Just2me

Why buy GoPro Silver Edition? Why not White or Black?

2013-05-03T19:00:00.000+08:00

As you might know, I bought a GoPro Hero 3 camera not long ago.

I got a Silver Edition, plus 2 extra mounts (head mount and tripod mount), for a total of $320 USD (includes shipping fee to Singapore) from Scuba.com. It arrived shortly in 1 week.

One might wonder why I choose the Silver Edition?

My reasons (for choosing Silver over White):

Initially, I want to buy the (low-end) white edition, as I am a newbie to this gadget.
However, further research tells me the quality varies greatly between white and silver.
Silver has protune mode - more dynamic footage
Hero 3 White is worse than the obviously older Hero 2.. Even Hero 2 has protune mode.
Silver has a 2 more mounting accessories: J-Hook buckle and 3-way Pivot arm

My reasons (for choosing Silver over Black):

I don't need support for simultaneously taking photo while recording video
I don't need superior movie quality mode - 1440p and 4K cinema
The only extra accessory is the Wi-Fi Remote ($80) - which the iPhone app can do the same

My biggest motivation probably came from my girlfriend.

After telling her that I want to buy a Hero3 White edition, she told me:

Wait till next year, then get a better (version) one.

I told her:

Life short, don't wait.

So I took half of her advise, upgraded to Silver, and bought right away from Scuba.com.

GoPro Hero 3 - Unbox Starting Guide

2013-04-30T23:55:00.001+08:00

After pondering for a few nights, I decided to buy myself a birthday present - a GoPro Hero 3 Silver Edition!

While GoPro is definitely awesome, I was taken back by it's user guide. In fact, a lack of one, other than a note asking you to download from their website.

I could have broke a thing or two if I am the type of user who refused to RTFM..

So, I here am sharing 4 tips when you unbox this gadget.

1. How to remove GoPro Hero3 from the housing/case?

First, don't force open. It's not very obvious, even with the 2 arrows.

Watch this video.

2. Don't remove the piece of paper flap on the battery

When you unbox the battery, you will find a paper flap around the battery. I almost thought it is a wrap and going to tear it apart.

Luckily not. It is a flap to help to pull the battery out of the camera!

3. Summary of the manual

While I think we should usually read the manual, it is this kind of user manual from GoPro that make users hate it.

It didn't mention critical problems that users will encountered while unboxing (such as the 2 problems above).

And it is long winded.

So here's my short version:

There are only 2 buttons

Shuttle button - the red one at the top
Mode/Power button - at the front

Press Mode button repeatedly to change to certain mode or navigate to setting
Press Shuttle button to mean "Okay"
Press and hold Shuttle to exit

PS: I can't get a Google Glass. At least I can be a hero (:

Simple and Usable

2013-04-21T16:27:00.002+08:00

Simple and Usable, by Giles Colborne, is a book for interaction designers.

With only 180+ pages, each concept is narrated with 1 page of text and 1 page of photo, making it a very easy read.

My summary:

Why are we here?

Why not? Complexity is terrible.

Simplicity gives you more users, and happier users.

Setting a Vision

First, understand your users' world, and figure out how your design fits in.

3 types of users:

Experts - ignore them
Willing adopters
Mainstreamers - focus on satisfying them

Simplicity is about feeling in control, even when under stress.

Not feeling confused or afraid what this or that button will do.

A design has to consider 3 levels:

World - the "where" and "when"
Character - the "who" and "why"
Plot - the "what" and "how"

Describe your vision/story in plain language, and be concise.

Then share and tell your vision/story.

There are 4 strategies to making design simple. The TV remote is a good example on how - remove, organise, hide, displace - can be applied.

Strategy 1: Remove

Remove what is unnecessary, focusing on the core, and killing lame features.

Avoid speculating what the users might, or might not, do.

They are happier when their choices are limited.

Don't distract them. Don't overload them.

They don't like options/preferences.

They don't read instructions, or long text.

"Them", refers to mainstreamers.

Strategy 2: Organise

Some techniques:

Chunking
Categorising with hard edges
Sort alphabetically
Search (but usually not better than browse categories)
Time & space
Grids
Size & location (the importance)
Layers (like in maps)
Color coding (like sushi plate)
Desired paths

Strategy 3: Hide

Hide the infrequent, but necessary.

Progressively show features eg. stages of a task

Give cues and clues where certain features could be found.

Strategy 4: Displace

Push separate responsibilities to devices: computer and mobile phone

Push responsibilities to users. Sometimes, users prefer to be in (total) control.

Create an open experience for both experts and mainstreamers. eg. a knife

Before we go

Complexity is eventual.

The key is to shift complexity into the right place, so that each moment feels simple.

Simplicity happens in the user's head - so you must give them enough space to use their imagination.

At the age of 30..

2013-04-08T23:30:00.000+08:00

Today, I turn 30.

It's a good time to reflect what I did the last 1 year, when I was 29.

Relationship

Broke bank and bought a diamond ring
Then with the making of an iPhone app + website + music video, I proposed
And we booked a wedding venue by the beach

Life

Took family photo in my graduation gown (4 years late)
Bought a even bigger iMac
Bought iPhone 5
Bought samwize.com (technical blog)
First time buy flower, for girlfriend graduation
Watched a lot of theatre, and also a circus
Drank lots of Vietnam coffee
Painted One Piece of art

Work

Proud to have done Hoiio API with team
Pitched on a big stage, and Hoiio API won DEMO Asia
A year of bagging awards, which we also won SiTF Gold award
Participated in THack (hackathon), and learnt Scala along the way

Travel

First time to San Francisco bay area for DEMO Spring
First time to Manila for bro wedding
Hong Kong for holiday
First time to Kuching, for holiday
First time to Jeju and Seoul, for holiday
As usual, to Shang Hai
Business trip in Ho Chi Minh
Attended wedding in Hanoi, followed by a 4 guys trip to mountainous Sapa. Now I am a biker.

Books

The Lean Startup - must read for entrepreneurs
Business Model YOU - not great, don't bother
Back of the Napkin - i love drawing
Hunger Games book #1 and #2 - fantastic, much much better than movie
How will you measure your life - great book for your life

That sums up my awesome 29.

And now, I am no more twenty something..

Booked my Wedding at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa

2013-03-23T23:38:00.000+08:00

It is an exciting day as we booked our wedding venue, and with some crazy luck, we won the lucky draw TWICE!

For $28 (per couple), we attended Shangri-La Sentosa wedding show.

This is the first time we attend a wedding show, and we went there not expecting much. She even thought we can reach there late, as there can't be so much to do from 11.30am-5.30pm. She was wrong. And luckily I insisted to go punctually.

For friends who have never been to a wedding show, here are some advises:

Go on time, as the programme is packed, and you need time to ask your many questions and negotiate terms
It is worth the $$, as they provide very good 6-course lunch
There will be extra perks for confirming during the event
Be prepared to bargain for perks!

Of course, I only speak for Shangri-La Sentosa wedding show, organized by Style:Wedding.

Why Shangri-La Sentosa

The first time I went to Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa is during a 24-hour hackathon.

I fell in love with the place during the hackathon, as the hotel building itself is very beautiful, and it faces the sea, with a good beach.

What's more, during the night, I witnessed their outdoor wedding dinner on their sandy beach.

I wished my wedding to be (almost) that way.

The price is also reasonable for such a good hotel. (new 2014 prices here)

Perks

During the wedding show, you get to choose 3 perks, 1 from each category.

But, they are flexible, and will let you choose 3 from any categories.

And with some negotiation, they offered us any 3 perks, plus the 1 complimentary table perk. That's the most we could get..

Lucky Draw

This is the first time I am so lucky for a lucky draw.

There are:

7 prizes worth $130-$3000
130 couples
each couple start with 1 chance
any couple who make downpayment of $200 gets 5 additional chances

Before they start the draw, they said each person (they meant each couple) can only get 1 prize. So if you win the $130 prize, you cannot get the $3000 prize later.

However small that chance may be, they called out same names, for 3 person that day!

And it happened for us too.

Though fortunately, we accidentally wrote different names on our chance cards.

They called her name, in which she won a $130 fengshui voucher.

Then they called my name, in which I won a 2 night stay at a Panorama room! But after I took photograph on stage, came down, the person-in-charge explained we are not suppose to win again. And we can't exchange for the higher priced room stay..

I relented.

But after the event ended, and we went talk with the person-in-charge, explaining the honest mistake on both sides:

They never say before the draw that each couple can only win once
They never say we must write the same name on the chance cards
They announced before the draw that only each person can win once (not each couple)

They gave in to our disappointment, and hence gave us another perk where we can stay 1 additional night in a Panorama room! A discount from 2 nights to 1, but already lucky!

A suggestion for Shangri-La:

They should let a couple choose which prize to keep, then return the other prize back to draw again. Who would complain, when a person is so lucky and get drawn twice?

Singapore COE Bidding Guide

2013-03-20T23:27:00.002+08:00

With the recent 2 cooling measures to curb the exorbitant COE prices, I have learnt more about COE bidding.

4 Participating Banks

There are 4 banks that each provide different means, for different audience, and charges different prices.

DBS - $2 (ATM)
OCBC - $10 (Call 1800 363 3333)
UOB - $10 (Internet, Corporate customer only)
Citibank - $10.70 (Internet, but will terminate on April 1, 2013)

Since Citibank will terminate and UOB is for corporate only, the individual is left with 2 traditional choices - DBS ATM or OCBC phone banking..

Most will use DBS ATM as it charges the lowest at $2 per bid.

There is a demo of how you bid.

COE bidding date

2 COE Open Bidding exercises in a month.
Start on 1st Monday and 3rd Monday of the month at 12pm
End on Wednesday in the same week at 4pm.

Sometimes, there are exceptions. For example with the 2 new measures, the bidding exercise is delayed by 1 week for both March and April. From May, it will resume as per normal.

Results - Live & Historical

The live result can be viewed on LTA website.

ST701 Cars provides a nice graph of COE trend every year from 2007-2012. Or sgcarmart to display trend in a 6 months period.

Still in the work, but I have a Python script that crawls the LTA website every minute during bidding. With that, you can see how biddings spike up in the last few minutes.

OMV: Open Market Value

You can find out about a car's OMV from onemotoring.

I have also consolidated a Google Spreadsheet for 2012 OMV.

When you scrape your car..

When you scrape your car and deregister your COE, you will get 2 rebates:

COE Rebate: Linearly calculated with the unused months
PARF Rebate: Rebate a portion of ARF paid. 75% if below 5 years, thereafter % drops every year

Refer to onemotoring guide.

Any questions?

If you have any car related questions in Singapore, it is best to head over to MyCarForum.

The 2 Cooling Measures for Car Buyers

2013-03-04T20:35:00.001+08:00

In the recent Budget Statement 2013, there are 2 drastic cooling measures introduced to curb the exorbitant COE prices (as high as $90,000 just for the COE).

If you have thoughts of owning a car in Singapore, you should know these 2 new cost structures.

Before we begin, let's take a look at cost components of a lower end car - a Corolla Altis.

Now, we look at the 2 cooling measures their effects.

1. Cap Loan Limits

MAS has issued a mandate to cap vehicle loan amount.

The loan amount depends on the vehicle's Open Market Value (OMV).

OMV < $20,000, max loan 60%
OMV >= $20,000, max loan 50%

And, the loan tenure is max 5 years.

Taking the example of the Corolla Altis that cost $137,988, you can only loan from the bank at most $82,792 (60%). You have fork out $55,196 cash!

This prevents car buyers from spending more than what they ought to - by taking too much bank loan. How many times have you heard of car owners spending half their salary to pay off car loans? This measure curbs these borrowers.

2. Tiered ARF

LTA has issued a new structure to tax a car.

To buy a car in Singapore, you have to pay Additional Registration Fee (ARF). This is in addition to the vehicle cost/OMV of a car and COE.

Traditionally, ARF is 100% of a vehicle's OMV. So if a car OMV is $62,000 (an Audi A7 cost that much), then you have to pay additional $62,000 as tax.

The new ARF is tiered (taxing more on luxury/expensive cars).

The table below show the 3-tier structure:

Vehicle OMV	ARF Rate
First $20,000 of the OMV	100% of OMV
Next $30,000 of the OMV (i.e. $20,001 to $50,000)	140% of Incremental OMV
Remaining OMV Above $50,000	180% of Incremental OMV

For the Audi A7, the new OMV will be = $20,000 + 1.4x$30,000 + 1.8x$12,000 = $83,6000. That is a 35% increase with the new ARF!

With this change, the price of luxury cars will be adjusted upwards. The rich has to be richer to buy.

Of course, if you are buying a Corolla Altis (less than $20,000 OMV), then there is no change.

PS: I don't own a car, and this is the first time understanding the actual costing of one.

Business Model You

2013-02-27T00:42:00.000+08:00

This book is a "follow-up" after it's very successful predecessor - Business Model Generation.

Using the same concept of a 1-page canvas that helps to describe a business, this book tries to describe your career instead.

However, it failed.

Perhaps because I am not looking to reinvent my career. Perhaps it tried too hard to re-use the same canvas concept which originally was for business model. And when the 1-page canvas does not suffice, the authors introduced many disparate tools trying to achieve its goals.

Even the author said this on the last page:

Finally, accept our apologies for what in retrospect may seem like a misleading subtitle. If you've gone through even a portion of the exercises presented in Business Model You, you've used dozens of sheets of paper applying our "one-page method." But wouldn't you agree the results have been outstanding?

No matter what, I still like the style.

No other books has so much pictures, illustrations, fun colors, creative layouts, little text. It is always fun to read a book like that.

Here is what I have learnt.

Section I: The Canvas

This is the essence, showing the differences from the original BMC.

To help you further:

Key Resources: Your interests, skills, and personalities
Key Activities: List your usual tasks at work
Customers: People who you are doing the job for (usually they pay you)
Value: The job you get done
Channels: The communication medium
Relationships: The kind of relationship
Key Partners: Colleagues and mentors
Costs: Time, energy, money, stress, dissatisfaction
Revenue/Benefits: Soft benefits such as job satisfaction

Section II: Reflect

This is the section where the 1-page canvas from Section I did not suffice, hence a number of disparate tools were introduced.

They help you identify your personality and career purpose.

IMO, it goes bad starting with this section.

Section III and beyond: Revise and Act on it

After knowing about yourself better from Section II, make changes to your canvas and act on it (test it out).

《非诚勿扰》- 骆琦被牵走了！

2013-02-15T21:18:00.001+08:00

Not sure since when, but I have become a fan of《非诚勿扰》...

Perhaps it is because I have run out of YouTube videos to watch...

Recently, I have watched an episode in which 女神骆琦 was successfully match make, and I am excited and touched.

You can watch the full episode below, or jump to the epic part where the guy choose among 4 ladies.

I don't usually feel anything when a 女嘉宾 is successfully match make, because I think the ladies are very very picky, and a guy must be superb for a 女嘉宾 to leave with him.

Every time a not-bad-guy got totally pawned with all 灭灯, I feel:

WTF!?

Most guys are usually great, or at least not bad.

I feel sad for them. And I always wonder, if I am on stage, and if I get all 灭灯 too, I should not think it is my fault at all! Too bad, I have already found my Mrs Right.

The 女嘉宾 are too picky.

I am not saying 骆琦 is not. She is also picky, otherwise she won't be on the stage for soooo long.

But then, she is kind of special because she is a 创二代 (rich girl!), and she is very, very, truthfully, yearned to find her Mr Right. You can see how touched she was when others met their Mr Right. There were a few instances.

Some 女嘉宾 might be on the show to gain limelight.

But for 女神骆琦, she is really there to find her Mr Right.

Happy Valentine for her, and others like her!

How I Proposed on End of the World

2013-01-05T23:30:00.000+08:00

The Mayans said 2012-12-21 is the end of the world.

With that scary thought in mind, I prepared my proposal to my girl. I hope to claim a resounding success before the world falls apart.

And if I fail, at least there's not much time to live in shame.

It took me 3 months to secretly prepare. Then while we were on a holiday in loveland Jeju, on the last day of our world, I popped the question.

She said Yes.

And the world didn't end.

So I lived to tell the story.. Here's what I did.

1) iPhone App

I created Ask Something, an iPhone app that is like the game Draw Something, but instead of drawing, you ask and answer question in a turn-by-turn fashion. It's NOT yet available in the App Store.

I lied to her this is a game created by my friend, which I promised to help to test. It is also a good game since we are used to such game with traditional pen and pencil.

What she doesn't know is that the game has an easter egg.

I asked the special question on the last day of our world.

Before she can answer the question, she has to watch a video first. Then she can choose Yes or No.

2) Website

When she choose Yes, the app will post a link (http://mrs-ong.com) and share on her Facebook wall.

This helps to mark the exact time that she said Yes, and her friends get to visit the website to find more.

3) Music Video

Creating a music video is the hardest.

I am a geek who knows how to develop mobile apps and websites. But creating a music video? I have zero experience in video production, and has no talent for singing..

Yet, you must do something shocking for proposal.

So I shoot a music video titled "嫁给我 - by 俊达 for 吕晶".

Click here if you know me and don't mind hearing my terrible singing. Alternatively, click here for a much better soundtrack.

It's quite embarrassing.. but I thought it's the end of the world anyway, right?

The Result

She watched the music video, giggled and very much touched.

When the video ended and she saw "Will You Marry Me?", she pressed Yes, immediately.

She didn't even ask for a diamond ring.

And as you already know, the world didn't end.

Credits

In preparing for this proposal, there are these friends I have to thank:

Zane Lam for his steady filming hand
DiKae Uy for drawing the cute artwork on mrs-ong.com
Henry Wahyu for Ask Something icon and ideas that I never use
Ruprecht Robertson for that few lines of javascript on mrs-ong.com
Dorcas Low for her mere suggestion of the song 嫁给我 by 杜德伟
Stephy Ong for introducing me her friend

Might as well also thank these organisations for making this proposal possible:

Apple for creating iPhone, which runs great apps and shoots awesome videos
Facebook for iOS SDK
Parse for mobile backend and push
Namecheap for the 99 cent domain name
Adobe for creating Adobe Premiere, a fantastic software for video editing
Google for YouTube
Yeha Guesthouse for their nice cosy guesthouse in Jeju
JannPaul for the diamond ring

Add Sanity to your Crazy Email Lifestyle

2012-12-11T00:50:00.000+08:00

I don't usually promote services unless they are real good. And SaneBox is a damn good one for Emails.

If you sign up with my invitation link now, you will get bonus $5 (and I get $5 too!).

If you trust me, go ahead and try the service now (free for 14 days, and it can revert the changes if you don't like).

Otherwise, let me explain how SaneBox keeps my sanity.

The Value of SaneBox

I receive 100+ emails a day.

But, only 10% are really important ones that I need to really read.

The other 90 comes from mailing list, digest from social networks, transactional emails, system exceptions, etc..

SaneBox is a simple service. It keeps only the important emails in your Inbox, and moves the less-important ones to folders such as @SaneLater, @SaneNews, @SaneTomorrow.

So my routine now becomes as such:

Read Inbox frequently (as usual)
Read @SaneLater once at end of the day
Read @SaneNews only when I am absolutely free
Move emails to @SaneTomorrow for emails that I have read, but would like to be reminded to respond the following day

During the 2 weeks that I spent with SaneBox, it was estimated I saved 7.1 hours.

Cost of the service starts from $2.04/month. I choose the $5.79/month plan as that supports 2 email accounts (1 for work and 1 for personal).

The time it saves you, it's worth it.

What's in for me and you?

I urge you to sign up SaneBox with my referral link: http://sanebox.com/t/0s6v7

I do get $5 bonus for referral. Thanks :)

You will get $5.

And you will save yourself precious time in your daily email lifestyle.

PS: Don't be stupid and not use a referral link (even if it's not mine), because then you will LOSE a free $5 bonus!

Singtel PACE Router/RG Keeps Rebooting - SOLVED

2012-11-10T00:20:00.001+08:00

The Problem

One month ago, I upgraded from Singtel ADSL broadband to 100mbps fibre plan. And ever since they changed the router, I had nightmares everyday.

On average once a day, the router (aka the Residential Gateway, supplied by ZTE, rebranded to Singtel PACE) will automatically reboot!

Rebooting disrupts all Internet devices, including my mio TV and mio phone! It's especially frustrating when you are watching soccer, and the router takes 3 minutes to restart.

The Solution

I think I found the solution. My router has not restarted for 10 days.

Interestingly, and embarrassing for Singtel personnels, I got useful help from HWZ Forums. VideoOne2 gave some good advice, and one of which eventually helped.

Set Wireless Mode manually to either 802.11n/g/whichever

Just don't set to Auto. I also set the channel manually (tip: do a Wifi scan), which might have helped.

Lesson Learnt

One lesson that I have learnt is that I should not assume Singtel CSO, or even their Technicians, are the most capable to solve your problem.

For the first 3 weeks that I had the problem, I called them and together we attempted to identify the problem. It wasted a lot of my time, and also their time.

Every call to 1688 I have to put on hold for more than 10 minutes
When I get through to a CSO, they follow a SOP to restart router, reset router, check Internet speed, change power supply, change router..
For every change, they will ask me to monitor for a few days, then ask me to call back if the problem arises again.
Eventually they run out of idea, and the CSO said I have an isolated case, and they will get a technician down.
The technician told me:
"Frankly, I have friends who encountered the same or even weirder problem with this PACE router. We probably can't solve even if I change the router and the ONT for you. You just got to wait for firmware upgrade, or when Singtel change to Aztech router."
I was convinced there is nothing I could do after what he said. Singtel knows the problem and is engaging to use Aztech instead of this ZTE router.

But not giving up, I gave HWZ Forum a try, and the advise there was much faster and more useful.

The Lean Startup

2012-10-11T00:27:00.000+08:00

The Lean Startup is about a scientific approach to managing startups/entrepreneurs.

It is recommended that anyone working in a startup stop whatever they are doing, and spent the next 24 hours to complete the book.

I summarized some great concepts from the book at samwize.com.

From the days of Draw Something

2012-10-08T01:00:00.000+08:00

Dug out some of the screenshots on my iPad.

PS: I love the app. Great satisfaction from "playing", though I have not played for more than 150 days, cos it just takes too much time..

But hey, invite me for a game and I will relinquish (:

samwize.com

2012-09-27T08:00:00.000+08:00

I have a couple of domain names and 3 blogs. The latest is samwize.com.

samwize.com
just2us.com
just2me.com

History

The first domain name I bought is just2me.com, on the Christmas of 2007. It's powered by (Google) Blogger. Since then, I have wrote all kinds of entry on it - development stuff, work, new apps, personal life, etc..

Then in May 2009, I bought just2us.com. I thought I should split posts on personal life with rest of everything. And I like to try out Wordpress, which is more customizable. Of course the domain is a complementary. Things for me, and now things for us.

Fast forward to now, in Sep 2012, I bought samwize.com. The reason is that I want to try out Octopress, a blogging framework that let you concentrate on writing. I have also wanted to split development guides with rest of everything (like apps and news) in just2us.com.

What's more, every good developer has a personal domain name.

My New iPhone 5 - Taller and Lighter

2012-09-22T15:33:00.000+08:00

I have added iPhone 5 to my Apple Family (:

It is obviously a replacement to my 2-year old iPhone 4, which has become extremely slow. The sluggishness might be a user problem, as I have over 300 apps, 10 email accounts, etc.

My Choice

I recontracted with M1 with the new iPhone Value+ at $39/mth.

I choose to buy White iPhone with 16 GB, which cost $430. For 32 GB, you need to fork out additional $150, which I don't think is worth it, and is something even a heavy user like me can live without.

I also continue with Corporate plan, which gives 10% discount off the $39/mth, and free Caller-ID-Display for 12 months. They have reduced corporate discount from 20% to 10%, suck thumb. Anyway if you have 3 M1 lines under the same name, you could switch to multi-line saver anytime, which gives 25% discount.

The Nano SIM was activated immediately. I paid $26.75 for it. No more cutting on my own. Anyway, only the new nano SIM comes with 4G.

Buying Experience

I chose to go AMK Hub which is a M1 authorized shop. They have 4 counters, and the good thing is that they have queue number, so you don't have to stupidly stand and wait. There is even a coffee bean opposite.

Here's my timeline.

Friday 4pm

Got a queue number in 5 minute
Spent the rest of time shopping and eating

Friday 10pm

Still got 90 people ahead of me
At they rate of serving 8 people per hour, I am expected to be served at 8am..
But they will close at 3am..
Staff told us they will give priority to us the next day when shop opens at 11am
So I went home

Saturday 11am

Exchanged for a new queue number, which is next!
Anyway, there is a long queue of 30 people waiting to get queue number

Saturday 11.10am

Took 15 minutes to settle and pay
Did not buy screen protector nor case

Rather happy that they honoured and give priority on the next morning :)

The staff will persuade you to buy screen protector at $15 and casing at $19. That's how they earn commission. I chose not to buy from them.

Screen protector is not necessary. My 2-year old iPhone 4 does not have one scratch.

I prefer a simple cheap casing (without flaps) to protect the back. $10 should get a nice one.

What's New

For me, the greatest innovation coming from the new iPhone are these:

Faster
Taller screen
Thinner and lighter
New earphone
New Lightning connector
4G

Actually, there's no innovation, and with breaking changes, but still a great phone with the best OS.

PS: We should aspire to be thinner, lighter, taller and faster

Lee Kuan Yew on Getting Best out of Life

2012-09-15T11:06:00.002+08:00

I recently read the article "Lee Kuan Yew on Getting Best out of Life" and think it is very sound, personal advise coming from him.

I have utmost respect for the way he lives.

Quoted with my highlights:

My concern today is, what is it I can tell you which can add to your knowledge about ageing and what ageing societies can do. You know more about this subject than I do. A lot of it is out in the media, Internet and books. So I thought the best way would be to take a personal standpoint and tell you how I approach this question of ageing.

If I cast my mind back, I can see turning points in my physical and mental health. You know, when you’re young, I didn’t bother, assumed good health was God-given and would always be there.

When I was about 57 that was – I was about 34, we were competing in elections, and I was really fond of drinking beer and smoking. And after the election campaign, in Victoria Memorial Hall – we had won the election, the City Council election – I couldn’t thank the voters because I had lost my voice. I’d been smoking furiously. I’d take a packet of 10 to deceive myself, but I’d run through the packet just sitting on the stage, watching the crowd, getting the feeling, the mood before I speak.

In other words, there were three speeches a night. Three speeches a night, 30 cigarettes, a lot of beer after that, and the voice was gone. I remember I had a case in Kuching, Sarawak . So I took the flight and I felt awful. I had to make up my mind whether I was going to be an effective campaigner and a lawyer, in which case I cannot destroy my voice, and I can’t go on. So I stopped smoking. It was a tremendous deprivation because I was addicted to it. And I used to wake up dreaming…the nightmare was I resumed smoking.

But I made a choice and said, if I continue this, I will not be able to do my job. I didn’t know anything about cancer of the throat, or oesophagus or the lungs, etc. But it turned out it had many other deleterious effects. Strangely enough after that, I became very allergic, hyper-allergic to smoking, so much so that I would plead with my Cabinet ministers not to smoke in the Cabinet room. You want to smoke, please go out, because I am allergic.

Then one day I was at the home of my colleague, Mr Rajaratnam, meeting foreign correspondents including some from the London Times and they took a picture of me and I had a big belly like that (puts his hands in front of his belly), a beer belly. I felt no, no, this will not do. So I started playing more golf, hit hundreds of balls on the practice tee. But this didn’t go down. There was only one way it could go down: consume less, burn up more.

Another turning point came when -this was 1976, after the general election – I was feeling tired. I was breathing deeply at the Istana, on the lawns.

My daughter, who at that time just graduating as a doctor, said: ‘What are you trying to do?’ I said: ‘I feel an effort to breathe in more oxygen.’ She said: ‘Don’t play golf. Run. Aerobics..’ So she gave me a book , quite a famous book and, then, very current in America on how you score aerobic points swimming, running, whatever it is, cycling.

I looked at it sceptically. I wasn’t very keen on running. I was keen on golf. So I said, ‘Let’s try’. So in-between golf shots while playing on my own, sometimes nine holes at the Istana, I would try and walk fast between shots. Then I began to run between shots. And I felt better. After a while, I said: ‘Okay, after my golf, I run.’ And after a few years, I said: ‘Golf takes so long. The running takes 15 minutes. Let’s cut out the golf and let’s run.’

I think the most important thing in ageing is you got to understand yourself. And the knowledge now is all there. When I was growing up, the knowledge wasn’t there. I had to get the knowledge from friends, from doctors.

But perhaps the most important bit of knowledge that the doctor gave me was one day, when I said: ‘Look, I’m feeling slower and sluggish.’ So he gave me a medical encyclopaedia and he turned the pages to ageing. I read it up and it was illuminating. A lot of it was difficult jargon but I just skimmed through to get the gist of it.

As you grow, you reach 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and then, thereafter, you are on a gradual slope down physically. Mentally, you carry on and on and on until I don’t know what age, but mathematicians will tell you that they know their best output is when they’re in their 20s and 30s when your mental energy is powerful and you haven’t lost many neurons. That’s what they tell me.

So, as you acquire more knowledge, you then craft a programme for yourself to maximise what you have. It’s just common sense. I never planned to live till 85 or 84.! I just didn’t think about it. I said: ‘Well, my mother died when she was 74, she had a stroke.. My father died when he was 94.’

But I saw him, and he lived a long life, well, maybe it was his DNA. But more than that, he swam every day and he kept himself busy.. He was working for the Shell company. He was in charge, he was a superintendent of an oil depot.

When he retired, he started becoming a salesman. So people used to tell me: ‘Your father is selling watches at BP de Silva.’ My father was then living with me. But it kept him busy. He had that routine: He meets people, he sells watches, he buys and sells all kinds of semi-precious stones, he circulates coins. And he keeps going. But at 87, 88, he fell, going down the steps from his room to the dining room, broke his arm, three months incapacitated.

Thereafter, he couldn’t go back to swimming. Then he became wheelchair-bound. Then it became a problem because my house was constructed that way. So my brother – who’s a doctor and had a flat (one-level) house – took him in. And he lived on till 94. But towards the end, he had gradual loss of mental powers.

So my calculations, I’m somewhere between 74 and 94. And I’ve reached the halfway point now. But have I? Well, 1996 when I was 73, I was cycling and I felt tightening on the neck. Oh, I must retire today. So I stopped. Next day, I returned to the bicycle. After five minutes it became worse. So I said, no, no, this is something serious, it’s got to do with the blood vessels. Rung up my doctor, who said, ‘Come tomorrow’. Went tomorrow, he checked me, and said: ‘Come back tomorrow for an angiogram.’

I said: ‘What’s that ?’ He said: ‘We’ll pump something in and we’ll see whether the coronary arteries are cleared or blocked.’ I was going to go home. But an MP who was a cardiologist happened to be around, so he came in and said: ‘What are you doing here?’ I said: ‘I’ve got this.’ He said: ‘Don’t go home. You stay here tonight. I’ve sent patients home and they never came back. Just stay here. They’ll put you on the monitor. They’ll watch your heart. And if anything, an emergency arises, they will take you straight to the theatre. You go home. You’ve got no such monitor. You may never come back.’

So I stayed there. Pumped in the dye, yes it was blocked, the left circumflex, not the critical, lead one. So that’s lucky for me. Two weeks later, I was walking around, I felt it’s coming back. Yes it has come back, it had occluded. So this time they said: ‘We’ll put in a stent.’

I’m one of the first few in Singapore to have the stent, so it was a brand new operation. Fortunately, the man who invented the stent was out here selling his stent. He was from San Jose, La Jolla something or the other. So my doctor got hold of him and he supervised the operation. He said put the stent in. My doctor did the operation, he just watched it all and then that’s that. That was before all this problem about lining the stent to make sure that it doesn’t occlude and create a disturbance.

So at each stage, I learnt something more about myself and I stored that. I said: ‘Oh, this is now a danger point.’ So all right, cut out fats, change diet, went to see a specialist in Boston , Massachusetts General Hospital . He said: ‘Take statins.’ I said: ‘What’s that?’ He said: ‘(They) help to reduce your cholesterol.’ My doctors were concerned. They said: ‘You don’t need it. Your cholesterol levels are okay.’ Two years later, more medical evidence came out. So the doctors said: ‘Take statins.’

Had there been no angioplasty, had I not known that something was up and I cycled on, I might have gone at 74 like my mother. So I missed that decline. So next deadline: my father’s fall at 87.

I’m very careful now because sometimes when I turn around too fast, I feel as if I’m going to get off balance. So my daughter, a neurologist, she took me to the NNI, there’s this nerve conduction test, put electrodes here and there.

The transmission of the messages between the feet and the brain has slowed down. So all the exercise, everything, effort put in, I’m fit, I swim, I cycle. But I can’t prevent this losing of conductivity of the nerves and this transmission. So just go slow.

So when I climb up the steps, I have no problem. When I go down the steps, I need to be sure that I’ve got something I can hang on to, just in case. So it’s a constant process of adjustment. But I think the most important single lesson I learnt in life was that if you isolate yourself, you’re done for. The human being is a social animal – he needs stimuli, he needs to meet people, to catch up with the world.

I don’t much like travel but I travel very frequently despite the jetlag, because I get to meet people of great interest to me, who will help me in my work as chairman of our GIC. So I know, I’m on several boards of banks, international advisory boards of banks, of oil companies and so on. And I meet them and I get to understand what’s happening in the world, what has changed since I was here one month ago, one year ago. I go to India , I go to China .

And that stimuli brings me to the world of today. I’m not living in the world, when I was active, more active 20, 30 years ago. So I tell my wife. She woke up late today. I said: ‘Never mind, you come along by 12 o’clock. I go first.’

If you sit back – because part of the ending part of the encyclopaedia which I read was very depressing – as you get old, you withdraw from everything and then all you will have is your bedroom and the photographs and the furniture that you know, and that’s your world. So if you’ve got to go to hospital, the doctor advises you to bring some photographs so that you’ll know you’re not lost in a different world, that this is like your bedroom.

I’m determined that I will not, as long as I can, to be reduced, to have my horizons closed on me like that. It is the stimuli, it is the constant interaction with people across the world that keeps me aware and alive to what’s going on and what we can do to adjust to this different world.

In other words, you must have an interest in life. If you believe that at 55, you’re retiring, you’re going to read books, play golf and drink wine, then I think you’re done for. So statistically they will show you that all the people who retire and lead sedentary lives, the pensioners die off very quickly.

So we now have a social problem with medical sciences, new procedures, new drugs, many more people are going to live long lives.. If the mindset is that when I reach retirement age 62, I’m old, I can’t work anymore, I don’t have to work, I just sit back, now is the time I’ll enjoy life, I think you’re making the biggest mistake of your life. After one month, or after two months, even if you go travelling with nothing to do, with no purpose in life, you will just degrade, you’ll go to seed.

The human being needs a challenge, and my advice to every person in Singapore and elsewhere: Keep yourself interested, have a challenge. If you’re not interested in the world and the world is not interested in you, the biggest punishment a man can receive is total isolation in a dungeon, black and complete withdrawal of all stimuli, that’s real torture.

So when I read that people believe, Singaporeans say: ‘Oh, 62 I’m retiring.’ I say to them: ‘You really want to die quickly?’ If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli to keep going..’

Have a purpose driven life and finish well, my friends.

We Won SiTF Gold Award

2012-09-01T19:06:00.000+08:00

I am sorry if my blog is becoming like an announcement for winning stuff..

In the past months I have blogged about winning hackathon, winning startup pitch, and even winning movie tickets :)

This time, after 3 intensive rounds of presentations, Hoiio won SiTF Gold award for Cloud Solution, as well as the ultimate Judges' Choice!

Solid gold medal & trophies

In case you don't know what is SiTF Awards, it is like Olympics for Singapore innovations. Sort of.

Amazing IMAX 3D

2012-07-16T22:59:00.002+08:00

I caught my first IMAX 3D movie in Singapore, watching The Amazing Spider-Man. And it looks like Spider-Man is not the only amazing thing.

I had heard many times about how amazing IMAX can be, and how you will be immersed into the movie itself, and be part of the movie.

Even before the movie starts, I was totally thrilled. I watched the thriller for The Avengers and The Hobbit, and goes wow wow wow..

Conclusion is, the wholly experience is worth $22.

But that's not all to my story.. Shaw, unfortunately, had a major ticketing system breakdown for 5 days (very bad downtime). They could not let me collect my ticket (from online booking), though they simply verify the email confirmation at the entrance.

I didn't mind at all, but Shaw said

"we regret that we were unable to meet the service standards that we set."

So they sent me a complimentary pass. Amazing! :-)

You Never Have To Manually Update Your Phonebook, Again

2012-03-20T23:11:00.000+08:00

Today, we launch Hoiio Live, an iPhone app that helps your phonebook stay updated automatically.

If you (my dear friend) change your phone number today, Hoiio Live will automatically updates your new phone number in MY phonebook!

Here is an awesome video that we have created.

Download Hoiio Live on your iPhone now, and stay connected with me (:

We Won Top Award at DEMO Asia 2012

2012-03-04T23:42:00.000+08:00

My hard work preparing for DEMO Asia was not wasted.

Hoiio API won the People's Choice award!

That is winning 20K USD of accelerator program in Silicon Valley, 200K USD media exposure, and a chance to pitch 6min in DEMO US. BIGGEST PRIZE EVER!

I am very proud, and very happy, with my 6 min pitch on stage. Once the video is uploaded by the organizer, you bet I will blog about it (: For now, here are the photos.

The event is also covered by SGEntrepreneurs and VentureBeat. Some comments:

“The Hoiio team has flair, too. They were smooth and fun on stage, showed some very clean code on the stage screen, and promised that it has more up its sleeve.”
- Matt Marshall, VentureBeat

“More impressively Hoiio showed that their product works – proving how quickly a targeted mass sms can motivate a community of people.”
- Kristine Lauria, SGEntrepreneurs

UPDATED with my video:

My Biggest On Stage Preparation - DEMO Asia

2012-02-29T17:56:00.000+08:00

For the last 3 weeks, I have been preparing for DEMO Asia, a launchpad event for companies to showcase high-tech products.

For that mere 6 minutes on stage, I had a lot of preparation work.

I have to script every word, every gesture, get reviews from a few demo coaches, improve the scripts, come up with backup plans in case things go wrong, go for audition, go for dry rehearsal, private rehearsal, full dress rehearsal..

At last, I get to go on stage tomorrow, to present you a product that finally helps developer create telephony apps easily.

My Body Building Regime - Only 12 minutes a week!

2011-12-20T21:47:00.000+08:00

I was looking for a body building regime.. for obvious reasons..

At first, I was considering a very popular program - P90X. However, upon finding out more and watching some of its workout videos, I felt very discouraged, because

you need to spend 1 hour a day,
you need to do it for 90 days,
and the workout is very very tough.

I am lazy, busy, and prefer playing Xbox 360. Need I say more?

Luckily, I was introduced to Body by Science, a research based program to get results you want in 12 minutes a week.

Body by Science

The book is very lengthy, with all the sciences and explanations. So I am providing the gist here:

The purpose of exercise is not to make the weight go up and down; it is to achieve a deep level of inroad, to reach the point where you can NO LONGER move the weight but still keep trying.

When your muscles reach a state where it is fully exhausted, yet you are still trying, it will recover and get stronger. That is body building. To do that, you do NOT need to train 1 hour every day (in fact, that is harmful to your body).

Body by Science recommend their Big 5 Workout, and doing it only once a week (which takes only 12 minutes). The 5 workouts are:

1. Seated Row

2. Chest Press

3. Pulldown

4. Overhead Press

5. Leg Press

How to perform the Big 5 Workout

Do each of the workout for 2 minutes, with a 30 sec rest between each (total 12 minutes)
Choose heavy weight (around 80% of the max you can)
Do each repetition very very slowly (10-20 sec per rep)
Breath continuously and naturally
Do until you reach the point where you can NO LONGER move the weight, but still keep trying. If the weight doesn't move, you are doing it correct!

The last point is especially important. If you don't reach that point, then you should choose a heavier weight, or do it slower.

Let your body rest and recover for the rest of the week.

PS: I have not finished the book, and yet to go to the gym to try it. However I am so impressed that I want to write down the steps first, to remind myself what I have learnt.

Hoiio Wave Wins National Hackathon

2011-12-20T09:24:00.000+08:00

Last post I mentioned teaching a 1 day Android workshop for 48hacks.. joining into the fun, Hoiio formed a team too. We indulged into hardware hacking for 48 hours, and emerged as one of the 5 winners!

I am also very proud to show you the video presentation that I directed and edited, for our prototype – "Hoiio Wave".

There are also some photos from the hackathon.

Android + Arduino Workshop For 48hacks

2011-12-15T00:06:00.001+08:00

I conducted a 1 day workshop on Android and (connectivity to) Arduino in preparation for 48hacks.

48hacks is a 48 hour hackathon organized by NTU Venture, so if you read this before 16th Dec 2011, you can consider joining the contest.

Following are the slides that I used for the workshop. It covers

setting up Android development environment (Eclipse IDE, Android SDK and ADT plugin),
Android programming foundation (Activity, UI), and
connecting Android to Arduino via Bluetooth modem (aka FireFly)

Android Workshop

View more presentations from Junda Ong