The Australian International Motor Show 2011 in Melbourne over the weekend attracted car enthusiasts from all over. With tickets going at $20 for adults, I thought it was okay. For Josiah, he compared it to the ones held in California where he would spend the entire day going through cars (approx. 6 hours). We were done within 3 hours and we did go car to car and I spent some time taking some photos. In my opinion, I had compared the motor show to the previous Kuala Lumpur International motor shows. I always think that enthusiastic sexy hot chicks (models) are a must for motor shows like these. In Melbourne, by 3pm, the models look pretty tired ( those who are dressed up), not the promoters or marketing staff. Maybe it’s because the show’s been running for so many days, about 10 days in total. That’s the shallow-me representing majority of you who like checking out chicks at motor shows too. Enough about that.

Cars – I am not very well-versed with cars myself since my main mode of transport are my feet and the tram, but it looks like there are some pretty spectacular ones, so here goes.

VW engine.

Hottest-looking tired model at Bufori. Love her hair and cat suit. I think Australian models probably don’t appreciate people snapping photos. I had a look around – those with large DSLR cameras had to be Asian men!

The outfits were all really classy and professional. I failed to take Peugeot’s promoters’ dress, they were the best ones.

Hottest chicks of the day – from Lexus.

I’d like to get me one of these that would take me to wherever I want to go!

One of the best engineering design displays around.

Best gimmick goes to Kumho Tyres with a model perpetually seated on what I think might be an arched steel seat in his clothes, creating that illusion that he is sitting on nothing!

What I failed to find out was – how did he get up to walk away? Did someone carry him away?

Toyota had a lovely stage with the lights / screen display going on from the ceiling.

Now, how about a >$500 toy car for your little one?

Around two or three brands had the simulator car, great for children.

Now time for me to pick my two-door car.

Porsche?

Or… Audi TT?

Maybe I’ll just stick to Nissan Skyline.

I have unsubscribed this many times and also tweeted to their customer service online but I suppose nobody listens. I’ve sent the email to my SPAM list but it keeps re-appearing in my Inbox.

Here are the dates I unsubscribed:

23 October 2008
18 December 2008
21 May 2009
30 August 2009
30 January 2011

24 March 2011 (below)

I e-mailed to StarHub:

Nobody listens. Someone responds on your Twitter account @StarHubCares, but nobody in the IT department checks if this e-mail address is deleted. Please delete me off your system. I am of no use to your database as a Malaysian living in Melbourne. Plus, the person / original owner who put in my email address (wrongly) has no access to your eNewsletters, so what are you doing about this? You’ve lost many opportunities / sales from the intended customer, and that is not me.

I received this reply e-mail from StarHub:

Thank you for your feedback submitted using twitter. We wish to inform you that we are currently looking into your concerns on the eNewsletters that you have been receiving, and will get back to you as soon as we have all the relevant information. We appreciate your kind patience in the meantime. If you have any questions, please e-mail to this address or fax to xxxx xxxx.

I replied back to StarHub:

Thanks for your e-mail. I just can’t seem to place this email into junk/spam and just keep getting it. Poor original owner of the account hasn’t been receiving his/her emails from you all!

And the smartest thing @StarHubCares was to announce my email to the entire world. I think that it’s really unprofessional for such a large company. Do you all have a social media policy in place whereby you don’t further disclose customers’ email addresses? It’s bad that StarHub already refused to remove my email address off your list but to announce it on Twitter? Should I just have kept the spams. Now things are getting worse. I don’t need anything – I just want my e-mail deleted off your database that’s all and I’m doing you guys a favour since I cannot contribute to buying your service.

I think StarHub needs to look into this matter seriously – cleaning up database / putting in place a social media policy. It reflects badly on StarHub (displaying email on Twitter). Oh dear.

Earlier on Twitter:

I tweeted to @StarHubCares. They responded politely and said that someone will respond to my Twitter and email to (insert my email address here) via normal Twitter reply. One dude tweeted over to me and said, “And @StarHubCares has just announced your email address to the whole world.” Then @StarHub Cares replied, “Hi there, her email address was already made public on her blog under ‘contact’.”

Indeed my e-mail is made public on my Contact section, but does not give them a reason to display it publicly! Vodafone on Twitter (telco in Australia) would DM customers privately. I am stunned. -_-

Anyway, I expect not to hear from them anymore, ever again.

Closure:

I tweeted for them to kindly remove that tweet with my e-mail address on it. They did and replied politely that they will remove my e-mail off their database too.

The recent WordCamp Melbourne 2011 welcomed developers and not-so-technical folks (like myself) in Melbourne (although some travelled from as far as Nepal). The conference was focused on WordPress. The two day event had great presentations by industry leaders like Amanda Gonzales, Kate Kendall, Emily Doig, Ryan Cross, Melinda Samson, Dion Hulse, Troy Dean and oh too many to mention – check it out here.

On the second day, I had a chat with a few attendees and Kym Huynh, WordCast’s resident Executive Editor invited me to be interviewed. I thought, why not? Here you go – the geeky side of me.

Please excuse the “uhhs”. I should enroll myself in Toastmasters.

Check out my feature on WordCast here. I am really honoured to be featured amongst prolific members within the web / tech industry.

On Friday after catching up with my gfs Tati and Nurul Jannah, I managed to visit Nuffnang Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) office. Nuffnang was really nice to accomodate my visit as I was being introduced to each and every one of them. This was my second visit and I just couldn’t believe it – they have expanded their office, increasing their number of staff. You can read more about Nuffnang here.

Just a few main things I noticed:
1. Many hot chicks working at Nuffnang and they’re all a talented bunch ranging from musicians to models, bloggers and so on.
2. They have a strong corporate culture; they get to stare and read blogs or tweet 24/7, how cool is that?
3. They are all friendly and always laughing and smiling. Fridays are their themed-outfit day. This time, it was ‘the boyfriend shirt’ theme.
4. They have offices in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Australia, Indonesia and China!

Being with Nuffnang for three years now, I have managed to monetize my blog decently, being a part of the rising culture (social media). Nuffnang has been very consistent so far, and there really is nothing I can complain about. In fact, the very humble Timothy Tiah always emphasizes “If there is anything at all you feel we need to improve, please do let us know.”

The hot chicks at Nuffnang. A vibrant bunch. The left side of the office.

The right side of the office; the tech-team.

They’re a fun bunch, but when it comes to work, it’s serious business – professional.

Hot chicks in the boyfriend-shirt. Sorry ladies, hands were abit shaky!

Nuffnang footprints; very honoured to be a part of this wall. Now I’m thinking of ways to add more onto this wall.

Tati with her little doodle for Nuffnang.

Okay, just posted mine up there. Oh wait, blocking someone else’s Post-It note.

Alright, will place mine below Suet Li‘s.

My fellow Kim (Kimberly) – awww so sweet!

The controversial Xiaxue, always forever so creative. You gotta love her to hate her.

Timothy Tiah is co-founder of Nuffnang together with Ming Shen. The humble duo, their key to establishing their business, a very rare attribute in most young and upbeat companies these days.

Nicholas Chay, Country Manager for Nom Nom Media Sdn. Bhd.

I’m happy and satisfied with Nuffnang’s services and related services (did you know about Churp Churp or Jipaban?) so far. I’m not aiming to monetize my blog as my main job at this point but as a blogger, with some traffic, why not. Back then, this whole blog monetization idea did not exist. It’s a win-win situation for all!