Apps, operating systems, and the software tools I use across my computers, phone, and home setup.
Invited to Norton's blogger session for the launch of Norton 360 Version 5.0, thanks to Text 100. Highlights include a perfect online-threat detection score from Dennis Technology Labs, a top PassMark performance ranking, and a new Norton Control Center.
Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 is now available. Sizes vary widely: the 32-bit Windows Update is around 750MB and the 64-bit 1,050MB, while standalone downloads from Microsoft balloon to 4,100MB and 7,400MB respectively.
Finally, Nokia is dumping Symbian for something better: Windows Phone! Nokia and Microsoft today announced a broad strategic partnership combining their complementary strengths to build a new global mobile ecosystem and challenge the smartphone status quo.
The Mac App Store is live, bundled with the OS X 10.6.6 update, where US$4.99 is the new US$0.99. I haven't bought a paid app there since I get software directly from the makers, fairly useless to me.
I've spent the past few months building the mig33 Android client with colleagues, tasked with styling the native UI in Java and XML plus the HTML5/CSS3 webpages. It's tedious, but the first beta is finally ready for download!
Google has officially announced the Nexus S and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Co-developed by Google and Samsung, the Nexus S pairs the latest Android with a 1GHz Hummingbird processor and 16GB of memory, making it one of the fastest phones around.
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.
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.
Android Market is finally coming to Singapore, alongside 19 other countries. Developers in 29 countries can now sell apps, up from nine, and users in 32 countries can buy paid ones, up from 14, as Android's userbase keeps expanding.
Here are Apple's own direct download links for iOS 4.1 across iDevices: iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4, plus iPod Touch 2G, 3G and 4G, all on build 8B117. Grab the firmware straight from the source for every supported device.
My first encounter with Standard Chartered was bad: they rejected my credit card application, surely over my short six months of work since graduating rather than salary. I've reapplied this week, hopeful, and was invited to their Breeze Bloggers Meet.
Apple finally released iOS 4.0 to the public at around 1am Singapore time, reportedly identical to the WWDC 2010 GM build. Direct download links from Apple cover the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4 and iPod Touch models.
Long a Windows user doing web development for years, I switched to Mac when I started work because my whole engineering team used them. Going with the flow, I found the experience excellent after a short adjustment.
Windows 7 officially launched in Singapore at midnight on 22nd October 2009, through Microsoft Singapore and Challenger Funan. The first person queued from 3.30pm, though numbers were only handed out at 7pm, and by 10.30pm over 140 people had gathered.
Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard is now available from the Apple Singapore store for S$48. I pre-ordered mine on 26th August 2009 and received it the next day. Living near their Keppel hub, my house is always first.
Per the Windows newsletter, Windows 7 has finally hit Release to Manufacturing and should reach shelves on 22nd October 2009. Microsoft is now packaging the code for PC makers and partners, marking the last milestone before the public launch.
Attended the Nokia Ovi Store Showcase at Ben & Jerry's in The Cathay; I love how Nokia always picks novel venues. We could order anything off the menu, even the S$88 twenty-scoop monster. I managed just one scoop.
I was invited to Symantec's Cybercrime Uncovered event at the Pan Pacific Hotel, arriving on time since it's near my workplace. I was surprised to see Wilfrid there, now sporting a Nokia N97. Sadly I forgot my camera.
Google has announced Chrome OS, though it won't ship until the second half of next year. It looks set to challenge Microsoft's Windows 7 Starter Edition on netbooks. Chrome OS is an open-source, lightweight operating system aimed initially at netbooks.
Firefox 3.5 is here, built on the Gecko 1.9.1 platform after a year of development. It brings plenty of changes over the previous version, supporting new web technologies while improving both performance and ease of use across the board.
The PHP development team has released PHP 5.3.0, a major improvement in the 5.x series with a large number of new features and bug fixes, including namespace support. A welcome update for anyone building modern applications in PHP.
Ozh and I have released YOURLS, Your Own URL Shortener. I run it on lc.sg and Ozh on ozh.in. YOURLS is a small set of PHP scripts that let you host your own TinyURL-style shortening service, private or public.