GrabPay – pay with Grab Points UX [improvement]

When you frequent a particular shop and become a regular customer, I noticed that often times cashiers start to rely on your (i.e consumer app) payment receipt rather than looking at their own merchant app for a payment confirmation.

So, typically you would scan a merchant QR code at a counter, enter the amount, slide to pay and show the receipt screen to a cashier and go on with your life. Smooth experience, right?

However, there is a slight UX problem when you pay with Grab Points, because the screen looks like this (see below). And when a cashier sees RM 0.00, s/he gets confused. Obviously, for the below transaction I had paid the equivalent of RM 2.85 with my Grab Points.  Continue reading

Waze – Favorite Route

Don’t you hate it when Waze takes you with a new route just because the new route is 1 minute faster than your preferred route?

I wish Waze had a Favorite Route feature where you could set an acceptable set of criteria for it and if the fastest route is not within the set criteria then Favorite Route would be automatically selected.

If you want this feature, please “like” and “retweet” this tweet of mine. Thanks.

GrabCar – the Closest Driver vs Traffic Conditions

I’m a heavy user of GrabCar services. I have been using GrabCar for the past 2-3 years intensively, I mostly use it for transportation purposes to and from the office.

One of the things I noticed while ordering a ride from Grab is that it prioritises your request to the closest drivers around you in distance. This algorithm probably works out fine most of the time for most of the locations, however in some edge cases this can work against a customer in a very negative way. I will give very specific location as an example.

Case Study: Berjaya Times Square

Take the Bukit Bintang area at rush hour, after work, between 6pm – 7:30pm, particularly Berjaya Times Square Mall.

Here is how the traffic conditions look during the rush hour, after office hours. Area shaded in red usually has a terrible traffic congestion during this time. It’s located right across the street, opposite of The Berjaya Times Square Mall.

Continue reading

My Fav iOS Apps (Roundup)

Over the years many apps came and went, but these apps has stood the test of time on my iPhone, some have been longer than others. I thought I would share them with you. I will save you time from the usual social network apps like Facebook and Twitter, so I won’t be including them in this post. I will also save you the long descriptions about the apps, descriptions you can find them in iTunes. Here we go:

AppShopper (free) – be notified about the latest app discounts in the appstore (iTunes)
scr_appshopper Continue reading

Securing the Web for Your Kids with OpenDNS [Guide]

Note: This is not a “technical” post, any parent can set this up to make the web little more secure for their kids. Read on..

Update: 5 Oct 2017 – if you are looking for easy way to manage your kids’ internet safety, you should check Kaspersky Safe Kids out. Setup is very simple for it and UI is very user friendly.

I have three kids, all boys, eldest is 10 years old (Manas), followed by 7 years old (Aihan), and the youngest is 3 years old (Azat). Manas is now able to do his own research for his school assignments. Usually searching for specific topic in Google/Wikipedia. He is also into Minecraft. He follows some Minecraft YouTube Channels like DanTDMCaptain Sparklez, etc. He is almost entirely not watching any TV (he just joins in when Azat is watching some cartoons). He is either at the Home PC playing Minecraft or doing his homework, or on his iPad watching Minecraft videos and playing games. Home PC is located at the living room area, for obvious reasons.

I have talked to Manas and Aihan about basic security on Minecraft and the Web in general, such as;

  • Don’t give any specific info about where you study (school name, school address) and where you live (home address) to strangers in Minecraft. Just tell them general information, like I live in Malaysia etc.
  • I have explained to them that it’s ok to ignore people’s questions, you don’t have to always answer all the questions directed at you.
  • I have explained the possible consequences of the above points and how some people are not as they claim to be on the internet.
  • When you search for something in Google, use phrases instead of single keywords. Because single keywords are more likely to show something other than what you are looking for.
  • Can’t watch / play something that is violent with bloods, PG, PG13 etc.

Alhamdulillah, my kids are also very understanding, and they do their best to be good kids on their own. I don’t have to strictly monitor their browsing, watching or playing habits. In fact, they are the ones sometimes decline to go to cinema, because they perceive the movie to be too violent or not suitable to them..

Ok, these are given. How about those accidental things that might happen on the internet? Like clicking on a link or banner that might open an inappropriate website? You can teach your kids to be responsible (managing the pull factor) but we have to also try to protect them from push factors. And this is where OpenDNS comes to our ‘rescue’. Continue reading

Bookurve – Amazon books, cheaper with free shipping to Malaysia

If you are an avid book reader in Malaysia and often purchase books from Amazon, you must already know how much the shipping fees are pain in the neck. Bookurve, a local startup that was founded by my friends Hossein and Lian Shen is addressing this issue.

Value proposition of their startup is simple;

  • Give access to wide selection of books (almost any books sold at Amazon is available on Bookurve)
  • At a cheaper price (usually 20-40% cheaper than Amazon)
  • With free shipping if you order above RM25 (for West Malaysia)

They have taken few pivots to reach to their current business model. And I’m optimistic about it, as it’s working pretty good for them.

Last week I tried out their service (mainly to see the end-to-end customer journey and provide feedback) and ordered my first book, received it few days back and couldn’t be happier 🙂

Give it a try..

Website: www.bookurve.com