.:: CREATIVE being "uncreative"...you be the judge ::.

It seems like CREATIVE LABS (yes, the people who brought us plenty of good audio products, namely CREATIVE) has recently sparked some issues with one of its customer, who goes by the forum nick, Daniel_K. The said issue was due to this Daniel_K who was known to have been offering free help to the forum community by releasing modded driver releases that fixes the bad drivers released from the official site. Until later on, he decided to solicit for donations to help further support his projects. But ofcourse the donations request was totally optional and not forced.

This issue came to light when CREATIVE LABS decided to take legal actions against Daniel_K had apparently uncovered that CREATIVE LABS had intentionally crippled certain features that were available on XP on their Vista drivers for products such as X-Fi soundcards - evidently trying to divert customers who had older version of X-Fi soundcards to move to their new line of Vista ready products.

CREATIVE LABS alleged that Daniel_K was tampering with copyrighted proprietary software and distributing it while soliciting for donations for his projects. There are currently alot of debate and arguments within the CREATIVE's forum community on how CREATIVE is handling this issue. CLICK HERE TO READ THE FORUM

Being a responsible community member, Daniel_K complied with request by the forum moderator to cease any further development and distribution of the modded driver packs. This just added fuel to the fire and the forum thread spanned to 171 pages within 4 days to date and increasing. From the responses and feedbacks i saw on the official forum, it is obvious that the CREATIVE's customer support department is not doing their job well. Hence the need for people like Daniel_K that had taken matters into their hands by fixing problematic drivers themselves, thus leading to such issue right now.

As i see it, 99% of the forum feedbacks are all negative with a rather similar tone of voice about CREATIVE's incompetent customer support. The disgruntled customers had even setup a website for the sole purpose of boycotting CREATIVE and its products.

To me, I personally think that CREATIVE LABS products are good quality. From the way it looks now, one could say that both parties (CREATIVE for their bad customer support and Daniel_K for tampering with copyrighted software) has their own right and wrong. But it is a gray area on this issue, but obviously the law shall most likey prevail. Because just the act of gaining/soliciting any sort of monetary fundings be it donations or whatever for that matter from another's copyrighted proprietary property is enough to be the last nail in the coffin. All these rules were clearly stated the moment a user registers as a community member as well as the terms & condition of downloadable softwares from the site itself. But i doubt 8 in 10 people doesn't read them...

Would you still buy their products now? Well i still would, just their mp3 players though - LOL. No need driver support ma.

Ahh perhaps this may be the doom of this big company? Yes and no...but unhappy customers = goodbye. Well, now that's what I call a PR crisis cum commercial suicide. What say you?

When things happens • For those essentially concerned

.:: Curiousity kills the cat....yea ::.

It seems that I've lost my blogging mood as of late. Blogging intermittently somehow had become a habit of mine for the time being.

Anyway, I've somehow discovered something that I have not realize until these few recent days. While I was reading a magazine, I realized something....especially those long winded and boring columns that are so boring you won't even bother to read past the first paragraph. Now I've discovered the essence on which how these long winded columns draws the attention of readers like me with high curiosity but with a lack of interest/motivation to read long winded articles. And to test and prove that my discovery is somewhat true to certain extent, I've already placed an experiment smacked right at the top left of this very entry. I'd predict that some may have the similar habit.

Yea, they're long winded and boring.

Well, if you're reading up to this point, I think you're probably reading on in search of the quote that was place on the top left of this entry? Curious huh aren't you? That's the very thing I've realized - QUOTES. Some of you may find it arguable that not every person does that.

They can be so annoying sometimes that I must read to find out...

I always find myself being attracted by article quotes (catchy ones only) and would usually ended up reading the whole article and partly is also to hunt the location of the said quote (-_-"). Perhaps this may just be my special habit. Therefore, I think that a good quote can work as well if not better than a good title. Besides, quotes also serves as a good summary of the overall contents.

I see...

Well as for the quote i mentioned at the top, it was about a random chat I had with a friend of mine. I was basically ranting about my boring life, heck my life is so boring at the moment, and to say that life's just begun at 25 is rather contradictory i guess. But as clichéd as it may sound, life's boring if you think it that way - so true.

P.S.- Those magazine quotes are taken from PCGAMER Malaysia magazine -credits to them for such catchy quotes.

When things happens • For those essentially concerned

.:: What to do..? Nothing ::.

Has been such a gap since my last post...life could be so bored and lazy at times. What to do? Nothing really. Until i find something that's worth blogging about..nothing. I shall leave this entry entirely up to you - yeah you there reading this very words and sentences.

In no more than 500 words write something interesting:

You may start now.

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.....Ok fine, i'm just bored and lazy.

When things happens • For those essentially concerned

.:: Do you even read it? I doubt, 8 in 10....doesn't.. ::.

I've been noticing something about how most my friends & people around me or practically the majority of the general public does not do it. Perhaps you would be thinking by now what the hell am I talking about? I am talking about those long winded and wordy Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy that we see every so often everywhere. Be it signing up for a free email account at live.com or yahoo.com, you see it there and you click yes carelessly without any second thoughts. Some are more aware but most are not. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Most of the people and friends I asked regarding this overlooked part often replies with the same tone of answer - "It's too troublesome, why bother?"


By doing so, you have just surrendered certain of your rights to that specific website/corporation without really knowing what rights you're surrendering. Allowing them access to personal info that you and I so willingly divulge in order to get their service/offer.

Honestly, if you ask me, I'd also think that it's rather troublesome to have to read every single line of sentences that for most parts are riddled with unfamiliar jargons and deep sentences that twist and turn. But it's still worth a few minutes or two to look into certain important portions of these terms and conditions such as Privacy, Copyright and basically how your data/info will be used and collected as well as your legal rights when disputes or whatever arises.

Basically, be more aware and alert about the liabilities and rights within the usage of their service that you agreed to be bound to.

Another thing about this rather overlooked part is that your information are usually retained for a few years even if you had ceased their service or terminate your account. Okay, you may think that you're not a famous person or celebrity but the risk of identity theft is always there. Imagine your private information being shared among unknown strangers or being used for some malicious purpose without you knowing.

The extent of personal information collected (online activities, web history, visited sites etc) are afterall valuable commodities that should belong to each individuals in my opinion. Although these informations are only supposed to be used with our informed consent, how sure are you? Some may argue otherwise but nothing is really totally safe & secure nowadays - more true about the Internet itself. You be the judge.

Lastly please help me do a little survey here. For those who does read or doesn't read and click without second thoughts please leave a comment saying "I read" or "I don't" and if you wish to add in your own reason or opinion, feel free to do so. :)

Be more aware. Have a nice day.

When things happens • For those essentially concerned

.:: Vegetables? Yucks!...No thanks!.. ::.

Well it's been a whole week stretch without any updates and here's something random.

I've received many countless questions with a similar tone -

"Why don't you eat vegetables???"

To cut it to the point and at the same time to address all those questions from all my friends and acquaintances.

Here's my own answered version FAQ (Frequently Answered Questions):

Q:"Why don't you eat vegetables???"
A: They are tasteless(i know this is objectionable but this is how it tasted to me) and taste weird...

Q:"Why are you being so picky???"
A: I'm not really that picky if you see it as a whole, i just dislike vegetables - everything else is fine. There are more people picky about other food, I'm just picky on vegetables and that's all.

Q:"Vegetables is good for you, don't you know that???"
A: Yes i know....but......yucks.....

Q:"Why is it that vegetables are so hard for you to eat or even swallow???"
A: Well it is most probably due to the fact that i choked on vegetables when i was 2 years old....ever since then no vegetables..

Q:"WHAT since 2 year old??! Didn't your parents try to make you eat vegetables???"
A: Yes they tried - to no avail. Obviously i was a stubborn kid.

Q:"Try eat some la, vegetables taste quite nice!"
A: Yea i did, took me 10 minutes just to chew and swallow a small piece of Chinese broccoli - aka "Kai Lan"...well it had improved dramatically from my previous 40 minutes record.

Q:"Do you often get constipation because of not eating vegetables???"
A: Not really.

Q:"This is not healthy! Your immune system will be weak and you'll be prone to sickness"
A: I don't get sick more than 1 time a year.

Q:"Don't you find it hard to find (vegetable-less) food or go out with friends to eat???"
A: Yes, but I'm adapting - as in taking small amount.

Q:"Tsk tsk, you're missing out on alot of great food man!!"
A: >_> ........ T_T

Ah okay, i shall end my FAQ here - as it is like i said...countless. Before i end with my post, i would like to ask those who does not eat vegetables to raise your hand....Thank you. I guess not many...sigh.

.:: There goes another million ringgit down the drain ::.

NOTE: Let me make it clear that I am neither paid by nor endorsing any sides/parties/human/animal or by any organisation or corporation for this post.

Disclaimer
Reading my post(s)/blog would cause omgtoomanypictures annoyance, mental breakdown, sleeplessness, delusional, random emo, major boredom, random humor, talkativeness, random rambling, rantings, cat loves dog, the earth become flat and so on. This post is neither dedicated nor referring to any sites/parties/human/animal pets nor any organisation or corporation. I shall not be held liable for any injury caused to brain cells or sleeplessness of your neighbour's cat or dog. You may now read on with my post.

* * * *

As the title suggest, there goes another million ringgit down the drain. Yesterday afternoon, the Election Commission has cancelled the use of the indelible ink (estimated of 36,000 bottles of the indelible ink) that was supposed to be used during this coming general election to mark voters who have voted.

Honestly, why does it take them so long to figure out that this (downright stupid) idea is totally absurd to begin with? Well there were two reasons given on the sudden reversal on the usage of the indelible ink.

Reason 1
The usage of the indelible ink infringes voter's constitutional right to cast his/her vote as only those who had been marked by the ink is issued a ballot paper. While those who refuses to be marked might be barred from voting even if you are a valid registered voter. Additionally, the country constitution allows those who refuses to be marked by the ink to be issued a ballot - thus it render the indelible ink useless and meaningless.

Reason 2
The fact that there might be security issues regarding the possibility of misuse of the indelible ink by malicious party/groups to create confusion and suspicion on the status of voters. One of the possible misuse is that gullible voters might be tricked into being marked with the indelible ink and as a consequence, end up being denied to vote. But well, there are plenty more of bypassing methods that even a 10 year old could think of. Thus making it ineffective and could pose great security risks during the general election process.

It seems like we're never short of such absurd jokes. You can correct me if I'm wrong on that - LOL.

I bet the company in India that sold the ink to Malaysia would be thinking about a company trip around the world by now. I could only imagine what could we do with a million ringgit (thats RM1,000,000.00) worth of indelible ink? Hmm...well i could've bought loads and loads of chipsters chips with that amount of money...too bad...

.:: Best cure for oral ulcer? ::.

It's been such a pain to even eat my favourite nasi lemak with cendol.....it even hurts to talk that much. Heck, some people even thought that i was upset of something because I've talked less than my usual quota. -____-"....damm ulcer. What's the best cure other then bonjela gel and rubbing salt? I've tried Listerine and it hurt like hell....

Very the sien when you can't eat what you crave!

The best cure i've heard so far from my friend (credit to Mei-chan) is Ice-Cream and drink cold water! Sounds good to me. Too bad it's not nasi lemak or curry chicken...-_-"

.:: R.I.P ----- Netscape ::.

Today is officially the final day of the well known web icon of the early days of Internet - Netscape Navigator. It seems like it has gotten too old to fight for more market share from the big names like Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

Perhaps it may not be familiar to those whose first encounter with the world wide web was through IE or Firefox. I still recall the good old days of my first experiences with the Internet through Netscape Navigator. The first time registering an email account (it was such a big deal back then to have an email address during the heydays of Internet). Too bad it couldn't go on. Although i no longer use it but it's still a great browser nonetheless.

R.I.P - Netscape.

As for now and the future, i shall stick to my beloved Mozilla Firefox all the way. IE sucks!

Here's the official announcement : End of Support for Netscape web browsers