Home Surveillance - subscribing to a service

I was browsing around some of the local telcos website and found that 2 out of the existing 3 operators provide a solution that they call "home surveillance".

Both operators offer a package comprising of a IP video camera and a monthly subscription to consumers for the abovementioned package.






In this day and age, with a wealth of gadgetry available on the local shore... do we actually need to subscribe to a service for this?

Take for instance that I have an existing broadband subscription at home, all I need are just strategically placed IP Cameras around my home that I can call up on any screen device by typing a special IP address to have a view of what goes on at home. Consumers are spoilt for choice on which camera to choose, take these WiFi enabled IP Cameras for example.




BUT... if there is a REAL need to use Mobile Telecommunication Solution for your home surveillance, I came across a very interesting IP camera by ZTE. It has several connectivity options to your PC, you can opt for USB cable or just use it on Bluetooth. A fully charged camera can be located in any strategic location without a need for power cables.



The model number for the device is MF58, the camera is actually a permutation of a 3G mobile phone. It runs on a 3G SIM card and when placed anywhere within the house (with available 3G coverage), all a you need to do is place a video call to the number for the SIM card placed in the camera. You will then be able to intercept video transmission as if you are making a normal 3G Video call.

The best part of this device is, since its a phone... you can actually hear what goes on on the camera side and if you need to scare people away, it is built in with a speaker for your voice to be patched through... excellent!!!



In addition to that, there is an additional benefit of tiltating camera that you can manouevre to have a sweeping view of the entire room, this is done by pressing some numbers on the number pad of your phone.

The side view of the camera will reveal the camera and its tilting mechanism




The SIM compartment is placed at the back of the camera along with the USB connector.



With the ZTE device (I am sure there are others of similar products in the market), home surveillance is truly simple... if just as easy as calling another phone number, no need to loose hair configuring secure ports and IP addresses, just fit in an additional SIM card, and you are ready to go...

It also has several security features such as PIN confirmation to view the video call and MMS snapshots if you are away from 3G coverage, you can also store images captured by the camera into the flash memory card slot available on the device... with all these features, one off payment... why is there a need to subscribe to an operator and pay monthly fees for it? I just requested for a supplementary line without any monthly commitment package and costs me RM 10 a month.. tht's all...

The Witcher - RPG

Its been a while since I was awed by exhilarating RPGs (Role Playing Game) since the days of Final Fantasy...

As I have blogged earlier, I have upgraded part of my PC settings and equipped it with a good graphic card. Since then, I have spent some time testing high end graphic games.

Todate, the best that I have come across is The Witcher.



It takes on the fantasy landscape of a character who slays monsters and ghouls in the olden days. The story revolves around a character by the name of Geralt or better known as "the white wolf" and is based on the books and stories of The Witcher, by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. In the plot, witchers are sterile mutants with supernatural abilities and often offers their services for gold... a supernatural bounty hunter.

Graphically, the game presents an impressive and detailed background setting for each scene. Despite having a good graphic card, I tend to experience overheating from time to time... a bit of a turn off but I forgave shortfall as I am utterly impressed by the overall game itself. There are some strategizing to be done and similar to the character development in Final Fantasy, the experience points needed to be gathered and prioritization on which of the many skill development needed to be considered to ensure that your character is delivering best performance.

There are a lot of customization that you can have on your character.




The storyline in the game is rather well done, and at every decision you make, the storyline changes... so make the right choices...

Within your quests, there are places to visit and there are new worlds to explore. The game offers elaborate an elaborate world with astounding landscapes.

In addition, there are many side-quests that you could take on. For instance, this game is rated +18 for the fact that there are some strong sexual contents available. In some of the side-quests, you could actually have sex with some of the characters in the game... if you know what to say, what to give, and when to do what... :-)



Despite all the above, I was an early taker to the game title and suffered several bugs within the game. However, these are easily corrected in the patch given on their official website (and you need a good broadband connection to go along with that, one of the patch is 120++ mb)

Anyways, I really enjoyed this game and sacrificed a lot of my sleeping hours dedicated to the quests... its really enjoyable...its dark, its gothic and definitely suits my taste buds...hope it does yours...

Here is some snapshots of what the game entails

I have had experienced an instance when my preloaded Windows XP did not respond to the activation key and made life difficult when Microsoft introduced the WGA (Windows Genuine Authentication).

Without the authentication of the "legal" operating system, usually happens after a full reformatting is done, I get annoying reminder balloon on my desktop (which I managed to rectify, but I cannot share this here) and I am not entitled to the latest patches and updates from Microsoft.

There is a way to have the updates process by-passed (only if you are a legit Windows user and experiencing the same issue that I have - but then again, who am I to judge :-P) from an alternative site. To obtain all the patches an update, visit windiz. I advise using Mozilla's firefox for this.

There will be a small application that you need to download, after having it installed, click on the site again and you will have a scan option. Click the scan button and choose your updates... :-)



In addition to the windows update, you can also get update on drivers and get a look into your system set-up... just explore the options on the page.

Have fun...

Traveller D301 - HSDPA USB Modem

After testing several modems for HSDPA (High Speed Data Packet Access), I finally found an excellent USB version.

This modem was passed to me for testing by a fellow friend working with one of the local mobile operator.

I was sceptical at first, I am almost confident that I may experience another let down similar from the other devices that I tested. However, I was proven wrong on the first session itself. The traveller D301 is similar to the Huawei's E220 USB modem in its concept, it uses a matchbox sized modem with a flash memory containing installation softwae in it. With more devices as such, USB modems are getting more convenient, one can just carry the modem and install it on any PC operating device without the hassle of carrying supporting software CDs and without the fear of losing that CD after its timely usage.

Anyways, back to the modem. Its VERY SIMPLE in its outlook, one SIM insertion slot, one 5 Pin Data Cable connector and a USB cable.

Here are images of the modem.





In addition to the hardware, the software for the modem is also extremely simple and easy to use. On the first installation, the step-by-step configuration menu will assist you in setting up the appropriate data service from any local operater that has already been pre-configured (no need to remember the APNs and *99# numbers).

Here are some snapshots :






The software enables you to still be in touch when needed (although no simultaneous Voice Call support) through SMS incoming notifications or sending of SMS. In addition, it has a hot button that links directly to your e-mail client like Outlook for immediate electronic correspondences one connected and once a connection is successfully establish, it will prompt for the internet browser of your preference to launch automatically. Pretty convenient huh?

I am also impressed by the fact that the modem does not heat up as others do. It has a lukewarm feel to it after a prolonged use, but nothing as what you'd be worried about like how hot the other modem gets.

To test the endurance of the modem, I let it run for 4 consecutive days without heavy downloading done... I did not even once get disconnected... impressive... and the modem still stays lukewarm :-)

But there is one flaw with the modem, you need to have the proper method of connecting the device to your PC or notebook to ensure that the software connects to it without being confused and continuously searching for the device (which I believe is more of a Windows issue rather than the modem software). The trick is to load the application first and when it searches for the device, connect the modem... or else, you'd have to do several start/quit program before it actually establishes the connection.

Anyways, its the best HSDPA modem I got so far, I recommend this. On top of it all, I am told that its price is ranging between RM 450 - 600, way cheaper than the others at the moment of writing.

Ok then, I am off.. more things to download... I am doing two movies in 1 1/2 hours with HSDPA....