Been a long time since I blogged about my personal life because there is nothing much to blog about. Also I have not watched any movie for the past 1 month plus! The last movie that I watched was The Dark Knight in KL!

School
Just ended my first week of school. It is a 4 day week for me where Monday is my off day. Just when I thought I have to take 4 exams for this semester, I was wrong, the new module CS3361 do not have an exam! Our lecturer who is the CTO of IBM Singapore, told us this piece of good news today. So now I have 3 papers to study for and my last date of my examination is 27th November 2008.

Taiwan
I will be going to Taiwan with Li Xiang during December. My mom got 2 free tickets for a 6 days 5 nights trip to Taiwan as she bought 2 lorries for her office and each lorry is entitled to 1 ticket. Li Xiang and I was thinking of extending the trip to about 2 weeks instead of just 6 days so that we can explore more. Hopefully we are able to do it. Keeping my fingers cross.

Wanted to wait till I am in Taiwan before I get the Asus EEE PC, but apparently the price difference is not that great. According to some online site I checked, it is just a different of SGD$50 and the keyboard layout maybe in Chinese and Taiwan has different voltage from Singapore. Since there are so many factors to consider, I think I shall get my netbook in Singapore. Now I am considering between Dell, Lenovo and Asus. Dell and Lenovo will launch their netbook soon.

Comex 2008
Comex 200 will take place on the 28th August 2008 till 31st August 2008 at Suntec City Exhibition Center (entire levels 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6). The opening hours is from 12pm to 9pm.

Thinking of getting the D-Link DNS-323 (2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure) and along with a 1TB Western Digital Harddisk Drive for my home. The DNS-323 is running on Linux and hence I can do a great deal of stuff on it like use it as a Torrenting machine, FTP server and even a Web Server.

Going to get Li Xiang a USB mouse as her mouse gave up on her a few months back.

Apple iPhone 3G
Singtel will be announcing the price plan for Apple iPhone 3G next week before officially releasing it on 22th August 2008. I have gotten all the documents (authorization letter and my mom’s NRIC) ready for me to jump ship from M1 to Singtel. Apparently when doing the true number portability from one operator to another operator, the account name must be the same for both operators. My M1 line is under my mom’s name and hence when I use the true number portability in Singtel, I need to apply under my mom’s name as well and not mine.

The funny thing is that my mom is using my name for her Singtel line as last time when I was in National Service (NS), they offered discounted plans for NSF and hence my mom switch it to under my name.

My M1 plan will end officially on 24th August 2008 and Singtel will launch the iPhone on the 22nd August 2008. This means that I have to sign up an account with Singtel on the 22nd August 2008 as well. I called Singtel to ask whether 2 days does make a difference in the true number portability as technically my plan with M1 have not ended yet and the CSO said it is fine. Woot!

I am using the iPod Touch and I dare to say that no other devices can come close to the iPod Touch/iPhone in terms of web surfing experience.

With the voice and data plan bundled together with the iPhone, I can surf the Internet wherever I go without worrying about the data charges.

Now the only thing we can hope is Singtel don’t disappoint us with the pricing.

Dad Coming Back For 4 Days
My dad is coming back on the 30th August 2008 for 4 days as there is a long weekend in Vietnam during that week and my dad just need to take 1 day of leave. I have already planned on where to bring my dad go eat to make my dad gain back the weight that he lost in Hanoi.

2 weeks ago, I have already book a table at MELT for Lunch on the 31st August 2008.

It is Friday, 11th July 2008 in Singapore (GMT+8). The iPhone 3G has been released in New Zealand as well as Australia and more countries are coming up next due to different time zone.

While in Singapore, there are rumors that the iPhone 3G will be released later instead of in September 2008. I highly doubt this rumor is true. If you read the whole thread, there is also another rumor saying that iPhone 3G will be released on 11th August 2008, exactly 1 month after the iPhone 3G is released in the US.

There is now an iTunes store in Singapore but there are only apps for you to purchase, no music or videos are seen in the store. You can choose Singapore under “My Country” which is located right at the bottom of the iTunes Store page. I have just created my iTunes Singapore account, you need a credit card and a Singapore address.

Now I am waiting for the iPod Touch Firmware 2.0 which I have to pay USD$9.90 for it. Apple seriously always screws early adopters and a perfect example of it is those iPod Touch users who paid USD$19.90 for the January 2008 App Pack and now they will have to pay USD$9.90 for the 2.0 firmware. And to make matter worst, the January 2008 App Pack is included in the firmware 2.0.

It looks EXACTLY the same as the old iPhone. But it is MUCH CHEAPER. USD$199 for 8GB and USD299 for 16GB, which translate to SGD$271.81 for the 8GB and SGD$408.19 for the 16GB one. BUT the prices stated comes with a 2 years contract.

The only difference between the iPhone 3G and the iPhone is the additional of 3G support (duh), GPS (Assisted GPS), the back is now in black or white, flushed headphone jack and better audio quality.

I am so disappointed with this year WWDC. I was hoping they announced a better iPhone successor.

Now lets wait and see how much Singtel is going to charge for a 2 year plan for the iPhone 3G.

100% the iPhone 3G will be coming to Singapore. Check out Apple Singapore Store: iPhone 3G. But when is still a question mark.

The irony is that it is CHEAPER than a iPod Touch and with additional Phone, GPS and Bluetooth capability! Looks like Apple just killed the iPod Touch.

*UPDATE* The iPhone 3G link is up in Apple Singapore, http://www.apple.com/sg/iphone/, and Singtel is the only telecom so far to bring it, http://www.apple.com/sg/iphone/buy/.

New Ikea Table
My old Sitoca table has lasted me for more than 5 years and it is still in excellent condition. I am going to pass it to Li Xiang as her house computer table is showing signs of collapsing inwards.

Went to Ikea and bought a new computer table consisting of a table top, Vika Grevsta (White), for SGD$125 and 4 table legs, Vika Curry (White) for SGD$20 (SGD$5 each). The total bill is SGD$145.10 because I paid extra $0.10 for a plastic bag as there are only 2 of us and we have problem carrying all the parts without the bag.

I going to get a Desk Pad from Ikea another day to protect my white table top!

New Ikea Computer Table - Top View

New Ikea Computer Table - Front View

My Room - Before View

Apple iPod Touch 16GB
After some contemplation, I finally decided to get an Apple iPod Touch instead of Asus EEE. Since I got a laptop already, I might as well go for the iPod Touch as Asus EEE is just another laptop but smaller. I wanted to wait for the upcoming IT Show 2008 which will be from 6th March 2008 to 9th March 2008 to see if there are any free gifts as well as the rumored USD$100 price drop of iPod Touch and iPhone. But iPod Touch Fans somehow think that the rumor might be smashed.

I wanted to get the 8GB iPod Touch for SGD$498 but when I was surfing around Hardware Zone Forums, I saw this thread and it was offering SGD$560 for a 16GB iPod Touch and it comes with warranty, receipt of purchase and the best part is that the box is still sealed.

I wanted to bargained till about SGD$500 because after I did a quick search and found out that most users selling their 16GB are bidded for at SGD$500, but apparently at SGD$500 the owner did not want to release it.

So in the end I bargained with him till SGD$550 and I bought it. The original price of the 16GB iPod Touch according to Apple Singapore Store is SGD$698, and hence I saved SGD$148.

The firmware that the iPod Touch come with is 1.1.1 which is perfect for jail breaking as I do not need to downgrade.

I have so many problems with jail breaking that I jail broke my iPod Touch at least 10 times yesterday due to conflict applications, SSH issues and my iPod can’t recover from recovery mode even with the help of iBrickr. But anyway, in the end I manage to jail break it to 1.1.3 just fine.

Here are the best tutorials that I found:
iPod Touch Fans
1.1.1 -> 1.1.2 -> 1.1.3 - http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34376

iClarified
1.1.1 -> 1.1.2 - http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=593
1.1.2 -> 1.1.3 - http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=611

Apple iPod Touch (8GB) for SGD$498 or Asus Eee (4G) for SGD$598?

Apple iPod Touch (8GB) - SGD$498

Asus Eee (4G) - SGD$598

Suggestions or comments anyone?