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since 2002
Buying phones without a contract is an increasing trend, with Apple and Xiaomi selling directly. Singapore phones are always unlocked by law, and as people change phones more often, the telcos' two-year contracts hold less appeal.
At PHPConf.Asia 2015, I bought the purple PHP ElePHPant plush toy from Jenny Wong for S$50, with proceeds going to PHP Women, a network supporting gender equality in the PHP community. On day two, I added the blue ElePHPant.
Two months after Office 2016 for Mac, Microsoft Office 2016 for Windows is now available, both for Office 365 subscribers and as a one-time purchase. Office 365 Personal costs S$98 a year and Office 365 Home S$138 a year.
PHPConf.Asia 2015, the first Pan-Asian PHP conference, starts today. The two-day event is held at Kent Ridge Guild House in Singapore. We're honoured to have PHP creator Rasmus Lerdorf give the opening keynote, and Jenny Wong the closing.
Singtel's price plans for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, launching 25th September 2015 at Marina Bay Sands. Singapore gets the A1638 and A1687 models, supporting the local LTE, UMTS, and GSM bands across Singtel's plans.
The Apple iPhone Lightning Dock launched in May 2015 at S$58, in plastic and only white. For the iPhone 6/6s Plus launch, Apple added an aluminium variant at S$68, S$10 more, now offered in colours including this gold.
The Apple iPhone 6s Plus Leather Case retails for S$68 and, like the 6 Plus case, shipped well before the phone itself. It comes in five colours, Midnight Blue, Saddle Brown, Rose Grey, Brown, and Black; I chose Midnight Blue.
Netflix is coming to Singapore in early 2016, alongside South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Here's hoping the local catalogue of movies and TV series is a good one. Netflix is the American on-demand streaming service expanding rapidly worldwide.
Ambi Climate is a small, sleek IoT device that makes your existing infrared remote-controlled air conditioner smart. Using predictive climate control, it monitors temperatures inside and out to run your aircon more efficiently and lower your energy bill.
The Jabra Sport Coach retails in Singapore for S$248 in Blue, Red, and Yellow. The younger sibling of the Jabra Sport Pulse I reviewed in May 2015, it's S$50 cheaper, omitting the in-ear heart rate monitor of the pricier Pulse.
Google has unveiled its biggest logo change in 16 years. The new design is flatter and uses a sans-serif font, giving it a younger, brighter, cheerier feel. The blue 'g' favicon is also replaced by a four-colour 'G' to match.
Algolia is a French startup offering hosted cloud search as a service, with a developer-friendly API that's easy to integrate in any language. It provides 11 API clients, four mobile SDKs, and a WordPress plugin.
Acronis True Image Unlimited has been renamed True Image Cloud, now supporting multiple devices including mobile. With the Acronis True Image app, you can back up Android, iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Windows devices to the cloud from one account.
I received the Cooler Master Power Fort 6,000mAh as a door gift at a Cooler Master seminar. I hadn't even known Cooler Master made power banks, and the Power Fort series now seems discontinued.
Two weeks ago I bought the Amazon Echo for US$179.99, shipped alongside an Amazon Fire TV Stick. I've used it daily since and love it. The Echo is a voice assistant, like Siri, Cortana, or Google Now.
I received the GoGear Splash n Dash Bluetooth Speaker as a door gift. It retails for S$49.90 at Mustafa and selected 7-Elevens, in four colours. With Bluetooth 4.0 and an IPX5 rating, it suits the bathroom.
During a Timbuk2 20%-off custom bag sale, Li Xiang bought two custom bags. Since I already own plenty of Timbuk2 bags, I skipped another and instead picked up the Timbuk2 Trek Book Portable Organizer for US$59.
GoGear is a brand few have heard of. A quick Google reveals it's Philips GoGear, a series of small flash and hard-drive personal electronic devices, including digital cameras, audio players, and audio recorders.
Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac is now available, adding Windows 10 integration with Cortana. Beyond that, it brings major speed gains over previous versions: Windows launches and shuts down up to 50 percent faster.
Singtel's price plans for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 4G+ and Galaxy S6 edge+ 4G+. The Note 5 launched in Black Sapphire and Gold Platinum, with the 32GB at S$1,088 and 64GB at S$1,188, the S6 edge+ arriving alongside it.
Earlier this year, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Web for Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry, leaving out iOS due to Apple's platform limitations. Whether WhatsApp worked around them or Apple eased them, WhatsApp Web is now available for iOS users.
My brother ordered me a Herman Miller Aeron Chair through Unwanted Imports, which has run mass Herman Miller orders on the Hardware Zone forums since 2011. The Aeron's many configurations and sizes are confusing, so I'm glad he handled it.