In addition of making overseas calls from your home country, you can also use Skype to call family, friends and colleagues who back in your home country on their landline or mobile – when you are travelling overseas. All you need is Wi-Fi access or mobile broadband on your smartphone, and some Skype credits.
Check out Skype as an additional affordable means of voice/SMS communication when you travel overseas.
When I first arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, while waiting at the customs, I logged on to the free Wi-Fi network in the airport and used Skype to call a local sight to make enquiries and make reservations for a day trip to a wildlife rescue centre in Petchaburi.
I found out when writing this article that the AOT Wi-Fi network at Suvarnabhumi Airport is provided by True Move and is available at the main internaltional airports in Thailand.
These include the airports at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket and Hat Yai.
The Suvarnabhumi Airport serving Bangkok provides a pretty decent free Wi-Fi to travellers in its terminals – good enough to make VoIP calls using Skype.
First you need to register in the login page for the AOT network in the airport and you get to use the network for free for up to 2 hours a day.
Don’t bother to memorise the complicated userid and password they issue you, the next time you use the network – which is probably when you leave Thailand – you can register as a new user again and use a new set of userid and password.
First thing I did when I exited the gates in the Arrival Hall in Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok was to get myself a pre-paid SIM card that gave me a local number for voice calls and seven days of mobile data broadband at 299 THB.
The truemove shop is one of the first things you come across when you exit the gates at the Arrival Hall at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.
Immediately after exiting the gates in the Arrival Hall, you’ll come upon this telco shop that sells pre-paid SIM cards, as well as other mobile plans.
The 7-day prepaid SIM card offered by True Move is one of a few pre-paid mobile plans available in Thailand. This package bundles 7 days of unlimited data, free call credits of 100 THB and incoming call, your own local number, attractive international call rates – all for 299 THBor approximately S$12.
Here’s where you can grab an affordable and convenient pre-paid SIM card that gives you mobile broad band as well as voice calls, and a local number.
I’m here for seven days, so I was delighted to grab the 7-day SIM card that costs 299 THB, or S$12.
You get seven days of free broadband mobile data as well as 100 THB of free call credits, which gives you 100min of local talk time at 1 THB/minute.
The seven days are calendar days and includes the day you bought the card, ending at 2359hrs on the seventh day.
What I found useful was not only the free call credits but having a local number that you can give out for others to contact you via local calls.
My wife can now call me at local rates, through her autoroam.
Otherwise, she would have to make an overseas call just to get me on my Singapore mobile number – you know sometimes we get separated in crowded places, or we deliberately split up to visit different shops etc.
Opera claims that its Video Boost is a first for mobile web browsers, offering faster loading time and money savings from data reduction (compression). Available now FREE from Apple App Store.
The new Opera Mini 9 for iOS comes with video boost feature that compresses video before delivering to your mobile phone, saving you from staring at the video-buffering wheel, as well as data savings.
iPhone and iPad users will see less of the dreaded video-buffering wheel, using the new video boost feature in the Opera Mini 9 web browser.
“This is the first time video optimization has been integrated into a web browser, so your browser can now take pride of place as your favorite video app. Video snags are a small problem, but an annoying one — a pothole on the internet highway. And Opera fixed it,” says Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software.
People love watching video on their mobiles and tablets.
Unfortunately, this can eat up a data plan quickly, and stalled videos waste time and create frustration.
Opera Mini boasts that it can address this problem with video boost.
Video boost brings down buffering time for eager video viewers, by reducing the size of video data.
Using the Rocket Optimizer engine from Opera’s Skyfire division, video boost can also save users on their data bills.
Optimising videos is becoming increasingly important, as video viewing explodes on mobile phones.
The latest Ultra-HD 4K L9450 series with Android Pro Theatre TVs from Toshiba embraces the Android platform. Now available throughout Asia, prices range from S$2,299 to S$17,999 and are listed below.
The L9450 Pro-Theatre TVs with Ultra-HD 4K and Android come in 50, 65 and 84-inch models.
The Android compatibility makes available an abundance of apps that are downloadable on Google Play
Toshiba
Price
50L9450VE
S$2,299
65L9450VE
S$4,999
84L9450VE
S$17,999
Four times sharper than Full HD, Ultra-HD 4K offers unparalleled clarity for a growing selection of 4K content, ranging from movies to games and photos.
Not only are visible on screen details significantly bolstered, viewers can also sit closer to the display without being distracted by pixilation.
The partnership will see both companies invest up to US$50 million over the next five years to launch the first Managed Defence Solution powered by FireEye in APAC to help enterprises contain rising cyber-attacks.
Bill Chang (left), CEO, SingTel Group Enterprise and David DeWalt (right), Chairman of the Board and CEO, FireEye.
The money will be used to build infrastructure, recruit people and to train them into security experts.
This initiative is part of the overall cyberdefence strategy that SingTel has envisaged in the modern threat environment.
The strategic partnership between SingTel and FireEye promises to enhance the cyber security eco-system in Asia Pacific and will cover:
Significant investments related to new Advanced Security Operation Centres (ASOCs) in Singapore and Australia.
The launch of the first SingTel Managed Defence solution powered by FireEye in APAC.
Building up cyber security expertise, including training up to 150 professionals to operate the ASOCs.
Setting up new data stores in the region.
Increasing awareness and knowledge of next generation cyber threats through the biannual APAC-focused threat advisory reports by SingTel and FireEye.
More details on each of the above facets of the partnership can be found below, extracted from the press release.
SingAREN-Lightwave Internet Exchange (SLIX) will boost international collaborations for Singapore’s research and education community.
SingAREN-Lightwave Internet Exchange (SLIX)
Singapore Advanced Research and Education Network (SingAREN) has announced the launch of SingAREN-Lightwave Internet Exchange (SLIX), the first 100Gbps community network to be set up in the Southeast Asia region.
“SingAREN is proud to be the first to launch a 100 Gbps research and education network in the region. By increasing the network speed by ten-fold and with our suite of value-added services, SingAREN aims to facilitate collaborations amongst our local research organisations and with their international counterparts,” said A/Prof Francis Lee Bu Sung, President of SingAREN.
With SLIX, Singapore’s Research and Education (R&E) community will gain seamless access to a super high speed network with a hundred times more capacity than before; and enjoy bandwidth fully dedicated to their use.
Built on an optical fibre core comprising dark fibres, SLIX allows resiliency, future capacity upgrade, and technology-proof network connectivity.
The new network also opens up new possibilities as a test-bed, extending database mirroring services, bilateral disaster recovery, high performance computing federation and shared services, high volume peering for content data networks and other value-adding services to the R&E community.
In addition, SLIX will also enable research organisations to test different protocols for interconnections such as the Infiniband; and optical network researchers to carry out their experiments.
Guvera has officially launched in Singapore offering users free, unlimited access to millions of tracks from local and international artists. Guvera’s app is available for both iOS and Android devices, as well as on its website via a browser.
Guvera is now officially launched in Singapore, alongside competitors Spotify and Deezer.
Users can search and discover music on Guvera, as well as manage and share their own playlists.
It also has integrated social features that allow users to follow friends and celebrities and access their playlists.
Around this time of the year, Singapore gets all excited about celebrating its birthday.
For this year’s National Day, Singapore’s local brew celebrates the nation’s 49th year of independence with a series of activities to engage the populace.
This is the first time that Tiger Beer is shedding its corporate colours to don the national colours. The limited edition red and white livery comes in packs of 10 330ml cans, retailing at a recommended price of S$25.60 at all major supermarkets and hypermarkets.
Firstly, Tiger Beer is shedding the iconic blue livery on its beer cans to put on a patriotic red and white design.
It is also going back to the basics of how Singaporeans have come to adore the quirks and nuances of their uniquely Singaporean culture, Tiger Beer also collaborated with YouTube stars Tree Potatoes to produce a video titled “You Know You’re Singaporean When..”.
With these initiatives, Tiger Beer has also kick-started a crowd-sourced movement to get Singaporeans to participate in 49 acts of pride over a period of seven days, from 1 to 7 August 2014.
Read more about Tiger Beer’s celebratory initiatives below.
LG goes back to basics with new webOS user interface, marrying intuitive ease-of-use with good image quality. The LG 79UB980T has an RRP of S$14,999.
The LG 79UB980T uses a 3840 x 2160 resolution In-Plane Switching (IPS) 4K panel that reproduce vivid and accurate colors. Its wide viewing angle offers a good viewing from nearly any vantage point.
First launched in Singapore back in end May as part of LG’s 2014 ULTRA HD (4K) TV lineup, the 79UB980T offers stunning display and easy connectivity, yet keeps it simple for users to watch the content that they desire – be it live TV, Blu-ray movies, 4K or upscaled 4K content, YouTube videos, and game consoles.
LG’s 2014 ULTRA HD (4K) TV lineup includes premium models as well as affordable versions in screen sizes of 49, 55, 65, 79 and 84 inches.
Its 2014 LG FULL HD TV line-up, comes in sizes of 42, 47, 55 and 60 inches.
You can Skype using the 8-megapixel built-in camera.
The LG 79UB980T user interface uses the webOS platform that the Korean company bought from HP in March last year.
The webOS platform simplifies the TV experience, making it easy to search, navigate and view content, connect with other devices, and also makes the the initial setup process smoother for users unfamiliar with their new TV.
The first time the user turns on the webOS-enabled LG Smart+ TV, an animated character named BeanBird appears onscreen to help users get connected and walk them through the setup process.
You control and interact with the UI using the LG Magic Remote, which enables you to scroll, point, click, or activate voice control.
webOS introduces the new content Launcher is a left-to-right scrollable menu that runs along the lower portion of the screen.
Making smart simple
TVs nowadays are getting more and more sophisticated and are no longer the single-function appliances used to watch live TV and pre-recorded movies from VHS/CD/VCD/DVD/Blu-ray media.
The Internet and broadband connectivity has brought a wealth of content sources to the modern digital life – including videos shared on YouTube and social media, as well as movie websites.
The contemporary consumer also wants to use their TVs with games consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation, and even Skype and surf the Web from the comfort of the living room.
The latest lineup of TVs from the most manufacturers offer these, but usually involve a steep learning curve to wrap the head around user interfaces that tend to get overly complicated as there are so many content sources and options available.
It is therefore refreshing to see LG’s new webOS-based UI, which makes it simple and intuitive for the user to get the content they want on screen – conveniently and speedily.
Seems like LG has succeeded in making smart simple for the user, unlocking the wealth of content available without making it too complicated.
