3 Simple Steps to Get Your Medication Near You

Have one of these scenarios ever happen to you?

- You have medications to collect at the hospital every month but it is very far away?

- You go for check-up at the clinic near your home but it is more convenient to collect your medication near you workplace?

- You are planning to stay with your son/ daughter in another city over the festive season?

If you have been struggling with the inconvenience of collecting your medication, there is a solution for you! Introducing the Sistem Pendispensan Ubat Bersepadu, or in short SPUB, a Value Added Service (VAS) offered by almost every government healthcare facility in Malaysia. It may sound like a new service when I put it this way, however this service has been implemented since 2003, making it almost 12 years old already. The key feature of this service is that it brings your medication closer to you

I have seen many instances where orang asli and other farm workers who stay very far away from the nearest hospital find the need to travel there monthly to collect their medications before they found out about SPUB. Imagine the amount of time and effort they could have saved by just collecting their medications at a nearby health clinic instead. If you have been experiencing similar troubles, you should try it out too...

Step 1: Where?

The most important thing to remember is to tell your pharmacist where you want to collect your medications next month and subsequent months. If you are unsure, you can always enquire with your pharmacist to find the most convenient facility to collect your medications. Your medications will then be delivered to your selected facility for subsequent collection. Please note that once you have selected your destination, you should try not to collect your medication at another facility because they will only give you a week supply if they have your medication in stock. So it is best to be sure of your desired destination to get the most out of this service.

Step 2: How?

Another important thing to remember is to register for this service when collecting your medications. This is a step that many of my patients forget because they assume the pharmacy knows where they want to go next. The registration for SPUB is actually very simple. After you tell your pharmacist where your desired destination is, he/she will fill a simple form for you and put a red stamp on your prescription to indicate that your prescription has been validated. When collecting your subsequent supply, simply show them the red stamp and you will be supplied with your medications.

Step 3: When?

As usual most medications will be supplied on a monthly basis and SPUB is no exception. The pharmacist who has dispense the medications to you will inform you the date to collect your subsequent supplies. One thing to note is that delivering your medications to your desired destination may take some time but we guarantee that they will be ready to be collected at the informed date.

With these 3 simple steps, you will be saving yourselves so much precious time and money instead of spending them on the road and traffic jams. You will also be less likely to run out of medications and even if you do, your solution is just a stone throw away, If you think this service is useful, do SHARE it with your friends and family, you will be doing them a favour.

lalanandaFRY

11/6/15

11 Things to Know When Collecting Medication at Government Pharmacies

It has been some time since I have blogged and several incidence at work motivated me to write this article. As you may know, I am a government health clinic pharmacist and my job is awesome since I get paid to assist patients with their medications and change their lives for the better. At least that is what I work hard to do for my patients every day at my counter where tonnes of patients come and go. Some patients are nice and really appreciate my advice, however others whine about how long they have waited for the pharmacy staff to just pick medicines from shelves.

Trust me, I have visited the outpatient as a patient before countless times. I understand that the process from the start at the registration counter till the end at the pharmacy can be long and tedious. So I am here to help every patient to get the best service at a government pharmacy. I am talking about speed, efficiency and other services some might not know about. Here are the

11 Things to Know When Collecting Medication at Government Pharmacies

1: Check Prescription
A prescription slip is like an order made at a restaurant, the doctor lists all the medications you need for the pharmacy to prepare. Most of the time doctors will give you a complete prescription and everything will go well at the pharmacy. However occasionally during peak times, doctors do get confused and issue prescriptions that may not be yours. So remember to make sure the doctors got your name and identification right before you get the medications prepared at the pharmacy to reduce the hassle of getting the confusion sorted out.

2: Wait for your Number
Government pharmacies are like banks, we give different calling numbers for a variety of prescription types. That number sheet is very important because when your medication is ready, your number will be called. Please hold on to your number like you would in banks because if you do not come to the counter with that number sheet when your number is called, your number might be skipped after it has been called for 2-3 rounds. We also use the number to make sure the medication is really yours, so please present the number sheet when collecting your medication, It might not sound very serious at first but you might be given medication meant for another patient who happens to have the same name. I'm sure you know that it is very common to have similar names in Malaysia and could be dangerous.

3: May I know your Name please....
I am sure by now you have noticed a trend to identify the patient's identity in the first 2 steps and this is probably the most crucial. In many cases I have observed, patients are not always the ones collecting the medications at the counter. Sometimes the medications are collected by parents for a number of young children and we need to make sure correct medications are given to each child. So when we ask you for whom is this medication for, please make sure you can tell the full name of your child, father, mother, grandpa, grandma or whoever the prescription is for.

4: Is my prescription still Valid?
You might not know this before but every prescription has an "expiry date" or "duration of use". If you have seen a regular prescription, you will notice that there is a duration stated for the medications, that is its validity period. This is to inform the pharmacy how long you should be using the medications and to ensure timely follow-up checks with the doctor to monitor your progress for patients who have appointments. So do make sure you do not skip your appointments because we can't supply your medications with your old "expired" prescription anymore.

5: We give what the prescription tell us to
Pharmacy staff are trained to supply the medications as listed in the prescription prepared by the doctor. I have been told countless times to give additional antibiotics or cough syrups by patients and I have to deny all of them. It isn't that I am not willing to help, it is just that we pharmacists are not allowed to add or remove any medications to the prescription. Sometimes the doctor may think that a certain medication is unnecessary for you or maybe just forget to include that medication in the prescription. If you think there is/are some medications you need that are not listed in the prescription, you would have to see the doctor again.

6: One month supply only?
Yes, it is our standard practice in government pharmacies to give 1 month supply of medication and to give a date to collect your medication again next month, even if the prescription is valid for a longer period. You would need to present the prescription for subsequent supplies every month until the prescription "expires". Please do not request for 3-4 months supply just because you are unwilling to travel to the pharmacy monthly. We understand that it is inconvenient, but if the pharmacy provides additional supply to you and everyone else, we fear that we might not have sufficient stock to supply to all patients.

7: Collect your medication here only
If you recieved your prescription from a doctor at a particular hospital or clinic, please try not to use it at another clinic without telling the original pharmacy. If you walk into another clinic pharmacy to get your subsequent supply without prior arrangements, they will most likely give only a week supply. So do try to stick to the same pharmacy unless you are desperate. If you are moving out of town or if you wish to collect your medication nearer to your home, we do have a special service known as Sistem Pendispensan Ubat Bersepadu (SPUB) that can be arranged. More details on that in number 9.

8: What's taking so long?

At every government pharmacy we have a policy to supply medications to patients within 30 minutes. As I have mentioned previously, all prescriptions go through several rigorous processes in the pharmacy before medications are ready to be dispensed to patients and it takes time. We do our best to minimize errors and still prepare everything within the alloted time. Please be considerate and do not rush us if you have waited for 10-15 minutes! If you are in a hurry and do not have time to spare, you can consider number 9.

9: Try out some VAS
Apart from the usual dispensing, every government pharmacy also offer Value Added Services (VAS) that are designed for your convenience and to reduce waiting time. As mentioned in number 7, SPUB is a VAS designed to allow patients to collect their subsequent supply at another healthcare facility that is more convenient. Many of my patients opt for SPUB to collect their medication either nearer to their homes, nearer to their workplace or when they are moving out of town. All you need to do is to tell your pharmacist the place you want to collect your supply and you will receive an additional red stamp on your prescription. This stamp will indicate to the refered pharmacy that you have made prior arrangements and will be eligible for your standard supply.

Some government pharmacies also offer drive thru, postal services, SMS n Take and Telephone n Take. If you are interested, please check this LINK and enquire at the pharmacy.

10: Bring a Bag
Since 2012, the health ministry has been promoting the Green Earth campaign that aims to reduce the usage of plastic bags. All government pharmacies in Malaysia do not provide plastic bags even if you have a long list of medications, so I suggest bringing a big recyclable bag when collecting your medications for your convenience. You wouldn't want to be stuffing medication boxes into your little handbag or balancing them with just your hands.

11: It is Free!
Yes, you read it right, the medications are free. The only fee you pay in the hospital or clinic is at the registration counter for check-up, which is normally between RM1-15. There are no additional charges even if you are prescribed with more than 10 types of medications. So next time you collect your medications, you will notice that the medications do have pricetags on their label but you do not need to pay for them. They are there to let you know and appreciate how much the medications are actually worth. However foreigners are charged more during registration and will only be given 5 days supply of medication.

Next time you go to a government pharmacy, remember these 11 tips to have a nice experience collecting your medication. I hope I have made everything clear about our procedures and how you can get everything done quickly and conveniently. If you have any enquiries, please leave a comment below. Don't forget to SHARE this with your family and friends if you think this may be useful to them.

lalanandaFRY
7/6/15

Stark Contrast to the Beginning

7 years ago when I was in college, I still remember a time when my handphone had a poster of the then-upcoming movie Iron Man and my ringtone was the Black Sabbath song Iron Man. Back then when my class mates asked me what that song was, I will tell them the name and they will immediately ask whether it is the theme song for the 2008 movie. Well, yes and no. The song was used in the movie many times probably due to the name, but I doubt Black Sabbath knew their song would be used in a Marvel movie 38 years later! Wow... It actually took them 38 years to use this song in an Iron Man show!

It was really disappointing actually because I remembered several announcements stating that the movie was going to be released in late 2006 or early 2007 but nothing came out till May 2008. There wasn't that much hype by then, especially after the disaster of Spiderman 3 left me with a bad taste in my mouth just a year prior. As a fan of Iron Man since I saw the animated series on Saturday mornings as a kid, I knew I was going to see it anyway no matter how bad it was going to be. Please please prove me wrong!!!

WARNING: 

The following features stunts by a bad and irresponsible student. So for your safety and protection, do not attempt to recreate or re-enact any stunt or activity you are about to read below. You have been warned, so please proceed.

It was May 2008, I had just finished sitting for one of the gazillion exams/class tests in college. There was some sort of carnival at college and we were expected to participate for fun raising. If I'm not mistaken my class sold pizzas and drinks at our stall for the whole morning. The most awesome part is that all our pizza and drinks were sold out so fast that we could pack up and leave early. I had mixed feelings about that though... I had 5-6 hours to burn before my bus comes and nothing to do at all (exams and assignments were completed), so I decided to go to the cinema to watch the new movie I always wanted to watch, Iron Man.

So did I play truant? Theoretically yes, but I completed all my work early and there was no class that day. We had a great time having lunch together and watched the movie I have been waiting to see for so long. The movie definitely didn't disappoint me at all. In fact I still think that Iron Man is still the best movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, no wonder why it started the long running streak we now have today. It was the most fun I ever had in a movie with friends, so I rest my case.

Looking back 7 years and even rewatching it now, the movie is still so much of an enjoyment. Hmm... I wonder what they will do with Iron Man 2? Maybe introduce a new character like Black Widow?

lalanandaFRY

9/5/15

What's the fuss with butts?

This is another post that I have been editing for months but didn't get posted, this time because I didn't know what to call it. If you have been listening to pop music this year, you will see a comeback for a certain genre of music... No not Rock, not R&B, not that type of music. Vogue magazine claims that we are in the ERA of the BIG BOOTY.

Oh gosh this sounds so wrong!!! Vogue magazine published an article last September and was flamed by critics all over the world for being insensitive to African Americans. It's true though... I hope you don't think of me a pervert since I totally don't like the idea of showing or singing about butts. Do you think the entertainment industry dictates the definition of beauty now as having big buttocks? It is ridiculous but unfortunately we've got so many butt related songs this year that rivals Sir Mix-a-lot's Baby Got Back in 1992 and Black Eyed Peas' My Humps in 2005. Here is a list in chronological order:

Wiggle by Jason Derulo featuring Snoop Dogg

This song was on every radio channel, even some of those conservative ones in my country that usually play oldies. Not sure whether those radio channels actually realise what 'wiggle' implies in this song because I am pretty sure they do explain it in great detail in the lyrics if anyone was not too distracted by the obnoxious background tune. They even boast its Youtube views before you click the "Play" button, so maybe I shouldn't say too much about it anymore. This song actually got up to 5th place at the US Billboard Charts and went platinum in the US selling more than 1.5 million copies since it was released in May.

All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor

This year is all about that bass, about that bass, no treble... This is the song that inspired this post in the first place. Interestingly this song is the total opposite from the previous song, everyone loved it! The beat is old school barbershop pop, a style that we haven't heard for a long time that it feels fresh and new. Instead of objectifying a female butt, this song seems to discuss women empowerment and a positive body image, much to the women demographic's delight. The song rose to the top in the Billboard Charts in July and stayed at number one for 8 weeks consecutively and also selling over 4.5 million copies since it's release.

Anaconda by Nicki Minaj

My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns hun! I think by now everyone knows this, Nicki Minaj is... ahem *clears throat*.... no stranger to butt genre and this evident just by looking at the cover art whereby the Parental Advisory sign is shifted to a more "strategic" position. She sampled a 22 year old Sir Mix-a-lot song Baby Got Back, some say the most influencial butt song of all time, if there's such a thing, This song made a big leap in mid September from 42 to number one on Billboard's Streaming Songs chart, most probably due to the sexual nature of the music video. It was certified Platinum in November and has sold more than 1.3 million copies since it's release.

and lastly

Booty by Jennifer Lopez featuring Iggy Azalea

This song title is the most obvious of all. Originally titled "Big Booty", the song title already sounds like it is going to be a cheesy song to begin with. But to be honest, to me this is one of Jennifer Lopez's better songs compared to all her other songs in recent years. The lyrics seem to imply that Jennifer Lopez is inviting others to join her at the dance floor where she flaunts her "booty" and admires others who dance too. Despite not reaching top 10 in the Billboard Top 100, it reached number one at the Hot Dance Club songs chart, Jennifer Lopez's 16th song to do so.

Everything from Miley Cyrus and her twerking, Kim Kardashian trying to "Break the Internet" and Beyonce's newest songs is getting ridiculous. Please stop making big butts an attribute that define women! Please stop objectifying women!!!

lalanandaFRY
1/2/15

Has Hollywood finally run out of ideas?

Once in a while there will be a release of an original idea that is amazing, so amazing that Hollywood executives think that a simple idea can be exploited into a franchise. In recent years, there are so many new terms coined to describe this phenomenon, let me list them out:

Remakesploitation

Sequelsploitation

Mockbuster

Parody/ Compilation

Sure there are some original blockbusters here and there, but have you noticed that most blockbusters this years are categorized into one of these... As I mentioned in my previous post for Remakesploitation, the key is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Seriously, what happened to originality? It's the end of 2014 now, most of the blockbusters of the year are out by now, so here are my short reviews of them.

22 Jump Street (June 2014)

Sequel of the 2012 film adaptation of a 1987-1991 TV series 21 Jump Street. Not many people went in to the cinema to watch the 2012 movie expecting a masterpiece, so it was a pleasant surprise. When the sequel came along, those people who saw the first one would have high expectations and I would say that it does not disappoint.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (November 2014)
Second sequel to a 2012 film adaptation of a 2008 New York Times Best Seller The Hunger Games. I have mentioned this before and I will say it again, splitting a novel into two films is a very bad idea. Don't get me wrong, it is an awesome idea for film executives. Splitting a book into two movies doubles the opportunity for profit and increases the time for hype for film merchandising. But if as a movie goer, you would have to go through what I call the "Deathly Hallows syndrome". This is when the first part is the build-up portion that may be slightly boring and stretched, then we have to wait a year or more for the second part that actually shows the climax and ending of the book. It worked so well for Harry Potter and Twilight before it, why not The Hunger Games?

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (February 2014)
Sequel to the 2012 reboot of a 2002-2007 film franchise adaptation of a Marvel comics superhero created in 1962. There were so many adaptations of Spiderman after 52 years since it was created and the most successful so far is still the 2002 film series. A lot of people might disagree with me but I still think that Tobey Maguire was perfect as Peter Parker. My question is "Why bother to make another film franchise after ending the previous one a mere 5 years prior?". The answer is simple... Money. Enough said.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (July 2014)

Sequel to the 2011 re-reboot of a 1968-1973 film franchise adaptation of a French novel published in 1963.  The 1968 masterpiece and it's sequels have always amazed me for their fantastic atmosphere and storytelling. The 2001 reboot was disappointing to say the least. But since the 2011 re-reboot, I had my reservations to this franchise. With the current state of CGI and jaw-dropping motion capture acting by Andy Serkis, Rise and Dawn were both very good movies. I'm looking forward to see where this goes. Thumbs up to Dawn.

Transformers: Age of Extinction (June 2014)

Third sequel of 2007 film adaptation of a 1984-1993 animated TV series based upon Hasbro's 1984 toyline. I watched this movie late at night, probably the worst time to watch such a long and boring movie. It's interesting how an action movie with transforming cars and tonnes of explosions can be boring but Michael Bay did the impossible. When I watched the first movie I was at awe with the extensive use of CGI and explosions but now that it has taken over the plot, taken over logic, I am convinced that explosions is Michael Bay's way of communicating with his audience. However I must admit, seeing Mark Wahlberg as the lead instead of Shia LeBeouf is a breath of fresh air.

Godzilla (May 2014)
Hollywood re-reboot of a 1954 Japanese film and subsequent franchise. Remember Hollywood's previous failed attempt to make a Godzilla film in 1998? I certainly didn't. Not that it was unmemorable, I just had the desire to erase it from my memory. Godzilla is the king of monsters and will always be a symbol of nuclear devastation made by the country that experienced it first hand. The new movie definitely brings back the nostalgia of seeing gigantic monsters fight while buildings collapse around them. Too bad there is hardly any in it, instead we are left seeing some pathetic human characters most of the time, making some silly decisions along the way. Sure, the effects were impressive and the atmosphere made the monsters menacing, but wouldn't it be better if we could see more Godzilla doing Godzilla things in a Godzilla movie?

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (March 2014)
Sequel to a 2011 film adaptation (the 3rd live action adaptation) of a Marvel comic superhero created in 1941 and part of an ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe started in 2008. First thing I must clarify, I prefer this movie to the first one. Being the last movie with SHIELD playing the huge part before the highly anticipated Avengers sequel, this movie needed to set-up the foundations with an entertaining plot. The Winter Soldier certainly delivers all of that. I shall not spoil the movie here, just get it on bluray and watch it!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (September 2014)
Re-reboot of a 1990-1993 live action film series adaptation of a 1987-1996 animated series adaptation of a Mirage comic book started in 1984. My oh my it is another Michael Bay production, but fortunately he is not at the helm directing the movie. This is a good example of current CGI movies making everything too clean and pleasing to look at but still failing to capture the fun vibe of the 1990 film and the animated series. There are times in the movie that I think to myself, what would the movie like if it was made independently with a low budget like the 1990 film. Would it look cheap and ugly or still as entertaining as it was back then?

The Expendables 3 (August 2014)
Second sequel of a 2010 film homage to blockbuster action films from 1980's and 1990s. Have anyone actually counted the number of characters in the poster? Don't bother, there are 16. Having an ensemble cast of classic action stars has always been the key in the first two movies, so why bring in a bunch of unknown kids into the gang of old man? At some point of the movie, it felt like watching one of those Youtube clips where some fan of old school action movies stitched a bunch of old clips into a film. Would be fun to count exactly how long each character actually appear on screen, poor Jet Li didn't get to do anything.

X-Men: Days of Future Part (May 2014)
Direct sequel to a 2011 reboot film and a 2013 character film, based upon a 1981 comic book storyline and the seventh sequel of a film franchise started in 2000 based upon a Marvel comic book franchise created in 1963. This is one movie that has that amazing cool factor to it. Bringing Bryan Singer back to the helm was the best thing about the movie because he knew the X-Men films too well. As most other critics say, in order to make this movie as good as it is, huge sacrifices had to be made. In this case, the plots and story of all other X-Men movies other than the 2011 reboot X-Men: First Class. Time travel is such an old cliche used in film to undo what other movies have done, but none as elegant as this. Never knew I would be excited for the next X-Men movie again as I was after the end credits of 2013's The Wolverine.

Well those are almost all the movies I've watched this year. Ten movies that are among the highest grossing of the year and all are either remakes, sequels or a mixture of both. Then again there are movies like Interstellar, Nightcrawler, Birdman and John Wick that are great movies that stand apart from the rest. Maybe there is still some creativity and innovation in Hollywood, just unfortunate that most of them don't sell as many tickets as those above.

lalanandaFRY
8/12/14

Greatest Films of All Time

What is a good film?

What is the greatest film?

Who is to judge?

There are many films throughout the decades since people started using cameras to film pictures that move but how many will be remembered? How many films can you remember watching in the cinema, at home or anywhere else that somehow set a standard in which you use to judge what is a good film? Of course with the internet, everyone has easy assess to every film in existence, some way back to the silent era of film. Let's recount some of those films people consider the greatest and why...

CITIZEN KANE

Nowadays most people are so used to colour films that black and white films are just dismissed. Sadly at some point, I was one of those people. I admit I had this film in my library for a long time but did not consider watching it. But now I know that there were many films without colour that were great, this one in particular is still considered by many, and now me, as one of the greatest film of all time.

Citizen Kane tells about a news reporter who is trying to find out the meaning of the word 'Rosebud', the last word uttered by a tycoon, Charles Foster Kane. Throughout the film, the reporter interviews many people closely associated with him, giving audience a flashback of his life. Kane is a man who has all the money, the women and everything else he could buy but had no happiness. Similar to other 'greatest films', this film was relatively successful but did not get the recognition it deserved until many years later. This is a film with deep meaning that was expressed perfectly through excellent cinematography and directing. Give it a watch!

VERTIGO

You know that plump bald guy who made himself a celebrity by appearing behind the camera, his name was Alfred Hitchcock a.k.a. the Master of Suspense. Even people who have not heard of this person definitely know at least one of his films. Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window and North by Northwest are some of his most famous works. But recently Vertigo is the one that took the spotlight for being the film that dethroned Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time in the Sight & Sound poll.

Vertigo is a tragic story of a middle aged detective Scottie who is forced to retire due to acrophobia and is hired by an old acquaintance Gavin as a private investigator to follow his wife Judy. However this relatively simple task became complicated when he starts to fall for her, leading to multiple twists in the plot. Obviously I am not going to spoil the experience here, you have to watch the film to appreciate the twists that make this film a masterpiece.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

I have always been a geek who loves everything sci-fi. However I'll admit this movie made me fall asleep twice before. But that was long before I learnt to appreciate the epic cinematography and story telling by Stanley Kubrick. Sci-fi films set in space I am used to have always included exciting battles, exotic aliens and lots of loud explosions (that not supposed to be heard in space), so at some point watching the camera shooting a spaceship flying for several minutes accompanied with classical music was boring to me then. The film defines the word epic and watching it is an experience of a lifetime.

2001 has a bizarre plot that follows the novel of the same name quite closely. The plot surrounds a black monolith that appeared millions of years ago to man-apes, then later in the 'future' being studied in secret by Dr Floyd in the second act of the film. The third act is the part most people know about the film when two astronauts on their mission to Jupiter have to deal with problems with their sentient computer controlling their spacecraft. Then the story wraps up in the forth act that I won't spoil here. This is a stylish film that takes its time to bring audience into Kubrick's world of the 'future'.

Those I mentioned above are regarded to be the greatest of their respective genres, Citizen Kane being the greatest biography drama, Vertigo being the greatest psychological mystery and 2001 being the greatest sci-fi. How about other genres?

• Greatest Sports Film

ROCKY (1976)

• Greatest Action Film

DIE HARD (1988)

• Greatest Fantasy Film

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001)

• Greatest Sequel Film

THE EMPIRE STIKES BACK (1980)

• Greatest Horror Film

ALIEN (1979)

• Greatest Animated Film

THE LION KING (1994)

• Greatest Adventure Film

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)

• Greatest Comedy Film

GHOSTBUSTERS (1984)

I am sure there are many other genres and films I have left out. I highly recommend watching all these films as they represent their individual genres perfectly. As a film buff and collector, I am certain there is no such thing as a single Greatest Film of all time, nor are there any particular greatest films of any genre. It all comes to the appreciation of film as an art and how it entertains us as viewers. Everyone will have their own personal list and those above are mine. Please note that this is my list, I have not watched every single film in the world, so if you think there are better film in each genre, do recommend them to me!

lalanandaFRY

19/8/2014

How smart are Smartphones? #2

If you have not read #1, click on this picture.

Let me sidetrack a little, I remember I was given my first cell phone when I was 15. It was a Sony Ericsson J300. I remember it had an awkward looking handle, huge speakers and came bundled together with a King Kong movie merchandise, a phone strap in the same box.

Back then everyone in school had a phone and I begged my parents for months to buy one for me too. Those who had Nokia phones bragged about their high score in Snake and other "cooler" kids had the Motorola RAZR V3, some say is the first phone capable of taking selfies. Those were the days when phones were simpler. I remember being entertained by just a simple composer app on my J300, that may seem primitive now, that had the ability to mix and match simple rhythms to form personal ringtones. Times were simpler then.

Alright, back to the list:

7. Palm Pilot PDA

This probably has the closest resemblance to current smartphones. It has a touch screen, a home button, a stylus, on/off button and even a charging dock. Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, this was one the hottest IT gadget in the market. My dad bought a Palm IIIc then and I would always use it to play simple arcade games like Asteroid on it. For those who are not familiar, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) were little palmtop devices that could run simple apps such as alarms, calendar, games and could assess the internet to read and reply e-mails. They even revolutionized the use of stylus on touchscreens and handwriting recognition. Later versions of Palm, namely the Palm Treo had colour and even incorporated a VGA camera behind, Bluetooth and WiFi, USB connectivity and also had phone components, sound familiar? Yup! it slowly evolved into what we now consider a smartphone.

8. 3.5-inch Floppy Disk
I cannot remember how many of these floppy disks I have ripped apart to see what the components were. I was in primary school and a new gimmick was implemented to the curriculum, they call it the Computer Class... Computers.... Technology... Wow! Guess what, they made us play Mario Teaches Typing for a few months before we were allowed to do anything else. Then after building enough finger muscles, teachers sold us a floppy disk each, followed by classes teaching us simple functions of Microsoft Word and Excel. Sadly as a kid, I was more interested in breaking things than learning, so that explains why I did not complete many of my assignments, my disket was in pieces.

Back then what we called as a disket typically has 1.44MB of storage, which may sound like nothing now, but it could hold dozens of document and MIDI files. But I guess nowadays everybody think of disk space in Gigabytes even on little microSD cards that mere 1.44MB is just an artifact from the 1980s and 1990s. Who knows whether in a few years time people would be looking back at 128GB microSD the way we see 3.5-inch floppy disks?

9. Nintendo Gameboy
To bring the arcade to the living room, they invented game console systems.
To bring the game console systems everywhere, they invented the Gameboy.
To play games and make calls on the same device, they made the Nokia N-Gage.
To play games, make calls and connect with the world, they invented the smartphone.

Don't get me wrong, I know smartphones are not made to replace portable gaming systems, but the sales of these systems are definitely affected by the current popularity of smartphones. The question for consumers is very simple, would you buy a portable game console or a smartphone that can play similar games for similar price? Third party software developers that were the driving force of major video game companies are now developing games for smartphones and it is my personal opinion that if this trend proceeds, portable game consoles will be obsolete in the near future.

10. Street Map

There is no doubt that street maps are a thing of the past. Until the 90s, many motorists and tourists still keep street maps in their car to be used in case they get lost. Then there was a rise of the GPS navigation device, Garmin, Navman and TomTom were among the few large companies that produced highly accurate "maps" that could identify the user's location and direct users to their destinations. Nowadays most smartphones are fitted certain apps that exercise the navigation function in the form of A-GPS, satellite GPS or even hybrid positioning system. So why carry thick street maps in the glove compartment when you can bring a talking navigator anywhere you go?

11. Point & Shoot Film Camera

35mm Film? Rewind? Disposable Cameras? Thick photo albums? These are some of the things I have not used or done for more than 10 years. I have used one of those disposable cameras once, it was on my last day of primary school. I was 12 years old then and I wanted to take pictures of my classmates for the last time before we were going our separate ways. It had 27 shots in total, a partially working flash (max 5 shots), fixed focus and that's it. Those were the days when we didn't know how the picture will turn out unless we develop those the film. So every shot was precious and handing the camera to other people to take your photo might be disastrous if they are horrible at framing a shot or are prone to camera shake. Still complaining that your smartphone's camera is subpar?

That's all that I can think of at the moment. Who knows what other functions could be included into a smartphone? The possibilities are limitless as far as I can see.

lalanandaFRY
12/8/2014

How smart are Smartphones? #1

Remember a time when we had at least one of these items below? I have a feeling some of us 90's kids would have seen and used some if not all of these. Finding one of them around the house brings back so many fond memories.

By the way, for those who are not familiar with the items above, here is a list:

1. Motorola DynaTAC

One of the first cellular phones made to be lightweight (28oz or 790g) and portable enough for users to make and receive calls on the go. It was such a revolutionary invention at the time that prices could go up to $3995 at 1983 and can be considered a luxury item. This was what most people then called "the Brick phone" or "大哥大".

2. Yellow Pages Phone Books

Poor Arnold had to search through the phone book for Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984)

If you ever wanted to search for a telephone number and address for the nearest coffee shop or find Sarah Connor's house address, what would you do? Just take out your smartphone and say "OK Google, search for the nearest Starbucks". But before Google, before Siri, you had to flip through the pages of the index of these thick telephone directories to find it. Depending on the country you live in, these phone books come in multiple volumes of a variety of businesses and an alphabetical list of every phone number registered in the country. Nowadays with mobile internet, these books are no longer sold due to waste of large amounts of paper. By the way, anyone remember the phone booth?

3. Britannica Encyclopedia

When I was in primary school, I used to have week long stays with my grandparents during the school holidays. At the end of every stay I always thought of the time spent there was boring but somehow I look forward to the next stay only because I can get my hands on my grandfather's encyclopedia collection. Flipping through the index and searching for random stuff in those dozen volumes was somewhat enjoyable because there were so many interesting articles accompanied by eye-catching illustrations. Later with Microsoft's Encarta on the PC and Wikipedia on the internet, there was no need to reserve a row on the book shelf for these anymore.

4. Sony Betamovie Camcorder

Once upon a time, there were these huge heavy devices with the ability to record precious moments on Betamax videocassette that cost a fortune. Who cares about HD video, 4K video, those were the days when camcorders could only record a maximum of 3.5 hours of blurry videos and the whole family would wait a couple of minutes for the tape to rewind in the VCR to watch them on the TV. Nowadays everyone has a micro camcorder in their pocket that could record high quality videos and could easily share them through social media like Youtube or Facebook in mere seconds. So if you are one of those people who had their birthday party or wedding toast recorded in one of these analog tapes, share this post with your friends....

5. Sony Walkman
No, I am not talking about the Walkman app, CD player or MP3 player. I am referring to the classic compact cassette player that was so portable that youngsters could attach these on their belt and listen to music while they were jogging. A typical cassette tape could play 6-10 songs per side, which sums up to about 60 minutes of music. Some of the more advance Walkman then could even record songs from the radio to blank cassette tapes, a function that was commonly used to create personalized mix-tapes, or what we now call Playlists.

Kyln prison warden listening to Star-Lord's confisticated Walkman in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

6. Motorola Wordline Pager

Flight delayed? John McClane gets a page from Holly in Die Hard 2 (1990)

Beep! Beep! "MOM - JUST A REMINDER, BE HOME BY 12:00"

That was a typical message received by one of those rich kids in school with strict parents. A pager a messaging device now considered the predecessor of the Short Messaging Service (SMS). Years ago pagers had no keyboard, just 2-3 buttons and a display that could show a few lines of text. Initially all pagers could do is make a beeping sound to "page" the user to call he/she back with the nearest payphone. Later pagers included the alphanumeric function which allowed users to read messages and even type a reply message. The equivalent we have now are text messaging and online chatting (WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook messaging, Line....).

You know what all these have in common, they are all obsolete since their functions were incorporated into a device so smart they call it the SMARTPHONE. There are many more in this list, so stay tuned for another "time-capsule" article in

How smart are Smartphones? #2

lalanandaFRY
10/8/2014