3,442 posts
since 2002
The Promise is an awesome, creative marketing campaign by PayPal, remarkably personalised and targeted at individual bloggers. It follows four ordinary Singaporean boys, Eugene, Nicholas, Erik, and Josh, who've banded together to raise awareness of issues close to their hearts.
On the night of PC Show 2011, my brother called to say my D-Link DGS-1008D switch, bought at IT Show 2009, had died. I went home, confirmed it, and returned the next day to buy the same switch for S$85.
With my cable Internet contract expiring, I'm switching to Fibre before 24th August 2011. With no Fibre Termination Point in my room, the gateway must move to the living room. To ease the move, I got the Belkin Surge Protector.
After passing my MacBook Pro 15-inch to my brother, I use my work MacBook Pro 15-inch as my laptop, carrying it between office and home. My Fabrix sleeve needed a hand to carry, so I bought the Crumpler Dederang Heist.
SingTel's Priority Pass is an interesting mobile broadband service. These days, almost everyone is on an iPhone, Android, or BlackBerry tapping the same data network, including 3G USB dongles. If you pay only for mobile broadband, you share that bandwidth.
StarHub isn't IPv6 ready, and I suspect the same of M1 and SingTel. You can test your own connection and share your ISP's result in the comments. Mine showed no IPv6 address detected, just IPv4, ahead of World IPv6 Day.
I couldn't find the unlimited data rates for SingTel's 3G $15 hi!Card, which gives S$18 of value rather than S$15. It quotes pay-per-use data at a 50%-off 0.27 cents per kb, which sounds steep, though a separate 1GB plan exists.
If you're into computer engineering, this Facebook tech talk is for you, and the full 52-minute video is well worth your time. Every workday, Facebook safely ships hundreds of changes, from bug fixes to new features, across hundreds of engineers.
A good Business Week article profiles Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia, on how he's trying to lead the company past its 'epic fail' amid dwindling market share, a cratering stock, and persistent takeover talk. Much wasn't news to his audience.
At Computex in Taipei on 2nd June 2011, Microsoft gave hardware partners a technical preview of the next Windows, internally code-named Windows 8, to help them build devices that take advantage of its new user experience.
The Samsung Galaxy S2 (16GB) is available in Singapore from 24th June 2011 for S$998 without contract. It runs a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 with a Mali-400MP GPU on the Orion chipset, paired with 1GB of RAM and HSPA+ connectivity.
The Nokia X7 isn't an upgrade to any model, but, like the Nokia E6, it feels solid. It has a 4-inch AMOLED touchscreen in a stainless steel body, with a non-removable battery, and is the second phone on Symbian Anna.
I was invited to a blogger event previewing the Nokia E6 and X7. The E6 launches in June 2011 with a recommended price of S$570, in Black and Silver at first, with White following later.
Microsoft has previewed its Windows Phone 'Mango' update, with the Windows Phone 7.1 SDK now out. Mango and new Windows Phones are due this autumn, the first Nokia Windows Phones will run Mango, and Communications gains Threads and Groups.
Singapore Food Expo 2011 takes place at Singapore Expo Hall 5 from 27th to 31st May, open 11am to 10pm daily. One of the largest food events in Singapore, this year's edition features more than 100 exhibitors.
I was searching for a case to protect the back of my iPad 2 that also works with Apple's Smart Cover. A MacRumors thread, 'Smart Cover Compatible Cases List', proved handy, and I settled on the SwitchEasy CoverBuddy.
SingTel mentions 'Tag Lite' nowhere on its website, so the only way to learn about it is to visit a SingTel Hello store. I first heard of it on a Hardware Zone forum thread about using MultiSIM on the iPad.
SingTel begins selling the iPad 2 on Saturday, 14th May 2011, with subsidised units offered under two services: Mobile Broadband and Mobile Multi-SIM. The Mobile Broadband option pairs a 7.2Mbps plan with the 16GB 3G iPad 2 at S$40.
The Bluelounge CableBox was the first Bluelounge product I bought, in Hong Kong in April 2011 for HK$288, about S$45.67, at city'super, where only white was available. In Singapore, both black and white sell at Challenger and EpiCentre for S$49.90.
As a huge Bluelounge fan, the Refresh was the first I came across, at EpiCentre in ION Orchard. Only pink was available then, so I got the Konnext SynCharger instead. Five months on, the black returned to EpiCentre.
I got the Bluelounge Nest for S$19.90, or S$17.91 with member's price, from Challenger. It seems Challenger, or the agent, only brought in the black and white variants, as I couldn't find the other colours there, though EpiCentre had them.
The Apple 85W MagSafe Power Adapter is for the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro. I got mine in Hong Kong for HK$588, about S$93, against S$128 in Singapore. My work adapter is wired in awkwardly, so I bought a spare.