No traffic lights in North Korea?

Today, the Korean wave phenomenon went global as the world become fascinated with their Kpop music, technology in smartphones, Smart TV, automobiles, electronic products or even their fashion sense. But what about North Korea ?  do they have such technologies?

North Korea is located in the northern half of the Korean Peninsular and after the Korean War in 1950, the peninsular split into two, which we know today as North Korea & South Korea. North Korea is an isolated country that separates them with the rest of the world. Most of their technologies are more into military such as missile and weaponry. Until today, the USA and South Korea are still afraid of North Korea strength in military technology.

Source : Google Image

One thing I like to share is that in North Korea , there are no traffic lights to control the stop and go flow of an intersection. They replacing the traffic like with human, known by nickname called traffic girls. These traffic girls dressed up in a well-suit uniform and will be located in the middle of intersections in a small circle or on a platform with an umbrella for shades. The traffic girls will control the traffic with their robotic moves and they only allowed turning counter-clockwise, directing traffic with forceful, halting movement.

Source: Google Image

I was so amazed watching the below video, you can see that the traffic girls are so focused even when changing their shift.

 

Source: www.youtube.com

Traffic lights are common thing that we always seen when we are on the road, but that not applied in North Korea . Probably North Korea do not believe in the traffic lights technology. Instead, they prefer human by putting them in the middle of the intersection, or maybe they don’t want to be depending on technology.


Is it possible to have traffic girls here in Malaysia ? Hrmmm… perhaps not! the existence of traffic girls     will create more traffic jams  on our most major roads, as Malaysian especially the men will stop by or slowing down their vehicle just to  check out these traffic girls.  We still need to stick with traffic lights! :)

Restaurants operation with the help of technology

Me and my co-worker decided to have lunch at Nando's today. As always it is packed with people especially during lunch hour, but we managed to get a sit. 

One of the Nando's staff took our orders, then I saw her went to a small corner and entered all our orders in a  ordering system computer, the entered menu will then send out to the kitchen station to be prepared, and walla... your food is now ready and will be served by the restaurant staff.

Most of the well known restaurant already this technology, its has helped many restaurant entrepreneur, especially large scale, to operates their business effectively. The ordering system can track the status of the food, this is a good tools as to ensure customer will get the correct food which they have order.

The food that I ordered was served within 10 minutes, its pretty quick, the taste? yummy!!!

Bon Appetit!

P/S: this blog entry was done using Blogger for mobiles.

Social Network: Is it necessary to share everything?

Lawak Ker Der 2 Live @ Istana Budaya.

Last week, me and my friend went for "Lawak Ke Der 2" in Istana Budaya, its a comedy show that brings comedians into one stage. The show has a very good respond from the public as the ticket sold out for most of the timeslot. The shows takes almost 3 hours to finished, I must say I really enjoyed the show! Well laughter is the best medicines right?

The main reason for doing this entry is not about me talking about the show, but one of the comedian name Harith Iskandar has brought to my attention. Even though its just a comedy show, the content that he shared really brought me to laughter and at the same time makes me to think that what he said is actually true. 

One of the topic that he highlighted is about social network. He told the story about the social network such as Facebook has changed how Malaysian communicate with each other. One example is that Malaysian tends to share almost everything in their Facebook, Harith told that he received a Facebook notification  from his Blackberry phones during an important meeting, but the notification is only about his friends uploading a picture having Cekodok  for the evening. Harith then said that those people who uploading such picture are loser, but those people to actually commented or hit the like button of the photo are even worst, and ends it with a statement "Its just a Cekodok? get a life people!". The whole rooms when into laughter.

I started to think. Hey, I did that too! so am I a loser? before the laughter ended, Harith quickly make another statement, "..its just a joke people, just a joke.."

Im not really offended with what Harith said, but what he pointed out is actually true, most Malaysian like to tell every single thing they do in Facebook. For some people, they even checked-in at a place they are currently at through Facebook or Foursquare. Have we ever thought that by doing that we actually sharing the information to the public? 

Checked- in  in Foursquare.

They have been concerns about sharing info on social media, maybe the video below might makes you think again before posting any info on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Source: www.youtube.com

Its ok to share your thoughts or your activity on your social media, but  its better to be extra careful on what  information, contents or activities that we want to share. Its for your own safety, sharing too much info might ended up bringing danger to you, your family or your love ones. Think before you post!

iOS versus Android : Which one is better?

When I was studying in KPTM Bangi for my diploma way back in 2001,mobile phone is still a luxury item for most students.But its drastically became a necessary item as a tool for communication. Istill remember during that time, Nokia was the most popular brand of mobilephones. We didn’t even bother to know what operation system that runs thephone, or even want to use the Internet right from your phone to read emails,browse websites & so on. We only want a phone to have colored screen,camera function & sleek design. For me, Nokia 3310 is good enough, duringthat point of time :) 

My first mobile phone - Nokia 3310.
Sources: www.nokia.com

Today, Nokia phone areno longer the most desired phone. Mobile phones become “Smartphone”. You canhave various brands from Samsung, LG, HTC & Apple. Compared to those days,people now are comparing which one is the best Smartphone. Two most popular OSfor Smartphone on the market today are iOS and Android.

iOS

The iOS was developed byApple Inc. which was introduced during the 1^st iPhone launched in2007. From there, the iOS has been extended to other Apple devices such iPad& Apple TV, the software only applicable to Apple products as Apple doesnot license iOS for installation for non–Apple hardware. The iOS usemulti-touch gestures where you can open an apps from the device using yourfingers.

The new iPhone 5 running on iOS
Sources : www.apple.com

Android

If iOS only applicablefor Apple products, Android is an open source operating system which isdesigned for smartphones and tablet computers. Android isdeveloped by Google and the 1^st Android- powered phone wasintroduced in 2008. Some of the current devices that use Android OS are SamsungGalaxy SIII, HTC One X, Nexus 7, Asus Transformer and many more.

Samsung Galaxy SIII running Android  4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Source: www.samsung.com

Which one is better?

For me, it is hard totell which one is the best mobile operating system, I’ve used both iOS &Android OS devices, each have its own great features. Below list represent myoverall comments for both operating systems.

iOS

The good

• Smoother user interface – I really like the smoothness of the touch screen of iOS  whenever I swipe or tap, so far it does not disappoint me.
• Great display – The Retina display really help portraying clear screen display especially when zoom pictures and web browsing.
• Great apps – This is the best features for me when thinking of iOS. Apple claimed that iOS have more than 700,000 apps in their Apps Store. Even though some the apps you need to pay to download, at some point the apps will be downloadable for free. It just the matter of time and when the apps will become free to download.
• Upgrade iOS for free – What I really like about iOS is that you can get free upgrade. The current one is iOS6 which is downloadable for most of apple devices right from iPod Touch, iPad or even Apple TV.

The bad

• Battery life – Battery is the main issue when we talk about smartphone. My iPhone 4 needs to be charged everyday as its keep draining very fast, even when you’re not using it. Is it because of the iOS or the hardware? Well I’m not so sure.

Android OS

The good

• Notification centre – Compared to iOS, Android has better notification. Any email, SMS or Missed calls will be showing in the Notification centre.
• Variety of phones – The good thing about Android Open source is that you can choose any phone that runs on Android. While iOS only limited to Apple devices.
• Widgets – Android has good widgets such as weather & clocks which is accessible right from your home screen.

The bad

• Advertising on certain apps – When I played Angry Bird games on Android phones, I’m really annoyed with the ads pop up during the gameplay. To remove the ads, you need to buy the apps... Well I guess most of android users won’t simply buy the apps just to remove the ads.
• New OS update, new phone – If you have a phone running Android Froyo 2.0, you won’t be able to update to Ice-Cream Sandwich 4.0 due to hardware limitation. If you want to have the new OS, you might have to buy the latest phone.

Overall, both operatingsystems are great in their own ways. Its not about which OS is the best, it’sactually how the OS benefits you in your daily life.

Blogging from your mobile - Part II

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I would like share on my experience using Blogger apps on mobile. This apps allows you to add new entry on-the-go through mobile devices.  This application created by Google Inc, and it is downloadable for free on iOS and Android mobile devices.

Blogger's apps from iPhone 4

The user interface is really nice and its pretty basic, I can view or edit my previous blog entries through this app. The drawback of this apps is that you can only add picture or amend your entries, the app does not have the option to change layout & template for your blog. As you can see at the below screenshot taken from my phone, you have the Post title, Post content & Labels, and that's it. There is no option for template option or layout. 

The main screen of Blogger.

After went through this apps, my views on this apps is that it only meant for adding a simple entry with some pictures, which is totally different from what I normally do on my laptop. One thing I do like about this apps is that you can add entry as a draft, so if you wish to add videos, widgets or links, you can do it later using your laptop or PC. Whenever I have any idea for my blog, I will add an entry and save it as a draft, then edit the draft at home before publish it officially. 

The view of the published entries.

Overall, I enjoyed using Blogger apps, its very easy and simple. If you're one of those active bloggers, this apps can be useful for you. Sometimes you might have a great idea or thoughts that you want to put as your new entry, but you don't have the access to your computers, by having this app on your mobile phones, you can save it as a draft and continue adding the entry later at home. 

Blogging from your smartphones

The existence of smartphones has bring technology right in your hand. Now you can update status on Facebook, Tweeting your thoughts or even buying movie tickets from your smartphone..

Facebook apps 

Twitter

Recently, I found out that smartphone can also used for updating blog entries. There is one apps called "Blogger" developed by Google. It is available on major smartphone's operating system namely iOS and Android.

I have downloaded the apps and my first impression is that it's very basic, as there are limited options such as templates or font setting as compared to normal web blogging.

On my next entry, I will do a walkthrough on my experience using this "Blogger" apps on smartphone. It will be exciting, maybe. (^^)

Till then,
shimix