Interesting project by Google, it reminds me of Facebook with Friend’s List. No idea how different is it from Facebook till I tried it. But I love the Circle UI, quite a new and interesting concept.

Among the most basic of human needs is the need to connect with others. With a smile, a laugh, a whisper or a cheer, we connect with others every single day.

Today, the connections between people increasingly happen online. Yet the subtlety and substance of real-world interactions are lost in the rigidness of our online tools.

In this basic, human way, online sharing is awkward. Even broken. And we aim to fix it.

We’d like to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software. We want to make Google better by including you, your relationships, and your interests. And so begins the Google+ project

+Circles: share what matters, with the people who matter most

Not all relationships are created equal. So in life we share one thing with college buddies, another with parents, and almost nothing with our boss. The problem is that today’s online services turn friendship into fast food – wrapping everyone in “friend” paper—and sharing really suffers

+Sparks: strike up a conversation, about pretty much anything

Healthy obsessions inspire sharing, and we’ve all got one (or two, or three…). Maybe it’s muscle cars, or comic books, or fashion, but the attraction is always the same: it comes up in conversation, we immediately jump in, and we share back and forth with other fans. Often for hours. The trick is getting things started, and getting over that initial hump. Fortunately, the web is the ultimate icebreaker.

+Hangouts: stop by and say hello, face-to-face-to-face

Whether it’s inside a pub or on a front porch, human beings have always enjoyed hanging out. And why not? It’s how we unwind, recharge, and spend unscheduled time with old and new friends alike. Hanging out is deceptively simple though, and the nuance gets lost online.

+Mobile: share what’s around, right now, without any hassle

These days a phone is the perfect sharing accessory: it’s always with you, it’s always online, and it’s how we stay close with our closest friends. We didn’t want “just” a mobile experience, however, so with Google+ we focused on things (like GPS, cameras, and messaging) to make your pocket computer even more personal.

+Huddle

Coordinating with friends and family in real-time is really hard in real life. After all, everyone’s on different schedules, in different places, and plans can change at any moment. Phone calls and text messages can work in a pinch, but they’re not quite right for getting the gang together. So Google+ includes Huddle, a group messaging experience that lets everyone inside the circle know what’s going on, right this second.

Check out the Official Blog Post: Introducing the Google+ project: Real-life sharing, rethought for the web for more detailed information.

Engadget: Google+ invite received, we go hands-on
Official Site: Google+

Thanks to DK who bought the Sima Ultra Bright Video Light (SL-20LX) from Amazon.

Justin Ng and Dennis got it together as well after we saw Daniel Tsou brought it along for one of the tech event. Sometime it is frustrating when tech events happen at places with low light conditions and the photo taken has lots of noise in it. Paid about SGD$40 for it including shipping (as we split the shipping cost).

You might be interested in reading DK’s blog entry regarding I’m pissed off with some Companies and PR Agencies (catchy title).

Packaging Front

Packaging Contents

On Canon 50D

Switched On

This year Nokia Connection 2011 took place within CommunicAsia 2011 itself and it is the first time it is being held at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Stephen Elop, CEO, Nokia was also in town to give the opening keynote. The main highlight of Nokia Connection 2011 was the Nokia N9. Other minor ones include Symbian Anna will be coming in August 2011, new dual SIM phones like the C2-03, C2-06, new single SIM phone like the C2-02, Nokia Browser, Nokia Life Tools, Maps for Series 40, Nokia Play 360 and Nokia Wireless Music Receiver MD-310.

Nokia N9

Nokia N9 Press Image

Nokia N9 is running on MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan (finally). It is powered by ARM Cortex-A8 OMAP3630 1 GHz and PowerVR SGX530. It has a whopping 1GB of RAM and comes with either 16GB or 64GB of storage space. It’s screen is a 3.9″ WVGA (854×480) AMOLED display with curved Gorilla glass, no air gap, anti-glare polarizer. It’s body is made up of one piece polycarbonate and comes in three colors (black, magenta and cyan).

Nokia N9 Camera

The camera of the Nokia N9 is a 8MP auto-focus Carl Zeiss with wide-angle lens and large lens aperture of f/2.2 and comes with 2x LED flash.

The Nokia N9 also comes with NFC which in the demo, they used it to pair with speakers (brilliant idea) by just tapping your Nokia N9 on the speakers instead of pairing it with Bluetooth. Of course the music is stream via Bluetooth once it has been paired by NFC.

3 Buttons On The Nokia N9

There are only 3 buttons in N9, Volume Up, Volume Down and Power/Standby Button. There is no “home button” on the Nokia N9, to wake up the N9, just double tap the screen when in standby mode.

Nokia N9 Applications Screen

Nokia N9 Multitasking Screen

Nokia N9 Events Screen

All the menus and mutiltasking features are access via swiping. You swipe to get to the “Applications” screen, you swipe again to get to the “Multitasking” screen and if you swipe again, you will get to the “Events” (think Notifications) screen.

Despite it being a prototype unit for the demo set, the UI is extremely fast, responsive and intuitive. I am an iPhone 4 user and it only took me 15 minutes to get the hang of the UI. The Nokia N9 is a good phone, but I wonder how long before it gets replaced by a Nokia’s Windows Phone 7.

I think the Nokia N9 is a stepping phone for the consumers to transit into a Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 with regards to the UI as most of WP7 UI are swiping left and right which is very similar to the Nokia N9.

Nokia N9 MicroSIM Slot

Nokia N9 MicroSIM Tray

Did I mentioned that the Nokia N9 will be using MicroSIM? Apple is no longer alone in this MicroSIM bandwagon!

The Nokia N9 will be available later this year and it will cost about USD$660 for the 16GB variant and USD$749 for 64GB variant.

I took quite a number of pictures of the Nokia N9 (including the main apps of Nokia N9) and uploaded them to my Flickr Set: Nokia Connection 2011. You can check them out or view them in the Flash slideshow below.

Specification:

• Networks: Pentaband WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 1700, 2100, Quad band GSM/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
• Speed: HSDPA Cat10: 14.4Mbps, HSUPA: Cat6 5.76Mbps
• Display: 3.9″ WVGA (854×480) AMOLED display with curved Gorilla glass, no air gap, anti-glare polarizer
• OS: MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan
• Memory: 1024MB RAM, 16GB/64GB storage
• Camera: 8Mpix auto-focus Carl Zeiss, wide-angle lens, 2x LED flash, Video capturing MPEG-4 SP 720p @ 30fps, 2nd camera for video calls
• Size / Weight: 116.45 mm x 61.2 mm x 7.6–12.1 mm (L x W x T)/ 76 cm3/ 135 g
• Connectivity: BT 2.1, GPS, A-GPS, WLAN 802.11abgn, NFC, 3.5mm AV connector, uUSB connector, USB charging
• Processor:ARM Cortex-A8 OMAP3630 1 Ghz, PowerVR SGX530
• Audio: MP3 player, Audio jack: 3.5mm, Supported codecs: mp3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, FLAC
• Battery: 1450 mAh
• Talk time: (GSM/WCDMA) up to 11 h / up to 7 hours
• Standby time: Up to 450 hours (WCDMA), up to 380 hours (GSM)
• Video playback (720P): up to 4.5 hours
• Music playback: up to 50 hours

Official Site: Nokia N9

Read More (815 More Words, 10 More Images)

3 months after Firefox 4.0 has been released, Firefox 5.0 has been released today. I think they are trying to compete with Google Chrome in version numbering.

Mozilla’s shift to a rapid release development cycle delivers cutting edge Firefox features, performance enhancements, security updates and stability improvements to users faster.

The latest version of Firefox includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements that make it easier to discover and use all of the innovative features in Firefox. This release adds support for more modern Web technologies that make it easier for developers to build amazing Firefox Add-ons, Web applications and websites.

What’s New In Firefox 5.0?

• Added support for CSS animations
• The Do-Not-Track header preference has been moved to increase discoverability
• Tuned HTTP idle connection logic for increased performance
• Improved canvas, JavaScript, memory, and networking performance
• Improved standards support for HTML5, XHR, MathML, SMIL, and canvas
• Improved spell checking for some locales
• Improved desktop environment integration for Linux users
• WebGL content can no longer load cross-domain textures
• Background tabs have setTimeout and setInterval clamped to 1000ms to improve performance
• Fixed several stability issues
• Fixed several security issues

Looks like they are not done this year, according to Firefox’s Roadmap, Firefox 6.0 and Firefox 7.0 will be released within this year as well.

Direct Download Links To Firefox 5.0

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

Links

• Official Blog Post: Mozilla Delivers New Version of Firefox – First Web Browser to Support Do Not Track on Multiple Platforms
• Release Notes: Firefox 5.0

Got the Capdase Car Charger Holder from EpiCenter for SGD$59.90. As I applied for the ANZ Credit Card previously and having completed 2 transactions of any amount using that credit card, I received a SGD$50 voucher for EpiCenter.

If you are an ANZ Credit Card holder, you are also entitled a 10% off any 3rd party accessories from EpiCenter as well, so the Capdase Car Charger Holder cost only SGD$53.90 after a 10% discount and using the SGD$50 voucher, I paid SGD$3.90 for the holder.

The Capdase Car Charger Holder is slightly different from other holder because it uses your Cigarette lighter receptacle to hold your phone and on top of that it extends the socket by giving you an additional 2 USB ports to charge your gadgets (iPad compatible).

Do note that the voucher ONLY has a 1 month validity which is dumb, so I have no choice but to get something before it expires on 25th June 2011.

Box Front

Box Content

Phone Mount

In The Car