Sunday, November 29, 2009

Kelantan, Malaysia

Kelantan
Download 2.54 Mbps
Upload 0.65 Mbps

Malaysia
Download 2.00 Mbps
Upload 0.58 Mbps

Kelantan has faster download & upload speeds.

SpeedTest.Net

The Global Broadband Speed Test
http://www.speedtest.net/

Data for 29 November 2009





SpeedTest.Net

Broadband

Data for 11 Sept 2009
Upload speed
MP3 file (5MB): 33 sec
Video clip (35MB): 4 min
Movie (800 MB): 86 min

Download speed: 1.23 Mbps
Upload speed: 0.39 Mbps
PING: 31 ms

ISP: Telekom Malaysia Berhad
Server: Kuala Lumpur (distance: 100 miles)

Friday, November 27, 2009

Expensive but slow broadband in Malaysia

Investors put off by Malaysia's high-cost, low-speed broadband
- from themalaysianinsider.com, 26 Nov 2009

Why do investors refuse or run away from investing in Malaysia?
1. Internet is expensive @RM79/mo for TM Streamyx
2. Internet is slow @4Mbps (Wireless Network Connection 54Mbps, Download ___, Upload ___)
3. Impossible to send large files fast enough

What can we do to overcome these weaknesses?
1. Reduce Internet rental rate to less than RM10/mo for TM Streamyx
2. Deploy optical fibre instead of the telephone line (copper wire). TM is providing optical fibre to Klang Valley residents
3. Use bigger bandwidth so that large files and multimedia files can be sent as fast as possible, browsing is faster

Is ICT monopoly good or bad?
1. TM has monopoly over telecommunication lines (bad)
2. Telecommunication monopoly means TM can set any price for telecommunication services, including Internet monthly rental rate, and this is usually expensive (bad)
3. Monopoly means other Internet providers must offer Internet access monthly rental rate higher in order to profit (bad)

Can ICT monopoly be broken/stopped/ended/liberated?
1. Yes, we can ask TM to liberate its monopoly on ICT, especially Internet access
2. There is no need to liberate all 100% of TM Internet access
3. A 70:30 equity in favour of TM should be ok for a start?

What is optical fibre? Is optical fibre better than Streamyx?
1. Optical fibre is capable of carrying more & faster information per unit time, with speeds of up to 100Mbps
2. Optical fibre is being rolled out even though it is initially targeted to certain areas, over time, all cities should have optical fibre
3. Optical fibre is preferred as it is the fastest means of Internet access

Who should use optical fibre for Internet access?
1. School children, schools and hostels
2. University students, hostels & campuses
3. Homes
4. Internet cafes
5. Workplaces
6. Hotels
7. Hospitals
8. PDRM
9. Bomba
10. Fast food chains
11. Restaurants
12. Airports
13. Supermarkets

What is the cost for high-speed Internet access?
1. Optical fibre is better than today's Streamyx, therefore, rental rate is expected to be higher for optical fibre
2. Singapore users are paying US$85/mo for Internet
3. Malaysian users are expected to pay US$298/mo-US$300/mo or even more for Internet

Are we prepared to pay >RM300/mo for Internet @ 100Mbps (high-speed broadband)?

Takes so long

Takes ages to access the Internet and yet the papers today said we are rolling out 10-40Mbps fiber optic connection. I am shattered!

Writing from MAS Golden Lounge, 11 Nov 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

How personalized should medicine be?

IT and Medicine/Medical IT

If you have a complete health record and access to your own medical records, you can put together your own health & medical record for your doctors to see each time you go to see one for some ailment.

Whether doctors should know a patient's health & medical history before they treat a patient is entirely up to them. They can choose to ignore whatever knowledge and evidence you bring to them. They are under no obligation to accept what you wish them to know about you before they treat your present ailment unless they choose to. Since there is no compulsion to know everything about a patient, you stand to lose.

Should doctors take note of what patients are about to inform them about their own ailments? Are doctors prepared to handle what their patients are willing to tell them or share anything about their ailments? Are patients more informed about their ailments compared to the 80s?

Patients today are more drawn into gathering information about their health and ailments in order to understand what they are suffering from and the various forms of treatment available. Patients are coming to doctors when they are fully informed. Are doctors prepared to give patients personalized medicine, fully knowing that it is what patients want and why they are seeing doctors in the first place?

Read about why Ester Dyson chose to have her health data online:

Do doctors have access to tools that can help them understand how to go about prescribing fast and safe personalized medicine?

Keywords:
telehealth, telemedicine, bioinformatics, medical informatics, health informatics, genomics, proteomics, genotype, phenotype, karyotype, polymorphism, multi-factorial

Disease Information:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta, Georgia, USA)

CDC data and survey systems:

Gene & protein databases:
OMIM = Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man

Medical citation templates:
OMIM - Wikipedia

Bioinformatics software

Medical external link templates:

Journal databases:
PubMed
OVID
Cochrane Library

WEAT: Web Enabled Analysis Tool
The BRFSS, the world’s largest telephone survey, tracks health risks in the United States. Information from the survey is used to improve the health of the American people.

Asthma data

Cholesterol data

Cancer Informatics

BRCA1; Breast cancer 1, early onset

Location: 17q21

Overview: BRCA1 is a breast cancer susceptibility gene that was first identified in 1994. People carrying a mutation (abnormality) in this gene are at an increased risk of breast or ovarian cancer. The normal gene plays a role in repairing breaks in DNA. However, when the gene is mutated it is thought that this repair function may become disabled thus leading to more DNA replication errors and cancerous growth

OMIM
GeneCard (Weizmann Institute)
Human Gene Mutation Database (Cardiff, UK)
Tumor Gene Database
Swiss-Prot
Locus Link
UniGene
GenAtlas
GDB
Nomenclature (search for BRCA1)

Breast Cancer and the BRCA1 Gene (NCI, NIH)
BRCA1 and BRCA2 Hereditary Breast Cancer (University of Washington) part of the NCI funded Geneclinics.org site. Details of BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer, risk assessment, diagnosis, management, molecular biology, genetic counseling, resources, references etc
BRCA1 / BRCA2 in Breast and Ovarian Cancer (National Center for Biotechnology Information) an overview of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes with links to other gene databases.
CancerGene - computer program (University of Texas / Duke University) for health professionals: a computer program for estimating the likelihood that a family carries a mutation in one of the cancer predisposition genes BRCA1, BRCA2, MSH2 or MLH1
Breast Cancer Resources
Ovarian Cancer Resources
BRCA2 gene (13q12.3)

  • Medline Search: BRCA1 (PubMed) Limit search to: [Last Year] Limit search to: [Last 2 Years] Limit search to: [Reviews]
    Search Medline for related articles (PubMed)
  • Medline Search: cancer AND gene AND BRCA1[TI] (PubMed) Limit search to: [Last Year] Limit search to: [Last 2 Years] Limit search to: [Reviews]
  • Wednesday, November 11, 2009

    High-Speed Broadband (HSBB) Access

    Wednesday, 11 November 2009

    Headlines on HSBB - NST and Utusan Malaysia.

    NST - Mega-speed Internet to benefit 1.2m. Downloading a film to take less than 2 minutes. More at www.nst.com.my.

    Utusan Malaysia - Mengukuhkan Internet berkelajuan tinggi; Membina pusat perisian mirip Infosys. Dua langkak lonjak IT.

    NST details:
    1. Telekom Malaysia (TM) will lay optical fiber for Malaysia, 50% complete by 2010, target fully OF by 2020.
    2. To deplo cutting-edge ICT, HSBB network, with speeds between 10Mbps-1Gbps.
    3. Provision is for public (not specified further), business and govt agencies (not specified whether IPT or IPTAs included).
    4. HSBB will enable us to watch high-definition TV (HDTV) online, engage in live video chat (synchronous communication) and subscribe to e-health services (telehealth & telemedicine not specified).
    5. Downloading a full movie from Internet to PC with HSBB will take <2minutes.

    6. HSBB is seen as a platform to further develop ICT needs of tomorrow (an appropriate slogan is: live today tomorrow or live tomorrow today).
    7. PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced this at the 12th MSC IAP meeting held on 10 Nov 2009. MSC = Multimedia Super Corridor; IAP = International Advisory Panel.
    8. The world's wealthiest nations are IT-advanced countries - US, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and Australia. Not checked order or sequence of wealth. IT = wealth? Wealth created by IT?
    9. MSC Malaysia to become multimedia hotspot, >200 companies producing digital content. This sector generates RM76million (US$200million) in revenue. Looks like each company makes ~US$1million?
    10. Among the digital content created locally are: MyKasih (eKasih?). Check out the 1Malaysia website (supposed to be highly interactive). How do you benchmark web interactivity?

    Utusan details:
    1. Kukuhkan infrastruktur komunikasi negara.
    2. Menghubungkan 1.2juta isi rumah dan premis perniagaan (omitted govt & IPTA).
    3. Menggunakan gentian optik (optical fibre).
    4. Jaringan jalur lebar berkelajuan tinggi = HSBB. HSBB membolehkan rumah disambungkan ke Internet (this is Internet to door). Last-mile connection is not mentioned.
    5. Internet berkelajuan tinggi 1-Mbps-1Gbps. What is the Malay term for Mbps & Gbps?
    6. Govt is planning an ICT centre for practical training of graduates (what sort? Specifics?)
    7. ICT centre to be modeled after Infosys Technology Ltd, Bangalore, India.

    Infosys Technology Ltd
    Location: Bagalore, India
    Nickname: Silicon Valley, India
    Founder: NR Narayana Murthy
    Started: 1981
    Capital: US$250 (RM865)
    Profit: 2007 - US$3.1billion (RM10.72billion)
    Status: largest IT company in India
    # of employees:

    Signing off from MAS Golden Lounge, KLIA
    Connecting flight KLIA-KB MH1396 1505 Gate B09

    Fiber Optic for Us Malaysians?

    I am struggling with streamyx zone at MAS Golden Lounge at Penang Airport, my second home.

    I'm here alone in the lounge with just the lounge staff. I'm flying first class alone from PEN to KLIA. There's just me in that class (seat 2F); when full, this first class carries 16 passengers but it's empty today.

    I had nasi lemak with kuah sotong (very nice too). No time to try the other dishes. They are nice dishes (from the ex-Shangri-la, Penang - according to the check-in counter staff).

    I was trying to access Internet earlier which took me so long. I keep getting the Equatorial Hotel broadband sign-up window (the brown window) when I had checked-out at 7.30am. It was annoying when that window appeared permanent, never wanting to disappear. I hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete simultaneously which opened the Task Manager, I clicked End process for 2 running applications of Equatorial Hotel, Penang and that got rid of the brown windows.

    The MAS Golden Lounge streamyx zone access was exceptionally slow this morning (I thought it was a virus coming in again for the November holidays), but gave it a try, did Diagnose & repair, and it worked.

    I'm writing from the MAS Golden Lounge at Penang International Airport. It is 10.06am on my Sony Vaio laptop, I fly at 10.45am local time.

    Got to go fly now, some 28,000-29,000 feet above ground, above the clouds where there is another kind of life, another zone, wonder if that zone is actually good for the physical brain and soulful mind. Really got to go now.

    Signing off from MAS Golden Lounge, Penang Int'l Airport


    Monday, November 9, 2009

    Blocked Programs in Vista

    How to solve blocked programs

    If you have installed more than 1 antivirus programs, you will get this error msg, if not now, then later.

    The error msg reads:
    Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the .....

    This is how to overcome that problem.

    First open the Windows Security Control program. This will show what antivirus and malware protection programs you have installed. Eg: Avira and Windows Defender. You may have more. Only you know what programs you have installed or check your diary re what you had installed (keep a diary or write in Notepad everytime you install an antivirus/malware/spyware protection program (these give you more headache than the hardware).

    You will also recall a few things were starting to go wrong long before this msg eventually shows up.... a few msg windows tellling you such and such a program cannot be lauched, etc... and also service pack 3 of 3 won't work, etc. However, the untrained eye and novice will not pay any attention and just continue to work (like me and you) until no further god work can be done, then you realized something is definitely wrong.

    In the Windows Security Control window, you can try turn ON everything that can be turned ON. Take note of those programs which CANNOT be turned ON (these are the ones you will need to solve).

    You will notice that if you have 2 antivirus programs installed (eg Avira and Armor), Avira will be stalled (no update is possible) but Armor is still running. This means Armor could have captured and removed some of the Windows OS files and also some of the Avira files. These are the reasons for that msg showing up everytime you try to run an EXE file or a RAR file.

    Go to Control Panel. Click on Program Files - this will list all the programs that you have on your laptop. Remove Armor if you can (you can't anyway). This means Armor is controlling your laptop, including Registry, backup, restore points, etc, etc, etc.

    Click on Administrator - this will list 4 files. Each file will tell you what it does. Click through each file and browse & understand what each says.

    Go to Internet Zone, click on Security tab to set new security levels for Internet browsing/surfing (the main problem why the antivirus & other programs cannot update). Reset security for each (public, private, etc, etc).

    RESTART your laptop to see the effects of the changes you made. You will get a lot of msg telling you about error in your laptop. Use MWSnap or any screencapture program to cvapture some of the annoying msg. You cna also type some of the errors in Notepad and save them on your desktop for easy reference.

    You will also get Armor msg window that reads...BLOCKED PROGRAMS (here is a screenshot on my laptop desktop).



    Click each program, click TRUST, click ALLOW. Do for each program that was blocked. Whe you are done, close Armor msg window. RESTART your laptop.

    If you still get Armor msg window with BLOCKED PROGRAMS, do as described above to unblock. RESTART.

    You should no longer get any Armor msg or any error msg. This means you have cured your laptop. Just to check that everything is OK, do another RESTART.

    If everything seems fine, try open your browser or any program that was blocked previously. They should all run as normal.

    Good Luck!