I have been with ServerFreak for a year now and had recently just upgraded my web hosting package. I will do my utmost best to review ServerFreak  in a very detailed manner based on my experience so that those who are still struggling to find a “proper” web host can profit from this article.

Uptime and Reliability

One of the most sought after element of a good web host. ServerFreak certainly had this under control, as I have yet to experience any downtime since the first day I used their hosting service.

I did not rate 10 because I feel that I have not stayed with ServerFreak long enough to rate it 10.

Technical Support

There is only one word I would use to describe ServerFreak’s technical support service, it is “faultless”. For every ticket you have sent, there is always a reply and most of the time it is settled in a day. No time is wasted.

When I first registered with ServerFreak, this website is hosted in Malaysia. Well, most Malaysians would agree that foreign traffic into Malaysia is extremely slow. I was living in Australia and I was suffering from the slow internet connection.

I emailed ServerFreak instead of sending a ticket. To my surprise, I was provided with Sam’s MSN 30 minutes later. Then I asked Sam for advice regarding my situation and in less than an hour, my problem was settled and my web host had been transferred to a server located in the US.

Customer Service

The technical side of the company is superb, but not everybody can escape from being imperfect, of course ServerFreak is not excluded as well.

Problem with the customer service is that sometimes I am asked to send a ticket when I am desperately need things done. I completely understand that sending a ticket allows the support team to pin point which user actually requires help and securities issues.

But it is still “not so alright” to ask the customer to send a ticket when all they think is getting things sorted out through instant messenger. Instead, I would propose ServerFreak to revise a system that relate the instant messenger users with their customer database.

Other than that, the customer service is awesome.

Package Prices

With so many competitors out there, I am very sure that ServerFreak does not have a competitive price (low, cost effective) to compete.

However, I can’t agree more with ServerFreak’s motto “You get what you pay for”. It is obvious that ServerFreak do not oversell and by paying more you get extraordinary support.

These invaluable element will compensate for the less attractive price.

Flexibility

Another thing I love about ServerFreak is how flexible they are.

I just changed my shared hosting plan a month ago and before I change, I talked with them regarding the extra space I would not use. I proposed to convert all the excess space into bandwidth at a certain ratio.

Immediately, they agreed and offered a conversion ratio of 50MB space /1GB bandwidth. Sounds like a reasonable offer to me. I took it and is extremely satisfied by the change.

To end this article, I think it is fair to say that ServerFreak is a fantastic web hosting service but they still have a few places to improve. Highly recommended.

When Steve Irvine died during his shoot out in the Great Barrier Reef, his “The Crocodile Hunter” film dies out. Even though it was good, but it died out due to the lack of “freshness” of the films. Wildlife shows became extremely boring from that point onwards for a period of 3 years until Animal Planet introduced their best Wildlife film, “River Monsters” that just recorded the biggest hit in Animal Planet history.

We have always thought that sharks are the main predator in the sea, mainly due to the movie “Jaws”. After watching “River Monsters”, shark is the last thing you would be worried of when you enter a pool of water, be it river or sea.

River Monster’s host Jeremy Wade is a biologist and an extreme angler. He is such a specialist at dealing with these monsters. He knows his equipment and unlike many others, he walks the talk. He goes all around the world to unfold mysteries of exotic creatures of the river. Most of his discovered exotic animals are based on attacks on humans by the rivers. It is amazing to see how many weird things he catches out of the river, usually in the river of Amazon.

Jeremy Wade exposes the true nature of these River Monsters and explains a lot of things in great detail, not in a really scientific manner and perfect for viewers like us. Tell me, which discovery channel dwell so deep into the myth of a fish swimming up a penis or 2 human legs protruding out a fish’s mouth?

In the first season of River Monsters, Jeremy Wade reveals the mystery of Piranha, Catfish, Alligator Gar, Arapaima and Fresh Water Sharks. Most of the name sounds familiar but as you watch the film, you will see that men have actually known nothing much about underwater lives.

To end the article, River Monster is certainly a must watch for every wildlife lovers. I would rate “River Monster” 9 out of 10. Here is a guide for all the episodes of Season 1, I am unsure whether if there is an episode 8 or not. Rumors say that River Monster will be back on Season 2 with more fascinating river monsters.

River Monster Season 1 Guide

EPISODE 1: PIRANHA
Jeremy Wade reveals why the piranha fills our nightmares and swims with a pool of hungry Piranhas.

EPISODE 2: KILLER CATFISH
Jeremy Wade unearthed all the fisherman’s tales and horror from the Kali River.

EPISODE 3: ALLIGATOR GAR
Jeremy Wade clears the reputation of the Alligator gar, formally known as a devil of the river.

EPISODE 4: EUROPEAN MANEATER
Jeremy Wade discovers that the Wels catfish is an extremely aggressive predator capable of being a man-eater depicted in medieval records.

EPISODE 5: AMAZON ASSASSINS
Legends tell of an evil spirit inhabiting an enormous fish. Jeremy Wade has encountered this creature once before, and he came out second best. He’s taking no chances in the rematch.

EPISODE 6: AMAZON FLESHEATERS
Jeremy Wade is in pursuit of crimes committed in the Amazon Rivers where a man was swallowed whole by a fish, a body eaten from within and a fish that attacked human at even the most intimate places.

EPISODE 7: FRESHWATER SHARK
Some sharks are no longer confined in the ocean. Bull sharks can live in the lake across your house.

Links

River Monster – Turtle Strikes Like a Snake Youtube Video – A must watch sneak peak.

Visit http://www.demonoid.com/ for the episodes.

Call of Duty(COD), as we all know, is a first-person shooter game that had always topped the game benchmark with its 4 previous releases. The fifth release, called COD 5 World at War of course topped the benchmark again in 2008(that’s the reason I decided to play it). But if COD 5 were to compared to COD 4, from the mission game play point of view, 1 word could explain the comparison, annihilated.

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare sets us to the present moment where we will be using all the modern guns like M16, M4 (damn good gun), .50 CAL sniper rifle and not to mention the AK47 used by the badass. The fictional story takes place mainly in Russia where an Ultranationalist Imran Zakhaev trying to use nuclear weapon and drawing attention away by setting up Khaled Al-Asad, a Middle East local rebel to organize a Coup d’état by killing the President.

Call of Duty 5 World at War

Unlike modern times, Call of Duty 5 World at War introduces us back to the late WWII times, using older guns which I can barely remember their names except for the Molotov Cocktail and Thompson machine gun which I barely use in the mission. The story sets us back to the final battles of WWII in the Pacific war (United States and the Japan Empire) and the Eastern Front (Soviet Union and the Nazi Germany).

Gaming Engine

Both COD 4 and COD 5 uses the same gaming engine developed for COD 4 where the team of developers was sent to a military training facility in the Californian desert to experience simulated real time combat. Highlighted gaming updates were Depth of Field, bullet damage reduction after wall penetration, the animated death scenes by attack dogs and etc. Since they use the same gaming engine, so this is the perfect comparison between COD 4 and 5.

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare vs. Call of Duty 5 World at War

1. Intensity - In Call of Duty 4, the fictional missions were much intense. Good examples are the last part of the first mission where you have to escape the sinking boat, rescuing the injured helicopter pilot (but dies after that), camouflage under the grass during the sniping mission, sniping Imran Zakhaev and surviving the scourging attacks until the helicopter arrives at the last part of the sniping mission with Captain MacMillan.

However, in Call of Duty 5, there are much less intensity compared to COD 4. The only part was the sniping mission, where you’ll have to kill the other 2 snipers from the building opposite, the rescuing US armies from the sea and the famous and very common one, “BANZAI” in almost every Japanese combats.

2. Difficulty Level - I’ve only played both these releases in hardened (not veteran) and honestly Call of Duty 4 was much challenging, you die much faster and hardened actually means hardened. Unlike Call of Duty 5 where hardened looks much more like … easy?

3. Newbie Friendly Level - No doubt about this, Call of Duty 4 is much n00b friendlier. Your mission in COD4 starts in a training facility to enable you to get used to combat tactics. In COD 5, your first mission started with you nearly got killed by the Japanese army.

4. Captain Instructions - I’ve got to say the Captains from COD 4 are slightly clearer when giving instructions. But to be honest, both COD 4 and 5 sucked at giving instructions. Because most of the time when given instructions, I’d be busy shooting down incoming attacks.

5. Mini Map (Compass) - COD 5 wins this part hands down. From the graphics of the small compass at the bottom left hand corner (COD 5) and at the bottom (COD 4), you can see a huge difference already. Moving around the map was much easier with COD 5′s compass.

6. Gaming Variety – Let’s see. In COD4, they offered the most common first person shooter, gunship backup, attack from helicopters, sniper camouflage, ambush enemies, sniping from thousands of yards away, rescue crashed pilots, helping injured soldiers (Captain MacMillan), “inperson” view of the death of Sergeant Paul Jackson(you), escape breaking/sinking ship, escape chasing Russian troops and helicopters.

Likewise in COD 5 , the first person shooter but they had gunning Zero fighters (that was fun), rescue army from the water, sniping Nazi snipers, death of Sergeant Sullivan(not you), tank mission, escape from burning flamethrowers and not to forget the everlasting “Banzai” fear you get in every mission that involves Japanese troops(except for the rescue mission).

Well, judge for yourself, it’s quite obvious to me which has the upper hand here.
Please tell me if I left anything out.

In a Nutshell

Both releases are good, both introduces player to a new gaming environment, both can be finished within 10 hours and both have their own catchy storyline. But if Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare would be rated 10/10, Call of Duty 5, World at War should be rated only at 8/10. Why?

A game released a year later and from the same developer. I wouldn’t expect it to suck in so many areas compared to its previous versions like Call of Duty 5, World at War did.

The experience you get from COD 5 is, “I’ve got to finish this mission to see what interesting stuff I will get the next mission, this mission is just too easy/boring”. It’s like everything is anticipated already, all you do is rush and kill without thinking.

In COD 4, this is what run through your mind while playing “How the hell do I kill this many people? How the hell do I run faster? How did they kill me in just 2 seconds? LOL this is fun (especially the sniper mission with MacMillan)”. Basically if you lose your focus in COD 4, you will lose the game.

That is all for this review for Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare vs. Call of Duty 5 World at War.

It’s nearly Christmas and I got my hands on a new Dell Studio 15 for some “out of the box” preparation. I took the advantage to write a Laptop User Experience Review on the Dell Studio 15.

Alright, I’m not going through the specs as there are plenty of them around the web. Features are down to nothing when a machine is not user-friendly. Thus, this Laptop User Experience Review section will talk about every tiny little things that enriches every single bit of user satisfaction while using a Dell Studio 15 Laptop.

Top View

The Dell Studio 15 I played with had the Graphite Grey/Black Trim design over the chassis. The design made me recall what I had learnt before in high school geography.

Look, the design looks like it came right out from the map of mountains! If you have no idea how mountains in maps actually look like. Please refer to http://www.schweich.com/images/DSCN0451sm.jpg

Here’s a Wee Tip, if you don’t want backpackers to mistaken your laptop as their map to Mount Everest, don’t get this kind of design, people’s life are at stake here.

Side View

Dell decided to shift all the ports from the back of the laptop to the sides of the Dell Studio 15. Everything was fine until I decided to plug in the power cord and the mouse.

Dell Studio 15's extended wires taking up extra spaces

I mean, what is wrong with Dell? A laptop is always about saving space not taking up spaces.

Optical Drive

I have also received complaints about the Optical Drive in the Dell Studio 15. It’s located at the top right hand side of the base and that’s where most (right handed) people use their mouse at. Seriously this machine is designed by loonies.

Power Adapter & Power Cord

At first glance, the Studio 15′s power adapter is extremely nice … slim, and looked like it came out of Lamborghini’s garage, but I was wrong. As I was starting to plug in the power cord into the adapter, I was having a hard time figuring out which is the top and which is the bottom.

Stress areas at both top and bottom of the adapter. Engineering wise, this design sucks.

Let’s move on, Dell did not always suck when designing their products. I was searching the light indicator that shows that the power adapter is receiving power (or not) and I was unable to find it. As I looked further, I found something that qualified for the word “stylish”.

Speaker

Here is also something that is worth a round of applause. The speaker was shifted upwards so that your hands would not block some of the sound waves produced by the speaker which would result in hollow noises. Unlike the conventional speaker which is placed right over the palm rest.

Wireless Switch

Dell blew it on this one. Having a switch for a tiny thing like the wireless is a no no. Nobody likes a switch where you have to break your neck to see it. It’s conventional and I’d prefer using the keyboard (Fn + F2 keys) to turn on my wireless card.

Slot Protector (SD Card)

One thing also that I found fascinating is the little Secure Digital (SD) Card slot protector. I personally think it’s very cute to have a little piece of fake memory stuck in the SD card slot.

But what’s the point of being cute when you throw user friendliness right into the drain? I use the SD card slot almost 2 or 3 times a week to backup my camera photos. I would not want to waste my time unplugging this fake SD card every time I want to insert pictures from the SD card. This is only useful to those who don’t have a SD card.

In a Nutshell

Disassembling the Dell Studio 15 to clean the fan seems to be easier with this model, chassis size is smaller then previous models despite having the same monitor size, Studio 15 looks better as well.

But Dell has been redesigning and improving their laptop chassis in order to court the market with slick computer designs to compete with Apple. Why am I still looking at rubbish that is not user friendly at all?