August 20th, 2013
The seventh month on the Chinese lunar calendar is the ghost month, when the hungry ghosts from Hell are released to visit their relatives on earth – and get a good meal as well.
As the seventh lunar month approaches, huge marquees are set up in many places in preparation for festivities. All three photos taken with a Nikon D5200 with AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm DX f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
Since this is the hungry ghost month, I will be featuring photos that I take during visits to celebratory activities surrounding the festival.
The festival has its origins from the buddhist scriptures and is celebrated by both Buddhist and Taoist believers in Asian countries such as China, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia etc.
An altar in the marquee pacifying the agents of Hell with offerings and (to the left) wads of Hell cash.
The main theme is filial piety.
One of Buddha’s disciples visited his mother in hell and found her languishing as a “hungry ghost” (that’s a specific genre of ghost) which was perennially – what else – hungry.
She had apparently been stingy towards hosting Buddhist monks whilst indulging herself with the money that her son had left her.
As a punishment by the judges of hell, she was transformed into a hungry ghost after her death.
Buddha taught the son how to redeem his mother and the filial son succeeded after much effort to help his mother get reborn as a human.
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Tags: Buddhism, Chinese, festival, ghosts, hungry ghosts, photography, photos, potd, Taoism
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August 19th, 2013
Run For Hope 2013 will flag off at 7am on 17 November at The Promontory @ Marina Bay. Registration is now open.
Four Seasons Hotel Singapore and Regent Singapore have been supporting cancer research through their annual charity run for the past 21 years.
Four Seasons Hotel Singapore and Regent Singapore, together with the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), have opened registrations for this year’s 3.5/10km charity run.
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Tags: cancer, charity, Four Seasons, health, NCCS, Regent
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August 19th, 2013
The Suomenlinna Church was first built in 1854 as a Greek Orthodox garrison church for the Russian troops stationed in the Suomenlinna sea fortress, and originally had five onion domes.
The simple chandelier hangs directly below the dome of Suomenlinna Church. Both photos taken handheld with a Nikon D600 with AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
During the 1920s, the Suomenlinna Church was converted into an Evangelical Lutheran church.
Its central dome serves as a lighthouse, which sends out blinking Morse code signals for the letter “H” in Helsinki.
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Tags: church, Finland, Finland 2013, Helsinki, NIKKOR, Nikon, photography, photos, potd, Suomenlinna, travel, vacation
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August 18th, 2013
The new single app plan of Adobe Creative Cloud for teams is available for a suggested retail price (SRP) of US$29.99 per user per month. (Promotional pricing for existing customers with CS3 or later: US$19.99 per user per month).
Customers can now subscribe to a single specific app instead of all the apps in the Adobe CC suite of software.
The new offer makes it easier and more flexible to purchase and deploy Adobe’s Creative Cloud.
Both the complete and single app plans are available via the
Adobe SEA Store.
Adobe has launched a new subscription plan for Adobe Creative Cloud that allows subscription to a single desktop application like Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC or any other application from the entire collection of CC desktop applications.
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Tags: Adobe, Apps, cloud, Creative Cloud, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Singapore, software, suite, update
Posted in Adobe, Announce, App, Creative Cloud, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Prices, Software, Specifications | No Comments »
August 18th, 2013
My family and I were walking back to our hotel in Helsinki when we spotted this Irish Wolfhound across the road.
Gigantic Irish Wolfhound along the streets of Helsinki. Photo taken with a Nikon D600 with AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
Its owner was taking it for an evening walk and both of them were waiting at the traffic light to cross the road.
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Tags: dog, Finland, Finland 2013, Helsinki, NIKKOR, Nikon, photography, photos, potd, streets, travel, vacation
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August 17th, 2013
ASUS PadFone Infinity is now available in Singapore in Hot Pink and Champagne Gold versions, in addition to the current Titanium Gray.
The 32GB (S$898) and 64GB (S$998) versions are available at StarHub, M1, and authorised retailers. The tablet station is sold separately at S$368.
The ASUS FonePad Infinity is now available in Singapore in Hot Pink, Champagne Gold and Titanium Gray.
First unveiled in Singapore in May, the ASUS PadFone Infinity has a 5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display (441 pixels per inch) running Android 4.1 on a 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor.
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Tags: Android, Android 4, Asus, Challenger, Harvey Norman, M1, Newstead, PadFone, Singapore, smartphone, StarHub, tablet
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August 17th, 2013
How does a traditional Malay family celebrate Hari Raya Puasa? Rasyida Sam contributed these photos to let us take a peek.
This year’s Hari Raya is a special one for me as it is the first time I am going around introducing everyone to my fiancé, so it is a chance for them to get to know the soon-to-be new addition to the family who is also new to the culture. Photo/Captions by Rasyida Sam.
For Rasyida, Hari Raya Puasa, also known as the Eidul Fitri, is a great occasion and opportunity for her to be with family and loved ones.
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Tags: family, Food, Hari Raya, Islam, Malay, Muslims, photography, photos, potd, Puasa, Ramadan
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August 16th, 2013
The three Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) TVs are: 85-inch S9 UHD TV (S$49,999), as well as the 55-inch (S$7,499) and 65-inch (S$10,499) Series 9 F9000 LED TV. Available now in major electronics retailers.
85-inch Samsung S9 UHD TV (S$49,999) to the left, and 65-inch (S$10,499) Series 9 F9000 LED TV to the right.
All three new 4K models are able to up-scale to UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution from lower resolution content.
“The S9 and F9000 are evolutionary TVs that cement our commitment to innovation as we create a world of possibilities to complement the smart lifestyle of our consumers.,” said Irene Ng, Vice President, Marketing, Samsung Asia.
The S9 UHD TV uses Samsung’s proprietary up-scaling engine to up-convert HD or Full-HD to UHD-level picture quality by restoring information details to create greater precision and real-life picture quality.
The two Series 9 F9000 LED TVs utilise Samsung’s proprietary Quadmatic Picture Engine, a four-step process including signal analysis, noise minimisation, UHD up-scaling and detail enhancement to seamlessly up-convert SD, HD or Full HD content to UHD-level picture quality.
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Tags: launch, Samsung, Singapore, Smart TV, TV, UHD
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August 16th, 2013
The stalls at Hakaniemi farmers’ market are set up every morning for the locals to buy groceries and fresh flowers, amongst other things.
Two types of fresh flowers vying for space and attention at the Hakaniemi farmers’ market. Photo taken with a Nikon D600 with AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
By afternoon, however, all that’s left of the market is a large empty plaza, as stall holders tear down their stalls and call it a day.
Tags: Finland, Finland 2013, flowers, Hakaniemi, Helsinki, market, NIKKOR, Nikon, photography, photos, potd, travel, vacation
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August 15th, 2013
The highly anticipated sequel is now available free from the App Store on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The game will become available for other platforms later this year and beyond.
Plants vs. Zombies 2 will first debut for iOS devices and become available for other platforms later.
Featuring a time-travel theme that propels players through different historical eras to face off with zombies from various time periods, Plants vs. Zombies 2 is free to play and can be found on the App Store around the world, in seven different languages with additional languages supported soon.
While the vast majority of the game is entirely free to play (players can face every zombie and access every level in every world at no cost), Plants vs. Zombies 2 players can also purchase upgrades and other in-game items.
Plants vs. Zombies 2 is designed with an ever-expanding universe that will offer regular updates including new worlds full of new plants, zombies and challenges beyond the first three from its predecessor.
Plants vs. Zombies 2 extends the classic gameplay of the original and provides players with dozens of new levels, plants and zombies.
Tags: Apps, EA, games, iPad, iPhone, iPod, launch, PopCap, Singapore, zombies
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