As U Mobile customer,I felt quite happy with it.It deployed 42Mbps HSPA+ network base stations in major cities in Malaysia and keep expanding its coverage,also providing competitive prepaid and postpaid plans.However,the major outage happened today is a sort of disaster.

Since this morning,some U Mobile users started to complain that they can’t make or receive any calls or sms and several hours later,more users complained on the same issue.Finally U Mobile made a publish announcement through all channels:Facebook,twitter and its official website.

It’s not good enough.U Mobile didn’t give out any updates on how the progress is and when the service could be resumed.As mobile communication has been a very important communication method and when it disrupts,it could lead some great losses to the users.U Mobile should have a backup plan to minimize the effects,but sadly they don’t have.

Well,now I just hope my mobile phone can get into the service as soon as possible.

[Update] About 10 mins ago,some users reported that they can finally make/receive calls and sms,but somebody still has problems on roaming on Celcom 2G.I think the recovery is working in progress.Yet,no detailed explanation was given by U Mobile.

Frankly speaking,when I first time heard this news,I thought this is a joke.I mean how hard you could link a software giant special in OS and word processing software with a VOIP solution company.After I dig deeper,I find that’s possible as Microsoft has Windows Live Messenger which could count in the same field.Currently,some sources now have claimed that Microsoft had offered a price between US8-9 billion to acquire Skype.

I like Skype very much as I always use it contacting with friends and family far away from me.It could provide a clear voice and video communication with their unique compressing technology,it even could work quite fine in a low bandwidth environment when other chatting tools are failed.

Skype currently could earn US600 million yearly and most of the income source is company customer.The competition never stops in this area.Google has Google voice and Google Talk and just introduced video chatting recently;Rumour from Facebook said Facebook is researching on adding voice chat function in the website;a lot of apps now are supporting video chatting on iOS/Android devices.

I think Microsoft wants to get Skype to integrate with its Windows Live Messenger to enhance the experience on voice/video chatting as well as making it an income generator.Who knows?Just wait Microsoft to come out to clarify all.

[UPDATE]

No more rumours,Microsoft has confirmed to buy Skype at US8.5billion.

I’ve used Umobile‘s service for 3 weeks.The overall experience is quite good,however,there are still some spaces to improve.

1.Umobile is not supporting 5-digit special number.

Many banks and government services use special 5-digit to communicate with existing stakeholders.Well,I find that I can’t send through sms to 39222 to make complaint to Sysbas or 32300 to OSK investment bank alerting service.It could cause some inconvenience to me and I’ve realized that I’m not alone as quite a number of Umobile customers complained about it before.I hope Umobile could support 5-digit special number as soon as possible.I think it’s essential work to be completed by a qualified mobile service provider.

2.Umobile has an inefficient hotline in the night time.

I called Umobile hotline 0183881318 at around 10pm several days ago.I hold the line for 1 hour and the voice in the phone was keeping saying that all operators were busy at the moment.I’m wondering whether they have officers providing service during the night.Good thing is the hotline line is free of charge.However,my time is valuable too.

3.Data roaming in Celcom 2G network always had problems.

I feel glad that finally Umobile users(not U broadband users) could enjoy data roaming on Celcom 2G network now.Unfortunately,it does not run well at the moment.I tried to get 2G data connection when travelling to outstations,sometimes if I was lucky enough,I could get EDGE connection although the speed is slow,but better than nothing.However,I was not always that lucky,7 over 10 times,I failed to get 2G data connection.I tested in my Nexus One and Nokia 5800XM,all show the same issues.In this case,I’m not alone too.I know many Umobile users face the same problem too.

I heard that Umobile is targeting to be one of the mainstream mobile service provider in Malaysia by 2012.Well,without solving the above issues,that could be only in a dream.Wake up,Umobile!

Today Malaysian PM Najib will release more information about ETP,expectedly some new projects will be announced.

It will start at 12:30pm and the official website will make it live to public by twitter.If you’re aware of the future of Malaysia,please follow them to get the updates or just visit the website to watch in the widget there.

Update: The announcement has been completed.Here are the details gathered from official media:

Electronics and Electrical NKEAInfineon Technologies Expansion Plan
Infineon Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd will invest RM480 million in 2011 to expand and upgrade its production capacity, research & development and its manufacturing facilities in Malacca. The investment will mainly increase the capacity to produce power semiconductors for energy efficiency applications and will add 350 jobs in Malacca. This project is expected to have a GNI impact of up to RM814 million.

The investment in Malaysia is an additional step to expand the company’s presence in Asia, where it generates 42 percent of its revenue, and to integrate more tightly into local market structures.

Electrical home appliances manufacturing hub and international distribution network
Pensonic Holdings Bhd will establish a manufacturing hub and international distribution network of Electrical Home Appliances [EHA]. With strong emphasis on both product branding and R&D, this initiative will strengthen Malaysia’s position in the regional EHA sector, especially in the own-brand manufacturing [OBM] and the original-design manufacturing [ODM] regimes. The project with an investment of RM250 million over the next ten years, is aimed at capturing the rising market opportunities in the South East Asia and the Middle East, With a strong human resources development programme to be put in place and a commitment to local sourcing, the project is expected to encourage the growth of more SMI suppliers and have a GNI contribution of about RM500 million and create 850 incremental employment opportunities by 2020.

Communications Content & Infrastructure and Electronics & Electrical NKEAsSecurity and Trade Facilitation System using RFID
The Security and Trade Facilitation System entails the setting up of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) infrastructure to provide security and Automation of paperless Royal Malaysian Customs checkpoint throughout Malaysia. Under this project, containers entering, and leaving the country, and moving within the country will be tracked under the RFID system. The reusable RFID seal affixed to containers are scanned by RFID readers set up at specific locations to retrieve the container information. With an investment of RM45 million, this project will see a GNI impact of about RM201 million up to 2020 and create 100 new jobs.

The advantages of this system include improving efficiency of container clearance, reducing the duration of queues at Customs Check Points, improving security through the automatic detection of compromised or open containers, and optimising human resources for better services.

Business Services NKEA

Local Assembly and Manufacturer for Light Emitting Diodes and Solid State Lighting (LED/SSL)
MYLED Group which includes both MyLED Master & MyLED Opto Technology will invest heavily in expanding their manufacturing capability in the green technology sector. MyLED Master is the first local company to possess solid state lighting (SSL) manufacturing technology. Whilst MyLED Opto Technology will possess the manufacturing technology for light emitting diode (LED).

MYLED Group will invest in expanding their production facility at Melaka to meet the growing demand for solid state lighting, which has the potential for tremendous savings via LED lighting. This investment of RM175 million is expected to generate RM100 million in 2012 and create almost 900 jobs.

Communications Content and Infrastructure NKEATerrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting
Asia Media will invest RM500 million in developing the first Digital Live Transit-TV Broadcasting infrastructure in Malaysia by 2015. By adopting international broadcasting standard infrastructure, Asia Media is capable of delivering live video & voice into the transportation industry in the country. Leveraging on its extensive Transit-TV network, which extends to over 3,000 Transit-TVs with Rapid K.L., Causeway Links and Konsortium Transnational Group, Asia Media is also positioned to extend its Transit-TV network system into the Light Rail Transit (LR), Monorail and eventually to Mass Rail Transit (MRT). This project will contribute to RM604 million in GNI and create 400 jobs by 2020.

Baseline Study on e-Counter Services and Paperless Government
The project aims to establish baseline measurements on government initiatives for improvement of services in these core areas such as the transformation to Electronic Government (EG); going paperless within the government and the changing global socio-economic environment and technology impact on the citizens and businesses.

The project entails data collection and analysis on e-counter services, electronic transactions, and paperless government initiatives in the public sector, and assessment of government agencies’ data centres and network infrastructures and services. The study is crucial in the planning and implementation of the Government’s agenda for greater availability, accessibility, speed and transparency under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Program (ETP) as envisioned in the Malaysia New Economic Model (NEM) to fast-track social and economic progress towards achieving the Vision 2020 objectives. The government will invest RM3.261 million in the project that will see the creation of 155 jobs.

Proliferation of Broadband usage in new housing development
In the quest to become a world-class city, Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) recently issued a directive that requires the installation of broadband ducting in all new housing developments as a condition for receiving Certificates of Fitness for these housing projects. Working closely with both PEMANDU and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), this initiative will enable more households to achieve better internet connectivity. By 2012, a new directive will also come into effect for all business premises operating in Kuala Lumpur. This new directive will require all business premises to be equipped with wireless internet connection for their customers.

1Malaysia Email Project
The 1Malaysia Email project is an initiative to provide a unique and official email account and ID for Malaysian citizens. This will allow direct and secure communications between citizens and the Government, as well as enhance the delivery of Government services to consumers and businesses alike. Led by Tricubes Bhd, the company will invest RM50 million by 2020 in the development of a web portal which includes an email account for all Malaysian citizens aged 18 and above. The web portal will serve as a one-stop centre for government services, providing value added services such as social networking, online bill checking and payment as well as web development toolkits for citizens and businesses organisations to creatively develop applications. This project will contribute RM39 million in GNI by 2015.

Oil, Gas and Energy NKEAOil Field Services Unit – Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation (MPRC)
The MPRC is a new unit created for the oil and gas industry in line with the aspiration to make Malaysia the number one Asian hub for oil & gas companies by 2017. This unit is tasked to attract an investment worth RM320 Million in 2011. Apart from creating a conducive environment for oil and gas industry in Malaysia, this unit will also look at attracting investment and promoting the Malaysian oil and gas industry locally and overseas as well as overseeing and make necessary recommendations on policy, business regulations and fiscal incentives to ensure a thriving oil and gas industry is realised for Malaysia.

Education NKEAIslamic Finance and Banking Education Cluster
The International Islamic University Malaysia will spearhead an initiative to develop and position Malaysia as one of the world’s leading Islamic finance education hubs. With an investment of RM3.17 million, the Islamic Finance and Banking Education Cluster will develop and harmonise globally accepted curricula in Islamic Finance related areas through the establishment of the Association for Islamic Finance Advancement (AIFA).

This organisation will perform accreditation of programmes and advance and promote Islamic finance education globally. The cluster will lead efforts to make AIFA the main accreditation body for Islamic finance programmes worldwide and will take initiatives to ensure the quality, industry relevance and global recognition of Islamic finance education and its related areas. This project is expected to have a GNI impact of RM1.2 billion by 2020, adding a further 4,300 jobs.

Tourism NKEAKarambunai Integrated Resort City
A consortium consisting of Prism Crystal Enterprises Ltd and Tan Sri Dr. Chen Lip Keong & group of companies together with the landowners Karambunai Corp Bhd and Petaling Tin Berhad will invest RM9.6 billion by 2020 to develop the Karambunai Integrated Resort City (KIRC) as a premier world-class ecotourism destination.

Leveraging on Malaysia’s competitive advantages in ecotourism and biodiversity, KIRC will feature as a one-stop tourism, health and eco-nature edutainment and recreation facility that comprises a water theme park, water spectacles and fountain, cable car, mangrove research centre, harbour cruise, aqua and spa village amongst others. This project is expected to generate a GNI contribution of RM9.319 billion and create 11,002 jobs by 2020.

Wholesale and RetailDeveloping Pasar Komuniti
The next Entry Point Project looks to transform various markets such as “pasar tani”, “pasar malam” and “pasar tamu” and consolidate them into one, to be called “Pasar Komuniti”. This is because the traders from each of these were encountering challenges such as lack of suitable and strategic locations, and proper infrastructure and logistic facilities. Led by the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA), the Pasar Komuniti initiative (PAKAR) is a concerted effort to co-ordinate and amalgamate them in location with better facilities. With an investment of RM50 million, PAKAR will not only benefit the entrepreneurs but also the consumers, who will experience convenience and comfortable shopping within a solid and fixed structure. This project will contribute RM3. 52 billion in GNI annually by 2020 and create 56,400 jobs.

I believe the government is going on the right track to improve the investment environment in order to boost the local economy.If they can keep on this way,the success will not be far away!

I have the interest of reading books and financial magazines when I’m free.I think reading is a perfect way to study things and remind ourselves of applying the knowledge to our daily lives.

Personal Money is a good local financial magazine under The Edge which always has discussions about the simple investments,the strategy,the concept of saving money etc and so I can keep my track of growing up my family fund by a right way.I believe the difference between a rich man and a poor man is of their thoughts.Thus,learning towards richness is definitely necessary.

I hope my friends could also know it and learn it from Personal Money.It’s monthly published and only RM9.00 if you are in Peninsular Malaysia.

If you are a credit card holder,I don’t think you will feel so strange on 0% interest.Actually a lot of banks take 0% interest as a big title for their promotions to encourage the existing customers to spend.Recently I got a similar ‘great’ deal from local H Bank introducing in the latest brochure.

In the brochure,it says I’m eligible to make cash advance within the available credit limit of the credit card with 0% interest.Read until this point,I had already raised up my questions:if 0% of interest,what will the bank earn?So I read carefully word for word and found this note:5% cash advance fee will be charged and the 0% interest rate is just for 6 months.

To some simple calculations,we just transfer 5% cash advance fee into annual interest rate,which will be 10%.Please don’t forget that 0% interest is only valid for the half year and after that period,the normal interest rate for credit balance will be charged.Thus,if people take this advantage to get some money,but unable to pay it up within 6 months,he will be charged more than 10% at the end.In fact,a few personal loan interest rates that banks offering are better than this.

Banks always play such tricks to bluff us,so we have to be smart enough to not let it work.

TO BE A SMART CONSUMER!

The source from Bank Negara,the central bank of Malaysia says that the banking license to Industrial & Commercial Bank of China is processing currently and it could be done before November 10,2009.Why is that date?Chinese Chairman Hu Jintao will have his official visit to Malaysia from November 10-11,2009.

Many observers think that Malaysian government will offer the license for banking service to the related parties,however,they want to get more strategic investments and financial supports from China to push the local economical growth from the recent recession.

Simplified it,China has money and is always looking for some opportunities to make investments.On the other hands,Malaysia is lack of money and is always looking for some chance to attract more foreign investments.That’s why they are going to make a deal.I can see that more and more business and cultural activities is going to hold between two countries.But I can’t see that Malaysian government gives any extra benefits to the Chinese.For example,I’m going to have marriage with my fiancée who is Malaysian Chinese and after the marriage,we decide to stay in Malaysia for some years.Thus,we need to buy a property to stay.

According to the law,foreigners are only able to buy a property valued more than RM250,000 in KL and Selangor and there’s no exemption to a foreign spouse of a Malaysian.I understand this clause protects the low-mid income citizens as foreign investors may push up the property prices if no restrictions here.But in my case,the property could be only under my fiancée’s name if the preferable property is under RM250,000 and nothing protects me.

Malaysian government still needs to be a bit smarter to welcome more foreign investments.

From now on,Malaysian PayPal users can add Ringgit Malaysia to be your primary currency instead of those international currencies we normally use and withdraw your PayPal balance to your local banks.

Are you willing to get that?Actually it’s quite simple.After several clicks,you can get what you see here.

1.Click ‘Manage Currency’ and it will be switched into the following page.

2.Go to ‘Select new currency’ and tick the one you want to add and press ‘Add Currency’.

3.After that,you can see your newly added currency is in the list.

If you want to withdraw funds to your local bank account,you have to add the bank information in your profile.I don’t teach you here because it should be the basic of PayPal users.The fees for transactions and withdrawals are listed below:

I think the charges are quite fair.I’m thinking this maybe is a signal from Bank Negara(the Central Bank of Malaysia) for slacking some currency policy so as to attract more foreign direct investment.I love the move!

The topic of Budget 2010 is ‘One Malaysia, Together We Prosper’.The main concept is to develop the country towards a united,peaceful and wonderful land.

Three strategies:

- driving the country towards a high-income economy,

- ensuring holistic and sustainable development,

- focusing on the well-being of the rakyat.

The rest reported by TheStar are:

(The sentences in bold are which may benefit for low and middle income people,inclusive of students)

* Government to make it easier for skilled/qualified people to get permanent residence status. Visa to be granted for family within 14 days.

* CSR Fund of RM100mil to be set up to carry out social programmes.

* Tax breaks for registration of patents and copyrights.

* Big scale factory outlets to be set up to boost tourism besides having major events like KL Grand Prix Fest, National Water Festival, Malaysia International Golf Exhibition and Rain Forest Eco-Challenges

* Taxpayers will get tax relief on broadband subscription fee of up to RM500 from 2010 to 2012. Civil servants can apply for computer loans up to a maximum of RM5,000 from the govt once in every 5 years.

* RM6bil for agriculture sector for irrigation of paddy fields, fish production, fruit farming, livestock farming infrastructure, training

* RM2bil subsidy for farmers and fishermen including subsidies for fertilisers, incentives for padi yields and allowances for fishermen

* RM9bil to finance infrastructure projects including road and bridges projects and rail, sea ports and airports facilities

* RM1.5bil fund to promote green technology by providing soft loans to companies that supply and use green technology

* RM200mil Creative Industry Fund to finance film, drama, music productions, animation, advertisements through Bank Simpanan Nasional

* RM30bil to be allocated to enhance primary and secondary school education nationwide

* Rewards for students who excel in studies:

- 30 National Scholarships for the creme de la creme of students, stictly based on merit

- Conversion of PTPTN loans to scholarships for students who graduate with 1st class honours degree, beginning from 2010,

- Offer of netbook package, including free broadband service, to university students for RM50 per month for 2 years.

* The Permata programme, which emphasises on early childcare and education, including the gifted child programme, to get RM100mil

* Insurance industry to be improved to meet market demand.

* Govt to clamp down on the abuses committed by Ah Longs by enforcing Anti-Money Laundering and Anti Terrorism Financing Act 2001. Moneylenders Act 1951 to be also reviewed.

* Allow 100% foreign equity participation in corporate finance and financial planning companies compared with the present requirement of at least 30% local shareholding.

* To ensure rapid development of financial services, the existing tax incentives to be extended to 2015.

* Among steps to combat corruption is to set up 14 Special Corruption Sessions Courts and 4 Special Corruption Appeal High Courts.

* Tax of 5% to be imposed on gains from the disposal of real property from Jan 1, 2010. Existing tax exemption will be retained for gifts between parent-child, husband-wife, grandparent-grandchild.

* To promote prudent spending, a service charge of RM50 a year to be imposed on each principal credit card and charge card; and RM25 a year on each supplementary card, effective from Jan 1, 2010.

* To ensure that fuel subsidies only benefit targeted groups, Govt will implement a fuel subsidy management system in early 2010, which will utilise the MyKad.

* All ministries and govt departments are required to provide day care and education centres for children of civil servants.

* The maximum income tax rate for individuals to be reduced to 26% from assessment year 2010. Personal relief increased to RM9,000.

* Police force to get RM1bil to improve its services in govt’s efforts to reduce crime. Major measures include to increase police presence, including mobile police stations in 50 crime hotspots.

* To promote house ownership, Govt will launch a scheme that enables EPF contributors to utilise current and future savings in Account 2.

* Employees’ EPF contribution to be increased to 11% again, on a voluntary basis, effective immediately. However, from Jan 1, 2011 employees’ EPF contribution will revert to 11%.

* Personal relief for EPF and life insurance schemes to be increased to RM7,000.

From my observation,Budget 2010 is a prudent plan which could not boost the economic and could not help for the low and middle income people a lot.However,I can see the emphasis on sustainable development on both financial basis and social basis.That is a good sign to turn the country to a right track if all budgeted matters are properly fulfilled and supervised.I hope it won’t be paying only lip service.

Today ministry of Finance in Malaysia will submit the budget for the coming 2010.The Prime Minister Dato’ Najib is also the minister of Finance.I think he had to pay attention to this budget because Malaysia was just suffered by the economic downturn seriously and now difficultly walking out of it.The government ran some mini budgets during the past several month to support country’s economic by adding deficit.So the forthcoming budget is at the crossroad that may push the economic up or pull it down to the jungle.

In front of the new budget,Najib must give out the ways for two main points at the same time:

• To keep supporting on business activities and relieving financial pressures of citizens by issuing policies that benefit both companies and consumers
• To cut the deficit into a proper range

I will post the hot points tonight when the budget released to the public.

3. Marketing

Some well-known entrepreneur think we are now in the marketing age, meaning that marketing is a key function which dramatically drives a business to a gain or loss. I totally agree it.

For example, you want to sell a kind of bottled fresh milk. How could you get some market initially when there are so many existing players? To put advertisements (newspaper/magazine/Internet etc) indicating the unique advantages of your product, to set a few promotions to let more people know your product and perhaps you can give out free products to potential customers.

Thousands of marketing strategies are out there. You need to take some time to learn some and apply some in your real business. However, you have to remember that every cent you spend on it is definitely at the right place.

4. Human resource

You should hire some staffs who love the job rather than the salary. They surely will pay most of their efforts on their duties and their passion may motivate other people in the company and let all work more efficient than never ever.

If you are doing your business with partnership, only partners working together at the beginning will be a nice method too because it could help you spend less on payroll and know more on the enterprise. If you do need some extra manpower, just hire a proper number of employees. You must be carefully on this because salary is a fixed cost in most organizations. That means the more you hire, the more fixed expenses you hear to pay monthly, and you will feel very hard to cut it down.

Once you completely get those four points above and know how to implement them, I think you could do your real action now-to register a company and a related license/permit.

I’m sorry that I can’t explain too much on this because the rules and regulations are different in most countries. However, I think you could have your detailed information from Internet. Of course, go to have a consultation with chartered accountant or other professionals will be a good idea too.

I’d better to stop my article here since I can do nothing from this point. I wish my contribution could have some value for somebody.

Have a nice day!

Having a sort of options, we need to think about profit. Most business is profit-driven and most people are not willing to see any losses. To do like that, we have to learn how to pick up a good product/service and start the very first business:

1. Demand and Growth

In some term, the demand is the market. If the demand for a product/service is very high, I don’t think the business will go down. However, it always has high competition too and that will definitely rise up a price war. Your profit margin will not be able to follow your target for a long way. Thus, a product/service has a low demand figure currently and a high growth rate is great.

2. Budget

Any business should have a budget, not only for profit, but also for expense. The most limited resource to people who just start to do business is money and unfortunately it is related to everything. So we need to make a budget first and try our best to get enough money into capital in one side, control all expenses in the other side.

To get a budgeted gross profit figure is not a difficult thing because once you correctly know the demand of your product/service and set your profit margin, it almost closes to you.

Well, the budgeted expense is a tough thing. However, you should make sure that the monthly expense is at least less than 1/3 of your initial capital so that you have a 3-month buffer period to promote and sell your product/service without serious financial issues.

Savings is always welcomed. You can order your goods in bulks to have some discounts and lower transport charges; you may only hire several guys, including yourself, to work on the business; you may rent a small unit as your office. To cut the words short, please maximize the value of your money at this particular time.

(To be continued…)

Many people may not have a wonderful employment. The tough boss, the complicated office politics, the troublesome target are small parts which make people upset and unhappy. That’s why more people nowadays start thinking about open their own business because they could override the matters in office and control some others and the best part is they’re able to realize their dreams by their hands.

However, things are never going to be so easy. I think to do some planning at the initial stage is necessary. I just roughly list out some essential elements we should take into account. But today I only want to talk about one of these elements is product/service.

To talk about it and to make it work are totally different. To start a business, we have to clearly know which kind of product/service we will carry out. For a business, product/service is the most important thing and of course, it’s tiresome too.

My friends always complain to me that there’s nothing harder than choosing product/service to sell. Well, that’s a big truth. Different sorts of people drive different sorts of demand and the demands push out the products/services. How to choose one product from billions options? You should know your interest and then profit target.

You may be surprised that why I put the interest at the first position. Apparently my reason is simple, just looking back to see why you want to be a boss. If you get great profits from sacrificing your happiness, what you earn is merely some good-looking paper. If you could earn money and have happiness at the same time, you will be the richest man in the world. So now you need to go to find something you’re interested in. Please be noted the ‘something’ doesn’t mean one product/service, it’d better to be a group which allow you to filter out later.

(To be continued…)

I always say that AirAsia has a great potential on its growth of business and now the potential has displayed on its share price.

The share price is quite fluctuating and currently at RM1.45 per share which is 30% higher than the lowest price in the month.It brings to me 25% earnings on the share value.

However,this good news is just against some other obstacles that I met recently.

I wish I could overcome all soon.

Redbox is called as the world’s first low cost courier which has the partnership with DHL & Mail Boxes ETC.

Currently the coverage of the delivery service is only within Central Region and East Malaysia.However,it claimed that the international destinations will be available soon.

It lists the charges for two different accounts:standard account(without pick-up) and preferred account(with pick-up).

I believe this is the way that AirAsia uses its spare(extra) capacity to create more value on its flights.For businessmen,now they have another economical choices to reduce their courier expenses.

Such a great deal!

Currently I sneak into the stock market again.The first target is AirAsia which is the most creative and attractive airline in Asia,I think.

I heard a lot of people had negative views on the company because both oil price and A(H1N1) are affecting the air industry and no one could stand aside.

However,I have my own opinion on it and just share with you here:

Well,it is not a nice year for the whole aircraft industry.The oil price is fluctuating and A(H1N1) is reversing the tourism and air industry too.However,I believe that would not badly affect AirAsia.Why?

Firstly,AirAsia is buying the oil at a current price(if I recall correctly).It adopts this method from the beginning of the year.I believe the company opted this method because they had foreseen the instability of the oil market within the short-mid term.That also indicates that the company could afford the fluctuation within a proper range as this should be the basic work for an experienced airline.Thus,the risk supposes to be controllable.

Secondly,A(H1N1) is a pandemic disease that no one could forecast it.It causes the recession of both tourism and air industry.The most important reason that AirAsia could win the nice market share is the ability to control the cost.Apparently,it’s also the major weakness of other carriers such as MAS.AirAsia still could expand their lines quickly as they make the business more efficiently.MAS,for example,will have to cut more less-profit lines in order to get a good balance.Thus,in a long run,the company which could get a biggest piece of cake will definitely gain the top position.

So I think if AirAsia is able to maintain the debt in a reasonable margin at this tough time,it will be more bright than now.

Remember,AirAsia is still young and vital!

Nearly 1 month ago,I started premium Singapore VPN service and it works quite fine.Many Malaysian users subscribe the service for a lower latency to play foreign online games which may locate in Singapore or China.However,as I only could provide a limited bandwidth on this Singapore server,I never allow heavy downloading.

After I received several enquiries for a VPN service for downloading and streaming,I decided to host another USA VPN service which has enough bandwidth to be used with a reasonable price.Thus,it is good for the people who like downloading and streaming.

I had set up an official website called ValueVPN to sell the services.I hope you guys will continue to support it.Of course,I always welcome your comments and suggestions.

I hope I could provide what you want!

Forbes Billionaire list is shorten.Only 793 people on this latest list where the number for the previous year is 1,125 and the combined worth dropped by $2 trillion to $2 trillion(Yes,it loses 50% on combined worth of the previous year!).However,some winners are happily standing in the list at this bad time as they even raised their net worth.

Of course,it’s only a little of luck plus a lot of efforts.Definitely they have some unique observations and strategies to overcome the bad effects of economical downturn.I wish I could learn something from them.

By the way,the richest Chinese in the world is a very old name-Li Ka-shing,who is ranked at 16th.Well,he’s always there!

(Resources refer to Forbes and The Wall Street Journal.)

I received another piece of news from AirAsia recently.This time it is not about new planes or new routes,but for a new terminal,KLIA-East.

From the start of its business,AirAsia has its very own creative approaches to lead the growth.And yes,it wins lots of success and thus stands solid among other airlines(international competitors).From the statement,it indicates that though it is a tough period that the company has a tight finance,there are still plenty of opportunities coming on the way,especially the growing numbers of passengers in the past month showing the good fact.

Therefore,AirAsia believes that a new and advanced LCCT(low cost carrier terminal) is necessary to fit the future life of the company as the current LCCT(owned by Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd) which is close to KLIA(Kuala Lumpur International Airport) can’t provide more parking lots for new aircrafts(2 new aircrafts every month) and afford higher volume of passengers in the foreseen future-estimated to have 60 million in 2013.

AirAsia calls the KLIA-East project as a matter of life-or-death and now it has closely worked with Sime Darby Bhd.Meanwhile,the project has been approved by the government and so it will start construction as soon as the complete plan and design rolling out,as it be scheduling to be in operation in early 2011.

AirAsia also calls the KLIA-East project as a terminal for people so that The Rakyat’s Terminal.The terminal is promised to give its users much more comfortable environment that current one.Some friendly and convenient facilities are under plans too,such as the linkage of KTM,ERL and automatic trains(Aerotrain) in KLIA.Although it will be located in Labu,Negeri Sembilan,in fact it will be 18KM closer to Kuala Lumpur city centre than current LCCT.

Click for a large view

The most important thing is,AirAsia will have its real control on the terminal and so a right to reduce the costs and thus give customers much lower fares.

Now AirAsia has set up a microsite for KLIA-East and welcome all people voice out.For me,I will keep on supporting AirAsia as it’s thinking of people,not only benefits.Of course,I will follow up all the news about this project too.

Just stay tuned!

Newsweek just told us who are in the global elite team.Totally 50 people are in the list and I can say that this team’s decisions related to everyone in the world,whatever they are old or young,rich or poor.

I may rant out that they moved the earth’s rotation in their own way.All right,I think my visitors surely are interested to know who are these giants.So keep your eyes on the following contents:

1: Barack Obama(President-Elect,US)

2: Hu Jintao(China,President)

3: Nicolas Sarkozy(President,France)

4-5-6: Economic Triumvirate (central banker of US Federal Reserve,Ben Bernanke;CB of European Central Bank,Jean-Claude Trichet;CB of the bank of Japan,Masaaki Shirakawa)

7: Gordon Brown(Prime Minister,United Kingdom)

8: Angela Merkel(Chancellor,Germany)

9: Vladimir Putin(Prime Minister and former President,Russia)

10: Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud(King,Saudi Arabia)

11: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei(spiritual leader and highest authority,Iran)

12: Kim Jong Il(Chairman of the National Defence Commission,North Korea)

13-14: The Clintons (former President Bill Clinton and his wife,US)

15: Timothy Geithner(Obama’s Treasury Secretary,US)

16: Gen. David Petraeus(Head of Central Command,US)

17: Sonia Gandhi(President of Congress Party,India)

18: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva(President,Brazil)

19: Warren Buffett(one of the richest people in the world,investor,US)

20: Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani(Chief of Army Staff,Pakistan)

21: Nuri al-Maliki(Prime Minister,Iraq)

22-23: The Philanthropists (Bill Gates,the co-founder of Microsoft and his wife Melinda Gates,US)

24: Nancy Pelosi(The Democratic leader,US)

25: Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan(President,the United Arab Emirates)

26: Mike Duke(CEO-Designate,Wal-Mart Stores,US)

27: Rahm Emanuel(Chief of staff of President-Elect Obama,US)

28: Eric Schmidt(co-founder of Google,the advisor of President-Elect Obama,US)

29: Jamie Dimon(CEO of JP Morgan Chase,US)

30-31: Friends of Barack (David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett,true friends and senior advisors of President-Elect Obama,US)

32: Dominique Strauss-Kahn(Managing Director, International Monetary Fund)

33: Rex Tillerson(CEO, ExxonMobil,US)

34: Steve Jobs(founder and CEO of Apple Inc.,US)

35: John Lasseter(chief creative officer,Pixar Studios,US)

36: Michael Bloomberg(Mayor of New York City,US)

37: Pope Benedict XVI(Head of the Roman Catholic Church)

38: Katsuaki Watanabe(CEO of Toyota,Japan)

39: Rupert Murdoch(Chairman and CEO of News Corp.)

40: Jeff Bezos(CEO of Amazon.com,US)

41: Shahrukh Khan(The King of Bollywood,India)

42: Osama bin Laden(Global Terrorist)

43: Hassan Nasrallah(the most influential radical Shiite leader,Arab world)

44: Dr. Margaret Chan(Director-General, World Health Organization)

45: Carlos Slim Helú(Tycoon,Mexico)

46: The Dalai Lama(Tibetan spiritual leader)

47: Oprah Winfrey(a famous talk-show anchor,US)

48: Amr Khaled(Televangelist,Egypt)

49: E. A. Adeboye (the pastor of The Redeemed Christian Church of God,Nigeria)

50: Jim Rogers (CEO of Duke Energy,US)

From the list,the biography of each person is not the only thing.In the meantime,we could know what the matters we need to be concerned;what the revolutions we need to make and what the intimidation we need to face.Finally,it’s all about life.