Sekoyen’s

… dies at 93.

I just wrote a post about how hard to get my tv remote control replacement, and today I read, the person who invented tv remote control has died of heart failure at the age of 93 at a Boise nursing home.

Robert Adler, who rarely watched television, refined an earlier version, which used cables and was called the “Lazy Bones”. In 1956, with a colleague, he came up with a wireless version, using high-frequency sound.

Actually, he was a co-inventor of tv remote control, one of two dozen engineers at Zenith given the same mission - to find a new way for TV viewers to change channels without getting out of their chairs.

Read more at The Observer

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Wishing you a Happy & Prosperous Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year

Among the various and many celebrations and festivities for the Chinese, Chinese New Year is always deem the most important of all. Chinese families living in different part of the country or the world will make it a point to gather together for Chinese New Year (CNY). This homecoming is very similar to the Western concept of getting together during Christmas.

Chinese New Year is also known as Lunar New Year as well as The Spring Festival. Each Chinese Year is also symbolized by an animal, very much like the Western Zodiac. The animal to symbolize CNY 2007 is The Pig. In 2006, it was the Dog. There are 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac and each animal will not appear again until 12 years later.

Chinese greetings for Chinese New Year

If you have Chinese friends, do visit them at home during CNY and you will be most welcomed. Make sure you learn a word or two of CNY greetings.

The most common festive greetings for Chinese New Year are:

“Gong Xi Fa Cai” - Have a prosperous new year

“Zhu Ni Nian Nian You Yu” - Wishing you an abundant year

“Sing Nian Kuay Le” - Happy New Year.

Also, you may like to bring two oranges when visiting. Oranges. looking like gold ingots, symbolizes that you are bringing wealth to the family. If the Chinese family is someone that you are familiar with, you may even want to give red packets (containing a token sum of money) to their children. If you have children, you are most likely to recieve red packets for them as well.

Remember to wear bright colors when you visit!

Do you know where to buy Sony TV’s remote control?

Why I asked? Well, I thought I knew but I didn’t.

My Sony HDTV DB29M61’s remote control cannot be used anymore. Button pressed but no effect at all to the TV. Had change the batteries and clean the interior, but still not fixxed.

First, I surfed Sony’s website hopefully to just order it online. The is no remote control there. Actually, there is one remote control section, but nothing can be found there.

The next day I went to a nearest electronic shop, but the shop owner said the remote is quite hard to get.

A few days later, not believing what the guy said, I went to JB city. May be a larger shops selling Sonys’ products (which might be Sonys’ dealers) might have the remote control replacement.

But,…

No, they also don’t have the remote control replacement. They said, I have to book first and then get the item in two weeks time. I might get it faster if there is no Chinese New Year around the corner, may be in one week.

The funniest thing was when I went to Courts Metropolis in Giant Plentong. It is quite big shop with a large range of electronic product. I think it is as big as SenQ. I asked one of their staff there about the remote control replacement, quickly he replied, they do not sell remote control. Ha ha ha…

SenQ also didn’t have it. The staff there recommended a universal remote control instead. I rejected. I already have the Samsung HD850 DVD player’s remote control. It also can control the TV but with limited function. (To start control a Sony TV set using the Samsung remote control, just direct the remote to the TV and press TV Power + 3 + 5, then use it as normal remote control.)

I have visited more then 10 shops and they told me almost the same thing. The item need to be book first, no shop is keeping it as stock.

Didn’t have any choice, I paid RM76 and have to come again in two weeks to collect the remote control.

I don’t believe I have to wait two weeks to get a Sony TV’s remote control!

I really hope Sony or any other electronic manufacturers would setup a complete online shopping web site, or at least they put any hard-to-get product/accessories there.

Based on New York time, trading time:

From Sunday 17:00 to Friday 17:00

Market open and close

Japan : 19:00
Singapore/Hong Kong : 21:00
European Market - Frankfurt : 2:00 London: 3:00
New York : 8:00
European market close at 12:00
Australia: 18:00

Malaysian time:

Monday 6:00 to Saturday 6:00

Market open and close

Japan : 8:00 am
Singapore/Hong Kong : 10:00 am
European Market - Frankfurt : 3:00 pm London: 4:00 pm
New York : 9:00pm
European market close at 1:00 am
Australia: 7:00 am

Recently, Adsense have some adjustment on their pricing structure for referral.

I think, many webmasters find that it is really hard to make money by referrals, so this is a really good news.

AdSense Referrals:

• When a publisher who signed up for Google AdSense through your referral earns their first $5 within 180 days of sign-up, you will be credited with $5.
• When that same publisher earns $100 within 180 days of sign-up and is eligible for payment, you will be credited with an additional $250.
• If, in any 180-day period, you refer 25 publishers who each earn more than $100 within 180 days of their respective sign-ups and are all eligible for payout, you will be awarded a $2,000 bonus (bonus payouts are limited to 1 per year).

AdWords Referrals:

• When an advertiser you refer spends $5 within 90 days of sign-up (in addition to the $5 sign-up fee) you will be credited with $5.
• When that same advertiser spends $100 within 90 days of sign-up, you will be credited with an additional $40.
• If, in any 180 day period, you refer 20 advertisers who each spend more than $100 within 90 days of their respective sign-ups, you will be awarded a $600 bonus (bonus payments are limited to 1 per year).

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