iPhone 3G for US$199

Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs has just offically announced the new iPhone 3G at World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The good news is that the new iPhone 3G will be available in 22 countries on 11 July 2008, and eventually to 70 countries later this year, at the price of $US199 and $US299 for 8GB and 16GB model respectively. He has made the price so attractive to consumers and this may result in price war among handphone makers. Anyway, it is good for consumers. However, the bad news is that Malaysia is not among the listed 70 countries. I hope Maxis Mobile which is aiming to hit the target of two million 3G subscribers, will do something to get this iPhone 3G to be fully supported in Malaysia.

Tips on Filling fuel in your vehicles

This is a Message received from a friend:

I don't know what you guys are paying for petrol... but here in Durban, we are also paying higher, up to 47.35 per litre. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every litre.

Here at the Marian Hill Pipeline, where I work in Durban, we deliver about 4 million litres in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.

One day is diesel; the next day is jet fuel, and petrol, LRP and Unleaded. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 litres.

1. Only Buy Or Fill Up Your Car Or Bikkie In The Early Morning When The Ground Temperature Is Still Cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground, the denser the fuel, when it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening.... your liter is not exactly a liter.

In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the petrol, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products play an important role. A 1degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

2. When You're Filling Up, Do Not Squeeze The Trigger Of The Nozzle To A Fast Mode. If you look, you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode, you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created, while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

3. One Of The Most Important Tips Is To Fill Up When Your Tank Is Half Full. The reason for this is, the more fuel you have in your tank, the less air occupying its empty space. Petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine. Petroleum storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the petrol and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.

Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated, so that every liter is actually the exact amount.

4. Another reminder, if there is a fuel truck pumping into the storage tanks, when you stop to buy, do not fill up – Most likely the petrol/diesel is being stirred up as the fuel is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Hope, this will help you get the maximum value for your money.

Don't compare Malaysia with Singapore

I would like to refer to report by The Star dated February 18, 2008 on Pak Lah: Don't Compare Malaysia with Singapore where we were told not to compare “first-class grapes (Singapore) with first-class apples (Malaysia)”. But recently, we were told to compare petrol price with Singapore which we think is not logical. This is very unacceptable and is an insult to our intelligent! It is very frustrating that you said can to something that we think logically cannot and vice versa. Where are the common senses? As a net exporter of petroleum, Malaysia should compare the petrol prices with the following oil producing countries.



If we were to compare with the oil producing oil countries, our petrol price actually is the most expensive. In fact, I don't mind to be the most expensive among the oil producing countries but the price should not be >100% more expensive than United Arab Emirates.

Surprise with sudden and massive fuel petrol increase

Malaysia government sudden move to increase petrol price to RM2.70 yesterday from RM1.92 caught me by surprise as there were earlier reports that fuel prices would only go up in August. The government also stated that it can no longer continue to subsidise fuel and Malaysians could soon by playing market prices for their petrol. Well, I have expected this to happen and it is just the matter of time. And I also don't think the subsidy is going to work in the long run because the petrol is going to be run out one day.

What my concern here is that, Malaysia is still a net exporter of oil, and therefore, when the prices go up, we suppose to be better off. So now the question that the government must address is that now the subsidies has been reduced, where are the saving going to be spent on?? Bulding a transport system that is convenient to public? Subsidy essential food items like cooking oil, rice, flour, etc?

The youngest fastest man - Usain Bolt

The Beijing's Olympic Games 2008 are just round the corner, but the world has already produced a youngest fastest man. This man is Bolt from Jamaica, who is just 21 and also a student at Jamaica's University of Technology. He set a new 100m world record of 9.72s in an international race in New York, to better the world record of 9.74 which set last September by his fellow countryman Asafa Powell. In my life, I never seen such a tall man running so fast and powerful. He is 6ft 5in or 1.95m tall. With his long powerful legs and extraordinary stride length, I believe he will be the first man to run below 9.70 seconds. This year Olympic's 100m race will be very exciting to watch and Bolt is definately the man to beat, with Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay also taking part.