Singapore air quality site and why another one?

Let’s be honest - Singapore isn't short on places to check the haze or PSI. Between official portals and various weather apps, the data is definitely out there.

So why build another one?

Because mainstream either focus heavily on 24-hour averages (which don't tell you what the air is like right now) or drown you in cluttered tables and complex charts. When you're deciding whether to go for a run in 10 minutes or keep the windows open for the afternoon, you need immediate, actionable details.

That’s why I created airquality.hongjun.sg.

Here is what makes it different and why it might earn a bookmark from you:

1. 1-Hour PM2.5 & PSI Readings (What's happening right now)

A 24-hour average can look totally safe even if a sudden cloud of haze or localized burning just rolled in an hour ago. My site highlights 1-hour readings front and center, so you get an accurate, real-time snapshot of the air you’re breathing at this exact moment.

2. Trends for the Day

Air quality fluctuates throughout the day. Instead of just giving you a single frozen number, the dashboard shows you day trends. You can quickly see whether conditions are improving, staying steady, or worsening over the course of the day.

3. Fast, Clean & Zero Clutter

No heavy ads, no unnecessary menus, and no lag. It's lightweight and optimized for quick checking on your phone while walking out the door.

Give it a try

Whether you're planning your outdoor workouts, keeping an eye out for haze season, or just prefer a cleaner dashboard:

👉 Check it out at airquality.hongjun.sg.

Singapore Bus Arrival Timing: Never Miss Your Bus Again: Introducing Bus Arrival Alerts!

Ever looked up from your phone, realized your bus was pulling away, and had to sprint like you were running the 2.4km NAPFA test?

We are putting an end to the awkward bus-stop sprint once and for all.

Say Hello to Bus Arrival Alerts

Our latest update introduces a feature designed specifically for the easily distracted (aka all of us): Bus Arrival Alerts.

Instead of constantly refreshing the app or staring down the road, you can now set a live ping to nudge you right before your bus reaches the stop.

How It Works

Find Your Bus: Open the app and search for your current bus stop as usual.

Tap the Bell: Look for the brand-new 🔔 bell icon next to your bus service number.

Get Pinged: Go back to your reading, messaging, or video scrolling. We will send a notification straight to your phone when your bus is 2 minutes away.

One Quick Thing Before You Go...

To make sure our alerts reach you, please check that system notifications are enabled for the app in your phone's Settings. If your notifications are muted, we won't be able to give you that crucial heads-up!

Update your app today, tap the bell, and enjoy a much smoother daily commute.

Download [ Singapore Bus Arrival Timing ] from Google Play now!

P.S. If you prefer a web app instead, you may want to try Singapore Bus Arrival [ https://singaporebus.hongjun.sg/ ] too.

Navigating Singapore Made Easier: The Singapore Bus Arrival Companion

For anyone living in or visiting Singapore, mastering the public transport system is a rite of passage. While the MRT is efficient, the extensive bus network is the true lifeblood of the city, reaching into every corner of the heartlands.

However, we have all been there: standing at a bus stop, humidity at 90%, wondering if my bus is two minutes away or twenty. I am excited to share the Singapore Bus Arrival Web App, the perfect companion to the Singapore Bus Arrival app on Google Play.

If you find the web app useful, you will love the convenience of having it natively on your Android device. The Singapore Bus Arrival app on Google Play includes location-based features that automatically show you the stops closest to you, making your daily commute even smoother.

Check out the tools today:

• On the Web: Singapore Bus Arrival Web
• On Google Play: Download the Android App

Updated: Singapore Bus Arrival Timing

Get accurate and real-time bus arrival information for public bus operators in Singapore, including SBS Transit, SMRT Buses, Go-Ahead Singapore, and Tower Transit. Our app provides you with up-to-date details on when the next bus will arrive at your stop, helping you plan your journey efficiently.

Key Features:

⏱️Real-Time Auto-Refresh: No more manual refresh! Your bus timings now auto-update every 30 seconds by default, ensuring you have the most current information at a glance.

🌙 Dark Mode: Easy on the eyes, day or night. Switch to our sleek new Dark Mode for a more comfortable viewing experience during early morning or late-night commutes.

⭐ Star Your Favourite Bus Stops: Save your favourite bus stops for quick access, and easily rearrange them by dragging starred items up or down.

⛯ Find Nearest Bus Stops: Discover bus stops within walking distance, making your commute even more convenient.

🔍 Search Functionality: Quickly locate bus stops by bus stop number, bus service number, or road name.

📍 Bus stops plotted on map: Tap on a bus service number and voilà, its route and stops appear like magic on the map.

🚇 View the full MRT/LRT Network Map right in the app.

🔔 Real-Time Alerts: Stay updated with real-time bus arrival notifications (triggered when your bus is 2 minutes away) and important train service advisories delivered via push notifications.

📷 Traffic Cameras for Expressways & Checkpoints: Now you can view real-time traffic conditions before you head out. Check the cameras to plan a smoother, stress-free journey.

⟳ Automatic Updates: Stay informed with regular automatic updates for bus services and routes. Customize the update interval on our Settings page to suit your needs.

🌏 Chinese (Simplified) 中文（简体）Language Support: We now support Chinese (Simplified), allowing you to navigate the app and view route information in your preferred language for a more localised experience.

Please note that we are an independent app and are not affiliated with the Singapore government, Land Transport Authority (LTA), SBS Transit, SMRT Buses, Go-Ahead Singapore, or Tower Transit in any form.

Download [ Singapore Bus Arrival Timing ] from Google Play now!

P.S. If you prefer a web app instead, you may want to try Singapore Bus Arrival [ https://singaporebus.hongjun.sg/ ] too.

Android Pay VS Samsung Pay VS Apple Pay

Since the launch of several mobile payments option in Singapore like the Android Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay, just how different are they from one another? The Straits Times put up an infographics tabulating their differences.

How Android Pay is different from Samsung Pay and Apple Pay [via]

You may wish to check out the various banks for the promotions they are offering. Do not miss them!

LG G5 - Official Introduction

Misued mobile UX patterns

Do you follow well recognised design patterns when building web pages? They may be generally good but they can end up inappropriate. A UX director from Ustream wrote how common mobile UX patterns can be misused.

Learn Android and Web Development from Google for FREE

What is better than learning Android and Web Development from Google experts for FREE? Google courses hosted on Udacity caters for beginners to advanced developers are opened for enrolment.

Find the Wi-Fi network password in your saved list on Windows

There may be occasion you may have a second mobile device and would like to be connected to the Wi-Fi network but sadly, you could have forgotten the password completely. What you need to do now is to run a command on the Windows command prompt in administrative mode to reveal the already added Wi-Fi network password in clear.

Replace THE_SSID with your own Wi-Fi SSID.

The below will show details of the Wi-Fi network.

netsh wlan show profile name=THE_SSID key=clear

To see only the password ignoring the rest of the details, feed it with the findstr command like below.

netsh wlan show profile name=THE_SSID key=clear | findstr Key

For similar hack for Mac and Linux, read How to Find the Wi-Fi Password of your Current Network.

The side-effects of young children using mobile / handheld devices

In current generation where penetration rate of mobile devices is high, we see many including young children often using mobile devices while travelling, in school or even before bedtime. A fact sheet published on Zone'in advised infants aged 0-2 years should not have any exposure to technology, 3-5 years be restricted to one hour per day, and 6-18 years restricted to 2 hours per day.

The fact sheet researched on areas:

• Technology Use: usage statistics; technology addiction prevalence
• Physical Impairments: developmental delay; obesity, cardiovascular disorders and diabetes; movement deprivation, sensory overstimulation, elecrtromagnetic radiation, sleep disruption
• Mental Disorders: human detachment and mental illness; psychotropic medication, restraints, and seclusion rooms, touch deprivation, pornography and risky behavior
• Social Disorders: communication, aggression and declining empathy,
• Academic Decline: attention deficit; illiteracy, education technology;
• Implications and Solutions: costs, technology screening an management, playgrounds as epicenter for child development and learning

An interesting perspective on Responsive Web Design and getting it right

An article on the Smashing Magazine has an interesting perspective on what is responsive web design and how to actually get it right. Taking note on the performance is the right approach.

» You May Be Losing Users If Responsive Web Design Is Your Only Mobile Strategy | Smashing Magazine

Video Ad: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (Camera)

Video Ad: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (S Pen)

Mobile: All-In-One App or Multi Apps?

I have heard and seen clients wanting to include just everything, say product catalogue, events registrations, etc., from their website onto a mobile app. Each of the features itself are with complicated logics and workflows.

Question we should be asking now is whether to bundle all features into one single app or to split them into multi apps so each serve its own purpose. Mobile users are very much different from desktop users.To deliver the best mobile app experience, we need to make sure mobile users can complete a single mission easily and quickly.

TheNextWeb has an article, Forget ‘unbundling': Why your multi-app strategy should start from day one, recommending the multi apps approach for mobile strategy.

Introduction to Xamarin

Online technical tutorial, tuts+, published a 3-parts introduction on Xamarin. Xamarin is a cross-platform software solution using C# codebase to develop one single implementation for Android, iOS and Windows apps.

• An Introduction to Xamarin: Part 1
• An Introduction to Xamarin: Part 2
• An Introduction to Xamarin: Part 3

Hopefully I have the time to try out this interesting software one day.

Many Are Into Responsive Design, So Should I?

Many websites are now moving into responsive design so that webpages load "nicely" on mobile devices. The technologies and frameworks are there but should you and I go into revamping websites and adopt responsive design?

Responsive Web Design Taking Pictures Into Consideration

Responsive web design with pages and images resized and aligned properly for mobile view will not be complete if the images downloaded are the full desktop version. For better design, do consider using element. Read more on the picture element here.

Improve Mobile Support With Server-Side-Enhanced Responsive Design

An article on the Smashing Magazine on how to improve mobile support with responsive design at server side. It also discusses on the balance to doing it on client and server side.

An interesting read.

Side Navigation Drawer or Tabbed Design?

The debate over whether to implement the now trendy side navigation drawer (a.k.a. hamburger menu) or stick to traditional tabbed design for a mobile website or app can go a long way. An article published on TheNextWeb summarised just when using side navigation is relevant.

My take-away from all of this is that if most of the user experience takes place in a single view, and it’s only things like user settings and options that need to be accessed in separate screens, then keeping the main UI nice and clean by burying those in a side menu is the way to go.
On the other hand, if your app has multiple views that users will engage with somewhat equally, then side navigation could be costing you a great deal of your potential user engagement, and interaction with those part of the app accessed via the side menu.

» UX designers: Side drawer navigation could be costing you half your user engagement | TheNextWeb

Official Samsung S5 Video Ad - Waterproof and Camera