Valentine’s Day is around the corner or to be exact next Tuesday. If you are looking to give your girlfriend/fiance/wife flowers, I would totally recommend Far East Flora (FEF.com).

I have ordered many flowers from FEF.com and each time I am never disappointed with the quality of the flowers. I tried some other companies for flowers during Valentine’s Day and the quality is horrible, there is once they even staple the stalk of the rose to the wrapper!

Far East Flora has a mobile app called SG Florist on the App Store (universal app) that allows you to sent flowers to your love ones using your iPhone or iPad. Far East Flora has partnered with PayPal for payment on both their website and their iPhone/iPad app and hence making payment is a breeze!

Let’s walk through the whole process.

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UOB launched their mobile iPhone app (AppStore: UOB Mobile Banking) yesterday.

Its differentiating factors from local banks’s iPhone app such as OCBC or DBS/POSB is the access to financial information (deposit/exchange rates, unit trust prices, gold/silver prices) and calculators for personal loans/home equity/financial services.

There is also an augmented reality view that allows you to see latest card promotions/privileges and nearest UOB branches/ATMs. I don’t particulary find that feature useful though.

My favourite feature of this app is the mobile cash feature. What it simply does it allows you to use your mobile phone to withdraw cash from ATM without the need of an ATM card. When I first heard about it, I was like WTF.

A neater feature built on top of it, is that it even allows you to send money to your friend and even if he is not a UOB customer, he still can withdraw the money from any UOB ATMs.

Mobile Cash

Step 1

So how does it work? Upon launching the UOB Mobile Banking app, go to Mobile Cash and select the recipient you want to send the cash to. By default, your name should already be in the list (for you to send money to yourself). Since you are not transferring the money to any bank account, no account number is needed, just the recipient name and his mobile number.

Add Recipient In iBanking

The only down side is that you can’t add the recipient using the app itself. So you have to login to the normal Internet Banking via your computer browser to add them or call the UOB Call Centre to get them to add that for you if you are outside.

Select Recipient / Withdrawal Password

On top of selecting the recipient name and specifying the amount to send, you would also need to specify a 6 digit pin that you would need to tell your recipient.

Step 2

Success / SMS

Once that is done, your recipient will receive a text message and it will contain the transaction code. Using this transaction code and the 6 digit pin that you provided, he can then proceed on to any UOB ATM.

One final verification is the OTP that will be send to your recipient mobile number after he keyed in the 6 digit pin and the transaction code at the ATM. So once he keyed in the OTP, the money you sent to him will be dispensed by the ATM.

Of course there are some security checks in place for such a useful feature and here they are:

• The sender must register a list of recipients, their relationship with the sender, and the recipients’ personal information (NRIC and mobile numbers, name) before any transfer can take place
• An instant SMS-notification and next-day follow up letter will be sent to the sender upon registration, confirming recipient details
• An SMS of the mobile cash transaction with the specific reference number is sent to the recipient. This SMS instruction is valid for 24-hours and the sender can cancel a transaction at any time prior to expiry or cash withdrawal by the recipient
• A separate withdrawal password which the sender should communicate to the recipient. This is to guard against the loss of the recipient’s mobile device
• The recipient is prompted for the One-Time Password (OTP) upon withdrawal at the UOB ATM
• The transaction is automatically voided should the ATM detect a pre-determined number of invalid password attempts
• A maximum cumulative transfer amount of S$500 per day per sender
• A recipient can receive only one transaction a day

I find it pretty neat! I hope all the banks will adopt this!

An Android app is on the way followed by Blackberry and mobile web version next year. A native iPad App is also in the works.

Download AppStore: UOB Mobile Banking

Bought the Mophie Juice Pack Boost from Apple (Singapore) Online Store for SGD$69.90. I can’t seem to find it in any Authorized Apple Reseller stores in Singapore. Instead they are still selling the older model, the one with 1,500mAh battery (Amazon Link) instead of this 2,000mAh one.

The Mophie Juice Pack Boost is bigger and much lighter than it looks. I was expecting it to be more compact in size and heavier, but surprising it is lighter than any of my Eneloop Chargers that I bring along in my bag whenever I am out (which is a good thing).

Another advantage of the Mophie Juice Pack Boost is the built-in Apple 30-pin dock connector‎ and hence you do not need to carry an extra Apple Dock Connector to USB Cable along with your backup battery which normally allows you to charge via USB port.

As mentioned earlier, the battery in the Mophie Juice Pack Boost has a capacity of 2,000mAh and this allows you to fully charge any iPod/iPhone models even if the battery is totally empty in your device.

It does charge your iPad but at an extremely slow rate since it only output a maximum of 1A. The iPad requires at least 2.1A for a proper charge.

The Mophie Juice Pack Boost also acts like a dock which holds your iPhone upright while it charges (see the last picture embedded in the post).

Packaging Front

Packaging Back

Packaging Contents

Swivel 30-pin Apple 30-pin Dock Connector‎

Charging The iPhone

Bluelounge Milo is a mobile phone stand but with a twist! It has a micro suction area that allows you to place your mobile phone in any desired angle! For my case, if I am resting my iPhone on it vertically, it just leans against the back. However, I also can place it horizontally because the micro suction will hold on my iPhone without the need for it to rest of any base.

The Bluelounge Milo cost USD$14.95 (SGD$18.90).

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iPhone 4S On Bluelounge Milo (Vertically)

iPhone 4S On Bluelounge Milo (Horizontally)

Fabrix launches Fifth October iPhone case as a tribute to Steve Jobs who passed away on the 5th October 2011. The case cost USD$10 (SGD$12.70). Shipping within Singapore via Registered Mail cost an additional USD$3 (SGD$3.80). I ordered on the 18th October 2011 and I received it on 24th October 2011. But now due to overwhelming orders, the waiting time is at least 3 to 4 days before your order is processed.

Description Of The Fabrix Fifth October iPhone Case

The passing of Steve Jobs has been a great loss to the entire Mac Community or rather, to the world. He was a true visionary, a great leader and an inspiring soul destined to changed the world. He has connected the world with his passion and his ideas. He challenged conventions and shaped the way we enjoyed technology today.

Here at Fabrix, we would like to pay a tribute to him, cause without him, we would not be doing what we love today. We have hence created a special tribute sleeve to immortalize him. We named this special edition sleeve ‘Fifth October’ because that is the day the world lost Steve Jobs to cancer.

Throughout Steve Jobs’s career, his trademark look spotting the black turtleneck top paired with blue jeans has garnered a cult following and we figured this is exactly how we would like to remember him as. As a form of respect to him, this sleeve will not bear any branding or labels. It will be shipped in a special drawer box in Black and Gold. Each sleeve will come with a handprinted random quote card, bearing a message from Steve Jobs that we feel has inspired us.

This sleeve will retail at just US$10 because we believe that every and anyone who would like to own it should be able to do so without a pinch (we just need to recover the costs on our side).

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Box Content

Fifth October iPhone Case

Fifth October iPhone Case With iPhone 4S