Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft’

Travel Tip #3: Use Skype for overseas calls while travelling

Sunday, December 28th, 2014

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.

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.

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.

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Travel: Thailand 2014 – A week in the Land of Smiles

Friday, December 12th, 2014

It’s the year-end school holidays and the family decided to take an impromptu short break to Thailand for a week.

Welcome to the Land of Smiles. Here the welcoming facade of our hotel in Hua Hin, Thailand. Photo taken with Olympus OM-D E-M1 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f2.8 PRO lens. Photo credit: John Tan.

Welcome to the Land of Smiles. Here the welcoming facade of our hotel in Hua Hin, Thailand.

We’d initially thought about going to Krabi but it looked so crowded in photos on the Web that we decided to choose somewhere that’s more “off the beaten track”.

So we settled on Hua Hin, a popular weekend getaway for the local Thais in Bangkok.

Time for relaxation. Laidback sculpture in the gardens of our hotel in Hua Hin.

Time for relaxation. Laidback sculpture in the gardens of our hotel in Hua Hin.

It’s a two-and-a-half hour drive from Bangkok and four-plus-hour journey by train or bus.

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New arrivals: Lumia 535 Dual SIM @ only S$199 from 5 Dec in Singapore

Tuesday, November 25th, 2014

Microsoft Devices offers the 5-inch Windows Phone 8.1 phablet at an affordable S$199. The budget phablet comes with a 5-megapixel front camera and dual SIM.

The Lumia 535 Dual SIM will be available in a range of colours including orange, white, cyan and black. Bright green and dark grey are not available for Singapore.

The Lumia 535 Dual SIM will be available in a range of colours including orange, white, cyan and black. Bright green and dark grey are not available for Singapore.

First announced on 10 November in the US, the Lumia 535 will debut in Singapore on 5 December, at an affordable price of S$199.

The Lumia 535 offers five free integrated Microsoft experiences:

  1. Make memorable Skype video calls and seamlessly switch between voice and video with built-in Skype integration. Fit more memorable backgrounds or add more friends into Skype video calls and selfies with the 5 MP wide angle front facing camera.
  2. With Microsoft Office Mobile, you can now access, edit and share Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents and OneNote notebooks wherever you are, with the pre-installed Microsoft Office suite.
  3. Save and sync photos, videos and Office documents securely with 15GB of free OneDrive cloud storage.
  4. Connect with work and personal e-mail while on the go, with built-in Microsoft Outlook.
  5. Add a whole new dimension to your console entertainment with Xbox One SmartGlass, the perfect companion app if you want the best of your Xbox One from both in your living room and on the go. Connect and control your Xbox One and stay connected with the games and gamers you like.

Lumia 535 sports a 5-inch qHD (960 x 540 pixels, 16:9) IPS made of Gorilla Glass 3 with capacitative touchscreen at resolution of 220ppi.

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New arrivals: Lumia 830 Windows Phone 8.1 smartphone

Thursday, September 25th, 2014

Microsoft today announced the availability of the Lumia 830 in Singapore for S$529 from 27 September, 2014 (M1, SingTel, StarHub).

The Lumia 830 will be available in a range of colours including bright orange, bright green, white and black.

The Lumia 830 will be available in a range of colours including bright orange, bright green, white and black.

The Lumia 830 comes with PureView imaging, integrated Microsoft services, wireless charging, optimised image stabilisation and SensorCore.

It has a 10-megapixel PureView camera with ZEISS optics, Rich Recording, and the thinnest optical image stabilisation system to date for Lumia phones.

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New arrivals: Microsoft Xbox One debuts in Singapore at Funan DigitaLife Mall

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014

Singapore officially welcomed the Xbox One today at 1300hrs.

Update (9pm, 23 September):

Xbox One fans got to pit themselves against each other on board the Singapore Flyer, against the Skyline.

Singapore F1 GP may be over but #Xbox One fans are still racing the McLaren on #Forza5 in the Singapore Flyer. #XboxOneSG. Photo taken using Samsung Galaxy S5 and posted on Instagram.

Singapore F1 GP may be over but #Xbox One fans are still racing the McLaren on #Forza5 in the Singapore Flyer. #XboxOneSG. Photo taken using Samsung Galaxy S5 and posted on Instagram.

Microsoft Xbox One Launch at Funan DigitaLife Mall.

Microsoft Xbox One Launch at Funan DigitaLife Mall. Photo: Microsoft Singapore.

The event kicked off with pre-order collection amongst the mass of over 500 fans as they turned Funan DigitaLife Mall into a sea of green.

“The feedback from our fans in Singapore has been overwhelming. We are on track to making this the biggest ever Xbox launch in history in Singapore. Today marks a historic day for us and our fans,” said Hanson Yap, Marketing Manager, Interactive Entertainment Business, and Microsoft, Singapore.

The console launch continues into the evening as invited fans battle it out in the sky onboard the Singapore Flyer.

The iconic landmark will light up Singapore’s skyline with the Xbox’s signature green – telling Singaporeans that the new entertainment console has landed.

This holiday, gamers will be able to create Car Clubs of up to 1,000 members and race through a wide-open world featuring the stunning landscapes of Southern Europe in “Forza Horizon 2”.

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New arrivals: Dell Inspiron 13 7000 Series 2-in-1 device

Monday, September 8th, 2014

The new Dell Inspiron 13 7000 Series 2-in-1 combines the functionality of a laptop with the usability of a tablet. It is now available in Singapore starting from S$1,699.

The 360-degree hinge design of the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 enables seamless switching between laptop, easel, tent and tablet modes.

The 360-degree hinge design of the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 Series  2-in-1 enables seamless switching between laptop, easel, tent and tablet modes.

The Inspiron 13 7000 Series 2-in-1 runs on Windows 8.1 and features a built-in passive stylus and a 360-degree rotating hinge allowing consumers to switch seamlessly between laptop and tablet.

The hybrid device ships with up to a 500GB hard drive, a 13-inch HD touch display (with optional Full HD) coated with anti-smudge coating, edge-to-edge styling and 10-finger capacitive touch.

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Microsoft showcases Xbox One games in Singapore launch event

Monday, September 1st, 2014

Xbox held a showcase event at the School of the Arts with an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the line-up of blockbuster games coming to Singapore.

Rennie Addabo, Xbox Director, Microsoft Greater Asia Region and Hanson Yap, Marketing Manager, Xbox Singapore at the Xbox One showcase event. Photo from Xbox Singapore.

Rennie Addabo, Xbox Director, Microsoft Greater Asia Region and Hanson Yap, Marketing Manager, Xbox Singapore at the Xbox One showcase event. Photo from Xbox Singapore.

The event featured international developers and publishers representing the breadth and depth of the Xbox One portfolio.

Titanfall is one of the games available on the Singapore debut of the Xbox One on 23 September 2014.

Titanfall is one of the games available on the Singapore debut of the Xbox One on 23 September 2014.

Come this holiday, gamers will be able to create on Xbox One Car Clubs of up to 1,000 members and race through a wide-open world featuring the stunning landscapes of Southern Europe in “Forza Horizon 2”.

Xbox One gamers will also be able to relive the complete story of a legendary hero in “Halo: The Master Chief Collection”; explore, scavenge and fight to survive in a world overrun by zombies in “Dead Rising 3”; join Ori, the last spirit guardian, as he discovers the mysteries of a dying forest in a beautiful coming-of-age story in “Ori and the Blind Forest”; and dive into the mayhem of Sunset City in “Sunset Overdrive”.

Also available on Xbox One this holiday season are highly anticipated blockbusters like “Assassin’s Creed: Unity”, “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare”, and “EA SPORTS FIFA 15”.

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New arrivals: Nokia Lumia 530 Windows smartphone in Singapore

Saturday, August 23rd, 2014

The Lumia 530 is now available in Singapore at an RRP of S$159 at Nokia Stores and Nokia Solution Partners. M1 will also be retailing the device bundled with data plans.

Windows Lumia 530 - available at S$159 in Singapore from 23 August 2014.

Windows Lumia 530 – available at S$159 in Singapore from 23 August 2014.

This is the most affordable Lumia to date, with a price below S$200.

The Lumia 530 is powered by a 1.2GHx quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor and has a 4-inch FWVGA LCD display.

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New arrivals: Pre-order Xbox One in Singapore from S$639

Thursday, August 14th, 2014

You can now pre-order Xbox One together with EA SPORTS FIFA 15.

The Xbox One will debut in Singapore on 23 September 2014.

The Xbox One will debut in Singapore on 23 September 2014.

During E3, it was announced that the Xbox One will be coming to Singapore on 23 September 2014.

The latest is that consumers will now have the option to pre-order one of two official Xbox One bundles, offering value with EA SPORTS™ FIFA 15 included for a limited time at no extra cost.

EA SPORTS™ FIFA 15 on Xbox One promises to bring football to life in stunning detail so fans can experience the emotion of the sport like never before.

Xbox One Launch Console Bundle (S$639)

Every Xbox One system will include the Xbox One console, which features a 500GB hard drive, Blu-ray player and built-in Wi-Fi, one Xbox One Wireless Controller, a chat headset, a HDMI cable, a free 14-day trial of Xbox Live Gold for new members and a digital copy of EA SPORTS™ FIFA 15 – for S$639 while stocks last.

Xbox One Launch Kinect Bundle (S$739)

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Palo Alto Networks on protection against IE vulnerabilities

Sunday, July 20th, 2014

Earlier this month, Palo Alto Networks discovered ten critical vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer browsers, underlining the importance for businesses to focus on knowing the risk of running vulnerable software.

Check out five core concepts on how to protect your organisation against vulnerabilities.

Check out five core concepts on how to protect your organisation against vulnerabilities.

Sharat Sinha – Vice President, Asia Pacific for Palo Alto Networks – shares his views on how businesses and organisations can protect themselves against malicious attacks and avoid compromises to their network security.

Below are Sinha’s views.

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