Zestful One

Microsoft’s Mango (Windows Phone 7.5) is here!

Posted by IcedNyior on September 28, 2011  |  No Comments

Microsoft made (tech) news last week when Joe Marini, program manager for Windows Phone at Microsoft was fired for tweeting “I just got a chance to try out one of the slickest looking #Nokia phones I have ever seen. Soon, you will too! #wp7.” While this was against company policy, I believe that it excited many a Nokia fan about the great possibilities of the Nokia-Microsoft partnership.

I’ve played with a Windows Phone 7 device and I must say that the interface is pretty slick. Also having everything online “in the cloud” is something I quite like. I know some people are less trusting of that, but I really like the convenience of having everything on the go.

And now, the much talked about Windows Phone 7.5 (codenamed “Mango”) is rolling out all over the world starting today.

“Windows Phone 7 broke new ground when it was first announced last year. We brought innovation to mobile platforms and delivered a refreshing smartphone experience that puts people first. Windows Phone is unlike anything the market has to offer. With Windows Phone 7.5, we’re taking this innovation a step further to offer an immersive and rich social experience that is sophisticated, intuitive and a joy to use.” said Danny Ong, Chief Marketing and Operations Officer, Microsoft Malaysia.

The Windows Phone 7.5 update offers innovative features like built-in group chat and deep integration with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, along with smarter access to applications, and a sophisticated web browsing experience that delivers a fast and beautiful web pages with Internet Explorer 9.

I couldn’t find an official video online but this page has some interesting videos about the new features in Windows Phone 7.5 (all images in this post is also obtained from that page). Some additional features :

Modern Communication Built In
Putting people first is the overarching theme behind Windows Phone 7.5. The latest Windows Phone update has essential social networking features built into the platform, making sharing important and special moments with loved ones and friends intuitive and easy. Through the unique People feature, users can now be more connected to friends, family and loved ones with a one touch access to Windows Live, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Another innovative feature in Windows Phone 7.5 is Groups, where users may group their favourite contacts and pin them to the Start screen in order to get live updates, from text, email and IM at a glance without the need to open any application. Facebook chat, Messenger, check-ins and photo tagging are also built into Windows Phone 7.5 to provide users with a more connected experience.

In addition, Windows Phone 7.5 also features Internet Sharing for users to keep their various devices connected anywhere, anytime, offering users a seamless and continuous rich browsing experience across platforms and devices.

A Smarter Way to App
Apps are key to a smartphone experience, Windows Phone 7.5 takes this part of the user experience a step further. Apps pinned to the Start screen will be able to showcase live updates and allow users to be updated on the latest with just a single glance. The built-in search function in Window Phone 7.5 is also connected to apps to make searches easier and richer, allowing users to discover more, faster.

Internet Beyond the Browser
Users will be able to easily find shops, restaurants, entertaining public events, localized amenities, and desirables through the Local Scout app. Windows Phone 7.5 takes the internet beyond the browser with the inclusion of Internet Explorer 9 with takes advantage of hardware acceleration to deliver rich and beautiful web pages. Windows Phone 7.5 will also feature SkyDrive, a cloud-based storage for Windows Live users to upload, share and edit Microsoft Office documents and files, photos and videos, allowing for true mobility in collaboration.

Local Scout app – What to do around your area?

I guess the big question is, When can I get it?

Well, there’s a table of update status for customers outside the United States HERE but Malaysia is not in the list. Our friends down south on SingTel  & Starhub has the status “Delivering update” so we shouldn’t be too far behind.

IMO, Windows Phone 7 is really shaping up to be a pretty solid mobile OS. Granted its first attempt seemed ‘half baked’ to some people but I think this update introduces more useful features. Can’t wait to see how the Nokia device would look like powered by it.

Turning 26

Posted by IcedNyior on September 25, 2011  |  No Comments

If you asked me about a month ago how my life was, I would have told you that I’m very happy with my life. I would have said I’m not wanting for anything, that I have everything I wanted. I have a job I love, I hang out with great friends, I spend free time boardgaming, my relationship with my family was good and my personal life was, well, good.

Then recently it hit me, as I’m turning 26, I am only 4 years away from the big three-oh. I don’t know why people think its a huge milestone in a young person’s life but apparently it is.

So looking back at my older posts, I apparently wrote nothing last year (too busy with life?) but the previous two years, I’ve had significant things happened in my life, such as in getting into (and out) of a relationship and getting more independent. Interestingly I was also in Melaka during my 24th birthday. Heh!

So now that I’m turning 26…

I could look at it this way : I am a 26 year old with a job that is the lowest rung of the ladder, a single lady without even an inkling of a stable relationship in my life, still living with my parents and have no property to speak of, or even proper savings for that matter.

Or I could look at it this way : that besides all the (negative stuff) above and tho sometimes I feels like its “me alone against the world”. I am living and breathing every day and good friends who will travel to Melaka with me. Whatever it is, I know I can fall back on my family.

Two sides of a coin. Two ways to look at things ey? (Such a typical libra, is what my Aree would say).

So yea, Happy Birthday to me :)

p/s: Besides Nani who thought my birthday was on 24th Sept, my parents in KL and my sister in UK was the first few people who actually called me at midnight to wish me. See what I meant in option 2? <3

@Wholah Badges

Posted by IcedNyior on September 21, 2011  |  No Comments

Guess your friends, get rewarded – http://bit.ly/getwholah

That flying feeling

Posted by IcedNyior on September 14, 2011  |  No Comments

*taken using a Nokia 6610i*

How to get Invites/ Tickets to Arthur’s Day 2011 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia!

Posted by IcedNyior on September 12, 2011  |  No Comments

Yay! Its that time of the year again! Arthur’s Day is upon us!

If you have not heard of Arthur’s Day, seriously, where have you been? Arthur’s Day started off in 2009 as a music event to celebrate 250th anniversary of the Guinness brewing company. The Arthur’s Day celebrations will begin in Dublin, Ireland at exactly 17:59 on 22 September 2011. The concert in Kuala Lumpur will close the 24 hour global Arthur’s Day celebration worldwide. More than 15,000 people are expected to attend the concert this year.

In 2009, we had Black Eyed Peas came to perform and that party was controversial (due to Muslims being forbidden to attend). Last year in 2010, we had international and local acts like Timbaland Sean Kingston, Flo Rida, Colby O Donis, Pop Shuvit, Thaitanium, Mizz Nina & DJ Fuzz.

This year, be entertained by the “Dynamite” who might “Break Your Heart” – TAIO CRUZ!

Along with Local acts – Mizz Nina, SonaOne, Joe Flizzow, Take-T, Dandee, Soler & DJ Skeletor – Taio Cruz will “take  you higher” on 23 September 2011 at Speed City KL @ Selangor Turf Club. Party starts at 7pm onwards and the dress code is Black Party Chic!

Last year, you had to pay something like RM98 to RM350 to get to party! This year, tickets are COMPLETELY FREE! The only catch is, you would have to look for those exclusive invites!

There are FOUR ways to get your hands on those tickets…

Option 1: Guinness Malaysia Facebook Page

1. Like “Guinness Malaysia” on Facebook. Heck follow them on Twitter too @GuinnessMY
2. Check out their Wall posts for ways on how to win it. It could be answering a question, or emailing a photo.
3. Better yet, email them contest@arthursday.com.my and you will be sent instructions! (say you got to know about it from me la :P)

Option 2 : Radio Stations

1. Starting 12 – 21 September 2011, fans can win exclusive invites to the Arthur’s Day concert featuring Taio Cruz from the following stations.
2. Hitz.FM, MixFM, MY FM and THR Raaga will run On-air and online Contests throughout this period for fans to get their hands on these money-cant-buy invites! So tune in and log on to win invites for you and your friends to the EPIC celebration of the year!

Option 3 : Rock Corner and Speedy Video

1. Purchase Taio Cruz’s album at the following outlets and get 2 exclusive invites to the Arthur’s Day concert 2011! Promotion starts from 15 September till 23 September 2011.
2. Participating outlets :Rock Corner: 1 Utama, Suria KLCC, Mid Valley Megamall, Subang Parade, The Curve, The Gardens Mall, Bangsar Village, Ampang PointSpeedy: Mid Valley, Pavilion, Movie Magic – Bandar Utama, Sunway Pyramid, Bangsar Village

(thx TianChad for the tips!)

Option 4: arTHURSDAY Events!

Every Thurs is arTHURSDAY and Guinness has events to celebrate the man who gave us the iconic black brew. Not only do you get happy hour rates all night long, you can also win Guinness premiums and those exclusive invites to the Arthur’s Day celebration! So, head on down to your nearest one this Thursday!

• 15 Sept – Backyard Pub, Hartamas AND Delaney’s Irish Pub, Federal Hotel KL
• 22 Sept – Sids Pub, Taman Tun Dr Ismail

See you guys there!!

*This is NOT a sponsored post.Tho I won’t mind getting paid in Guinness for promoting this.
Ya hear me Guinness Malaysia? LOL*

[Tutorial] Paypal Currency Exchange Rate Calculator

Posted by IcedNyior on September 11, 2011  |  No Comments

Every since I wrote this post [Tutorial] Link Maybank Visa Debit Card with Paypal in this blog and also posted on Lowyat Forum, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about what is the currency rate for Paypal, especially for US Dollar (USD) to Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) or vice versa.

So here is another tutorial on how to find out what is the currency exchange rate for Paypal from USD to other currencies.

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Step 1

Log into your Paypal account.

Step 2

Click “My Account” on the top left, then click “Withdraw”.

You do not need to have any money in your paypal account at this point. This is just to check out what is the currency rate.

Step 3

Choose either “Withdraw to your bank account” or “Withdraw funds to your card”. Only choose the option which is valid for you.

I chose the card as I did not link my Malaysian bank accounts to Paypal.

Step 4

The next screenshot might be different if you choose the “withdraw to your bank account” option but the principle is the same.

Leave the “Amount” bank. Click on “Currency Converter”.

A window will pop up with the currency converter and you can change US Dollar to any currency you want by clicking the dropdown menu. As you can see from the screenshot, the exchange rate as of 9 September 2011 is 1 USD = 2.93351 MYR.

Its that simple!

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You will notice that the Paypal rate is much lower than the actual conversion rate. As of now, the exchange rate (via CoinMill) is 1 USD = 3.00 MYR.

Paypal Help explains it as such :

How does PayPal calculate currency conversion / exchange rate?
PayPal receives a quoted wholesale rate twice a day. We then add a 2.5% spread above this rate to determine the retail foreign exchange rate that is applied to transactions involving a currency conversion.

Keep in mind that some of the rates quoted in the media are the inter-bank rates that are available only to the largest international banks, which purchase currencies in quantities of US $1,000,000 or more. A more applicable comparison for consumers is the exchange rates quoted at airports or other consumer currency exchange shops.

Source : Paypal Help

If this tutorial was helpful, share it using one of the buttons below!

A Slice of Heaven by Just Heavenly cakes & cupcakes

Posted by IcedNyior on September 5, 2011  |  1 Comment

Well I usually write food-related stuff in my food blog – Zestful Eats – but I wanted to talk about this contest I won in July (slowpoke yes I know) that has something to do with one of my favourite desserts – cakes!

If you’re living in KL and have not heard of Just Heavenly, where have you been? Just Heavenly, started off as home based business (I think) and now has several outlets called “A Slice of Heaven” where you can purchase yummy cakes and desserts without having to make an order (and waiting).

Though I’ve heard of them and have eaten cakes from them bought by other people, I’ve never been to their stores. I did however started following them on twitter @heavenlycake, though in the beginning I didn’t realize the twitter handle and the company were related (I didn’t read the bio, its stated there apparently), because they talked about baking and stuff.

Soon after, I found out that they had a contest in July where all you needed to do was to answer some simple questions for a chance too win RM50 vouchers! They were promoting their cake of the month – Apricot cheesecake (pictured above). Looks yummy doesn’t it? So I decided to participate.

And I won! There was some mistake in the beginning with my voucher so I had the whole month of August (instead of July) to collect the cake which is perfect because Mom’s birthday is on 28 August and one of her favourite cakes is the durian chocolate cake. I remembered a cousin bought it for us about a year ago. Just Heavenly’s version is made of thick puree/mash of flavourful durian covered in (dark?) chocolate ganache – really nice.

They don’t have a big version of the Durian chocolate cake so I decided to take a number of mini/individual cakes instead – 3x Durian Chocolate cake, 1x Death by Chocolate and 1x Apricot Cheesecake (July Cake of the month). I was also given two more cupcakes so I choose the Peanut butter chocolate (Sept Cake of the month) and a coffee something cupcake. I am obviously quite the chocolate fan, based on my selections above. haha.

The Durian choc were as superb as ever. The Death by Chocolate is filled with rich chocolate mousse that is to-die-for, hence the name I guess. I thought the Apricot cheese cake had a bit too much of the apricot topping and felt tasted too sweet. I’m not a particularly huge fan of cupcakes with a lot of frosting but the two I chose were quite nice.

So how do you get more information about these cakes (or be updated about the next contest)? Check out their website www.asliceofheaven.my or follow @heavenlycake on Twitter! You can also check out their outlet in Jaya One, Pavilion or Bangsar Shopping Centre.

Enjoy your desserts!

A Slice of Heaven @ JAYA ONE

Blk E, B2,
No. 72A Jalan Universiti,
46200, Petaling Jaya
Tel;03.7955.5212
(click to enlarge map on left)

A Slice of Heaven @ Pavilion

Lot P1.12.01, Level 1,
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Bukit Bintang, WP Kuala Lumpur
Tel; 03.2141.5150

A Slice of Heaven @ O Gourmet

in Bangsar Shopping Centre,
Ground Floor, East Wing