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Friday, December 31, 2010

Stock Portfolio - Round Up

Summary of my stock portfolio:
  1. C & O Pharmaceutical Technology holdings (E92.SI)
  2. Cambridge Industrial Trust (J91U.SI)
  3. CapitalMalls Asia Limited (JS8.SI)
  4. China Animal Healthcare Ltd (EP4.SI)
  5. China Minzhong Food Corp (K2N.SI)
  6. Global Logistics Properties Limited (MC0.SI)
  7. HG Metal Manufacturing (526.SI)
  8. Koh Brothers (K75.SI)
  9. Mapletree Industrial Trust (ME8U.SI)
  10. Neptune Orient Lines (N03.SI)
  11. Sabana Shari'ah Compliant REIT (M1GU.SI)
  12. Singapore Exchange (S68.SI)
  13. SMRT Corporation (S53.SI)
  14. ST Engineering Ltd (S63.SI)
Sold off in 2010:
  1. ARA Asset Management (D1R.SI)
  2. Epure (now known as Sound Global) (E6E.SI)
  3. Mapletree Logistics Trust (M44U.SI)
  4. Neptune Orient Lines (N03.SI)
  5. Parkway Holdings (delisted)
  6. SMRT Corporation (S53.SI)
  7. ST Engineering (S63.SI)
  8. UMS Holdings (558.SI)

PM Lee New Year message revealed Singapore grew 14.7% in 2010

Prime Minister announced a 14.7% growth for 2010 in his New Year Message

PRIME MINISTER'S NEW YEAR MESSAGE

1. The Singapore economy recovered strongly in 2010. It grew 12.5% year-on-year in the 4th quarter, and 14.7% for 2010 as a whole. This is a dramatic rebound from the negative growth last year. We should rejoice in this exceptional performance, but please remember that it is also the result of special circumstances, and so is unlikely to be repeated soon.

2. The outlook for the world economy is mixed. There are significant concerns: the US economy is still weak. Europe faces serious debt crises in Greece, Ireland and a few other countries. The European Union also needs structural reforms to make the single Euro currency work, with no straightforward solutions. But in Asia growth momentum is strong. China and India are forging ahead, and countries in Southeast Asia are growing steadily. Hopefully Asia will continue to do well despite the weakness in developed countries, and create a favourable regional environment for Singapore.

3. Next year MTI projects 4-6% growth - much lower than this year, but still commendable. To sustain such growth over the next decade will not be easy. We will have to upgrade the knowledge and skills of our people, raise our productivity and competitiveness, and continually adapt ourselves and our society to the changing world. Then we can keep abreast of events, and progress and prosper even as countries around us raise their game.

4. With economic growth, we can improve the lives of our people across the board. We can create fulfilling and rewarding jobs, and train Singaporeans to fill them. We can build new HDB estates, better equipped schools and more comprehensive public transport systems. We can develop a more vibrant and beautiful city, with green spaces and blue waters, and make this the best home for all our people.

5. Through hard work, we have steadily improved our lives year by year. The recent Singapore Public Sector Outcomes Review, which assessed Singapore's performance in the last five years, shows that we are achieving results. Home ownership rates remain high, educational attainments are rising, commuters are more satisfied with public transport, and Singaporeans are united and proud of our nation. We must keep up this effort to continue enjoying the fruits of growth.

6. Nevertheless, Singapore is not without challenges and problems. We have to manage the inflow of foreign workers and immigrants, keep home ownership affordable to all, and help low income Singaporeans cope with the cost of living. We have the means to tackle these problems, and make things better. But in doing so we must remember to keep Singapore open and welcoming to talent, preserve the value of the flats of 800,000 HDB homeowners, and strengthen the spirit of self-reliance among Singaporeans.

7. One broader issue is a widening income gap. This is affecting many countries, under the impact of globalisation, competition from emerging economies, and new technology. In the US over a long period since the 1970s, only the top 10% of wage earners have seen increased real wages, while the majority of Americans have experienced hardly any improvement. Even in China and India, while hundreds of millions of people are improving their lives, incomes in the top and bottom tiers are diverging.

8. Singapore faces these pressures too. We are striving to ensure that the broad majority of Singaporeans benefit from growth, including lower-income, less-skilled workers, and the middle group who feel sandwiched in between. Many Government schemes give poorer Singaporeans a leg up. We have enhanced Public Assistance, introduced ComCare and Workfare, and implemented Additional Housing Grants for buying HDB flats. For middle income earners we have lowered income tax rates, and are building more executive condominiums to widen their housing choices.

9. However, the most important programmes are not financial transfers from the Government, but efforts to upgrade our people and workers. In the long run, our workers can only do better and earn more through acquiring higher skills and becoming more productive than workers elsewhere, especially those in Asia who are willing to accept lower pay and work longer hours than Singaporeans. This is why the NTUC, employers and the government have jointly embarked on a major effort to raise our workers' productivity.

10. We are also investing heavily in education to prepare our students, who will be the workers of tomorrow. These investments have paid off. Results of the 2009 PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) just released show that among 65 countries tested, Singaporean students rank within the top five countries for reading, mathematics and science. But other Asian economies like South Korea, Hong Kong and Shanghai (representing China) had high scores too. This shows the quality of talent in Asia, and the competition we face. To hold our own, Singapore must continue to upgrade our schools, teachers and pedagogy, as well as attract and integrate talent into our society.

11. Beyond education, other important intangibles influence our performance as a nation, including the quality of our leadership and the spirit of our people.

12. Other countries may have more resources or bigger talent pools, but we can maintain an edge through superior teamwork and leadership. Our system has produced strong and effective govern¬ment, fostered national consensus on key issues, and focussed our efforts to achieve national goals. It must continue doing this, so we can maximise our collective performance and stay ahead.

13. This calls for leaders who deliver good policies, create opportunities for the people, and rally citizens to work together for a better tomorrow. The team must lead Singa¬pore competently today, while grooming potential successors for the future. Ensuring continuing capable leadership for Singapore is a vital priority for the nation.

14. Success also depends on Singaporeans having the right spirit - the daring to try new things, the confidence to face fierce competition, the willingness to always give our best.

15. We showed this spirit in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). We came together to organise a successful YOG, despite our small size and the short preparation time. The result was an intense, enriching and memorable experience for all. Key to our success were the thousands of volunteers who gladly contributed their time and energies, performed tasks big and small, and worked tirelessly to put on our best for the world. We must nurture and strengthen this spirit which makes Singapore work, and Singaporeans special.

16. With high quality education, alert and dynamic leadership and the Singa¬pore spirit, we can be confident of the future. We can overcome challenges that come our way, seize opportunities in a booming Asia and continue improving the lives of all our people. Let us strengthen these fundamentals that underpin our success, and commit ourselves to realise our dreams for our nation.

17. I wish all Singaporeans a Very Happy New Year.

Source: gov.sg

China adds Skype onto its "Illegal" list

Skype may soon join Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube on China's Internet blacklist. This is after the Chinese regulator having declared Internet phone services other than those provided by China Telecom and China Unicom as illegal.

Such move was criticized as being used as a measure to protect the duopoly of state-owned telecom carriers.

VoIP decision means Skype now illegal [via]

Google New Year's Eve Doodle: GMMXIe (2011 = MMXI in Roman Numerals)

Google New Year's Eve doodle
Google latest doodle for eve of New Year 2011 shows MMXI which in fact is 2011 in roman numerals.

2011 in Roman Numerals

M meaning 1000, X meaning 10, and I meaning 1.

Should software patents be abolished?

An article published on PCMagazine discussed if software patents should be abolished altogether. This is after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen this week filed an amended patent suit against Apple, Google, Facebook, and others, charging that his patents cover technologies like recommendation engines, notification systems, and more.

What is a patent? According to The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a patent is defined as a property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.

An invention is eligible for a patent if it satisfies ALL the following three conditions:

  1. Novelty

    An invention fulfills novelty requirement if there is no prior art available before the date of filing of the patent application.

  2. Inventive step or non-obviousness

    An invention involves an inventive step that is, having regard to the state of the art, must not be obvious to a person skilled in the art.

  3. Industrial applicability

    An invention passes this requirement if it can be made or used in some kind of industry e.g. agriculture, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, etc.

Paul Allen claimed that his patent covers all these characteristics and feels that there are no examples of this sort of thing in other portfolios or in the public domain. Thus, they can't be thrown out by "prior art" mechanisms.

Will software patents kill the market?

Software Patents Have Got to Go! [via]

Thursday, December 30, 2010

The POWER of Patents - Paul Allen Files Amended Patent Suit Against Apple, Google, Facebook, and Others

After taking a module on Intellectual Property (IP) Rights, I understand the power of patents. Patents, though may be intangible, can be an important asset to provide possible recurring revenue in the form of royalties should litigation outcome is favourable to the patent owner.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen this week filed an amended patent suit against Apple, Google, Facebook, and others, charging that his patents cover technologies like recommendation engines, notification systems, and more.

If one were to read on further on the article published on PCMagazine, he may laugh over it, asking questions like how can such "processes" be considered as a potential IP infringement. As long as the patent owner can prove his case and the defendant is unable to find a prior art for defence, then the litigation suit stands.

That's the game of Intellectual Property (IP) management.

Paul Allen Files Amended Patent Suit Against Apple, Google, Others [via]

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

How Beeconomic works?


Beeconomic - A company of Groupon
http://www.beeconomic.com/

China to slash export of raw earth minerals by 35 per cent

Doesn't sound good to me.

China has raised fresh international trade concerns after slashing export quotas on rare earths minerals, risking action from the United States at the World Trade Organization.

China, which produces about 97 percent of the global supply of rare earth minerals, cut its export quotas by 35 percent for the first half of 2011 versus a year ago, saying it wanted to preserve ample reserves, but warned against basing its total 2011 export quota on the first half figures.

China's rare earths export cut raises trade concerns [via]

Apple Sued Over App Privacy

A California man has filed suit against Apple over the privacy of its apps. The suit comes about a week after the Wall Street Journal conducted a study and found that iPhone apps distribute more personal data without the users' permission than Android apps.

Apple Sued Over App Privacy [via]

A pretty chart of top apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry

Source: VentureBeat

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Singlish = Singapore Colloquial English

My Top 10 Android Apps

The following are my top 10 must-use Android apps (Facebook, Google Maps, Twitter and Foursquare are excluded since they are just too popular anyway):

  • Advanced Task Killer (FREE)

    Advanced Task Killer is also known as ATK. It is a tool to kill applications running.

  • ASTRO File Manager (FREE)

    This new permanent version includes mobile ads. The ad free version, ASTRO Pro is available below (see 'View more applications)

    Features: File Manager, Backup, Image and text viewers, Networking, SMB, Bluetooth, SFTP, Zip Tar, downloader, thumbnails, search files, application manager, task manager, attachments

  • ColorDict Dictionary (FREE)

    Universal Dictionary Color Dict
    Supports Wordnet, StarDict, Translate, Wikipedia

    • Fast search offline & online dictionaries at once
    • Words suggestion
    • StarDict compatible dictionary
    • Download free dictionary on market & internet
    • English,thesaurus,bible,etc
    • Wikipedia, Translate Add-On
    • Best dictionary on the market
    • Supports Quick Search Box
    • Supports Color Note App

  • ILoveDeals SG (FREE)

    SingTel’s ILoveDeals is your best one stop-shop for credit card F&B deals in Singapore, bringing you all the deals information in one single app. It currently supports regularly refreshed deals from Citibank, DBS, HSBC, OCBC, POSB, Standard Chartered and UOB. Use ILoveDeals to get the most comprehensive information.

  • MeRadio (FREE)

    ALL 13 MediaCorp Radio Stations in ALL four languages now on your Android phone.

  • SG Bus Timing (FREE)

    Provides bus arrival timing at bus stops in Singapore. Does not work for SMRT buses.

  • Shazam (FREE)

    Start your music journey now with Shazam to discover, buy & share music. This free app gives you 5 tags each month to identify music anywhere. Full version "Shazam Encore", for unlimited number of tagging would cost $4.72.

  • SMS Backup (FREE)

    Automatically backs up SMS messages to your Gmail account.

  • Stock Quote (FREE)

    Highlighted by Google, Stock Quote is great stock tool. The features include:
    • Stock Quote, portfolios and Charts from major markets
    • Market Glance
    • Financial News
    • Currency
    • Commodity Futures
    • Stock, portfolio, currency and commodity widgets
    • etc.

  • Unit Converter - ConvertPad (FREE)

    Powerful and fully featured Unit converter, Currency Converter and Calculator

  • Vlingo Virtual Assistant (FREE)

    The Vlingo Virtual Assistant turns your words into action! Send messages, update status, search, find/call local businesses, book hotels, movies, restaurants and much more.

Facebook Tutorial for ASP.NET

Read on here.

SMS Popup - Allows quick SMS replies on Android

SMS Popup gives you the best of both smartphone worlds — the immediacy of the iPhone's pop-up SMS notifications, but with the utility of being able to reply with preset messages, your voice, or text, all from a small window.

Download SMS Popup now here.

QR code to download page:
SMS Popup QR code

10 most useful Singapore iPhone apps

According to a post on Yahoo, the top 10 most useful iPhone apps in Singapore are:

Amazon: Wi-Fi Kindle is Best-Selling Product Ever - Hiting Milestone

According to Amazon, Kindle e-reader has become the best selling product in the company's history, surpassing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Amazon also reported that 13.7 million items were ordered through the site on Nov. 29.

Amazon: Wi-Fi Kindle is Best-Selling Product Ever [via]

Monday, December 27, 2010

Edited video conveyed inequality in Malaysia


The above edited video conveyed inequality in Malaysia against the Chinese. A local filmed Chinese movie was not entitled to entertainment tax rebate because it was said to be not local.

勾起伤心事

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

2010 is coming to an end soon

CPF Medisave Minimum Required Amount (MRA) raised from $22,500 to $27,500

According the CPF, the Medisave Required Amount (MRA) will be raised from the current $22,500 to $27,500 from 1 January 2011 onwards.

Free Kindle Books: A Guide

The following are among the free Kindle book providers: Project Gutenburg, Google E-Bookstore, Internet Archive, Open Library, Manybooks.net, and LibriVox.

  1. Project Gutenberg: 33,000 free e-books, including all of the classics, available in Kindle, HTML and simple text formats.

  2. Google E-Bookstore: The free section is filled with thousands of free, scanned copies of books, available in Kindle-friendly PDF formats.

  3. Internet Archive: Millions of primarily rare, out-of-print works in multiple languages and formats (including Kindle), especially useful for academic work.

  4. Open Library: 20 million user-contributed items in multiple editions and formats (including Kindle).

  5. ManyBooks.net: Nearly 30,000 titles, many of which have been pulled from Project Gutenberg. Has a good collection of little-known Creative Commons works.

  6. LibriVox: Thousands of free audiobooks.

More Kindle resources can be found from this guide.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Experts-Exchange Presents: Tech the halls

Happy Holidays!

Tech the halls with lots of questions
(fa- la- la- la- la- la- la- la- la- la)

'Tis the season to get answers
(fa- la- la- la- la- la- la- la- la- la)

Gone be now your toughest problems
(fa- la- la- la- la- la- la- la- la- la)

Give the points to those who solved them
(fa- la- la- la- la- la- la- la- la- la)

5 Predictions for Mobile in 2011

  1. Tablet Mania Hits a Fever Pitch
  2. Photo Sharing Will Expand to Video
  3. HTML5 App Explosion
  4. Flash Still Won’t Matter on Mobile Devices
  5. We Will See a Verizon iPhone

5 Predictions for Mobile in 2011 [via]

A hidden Amazon Kindle leather cover

A surprise Xmas gift - Amazon Kindle black leather cover all the way from the U.S. My Kindle finally has a cover :)

Merry Xmas 圣诞节快乐 สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส !

Friday, December 24, 2010

X'mas gift exchange

X'mas gift exchange from Cherie
The above is what I received. After a second look, my instinct says the package may contain an additional item other than the one on my wish list. The packaging was too nicely wrapped and unwrapping it can be a challenge.

Should I go back to work tomorrow to unwrap it? I guess I should not wait till next Tuesday.

Techniques to improve web traffic to your articles

One of the main ways that a lot of gurus recommends to obtain traffic is through Articles submission. In fact, the main few that you should always submit your articles to are namely:

MsSQL Delete Duplicate Records

This article shall discuss how to delete duplicate records from a Microsoft SQL Server database table. Duplicate record means that one or more fields in one record is identical to corresponding fields in a different record.

A simple solution but then often vexing problem for many.

For example, we have this database table

--Create my table
create table MyTable (
 ID int identity(1,1) not null primary key,
 Name varchar(20) not null,
 Email varchar(500) not null
)
go
--Populate some dummy records and duplicate records
insert into MyTable (Name, Email) values ('Jack', 'jack1@email.com')
insert into MyTable (Name, Email) values ('Jack', 'jack2@email.com')
insert into MyTable (Name, Email) values ('Jill', 'jill@email.com')
go

To check if we have duplicate records, we can make use of COUNT() function and GROUP BY statement.

--We do have duplicated names
select ID, Name, Email from MyTable order by Name
select Name, COUNT(Name) from MyTable group by Name having COUNT(Name) > 1
go

From the above SELECT, we know records having Name=Jack are duplicated.

To remove duplicates, we can make use of the following to remove duplicates while keeping the latest.

--Let us remove duplicates and keep the latest (the one having larger ID value)
delete t1
from MyTable t1, MyTable t2
where t1.Name = t2.Name and t1.ID < t2.ID
go

Track location of Santa with NORAD and Google

Starting tomorrow, December 24 at 2:00am EST, visit www.noradsanta.org to follow Santa as he journeys around the world delivering presents to children in more than 200 countries and territories. There are a few different ways to find the jolly old man in his unmistakable red suit over the course of the day, so feel free to track him using any of the following methods:


  • See Santa on a Google Map: On your home computer or laptop, visit www.noradsanta.org and choose your preferred language. You’ll see a large Google Map on the page displaying Santa’s current location and his next stop. Click the video icons to watch “Santa Cam” videos, and click the gift icons to learn more about each city.

  • Watch Santa fly with the Google Earth Plug-in: From www.noradsanta.org, click on the link Track Santa in Google Earth. You'll see Santa steering his sleigh right on the webpage. If you don't have the Google Earth plug-in, you can get ready by downloading it ahead of time.

  • Follow Santa on your phone: Track Santa from your mobile phone by opening Google Maps for mobile and searching for [santa]. Or, visit m.noradsanta.org on your phone’s browser.

  • Subscribe to his YouTube channel: Santa’s home on YouTube is at http://www.youtube.com/noradtrackssanta. That’s where you can find videos from his journey throughout the night.

  • Get real-time information about Santa’s location: Use Google’s Realtime Search to get updates from social networks, news and micro-blogs like Twitter at @noradsanta, and keep up with news about his journey on this Facebook page.

Dashing through the snow... with NORAD and Google [via]

Skype CEO Tony Bates - update on Skype downtime


Skype CEO Tony Bates said Skype service had been restored for most users and announced a plan to grant credit vouchers to customers affected by the outage.

Google adds 17 holiday-themed doodles to homepage

Google's 17 holiday-themed doodle
Google's Thursday homepage doodle includes a collection of holiday scenes created by the company's "chief doodler," Michael Lopez. The 17 scenes include an "Up on the Housetop" drawing of Santa approaching a snowy chimney as well as several other doodles representing holiday traditions around the world.

Santa approaching a snowy chimney
Mouse hover on any of the 17 scenes will bring you a closer view of them. Click on any of them to know more of the scenes.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Economic and Stock Market Outlook: Singapore 2011 Outlook

By Standard & Poor's Equity Research
http://research.sgx.com/reports/rpt_view.pl?id=6392

Memolane - Your time machine for the web



Memolane
http://memolane.com/

NTFS file system has self healing capability

An infrastructure consultant working for Microsoft Consulting Services in Madrid wrote on his blog that Microsoft Windows with NTFS file system, like Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.0, contain an often overlooked feature called NTFS Self-Healing. What is Self-Healing? In a nutshell, it is basically an improvement to the NTFS system whereby Windows will detect a file system error and automatically fix it on-the-fly - all in the background without the knowledge of users.

By default, the self-healing feature is turned on by default on Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.0. You may run the following command on Command Prompt in Administrative mode for verification.
fsutil repair query c:

Self-healing NTFS [via]

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Facebook vs Twitter: By The Numbers [Infographic]

Source: Link

95% of Twitter Accounts Created in the Last Two Years

My Twitter's account was created before more than two years ago and so belongs to the 5% category.

By Sysomos Inc.

A more in-depth report at Twitter´s Growth 2010 compared with 2009 can be found here.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Word Lens - Translate English to Spanish vice versa instantly


New translation technology will blow your mind [via]

Interesting Quote - Investing & Trading Rules and Philosophy

Although it’s easy to forget sometimes, a share is not a lottery ticket… it’s part-ownership of a business.

-- Peter Lynch

iPhone and Android apps sharing our privacy

It was found that many popular apps and games by iPhone and Androids are sharing users' private data to third parties. Such apps and games include Angry Birds and Pandora.

Your Apps Are Watching You [via]

“You, Us”

English version of 《你们,我们》 (Translation by Don Weinland)

“You, Us”

Blizzards you said happen once ever hundred years;
Earthquakes you said are natural disasters;
The Olympics you said added to the country’s prestige;
Tainted milk powder you said was an exceptional case;
High housing prices you said were the workings of the market;
Stock market collapse you said was the international climate;
A bad economy you said was due to restructuring;
Trouble finding work you said was historical inheritance!

You needn’t struggle to find work, nor live under high real estate prices,
You needn’t pay for your medical expenses, nor piteously rush about.
You eat at banquets, live in villas, drive nice cars, receive plush benefits, and travel abroad.

You spend our money and monopolize our dreams with power,
Daily you curse us uncultured, implacable commoners.
You have cannons and bayonets, but develop our waters with others,
And you use them [weapons] only against your own people who give birth to and raise you.
You have high walls and iron fences, yet evil-doers remain far outside the law,
Those who speak loudly in the name of justice are put in prison.

Your office buildings are first-rate and extravagant,
Your cars dart about madly,
Your wife and child are abroad,
Your mistresses are arrogant.

Your home is guaranteed by the state,
The growth of your income is always under discussion,
Your food and drink are on the public’s tab,
Your entertainment is the offering of bribes.

You can play Mahjong on the job,
Police cars accompany your villainy on the road,
Your power expands by the day,
Your government offices are forever looming above us.

Our housing resembles that of slaves,
Our cars must yield to yours,
We are busier and busier at work,
Our pay is unchanging year after year.
Our doctor’s fees are more and more expensive,
Our food is filthier and filthier,
Our taxes are heavier and heavier,
Our days pass tenser and tenser.
Our injustices have already nowhere to appeal,
Our power has already been forgotten.

Our migrant workers are driven like beasts of burden,
Our miners face death daily,
Our parent heartlessly lose their jobs,
Our children find work under straightened circumstances.
We know of your hypocritical guises,
Please refrain from passing us off as fools!
Are all your words simply drunken misconduct?
Are all your actions only momentary debauchery?
Are all your children the pillars of the elite?
Is all your corruption isolated phenomena?

Was the South China Tiger all Zhenglong’s* impropriety?
Were the mining disasters caused only by unqualified management?
Was the tainted milk power the milk industry’s misconduct?
Were the Yang Jia killings* no more than nonsensical conceit?

Were you monitoring appropriately when the stock market crashed?
Were you severely wronged by huge banking losses?
Your punishment was no more than the changing of official posts,
Was it not us who solely footed the bill for your mistake?

Your policies pay our assertions no mind,
Your lives are unlike our!
Because your power comes only from the institution,
Our vote is no more than a rubber stamp.

We have no fanciful hopes,
We have always been so patient,
You say we are all already comfortably off,
What more could we possibly want?
We say we are different from animals,
Other than eating, drinking, pissing, shitting, we are thinking,
And the hopes of equality and justice,
You once advocated this too.

If you were to ask us what we are missing?
Perhaps it’s revolutionaries like Chen Sheng and Wu Guang*.

*Zhou Zhenglong’s photo of a South China Tiger in the Shaanxi wilderness became a media craze in late 2007. The photo was eventually deemed fake and Zhou, along with local government and forestry officials, were reprimanded.

*Yang Jia, a 28-year-old resident of Beijing, killed six police officers in Shanghai in July 2008. He said bullying and beating from police in Beijing provoked the attack. Yang received unprecedented sympathy from Chinese bloggers and media.

*Chen Sheng And Wu Guang were leaders of the Daze Village Uprising in 209 BC. The uprising is called the Chinese people’s first revolt against authoritarian power.


Source [via]

你们,我们

《你们,我们》

-我不是想造反,只是写的太对了

作者:残阳

大雪,你们说是百年不遇; 大地震,你们说是自然灾害; 办奥运,你们说是为国增光; 毒奶粉,你们说是个别事件; 房价高,你们说是市场选择; 股市崩,你们说是国际气候; 经济差,你们说是结构调整; 工作难,你们说是历史遗留!

你们不用去辛苦找工作,不用去住高价房, 不用看病自己花钱,不用为生活苦苦奔波。 你们吃宴会,住别墅,开好车,高福利,出国游。 你们花我们的钱,用权力垄断我们的希望, 天天骂着我们是素质低下的死老百姓。 你们有刺刀大炮,自己的领海却要与人共同开发, 只用它们来对付生你们养你们的百姓。 你们有高墙铁网,但为非作歹者逍遥法外, 仗义执言者身陷囹囵!

你们的办公楼奢甲一方, 你们的公车横冲直撞, 你们的老婆孩子多在西方, 你们的二奶小蜜也很嚣张。

你们的住房有国家保障, 你们的工资总讨论增长, 你们的吃喝有公款抵帐, 你们的娱乐有贿赂献上。

你们的上班也可以麻将, 你们的出行有警车做伥, 你们的权力每天都在膨胀, 你们的衙门永远都高高在上。

我们的供房得象奴隶一样, 我们的汽车得给你们避让, 我们的工作越来越忙, 我们的工资多年一样。 我们的医疗越来越贵, 我们的食物越来越脏, 我们的苛税收越来越增长, 我们的日子越过越紧张。 我们的冤屈已无处申张, 我们的权利已被人遗忘。

我们的民工被驱赶象牲口一样, 我们的矿工每天都在面对死亡, 我们的父母无情的下岗, 我们的孩子就业也很紧张。 我们知道你们虚伪的模样, 请不要把我们当傻子一样! 你们的言语都是酒后失当? 你们的行为都是一时荒唐? 你们的孩子都是精英栋梁? 你们的腐败都是个别现象?

华南虎完全是正龙不当? 矿*难都只是矿主无证上岗? 毒奶粉都是奶牛们产奶不当? 杨佳杀人完全是无厘头嚣张?

股票暴跌你们监管很得当? 银行巨亏你们都很冤枉? 你们的处分不过是换个官当, 你们的失误不过是我们买帐?

你们的政策不会考虑我们的主张, 你们的生活和我们不一样! 因为,你们的权力只来自组织上, 我们选举不过是橡皮图章。

我们没有过高的奢望, 我们一直也都很忍让, 你们说我们都已经小康, 到底还想要怎样? 我们说我们和动物不一样, 除了吃喝拉撒还有一点思想, 以及平等正义的希望, 这也曾是你们的主张。

你若要问我们还缺什么? 也许还缺陈胜吴广。

Source [via]

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Commission to be banned from 2012 on investment products in U.K.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is to ban financial advisers from receiving commission for selling investment policies from 2012. This is after all the mis-selling scandals.

Google Maps 5 for Android - 3d Maps and Offline Caching

Google Maps 5 for Android comes with two features that make Google's mapping software a lot more useful. Google now uses vector graphics instead of map tiles and it caches some of your most frequently used maps so that they are available offline.

The use of vector graphics allows map to be dynamically drawn on your device as you use it, allowing you to interact with it in new ways:

  • Tilting: Drag down with two fingers to tilt the map. Tilt while zoomed in on one of the 100+ cities around the world with 3D buildings to see a skyline spring to life.
  • Rotating: Twist with two fingers to rotate the map. After tilting to see 3D buildings, rotate around them to gain a new perspective from any direction.
  • Smooth zooming: Slide two fingers together or apart, and see the map and labels continuously scale to any zoom level, stopping when your fingers stop.
  • Compass mode: Center the map on your location, and then tap the compass button in the top right corner. The map will flip into 3D mode and start rotating to match your perspective, while still keeping all the labels upright and readable.



Get Google Maps for mobile 5.0 by searching for Google Maps in Android Market (or tap on this link if you’re on your phone). Android 1.6+ devices can get Maps 5.0, but 3D and offline features require Android 2.0+, and some features may not be supported for all devices or countries.

The next generation of mobile maps [via]

Blogger now has mobile templates

Given more are now surfing using smartphones, it is logical to add a mobile interface for Blogger and to create mobile versions for Blogger's templates. Mobile Templates is available as opt-in functionality on Blogger in Draft. Mobile templates will re-format your blogs for smartphones to enhance your readers’ viewing experience.

In order to activate mobile templates, navigate to Blogger in Draft, then go to Dashboard > Settings > Email & Mobile tab, enable the mobile template option and then save settings.

To test out how a blog will look like on mobile, just add ?m=1 to the URL of any Blogger blog, and you'll get a simplified version that works well on an iPhone, Android phone and probably other phones that use a browser based on WebKit. Here's an example: http://hongjun.blogspot.com/?m=1.

A blog with the mobile template enabled will automatically be showing the mobile version on a mobile device.

New mobile templates for reading on the go [via]

Why people go nude?

105 nude cases reported in first 6 months so far - one every other day. Are we becoming a nudist colony?

According to American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR)
Self-esteem is enhanced in the nudist world, where body acceptance is the norm. Conversation seems to come easier. Many report the “time warp” phenomenon. A one day respite spent clothes-free seems to relax people more than an entire weekend elsewhere. Without clothes, stress seems to melt away.

More people going nude

It was reported that there were a total of 105 reports in first six months of this year on offenders going nude - one every other day. This figure does not include second half of 2010 and of course the 3 or more such cases in the month of December alone. Only last Sunday morning, an unidentified man in his 20s went to a 24 hour McDonald’s restaurant along Queensway to buy coffee in the nude. Last Wednesday, a woman paraded totally naked in public and even boarded a bus in broad daylight. And last Thursday, a heavily tattooed man in his 40s sat naked on the pavement in Ang Mo Kio for several hours before he was arrested.

Offenders were usually exhibitionists or attention seekers. It is the kind of behaviour that leaves me and surely many here disgusted. Are we becoming a nudist colony?

Google Translate's Beatbox Easter Egg

Indeed interesting to use Google Translate!

  1. Go to Google Translate
  2. Set the translator to translate German to German
  3. Copy + paste the following into the translate box: pv zk pv pv zk pv zk kz zk pv pv pv zk pv zk zk pzk pzk pvzkpkzvpvzk kkkkkk bsch
  4. Click "listen

Or you may just simply go to direct link.

Other variations you could try are: 1, 2, 3.

5 Ways Android is Better Than Chrome OS

From PCMagazine, here's why Android is superior to Chrome:

  1. Wireless networks aren't reliable
  2. "Living in the cloud" will bust your data cap
  3. Web technologies suck for many app categories, especially games
  4. Honeycomb will solve Android's screen size and input issues
  5. Chrome is an app, not an OS

Cyberduck - Transfer files and folders to Google Docs

LifeHacker wrote an article, introducing Windows-based tool Cyberduck to transfer multiple files and folders from local computer to Google Docs (and vice-versa) as if it were just another FTP server.

Easily Upload Desktop Folders to Google Docs [via]

Republicans banning of phrases -

During a private commission meeting last week, all four Republicans voted in favor of banning the phrases "Wall Street" and "shadow banking" and the words "interconnection" and "deregulation" from the panel's final report, according to a person familiar with the matter and confirmed by Brooksley E. Born, one of the six commissioners who voted against the proposal.

Republicans removing key terms and trying to rewrite history?

Financial Crisis Panel In Turmoil As Republicans Defect; Plan To Blame Government For Crisis [via]

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Yahoo Shutting Down Delicious, Buzz, Other Services

Yahoo will shut down several of its Web properties, including Delicious, Yahoo Buzz, and AltaVista.

Yahoo Shutting Down Delicious, Buzz, Other Services [via]

Bus fare refund begins

Dec 18 is the first day commuters can start getting their refunds if they had been overcharged due to distance errors between bus stops. Discrepancies were discovered after the implementation of "Pay-by Distance" fare scheme. Ever since, corrections have since been made.

According to Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA), refund can be made in two easy ways.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Another Chinese feat: 15-storey hotel built in just six days

The work crew erected the hotel — a soundproofed, thermal-insulated structure reportedly built to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake — with all prefabricated materials. In other words, a crew of off-site factory workers built the sections, and their on-site counterparts arranged them on the foundation for the Ark project.


Chinese workers build 15-storey hotel in just six days [via]

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Microsoft Excel 2007 error - Trying to open a different format than specified by the file extension

On Microsoft Excel 2007, you may get the following error when you try to open an Excel document:


A quick and dirty but easiest way to solve this problem, is to insert the following registry key. This will simply suppress the notification:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Excel\Security]
“ExtensionHardening”=dword:00000000


The step-by-step instructions are as follows:

  1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit.exe and press ENTER. This will open your Registry Editor.
  2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\OFFICE\12.0\EXCEL\SECURITY
  3. Right click in the right window and choose New → DWORD
  4. In the Name field, type ExtensionHardening.
  5. Verify that the data has the value 0.

Gmail for Android: Better Priority Inbox support and improved compose

But only for Android 2.2 and above.

Gmail for Android: better Priority Inbox support and improved compose [via]

Passware Warns of Microsoft's Bitlocker whole-disk encryption vulnerability

Password-recovery experts at Passware warned Friday that the security of Microsoft's Bitlocker whole-disk encryption is seriously compromised on a computer configured to use sleep mode. The same is true of the open-source TrueCrypt whole-disk encryption tool.

Passware Warns of Microsoft Risk [via]

Droid 2 dropped, cracks hurt man's ear and not explosion

According to an investigation by Motorola, recent case that Motorola Droid 2 exploded in a man's ear earlier this month could be unfounded. The Droid 2 in question found to have dropped earlier and cracked. So when the man put it to his ear, he cut himself.

But one mysterious question came to my mind immediately was "you mean the man cannot tell what is an explosion"?

So, is it really an explosion?

How to remain calm, despite what's about to happen to your Chrome notebook

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Google Search using the AROUND operator for proximity search

Google Search's AROUND() operator is a handy search operator to facilitate searching for terms close to each other. Note that the word AROUND must be in big caps and the number as the parameter sets the max distance between the two terms.

For example, a search term warren buffet AROUND(5) bill gates will return results having terms warren buffet and bill gates that are separated by 5 or less words. Note also that if Google can't find anything within the limit, it will just do regular ranking of the terms without the AROUND coming into play.

SearchReSearch: AROUND has always been around [via]

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Use Google Chrome Drag/Drop to Upload Files Easier




Use Google Chrome Drag/Drop to Upload Files Easier [via]

How the world's most improved school systems keep getting better

New research by McKinsey suggests that common sets of interventions can help systems move from one performance level to the next, without regard to culture, geography, politics, or history.

On demand webcast at here (too long for me to watch).

Google Cloud Print is now Available - Awesome


Google Cloud Print is now available in the latest Chrome Dev Channel build for Windows. To be able to use it, Chrome 9.0.597.10 or higher is required.

Connect your local printers with Google Cloud Print
http://www.google.com/landing/cloudprint/win-enable.html

Vector-Based, Offline Google Maps for Android


Google's Andy Rubin showed at the Dive Into Mobile conference an early prototype of a Motorola tablet running Android Honeycomb and demoed a new version of Google Maps for Android with vector-based maps and offline caching.

The biggest visual change is dynamic map drawing: vectors instead of flat images that scale without render hiccups and will show the buildings fleshed out for over 100 cities -- we gotta say, it looks great. Even more fun is that you can now use two fingers to tilt and rotate around the map (in addition to moving and pinch-to-zoom, of course). We've been told it's a much snappier experience, and the storage for these vectors is much smaller than the current images, which brings us to... offline caching. Maps will keep on file the locations that you go to (and search) most often, and it'll be able to reroute while offline in Navigation.

Source: engadget

Google Maps for Mobile 5 unveiled, adds dynamic map drawing and offline mode [via]

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Gingerbread - New Android 2.3

Google has just launched the new Android 2.3, codenamed Gingerbread. Nexus S will be the first phone that will run Android Gingerbread and it will soon be followed by Nexus One.

Gingerbread is the fastest version of Android yet, and it delivers a number of improvements, such as user interface refinements, NFC support, a new keyboard and text selection tool, Internet (VoIP/SIP) calling, improved copy/paste functionality and gyroscope sensor support.


You may also be interested to follow LifeHacker's "Screenshot Tour of Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Its Best New Features" for a preview of Gingerbread's goodies.

Introducing Nexus S with Gingerbread [via]

Silverlight Firestarter 2010 Keynote with Scott Guthrie

Scott Guthrie, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's .NET Developer Platform, unveils Silverlight 5, further advancing capabilities in the areas of premium media experiences and business applications at the Silverlight Firestarter 2010 event in Redmond, WA on Dec 2nd 2010.

Monday, December 06, 2010

Google launches eBook store with 3 million eBooks

Google launches its new Google eBookstore with over 3 million eBooks. Despite of its huge collection, it seems to be missing the books in my mind. The reason could be because the store is launched only in the U.S. and many books are still unavailable here in Singapore.



Google eBook comes with reader compatible for Android, iOS, web, desktop, Nook and Sony.

Discover more than 3 million Google eBooks from your choice of booksellers and devices [via]

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Singapore Profitable Plot Group in trouble

Paid due salaries to staff only after bank freeze and court use force to squeeze money out from the account. It was mentioned they only have $60,000 left.
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