Carrying any porn to Australian?

Visitors to Australia now have another question to answer in addition to declaring whether they are carrying any firearms, weapons or illicit drugs. Are they bringing in any pornography?

The additional query was introduced in September 2009. This was designed to pick up prohibited items such as child pornography at the border. But the Australian Sex Party described it as a “monstrous invasion of people’s privacy” which would leave the laptops and mobile phones of anyone entering the country open to scrutiny.

“If you and your partner have filmed or photographed yourselves making love in an exotic destination or even taking a bath, you will have to answer ‘Yes’ to the question or you will be breaking the law,” president Fiona Patten said.

The change means that travellers must declare X-rated erotic material that is legal in Australia and potentially have these items examined by Customs officers. Customs said many items of pornography were legitimately bought, possessed and viewed and these items would be returned to the passenger. But offensive material containing child pornography, bestiality, explicit sexual violence and graphic degradation needed to be detected.

“The inclusion of the question on the passenger card is intended to give a traveller the opportunity to declare adult material if they are uncertain as to whether their material would be deemed prohibited,” a Customs statement said. “Declaring the goods will minimise any action that would be considered against someone possessing such goods, unless it involves child pornography.”

Sony Alpha NEX Product Launch

Did you receive the email about the launch of Sony Alpha latest product NEX 3 & NEX 5on Jun 2 at Giraffe @ Istana Park?

The mail was sent out due to a system glitch! So sad.. I'm not invited for the launch.

Media players are gaining popularity in Singapore

While it may be relatively new in Singapore, the sale of media players & downloaded movies has been going on in countries like China for a while.

Media players are gaining popularity as they allow various types of multimedia files that can normally be played only on computers to be played on a TV set. The prices of media players range from as little as $55 to as much as $400. The pricier ones come with a built-in hard disk to store the multimedia files, which include videos, music and photos. Those without a built-in hard disk require a portable hard disk or USB flash drive that contains the multimedia files.

Some shops at Sim Lim Square are filling the hard disk with hundreds of pirated movies for free to customers whom bought media players with Hard disk from them. For those who only bought the media players, you can pass them your portable hard disk to be filled. Some shop willing to provide free while some charged $3 per title.

This is the carrot being dangled by some vendors at Sim Lim Square to customers who buy media players from them. Sounds like a great deal, but the problem is what these vendors are doing is illegal. It's equivalent to selling pirated movies.

Nowadays, there's a new media players which will access its pre-encoded hosted sites to download the movie for viewing like YouTube, rather than accessing local storage for movies. Its more "Clean" but still illegal.

Sellers of media players who offer copies of movies in the media players or hard disks without permission from rights holders may be infringing copyright. When a customer asks for movies to be loaded, he is authorising the infringement and would be exposed to civil action as well. You have been warned!

Piracy = IT Terrorist?

From Sim Lim to Heartland Malls to Shop houses, its a scene which I've not came across for a really long long time. Are they still around? With many online forum, P2P & bittorrent site for your daily hunger, why would one still risk to visit them?

According to Business Software Alliance, which has a base in Singapore, software piracy cost technology companies more than US$50 billion (S$68.9 billion) around the world last year, with Asia-Pacific region accounting for the largest share of losses at US$16.5 billion.

Despite some successes in the fight to protect intellectual property rights, 43% of software used in computers worldwide in 2009 was pirated, compared to 41% the year before. The deluge of counterfeits was largely due to the growth of the personal computer market in Brazil, India and China.

Bangladesh was the Asian country with the highest software piracy rate, followed by Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam, with China and India also among the most prominent culprits. Ex-Soviet state Georgia was the world’s top software pirate, with 95% of all software used in the country deemed illegal. It was followed by Zimbabwe, with 92%, Bangladesh with 91% and Moldova with 91%.

NDP2010 App for 3G phones on 1 June

A free National Day Parade (NDP) application for iPhone and Android devices will be available from June 1. The NDP executive committee hopes to leverage on the popularity of 3G phones to reach out to more Singaporeans, especially younger people, and encourage social interaction.

The main highlight is an augmented reality feature, which will identify any landmark around the Padang when a user points the phone camera at it. The app will display the image on the smartphone’s screen, overlaid with information about the landmark. It will also let users look up related information about the site.

Using the app, users can also access the latest NDP news, get ticket-application details, and access content on the official NDP website, as well as its Twitter account and Facebook group. Closer to National Day, it will provide information on, and directions to, the NDP and heartland celebrations.

Of the three million smartphone users here, 60 per cent use the iPhone and 5 per cent use an Android device. The NDP’s communications and multimedia committee hopes the app will reach out to all iPhone and Android device users.

The app can be downloaded from June at www.ndp.org.sg/onthego

Your new SOP item

Every modern soldier now needs one - a notebook computer. Modern recruit of the Singapore Armed Forces undergoing basic military training (BMT) now gets one, along with his green fatigues, helmet and boots.

At the Basic Military Training Centre (BMTC), recruits go online to learn how to assemble and handle their rifle, throw a grenade, carry out first aid and clear battle obstacles before going outfield to get hands-on experience.

About 2,600 enlistees were issued laptop computers in last December at the start of their BMT. The recruits returned the devices to the training centres after they graduated last week.

The online tutorials have replaced some lectures in the training shed or classroom, used now instead for discussions of current affairs and national education. Soldiers learn the how-tos of the practical skills in their bunks through BMTC's online platform Learnet. Questions can be directed to their commanders through a live messaging system.

Aside from familiarising themselves with military skills, recruits have to post their thoughts and reflections about their BMT experience at least once a week.

Learnet lets recruits carry out 'self-learning' of lessons such as weapon handling, individual field craft, first aid and training safety. It complements existing training methods like field training and classroom-based lectures conducted by BMTC. The Learnet system provides the recruits easy access to learning resources, and is part of the improvements made to the BMT system to enhance the recruit's overall training experience.

Equipping men with laptops is part of the SAF's modernisation drive to harness technology in the training of today's cohort. SAF had to engage troops intellectually and emotionally as they are now more educated, intelligent and inquisitive. This is an important part of the third-generation SAF where they focus on training thinking soldiers.

In the initial weeks, some had even figured out a way to get in touch with friends on the mainland through e-mail and social networking sites. But the social networking sites and e-mail were later blocked.

Can laptop shoot or stab? But giving it a good throw at the enemy can give them baluku I guess. Also, I wonder how much if someone were to sign 1206 for this lappy?

Folding Plug H 264 (Three Pin Plug)

This is really cool, Jonas, any lobang to import this to Singapore?

Good luck to those yet to hold wedding banquet

Legalise robbers on the loose. Now, either you pay or face the music. Will the video or photo montage shown at the next wedding celebration you attend still be accompanied by popular love songs? Perhaps not, if the newlyweds decide against paying for the use of the music. Lucky mine is over.

In a sure sign that copyright owners of commercial music - lyricists, composers, producers, and songwriters are hunting down infringements, Recording Industry Performance Singapore (Rips) and Music Publishers (Singapore) (MPS) held an educational talk for wedding photographers and videographers last week.

Their message: Pay for the copyrighted work or use royalty-free music. Otherwise, face criminal or civil action.

In January, Rips - which represents about 90 per cent of record labels here - introduced a new licensing scheme under which wedding videographers and photographers have to pay $2,000 for the unlimited use of copyrighted work for a year. Rips, which administers the scheme on behalf of 14 record companies, said it was set up to make it simple to obtain a licence. So far, it has not taken any enforcement action against anyone yet.

MPS is following suit. The cost of its licence will be announced by the end of next month and is not expected to be higher than Rips'. But that is not all. If any video is to be uploaded online, a different licence is needed from Rips and the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (Compass). This follows MediaCorp's report last December that Compass has - since the beginning of last year - been clamping down on the illegal use of copyrighted music at weddings.

What this means, said some in the profession, is that customers may have to pay more eventually. According to most cinematographer, the price of music has not been factored into current industry rates. However, videographers and photographers are already supposed to seek the approval of the relevant record label and publisher when using copyrighted songs. Most have not been doing so.

Couples who put together their own photo and video montages will still need to get a licence from the relevant record label and publisher for use of copyrighted material. This would, in all probability, set them back at least a few hundred dollars. Some videographers said they are waiting for MPS to finalise the cost of its licence before deciding whether or not to pay for a licence and if they want to "distribute" the costs to couples.

The alternative is to use royalty-free material, which cost about $80 per song. The general view is that freelancers, who typically charge lower rates and work on less than 20 weddings a year, will be less able to offset the licence costs. They could either try to avoid paying, or end up with their business badly affected.

During the two-hour session on last Monday night held at the Ocean Butterfly studios, attendees threw a barrage of questions at Rips and MPS representatives. Chief among their concerns: How can they convince customers that any hike in their fees is due to licensing costs? While they supported the new scheme, many said they were confused by the different licences needed, and suggested being allowed to pay on a "per-song" basis. Rips and MPS said that would be more costly but they would bring this up for discussion with their stakeholders.

Calling all Ex-Diablo Players...

The Desaru Hermit Crab

During our little Desaru trip, 2 Little Hermit Crab was being washed up & by placing empty shells beside them, we are trying to see if we can see the process of shell swapping.



Hermit Crab, a land or water dwelling crustacean. Unlike true crabs, hermit crabs have soft, vulnerable abdomens. For protection from predators, many hermit crabs seek out abandoned shells, usually snail shells. When a hermit crab finds one of the proper size, it pulls itself inside, leaving several legs and its head outside the shell. A hermit crab carries the shell wherever it goes. When it outgrows its shell, it switches to a larger one. Most adult hermit crabs are from 13mm to 121mm long. Living on the seashore, in tidepools, and on the sea bottom in deeper water, hermit crabs scavenge their food.

Mr Troubled Need Advice

Imagine that you are going to a scenic country like Italy, which camera will you bring if you need to travel light?

Contestant Camera 1 - Sony WX1 Point & Shoot

Its has great feature like f/2.4 Sony G lens, Exmor R CMOS Sensor, Handheld Twilight, Sweep Panorama, Anti-Motion Blur, 10fps continuous shooting, Intelligent Scene Recognition, High Definition Movie Recording and 24-120mm Focal Length.

Contestant Camera 2 - Sony A330 DSLR

A DSLR with Advanced D-Range Optimiser, SteadyShot Inside, BIONZ Image Processing Engine and a great all purpose lens SAL18250 of f/3.5 & 18-250mm Focal Length.

Which one will you pick?

Do you know this iPhone's shortcuts?

• Taking Screenshots
You can do screen captures of whatever is on the screen. Press and hold the Sleep button while tapping the Home button. The picture will be added to your camera roll.

• Wake up with iPod
Turn on your music the instant you wake the screen. It can be done by press the Home button to wake the screen. Then double-click the Home button to bring up a set of mini-iPod controls. What music you were last listening to comes up. Click on play to continue with the music. This shortcut works even if you have already configured the Home button double-click to do something else.

• Mute the Ringer
If your iPhone rings at the wrong moment, mute it quickly by either pressing the Home or Volume button.

• Precision zooming
If you just cannot get your thumb and index finger to work together, try holding down your thumb on the screen while swiping your index finger back and forth.

• Steady on there
Having shaky pictures or problem finding the camera button? By pressing and holding down the shutter button before framing the shot & when you are good and ready, let go of the button to shoot.

• Educating the dictionary
To add a new word, just type it when you compose a message and it will be saved.

• Speedy scrolling
Skip the hassle of swiping your way to the top of an application. Some apps like Safari, Messages and Contacts return you to the top of the page when the time display is pressed.

• Press & hold it there
Surprises are aplenty on the iPhone's keyboard. Press and hold down the '.com' button and you will see options like '.org', '.edu' and even '.co.uk'. This also works on individual letters like 'A' which will display accent options (á, â, ã, å, æ, ä).

• Punctuate faster
The old-fashioned three-step way to punctuate is to press the '@123' key, select a punctuation symbol and press the 'ABC' button to return to the Qwerty keyboard. You can speed it up by holding down the '@123' button and sliding your finger to the required symbol, then releasing it. The Qwerty keyboard will now reappear. That is just a one button press.

New rules for fixed line, mobile, broadband contracts from March 2010

Consumers who apply for or renew contract for fixed line, mobile or broadband service cannot be locked into the contract for more than 24 months.

And consumers who sign on to contracts longer than three months and who terminate their contracts before the end of their contract period will no longer have to pay fixed early termination charges. Instead, they will see these charges decrease over time on a month—by—month basis as they serve out their contract.

These are part of the new guidelines rolled out by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), which seek to ensure that industry practices will be more reasonable and fair.

Under the new guidelines, operators offering telco services must also ensure that early termination charges do not include costs which they can avoid when the consumer terminates his service.

Such costs could include back—end administrative and operational costs that the operator would not have to incur once the customer terminates the service.

The new guidelines were prompted by consumers’ concerns that contract periods might be becoming unduly long, and early termination charges excessively high, which together hinder them from terminating the service and switching between operators.

MediaCorp to discontinue TV Mobile

MediaCorp will discontinue TV Mobile, the free—to—air mobile digital television broadcast service, next year. No more TV Mobile!

A statement released last Tuesday said that MediaCorp has decided to terminate the service upon expiry of its current agreement with SBS Transit on January 1. The company said the discontinuation comes from a careful evaluation of the viability of the service, as resources required to operate and maintain TV Mobile are substantial.

When the service was launched in 2001, it was the only platform in Singapore that offered digital content to public commuters. MediaCorp said it will re—deploy all TV Mobile staff to other operations within the company.

This is another good reason to increase the bus fare. The removal charges & the lost in advertising revenue need to be made up for. With the economy improving, there is no better time to increase fare than tomorrow.

Faster & Better Green Fat Cables

Video streaming from YouTube and access to other sites in the United States will be smoother and less prone to disruption for StarHub users when a new undersea cable system starts operations next month.

The US$500 million Asia-America Gateway (AAG) will increase the Singapore telco's overseas Internet bandwidth by 30 per cent and is designed to provide a capacity of up to 1.92 Terabits per second of bandwidth.

Built over three years by StarHub and a consortium of 18 other telcos, including America's AT&T and Malaysia's Telekom Malaysia, the cable system stretches 20,000km from the eastern part of Singapore to the Philippines, then directly across the Pacific Ocean to the US.

The cable system avoids the "volatile and hazardous Pacific Ring" - which existing Internet submarine cables connecting Singapore to the world run through - which is prone to earthquakes and other natural disasters that could damage the cables. Damage to submarine cables in that region in 2006, when a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck off Taiwan, cut off Internet connectivity between Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. Online economic activity in the region ground to a near halt. Traffic was re-routed through other cables, but it took almost two months to restore full capacity.

While StarHub has invested in other submarine cables, it will route most of its current network capacity to the AAG. As the AAG offers a more direct route to the US, through fewer routers, access to US-based Internet websites, the main online destination, will be quicker.

Industry analyst said that the AAG's increased bandwidth would not necessarily translate into a vast improvement in broadband speeds. The bottleneck in Internet traffic for users here mostly occurs within Singapore itself, not in cables linking Singapore to overseas.

Another submarine Internet cable to the US, being built by SingTel, PacNet, Google and other telcos, is expected to be ready in the first quarter of next year.

Starhub, M1 to sell iPhones from Wednesday

From Wednesday, customers will be able to get their Apple iPhones from both Starhub and M1. The two local telcos announced their mobile plans on Monday hours within each other, each offering attractive packages and handset prices.

Starhub will be selling both the newer iPhone 3GS and the older iPhone 3G for prices between $0 and $668, depending on the plans subscribed to. Four new 3G mobile phone plans between $38 and $205 will also be offered with the iPhones, the Starhub website said. Subscribers to the 3G SmartSurf Unlimited two-year plan will get their iPhones for free.

SmartSurf 100 @ $38/mth for 2yrs :: 16GB @ $538 = $1450 / 32GB @ $668 = $1580
SmartSurf 300 @ $58/mth for 2yrs :: 16GB @ $268 = $1660 / 32GB @ $418 = $1810
SmartSurf 700 @ $98/mth for 2yrs :: 16GB @ $0 = $2352 / 32GB @ $108 = $2460
SmartSurf Unlimited @ $205/mth for 2yrs :: 16GB @ $0 = $4920 / 32GB @ $0 = $4920

On the M1 side, handsets range between $0 and $658 depending on the model. The telco is, however, dangling a 10-gigabyte local data bundle with its most basic plan, the $36-a-month iPhone Value and second most basic plan, which is $56 per month. According to a spokesperson from M1, unlimited data bundle is also available for other plans such as the $98 and $108-a-month plans.

iPhone Value @ $36/mth for 2yrs :: 16GB @ $518 = $1382 / 32GB @ $658 = $1522
iPhone Lite @ $56/mth for 2yrs :: 16GB @ $248 = $1592 / 32GB @ $398 = $1742
iPhone Extreme @ $98/mth for 2yrs :: 16GB @ $0 = $2352 / 32GB @ $98 = $2450
iPhone Unlimited @ $198/mth for 2yrs :: 16GB @ $0 = $4752 / 32GB @ $0 = $4752

Both M1 and Starhub iPhone plans come with a monthly data usage bill cap at $36.38 and $48 respectively - a feature which will be welcomed by users.StarHub said it is offering the cap to give its consumers 'complete peace of mind' when surfing the Web. Both StarHub and M1 also have iPhone plans that offer unlimited Web surfing. In contrast, SingTel does not have such an option. Neither does it offer a cap on Internet surfing fees in its iPhone plans. SingTel said it will announce revised plans 'within the next few days', for new and existing iPhone customers.

But it would be easier for both firms to get existing customers using other brands to switch to the iPhone than to draw from SingTel users, because of termination fees that SingTel will impose on its users as well as more competitive iPhone plans SingTel may offer later.

Microsoft denies 'black screen of death' plaguing Windows 7

Microsoft said it could find no evidence that recent security updates were causing problems with its new Windows 7 operating system, which some have dubbed the "black screen of death".

The problem, which has caused users to see a completely black screen after logging on, was identified by British software security firm Prevx last week, and received widespread attention after a report by the BBC yesterday.

Prevx had claimed that changes to Microsoft's operating system's registry - the database that stored configuration settings - were the most likely cause of the error, but Microsoft denied that.

Microsoft has investigated reports that its November security updates made changes to permissions in the registry that are resulting in system issues for some customers. The company has found those reports to be inaccurate and our comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently released updates are related to the behaviour described in the reports.

Microsoft's support teams were not seeing this as a big issue for users, but urged Microsoft customers to contact support for free assistance in the event of problems.

Blue screen to black screen, I think they will be re-organizing the team for Windows 8 already.

Finally Local Radio is Back Online

After a nine-month hiatus, online fans of four MediaCorp radio stations can once again get their daily fix from the Internet. Thanks to an agreement between the media giant and the Recording Industry Performance Singapore (Rips).

From Tuesday, listeners can enjoy the audio fare from 987FM, Class 95FM, Lush 99.5FM and Y.E.S. 93.3FM via "live" broadcasts online, making these stations accessible to even overseas listeners.

Simulcasts of free-to-air radio broadcasts over the Internet were suspended in March after changes to the law which made these streams subject to copyright licensing.

Rips General Manager Barbara Wong said her organisation, which administers Internet simulcast licences for the major recording labels here, was "very pleased" to conclude the licensing arrangement with MediaCorp. She also congratulate MediaCorp on being the first Singaporean radio broadcaster to do so, reaffirming MediaCorp's leadership in the industry, its willingness to embrace new technologies and to listen to its customers.

Under the new licensing agreement, MediaCorp has the option to expand Internet simulcasts to more of its radio stations in future.

For those iRadio Pop user
I've just checked that only Lush995 link is up & YES933 was updated with a URL link that point to their webcast. Had submitted the Class95 & 987FM link to them. Hope they will update soon.

For those iPhone user
Get this free software from App Store & add the station URL for Radio on the go.
FStream - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fstream/id289892007?mt=8
Class 95FM - http://www.class95.sg/asx/fm950.asx
Lush 99.5FM - http://www.lush995.sg/asx/fm995.asx
Y.E.S 93.3FM - http://www.mediacorpradio.sg/mediaplayer/asx/yes933/fm933.asx
98.7FM - http://www.mediacorpradio.sg/mediaplayer/asx/987fm/fm987.asx

SITEX 2009

SITEX 2009, the last IT show of the year opens its door at the Singapore Expo next week, giving shoppers the perfect opportunity to start the year-end festive buying season.

Date : 26 - 29 Nov
Venue : Expo Halls 5, 6 & Foyer 2
Time : 11am - 9pm
Admission : Free

By now, we believe most have already booked their year-end holidays. But have you prepared for the trip? For those heading to holiday destinations, SITEX 2009 has a new travel-related section boasting devices like GPS navigators, MP3 players and digital cameras. Of course, the smart thing would be to check out our handy travel gadgets guide for ideas before venturing.

Ladies get the five-star treatment at SITEX 2009. Not only will there be gadgets designed to appeal to women, there will be a special lucky dip for them with great prizes to be won. Of course, anyone who spends at least $100 in a single receipt stands a chance in the main lucky draw, with prizes including cash and LCD TVs to be won.

For more details, please visit http://www.hardwarezone.com

For Those Who Prefer Green Apple

The wait is coming to an end soon... Green Apple will be available to all its subscribers as early as this Christmas. Pre-Order your set now @ http://www.starhub.com/promotions/events/iphone3gs.html