William Yau - Rest In Peace

Parent worst nightmare is losing a child. We as parents usually have in mind that we are the ones to go first. I guess we all know that death comes to anybody regardless the age, but no one is prepared when the situation actually happens.

My heart goes to the parent of William Yau. May your child rest in peace.

I have a 6 year old son too, hope who ever did this to your son is caught and receive severe punishment. Malaysia have quite a number of missing children and not even one kidnapper is caught. This is something you need to ponder. It is indeed worries and saddens you to think that these criminals are still at large.

Just pray to Allah, may our children be protected from all these. Ameen.

Legoland Malaysia

 Malaysia has added another tourist attraction, we are still awed with USS (Universal Studio Singapore)... then came Legoland. Another place for parents to spoil their kids. Located in Johor Bahru, makes your holiday planning more enjoyable because after Legoland, you can visit Puteri
Harbour Resort (Home of Pingu, Hello Kitty and Bob the Builder), and Singapore is not that far away... why not just go to USS. You can refer to the map below. Where to stay? urmm... we stayed at a 3 star hotel... but don't worry, there are lots of hotel in Johor Bahru.

Map here is just to show roughly where is Legoland, for more detail route, just use your GPS. If you don't owned one, its about time for you to get one.

My trip had some unfortunate events, tire puncture, there were a power failure at the hotel. But then we were just about to check in, so we manage to get a refund and get a nicer hotel .. :). And it was raining for about one or two hours when we were at Legoland. So we did not have ample time to get on every ride there. Oh well, things happen ... the main thing is just remain positive. I've promised my kids to visit there again when the Legoland Hotel is built.. it is under construction now and I think should be completed around end of 2013 (not sure).

And for those budget travellers, please bring your own mineral water or food as it is very expensive there. It is about triple the normal price. Or maybe just have a heavy breakfast then you can skip lunch. It open at 10 am and close at 8 pm.

Last picture is me and my lovely family. So hope your trip would be an enjoyable one.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha

Salam Aidiladha untuk semua.

Ustaz Don Nikah

Tahniah pada Ustaz Don dan Husna, yang baru-baru bernikah Syawal ini. Sama comel, sama mancung, bagai pinang di belah dua. Ada 15 keping gambar dalam majlis pernikahan ini, sesiapa ingin melihat gambar-gambar yang lain boleh melawat ke  Facebook Artmosphere Photography.

Augmented Reality

What is Augmented Reality?

Unlike Virtual Reality which replaces the real world with a  simulated one, augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer- generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one's current perception of reality. That is basically a definition at wikipedia.

Without realising my 5 year old son is playing Augmented Reality game from Ipad. It seems that the current fad now are augmented reality games. He's favourite are Nerf - below are the picture.

As you can see, the background of the game is reality, meaning our home and the nerf gun, the blasting sounds and are the elements which are augmented by computer. It requires you to seek targets by the guidance of the radar on the left corner. So you can picture my son turning around and around, up and down, holding the Ipad. But there's more to augmented reality than games, there a few categories :

Desktop-based AR

Desktop based AR are applications that you use on your PC. Usually you would need to install it on the PC. This is very useful if you are trying to deliver heavy graphics AR applications or on a kiosk setting.

Web-based AR

As the name suggest, the Web-based AR is accessible via a website. One of the engines suitable for this is the Flash based AR solution such as FLARToolkit.

Mobile AR

Mobile AR is an AR that you can view through mobile phones. More specifically smartphones. At the current time of writing, not all smartphones are smart enough to support AR but the powerful ones do. There are solutions for smartphones such as iPhones and Android. One of the solutions that can be used is Vuforia by Qualcomm.

Location-based AR

Location-based AR is another AR that would have to be viewed using a smartphone. It senses the GPS location and accelerometer data to pinpoint exactly where you are, based on the data information about the location is displayed in your screen.

Augmented Reality in Malaysia

There are lots of research being done in the field of Augmented Reality from every university in Malaysia. UKM, UM, UNIMAS, MMU, you name it. I have yet seen many technical researches but i hope there will be a lot more of it. We need to always improve the technical advances as this will pave the way ahead for AR. I even come across an augmented reality lab from Universiti Teknology Petronas. Too much for me to comprehend, hence will leave that to the IT people... ;)

Abby Kembali kepada Norman?

Setelah sekian lama dilanda kontroversi, akhirnya Memey Suhaiza dan Abby Abadi kembali menyambung hubungan silaturahim di bulan ramadhan yang mulia ini. Mereka bukan sahaja bertemu di bulan penuh rahmat, malah berpelukan sambil menangis sekaligus menamatkan persengketaan lama dalam pertemuan di Shah Alam, Selangor.

"Ketika itu tujuan saya dan Memey ke Shah Alam bertujuan untuk ambil anak-anak saya yang pada waktu itu dengan Abby. Kalau nak ikutkan sejak sekian lama saya dan Abby agak jarang berkomunikasi apatah lagi Memey.

"Dan apabila sampai di lokasi itu, tiba-tiba Abby menarik tangan Memey dan memeluknya sambil menangis.

"Saya agak terkejut dan semua senyap seketika. Anak-anak pula menjerit 'yeay! Mummy dan mama dah baik!". Terasa macam filem Hindustan pula. Ia adalah satu keajaiban sebenarnya yang penuh bermakna dalam bulan Ramadan ini," ujar Norman pada media dengan nada penuh kesyukuran.

"Saya ada juga tanya kepada mereka, apa yang membuatkan kedua-duanya kembali berdamai? Mereka cakap ' ini rahsia perempuan'.

"Apa-apa pun saya bersyukur kepada Ilahi tiada lagi persengketaan antara kami dan yang paling gembira semestinya anak-anak. Anak sulung saya, Danish siap bergurau dan berkata, kalau mama dan papa kahwin, Danish nak jadi pengapit," tambah Norman lagi dipetik sebagai berkata.

Untuk info, dikesempatan berdamai itu, Norman dan keluarga telah berbuka puasa di rumah Abby dua hari lepas selepas SMS Norman dibalas oleh Abby. Kata Norman, SMSnya meminta kebenaran untuk berbuka puasa di rumah bekas isterinya itu dibalas dengan penuh hormat tanpa sebarang masalah
"Rasa seronok sangat dapat berbuka puasa bersama-sama. Abby dan Memey juga rancak berbual mengenai bayi di dalam kandungan Memey yang berusia dua bulan itu.

"Selepas itu, Abby telah menghadiahkan sepasang telekung kepada Memey sebelum kami menunaikan sembahyang jemaah Maghrib bersama," ujar Norman.

Bagaimanapun, bila diajukan persoalan mungkinkah Norman akan rujuk semula dengan Abby selepas ini, Norman tidak tersentak tetapi menyerahkannya kepada takdir.

"Saya tak tahu nak cakap apa. Lagipun saya tak tahu apa status Abby sekarang ini. Cuma saya mengharapkan yang terbaik selepas ini dan akan sentiasa berdoa serta berusaha untuk menjaga keharmonian keluarga.

"Memey pula sangat fleksibel dengan saya. Malah, dengan apa yang telah dilakukannya sekarang ini, ia adalah satu pengorbanan besar sebagai isteri.

"Bagaimanapun, saya dan Memey ada merancang untuk menunaikan umrah bersama-sama Abby. Itu pun selepas Memey bersalin pada Februari tahun depan," katanya yang bercerai dengan Abby pada 18 Disember 2008 setelah mempunyai tiga cahayamata

Oh My English! - Nabil Shuffles (Ep 13 trailer)

For Oh My English fans... please click and watch the clips...Mesti boleh dapat punya aaee