My 2nd hoot from SITEX 2010 is the A.C. Ryan Playon! HD (SGD$349). It comes with a 2TB Samsung harddisk (Spinpoint F4EG) and free Wireless N Dongle. The reason I chose A.C. Ryan instead of other brands is because it can play almost all formats including RM & RMVB. I know Western Digital Live TV can’t play those formats.

The A.C. Ryan Playon! HD also supports NAS functionality and hence I will be off loading all my media stuffs into it from my NAS.

In terms of UI, it is simple and easy to use but I think the graphics element within the UI can be improved to make it more visually appealing.

The only complain I have so far with the Playon HD is the network only supports 10/100Mbps which makes transferring files to it extremely slow. The speed I am getting for transferring files to Playon HD is only 5MB/s. I may switch to using the free Wireless N Dongle that comes with the Playon HD, at least it supports up to 300Mbps which is 3x faster than the wired option.

Box Front

Box Back

Box Contents

Playon HD Front View

Playon HD Back View

Samsung HDD

UI

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) will be happening in over 100 countries on 3 December 2010. This year, the United Nations is getting people all over to world to keep a promise they have made: to include persons with disabilities as we move forward as a society.

To commemorate this day in Singapore, the Disabled People’s Association (DPA) is holding a “East Meets West” football match on 27 November 2010 to raise funds.

You can help by buying a ticket to the “East Meets West” football match! Feel free to bring along your friends too!

Hooted the My Passport Essential SE (1TB) (USB 3.0) from SITEX 2010 for SGD$189.90 (usual price is SGD$209.90). This is my first USB 3.0 device despite not having any computers that support USB 3.0. It is all about future proofing!

Since this portal harddrive supports USB 3.0, the connector on the harddrive itself is a USB 3.0 MicroUSB Port (which looks weird, see picture below) instead of the usual USB 2.0 MiniUSB port. But it is backward compatible meaning your USB 2.0 MicroUSB (NOT miniUSB) still can fit into the port.

USB 2.0 is called Hi-Speed, and now USB 3.0 is called Super Speed (SS).

Box Front

Box Contents

My Passport Essential SE (Silver)

USB 3.0 MicroUSB Female Port

USB 3.0 Cable

USB 3.0 MicroUSB Male Connector

Not really related to technology, but just a heads up that H&M is opening in Singapore finally! Unfortunately I have only been to Hong Kong’s H&M and gotten myself some shorts from there.

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB takes the first step into South East Asia by opening a store at the best business location on Orchard Road in Singapore’s most central shopping area.

The store will be located in Orchard Building, Singapore, and will have a sales area of approximately 3,000 square metres. The store is planned to open during the autumn of 2011.

– We look forward to opening our first store in South East Asia. There is great potential for expansion in this highly populated and fashion conscious region, and Orchard Road in Singapore is the perfect first step for this, says Karl-Johan Persson, CEO at H&M.

Press Release: Singapore Becomes New H&M-Market

Here are the direct links FROM APPLE itself to iOS 4.2 for various iDevices:

iPhone

• iPhone 3G (4.2.1/8C148)
• iPhone 3GS (4.2.1/8C148a)
• iPhone 4 (4.2.1/8C148)

iPod Touch

• iPod Touch 2G (4.2.1/8C148)
• iPod Touch 3G (4.2.1/8C148)
• iPod Touch 4G (4.2.1/8C148)

iPad

• iPad 1 (4.2.1/8C148)