I have been busy, with these:

1. Qhuen development updates

   Strategizing Qhuen has been keeping the development slow for the past fewweeks. I’m glad to update that it has begun its first phase of design and development. I have since started to mock the design of Qhuen.Been meeting with potential developers to listen to their professional advice on developing the back-end of Qhuen. They looked great, but with limited budget at hand (hey, I am sinking my savings for Qhuen), it’s not easy to decide who to bring in.

2. Dell Vostro 1200, dead!

   My 2-year-old Dell Vostro 1200 is officially dead. It either couldn’t boot at all, or rebooted itself during “Starting Windows…” splash screen. At first I thought it was memory card problem, but after applying test on those cards by swapping and testing, it wasn’t the problem.
   Also, I found a weird, but periodically effective solution on how to boot your dead laptop:

   “OK…..TRY TAKING OUT ANY CORDS AND TAKE OUT THE BATTERY AND HOLD THE LABTOP UPSIDE DOWN AND HOLD THE POWER BUTTEN FOR 30 SECONDS THEN TURN IT RIGHT SIDE UP AND PUT THE CORD BACK IN TRY TO TURN IT ON THEN PUT BATTERY BACK IN”

   Marvelous workaround, but I don’t think the “holding your laptop upside down” is necessary. What this method does is probably to drain the remaining charge in the motherboard. It worked for me several times, after that, it stopped working.

   I called up Dell, and they said it was motherboard problem. To fix the problem, they suggested me to extend my current expired warranty to another year with MYR900. With that, I could get the faulty motherboard replaced, and have one year warranty in hand. But… MYR900 for an old computer, when they are clearing the old stocks of Dell Vostro 1200 for MYR1200? Hmm… Maybe not. I might as well just get a new laptop.

   Honestly, I thought I would be using this laptop for several years to come. I never expected it to go wrong just after 2 years. No extended warranty purchased. Well, lesson learnt. Get extended warranty next time!

3. Macbook White

   Did Steve Jobs cast a spell on my Dell? Well, I have been thinking hard on which laptop to buy. I used to be a Mac enthusiast for 2 years during my uni days, but switched back to Windows due to some incompatibility on my Final Year Project software. That’s when I got my Dell Vostro 1200.Now that when it’s dead, is this the calling to switch back to Mac? Hell yeah… But that’s then I have to fork out MYR3,500 for at least the lowest range of Macbook, which is the Macbook White unibody. It’s burning a hole in my pocket, thanks to the temptation added by my cousin whom I recently helped to manage his few new Mac purchases for his law firm.

   Sorry guys, I can’t wait for the next Macbook White update to Intel’s new core processor – i3, which should be around June/July 2010. I have been idle and off from work since my Delly died. I need a computer to work on A.S.A.P.!

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