching an application. Most users do not use CPU intensive application that much, except for those encoding videos, music or doing research.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with MacSales (OWC), whose product is being mentioned in this blog post, with exception being a customer. This blog post maintain the integrity that the information is free from advertisement or influence to a certain brand or business.

Singtel vs Starhub Broadband (Mid-2011)

Leonard Ong — Sat, 21 May 2011 14:05:34 +0000

I wrote a blog post on Singtel vs Starhub Broadband, exactly three years ago. Interestingly, this is the most read and commented post until today. I do get comments and questions now and then in the last three years on the this. Apparently, it is a very topical topic still in Singapore. It is time to write a new post on what I have seen in the last three years and what I will recommend.

Up until three years ago, I was with Starhub for over 7 years. I had a mixed experience with Starhub Internet service, it can be very fast and it can be very slow too. Unfortunately, we can’t count our luck to have our internet service provider performance to be on acceptable level when we need it. As I refuse to accept such performance level, I took SingNet ADSL 10 Mbps for 3 years contract.

In 2009, Starhub was really slow, I can’t watch a single YouTube clip without frequent buffering. It is really unusable in that sense. In contrast with SingNet, YouTube performed very well and satisfactorily. I found that Starhub has the “raw” speed which can be great and appreciated at times. A connection to local server e.g. to download Linux ISO Images, could hit almost maximum connection rate. It is also rated at higher speed that SingNet’s. On normal web browsing, SingNet peformed reliably and I had never have any issues with it. I would switch between the two as I felt which one gave me better performance.

In 2010, Starhub improved significantly. YouTube was accessible and their proxy seems to be really working well. For downloads of windows updates or application updates, StarHub provided me with excellent speed and higher than what SingNet can ever do. These are cached content i.e. someone has downloaded it before and it is stored in StarHub Proxy server. The next person who downloaded the same file will get great download speed as the file is already within StarHub Network. Unfortunately for Singnet, I had proxy issues. Their transparent proxy (which is transparent, meaning that user can’t avoid it as it is a path between our computer and the destination server) has problems occasionally. Some websites such as dyxumm.com weren’t accessible. Switched to StarHub, everything worked well.

In 2011, Starhub continues to provide a great download speed for cached content, while Singnet is performing slower than previous year. When I update my iTunes apps, I can get up to 3.5 MB/seconds or 28 Mbit/s which is really great. Singnet at its full speed (10 Mbps) can only offers up to 1.2 MB/s. With this, I always use Starhub when updating my iTunes apps.

Something great happens in 2011 – Internet through Fibre. It offers up to 200 Mb/s for local servers and enhanced upload speed to level that we never seen before i.e. up to 15 Mb/s for international traffic. My contract expired this year and I had to make a decision – Stay with Cable & ADSL or move to fibre optics. I’m sure many will have this questions too. I decided to stay with ADSL but upgraded to 15 Mbps. For SingNet, a user can always upgrade to Fibre anytime but once you’re in Fibre plan, he/she will be locked in for two years. Another major consideration is that I’m a Mac user. I need to use Airport Extreme Base Station as my primary router, the fibre plan forces user to use provider’s RG (Residential Gateway) which is either 2Wire from SingNet or Huawei for others. I found 2Wire router for ADSL (did not test fibre one) can’t handle high connection load and it is limited in how user can configure the settings. For Huawei RG, I read many complaints from users in HWZ forum.

I will stay with ADSL for the reason that I refuse to use provided RG. Now, there is a known solution to make it works with user’s own router. It is not easy and will require a managed-switch. I prefer to keep things simple and less devices to troubleshoot when things go awry. SingTel is also still very rigid i.e. doesn’t allow one to keep ADSL service without a contract, so I can’t have both ADSL and Fibre running at the same time and choose one later on.

As Fibre costs more than old plans, I would suggest to stay with Cable and ADSL if you’re using Mac or need to use your own router. Otherwise, choose a plan that suits you well. Just remember that the high speed is only local traffic, the international traffic is capped at the same level as current cable & ADSL plan. Starhub MaxOnline Premium offers 16 Mbps International traffic, while SingTel ADSL offers up to 15 Mbps International traffic. The highest fibre plan offers 20-25 Mbps International traffic, but if we compare similar price plans, it offers the same 15 Mbps or less International traffic. I don’t see the appeal moving to fibre at the moment.

Have a question? Ask a way and I’ll answer them in comment section.

My Practical Info Blog – Relaunched

Leonard Ong — Sat, 21 May 2011 13:29:53 +0000

Practical Life blog is now relaunched as My Practical Info blog. The domain has also been changed to MyPractical.Info. That should provide an easy to remember URL for any readers.

Despite the change, I still like the old blog name for many reasons. When I read blogs, it usually help me to get updated with news or upcoming events. I still haven’t found blog that would share real life problems and solutions to it, especially towards technology matter. These issues usually discussed in forums but that would mean reading pages of discussion threads without assurance the reason would get something useful out of it.

I like to write my findings or experiences that may help readers to save sometime when they encountered similar issues. This is why the blog is named Practical Life.

Let’s take a look at some definition of word ‘practical’:

prac·ti·cal (prkt-kl) (Source: TheFreeDictionary)

adj.

1. Of, relating to, governed by, or acquired through practice or action, rather than theory, speculation, or ideals: gained practical experience of sailing as a deck hand.

….

The blog reflects that, it has entries of my experiences rather than simply quoting or theorizing about something. It is the real deal that I have done and perhaps can be useful for others.

Now the difficult part is the commitment to keep on blogging. I will put myself into it and I hope to see positive responses that keep me going. If you have read my entries and found it useful to solve your issues, please drop me a note – I will appreciate it a lot.

BlackVPN – Great VPN Service

Leonard Ong — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:00:12 +0000

When using iPad in public places such as free Wi-Fi, I can’t help to think how vulnerable my data is when transmitted in clear-text. Everyone around me practically can sniff on the traffic that leads who I am and what I’m doing, etc. There is big difference if my traffic is being sniffed locally and I’m half world away from the sniffer.

VPN (Virtual Private Networks) offers such protection, it encrypts all your traffic and thus securing your privacy and information. After comparing a number of VPN services, I went with BlackVPN. It was far, three months were almost up and I’m going to renew again very soon. The service is plain simple to setup and reliable. I even able to listen to US-based music services such as Pandora Radio.

If you want to secure your data while in public places, try it out. Rather than purchasing at retail package, I recommend you to use this promo/coupon code ‘ZMQXGWR’ . You’ll get 2 months free using this coupon.

That’s all. It’s a proven and tested by myself and I won’t be spending anytime to look at others at this time.

Update (May 21, 2011): I have temporarily stopped using BlackVPN and looking for another alternative. BlackVPN used to offer a very attractive pricing but no longer the case now. It is still a good VPN service provider that I would recommend without hesitation.

Starhub and BlackBerry activation issues

Leonard Ong — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:40:46 +0000

I have been using M1 blackberry service for sometime, it is good and I don’t have any significant complaints so far. As I have been curious as always, I wanted to try BlackBerry service on my Starhub line. I recount my experience with StarHub.

Approx. 20.00: Called 1633 and requested activation of BlackBerry service. Was told it’ll take 1 hour
Approx 20.15: received a call back, was told that it was Sunday and it’ll be activated within 24 hours or tomorrow.
The following day 08.00: Called 1633 and asked when the activation will be done. Was told it’ll take 4 working days

Do you see a formula here? 1 hours -> 24 hours -> 96 hours. Given this exponential increase, I withdrew my request and spoke to a supervisor/duty-manager to highlight the service lapses. He promised that he can activate in 1 hour if I give him an opportunity to do so. I kindly declined the offer.
Was this a case of incompetent customer service officer where they are not well informed or simply a miscommunication between ‘departments’ within starhub. Regardless, I find it Starhub very hard to disappoint me in the past and they did this time.

Good work !

Upgrading PS3 Software, StarHub and Earth day

Leonard Ong — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:35:12 +0000

What does PS3 Software upgrade, Starhub and Earth Day have to do with each other? They are well connected, in fact.

Last night, I tried to upgrade my PS3 system software to 2.70. As it doesn’t yet support Wireless 802.11n which is connected to Apple Extreme Base Station and SingNet 10 Mbps service, I used Starhub MaxOnline 8Mbps service connected to Linksys Wireless 802.11g. Guess what, It takes forever, each percertage increase takes at least 2-4 minutes. The whole update should only be about 100 MBytes.

So while I’m upgrading the software, I can’t do anything with the console. It takes more less an hour and generated a lot of heat on the console. If I recall, PS3 uses about 300+ Watts about 3x what Lenovo Thinkpads and Apple Macbook Pro uses. Given the slowness of Starhub Broadband, I am thinking that I should have used my SingNet service. I pulled a long ethernet cable and connected my PS3 to Apple Base station. Voila, very fast about 1 megabytes/second or so.

So I just wanted to highlight: Slow ISP will use more of your electricity and takes a lot of your time. Consider changing to a faster one even with some price premium, you’ll be glad you did. Not only that, you’ll use less electricity and save the earth !!!

iPhone: What have changed in my perspectives and iPhone for Toddlers/Babies?

Leonard Ong — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:55:04 +0000

I had the excitement waiting for iPhone to be released in Singapore but that went off after it was released. The pricing was not attractive and the SingTel monthly plan would cost me as much as 50% more expensive from what I’m paying now for the same talktime/data plan. I have also read about horror stories from a local hardware forums that many early consumers reported physical defects on the units. Some users reported exchanging their set up to 5 times.

SingTel sent me a few offers until one that I can’t refuse – S$ 200 off and 2 months subscription free. I took the iPhone as It is reasonable up-front investment. My first two weeks usage experience was not so positive. The battery would die in early afternoon from a full charge in the morning. The battery is non-replaceable and in times where I’m not in the office, I can’t charge the phone. The software itself also not stable v2.0. I wrote pretty negative blog articles from those two-weeks period of usage.

What have changed now? The latest software v2.2 is more stable and becoming useful. For the battery life, I learnt to be less ambitious and turn off wireless, Location services and push/pull mail. The battery can be used up to late afternoon now. I have also bought Sanyo Eneloop mobile charger which can charge an iPhone to full charge in an hour or so. With this, all the immediate concerns can be dismissed. This, however, does not change the fact that I have to be near a powered USB port throughout the day or bring an extra portable charger and data cable everywhere I want to go.

Despite all the inconveniences, I was fortunate to get a good set in Singapore – batch starting with 888xxxxxxxx. This batch as discussed from the forum, is the first batch in Singapore that has less quality problem.

Things started to change my perspective on iPhone when I browse a lot on it. It has one of the most fantastic browsing experience that I ever had on mobile devices: Large screen, bright, easy zoom-in/out, rotation, etc. I simply don’t get the same experience with any of my Nokia mobile phone. Next, Email browsing is also nice due to the browsing engine which I can review pdf and rich-formatted/HTML emails right away as I would on a normal computer. Fantastic. The apps store made a difference too, I can buy application that I want easily although there are plenty of ‘useless’ applications there.

Up to this point, I wrote nothing new. Here is what amazing, a 20-months toddler can use iPhone just like adults do.

She can press unlock button on the top and slide a finger from left to right to unlock the screen without any assistance.
She can also browse to pages of application by sliding her finger and launch desired application
She is able to return to main menu by pressing home button when she is done with particular application

If a phone is so simple that a toddler can use it, then it must be a very good User-friendly interface. My iPhone now is about 20-30% with my daughter. She would ‘demand’ the iphone when she want to play with her application: Bubble, BubbleWrap, Animal Farms, A+, Jelly Cars, Trace, and some more. She enjoy watching her movies from Youtube also, but of course, I’d have to open it for her.

iPhone is still not my primary phone, I would use it with at least another Nokia phone. I simply can’t reply on a phone that can’t forward SMS, limited battery life and low-camera quality.

48 hours with iPhone 3G (Singapore) – Thoughts and Review

Leonard Ong — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:56:31 +0000

Following-up my post on iPhone 3G which certainly was flawed in some ways, I managed to get access to iPhone 3G for 48 hours. I will write what I encountered during the usage with iPhone. (PracticalLife)

SingTel recently made an offer that would make an appeal to ‘resistant’ potential customers. As we know that uptake for iPhone is quite not as-fantastic. This is apparent from the availaibility of iPhone which never had any kind of ‘sold-out’ situation and the fact that SingTel has been very agressive in lowering the prices and matching future competitiors price plans if they are lower.

In previous post, SingTel offered to match any future iPhone plan by Starhub or M1 if they are better until end of thi year. On that follow-up, SingTel dropped the price of iPhone by S$ 200 and provided 2-months free subscription when a customer port-in their number from Starhub or M1 to SingTel’s.The offer that should run only one week and “will not be extended/repeated” turns out to be extended. The last run was on 10th October. All these signs imply that they are really getting all the customers they can before StarHub or M1 launched their iPhone plan (which can be very soon).

Nevertheless, I managed to get an iPhone 3G and may be I was fortunate. I did not see any dead pixels, yellowish screen or dent in my unit. It can also be that I’m not as fussy as the other early users. Another possibility is that I have the latest batch started with 888. This batch seems to have better probability of getting a good unit. So make sure you get unit equal or newer than 888 prefix even in M1 or Starhub in the future.

Let me start with the good things about iPhone:

Apple bring its innovative charactiristic to iPhone. The user interface is really appealing and revolutionary. Think about it, Microsoft PocketPC then Windows Mobile has been around long time before Iphone does and it never match the UI iPhone offers. Apple does get it right when it comes to user interface.
It is simple with only a ‘home button’ to return to main screen. All other operations are basically done throughout the generously sized touch screen.
It has a pair of decent speakers to listen to music. Definitely a plus compared to iPod touch or iPods.

The main reason to buy an iPhone would be the User Interface and to combine the iPod with a phone. I owned many Nokia phones before, it has a great software but when it comes to music player, iPod still have a slight edge over it. iTunes software is also a plus, one software to manage all iPhone, ipod Touch, iPod. it is a double edged sword though, as you’ll see shortly.

What’s not so-good about iPhone

Battery life is really pathetic (I hope I could use a stronger word). On a full charge, it lasted less than a half day (3-4 hours) when used with a short phone calls and intensive data usage e.g. browsing, installing application from app-store. This is a phone that you can not rely on in daily use. Think about it, you bring the iphone outside and before you can recharge, it went flat and you have a dead iPhone that needs to be recharged. Where does that leave you? To aggravate this, the battery is non-removable, means you can buy spare batteries and install them when needed. Even for my Nokia phones, I have at least one spare battery and these phones at least lasted 8 hours on intensitve data usage. I am using the latest software that promises better battery life, so I dare not imagine what it was before the patch.
It gets warms quickly when 3G or Wireless lan is used. The warmer it get, the more power it uses to power on the usage.
Only one application can run at a given time. You can not open few applications at the same time, you’d need to “close” it before opening other application. Despite the issue, some applications remember when you close it.
There is not ‘calibration’ feature for finger tap. I found that I need to tap on the right side of each alphabet in ‘virtual keypad’ to get the right one. It would be wonderful to have a calibration so that I tap on the angle that I’m used to.
The menu sometime is counter-intuitive. You’d see choosing a network carrier is put on two different menu then the Access point definition, etc. There could be better groupings in System setting panel.
When i travel to Bangkok, I found out that the phone was unable to make/receive any voice call, even it has a full strength signal. It took a few restarted and 30 minutes to get it to roam correctly. Simply put, iPhone had dropped 3G calls and problems with basic phone functionality. So in this kind of roaming/uncommon situation, it may not perform reliably.

Common problem with iPod Touch, Iphone and iPhone:

Grossly overpriced accessories. A US$ 28 for a silicon skin for your iPhone/iPod/Ipod Touch, additional $10-30 for a screen protector, $40 for a multiple plughead for different countries, $20 for a USB cable. All these prices do not make sense at all.
Inferior material. For some reason, Apple has not really chose a good raw material for the exterior casing. If you buy a iPod touch, you’ll see the beautiful glossy backcover can easily be scratched even with a dust being wiped on the surface or may be by nails. With this, users are indirectly forced to purchase accessorices that usually comes into two parts: Screen protectors and body covers. The combination of these costs about USD $ 40 onwards for a reasonable quality and we are not talking about the premium ones.
iTunes. It has plenty of error messages that misled the real issues e.g. update your payment profile, etc. We can only sync devices to 1 computers, which is really doesn’t make sense. I have my contacts in my business PC but all my music in my personal PC. iTunes doesn’t allow me to do this. It asked me to erase and sync to one of the pc.

Conclusion

If you’re an early adopter, get the iPhone and experience the revolutionary user interface, but don’t expect this to be your primary phone. The battery life just can’t make it for full day, unless you have access to laptops or power source to recharge your phone every few hours or so.

The limitation of running a few application on the same time is also ‘annoying’.

How to get best (cheapest) subscription rate for Time/Newsweek Magazines

Leonard Ong — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:06:34 +0000

I will share my experience on how I get best discount rate to get subscription from Times and Newsweek Magazines. It may also applies to other magazines, you can try and let me know

Background

Magazines are really cheap and affordable if you subscribes to them instead of buying it from bookstore or retail. One can really save anywhere between 20% to (whopping) 75% for a yearly subscription, so each magazine you buy can actually pays for two.

It all started when I received unsolicited subscriptions offers from Times, Newsweek, Fortune, and others many years ago. I ignored them several times until one day they sent me their best offer – 75% discount. I took the offer and started my subscriptions.

Present days
It’s two years later when my subscriptions are expiring and they sent me notices to renew but at must lower discount – 55% to 65% for 3 years. Although it comes with a (rather useless) gift, a 10% discount is quite a saving to fight for. I found out that it still work the same way, If you ignore these renewal offers until the very last week of your term, they may send you another offer which is again at 75% or better.

Practical Advice

Wait until your term is expiring e.g. 4 weeks before and call your customer service
Quote that you paid a better rate last term or would only renew if they can offer the best rate for next term
Insist on 2) or call back at later time
If the above doesn’t work, you need to decide whether you need the magazine or just simply let it lapse. When it lapses, I am sure they will send you offers again.

Magazines doesn’t really rely on subscriptions to get money, Ads are their main revenue. In the United States, magazines are offered as low as 1.99 USD/year which basically doesn’t even cover the postage. This just shows how they need a bigger and larger readership (auditable) to command higher ads revenue.

Now it’s your turn to try and let others know if you have the same experience.