GeniSoftware

KUALA LUMPUR: Shoppers now have more reason to bring their MyKad during shopping trips. It can earn them cash rewards with every purchase.

MyKad is now a primary tool for a new loyalty and rewards programme called Sahabat 1Malaysia organised by the Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Ministry and Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM).

Shoppers will be rewarded with cash that will be credited into their MyKad via a virtual bank when they purchase items from any of the 500 merchants in the programme. – Star News Paper

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In line with the Government of Malaysia’s call for multi-functional usage of MyKad, the Melaka State Library is using MyKad as a membership card. If you wish to borrow books from the library, you will have to present your MyKad which will be read into the system for verification.

This is a good way to implement technology that is currently available to the public. Every citizen of Malaysia has to carry an Indentification Card (MyKad). The MyKad being a chip based Smart Card is the perfect card for multi-function application in the Information Technology world.

The MyKad has the holders full name, the address, colour photo and date of birth. These are the basic information on needs to provide to register for services. Using the card save time when needing to register.
The card is inserted into the reading device and a computer system reads the information in less that 15 sec.

The MyKad is perfect for Clinic Registration, Libraries, Clubs, Hotel Check in and many more applications. See here for more on MyKad Readers.

“The Webcam spy case in the Lower Merion School District near Philadelphia has raised concern as to whether others with Webcams are vulnerable to remote spying. The school district admitted to activating the Webcams 42 times during a 14-month period, claiming that it did so only to track lost or stolen laptops.

But for anyone with a Webcam (and Webcams are now built in to many laptops and desktops), the question is whether you are vulnerable to having your Webcam remotely turned on. The answer is yes, though the newest version of the software used by the district to monitor its computers can no longer be used to activate Webcams or even track stolen computers.” – cNet News
This drives home the point. Disconnect any devices that can transmit sound or video on your computer. If you have a microphone plugged in, unplug it. If it is a USB Webcam that you are using, unplug it when you are not using it. If these devices are built into you PC or Laptop, navigate to the ‘Device Manager’ in your Windows software and disable them. Google for ways to disable devices on your particular operating system. There are numerous programs that allow users to transmit voice and video. Nasty people can spy on you if you are not careful.

Japanese authorities plan to summon Apple officials this week over complaints that its iTunes online store has billed customers for downloads they never made, officials said Monday. In at least 95 cases in Japan involving five major credit card companies, iTunes customers said they had sometimes been charged thousands of dollars, they said.

The agency official said that in one case “a woman who registered her ID and credit card number on the music download site several years ago but hadn’t used it in recent years received bills of purchases that she wasn’t aware of”.

Japan’s industry and communications ministries have joined the investigation and are looking into whether personal data has been stolen. They have advised customers to carefully check their bills and report any suspicious orders.

Yes be careful with you password that you use to make purchases. Never reveal the password to anyone. What happens when your battery dies and you have to take you machine in for a battery change? What happens then? Have to workout a way to keep your data safe as well.

It has been reported in a number of blogs that the iPad will not be released for another 3 months. Why? Basically, Apple has not got all the legal approvals yets for their new device.

“The specs on the iPad page mention the lack of FCC approval in tiny print that is easy to miss. And nobody seriously expects the iPad won’t be approved — Apple’s been through this before, with the launch of the first iPhone announced six months before it was available. And the “why?” is almost certainly to have kept as few people in the loop, and only those you could in some way control.” Read More . . .

The hottest news on the web now is that the Symbian OS is going open-source. That means the source code of the Symbian Devices will be available for free and anyone is free to change and modify it. Symbian, which powers most of Nokia’s phones, has been shipped in more than 330 million devices worldwide. But in the last few years, Symbian has seen more than its fair share of changes. In 2008, Nokia, one of Symbian’s largest customers, acquired a major share in the company. Nokia then created the Symbian Foundation to distribute the platform as an open source project, and began the process of opening up the source code that year.

Symbian’s move to open source has been completed four months ahead of schedule and it offers mobile developers new ways to innovate, says Williams. Any individual or organization can now take, use and modify the Symbian code for any device, from mobile phone to a tablet.

Google’s Android, which is based on a Linux kernel, has become a favorite among handset makers such as Motorola and HTC. Android is also base on an open-source foundation.

Symbian is also ahead of Android in that it will publish its platform roadmap and planned features up to 2011, he says. And anyone can influence that roadmap or contribute to new features.

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“The dominant operating system provider out there is Symbian,” says Lee Williams, executive director of the Symbian Foundation, “and now we are offering developers the ability to do so much more.”

“MyKad, or Government Multipurpose Card, (GMPC) is the official compulsory identity card of Malaysia. It is regarded as the world’s first smart identity card. Part of the Multimedia Super Corridor flagship applications, it was officially launched on September 5, 2001 and incorporates a microchip, which contains several items of data including biometrics. As of 2006, MyKad has eight current and several planned applications which are mostly related to proof of identity or electronic money.” – Source Wikipedia.

Malaysian software developers can make great use of the MyKad when writing software for the local Malaysian Market. Every time we visit the Clinic, Insurance Firms or just visit friends at Condo’s, we are asked to produce the MyKad. The details are taken down, usually written into a log book. Now with computer system’s becoming ever more cheaper, it is not costly or difficult to implement a system to capture data from the MyKad in to a computer system. This saves time and also helps to make sure you are dealing with the actual owner of the MyKad. You will also have the history of people who visit your place. If you run a kindergarten or tuition centre, it will be easy to register parents and students.

Check out the Easy MyKad Reader Lite Software on this site. Soon I will be bring out more software based on this capture software.
Read about the MyKad write up in The Star News Paper.