Apple’s Back-to-School Offer is now on! Buy a Mac with your education discount and an iPod touch could be yours. This offer is for current and incoming University, Polytechnic, Junior College or Institute of Technical Education in Singapore as well as faculty and staff for all education levels. And, parents buying for their University, Polytechnic, Junior College or ITE bound kids can take advantage of it, too.

For students, teachers, and parents alike, now is a great time to take advantage of their education discount.

This special offer is available for a limited time: now through September 7.

To make it clear, you will have to purchase the Mac and the iPod touch then submit a rebate request where the cost of the iPod touch will be reimbursed. Simple as that.

All information can be found at Apple’s website.

Other than the sleek and beautiful design which Apple products always display there are some extra features which will come in handy.

FaceTime – is nothing more than video conferencing. Now there is a camera in the front.

Multitasking – Mentioned before and highly anticipated feature.

HD Video – record videos in 720p High Definition

3.5 inch display – boasting a 960 x 640 resolution to give sharp text and images

iPhone 4 Specifications
Size and weight

• Height: 4.5 inches (115.2 mm)
• Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)
• Depth: 0.37 inch (9.3 mm)
• Weight: 4.8 ounces (137 grams)

Cellular and wireless

• UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless technology

Location

• Assisted GPS
• Digital compass
• Wi-Fi
• Cellular

Power and battery

• Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
• Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter
• Talk time: Up to 7 hours on 3G, Up to 14 hours on 2G
• Standby time: Up to 300 hours
• Internet use: Up to 6 hours on 3G, Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi
• Video playback: Up to 10 hours
• Audio playback: Up to 40 hours

Capacity

• 16GB flash drive
• 32GB flash drive

Color

• White
• Black

Display

• Retina display
• 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
• 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi
• 800:1 contrast ratio (typical)
• Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front and back
• Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Camera, photos, and video

• Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio
• 5-megapixel still camera
• VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second with the front camera
• Tap to focus video or still images
• LED flash
• Photo and video geotagging

Sensors

• Three-axis gyro
• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• Ambient light sensor

The iPhone 4 is expected in July 2010 and hopefully all 3 telcos in SIngapore carry them. The price is expected to be the same as when the iphone 3GS was released. So will we expect iphone 3GS price to drop once iphone 4 is released?

EpiCentre Store Opens at Marina Bay Sands

SINGAPORE, May 26, 2010 – EpiCentre, an Apple Premium Reseller, has joined a stellar line-up of luxury brands with the opening of a new 1,600 square feet store at Marina Bay Sands. The new store is operating in a soft launch phase and will be officially launched on June 26, 2010 along with exciting offers and activities for customers.
The new and sixth store in the company’s inner-city chain of outlets, EpiCentre Marina Bay Sands complements the focus of the entire development, providing shoppers and visitors to Marina Bay Sands an opportunity to learn and experience Apple’s innovative products and solutions in a modern and welcoming environment. The store offers the complete range of Mac’s, including desktops, notebooks, displays and software together with the full range of iPod digital music players, iPhone and related accessories.
“The iconic status and positioning of Marina Bay Sands has given us the opportunity to expand our footprint across Singapore. With the development’s infrastructure and convenience to shoppers in mind, we have created a new, and exciting store design within the EpiCentre network,” said Mr. Jimmy Fong, Chief Executive Officer. “We are also working closely with the management of Marina Bay Sands such as its hotel and Sands Expo and Convention Center to offer attractive privileges and promotions to shoppers and visitors.”
iConcierge services are also available at the EpiCentre Marina Bay Sands. The store has dedicated an iConcierge Specialist to assist any store visitor with their needs and queries. From software to hardware issues, the iConcierge Specialist is able to provide a first level diagnosis on their Apple products and offer recommendation and assistance where necessary.
“This is a significant milestone for us. It underscores our commitment to providing cutting-edge products and innovative services for the community we are in as a one-stop-shop for digital lifestyle needs.” said Mr Fong.


About Afor Limited
Afor Limited is listed on the Catalist Board of the Singapore Stock Exchange. The company is engaged in the sale of Apple brand products and its complementary products. As an Apple Premium Reseller, Afor carries a wide range of Apple brand products, accessories and software. It also provides value-added services such as the iConcierge and free training for new Mac users.  
Afor has operations in Singapore and Malaysia. Their subsidiaries include EpiCentre Solutions Pte Ltd, which is engaged in providing information technology (IT) solutions to educational institutions within Singapore; Epicentre Pte Ltd and Afor Sdn Bhd, which are engaged in retailing of Apple brand products, and complementary products.

Some Background

According to articles, Google Street View vehicle and team has been collecting from unprotected data accidently. Its main aim was to collect Wi-Fi SSID’s and MAC addresses to enhance location based services like Google Maps and Google Buzz. But some how due to wrong programming it has collected data from unprotected/secured Wi-Fi devices. That means they have partially collected whatever sites you have surfed. Interesting and scary eh!

Securing your Wi-Fi

When your computer connects to the wireless device, it sends data through and from the device. If this transfer is not encrypted or password protected, hackers can easily intercept your data packets. Another reason to password protect is stop wardriving. Which is protecting random strangers from connecting to your internet. They could use your internet to cause havoc online like hacking and site vandalism or for some other malicious purposes.

Encrypting these data transfers makes it difficult for the hackers to gather your data unless powerful computers are used.

Types of Security

The are a few encryption technologies, mainly WEP, WPA and WPA2. Recently, WEP has been defeated in like two minutes and security experts do not recommend this anymore. Next best is WPA and WPA2.

In some cases WPA2 will not work as the laptops or portable devices might not support that encryption. In my case, I am using WPA as the WPA2 is not supported in 2 of my family members laptop.

How to?

There is a very high chance that when you purchase your wifi router it will not be preconfigured with any security. Using it right away is stupid and you should avoid it. Get it configured first before getting any wireless devices connected.

Below example shows me using the 2wire 2701 wifi router issues by my ISP Singtel. Though I hate this router I have to use this to make my IP phone and VOIP TV work. It does not work on any other routers. Sucks I know!

Login to your routers configuration page. You should be able to get the correct address from the manual/guide. First of all change the login password from the default to something else.

This is the main configuration page I see. You should see something similar. In your browser key in 192.168.1.254.

Click on Home Network followed by Wireless Settings. You will see these options. Your LinkSys and Dlink routers should have something similar too.

Network name:  This could be your name or some weirdname to your liking.

SSID Broadcast: Enable it if you want everyone to see it. Might be easy when your friends or relatives dropby to use. As an additional security you can disable it. But when you connect from a laptop you will need to manually key in SSID which can be cumbersome.

Enable Wireless Security. Obviously you have to this to secure the network. In my case I selected WPA-PSK and chose a 10 digit password.

MAC Filtering: Every network device has a hardware number tagged to it by the manufacturer. You can this filtering to allow access only to your own computers while it blocks any others from connecting. I find it troublesome and have not enabled it.

Conclusion

The above is just to show you how to quickly protect your wireless network. Each one of you should get it done now, if you don’t have security in place. THIS IS IMPORTANT. It is like leaving your front door unlocked and allowing thieves to steal stuff!

If you dont know how. Call your techie friend or family member to help you out..

Hey, third-party camera accessories are cheap and as good as original ones. Why spend money on original ones?

What are the stuff you expect to go cheap?

• 1. Lens Filters (UV and Polarizers)
• 2. Lighting equipments like soft boxes and umbrellas
• 3. Batteries
• 4 more …

No, I am not selling them. SGCAMERASTORE.COM will be selling them at a great discounted price. Head down to No.34 Arab Street, #03-02. This will coincide with the PC Show coming June 10 to 13

Acer will be releasing Google Chrome OS based devices pretty soon and it will be the first one to do so. It will most like announce it during the Computex Taipei. There is no news on what type of device it will release. A tablet like or Smartphone like?

I am little skeptical of these devices as Chrome OS is designed to access all your stuffs online. Meaning you have to be connected to the internet always to access your data. You may call it the Internet Thin Client, if you want. There is no way you can access it offline unless Google Gears is expected to be installed as well.

Lets see if the Acer device can challenge the iPad and the HP Slate. Somehow I feel it will not unless it is priced really low.

Back in early March, Apple sued HTC for infringing on 20 of its patents on the Android based devices. Apple claims HTC infringes on some iphone interface and hardware architecture patents. Now, HTC is suing Apple back on 5 patents. HTC is hoping a ban on iphones, but all of us well know that it will never happen. Probably a cross-licensing agreement will made after long months of court battle and everyone will be happy.

Engadget has disectd the comlaint against Apple here. Pretty interesting read!

Image from topnews.asia

The Network Hub Pte Ltd, an Adobe partner has it available for pre-order. All you have to do, if you are a student or educator, is to place an order online and wait for then to contact you. You have to collect it yourself though as you will need show your student card to be eligible.

It is available as CS5 Design Premium and Web Premium. Here is the table with the available softwares in the pack:

List of Eligible Schools

Order it here.

Note: Please make sure you order for the right Operating System  – Windows or Mac

Image from mine.com.sg

Some Basic Spec:

Fitted with a 2.0 GHz Intel Menlow platform with up to 2GB memory and 128GB SSD, the LG X300 runs Windows 7 Home Premium OS and ships with a spare 2-cell battery to provide up to seven hours of use.

It is so slim and I want one. Hope to get one review set soon. Engadget has a review on this slim beauty.

These are caused by different font/character encoding standards used by different computers. In most cases it should be similar but if you are using different language packs and so on the encoding might have changed.

Ask-leo.com has this covered in a easy to understand manner and a solution also provided. Go on and read it.

image from http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com