Golfing

This week, I met two separate groups of people talking abt golf. One group spoke passionately about the sport and how it gave fulfillment in their lives whilst the other said how it was used to generate funds to support worthy causes or assisted in their business dealings.

Golf - an end by itself or a means to an end?

Personally I tried it a couple of years back but it didn't really appeal to me much. Short of saying that it took 4 hours to chase a little ball around a huge manicured lawn and putting it into different holes in different sections, I don't know what to think of it.

My technological umbilical cord

For some unknown reason, my work computer died on me last Friday. This morning e IT department told me that it'll only be ready by end of this week.

My umbilical cord, the invisible chain broke.

I was free. Or was I?

I wandered around like a lost zombie, deprived of purpose and contact in the virtual world.

Feeding only on sustenance provided by my treo, I'd survived a torturous morning until a replacement laptop was given to me at 5pm.

By then i'd been a near wreck. Gratefully I logged in, checked my mails before logging off to go home.

For better or for worse, I wonder how many people will actually enjoy being unplugged from work and the internet once plugged in?

3.5G coverage confirmed

It's confirmed.

I just went into e mrt tunnel after bishan and saw e 3G symbol disappear; my phone lost the signal and changed to G.

So for those who have BB on mobile, u would probably see a dropped signal and reduced speeds as well as e network will drop out from hsdpa or umts.

3.5G doesn't work in mrt

It seems that Singtel's HSDPA or 3.5G network doesn't work in e mrt.

I used to surf using my K750i but this was limited to GPRS speeds.

Lately I got a Treo 500v which supports UMTS to replace e K750i as using GPRS was simply too slow. After a couple of days of use, it seems that whenever e train goes into e tunnel after bishan station, e network indicator would switch from 3G to G. This meant that e 3G connection was lost.

I wonder if it's my phone or that 3G is not supported underground?

Caeden takes a dump

Our boy did his first (unsupervised) dump on his potty today :)

Sparing the gory details, Ivy and I were really pleased as this marked another milestone of his life towards total independence.

*sob* Our boy is growing up...

City comes home

After one and a half months at the workshop, we got our car (Honda City) back after the accident.

I had heard some funny sounds coming out of the engine compartment on hard acceleration and my wife has told me today that the car still swerves to the left on hard braking so I think I'll need to send it down to the workshop again for a check sometime this week.

Hopefully, we'll be able to find all the potential problems and get them rectified before the 6-months' warranty ends.

ERP rates going up *again*

ERP rates are going up again with 5 new gantries to be switched on along the Singapore River (Water taxis anyone?).

As a public citizen, I thought some of the arguments were a little weak and needed further rationalisation and explanation.

1. LTA has claimed that things like the ERP rates are excluded from the freeze (due to bad economy) and that traffic congestion, left unchecked, will have a negative effect on the economy.

Questions: I wonder how traffic congestion increases with a worsening economy - would people buy more cars? When fuel prices are getting higher, would people drive more? Is there any *proven* correlation that the economy is affected by traffic congestion?

2. Traffic in the CBD is slowing down, claims LTA. So LTA came up with a new way to measure speed - the 85th percentile method - this is when motorists experience smooth traffic at least 85 percent of the time on roads that have ERP gantries.

Questions: Knowing that traffic congestion in CBD is increasing, why on earth are we building our IR and enlarging the Marina Bay office area? Given ceteris paribus, there would be a greater number of vehicles going into and out of the CBD once these mega-projects are completed. But then again, u.urban planning is not LTA's problem right?

Prediction: Since ERP has been already implemented on East-West bound roads such as ECP, Esplanade Drive, Eu Tong Sen, North Bridge, we'll expect River Valley Road to be next.

Luckily, I'm not affected as I have taken the Government's advice into mind and take public transport.

Unfortunately, with the increase in ERP rates, it is likely that motorists would shift to take MRT to work (thereby increasing waiting times and greater frustration when taking public transport).

Can LTA also adopt the 85th percentile method for passengers of public transport as well? This should be the standard that supports passengers to find seats 85% of the time.

Trains/buses should also arrive punctually 85% of the time set according to time schedules (eg. arrive 8am at specified bus-stop - arrive 8.15am at interchange - take 8.25am MRT train, reach office at 8.45am) rather than interval schedules (bus coming in 10mins, MRT coming in 4 mins).

I googled and found an interesting article - will write a bit more about it later - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_congestion

I'm SMART at last

After weeks of research, I finally got myself (or rather my wife bought on my behalf) a Treo 500v ($299) at the PC show yesterday. My wife also got herself the waterproof Olympus camera at $499.

Instead of a Sony Ericsson K660i, K850i, Samsung i450, U700, I'd finally settled on a smartphone instead since I thought it was good value-for-money.

Perhaps I'll upgrade my cameraphone once my contract ends.

Old still works

after some testing it seems that my k750i is able to use e singtel broadband card as well. although it's not as fast as e 3g network, it still does e job quite nicely. in fact this is e first post that i'm writing thru e hp. perhaps e style of writing would differ from e normal pc one. stay tuned cos i'll be going to e pc show this afternoon.

3G terminology - UMTS\HSDPA\HSUPA

What is UMTS/WCDMA?
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) -- also known as Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) -- is an international 3G standard established by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). It is an advanced and efficient wireless technology being introduced worldwide that uses Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), and both Frequency Division (FDD) and Time Division Duplexing (TDD), depending on the frequency assignment.

As a spread-spectrum technology, UMTS is designed to support the 3G evolution needs of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and other, wireless network operators. GSM, the most widely used cellular access technology with over one billion users, is available worldwide.

Peak data rates of up to 384 kbps can be achieved depending upon use and the network construction. UMTS radio technology is an evolution of CDMA technology first introduced to the market in the mid 1990’s. UMTS/WCDMA is under the auspices of the 3GPP, the Third Generation Partnership Program, a consortium of 437 operators and vendors worldwide.

What is HSDPA?
HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) is the next generation of the UMTS technology. HSDPA is an add-on solution to the 3GPP releases specifications. HSDPA employs new techniques in the protocol and channel structure to achieve theoretical data rates of up to 14.4Mbps. Another advantage of HSDPA is its backwards compatibility with UMTS.

What is HSUPA?
HSUPA(High Speed Uplink Packet Access) is another release to the evolving 3GPP standards. HSUPA employs an extremely efficient procedure for sending data on the uplink channel. The theoretical speed for data on the uplink is 5.76Mbps and the downlink will achieve HSDPA theoretical speeds of 14.4Mbps

When working side-by-side, an HSDPA/HSUPA network will benefit from increased transfer speeds allowing for a richer and more involving multimedia experience for the end users.

UPLINK/DOWNLINK GPRS Time slot dependant/53.6Kbps UMTS 128Kbps/384Kbps HSDPA 384Kbps/7.2Mbps HSUPA 2Mbps/7.2Mbps

Asia & Europe: UMTS: 2100 MHz GSM/GPRS: 900 & 1800 MHz North America: UMTS: 800 & 1900 MHz GSM/GPRS: 800 & 1900 MHz

HSDPA/HSUPA is fully backward compatible with UMTS and GPRS networks. Customers can roam between 195 countries on over 500 GSM, GPRS and UMTS networks worldwide providing access virtually anywhere worldwide. Users can move between GSM, GPRS and UMTS coverage areas without dropping connections or losing access to their network.

Users are always connected, always on-line. Once a connection has been made, information can be sent and received without delay.

Extensive authentication and encryption algorithms make it virtually impossible for unauthorized users to capture and decipher messages. The UMTS Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) card stores authentication information and security data to enable applications such as mobile banking, prepaid service activation and control, directory services and information services.

Source: http://www.novatelwireless.com/technology/hsdpa-hsupa-umts.html

SE k660i

I tried the Singtel Broadband on Mobile on my colleague's Nokia Navigator handphone today and it seems to work.

Perhaps I'll get the Sony-Ericsson k660i - since the trade-in value is $150 :)

Caeden goes to the dentist

Caeden went to the dentist for the first time last Saturday.

The decision came because we kept hearing him cry and kept touching his left cheek.

Not sure if there might be decayed teeth or he might be teething, we decided that a trip to the dentist was in order.

Ivy found a "child-friendly" dentist at United Square and booked an appointment for him.

So off we went.

When I first walked in, my first impression was "okay, so what's the big deal".

Amusingly, the dentist walked out wearing a flowerly (read "child-friendly") coat instead of the white coat that we normally see when we go to the dentist.

When we walked into the dentist room, I noticed it was quite cheery looking.

But that did not remove the fear from Caeden. Nothing could stop him from screaming and refusing to open his mouth (likely posing a dilemma for him - to scream, opening his mouth or keep shut).

So, we only got the dentist to do a visual inspection (with Caeden screaming and struggling valiantly) and got some advice on how to clean Caeden's teeth.

For this momentous occasion, we were charged $37. I was thankful that they didn't charge even more cos it seems that a visit to this dentist costs approx $100.

Wonder if fear of dentists is genetically determined?

New handphone

With my M1 contract just past the 20th month mark, I'd been thinking of changing my handphone.

It's not that my current handphone isn't working (in fact it's still functioning beautifully - a Sony-Ericsson k750i), but since I'm "entitled" to change one in order for them to retain me as a "loyal customer", why not?

I use the camera function more than I use the phone (taken more than 1000 pics since my boy was born). The 2-megapixel camera showed its limitations occasionally and I think it's time for an upgrade.

I'm currently reviewing the G900, recently launched by Sony-Ericsson as well and it's looks like it'll fit my bill.

HSDPA, Wifi, Bluetooth, touch-screen and the works all bundled up into a candy-bar hp weighing less than 100g, why not?

Managing Conflict

I was caught in between a two-person (whose names cannot be revealed to protect their privacy) yesterday.

When two people have differing views (and vehemently sticking to them) and get into each other's path, it is inevitable that sparks will fly.

And it usually takes a third party to help (or forced to help) resolve it.

How the conflict is resolved by the third party will gauge the person's competency in dealing with relationships and can be a good gauge of the potential of his management skills.

I told my wife how I tried (emphasis on tried) to resolve this conflict and she was "relatively impressed" given the constraints that I had in dealing with it.

Round-robin Flu

For the last weeks, the flu/fever/cough bug has been circulating in my family almost round-robin style.

Caeden caught it first and spread to me (most likely caused by coughing in my face whenever I carried him). Ivy got it when she shared a spoon of dragonfruit jelly with me.

Today, it seems like I'm going to be down with the flu whilst Ivy just recovered from a fever that had been hounding her for the past few days.

Short of eating antibiotics to curb this epidemic, I wonder if there's any end to this bug.

I told Ivy that we were so prone because our family is close - if I didn't carry Caeden or Ivy didn't share my spoon, we'll most likely not spread this bug.

The sacrifices we make for family and love :P

Goosh - the unofficial Google shell

For those who're relatively experienced in using shell commands instead of the "traditional" web browser interfaces, you might want to try Goosh, the unofficial Google shell.

http://goosh.org/

Intel, Belkin Pushing Ozmo, the Wi-Fi-Based Bluetooth Killer

Ozmo, a spanking new startup backed by Intel and partnered with Belkin, will demo its new Wi-Fi-based Bluetooth competitor at Computex on Tuesday 3 Jun 2008.

The system, which is the central part of Intel’s Cliffside concept, uses current Wi-Fi hardware to create secondary networks that connect with peripherals built with its new transceiver. The transceiver will have a power draw comparable to Bluetooth, but its biggest perk is that it’ll support enough bandwidth for the long, long overdue high-quality media streaming that the 'tooth could never deliver.

Intel claims that this tech could allow up to eight secondary connections (which would mean eight wireless peripherals at once) as well as a concurrent connection to a standard 802.11x network, all on existing Wi-Fi hardware. It looks like anyone running current-gen Intel wireless adapters can expect to be able to connect with Ozma chip-equipped accessories with what essentially amounts to a driver upgrade.

There aren’t any Cliffside-enabled devices on the market yet, but Intel and Belkin have enough resources and market presence to give the system a pretty good chance at catching on.