Europestar GEN2 Edition

    A recent lucrative export deal to China involving the Proton GEN2
has been cited as one of the ways to spearhead Proton’s recovery, as
most of you would know by now. Proton was to export 30,000 completely built up Proton GEN2 cars to China for Jinhua Youngman to rebadge under the Europestar brand, with a further possible 80,000 units to be assembled in China.

    Thanks to spyshots by Chinese automotive industry
website Cheshi, we now find out that the “localisation” of the Proton
GEN2 by Jinhua was not just limited to a left hand drive conversion and
swapping badges with the Europestar badge. The Europestar GEN2 gets a
completely new front fascia that looks like the poor car has jaundice, and the rear crop circle lamps get a similiar treatment.

UPDATE: Some of you may remember the spyshots of the facelifted Proton GEN2 due to be launched very soon. It too had a larger grille, although not as over the top as the Europestar version.

Ku jejak jalan yang berliku
Membara jiwaku memburu impian

~ermm.. really need to change… the inside of me…

It’s too late to apologize, it’s too late
I said it’s too late to apologize, it’s too late
I said it’s too late to apologize, yeah-
I said it’s too late to apologize, yeah-
I’m holding on your rope, got me ten feet… off the ground…

Nissan Bluebird Sylphy spotted in Malaysia

This is Nissan Bluebird  Sylphy units spotted in Segambut. The cars have their badges taped up and bear trade plates. ETCM must be doing local road test, which could mean a launch is imminent.

This is just a theory - the fact that the car is using steel wheels
could mean a local supplier for the car’s alloy wheels is not ready for
production yet - leading to my suspicion that the car  will be locally assembled.

A question many would ask would be where in the price range would
Tan Chong price these Sentra-replacement Nissan Bluebirds, considering
the Teana which is supposed to be a Cefiro replacement has been priced
too far away from the average Camry/Accord/Cefiro buyer’s reach.

1 .. Nokia 888 Communicator

Nokia
definitely has the most interesting concept phones. Nokia 888
Communicator is a striking futuristic concept phone. The phone, which
uses liquid batteries, speech recognition, flexible touchscreen and
touch-sensitive body cover,is designed by Tamer Nakisci and won the
Nokia Design Award
 
 

 
2 .. Nokia Aeon 
Nokia
Aeon was presented by Nokia on their website in the Research &
Development section. What is so great about this phone is that it looks
like it will actually go into production next February. Of course, its
just a rumor, but still, makes us hope to actually see it someday in
the GSM shop. All we know about it for now is that its a touchscreen
phone and it looks fantastic.
 

 
3 .. Sky "Sleak n Slim" 
"Sleek
& Slim" from SKY is another concept based on touchscreen
technology. The phone has a discretely glowing touchpad, hideaway keys
and generally utterly-fashionable minimalist design.
 

 
4 .. Benq-Siemes "Snaked" 
Benq
designers thought of women too and presented Snaked. This is a
"reptile" looking phone, creepy somehow, but still is very cool. The
Snaked is a fashion phone for sport loving women, because it also has
body monitoring sensors to help the ladies keep those fine shapes.
 

 
5 .. What You See is What You Get Concept
One
thing is for sure about this concept phone…they could’ve named it
shorter. Designed by Pei-Hua Hang, the phone’s name comes from the fact
that this concept no longer uses an LCD as viewfinder for the digital
camera, instead it uses a transparent frame. And of course, interaction
is made through a touchscreen
 

 
6 .. Retroxis By Dark Label
If
most phones presented here will never be sold in store for sure, the
Retroxis concept phone from Dark Label looks kinda human, and makes us
hope we’ll be able to get one of these one day. Designed by Lim Sze Tat
the phone is encased in high polished polycarbonate renowned for its
lightweight and toughness and has an invisible OLED display that
silently hides away when inactive.
 

 

 
7 .. Benq-Siemens "The Blackbox"
Black
Box designed by Benq-Siemens uses a touch screen as its keypad and,
depending on the functions you are using, the touch screen changes the
control layout immediately.
 

 
8 .. NEC Tag 
Somehow
similar to the Snaked concept, the NEC Tag is a flexible phone concept
that can be , for example, hung from a belt or wrapped around the
user’s arm. Interesting is that the phone has shape-memorizing material
and sensors that allows the phone to change its shape according to the
mode.
 

 
9 .. TripleWatch 
Though
the idea of a cellphone watch is not so new, the TripleWatch designed
by Manon Maneenawa has an interesting triple flip technique that allows
the user to transform the watch into a normal cellphone. When used as a
wrist watch, the phone has a speaker button that allows the user to
answer the phone and hang up while driving.
 

 
10 .. Asus Aura 
 

huwaaaa~
 

Intel’s
new Penryn architecture snagged more than a few headlines this year,
but today finally marks the launch date for the world’s first 45nm
processor. The launch consists of 16 new processors for the server
and high-end desktop market. Penryn is the follow-up optical shrink to
Intel’s 65nm Conroe architecture. While the core architecture of Penryn
remains essentially the same as Conroe, Intel’s desktop variant of Core
2, the smaller transistors yield more features and cache. Penryn comes
with 6MB of L2 cache, whereas Conroe only had a maximum of 4MB.

New to Penryn is the SSE4 instruction set.  These new instructions will yield improved operation times for many CPU-intensive applications
like rendering and encoding. Fifteen of the new processors launched are
Xeons and targeted directly at the server market. Prices of the new
Xeons range from $177 all the way to $1,279. Although Intel is aiming
for immediate availabily, distributors tell DailyTech that certain
models will not reach retail availability for another 45 days.

Intel
today only launched one Penryn processor for desktops, the Intel Core 2
Extreme QX9650. The Core 2 Extreme is a high-end, quad-core desktop
processor. Intel guidance claims the retail price of the new processor
at $999.

Let’s
face it people, Core architecture has been a runaway success for the
big blue CPU giant, and it’s about time they got it right too. For
nearly two years prior to the Core 2 release for the desktop, Intel was under fire for its continuation of the Netburst based Pentium 4, Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition CPUs, especially the ones running on the 90nm process. Compared to the AMD
Athlon 64 of the time, the competing Netburst CPU ran slower in game
benchmarks and generated nearly two times the heat of the green
machine’s CPU using the same 90nm transistors.

  It’s now been a generation on and Intel has pushed the Core 2 series into quad core variants, something AMD is yet to achieve. While Phenom is on its way, Intel
still have the crown for the first quad core CPU to the market; and
while technically not a true quad core, it still has four processors
working on a single CPU package, just not on a single die.

While
AMD still plays catch up, Intel has kept its processor train at full
speed with yet another new processor in the Core 2 range. Using the
1333MHz FSB that the QX6850 brought to the party, the new series based
on the Penryn architecture as it’s now known reduces the production
size from 65nm to 45nm as well as adding in a few new features along
the way. Today we test out the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 processor
based on Penryn technology to see what or if anything has improved.
 
 

Dalam
solatku yang sudah sekian kalinya, aku tetap merenung telunjukku dalam
setiap tasyahud (tahiyyat) awal dan akhir, mengharapkan pahala menurut
sunnah mengisi setiap kantung pahala yang tak pernah ku lihat. Berpuluh
tahun berbuat demikian, perasaan ingin tahu tetap menerjah hatiku.
Mengapa Rasulullah s.a.w. berbuat demikian? Mengapa disunatkan merenung
telunjuk sewaktu tasyahud? Pasti ada sesuatu sehinggakan disunatkan
berbuat demikian. Bagi yang tak ambil pusing, tetap bahagian mereka
dengan kantung pahala yang sarat di akhirat, dijamin Allah s.w.t..

 

Dirujuk persoalan itu kepada yang arif. Kata mereka telunjuk itu satu, diangkat ketika mengucapkan kalimah "Aku bersaksi bahawa Tiada Tuhan Yang disembah melainkan Allah"
bagi menandakan keEsaan Allah yang Satu, Yang Maha Esa dan Tiada yang
sebanding denganNya. Jawapan yang diberi mententeramkan jiwaku hanya
buat seketika. Memang benar apa yang dikatakan yang arif itu tadi, tapi
mengapa gelodak jiwa mengatakan ada sesuatu yang lain.

Aku
sentiasa terganggu dengan persoalan yang ditimbulkan hati yang
mendesak-desak mencari rahsia sebenar sehingga hatiku puas. Kenapa
hanya perkara ini begitu mendesak jiwa sedangkan perbuatan itu hanya
dilakukan dengan seketika dalam solat.

Sehinggalah
di suatu senja yang sangat hening. Hujan lebat mula turun di luar
rumah, menghalang langkah insan yang beriman lemah ini untuk ke tempat
azan dilaungkan. Ditunaikan tanggungjawabku kepada Yang Maha Pencipta
dalam kamar bacaan di rumah. Maghrib itu membuka persoalan lama itu
kembali.. Mula sahaja tasyahud awal, telunjukku direnung dan
membangkitkan kembali persoalan yang sering bermain dijiwaku.

Kekhusyukan
dalam ibadatku sedikit teganggu, minda ditumpukan kembali kepada bacaan
solat supaya hatiku tetap berpaksikan rasa syukurku kepada Yang
Menciptakan diriku dengan segala kesempurnaan. Tapi semua itu terganggu
kembali bila saja aku berada dalam tasyahud akhir. Sekali lagi aku
mengucapkan kalimah " Ashhadu allaa ilaa ha illallah (Aku bersaksi bahawa Tiada Tuhan Yang disembah melainkan Allah) sambil jari telunjukku diangkat menandakan aku mengakui keEsaan Allah s.w.t.. 

Bagaikan
hendak tersembur kandungan dadaku tatkala aku merenung jari telunjukku
pada kali ini. Serta merta airmataku mencurah-curah keluar tak
tertahan, ditahan sebak dadaku supaya tidak terbatal solatku.
Allahuakbar! Allah Maha Besar! Ampunkanlah segala dosa yang telah
kulakukan dengan tanganku [UTF-8?]ini… Ya Allah! Betapa Engkau
memuliakan kami manusia dengan kalimah NamaMu pada jasad kami yang
kotor ini.. Ampunkanlah kami, ampunkanlah [UTF-8?]aku… Mulai
maghrib hari itu, perbuatan mengangkatkan dan merenung telunjuk dalam
tasyahud tidak lagi mengganggu kekhusyukan solatku, tapi ia membuatkan
hatiku sentiasa gentar dan sayu..

Sayu
mengenangkan dan merindui Allah s.w.t., gentar kerana aku melihat aku
ini milik [UTF-8?]Allah… Ya! Benar.. akhirnya jawapan bagi
persoalan itu telah kutemui bila saja terpandang kalimah Allah
ditelunjuk kananku.. Subhanallah! Maha Suci Allah! Ampunilah aku
sekiranya tangan yang membawa kalimah namaMu yang Maha Suci dan Mulia
ini telah aku gunakan untuk melakukan dosa dan maksiat melanggar
perintahMu.. Ampunkanlah HambaMu ini Ya [UTF-8?]Allah…..

Lagu Untukmu

Tiada bintang
Dapat menerangkan hati yang telah dicela
Bagai ku lumpuh tak mampu berdiri
Aku tetap begini takkan berubah kerna

Aku tetap aku dan alur hidup mu bukanlah aku
Guna hati akal dan fikiranku
Berbeza engkau dan juga aku
Dua hati yang tak mungkin bersatu
Adakah aku
Hanya bonekan yang enkau sering mainkan

Yang dikawal oleh jari jarimu
Ku punya hati dan perasaan
Pernahlah engkau fikirkan
Cukuplah cukup oh cukuplah
Guna hati akal dan fikiranmu
Berbeza engkau dan juga aku
Dua hati yang tak mungkin bersatu

Tak tahan tak tahan
Sabarku tak tertahan
Melayan sikapmu perawan

Berbeza berbeza
Kau dan aku berbeza
Kita memang tak serupa

Bebaskan
Ku ingin dilepaskan
Kita tidak sehaluan

Cukuplah sudahlah
Sampai disini sahaja
Hubungan kita berdua

Meet
Uncle Hussain is a 4 piece Malay rock band with a refreshingly unique
emotional edge. Roaring through the indie band scene in Kuala Lumpur
over the past 3 years, MUH’s talent was recognized and hailed as the
Best DIY Band of 2005 by ROTTW magazine.

Influenced by the likes of U2, Led Zeppelin, Killers, Doves, Bloc Party
and the late Sudirman and Tan Sri P. Ramlee, MUH’s brand of melodic
Malay rock heralds a new chapter in the history of the ever evolving
local rock scene.

Such was
the impact of their music, that MUH’s first single, “Lagu Untukmu’ has
been chosen as the theme music for the soon-to-be launched 8tv-Red
Communications television miniseries ‘Kami’ which features the growth
and development of the local indie band scene in Malaysia .

Produced and arranged by composer producer Tassiq Saidi Hashim of AU
District, and jointly composed by Tassiq, Taja (lead guitarist) and Lan
(the inspirational lead vocalist), the distinctive, yearning vocals and
heavily driven guitar arrangements in the bands’ debut album ‘Lapan
Tahun’ combine to make MUH one of the brightest prospects of the local
rock band scene in Malaysia today.

Now signed to progressive indie label Satu Music Entertainment, and
with the additional talents of Afat on bass and Kudux on drums, MUH’s
debut album is poised to thrill rock fans nationwide with anthems on
everyday issues like work (‘Kerja’), affairs of the heart (‘Pari-Pari’
and ‘Hilang’) superficiality (‘Pura-Pura’) and even US intervention in
the Middle-East (Hulu Malang).

Watch out for release of the ‘Lagu Untukmu’ music video which premieres
at the Press Launch of the ‘Kami’ original sound track LP at Rum Jungle
Kuala Lumpur at 3 p.m. on 19 th July 2007 and the upcoming release of
‘Lapan Tahun’, scheduled for the last quarter of 2007.