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Archive for 2009

BMW Efficient Dynamics Drive Day 1 – Part 2

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 1,473 views

Continue on the BMW drive…

BMW Drive

When we reached Belum Resort, Pulau Banting, we were served champagne and some started Camwhoring

Champagne

Check out Tey Cindy, Cheeserland, Sixthseal, Eiling Camwhore at Belum Resort.

Tey Cindy
Tey Cindy camwhore using BlackBerry and start twitting.

Tey Cindy
She was so excited that she camwhore on top of a table! Haha…

Cheeserland & Tey Cindy
Then Cheeserland join in the fun!

Sixthseal & Tey Cindy
Sixthseal & Tey Cindy
Sixthseal & Tey Cindy

Tey Cindy & Eiling
Tey Cindy & Eiling

Sixthseal & Eiling
Sixthseal & Eiling

Saimatkong & Tey Cindy
Me & Tey Cindy

Jump
Check out Sixthseal tummy! =p

After all the photo taking session and enjoyed the breath taking scenery… We checked in to our own suite. It’s damn nice k!

Belum Resort
Then we get to bath and rest awhile before we gathered for Buffet dinner.

Camwhore again before the dinner… This is what blogger normally do lo right?

Sixthseal & KY
Sixthseal & KY

KY & Eiling
KY & Eiling

Saimatkong & KY
Me & KYSpeaks – The famous food blogger. Haha.

Saimatkong & Sixthseal
Me & Sixthseal

Then only proceed to food and drinking time!

Buffet Dinner

Buffet Dinner
There’s so much food and we can’t finish all of them!

Belum Resort

The environment was nice and cozy but then there’s a lot of insectss which spoiled everything!!! Hahah but it will not stop us from having fun. Huai Bin went to take Jenga and some of us started to play Jenga and the loser drink!

Jenga
Jenga Time!

Jenga
Robb and some was a bit drunk and the worst thing is we need to get up early the next morning for more exciting activities… =)

Gifts
After the dinner and fun time, went back to my room and to my surprise there’s a lot of gifts from BMW & Petronas! Woo hoo… Portable HDD, Solar Charge, Survival Kits etc. Thanks!

Will be updating the last part and it will be included some of the interview of the bloggers of their experience of the BMW Drive. Stay Tuned!

GOT NE-YO Live in KL GOT Life

Monday, December 21st, 2009 1,157 views

GOT NE-YO Live in KL GOT Life

GOT NE-YO Live in KL GOT Life

Date: 7 January 2010 (Thursday)
Time: 8pm
Venue: Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach

Xpax customers get RM140 ticket exclusive price of RM90 when you reload RM50 and above. The best part is, if you reload now before December you will be entitled to Xpax XXL Bonus too! So it’s like double rebate for you. Reload more and you get to save more!

Just simple 3 Steps:
1. Type REGNEYO send to 28881
2. Upon receiving confirmation SMS, reload RM50 or more and receive a mobile voucher via SMS.
3. Present the mobile vouche4r at any participating Ticket Hotline outlet to get the RM140 ticket for only RM90. Limited to first 5,000 tickets only.

Ticket Hotline : 03-77251177 / 03-77251166 http://www.tickethotline.com.my
Purple Zone RM140 | Phlow Zone RM170 | Phuture Zone RM260

Each mobile number is entitled to 1 time redemption for maximum of 2 discounted price tickets only. First come first serve basis.

Astro Bettleground @ MOS Euphoria, Sunway : Champion – Katoon Network

Sunday, December 20th, 2009 3,823 views

Astro Battleground

The Grand Final of Astro Battleground 《舞极限》, a street dance competition was held at Ministry of Sound – Euphoria, Sunway, on 19th December 2009. The top 4 finalist : – Elecoldxhot, Dancologist, Wakaka Fever and Katoon Network, was battling it out on the dance floor for the much-anticipated Champion title and a total of RM50,000 cash prizes sponsored by Gatsby. Did you watch the live thru Astro Wah Lai Toi? Bet it was fun and excited experience catching the live isn’t it?

Battleground Judge Marucs Tucker
Marucs Tucker : one of the exciting panel of judges from U.S.

Battleground Rambo
Rambo 台湾星级编舞老师蓝波 : one of the exciting panel of judges from Taiwan.

Battleground Rambo and Mei Yan
Rambo 蓝波 & MyFM DJ : Mei Yan


Co-hosted by Gan Mei Yan and Anthony Chang.

Astro Battleground 《舞极限》 winner / champion is Katoon Network! Congrats mate! You guys made it. 1st runner up Elecoldxhot, 2nd runner up Dancologist and 3rd runner up Wakaka Fever.

Battleground
Battleground @ MOS Euphoria Sunway

Winner / Champion : Katoon Network

Battleground Winner - Katoon Network

Battleground Winner - Katoon Network

Battleground Winner - Katoon Network

Battleground Winner - Katoon Network

Battleground Winner - Katoon Network

Battleground Winner - Katoon Network

Battleground Winner - Katoon Network

Battleground Winner - Katoon Network

Battleground Winner - Katoon Network

1st runner up Elecoldxhot

Battleground 1st runner up - Elecoldxho

Battleground 1st runner up - Elecoldxhot

2nd runner up Dancologist

Battleground 2nd runner up - Dancologist

Battleground 2nd runner up - Dancologist

3rd runner up Wakaka Fever

Battleground 3rd runner up - Wakaka Fever

Battleground 3rd runner up - Wakaka Fever

Update more soon. Stay tuned… Happy Sunday ppl!

Nice One! Win Private Party Invites With FHM Girl Next Door!

Thursday, December 17th, 2009 2,784 views

Hey people, Christmas is coming… Wee ~

I have something for you as your X’mas present. Some tips for you so that you could win youself something this new year.

1. Become a fan of Carlsberg on facebook at this link : http://www.facebook.com/CarlsbergNiceOne

Become Nice One Fan
Click on the “Become a Fan” button.

2. Add the application and start decorating the Carlsberg Christmas tree. http://apps.facebook.com/carlsbergxmastree/

Add Nice One App
Click on the “Allow” button.

Carlsberg Nice One Application

taaa daaa… You have got yourself a nice x’mas tree. Now there’s a mission for you! Get into the spirit of Christmas and start decorating your tree by turning your friends into Christmas trinkets and win yourself a special invites to special events and you get to invite 50 of your friendsss too with unlimited free flow of beer. Sound cool? Of coz la! Read on…

4 Simple Steps

Just 4 Simple Steps:

1.) Choose a Friend & Choose your friend’s photo that available in Facebook.

Choose a friend
Choose a friend that you would like him / her to be in your X’mas tree.

Choose a photo
Choose your friend’s photo that available in Facebook.

2.) Choose a Trinket

Choose a Trinket
Choose a trinket that you think is best fit your friend.

3.) Adjust and fit his/her face onto the trinket

Adjust and fit his/her face onto the trinket
Try to rotate and scale your friend’s face into the trinket.

4.) Hang your trinket on your Carlsbery Christmas Tree

Hang it on christmas tree

Hang it on christmas tree
Then just hang it on your X’mas Tree by dragging your friend’s trinket on to the allocated space on the X’mas Tree.

Completed

Completed and you may also publish this to your friend’s wall so that they know you actually hung him / her on your Tree. =)

Publish story to facebook wall

Then you are done. Hmm wait… actually not till you hang all your friends to your special Nice One Tree~!

If you have the most friends on your Carlsberg x’mas Tree, you stand a chance to win your own private party, Yes “Private Party” at a place with unlimited free flow of beer and of coz with the FHM GIRL NEXT DOOR! Nice one right? =)

Celebrate this Christmas in a whole new way! Put up a Carlsberg Christmas Tree and have fun decorating it by turning your friends into Christmas trinkets! And if you’ve put up the largest tree, you may even win your very own sponsored Christmas party. Alright, catch up again as I’m busy building my Nice Tree.

BMW Efficient Dynamics Drive Day 1 – Part 1

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 1,607 views

BMW EfficientDynamics is a continuous strategy by BMW for the reduction of fuel consumption and CO2 emission levels, whilst at the same time enhancing the performance and dynamism of their vehicles. After the BMW drive, my perception towards diesel car it’s changed and it’s awesome.

We started our journey from KLCC to Mutiara Damansara Petronas Station. I felt like a VIP and this is probably the only time that there’s a Police Escort me and I’m driving a BMW 5 Series 520d Sports.

Police Escort

Police Escort

We were given each RM40 Petronas Vouchers so that we could stocks our needs in Mutiara Damansara Petronas Station, which was our 1st stop of the journey.

Petronas Vouchers

Petronas Mesra Food Supply

Then there’s a demo and explanation on Petronas Dynamic Diesel by Fazil.

Petronas Dynamic Diesel

Petronas Dynamic Diesel

BMW Diesel Drive

BMW Diesel Drive

Then we continue our journey to Ipoh and had our lunch at Indulgence. Heard that Indulgence is a very famous fine dining place in Ipoh but I find it ok ok and nothing much to shout about. (Will update more about Ipoh Indulgence later)

Indulgence @ Ipoh

Indulgence @ Ipoh

Before we had our lunch there’s a Efficient Dynamic Product Training by Heng from BWM.

BMW Diesel Efficient Dynamic Product Training

BMW Diesel Efficient Dynamic Product Training

I learned a lot about diesel in this session and yeah I will consider diesel car now if I’m getting my future car. Then we participated in some of the Q&A and it was a fun session.

1) Diesel car is not dirty, smelly, noisy and pollution anymore.
2) Diesel car is powerful.
3) Diesel car have a long better fuel consumption.
4) Diesel car is easier to maintain.
5) Diesel car is cool!

BMW Diesel Efficient Dynamic Product Training

BMW Diesel Efficient Dynamic Product Training

BMW Diesel Efficient Dynamic Product Training

After a fine dine lunch @ Indulgence Ipoh, we continued our journey to Belum Resort. It was a bit drizzling so we had to drive with caution.

After few hours drive, finally we reached our destination, Belum Resort – Pulau Banding.

Belum Resort - Pulau Banting

There’s a lot more photos and updates to do will be updating soon coz too tired need to ZzZZzZzz… =)

How to reload Xpax via Maybank2u and Win Apple Mac Book

Sunday, December 13th, 2009 1,951 views

How do you reload your Xpax prepaid? There’s a convenient way of doing it just within a few clicks and you get to do it in your own comfort and the best part is you get to Win an Apple Mac Book! Cool right? Reload now and you also able to enjoy Xpax XXL Bonus which will be ending this month. So you get double bonus if you Win the Apple Mac Book!

How to reload thru Maybank2u / M2U :-

Select prepaid top up with Pin
Select prepaid top up with Pin

Select 019/013 Celcom Prepaid (Xpax)
Select 019/013 Celcom Prepaid (Xpax)

Select Airtime - Price RM50
Select Airtime – Price RM50

Confirm the transaction
Confirm the transaction

Request and fill in the TAC
Request and fill in the TAC

Reload complete
Reload complete, isn’t it simple and easy way to reload?

Receipt
Maybank2u Reload Receipt.

Reload Your Xpax Today And Win An Apple Mac Book.

Exclusive for Xpax customers, when you reload RM30 or more via M2U or Maybank ATM now, you will stand a chance to win an Apple Mac Book. Can it get more exciting than this? We don’t think so! So what are you waiting for? Reload now and you may be the one who get to go home with an Apple Mac Book!

Prizes:

* 1,000th reload customer will win : 1 x Apple Mac Book each promotion month
* 10,000th reload customer will win : 1 x Apple Mac Book each promotion month
* 100,000th reload customer will win : 1 x Apple Mac Book each promotion month

Contest ends on 15 December 2009 so hurry up and reload NOW!

Broadband : Streamyx Super Upgrade Deals

Sunday, December 13th, 2009 4,572 views

What’s your streamyx package now? If it’s 512kbps RM66 per month like mine then you should consider this Streamyx Super Upgrade Deals, you just need to add RM5 a month to upgrade and enjoy 1Mbps! The best deal is you get to enjoy FREE upgrade for 4 months, thereafter only you will be paying RM71 for 1Mbps line.

Isn’t it a good and cheap deal? But must beware that you will not get full 1Mbps, what I’m getting is only 0.88Mbps. Browsing speed and drama streaming like pps.tv is much faster without lag and buffering time but youtube is slow and need to pause for it to load… Not sure whether they throttled the youtube or not. If you are taking this Super Upgrade Deals then you are bond to the 24 months contracts, remember this!

Upgrade here now.

*Note : Streamyx / Business Broadband online upgrade is only available from 8am to 8.30pm.

Guide on how to upgrade :-

Agree on the T&C
Agree on the T&C

Sign in
Sign in using your streamyx password

Select on the broadband package
Select on the broadband package

Confirm the package
Confirm the package

Processing..
Processing..

Upgrade confirmation
Upgrade confirmation

Upgrade completed
Upgrade completed. Check that out, Month(s) Remaining In Contract = 0, so does that mean I’m not bond to any contract or their system bugs? Or the contract is start from when I started using Streamyx which is 2002?? Haha.

Check your upgrade status here.

Terms & Conditions

1. Promotion valid until 31 December 2009 and applicable for UPGRADE application only.
2. This promotion is only applicable for existing Streamyx customers who have served a minimum period of 1 year
3. The minimum subscription period of 24 MONTHS will be applicable upon successful application to the new speed.
4. Promotion is only applicable for customers subscribing to unlimited hours packages.
5. For customers subscribing to lower speed packages (384kbps or 512kbps), only lateral speed upgrade are allowed.( E.g. Streamyx Standard packages with modem to Streamyx Standard packages with modem, Streamyx Combo to Streamyx Combo, Wifi@Home to Wifi@Home)
6. For upgrading to 2 Mbps or 4 Mbps, the new package is with modem.
7. No new modem will be given to customers upgrading to 512 kbps or 1 Mbps.
8. Upgrading to 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps or 4 Mbps is subject to availability and technical testing.
9. Promotion is not applicable for existing Broadband PC and Home, Hop & Away customers who are still bound to the existing contract.
10. Application for the speed upgrade to 512 kbps or 1 Mbps can be made via Online or at any TMpoint
11. Application for the speed upgrade to 2 Mbps or 4 Mbps will be available at TMpoint only.
12. Customers who have subscribed to Smart Savers plan are not eligible to enjoy this offer.
13. If customer terminates Streamyx service within minimum subscription period of 24 months, an administrative fee of RM350 will be charged to customer’s bill.
14. Streamyx Terms & Conditions apply.

Paypal Power Up eCommerce Meetup @ Dubrovnik Restaurant, Solaris Mont Kiara

Saturday, December 12th, 2009 2,476 views

Do you know what’s Paypal?
PayPal is an e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. PayPal serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods such as checks and money orders.

I’ve been started using Paypal few years back and that time I just signup Paypal account to collect money$ and and try out many many ways just to get my Paypal account loaded. Lol but now there’s much functions and features that are localized for Malaysian.

Paypal is now venturing and expanding its services in Malaysia with the introduction of MYR currency, so that we Paypal user do not need to lost in the currencies conversion and we get to withdraw our Paypal balance to our local bank without being charge if we withdraw above RM400, it’s a good news for me at least. Will talk about it later.

Paypal New Features

Paypal network effects
Paypal network effects

The Paypal Power Up eCommerce Meetup dinner was hosted by Mr Mario Shiliashki, General Manager of PayPal Southeast Asia and India, at Dubrovnik Restaurant, Solaris Mont Kiara last Thursday. It was a good social event and we get to discuss and talk everything about Paypal and the potential of it. Some even ask can we open an online shop selling porn or selling sex toy etc… Haha. Have to think of better way of making money.

Food @ Dubrovnik Restaurant, Solaris Mont Kiara

While Mr Mario presenting about the technologies and upcoming features and plan we get to enjoy good food @ Dubrovnik Restaurant, Solaris Mont Kiara.

Mr. Mario did mention and talk about up coming mobile Paypal apps which allows you to check your balance thru your mobile phone and many more features up coming.

Mr Mario and Greet

Met Mr Mario (General Manager of PayPal Southeast Asia and India) and Greet (Senior Marketing Manager) and Amy (Head of Cross Boder Asia). They are all cool ppl. They listen to our problem and address it one by one without ignoring them.

Some of us even brought up the issue of the rejection of the “PayPal’s PowerUp Party” email and telling them it’s too harsh and the wording used was not in a polite manner. I myself had RSVP for the event and got the rejection email as well. Mario stood up, explained and addressed the issue and apologized for the email.

After that, we exchanged name cards and some do the poken style. Haha. Do you own a poken? I don’t.

Poken

Poken
Poken : Are you poken?

Mobile Charger
Chris showed me the mobile charger that he brings almost everywhere because he’s too mobile and it’s actually very cool, able to charge so many different phone model (Nokia, SonyEricsson, iPhone, Blackberry) and at the same time too.

So wait no more and get your own Paypal account now and start selling stuff and making money online thru Paypal.

PayPal expands services in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 — PayPal, a subsidiary of eBay Inc, has expanded its services in Malaysia with the introduction of support for payments in Malaysian ringgit and a new bank withdrawal feature that enables members to transfer money from their PayPal account directly to a Malaysian bank account.

The two new services give Malaysian buyers and sellers the option to pay and get paid in local currency for their domestic transactions, as well as Malaysian sellers to gain fast and convenient access to their funds, ultimately making e-commerce even easier, the company said in a statement today.

“The introduction of our bank withdrawal service will help ease the pain for Malaysian PayPal sellers and is just one of the testaments to the investment we are deploying across Asia as well as our commitment to bring innovative, safer and more convenient solutions to Malaysia,” PayPal Southeast Asia and India General Manager Mario Shiliashki said.

“With the new functionality, we’re also excited about the ability to further deepen our relationships with many of our existing partners, such as MOL AccessPortal Bhd, iPay88, NetBuilder, Neowave and SeatAdvisor,” said PayPal Asia Merchant Services Head Brad Paterson. MOL AccessPortal CEO Ganesh Kumar Bangah said his company would definitely benefit from the introduction of the services.

“We are happy PayPal has introduced bank withdrawal and ringgit options for customers in Malaysia as it will enable us to have better cashflow while improving convenience for our daily transactions,” he said. PayPal is faster, safer way to pay and get paid online.

The service allows members to send money without disclosing financial information, with the flexibility to pay using their account balances and credit cards. — Bernama

Friendster now owned by MOL – Malaysian Company, Berjaya Group

Friday, December 11th, 2009 3,939 views

It’s actually very surprise for me that MOL bought over Friendster and it’s now a Malaysia owned online social networking website. Do you think it’s a smart move for the Berjaya group to spend such amount of money just to buy over the Friendster? Will it make our country become famous and more ppl actually know about Malaysia? Malaysia Boleh?

For me personally, I would think that Friendster actually dead after the blooming of Facebook and most of the Friendster’s users / members actually move over to Facebook because of the platform, instant update, easy to use apps in those smart phones like Blackberry / iPhone and there’s plenty of apps and games for the members to play and they will not get board by just logging in to Facebook everyday! Friendster been very active recently to capture their users by introducing new layout, more features and more apps but it’s still way to go mate.

New Friendster Layaout
New Friendster Layaout
New Friendster Layaout

I started using Friendster when I was in my college era, everyone will be adding friends, busy writing testimonial to your friends, updating their shoutout and check who viewed me and all and there’s a time where there’s another local guy make it for local version with Kawanster.com or something but I just checked and the page is not exist anymore now?

Berjaya bought over Friendster should have their own reason and maybe there’s some big plan which they are yet to reveal or just they want a huge database to make their business grow even faster? What do you think and are you still using Friendster or will you start to use Friendster from now on? Will the privacy be an issue in the future like what Facebook facing (and now Facebook come up with new pricy)?

Friendster vs Facebook

MOLGlobal acquire Friendster - Press Conference

MOLGlobal acquire Friendster - Press Conference
MOLGlobal acquire Friendster – Press Conference

Photo taken from MOL’s Facebook, since they own Friendster now why aren’t they using Friendster but Facebook? Haha.

1Malaysia / SatuMalaysia - Facebook

Check this out even we have 1Malaysia / SatuMalaysia on Facebook! I got to know this 1Malaysia Facebook thru a TV advertisment and you know social networking it’s the future but are those on Facebook like 1Malayisa, our Prime Minister Najib, other politicians that been using Facebook to talk to Malaysian going to change to Friendster? That’s no the concern but will Friendster bring more good to Berjaya Group?

MOL Global to Acquire Friendster

MOL Retail and Payment Channels and Leading Online Social Network Combine to Form Massive Content Distribution and E-commerce Platform in Asia for Over 100 Million Users

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – December 10, 2009 – MOL Global Pte. Ltd. (“MOL Global”), an affiliate of leading online payment solutions provider MOL AccessPortal Berhad (“MOL”), and Friendster, Inc. (“Friendster”), the operator of a top global web site based on traffic and a leading social network in Asia, announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which MOL Global will acquire 100% of Friendster. The principal shareholder of MOL is Tan Sri Vincent Tan, the Chairman and CEO of Berjaya Corporation Berhad, a leading, diversified Malaysian conglomerate that has annual revenues in excess of US$1.8 billion. Following the acquisition, the operations of MOL and Friendster will be combined to create Asia’s largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network, pairing MOL’s offline retail channel partners and payment platform with Friendster’s large online footprint, social network and user community in Asia.

“The merger with Friendster will continue to transform the social networking industry, combining a highly intuitive and successful social media site and online marketing channel with an integrated payment platform and content network which includes games, goods, gifts, music and video. We are creating a unique company that will be well positioned to provide content to a huge, regional user base, here in Southeast Asia,” said Ganesh Kumar Bangah, president and chief executive officer of MOL.

MOL uses the leverage of a network of over 500,000 physical and virtual payment channels across 75 countries worldwide to collect payments for content and services. Its core markets are Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and India. MOL has relationships with over 70 online game publishers that have a suite of over 200 online game titles. It also has partnerships with music, movie and video content owners and distributors across the region.

“Friendster and MOL are both industry pioneers and are close partners. This combination is a natural progression of our relationship and will be an industry-changing event,” said Richard Kimber, chief executive officer at Friendster. “The new combined entity gives Friendster the kind of financial backing, retail distribution, and e-commerce infrastructure that will enable us to accelerate our strategy and create a locally relevant, fun experience for our users in Asia, both on and offline.”

In 2003, Friendster pioneered social networking, and today is a leading web site in Asia, with over 75 million registered users and over 90 percent of daily traffic coming from the region. Asian youths have embraced Friendster and use it as their primary means of connecting to and keeping in touch with friends, self-expression, sharing content and news with friends, and as a source of entertainment.

Friendster users also enjoy local music, gifting, photo sharing, online games, and using Friendster on their mobile devices. All of these are incorporated in Friendster’s product suite and will be further developed over time with MOL, specifically with Asian youths in mind.

Friendster and MOL entered a global partnership in October of this year where MOL was appointed to provide an integrated payments platform, as a foundation for The Friendster Wallet and The Friendster Gift Shop, for Friendster’s users. The new combined entity will now build upon that initial set of products to deliver a content distribution network and e-commerce platform, enabling a wide array of content to be distributed to Friendster’s community and monetize via micro-transactions using MOL’s payment platform. MOL will use the leverage of its physical distribution networks to localize and extend the online reach of social networking in Southeast Asia to the physical world through Tan Sri Vincent Tan’s substantial assets across Malaysia and the region, including retail franchises in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia such as Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Borders, Krispy Kreme, Wendy’s and Papa John’s Pizza, just to name a few.

Friendster recently launched a new brand and web site packed with new features representing a significant milestone in the company’s history and further signifying the company’s evolution to focus on the Asian youth market. The notable changes include a new fun-centric brand, and a redesigned web site with a focus on local relevance, fun and simplicity.

The combined entity will maintain offices in various locations, around the world, including Mountain View, CA (USA), the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. Ganesh Kumar Bangah will become the Group Chief Executive Officer of the combined entity while Richard Kimber will become the Non- Executive Chairman.

###
About MOL
MOL is a MSC Malaysia Status Company that operates and develops payment systems. MOL handles over 60,000,000 payment transactions a year with an annual payment volume of over US$200 million. It leverages on a network of over 500,000 physical and virtual payment channels across more than 75 countries and linked to 65 banks in 15 countries worldwide to operate its key payment products, namely MOLePoints, an online micropayment system for content and services; MOLeTopUp, an electronic prepaid distribution infrastructure; MOL Freedom, a multi-application prepaid payment card; GamesHive, an online game payment aggregator; MOL Wings, a payment aggregator for wired and wireless internet service providers; MOL Zone, a multi application mobile payment service; and MOL SafePay, an escrow-based payment system for micro-merchants.

MOL was recognized as one of Asia Pacific’s fastest growing technology companies in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Awards in 2005 and 2006 and has won a Merit Award for the Best of E-Commerce Applications in the MSC Asia Pacific ICT Awards.

About Friendster
With more than 115 million members worldwide, Friendster is a leading global online social network. Friendster is focused on helping people stay in touch with friends and discover new people and things that are important to them. Friendster is one of the best sites that allow people to meaningfully participate with others in exciting and fun ways. Friendster prides itself in delivering an easy-to-use, friendly and interactive environment where users can easily connect with anyone around the world via www.friendster.com or m.friendster.com from any Internet-ready mobile device.

Friendster has a growing portfolio of patents granted to the company on social networking, with more expected over the next several months. For more information,visit www.friendster.com

Source : Friendster’s Blog

Malaysia’s MOL AccessPortal to acquire 100% of Friendster

KUALA LUMPUR: MOL Global Pte Ltd is acquiring the entire equity in social networking website operator Friendster Inc, creating an entity with a combined annual revenue exceeding US$110mil upon the completion of the acquisition exercise.

MOL Global is an affiliate of online payment solutions provider MOL AccessPortal Bhd, which has Berjaya Corp Bhd chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Vincent Tan as the principal shareholder.

Following the acquisition, the operations of MOL and US-based Friendster will be combined to create Asia’s largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network.

The combined operations will be paired with MOL’s offline retail channel partners and payment platform with Friendster’s large online footprint, social network and user community in Asia.

MOL AccessPortal president and CEO Ganesh Kumar Bangah said the acquisition had a strategic value and the new entity would retain Friendster’s offices in various locations.

“We are creating a unique company that will be well positioned to provide content to a huge, regional user base here in South-East Asia,” he told a press conference after the parties signed a definitive agreement yesterday.

He said he would become the group CEO of the combined entity while the current CEO of Friendster, Richard Kimber would become the non-executive chairman.

MOL has a network of over 500,000 physical and virtual payment channels across 75 countries worldwide to collect payments for content and services.

Ganesh shrugged off questions on the transaction value of the acquisition, saying “we’re private companies, so we can’t disclose the amount.”

Quoting a source, Reuters reported that Friendster would be sold for more than US$100mil.

An industry blog, TechCrunch, had in July valued Friendster at US$210mil, a fraction of Facebook’s estimated US$10bil valuation.

Kimber said the new combined entity would give Friendster the kind of financial backing, retail distribution and e-commerce infrastructure that would enable the company to further expand in the region.

“We target the acquisition to be completed by year-end,” he said.

He said Friendster had recently launched a new brand and website packed with new features representing a significant milestone in the company’s history and further signifying its focus on the Asian youth market.

“We have 115 million registered users currently with 90% of the daily traffic coming from the Asia region,” he said.

Source : TheStar

Analysts welcome MOL’s purchase of Friendster

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 11,2009) : Malaysian-based payment on line company MOL Global’s purchase of social networking site Friendster has won praises from industry observers.

Media, the marketing and communications newspaper for Asia Pacific, in its on-line report today, quoted the observers as saying that it is a company like MOL, and not another social network, that will advance Friendster’s status in the future.

Yesterday, MOL Global confirmed it was buying 100% of Friendster and that the deal would be finalised by year end.

In a statement, Friendster said this would effectively create “Asia’s largest end-to-end content, distribution and commerce network, pairing MOL’s off-line retail channel partners and payment platform with Friendster’s large online footprint, social network and user community in Asia”.

Friendster’s head of Asia Ian Stewart told Media that, because the website is looking to differentiate itself through its digital payment service, the merger makes sense because MOL is the company that is best able to improve this side of its business and has the clearest reach to Friendster’s cache of Southeast Asian users.

“This deal consolidates the business direction of the company. We believe that having a strong virtual-currency offering will better connect users to the Facebook virtual store, and then into our gaming aspects and music. Through payment mechanisms, Friendster can become a social-shopping platform, kind of like eBay but on a social network,” he said.

The report said Friendster and MOL first began working together in October, when MOL was enlisted to develop an integrated payments platform that would lay the foundation for the Friendster Wallet and the Friendster Gift Shop. Stewart said this partnership demonstrated MOL’s dominant positioning in Southeast Asia, “and in the last two months of the acquisition process, MOL joined the conversation.”

“We were gravitating to the virtual payment possibilities, and with geographic reach and users’ attraction. MOL was obviously going toward that expansion, and when we were going through the acquisition process, we were looking for a partner who would fit these criteria as much as possible,” he explained.

From July, when Friendster first announced its intentions to be acquired, the company has been vocal about wanting to find an Asian-based suitor. Friendster has made strides in centralising its operations in the region to accommodate its strong user base here: Asia makes up more than 90% of Friendster’s audience, and it claims a leading position in Southeast Asia. Friendster is still the number one social networking site in the Philippines.

The Media report said rumours recently circulated of Tencent’s interest in the site, as reports noted that the Chinese online giant was on Friendster’s acquistision shortlist. Reports additionally cited Facebook as a potential early contender for the company, though hurdles related to competition and intellectual property rights prohibited further negotiations.

But according to regional analysts, Friendster did well to partner with a firm that would most adequately advance its operations and allow it to advance its brand.

“I think it was a brilliant idea – combining a platform that has immense social reach with a group of very influential connectors, and then making it easy for audiences to engage via e-commerce,” said vice-president of business development for Adify, Andrew Tu. “I think it’s a marriage made in heaven because, when you look at an acquisition, you need to look at the synergistic components that can help you grow, more than just expanding your reach.”

Jeremy Woolf, managing consultant of Text 100, also said Friendster’s move was a smart one because it enables the site to connect more effectively with local audiences, which will be key to its long-term success. “This is Friendster fishing where the fish are – it is centralising the company where it has the greatest population of users and will work with a company that will preserve the brand,” he said. “It will solidify Friendster’s future as a niche, hyper-local social network.”

Stewart noted that Friendster’s focus on micropayments would give it an operating model that is more parallel to those of Japan’s Mixi, Korea’s Cyworld and Tencent’s QQ rather than globally focused social networking sites like Facebook.

“Looking to micropayments and focusing on localised research and development makes a lot of sense,” said Mindshare’s regional business director Brian Stoller. “Look at QQ’s success – QQ makes its money through micropayments and financial transactions, and its earnings aren’t based on advertising. Focusing on this and working with a Malaysian company that specialises in it is very good on its behalf.”

Source : TheSun

BMW Eco-Blogger Dynamic Efficient Diesel Drive 2009

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 2,300 views

BMW Eco-Blogger Dynamic Efficient Diesel Drive

Okay, I was surprise that I got an invitation to join few other famous bloggers to try out the NEW BMW Efficient Dynamic Diesel Cars. All this while I’ve been driving a local cheapo car of coz I would seize this opportunity to test drive my dream car Beemer wor, haha. Sure would be everyone dream car and wants to own it but I so poor la.

This was a 2 days 1 night journey from KLCC to Belum Resort @ Pulau Banting. Friday night can’t even sleep well coz will be driving BMW and scare la later crash or bang or scratch the car then I will need to pay the price ma so need to be extra careful too =p

BMW Eco-Blogger Dynamic Efficient Diesel Drive

So scarified my weekend sleeping time and woke up early in the Saturday morning just to prepared myself for the BMW Drive! Reached KLCC Mandarin Oriental Hotel and parked my car in! Woo hoo and then get to meet other bloggers and Big guys from BMW and Petronas too. Mingled around and enjoyed my healthy breakfast. Get to talk to some other famous bloggers that I have not met before and it’s nice to catch up with them.

KLCC Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Creamy scrambled egg with chicken ham
Creamy scrambled egg on toasted bagel with chicken ham, Sacllion cream cheese and grilled asparagus

Then there was an introduction and briefing done and some basic information and knowledge being transferred to us so that we could handle the Beemer better. Haha.

Sashi doing briefing
Sashi doing a briefing and intro of the Dynamic Efficient Diesel Drive.

Driving Position
This is like F1 and we were assigned to a position, pole position! haha.

Group Photo

Then we head to our own BMW which parked right in front of KLCC. My co-driver is from Gua.com.my and he’s a nice guy. We were assigned to a 5 Series, BMW 520d! We were escort by 2 traffic police all the way to our 1st stop, A cool car to start off the journey.

BMW 5 Series Diesel Car
BMW 5Series 520d Diesel car nice kan? =)

What is Efficient Dynamics? What happened after next? Stay tuned!

Mean while check out the BMW Diesel Drive Teaser Clip =)

How to reload / top up / recharge Celcom Prepaid – Xpax? There’s 3 ways to do it

1. Top-up/Recharge via Call/IVR
Dial 019-300 0910. Select the option for recharging and enter your 16-digit Recharge Code

2. Top-up/Recharge via SMS (recommended as this is the easiest way)
Type rec <16-digit Recharge Code> and send it to 2888

3. Top-up/Recharge via Short Code
Key in *122*16-digit Recharge Code# and press CALL

Start reloading now and enjoy XXL Bonus from Xpax for the month of November and December.

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