The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 04 Jun 2011 04:47 PM PDT JUNE 5 — I bet we have all had experiences of neighbours (if not ourselves) carrying out illegal home renovations. It seems harmless at first, that little bit of brick wall to top of the existing shared wall in the front porch, to ensure more privacy. Or extending the back portion of the kitchen until the end of the property. When the unsuspecting neighbour realises what is going on, it is often too late and the offender refuses to stop work. Calling in the local authority can be a frustrating exercise, plus there is the mindset that a little financial pay-off will send them off quietly. The result is the converse of good fences making good neighbours. The cool evening breeze that used to blow into their porch and back garden is no more, having been replaced with concrete barriers. The uninterrupted view of the city skyline? Pfft. Replaced by the rear windows of a third floor extension. Which brings me to this week's topic — bringing justice to those who have erected illegal structures in their homes. There is some joy taking place in Hong Kong as a witch hunt of sorts is carried out among the very politicians who are supposed to uphold all that is good and legal. Powerful people in the Cabinet have been left sputtering apologies after it came to light that their own homes had been fitted with structures that are against building regulations. No one has been left more embarrassed than Chief Executive Donald Tsang who became to date the most high-ranking official to come under scrutiny. It was revealed that the glass windows fitted onto the balcony of his Mid-Levels flat (the Chief Executive's official residence is in Government House in the Central District) are not legal. It was Tsang who had earlier ordered members of his Cabinet to check whether their properties were clear of illegal structures. This order followed the discovery that Education Secretary Michael Suen had ignored a government order to remove illegal extensions from his Happy Valley home five years ago — when Suen was Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands. The chief executive and secretary for education are but the latest in a string of high profile figures who have been named and shamed in the media over the past two weeks. For the everyday man, it is a welcome change to see action taking place. After all, some of us have been issued warnings for having flower pot holders hung from our balconies. Surely an entire glass house built on the rooftop of a three-storey house should have stronger repercussions. The issue of illegal structures came to light recently over an Ombudsman report regarding the different standards applied to illegal structures in urban and rural areas. Home in rural areas in the New Territories are commonly cube-like three-storey houses. The rules governing these buildings are simple: if they are no higher than 27 feet and take up no more than 700 sq ft, the buildings are exempt from requiring work and occupation permits. Hence, a canvas tent or a glass house covering the entire roof are common sights in the New Territories. This space is usually used for clothes drying. Rules for urban dwellings are much stricter. The Chief Executive was issued an advisory letter by Buildings Department asking for proof that the balcony's glass windows were not in breach of the rules — what one politician called a "polite and indirect way" to say the structure was illegal. Tsang immediately instructed an authorised person to remove the glass windows and to follow up with the reconstruction of the verandah in accordance with the law. Glass windows and canvas roofing may seem like peanuts when there are more important issues to tackle but it is a levelling of the playing field. If the big guys can choose to ignore the law, what's to stop everyone else? * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| The Padfone: Innovating integration Posted: 04 Jun 2011 04:41 PM PDT JUNE 5 — A smartphone that's also a tablet? Yay! The subject of today's exploration is the Asus Padfone. While perhaps not the sexiest name in the universe, this innovative device encapsulates the spirit I wrote about earlier when discussing the Motorola Atrix 4G — one heart, many bodies. What I got excited about back then was the idea that a smartphone could power a laptop. I actually had a chance to finally test this device hands-on in a recent trip to the US. I still admire the concept, but I'll be the first to admit there were a number of software kinks to fix before I would certify it as a smooth user experience. I would be lying though if I said I wasn't thrilled at having a computer-like experience powered by a little phone. The Asus Padfone, launched on Monday at the Computex event in Taiwan, represents the next logical step — a phone that can also power a tablet! Mobile vs. very heavy libraries I was particularly thrilled about the news because while my beautiful Macbook Air serves all of my laptop needs (did I just out my Mac fanboy identity?), I have been considering getting a tablet very seriously. I remember a professor of mine who taught Russian medieval history to myself and some US Army helicopter pilots. He told us one day about how he was going to vote for Ralph Nader for one reason and one reason alone: because Nader supported the legalisation of marijuana. Similarly, I have been inclined towards getting a tablet for one reason and more or less one reason alone (one has to account for the simple desire to buy new toys) — ebooks. Like most people, I do enjoy reading physical books. They have been a warm and faithful bathroom companion for many years (if I did not defecate, I'm not sure I would ever read, really). I have, however, an aversion to heavy material belongings (I noticed upon my return from the US that I did not really buy a single thing back for myself) that some have attributed to a fear of commitment. Under these circumstances, one can probably imagine how the idea of being able to have nothing less than my entire library encompassed within a little portable device has its appeal to me. The logistics are simply overwhelming -- massive stack of incredibly heavy books vs. one little electronic gadget. Gadget overload My aversion to lugging things around extends, however, to gadgets as well. I have never seen the point in owning an iPod, an iPod Touch, an iPhone and an iPad altogether. Granted I wouldn't own any of those unimaginatively named devices individually, but it seems even more ridiculous to own and carry them around all at once. I believe in a unitariness of electronic devices, where one little thing serves almost all your needs. My Macbook Air serves all my mobile needs that require a keyboard and is more comfortable to spend countless hours on than any mobile computer I have used — it's the perfect, albeit slightly costly, combination of mobility and usability. My trusty Nexus One, on the other hand, is a smartphone that meets all basic needs while being convenient to have on my person at all times. It is only a matter of time, of course, before my phone becomes defunct. Thanks to Asus though, now instead of having to fork out tons of cash to buy both a new phone and a new tablet, I can do both at the same time. The Padfone is a normal looking phone that has the abnormal ability to slot itself into a tablet; said tablet has no functionality on its own, but once the phone is plugged in, springs to life as a fully featured tablet — hooray! Less bulk, less devices, less cost — more fun and convenience. Addressing android fragmentation What about the software? Android developers branched off from their 2.x path to create Android 3.x Honeycomb, an operating system (OS) designed specifically for tablets. Recently, they announced that Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich will represent a remerging of these two branches, so that there will be a single Android OS not only for phones and tablets, but for all Android based devices as well (I have heard of computers, microwaves and washing machines running Android -- bow down to your Google overlords!). I think this is a great development, in no small part due to the fact that Ice Cream Sandwich also seeks to address the problem of fragmentation. Overzealous manufacturers like Samsung, Motorola and HTC love to make custom skins of the Android OS (Motoblur, Touchwiz and Sense respectively -- the latter I seem to find particularly irritating), making for a different user experience across users of different Android devices. This mess is to me still preferable than the iOS experience of Apple mobile devices, which to me represents the most depressing trend of conforming uniformity — where it has traditionally been near impossible to tell one individual's device from another's from their barely customisable homescreens. Nonetheless, it would be nice to have customisability within a more standardised starting point. Clearly, the ability to update devices with greater simultaneity than the present mess would also be a massive improvement. Where custom skins are concerned, perhaps in a compromise that keeps to the spirit of openness, manufacturers should allow the user the option to choose between using the custom user interface, or the standard no frills Android installation. Driving innovation The Asus Padfone has no confirmed release date, but word has it that somewhere around Christmas seems to be a possibility, coinciding with the estimated release of Android Ice Cream Sandwich. This is a terribly long wait for the likes of myself, but I will still applaud Asus for taking this bold step. My parents bought me an Asus EEE PC one Christmas, and I have to admit at first I did not really see the value in this little, underspeced computer. Like millions of others around the world, however, I was soon swayed by the convenience of this eminently mobile little netbook — a computer category that Asus is credited with practically inventing. I don't use it much anymore (Windows? bleh), but their bold success with the netbook was the first of many admirable and bold innovations, which saw this Taiwanese company seek to redefine the landscape of hardware. They also recently caught my attention with the EEE Pad Transformer, a tablet that has a separate keyboard dock — solving one of the problems I had previously associated most with tablet-based productivity. At present, it seems to be one of the best-selling Android tablets. I think Asus mirrored Android's focus on the type of openness that breeds innovation — a true democracy of ideas, and the antithesis of a certain Cupertino-based company and its one size fits all approach to mobile devices. I'm a great believer in the idea of pursuing constant improvement, and not being needlessly shackled to boring conventions. The world will never move forward without some bold souls willing to try something radically diffferent. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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