Server Specifications
This site can be considered running on a dedicated server as it only host 30 other domains which belongs to friends and families of both Michael and I. This server is housed at M1 Connect (previously known as Qala). It has 1mbps guaranteed and 10mbps burstable bandwidth.

• Dell PowerEdge 860
• Single Dual-Core Intel Xeon 3050, 2.13GHz, 1066MHz front side bus, 2MB cache
• 2x 1GB ECC DDR2 667 SDRAM
• 1x 250GB & 1x 500GB 7.2K RPM SATA II Hard Drive
• CentOS Release 5

I also have a backup server provided by Vodien Internet Solutions which I will rysnc to manually every week.

• Dell PowerEdge 2950
• 2x Intel Quad Core Xeon E5420
• 16GB Ram
• 4x 300GB SAS RAID 10
• CentOS Release 5

If you are looking for web hosting, do check them out, their support response time is fantastic!

WordPress Theme
This theme is developed by me and hence it is not available to the public as I want to keep it unique. I am using Facybox to display single images in a modal window. Yes, I am using jQuery as well. For some of my feeds like my Twitter feed and WordPress Plugins feed are retrieved and parsed using SimplePie which is included in WordPress.

There is also a iPhone version which is optimized for iPhone viewing, just visit this site in iPhone and it will redirect you to the iPhone version.

Most if not all of the pages in this website is validated as XHTML 1.0 Strict.

WordPress Plugins
I am a WordPress plugins developer however not all the plugins I developed are used on this website as I think plugins like WP-Ban and WP-PostRatings are not necessary as I don’t wish to ban any people from my site or getting my post rated.

I modified only one plugin which is the Breadcrumb plugin by Dan Peverill to have my plugins’ breadcrumbs such as WP-Email and WP-UserOnline displayed using it.

There are also two plugins which I created personally for this website, lesterchan.net Plugin houses several of the functions used in this website and WP-GalleryViewer powers my Gallery. Both of them are not available to the public as it is highly customized to this website.

• Akismet
• Breadcrumb – Modified
• Digg Button
• Google XML Sitemaps
• lesterchan.net Plugin – Not Available
• WordPress.com Stats
• WP-CommentNavi
• WP-DBManager
• WP-DownloadManager
• WP-EMail
• WP-GalleryViewer 1.00 – Not Available
• WP-PageNavi
• WP-PluginsUsed
• WP-Polls
• WP-PostViews
• WP-Print
• WP-RelativeDate
• WP-ServerInfo
• WP-Stats
• WP-UserOnline

Full Details on my Plugins Used Page.

Tracking
I am using the following statistical tools to track and analyze my site traffic.

• Webalizer
• Google Analytics
• WordPress.com Stats
• Extreme Tracking (Depreciated)

URL Shortener
I am using lc.sg as my personal URL shortener and it is powered by YOURLS which is initially developed by me but now, it is developed mainly by Ozh himself. Ozh if you see this, thank you!

Others?
If I missed out anything and you wish to know more about it, do leave it in the comments and I will try my best to add it in.

My mom ordered 4 Dell Vostro 220 Mini Tower Desktop computers for her company last week. This week, 3 units came on Tuesday and 1 unit came on Wednesday. I was there on Wednesday to help her setup the computers. I managed to setup everything for the 3 units that came on Tuesday. So happen when I wanted to setup the unit that came on Wednesday, there was a problem! The first time I switch on the PC, I got a BOSD after reading Dell’s EULA. After rebooting, it will load Windows XP and then hang at the “Pre-installing Factory Settings”. I tried like 10 times, all the same results. Ran the diagnostics CD that came with the PC as told by the Dell telephone support personnel, but I can’t seem to find any problem with the hardware like the HDD or the RAM. So I suspect it must be either the motherboard or the integrated graphics card as those are not tested in the diagnostics.

Dell’s engineer came down today and said there was a problem with the motherboard bios configuration and he changed the whole motherboard and now everything is fine.

Here are the customized specifications of the Dell Vostro 220 Mini Tower Desktop:

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E7400 (2.80GHz, 3MB, 1066MHz FSB)
• 4GB (2X2GB) NECC Dual Channel DDR2 800MHz SD RAM Memory
• 320GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive with Native Command Queuing
• 16X DVD + / – RW WITH Dual Layer Write Capabilities
• Dell E1910H 18.5″ Widescreen Flat Panel
• Integrated 5.1 Channel (Audio) Capable
• Windows Vista Business SP1 with Windows XP Professional SP3 Pre-installed
• Microsoft Office 2007 Small Business OEM
• Norton Internet Security 2009 OEM with 15 months subscription
• 3 Yrs Next Business Day Onsite Service

Each unit cost SGD$1,532.24 after adding in 7% GST.

I was invited to a Intel/Dell Swarm event yesterday at Geek Terminal. Dell Swarm is a very nice idea and the idea was came out by Dell Singapore and hence Singapore is the first country to be launching it on 5th May 2009 (tentatively). Dell business model has always been unique and most polytechnics and universities around the world always use Dell business model and supply chain as case study for the students. Dell Swarm brought a whole new meaning in buying things online.

When we all want to buy Dell products, the first thing that comes to our mind will be, Dell Singapore Website. You can also email or call to make your Dell purchases. This is a 1 to 1 buying directly from Dell. What if you want to gather more of your friends to buy together in bulk to enjoy greater discounts? That is Dell Swarm for you. Dell Swam allows you and your friends (up to 15 people) to buy Dell products in a Swarm together and enjoy the bulk discount. Each person is allowed to buy up to 3 units of any Dell products. You can share the Swarm via social networking sites like Facebook and ask you friends to join the buying spree. Each swarm will last for 72 hours or when the people in the swarm reaches 15.

Just an example, if the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 is priced at $899, the first person who join the Swarm will be paying about $859 for it, but if that person managed to get another 14 people to buy it, each of them will just pay $809, that is like $90 off the retail price directly.

Dell Swarm is targeted to go live on 5th May 2009, the URL will be http://dellswarm.com/sg. At the moment it is still undergo testing and everything on the website are just for illustration purposes and the prices there are only a placeholder. You may need a username and password to view the site. The username is “dellswarm” and password is “buysharesave” (without the quotes).

You can follow Dell Swarm on Twitter @dellswarmsg and by using hashtag #dellswarm.

At the moment, only Dell laptops and netbooks will be in the Swarm. I have suggested to them to include monitors as well. Do note that unlike the Dell Singapore Website which allows you to customize your laptops and netbooks, the laptops and netbooks configurations in Dell Swarm are fixed and hence not customizable.

Dell Swarm Home Page

When You Choose A Swarm

Swarm Details

Click on the Read More link for frequently asked questions or click here for the Dell Swarm gallery that I uploaded to Facebook.

Read More (1,282 More Words)

Dell really has great customer service. If you all want to get anything from Dell, do let me know, I will introduce the sales representative from Dell that I bought my monitor from.

My monitor came earlier than I expected in 2 ways:
1. According to Dell Support Order Status page, it was supposed to be delivered to me on the 21st April 2008. However, yesterday, I received a sms as well as an email asking me to confirm the delivery of my monitor on the next day (which is today) and I was so delighted to hear that.
2. My delivery time slot was suppose to be from 2pm to 6pm today, however, I got woken up by the door bell sound at 12.03pm and there is it, the delivery man with my monitor.

Dell 2408WFP Box

Box Has Been Opened

Cables That Come With It

The Monitor Stand Is Separated

Dell 2408WFP Wrapped

My Old Sony 17″ Monitor (SDM-HS73)

My Workspace

Thumbs up to Dell for their great service.

PS: I am seriously loving my 24″ monitor. As what Shaun said in the comments, once you are on 24″, you will never go back down, ever.

Placed and confirmed my order for Dell 2408WFP UltraSharp 24 Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor and Dell E228WFP Entry 22 Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor.

The 2408WFP is for myself and it is retailing at SGD$958.72 and the E228WFP is for my brother and it is retailing at SGD$408.74.

I bought both monitors together and hence I got the discount for the 2408WFP which is about SGD$921.67 (after discount and including taxes). The E228WFP still remains at the same price. Overall I paid SGD$1,330.41 for both monitors.

Estimated delivery date is on 21st April 2008.