Posts Tagged ‘tips’

Tech Travel Tip: Bringing a Plug Power Bank for the Trip

Saturday, July 2nd, 2022

#tech4travel: My top tip for people traveling with lots of electronic devices is to bring along a plug bank. Sounds simple or overkill? It’s my personal travel best practice!

Back in 2018, this room in a tiny rustic village in Taiwan had only two wall outlets, crammed under the side table. Imagine charging the phones, tablets, camera batteries overnight for a family of four. And you have laptops that plug while in use or being charged. The plug power bank is a life-saver!

Back in 2018, this room in a tiny rustic village in Taiwan had only two wall outlets, crammed under the side table. Imagine charging the phones, tablets, camera batteries overnight for a family of four. And you have laptops that plug while in use or being charged. The plug power bank is a life-saver!

Travel is resuming slowly and steadily despite the pandemic.

One of the most stressful chores during travel is charging the plethora of electronic devices that we tend to bring along for the trip.

The bulk of carrying loads of chargers and charging cables alone can contribute to the bulk and weight of the luggage, especially since I tend to carry them in the carry-on luggage.

For greater peace of mind, I use this APC power bank by Schneider Electric has surge protection for your gadgets, with six three-pin sockets and two USB-A ports.

For greater peace of mind, I use this APC power bank by Schneider Electric that has surge protection for your gadgets, with six three-pin sockets and two USB-A ports.

That’s because if a charger is lost or delayed in the checked-in luggage for the flight, the associated gadget becomes unavailable for the trip – until I go shopping for a replacement charger/cable – which is a great inconvenience in terms of time and effort.

(more…)

Five Sleep Tips for World Sleep Day Today

Friday, March 19th, 2021

Today is World Sleep Day, so here are five tips on how to get a better night’s sleep from sleep expert Fitbit.

Sleep like a baby with 5 sleep tips from Fitbit. Photo by Tara Raye on Unsplash.

Sleep like a baby with 5 sleep tips from Fitbit. Photo by Tara Raye on Unsplash.

Getting our eight hours of quality sleep every night is important as adequate sleep and regular sleep patterns help rejuvenate our mood regulation, cognitive function, and overall health.

According to Fitbit’s data in 2020, Singaporeans were sleeping more last year.

However, Singaporeans still had one of the lowest sleep durations in the region, indicating there is still room for us to improve our quality of sleep.

So here are five tips for ways you can sleep longer and get a better quality shut eye.

(more…)

Cybersecurity: How to Protect Your Children From Online Threats

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

With the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the school’s curriculum has been migrated to online learning from home. With the threats out there in the World Wide Web, how can concerned parents better safeguard their children from online predators? Here are some tips.

How to protect our children during #HomeBasedLearning. Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash.

How to protect our children during #HomeBasedLearning. Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash.

My kids have never used the computer and the Internet so much before the pandemic set in at the beginning of the year.

Norton 360 all-in-one protection protection for your devices.

Check out the current promotional discounts for Norton 360.

It started with a bang when school was closed to students during the nationwide lockdown, and students had to do ALL their lessons online, using online video conferencing tools such as Zoom and Google Meet.

Parents had to scramble to help their children be ready for #HomeBasedLearning – the new buzzword for families with school-going kids.

From buying laptops, to setting them up, to teaching the kids how to use the video conferencing software.

There was hardly any time and energy left to figure out how to secure the laptop and online learning sessions from Internet predators.

So parents – below are some areas to watch out for when preparing your child for #HomeBasedLearning.

  1. Dubious websites and content
  2. Dubious “Friends” in chat rooms and social media
  3. Cyberbullying
  4. Scams

Dubious websites and content

The World Wide Web is full of interesting stuff, much of it inappropriate for children e.g. pornography, racism, hate and violence.

So keep a close eye on what your kids are surfing – check their search/browser histories and designate an open location in the home for the kids to use the computer, so that everybody can help keep an eye out.

(more…)

Cybersecurity Tips: Avoiding Phishing, Crypto-Mining & Ransomware

Sunday, September 20th, 2020

With employees working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, how can SMBs better protect against cybercriminals?

Stephan Neumeier, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky shared security tips during a webinar on “The Cyberthreat Landscape for SMBs in Singapore”.

Stephan Neumeier, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky shared security tips during a webinar on “The Cyberthreat Landscape for SMBs in Singapore”.

Kaspersky experts suggest the following tips for SMBs to avoid being lured by cybercriminals through phishing, crypto-mining and ransomware.

(more…)

Digital Well-Being Tips For International Day Of Happiness

Friday, March 20th, 2020

Here are some tips from Google on digital wellbeing and how our devices can contribute to our daily happiness.

The first step toward digital wellbeing is often understanding more about how you interact with technology in the first place. Tools like the Digital Wellbeing Dashboard in Android 9 Pie and YouTube’s Time Watched offer ways to keep you more informed about your habits.

The first step toward digital wellbeing is often understanding more about how you interact with technology in the first place. Tools like the Digital Wellbeing Dashboard in Android 9 Pie and YouTube’s Time Watched offer ways to keep you more informed about your habits.

Despite being one of the wealthiest nations globally, research has shown that Singaporeans are amongst the unhappiest people in the world.

Disconnect when you need to. Take advantage of tools that help make it easier to take a break from your devices, and switch off at the end of each day.

Disconnect when you need to. Take advantage of tools that help make it easier to take a break from your devices, and switch off at the end of each day.

(more…)

Digital Photography Tips to Make Your Food Look Even More Delicious

Saturday, July 21st, 2018

Here are some handy food photography tips from Jonathan Berriman.

Source: Pixabay.com

Source: Pixabay.com

We’ve all had that millennial moment where we are served a delicious looking dish and immediately stand up to take a photo. Sometimes it just looks too good not to. Food photographers are some of the most followed influencers on Instagram and for good reason: people love food. We love eating food, we love making food, and we love looking at food.

(more…)

Fireworks Tip 3 of 3: Filling your frame

Thursday, August 6th, 2015

Here’s Part 3 of the three-part series on tips for shooting fireworks photos – on what kind of lens to use and getting creative with composition. Contributed by Canon Imaging Academy.

Use a wide angle lens to capture the entire fireworks scene. Photo credit: Canon Imaging Academy Associate Trainer Joseph Goh.

Use a wide angle lens to capture the entire fireworks scene. Photo credit: Canon Imaging Academy Associate Trainer Joseph Goh, Joseph Goh Photography.

Below is the final of the three-part series on tips for shooting dazzling photos of fireworks.

Editor’s note

Since the fireworks for the National Day celebrations are on such a big scale, it essentially covers a large amount of sky over the Marina Bay.

In order to capture all the different types of fireworks firing at the same time, and to avoid cropping part of a firework burst, use a wide angle camera that have a large field of view.

If you are using a zoom lens, zoom out to the widest angle.

(more…)

Fireworks Tip 2 of 3: Settings for the camera

Wednesday, August 5th, 2015

Here’s Part 2 of the three-part series on tips for shooting fireworks photos – on what settings to use in your camera. Contributed by Canon Imaging Academy.

Ever wondered what camera settings to use for shooting fireworks? Check out the recommendations from the Canon Imaging Academy. Photo credit: Canon Imaging Academy.

Ever wondered what camera settings to use for shooting fireworks? Check out the recommendations from the Canon Imaging Academy. Photo credit: Canon Imaging Academy.

Here are some settings that are optimal for shooting fireworks.

Editor’s note

Many cameras, including compact ones have a dedicated Scene mode for shooting fireworks where many of the camera settings highlighted below are automatically set to appropriate levels generally suitable for fireworks.

However, because the settings are pre-canned and generally shooting most fireworks, you can’t change the settings to custom-fit the exact lighting situations or to realise your specific artistic expression.

If you want the best shots, try out the settings suggested below by the Canon Imaging Academy.

(more…)

Fireworks Tip 1 of 3: National Day Fireworks, Camera, Action!

Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

The National Day Parade usually sees a spectacular display of fireworks at the end of the display. Canon Imaging Academy shares three tips to capturing great photos of fireworks.

Shooting great snapshots of fireworks is not difficult, as long as you spend a little time preparing ahead. Today’s tip is on what to prepare and how to go about it. Photo credit: Canon Imaging Academy.

Shooting great snapshots of fireworks is not difficult, as long as you spend a little time preparing ahead. Today’s tip is on what to prepare and how to go about it. Photo credit: Canon Imaging Academy.

This year being Singapore’s 50th anniversary for independence, the fireworks will be unprecedented, with daily fireworks displays throughout the Jubilee Weekend.

If you’re planning to shoot the fireworks next Sunday on 9 August, check out three quick tips that the Canon Imaging Academy has shared.

The details for these tips will be posted as a three-part series over three days, with the first tip covered today.

So read on…

(more…)

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.

(more…)