Got the Logitech Notebook Riser N110 from Challenger VivoCity for SGD$37 for my office use. It is to raise my MacBook Pro so that the screen can be placed beside my future monitor for dual screen purposes. In the mean time, it gives me a good elevated viewing angle.

Box Front

Box Back

Front

Back

Side

With MacBook Pro

Got the Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad for my office use at DG Lifestyle (yes, it is a HK company) at VivoCity for SGD$78.

Box

Box Open

Contents

Apple Keyboard

I have spent the first quarter of my life studying! 6 years in primary school, 4 years in secondary school, 3 years in Singapore Polytechnic (SP), 2 years and 2 months serving my nation, 3 years 6 months in National University of Singapore (NUS). Finally, it is time for me to step out to the working world and complete the other half of my life.

My last paper ended back on 3rd December 2009, went to Taiwan for my graduate trip from 7th to 13th December 2009 and went to Hong Kong with Li Xiang from 19th to 27th December 2009. Sent out my resumes to OCBC, UOB, SingTel, Matador, CSIT and Crimson Logic for the last 3 months but did not get a reply.

I was recommended by David to Andy who said his company, mig33 Pte Ltd, is looking for a web developer and David asked me to contact Andy personally. So I thought why not give it a try, so I sent my resume to Andy and Andy forwarded it to his bosses. Thanks to Andy for endorsing and putting good words for me, I manage to get an interview last Thursday, 28th January 2010 at 3pm. The interview was pretty technical which I like because it really tests your skills and experience in that area rather than just looking at your CAP or grades and judge everything based on that.

Came back at 4pm and at 5.49pm, I got an email saying that I got the job as a Web Engineer at mig33! I was really over the moon! It is my first full-time job! The feeling is definitely better than striking 4D or ToTo!

It is such a coincidence that mig33 is located at The Central Office 1 building which is just beside my internship company, Sedgwick Richardson, which is located in Office 2 building (they both share the same lobby)

mig33 is the largest mobile chat community, connecting millions of mobile friends all around the world! You can find out more about mig33 at http://mig33.com/.

On the day that I got the job, I posted a blog post entitled All Good Things Must Come To An End on my WordPress blog.

Just in case you miss it, let me paste it down here:

As you all know, I have been doing WordPress plugins and supporting it for the past 6 years. These 6 years of my life, I have been through my polytechnic education, my national service as well as my university education.

I just graduated from university in December 2009 and have been jobless for 2 months. However, things change for the better. I was offered a full-time job and will be starting work this coming Monday on the 1st February 2010.

I regret to say that I am not able to provide support for my plugins anymore due to my full-time job commitment. I will leave my WordPress plugins support forums open and let the community help one another.

However, I will still update my plugins when I can and you still can report bugs to me via email and I will try to fix it.

The comments I have gotten are very positive and I would like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement! You rock WordPress community!

Uniquely Singapore Clipper

Thanks to Benjamin and Lionel from STB for the invite to go on board the Uniquely Singapore Clipper! We were out in the sea for almost 3 hours and I steered a boat for the first time in my life. It was somewhat similar to driving a car without power steering. This year is starting to get interesting. In January 2010 itself, I rode on a Segway and steered a boat!

Marina at Keppel Bay

The Uniquely Singapore Clipper is currently stop over at Singapore’s Keppel Bay’s Marina and will depart to Qingdao, China on the 2nd February 2010.

Singapore is currently at the 6th place in the overall race out of 10 teams.

Check out my Facebook Gallery: Uniquely Singapore Clipper for the full 89 photos taken.

What is a Clipper?
To be honest, I have no idea what a Clipper is.

A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had multiple masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area.

The term clipper originally applied to a fast horse and most likely derives from the term “clip” meaning “speed”, as in “going at a good clip”.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper

Race Schedule
Leg 1
Race start from the Humber, UK: 13 September 2009
La Rochelle, France: ETA 18-20 September, depart 22 September
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: ETA 18-20 October

Leg 2
Rio de Janeiro: depart 27 October
Cape Town, South Africa: ETA 14-16 November

Leg 3
Cape Town: depart 22 or 23 November
Geraldton-Greenough, Western Australia: ETA 14-18 December

Leg 4
Geraldton-Greenough: depart 3 January 2010
Singapore: arrive 23 January, depart 2 February
Qingdao, China: ETA 19-22 February

Leg 5
Qingdao: depart 2 March
California: ETA 1-5 April

Leg 6
California: depart 11 April
Panama: ETA 4-7 May, ETD 12 May
Port Antonio, Jamaica: ETA 16-18 May

Leg 7
Jamaica: depart 22 May
New York: ETA 3 June, depart 6 June
Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada: ETA 11-13 June, depart 19 June
Cork/Kinsale, Ireland: ETA 1-4 July, depart 9 July
Ijmuiden, Netherlands: ETA 13-14 July, depart 15 or 16 July
The Humber: Race finish 17 July 2010

Received my Apple iPhone 3GS / 3G USB Desktop Sync & Charge Cradle from MobileFun yesterday. It is a good alternative to the Apple iPhone 3G Dock (£22) and Apple Universal Dock (£36) because it cost only £9.99 and it works exactly the same.

Box Contents

It comes with the cradle, the MiniUSB to USB cable and the charger head.

Charger Head

Cradle – Front View

Cradle – Back View

You can either charge and sync your iPhone 3G/3Gs with the cradle by connecting the USB cable to your computer or just choose to charge your iPhone 3G/3GS by connecting the charger head to a power outlet.

Cradle With iPhone 3GS – Front View

There is a blue LED light on the right side of the cradle to indicate that there is power coming to the cradle.

Cradle With iPhone 3GS – Side View

As you can see, my iPhone 3GS fits perfectly into the cradle and I like the plastic backing because it is pretty high and give the iPhone a pretty good back support. That is important to me because sometimes I type on my iPhone while it is still docked in the cradle.

Most of the stuff on my table are black, my monitor, my television, my keyboard and even my mouse. The only white colored things around is my table itself and my Apple’s Universal Dock. This black cradle is perfect for all black iPhone users because it blends well with your black iPhone 3G/3GS and even the devices/gadgets on your table.

You can get the Apple iPhone 3GS / 3G USB Desktop Sync & Charge Cradle for £9.99 (including taxes but excluding shipping).

For more iPhone accessories, Check out Mobile Fun’s iPhone Accessories.

WiFi Model

Wi-Fi + 3G Model

Specifcations

• 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip
• 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
• 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
• Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
• Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology
• UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900,1800, 1900 MHz) (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
• Digital compass
• Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
• Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)>
• 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive
• Accelerometer sensor
• Ambient light sensor
• Built-in 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery
• Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
• Weight: 242.8 mm
• Width: 189.7 mm
• Depth: 13.4 mm
• Weight: 0.68 kg (Wi-Fi model); 0.73 kg (Wi-Fi + 3G model)

Full Specifications: http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

Wi-Fi
16GB: USD$499 = SGD$700
32GB: USD$599 = SGD$840
64GB: USD$699 = SGD$981
Ships in 60 days time

Wi-Fi + 3G
16GB: USD$629 = SGD$882
32GB: USD$729 = SGD$1,023
64GB: USD$829 = SGD$1,163
Ships in 90 days time

Official Website: iPad

D-Link replied me after a week and a follow-up email from me. The normal repair price is USD$61 (SGD$86) and after the repair is done, I will get an additional 3 months warranty.

However, out of good will, they are willing to give me 30% discount off the repair charges which is now USD$42 (SGD$59) and an additional 3 months warranty, so that makes it 6 months warranty in total. They accept cash only and for some reason they do not quote in SGD$. Weird.

Despite their good gesture, I don’t want to take the risk of my DNS-323 failing again and I have to repeat the whole process of backing up my data onto an external HDD and then copying the data back to the NAS. It is a nightmare and I got a shock and felt lost when my NAS fails.

I decided to get a new and better NAS instead which is the Synology Disk Station DS210j. Got it for SGD$408 from Memory World at Funan. I think this is the last piece available in Singapore, the next shipment is coming in next month. Thanks to KK from Funan’s Memory World for reserving it for me. You can go look for him if you are looking to buy any Qnap or Synology NAS =)

Box

Box Contents

DS210j

Front

Back

Open

Inserting HDD

DS210j On My Table

I am still considering whether or not to take on the good will and repair the NAS and keep it for other purposes or sell it away.

Conducted across eight Asia-Pacific markets (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan), the second quarterly Digital Brand Index (DBI 2.0) continues to unveil insights about; the most discussed brands online, the most active channels and the subject areas that spark the most vibrant debate.

Researched during the last three months of 2009, DBI 2.0 found almost 1.5 million online technology brand mentions – double the level tracked in DBI 1.0, conducted July to September 2009. Other key findings from DBI 2.0 include:

• Mentions of large technology brands online doubled in the last quarter of 2009, reaching 1.5 million across Asia Pacific’s top 300 large technology brands, covering almost 3,800 channels and online sites.
• Twitter’s massive growth trajectory has seen it become the dominant channel for sharing news about technology brands across Asia, except in China where it is banned. For example, in India, Twitter represents over three-quarters of all online conversations tracked.
• Despite massive online buzz generated by Microsoft around Windows 7, Google continued to be the most discussed brand across the region, generating significant mentions in areas such as its Chrome and Android operating systems, and the Nexus One smart phone.

Developed by Edelman and derived from Brandtology data, the second quarterly Digital Brand Index (DBI 2.0) for Singapore found:

• Google (over 20,600) and SingTel (over 13,700) topped the rankings by way of volume of conversations, with increases of 245 per cent and 50 per cent in the last quarter respectively
• StarHub closed the gap on SingTel, enjoying a 137.3 per cent increase in online buzz
• Canon (4.3) once again topped the Average Engagement scoreboard, ahead of LG (3.3)
• The centre of gravity for online conversation regarding technology brands in Singapore was once again dominated Hardwarezone Forum, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (37,043 mentions) and Twitter Singapore (20,643). The channels combined accounted for over one third (37.2 per cent) of all chatter
• StarHub knocked SingTel from the top spot in the Channel Index, which reveals the number of unique channels discussing a brand

Source: Twitter Leapfrogs Established Digital News Sources finds the Asia Pacific Quarterly Digital Brand Index

Ordered a 21.5″ iMac (3.06GHz) for my dad to replace his old computer (which is also my previous desktop computer). Actually suppose to order 2 sets. One for my Dad to put it at home and the other for my mom to replace her old Fujitsu laptop in the office. However, my mom got some doubts about the Mac OS X and software compatibility issues and hence ended up getting 1 set for my dad first. In the mean time she can play around with it at home before making a final decision.

Since I am still technically a student, I made use of the Education Store and hence it is cheaper by SGD$100. The iMac cost SGD$1,688. I also topped up another SGD$218 for Apple Care so that the warranty will get extended by another 2 years.

My mom preferred the idea of non-wireless keyboard and mouse so that there is no need to change batteries every now and then. I opted for the Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad. As for the Magic Mouse, I wanted it so I bought another Apple Mouse. The difference between each wireless and non-wireless mouse/keyboard is SGD$20, and unfortunately Apple do not refund you the difference if you opt for the non-wireless mouse/keyboard.

The Apple Mouse and the iMac was delivered on two separate dates maybe because I “customized” my iMac by changing the bundled keyboard.

Specifications

• 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1920 x 1080 resolution
• 4GB memory
• 500GB hard drive
• 8x double-layer SuperDrive
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics

Damage

• iMac: 21.5″ (3.06GHz): SGD$1,688
• Apple Care: SGD$218
• Apple Mouse: SGD$78
• Total: SGD$1,984

Dates

• Ordered Date: 17th January 2010
• Apple Mouse Delivered Date: 19th January 2010
• iMac Delivered Date: 20th January 2010

iMac Box

iMac Contents

iMac Accessories

Apple Mouse Box

Apple Mouse Box Open

Magic Mouse Front

Magic Mouse Back

Magic Mouse Side

iMac On The Table

Motorola DEXT with MOTOBLUR
The Motorola DEXT is the “social” phone from Motorola and another SingTel exclusive phone, similar to what INQ is doing with it’s Mini 3G and Chat 3G. Motorola took a new approach and created its own service called MOTOBLUR. Just imagine Apple’s MobileMe and MOTOBLUR is the Motorola’s version. Similar to MobileMe where it can track your phone and remotely wipes its data, you can do that using MOTOBLUR as well. You can do so by logging into MyMOTOBLUR and from there you can “Locate Your Phone”, “Delete Data” and even perform an OTA “Import Contacts” to your Motorola DEXT from a CSV file. Pretty impressive and best of all, this service is 100% FREE. I tried the “Locate Your Phone” feature and it works perfectly, I am pretty amazed!

Even though is my first time reviewing/playing with an Android mobile phone, I will not be touching any of the default Android stuff aka Google stuff. I shall be focusing on the enhancement Motorola did with Android. I would like to apologize first if some of the stuff I mention are part of Android instead of an enhancement by Motorola.

Specifications

• OS: Android 1.5 (Cupcake)
• Input: QWERTY slider with Touch Screen
• Display: 320 x 480 pixels, 187 DPI; 3.1 inch HVGA screen
• Battery: 1420 mAh lithium polymer
• Standby Time: up to 325 hrs / 13.5 days
• Talk Time: up to 360 min / 6 hrs
• Camera: 5.0MP with Auto Focus
• Bluetooth: 2.0+EDR, stereo Bluetooth
• WiFi: 802.11 b,g
• Headset jack: 3.5mm audio jack
• Connector Type: MicroUSB 2.0 high-speed
• Weight: 163g
• Size: 114mm (H) x 58mm (W) x 15.6mm (D)
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Network: WCDMA 900/1700/2100, GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps (Category 7/8), EDGE, GPRS Class 12, AGPS
• Built-in Memory: 256MB + 2GB MicroSD bundled
• Removable Memory: MicroSD up to 32GB

For more detailed specifications, check out the Official Motorola DEXT Specifications Page.

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