iPhone 4 in Singapore experiences little "death grip" incident

Image by A7design1 via Flickr

You can be sure Singaporeans eagerly take up the challenge to demystify the claims that the  US counterparts have - the infamous Apple's iPhone4 antennagate. They experimented the gorgeous phone with different telcos - M1, SingTel and StarHub - and posted their videos on YouTube. So it really goes down to service provider and the location you are at. I am using Samsung Pixon 12 and I must say the "death grip" is so often I want to smash it.

Straits Times' Digital Life editor, Grace Chng, validated those experiments below. She wrote in the Straits Times today (29 July 2010): "I gripped it tightly and watched the signal strength drop to one bar as I approached basement 3. I made a call, it went through, the conversation was clear."

So there you go...

Here are some of them:

SingTel




StarHub




 Another SingTel user but with zero signal!!

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CNA's poll reveals less interest in YOG

Image via Wikipedia

29 July 2010 - With 17 days more to the first Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Singapore, the local news agency, Channel News Asia (CNA), posts a poll on its website and uncovers a startling find - 90% (n=2137) are not interested in the YOG. With $387 million reportedly spent on the Games, residents in Singapore are feeling less than excited about it. Despite engaging youths from primary to universities, it appears lukewarm even before the Games makes its debut on 14 August.

Here are some screen captures taken from CNA (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/polls/index.php?id=494&ranid=1060) at 10.30PM, 29 July 2010.

Source: CNA website

Source: CNA website

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Passwords Overload

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It's amazing that I can still remember the numerous password combinations for different websites, personal pin number and my birthday. Ok, maybe the last one is a bit far-fetched. But you see, life has become so complicated that I might just forget about everything and be left helpless. Just recently, I was asked to change my password for my office account. And I do have this habit of starting a chain reaction of changing passwords across all my accounts. It's all about getting used to the complexity of remembering them.

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A 'generation in peril' in China

Image via Wikipedia

I was intrigued by this idea quoted by Clarissa Oon in The Sunday Times today. The Internet can spawn independent thinkers or be used to violate the right to free speech or privacy, she quoted a Shanghai Professor Zhu Dake. I mean, seriously, Singaporeans are not used to free speech in traditional medium and the Internet has given that amount of anonymity power to individuals. Are you going to take it back?  There has always been a battle between authoritative control and citizen oppression here. Even with the constraints laid out by law, we are trying hard not to step onto the unknown bounderless markers. So reading this "generation in peril" article about China makes me think about this struggle. China and Singapore have commonality, besides the obvious Chinese population dominance; both countries' leaders may have the same mentality of discipline. Prof Zhu was quoted, "the freedom offered by the Internet has been abused" by citizens. Seriously?!

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iPad-ified

My iPad!!!!

Now that I have secured the prized iPad and pretty-ing it with the best case I could find, I don't really know what else to do with it. Sure, there are lots of applications I could download.  But then do I have all the time in the world to enjoy these apps? Perhaps I would indulge in a game or two. Not to mention the various tricks you could master from the Google world who would tell you every possible "how do I do this" questions you post on its search engine. I am pretty amazed. That's if I can get my lazy ass to learn how it works.

Here in Singapore, we are also snipping away our SIM card to make it work on iPad. One trick I learnt from my dear friend is you have to align the "lines" on the SIM card to the reader in order to activate the 3G network. I suppose these are the "contact lines" on the SIM card itself. It is tough for me to explain but if you google it, there are quite a number of detailed explanations. For reference, you could read this one. Remember the three lines must be about the same distance and don't over cut it. I have to say you need quite a number of trials to get it right. But the trouble is worth it.

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