Getting the free AMD64 PC

Biow has mentioned it already, but, yeah, we signed up this morning for the StarHub MaxOnline Christmas promotion, in return for an "upsell" of our cable-modem plan from MOL2000 to MOL6500, and a 2-year contract on this plan with a 10% discount for the duration of the contract.

So, for an additional $13.02 a month ($71.82 - $58.80) which works out to $312.48 over the 24-month period we will be getting a Compaq Presario 64-bit desktop PC (AMD Athlon 64), with a 17" CRT. Pretty worth it, considering the PC is supposed to cost well over a thousand dollars. The basic configuration isn't very usable though, so we're thinking of getting the Desktop Upgrade 2 option for another $299. Well, Biow should be getting her long-overdue PC overhaul, hopefully not too long from now.

The speed upgrade took effect almost immediately, just had to reboot the cable modem and router. Didn't have time to do a thorough test since we were on the way to work, but upon getting home, managed to find this thread which pointed to this bandwidth test page - exclusively for StarHub customers, apparently.

So far, surfing seems a tiny little bit faster. The test result came in at 2.31 Mbps - other forum users report similar results. Looks like the gap between "theoretical" and "real-world" gets bigger the higher the plan, but this is probably to be expected. That's why there's we're not at all considering the MOL30000 ("Ultimate") plan, and even this MOL6500 is a little bit beyond our current needs - and that's with *two* power users in the house, doing all-out surfing, downloading, blogging and everything. But then, you know, just a few years back, the entire NTU student and staff population of over 11,000 people were making do with just *one* E1 network connection, equivalent to 2 Mbps. So I ain't really complaining.

Well, I'd suppose we're just "hard-up" for the free AMD64 PC. Really, we are :)

(2005-11-23 22:29:14 SGT) [Musings] Permalink Comments [1]

UK oil output : running on empty?

news.bbc.co.uk :

British North Sea oil output has declined steadily since 1999. The UK produced an average of 2.72 million barrels a day (mbpd) in 1999, hitting a high of 3.1 mbpd in August. But by June 2005 this had fallen to 1.7 mbpd, a drop of 34%.

In 2000, production was down 8.1% from its 1999 high, then falling 6.8% in 2001. 2003 saw an 8.8% decline, rising to 10% in 2004. This year has seen a similarly startling decline. In February, year-on-year levels were down 13%, rising to 17% in March. "These declines do seem to be irreversible now," says Deborah White, senior energy analyst at Societe Generale.

Declining oil output has a direct economic impact upon British citizens through lower tax revenues. Average oil production fell by 940,000 barrels between 1999 and 2005. Assuming an average oil price of $60 a barrel and using some back of the envelope calculations, that would work out at ?33.82 per barrel. In this scenario, the UK would lose an average of ?31.7m a day, equivalent to ?11.6bn a year.

S&P downgrades Sanyo to junk status

channelnewsasia.com :

Standard and Poor's has cut its long-term credit rating on Sanyo to junk investment status, expressing concern about the future of the Japanese electronics maker which is sinking deeper into loss. SP downgraded Sanyo Electric's long-term corporate credit rating by two notches to BB from BBB-minus, meaning its bonds are considered to have speculative elements and do not carry good safeguards. The agency also lowered Sanyo Electric's long-term senior unsecured debt by one notch to BB-plus from BBB-minus. Both ratings remain on review for possible further downgrade.

Sanyo said Friday it plunged to an interim first-half net loss of 142.52 billion yen (1.20 billion dollars), hit by a price war in televisions, DVD players and other markets. Sanyo also said it may restructure its television division, boost alliances with other firms in home appliance manufacturing and spin off its semi-conductor division as part of a revised business plan.

Sanyo began in 1947 by making bicycle lamps in Osaka and now produces everything from TV sets, cameras and MP3 players to washing machines and microwaves as well as industrial batteries and computer chips.

2006 Honda Civic Wins Motor Trend Car of the Year

vtec.net :

The all-new Honda Civic earned Motor Trend magazine's prestigious 2006 Car of the Year award, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced today. The award extends to the entire Civic Sedan and Civic Coupe lineup including the environmentally responsible Civic Hybrid and high-performance Civic Si models.

The Motor Trend editorial staff selected the Honda Civic from a field of 28 new or substantially revised models - the largest to date - recognizing it for exceptional value, superiority in its class and the most significant development on the new-car scene for 2006.

(2005-11-23 10:20:08 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

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