Green Apple Red Apple

Info-communications company and mobile service provider StarHub has announced it will be offering the iPhone to customers in Singapore.

In a press statement released on Monday, the company said it has reached an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone and a range of tailored service plans to customers in Singapore later this year.

Further information on pricing, tariffs and availability dates will be released at a later date. It is the third and final telco here to ink an agreement with Apple.

SingTel had been the sole distributor of the iPhone in Singapore until October, when rival M1 made the announcement that it would sell the popular mobile. M1 had also stated that it will release the iPhone later this year.

Did SingTel fails to impress Apple with their iPhone take up rate? Hope that Green Apple taste better than Red Apple.

Light Painting, Light Drawing and Light Graffiti

Sometime back, a friend of mine asked me how to do a light painting. I wonder awhile before I gave the answer. Light painting is not new to me but it has been a really long time since I did my last drawing with my light pen.

Light painting, also known as light drawing or light graffiti is a photographic technique in which exposures are made usually at night or in a darkened room by moving a hand-held light source or by moving the camera. In many cases the light source itself does not have to appear in the image. The term light painting also encompasses images lit from outside the frame with hand-held light sources.

The light can either be used to selectively illuminate parts of the subject or to "paint" a picture by shining it directly into the camera lens. Light painting requires a sufficiently slow shutter speed, usually a second or more. Like night photography, it has grown in popularity since the advent of digital cameras because they allow photographers to see the results of their work immediately. Flash lights or light pens can also be used to create Full Bleed images. Different colored lights can be used to project an image on the CCD.

Light painting by moving the camera, also called camera painting, is the antithesis of traditional photography. At night, or in a dark room, the camera can be taken off the tripod and used like a paintbrush. An example is using the night sky as the canvas, the camera as the brush and cityscapes (amongst other light sources) as the palette. Putting energy into moving the camera by stroking lights, making patterns and laying down backgrounds can create abstract artistic images. Also known as "Camera Toss."

Making a light painting doesn't necessarily need to be done in a dark room or at night. Sometimes using artificial light, like LEDs and mobile phones, or through the limited sunlight beaming in a curtained room creates a shadowing effect. Using a mirror creates a double image, which adds up to a more creative result.

A variety of light sources can be used, ranging from simple flashlights to dedicated devices like the Hosemaster, which uses a fiber optic light pen. Other sources of light including candles, matches, lighter flints, glowsticks, and Poi are also popular.

A tripod is usually necessary due to the long exposure times involved. Alternatively, the camera may be placed on or braced against a table or other solid support. A shutter release cable or self timer is generally employed in order to minimize camera shake. Color Gels can also be used to color the light sources.

Manual focus is often used since autofocus (AF) systems may not perform well in low light. Using low ISO setting on a digital sensor to minimize grain (or digital noise) and increase exposure tolerance, as evaluating exposure is often tricky.

Mushroom Park 百菇园 @ Serangoon Garden

Something similar to Mushroom Pot, but more expensive & taste better. There are 2 branch, one at 38 Seah Street, and the other one which I went to is at 87 Serangoon Garden Way. You can checkout their website @ http://www.mushroompark.com.sg. The ambient is comfortable, clean & they emphasized alot on the healthy medical effect of the mushroom that is in the pot. Those various types of fresh mushroom were transported all the way from Taiwan to Singapore. Mushroom lovers, this is definitely the place you shouldn't miss.

Mushroom Park @ Serangoon Garden

Dave & Joyce Wedding - 5 Nov 2009

5 Nov 2009 - Dave & Joyce Wedding

Finally its over... Welcome to the Club! Can't believe that the Sisters let us off so lightly.. Haha.. Was expecting something worst, but turn out to be fine, except for the Big Mama's Cups. Dave must have been really nice to the Sisters before the wedding. The rain was so heavy that while travelling back to Joyce's place from Yishun, we need to turn on our hazed light as the visibility was only 2 car length. The Sisters car went MIA together with the Photographer on board after missing a turn due to the heavy down pour. Although this is not the first all vegetarian wedding banquet I've attended, but its the first all-I-can-eat banquet so far for the past few years. Very tasty food they have, but hope that the waiters can be more considerate by setting aside those unfinished food so that we can have it later. Also, wine is not the only drinks being served. Guest drinking chinese tea & soft drinks need top up too. At any point of time, those wine glasses are always filled to half full.

Giant Jellyfish Sink Trawler

Gigantic jellyfish have sunk a 10-tonne fishing trawler off Chiba in eastern Japan. Sound like Sea Monster back in those Ancient time.

The three-strong crew of the Diasan Shinsho-maru had been trying to haul in a net containing dozens of Nomura's jellyfish - which can tip the scales at a stunning 200kg each - when their vessel capsized.

Nomura's Jellyfish is a very large jellyfish, the largest cnidarian in the world which the diameter of these jellyfish is can be greater than the height of an average fully grown man. The numbers of these huge creatures, have risen greatly this year in the seas around Japan, likely because of favourable weather and water conditions in breeding grounds off China.

The crew were rescued by another fishing vessel under calm conditions. The last time Nomura's jellyfish numbers spiked, in 2005, nets were damaged while their toxic stings injured fishermen and rendered fish inedible.

Randolph 3rd Baby Eshton's Full Month - 31 Oct 2009

31 Oct 2009 - Randolph 3rd Baby Eshton's Full Month

Are we celebrating Eshton's Full Month or are we in for a YoYo Mania competition?

Finding reasons not to buy an iPhone...

In June, Apple's Smartphone was the editors' choice at CNET UK. How times have changed.

"The iPhone may be the greatest handheld surfing device ever to rock the mobile Web, and a fabulous media player to boot," writes CNET UK's Flora Graham in a mock award citation posted Tuesday. "It may be the highest-rated mobile phone on CNET UK, rocking the pockets of half of our crack editorial team. It's certainly the touchscreen face that launched a thousand apps. But as an actual call-making phone, it's rubbish, and we aim to prove it."

What follows is a litany of complaints no iPhone owner hasn't heard — or expressed — before. But to read them in a publication that four months earlier named Apple's device the "world's best touchscreen phone" is unexpected. And in Ms. Graham's voice, sort of fun.

To quote a few of her sharper lines:

•Say What?
Call quality on the iPhone is pathetic, and it's mostly because of the tiny speaker. It has to be aligned with your ear canal with the accuracy of a laser-guided ninja doing cataract surgery, or else the volume cuts down to nothing as the sound waves bounce uselessly around your ear shells.

•Dropped Calls and Data Gaps
If, like Will Smith in Enemy of the State, you're trying to avoid the eagle eye of Big Brother, the iPhone. could be for you. It drops calls, fails to connect and doesn't even ring sometimes — not for everyone, but more often than any other phone we're currently using.

•You Can't Answer If it Doesn't Ring
Perhaps the worst of the iPhone's problems is its ability to sit there stealthily and ignore incoming calls. With no ring or vibrate to clue you in, your friends and family are redirected to voicemail… or just treated to silence. If you're in a two-iPhone family, it can be a case of the deaf leading the mute.

•The iPhone Might Burn Your Face Off
According to our ultra-sciencey test, it is extremely unlikely that the iPhone will burn your face off… Nevertheless, pressing a large, flat surface to your cheek is always going to be sweaty… Thus the current trend for people to walk down the street with their phones on hands-free, yelling into the mike at the bottom while they hold the rest of the phone away from their faces.

•iPhone Battery Life
A couple of hours of Google Maps over 3G and you'll be lost in the woods without even the possibility of phoning for help. Compare that to the good old days when your phone would last a week without charging, and you'll wonder why you ever bothered to switch.

•The iPhone Sucks — So What?
If the iPhone is inaudible, unconnected, on fire and out of battery, why is the thing so popular? The fact is, although the iPhone is the worst phone in the world, it's the best handheld computer there is.

At least until CNET UK's editors name a new one.

Le Cafe's Bean Curd Tart

Tired of egg tarts already? Try this, the Le Cafe Confectionery & Pastry's Bean Curd Tarts. Something new, something very refreshing if you have it chills. They also has tasty Pineapple Tarts, Brownies & Rum Balls.

Where are they? Here's the address & operating hours.
Address : 264 Middle Road, Singapore 188990 (Near Rochor Beancurd)
Phone: 63372417
Opening Hours : Mon - Sat 8AM to 8PM / Sun - 10AM to 5PM / PH Closed

My Poor Nephew

He was admitted to Hospital again.. Hope he get well really soon.

An Afternoon @ MacRitchie Reservoir

Has been a long time since my last visit to the MacRitchie. The place has really changed alot & its more visitor friendly now.

Did almost a solid 10km walk around the park, but missed the main part of the reservoir. The sky don't really look good after completing the Tree Top Walk. We exit to the nearest bus stop & took a bus back to the starting point.

An Afternon @ MacRitchie Reservoir

A Night @ Marina Barrage

Surprise to see many night kite flyer at the Marina Barrage nowadays. There were LEDs attached to the string & the kite itself roaming the night sky which at first I though was someone flying remote UFO above the Barrage.

A Night @ Marina Barrage

Caught : Xiao Huang Snacking Before Lunch Time

Caught : Xiao Huang Cleaning Himself

ERP rates to increase by 50% - 100%

Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates are set to increase by 50% to 100%, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on Tuesday.

• From 8am to 8.30am, the ERP rate for the Ayer Rajah Expressway will increase to $1, up from current $0.50.

• From 6.30pm to 7pm, the rate for two gantries, eastbound ECP (Marina South) and on slip road from Ophir Road, will increase to $3 from current $2.

The revised rates will take effect next Monday, Nov 2. The revision comes after the completion of LTA's quarterly review of traffic conditions on ERP-priced roads and expressways. The next ERP review will take place in Nov 2009 for the December school holidays. That's the only things that makes me skipping shopping in town.

Wonder if the decline rate of public not taking public transport has any impact on this. Just feel that by quarterly reviewing of traffic conditions & keep increasing the ERP rates is not going to solve the rise in car ownership at all. Shouldn't they be thinking of ways to reduce public transport fares instead so that public will consider taking the bus or train.

I can still remember that the feeder bus service that run through my block used to be only $0.15 per trip to the interchange, but now its $0.69. Its a 460% increase over 20 years, or about 23% each year.