Facebook Etiquette for Mass Personal Messaging

Malaysians may be the 4th most active users in Facebook, but our Internet etiquette is still like we’re underneath the shell. Seriously.

Time and time again, we’ve reminded email users to please use the Carbon Copy (CC) or Blind Carbon Copy (BCC), do they listen, yes. However, many still forget and continue to blast out without this etiquette. And by the way, if you do this monthly from your corporate email using programs like Outlook, you’re now in high-risk of getting blacklisted by Google, Yahoo and Hotmail

Now comes Facebook. I’ve had some wedding invitations from friends. It starts out alright when they mass message old friends intended to inform them of their happy day. However, it becomes frustrating and disappointing (for me) to learn, everyone only hits Reply to All when they want to inform the bride or groom of their mailing address. Did you know, what may happen when you do this?

Invasion of private information

Irregardless of our friendship, I may not know the rest of the friends you’ve mass messaged. In the worst possible case, you and I may not know how my private information can be misused by any friend.

Facebook unintentionally spams me

I can’t remove myself from a conversation, unlike pictures. Soon enough, your mass message about your wedding starts feeling like Facebook tagging spam. So, dear Facebook team, could you please allow me to remove or mute conversations in mass messages?

Prevent this unhealthy etiquette

These are the 2 things which I’ve observed so far. And it’s only corrected once a friends comes forth and informs the others to reply individually.

If you’ve friends or the sender who hits Reply to all too, send the original recipient a personal message about this etiquette and ask them to inform the group.

It takes a real friend to stand up for a friend.

Stop Facebook Picture Tagging Spam

Have you been a victim of Facebook’s tag spam? You know you have when a friend tagged you in a picture which has nothing to do with your physical presence, at all. For example; you receive a notification you’ve been tagged in a photo and when you review the photo, you see this.

Are you insulting me by saying the guy is me? Or, were you too lazy to personally speak to me and motivate me as a friend, after you read my Facebook wall postings.

Real friends know you better

However, I personally find the above image still acceptable. As compared to friends who selfishly tag you in images related to their business products, which you’d have no interest what so ever! If you were my friend, wouldn’t you have known I’m not interested to invest right now?

Then, why did you think of tagging me in this picture.

Stop damaging your friends Facebook reputation

If you don’t know how Facebook works, learn how to use it as a personal tool rather than a business tool. Recently, I noticed a friend of mine was tagged in 2 unrelated pictures which even if he was interested, would’ve been best kept private. He was tagged in 2 lingerie pictures.

I didn’t have to jump to any conclusion that my friend fell victim to another Facebook picture tagging spam. And at that moment I thought to myself, my business colleagues and clients who I’ve friended are also seeing this via their Facebook stream. Gosh.

Act to curb Facebook picture tagging spam

Curbing this can only be made possible by you. It’s okay to have more friends. But think of how your friend’s actions can affect you in Facebook.

Therefore, tell them with a personal message to stop tagging you in unrelated pictures. If it falls on deaf ears, my choice would be to un-friend them.

Because, I know my real friends would listen to me.

Super Wiggy with P1 4G Portable Modem

After the Super Wiggy launch, bloggers were given the option to take home P1′s Super Wiggy device for a trial run. The new P1 Wiggy portable modem (UH235) has gone through an image surgery.

New Wiggy Image

Now colored in white, sporting a smooth curved finished on the top with a simple P1 logo stamped onto it. Besides the aesthetics, most notable change to me was its size. It’s not smaller, but bigger now!

Other notable product design changes to P1′s new Wiggy were:

• The modem has a stand attached to the back.
• Includes a hook to put it at the top of your laptop, facing outwards.
• Includes a suction to stick it to your outer laptop cover or, toilet tiles?
• The modem connects to your machine via a wired USB cable.

I suppose the size has been upscaled because the new Wiggy is suppose to deliver a stronger signal strength. However, I can’t confirm this because I’ve yet to test this device on the 15th floor of a building.

Is Wimax and 4G the same?

Technically, yes and no. When I posed the question to Jeck during the event launch, he briefly explained that P1 is calling it 4G to not confuse consumers with more jargon. At the same time, it’s believed there isn’t a 4G standard right now.

But in simpler terms, 3G is suppose to handle voice and 4G is suppose to handle data. Get it?

Speed and Coverage

P1 has been aggressively and consistently extending their coverage since they started. During the Wiggy launch event, it was mentioned they’d have covered nearly 80% of Malaysia; if memory serves me right, by next year.

In terms of speed, I’ve not been sponsored by P1 to travel from Kedah to Johor. So I can only share with you the speeds I’ve gotten at common places I’ve visited.

It’s great having a strong signal and being connected. But I did experience a blind spot at Plaza Kelana Jaya. When I contacted P1 about it, it was my luck it seems that the signal wasn’t fully covered in that area. Therefore, coverage is growing but still not a blanket just yet.

Cost of my Wiggy

P1 is now promoting a savings of 50% on new Wiggy sign-ups. Reading the fine print, the 50% only applies on the 2nd and 3rd month of your bill. Boo.

I suppose for the price you can expect to pay for the starter plan of the new wiggy (UH235) is equivalent to your Streamyx home connection. In less words, sudah potong?

To be honest, I won’t be cutting mine soon. However, I personally feel the new Wiggy would be an awesome challenger or replacement to other mobile broadband solutions.

Now, if only the new Wiggy had a lower monthly rate for 1.5Mbps and a 5GB quota for say, RM50 a month?

Lenovo Ideapad V360 Battery Life and Benchmark Results

Yesterday I lugged both my Macbook Pro and Lenovo Ideapad V360 to a business network meeting. I seriously thought it was insane and unnecessary to weigh myself down. However, the weight increased wasn’t back breaking. Thank goodness.

Lenovo Ideapad V360 General Battery Life

If you’re constantly browsing the web, the battery will last you a good 3-4 hours. The standby is pretty impressive as well. On standby, it can last up to 6-hours or more. Thanks to its power saving mode either in the operating system or the machine.

From my observation, the standby has 2 phases. The first is to turn off the monitor and the second is to put the computer on sleep mode. But the standby test was done by leaving the computer alone. Meaning, I left it there and didn’t touch it at all.

On the daily basis of opening the notebook, browsing and closing without powering down, you can expect the battery life to last probably 3 hours.

I’ve to personally say this battery life review isn’t complete yet. I’d still like to see how long can the battery withstand constant movie viewing and music listening. So, I’ll get back to you on that later.

Lenovo Ideapad V360 Benchmarks

The tool I used to generate these results were from Futuremark. Using both their PCMark and 3Dmark software. And no, it wasn’t a pirated neither an original version.

Generally, the Lenovo Ideapad V360 performed well in the video and spreadsheet segment of the benchmark.

A note of caution if you use this software, beware the insane browser simulation flicker. It totally reminded me of those TV programs which warn you it contains fast moving images. Lol.

When it came to gaming, the Lenovo Ideapad V360 couldn’t handle heavy graphics. The frames per second (FPS) was either 0 (zero) or less than 10. However, this is highly dependent on any game settings.

And what would interest me more, how will the Lenovo perform with Starcraft 2 installed?

Ooh ooh. I forgot to mention I can only share the 3DMark scores with you because for some odd reason, PCMark didn’t display the machine scores.

There’s 1 other test I’d like to try but I’ll need to get the approval from Intel Malaysia, P1 and Lenovo Malaysia first.

The drop test.

Lenovo IdeaPad V360 Wimax-inside Laptop Photos and Quickie

If you follow me on Twitter, you’d know I’ve the unreleased Lenovo IdeaPad V360 laptop with Wimax-inside in my hands now. And no, I didn’t steal it. It’s a review unit from Intel-P1 (and Lenovo) for me to experience the Wimax-inside technology built into this laptop. So far, I’ve completed the Lenovo V360 road test – literally, all the way pass Tractors Malaysia to Puchong Utama.

Now, it’s time to formally introduce the Lenovo IdeaPad V360 with Wimax-inside notebook to you. In short, I find it lightweight, convenient with Wimax, average lasting battery but more than enough to handle your office and blogging-on-the-go needs.

Here’s a visual description of the Lenovo V360. Kicking it off with the Lenovo box. At first glance, when I saw the box, I thought the unit was pretty big. But the 13″ laptop inside is really nicely sized.

Lenovo IdeaPad V360 Powered by

On the bottom right of the keyboard, you’ll find the logos from NVIDIA, Intel Core i3, Windows 7 and Wimax forum. Including, Lenovo’s finger print scanner. Nonetheless, I was surprised to find a sticker to signify the Wimax built into the laptop. Because when I attended the What’s Inside bloggers event, one of the concerns was how to tell if a netbook or notebook had Wimax-inside. So, I guess this was the solution – easy.

Lenovo logos and mouse surface

This is a common sticker used by Lenovo to tell you what solutions are installed into this system. But what I like more about this area, is the mouse surface on the Lenovo. It’s got a bumpy (and slightly rubbery) surface. Great feeling when using it. Much better than the red dot IBMs had.

Lenovo IdeaPad V360 ports

The ports are only located on the left and right. And I found it surprising to find 2 port types on this notebook. They were; eSATA and HDMI. It looks to me eSATA is becoming a common port very soon. As for the HDMI port, I guess it’s to use your laptop as an alternative media player if you’re not purchasing a standalone version.

Lenovo IdeaPad V360 Technical Specifications

I couldn’t find the official information on Lenovo’s website. But based on the Wimax Inside website, the specifications are:

Processor	Intel Core i3 @ 2.27 GHz
Operating System	Windows 7 Home Premium
Hard Disk Space	500GB SATA HD (7200rpm)
Memory	2048MB (2GB) DD3 SDRAM
Graphic Card	NVIDIA GeForce 305M 512MB
Bluetooh	Yes
Wireless Connectivity	Intel Centrino Advanced-N + Wimax 6250 / WiFi ready
Display	13.3″ (glossy surface)
Battery	6-cells

And you know what I realized, there is no CD/DVD drive! Doh.

Well, I hope this visual coverage was helpful to some who may be wondering what the Lenovo IdeaPad V360 looks like and possibly, what is offered. If you’ve additional technical questions, you may want to pose them to Lenovo. They’ve got a Twitter account too.