kelvin quee

I signed up for Mobile Broadband with Singtel and got a free Huawei E169 dongle. It is a pretty powerful thing with a 3G modem, a mini-SD card reader and a emulated CD-ROM drive. Unfortunately, this confuses most systems. Since I don’t really care for the mini-SD card reader or the windows drivers in the emulated CD-ROM drive, this guide will be about how to get the 3G modem to work.

It’s really simple actually but there was alot of trial and error. I’ve tested it on multiple computers and on pro-longed usage. I’m using Ubuntu 8.04 and it works beautifully. It should work with all other systems too. Here are the 3 steps required -

(1) Download the USB Modeswitch. You require this to switch to the 3G modem full-time. Compile it. If you’re on x86 systems and a little lazy, you can download the binary here.

(2) Run -

$ lsusb
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 12d1:1001 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E620 USB Modem

Run -

$ ./usb_modeswitch -v 0×12d1 -p 0×1001 -H 1

* usb_modeswitch: tool for controlling “flip flop” mode USB devices
* Version 0.9.4 (C) Josua Dietze 2008
* Works with libusb 0.1.12 and probably other versions

Looking for default devices
Found default devices (1)
Prepare switching, accessing latest device
OK, Huawei control message successfully sent.
-> See /proc/bus/usb/devices (or call lsusb) for changes. Bye

(3) Now you can dial up using most dialup software. wvdial works best for me. Here is what I run -

$ wvdial /etc/wvdial.conf

The configuration file reads like this -

[Dialer Defaults]
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Init3 = AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”internet”
Stupid Mode = 1
ISDN = 0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
Phone = *99#
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Username = NA
Dial Command = ATDT
Password = pass
Baud = NA

Somehow, it managed to detect the DNS servers. For Singtel, they are - 165.21.100.88 and 165.21.83.88. If you are on M1, Starhub or other ISPs and have success with them, please share your experience and configuration settings below.

Hope that helps!

The website of GeekTerminal, Singapore’s favourite geeky hangout, is hacked. See -

(Downloaded at 5pm, 27 March 2007)

Can anyone else confirm this?

Link to GeekTerminal
Link to Source Code of Hacked Page

Notes: Ayyildiz Team is Turkish. Preliminary analysis sees alot of other victims. Most of them are forums or sites using Mambo/Joomla. Is GeekTerminal on the same thing? Source code of the hacked page is very dirty. Firefox couldn’t even handle it. I had to use Opera. See link above. I couldn’t confirm the date/time of the hack.

Do anyone know how we can prevent such hacks in the future? If you do, please leave a comment.

I’m very excited to announce that InteresThink is happening next Saturday on the 23 February 2008!

For those of you who are in Singapore next week, here are the details -

Briefly

Date: 23 February 2008
Time: 10am - 3pm (Lunch is included)
Location: The Pod, National Library Board @ Bugis
Details: http://InteresThink.com

InteresThink is a multidisciplinary, TED-like conference. The conference aims to bring people from different disciplines together to build understanding and collaboration. Both our speakers and audience come from a variety of different fields. Throughout the conference, we will be using various dialogue facilitation techniques.

Speakers include Speakers - Alex Au (gay activist), Larry Francis (ethnomusicologist), Lim Choo Hin (President, Voice of Cancer), Leong Sze Hian (political commentator), Kan Lume (film maker) and Grant Pereira (Head, Green Volunteers Network). Our audience (see list) is also equally fascinating!

My greatest joy is the enthusiasm with which this Conference has been received. We are receiving a lot of support from previous attendees. A lot of expertise, time and networks are volunteered by people who see value in what we are doing. Many of them will not even be attending the Conference in person due to commitments. To all those who have been supporting us - Thank You!

Register and join us in a Saturday filled with exploration, meaningful conversations and possibilities!

Photo A, “George Osodi, Oil Rich Niger Delta_11″ by we-make-money-not-art. Some rights reserved.

Where did all the money go?
Heidi Vogt writes, “The average Nigerian still survives on less than $2 a day, despite the country’s $20 billion rise in oil exports to the United States over the past five years.”

As if the lack of contribution from the oil money towards increasing living standards of Nigerians wasn’t enough, there is the environmental damage -

Flaring & Oil Spills
Flaring, the burning of natural gas (or “associated gas”) so as to increase crude oil production, is highly harmful to the Nigerian people and the world. Flaring releases numberous harmful gases. Flaring also happens close to where the Nigerian people live and work. Photo A above shows a Nigerian woman shifting away her tapioca produce.

Vogt writes, “When the Nigerian government told oil companies to stop flaring gas from drilling in local communities, many simply paid fines instead.”

Photo B, “Oil spill, Niger Delta” by MarcusB*. All rights reserved.

Oil spills (see Photo B) have also seriously damaged the Nigerian coastline, containminated swamps, destroyed arable land and poisoned drinking water (Nwilo & Badejo, 2001).

The Nigerian Fault?
To avoid a coloured (and popular) one-sided story, it is important to know some context and history. The previous Nigerian governments, it seems, has as much to be blamed.

Nigerian scholar Femi Taiwo argues that the discovery oil has ensured “that the post-colonial Nigerian state did not cultivate its own citizenry”.

A weak citizenry leads to a weak state. According to Adabanwi (2001), “the Nigerian state is legally required to inject part of the revenue from oil royalties into the oil-yielding communities” following a Revenue Allocation Formula. Yet, revenue received are few and only includes revenue from on-shore deposits.

Even if the money reaches the states, “local governments are often the most corrupt” (The Economist, 18 October) and very little finally trickles down to fund critical infrastructure.

The situation seems as bad today. A report had revealed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation “had somehow failed to remit 647 billion naira (almost $5.2 billion) expected by the treasury last month”.

Take a Balanced View
The popular stance will be to push all blame back to the oil companies. Led by the Royal Dutch Shell since 1958, Chevron (Parent of Texaco & Caltex), Exxon-Mobil, Agip and Total have substantial interest in Nigerian oil through joint ventures with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation according to a Human Rights Group Report (1999).

I am not educated in Nigerian history nor politics. What I do know is that the Nigerian people are suffering. Oil has not brought prosperity to the nation.

My purpose for writing this is to, firstly, raise awareness on this issue. Secondly, I would like people to take a more constructive perspective. It is too easy to blame the oil companies for Nigeria’s predicament today. It is not helpful to blame the oil companies either - we have been doing so for decades.

Shell, for one, has already admitted to its practices. In a BBC report, Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Chris Finlayson said: “We recognise that our development activities in the past have been less than perfect.”

But the same report also writes that Shell has found it “difficult to operate with integrity in areas of conflict like Nigeria”.

Import Oil, Export Knowledge
I do not have a solution, but one thing seems clear - The developed world, while importing commodities from the developing world, has to export more than money and technology. The developed world has to also export management know-how, best practises, public institutions and education. And, the developed world has to do so - if not for Nigeria’s sake, then for its own sake.

For as the price of oil rise steadily, Nigerian social unrest escalates and the world’s opinion about irresponsible business practices sours, energy companies will only do worse to continue on its current course.

References
1. Nigeria: Shell of a State (2001)
2. Nigeria’s oil fires stoke claims of villagers to spoils - Seattle Times, 20 Aug 2007
3. An eerie lull in the violent Delta - The Economist, 8 Nov 2007
4. Nautral Gas Flaring - Wikipedia
5. Impacts of Oil Spills Along the Nigerian Coast - The Association for Environmental Health and Sciences
6. Reforming the oil industry - The Economist, 27 Sep 2007
7. The Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities - Human Rights Watch (1999)
8. A nation in waiting - The Economist, 18 Oct 2007
9. Shell admits fuelling corruption - BBC News, 11 Jun 2004

It’s seems that the situation is worsening. After our only glimmer of hope from the UN, Mr Ibrahim Gambari, left, the junta takes its retaliations one step further by “sending troops to drag people from their homes in the middle of the night and letting others know they were marked for retribution”.

I’m disappointed that ASEAN, chaired by Singapore’s Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong, was merely “most disturbed“. In a letter to Senior General Than Shwe of Myanmar, Mr Lee wrote -

“We are most disturbed by reports of the violent means that the authorities in Myanmar have deployed against the demonstrators, which have resulted in injuries and deaths.”

I’m still hopeful. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that he “made it quite clear that that it is the political responsibility, collective responsibility, of ASEAN — and I’m going to take it as a high priority issue”.

When such atrocities are happening in our neighbourhood (I’m a Singaporean), the worst thing that we can do is nothing. ASEAN’s inaction on this issue is nothing short of inadequate.

Let me remind everyone, especially Singaporeans, that one of ASEAN’s objective is to -

The ASEAN Declaration states that the aims and purposes of the Association are: (1) to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and (2) to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Now, shouldn’t we be doing something?

Related Links
1. Dashing hopes in Myanmar - The Economist
2. Myanmar Troops Stage Nighttime Arrests - AP
3. PM Lee expresses deep concerns over Myanmar - CNA
4. U.N. chief plans to discuss future action on Myanmar with Security Council on Friday - IHT
5. Overview - ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS

Their album (above) is practically FREE. There’s a textbox (see below) where the price should be - You are free to key in any value! You can key in even “0.00″ (YES, I’ve tried) and the system returns a sarcastic “We value your custom. You’re currently in a queue.” Radiohead keeps their promise though and you’re later brought to a registration page.

The picture above shows me keying in $1.99 for the entire album! When you hit the “?” icon on the pricing line, it leads you to -

Hit the next “?” again and it says -

Radiohead, one of my favourite bands, have taken leadership again - this time in the distribution and pricing of their precious product - Music.

Trust that People Pay for Good Work
Trust is really important. As an artist, one must have trust his/her works. One must also trust his/her audience. Even though I’m free to download it off for free, I won’t. I’ll pay a price, a fair price, which I’m still deciding. It should be around SGD $6, I guess.

Nearly Every Cent Goes to Radiohead
From an economics point of view, note that it costs almost nothing for Radiohead to distribute the digital songs online. Including transaction costs, it may cost them just SGD $0.50 per album. As a music lover, I would rather pay $6 and be sure that nearly every cent goes to supporting the artist than to pay $19.99 to feed the entire music industry value chain (from the record label, the CD press, the logistics company, the music store, the landlord…).

In anycase, if I didn’t want to pay for the music, I wouldn’t have paid anyway and would have downloaded off Bittorrent/Limewire/eMule/whatever.

And, I’m willing to wager, that Radiohead would get far more revenue per album download than if Radiohead had went the conventional way of selling plastic CDs.

This is because most people would deem themselves to be paying for a service, than for a physical object. And, the price of service, as you would already know are highly inelastic.

Discouraging Piracy with an Infinitely Fair System
It also encourages would-be-pirates to pay for a small sum, thereby effectively preventing petty piracy. It feels good to be paying a small amount to enjoy music. It’s a ridiculously fair system of payment - You only pay for what you think the music is worth!

All in all, it’s a not a zero-sum game. In fact, it’s very much positive indeed. Who’s the one crying “Downloading is Stealing”?

Eat this, RIAA!

Related Links
1. Time Magazine - Radiohead Says: Pay What You Want
2. HOLY SHIT: Radiohead’s In Rainbows Out In 10 Days!
3. Radiohead Amazes Me

I am simply mirroring the blog post from Gorilla Radio (URL below) and doing some editing. Text in quotes are reposted as it is -

http://gorillaradioblog.bl​ogspot.com/2007/09/to-zed-​on-burma-investors.html

The objective of this blog post is to raise awareness in light of the atrocities happening in Burma/Myanmar.

This is NOT a protest. I am of the opinion that we need to look into such issues pragmatically. Cutting off all trade relations with Burma may do more harm than good. The companies listed below may be, in fact, good proxies for positive influence and lobbying.

I am also not entirely sure of the accuracy or completeness of the information. This is, perhaps, where you come in?

Singapore Companies include:

Our dear 3 banks UOB, DBS and OCBC &

“CNA Group Ltd - NEW
CNA is as Sesdaq listed company headquartered in Singapore. It was, in 2005, awarded a contract for the expansion of Yangon International Airport. Under the contract C.N.A. will design, supply, install and commission 24 engineering systems for the airport terminals. The project is to be completed by early 2007 but the CEO has commented “we will continue to expand our presence in the region (Myanmar).”

Ginnacle Import-Export Pte Ltd - NEW
Ginnacle is a company located in Singapore involved in the sales and marketing of Burmese teak lumber, decking and furniture. The Burmese regime owns all teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the regime millions of pounds every year.

Golden Aaron Pte. Ltd - NEW
Golden Aaron Pte. Ltd. is a Singaporean oil corporation. The company is part of a consortium which in 2005 signed three production sharing contracts with state run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, to explore for oil and gas in Burma, both on and offshore. It is a project which will undoubtedly provide the Burmese junta with a large and valuable source of income. The same consortium signed similar deals in 2004.

Interra Resources – NEW
Singapore listed Interra Resource’s principal activities are the exploration and operation of oil fields for the production of crude petroleum. It operates in Indonesia and Burma. In Burma its subsidiary Goldwater Oil was the first foreign oil company to extract oil in Burma. It is currently engaged in oil and gas exploration and production through its jointly controlled venture with Geopetrol called Goldpetrol.

Keppel Corporation - NEW
Singapore’s Keppel Corporation is a multinational corporation with interests in three key business areas: Offshore and Marine, Property and Infrastructure. Its property wing- Keppel Land has a presence in eight Asian countries including Burma where it owns the Sedona Hotels in Yangon and Mandalay.

Kerry Logistics Group/Kuok Group
Kerry Logistics is a goods transport logistics company with branches in 12 countries, including the UK. Kerry Logistics also operates in Burma, facilitating the export of Burmese goods. Kerry Logistics is part of the Singaporean conglomerate, Kuok Group.

Shangri-La Hotels
Shangri-La Hotels is a Singaporean hotel company. It operates the Traders hotel in Rangoon. Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and gives it legitimacy. Forced and child labour was used to develop many tourist facilities. In the UK, Shangri-La plans to operate an opulent 5 star hotel in the proposed ‘shard of glass’ tower block at London Bridge.”

“What’s behind the sudden surge in Western interest in ousting Burma/Myanmar’s military regime? Could it be an attack on another source of oil for petro-hungry China? Here’s some of the countries and companies invested in B/M

Last modified 29 Sep 07

In response to calls from Burma’s democracy movement, the Burma Campaign UK and other campaign groups around the world have been pressuring companies to sever business ties with Burma.

Please contact one or more of the companies on the Dirty List and ask them to cut their ties with Burma’s military government. If appropriate, tell them you will not purchase their products as long as they continue to support the regime in Burma.

Letters written in your own words are most effective. If you don’t have much time, don’t worry - just one or two paragraphs will do. Please be polite!

We would be grateful if you could send us a copy of any responses you receive.”

From -
http://gorillaradioblog.bl​ogspot.com/2007/09/to-zed-​on-burma-investors.html

Yes, wear a red shirt on this Friday (28 Sept 2007) for Burma.

I know - You’re most probably a Singaporean and you would be afraid to have the slightest political expression. I’m a Singaporean myself. I’m brought up by my parents to believe that being apolitical is good. I don’t blame them.

I don’t blame you for having this fear either.

Still what’s happening in Burma/Myanmar is simply ridiculous. Go read the news if you don’t still know what’s happening. Try this link (it brings up all news on that issue as determined by Google). Wikipedia has a nice summary too.

Like most Singaporeans, I’m pragmatic. Though I would like to see a free Burma, I know that is not going to happen within the near future.

The reason why I’ll be putting on a red shirt on Friday is not for a free Burma but for an end to the insane violence going on in Burma and to begin a real dialogue.

I would even compromise on using the name Myanmar (which was changed unilaterally by the military junta) instead of Burma.

So, Singapore, here’s a moderate tone for the red shirt that you’re going to wear. Here’s what you’ll demanding -

1. Raise awareness for the situation in Myanmar
2. Stop the ongoing violence in Myanmar
3. Start of dialogue between the government and the people

Please do your little part for the situation in Burma/Myanmar. At the very least, you did help to raise awareness and that is a good start.

If you’re a Singaporean blogger, please do a link back/trackback to help create a network of interested people, help spread the word and build a credible discussion/debate around the issue.

Thank you.

Related links
1. 9/28 Rally for a Free Burma at Main Green / USCB Petition / Email UN
2. Wear red shirts on friday - Anthropologists on the protests in Burma?
3. Will you wear a red shirt in support of Myanmar’s protesters? (interesting skeptical perspective)

One of my favourite companies and one of which I follow almost on a daily basis does an about-turn.

Palm, the company that popularised the PDA, is cancelling its new flagship product, the Palm Foleo. You can read the company’s announcement (a blog post) here.

The annoucement came as a huge shock to me. Palm, a company which I’ll consider as relentlessly obstinate, seemed to have yielded to public pressure and its new shareholders (Elevation Partners).

While I’ll not consider the Palm Foleo as revolutionary, I would not consider it detrimental to Palm’s future. It would have been a fantastic deployment ground for its new Linux-based operating. I’m also expecting the new operating to be eventually take residence in Treos and Tungstens.

More later