Revised 2006 calendar for F1

With Belgium GP due to run on September 17 at SPA this year scrapped, the revised F1 calendar is as follow:-

Mar 12: Bahrain Grand Prix (Bahrain)
Mar 19: Malaysian Grand Prix (Sepang)
Apr 02: Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne)
Apr 23: San Marino Grand Prix (Imola)
May 07: European Grand Prix (Nurburgring, Germany)
May 14: Spanish Grand Prix (Barcelona)
May 28: Monaco Grand Prix (Monte Carlo)
Jun 11: British Grand Prix (Silverstone)
Jun 25: Canadian Grand Prix (Montreal)
Jul 02: United States Grand Prix (Indianapolis)
Jul 16: French Grand Prix (Mangy-Cours)
Jul 30: German Grand Prix (Hockenheim)
Aug 06: Hungarian Grand Prix (Hungaroring)
Aug 27: Turkish Grand Prix (Istanbul)
Sep 10: Italian Grand Prix (Monza)
Oct 01: Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai)
Oct 08: Japanese Grand Prix (Suzuka)
Oct 22: Brazilian Grand Prix (Interlagos)

The organizer of Belgium GP has been promised to bring F1 back to SPA in 2007. With more than one year from now to renovate the track and facilities, it should be sufficient.

Mc Laren F1 Team

During recent testing, Mc Laren find it hard to keep pace with rival such as Renault. Kimi has since commented that Mc Laren weakest link is now its Mercedes engine. Mercedes has since rush to introduce a new engine recently that is said to have more 60 HP of engine power. Who will dominate in 2006, no one know at this point in time and we shall see which team is able to adapt well to the new regulation and the new V8 engine.

McLaren MP4-21

Martina Hingis is back

Once a sensational tennis player that won many Grand Slam at young age but left the tennis scene 4 years ago due to injury, Martina Hingis is definitely back in action. Her presence is definitely greatly felt. In the first Grand Slam she compete, the Australian Open, she reached the last 8 and finally lost to Kim Clijsters in the Quarter Final. In Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis Tournament Women’s Singles (carpet) in Japan, she trashed Maria Sharapova in semi final and only lost to Elena Dementieva in the final. What a great comeback.

However, to win any title these days is not as easy as she had enjoyed year back. Firstly, she is now older and secondly, there are so many good players these days. In the women scene, you have the Willian Sisters, many good Russian players like Maria and Elena, Justin Henin, Kim Clijsters, Lindsay Davenport, Amelie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce and more.

The latest ATP Ranking as below:-

1 Kim Clijsters BEL
2 Amelie Mauresmo FRA
3 Lindsay Davenport USA
4 Maria Sharapova RUS
5 Justine Henin-hardenne BEL
6 Mary Pierce FRA
7 Nadia Petrova RUS
8 Elena Dementieva RUS
9 Patty Schnyder SUI
10 Venus Williams USA
11 Anastasia Myskina RUS
12 Francesca Schiavone ITA
13 Nicole Vaidisova CZE
14 Daniela Hantuchova SVK
15 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS
16 Flavia Pennetta ITA
17 Dinara Safina RUS
18 Elena Likhovtseva RUS
19 Ana Ivanovic SCG
20 Nathalie Dechy FRA

I can see that Martina now ranked 48 will have no problem to push herself back to top 10 of ATP Ranking soon and win some titles. To win a Grand Slam again is definitley not easy. Interesting to note that Serena William now rank at a low 37. Monica Seles has left the scene.

Trying out snow mobile in Hokkaido

During our recent trip to Hokkaido, Japan, we get a chance to try out the snow mobile. The rental fee for one hour was 15,000 Yen which work out to be around RM 500 for two person. Riding the snow mobile through the small jungle was funs but very cold at a temperature of -10 degree C. No snowing at that instant.


snow mobile

snow mobile

snow mobile

snow mobile

Google Auctioning Print ADs

Google’s test of magazine ads began last summer, and involved two computer-oriented publications. Certain advertisers appeared on ad pages with the words Ads by Google and special phone numbers Google used to track the effectiveness of the test.

Google Print ADs Auction can be read at http://services.google.com/marketing/links/aw-print-pub-ads/

Google is definitley using its technology and wide client base to venture in new print AD territory

Trillian Web Chat Client

Trillianâ„¢ is a fully featured, stand-alone, skinnable chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. It provides capabilities not possible with original network clients, while supporting standard features such as audio chat, file transfers, group chats, chat rooms, buddy icons, multiple simultaneous connections to the same network, server-side contact importing, typing notification, direct connection (AIM), proxy support, encrypted messaging (AIM/ICQ), SMS support, and privacy settings.

Installed Trillian and it work beautifully well and I am now able to chat with Yahoo, MSN and ICQ contacts with one single chat client. I am now also able to respond to more than one MSN or Yahoo or ICQ accounts with this single interface. The best of all, it has tab windows for multiple conversations.

Trillan is now part of Google Pack and can be downloaded via http://pack.google.com

So enjoy !!

Google has blacklisted BMW.de

Google has blacklisted BMW.de after the carmaker violated the search giant’s guidelines by using a technique that could artificially boost its search engine rating, according to a Google engineer.

In a blog, Google software engineer Matt Cutts said that Google had removed BMW’s German site (click here to view site) from its Web index after the site included “doorway pages” that would automatically redirect visitors to a different URL.

Cutts explained that when Google’s crawlers visited a BMW page, it saw blocks of text with repeated key search words such as “neuwagen,” which means “new car” in German. However, when a user visited the listed page they would be automatically redirected to another page with less text and more pictures, which was more attractive than the page the crawler saw, but would have scored lower in Google’s PageRank system.

“This is a violation of our Webmaster quality guidelines, specifically the principle of ‘Don’t deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users,'” said Cutts’ blog.

To regain Google listing status, Cutts expects that BMW.de will have to remove the JavaScript that redirects users around the site in this fashion and then send a reinclusion request to Google’s Webspam team, which Cutts leads. BMW.de has already removed some of the redirect pages.

Full Story

“Free” call to fixed line in Malaysia

As the title suggest, VOIP Stunt offer free unlimited call to all fixed line in Malaysia as long as you purchase a credit of 10 Euro that will expire in 120 days if you do not use it. You can of course use that credit to call any mobile number in Malaysia at 0.04 Euro or RM 0.18 per minute.

Tested the call to fixed line and found that the quality is good and clear, comparable to that of Skype.

Happy Chinese New Year to All, The Year of Dog

I have been away to Hokkaido for a while and did not get a chance to blog. Would like to take this opportunity to wish all a very happy and prosperous Chinese New Year , the year of Dog.

In the year of dog does not mean that one has to get a dog to enjoy good feng shui and good luck. Getting a dog is a long term commitment. A small breed dog can live up to 14 years of age and one that get a dog must be willing to spend time to train their dogs, play with them, walk them and take well care of their welfare and good health throughout their life time. Hence, please think carefully before you get one. If you are not ready for the commitment, you may want to consider buying some dog music box instead 🙂

dog music box
Picture taken in a big Music Box Store in Hokkaido recently

Dogs not just toys for luck

Dogs not just toys for luck
By MEERA VIJAYAN
The Star, 24 Jan 2006

JOHOR BARU: The sudden demand for canines this coming Year of the Dog has got animal lovers worried.

Chartered accountant and animal lover C. Kunathasan, 54, said dogs are not “toys” that one buys for good feng shui.

“People who don’t genuinely love dogs but just want the luck that dogs may bring should consider buying statues of dogs instead.

“If the dog is neglected after the Chinese New Year, then it becomes animal abuse,” he said.

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Selangor branch chairman Christine Chin said she had mixed feelings about the rise in the number of dogs bought or adopted recently.

“We are happy that there is so much attention on dogs this year, but we are also concerned that people may be buying dogs for the wrong reasons,” she said.

“For instance, when the movie 101 Dalmatians came out several years ago, it created a huge demand for Dalmatians.

“Two years later, we saw so many of those Dalmatians surrendered to the SPCA.” She urged pet shop operators to caution prospective buyers about the responsibilities that come with keeping a dog.

Chin said the SPCA receives almost a thousand animals a month, with 80% of the animals brought in by their owners who did not want them any more.

On people who want a dog just for luck, she warned: “Going along the same lines, if you buy a dog for luck and discard the dog later, you will be throwing away your luck, too.”

Full Story

The 2006 Formula One World Championship timetable

The 2006 Formula One World Championship timetable is as follows:

(All times are local)

Friday (*)
11:00 – 12:00 Practice Session 1
14:00 – 15:00 Practice Session 2

Saturday
11:00 – 12:00 Practice Session 3 (**)
14:00 Qualifying Session (***)

Sunday
14:00 Race (****)

(*) Friday Practice sessions at Monaco will take place on Thursday.

(**) Except for Great Britain (9:30), Canada (10:00) and United States (10:00)

(***) Except for Great Britain (12:30), Canada (13:00) and United States (13:00)

(****) Except for Bahrain (14:30), Malaysia (15:00), Great Britain (12:00), Canada (13:00), United States (13:00) and Turkey (15:00)

Purina ProPlan launched new Dog Food Sensitive Skin and Stomach Formula on Malaysia K9 Day

Purina ProPlan recently launched their new Sensitive Skin and Stomach formula Dog Food on Malaysia K9 Day at Central Park, Bandar Utama.


Purina Laun ched Sensitive Skin and Stomach Formula

Purina Laun ched Sensitive Skin and Stomach Formula

Purina Laun ched Sensitive Skin and Stomach Formula

The main ingredient of the dog food is Salmon. This new dog food is extremely suitable if you have a dog that has either a sensitive skin or stomach. More information on the dog food can be found by downloading it here.

Malaysia K9 Day 2006 – Demonstration by K9 Security

K9 Dog Trainers from K9 Security joined us on the Malaysia K9 Day to perform some very good demonstration on protection dogs using a total of 5 dogs. Four Malinois (Belgian Shepherd) and on black German Shepherd. Some of the demonstration performed include:-

1) Body attack by Malinois
2) Hold and Bark Demo
3) Escort with Malinois
4) Some Dog Obedience Works


puppycom logo purina logo

Some of the pictures taken are as below:-


Demonstration on protection dogs

Demonstration on protection dogs

Demonstration on protection dogs

Demonstration on protection dogs

Demonstration on protection dogs

Demonstration on protection dogs