SINGAPORE Telecommunications will start selling Apple third-generation iPhone in Singapore on Aug 22, the company said on Tuesday.

SingTel’s CEO for Singapore, Mr Allen Lew said that ‘there are ‘tens of thousands’ on its reservation lists’, and those who registered online will get priority for the iPhones.

Online reservation is open until Aug 17. Mr Lew said SingTel will release the price of the iPhone later.

SingTel on Monday said its regional mobile user base was up 45 per cent to almost US$198 million (S$280 million). in the second quarter against a year earlier.

India led the way as SingTel’s mobile associate Bharti added a record 7.4 million new users to bring its total mobile base to 69.38 million at the end of June, the Singapore telecom carrier said in a statement.

Bharti, the largest GSM operator in India, makes up 35 per cent of SingTel’s mobile base in the Asia-Pacific.

SingTel, the largest telecom firm in South-east Asia, holds a 30.44 per cent stake in Bharti as well as stakes in other mobile firms in the region.

For SingTel’s other associates, mobile users at Indonesia’s Telkomsel rose by 1.11 million during the June quarter to 52.44 million and Thailand’s AIS subscribers increased by over 877,000 to 25.96 million.

SingTel’s wholly owned Australian unit Optus added 101,000 users during the quarter to 7.24 million while in Singapore, its mobile subscribers grew 182,000 to 2.75 million.

Source: Straits Times: iPhone on sale from Aug 22

Singtel Email: It’s coming on 22 August 2008!

Singtel Email: iPhone 3G NEWS from SingTel

PHP 4.4.9 had been released and that is the last PHP4 update we will ever see as PHP4 has reached the End-of-life (EOL) as on 8th August 2008.

PHP 5.3 will be due somewhere between mid September and mid October of 2008.

So for goodness sake, bug your lazy server administrator to upgrade to PHP5!

If your host refuses to upgrade to PHP4, ditch them and come over to FRRO. Here at FRRO, we always try our very best to keep our software as up to date as possible.

Intel has announced the successor to Intel Core 2 Quad (codename Yorkfield) to be Intel Core i7 (codename Nehalem). I suddenly feel that my Q9450 feels old.

          
Intel Core i7 Processor (Left) and Intel Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition (Right)

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 11, 2008 – Intel Corporation announced today that desktop processors based on the company’s upcoming new microarchitecture (codenamed “Nehalem”) will be formally branded “Intel Core processor.” The first products in this new family of processors, including an “Extreme Edition” version, will carry an “i7″ identifier and will be formally branded as “Intel Core i7 processor.” This is the first of several new identifiers to come as different products launch over the next year.

Products based on the new microarchitecture will deliver high performance and energy efficiency. This “best of both worlds” approach is expected to extend Intel’s processor leadership in future mobile, desktop and server market segments.

Source: Press Release: Next-Generation Intel PC Chips to Carry Intel Core Name

Read: Wikipedia: Intel Core i7

Spend more than 10 hours to modify lesterchan.net layout to make it iPhone/iPod Touch viewable. At the moment, you can only view blog post and not pages. I have no plans to make the pages iPhone/iPod Touch viewable yet as it is a lot of work and I don’t find it necessary.

Just point your iPhone or iPod Touch to lesterchan.net and it will detect your user agent and serve you the iPhone/iPod Touch layout if you are using either of the devices.

Here are 2 essential resources to get you stared, Apple: Safari Web Content Guide for iPhone and Ajaxian: iPhone Web Development Tips and Official Documentation Released.

lesterchan.net on iPhone (Portrait - Width: 320px)

lesterchan.net on iPhone (Landscape - Width: 480px)

While on the topic of site updates, here is the changelog since 4th July 2008:

• NEW: Close comments after 30 days instead of 14 days
• NEW: Highlight search words when viewing post
• NEW: Add hosted by Frro
• NEW: Add scroll bar To Recent Comments in Welcome Box if content too long
• NEW: Upgraded To WordPress 2.6
• NEW: Upgraded My Plugins
• FIXED: Removed all broken links using Broken Link Checker WordPress plugin
• FIXED: “No Comments” text not displayed if there is at least 1 trackback/pingback with no comments posted
• FIXED: Comment numbering is wrong after doing AJAX comment posting if there is at least 1 trackback/pingback
• FIXED: Search two or more words
• FIXED: Gallery hits increased by 1 on every photo viewed
• FIXED: Added urldecode() for $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] and $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] in 404 page
• FIXED: 10 Latest Comments in Welcome Box showing Pingback/Trackback

I would like to start off with ADSL sucks and Cable is the way to go. It is restarted to authenticate and use a telephone line to start a connection as that is so 56K era. ADSL connection disconnect you more than cable. ADSL modem has full of settings that requires you to set in order for it to work normally, with cable, just plug the cable into your modem and you are ready to use the Internet. How easy can that get?

Yesterday, I went to the my mom office to solve a very peculiar Internet problem. My mom is using Singnet Business Internet which is like SGD$100 per month for a 512K downstream and a 256K upstream for more than a year before this problem occurs.

The problem happen like 2 weeks ago where my mom is unable to use the Internet before 2pm (roughly) but after 2pm, she can use it without any problem. This problem occurs every day for the past 2 weeks.

The Singnet people came at least 4 times to solve this but for the first 3 time, they are unable to find out why. The 4th time, the technician came and he suspect it is our router problem.

We are using the 2wire 2700HGV-2 (Singtel’s MioBox) and Linksys WRT54G. So as you can see there are 2 routers as the 2700HGV-2 itself is also a router. Previously I set up wrongly for my mom and this wrong setup works for more than a year and only start giving problems 2 weeks ago.

The thing I did wrong is creating 2 routings. My 2700HGV-2 will initiate a PPoE connection and connect to the Internet and my WRT54G will also initiate a PPoE connection using the 2700HGV-2 and connect to the Internet. And hence I got 2 external IPs for the 2 PPoE connections, 1 each for the router.

According to some Google searches I made, 2 routings will cause a major lag and slowdown to the network. This problem did not happen a year ago as my mom’s workplace is new and my mom is the first few tenants there and recently it seems that the whole building is fully occupied and morning seems to to be the peak period and hence a lot of people is using the Internet. There is no cable point installed, so the tenants can either be using Singtel’s Singnet or Starhub’s ADSL.

After figuring out this, I went to disable all the shit in 2700HGV-2 making it into a pure ADSL modem and bridge it using my WRT54G. I managed to bridge it using only just my WRT54G to initiate a PPoE connection. My WRT54G managed to get the external IP, gateway, DNS and MTU and it seems everything is working perfect, but it is not! I can’t surf the Internet or ping out at all. And I have no idea why this is happening. I asked FRRO’s Michael for help and he told me it is weird and recommend me in worst case scenario, get a ADSL modem plus a router. I know that the 2700HGV-2 has a inbuilt wireless and 4-port wired router function but it lacks A LOT of features that the WRT54G has like the DDNS service which my mom need the most.

I heed Michael’s advice and went down to Funan to get the Linksys WAG200G, for SGD$99, it is basically a WRT54G with ADSL modem inside.

Went back to replace both the 2700HGV-2 and WRT54G with only WAG200G and BINGO, everything is perfectly working alright (just got feedback from my mom this afternoon).

Why can’t just Singnet give us the bloody ADSL modem with no shit inside just like Starhub’s Cable modem and it would make the solution easier.

Last but not least, I would like to add that my WRT54G is version 7 and I can’t flash it to DD-WRT. How unlucky!

SINGAPORE, 4 August 2008 - Singaporeans will now be able to cruise the information superhighway with a new fixed broadband service operated by M1.

Offering a mobile broadband service since 2006, M1 will become a full fledged broadband player when it introduces M1 Fixed Broadband from tomorrow.

M1 Fixed Broadband is available to all homes with cable access points or which are cable ready. The service is capable of achieving download speeds of up to 100 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 2 Mbps.

“M1 is repositioning itself for the future as it develops new businesses anchored on our core competencies. The launch of M1 Fixed Broadband is an important step in our planned transformation from a single-play mobile operator to a dynamic multi-play operator with interests in both the mobile and fixed sectors. The proliferation of the Internet and the increasing demand for Internet bandwidth also make this an opportune entry into the fixed broadband market,” said Neil Montefiore, Chief Executive Officer of M1.

M1 will launch its fixed broadband service with four unlimited data plans based on varying Internet access speeds. Providing customers faster speeds for less, the monthly subscription fee starts from as low as $40.60 for existing M1 customers*. Customers will also be offered a plug-and-play cable modem as part of the launch promotion when they sign up for the service.

Promotional Price

• 10 Mbps $43.50/month
• 15 Mbps $58.50/month
• 30 Mbps $73.50/month
• 100 Mbps $88.50/month

Promotional Price for existing M1 customers

• 10 Mbps $40.60/month
• 15 Mbps $50.70/month
• 30 Mbps $63.70/month
• 100 Mbps $76.70/month

Usual Price

• 10 Mbps $58/month
• 15 Mbps $78/month
• 30 Mbps $98/month
• 100 Mbps $118/month

Those who wish to sign up for the M1 Fixed Broadband service can call at any M1 shop or visit www.m1.com.sg/broadband for more information.

* Existing M1 customers eligible for the additional discounts refers to existing postpaid customers on selected M1 Mobile Plans and Mobile Broadband plans

Source: Hardware Zone Forums

July 2008 Total Traffic

• Total Hits: 9,569,791
• Total Files: 8,590,686
• Total Pages: 765,670
• Total Visits: 166,191
• Total KBytes: 32,030,828
• Total Unique Sites: 111,190
• Total Unique URLs: 16,067
• Total Unique Referrers: 19,085
• Total Unique User Agents: 5,377

July 2008 Daily Traffic

• Hits per Day: Average: 308,702 - Max: 545,879
• Files per Day: Average: 277,118 - Max: 372,059
• Pages per Day: Average: 24,699 - Max: 30,123
• Visits per Day: Average: 5,361 - Max: 6,741
• KBytes per Day: Average: 1,033,253 - Max: 1,329,666

Note: Green denotes increase and Red denotes decrease when compared with June 2008.

Previous month site traffic: June 2008

I will be taking the following modules for my 3rd year, first semester:

CS3251 - Technology Strategy and Management (4 MCs) [1 PT]
CS3361 - Service Science (4 MCs) [1 PT]
CS4254 - IS Project Management (4 MCs) [999 PTs]
CS4251 - Strategic IS Planning (4 MCs) [1,000 PTs]

Module Code - Module Name (Module Credits) [Points Bidded]

Time for me to rant about NUS or in particular School of Computing (SoC) in NUS. I seriously think whoever plan those modules in SoC deserved a knock his head on the wall.

Direct Honors is NOT a new thing and I think as of 2 or 3 years ago, students entering NUS will have to go for compulsory 4 years course (Direct Honors) instead of 3 years (Bachelor). SoC did NOTHING to anticipate the increase of students taking level 4000 modules. They asked us to do a survey on what modules are we taking next year during the last semester and I think this survey is pretty much USELESS.

Imagine there are only 50 places for almost all level 4000 modules in Information System (IS) course and 100 students are fighting for the 50 places. As you can see from above, I spend 1,999 points just to bid 2 level 4000 modules, and every semester I am only given 800 to bid ALL my core modules. I must at least accumulate 3 semesters before I even can reach 2,000 points.

I wanted to take another level 4000 module, CS4266 (IT and Customer Relationship Management) but I do not have another 1,000 points to bid for it. End up I have to forgo it and take CS3361 instead.

I can’t appeal as I still got non-core modules not yet taken and I will only be graduating in December 2009 and hence I still got another semester 1 to go.

I doubt I got enough points to bid for level 4000 modules next semester as I need to take 3 level 4000 modules. But next semester I am able to appeal as it will be my LAST semester 2.

I also want to add that not all level 4000 modules are offered every semester as it takes 1 semester for the lecturer to prepare the exams paper. That I fully understand, but the thing I don’t understand that why must they limit the places to 50 instead of 100! If they cater for 100 people, this problem will be solved.

Before I went to KL, I received an email from Felicia and an SMS from Supriya saying I won a contest that I took part with Text 100 at the Nokia Connection 2008. As Nokia Connection 2008 saw the launched of Nokia E71 and E66, the first thing that comes to my mind is that I might have just won either of the mobile phones. Few minutes later, Felicia sent me the 2nd email and told me that I won SGD$300 Takashimaya Vouchers. I was like WOW.

I have not won anything since my polytechnic graduation dinner and dance draw which I only won a SGD$50 Converse voucher. This is the biggest prize I have won so far, but nevertheless, I still don’t believe in lucky draws or contests =p

I would like to thank Felicia, Supriya and Liyi (in no particular order) from Text 100, Nokia Communication Team for the prize. Thank You!

I am going to get myself a leather shoes and perhaps get one for my brother as well.

SGD$300 Takashimaya Vouchers

Today, went down to Bugis’s Singtel Hello! store to get a Nokia N78 as my grandfather line contract has expired and Singtel has kindly sent a voucher to my grandfather. I can choose to get the Nokia N78 with a SGD$100 discount or any Nokia 3G/3.5G phones with a SGD$30 discount. Wanted to get the Nokia E71 but it is quite expensive (SGD$400+) after the SGD$30 discount. End up getting the Nokia N78 for SGD$298 (after SGD$100 discount).

My mom told my grandfather that I wanted the phone and hence she traded with him the older Nokia 7610. If not my grandfather will either bring the phone to China and sell or give it to some China man (no idea whether he got tricked or cheated into doing those).

Anyway, I will keep the Nokia N78 in the meantime and once my dad is back I can passed it to him to use and hence his old Nokia N73 will become a spare phone.

Nokia N78

My M1 line will expire on 24th August 2008 and after that, I will definitely switch to Singtel as M1 can’t be bothered to retain their customers and hence I can’t be bothered to stay with them.

Friday, 18th July 2008
I had a short weekend (Friday to Sunday) trip with Li Xiang, mum and my uncle (mum’s elder brother) to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. My uncle drove there. It is about 340km from Singapore all the way to Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. We supposed to set off at 2pm but somehow my grandfather GTAed the car without telling anyone about it. When we managed to contact him, it is already about 3.30pm and my uncle has to send him home first before driving the car. So we are late by about 2 hours.

On our way to KL, my uncle got distracted as we keep talking and he misses one of the turn on the highway. We reached KL, he also misses a turn to Bukit Bintang and hence we reached out hotel at about 8pm. My uncle is driving at about 130km/h to 140km/h, so technically we would need about 2 hours and 30 minutes to reach KL.

We stayed in The Royale Bintang Hotel. We only booked one room and the price is quite reasonably. We paid RM299 for the first night and RM279 for the 2nd night and it includes a breakfast for 2 excluding tax.

We had dinner at Outback which is located in BBPark just beside our hotel. Food there tastes the same as in Singapore but prices wise, it is definitely cheaper. I think it is also cheaper than Outback in Thailand.

After dinner, we went to take a introductory walk around our hotel. Most of the shopping centers are closed after 10pm, however the streets are still filled with people and cars.

We went back to our hotel about 11pm and Skype with my dad and to have an early rest. The Internet rate is quite reasonable, RM24 for 4 hours and it has to be used within 24 hours from the purchase date.

Saturday, 19th July 2008
Could not sleep the whole night and hence woke up at 7.30am. Had breakfast at Sunflowers Brasserie which is the hotel cafe. The food was lousy and the variety was quite little as well.

After breakfast went to visit “Thong Hock Toys & Foodstuffs” which is a shop/company which my mom’s company has shares in it. While my mum and my uncle talk inside, Li Xiang and I walked around and took random pictures as we are really bored.

Once my mum is done, we took the rail (Rapid KL) to Suria KLCC for our first shopping trip. We stayed there till lunch and then my mum re-joined them for lunch while Li Xiang and I headed to Sungei Wang Plaza to shop.

At about 5pm met up with my mum at The Pavilion. As my mom was early, I asked her to buy tickets for The Dark Night. We wanted the 11pm slot but it left the first 3 rows and hence we settled for the 12.30am slot.

We had a late lunch at Food Republic in Pavilion and the food is good and the variety is similar to that of Singapore’s Food Republic, just cheaper.

Joined one of my uncle’s friend for dinner at a restaurant called Restoran Overseas (Near Berjaya Times Square). The food is fantastic and the Soy Chicken has to be the best Soy Chicken I have ever ate.

Went to Berjaya Times Square to take a look as it is located nearby, was quite disappointed with it as there is nothing much to shop there. Maybe people go there for the Amusement Park only.

We went back our hotel after that to take a rest and left again at 11.30pm for our movie at Pavilion. At 11.30pm, the streets are still filled with people and cars and it was very lively.

The Dark Knight was fantastic and I love the underground level as compared to the bat cave. The show lasted about 2 hours and 30 minutes. My mum got confused after watching the movie and Li Xiang said the movie was boring and slept 3/4 through it.

I don’t like the facilities at the movie theater. The toilet is so small and even guys have to queue up for it. After the movie, we had a hard time finding a toilet and we found it only at the ground floor and it was crowded with people as the toilet is again, small.

However, the movie ticket is cheap, RM12 for a weekend ticket, which is only like SGD$5 and in Singapore the cheapest you can get is SGD$8.00 at Cathay.

But I think VivoCity still has the best movie experience especially the toilet part.

We walked back to out hotel at 3.30am and the streets are still filled with people and cars definitely much more than Orchard Road if we compared the timing.

Sunday, 20th July 2008
As usual, woke up at 7.30am and have breakfast at the famous Imbi’s Sun Hong Bak Kut Teh. The taste is slightly different from Singapore, it is more towards the herbal side while in Singapore it is towards the pepper side. But I like the way or the idea that they give you a big claypot of Bak Kut Teh and then you scope whatever you want to your own bowl rather than each a bowl in Singapore.

After breakfast we went to Star Hill Gallery which is located beside Pavilion as my mom wanted to take a look at Loewe. It is like a ghost town inside as I can hardly see a single soul inside.

On our way back to our hotel to checkout, we went to Gloria Jeans Coffees and the prices there are very cheap. It is about SGD$5.60 for a large GJ Ice Chocolate and if we pay using May bank, it is a buy 1 get 1 free offer. So that makes SGD$2.80 per cup, in Singapore the same cup will cost at least SGD$7.

We also pop by to Sungei Wang’s Giant to get some last minute supermarket shopping.

After our hotel check out, we went to Low Yat Plaza to get some IT Stuff. Some of the electronics there are MUCH cheaper than in Singapore. 2 weeks ago, I bought for my mom’s the Microsoft Lifecam VX 3000 for SGD$83 and at there they are selling it at SGD$50 which is almost half price. My uncle immediately bought 2 of it.

My uncle also bought Canon IXUS 800IS for RM599 = SGD$249.47 and I bought a Canon IXUS 860IS for RM1180 = SGD$491.46. The latest pricing for Canon IXUS 860IS in Singapore is SGD$540, see the difference! On top of that the warranty is international.

The last thing my uncle bough is the Canon Pixma i1880 for RM139 = SGD$57.91. In Singapore, it is selling for SGD$99, but the down side is that the warranty is in Malaysia only. But for SGD$58, once it is spoilt, you can just throw it away.

And all the while I thought electronics in Singapore are cheaper.

We left Bukit Bintang at about 1.30pm and we reached Singapore at 3.30pm. This time my uncle is driving 150km/h to 160km/h and hence it only take about 2 hours to reach.

The bottleneck is always at Singapore side regardless whether you are going into Malaysia or coming back into Singapore. It is ALWAYS the Singapore custom holding the queue. I seriously think that Singapore custom need to do better than that.

Petrol in Malaysia is DIRT CHEAP, 1 litre of petrol only cost RM2.70 = SGD$1.12 and in Singapore 1 litre of petrol cost at least SGD$2.20. Malaysia’s government can subsidize so much for their petrol and I wonder why Singapore’s government can’t do that. I only saw Singapore registered cars pumping petrol in the last petrol station when coming back to Singapore.

Overall, I love and enjoy this short trip! Hope there is more to come. I shall learn how to drive to KL someday.