The Case For Social Media in Schools

An interesting read.

The Case For Social Media in Schools [via]

Gmail's Threaded Conversation View can now be disabled

Gmail added an option that allows users to turn off threaded conversation view.

To change the view option, go to the main Settings page, look for the “Conversation View” section, select the option to turn it off, and save changes. If you change your mind, you can always go back.

Turn off Gmail’s conversation view [via]

POSB Savings Account interest rates at new pathetic low of 0.100% p.a.

With effect from 15 October 2010, the deposit interest rates for DBS and POSB deposit accounts will be revised (downwards) again to a new pathetic low. The lowest will be 0.100% p.a.

Revision In S$ Deposit Interest Rates
http://www.dbs.com/posb/deposit/notice/revisedinterestrates/default.aspx

Global Logistic Properties mega IPO may weigh on smaller peers

New Global Logistic mega IPO launched by GIC may weigh on existing smaller industrial trusts such as Cache Logistics Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Ascendas REIT and Cambridge Industrial Trust. I managed to sell away Mapletree Logistics Trust few days back and decided to hold onto Cambridge Industrial Trust for the latter's higher dividend yield and to lower exposure to REITs. Another mega IPO, Mapletree Industrial Trust, likely to take off around same time, could further depress existing industrial plays.

Today, shares of Cache Logistics Trust remained unchanged, Mapletree Logistics Trust fell 2.247%, Ascendas REIT fell 0.459% and Cambridge Industrial Trust fell 0.917%.

Global Logistic IPO may weigh on smaller peers [via]

SMRT fall on cost concerns

According to Kim Eng Securities on SMRT Corp,

The rise in operating costs will continue to outstrip revenue growth for at least the next 12 months, moreover, SMRT is limited in its ability to raise dividends this year due to higher capex.

From a separate account, I read SMRT Corp may be removed from the STI Index in the coming review due to lower market capitalisation. Glad I have sold off all SMRT shares. SMRT shares closed 0.966% lower to close at S$2.05 today.

SMRT off 0.5%; Cost to outstrip revenue growth: Kim Eng [via]

Norton launch security tool for Android

Android only: Norton has launched a beta security tool for Android phones. The tool provides capabilities to perform remote locking and wiping of phone if your phone is stolen or lost, and also malware scanning.

The Norton tool comes with a 101-day subscription. You can grab it from the Android Market, or using the QR code below.

Norton Mobile Security Provides Remote Lock and Wipe, Malware Scanning for Android [via]

How to Create HTML5 Website and Page Templates for Visual Studio 2010

A good read bookmarked for future reading.

How to Create HTML5 Website and Page Templates for Visual Studio 2010 [via]

恶心

!!!

Fabian Hemmert: The shape-shifting future of the mobile phone

At TEDxBerlin, Fabian Hemmert demos one future of the mobile phone -- a shape-shifting and weight-shifting handset that "displays" information nonvisually, offering a delightfully intuitive way to communicate.

Rethinking current user interface so it makes use of all our senses and also emotions. It's all about making technology more human.

Facebook, INQ Working on Two Android Phones

As quoted from PCMag

"Our whole strategy is not to build any specific device or integration or anything like that. Because we're not trying to compete with Apple or the Droid or any other hardware manufacturer for that matter," Zuckerberg said. "Our strategy is very horizontal. We're trying to build a social layer for everything."

Facebook, INQ Working on Two Android Phones [via]

Sold off Mapletree Logistic Trust

After keeping Mapletree Logistics Trust since 24 Aug 2009, I have decided to sell everything at S$0.875/share and settle for a 35% profit. If dividends were taken account for, the gain is a good 42%. The counter has given me a good over 9% yield for the past one year :)

The reason for the sale is due to likelihood of dividend dilution after issuance of new preferential shares. When the new Mapletree Industrial Trust is launched next month, will the Logistic Trust be forgotten? Let's not forget GIC's coming Singapore's largest IPO in history - Global Logistic Trust.

If there is an opportunity, I would still go for the counter in the future provided it fell more than 5% on a single day (hopefully very soon).

Experts-Exchange Experts Give T-Shirts to Charity

Experts Give the Shirts off their Back to Charity [via]

One of the most amazing things about our expert community is their generosity and desire to help others.

Earning t-shirts for ranks is a great achievement, but some of our experts have answered so many questions they’ve got a closet full of Experts Exchange clothing. Exchange Server Geniuses Glen Knight and Alan Hardisty cooked up the idea of donating t-shirt credits to charity and started a thread to see if other experts might be interested.

“Alan and I were talking about our large EE t-shirt collection and discussing alternative uses for future shirts…wrapping gifts, stuffing pillows, car seat covers, things like that,” says Knight (demazter). “We thought it might be nice to bring ‘Expert Power’ together to do something for good.”

It turned out to be a popular idea, and many experts indicated their interest in donating shirts instead of redeeming them. Word got back to the Experts Exchange home office and we put together a t-shirt charity challenge.

One of the non-profits that Experts Exchange works closely with is an organization called WaterRun which works to bring clean drinking water to villages desperately in need. The charity is seeking to fund a number of water wells in Ethiopia, so we challenged the experts: collectively redeem more than 300 shirts for donation and WaterRun will build a well for a small village. Redeem more than 500 t-shirts for donation and we’ll build a large well. We gave them a X TIME window to accomplish the task.

In the first week, experts collected over 600 t-shirts! By the end of the third week, 750 shirts had been donated. We were amazed! It is so exciting to see the community come together to support a common cause. Thanks to the effort of our experts, a large well will be built near a school in Ethiopia to serve multiple villages in the area.

Inspired by the outpouring from our experts, the home office has decided to come together in support of the cause as well. This Friday, September 24th, we’ll host a BBQ fundraiser for employees, family, friends and local community members with the goal of raising funds to build a second well. We’ll send out another post next week to let you know how it goes.

Here is a little more information about the specific water well we’re funding.

Name of the school: Hidale School
Village: Deneale/Genti,
District: Hinatolo-Wajirat, Senale Tabia
Region: Southeastern zone of the Tigray

GPS Reading: North – 13°03’40.7, East - 39°04’33.8, Elevation – 2271m

On behalf of everyone here at Experts Exchange I’d like to thank you, the experts, for helping make a difference. Hundreds of people who used to walk 45 minutes to get contaminated drinking water will now have access to clean drinking water just 2 minutes away, improving health and freeing time for children to attend school instead of collecting water.

Donate your EE T-Shirts to a worthy cause [via]

Looking for something worth while to do with your EE T-Shirts? Run out of space in the wardrobe?

Well now we can, over the past months the Experts Exchange Admins/Moderators have been working with the Experts Exchange staff to provide us experts with a way that we can donate our T-Shirts towards a worth cause.

The cause that has been chosen is http://www.wineforwells.org/the_issue.html they build wells to provide sustainable solutions to the shortage of drinking water available in Africa.

The more T-Shirts we donate, the bigger the well. For example to install a new well would cost 300 T-Shirts, but the next size up would cost 500.

For those of you interested in this you can simply follow the instructions below:

Access your shirt redemption page:

1. Click the link to edit your profile.
2. Select the tab ‘For Experts’
3. Select the sub-tab ‘Shirts’

Designate the shirts you would like to donate to charity:

1. Click the ‘Redeem’ button next a shirt you wish to donate.
2. In the ‘Full Name’ field type your name if it is not already present.
3. In ‘Address Line 1’ type: ‘Donate to charity’
4. You can type whatever you wish in the other fields, but they are a necessary step in order for the form to be accepted for submission.
5. Click ‘Submit’.
6. Click ‘Complete Order’.
7. You can disregard the shirt arrival information, but consider this confirmation that your shirt donation has been counted.
8. Note: You will also get an email confirming your shirt order, that is just a part of the current shirt redemption process, and can be disregarded.

Nomao iPhone app must be FAKE

This Nomao iPhone app that is promoted as being powerful enough to see people naked through IR must be FAKE. A mistake made in the video is the mention of IR. Objects that are opaque block IR waves. That's the general rule.

Microsoft Word Template for Writing Experts Exchange Articles

NICE ONE !

http://bit.ly/d6gbD3

Making a market in knowledge

A good read by McKinsey.

For companies and their employees alike, knowledge is power—and profit.

Making a market in knowledge [via]

Gmail app in Android Market - No more on Android release

A new version of the Gmail app is released in Android Market, so Gmail updates aren’t tied to Android version releases anymore. This updated Gmail app comes with more features including a limited support for Priority Inbox.

To get the update from Android Market (just scan the QR code below, or click here if you're on a phone)

NOTE: The Gmail update requires Froyo (Android version 2.2).

Updated Gmail app in Android Market [via]

All about Twitter's "onMouseOver" security exploit incident

Microblogging site, Twitter, has published a note on its recent "onMouseOver" security exploit incident.

The short story: This morning at 2:54 am PDT Twitter was notified of a security exploit that surfaced about a half hour before that, and we immediately went to work on fixing it. By 7:00 am PDT, the primary issue was solved. And, by 9:15 am PDT, a more minor but related issue tied to hovercards was also fixed.

The longer story: The security exploit that caused problems this morning Pacific time was caused by cross-site scripting (XSS). Cross-site scripting is the practice of placing code from an untrusted website into another one. In this case, users submitted javascript code as plain text into a Tweet that could be executed in the browser of another user.

We discovered and patched this issue last month. However, a recent site update (unrelated to new Twitter) unknowingly resurfaced it.

Early this morning, a user noticed the security hole and took advantage of it on Twitter.com. First, someone created an account that exploited the issue by turning tweets different colors and causing a pop-up box with text to appear when someone hovered over the link in the Tweet. This is why folks are referring to this an “onMouseOver” flaw -- the exploit occurred when someone moused over a link.

Other users took this one step further and added code that caused people to retweet the original Tweet without their knowledge.

This exploit affected Twitter.com and did not impact our mobile web site or our mobile applications. The vast majority of exploits related to this incident fell under the prank or promotional categories. Users may still see strange retweets in their timelines caused by the exploit. However, we are not aware of any issues related to it that would cause harm to computers or their accounts. And, there is no need to change passwords because user account information was not compromised through this exploit.

We’re not only focused on quickly resolving exploits when they surface but also on identifying possible vulnerabilities beforehand. This issue is now resolved. We apologize to those who may have encountered it.

真羡慕

有位朋友拿了一个月两天的假环游美国。如果我也能这样还多好啊。真是羡慕。

Will you join Disapora?

Will you join new social networking site - Disapora? To stay abreast of Disapora's progress, join their mailing list at http://joindiaspora.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=d759919b94f9cdcf39d204f3f&id=7b5ceb2f8b.

http://www.joindiaspora.com/

SMRT keeps falling but ...

Though the share price of SMRT has been falling for the past many days after I sold it away, technical analysis is showing a soon-to-rise trend. Should I re-enter despite many broker houses downgrading the stock?

Am watching HG Metal Manufacturing as well after off-loading it yesterday. Next buy price for HG Metal and SMRT are S$0.105/share and $2.00/shares respectively.

Another 21st without a celebration

Olivia Ong 的歌陪伴 ☺

My Olivia Ong compilation

Link: bit.ly/bAARlf

My blog's traffic sources for the past 1 month

Only the top 10 countries are shown.

Google Docs editing soon to come for Android and iPad

In an annual European event - Google Atmosphere, dedicated to clouding computing, Google announced mobile editing for Google Docs will soon be possible on Android platforms and Apple iPad.

Three million businesses have gone Google: celebrating growth, innovation and security [via]

Google's launched Two-Factor Authentication

Google announced that they will add an option for two-factor authentication on Google Apps in an attempt to improve security. Google's approach does not require an additional device but rather, a mobile application is to be installed. Cloud computing capabilities will be used to generate the 2FA token.

Three million businesses have gone Google: celebrating growth, innovation and security [via]

Digi is more suitable for me

Digi Limited Edition Prepaid Internet http://www.digi.com.my/internet/promo_limited_pre.html

Really so affordable.

SMRT Corporation downgraded to 'underperform'

My reliable trusted CIMB Securities has downgraded SMRT Corporation [S53.SI] to 'Underperform'.

Losses on the Circle Line were one of the drags on SMRT’s 1QFY11 performance. Operating profit from its MRT operation fell 24% y-o-y despite a 12% increase in revenue, as increased ridership was overwhelmed by higher operating expenses with the opening of more stations along the Circle Line and as average daily ridership of 145k was below expectations of 200k.

We cut our DCF-derived target price for SMRT to $1.95 (WACC: 8.4%, terminal growth 2%) from $2.31 after: (1) cutting our EPS estimates by 3-4% for FY2012-2013; (2) adjusting for higher capex assumptions; and (3) re-aligning discount rates with our house rates. We remain wary of losses on the Circle Line with the opening of more stations in 2011 and margin pressure from rising fuel and electricity costs. Valuations are also rich at 19x CY11 P/E.

Am waiting for it to fall under $2.00 before I do a buyback.

22 Oct DSO DnD confirmed!

Yeah! Miss everyone there.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

Android Phone to Google Chrome

Android2Cloud is an Android app that allows sending of links and copying of text from your Android phone, where you might be away from home, back to your Chrome browser at home, whether or not it's open and running. This is pretty cool!

If you are interested to do a Google Chrome to Android Phone, read more here.

Google Chrome to Android Phone

It is possible to can save yourself a good bit of time by sending web pages, text, Maps locations, and clipboard contents directly from your browser to your Android phone.

Too bad this is available only on the latest Android 2.2 Froyo.

Google Chrome to Phone Extension
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/oadboiipflhobonjjffjbfekfjcgkhco

If you are interested to do a Android Phone to Google Chrome, read more here.

Consumer Reports Still Won't Recommend iPhone 4

According to PCMagazine report

Consumer Reports will continue to not recommend the iPhone 4 to its readers, apparently as long as Apple refuses to offer free, easily accessible cases to solve the so-called "death grip" issue. But putting the onus on any owners of a product to obtain a remedy to a design flaw is not acceptable to us. We therefore continue not to recommend the iPhone 4, and to call on Apple to provide a permanent fix for the phone's reception issues.

From Sept 10 onwards, Apple said it would discontinue its free case for the iPhone 4.

Amazon Kindle "attacks" Apple iPad

Internet Explorer 9 Beta looks so Chrome to me

Read more here.

Shall give Diaspora a try when it is launched next month

I may give a new anti Facebook social network called Diaspora a try when it goes live next month. The objective is to secure a friendly username if it offers one.

Reading "McKinsey & Company: Managing Knowledge and Learning"

This case study "McKinsey & Company: Managing Knowledge and Learning" from Harvard Business School is making me sleepy.

Target to complete and digest on train.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

Typhoon Fanapi approaches Taiwan

Taiwan authorities issued a land and sea warning as Typhoon Fanapi approaches. The typhoon is described to be bigger than Taiwan itself and is expected to affect the entire island. It is expected to land Taiwan tomorrow.

Google Calendar new 'Gentle Reminders' lab feature

Google Calendar has a Labs feature called "Gentle reminders" that replaces pop-up reminders with better notifications.

Overall going really well

Going well

SMRT falling, ARA Asset Management rising, C&O Pharmaceutical rising, China Animal Healthcare rising, Cambridge Industrial rising, China Mingzhong Corp rising, Mapletree Industrial rising, NOL rising, SGX fallen but is rising, ST Engineering rising.

Not too okay

CapitalMalls Asia Limited stagnant, Koh Brothers fallen and stagnant

Missed the bull

Armstrong, China Hongxing, Genting Singapore, Q&M Dental, Yangzijiang

Hopefully to get at a discount soon

To get Leeden, Qian Hu, SMRT

New Twitter.com comes with keyboard shortcuts

To show keyboard shortcuts help, hit ?.

Note: For shortcuts in the Actions column to work, you need to be reading the particular tweet. To read a tweet, either click on it or hit ENTER.

I must say Twitter's shortcut keys are so so similar to Gmail's.

XL busier than me this week

I finally found someone busier than me, at least for the week. All should be back to normalcy after ending a week of work in Singapore.

SMRT falling

Great. Smrt moving in the direction I expected it to be. Glad I sold it 2 weeks ago.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

Haven't been reading articles for quite some time

No time for that :(
17 starred items awaiting my attention.

Strong Singapore dollar affecting US denominated funds?

Is a strong Singapore dollar affecting US denominated funds? Yes, it will be a loss if the fund prices do not rise as quickly enough to catch up with the appreciation of the Singapore dollar.

Not too sure when will the MAS intervene.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

Grade 'A' for case study 1

For write-up and presentation :)

Bing Overtakes Yahoo as Number Two Search Engine in U.S.

For the first time, Microsoft's Bing has surpassed Yahoo to become the number two search engine in the U.S., according to Tuesday data from Nielsen, while Google remains the number one in U.S.

Google share is now 65.1 percent, Bing's 13.9 percent and Yahoo's 13.1 percent.

Bing Overtakes Yahoo as Number Two Search Engine, Nielsen Says [via]

Transport Minister made unannounced trips on buses and trains

It was reported that the Transport Minister Mr Lim made unannounced trips on buses and trains to get a better feel of the situation on the ground. If it's unannounced, then why were there media reporting and taking photos?

Transport Minister observes rush hour bus frequency [via]

Don't feel like going for company trip

Yawn

Google Maps inspired by Google Instant

After the launch of Google Instant, a third part geek came out with an "Instant" search for Google Maps. Visit Google Maps Instant now. Using Google Maps Instant, you can get it to plot out driving route instantly by typing in for example Destination A to Destination B.

Note that Google Maps Instant is not official from Google or YouTube.

YouTube Instant inspired by Google Instant

After the launch of Google Instant, a third part geek came out with an "Instant" search for YouTube. Visit YouTube Instant now. It attempts to instantly play the first video from search list.

Note that YouTube Instant is not official from Google or YouTube.

Disappointed with himself

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

Weekly Address: A Day That Tested Our Country

I am my brother's keeper. I am my sister's keeper.

Occultation of Moon-Venus forming a smiley face

Pic is taken by someone else as seen on 11 Sep, 2010.

Skip dinner later for sinful food

Decided to settle with Hang Heung wife biscuits as dinner tonight. A dozen of them fleshly flown from Hong Kong!

The ABCs with Google Instant

Stephen Hawking Asks, What Is Reality?

Book excerpt from The Grand Design, with Stephen Hawking being the co-author.

Stephen Hawking Asks, What Is Reality? [via]

Reaching my 3rd Google Adsense payment

For the past one year, my blog has seen a total of 37,664 page impressions and 292 clicks. This makes an average of 103 page impressions per day and 0.8 clicks per day. The next payment from Google Adsense should be ready in 3 months time.

Thanks to all visitors of my blog.

Harvard Business Review - Trust and Virtual Organization

A paper from the Harvard Business Review titled “Trust and Virtual Organization” is a light and good read. The context is on virtual working environment.

I shall make quick and brief review in my own words on the seven cardinal principles of trust:

1. Trust is not blind – Trust needs time to be built and it is hard to know many people well. Hence, for trust to work, large organizations need fairly constant, less changing, smaller groups.
   
   
2. Trust needs boundaries – Unlimited trust does not exist. Common set of goals must be defined and all are granted freedom to work on their unit of work.
   
   
3. Trust demands learning – Virtual workers must be adapted to change and capable of self-renewal. Exploration of new options and new technologies are required. Hence, such traits must be identified during recruitment interviews.
   
   
4. Trust is tough – Trust is ruthless and once misplaced, these people can no longer be relied on to do what is needed. Therefore, for the sake of the whole, the individual must leave.
   
   
5. Trust needs bonding – Goals of smaller units have to be aligned with corporate goals, vision and mission statements. They need to be backed up by exhortation and personal example for trust is not and never can be an impersonal example.
   
   
6. Trust needs touch – A shared commitment is not enough; it requires personal contact to make it real. Get-together sessions can bring workers from all levels closer together and build trust.
   
   
7. Trust requires leaders – A multiplicity of leaders is needed to lead in different units of a virtual work team setup.

Facebook Passes Google

According to comScore Inc., a marketing research company

Facebook has inched past Google. New numbers show that people spent more time on Facebook last month than on Google. Americans spent more than 41 million minutes on Facebook in August, compared with nearly 40 million minutes on Google's sites, including YouTube.

Facebook Passes Google [via]

Apple giving in and relax all restrictions on the development tools

According to the PCMag, Apple said it would relax restrictions it put in place earlier this year to allow its developers to use more development tools. This is a reversal in Apple's strong stand for protection and against allowing third party vendors like Adobe to support Flash on iOS.

In the wake of Apple's decision to relax restrictions on the tools its developers can use, Adobe announced Friday that it would resume development on Flash for the iPhone.

Why the sudden reversal? Could it be because of strong competition from rivals like Google Android and RIM BlackBerry, and not forgetting Microsoft's soon-to-launch revolutionary Windows Phone? According to IDC report, Google Android market share is exploding, 16.3% in 2010 as compared to Apple iOS's 14.7%. Google Android's share is predicted to jump from 16.3% in 2010 to 24.6% by 2014 while Apple iOS's share to decline from 14.7% to 10.9% in the same period.

Google Android market share is exploding

IDC predicted that Android will jump from 16.3 percent market share in 2010 to 24.6 percent by 2014, chipping away at the share currently held by Symbian, BlackBerry, and Apple's iOS. Symbian, which is popular overseas but not in the U.S., will likely maintain its number one global standing by 2014, though IDC predicted an 18 percent drop in market share. The release of Windows Phone 7 later this year, meanwhile, will likely help Microsoft "regain some of the share it has lost over the past two years, from 6.8 percent in 2010 to 9.8 percent in 2014 for Windows Mobile. BlackBerry's share will remain relatively constant, while iOS will decline from 14.7 percent to 10.9 percent by 2014.

Given IDC's figures, this means Google Android 2010's 16.3% is now higher than Apple iOS 2010's 14.7%.

IDC: Smartphone Market Exploding, Android is 'Wild Card' [via]

Government ordered the IRs to cease complimentary shuttle services with immediate effect

The Casino Regulatory Authority has issued directives to both of Singapore's integrated resorts to stop their free shuttle bus services with immediate effect. Such sudden move may result in immediate job losses and lost in millions of dollars on upfront investments. Sufficient time should be allowed for.

That is an irresponsible act from the government.

Dividends - Investment Way

That's the way to go :)

5 tips for using Priority Inbox

It has been a week since Gmail Priority Inbox was launched. Gmail Blog suggested five ways you can make Priority Inbox work even better for you:

1. Customize your sections
2. Train the system
3. See the best of your filtered messages
4. Use filters to guarantee certain messages get marked important (or not)
5. Archive unimportant messages quickly

5 tips for using Priority Inbox [via]

Google Instant Shortcut Keys

Google Instant Search, the feature that shows search results as you type, is now publicly available. Just visit www.google.com to start experiencing Google Instant.

You may refer to the following list of shortcut keys to efficiently use Google Instant.

Some of the shortcut keys:

• Tab/Right arrow: pick the first suggestion
• Up/Down arrow: select another suggestion from the suggested list
• Right arrow while selecting a suggestion: I'm feeling lucky
• Enter/Esc/Delete: ignore the suggestions and find the results for your query

Have I been too naggy?

Have I been too naggy? Was told I actually mentioned (nagged) several times how I missed 老婆饼 from 恒香 few months ago in Hong Kong. 恒香 stores in Hong Kong are restricted only in a few locations unlike alternative household brands like 奇华 and 荣华. Because of that, I had to settle for 奇华 and 荣华 back then.

Naggy = Getting old.

Anticipating Hang Heung 恒香 Wife Biscuits 老婆饼

Tomorrow shall be the day! Why Hang Heung? I just find the taste just right as compared to Kee Wah's sweeter biscuits and Wing Wah's drier biscuits. Hang Heung's crispier skin suits me better.

Please handle my Hang Heung's with care!

How 6 Memorable Tech Companies Got Their Names

Imagine instead of "Googling" something, you "BackRubbed" it? Read on for the stories behind the following 6 memorable technology companies.

1. Go Daddy
2. Apple
3. Google
4. Fark
5. Asus
6. Yahoo

How 6 Memorable Tech Companies Got Their Names [via]

Google Instant - Turning off if you do not like it

Google Instant Search

Google has launched a new search - Google Instant. Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type.

If you would like to try but Instant is not yet made available to your country, you can always follow http://www.google.com/ncr to bring you to the Google main search engine without localisation.

Google Scribe - Type and let Google suggest sentence completion

Google launched a very interesting tool that offers suggestions as you type - Google Scribe.

Google Scribe provides text completion service. Using information from what you have already typed in a document, Google Scribe provides related word or phrase completion suggestions. In addition to saving keystrokes, Google Scribe's suggestions indicate correct or popular phrases to use.

One cool feature is that it allows you to use Google Scribe without having to be in Scribe editor itself. All you need to do is to add a Google Scribe Bookmarklet. Activate the Bookmarklet and you are ready to use Scribe.

Google Chrome is 2 years old

Back to the future: two years of Google Chrome [via]

Google Chrome is getting better

Yeah! This new Google Chrome update is even neater than the earlier version. Chrome just gets better each time.

SM Goh Chok Tong: We're victims of our own success

SM Goh Chok Tong urges Singaporeans to put carpark, housing woes in perspective and think of the poor.

Singaporeans who complain about crowded trains, the lack of carpark spaces and public housing should think of the poor who struggle to make a living, said Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong yesterday.

Urging Singaporeans to put these challenges 'into perspective with the overall needs of our society', he noted that there are still the poor and disabled who need help.

He said: 'It is important that we do not complain too much when we can't get the house that we want, we can't get the carpark that we want, when the MRT trains are a little crowded.

'We are in fact quite fortunate. These are problems created by our own success. There are many people who are not able to benefit from our overall success. Just remember them as we also try to solve our problems at the top end.'

Mr Goh was speaking on the fringe of the 10th anniversary celebration of Ramadhan On-Wheels (ROW), organised by Malay voluntary welfare group 4PM.

He was giving his take on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech last Sunday.

Mr Lee touched on hot-button issues like the shortage of public housing, the large influx of foreigners and public transport congestion.

'The PM was addressing the problems created by our success moving very quickly from the Third World to the First World,' said Mr Goh.

'In a sense, we are victims of our own success.'

He pointed to parking woes in HDB estates as an example of such a problem. Because Singaporeans are more well-off now, many families own two cars, he said.

'If you can own two cars, you are not really poor,' he added.

Inadequate space for car parking in HDB estates is an issue that has been debated in Parliament and in newspaper and online forums.

Mr Goh added that these complaints are surfacing at the 'top end' even as there are many people at the other end of the spectrum who are not able to benefit from Singapore's progress.

They include the elderly, and low-income and dysfunctional families, some of whom turned up yesterday at the ROW event at ITE College East in Simei.

Mr Goh highlighted the plight of two families, both beneficiaries of 4PM's outreach efforts.

One of them is an elderly Chinese couple in their 70s, who are on public assistance. Four of their eight children are estranged from them, while the remaining four who are still living with the couple are seeking treatment for mental illness.

'It's important for those who are facing the problems of success like inadequate carparks or housing at the top end to think of those who are struggling to make a living every day,' he said.

Since its inception in 2001, 4PM has helped some 1,200 needy families from various racial backgrounds.

4PM's volunteers collect provisions like food, second-hand computers and electrical appliances from corporate donors and deliver them to needy homes.

More than 1,100 volunteers signed up to deliver provisions and clean the homes of needy families this year.

An interesting tweet going around #smgohsaysdontcomplaintoomuch.

SM: We're victims of our own success [via]

Singapore Blog Awards 2010 - Ris Low vs Steven Lim

When two morons meet.

Former H.P. Chief Joins Oracle as Co-President

Mark V. Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, is name the new Oracle’s new co-president. Hurd is now the number two after Lawrence J. Ellison, Oracle’s chief executive and largest shareholder.

Mr Hurd resigned from H.P. one month ago, after involvement in a personal relationship scandal with a contractor turned up questionable expenses. However, a post-investigation saw no proof. Under Hurd's leadership, H.P. had grown by leaps and bounds. Mr. Ellison, a personal friend of Mr. Hurd, criticized H.P.’s board last month saying it was “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago”.

Former H.P. Chief Joins Oracle as Co-President [via]

Broad market soared especially the China's S shares

C & O Pharmaceutical Technology (Holdings) Limited +8.602%
China Animal Healthcare Ltd +3.448%
China Minzhong Food Corp +6.202%

C & O Pharmaceutical Technology - Jiangsu TV 6.00 News Interview

http://changao.listedcompany.com/mediacast/20100616_Jiangsu_TV_6.wmv

British English teacher refutes MHA’s claims that the word “burn” will incite violence

British English teacher refutes MHA’s claims that the word “burn” will incite violence. The word “burn” is more like a metaphor and does not really mean to burn.

Mr Abdul Malik made the international headlines when he was arrested by the Singapore police for “inciting violence and public disorder” with a comment he posted on Facebook criticizing Dr Vivian Balakrishnan over his handling of the YOG.

British English teacher refutes MHA’s claims that the word “burn” will incite violence [via]

Am I happy?

Am I happy? Why the question? A friend of mine asked me that question randomly because she herself was unhappy with many things. My answer to that question was I am neither happy nor unhappy. Kind of neutral since everyday seems to be the same to me nowadays. Nothing should change at least until end of my semester.

Hitler Finds Out about his NS Recognition Award

This is so funny! All NS Men MUST watch this! Old soldier like Hitler is unhappy.

Challenging week ahead

2 presentations in a week.

Gmail: Trimming our privacy policies

Google privacy policies is cross-posted on Gmail Blog.

Google privacy policies - trimmed and more user friendly

Google has updated its privacy policies to make it looked more trimmed and user friendly. Please note that there are no change in their policies and Google did was just merely updating and trimming, making them more transparent and understandable. Google also provided individual pages to explain specific privacy practices with respect to certain products and services, e.g. Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Talk and YouTube. For more, just go to http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy.html.

 Google's 5 privacy principles

1. Use information to provide our users with valuable products and services.
2. Develop products that reflect strong privacy standards and practices.
3. Make the collection of personal information transparent.
4. Give users meaningful choices to protect their privacy.
5. Be a responsible steward of the information we hold.

Google privacy policies for its individual products can be found at http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy.html.

Trimming our privacy policies [via]

Android continues its climb in smartphone market share

As more are taking up Google Android smartphones, its competitors especially Apple iOS devices, are feeling the heat.

Pulling out to a yearly view, Android has now gained 18.6 percent in web consumption share, mainly pilfering the attention away from Apple's iOS devices (down 11.4 percent). RIM has managed to most consistently weather Android's growth by losing only 1.6 percent of its web market share throughout the same time period.

Android Continues to Chip Away at Smartphone Web Consumption [via]

Image gallery on Christchurch earthquake's destruction

View the devastation in Christchurch after yesterday's 7.1 magnitude earthquake here at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/image.cfm?c_id=1&gal_gid=113679&gallery_id=113677#7073686

Hopefully the NZ will recover soon and emerge stronger after this disaster.

A Dual Screen Netbook

This Onkyo dual screen Netbook is the one I saw last week in NUS. This is really a cool gadget!

Do watch the embedded video demonstration on how the screen can be extended.

Onkyo DX1007A5B dualscreen netbook preview [via]

Google Offering Programming Courses for Free Including Android Development

Google Code University is proud to present FREE lectures for the Computer Science geeks.

Here is a list of courses and innovative resources to help CS students, faculty, and instructors.

• Programming Languages
• Web Programming
• Web Security
• Algorithms
• Android
• Distributed Systems
• Tools 101
• Google APIs & Tools

Centrality

Concept of Centrality for the nerd.

Sold SMRT Shares

I have sold off all my SMRT shares today at the price of S$2.06 per share, to make a 17.71% profit after one year. This is my second sale of SMRT and both contributed to similar gain. I feel the need to sell when the % gain is not spectacular after reading SMRT may be kicked out of the Straits Times Index (STI) in this coming review.

Wait for a while before buying SMRT again :)

Rather Busy Saturday Tomorrow

Sat: 0900 - 1300 lecture; 1300 - 1600 IS5113 project discussion; 1700 - 2100 IS5112 project discussion.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8

Gmail Priority Inbox - Bug

Gmail Priority Inbox does not seem to pick up items that are 'Starred' before launch of Priority Inbox when I choose to show starred items.

Thumbs down.

I've Got Mine - Priority Inbox

I have got my Gmail Priority Inbox after a Login/Logout process.

USS Sold Out on 18 Sep !

Cannot believe 18 Sep tickets for Universal Studios Singapore are SOLD OUT ! Hopefully 19 Sep will be confirmed soon so tickets can be purchased early to avoid disappointment.

That will be my second trip to USS :)

COMEX 2010 Brochures

Follow the below link for COMEX 2010 brochures (courtesy of hardwarezone.com)
http://picasaweb.google.com/hardwarezone.com/COMEX2010

Twitter Updates its API

Hi @hongjun,

Over the coming weeks, we will be making two important updates that will impact how you interact with Twitter applications. We are sending this notice to all Twitter users to make sure you are aware of these changes.

What are applications?

There are over 250,000 applications built using the Twitter API. To use most applications, you first authorize the application to access your Twitter account, after which you can use it to read and post Tweets, discover new users and more. Applications come in many varieties, including desktop applications like TweetDeck, Seesmic, or EchoFon, websites such as TweetMeme, fflick, or Topsy, or mobile applications such as Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Blackberry, or Foursquare.

Update 1: New authorization rules for applications

Starting August 31, all applications will be required to use “OAuth” to access your Twitter account.

What's OAuth?

• OAuth is a technology that enables applications to access Twitter on your behalf with your approval without asking you directly for your password.
• Desktop and mobile applications may still ask for your password once, but after that request, they are required to use OAuth in order to access your timeline or allow you to tweet.

What does this mean for me?

• Applications are no longer allowed to store your password.
• If you change your password, the applications will continue to work.
• Some applications you have been using may require you to reauthorize them or may stop functioning at the time of this change.
• All applications you have authorized will be listed at http://twitter.com/settings/connections.
• You can revoke access to any application at any time from the list.

Update 2: t.co URL wrapping

In the coming weeks, we will be expanding the roll-out of our link wrapping service t.co, which wraps links in Tweets with a new, simplified link. Wrapped links are displayed in a way that is easier to read, with the actual domain and part of the URL showing, so that you know what you are clicking on. When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we then will forward you on to the destination URL. All of that should happen in an instant.

You will start seeing these links on certain accounts that have opted-in to the service; we expect to roll this out to all users by the end of the year. When this happens, all links shared on Twitter.com or third-party apps will be wrapped with a t.co URL.

What does this mean for me?

• A really long link such as http://www.amazon.com/Delivering-Happiness-Profits-Passion-Purpose/dp/0446563048 might be wrapped as http://t.co/DRo0trj for display on SMS, but it could be displayed to web or application users as amazon.com/Delivering- or as the whole URL or page title.
• You will start seeing links in a way that removes the obscurity of shortened links and lets you know where each link will take you.
• When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time.

Thanks for reading this important update. Come and check what's new at http://twitter.com.

Thanks,
The Twitter Team

Universal Studios Singapore !

:)

HTC Desire - Android 2.2 Froyo is OUT !

It is time for an upgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo for all HTC Desire users.

Battery Still Full

Hopefully my battery tank will last me till end of November before I am even allowed to collapse.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8

Priority Inbox Announced on Gmail Blog

Google Gmail Priority Inbox is now on Gmail Blog too. This new feature announced was first made on Google Enterprise blog.

Google Priority Inbox [via]