Coda 2 will be available from 24th May 2012 onwards from the Mac App Store as well as their own online store. The pricing scheme is a little tricky. For the first 24 hours, Coda 2 will be on sale at 50% which is USD$49, after that it will be back to USD$75 and after certain time frame it will be back to the original price which is USD$99.

If you have bought Coda 1 on or before 10th April 2012 via their online store (not applicable on Mac App Store), you are entitled to a free Coda 2 license.

There are just too many new features in Coda 2 to list in this blog post, check out Coda 2 for more information. My favorite new feature? It got to be Git integration and a a full GUI for MySQL management!

Panic also announced a Diet Coda which is essentially a strip down version of Coda for your iPad! Now you can edit your codes on the go. It comes with Prompt (SSH Terminal) build in. Similar to Coda 2, Diet Coda will be available from 24th May 2012 onwards on the App Store. For the first 24 hours, Diet Coda will be on sale at 50% off which is USD$9.99 and after that it will be back to the original price of USD$19.99.

Official Site: Coda 2
Official Site: Diet Coda
Official Blog Post: Announcing Coda 2. And introducing Diet Coda

Right now SingTel’s Store & Share only supports PC, iOS and Android platform. No support for Mac yet.

SingTel Store & Share

Price Plans

• For SingNet fibre broadband customers, you get 10GB of storage for free
• For SingTel 3G Flexi and iFlexi mobile plan customers you get 500MB for free
• For SingNet ADSL broadband customers, you will have to pay. 2GB at SGD$1/month, 10GB at SGD$4/month or 30GB at SGD$8/month
• For Mio Home customers, you will have to pay, 10GB at SGD$3/month
• Additional storage is available at SGD$0.50/month per 500MB

Personally, I find the price plan so confusing, they should standardize it and give every customer a certain storage space rather than breaking down what type of customers gets how much space.

Apart from speed and perhaps if you are a SingNet fibre broadband customers, I don’t see how is it attractive to the rest of the customers.

Speed is the only competitive advantage that SingTel has against the big players since the data will be store in SingTel’s datacenter (which is the best datacenter in Singapore). You will be on SingTel 3G data network, accessing stuff stored within Singapore is much faster.

For me, my only concern is how long this service will last, what if one or two years down the road, SingTel decided to kill this service? What will happen to your data? I have the very same concern with Microsoft SkyDrive as well, that is why I would rather stick to Dropbox or Google Drive.

Press Release

SingTel’s Store and Share is the first Singapore-based cloud storage service which offers consumers up to 10GB of free online storage for their documents, photos, music, videos and other multimedia content. Available for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets, as well as PCs, Store and Share ensures that users will always have their digital content on hand wherever they go. It was launched in December 2011.

Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, SingTel’s CEO Consumer Singapore, said: “Cloud storage services have become increasingly popular for data backup and sharing. However, most users of cloud storage services today do not know where their data is stored or how secure it is. With Store and Share, users enjoy peace of mind knowing that their data is securely stored in SingTel’s servers in our own award-winning data centres, right here in Singapore.”

The service allows users to upload photos and videos instantly to their online folders from their smartphones and back up their mobile contacts. It automatically synchronises their digital content across their mobile devices and PCs.

Store and Share enables fast and reliable sharing of files and folders via SMS, social networks, instant messaging and email. In addition, it is equipped with powerful tools to allow users to edit photos and documents on the move and save them immediately to their online folders.

With the Smart Backup feature, users can schedule a regular automatic back up of their PCs. They can choose to back up all the contents of their computer or only specific drives or files. For example, they can choose to back up only photos. The service is intelligent enough to save only files that have been created or modified since the last back up.

Store and Share with 10GB of storage is offered to all SingNet fibre broadband customers at no charge. SingTel 3G Flexi and iFlexi mobile plan customers enjoy 500MB of free storage. SingNet ADSL broadband customers can enjoy 2GB at $1 per month, 10GB at $4 per month or 30GB at $8 per month. Mio Home subscribers can enjoy 10GB at $3 per month. Additional storage is available at $0.50 per month per additional 500MB.

Web: Store and Share
Apple App Store: Store and Share
Google Play: Store and Share

ESET NOD32 Antivirus & ESET Smart Security will still be there and are targetted at consumers. For the business/enterprise version, it will now be known as ESET Endpoint Antivirus and ESET Endpoint Security respectively.

Of course being deployed in an enterprise environment, deployment of software solutions to many computers are the norm and this is where ESET Remote Administrator comes into play.

ESET Endpoint Solutions

ESET Endpoint Solutions will be launched globally in late May 2012. Right now it is in release candidate and you can give it a try for free.

Features of ESET Endpoint Antivirus

Features of ESET Antivirus

• Antivirus (Antimalware)
• Antispyware
• Antirootkit
• Cloud-based Whitelisting
• Device Control
• Host-based Intrusion Prevention System
• Low System Demands
• ESET SysRescue
• ESET SysInspector
• Centralized Management
• Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP) Support

ESET Endpoint Security

Features of ESET Endpoint Security

• All Features of ESET Endpoint Antivirus
• Bi-directional Firewall
• Client Antispam
• Web Control
• URL Blacklisting
• Trusted Network Detection
• Component-based Installation

Features of ESET Remote Administrator

• Real-time Web Dashboard
• Role-based Management
• Randomized Task Execution
• Improved Reporting
• Optimized Database Performance
• IPv6 Support
• Improved Configuration of Clients
• Rollback of Updates on Clients
• Support for new ESET business products

Price Plans (In SGD$, Inclusive of 7% GST, Per user)

Dropbox now faces some serious competition. I am a paying Dropbox user (Dropbox Pro 50 (50GB plan) – USD$99/year) for almost 2 years now and I have used up about 95% of my storage space and I didn’t want to go to the Pro 100 (100GB plan) because at USD$199/year it is pretty expensive. I hope this competition will drive down the prices for Dropbox, if not I would have to switch to Google Drive or Microsoft SkyDrive.

Google Drive Features

• Create and collaborate. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive, so you can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Once you choose to share content with others, you can add and reply to comments on anything (PDF, image, video file, etc.) and receive notifications when other people comment on shared items.
• Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go). All your stuff is just… there. You can access your stuff from anywhere—on the web, in your home, at the office, while running errands and from all of your devices. You can install Drive on your Mac or PC and can download the Drive app to your Android phone or tablet. We’re also working hard on a Drive app for your iOS devices. And regardless of platform, blind users can access Drive with a screen reader.
• Search everything. Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Drive can even recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Let’s say you upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping. You can search for a word from the text of the actual article. We also use image recognition so that if you drag and drop photos from your Grand Canyon trip into Drive, you can later search for [grand canyon] and photos of its gorges should pop up. This technology is still in its early stages, and we expect it to get better over time.

Google Drive Price Plans

• 5GB – Free
• 25GB – USD$2.49/month – USD$29.88/year
• 100GB – USD$4.99/month – USD$59.88/year
• 1TB – USD$49.99/month – USD$599.88/year
• When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account storage will also expand to 25GB.

Microsoft SkyDrive Price Plans

• 7GB – Free
• +20GB – USD$0.84/month – USD$10/year
• +50GB – USD$2.04/month – USD$25/year
• +100GB – USD$4.17/month – USD$50/year

Dropbox Price Plans

• 2GB – Free
• 50GB – USD$9.99/month – USD$99.99/year
• 100GB – USD$19.99/month – USD$199.99/year

If you are not too sure whether is Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive or even Dropbox is suitable for you, check out the following articles:

• The Verge: Google Drive vs. Dropbox, SkyDrive, SugarSync, and others: a cloud sync storage face-off
• Engadget: Google Drive vs. the competition: pricing plans and perks, compared
• Gizmodo: Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox and More Compared: What’s the Best Cloud Option?

Official Blog Post: Introducing Google Drive… yes, really

Theme For CS 6 Is: Create Now

What’s New In CS6?

If I have to pick my favourite thing in CS6, it got to be the Mercury Engine. It speeds everything up so much faster. Whenever you press “Save”, it does a background save, allowing you to continuing working on your PSD file.

For Mac, Adobe has dropped 32bit support for lots of product. Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Adobe Premiere Pro and SpeedGrade are now available only on 64bit for Mac. For Windows, because most government agencies has a 5-8 years timeframe before they change their computers, Adobe still has support for 32bit version of their products on the Windows platform.

4 Suites, 14 Products

2 new products to the CS6 suite and they are SpeedGrade and Prelude. Technically SpeedGrade is not a new product, it was used to be sold separately for USD$30,000, but now it is being bundled as part of CS6.

Adobe SpeedGrade CS6 color grading software brings the Lumetri Deep Color Engine to your production workflow. Open the full dynamic range of your footage through a sleek new interface. A new component of Adobe Creative Suite software, SpeedGrade gives you the power to push your stories further.

Adobe Prelude CS6 software streamlines your production tasks. Ingest nearly any file-based format and begin logging immediately, creating searchable markers and other temporal metadata that flow through post-production, so you can work faster and stay organized.

4 Main Pillars Of CS6

Prices (Excluding Taxes)

• CS6 Master Collection: SGD$3,924
  • Photoshop CS6 Extended
  • Illustrator CS6
  • InDesign CS6
  • Acrobat X Pro
  • Flash Professional CS6
  • Flash Builder 4.6 Premium Edition
  • Dreamweaver CS6
  • Fireworks CS6
  • Adobe Premiere Pro CS6
  • After Effects CS6
  • Adobe Audition CS6
  • SpeedGrade CS6
  • Prelude CS6
  • Encore CS6
  • Bridge CS6
  • Story CS6
  • Media Encoder CS6
• CS6 Design & Web Premium: SGD$2,868
  • Photoshop CS6 Extended
  • Illustrator CS6
  • InDesign CS6
  • Dreamweaver CS6
  • Flash Professional CS6
  • Fireworks CS6
  • Acrobat X Pro
  • Bridge CS6
  • Media Encoder CS6
• CS6 Design Standard: SGD$1,962
  • Photoshop CS6
  • Illustrator CS6
  • InDesign CS6
  • Acrobat X Pro
  • Bridge CS6
  • Media Encoder CS6
• CS6 Production Premium: SGD$2,868
  • Adobe Premiere Pro CS6
  • After Effects CS6
  • Photoshop CS6 Extended
  • Adobe Audition CS6
  • SpeedGrade CS6
  • Prelude CS6
  • Illustrator CS6
  • Encore CS6
  • Flash Professional CS6
  • Media Encoder CS6
  • Story CS6
  • Bridge CS6

If you are confused with all the text and products in each suite, check out the more visually pleasant, Buying guide – Product comparison from Adobe.

As you might heard in the US and some other parts of the world, CS6 was launched with Adobe Creative Cloud, but unfortunately, Adobe Creative Cloud will not be available in Singapore yet as Adobe is still trying to figure out the business model.

Adobe Creative Cloud is the digital hub that lets you download and install every Adobe Creative Suite 6 application; access online services for file sharing, collaboration, and publishing; and benefit from new apps and features as soon as they’re released – giving you the freedom to create anything you can imagine.

Press Release

Major CS Upgrades and All-New Muse Anchor Landmark Launch for Designers
The performance and workflow enhancements in Adobe Photoshop CS6, InDesign CS6 and Illustrator CS6 will result in significant time savings for print, web and mobile projects.

• In Photoshop CS6, designers will experience incredible performance, powered by the Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine, enabling near instant results from essential editing tools, including Liquify, Puppet Warp, Transform and Lighting Effects.
• Adobe has built on Photoshop’s breakthrough Content-Aware capabilities with advanced new Content-Aware Patch and Content-Aware Move features.
• Illustrator CS6 debuts a revamped modern interface and features include a new Image Tracing Engine, Pattern Creation and Gradient Strokes. The Mercury performance system delivers speed and stability, including 64-bit support for Mac OS and Windows.
• InDesign CS6 continues to blaze a trail in publishing, streamlining the creation of multiple layouts from a single set of content with new Adaptive Design Tools – Alternate Layout, Liquid Layout, Content Collector Tools and Linked Content.
• A brand new application, Adobe Muse, a radical new tool that enables designers to create and publish HTML5 web sites without writing code, was also announced today.

Adobe Doubles-Down on HTML5 Tooling for Web Professionals
Innovative new workflows and capabilities across Adobe tools simplify the creative process for today’s web designers, developers and interactive professionals.

• Web pros can conveniently integrate HTML5 animations, created with Adobe Edge Preview, into their Dreamweaver projects, driving home Adobe’s leadership in tooling for the HTML5 web standard.
• Dreamweaver CS6 addresses the challenge of responsive web designs with the ability to build fluid grid layouts replacing the tedious manual process of creating and configuring separate CSS-based interfaces for phone, tablet and desktop.
• Through direct integration with Adobe’s recently announced PhoneGap Build service, Dreamweaver CS6 helps round out a Web professional’s skillset and enables them to produce native mobile applications for multiple platforms.
• Flash Professional CS6 users can easily translate and transition their skills to HTML5 using the Flash Professional Toolkit for CreateJS. Flash Professional CS6 also helps designers to create exciting and impactful gaming experiences and advancements include the ability to generate sprite sheets that improve workflows and performance.
• Pre-built native extensions and new packaging options, leveraging the latest Adobe Flash Player and AIR runtimes, help expand and ease app delivery to Android and iOS devices.

Production Premium CS6 Pushes Boundaries of Video Creativity
Redesigned by and for video editors, with major performance enhancements, the tools included in Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium set a new standard in professional video.

• With dozens of new features, Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 is the hub of any professional video workflow, featuring a sleek new editing environment. The powerful Adobe Mercury Playback Engine now supports OpenCL on MacBook Pros.
• The most significant After Effects release in a decade, After Effects CS6 is faster and more responsive than ever. With Global Performance Cache, previews are saved and ready to go— cutting the time spent bouncing between projects.
• New to Production Premium are Adobe Prelude CS6, which streamlines logging and ingest workflows in post-production, and Adobe SpeedGrade, which contains powerful finishing tools for film finishing and colour grading.
• Adobe Audition CS6 accelerates audio post-production: real-time clip stretching makes it simple to stretch clips to fit an edit; and Automatic Speech Alignment introduces a powerful new engine for automated dialogue analysis.
• A new 3rd party API for hardware integration – Adobe Mercury Transmit – allows broadcast video monitoring to connect directly into the Mercury Playback Engine via third-party cards from AJA, Blackmagic Design, and Matrox.

Official Site: Adobe Creative Suite 6
Adobe Online Shop: South East Asia

Key Updates In This Consumer Preview

• Broad range of product changes and improvements. Since the Developer Preview in September, designed to preview the programming platform, Windows 8 has progressed across every dimension. From completing the user experience for touch, keyboard and mouse to refining the development platform, the Consumer Preview improves performance, quality and reliability across all subsystems. With the added features, it represents a more complete view of the capabilities of Windows 8.
• Windows Store with new apps. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview marks the beta opening of the Windows Store, which is filled with a variety of new Metro style apps from both third-party developers and Microsoft. During the Consumer Preview, these apps are available to try and experience at no cost to users. The Windows Store will offer personalized recommendations, and Windows 8 gives users the ability to take their apps and settings with them across multiple PCs, making it easy to discover and try new apps while offering developers the greatest opportunity of any platform.
• Connecting to the cloud across Windows-based PCs and Windows Phone. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview offers seamless integration with the content people care about across their devices. An optional additional sign-on with a Microsoft account provides access to a host of features, including the ability to roam all settings, use cloud storage, communicate with email, calendar and contacts, and connect to a broad range of services. Your connection to the cloud works across your Windows-based PCs and your Windows Phones.
• Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 5. The best way to experience the Web on Windows is with Internet Explorer 10. The browser has been re-imagined to create a new experience designed specifically for Windows 8 devices. It provides an edge-to-edge user interface that is all about less browser and more Web. Fast and fluid, Internet Explorer is hardware-accelerated to enable Web performance.
• Preview of new hardware capabilities. At the event, Microsoft also showcased Windows 8 running on a wide range of new x86- and ARM-based reference hardware. This hardware will be available to select developers for trial and testing as previously announced.

Hardware Specifications

• 1 GHz or faster processor
• 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
• 1024 x 768 minimum screen resolution

Direct Download Links

• English – 64-bit (x64) (3.3 GB) [sha1: 1288519C5035BCAC83CBFA23A33038CCF5522749]
• English – 32-bit (x86) (2.5 GB) [sha1: E91ED665B01A46F4344C36D9D88C8BF78E9A1B39]
• Product Key: DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J

Press Release: Microsoft Announces Availability of Windows 8 Consumer Preview
Blog Post: Introducing Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Ubuntu For Android

What I gathered after reading the official site in the link above is that you can install or rather dual boot Ubuntu into Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and above.

When using it as a mobile phone, you will use your Android phone per normal. However, when you connect the phone to a monitor through HDMI and a keyboard/mouse through USB Host mode, the Ubuntu OS within Android boots and you can use it like a normal PC.

According to the features, when your phone is connected, you can answer calls, reply to SMSes all within the Ubuntu itself without the need to touch your phone.

Of course, having to dual boot two OSes requires high hardware requirements and hence you need to have at least a dual core 1GHz Android phone with at least 512MB of RAM.

Introduction

Ubuntu for Android provides a full desktop experience, including office software, web browsing, email and media applications, on Android phones docked to a screen and keyboard. Thanks to tight integration with the Android service layer, the transition between the two environments is seamless, making it easy to access the phone’s services from the desktop when docked.

Technical specifications

Ubuntu for Android requires minimal custom hardware enablement, allowing fast and cost-efficient core integration. It requires a core based on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) or any subsequent version.

Ubuntu and Android share the same kernel. When docked, the Ubuntu OS boots and runs concurrently with Android. This allows both mobile and desktop functionality to co-exist in different runtimes.

Shared services and applications are delivered using a Convergence API module which ensures the tight integration between desktop and mobile environments. Work is balanced across the cores of the phone. When the handset is not docked, both CPU cores transfer their full power to Android.

Hardware Requirements

• Dual-core 1GHz CPU
• 512 MB RAM
• Video acceleration: shared kernel driver with associated X driver;Open GL, ES/EGL
• Storage: 2GB for OS disk image
• HDMI: video out with secondary frame buffer device
• USB host mode

Official Site: Ubuntu For Android
Official Site: Ubuntu For Android: Features & Specifications

Engadget has their hands-on on with Google Chrome on Android! Check it out!

Google Chrome For Android

Introduction
In 2008, we launched Google Chrome to help make the web better. We’re excited that millions of people around the world use Chrome as their primary browser and we want to keep improving that experience. Today, we’re introducing Chrome for Android Beta, which brings many of the things you’ve come to love about Chrome to your Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone or tablet. Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices.

Speed
With Chrome for Android, you can search, navigate and browse fast-Chrome fast. You can scroll through web pages as quickly as you can flick your finger. When searching, your top search results are loaded in the background as you type so pages appear instantly. And of course, both search and navigation can all be done quickly from the Chrome omnibox.

Simplicity
Chrome for Android is designed from the ground up for mobile devices. We reimagined tabs so they fit just as naturally on a small-screen phone as they do on a larger screen tablet. You can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you’re holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hands, each one a new window to the web.

One of the biggest pains of mobile browsing is selecting the correct link out of several on a small-screen device. Link Preview does away with hunting and pecking for links on a web page by automatically zooming in on links to make selecting the precise one easier.

And as with Chrome on desktop, we built Chrome for Android with privacy in mind from the beginning, including incognito mode for private browsing and fine-grained privacy options (tap menu icon, ‘Settings’, and then ‘Privacy’).

Sign in
You can now bring your personalized Chrome experience with you to your Android phone or tablet. If you sign in to Chrome on your Android device, you can:

• View open tabs: Access the tabs you left open on your computer (also signed into Chrome) – picking up exactly where you left off.
• Get smarter suggestions: If you visit a site often on your computer, you’ll also get an autocomplete suggestion for it on your mobile device, so you can spend less time typing.
• Sync bookmarks: Conveniently access your favorite sites no matter where you are or which device you’re using.

Availability
Chrome is now available in Beta from Android Market, in select countries and languages for phones and tablets with Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. We’re eager to hear your feedback. Finally, we look forward to working closely with the developer community to create a better web on a platform that defines mobile.

Google Chrome Blog: Introducing Chrome for Android
Engadget: Chrome Beta for Android hands-on (video)

What’s New In Firefox 8.0?

• Add-ons installed by third party programs are now disabled by default
• Added a one-time add-on selection dialog to manage previously installed add-ons
• Added Twitter to the search bar for select locales. Additional locale support will be added in the future
• Added a preference to load tabs on demand, improving start-up time when windows are restored
• Improved performance and memory handling when using
• Added CORS support for cross-domain textures in WebGL
• Added support for HTML5 context menus
• Added support for insertAdjacentHTML
• Improved CSS hyphen support for many languages
• Improved WebSocket support
• Fixed several stability issues
• Fixed several security issues

Firefox 8 will be the last release of Firefox for 2011. I am guessing by the end of 2012, we will have like Firefox 15 at the rate Mozilla is going. Currently, Firefox 9.0 to Firefox 11 are already in the roadmap. This will be the last blog post featuring Firefox since it has been updating way too often.

Direct Download Links To Firefox 8.0

• Windows (English US)
• Mac OS X (English US)
• Linux (English US)

Links

• Official Blog Post: Mozilla Firefox Adds Twitter Search and New Features that Make Web Browsing Easier
• Release Notes: Firefox 8.0

Google announce Galaxy Nexus & Android 4.0 yesterday in Hong Kong. The Galaxy Nexus is made by Samsung and will be available sometime in November 2011.

Galaxy Nexus

Galaxy Nexus Specifications

• Network: HSPA＋ 21Mbps/HSUPA 5.76Mbps 850/900/1900/1700/2100 EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
• Processor: 1.2 GHz Dual Core Processor (OMAP 4460)
• Display: 4.65″ 1280×720 HD Super AMOLED
• OS: Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich
• Main (Rear) Camera: 5 MP AF with LED Flash with zero shutter lag and fast shot2shot
• Sub (Front) Camera: 1.3MP for Video Call
• Connectivity: Bluetooth technology v 3.0, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/ 5GHz), NFC
• Sensor: Accelerometer, Compass, Gyro, Light, Proximity, Barometer
• Memory: 1GB(RAM) ＋ 16GB/ 32GB Internal memory
• Size: 135.5,, x 67.94,, x 8.94mm, 135g
• Battery: Standard battery, Li-on 1,750 mAh

What’s New In Android 4.0

Beauty and simplicity
With Ice Cream Sandwich, our mission was to build a mobile OS that works on both phones and tablets, and to make the power of Android enticing and intuitive. We created a new font that’s optimized for HD displays and eliminated all hardware buttons in favor of adaptable software buttons. We also dramatically improved the keyboard, made notifications more interactive and created resizable widgets.

The desktop-class browser is significantly faster, featuring a refined tab manager and the ability to sync your bookmarks with Google Chrome. Ice Cream Sandwich also features the best mobile Gmail experience to date, with a new design that lets you quickly swipe through your inbox and search messages even when you’re offline. Calendar boasts a clean new look and you can zoom into your schedule with a pinch.

Connect and share
People are at the heart of Ice Cream Sandwich. We rethought how you browse your contacts with the new People app, which combines high-resolution photos and updates from Google+ and other social services. It’s also easier to capture and share your life with family and friends. Galaxy Nexus sports a high-end camera with zero shutter lag, automatic focus, top notch low-light performance and a simple way to capture panoramic pictures. Shoot amazing photos or 1080p video, and then edit and share them directly from your phone.

Beyond smart
Galaxy Nexus isn’t just a smartphone—it’s beyond smart. Ice Cream Sandwich gives you complete control over the amount of mobile data you use by helping you better understand and manage it. We’re also introducing Android Beam, which uses near field communication (NFC) to instantly share webpages, YouTube videos, maps, directions and apps by simply tapping two phones together. Face Unlock uses state-of-the-art facial recognition technology to unlock your phone with nothing more than a smile.

Links

• Official Site: Android 4.0 Highlights
• Official Site: Galaxy Nexus
• Official Blog Post: Unwrapping Ice Cream Sandwich on the Galaxy Nexus
• Press Release: Samsung and Google introduce GALAXY Nexus
• Engadget: Samsung and Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich event liveblog!

I am a huge fan of ESET NOD32 and have been using it since v2. All my computers and even my mom’s office computers are protected by NOD32. It is fast, real fast and does not take up much disk space at all because of the use of assembly language in the products.

Other competitors started with a bloated antivirus software and try to un-bloat it because these days no one wants a bloated antivirus software to bog down their computer while ESET starts off with a lightweight antivirus. This give ESET a significant competitive advantage.

The CTO of ESET, Pavol Luka, was there as well. He was working for ESET since the 1990s before he entered university. He left ESET to pursue his education and joined back again upon graduation. He does coding and did some coding for NOD32 Antivirus v2. So he know his stuff well!

Pavol Luka (ESET CTO) and I

If you are wondering how the company got its name ESET, it is named after an Egyptian goddess, Isis.

NOD32 got its name from a TV medical drama series in Czechoslovakia back in 1977, titled, Nemocnica na Okraji Disku (Hospital at the End of the City) and 32 means 32-bit which they release it back in 2003 for Windows (before that it was just named NOD for MS-DOS).

ESET Smart Security 5 and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 5 offer various new and improved features including:

• ESET Live Grid, cloud-based reputation and protection technology
• New Removable Media Control, with more granular control of external devices
• Parental Control (ESET Smart Security 5 only)
• Advanced Host-based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS)
• Gamer Mode

ESET Smart Security 5 Box

ESET Smart Security 5 Box Contents

Another reason why I am using NOD32 AntiVirus for my mom’s office because the prices are very reasonable.

The prices of ESET NOD32 Antivirus 5 & Smart Security 5 are as follows:
ESET NOD32 Antivirus 5

• 1 User, 1 Year- SGD$29
• 1 User, 2 Years – SGD$45
• 3 Users, 1 Year – SGD$49
• 3 Users, 2 Years – SGD$75

ESET Smart Security 5

• 1 User, 1 Year- SGD$39
• 1 User, 2 Years – SGD$59
• 3 Users, 1 Year – SGD$59
• 3 Users, 2 Years – SGD$89

You can get 1 user (for 1 or 2 years) and 3 users (for 1 or 2 years) off the shelves at most computer stores, but if you need more customization like 5 users for 2 years, you need to get them from the distributor which is Version 2 in Singapore via their online store.

Official Sites

• ESET
• ESET NO32
• ESET Smart Security
• ESET Online Store

iPhone

• iPhone 4 (GSM) (5.0/9A334)
• iPhone 4 (CDMA) (5.0/9A334)
• iPhone 3GS (5.0/9A334)

iPod Touch

• iPod Touch 4G (5.0/9A334)
• iPod Touch 3G (5.0/9A334)

iPad

• iPad 2 (GSM) (5.0/9A334)
• iPad 2 (CDMA) (5.0/9A334)
• iPad 2 (Wi-Fi Only) (5.0/9A334)
• iPad 1 (5.0/9A334)

Both HTC Radar (RRP: SGD$569) and Samsung Omnia W (RRP: SGD$498) will be the first Windows Phone 7.5 to be released in Singapore. The HTC Radar will be available next month (October 2011) while the Samsung Omnia W will be available sometime in Q4 2011.

The Mango release is available for free to all Windows Phone 7 customers. Microsoft will begin delivery of the update to existing Windows Phone 7 users from today and gradually ramp up delivery so that the update will be broadly available to most existing customers by the end of October 2011.

Based on the official site, Where’s my phone update?, both SingTel and StarHub are in the status of “Delivering update” which means:

Microsoft has started to send out the update. Important: To help ensure quality, software updates are typically sent out gradually and/or in batches, so it might take several weeks before you receive notice that an update is available for your phone.

Official Site: Windows Phone 7.5
Official Status Page: Where’s my phone update?
Press Release (Windows Phone 7.5): Microsoft Puts People First With The Launch Of The Latest Version Of Windows Phone In Singapore
Press Release (HTC Radar): HTC Unveils HTC Radar, HTC’s First Windows Phone 7 With Mango Update
Press Release (Samsung Omnia W): Samsung delivers a unique experience with Omnia W, a smartphone that puts people first

What’s New In Firefox 7.0?

• Drastically improved memory use
• Added a new rendering backend to speed up Canvas operations on Windows systems
• Bookmark and password changes now sync almost instantly when using Firefox Sync
• Added support for text-overflow: ellipsis
• Added support for the Web Timing specification
• Added an opt-in system for users to send performance data back to Mozilla to improve future versions of Firefox. This can be enabled by installing an add-on
• Fixed several stability issues

Firefox will have one more release before 2011 ends, Firefox 8 is scheduled to be released on 8th November 2011.

Direct Download Links To Firefox 7.0

• Windows (English US)
• Mac OS X (English US)
• Linux (English US)

Links

• Official Blog Post: Mozilla Firefox Significantly Reduces Memory Use to Make Web Browsing Faster
• Release Notes: Firefox 7.0

The official word came from WhatsApp’s blog post:

On Saturday September 25th, after months of hard work, our Windows Phone client went live in the Marketplace!

WhatsApp Messenger for Windows Phone is available to those running version 7.5 (Mango) release on their device. We are sorry if you don’t have Windows Phone 7.5 yet, but very soon all of the current Windows Phone 7.0 devices will get upgraded to 7.5 and you will be able to download and enjoy our app.

The release of WhatsApp For Windows Phone 7.5, brings the support for WhatsApp across 6 different platforms:

• iPhone (OS 3.1 or newer)
• Android (OS 2.1 or newer)
• BlackBerry (OS 4.5 or newer)
• Nokia Symbian S60 (3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 or newer)
• Nokia S40 (6th edition or newer)
• Windows Phone (OS 7.5 or newer)

WhatsApp Blog: Windows Phone = SIX

What is Lobangclub?

Lobangclub is a free Singaporean app that finds you the best deals on any product. We do this by contributions from you, our community of shoppers. We already have over 500,000+ products in Singapore.

How to use?

• Step 1: Scan a barcode on the product you want to buy.
• Step 2: You will receive a list of all the shops in Singapore that sell that product and the prices.
• Step 3: You can help us by either contributing a price or verifying that the price is correct.

It uses your Facebook credentials for login and the UI is pretty good.

I tried the barcode scanning on 2 items (Panadol ActiFast & Nescafe Blend 37), it works perfect and even give you a picture of the product after you scanned the barcode.

I am able to get the price for the Nescafe Blend 37 but no price is available for the Panadol ActiFast. If there are no prices available, you can tap on the “Got lobang?” button and it will bring you to a screen for you to add the price, location of the item and even indicate a sale period.

I wish they have a karma or reputation points system, to entice users to submit prices and the community can mark them accurate by a “like” or something.

Profile Screen (Left), History (Right)

Scanning Screen (Left), After Scan Screen (Right)

Add Lobang Screen

App Store: Lobangclub – Singapore price comparison barcode scanner

Since I am given a copy of Trend Micro Titanium Cloud Edition Maximum Security 2012 (what a long software name) to try it out and so happen my ESET NOD32 Antivirus subscriptions is expiring soon, I will give Trend Micro a chance to see how well it fair against ESET. But before that can happen, I need to format my computer because for some reasons Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 refuses to install on my computer. Obviously I am not using a pirated Windows 7, it is original from my NUS MSDN Account. Since Li Xiang still need my computer to do some design work for her friend’s wedding, I can only format it after mid October 2011.

Trend Micro Titanium Cloud Edition Maximum Security 2012 retail prices:

• SGD$39 for 1 user/1 year
• SGD$54.60 for 1 user/2 years
• SGD$109 for 3 users/1 year
• SGD$152.60 for 3 users/2 years

Trend Micro Titanium Cloud Edition Maximum Security 2012 renewal prices:

• SGD$27.30 for 1 user/1 year
• SGD$54.60 for 1 user/2 year
• SGD$76.30 for 3 users/1 year
• SGD$152.60 for 3 users/2 years

Trend Micro Titanium Cloud Edition Maximum Security 2012 SafeSync prices:

• SGD$39.95 for 20GB/year
• SGD$59.95 for 50GB/year
• SGD$99.95 for 100GB/year

Trend Micro Titanium Cloud Edition Maximum Security 2012 features:

• Antivirus & Antispyware
• Fake Antivirus Cleaner
• Unauthorized Change Protection
• Personalized Titanium Interface
• Facebook, Twitter, MySpace Protection
• Mobile Protection (Android)
• Web Threat Protection
• Spam Blocker
• Windows Firewall Booster
• Parental Controls
• System Tuner
• Data Theft Protection
• Secure Erase
• Trend Micro Vault
• SafeSync Online Backup (10GB)
• Wireless Authentication
• Trend Micro Toolbar

Box Front

Box Back

Box Contents

Threats Report (Taken From Press Release)

Status Report (Taken From Press Release)

The new Metro UI look awesome, hopefully this time round, Microsoft will make the UI consistent throughout the whole Windows. Microsoft has learned from their mistake and the Metro UI is now built for touch rather than mouse from the group up. It is just wrong slapping a touch UI to Windows 7, it just does not work.

Smilar to OS X Lion, Windows 8 will have its own App Store for you to buy software. I hope the software prices are reasonably priced. Windows 8 also supports ARM-based chipsets. In the press release, they did mentioned “One Windows”, I am hoping they meant there is only one edition of Windows 8 and not so many editions like its predecessors, it just confuse the crap out of consumers.

You can try out the Microsoft Windows 8 Developer Preview for free (no activation is required), just head to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516/ and download the ISO. The x64 variant is 3.6GB and x86 one is 2.8GB.

Here are some highlights extracted from the press release:

Touch-First User Interface

• Metro style. Windows 8 introduces a new Metro style interface built for touch, which shows information important to you, embodies simplicity and gives you control. The Metro style UI is equally at home with a mouse and keyboard as well.
• Touch-first browsing, not just browsing on a touch device. Providing a fast and fluid touch-browsing experience, Internet Explorer 10 puts sites at the center on new Windows 8 devices.

More Ways to Engage With Powerful, Connected Apps

• Powered by apps. Metro style apps built for Windows 8 are the focal point of your experience, filling your entire screen so there are no distractions.
• Apps can work together. Apps communicate with each other in Windows 8. For example, you can easily select and email photos from different places, such as Facebook, Flickr or on your hard drive.
• Your experience syncs across your devices. Live roams all the content from the cloud services you use most – photos, email, calendar and contacts – keeping them up-to-date on your devices. With SkyDrive, you can access your files, photos and documents from virtually anywhere with any browser or with Metro style apps in Windows 8.

Enhanced Fundamentals

• The best of Windows 7, only better. Windows 8 is built on the rock-solid foundation of Windows 7, delivering improvements in performance, security, privacy and system reliability. Windows 8 reduces the memory footprint needed – even on the lowest-end hardware – leaving more room for your apps.
• Preserving power-user favorites and making them better. For those who push the limits of their PC, Windows 8 features an enhanced Task Manager and Windows Explorer and new, flexible options for multimonitor setups.

New Developer Opportunities

• Windows Store. The Windows Store will allow developers to sell their apps anywhere Windows is sold worldwide, whether they’re creating new games or familiar productivity tools.
• Build using more languages. Windows 8 lets you leverage your existing skills and code assets to create great experiences using the programming language you prefer.
• Rich hardware integration leads to richer experiences – particularly for games. DirectX 11 gaming power underlies Windows 8, allowing the easy creation of full-screen games with smooth, flicker-free action.

New Generation of Hardware

• One Windows – many shapes and sizes. Support for ARM-based chipsets, x86 (as well as x32 and x64) devices, touch and sensors means Windows 8 works beautifully across a spectrum of devices, from 10-inch tablets and laptops to all-in-ones with 27-inch high-definition screens.
• Always connected. With Windows 8, new ultrathin PCs and tablets turn on instantly, run all day on a single charge and stay connected to the Internet so your PC is ready when you are. Next-generation system on a chip (SoC) support will also enable greatly extended standby and low-power states.
• Tap the full power of your PC. Windows 8 runs on PCs and is compatible with the devices and programs you use today on Windows 7, without compromise, to deliver the performance you expect of a PC.

Lock Screen

Start Screen

App Screen Showacasing Keyboard

Press Release: Microsoft Reimagines Windows, Presents Windows 8 Developer Preview

I tweeted about it and mentioned @yelp. They replied me 2 days later via Twitter asking me which country I am in, I told them Singapore and in a few hours time, they opened it for Singapore App Store! Kudos to the Yelp Mobile Team!

I am sure this will benefit users who do have a Singapore iTunes Account but not a US one.

You do not need to register a Yelp account to view Yelp, but if you are going to register an account, you need to register an account through a US Proxy as it does location/IP check or you can always wait till you get to the US and register an account.

App Store Link: Yelp (Universal)

I wonder will they sell those existing TouchPads at a discount since it has EOLed, I don’t mind getting a 16GB one for less than SGD$200.

In addition, HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.

They might even sell off their PC division (Personal Systems Group):

As part of the transformation, HP announced that its board of directors has authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for the company’s Personal Systems Group. HP will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction.

Press Release: HP Reports Third Quarter 2011 Results and Initiates Company Transformation