Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Gothere.sg new version launched

My previously recommended online street guide http://gothere.sg launched its new version which has street view similar to Google Earth and some additional feature.. Good work and very useful site for any one in Singapore

More details : http://blog.gothere.sg/

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Good comparsion on VOIP

Today i found good comparison on VOIP service providers' rates specially Betamax providers

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 - NZ & SG well done.. improvement there

Transparency International's this year results for Corruption Perceptions released and compare to last year values. NZ moved from 2nd to 1st place. SG from 4th to 3rd. Good to see leading the world in Anti corrupted country and best place to live...

Rank
Country/Territory
CPI 2009 Score
Surveys Used
Confidence Range
1
New Zealand
9.4
6
9.1 - 9.5
2
Denmark
9.3
6
9.1 - 9.5
3
Singapore
9.2
9
9.0 - 9.4
3
Sweden
9.2
6
9.0 - 9.3
5
Switzerland
9.0
6
8.9 - 9.1
6
Finland
8.9
6
8.4 - 9.4
6
Netherlands
8.9
6
8.7 - 9.0
8
Australia
8.7
8
8.3 - 9.0
8
Canada
8.7
6
8.5 - 9.0
8
Iceland
8.7
4
7.5 - 9.4

2008 Results :   http://life-at-singapore.blogspot.com/2008/09/corruption-perceptions-index-2008-well.html

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Cheap calling card for India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka,...

I have used several phone calling cards in Singapore and few online voip solutions as well. However when found this Hamara card details last week, it looks most cheapest option and still i have to see how quality and charging works with this card. In mean time, it would be useful for any one search for cheap calling card.


Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Be careful on mobile phones

It is really surprised news that due to stolen phone, phone owner paid S$ 2K as bill. I feel that it is unfair to consumers. Mobile operators should have some credit line based on phone usage or agreed amount with customer, which could safe guard both parties. And there could be chance to find the theft with phone numbers called. So, it is not difficult case to track. I am not sure why it ended like this.

Read full story: Today's letter

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Suprising pay to Bank's CEO - UOB and DBS CEOs among top 10 best paid

It is surprise that Bank CEO's highly paid among the other industries even though financial crisis there in that sector...

Interesting news read full story at Channel News Asia.:

Chief executives at Singapore banks UOB and DBS are among the top ten best paid executives in the Asia Pacific.

A report by management consultancy Hay Group and The Asian Banker - which ranks the top 50 best paid CEOs in the region - said that UOB's Wee Ee Cheong is the 8th best paid CEO, taking home between US$3.82 and US$3.99 million a year.

In 9th spot was former DBS CEO Richard Stanley, who was due to be paid between US$3.3 and US$3.47 million. Mr Stanley died of cancer in April this year.

OCBC's David Conner was the 11th best paid CEO, with a salary range from US$2.6 to US$2.78 million.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Singaporean entrepreneur gets €2m

The latest mobile technology venture from Singaporean entrepreneur Eric Barbier has raised €2 million in first round funding to expand the service internationally.

The mobile micro payment service Transfer To facilitates the transfer of mobile phone credits across borders, letting users give friends or relatives more calling minutes in their mobile phone account. The funding came from new investor Ingenico Ventures.

By sending text messages to Transfer To, foreign workers can use the service to recharge the prepaid mobile phones of their relatives back home. The cross border business of airtime remittance is estimated to be worth €202 billion a year and features 200 million migrant users.

Transfer To allows workers in countries Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico and Poland to send the equivalent of money in the form of airtime minutes to relatives.“Thanks to Transfer To, mobile operators, retailers, banks and money transfer companies can offer an innovative and differentiating service to their ethnic segment – an underserved market with a high telecom spending usage,” Barbier said  

Barbier is the founder of Mobile 365, which was acquired by Sybase for €286 million in 2006 and now operates as Sybase 365.
Source : Telecom Europe

Good Luck Eric Barbier...

Recommended Blog for Financial Planning

Recently i found an interesting and useful blog regarding financial planning and investments. Tan Kin Lian's Blog, Mr Tan is former NTUC Income chief executive and shares his views and others experiences in financial planning and investments. I recommend others to check it. Mostly  helpful for people living in Singapore.

URL: http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/

low crime doesn't means no crime

I have seen following sentence in many times here "low crime doesn't means no crime". It is true and felt very happy on that it is alert the people. Today i saw i news about robbery of 4 taxi drivers at knife point yesterday morning and 41 years old guy arrested. (Ref :Todayonline). I had similar bad experience in Sri Lanka around 2-1/2 years back and lost around 6K SLR to  bad guy got into my car as acting like ask for help. I was helpless. and that guy escaped. Surprise  here that the poor guy got arrested in within a day and good to see the law and order. And recently i found another news about try to bribe the traffic officer for S$20 for illegal parking.

The interesting and key success point in Singapore is giving good punishments for these crimes. Even though those are minor crimes, it does not mean no crimes.. :-) For $20 bribe, that lady could be fined up to S$100,000, or jailed for up to five years, or both. The poor robbery guy could  get punishment of imprisonment of at least 3 years but not more than 14 years, and a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane.

Low Crime doesn't means no Crime.. be alert...

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

21Mbps download speed for Mobile Broadband from M1

M1 will be offering mobile broadband service with download speed of up to 21Mbps island wide.. And now M1 HSPA+ network first in Asia Pacific to deploy MIMO to achieve Singapore' s fastest download speed of 28Mbps... With recent iphone deal and plan for fixed broadband and mobile TV in next year. Looks strong competition within mobile operators soon... Good for consumers...

See the MIMO network launch press release from Huawei web site:
http://www.huawei.com/news/view.do?id=11034&cid=42

"The HSPA+ network upgrade and deployment of MIMO are part of our ongoing efforts to provide our customers with an advanced and innovative high speed mobile broadband network. We will continue to work with Huawei to implement state-of-the-art technology to ensure that our HSPA+ network remains one of the most modern and sophisticated networks in the region capable of offering our customers a rich suite of mobile data services," said Patrick Scodeller, Chief Technical Officer of M1.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

M1 to offer iPhone latter this year... - breaking news

As per Today online news, M1's press release states abt offering iPhone latter this year. Currently only Singtel is the one offer iPhone to customers.. Hope this will be happy news for iPhone fans specially M1 subscribers...

http://www.todayonline.com/Tech/EDC091013-0000172/M1-to-offer-iPhone-later-this-year

Sunday, October 11, 2009

QS World University Rankings 2009 - NUS 30th & NTU 73rd Ranked

Great to see NUS & NTU universities ranked within top 100 universities.

Here First 100 universities list:

2007 RANK
2006 RANK
NAME
COUNTRY
PEER REVIEW SCORE
EMPLOYER REVIEW SCORE
STAFF/STUDENT SCORE
CITATIONS/STAFF SCORE
INTERNATIONAL STAFF SCORE
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SCORE
OVERAL SCORE
1
1
Harvard University
US
100
100
98
100
85
78
100.0
2
3
University of Cambridge
UK
100
100
100
89
98
96
99.6
3
2
Yale University
US
100
99
100
94
85
77
99.1
4
7
University College London
UK
98
99
100
90
96
99
99.0
5=
6
Imperial College London
UK
100
100
100
80
98
100
97.8
5=
4
University of Oxford
UK
100
100
100
80
96
97
97.8
7
8
University of Chicago
US
100
99
97
88
77
83
96.8
8
12
Princeton University
US
100
96
82
100
89
81
96.6
9
9
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
US
100
100
89
100
31
95
96.1
10
5
California Institute of Technology
US
99
72
87
100
100
89
95.9
11
10
Columbia University
US
100
99
97
92
28
89
95.6
12
11
University of Pennsylvania
US
96
99
85
98
82
60
94.2
13
13=
Johns Hopkins University
US
98
79
100
99
28
71
94.1
14
13=
Duke University
US
95
97
100
93
29
62
92.9
15
15
Cornell University
US
100
99
85
94
28
73
92.5
16
17
Stanford University
US
100
100
71
100
25
96
92.2
17
16
Australian National University
Australia
100
91
75
74
99
92
90.5
18
20
McGill University
Canada
100
97
92
61
67
95
90.4
19
18
University of Michigan
US
99
99
85
81
57
52
89.9
20=
23
University of Edinburgh
UK
97
99
84
65
93
86
89.3
20=
24
ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Switzerland
97
80
55
99
100
94
89.3
22
19
University of Tokyo
Japan
100
97
98
70
28
42
88.9
23
22
King’s College London
UK
91
98
90
67
92
88
88.4
24
26
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
96
89
87
56
100
95
87.5
25
25
Kyoto University
Japan
100
93
81
85
32
26
87.1
26
29
University of Manchester
UK
94
100
79
58
90
87
85.7
27
21
Carnegie Mellon University
US
94
93
56
88
62
96
85.6
28
28
Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris
France
94
87
100
53
76
61
85.4
29
41
University of Toronto
Canada
100
96
63
74
82
51
85.3
30
30=
National University of Singapore
Singapore
100
96
40
75
100
100
84.3
31
27
Brown University
US
88
85
67
97
53
55
83.9
32=
30=
University of California, Los Angeles
US
100
98
46
100
21
33
83.5
32=
33
Northwestern University
US
86
97
78
79
28
100
83.5
34
32
University of Bristol
UK
83
99
84
69
85
77
83.4
35
39
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Hong Kong
89
86
84
54
100
99
83.3
36=
34=
Ecole Polytechnique
France
76
99
100
65
63
95
83.1
36=
38
University of Melbourne
Australia
100
100
57
61
59
97
83.1
36=
37
University of Sydney
Australia
99
97
58
53
99
95
83.1
39
36
University of California, Berkeley
US
100
100
25
100
86
34
82.7
40
34=
University of British Columbia
Canada
100
93
51
77
34
60
81.2
41
43
University of Queensland
Australia
94
95
47
67
99
82
80.7
42
50=
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Switzerland
67
70
92
84
100
100
80.6
43=
44
Osaka University
Japan
92
73
90
68
24
33
80.1
43=
49
Trinity College Dublin
Ireland
88
96
72
49
98
83
80.1
45
47
Monash University
Australia
98
99
56
42
95
96
80.0
46
42
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
87
77
77
55
97
79
79.6
47=
45
University of New South Wales
Australia
96
99
39
62
82
93
79.0
47=
50=
Seoul National University
South Korea
99
69
92
47
29
33
79.0
49=
53
University of Amsterdam
Netherlands
93
81
73
62
71
32
78.9
49=
56
Tsinghua University
China
98
83
95
34
45
34
78.9
51
48
University of Copenhagen
Denmark
84
67
100
48
71
73
78.8
52=
40
New York University
US
94
94
75
53
26
52
78.4
52=
50=
Peking University
China
100
93
89
35
24
30
78.4
54
46
Boston University
US
87
87
68
67
25
89
77.8
55=
78=
Technical University of Munich
Germany
73
90
92
58
56
74
76.3
55=
61
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Japan
81
79
72
80
31
49
76.3
57
57
Heidelberg University
Germany
90
47
77
58
58
80
76.2
58
69
University of Warwick
UK
86
100
63
39
85
97
75.7
59
74
University of Alberta
Canada
88
71
65
52
91
66
75.4
60
64
Leiden University
Netherlands
89
58
35
97
74
40
75.3
61=
65
University of Auckland
New Zealand
95
96
36
45
93
99
74.7
61=
55
University of Wisconsin-Madison
US
90
76
44
87
29
36
74.7
63=
81=
Aarhus University
Denmark
83
51
65
75
69
66
74.5
63=
71
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
US
92
66
23
93
72
49
74.5
65
72
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Belgium
94
80
35
73
55
55
74.2
66
75
University of Birmingham
UK
78
93
57
63
83
76
73.9
67=
66
London School of Economics
UK
89
100
53
29
100
100
73.7
67=
88
Lund University
Sweden
84
59
55
78
57
62
73.7
69
95
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
South Korea
84
52
77
65
47
31
72.6
70=
67
Utrecht University
Netherlands
87
65
61
71
43
24
72.4
70=
81=
University of York
UK
63
95
75
61
95
83
72.4
72
68
University of Geneva
Switzerland
68
36
54
96
97
100
72.3
73=
77
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
86
84
44
44
100
100
72.0
73=
60
Washington University in St Louis
US
57
50
95
98
30
53
72.0
75
63
Uppsala University
Sweden
89
51
42
80
68
40
71.9
76=
58
University of California, San Diego
US
98
51
17
100
22
27
71.5
76=
70
University of Texas at Austin
US
93
92
29
65
55
41
71.5
78
102=
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
US
72
78
72
82
23
26
71.3
79
73
University of Glasgow
UK
73
83
67
64
58
60
71.2
80
59
University of Washington
US
83
46
45
99
25
36
71.1
81
106=
University of Adelaide
Australia
78
87
38
62
87
96
70.8
82
76
University of Sheffield
UK
65
97
70
59
81
76
70.6
83
78=
Delft University of Technology
Netherlands
78
88
57
49
84
73
70.4
84
83=
University of Western Australia
Australia
72
81
50
63
99
87
70.2
85
54
Dartmouth College
US
58
93
60
100
34
52
70.1
86
83=
Georgia Institute of Technology
US
76
81
23
99
36
77
70.0
87=
99=
Purdue University
US
83
83
38
58
94
60
69.8
87=
83=
University of St Andrews
UK
57
92
74
61
91
99
69.8
89
108
University College Dublin
Ireland
72
94
67
37
95
90
69.7
90
62
Emory University
US
51
68
94
90
41
45
69.6
91
86
University of Nottingham
UK
70
99
61
48
84
86
69.4
92=
120
Nagoya University
Japan
67
77
89
61
28
34
69.2
92=
106=
University of Zurich
Switzerland
79
37
22
98
99
71
69.2
94
137=
Free University of Berlin
Germany
87
31
28
92
49
63
69.0
95=
99=
University of Southampton
UK
64
87
66
59
86
76
68.9
95=
124=
National Taiwan University
Taiwan
93
82
39
57
29
25
68.9
97
112
Tohoku University
Japan
67
58
98
58
36
32
68.6
98
93=
Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich
Germany
86
45
34
76
53
66
68.4
99
104
University of Leeds
UK
73
99
57
48
75
62
68.3
100
78=
Rice University
US
56
44
86
87
38
67
68.1

NZ, Auckland University also ranked within this top 100 as at 61. To see complete list:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Rankings2009-Top200.html

Friday, October 9, 2009

Two women trapped on train

   When i was in Telok Blangah area, i have seen few passengers came to Habourfront MRT from ChinaTown/Outrom Park station and stay in train as it will go back to Punggol.

  As i understood that it is get comfortable seating and there is no extra cost on that.This news story show some warning to those passengers and thought to share in blog. However SBS Transit action looks impressive and how passenger care taken care by them.

  Some of countries which i know, i can not see this type of apologies as they to argue for their side point of view than consider passengers as customers.... Good reaction SBS Transit. Keep it up..

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Singapore NBN IP, GPON contracts to Huawei & ALU

As i read from Telecomm news site, Huawei wins Singapore national broadband network contract. Looks deals valued Huawei and ALU are in 70% and 30% respectively.

Huawei will roll out an end-to-end network with IP MPLS core, GPON and an active ethernet access network. It will also deliver professional services, CPE and network management.

Alcatel-Lucent will supply the OSS/BSS and act as systems integrator. The contract will include service assurance, customer care and billing and is targeted for completion by July next year.

Full news can be found from telecomseurope website..

MediaCorp news can be subscribe via MMS & SMS....

Mobile One (M1) and MediaCorb teams up to give new feature to subscribers such get the news alerts to phone via SMS/MMS. SMS normally i have seen in other places. MMS would be new for this news service... See Channel News Asia for more details:

MediaCorp teams up with M1 to provide news to subscribers via MMS & SMS

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Higher pay rise next year as bosses turn upbeat...

Good to see economic situation getting better for every one... See this news in Channel News Asia

Higher pay rise next year as bosses turn upbeat

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Economy Ranking - Doing Business - Singapore 1st, NZ is 2nd,... Others follows...

Good to see the world bank report on economy rankings regarding doing business...

Singapore in first place as usual and next one is New Zealand. Both are lagging in some areas however overall rank better... It is good for some start up companies to plan based on these ranking and decide the location.

NZ is 1st and best one for starting business and protecting investors, while Singapore is for employing workers and trading across the borders. For closing business, Japan is number one...

Other countries ranking as follows... Hong Kong, China 3rd, Next ones are USA, UK, Denmark, Ireland, Canada, Australia,...

Sri Lanka ranked 105 and India 133..

Full ranking available at http://www.doingbusiness.org/economyrankings/

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Cost of Living....

World Cost of Living July 2009: Tokyo returns to the top position and Dublin ranks 25th of 143 in the Mercer 2009 Cost of Living city rankings, dropping 9 places from 2008.The decline of rental and food prices in Dublin, coupled with the fall in the value of the euro against the US dollar, has caused Dublin to drop down in the rankings. Noel O'Connor, Senior Consultant at Mercer, commented: “As a direct impact of the economic downturn over the last year many currencies, including the Euro and British pound, have weakened considerably against a strong US dollar causing a number of European cities to plummet in the rankings.”

Tokyo has knocked Moscow off the top spot to become the world's most expensive city for expatriates according to the Mercer survey. Osaka is in 2nd position, up 9 places since last year, followed by Moscow in 3rd place. Geneva climbs to 4th position and Hong Kong moves up to 5th. Johannesburg in South Africa is the least expensive city in the ranking.

The survey covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. For example, a large fast food hamburger meal can cost up to €7.15 in Dublin compared to €2.68 in Beijing.

The data is used to help multinational companies and governments to determine compensation allowance for their expatriate employees.

O'Connor also noted: “With significant exposure to multiple economies and currencies, multinational companies continue to be greatly affected by the financial crisis. The cost of expatriate programmes is heavily influenced by currency fluctuations and inflation rates. It is important for multinational companies to continuously review their compensation packages and ensure they are in line with the rest of the market.”

Europe

Moscow remains the most expensive city in Europe for expatriates in 3rd place. However, a dramatic depreciation of the rouble against the US dollar has led to a sharp fall in the city's index score compared to 2008 (115.4 in 2009 V's 142.4 in 2008). The next European cities in the ranking are Geneva and Zurich in 4th and 6th place, up from 8th and 9th respectively.

European cities have experienced some of this year's steepest falls in the ranking, with Warsaw plummeting from 35th to 113th and Glasgow (129th place) and Birmingham (125th place) in the UK falling 60 and 59 places respectively. German and Spanish cities all fell between eight and 11 places, whereas cities in Sweden, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary all fell between 36 and 48 places. “As most European currencies have weakened against the dollar it has become more costly for companies based in this region to send expatriates and their families to US cities,” said Mr. O'Connor.

Oslo and London, both previously in the top 10, are now in 14th and 16th place respectively. “The decline of rental prices in both London and Oslo, coupled with the fall in the value of British pound and Norwegian krone against the US dollar, have caused these cities to plummet in the ranking,” said O'Connor.

The Americas

New York remains the highest ranking city in the region and has also joined the global top 10 list this year, jumping from 22nd to 8th place. Los Angeles is up 32 places to 23rd and Washington is up 41 places to 66th. Winston Salem is the cheapest US city surveyed, ranked at 126. All cities in the US have experienced a rise in this year's ranking due to the strengthening of the US dollar.

Canadian cities have slipped down the index with its highest ranking city Toronto down 31 places to 85th. Ottawa drops 36 places to 121st and Montreal is now in 103rd place, down from 72nd in 2008.

In 15th place and up 74 places from 2008, Caracas in Venezuela is the top ranking city in South America. Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro have experienced a reverse move, plummeting from 25th to 72nd and 31st to 73rd respectively. Buenos Aires has climbed 26 to reach 112th place. “Although the Argentine peso has lost value against the US dollar, the high inflation rate observed on goods and services have caused Buenos Aires to rise in the rankings,” said O'Connor

Asia

Tokyo moves up one place in the ranking to become the most expensive city for expatriates both in Asia and globally. The Japanese yen has strengthened considerably against the US dollar which also lifts Osaka into 2nd place from 11th in 2008. Hong Kong follows in 5th place and Singapore has moved up three places to reach 10th. In 140th place, Karachi continues to be the least costly city in this region – up one place from last year.

Australia and New Zealand

Cities in this region have taken a significant plunge in the ranking following a dramatic depreciation of the Australian and New Zealand dollars against the US dollar. Sydney remains the most expensive city for expatriates in this region but has dropped from 15th to 66th. Melbourne follows in 92nd, down from 36th. Auckland has moved down to 138th place from 78th and Wellington follows in 139th down from 93rd.