The Helium 3 Irony

Wow, Nanami Madobe, Microsoft's official Windows 7 OS-Tan (personification of an operating system, usually in the form of a virtual girl), has been on the front page of BrickTech for more than a month, as noticed by a reader in our Chat Box on our Sidebar:

Apparently Nene Anegasaki, another virtual girl, from the dating simultion game Love Plus, is more in demand than Nanami. She was mentioned over on BrickGamers.

Anyway, it's about time we solved this 'girl war', so we're finally updating BrickTech with a new comic! This comic is just giving a possible scenario due to recent news about the shortage of a certain element which is required to detect a certain type of bomb. So if we just think about it, some terrorists could use this advantage for their benefit. Mainly, we're talking about this...

Confused?
The US is developing a technology to detect smuggled uranium and plutonium, used to make nuclear bombs, but this machine requires Helium 3, and US is running out of this element. Talk about irony.

So why can't they just make Helium 3? Well, there's another problem. See, Helium 3 is formed when Tritium decays, but the US stopped making Tritium in 1989. This makes the demand for Helium 3 become 10x the supply.

If Tritium sounds familiar, it's because it's a by-product of Deuterium, and if THAT sounds familiar, then you must be Otaku or Geeky enough for BrickTech to know that Deuterium is used in the Star Trek universe for the Warp Core inside a Warp Drive used in Starships.

Tritium is also used in certain glow-in-the-dark products as Tritium is radioactive and well, glows. It's not found in your typical glow in the dark as those need light first before they glow.

Anyway, the US had planned to make up to 1,400 of these nuke bomb detectors, which costs USD800,000 each, for a total of 1.1billion dollars, to be placed in ports around the world so they can be detected in shipping containers before they enter the US.

Well all is not lost, they can actually rely on an older technology to detect these nuke bombs, but this older tech also has a problem of detecting cat litter as a nuke bomb too - seriously. Talk about toxic waste.

Source : New York Times

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Windows Live Messenger 9 (2009) 14

Unless you're using Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger 8.5 (2008), you would have recently been prompted to upgrade to the latest version of WLM 9 (2009), or also known as version 14 to tie with the rest of Microsoft's Windows Live Services. This is because Microsoft wants to streamline all their Messengers to the latest version, which means any version prior to 8.5 (like 8.1, 8.0) will have to upgrade to version 9 (2009 or 14) before you can log into your Messenger.

However, come next month, even users of 8.5 will be forced to do the same so everyone will have to use at least version 14.0.8089.726. Meaning even if you're running version 14.x you'll still have to upgrade to this version (at least) in October. Want to know more?

This recent force (and next month for the rest of 8.5 and 14.x users) have resulted in some users switching over to Yahoo Messenger (which coincidentally, also only supports version 9.0, with 8.0 users being locked out). As both WLM and YM support both Yahoo and Microsoft accounts, both can use either contacts so you don't need to run both Instant Messengers (IM) at the same time.

However, with Microsoft's recent force (and next month as well), you might see a case of people jumping over to Yahoo instead, as some people have had problems once upgrading WLM. You can read more Microsoft's statement (as well as some people's problems) here.

You can get the latest version of WLM here, which will download the required WLM files, as well as other Windows Live Services, IF you want them. Keep in mind you don't have to install ALL Windows Live Services to use WLM.

To read more about WLM, you can read about our previous post here.

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Crash, Boom, Bang?

If you haven't heard by now, Microsoft has re-named its Web search engine from Live Search to Bing, in an attempt to make it more "user-friendly". However, this "new" search engine got into a little trouble recently when it was found to be selective of the type of results to show depending on the search being queried. Want to know more?

In particular, it was sensitive towards searches that would highlight the "bad" side of Microsoft. This came to be known via here, and a screen capture here proved the point, especially since it has now been changed to reflect no "censorship", as seen from here. Just to be fair, Google was put to the test as well, as seen here. Well, it's good to see Microsoft redeem itself than to deny!

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640Kbps Should Be Enough For Everyone

The following comic is based on a true story

There is only a handful of people who know about this event which transpired, and we're happy to let you know that BrickTech is one of them :) As to who and what this refers to, we'll leave you to figure that one out ;) Rest assured, we swear upon our LEGO® plastic miniature figurines, it's the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Sometimes fact IS stranger than fiction.

By the way, if you didn't catch the relevance of this post's title, then you're not as old as us :P

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Internet Censorship

Those who have observed Malaysia's 12th General Election on 8th March 2008 will have noticed the Opposition won 5 states from the dominant Government via the Internet, which the Govt had little control over while they were controlling the mass media.

This was even mentioned by Vinton Cerf, Father of the Internet @ WCIT 2008 - which you can read more about him here in our previous post (at the bottom of that post). He mentioned about how the Internet has shown it plays an important role in politics, and it has even resulted in the world's first blogger to be voted into Parliament, which is Malaysia's case, is Jeff Ooi. So what has the Gov tried to do? Read on for more.

As a result, in order to work towards securing the 13th GE in 2012 from being lost, the Govt has begun to blog like the Opposition, and has recently decided to attempt to filter the Internet, just as how China tried with their Green Dam project.

However, as Jack of BrickGamers have said, if even the Middle Kingdom can give up (at least for now), perhaps it's futile for the Govt here to consider pursuing this when it actually contradicts the MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) Bill of Guarantees, which prohibits Internet censorship to encourage foreign investments in the country.

So far the Govt has said the filter is only to censor pornography, but we all know power can be abused in the wrong hands once laws are laid down, and in anycase, it still violates the MSC's Bill.

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Bill Gates @ Facebook

Sorry Bill Gates, we just had to highlight your plight when you recently decided to try out the social networking phenomenon Facebook in the Web 2.0 age. On the bright side, at least you won't have BrickTech being the 10,001 friend who wants to add to your list :)

To know more about the story that inspired this strip, read on for more details.

Yahoo recently carried a story about Bill Gates, who tried Facebook, but then gave it up after 10,000 people wanted to be his friend. You can read more about it here.

If you're wondering why Bill has dual large monitors on his table, we're referring to the news on C-Net which mentions he has triple LCDs in his office. Find out more here.

Yes, we know how to count.

However, we don't have enough bricks :P

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P1 (Packet One) WiMAX

If you're a Malaysian, chances are you've heard of P1 by now, that local WiMAX (a form of wireless broadband) company. They're under the parent company Green Packet, which makes solutions to sell to other countries under their CPE line of products. The P1 service is their "guinea pig" to be used here as an example to showcase CPE to places like the Middle-East.

P1 is known for pushing their WiMAX service as the better Internet connection compared to other services, be it landed wired options like Telekom Malaysia's Streamyx broadband, or wireless solutions from DiGi's wireless broadband service to Maxis' wireless service. But is it really?


What exactly is WiMAX and what's the difference? For a start, WiMAX is NOT Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity). While WiFi covers a small area (Hot Spot), WiMAX covers a very big area.


Wi-Fi support is found in Intel Centrino 1 notebooks (generation 1 - Carmel in 2003, gen 2 - Sonoma in 2005, gen 3 - Napa in 2006, and gen 4 - Santa Rosa in 2007). Centrino 2 notebooks (gen 5 - Montevina in 2008) onwards come with BOTH WiFi AND WiMAX for convenience. But did you know Centrino 2 notebook's WiMAX CAN'T WORK with P1's WiMAX?


That's because WiMAX comes in a few different frequencies, from 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz, and 5GHz (WiFi uses 2.4GHz and 5GHz). P1 is using 2.3GHz while Centrino 2 uses 2.5GHz. This is simply because 2.3GHz hardware is cheaper so places like Asia will use more of 2.3GHz while 2.5GHz is used in places like the United States. Hence why if you want mobile WiMAX you have to buy P1's WIGGY USB mobile WiMAX modem, which runs at 2.3GHz to match P1's WiMAX. So much for making connectivity simple by Intel. Thanks to Green Packet, you have to invest more.

However, does this make WiMAX a better service compared to other options in the country?


First of all, WiMAX is not meant to replace the main broadband service in the country, which is TM's Streamyx landed line. It's only meant to cover places where Streamyx isn't offered, but considering P1 mostly covers the Klang Valley, which is already well connected, the point is moot. So it's more if you don't have a need for a phone line because you rely on a mobile phone.


To add salt to injury, the CEO of P1 is Michael Lai, who was the ex-CEO of TM. He created a 'scene' at the Carcosa Seri Negara during a TM Press Conference back when he was the CEO, when he was questioned by the media as to why TM was introducing a new RM77 per month unlimited wired broadband Streamyx package when existing customers were paying RM88. His excuse was "Well, it's like going to a Hypermarket like Carrefour. Today the chicken costs this much. Tomorrow you go and the chicken costs less. That's the way things are."

It doesn't take a genius to notice that there's a very stark difference between the price of produce at a supermarket and a monthly service charge from a provider. TM was effectively punishing its loyal customers while rewarding new users. The answer by the CEO was an insult.

This pattern of punishment was repeated in P1 when the service was launched, P1 promised an unlimited package, but has recently changed this service to a limit with a quota. In addition, there have been complaints in the newspapers of customers getting slower speeds than claimed.


WiMAX cannot and will not triumph Streamyx because in tropical countries like Malaysia with heavy thunderstorms and rain, wireless services don't work well - just see your satellite TV service ASTRO (which scrambles transmission during heavy rain). Speaking of ASTRO, are you aware there once was a plan to offer Internet access via ASTRO? Just like how in the US there's Cable access. Look at the back of your ASTRO STB (Set-Top Box). See that network/modem port?

Of course, if we had Cable Internet, that would mean a rival for TM hence why this project never took off. Also, look at past wireless services from Time's Webbit (now defunct) to learn something about history. In summary, TM monopolises the telecommunication system in the country so they won't let anyone take over.


Last but not least, TM is a GLC (Government-Linked Company), with over 42% share and Khazanah Nasional Berhad holding 41% (RM1.4billion). As Khazanah is owned by the Finance Minister, who coincidentaly is also the Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mohd. Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, anyone who knows about Malaysian Politics will understand this monopoly won't be toppled anytime soon. Moral of the story? Change 2013.

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Do you need RAID?

Image from Fujitsu

Some of you may have heard of RAID and some of you may already be using RAID. But what is RAID and do you need it since it's so popular these days?

In essence, RAID tech is using more than 1 storage drive for either speeding up the performance, or security as a backup device to mirror the contents of the drive. Hence there's RAID 0 for stripe, where 2 drives are used to form a single storage volume, and RAID 1, or mirror, where 2 drives are used to form copies of each other. These are the 2 most common form of RAID, which other advanced versions like RAID 1+0 (or RAID 10) where it's a combination of speed and security. But is RAID always a good idea?

As much as it may sound like a superb solution, you need to remember because RAID works with more than 1 drive, if anything were to happen to the computer which the RAID is running on, you can't just take out the drive and connect it to another computer and save the data.

Remember, it's now a volume which needs 2 drives to work. You can't just plug both drives into another computer and expect it to work flawlessly as well. RAID is designed when the computer that it runs on is almost flawless. Like servers. Hence why RAID started off in servers and workstations. Now however, it has entered desktop and even notebook computers!

However, this is more of a feature to sell than actually being of any real benefit. It's better for you to invest in a faster drive, like if you can afford Western Digital's Raptor series of 10,000RPM drives, and a second backup drive - either internal or external - for security.

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We Didn't Plan This

Seriously. This strip wasn't meant to be about camera failure. Our camera actually failed after 3 years of BrickGamers (where we started from). That's the ACTUAL captured image by the camera due to the failing image sensor. So, we made the best of the situation :) Are we going to do anything about it? You bet! Read on to find out more!

Hang in there while the Brick Studio gets a new camera to continue our adventures. In the mean time, we'll be posting updates about Computex Taipei 2009 - that's right. Jack went!

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