New arrivals: Nikon D810 full-frame DSLR camera in late July

June 27th, 2014

The new 36.3-megapixel D810 caters to both enthusiasts and professionals. It now records Full HD (1080p60) video and offers a wide ISO range from ISO 64 to ISO 12800 (expandable to ISO 32 to ISO 51200). Hits the shelves in late July.

Singapore price TBA. US price US$3299.95.

Update (15 July, 2014):

The new Nikon D810, before we got our hands on it.

The new Nikon D810, before we got our hands on it.

The Nikon D810 was officially launched in Singapore today at the Altimate lounge club in 1-Altitude at Raffles Place.

The DSLR will be available at S$4,888 (body only) from 17 July onwards.

The new Nikon D810 will be available in Singapore in late July.

The new Nikon D810 will be available in Singapore in late July.

The FX-format D810 replaces the D800 and D800E and does away with the OLPF (optical low-pass filter) in its 36.3-megapixel (7360 x 4912) CMOS sensor.

The Nikon D810 is powered by EXPEED 4 engine.

The Nikon D810 is powered by EXPEED 4 engine.

It features the EXPEED 4 engine from the D4s to give a bigger ISO range, better image quality and metering and faster burst speed.

The Nikon D810 ships with an electronic first-curtain shutter option, has a redesigned mirror mechanism to reduce vibration, and includes Auto ISO in manual mode.

For video, it can relay uncompressed HDMI output to an external recorder with simultaneous video display on the camera’s rear LCD display and external LCD monitor, while recording to the internal card (compressed).

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Apple iPod touch lineup gets new colours & iSight camera

June 26th, 2014

The new iPod touch lineup starts at S$278.

iPod touch 16GB is available starting in the US today and worldwide in the coming days, in red, pink, yellow, blue, silver and space grey through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com/sg) and Apple Authorised Reseller.

iPod touch 16GB is available starting in the US today and worldwide in the coming days, in red, pink, yellow, blue, silver and space grey through the Apple Online Store and Apple Authorised Reseller. Photo: Apple

Apple today announced its 16GB iPod touch is now available in vibrant colours and equipped with a 5 megapixel iSight camera.

Apple iPod touch lineup (SGD prices incl. GST)
16GB S$278
32GB S$348
64GB S$398

The entire iPod touch lineup features the 5 megapixel iSight camera with 1080p HD video recording, brilliant 4-inch Retina® display, Apple’s A5 chip and FaceTime camera.

iPod touch features an ultra-thin and light anodised aluminium design and is available in pink, yellow, blue, silver, space grey and (PRODUCT) RED.

iPod touch comes with iOS 7, offering more than 200 features including Camera app filters that let you easily add real-time photo effects.

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Temporary hiatus for tech4tea.com

June 8th, 2014

Dear readers, I have been experiencing erratic outages with my hosting provider during these past few weeks. This moment right now is a rare window that I do have access to post something on the blog.

I have decided to stop updating the blog until July. By then, hopefully my hosting provider would have resolved once and for all the frequent database lockout and corruption problems that I’ve been encountering. Or else, I would have migrated this blog to another hosting provider.

In the meantime, I will be on overseas vacation for the next two weeks. Usually I write about my experiences and share my photos on this blog. But due to the hiatus, I will do so on another blog which I plan to set up over the next few days. Once that is done, I will post the URL to that blog in the space here (provided I still have access to update this post).

Whenever I am able to, I will post tech-related stuff to my Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/gotech4tea.

Thank you for your readership and support!

IT Fair: PC Show 2014 (5-8 June) @ Singapore Expo Halls 5 & 6

June 5th, 2014

The 24th edition of Singapore’s longest running information technology (IT) and consumer electronics show returns for four days from June 5-8 at the Singapore Expo, Halls 5 and 6.

Here are the floor plans for PC Show 2014 at Singapore Expo Halls 5 and 6.

Here are the floor plans for PC Show 2014 at Singapore Expo Halls 5 and 6.

The second of four major IT shows in Singapore every year, the PC Show 2014 will open daily from 12pm to 9pm (admission FREE).

Organised by Lines Exposition & Management Services Pte Ltd., the PC Show 2014 encompasses four sections in 400 m2 of exhibition space: The PC Show 2014, Digital Imaging 2014, GAME 2014, and Consumer Electronics 2014.

The Show will play host to leading brands such as ASUS, Aztech, Brother, Canon, Case Logic, Creative, Dell, D-Link, Epson, Fuji Xerox, Fujifilm, HP, Lenovo, M1, Microsoft, Samsung, Seagate, SingTel, StarHub and Toshiba.

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Staying in tune with FIFA World Cup 2014 through Twitter

June 4th, 2014

So the much anticipated FIFA World Cup 2014 is happening in eight and all the paricipating nations have already announced their starting teams.

FIFA World Cup 2014 on Twittersphere. Click on image for full-sized inforgraphic.

FIFA World Cup 2014 on Twittersphere. Click on image for full-sized inforgraphic.

Here’s an infographic showing the buzz surrounding the tournament that’s happening on Twittersphere.

For Singapore fans, here are some of the stats based on research from @globalwebindex.

  • 81% of Twitter users in Singapore will be watching the World Cup.
  • 71% of Twitter users in APAC will be watching live matches on TV.
  • 76% of Singaporean users use Twitter for something related to football.
  • 36% of people on Twitter in Singapore follow football clubs.
  • Nearly half (45%) of football lovers in Singapore say that news breaks fastest on Twitter.
  • 45% of Singapore users tweet when there is a goal, and 56% tweet post-match.

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New arrivals: Sony Cyber-shot RX100 III compact camera

May 27th, 2014

Sony offers professional quality in your pocket with wider, brighter lens and built-in viewfinder in the compact body of the RX100 mark III.

Available in Singapore from June: S$1,199.

Sony Singapore invited us down for a hands-on on the camera which had just arrived earlier this morning.

Sony Singapore invited us down for a hands-on on the camera which had just arrived earlier this morning.

The current RX100 II will continue to be sold with its price reduced from S$999 to S$899.

Both cameras will continue to be sold on the market with the RX100 II catering to compact camera users while the new RX100 III targets users looking for better performance and image quality and using it as a second camera to their DSLRs.

Here are the main features.

  • Bright, wide angle ZEISS® Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F1.8-2.8 lens
  • Clear, retractable OLED Tru-Finder™ with ZEISS® T* coating
  • 20.1 effective megapixel back-illuminated 1.0-type Exmor R™ CMOS sensor and powerful BIONZ X processor
  • 50 Mbps high bit-rate Full HD movies with XAVC S support
  • LCD flips for easy selfies
  • 4K still image output
  • Evolved manual controls and new custom button

Here are the specifications of the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 III.

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Tech specs: Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet with Windows 8.1

May 26th, 2014

Here are the technical specifications for the key features for the new Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet that was unveiled in New York City on last week.

Here are the local pricing, promotions and availability for the tablet in Singapore.

Surface Pro 3 is available with an Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 processor with up to 512 GB of storage and up to 8 GB of RAM.

Surface Pro 3 is available with an Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 processor with up to 512 GB of storage and up to 8 GB of RAM.

The new tablet is positioned as a laptop replacement and is targeting both consumers for personal use as well as enterprises for business use.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet features a more adjustable, continuous kickstand than its predecessors.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet features a more adjustable, continuous kickstand than its predecessors.

BMW Group, the Coca-Cola Company and LVMH Group have already committed to deploying Surface Pro 3 in their respective organisations, using the tablet in a business environment.

Tech specs for the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 below.

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New arrivals: 4 Epson printers – L120, L1300, L1800, L555

May 25th, 2014

Epson has launched its second generation of L-Series Original Ink Tank Printers, with four new models ranging from S$159 to S$689.

Clockwise from top left: Epson L120, L555, L1300, L1800. Photos from Epson Singapore. (Not to scale)

Clockwise from top left: Epson L120, L555, L1300, L1800. Photos from Epson Singapore. (Not to scale)

The price and availability of the four new printers are as follows.

Epson Price Available Tgt market
L120 S$159 Mid-June SOHO
L555 S$399 Now Small Office / SMB
L1300 S$569 5 June
L1800 S$689 5 June SMB Print Provider/ Professional photo studios

More details from the press release is attached below.

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Factoid: How often do Millennials (or Gen Y) use Social Media?

May 24th, 2014

Was having lunch last week with John Ruthven, Eugene Ho of SAP, Bob Aubrey of Mazars and a few other journos from the media – when Bob mentioned a study that Mazars did in 2013 about Millennials.

If you’re a “Millennial”, how often do you use social media? Click on image to view enlarged version.

If you’re a “Millennial”, how often do you use social media? Click on image to view enlarged version.

The study was conducted in 2013 and approached 6,900 Millennial employees in 64 countries worldwide, out of which 3,010 responded – that’s a remarkably high return rate.

Bob Aubrey is a Partner & Practice Leader, People Development Consulting at Mazars.   With more than 20 years’ experience in leadership and people development consulting, Dr Aubrey is also an entrepreneur, writer and professor.

Bob Aubrey, Partner & Practice Leader, People Development Consulting, Mazars. With more than 20 years’ experience in leadership and people development consulting, Dr Aubrey is also an entrepreneur, writer and professor.

The “Millennials” or, otherwise known as Gen Y (Generation Y) are defined in this study as young people born between the beginning of the 1980s and the mid-90s.

Since the Gen Y will account for a huge chunk of the world’s population and workforce in the near future, the demography is relevant to global companies such as SAP that provides business IT solutions to large enterprises and organisations employing these Millennials.

Currently, Millennials make up more than half of our workforce. This is expected to increase to 75% in 2025.

It would be interesting to watch how these statistics change over time to observe the underlying trend, although the result would not be surprising, given the increasing popularity of social media amongst the increasingly IT-savvy working population.

Here are some additional statistics surrounding Millennials.

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Singapore CIOs ahead in digital transformation with prompt investments

May 23rd, 2014

Singapore CIOs are well ahead in maturity and adoption level of digital transformation with prompt investments to support top-line growth while driving productivity and innovation developments to meet demands.

Findings of NCS SURF Emerging Technologies Maturity Index 2014, a research commissioned by NCS (conducted by IDC) to evaluate Singapore companies’ adoption of emerging technologies in Big Data, Digital Engagement and Smart Computing (M2M).

Findings of NCS SURF Emerging Technologies Maturity Index 2014, a research commissioned by NCS (conducted by IDC) to evaluate Singapore companies’ adoption of emerging technologies in Big Data, Digital Engagement and Smart Computing (M2M).

Digital transformation – how it is managed and applied is becoming increasingly important to how business succeed in today’s economy.

“CIOs need to work closely with business stakeholders to increase work space productivity and collaboration. They should take advantage of real time intelligence to enhance service delivery and operational excellence,” said Lai Weng Yew, Vice President of Business Application Services of NCS.

A recent survey from NCS’ SURF Emerging Technologies Maturity Index 2014 polled 240 senior information technology (IT) executives found that a majority (75%) of their organisations are well ahead of technology investments, citing Digital Transformation as an extremely important or important contributor of their companies’ worldwide strategy.

Singapore businesses acknowledged the benefits of using multiple technology assets.

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