Guess Who We Are

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Signed up for GST Credits if you have not done so

Singaporeans who have not signed up for their 2007 GST Credits have until next Monday (31 December) to do so.

To verify, you can visit http://www.gstoffset.gov.sg/index.htm and login using your SingPass account. Upon successful login, system will tell you whether you have already applied for the GST Credits. If you have not done so, system will direct you to sign up for the benefit.

You will be surprised 87,000 Singaporeans have yet to sign up for GST Credits. I believe majority of these fall into 2 groups - 1) Super rich ones who do not even bother to take the trouble to sign up, 2) The elderly folks living alone who are unaware of this and do not have children to help sign up for them.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/319377/1/.html

Taxi Fare For Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan

I got the below findings from Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore and I thought I should share them with all of you.

Taxi Fares In Taipei

Taxi fares are charged as follows:
1. Starting fare for first 1250 m, NT 70 (SGD $3.50)
2. Surcharge after midnight, NT20 ($1)
3. Calling a taxi - no charge
4. Distance fare for 250 m or 84 secs of idling, NT5 ($0.25)

Fare for 5.11 km daytime, NT157 ($8)

The new fares, which took effect recently, was decided by the Taipei City Government based on three proposals submitted by interested parties. The decision was accepted by the taxi operators. The revised fare was necessary based to cover higher operating cost, due to higher oil prices.

Observation: The taxi fares in Taipei are much simpler than Singapore. The fares are regulated and produce a satisfactory outcome for commuters and taxi drivers.

Taxi Fares In Hong Kong

Here are the taxi fares in Hong Kong (red taxi)

1. First 2 km, HK 15 (SGD $3)
2. Every 0.2 km or 1 min of idling, HK $1.4 ($0.30)
3. Call a taxi HK 4 ($0.80)

Lower taxi fares apply for travel within New Territories (green taxi) or Launtau (blue taxi).

Average fare for 5 km including telephone calling, HK 40 ($8)

Observation: The fares are simpler and cheaper compared to Singapore. There are cheaper form of public transport.

Taxi Fares In Singapore

Fares and surcharges
Applicable to CityCab, Comfort, Yellow-Top Cab, SMRT Taxis. Different fares apply to other operators

Flagdown fare: S$2.80 (≤ 1 km)
Meter fare
S$0.20 (every 385 m thereafter or less > 1 km and ≤ 10 km)
S$0.20 (every 330 m thereafter or less > 10 km)
Waiting: S$0.20 (every 45 seconds or less)
Booking
S$3.50 (0730 - 0930 and 1700 - 2300 hours Monday - Friday)
S$2.50 (all other times including public holidays)
S$5.20 (advance)
Peak hours
35% of metered fare (0700 - 0930 and 1700 - 2000)
Late night
50% of meter fare (0000 - 0559 hours)

Public holidays
S$1.00 (1800 hours eve to 2400 hours of New Year's Day, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali, Christmas Day, first and second day of Chinese New Year.
Should public holiday fall on a Sunday, the surchage will be imposed till 2400 hrs on Monday)
CBD
S$3.00 (1700 - 0000 hours, Monday - Saturday, except public holidays)
Locations
S$5.00 (Singapore Changi Airport: Friday - Sunday from 1700 to 0000 hours)
S$3.00 (Singapore Changi Airport: all other times)
S$3.00 (Seletar Airport)
S$2.00 (Singapore Expo)

Higher flag-down rates for certain models.

All Electronic Road Pricing charges incurred on the trip are to be borne by the customer. An additional 10% administrative charge on the total fare is also incurred when payment is made on credit or charge cards. Higher fares apply for premium taxi services that employ premium vehicles, such as CityCab's Presido and MaxiCab, Yellow-Top Cab's Sovereign limousines, SMRT's Prestige and London Taxi and Airport Transfer service, and so on.

Observation: Singapore must win the award for the most complicated taxi fare structure in the world.

My HP iPAQ 112 Hard Reset Tip Was Mentioned

My previous post on How to Hard Reset HP iPAQ 112 Classic? was mentioned in another forum :)

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=447030&sid=d4c01ef7d2950c5189e79ccffa8f44ab

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I wish all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.May all your wishes come true.

Enjoy the below Christmas eGreeting and learn the meaning of Christmas at the same time :)

New Botak Jones Outlet at Ang Mo Kio

The outlet at Ang Mo Kio block 608 is closed due to new coffeeshop ownership. Ang Mo Kio outlet is now moved to block 529 instead. It's now even closer to my house!

Botak Jones Locations and Operating Hours
http://www.botakjones.com/locations.html

Why Insurance Agents Are Afraid of Competition?

I know of someone from the XXX company. He was so so defensive that he went to the extent of approaching his fellow friends who now work as a IFA and demands them to stop "disturbing" his clients. I wonder how will the insurance agent reacts if a stranger approaches his clients. Is he going to have sleepless nights?

My opinion is it's always better for clients to listen to more opinions. Agents should never even need to be worried of anything if they have done a good job. Fear unless job is not well-done. Why many insurance agents fear this is because review by another adviser can uncover the dirty and unethical things of the agents. It is good. Customers are encouraged to seek second opinions. If there are mis-selling and unethical practice the mistakes can be nipped in the bud.

Blogger on the Go

Blogger on to Go allows blogging by writing an email to an email address.

Post from anywhere!
When you send text or photos from your mobile device to go@blogger.com they're automatically posted to your new blog.

How it works

• Send an MMS or email to go@blogger.com from your phone
• We'll reply with the address of your new mobile blog, plus a claim code
• Post to your new mobile blog, or use the claim code to link your phone to a different blog

Cons

• Cannot attach a tag / label
• Cannot post HTML tags

http://go.blogger.com/

Asteroid on track for possible Mars hit

Researchers say the object, about 160 feet across, has an unusually good chance of plowing into the planet Jan. 30.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci-mars21dec21,1,3949708.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true

How to Display Chinese on Windows Mobile?

It's kinda weird as to why Microsoft does not enable displaying of 2nd language e.g. Traditional/Simplified Chinese other than English on a English Windows Mobile OS. They have done it easily on all Server/Desktop Windows and it shouldn't be too difficult to activate it on a Windows Mobile.

To unlock and allow Chinese display on Windows Mobile, you can perform the below steps. Please note that the below is tested on Windows Mobile 6.0. However, I believe it will work on Windows Mobile 5.0 as well.

1. Download PHM Registry Editor

Windows Mobile does not come together readily with a Registry Editor. Do not ask me the reason as to why the decision was made like this/that because I don't know why. Nevertheless, there is a freeware downloadable from the Internet that provides us with a GUI to "mess" with the registry. Download and install PHM Registry Editor now. Perform a soft reset after installation.

2. Transfer font files from Desktop PC to Pocket PC

Copy both simsun.ttc and TAHOMA.TTF from your Desktop PC's C:\Windows\Fonts\ directory to Pocket PC's \Windows\Fonts\ directory. If for whatever reason the 2 abovementioned font files are absent, do a search in the Internet and download them. Physical copying of font files from one OS to another will not pose any problems but I am not sure if there are any licensing issues.

3. Tweak Windows Mobile Registry

The standard advice goes again, "Be careful when you mess with the registry". You will need PHM Registry Editor to assist you in changing the registry.

1. Add [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\FontPath] key if it does not exist.
2. Add/Modify string value "FontPath"="\Windows\Fonts" to (i) key. Steps (i) and (ii) tell Windows Mobile the alternative font directory you are using other than the ones burnt onto the ROM.
3. Go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\GDI\SYSFNT] and verify string value "Nm"="Tahoma". Add/Modify where necessary.
4. Go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\FontLink\SystemLink] and verify string value "Tahoma"="\Windows\Fonts\simsun.ttc,NSimSun". Add/Modify where necessary. Steps (iii) and (iv) link the system font with the Chinese font simsun.ttc.
5. Go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\FontLink\SkipTable] and verify string value "Tahoma"="005c,00a5,007e,0391-03c9,2026,2116,221a,25a0-25ff". Add/Modify where necessary. Since some system fonts have Unicode definitions that you do not want to use, this test will add a skip table to force the use of the linked font.
6. Do a soft reset and you are done.

Hope it helps.

Crab Bee Hoon Feast A Yearly Event?

Last December, Regine and I had our crab bee hoon feast at the famous Melben restaurant, oppposite Mayflower Secondary School. One year later, we were back here again! Could it be our yearly event?

Google Gmail Weird Way of Handling Contacts

From Gmail's help center,

"Email addresses are automatically added to your Contacts list each time you use the Reply, Reply to all, or Forward functions to send messages to addresses not previously stored in your Contacts list."

Is this a pro or a con? I see this as a con. Having unknown in my contacts certainly does not help me. I hope Google will be around reading blogs.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/12/who-are-my-gmail-contacts.html

More Windows Mobile Posts Expected

I will be posting more Windows Mobile related posts on my blog. I have been exploring the workings of Windows Mobile recently and should post some tips and tricks on my findings. I should be getting a book on Windows Mobile hopefully by 2nd week of Jan after clearing my current workload.

Revised Minimum Bids Schedule for the Singapore Stock Market

With effect from next Monday, 24 December 2007, SGX will implement the new minimum bids schedule for the securities market to improve trading efficiency and market liquidity.

Current Minimum Bids Schedule

Approved New Minimum Bids Schedule

Announcement from SGX:
http://info.sgx.com/webinvedu.nsf/f7ae22b4d40d9d5448256db1004d6580/48256915002abe66482573ae0035be2c?OpenDocument

Should you always use a clustered index?

Interesting article especially for Database Design.

http://www.simple-talk.com/community/blogs/robertchipperfield/archive/2007/12/17/40766.aspx

Facebook Faces Off Against Sex Site

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204805550

Surprised

I was rather surprised that a search on keyword "hp midnight sale" end up returning one of my blog post link to be number 1.

The number one search result points to
http://hongjun.blogspot.com/2007/12/hp-midnight-sale-is-back.html

My Long Forgotten WAP Site

Many years back, during the days when Nokia 6610 and MMS Wallpapers were popular, I did a WAP site. From this site you can download colour animated MMS or wallpapers for your Nokia phones for free! All images are sized at 176x132 or 128x128 to support Nokia phones. All images are tested using Nokia 6610.

WAP Site: http://www.geocities.com/hongjun_wap/wap.wml
You can visit http://emulator.tagtag.com/wapemulator.cgi?O__SKIN=S1&wurl=tagtag.com and make use of the emulator provided to surf my WAP site.

You may wish to visit http://www34.brinkster.com/hongjunwap/ for preview and selection of animated mms and wallpapers before downloading using handphone GPRS service to save money. Do remember to sign my guestbook.

Please pardon me if there are dead links. The site was done many years back during my army days.

FYI, it was once featured as one of the recommended sites to visit on Keeptouch.

Linux Reader for Windows

How to get safe and quick access to alternative file systems? DiskInternals Linux Reader is a new easy way to do this. This program plays the role of a bridge between your Windows and Ext2/Ext3 Linux file systems. This easy-to-use tool runs under Windows and allows you to browse Ext2/Ext3 Linux file systems and extract files from there.

http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/

How to Hard Reset HP iPAQ 112 Classic?

I consulted a HP technical customer service officer to enquire on how to perform a hard reset on HP iPAQ 112 Classic. They told me there's no hard reset for HP iPAQ 112 Classic.

End up, I found a method to perform a hard reset from the Internet. Below is how to do it.

To hard reset a HP iPAQ 112

1. Press Win + OK + Record together
2. While doing that, press reset button and hold for 3-4 seconds
3. Release reset
4. Release buttons

The screen shows "CLEAN REBOOT".

Added New Tag - Mobility

I have added a new tag - Mobility.
Mobility will feature articles on Windows Mobile and other mobility related news.

Google Reader Integrate With Google Talk

Your Reader shared items are being made available to your friends from Google Talk. You can see what these friends are sharing; they can see what you are sharing, and that you use Reader. Your friends will appear once they've logged into Reader.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Is Out

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Candidate (RC) is available through Windows Update. Please read the following instructions before you install.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9de6260e-4275-482d-9524-de850c4dd91c&DisplayLang=en

Windows Vista SP1 Includes More Than 300 Fixes

It's true. The release of Windows Vista SP1 will include more than 300 fixes.

http://www.informationweek.com/industries/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204801988

What's your Gmail story?

Have you used Gmail to do something useful, fun, or unique?

http://www.google.com/mail/help/yourstory.html#utm_source=yourstorynfl&utm_medium=et&utm_campaign=en

Place an Order for HP iPaq 112 Classic Handheld

I should be getting it in 2 weeks' time. YEAH!

Far Too Many China Born Players Playing for Singapore Equates???

2 days ago, I voiced out my unhappiness over Singapore sending foreign imports to participate in international competitions. There is a particular article in today's TODAY paper also raised their concerns on this issue. Can you imagine the almost the entire Singapore's table tennis team is made up of China born paddlers? Yes, we are talking about 7 out of the 10 paddlers are from China. And unsuprisingly, all golds won are from the 7 China born paddlers. What does this show?
A couple of years ago, we almost only heard of Li Jiawei winning. What about now? Even the men's team is doing a sweeping on the gold medals on the table! I personally this is a bit too much.

By the way, below is an article from 10 Dec 2007 TODAY paper. I don't feel proud of what's going on in Singapore's move in SEA Games.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/226635.asp

Yet another China born but participating for Singapore gunning for gold. And this time round, Malaysians were beaten.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/226633.asp

Golden Horse Awards - 'Lust, Caution' Biggest Winner

"Lust, Caution" clinched seven out of the eleven prizes it was nominated, including best film, director and actor at the Golden Horse Awards. Veteran Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai won for his portrayal of the calm, ruthless spy chief. Lead actress Tang Wei was named best new performer. The film also won best adapted screenplay, best score and best makeup and costume design.

The 44th Golden Horse Award Competition Nominees -- By Award
http://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/gh_main/gh/gh-e-5.aspx

Different Flavours of Windows Mobile 6

1. What are the various Windows Mobile 6.0 editions available?

Standard - Mobile 6.0 with no touch screen.
Classic - Mobile 6.0 with touch screen without phone capabalities.
Professional - Mobile 6.0 fully loaded.

2. If I intend to do some .NET development on Windows Mobile 6.0, which editions should I get?

What's New for Developers in Windows Mobile 6?
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb278115.aspx

In fact, you don't even need to get any editions. You can just download the sdk's which comes with emulators so you can test on all editions.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=06111a3a-a651-4745-88ef-3d48091a390b&displaylang=en

3. What are the differences between the various editions in terms of functionalities and limitations / restrictions when it comes to .NET development?

No major differences.

4. Do they all have got .NET Compact framework installed by default? What about SQL Mobile?

Windows Mobile 6.0 comes with .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and SQL CE 2.0.

Rejected a Freelance Project Again

I have rejected my 2nd freelance project offer just this month!

Eyeing for HP iPAQ 112 Classic

I am eyeing for "HP iPAQ 112 Classic".
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/handhelds/0,39001703,41160343p,00.htm

Hackers launch major attack on US military Labs

Hackers have succeeded in breaking into the computer systems of two of the US’s most important science labs, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsID=10867

Singapore in Sea Games Korat 2007

No doubt Singapore is going to win more gold medals this time round as compared to previous rounds. Will I be proud of my own country Singapore and give them a clap?

Singapore's soccer team has grown stronger reason being we are seeing around 6 first team players born in somewhere else other than Singapore. They are bigger, stronger and more skilful than Asians. Many of these foreign born players are actually in their late 20s or mid 30s and they are still playing competitively in first team positions. SEA Games allows only younger players to play and I am not suprised to see Singapore struggled and ended goaless playing with Laos. The game with Vietnam, though won, was not something to be proud about. Vietnam scored 2 own goals and this benefited Singapore.

Singapore's tennis team is going places. Both the mens' and womens' teams are now dominated by China born players. I am not proud of this either.

Singapore's atheletics team is moving to this direction soon or maybe we are already there. With James Wong retiring from atheletics, the shoulders of winning gold medals now rest on our China imports. Though some have got disciplinary issues with the Singapore Atheletics Association (SAA), SAA still "keep" them. Do we have a choice?

Singapore's swimming team has lost Joscelyn Yeo - Singapore born talented and industrious swimmer. She is one of the most decorated medalists for Singapore. Sad to say, she will not be partcipating for Singapore in this competition. Our hope now rests on Tao Li - China born but am now representing Singapore.

How about the badminton team? The same old story repeats again!

Do I have to continue further? Just where are our Singapore born Ang Peng Siong, Tan Howe Liang, Fandi, Sundram Moorthy, Joscelyn Yeo, James Wong, etc? We are now hearing Tao Li, Gao Ning, Li Jiawei, Li Li, Xing Aiying, Aleksandar Duric, Mirko Gravobac, Daniel Bennett, Precious Emuejeraye, Shi Jiayi, Agu Casmir, John Wilkinson, Dong Enxin, etc.

Quotes from Qian Hu Corporation

I recently received a X'Mas greeting card and a Year 2008 calendar from Qian Hu Corporation Limited. I shall quote Qian Hu's quotes from the calendar.

Do more than what you say, better yet, do more than what you think!
做的比说的更多，更好是做的比想的更多！

If you only stay in your toilet, you will only see your own shit!
如果你只是呆在自己的厕所里，你将只能看到自己的粪便！

Before you learn to run a business, learn how to have humanity!
在您学会做生意之前，先学会怎么做人！

In order to be "UNIQUE", you must be yourself. Because there is only one "YOU" in this world!
要与众不同，就要做回自己。因为全世界只有一个你！

Professionalism without passion is nothing!
没有热诚的专业是没有用的！

People recognize and respect you for what you have done and what you are going to do, but never what you have said!
别人会认可与尊重您做过和所要做的事情，而并非您所说的话！

Good individual will perish one day, but Good Family Values and Corporate Culture will last forever!
人总有一天会死，但好的家庭价值观与企业文化将会永远保存下来！

Jealousy makes you upset and learn less!
妒忌心会让您感到不安并错失学习机会！

Talk when you know and shut-up when you do not know, but have the wisdom to see the differences!
讲您懂的东西， 不懂就别乱奖。更重要的是有这个智慧去分辨它们的不同！

Talk more about others' strength! Think less about others' weaknesses!
多讲他人的好处！少想他人的怀出！

Mix around with Angels, you will become Angel! Mix around with Devils, you will become Devil!
跟天使在一起时，你会变成天使！跟魔鬼在一起时，你会变成魔鬼！

You are not happy because you compare with the wrong person!
您不快乐是因为您跟不适当的人做比较!

Qian Hu's Corporate Website
http://www.qianhu.com/

Microsoft Wants One Laptop Per Child System To Run Windows XP

Microsoft has asked the designers of a low-cost Linux laptop intended for children in developing nations to redesign the system so it can accommodate its Windows XP operating system.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204701926

HP Midnight Sale Is Back!

Midnight Sale will be OPENED for a short window on 11pm Fri, 7 Dec 2007 to 3am Sat, 8 Dec 2007. Mark your Calendar.
At the stated time, you will enjoy the absolute lowest prices on a select range of HP Products. These genuinely heavy discounts come with one catch: They're strictly time limited.

http://www.hp.com.sg/midnight

Gmail New Features

List of newly added cool new Gmail features
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/about_whatsnew.html

FYI, you will need to set Language to be English (US) for the new features to be revealed.

There's a new feature launched but is yet to be updated on the above mentioned page. Hit Question Mark key on your keyboard to reveal all shortcuts. You will need to first enable Shortcuts from Settings.

How To Store Your Passwords Securely?

How do you remember all of your passwords? How do you store all your passwords passwords securely?

We can use Password Safe. Password Safe is a small application that encrypts and secures all your passwords.

Previous related post: Help protect your personal information with strong passwords
http://hongjun.blogspot.com/2006/04/help-protect-your-personal-information.html

Any Javascript Intellisense Editors?

Expert bemara57 asked the below question and I answered it.

Question

I'm using the AJAX prototype framework and there are a lot of options on there. Great stuff. But I was wondering if there are any free Javascript editor that can intellisense the options I can do- much like Visual Studio with other languages. It really helps speed up the coding. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

My Reply

TRy this
http://www.aptana.com/

hongjun

Lousy Employee Portal

Come to think of it, the company I worked for has a very poorly done employee portal. The portal is supposed to make things simple and convenient for all. It provides one stop service like submitting claims for reimbursements, applying of leaves, keeping in touch with latest happenings, etc.

The company I work for is a multi-million or even billion dollar company but the portal it has is easily being beaten by any SMEs'.

Firstly, the portal has a landing page that carters only for 1024 by 768 resolution monitor. If you have a smaller or larger resolution, the wallpaper is either over-stretched or repeats itself. Thumbs down!

Secondly, the portal is designed and WILL only work for IE 6.0 or below. If you are using ANY version of Firefox, it ain't going to work. IE 7.0 is also not supported. The use of firefox or IE 7.0 will just put yourself into risk of encountering countless annoying JavaScript errors. Display is also not readable at all for these browsers. Thumbs down again!

Thirdly, the interface with SAP is extremely slow! The system just underwent recent change and I thought it will support IE 7 and Firefox but they disappointed me. Not only it remains compatible to only IE 6.0, it seems to work more worse on other browsers after the upgrade. Loading and connection to servers has never been so slow before. Thumbs down!

On top of that, employees are told to print out e-claims or e-Leave for submission. I thought the aim of doing E-claims / E-leave is to save the trees and remove the need of having to stack up piles of paper? Why make E-xxx but then make us print hardcopy? Printing using the portal is never an easy task. There is no print function to make printing friendly. What I did is do some tricks to force frames onto new window and making sure session get carried over to the new window. It's hard to explain the exact steps I undertook to just print a single claim but just know it's really unfriendly if not UNUSABLE!

I never like to login to the portal.

Vista SP1 to Block Two Popular Piracy Methods

Microsoft Corp said on Monday it would disable the two primary methods used by software pirates to illegally copy Windows Vista software in the next major update of the operating system.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2227734,00.asp

Gmail Adds Label Colors

The latest addition is label colors: you can now set a different color for each label so you can identify messages easier. Not all Gmail accounts have the new feature, but it will probably be enabled for everyone soon.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/12/gmail-adds-label-colors.html

Microsoft Report on IE Security Draws Mozilla Rebuttal

Microsoft is patting itself on the back for having had fewer vulnerabilities in IE than have been found in Firefox.

Just because dentists fix more teeth in America doesn't mean our teeth are worse than in Africa.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2225928,00.asp

Throw Away Prima Deli Chocolates - They Are Poisonous

If you've bought chocolate cakes from bakery chain Prima Deli, you should throw them away. The advice comes from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/315298/1/.html

Google Sites to Launch Next Year

A recent presentation from Scott Johnston, a former JotSpot executive, revealed some of the future plans for Google Apps and other Google services

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/12/google-sites-to-launch-next-year.html

Aspects of Life on the World's Greatest Investor - Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett, the second richest man, or perhaps the greatest investor of all times, has got some interesting aspect of his life to share. For your information, Buffett had donated US$31 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett started giving away 85% of his wealth in July 2006 - most of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I respect Mr Warren Buffett.

Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
2. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
3. He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago.
4. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
5. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
6. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.
7. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.
8. He has given his CEO's only two rules. Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.
9. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some popcorn and watch television.
10. Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
11. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.
12. His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

Tour Changi Airport's Terminal 3 Before It Opens

Be among the first to visit Singapore's newest, largest and most anticipated airport terminal building.

Dates        : 12 Nov to 9 Dec 2007
Opening Hours: 10.00 am – 5.00 pm (Weekdays)
               9.00 am – 6.00 pm (Saturday and Sunday)

http://www.changiairport.com/t3/openhouse/

Highest Bridge in Singapore - The Southern Ridges

The Southern Ridges are a 9-km chain of hills stretching from Mount Faber Park through Telok Blangah Hill Park to Kent Ridge Park. It stands at 37 metres above ground. One distinctive feature is that it has been built at an incline. This new bridge is mostly completed and will be opened to pedestrian access only in February next year.

This bridge is still without a name. To vote for a suggest a name for this new bridge, visit the URA website at http://www.ura.gov.sg/sr_bridges/index-home.htm.

Details of the Bridge

http://www.ura.gov.sg/sr_bridges/henderson.htm

Some photo from URA website are shown below:

View of bridge during day time

View of bridge during night time

Artist impression of walking on the bridge at night

MediaCorp's Only Award at Asian TV Awards 2007

MediaCorp was named the Terrestrial Broadcaster of the Year at the 12th Asian Television Awards held at the Suntec Convention Centre late Thursday night.

This time round, MediaCorp bagged only one award as compared to more than one in previous occasions. Is this a signal that individuals are not performing as well as before? I bet the expectations of many Singaporeans are high since MediaCorp scored 15 nominations in 10 categories.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/314774/1/.html

Windows Live Messenger 9.0 private beta leaked

Reviews and New Features
http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2007/11/28/vista-branding-confused-even-microsofts-marketing-director-not-ready
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071126-microsoft-aiming-to-give-windows-live-messenger-a-leg-up-with-new-features.html

Download
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Chat/Instant-Messaging/Windows-Live-Messenger-9.shtml

Removed Support Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010 Logo

I have removed "Support Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010 Logo" due to violation of IOC rules.

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/224644.asp

What are SIVs

SIVs (Structured Investment Vehicles) are typically offshore companies created by banks and other firms to sell short-term debt to buy mortgage securities and finance company bonds with higher yields. They profit on the spread between the two. Unlike securitisation vehicles, SIVs sit off the balance sheets.

SIVs finance themselves by selling asset-backed commercial paper, or short-term loans backed by collateral such as mortgages. When the subprime debt market blew up in August, investors stopped buying SIV commercial paper. As a result, in September and October, some SIVs didn't have the cash to pay debt holders thus resulting in many losses.

Yesterday, HSBC decided to put US$45 billion of SIVs onto its balance sheet to end uncertainty as a result of the credit squeeze. Will the other banks like Citigroup, etc, follow suit?

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Business/Story/A1Story20071127-38580.html

Google's GDrive to Launch Soon?

The much anticipated Googles' Drive is on its way. Google is now planning to offer consumers a new way to store files on their hard drives.

Google Plans Service to Store Users' Data
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119612660573504716.html

Currently, files for Google are now kept rather in a "disjointed" fashion. Read on my earlier post "The Disjointed GDrive (or Where Do I Upload My Files?)" for more information.

Actually, there's a third party add-on named "GMail Drive" which allows a user to access a virtual drive stored in a Gmail e-mail account by causing the contents of the Gmail account to appear as a new network share on the user's workstation. This extension is free and is not supported by Google.

Unofficial GMail Drive (third-party add-on)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMail_Drive

Apple Settles iPod Lawsuit for $10 Million

Apple will pay to license patents from Burst.com, after two years of litigation over compression technology.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139889-c,legalissues/article.html

Interesting Quote

Q: What fun is the money if you never get a chance to spend it?
A: Ask your wife.

Black Friday

What is Black Friday? Coincidentally, the financial markets of today is in a mess, with most of the global markets in bearish mood. Last Friday marks the Black Friday and Dow Jones coincidentally jumped more than 200 points after many days of fall.

Lifted from Wikipedia:

"Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, where it is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Since Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, Black Friday may be as early as the 23rd and as late as the 29th of November. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employers give the day off. Retailers often decorate for the Christmas season weeks beforehand. Many retailers open very early (typically 5 am) and offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores. Although Black Friday, as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1970s. "Black Friday" was originally so named because of the heavy traffic on that day (see below), although most contemporary uses of the term refer instead to it as the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (i.e., turning a profit)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

Privacy fears over Facebook feature

Facebook's feature of automatically alerting a user's online network of friends to things bought on other websites, can reveal highly personal information. This has angered its users by publicising details of their shopping habits without their permission. This will mean Christmas gifts meant for surprises will no longer be surprises.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21942570/

Einstein's Intelligence Quiz

I took 15 minutes to find a solution to the below problem. I suggest you to dedicate at least 30 minutes just to find a solution. Try not to be distracted.

Einstein's Intelligence Quiz
http://www.business.uiuc.edu/broker/iq.htm

Einstein wrote this quiz last century. He said that 98% of the people in the world cannot solve the quiz.

• There are 5 houses in 5 different colors
• In each house lives a person with a different nationality
• These 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet
• No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same drink.

Here's the question: Who owns the fish?

1. The Brit lives in a red house
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets
3. The Dane drinks tea
4. The green house is on the left of the white house
5. The green house owner drinks coffee
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
8. The man living in the house right in the middle drinks milk
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats
11. The man who keeps horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill
12. The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer
13. The German smokes Prince
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water

With these 15 clues the problem is solvable.

Giant Sea Scorpion Discovered; Was Bigger Than a Man

Scientists say this 18-inch (46-centimeter) fossil claw (bottom) belonged to the world's largest known bug: an 8.2-foot (2.5-meter), 390-million-year-old sea scorpion called Jaekelopterus rhenaniae.
Read more below
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071121-giant-scorpion.html

Make sure your .NET applications perform

http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/performance/make-sure-your-.net-applications-perform/

US Market Closed for Thanksgiving Holiday

The US stock market headed into the Thanksgiving holiday (22 Nov 07) on a low note with Dow down 211.10 points (1.62%), Nasdaq down 34.66 points (1.33%), and S&P 500 down 22.93 points (1.59%), as investors sold equities and bought bonds. Will the Asian markets get a breather tomorrow?

High Oil Prices Spark Burning of Wood

Winter is around the corner and people will need to heat up to keep warmth. Oil prices has surged to unbelievable level hitting US$100 per barrel and burning of oil furnaces is now no longer economically feasible. People are now turning to burning wood to keep warm despite knowing wood burning is many times more pollution unfriendly and is many times more harmful to one's health.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ahQg4z1djNgk

How Wal-Mart lost its technology edge

I bumped onto the below article by chance. It's interesting.

http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/it-business/it-organisation/hot-topic/index.cfm?articleid=822

HP's Results Set the Pace for Dell

Hewlett-Packard Co's better-than-expected quarterly results may raise the bar for competitor Dell Inc, which is more vulnerable to U.S. economic woes and reports earnings next week.

Dell earns about 85 percent of its revenue from business customers, many in the United States, whereas HP has a stronger focus on consumers and international markets.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2220184,00.asp

Financial Markets Jitters

Price of oil is on the verge of hitting US$100 per barrel, global banks and financial firms are declaring more write-offs, inflation is hitting all time high, US$ is falling, China Yuan is rising, Japanese Yen is rising, treasury yields falls below 4% for the first time since many years, ...

Where should we keep our money?

牵了手就不要随便分手

I came across below article in Chinese which I thought worth a mention here.

爱的感觉总是在一开始觉得很甜蜜。总觉得多一个人陪，多一个人帮你分担，你终于不再孤单了。至少有一个人想着你，恋着你，不论做什么事情，只要能在一起，就是好的。但是慢慢的，随着彼此的认识越深，你开始发现了对方的缺点，问题就会一个接着一个发生。然后你就开始觉得烦，累，甚至想要逃避。

有人说爱情就像捡石头。总想捡到一个适合自己的。但是你又如何知道什么时候能够捡到呢？他适合你，那你又适合他吗？其实，爱情就像磨石子一样。或许刚捡到的时候，你不是那么满意。但是记住人是有弹性的。只要你有心，有勇气。很多事情是可以改变的。与其到处去捡未知的石头。还不如好好的将自己已经拥有的石头磨亮。不是吗？

很多人以为是因为爱情淡了，所以人才会变得懒惰，其实是因为人先被懒惰征服，所以感情才会变淡。难怪越来越多人只想要谈一辈子的恋爱，却迟迟不肯走入婚姻。因为婚姻容易让人变得懒惰。如果每个人都懒得讲话，懒得倾听，懒得制造惊喜，懒得温柔体贴。那么夫妻或是情人之间，又怎么会不渐行渐远渐无声呢？所以请记住：有活力的爱情，是需要适度般勤灌溉的。谈恋爱，更是不可以偷懒的！

其实爱，恨往往只是在我们的一念之间。爱不仅要懂得宽容更要及时。很多事情可能只是在于你心境的转变罢了。当有个人爱上你，而你也觉得他不错。并不代表你会选择他。我们总是说：“我要找一个自己很爱很爱的人，才谈恋爱。”但是当对方问你，怎么才算很爱很爱的时候，你却无法回答他。因为你自己也不知道。我们总是以为，我们会找到一个我们自己很爱很爱的人。可是后来，当我们猛然回首，我们才会发现自己曾经多么天真。假如从来没有开始，你怎么知道自己会不会很爱很爱那个人呢？其实，很爱很爱的感觉，是要在一起经历了许多事情之后才会发现的。或许每个人都希望能够找到自己心目中百分之百的伴侣。但是你有没有想过，在你身边会不会早已经有人默默对你付出很久了。只是你没发觉而已。

当你爱上一个人的时候，爱到八分绝对刚刚好。所有的期待和希望都只有七八分。剩下两三分用来爱自己。如果你还继续爱的更多，很可能会给对方沉重的压力。让彼此喘不过气来。完全丧失了爱情的乐趣。所以，喝酒不要超过六份醉。吃饭不要超过七分饱。爱一个人不要超过八分。

如果你也正在为爱迷惑，或许以下这段话可以给你一些启示：爱一个人，要了解，也要开解。要道歉，也要道谢。要认错，也要改错。要体贴，也要体谅。要接受，而不是忍受。要宽容，而不是纵容。要支持，而不是支配。要慰问，而不是质问。要倾诉，而不是控诉。是难忘，而不是遗忘。

愿我所有的朋友们，都能勇敢面对爱情。都能懂得如何去爱。要记得抓紧爱情，而不是抓伤彼此感情。不要忘了真爱难寻。要好好珍惜彼此。愿大家都能得到幸福。

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Quote of the Day from Business Times

Below is extracted from Stocks open higher

'Potential good news is that we do have the preconditions in place for the classic year-end rally. While we still look for the market to go higher into year-end, our confidence has weakened a bit and the market needs to improve soon in this traditionally strong seasonal period. If not, we will go to a more cautious stance.'

New MSN Messenger Trojan Spreading Quickly

eWEEK has reported a new trojan which is using the Windows Live/MSN Messenger platform to grow a botnet by hundreds of infected PCs per hour, adding VMs to the mix as well.

The Trojan is an IRC bot sends itself in a compressed zip file with two names. One of the names includes the word "pics" as a double extension executable—a name generally used by scanners and digital cameras: for example, DSC00432.jpg.exe. The Trojan is also contained in a .zip file with the name "images" as a .pif executable—for example, IMG34814.pif.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2218894,00.asp

US Dow Jones Drop 80 Points in first 15 Minutes

This is the effect after Goldman, Sachs & Co. told investors to sell shares of Citigroup Inc. and Lowe's Cos. There is also a concern that U.S.'s retail sales growth this holiday shopping season may be the worst in at least five years and signal an economic contraction. The number of economists forecasting the U.S. will slip into recession almost doubled over the last two months.

What's the likelihood of a global recession? I think it is never so high before since 9/11.

Singapore's Q3 GDP growth falls short of market expectations
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/312392/1/.html

It's a Bad Day

It's a bad day and I decided to sleep over it.

A Grave Mistake Made that Cost Me a Bomb

More than a hundred dollars went missing due to a careless mistake made. I am not sure if the loss will go up further but I definitely know it will take more very long or perhaps never to recoup the losses.

It's a harsh lesson being learnt indeed. 我的心好痛...

Old Chang Kee to Go Public

What started off as a humble curry puff stall near the old Rex Theatre is now multi-million dollar food business. One step at a time, Han Keen Juan, Chairman of Old Chang Kee, overcame budget constraints and other challenges to build Old Chang Kee into the household name it is today. Here he talks about the pains of entrepreneurship and the rewards that await those who perserve.

Interview with Han Keen Juan, Chairman of Old Chang Kee
http://www.peopleatthepeak.com/eng/interview/han.htm

Old Chang Kee eyes Sesdaq listing
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/312004/1/.html

Is It Really "Clean Air, Save Climate"?

Indonesian activists rolled a giant inflatable globe on the street during a "clean air, save climate" campaign in Jakarta today.

Indonesia, which is the the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, will host the 13th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali in December.


From the photo, traffic almost crawled to a stop. I thought stationary vehicles emit more greenhouse gases?

Goldman sees subprime cutting $2 trillion in lending

The slump in global credit markets will force banks, brokerages and hedge funds to cut lending by $2 trillion, triggering the risk of a “substantial recession” in the U.S., according to Goldman Sachs. Losses related to record U.S. home foreclosures using a “back-of-the-envelope” calculation may be as high as $400 billion for financial companies, Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman in New York wrote in a report. The effects may be amplified tenfold as companies that borrowed to finance their investments scale back lending, the report said.

http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071116/REG/71116005/

What If Your Google Account Was Stolen?

The above question has generated much discussion over what's to be done if your Google account is stolen. With the password stolen, basically users can roam to all your Google accounts. Google accounts are like Microsoft Live Passports!

http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-11-09.html#n38

Read on what was and is being discussed now
http://blogoscoped.com/forum/114364.html

China's Industrial Output Growth Sparks Concern Economy May Be Overheating

I certainly agree.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aoBrvf1ApG0I&refer=asia

Google Co-Founder Page Off the Market

Larry Page will be getting married on 8 December 2007.
I particularly like this statement:

    "Guests have been advised to have their passports available to travel internationally, the newspaper said."

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2216819,00.asp

SQL Server 2008 Sneak Preview

It has been months since I last attended a talk. I shall try to make myself available for this coming tech talk.

Date : Thursday 22 November 2007
Time : 6.45pm – 9.00pm
Venue: 1 Marina Boulevard
       #22-01, One Marina Boulevard

http://mssg.earth9.com/singapore/edm/2007/11/12/sgdotnet.html

Google offers US$10m in prizes for new mobile phone software

Google is offering US$10 million in prizes for people who build the best software to enhance the company's upcoming mobile phone operating system - Android. Android is the open source platform Google designed for building mobile phones. This challenge is to spark off innovation.

Developers can submit applications between January 2 and March 3.

Android Developer Challenge
http://code.google.com/android/adc.html

Is Global Market Going to Fall in 4th Quarter

As compiled by the Bloomberg, the US S&P 500 rose in the fourth quarter 58 of 79 times since 1928. History has shown that usually it's best to pick up stocks in the 4th quarter because they come in cheap and 4th quarter usually marks the start of a bull run. However, it seems this year's 4th quarter is an exception.

For years since the Internet bubble burst, technology and utilities stocks in the US have been performing very well till now. Their performance have prevented the US stock market from collapsing and are now trading near their most expensive valuations. However, the recent slight fall of these stocks are sending us warnings that the bull run could be over soon.

The last time the market was so dependent on technology and utilities stocks are in year 2000 (around the Internet bubble burst period). That's when the US S&P 500 index plunges 49 percent over 2.5 years! It seems that we are to be extra careful.

I hope brokers and analysts can update clients more often on the market trends and advise on the necessary actions to undertake before investors' hard-earned cash are lost overnight.

I Am a Software Engineer

Recently, I was quite active on a financial blog posting comments. There is only person who had just emailed me asking what's my profession.

I am a software engineer working in the IT industry.

Poor return to policyholder

This is an interesting discussion on poor return to policyholder and the company in picture is "PXXXXXXXXX". I would say commission is needed for advisers as this their source of income. However, wouldn't it have been better if the cost is paid to an IFA who provides services in comparing the various products in the market and recommends the best ones? We should be gunning for service based and not product based.

http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2007/11/poor-return-to-policyholder.html

2 Dates To Watch Out For Investors

In UK, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have come under the most pressure due to their large exposure to US sub-prime mortgages and to the problems in global financial markets. Banks in UK are now "queuing" up to prepare to give speeches to the public on their credit positions in the next few weeks.

Barclays' update - November 27
RBS's update - December 6

Life Is Tough

I am still working in front of my laptop at this very hour! Life is tough. I think it's really time to give myself a chance for a breather. This will be one of my goals for year 2008.

Is Citigroup Sell-Off to Be True One Day

After all the many financial markets tumbles, many big firms have turned victims. One of many victims is Citigroup. Citigroup now risk being forced to break up its model and sell off some of its assets for survival. Is this really going to be true?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/11/09/cnciti109.xml

Yes, my previous post has suggested of an imminent recession. Poor performance by US and Japan will definitely cause a slowdown to even the emerging Asia.

Economy not doing well.. Must work harder...

It's just a word of advice to all guys out there.

自己加油

给自己加个油吧！

First Look At Firefox 3.0

Firefox 3.0 is to be released soon. Check out some screenshots of Firefox 3.0 from the below link.
http://lifehacker.com/software/screenshot-tour/first-look-at-firefox-30-319968.php

Singapore's Could Be Yet Another Charity Scandal

This time round, Ren Ci Hospital & Medicare Centre is in the limelight.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/310170/1/.html

Congrats to Anthony

Congratulations to Anthony for passing his CCNA paper. Well done!

Thanks for the adSense Clicks

I would like to thank whoever who clicked 4 times on my adSense ads yesterday.

Berkshire Hathaway profit rises 64%

Berkshire Hathaway, the company controlled by world's No 1 investor, Warren Buffett, said third-quarter profit surged 64 percent. Berkshire's Class A shares closed up US$1,250 at US$132,500, and its Class B shares rose US$25 to US$4,402. I doubt few are rich enough to buy 1,000 shares of Berkshire's shares. 1,000 shares of his Class A shares will come up to US$1,250,000!

More Details Below
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abvy_cUjUwmI&refer=home

Top Analyst Received Death Threats After Citigroup Downgrade

Meredith Whitney, the analyst who prompted a $369 billion (£177 billion) plunge in the value of US shares on Thursday by issuing a negative note on Citigroup, hit out at Wall Street’s culture of intimidation yesterday after receiving several death threats from investors in the bank.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/article2796774.ece

US Dow Jones fall also resulted in Asia markets to free fall as well.

Experts-Exchange Corporate Accounts

Experts-Exchange has just launched Corporate Accounts for businesses. EE lists out 5 benefits of Corporate Accounts.

#5. All the information you need, whenever you need it.
Never go to another site for your IT or technology problems again! Experts Exchange is available 24/7, giving you access to the information you need to solve your problems whenever you need it--at home or in the office, during business hours or late night session.

#4. Be more productive -- helping you do your job better.
IT professionals benefit both personally and professionally by participating in an IT community. By collaborating with the best IT professionals the world over, you will grow your knowledge and skill set, making you more valuable to your company.

#3. Save time -- helping you work more efficiently
According to a King Research study, 93% of IT professionals who rely on an IT community claim that they do their jobs more efficiently and save time by using the IT community to solve their IT problems. 43% say they save 3 or more hours every week! Source: http://www.kace.com/KingResearch_The_Value_of_Online_Communities.pdf

#2. Save money -- corporate discounts save over 42%.
Corporate Accounts save you money by giving you additional discounts above and beyond the already discounted yearly memberships. Create your account today and save over 42% off our monthly rate.

#1. Instant access to the #1 IT resource on the internet.
With over 10 years experience pioneering the online IT collaboration field, the most comprehensive knowledgebase of over 1.9 million proven solutions as well as hundreds of thousands of active members from around the world, Experts Exchange is the best resource for your IT staff... period.

More from
http://www.experts-exchange.com/corporateAccountReasons.jsp?cid=412

Citigroup CEO Prince to Resign

Citigroup CEO Prince to resign after subprime losses. Few days ago, Merrill Lynch's Chief Executive O'Neal was also on fire after its biggest loss in history citing subprime related reasons.

Google's OpenSocial Answer to Facebook

Google Goes OpenSocial to Trump Facebook
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2210557,00.asp
http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2007/11/confirmed_myspa.html

Facebook Opens Up to Developers
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2136474,00.asp
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/express/bb510381.aspx

Bad Day for the Stock Market

The stock market wrapped up this week having ST Index falling 88.24 points on 2 Nov 2007 (Fri). US market falling over 360 points on 1 Nov 2007 (Thu). FYI, the US market is still falling right now after Friday market just opened for them.

Total Rises Counters = 190
Total Falls Counters = 657
Total Unchanged Counters = 822

Bastards bullying Singapore senior citizen

Ugly tourists bullying Singapre trishaw rider. Shame on them!