POTD: Street Jazz Dance routine by Tina Wang

August 11th, 2013

Tina Wang was one of the judges of the Street Dance segment of the Casio G-SHOCK “Shock the World 2013” dance competition in Singapore Sentosa last month.

Showing off her Street Jazz dance routine as a judge in the Shock the World dance competitions. Photo taken with an Olympus E-450 with Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f/4-5.6 kit lens. Photo credit: John Tan.

Showing off her Street Jazz dance routine as a judge in the Shock the World dance competitions. Photo taken with an Olympus E-450 with Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f/4-5.6 kit lens. Photo credit: John Tan.

Tina started dancing at the age of 16 and presently teaches at Recognize Studios and NRA (Ngee Ann Poly Dance Club).

POTD: Visiting Kusu Island on National Day

August 10th, 2013

We took a boat to Kusu Island on the National Day holiday for a family picnic.

Splashing along the way to Kusu Island on a sunny morning. Photo taken with an Olympus E-450 with Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f/4-5.6 kit lens. Photo credit: John Tan.

Splashing along the way to Kusu Island on a sunny morning (back in March). Photo taken with an Olympus E-450 with Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f/4-5.6 kit lens. Photo credit: John Tan.

We’d visited Kusu Island back in March on a weekday and found the island almost totally deserted, except for a few people manning the Chinese temple on the island, and a few fellow visitors that came on the same boat.

Read the rest of this entry »

Progress Software makes available Pacific aPaaS platform

August 9th, 2013

Progress Software has boosted its cloud toolset with the availability of Progress Pacific’s new data connectivity and application capabilities as part of its Progress Pacific application platform-as-a-service (aPaaS).

Progress Pacific is a new Application Platform as a Service (aPaas) for building and managing powerful, data-rich business applications on any cloud, mobile or social platform.

Progress Pacific is a new Application Platform as a Service (aPaas) for building and managing powerful, data-rich business applications on any cloud, mobile or social platform.

Progress Pacific includes the new Progress DataDirect Cloud service, Progress Rollbase, and Progress OpenEdge 11.3 development software.

“Customer and partner response to the Progress Pacific launch in June has been extremely positive and we are now delivering on our vision. It’s clear that the move to aPaaS is gaining momentum as time-to-market and data capabilities in new apps are key requirements for developers and end users. Pacific addresses these needs with rich data, visual design and open deployment capabilities in a single platform,” John Goodson, Chief Product Officer at Progress Software.

These new capabilities further Progress Software’s strategy to give anyone the ability quickly create, evolve, and customize connected business applications on demand.

The product is a platform which simplifies application development and deployment for anyone who wants to develop apps for consumers or businesses.

Think an easy drag-and-drop tool that does not require developers to have complicated programming language capability which includes new data connectivity and application capabilities.

The idea is to make modern application development a breeze to allow developers, independent software vendors and enterprises to create and roll out apps to meet the needs of their internal employees or customers’ needs.

Afterall, we live in a mobile world now where apps is the new rule of the game.

Below are more technical descriptions of the new capabilities.

Read the rest of this entry »

POTD: Singapore celebrates her 48th National Day

August 9th, 2013

Here’s wishing all Singaporeans a Happy National Day.

Lifestyle and technology blogger Justin Ng shares his keen interest in photography by contributing his photos for this year’s National Day fireworks.

“Reflections of a Nation in Blossom” - The scenic Singapore skyline glows over the Singapore river as the fireworks blossom in the air, lighting up the night sky. Taken with a Canon EOS 700D with an 18-55mm kit lens. f/8, ISO 100, Bulb mode. Photo/Caption by Justin Ng.

“Reflections of a Nation in Blossom” – The scenic Singapore skyline glows over the Singapore river as the fireworks blossom in the air, lighting up the night sky. Taken with a Canon EOS 700D with an 18-55mm kit lens. f/8, ISO 100, Bulb mode. Photo/Caption by Justin Ng.

These spectacular photos of the fireworks during rehearsals for National Day Parade were produced by compositing multiple exposures to combine a few firework starbursts in a single image.

Read the rest of this entry »

POTD: Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

August 8th, 2013

Here’s wishing all Muslim friends: “Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri“!

Custom designed twinkling lights specially for Hari Raya Puasa. Photo taken with a Nikon D600 with AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens. Photo credit: John Tan.

Custom designed twinkling lights specially for Hari Raya Puasa. Photo taken with a Nikon D600 with AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens. Photo credit: John Tan.

It’s Hari Raya Puasa today.

Read the rest of this entry »

Electronic Arts launches Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar

August 8th, 2013

Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar will be available from today. Updated content for The Simpsons: Tapped Out is also now available.

With the launch of Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, Mythic welcomes Ultima fans to experience the legendary World of Britannia.

With the launch of Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, Mythic welcomes Ultima fans to experience the legendary World of Britannia.

The launch of Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar welcomes Ultima fans to experience the legendary World of Britannia.

Set 21 years after the events of Ultima IV, explore the immersive world of Britannia and venture forth with other players worldwide on numerous quests to defeat the Black Weep…

And remember – your choices can have consequences.

On 1 August 2013, Electronic Arts announced the release of  the “Krustyland” update for The Simpsons: Tapped Out across all mobile device platforms.

On 1 August 2013, Electronic Arts announced the release of the “Krustyland” update for The Simpsons: Tapped Out across all mobile device platforms.

Read the rest of this entry »

POTD: Fresh flowers at Hakaniemi farmers’ market in Helsinki

August 7th, 2013

Hakaniemi is a part of Helsinki city centre traditionally associated with the working class and workers’ associations.

Fresh flowers being sold 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.

Fresh flowers being sold 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.

Every morning farmers set up stalls at the farmers’ market selling groceries and flowers to the locals.

Read the rest of this entry »

TODAY: HTC One in Glamour Red for Singapore National Day

August 7th, 2013

The HTC One Android smartphone will be available in Glamour Red in Singapore from today. Available from all telcos in 32GB (S$968) and 64GB (S$1,068) versions.

The release of the new Glamour Red version of the HTC One coincides with Singapore's National Day.

The release of the new Glamour Red version of the HTC One coincides with Singapore’s National Day.

Up to now, only the Glacier Silver and Stealth Black models of HTC’s flagship smartphone were available in Singapore.

Tech specs and more information on the HTC One can be found below.

ASUS opens second ASUS concept store in Singapore @ VivoCity

August 6th, 2013

This is the second ASUS-brand store that the Taiwanese PC manufacturer is collaborating with Newstead Technologies, a local consumer electronics retailer in Singapore. Promotions below.

ASUS VivoCity Shop is at #02-216A in VivoCity (1 Harbourfront Walk, Singapore 098585). Opening Hours: 11am – 9pm (Monday to Sunday) Contact No.: +65 6376 9314

ASUS VivoCity Shop is at #02-216A in VivoCity (1 Harbourfront Walk, Singapore 098585). Opening Hours: 11am – 9pm (Monday to Sunday). Contact No.: +65 6376 9314.

Similar to the first store at Sim Lim, this new store at VivoCity (#02-216A) sports a clean and elegant interior finishing, with an array of the latest range of ASUS notebooks, ultrabooks and tablets on display.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nikon announces new NIKKOR 18-140mm lens & Speedlight SB-300

August 6th, 2013

The new AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens is an approximately 7.8x high-power normal zoom lens compatible with Nikon DX-format digital SLR cameras; while the Speedlight SB-300 is a compact and lightweight camera flash unit that can easily be taken anywhere.

Just announced in Tokyo by Nikon. Price and availability TBA. Not shown to scale.

Just announced in Tokyo by Nikon. Price and availability TBA. Not shown to scale.

The AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR high-power normal zoom lens covers the frequently used wide-angle 18mm to telephoto 140mm (equivalent to 27-210mm in 35mm [135] format) range of focal lengths.

Read the rest of this entry »