Two sen a night at Tune hotels

AirAsia affiliate Tune Hotels.com is offering rooms from as low as two sen per night at its hotels in Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Kuala Lumpur and the KLIA-LCCT Airport.

The promotional rates are for stays between Feb 1 and April 30 next year for bookings made between now and May 18.

“The promotion is to extend our appreciation to guests for supporting the Tune Hotels.com brand since it was launched in Kuala Lumpur two years ago,” CEO Mark Lankester said in a statement yesterday.

He said that Tune Hotels.com would be expanding domestically to Johor Baru, Langkawi, Miri and Sandakan; and regionally via franchising and joint venture partnerships to Indonesia, India and China.

“Two regional properties will be opening in the fourth quarter of this year in Kuta and Legian in Bali, Indonesia, with 139 and 170 rooms respectively,” Lankester said.

For further information and bookings, visit http://www.tunehotels.com/ or call 03-7962 5888 from 9am to 9pm on Mondays to Fridays.

Source: The Star

Free WIFI on Penang Rapib buses

Rapid Penang begin a 3 month trial using 2 buses to provide free WIFI access to its pasengers and making it the first public bus company in Malaysia to do so. The service enables passengers to surf the Internet in the bus before arriving at their destinations.

After the three months trial, if response from passengers is good, the facility installed in stages in all of our 180 buses, and also the additional 200 buses which will be delivered by the end of the year

Its chief executive officer Azhar Ahmad said the company was installing the facility in two buses: The first plies the route between Balik Pulau and the Bayan Lepas International Airport, and the second on the Teluk Bahang-Batu Feringgi-Weld Key route.

He said use of the WiFi facility would be free and that the buses would have special stickers for easy identification by passengers.

Source: The Star

Free DECT phone and talk non-stop (sort of)

I always wanted to get a cordless DECT phone but the price is high about RM139 for a good phone and even the China made ones costs around RM89 each. Guess what? Now I am getting it for free coz I just signed up to Telekom Malaysia's special offer for Streamyx users where for RM10 a month, I get to talk TM to TM land line nationwide non-stop and I get to keep a DECT phone for free if I subcribe to the service for 6 months. Otherwise, I pay RM50 if I end the contract before 6 months. After 6 months, you can end the contract without any obligation and you get to keep the cordless DECT phone. It's that wonderful? Call TM's 100 hotline for more info.

So now every month I pay RM60 for the streamyx combo and RM10 for land line talk. I use my hand phone if I want to call another handphone user coz at 30 sen per minute is still steep for me. So my total monthly phone and internet bill is RM70. Fantastic!

Check your bank loan rates

On 24 February 2009, Bank Negara reduced the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) from 2.5% to 2% to give the public more disposable income. This reduction, in turn, was reflected in the reduction of the BLR from 5.95% to 5.55%.

However, many banks have yet to reduce the monthly loan repayment instalments for facilities where the interest rate is pegged to the base lending rate (BLR).

Banks have the option of either shortening the tenure of the loans and maintaining the monthly loan repayments, or reducing the monthly repayment and maintaining the tenure.

Some banks are waiting for borrowers to write in to request a reduction instead of implementing an auto reduction.

So, the best thing to do is to check with your bank if they have reduced the bank loan rates or not. This could save you a lot of money.

Source: The Star

Income tax return filing due April 30

Argh!.....it's that dreaded time of the year again....getting the receipts and income statement ready...trying to figure out how to fill in the income tax return form. Although I have been filling it every year, I still find it confusing and challenging because my Bahasa Malaysia is not my forte.

I have been doing e-filling ever since it was made available and it is the source of my worst fear of filling tax returns is when I have to hit the "Submit" button and getting an error message!! In trying to provide a secure transaction with digital certification, the IRB's e-filing has become user unfriendly

OK.Enough said. I just want to remind Malaysians readers that we have only one month to complete our income tax returns. The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) has sent out all income tax return forms for the assessment year of 2008. However, those who used the e-Filing system to submit their BE forms for the assessment year of 2007 will not be sent any forms.
Taxpayers who do not have a source of income from businesses and whose income was less than RM20,000 for the assessment year of 2007 would also not receive their BE forms.


Source: The Star

Free WIFI services in Penang!

This is fantastic news! Now I don't have to buy an overpriced cup of coffee or hang around bars and bistro in order to surf the web using the free hotspots provided by the establishments. Now free WIFI comes directly into your home.....if you happen to live within the free hotspots areas.

Yesterday, Penang launched its free WIFI service with initially 26 hotspots making it the first state to have free public WIFI services . Eventually a total of 750 hotdpots will link the majority of the state to the internet and 350 by this year end.

The launchat a local hotel was attended by Penang's Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, DCM2 Prof Dr. P.Ramasamy and Penang free WIFI Initiative head, Jeff Ooi. The service is provided by REDtone.

Current free hotspots are areas surrounding KOMTAR, Bukit Jambul, Mayang Mall, Chulia Street, Penang Road and Permatang Pauh.

Source: The Star

7 New Rules of Financial Security

I received a CNNmoney.com link from a friend about the 7 new rules of financial security. The article offers 7 old assumptions that probably would have been good advice in the past but today the same assumptions may not hold true in a global economy especially an economy that is unpredictable and on the down turn. I thought it was a good article and I would like to share it with you....informative and thought provoking

For example, in the past, a home owner could expect his house value to appreciate well over the long run. But now, your home no longer can make you rich.... Click on the link below to read further which the article offers insights into risk, cash, human capital, borrowing, housing, diversification and retirement.

Source: CNNmoney.com