For credit card customers

One of the main reasons I use UOB cards is for its incredible promotions. The mobile banking promotions section is very useful for me. The best thing about it is that it allows me to search promotions by category, location, keyword and even via augmented reality. Most deal apps don’t go so far into search and information architecture.

For investors

There are gold, silver, unit trust and FOREX prices (which is also great for online shoppers like me, so I now know what my bank will charge me for my next Amazon or ASOS haul! ). There are also built-in calculators for home equity loan financing, currency conversions, loans and financial goals.

For banking customers

UOB went an extra mile for these guys with the Mobile Cash feature, which allows users to send cash to their friends (who do not have to be UOB customers). All the user needs is the app and all his friend needs is her phone and to find the nearest UOB ATM to withdraw cash. No ATM cards needed! So this would come in handy when your friends forget their wallets and are stranded somewhere far from you. Anyway, here’s a screenshot of what the friend will see when she receives the cash and eventually withdraws it.

Overall, I think UOB has done a pretty good job. My gripes with it are minor and mostly interface-related (e.g. the unnecessary transition animation and the not-very-sexy-looking transaction statement). But besides that, it’s an well thought-out app, incredibly responsive and truly understands their customers’ needs.

For iPhone users, you can download it at the App Store. For Android users, an app is in the works. It’ll be out soon.

Related posts:

1. Why I Enjoy Reading Investment Banking Blogs

I’m not going to spare many words on social media here, since it’s been talked to death and is really not the rocket science many people play it up to be. As a long-time blogger and communications person, I think it’s not very different from striking up a conversation with a stranger and slowly cultivating it into a trustworthy friendship.

Open data is more intriguing to me since it’s the first time I’ve heard of it. Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely from the shackles of copyright, patents etc so everyone could use and republish it as he pleases. In this case, many of the speakers were talking about governments’ open data — what should be available, in what format and what can be achieved with it.

It was an eye-opening experience for me, since it’s not crossed my mind that developers have to worry about stuff like data sourcing before they hit the product development, funding and eventually, the commercialization stages. I do PR for a telco, so when I think about app development, all I think about is whether the product has potential to make disruptive or incremental change, whether a viable business model could arise from it, and most importantly, what the impact is on the end-user.

All in all, GovCampSG was a pretty interesting event. I had an opportunity to see things from a different perspective, and I hope something concrete will come out of these discussions. As a non-developer and non-civil servant, I won’t be much use when it comes to turning these talks into action. Nevertheless, for the people who can, I’d like to leave you with an inspirational quote by Scott Anthony:

You cannot find truth through analysis. You can only find truth through action.

For photos and videos from the event, check out GovCampSG on Facebook.

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Despite Nokia’s decline in recent years, I’ve secretly been rooting for it, especially when I read Stephen Elop’s burning platform memo. I really wanted to see it pull through it all and regain market share. Stories about winning against all odds are always entertaining and inspiring, after all.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to check out the upcoming Nokia N9.

The Nokia N9 comes in 3 colors: Black, Cyan and Magenta

Does it make me wanna throw away my Nexus S? Almost.

But I have a feeling the goal of this phone isn’t only about raking in the sales. It represents much more — it’s a strong testament that Nokia is able to turnaround and innovate in less than a year. It is a signal to its believers, employees, customers, investors that Nokia still has what it takes — the cojones, no, the sisu — to regain its place as a dominant player.

What I Liked

I absolutely love this phone. It only took me half an hour to figure out where most things are. The Swipe interface is surprisingly intuitive and the phone is very fast! It’s evident that a lot of attention has been paid to user interaction and experience. As a design snob, I especially love the new Nokia Pure font.

Ovi Mail showing off the new Nokia Pure font

Simple User Experience

There are only 3 homescreens: Applications, Opened Applications and Events. That’s really all a user needs, and they are all accessible a swipe away.

(left to right) Standby screen, Applications screen, Events screen. Open Applications screen not pictured above

Seamlessly Designed Hardware

The whole phone is made of a piece of polycarbonate. It’s light yet it looks durable. The screen is made of gorilla glass, so it should be scratch resistant too. And check out the picture below. I’m so amazed at how much effort they spent on the little details. The N9 even has a little clasp that covers the not-so-sexy-looking micro-USB port.

The cute little clasp hiding the Micro USB port

Gorgeous Screen

The screen is so clear that it feels that you’re touching the icons directly. It’s really quite amazing. It’s definitely a cut above the super AMOLED screens I’ve seen so far.

The amazing “floating screen”

Friendly Keyboard

The keyboard is definitely better than Android’s default keyboard. I was chatting with a friend via Skype for 15 mins. I didn’t have to struggle through it like I would with my Nexus S (without Swype). And I had no persistent autocorrect to contend with (à la iPhone). I actually really enjoyed my chat and I could keep up with my friend who was using a PC.

Start of my Skype chat on the N9

Beautiful Maps

As usual, Ovi Maps never fails to wow. It’s the pride and joy of the Ovi suite of apps.

Ovi Map on the Nokia N9

What I Didn’t Like

Not Future-Proof

This is the first and last Meego-powered phone. I’m not sure how long Nokia plans to support the phone. There will not likely be many future major updates to look forward to, and I doubt there’ll be many apps too, since developers wouldn’t waste their time on a soon-to-be retired platform. This, to me, is the N9′s biggest downfall and really, the only thing that prevents me from rushing to Nokia’s store for an N9. Phones are all about the ecosystem today.

Heating Issues

I’m not sure if it’s because what I played with was a prototype, but it does get quite hot in the top left hand corner of the phone after some use.

Closed NFC Ecosystem

The N9 is NFC-enabled, so you can broadcast your playlist with a tap on the Nokia Play 360° speakers, share files and unlock Angry Bird stages with a tap to other Nokia NFC-enabled phones. All this doesn’t work with other NFC-enabled devices like my Nexus S. I’d really like to see NFC take off as an industry standard. I think it’ll help us all save time and simplify technology, so this kind of closed ecosystem mentality gets minus points from me.

With that said, I still think this is a fantastic phone. The N9 has done a phenomenal job convincing me that Nokia is walking in the right direction in terms of product design and user experience. I hope these ideas will translate in their Windows-powered devices in the future. I’m so excited to see where Nokia’s revived sisu will take them!

Oh and if you’re in Singapore, it’s S$799 for the 16GB variant and S$899 for the 64GB. These are out-of-contract prices. We’ll have to wait until it launches “in a few weeks” to find out what the telco subsidized prices are. It’ll be available at all 3 telcos.

September 20, 2011 Update:
Nokia has kindly issued a clarification on several points in my review. Their comments below:

• The Nokia N9 and Nokia Play 360° Speakers are built in line with industry standards. The connectivity of these devices with other non-Nokia devices is dependent on the NFC capabilities of the other devices, their compliance to industry standards and other factors unique to other brands.
• Firmware updates for the Nokia N9 will be released in due course if and when required.

Related posts:

1. I got my hands on a Nexus One!
2. My History with Cell Phones!
3. Review: LG Viewty KU990R

Coco Chanel in all her glory

Why Coco Chanel?

Well, for the past few months I’ve been stressing out between Mac vs PC. I considered so many things, from specs to price to usability to future-proofness. If you just look at the price and the hardware, it made absolutely no sense to spend a whole thousand more on an underpowered Mac — especially in an age where cloud computing will render operating systems as a secondary function.

So I went around asking the other geeks to try to persuade me to buy a Mac — with not much success. They all told me PC was the more pragmatic choice and reminded me that I am a pragmatic person.

But on Friday, a fashionista friend said this:

I don’t know much about computers but Mac and PC are like Chanel and Furla. Both designer labels and make good quality products, but which would you rather carry?

That hit me like a thunderbolt (Yes, Apple fans, lame pun intended).

Under all that pragmatism lies a gadget snob. I mean, seriously, how geek-cool is it to own a product that came out just a couple days ago?

First Impressions

But of course, it wasn’t just all snobbery. I am genuinely impressed at how fast a solid state drive is compared to a normal hard drive. The screen is absolutely magnificent — more magnificent than a 2011 Macbook Pro’s. And I’ve never owned a laptop that weighs under 2KG. Maybe I would even go out to cafes more often to Mac Off to blog more often. And then there’s Bluetooth 4.0, which is a competitor to NFC. Not sure which will win, but it’s a potential future-proof feature.

More Photos of the Macbook Air

Anyway, here are some more shots of the Macbook Air compared to my trusty first generation 2006 Black Macbook, which I intend to keep forever. I love it to bits. It lasted 5 years with very little trouble. And IMO, is still the best-looking Mac ever made.

2006 Black Macbook vs 2011 Macbook Air

Not too sure if it’s obvious here but there’s some discoloration on the Black Macbook’s screen. It’s too yellow.

2006 Black Macbook vs 2011 Macbook Air — Start-up Screen

And here’s the difference between the size of the Macbook vs the Macbook Air.

2006 Black Macbook vs 2011 Macbook Air — difference in the thinness

And finally, my new gadget family is now silver and black. I don’t really fancy silver, but these are a sure feast for the eyes and ears.

Macbook Air and Bose AE2 Headphones

That is all, folks. I just needed to be an iSnob and iSnub everyone with an entry on my iFetish. In all seriousness, if you could choose (or are choosing) between a Mac and a PC, which would you pick? Why?

Related posts:

1. My Macbook Adaptor Melted!
2. What’s In My Bag — 2011 Edition

Featured on Web Design Galleries

Big thanks to all the CSS galleries and web design blogs for featuring my latest theme, Nami. And another thank you to those of who gave me feedback, when I first rolled out this theme. Web design has been a long-time hobby of mine, so it’s always nice to receive recognition. I got to know many people as a result too! (I know I haven’t replied to some of you, sorry about that! Will get to it soon!) So thank you to CSS Mania, Spyre Studios, Web Creme and the many others!

Switched to a Smartphone

As I was saying in the Nexus One entry, I’ve been reluctant to switch to a smartphone since I didn’t want to become too connected. But my dumbphone recently lost the ability to send texts, and I was able to borrow the Sony Ericssion Xperia X10, so I switched. Thanks to the Xperia, I now sync my phone contacts with Google Contacts, which pretty much guarantees I’ll be loyal to Android phones for the next few years.

Since the phone isn’t mine, it doesn’t seem right to do a review. Hahaha! But let’s just say, despite its specs and price tag, it’s still got some way to go before I could classify it with the likes of superphones like the iPhone, Nexus One, HTC Desire, Motorola Milestone or the Samsung Galaxy S.

Touched an iPad!

Thanks to my colleagues and Justin, I got to spend some time with the Apple iPad. I wasn’t too impressed initially. It’s a phenomenal e-reader but there’s no way a tablet is befitting for a content creator like me. I have to admit my initial thoughts was slightly clouded by my disappointment with Steve Jobs and his letter to Adobe. (I switched to a Mac because Photoshop works better on it. So for Apple to declare its disapproval of Adobe’s alleged “closed system” felt like they were backstabbing a partner to me.)

But after I realized I could type a proper email on it without making mistakes, I was pretty impressed. As touch tech improves, tablets will slowly, but surely replace laptops in the future. With that said, I won’t be buying an iPad so soon. It can’t really replace a laptop or even a netbook for me just yet. I need multitasking support, and I don’t want to be held ransom by the App Store. Guess I’ll just wait until I see OS X or Win 7 running smoothly on one.

Sayonara, Social Media

On the work front, I’ve officially relinquished my social media responsibilities to someone even more passionate and capable. (That doesn’t mean I’ll stop blogging or tweeting though!) Social media was a good entry-point to the corporate world, since it was something familiar. I now do traditional comms for financial-related matters. It’s not an easy transition since the learning curve is fairly steep, the responsibilities are greater and perfection is just a minimum requirement. Nevertheless, I’m enjoying myself so far. I like being constantly challenged. Keeps me on my toes, keeps me learning. And it’s definitely the right place to be to learn more about the tech and telco business, both of which I’m pretty passionate about.

Thanks to the change, I can finally answer the question I’ve been struggling with for the longest time: “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” I’d like to move from a support unit like communications into the business. But more on this another time.

Upcoming Blog Posts

I attended a few interesting blogger events earlier this week, so do expect those entries to be up soon. There’ll be one on Nokia Connection 2010 and another on the Infocomm Accessibility Centre. I’ll probably disappear again after that because my boyfriend is coming back to Singapore this weekend! This time for good!

Okay, back to sleep. My fever is unfortunately still not subsiding. Blah.

Related posts:

1. I got my hands on a Nexus One!

Lately, I’ve taken a serious liking to photography. So I’ve been thinking about upgrading to either an advanced point and shoot or an entry-level dSLR. I really can’t decide! I’m in such a dilemma since I’m afraid I may outgrow a prosumer point and shoot, yet I cannot foresee myself carrying a huge, unglamorous bag full of lenses all in the name of artistic photography.

In the midst of my dilemma, Glenn from Ogilvy invited me to a blogger event to check out Canon’s latest line-up of cameras. Despite my hectic work schedule, I knew I just had to go. I mean, this event could potentially solve the dilemma of a lifetime!

So on Thursday, I found myself at the newly-opened Universal Studios Singapore. Canon introduced us to the zoom monster PowerShot SX210 IS, the sleek touchscreen-ed IXUS 210 and the pocket-sized IXUS 130. We were each given 5 hours with one of these to shoot around the theme park. The cameras were randomly given out. As a PowerShot fan, I was vying to test out the PowerShot SX210 IS. Thanks to Clauds, who offered to switched cameras with me, my wish was granted.

Before I start, here’s a few disclaimers:

• This is a very long entry. If you don’t like text, scroll down for pretty pictures and HD videos!
• To showcase photo quality, no photos or videos were edited.
• Click on the thumbnail for the full photo to appear in a lightbox.
• For more photos, visit my Picasa gallery.
• 3 bloggers with the most creative photos will each win one of the latest line-up of Canon cameras.

The Features

Here’s a first look at the features shared amongst the PowerShot SX 210 IS, Digital IXUS 210 and Digital IXUS 130.

Color Swap: Painting the town pink!

Color swap switches one color for another. Here’s how it works: point the camera on a color from your viewfinder, select it, then select a color you’d like to swap the first with. It’s like a real life eyedropper tool. (You photoshopaholics know what I’m talking about!) For these shots, I swapped brown for bright pink to paint Universal Studios pink! I had a blast shooting in this mode. I had to chase down this little girl with a pink bag (who was quite far away) to get the shade of pink I wanted. I was glad I had the zoom monster or I’d have to physically chase her for it.

Color Accent: Gold highlights

Color accent highlights a particular color, while the rest of the photo is in monochrome. I’m not very good with this effect but I liked how my golden Shrek castle turned out.

Miniature Effect: Toy world

This is my favorite photo effect! The whole world looks like a giant toy wonderland! There are more at my Picasa but here are my favorites:

Fish Eye: Distortion extraordinaire

HD Video Samples

The new line-up of cameras also shoots high definition videos. Select 720p to watch in HD.

HD video of Universal Studios Singapore

Here’s a 360 degree view of USS.

HD video of one of the rides

I was trying to keep this shot steady but it started raining heavily all of a sudden so I had to run for cover.

HD video with PowerShot SX210 IS’ 14x zoom

Zooming in on the fountain. It gets shaky in the middle; I was zoomed in so close that every slight movement had a big impact on the camera.

HD video with Color Swap

Painting Universal Studios Pink – The Movie! Yes, I’m 24 years old and I still ride carousels.

HD video with Color Accent

You’re gonna have to tilt your head to watch this. I shot this in portrait mode thinking it would auto-rotate like photos. Oops!

Sample Photos

Here’s a few more shots in various shooting modes. Read the description in the full photos for more details.

My Thoughts on the Canon PowerShot SX 210 IS

This is a great camera for those who need zoom power and want to have the flexibility to switch between a very smart auto mode and full manual controls. I can’t give this a proper review since I only spent 5 hours with it but here are my general first impressions.

What I Like

• Fast shooting speed and amazing image stabilization: I shot while walking and no photo ever came out blur — even in poor lighting!
• Long battery life: I’m not sure of the industry benchmark but compared to my PowerShot A590 IS (which runs on lithium ion rechargeable AA batteries) the PowerShot SX 210 IS is so much better! I took 180+ photos and 8 movies. I barely turned off my camera over the 5 hours and the battery was still going strong.
• One button movie mode: It was a breeze to shoot movies thanks to the dedicated movie button!

What I Didn’t

• Stiff mode dial: The mode dial is a little stiffer than I’m used too. I guess it’s more dSLR like?
• No indication for arrow buttons: This is minor, but unlike my A590 IS, the SX 210 IS didn’t come with pictures to describe each arrow keys’ function. So I had to struggle to find the manual focus, the delete key and the toggle between aperture and shutter speed. I guess this is only frustrating when you only have 5 hours with a camera that’s full of functions. I don’t suppose it’ll be a problem if you own one though.

So, I thought this event would help solve my dilemma between upgrading to an advanced point and shoot or an entry level dSLR. Unfortunately, it’s just made my life more difficult since I’ve grown quite fond of the PowerShot SX 210 IS. Sigh, what a geeky predicament to be in!

Dilemma aside, I had a splendid time thanks to Canon and Ogilvy!

Related posts:

1. My Valentine’s Day in Singapore
2. Singapore and Cellphones
3. An Night of Adventure in Singapore

This is the W2486L. As with many LG products, the design is very sleek.

What I Like About the LG W2486L Monitor

Aside from its its looks, here are few things that make this monitor stand out from the usual monitors.

Slim and Lightweight

It’s very, very slim. I have a very narrow table and it doesn’t take up much space at all. Here’s a size comparison with my Macbook.

Ambient light sensor

It’s got a light sensor that changes the brightness of the screen according the brightness of your room. (Thanks Justin for pointing it out!) This is great for someone who frequently alternates between light sources like me. I switch between fluorescent and accent lights quite a bit.

Nifty software and menu

For me the selling point is its extensive menu and software, the forteManager. Aside from the usual brightness and color controls, the LG W2486L menu comes built-in with nifty features like photo effects and cinema mode.

With photo effects, you could set the monitor display in Gaussian Blur, Sepia, and Black & White. Here’s a photo of the W2486L in Black & White Mode next to a book that I’ve currently reading, just so you know I didn’t Photoshop it.

I think photo effects is a great feature for content creators like designers, photographers and video producers. Imagine viewing your movie, photos or your logo designs in black and white with just a touch of a button on your monitor. No more need for messy adjustments on Photoshop or Final Cut Pro!

For the movie buffs and YouTube addicts, the menu also comes with a special cinema mode, which blacks out the rest of the window so you could focus on the movie.

As for the forteManager, it comes with a slew of calibration tools to make sure the monitor display colors as correctly as possible. I’m very particular about good color reproduction, so this is a great software to have.

What I Didn’t Like About the LG W2486L Monitor

As always, there were a few things that I wished could have been done better.

Touch menu buttons

I think this could be my personal bias, but I don’t really like touch buttons because I need to have some sort of feedback when I press something. I also have very a bad habit of surfing in dim light, so I had to struggle to find the right menu buttons.

Fixed viewing angle

I don’t really know the right phrase for this but I couldn’t change the vertical angle of the monitor. I have a habit of slouching after surfing the web for too long and this monitor just wouldn’t let me slouch! I had to perpetually sit straight because I couldn’t move the monitor vertically. Perhaps this is not such a bad thing after all, since I probably have very good posture now. Hahaha!

Manual resolution and color adjustments needed

I think this could be just my machines or my tech noobness, but I had to make manual resolution and color adjustments when I hooked up the W2486L with my netbook and Macbook. My machines somehow couldn’t automatically detect the right resolution to display on the monitor. And when it was hooked to my netbook, the color reproduction just wasn’t quite… there. With that said, installing forteManager did fix that.

No forteManager for the Mac

Unfortunately, the packaged software is not compatible with the Mac. I would’ve liked to see how the color calibration would work with my Macbook. Perhaps I could’ve produced some of the best colors ever! Nevertheless, the built-in menu can do a majority of what the software does. So the nifty features like cinema mode and photo effects can be still be applied to the Mac.

Anime on the LG W2486L Monitor

This is totally random but I couldn’t resist taking this shot. It’s my favorite anime of 2009, Kemono no Souja Erin on the LG W2486L. It’s like a mini TV!

So anyway, I hope you find this review useful. If you have any questions, do drop me a comment and I will try to answer as best as I can.

Related posts:

1. User Review: Samsung N310 Netbook
2. TopHostingCenter Review – After 1 Year of Service

1) ASUS 1005 HA for its long battery life
2) MSI Wind U100 Plus for its affordable price tag.
3) Acer Aspire One D250 for having both Windows and Android OSes.
4) Toshiba Mini NB205 for its positive reviews.
5) HP Mini 311 for its ergonomic keyboard.

But when I arrived at the fair, I realized I made a grave mistake. Netbooks aren’t really about specs, they’re about usability. I was disappointed with my “to consider” list. Most of them just didn’t feel right. Some had difficult keyboards, others felt like over sized toys. I was very reluctant to part with my money… until I saw the Samsung N310.

It was love at first touch.

Why I Love the Samsung N310

Keyboard: The Samsung N310 has a Mac-like or chiclet keyboard. And as a Macbook user, I can type with my eyes closed and make no mistakes on the N310. I also really appreciate the full-sized “Tab” button because I fill in quite a bit of forms and like to change windows quickly.

Texture: The shell of the Samsung N310 is covered by this rubbery material reminiscent of those exorbitantly-priced Japanese mechanical pencils. I think they call those things soft grip. The soft grip just makes me want to molest the netbook.

Design: It’s minimalistic and there’s something very Japanese about it… like my blog. (Yes, I’m aware Samsung is Korean.) Upon further research, I learned that the Samsung N310 is designed by Naoto Fukasawa – the dude who designed everything from indestructible paper bags to MUJI’s CD player. So perhaps that’s why there was that certain Japanese-ness to it.

Battery Life: Officially, the website says it’ll run 9 hours with a 6-cell 8850 mAh battery. It’s actually not too far from the truth. My N310 hasn’t gotten a chance to run out of juice yet so I can’t say for certain. However, I did run it for 4.5 hours on Normal battery mode with USB broadband on mobile modem on, iTunes playing, Google Chrome with 3 tabs running, Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger with 3 windows open – and my battery meter still read “48% battery life left; 3.8 hours left”!

Sound: The audio is crisp, clear and very, very loud. And I hate to admit this, but it’s louder than my Macbook’s speakers.

But of course, no product is ever perfect. Over 2 weeks of use, I discovered a few things that annoyed me but nothing severe enough to make me regret my buy.

Why the Samsung N310 annoys me

Heat: It gets a little warm on the left side. Of course, it depends on the surface I place it on. On tables, it doesn’t seem to get that warm that quickly or easily – unless I’m doing something resource intensive. But on softer surfaces like beds, pillows or even on my lap, it does get warm fairly quickly.

Performance: Compared to my friend’s Toshiba NB205, the Samsung N310 on Normal battery mode performs much slower at multimedia tasks like Facebook flash games and webcam chats. (Our specs are the same, except that hers runs on Windows 7 Starter and mine on Windows XP.) But when the N310 runs on Max Performance mode, it was on par with the NB205.

Mouse Trackpad: The touchpad is less responsive than the Mac’s, so I have to tap a little harder to click. I’m also not a fan of the mouse button. Windows machines shouldn’t have one button. With right-click, it just doesn’t make sense.

Logo Design That is one seriously gigantic Samsung logo. Worst thing is, it’s embossed so I can’t cover it with a sticker. Besides, stickers will destroy its beautiful soft grip skin. Argh!

Price

After some bargaining with a very knowledgeable salesperson, I bought the Samsung N310 for S$649 (approx USD $450) with a 2GB RAM upgrade (plus installation) and a laundry list of freebies including:

• External DVD writer
• 2-year extended warranty
• Antivirus software
• 4GB Sandisk Cruzer
• Laptop cooler
• Mouse
• Laptop cleaner

Tech Reviews of the Samsung N310

I’m only a poseur geek, so my review is probably not comprehensive enough for the true geeks. Just shimmy over to the real geeks’ reviews here if this isn’t what you’re looking for:

• CNET’s Review
• Laptop Mag’s Review
• Tech65′s Review

Dear readers, do you own a netbook? If so, which one? If don’t own one, would you consider buying one? Why or why not?

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Witty Tagline

Anyway, I’ve always been a bit of a language freak, so it’s not surprising that a lot of my jokes are puns. But it’s a shame they always end up being quite lame or worse, when nobody seems to get them. So I always appreciate it (okay, more like become envious) when people make witty puns with the English language – and HTC’s new tagline has gotta be one them:

You don’t need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you.

.

It’s ingenious, but not so in-your-face kinda ingenious. It’s more like a subtle kinda ingenious, so I can see how this all fits in with their new brand positioning “quietly brilliant”, which is also quite brilliant in itself.

(Okay, sorry. Couldn’t resist the pun.)

The ads that came with the YOU campaign are pretty darn witty too. They’ve got one where you see from the phone’s perspective, and another where it emphasizes how their phones are customized to suit the lifestyles of different individuals.

Wicked Tattoos

To celebrate the launch of the HTC Tattoo, HTC also gave everyone airbrushed tattoos. It’s such a neat idea to get everyone excited. Here’s a picture of Jacelyn‘s, mine and Nicole‘s Android tattoos.

There were a bunch of other tattoos like vintage ones, tribal ones and even Hello Kitty ones!

You can check out what tattoos the other bloggers got, along with the hot models clad in winter Springfield clothing at my Facebook album.

(Okay, okay. That’s my last play with words, I promise.)

So that’s it from me for now. Will search for time over the next week to publish some of my many drafts before super busy season starts again for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings. This will be my last project for the year before I take my uber-long staycation in December. Woot! Can’t wait!

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Ghost toured around Singapore

Thanks to 24seven and the Asia Paranormal Investigators, I had the opportunity to tour around Singapore’s spookiest places. We went to a dilapitated cemetary called Bukit Brown, Singapore’s largest cemetary, the Choa Chu Kang Cemetery and apparently, the most haunted place in Singapore – Old Changi Hospital. I caught a pretty strange ‘thing’ on one of my shots. Will share it after I do more research.

The boyfriend visited

After more than a year of being apart, my boyfriend visited me. It was refreshing and reassuring to know that our feelings and friendship can withstand the test of time and distance.

The perfect diet is working!

It’s been about 3 weeks since I embarked on the paleolithic diet. It’s working wonders. My eyes have completely stopped protruding. I have a lot of energy. And I’ve also lost quite a bit of weight; I dropped at least a dress size. This is a picture of me earlier this week!

Alain de Botton is cool beans.

Discovered Alain de Botton from his TED talk. Devoured his Consolations of Philosophy a few months back and now reading his new work, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. A lot of light bulbs went off while reading the Consolations of Philosophy. It’s too deep to discuss in a paragraph, so I shall save this for another entry.

Google Wave

Received my Google Wave invite thanks to Teddy! Do add me and start a new wave, so I know you’ve added me. If I don’t know you, do include a self-introduction as well. I can be found at ivytan at googlewave.com.

That’s it for my quick update. Will blog and reply to your comments after my projects end. Until then, take care!

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