iMerlion

LTA: We're not licensed to share data

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:53:00 +0000

In response to a query from iMerlion, the Land Transport Authority says that it is not licensed to share the live parking data from its Parking Guidance Systems with third parties.

According to an LTA spokesman: "Currently, LTA is not licensed to share the car park lot availability information on the ONE.MOTORING portal with any third parties, which are owned and supplied to LTA by the car park developers and management. The data will be provided to a third party on a licensing basis, details of which will hinge on the negotiation between LTA, and the various car park developers and management."

The issue came up after developer NiiDees added the live parking data to its app Park-a-Lot Lite { SG } but was then told to kill the feature by the LTA last week.

The information about live parking lot availability is available on the web but encoded in Adobe's Flash format, rendering it inaccessible to iPhone owners. The LTA did not explain why the data had to be encoded in Flash in the first place.

Help save lives with your iPhone

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:01:00 +0000

How would you like to use your iPhone to help save lives and, at the same time, stand to win an iPhone accessory too?

First Aid Corp Singapore is organising a competition to photograph automated external defibrillators (AEDs) around Singapore. AEDs are devices that are used to revive hearts in the case of a heart attack.

In the contest, you will get one point for every photograph you submit of a known AED location and three points for every previously unknown AED location. The aim of the contest is to record the locations of as many AEDs in Singapore as possible. These will then be entered into an iPhone app to help users locate AEDs in an emergency.

Says Dr Dana Elliott Srither, the president of First Aid Corp (Singapore): "We want to harness the community's love of their iPhones to save lives. The information provided by them will be given back to society in our free iPhone app AED Nearby, so that cardiac arrest victims will have a greater chance of survival."

The top prize will win an iPhone accessory. Dr Elliott is coy about what it is, but says that it will help iPhone users use their phones for longer. "We have received lots of feedback that iPhone users have to charge their iPhone batteries almost everyday. The prize for the top volunteer will help to solve this problem."

To take part, download the app The Extraordinaries and search for "First Aid Corps" within the app. You then need to follow First Aid Corps to get access to its missions.

To qualify for the prize, you will need to register your name in the app.

Note: An easy way to get points is to start with known locations of AEDs. To find them, download the app AED Nearby. For more information on the contest, check out the First Aid Corp website here.

SDK 3.2 Beta 4 released

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:30:00 +0000

Apple has released the latest version of the iPad SDK. According to iPhone Alley, the latest SDK removes the camera tab from the Photos app in the simulator.

As usual, if you have problems dowloading the SDK, do try the different workarounds detailed previously. Note that at least one developer, Hon Cheng, has reported that Method 1 (using https) does not work on MaxOnline anymore. However, he reports being able to download the SDK using Singnet.

Winners of Edit Call Pro

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:24:00 +0000

Congrats to the following iMerlion who won themselves a promo code for Edit Call Pro. We will be contacting you shortly with the promo code:

1. Kee Hoon
2. Vincent Ng
3. Incredi-Ben
4. Goh Wee Sen
5. Bondbabe
6. Ken Koay
7. Bozo88
8. Matthew Cheok
9. Leslie Yang
10. Alan Fong

For the rest of you, sorry. You'll need to be faster on the draw. However, we will be having another contest this week so watch out for it!

Win a promo code for Edit Call Pro!

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:17:00 +0000

One good thing about living in Singapore is that we never have to think of a city code when we call our friends. All our friends live in the same city so we just store the eight numbers that make up their phone number.

It's a good thing, that is, until we are overseas. Then, every Singapore number in our phonebook needs a "+65" prefix for them to be usable. What's worse is that it takes six taps to add the city prefix.

To address this problem, Axion Logic, the developers behind Business Card Case, has developed an app that will allow you to quickly add "+65" or indeed any country and city code in front of existing telephone numbers.

Edit Call Pro (US$0.99) promises to allow you to edit a number in your contact list in just two taps, compared to the six taps using the Contact app. In addition, it also has a search function as well as a database of country and state and city codes to help you add in the appropriate prefixes.

Axion Logic is working with iMerlion to give away 10 promo codes to anyone who is interested snagging a copy of this useful app.

As usual, the promo codes will be given out on a first come, first served basis. All you have to do is email us at spam@imerlion.com (note: replace the word "spam" with "iphone").

Important note: You must have an account with the US iTunes store to redeem the promo code. This is because Apple is still only allowing promo codes to be redeemed in the US store, despite having a redeem option in the Singapore store.

If you don't have an account with the US iTunes Store, but you would like to get one, there are resources online that can help you with that.
.

Roll your own live parking data app

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:53:00 +0000

Last week, the developer of Park-a-Lot Lite { SG } removed the app's ability to show live data on parking availability after the LTA told them to.

As a result, iPhone users no longer have access to this data because the website that this data comes from uses Flash to encode the information.

If you're an iPhone developer though, there are ways to get around this.

Local developer Melvin Tan has discovered that while the front-end use Flash, it just displays information that is grabbed from another URL. Using this insight, Melvin has created his own iPhone app to display the live parking data.

If you want to make your own live parking data app too, here's what you need to do:

First, you'll have to grab the data itself, which is stored in three different URLs. You can get it from:

http://interactivemap.onemotoring.com.sg/mapapp/images/Parking/Harbfront_pgs
http://interactivemap.onemotoring.com.sg/mapapp/images/Parking/Orchard_pgs
http://interactivemap.onemotoring.com.sg/mapapp/images/Parking/Marina_pgs

Then you need to write some code to display the information.

Says Melvin: "They have left out the file extension (they are jpg images) so that Mobile Safari will not be able to view it. Thus, for the iPhone App, I have to read in the URL as a data object, and feed it into the UIWebView and specify it as MIMEType 'jpeg'."

This is what Melvin did:

NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://interactivemap.onemotoring.com.sg/mapapp/images/Parking/Orchard_pgs"];
NSData *data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url];
[webView loadData:data MIMEType:@"image/jpeg" textEncodingName:@"utf-8" baseURL:url];

And this is the result:

Thanks for sharing Melvin. Maybe some kind soul will create a web app for the rest of us.

Winners of Mozart to Infinity promo codes

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:14:00 +0000

Congratulations! The following people have won themselves a Mozart to Infinity promo code:

1. Mugunth Kumar

2. Goh Yan Yi

3. Bozo88

4. Chan Li Li

5. Jason Tay

6. Robinson Laws

7. Ken Koay

8. Goh Wee Sen

9. Wong Onn Chee

10. Roy Pwee

We will be contacting you shortly with the promo code. To redeem it, all you have to do is:

1. Go to the US iTunes Store (click on Singapore button at the bottom right of the iTunes window to change stores)

2. At the top right, under Quick Links, click on the Redeem link

3. Input the promo code.

For the rest of you, if you really want a copy of Mozart to Infinity, I suggest you buy it at the App Store. It only costs US$0.99; a small amount that will repay itself very quickly.

And if you want to win promo codes in future, I suggest you follow iMerlion on Twitter. Once any content is updated on the site, whether it is news or a promo, it is tweeted so the people who follow iMerlion will be the first to know about it.

First round of iPad international roll-out will skip Singapore

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:55:00 +0000

As with the iPhone, the international rollout of the iPad will be done in phases, starting in late April. Nine countries outside the US will get the iPad in that round, and not surprisingly, Singapore is not on that list.

Instead, the iPad will go on sale in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Both iPad models, with Wi-Fi only, and with Wi-Fi and 3G, will be released at the same time.

The iPad will be rolled out to other countries "later this year", according to an Apple press release. International pricing has not been revealed.

In the US, Apple's Wi-Fi only iPad will be available on April 3 while the Wi-Fi plus 3G version will be available in late April.
.

Live parking data pulled because of LTA, says developer

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:02:00 +0000

The developer of Park-a-Lot Lite { SG } confirms that it was the Land Transport Authority that asked for the live data on parking availability be pulled from their app.

In a response to a query from iMerlion, they write: "Yes, LTA informed us that the licensing of the "live" parking availability info at OneMotoring website is not finalised yet, so we are disallowed to display it in our app.

"We apologise for the removal of this feature from Park-a-Lot Lite { SG }."

It seems odd that the LTA has a problem with live data on parking slots but not with other data which can also found on the OneMotoring website, such as parking rates. Perhaps the issue lies with the supplier of the data of the Parking Guidance System.

NiiDees, the developer of Park-a-lot Lite { SG }, removed their app's ability to display live data of parking lot availability a few days ago. This data is scraped from three separate pages on the OneMotoring website.

With the withdrawal of this feature, there is now no way for iPhone users to access the LTA's Parking Guidance System as the data on the three pages are currently encoded using Adobe's Flash.
.

Local developer creates new music app, gives away promo codes

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:19:00 +0000

Rock me (to sleep) Amadeus.

CHORDiCA developer Joash Chee has just released a new app which plays piano pieces in the style of Mozart. Entitled Mozart to Infinity, this app is aimed at, amongst others, pregnant women who want classical music to stimulate their babies in utero. The theory is that playing classical music helps with brain development.

In developing this app, Joash was inspired by one specific pregnant woman, his wife Kris. That's right. Joash and Kris are going to be parents. And not just ordinary parents, but parents of twins. Congrats!

According to Joash, the idea for Mozart to Infinity came from Kris. "In the course of our antenatal programme at the hospital, we see several people extol the virtues of playing classical music to the babies even while in the womb and my wife asked me to 'do something about it'. So I did."

Joash says that he is probably going to start creating more apps aimed at parents and parents-to-be as a result of this impeding life change (we suggest you get these apps out of the way before the twins arrive Joash).

To celebrate the happy event, Joash has decided to give away 10 promo codes via iMerlion. It's a great opportunity to snag a copy of Mozart to Infinity and save yourself US$0.99. This app isn't just for pregnant woman either. It is also good as white noise if you need music in the background to work.

As usual, the promo codes will be given out on a first come, first served basis. All you have to do is email us at spam@imerlion.com (note: replace the word "spam" with "iphone").

Important note: You must have an account with the US iTunes store to redeem the promo code. This is because Apple is still only allowing promo codes to be redeemed in the US store, despite having a redeem option in the Singapore store.

If you don't have an account with the US iTunes Store, but you would like to get one, there are resources online that can help you with that.

.

App removes parking lot availability data

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:51:00 +0000

No data for you!

Citing a problem with licensing, the developer of Park-a-Lot Lite { SG } has removed information about live parking lot availability from its free app.

In an email to users yesterday, developer NiiDees wrote: "Due to licensing issue, we regret to inform you that the 'live' parking availability info feature is no longer available."

The email did not go into details about the problem.

The app shows a blank page when users now tap on the 'Availability' button on the tab bar.

What it looked like before

The email from NiiDees asked users to download a new version of the app, one which does not have the 'Availability' button.

Park-a-Lot Lite { SG } was the only app that offered data about parking lot availability. With the removal of this feature, iPhone users no longer have a way to find out which parking lots have space available. This is because the data, which comes from OneMotoring's Parking Guidance System pages, is delivered using Adobe's Flash technology. OneMotoring has three separate pages, for lots in Marina, Harbourfront and Orchard.

We have contacted the developer for information and will update this story when we know more.
.

The great soft porn massacre of 2010 claims Singapore victims

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:52:00 +0000

Apple's recent culling of soft porn apps has claimed at least two locally focussed apps, Singapore Girls and SG Girls -- Cute Photos.

These two apps, which featured photos of local women, are no longer available for download.

The great soft porn massacre also removed a number of apps that were regulars on the list of top 100 popular apps. These included such luminaries as Sexy Asian Girls and Asian Boobs.

Ong Junda, the developer behind SG Girls, has mixed feelings about this whole episode. "Coincidentally, few days before the ban, I released an app and it was placed far behind in the recent apps list," he says. "I ranted that the App Store is getting too crowded and these sexual apps were one of the causes. They are spamming the App Store with multiple apps of the same stuff, and I was irritated. So, I am happy that they are improving the quality."

However Junda feels that it was unjustified of Apple to pull SG Girls as it wasn't particularly explicit. He notes: "It was only rated 13+ :)"

The removal of sex-related apps is not something that the Singapore iPhone user is taking lying down though. He, and we're betting it's largely men who are fueling this, has found alternatives. Apps such as 69 Positions Lite and Adult Sex Trick are now nestled comfortably in the list of top 100 free apps. In fact, Sex Positions Game is currently number six in the Singapore store.

(Note: Title has been changed to correct year of massacre.)
.

Did video kill the Laylio star?

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:12:00 +0000

Internet radio app Laylio has once again disappeared from the Singapore app store. I hope you managed to snag your copy before it vanished into the ether.

Laylio what's new? App back in the app store

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:27:00 +0000

Popular local radio app Laylio, which mysteriously disappeared from the app store some weeks ago, is back. During its absence, desperate radio listeners had to download its less elegant rival, MediaCorp Radio Stations instead. We don't know who or what killed the radio star but we're glad it has returned.

NTU falls behind NUS in iPhone arms race

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:18:00 +0000

NTU may be short for Nanyang Technological University but it is the university's long-time rival, the National University of Singapore, that is streaking ahead technologically, at least in terms of iPhone apps.

Currently, NUS has not one but two iPhone apps dedicated to the university. The latest, called NUSguide, has a handy guide to the internal bus schedules and also gives users the ability to look for lecture theatres, eating establishments and facilities around campus.

NUSguide is the second guide to NUS, the first being an app called NaviNUS. As a result, NUS undergraduates are practically swimming in iPhone apps.

In stark contrast, the humble NTU undergrad has no iPhone app to rely on. This is despite the fact that NTU's campus appears to be about four times larger than NUS. One would imagine that there is a much greater need for a map of NTU than one for NUS.

There are a few possible reasons for NUS leadership in this area:

1. NUS undergraduates are more creative and enterprising than NTU undergrads.
2. NUS undergraduates have too much free time.
3. NTU undergraduates are overworked and have no time to waste on iPhone apps that don't bring in any money.
4. NTU undergraduates are so smart they don't need no stinkin' maps.

I don't know what the real reason is. What I do know is that visitors to NTU (including yours truly) desperately need a better map of the campus. Get with the programme NTU!

SoShiok.com app is not so shiok

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:51:00 +0000

Harry's is going for a new look, according to SoShiok.com

Sometimes, even free is too much to pay. That is the case with SPH's latest iPhone app, SoShiok.com. An iPhone version of the food-focussed website of the same name, this app feels like a hasty collection of leftovers, warmed up by an indifferent kitchen, and likely to cause indigestion.

On the surface, the app would seem to have everything. It has reviews, a restaurants database, recipes, the ability to find nearby restaurants and a function that will give you a random restaurant when you shake the iPhone. However, once you dig in, the meagre offerings of this app become readily apparent.

For instance, according to this app, there are only four restaurants in Singapore that offer buffets. Is this an example of the app being discriminating about the restaurants in its database? Perhaps. Except that its full database includes that bastion of haute cuisine, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (only the Lorong Mambong and Paragon outlets though). Of the many drinking establishments in Singapore, only 20 are highlighted. Nothing wrong with that, except that Harry's makes up 15 of the 20 bars listed.

The skimpy database has a knock-on effect on the 'find nearby' function. When I tapped the button, I am informed that there is only one restaurant in my vicinity, Olio Restaurant & Cafe in Kitchener Road. This, even though I am a stone's throw away from the numerous excellent restaurants in Little India.

Delicious Thai food from Chiang Mai Palace.

The SoShake function could have been fun; instead it only ends up being annoying. SoShake presents you with a random restaurant when you shake your iPhone. It uses the interface that is normally used to present choices in a list. However, it upends your expectations by behaving like a slot machine, instead of a list of option. You can only shake your device to get a random restaurant. You can't use the scrolling wheels to narrow your search. (Naturally, the restaurants database offers no way to search either. Everything is listed alphabetically. Perhaps it is a good thing that the list is not an extensive one.)

The only things going for this app are the restaurant reviews by food reviewers from The Straits Times, The New Paper and the Business Times. Unfortunately, the app lags behind the website so the latest reviews by these restaurant critics are present on the SoShiok.com website, but not on the app.

Revenge of the clones.

Numerous minor glitches dog this offering. For example, the database for the buffet restaurants will clone the original set of four each time you tap on a restaurant to read the details. I managed to get it to 24 restaurants (six sets of four) before boredom set it. And as you may have noticed, some of the photos also appear to be associated with the wrong restaurants.

SoShiok.com is a disappointment because you would expect SPH to do better than this. If SoShiok.com were a dish, you would send it back to the kitchen. Since it's an app, let's hope the developers release a more palatable update soon.

Inspire-Tech releases app for housing agents, talks about company

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:03:00 +0000

Need further proof that the property market is booming? Inspire-Tech has just released an iPhone app aimed at property agents in Singapore. Called ProxiAgent, it allows housing agents to upload new listings and new photos directly from their iPhone. Agents can email listings easily and they can also remove a listing once it has been sold or leased out. ProxiAgent is the second iPhone app by Inspire-Tech after ProxiHomes, a database of properties available for sale or lease.

Intrigued by their property offerings, iMerlion speaks to Sharon Teo, one of the founders of Inspire-Tech, about the company and the apps.

Can you tell us more about Inspire-Tech? I'm guessing it's an IT company?

Yes, we are an IT company and we are passionate about converting “ideas” to reality. That is why our company is called Inspire-Tech. We love to be inspired to bring ideas to reality.

Inspire-Tech started with an LBS service 10 years back that we called FusionAds. Back then, LBS was new to many people. We were using WAP, SMS and Web technology for multi-channel search. Similarly we were building an eco-system then. Though the initial idea failed, we took our work in SMS technology and developed SMS gateway solutions called EasiSMS which are enterprise-wide messaging solutions for financial institutions and many other industries.

Can you tell us how you came up with the idea of ProxiHomes?

Inspire-Tech has property clients and we’ve provided our SMS solutions to them. Some companies try to use SMS to alert their agents and customers of new property listings but it does have its challenges. While SMS does address some needs, it can be rather costly if the “broadcast group” is very big.

ProxiHomes started with a simple idea of having an empowered real estate agent going around to snap pictures for the houseowner and marketing his property straight from his mobile phone.

In addition, as a home seeker, I imagined taking out my phone to do a simple search around the area I’m looking for and having the option to choose via district. After finding the home, I simply click a button to call the agent. The process is seamless and neat. We also wanted to create an eco-system to allow information to be exchanged easily.

Another challenge we noticed on web portals and forum sites is that the property listings are outdated. Many agents may be eager to post new properties but removing it is the last thing they do because they are too busy. If they have their most commonly carried device (something they can’t do without for a living) and with a simple click of button, they just get their information updated, how efficient and effective would they be? As an end-consumer, I would also enjoy updated data by the agents.

Our eco-system does not just comprise of phones alone. Our vision is to allow property agents to have multiple channels of exposure since consumers always have different preferences and choices. As such, you can see ProxiHomes being used on almost every type of device, from your phones (be it smartphone or simple phones where they can still use SMS to search) to your desktop. And not just browser web pages but also desktop gadgets. We feel that desktop gadgets are coming up and end-users are also adopting more gadgets. If you are a home seeker, it would be great to get regular “news feeds” of new properties posted in the area of your interest on your desktop.

How extensive is your database of available homes in ProxiHomes? Where do you get your information from?

ProxiHomes is a new service but we’ve fostered some partnerships with agencies and their agents for the data while achieving our main objective of allowing agents to self-submit the data on their own phone. In fact, the sign-up rate is quick and the agents are putting up the information on their own now.

How would your system help property agents and how much would they have to pay to get involved?

This platform allows their potential clients to find them easily. These clients can compare prices easily since the platform makes it easier for them to get information, so it also means property agents can get new clients faster. They do have to pay a subscription fee but we have trial accounts available for one month for agents who want to try out the service first.

ERA has also launched an app. How does your ProxiHomes app compare with that of ERA?

I believe you have downloaded and tried the application, so you can certainly judge the difference in terms of the user interactivity and the way information is being displayed.

Besides, being an independent platform player, our intention is to provide good listings across all agencies. As their app name suggests, it is only providing information from their agency's database.

(Note: The interview above is an edited version of an email interview conducted with Sharon Teo.)

iPhone SDK Beta 3 now available

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:35:00 +0000

Apple has just released beta 3 of the iPhone SDK. As usual, if you have problems downloading the SDK, check out our older story for alternative methods of getting it.

3G download cap upped to 20MB

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:26:00 +0000

Apple has apparently increased the over-air download limit from 10MB to 20MB. Attempts to download large files now have a new alert message saying that the app is over 20MB.

This means that as long as the app is under 20MB, you can download it on your iPhone over the 3G network. If it is over 20MB, you will have to download it over Wifi.

This new change will be a boon to developers and users. Users will now be able to download larger files easily, while developers now have more leeway in building apps that are easy to download.

.

Betting on novelty: Behind the scenes with the makers of Live4D

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:11:00 +0000

Ah yes, the good old days. When Hokkien and Cantonese radio programmes dominated the airwaves, when you could enjoy a hearty meal for just 50 cents, and when cholera stalked the land.

One group of developers has decided to bring back those happy times, the Hokkien radio that is, not the cholera. Live4D is an iPhone app has a text-to-speech engine that reads out the 4D results in Hokkien, as well as English and Mandarin. However, this app has more going for it than just nostalgia. It also promises to deliver 4D results faster than anyone else (by 6.33pm).

iMerlion speaks to Chin Kwek Loong of Live4D to learn more about the origins of the app and their plans for the future.

Why did you guys decide to do Live4D?

We did Live4D as a service to the community who would like to know the 4D results live at 6:33pm instead of the usual 7:30~8pm.

How did you come up with the idea of offering the results in Hokkien?

During our younger days, we used to hear results in Hokkien on Reddifussion. Brings back memories doesn't it?

Do you have any idea who listens to the Hokkien results?

No idea but maybe it would appeal to the older generation

What are your plans for Live4D? What features are you planning to add?

Features we would like to include are an alarm to alert users when it is 6:33pm or 6:32pm and a winnings calculator.

The Toto result currently is just scrolling at our info box. We want to have something like the 4D result where it will show when each number arrives. This would make it much easier for users to read as well.

The killer feature, however, would be to able to announce the result at 5:33pm, 1 hour before Singapore Pools.

Location:St Andrew's Rd,City,Singapore

Happy Lunar New Year!

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:31:00 +0000

Due to the upcoming Lunar New Year, iMerlion will only be updated sporadically between today and Tuesday. We will resume our normal updates on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, to all those celebrating the Lunar New Year, our best wishes to you for the year ahead!

Improve your leverage when buying a car in Singapore

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:37:00 +0000

Someday I'll own a car. That day will come after I actually get my driving license. And actually make enough to afford a car. Until that day though, I will be content with public transport. But a man can dream right?

Except that that dream could turn into a nightmare. When you buy a car in Singapore, the price you pay consists of the actual price of the car, plus a whole bunch of taxes that I barely understand. I'm pretty sure that whenever I walk into a car showroom, car salesmen see the big red sign on my forehead that says "SUCKER".

Fortunately, one brave soul has developed an app to work out what kind of margins the car dealer is making, thus giving you some leverage when you talk to the sales guy. When you learn that he is making over $8,000 per car, asking for freebies becomes much easier.

SGCarPrice costs US$0.99 but that's a bargain considering how much cars cost in Singapore.

Local developer half-way through public coding effort

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:39:00 +0000

It's been said, if you like sausages, don't visit a sausage factory. That's because the process of making something is usually messy and unpleasant, and occasionally, even bloody. That's also why many creative people actually don't like working in public, where everyone can see the mistakes made along the way.

One local developer however has decided to invite public scrutiny. Sahil Lavingia, 17, has committed himself to creating an app within a week, and he is blogging and screencasting his efforts along the way.

Sahil, who developed Twizzle, Taxi Lah! and Color Stream Lite, is documenting his app making efforts on a blog he created for this project. Sahil, an international school student, says he's doing the app because "I think it'll be fun and informative, for both my and my (Twitter) followers." Also, he admits honestly, he hopes to enhance his reputation.

Sahil started on Sunday with little more than an idea and he now has a working prototype that is being beta-tested by people. Called Dayta, it allows you to capture simple data and chart it.

Along the way, he shares coding tips and fixes mistakes that he makes along the way.

On his experience so far: "It's crazy. It's awesome to be able to bounce ideas off of people. Before, I would release an app and then tweak it to the public's liking. Now, I can tweak while I code.

"I do spend a lot of time writing and reading though, which I could have spent coding. It's a trade-off."

He believes that if all goes well, he can make his deadline to complete his app in a week, but as he says: "There's still a lot I have to do."

You can follow Sahil's progress on his blog or on Twitter.

STOMP app now available on the iPhone

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:35:00 +0000

Is there an ill-mannered lout pretending to be asleep while a pregnant woman stands in front of him in a crowded bus? Now's your chance to take his picture and upload it to STOMP, the citizen journalism effort of The Straits Times.

The app, The Straits Times STOMP, is now in the app store. With the app, you can read stories submitted by people as well as contribute your own.

STOMP is free. You can download it here.

(Tip of the hat to iMerlion reader Roy Ong.)
.

DBS Indulge UK renamed

jimofwarwick@gmail.com (Jimmy Yap) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:48:00 +0000

In case you were wondering what happened to DBS Indulge UK, wonder no more. The app is now known by its rightful name DBS Indulge Singapore. Everyone can now heave a sigh of relief. All is right with the world again.
.