article About SSD vs HDD � Why you should choose SSD over HDD for Win7? - (all-vga-corner)

Before you buy i7 and the best graphic card in the market, read this.

I know desktops are dying and are currently being replaced by tablets and mobile phones.  But I believe they will last for another 10 years as they fill the vacuum between server and mobile phone where we need reasonably strong computing power and a big screen comfortable to the eyes.  On the side note, in the long run, I predict many youngsters will develop arthritis, wrist/thumb issues and short sightedness as they relentlessly try to �break� the Corning�s gorilla glass while playing their game or replying messages.

Coming back to the topic, costs for desktop are dropping dramatically and it is realistic to buy a desktop (without a monitor) with a budget of S$600.  If you have a comfortable budget for S$1,000, then you must consider adding a Solid State Disk (SSD) into your system to remove the biggest bottleneck of any computer.  I also strong recommend this if you wish to upgrade your notebook hard disk.  Let me share the generic advantages of SSD:

1. Withstand shock and vibration because there are no mechanical parts.  For a notebook, it implies you can drop notebook on the floor and your data is still intact;
2. It saves power consumption as it draws only 1 Watt instead of 6-8 Watt (quite little as compared to 300 Watt video card);
3. You enjoy faster startup or boot up speed; and
4. Most importantly, your computer works faster.

How fast?  Is SSD worth it?

If you are getting a low-end or budget PC, forget about SSD.  But if you can chalk up S$1k, why not spend another $150 to speed up the slowest component of your desktop?  The question is how fast?

If you take a standard 7200rpm HDD versus a low-end Intel X25-M SSD, you can see that SSD outperforms HDD in all aspects especially in random read speed.

	HDD (Mbps)	SSD (Mbps)	SSD over HDD (times)
Sequential Read	77	260	3.38
Sequential Write	80	107	1.34
Random Read	0.7	64	91.43
Random Write	0.8	48	60

Now, sequential is useful for transfer, copy or move files of large size.  The faster the sequential speed, the shorter you wait.  Three time faster means time saving and you can feel it in real time.  For operating system, the key indicator of a responsive system is RANDOM WRITE.  SSD performs 60x faster so it is significant in real world.

All you need for a SSD is put an operating system (like Windows 7) into it.  If you install a new Windows 7, you will notice you need approximately 12GB of space.  However, Windows will grow due to its reserved space, restored point or buffers over time.  You may also add frequently used applications for faster speed.  Buffering what you need, you do not need 128GB or 240GB SSD.  If you tap on cloud storage, 30GB or 40GB is sufficed.  You can add 1TB or 3TB as additional storage.  For notebook, you may want a bigger SSD as there is only one slot for 2.5� HDD.

What take the trouble of getting small SSD?  The reason is simple � SSD is expensive.

Dell has an article about why they find SSD is too pricy and they offer no SSD online in Singapore.  NAND flash pricing has dipped significantly over the years since the invention of usb drives and the popularity of iPhone, iPad and all NAND flash devices.  The price point may remain stagnant due to the loyalties of the flash inventors as there is a minimum price point they are looking at.  But the higher capacity flash will definitely be cheaper in the long run or the patent expires.

Web-Feet Research has been following on the trend of SSD and below is the summary:

Cents/MB	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Diff
HDD	0.139	0.111	0.091	0.077	0.06	0.04	71.2%
SSD	34.7	18.6	9.6	5.1	2.6	1.2	96.5%

*: Prediction

From 2004 to 2009, SSD�s pricing fell more than HDD�s.  Still bigger HDD can never win SSD in any performance tests.  So SSD has the unique selling point � better user experience.  No tweaking or optimizing of any HDD can outperform a budget SSD.

Okay. What is the catch?

SSD has limited write cycles and frequent writes will kill it faster.  Getting a SSD with trim working under a supportive operating system (ie Windows 7) which optimizes and recognizes SSD is important to prolong its life.  Preventing excessive writes in SSD is also important so disabling restore point and saving files in C drive etc will definitely help.

After you have used SSD, there is no turning back or regret.  I promise.  All your programs are running in steroid mode!  With SSD, it is faster with i5 over i7 (without SSD).  Vice versa, the fastest graphic card cannot remove the bottleneck the HDD inherits.  So get a SSD rather than i7 or the fast graphic card.

If you have some time or extra cash, you may like to pair 2 SSDs in RAID 0 for a 10 sec boot up.  Meanwhile, download SSD Tweaker for easy configuration in Windows 7.  Do share if you have other tips on SSD.

article About MediShield Upgrade Comparison - (all-vga-corner)

Ward Selection for MediShield

UPDATE (31 Jan 2014): I have been very busy recently due to work commitment. Surprisingly, this file has more than 7,000 over download. I hope to update this in view of the recent talk about the pioneer package. Stay tuned.... and thanks again for your support.


UPDATE (18 Jul 2011): Thanks for your support. Near to 700 have downloaded and use this excel file to better their health plan. I welcome any constructive suggestions to better this file for future reference.

After posting the excel file (version 11), let's see what MediShield covers.
We shall compare the following scenarios below. You can punch in the data in the excel file to derive the same results.

Scenario	1	2	3	4	5
Room and Board (R&B)	24,200	24,200	24,200	24200	5,200
ICU	1,800	1,800	1,800	1800	0
Day Surgery	728	728	728	728	0
Implant	0	0	0	0	0
Days in R&B	52	52	52	52	5
Days in ICU	2	2	2	2	0
Total Hospital Bill	26728	26728	26728	6300	5200
Ward Chosen	C	B2	B1	A	B2
Age	50	50	50	50	50
Insurance pays	21885.2 or 81.88%	21735.2 or 81.32%	8336 or 31.19%	6914 or 25.87%	600 or 11.54%
You pays	4842.8	4992.8	18392	19814	4600

If you have only MediShield, staying in Ward B2 or C has its merits. This is an ideal case to show CPF MediShield can pays for 80% as intended.
Choosing Ward B1 or A will dramatically blow up your medical expenses as illustrated in scenario 3 and 4 respectively.
But wait a minute, how many of us spend 52 days in hospital?
A more realistic case is Scenario 5 whereby minor accident happens to us. Your feet swells without your permission and you stay only 5 days in hospital and the bill is only S$5,200 with no surgical operations. Now, you will be paying S$4,600 or 89% of the bill under MediShield. If luck is not on your side and you visit a hospital every 5 years, your MediSave savings will be easily depleted before you reach 80. When this happens, many suddenly realized that MediShield is insufficient and need a private plan to fill in the gap. Since private insurance excludes previous medical conditions, you will not be paid for heart related conditions if you have heart problem before you buy the private policy. Therefore it is imperative to buy the insurance before you develop any illnesses since most are guaranteed for renewal without questions. This is especially true because MediShield expects you to die before 86 as you have ZERO coverage when you are 86. Else, it ensures you die poor if you live beyond 86 because you will pay 100% of the medical bills.

An Ideal Private Insurance Plan

From my earlier blog, statistics showed that private insurance companies pay S$22 out of S$100 premium collected while CPF MediShield pays S$53 out of S$100. Claiming insurance may be one of the factors as there are many limitations and constraints especially the micro clauses in the contract dealing with historical medical conditions. But since MediShield has its weaknesses, you would like to maximize your money on a policy that pays the most and covers better than MediShield.
For full coverage (ie. zero payment), the premiums are expensive especially when you grow older. We have to access if we are able to afford the premium because it costs only $42/year when you are young but $7000/year if you are old. Without income after retirement, can you afford to pay the premium at old age? Many jump into buying policies that benefit them in the short term and forget that the premiums are much higher when they are old.
So the criteria for private Insurance are:

1. It should be better than MediShield;
2. It should pay most of the medical bills;
3. In case of hospitalization, the insurance payout should be substantially higher against the premiums paid over the years (remember ROI?); and
4. The policy should be affordable till old age.

Case 1 � Long Stay in hospital

Using the same scenario as above, MediShield (Ward C) shall be the benchmark.

Scenario	CPF MediShield	GE SupremeShield B Plus	GE SupremeShield B Plus
Room and Board (R&B)	24,200	24,200	24,200
ICU	1,800	1,800	1,800
Day Surgery	728	728	728
Implant	0	0	0
Days in R&B	52	52	52
Days in ICU	2	2	2
Total Hospital Bill	26728	26728	26728
Ward Chosen	C	C	B1
Age	50	50	50
Deductible	1000	1000	2000
Co-Insurance	3042.8	2572.8	2472.8
Insurance pays	21885.2 or 81.88%	23155.2 or 86.63%	22255.2 or 83.27%
You pays	4842.8	3572.8	4472.8
Years policy is valid	10	10	10
Claims/Premiums	18.33	9.82	9.44

With Great Eastern Supreme Shield B Plus, it covers more for the same Ward C plan. Even if you upgrade to Ward B1, the medical bill foot by you is still lower than CPF MediShield.
If the policy is enforced for the last 10 years (or you have paid 10 years of premiums), the Claims/Premiums ratio will reveal the value of this policy. With lower premium and less coverage, MediShield has a score of 18.33. It implies that the medical claim covers the insurance premiums for the last 18.33 years. For GE Supreme Shield B Plus, both are near to 10 so it implies GE earns little from you.
We conclude that private insurance has its merits for long term hospital stay as it provides better coverage than MediShield. However, we need to compare the various plans to suit personal needs. You can now do so with the excel file.

Case 2 � Short stay in hospital

As illustrated above, MediShield is weak in pure R&B charges. Let's see how private insurances fare.

Scenario	CPF MediShield	AIA HealthShield Gold Elite	Aviva MyShield Plan 3
Room and Board (R&B)	5,200	5,200	5,200
ICU	0	0	0
Day Surgery	0	0	0
Implant	0	0	0
Days in R&B	5	5	5
Days in ICU	0	0	0
Total Hospital Bill	5200	5200	5200
Ward Chosen	B2	B2	B2
Age	50	50	50
Deductible	1500	1500	1500
Co-Insurance	150	370	370
Insurance pays	600 or 11.54%	3330 or 64.04%	3330 or 64.04%
You pays	4600	1870	1870
Years policy is valid	10	10	10
Claims/Premiums	0.5	0.75	1.53

Both AIA HealthShield Gold Elite and Aviva MyShield Plan 3 offer to pay 64.04% of the bill compared to MediShield's 11.54%. Now, with the Claims/Premium ratio, ceteris paribus, we see that Aviva MyShield Plan 3 is better than AIA HealthShield Gold Elite due to lower premiums.

Case 3 � Typical Surgical mid-term stay

Let's consider a case study of a mid-term stay with coronary artery bypass graft surgery (Example from Prudential website).

Scenario	CPF MediShield	Prudential PRUshield A+	NTUC Enhanced IncomeShield Basic + ASSIST rider
Room and Board (R&B)	5870	5870	5870
ICU	1630	1630	1630
Day Surgery	9000	9000	9000
Implant	2400	2400	2400
Days in R&B	7	7	7
Days in ICU	2	2	2
Total Hospital Bill	18900	18900	18900
Ward Chosen	B2	B2	B2
Age	52	52	52
Deductible	1500	1500	1500
Co-Insurance	369.75	1740	1690
Insurance pays	5726 or 30.3%	15660 or 82.86%	17010 or 90%
You pays	13174	3240	1890
Years policy is valid	10	10	10
Claims/Premiums	10.86	4.56	4.17

Private insurances always place their example to their advantage. In this example, MediShield's weakness is exposed as you have to pay 70% of the medical bill. Though the Claims/Premiums ratio is high, forking out $13,174 may wipe out most of your MediSave account. Comparing with Prudential PRUshield A+ and NTUC Enhanced IncomeShield Basic + Assist Rider, both private plans cover most of the costs with the NTUC paying the most out of the 3 plans. However, its premium is also higher as compared with PRUshield.

Benchmarks

To compare policies, benchmarks are introduced. Below are the descriptions:

1. Percentage of bill paid by insurance measures the amount of medical bill paid by the insurance company over the total medical bills. (Higher is better)
2. Claims/Premium paid measures the insurance payout over the premium you paid over the years. (Higher is better)
3. Future Premiums (to be paid till your death) considers your ability to service your premium till you die. (Lower is better)

These factors are given a certain weight to produce the ranking for your consideration.
I hope the excel file will help you get the best plan for your needs.

article About Should I buy a 3D TV now? - (all-vga-corner)

Avatar 3D the movie�

After Avatar 3D hits the US Box office, the spectacular wave of 3D movies sends the 3D rampage worldwide. Young and old enjoy the movie with the additional dimension despite wearing 2 glasses if you are short or far sighted (your own and another 3D glasses provided by the cinema). Many are eager to jump on the wagon of enjoying 3D movies and the first thing they wish to upgrade is their 32" LCD TV, especially for those with projector TV or CRT TV. But is this the best time to buy 3D TV now? What are the concerns in buying the 3D TV besides worrying about integration with the furniture? Well, you simply cannot wait to embrace 3D technology.
Let's talk about the equipments first. Getting a 3D TV is just the tip of the iceberg. To enjoy 3D video, you need to get a blu-ray player, a true 3D TV and a 3D goggles/glasses (we will talk about the exceptions later in this blog). The best part about 3D is there is no defining standard so far so manufacturers can claim whatever they like on their products.

BLU-RAY PLAYER

Blu-Ray player is needed because high resolution video requires much storage space. Blu-Ray disk can accommodate any 3D video with ease so a Blu-Ray player is needed if you enjoy the movie.

True 3D TV

Forget about the brands because there are many junk TVs out there which are NOT True 3D. By definition, a True 3D TV should support 1920 x 1080 pixels, HDMI 1.4 and refresh rate of 120Hz. You can select from 4 technologies for TV � Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Plasma, DLP (Digital Light Processing) and Cathode Ray Tube (CRT).

• LCD TVs are light, good for static pictures, reasonable lifespan and have many 1080 pixel models to choose from due to the recent mass production. However, they are poorer in displaying fast moving pictures, suffers from pixel failures and generally expensive for 37" or above.
• Plasma TVs enjoys a longer lifespan than LCD TV, has good viewing angles and great contrast ratios with excellent picture response. The drawbacks are they suffer from burn-in problem (that's why unsuitable to use with computers) and not available less than 37".
• DLP TVs adopts projection technology to illuminate a large screen for viewing with good brightness and colour at a good price point. But they have a high recurrent cost in maintenance and poorer in picture quality as compared with Plasma. By the way, cinemas are using DLP for the big screen with polarized glasses.
• CRT TVs can support upto 140Hz refresh rate but 3D, maybe you are talking about the sound effect. lol

Due to excessive flow of investment into LCD TVs and the preference of big screen, the market share for LCD is growing while Plasma, DLP and CRT are diminishing dramatically. Around 90% of new TVs sold worldwide are LCD TVs. That's why there are more 3D LED TVs in the market than the rest. However, many are junks which cannot meet the specifications of the True 3D. Due to the fact that we have 2 eyes, refresh rate must be doubled to 240Hz to achieve 120Hz for 3D. If you feel dizzy halfway through the movie, the LCD TV does not meet the specifications of 240Hz refresh rate. In addition, the display 3D images in interlace format, vertical 1080 lines will be halved to 540 lines. At the moment, hardware chip which can refresh at 240Hz is exorbitant priced so many LCD TVs are in fact having 1920 x 540 pixels. They are still one step away from the True 3D definition.

3D Goggles/Glasses

After much discussion about the TVs, you must be thinking 3D goggle/glasses should be the easiest equipment to buy. If you harbour this thought, you are dead wrong. Depending on the 3D TV you buy, you will need different 3D glasses because goggles also have no standards. For LCD and Plasma TVs, you need shutter glasses with batteries. The TV tells the glasses which eye should see the image being exhibited at the moment. For DLP TVs, you need polarized glasses (no battery needed). So don't buy the wrong goggles/glasses.

Other Technologies

Generally, the costs of True 3D LCD TV is around 3 times of normal LCD TVs. For high end TVs, some manufacturers are making 3D TVs without the need of wearing goggles/glasses. They may cost 6-10 times more so only a handful can afford. Other challenges include the integration of 3D googles with spectacles (50% of Singaporeans wear spectacles so I see 50% clowns inside the cinemas), the need of massive production of 3D movies and the R&D effort for a lower cost chip to power 240Hz refresh rate. Given the popularity of the movie Avatar, we hope to ride the wave to create a sensational 3D experience for all movies to come.

Final Comments

3D stereoscope is invented in 1844 while the first 3D movie (The power of love) is made in 1922. If everyone can wait for nearly 100 years for 3D technology to mature, you can wait too.

article About Upgrade to Cloud Anti-Virus? - (all-vga-corner)

Cloud Computing

What is Internet? Internet means interconnected network and due to its complexity, many diagrams in the early days just draw a cloud to define an internet. It has no boundary for countries but everyone can access it just like we see the cloud above us. The era has arrived for us to shift part of our applications from our desktop and notebook to the cloud. Google did a splendid job in entrusting our emails online. However, it is not a cloud computing application because the emails are hosted exclusively in Google's servers.
So what is a cloud computing program? Cloud computing has a virtualized service which offloads the required infrastructure from our current desktop and notebook. To put it simply, it is a service over the internet. An example is Cloud Anti-virus or firewall application. So what are the benefits of shifting over to Cloud Anti-Virus?

Conventional Anti-Virus Applications

The current conventional method of securing a computer from viruses is by installing a local anti-virus program. It is like placing armies in a castle to create a fortress to prevent and detect spies and enemies. The early generation of anti-virus software proved efficient in fighting enemies but slowly failing in its task to prevent undercover spies (Spyware, Trojan horses and malwares). Users have to install additional applications like Adware/Scumwar, Trojan, Rootkit scanner and remover. For better control, a firewall is installed to provide an all-rounded defense.
If you are not a paid subscriber of these applications, you will not enjoy real-time protection or the update will be time consuming (eg. Avira AntiVirus). Besides these shortcomings, the critical problem of this method is the slow update of what new viruses, spywares etc are surfacing. Without knowing what are the faces of the new spies, the defenders cannot recognize and prevent them from entering the forest. The delay may be more than 30 days for any new viruses. It simply implies that the so-called "update" you have is already 30 days old from its first public appearance. Therefore, most programs are set to daily update to ensure you are catching up with the 30 days old news.

Cloud Anti-Virus

Cloud Anti-Virus reduces the update time to approximately 3 days, a 90% improvement. By sharing the same intelligence in the cloud, you will be instantly protected if anyone of the users detects and successfully removes the new virus. This is a paradigm shift as all users will be sharing a same virus database which is updated frequently. Your system will no longer bark you to download updates and it works transparently and silently in the background. Isn't that wonderful?

Limitations

If it is so good, why don't you grab it now? Wait, before you click to download, let me tell you the constraints.

• Internet Access
  First and foremost, you need an internet access to access the cloud. If you are not connected to the internet, a file transfer from an usb drive or harddisk may infect your computer. Since your computer has no virus database, all file accesses will be done by referencing to the cloud database. You will be vulnerable when you have no network. If your network is slow, scanning may also be slower as expected.
• Privacy
  Depending on the algorithms, different cloud anti-virus has different ways to scan the file for infection. If some files are sensitive in your computer, you do not want to send part or full file over to the cloud for scanning. You may not even want people to know its filename! That is the reason why financial institutions like bank or governments are slow to adopt this new technology.
• Customisation
  Next, customization is beyond your control. By tapping on to the cloud for scanning, there is no way to tell the program that you wish to omit files which you trust have no viruses. The engine decides what needs to be removed or what needs to be quarantined. You just have to accept the consequences. Many bossy corporate find this unacceptable and reject them altogether.

Download Links

There are just a handful of cloud anti-viruses programs available. For a home user, you may like to consider these two for a start. Detecting virus proves remarkably impressive so it is worth to give it a try since they are free of charge.

• Panda Cloud Anti-Virus; and
• Immunet Cloud Anti-Virus.

I am sure you will not regret getting the next generation of anti-virus software. In the near future, we should see more and more cloud applications. At the moment, I am using a Cloud Trojan Remover and the scanning speed is pretty impressive at 10 times faster than the conventional scanner. Still, it manages to stiff out and quarantine 2 Trojans from the system.