Founder of lesterchan.net, a Singapore tech and gadgets blog running since 2002. An engineering leader by day and a WordPress plugin developer since 2003, with a soft spot for gadgets, smart home, and a good deal.
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities falls on 3 December 2010, with the UN urging everyone to keep their promise of inclusion. To mark it locally, the Disabled People's Association holds a fundraising football match.
Hooted the Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1TB with USB 3.0 from SITEX 2010 for S$189.90, down from S$209.90. It's my first USB 3.0 device despite owning no computer that supports it yet, purely for future-proofing.
Not tech-related, but H&M is finally opening in Singapore! So far I've only visited Hong Kong's H&M, where I picked up some shorts. Hennes & Mauritz takes its first step with a store at a prime Orchard Road location.
Here are Apple's own direct download links for iOS 4.2 across iDevices: iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4, iPod Touch 2G, 3G and 4G, and the original iPad, all on build 4.2.1, giving every supported device the update at once.
NetDNA, a Content Distribution Network company, is now sponsoring lesterchan.net, so I'm offloading all my static images, CSS and JavaScript to their CDN. They run ten data centres worldwide and serve over 200 large sites, including Mashable and SitePoint.
The Sanyo Eneloop Mobile Booster KBC-L2B upgrades the earlier KBC-L2A, though the model number, merely bumping A to B, is confusing. Sanyo really should pick clearer names so buyers can tell new from old. Design-wise the two are basically identical.
Celebrated Li Xiang's birthday with a Friday stay at Marina Bay Sands. We booked early, choosing the Rise & Shine package with one night and breakfast for two, paying S$389 before tax. Pricey, but totally worth it!
SingTel is the first and, for now, only operator to bring in the Nokia N8, available from 5th November 2010. To celebrate, with Sony Music they flew in David Archuleta, runner-up of the seventh season of American Idol.
Thanks to both Justins from Tech65, Justin Ng and Justin Lee, for this fun little gadget, the Transformers Tigatron USB Flash Memory Drive. A nice collectible that doubles as portable storage, and a generous gift from the duo.
I was invited to HP Singapore's 40th Anniversary at Dempsey's The House. I forgot my camera, but Joe's blog has photos. The food was fantastic and Muttons hosted hilariously. To celebrate, there's 40 Days of Christmas with HP.
I was seeded the Nokia N8 through the Nokia Rangers program. The build and hardware are fantastic and the camera amazing, but Symbian^3 kills it. The OS can't exploit the hardware, like running Windows 98 on a Core i7.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab will be available in Singapore exclusively to SingTel customers from 13th November 2010, with pre-orders from 30th October to 12th November. Pricing comes on 14th November, offered with SingTel's existing 3G Flexi plans.
Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac is now available on most retail shelves. The Home and Student edition bundles Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Messenger for Mac, priced at S$188 for one licence or S$228 for the three-licence Family Pack.
My boss brought an 11.6-inch MacBook Air with 64GB SSD from the US for a business partner. Apple Singapore charges S$1,488 versus US$999 there. Since it isn't mine I didn't power it on, just compared its size.
It's our sixth anniversary! We celebrated with a night at The Scarlet Hotel, grabbing Koi bubble tea on the way since the bus stops right outside. After checking in we watched Toy Story 3, even better than the first two.
I was invited to Universal Channel's screening of The Event. I'd seen it mentioned on HardwareZone forums but had totally forgotten about it. It's an American political thriller and science-fiction series created by Nick Wauters for NBC, stylised THE EVENT.
Fabrix Cases sent me a complimentary Fabrix Booklet for iPad worth US$59.90, probably because I've bought several cases from them for my MacBook Pro, netbook, iPhone 3GS and iPad. I think I'll use this one from now on.
Citibank has given its CitiMobile iPhone app a version 2 makeover. New features include improved search in Gourmet Pleasures and Citi World Privileges, plus shopping deals, rebates and e-coupon treats you can redeem instantly from your phone.
The Social Network is a movie about how Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in his Harvard dorm. I doubt some parts, like Mark owning 51% when he holds 24%, but others ring true, such as Napster co-founder Sean Parker's involvement.
Five minutes after Microsoft's press release launching Windows Phone 7 in Singapore, I got SingTel's, titled SingTel brings Windows Phone 7 to Singapore. It's long, so in short: the phones go on sale from 21st October 2010 onwards.
I wish Apple would, like Microsoft, make Singapore a first launch market. Per the press release, the much-anticipated Windows Phone 7 reaches the public here on Thursday, 21st October, as SingTel, StarHub and M1 join 60 operators across 30 countries.
mig33 is still hiring, and this time we need more engineers. Based in Singapore, we're looking for software, mobile, web, system and release engineers. Interested? Send your CV to jobs@mig33global.com, and fresh polytechnic or university graduates are most welcome too!