Almost an iPhone - Samsung F480 With all the buzz of the coming iPhone 3G, I’m pretty excited about it myself. But before I can get a chance to touch it, I got a chance to review the Olympics phone by Samsung - The F480. I know its strange why I am reviewing this instead of the much talk about Omnia. Well, since its already so much talked about, no point me writing for it again right? So how’s this small, sleek and rather sexy Samsung F480 has that was compared with the iPhone 3G? “The Apple iPhone 3G and Samsung F480 Tocco are similar phones. Each of them comes with similar features and capabilities. Which one is better is a question that many people want answered.” by Caroline Telford Well, you can read what Caroline has to say about comparing the two for now. Here I’m going to share how I feel about the Samsung F480 aka the “Olympics phone”. F480 with leather cover that came in standard package The first thing that impressed me was how Samsung took into consideration how users would want to protect their precious phone. There’s 2 battery covers that come in their standard package. One is a matching cover with the back material that’s a little not-so-user-friendly as it’s quite hard to slide out. And the other is this black leather version where there’s a flip on the other side to protect the screen. Overall the phone looks very executive like with the cover. A plus for beauty and functionality of the cover. This is how it looks like from behind… The other thing I love about this phone is the 5.0megapixel camera. I hate it when my camera phone does not have the auto focus feature. When I got this phone for trial, i couldn’t stop snapping and flickr-ing, tumblr-ing and twitpic-ing almost everywhere I go! (Thanks for mobile broadband!) Demo of the features for the camera… Here are more shots taken with the Samsung F480 5.0mp camera… Close-up of my purse It’s pretty clear for a shot like this. View the *higher res here. *Not at the highest possible resolution of the 5.0mp. It’s only shot at 1280×960. Here’s a test for the zoom function of the camera… At wide view… Standing at exact same spot with full zoom… And here’s a shot taken in the cinema while watching the Olympics Opening on HD5… Looks even better than some taken with the pns camera right? Wahahaha! Full HD on hugeeee screen okay! Siew lah! And finally this taken indoor (my room). The color is quite nice still even at low light condition. More photo samples can be found here. YES! The answer is Samsung F480! Winners announced at end of this post. Overall I give this phone a 4.5 out of 5 for its camera feature. The last time I had a decent camera phone was 2 years ago with the Sony K750i. I think the one thing that is almost like an iPhone is the menu and type of applications. The menu (as seen in the photo below) are nicely colored and has most of the basic function of a mobile phone. I think there are more that can be downloaded. I didn’t quite explore that. Menu view The thing I find user friendly is the widget menu that’s similar to the Samsung Omnia phone. The sidebar which slides out when called is very useful for applications which the user uses often. Widget view Widget sidebar For me, the changing of profile setting is quick and easy using this widget sidebar feature. You may also customised this sidebar with any of the applications in the phone. To activate/use the applications in the sidebar, all you need to do is touch and drag the icon out of the sidebar and choose the settings you desire. And then touch and drag it back into the sidebar. Video of the sidebar in action… Some other points which I noted of the Samsung F480 are… 1. The touch isn’t as clever as compared to the iPhone. And I had problems trying to use the phone while its laying flat on the table. It doesn’t seem to react to my touch when its flat. I had to tilt it up than the touch was sensitive enough for the action to take place. 2. The browser does not support flash players and files. Not sure if there’s any way users can download the plugin for this. But with the increase in demand for full internet browsing feature on mobile phones, I find that it is a must to have flash compatible browser installed. Heard that the new iPhone 3G will have that. Let’s wait and see. 3. The battery life is pretty good. With high usage of the internet browser and camera, the battery could last me about 2.5days with a full charge. But do note that I do not use it often for calls and SMS during those 2.5days. 4. There’s no Qwerty keyboard! It would be nice if there’s a choice to switch between keypad and Qwerty. But I guess the touch buttons would probably be ultra small (smaller than iPhone) if they do have it on the F480. 5. There’s smart-view feature for the web browser. Which is quite clever. Watch the attached video clip to see it in action! Web browsing on F480… Overall I find the Samsung F480 quite a nice and friendly phone. Its suitable for both man and woman as the touch buttons were quite big. If not for the tempting new 3G iPhone that’s coming out, I would probably give this phone a go. Price tag isn’t that expensive too with a mobile contract. Too bad I didn’t get to keep the phone for my own use. (But don’t you think I deserve to own one since I did such a detail review? LOL! *wink wink*) And finally! There were 2 correct answers for my guess the camera contest. I did a coin flip and the winner of the mystery prize goes to… Darran! Yeah! Congrats!! I’ll be contacting you soon to pass you the prize! *This review is made possible by the Samsung Touch Ambassador program. Olympics Opening on HD5 - Excited Yet Disappointed Had the privilege to witness the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics with the nice people at MediaCorp on 080808. I was wowed by the opening ceremony and having watched it on the huge screen in the cinema with FullHD quality and dolby sound! Impressive display of unity, strength and pride by the Chinese. Its a day for them to be proud of and remember for a very long time. After the excitement of the performances, the rest of the session before the torch relay was quite a pain to watch. I waited patiently in the cinema for Team Singapore to appear and just couple minutes before 11pm, finally we spotted the familiar sight of our flag. Everyone in the cinema cheered and clapped when Singapore appeared on screen. But I was sadden by the fact that the one holding the flag wasn’t a Singaporean! I know Li Jia Wei has done Singapore proud before, but having her carry the country’s flag at an international event like this just doesn’t seem appropriate. Furthermore, she was either too tired or has weak arms or did it on purpose. How could she sweep the stadium ground with our flag? Some may say that its just a little bit, but if you watched closely, the flag was swiping the ground almost throughout her march past! This just made it hurt even more. 12 Lotus - A Mixture of Emotions 《12莲花》 (”12 Lotus”) - A Royston Tan film The movie poster almost tells the story of the show already. Take a closer look and you’ll see Mindee’s and Liu Ling Ling’s hand clutched tightly into a fist. The two of them shares a very close relationship in the show. It tells their story, their life and their hardship. This show is an emotional ride. After the fantastic and emotionally torturing experience for me in Royston’s previous show, “881″, I was prepared with 2 packets of tissue paper this time round. But at the end of the show, I didn’t even touch them. “12 Lotus” gave me a mixture of emotions. When I was about to start my tap and cry, something just happened and immediately switched the mood to the total opposite. Emotions I got during the session… I was touched, I teared, I laughed, my heart almost fell out from my chest and I was disturbed. (Sound almost like an anti-climax sex right? Haha!) I really shouldn’t share too much about the film since its to be released this week, but this show is worth the go. Qi Yu Wu has matured and had lots of room for him to perform in “12 Lotus” instead of the quiet man in “881″. His performance in “12 Lotus” is worth the mention. We (Abang and Me) congratulated him at the end of the session before we left. He did great! In those I watched, from “881″ to “The Leap Years” and now to “12 Lotus”, every show he’d shown great improvements. One of the reasons why I wanted to watch this show is because of the little boy in it. When I saw him in the promotional clips of the movie, I know I must go catch it. My cutest and dearest ex-student is acting in it! I’ve seen him in couple of TCS8 dramas and now he’s on the big screen! Wow! When I saw him appear on the screen during the movie, my heart melted. I’m very touched by Damus’ acting. He made me cry once again. (The last time he did that was when we met in school during Teacher’s day and he said he missed my lessons.) His role in “12 Lotus” is a getai performer with the name “Astroboy” (小飞侠). He was initially forced to perform by his mother, but later joined forces with 莲花 to perform on stage. Damus shocked me by his excellent performance and his singing! When he cried in the show, I cried too! At just 10-years old, he did very well. Even the director, Royston, was impressed and mentioned his talent during the Blog Aloud session. I am very very impressed. I’m sure his parents are very proud of him. Now that I’ve watched the show, I’ll look out for the OST! Hope they’ve got all the songs performed in the show in the album. Love them all! The remixes and the voice of Royston himself! *Woot!* MUST BUY LAH! Hmm… maybe I’ll go watch the show one more time with my parents! Qi Yu Wu, Eric and Royston Here are some clips taken during the Blog Aloud session with the directors and actor… Before we left, I wanted to catch Royston to ask a few questions and take a photo with him, but he ran away before we came out. But Qi Yu Wu stayed (or was stopped by his fans). So I had a quick shot with Ah Wu… Ah Wu and Claudia Arggghhhh! My face damn round lah! Fat liao! Need to start dieting plan again! Anyway, he’s the focus of the photo not me lah! Comparing him now and the other time I saw him, I prefer him this way. Mature and charming. The other time he dressed to be more wild and funky which didn’t quite suit him IMHO. “12 Lotus” although also focusing on the Chinese 7th Month, but its a totally different feel and story as compared to “881″. “881″ has got the getai as the main focus and is the “foreground” of the entire show. But “12 Lotus” has made the getai the “background” and tried to bring the story of 莲花 (played by Mindee Ong and Liu Ling Ling) as the main focus of the entire show. But still, the getai set-up and performance in the movie “WOW”-ed the audience. The special effects (although not as much as “881″) added the wow-factor into the show. I’m sure many will rush down to watch getai again this year. To me, I feel that Royston’s show is the biggest draw to many of the getai performances during the 7th Month. Hope I’ll have chance to catch some this month too. If you understands Hokkien (or don’t mind reading subtitles), into Hokkien songs (I loveee the remixes and songs!), enjoy watching musical (lots of singing and dancing) and supports local production (or fan of Royston and Ah Wu), you MUST go catch “12 Lotus”! Go watch and tell me if you suffered the anti-climax too. *LOL* Bring your grandma, grandpa, auntie, uncle, father, mother and everyone in your family to watch! I’m sure they’ll enjoy it. “12 Lotus” is coming to the cinemas on August 14! Just 2 days to go! Go watch! Support local productions! Here’s a teaser for you to tempt you further… quick go book your tickets now! Thanks to Sheylara for the tickets. And thanks to Michele from SPRG and Caroline from GV for initiating Blog Aloud. Hope there will be more opportunities to meet again soon. Ok, I’m very long-winded in this post. I keep adding thoughts and salt and pepper into this post as I waited for the videos to render and upload. My thoughts and post might seem rather messy lah. So pai say ah! Finally ending this post with a few words…. “HUAT AH!!“. Erm no lah, that’s not what I wanted to say. It should be… “Without pain, there’s no love. Without love, there’s no pain.” Go watch “12 Lotus”! Link love: www.12lotusthemovie.com Roadshow: Meet the casts and director of 12 Lotus! Date: 16 Aug 2008 Time and locations: 2pm - 3pm AMK Hub 4pm - 5pm Downtown East 11pm - 12am Hong Guan @ AMK HUb Claud Wants To Eat Outing #01 This is the first Claudia.sg outing! Yeah!! Why am I doing this? Because I want to eat crabs!! Let’s go together lah! Its never fun to eat good food alone! Photo by ReiKo Cause Claudia was too hungry to take photo when she was there. At… Seafood Crab King (by Mellben Seafood) Blk 440 #01-13 Pasir Ris Drive 4 Details and reviews here on… 29 August 2008, Friday 8.00pm Each pax should be about $15 to $20, depending on what we’ll order and the number of people going. Who’s keen? Sign-up now! GV Giving Out 4D numbers? Saw this when I entered the site… GV is trying to give out lucky 4D numbers? Anyone trying to buy it? Every week got a new number leh! I wonder what will happen if the number really comes on in the week’s draw? Hohoho! 2010 - Clarissa’s Wedding Album 2010 may be the year for me. To help prepare for that day, I’m going to start doing my homework from now. In 2010 collection, I’ll gather all the wedding ideas, good references and recommendations from friends and family. To start of, here’s a collection of photos from Clarissa and Mr. T Wedding Album. I loveeeee the concept and effect of the shots. These shots looks like its from a Taiwan series or movie can? So nice!! I also want! This is my most favorite shot from their album. This is my second most favorite shot! Can be used as a movie poster right? SO NICE!! This shot tells me a story. Perfect couple I like the mood in this Nice gown!! More photos can be found on Clarissa’s blog. Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 The bride is beautiful and has a great personality. She’s fun and outgoing. The groom is so charming and handsome! (Gals, if you’re still single, fly to Taiwan often! Yap! Mr. T’s from Taiwan!) Perfect couple! Thanks Bobo for getting the information for me from here sister. This collection is taken in Taiwan at Julia Wedding News. Guess which camera produced these? Can you guess which camera are these produced from? A lucky winner will win a mystery prize from me! Latest plushies by Mini Toons (SO cute right??) At TCC @ Central In the car Hmmmm….. Guess what this is for? LOL! Retro bikes at Kallang Leisure Park Wall.e at Kallang Leisure Park The Latest Album I bought - Jason Mraz!! Jason Mraz love hats! Video taken with the same camera…. I’ll announce the answer and result by 16 Aug 2008. Come come guess guess. Don’t shy. I’m Playing Him Over and Over and Over i simply can’t stop watching and listening to him! i heart Jason Mraz! I’m Yours by Jason Mraz Wordplay by Jason Mraz Find him on his official site | MySpace | Facebook. Singapore Bike Fest 2008 - Photos Happened to discover this event - Singapore Bike Fest 2008, while Abang was at Kallang Leisure Mall with his friends. We went on Saturday afternoon to check out what its all about. When we arrived, I was expecting huge crowd with lots of tents and happenings, but as the sun was too hot, most people stayed indoor at Kallang Leisure Mall atrium, where some vendors were showcasing their latest or classic motorcycles. There were crowds of the Harley Davidson gang and Ducati bike gang. When there’s bikes and men, there’ll sure be babes. But I only spotted a couple there when I was indoor. Didn’t manage to snap any shots so don’t expect to see hot babes in here. At around 4.30pm, we headed back outside to catch the stunt show. When I heard stunt show, I was anticipating ramps, burned out tires, dangerous jumps and what not. But there were just two bikes and two men riding and doing wheelie and whacking their exhaust with tons of smelly gas. *cough* *cough* *cough* Lucky I was standing at the other side The most “exciting” stunt was when they have pillion on their bike and they did they stunt. I was sweating out for the ladies. One of them was too skinny and light, the rider didn’t manage to get the wheelie done properly. This is one of the better take by the stuntman. Perhaps cos the lady weighs just right and was holding tightly for her dear life. WOAH! Scary! Overall not that well received as I’d thought, but guess its consider alright with more than 500 (?) bikes gathering at the same location that day. Or maybe the Sunday one was more happening. Anyone went? Here are some of more of the shots I took that day… Front view From the back This you’ll never get to see on our road… Stunt on the ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) One of the sexiest bike spotted that day… Retro lah! This one may look normal from afar Take a closer look at what’s on the side! Fierce okay! Ending this post with two out-of-topic shots… Abang Rocks! If you’ve not seen me for awhile, this is how I look now… Damn fat lah! Eat too much liao! And the hair just makes it worst! Wahahahaha! VAIO redefined and launched 3 latest models Sony wants to get Closer To You. This is their new slogan and goal to bring computing and technology closer to you. Their mission is to create the intimacy relationship of your notebooks and you by incorporating quality, design and intelligent software. VAIO, which used to stand for Video Audio Integrated Operation, is now redefined to become the Visual Audio Intelligent Organiser. Sony being one of the leading leader in visual and sound, they wants not only to allow you to enjoy the end product, but allowing you to create your own products too. Packed in all VAIO machines, there are many smart and easy to use applications, such as VAIO Media Plus and VAIO Movie Story, that will allow anyone to create their own movies, photo slideshows and rich media on their VAIO machine. (Who says you can only do these on a Mac? Claudia is now a fan of Sony too! *grinz*) In order to bring it Closer To You, Sony has designed 3 distinctive machines to suit the various individual’s needs. The VAIO SR series allows users to have a single notebook that will work efficiently for both work and play, with just a press of a button (almost similar to “Spaces” feature in Mac OS X). For those who needs performance but hates the bulkiness, you’ll sure love the upcoming VAIO Z series. This allow users to choose between high graphic performance and extended battery life with just a switch, without having to reboot the system. And finally, for those who are into entertainment, Blue-ray and HD, you’ll love the VAIO FW series. It comes with an impressive Clear Bright Rich Color 16.4-inch, true 16:9 aspect ratio widescreen display. Packs with an outstanding sound quality with Dolby Sound Room suite, you will be able to immerse yourself in satisfying audio experience right from your laptop! Have I tempted you enough to go check out these sexy, incredible and to-die-for machines? Here are some of the photos taken at the launch of the above VAIO models… VAIO demo section VAIO Z display - For the driven individuals VAIO SR display - For the trendy individuals VAIO FW display - For the fun individuals Thanks to Ben for the invitation to witness the reveal of three of the latest Sony machines at Fullerton Hotel on Thursday. Up soon, a comparison between the two… Find out why Claudia made that decision. PS: This post is being edited and compiled on wordpress on a VAIO too! Man Murdered at Toa Payoh. Father of my tutor. This wasn’t how I intended to do as my first blog post after reviving my blog from my short hiatus. But when Mum told me that the man killed was the father of my tutor, I felt an ache in my heart. It always hit me when I hear death of someone whom I know or someone close to someone I know. I’ve never met her father, but I know my tutor and her sister. They’re both very nice people. She’s my first tutor and until today, she’ll still ask about me when she sees my mother at the coffee shop. And through my mum, I know about how the two sisters are doing. I first heard about the case over radio while on the road. I was sad that such things happened to a friendly old man, as reported by the press. But when I heard that the man was father of my tutor, I feel worst. I hope whoever that may know what happened help solve this case. Don’t be selfish. Cooperate with the police. I’m sure the family needs and wants to know who, what or why it happened. Condolences to the victim’s family. Claudia is Coming Back Soon! See the changes taking place here? Claudia is slowly reviving Claudia.sg. She’s coming back soon! Did anyone miss her? Nah… doubt so. Stay tune for more updates coming real soon! I CaNz hAz tOp 10 tOo! I just couldn’t resists! Wahahahahahaha! Ok, enough of child’s play. I’ve got more serious work to do you know? This blog will be on a short hiatus from this post on. Till we meet again! Sayonara! Disclaimer update: Just for everyone’s understanding, Claudia usually breaks up her posts of major events into many parts so that her readers need not scroll too much and also for her to post her thoughts of the event better. She has no intention of breaking it up so as to get more pageviews or to get into the top10 charts. She doesn’t run any ads on this blog hence its really pointless for her to do that. Posting everything in one post is much easier as she doesn’t have to arrange the photos in any storyline or title. However she feels that it’ll be more reader friendly for users to find photos they want to use or post that they want to read. Claudia wish to thanks one and all for their friendly mention in their blogs (be it good or bad). If you have any comments or feedback, Claudia appreciates if you can contact her directly via any means possible. Her email is somewhere on the sidebar, do feel free to drop her an email. Ping Anniversary After Party I almost forgot! Some of us headed down for drinking after the party on Saturday! And boy it was fun! Some of them sure shake-it-out man! Sexy! Here are the video clips I took with my shaky hands that night… Pinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng PONG! Shake it baby YEAH! I want to shake too!! Wahahahahaha! Claudia and Ping.sg More than a year ago, Claudia got to learn about Ping.sg from some blogger’s blog and it was also the period where Ping.sg was about to celebrate its first anniversary. Claudia was unsure at first whether or not to join the party as she didn’t know anyone from Ping.sg. Feeling adventurous, she signed up for it eventually and went with a girl friend of hers. Both of them had not a single idea who was going to be there. Claudia did some homework before the party and she recognized some of the bloggers present. She was able to point out some of the people there including… Kevin, U-zyn, Arzhou, Rinaz, DK, Veron, Sheylara, Josh, Ming and a few others. Sadly, she didn’t go up to any of them to say hi. And she felt that they, being the regulars, could have approached the new faces at the event instead to make them feel welcome. She only recalled a girl (Daphne) going around trying to break-ice with everyone. The rest of the gang, well, were just being within their own gang. Claudia even wrote a not-so-good post about it but still looked forward to their 2nd anniversary. Although the very first gathering with Pingsters didn’t turn out that well, Claudia continues to hang around in Ping.sg, and quietly supports Ping by checking back regularly, helping to spread the words around (although her traffic was very bad than), doing the Ping.sg Ad and she even started attending gatherings and outings with fellow Pingsters. In fact she attended quite a number of these outings! She tries her best to take nice photos at every gatherings to help her remember who was present and so that she could blog about it. Events attended over the past 1 year with Ping.sg… 29 Jul 07: Outing at Miss Clarity Cafe 9 Sep 07: Island Creamy 3 Dec 07: Meet up at The POD 10 Dec 07: Launch of Ping.sg Tshirt 10 Jan 08: Pizza outing at Finalmente 17 Feb 08: Ping CNY gathering at Decoders Cafe 17 May 08: Lim Jiu at Brewerkz 14 Jun 08: Prawning Outing 3 Jul 08: Pizza Outing at Peperoni 19 Jul 08: Ping 2nd Anniversary Although it was just a short one year time, Claudia got to know a lot of friends through blogging and Ping.sg. Some became quite close and is bonded with some of them too. (But none as close as becoming a BFF-kind-of-close) She is very happy that blogging actually helped expand her social circle and it also gives her the opportunity to attend events and launches that’s “By Invitation” only. This also have been keeping Claudia very busy attending, editing the photos/videos and sharing her experience with her blog readers. Claudia knows that in any community, online or offline, there will sure to be conflicts, fights, ups and downs. (She’d experienced even worst cases back in her ex-workplace.) But these are also the elements that helped make the community and relationship even closer. It also allows everyone in the community to see and find out more about the people in it. Claudia started off in a not-so-friendly situation with Ping.sg, but she’s very glad that she’s still participating in the community and is able to contribute a little here and there. She loves taking photos of the pretty, sexy, handsome and friendly people in Ping.sg. Claudia will continue to support Ping and the nice people behind it. (No matter who they are.) She don’t know how long more will she be able to continue supporting the community, but as long as she’s still blogging, still typing, still taking photos, she’ll do her best in anyway she can to support Ping. Claudia is happy that the 2nd anniversary was a success and she feels that it was more relax and casual this time round. The group was smaller than the first one, but this also allows more interaction between those present. It was more informal and fun. Claudia is happy to meet all the new pingsters and catch up with the long time supporters like herself. Ping is not just another community that Claudia is engaging in. Ping is a community where she truly enjoys and love being part of. Claudia wishes Ping and Uzyn all the best and may Ping grow and grow and grow! Ping 2nd Anniversary Part 6 - Photos of Pingsters Here are all the rest of the shots taken on Saturday of the Pingsters. Find all the pretty, sexy, handsome and candid shots here! Group shot of Pingsters and Friends… (Bigger version) with some MIA as they had to leave early Sekling and U-zyn Wendy and Uray Mintea and Rinaz Sheylara Jean Miccheng Shy NTT and Mintea Yufeng, ironicgamer and Rei Krisandro the Chao Ah Beng Nicholas and Hilary Diana with daughter Shervon Hendri, Kahwee and Sylvia Lance and Darren Sheylara and Jacelyn Hendri, Kris, Kahwee, Darren and Lance Daryl (trying to shoot me while I shoot them), Nicholas (trying to steal Sheylara’s food) and Sheylara Hmm… Me with sweet and adorable Shervon Ping on Ping on Ping (understand? Wahahahaha!) (Bigger version) Another group shot (blurred thou. Sad!) Who has the biggest manboobs?? (Bigger version) Jerrick Lim!! Here are some of the award recipients… The 2 sexy and hot bloggers… Krisandro and Rinaz Congrats once again!! For everyone who were at the party, do feel free to use all the photos posted for your blog. I won’t try to sue anyone for using the photos. Wahahaha! These photos are taken by me, a member of Ping.sg community, for you, members of Ping.sg community! For full collection of photos, you can view it here. Some will also be uploaded in Facebook. So tag away! Next up - Claud’s Personal Thoughts on Ping.sg Ping 2nd Anniversary Part 5 - The Finale When everyone’s stomach was filled up, we gathered back for the highlight of the day. Ping Lipdub Video and the announcement of the Grand Award winners! Rinaz shared her experiences from creating the first Ping.sg community video The Ping Lipdub Video We can see how excited she was ya? The video is very very well done! Everyone loves it! I was rather angry with myself as I couldn’t make it to any of the recordings. Hope we’ll have a second one for Ping’s 3rd Anniversary! Here’s the video by Rinaz… After the video, we gathered the finalist for the Most Pong and Poof Awards Arzhou, Krisandro, Shervon and Sheylara with Mintea counting the Pongs Shervon must be wondering what Mintea was doing poking her chest She’s so adorable isn’t she? Winners of the Most Pong and Poof Awards… Shervon and Sheylara Shervon was awarded the Most Poofed Award Feeling happy with her Ping Pong Bat Sponsors sharing more about what they do… Philip Devlin, Product Marketing Manager from HP Josh couldn’t make it, so Uzyn received the Thank You gift on behalf of Advertlets Melvin sharing his role at Waggener Edstrom Ping Pong bats were also given to our sponsors… Here’s Uzyn presenting token of appreciation to Melvin There were two bats that were given out after much effort by Uzyn and his computer. This is one of the bat… Uzyn compiling the results in font of group of witnesses To make the compiling even more transparent, he decided to show it to everyone… You’ll never see this kind of screen flashed at any other celebrations ok! Finally after voting by everyone present at the party, Post and Blog of The Year winners were announced! Congrats to Rinaz for winning the Post of The Year award! As you can see, she’s very delighted! She sure deserves the award! (But I’m jealous! I was so close to winning! :P) Rinaz brought home the Post of The Year ping pong bat, $200 Takashimaya vouchers, dinner for 2 with the guys at Waggener Edstrom (Rinaz bring me bring me? Wahahaha!) and a beautiful hand-engraved wine glass by Markchoon.com. And the Grand Award was given to Krisandro!! He received Blog of The Year award! So happy for him! Philip presenting the award to Kris Kris won himself the Blog of The Year ping pong bat, a beautiful wine glass by Markchoon.com and the sexy HP Mini Notebook (check out the HP Mini in the vodcast by Tech65)! Kris with his fantastic prizes! (Envy lah!! Kris I want to play play with your new toy ok? :P) And here are the winners of the lucky draw for those who voted for the post and blog of the year… Next up - Photos of Pingsters at The Party Ping 2nd Anniversary Part 4 - Food and Pingsters Happy 2nd Birthday Ping.sg!! Pretty cupcakes baked by Caressa Everyone wanted a piece of the cupcakes… Trying to get a good shot of the cakes before they’re gone Some just couldn’t resists having a shot with the cupcakes Priss, Uray and Wendy Jacelyn, Sylvia and Rinaz Finally the food is ready! Great spread for the hungry Pingsters Pingsters are friendly and orderly people See they queue for their food! Ridz hungry for food Here are some shots of fellow Pingsters and friends with their food… Nicholas and Sheylara Sylvia, Mintea, Jean and Priss The nice people from Waggener Edstrom Ruth and Melvin Wendy and Keith Like mother like daughter Shervon and Diana Cheers to Ping.sg! Rinaz, Sheylara and Jacelyn Thirsty NTT tried to pour out the final drip of guava juice Next up - The Finale Ping 2nd Anniversary Part 3 - Award Ceremony Let the camera starts rolling! It’s Ping.sg Awards presentation time! With NTT and Mintea Emcees in action… welcoming everyone to the party Uzyn, founder and owner of Ping.sg giving his welcome speech Selected Pingsters were called to present the awards two of which were Jzin and brokenshardz Some awards winners of the day… (click for list of all winners) Rinaz Veron Krisandro Sheylara Daryl Next up - Food and Pingsters! Ping 2nd Anniversary Part 2 - The Beginning At 4pm sharp, the 3 pretty receptionists got into position to welcome the guests. Wendy, Uray and Sekling Daphne and Uzyn were all geared up and ready for the party Taking a quick look at the guest list Slowly but surely, guests started arriving… Paced’s arrival Lance’s arrival Hendri giving his best pose to welcome the guests New friends were made Old friends were happy to meet again Neo with Arzhou Everyone started Ponging and Poofing one another Wendy tried hiding to avoid being Poofed Next up - The Award Ceremony! Ping 2nd Anniversary Part 1 - Behind The Scene 19 July 2008 at Fig & Olive, Ping.sg celebrated its 2nd Anniversary! Many came to celebrate this joyous event with Ping.sg. I was assigned the task to take photos of the party, which I believe I didn’t do a good job this time. More than 400 shots were taken, but less than 1/4 came out right. Sorry for those shots which I took of you, but didn’t came out right. I’ve broken up photos into 6 parts for my blog. So let me begin… At every event, there’s always a team of crew who works together to bring the event to the community. Here’s what goes on behind the scene an hour before the celebration… All that’s to follow happened at Fig & Olive Final discussion to ensure all things were in order 30minutes before the event… Everyone busy getting things ready Preparing the “trophies” for award winners Emcees of the day getting their scripts right The factory-process-line outside Fig & Olive The Ping Pong Bats trophies! Pretty hand-engraved glasses for the Grand Winners by Markchoon.com All set and ready to start! Next up - The Beginning of the Party! Treasure My Love Ones Attended a friend’s grandfather’s wake this evening. I can see how much she cares and loves him. I felt a sharp ache in my heart when she shared her moments with him when he was around. She described how he enjoyed playing Nintendo, how he’ll record korean and taiwan drama for his wife and how he’d enjoyed his final days by eating things he want, drinking the soda he likes and continue to enjoy every minute of being alive. In my mind, I tried to picture my Grandma, Grandpa, my parents and my love ones. I could hardly recall such details and happy moments I have with them. Especially my Grandma and Grandpa. I grew up living with them till I was in Primary 4. Returned back to stay with my parents since Primary 5 since I was old enough to take care of myself when my parents were at work. I love my Grandma and Grandpa very much. They are the ones who took care of me since birth and they provided me home, love and many happy times during my fond childhood. They would buy my favorite food for me (hence the chubby me) and they would bring me to the arcades during weekends. They pampered me with toys, books and almost everything I wanted. I am their eldest grandchild so I receive lots of love from them. I’m thankful that both of them are still around. But due to a complex history, my grandpa is not living with grandma now. The last time I saw him was 3 years ago. And all I could do was ask grandma if he’s ok. No one from my family could see him. He’s living with his protective and selfish family. I don’t know the truth behind this complex relationship, but I just feel very upset that we’re not allowed to visit him. He was very ill when we last saw him, and have been hearing that his condition has improved and deteriorate over the past years. I wish I could visit him, I hope he’ll still remember and recognize his lovely grandchildren if we get to see him again. I want to be able to have more fond and happy memories with my love ones. I want to be able to tell a beautiful life story of my love ones when they’re no longer around. I want to be able to share my beautiful memories with my love ones in the future. I want to treasure them when they’re still around. I want to be able to spend more time with them when I still can. I want to tell their life story here in my blog, to keep a record of them for me, for my children, for my family and my love ones. I want to be able to remember all these memories when I grow old. I want to start compiling their story here and keep them alive here… forever… My Family Story coming soon… Video - Blogger Onboard Sardinia Here’s the video taken at the Intel Centrino 2 launch at Sentosa yesterday. Apologise for not posting of my thoughts as mentioned in my previous post. Not in the right mind to write anything logical today. Just a quick note, if you’re planning to get a laptop soon, hold your horses! Centrino2 is surely worth the wait. Asus and Acer should already have launched their models out in the market today. The rest will come in end July or in August 2008. Keep a look out. Lenovo has quite a few solid models too. You can read more about it at the following blog and sites (thanks to themediaslut, perhaps I shouldn’t have grouped all of them together. Apology to Dairus.)… Darius Chang did a great write-up article over at his blog Cnet. If I’m not wrong, he’s the one with very technical and brain squeezing questions during the Q&A session. Nicholas shares his take on the new chip and happenings at the event. Bernard has another great write up too. He was at the Blogger session at Geek Terminal that night. DAMN YOU!!! I’m pissed! VERY PISSED! Just because I work for Yebber, does it mean that everything I say, everything I do and everything I blog about equals to Yebber? If a blogger works for a web2.0 company in Singapore, this blogger cannot be friend with other bloggers from other web2.0 company? And this blogger cannot voice out his or her thoughts as a friend of the other blogger? What kind of world is this? It’s my blog, its my mouth, its my personal thoughts! And I have my right to do whatever I want! Every blogger is allowed to do that too! You want to say anything you want on your blog, I don’t care! But please don’t mix our personal relationship with our friends with our professional relationship with work can?! Work is work! Personal life is NOT EQUAL to work can?! What the hell is wrong with you people??? I’m tired. As mentioned on plurk, I’m leaving. I’m quitting. Just need time to settle my unfinished work. And I’ll be gone. Gone in whatever Web2.0 sites. I’m happier with my life when I wasn’t “known” or “popular” in these places. I missed those days where I can blog about anything I want without having to worry that I’m being watched or someone will find fault with me with the words I say in my blog. DAMN YOU GUYS! Come Sail With Me and the Power of Intel Centrino2 It was a great great event! Lovely venue, beautiful scenery, great weather and with so many powerful chips! Very sleepy and tired now, so I shall let the photos do the talking for me. More thoughts on the event and Intel chip in the next post. (After my post on the NE Show firework video!) Intel Centrino2 Press Event at OneDegree15 @ Sentosa Cove We were there for this chip What’s so great about this tiny chip? More in my next post. These beauties were all installed with the mighty tiny chip… This attracted all the female (and some male) guests. This was huge! 18+” laptop! This is sexy! I like! G50 by Asus - Should be out in the market when you see this post. Look out for it at your friendly electronic store! After a great buffet lunch at Latitude Bistro, it was time for the bloggers group to head out to sea! For members only! Erm… I highly advice all of you to NOT do this! Brian has practiced this stunt for many years. So kids! Don’t try this at home! We went onboard Sardinia Where we witnessed the powerful speed of WiMax by Qmax. After testing out the speed of WiMax, bloggers do what they do best, they camwhored! This time it was quite a tricky task. Camwhoring on a moving boat and trying to balance oneself is NOT easy ok! Video coming up in next post! I was busy camwhoring too! But not with myself, but with the beautiful scenery surrounding us. I love the fluffy clouds and breathe taking view! I want a house at Sentosa Cove!! Luxury living under construction I loveee this view!! The journey ended too soon… I wonder when will I ever have a chance to go onboard again. Big thanks to Brian and Tania for the invitation! You rock! As mentioned, more thoughts and details of the chips in my next post. And if you’re not afraid of getting motion sickness, stay tune for my shaky video clip! Blogging Live onboard Sardinia Bloggers onboard Sardinia Bloggers experiencing through true surfing onboard a boat out at sea! Typing on a moving boat is damn difficult can? Left-right-left-right-left-right… yap! That’s how I’m moving now! Ok, I’m getting sea-sick soon! Logging off… more on this wonderful experience later! Wow! Big wave just passed us! Wahahahahaha! What’s your ideal job? Guess I’ve reached the point where I start to relook at what I want to achieve in my life. (Yap, I do that very often for the past couple of years.) Every time, I’ll ask myself a question and see where my answers will go from there. Question to ponder this round… “What’s my ideal job?” If there’s a job that’ll fit perfectly in my list of answers, I’ll most probably be jumping into it in no time. If you know of any openings that fits into my list, please please please contact me ASAP ok? So that I’ll not miss out on this opportunity! Claud’s resume can be found here. Wahahahahaha!! Claudia’s Ideal Job will be… one that allows me to work anytime I want. It should still have an office with a table for me to go to, but I can choose to start work anytime and end work as late as I want. Preferably with vending machines for coffee and snacks with a cosy corner for staff to chill and relax. SWEET! one that allows me to wear whatever I want to work. T-shirt and shorts and sandals! COOL! one that pays me what I deserve! Nope! $2.4k is sooo not enough! Imagine the amount of bills, insurance and expenses I have every month! (And with the house that I’ll have to pay for in couple of years to come!) I’m sure there are many companies out there that can do A LOT better than just $2.4k/mth right? one that gives me room to experiment, learn, fail and advance. I’m one person who cannot live in a boring job. I need lots of excitement and new areas for me to explore to in my job. one with a dynamic team of fun and happening friends to work with. one that’ll not stop me from attending any blogger (Social Media) event that I want to go. one that’ll reward their staff according to their performance at work. one that’ll remember everyone’s birthday and also hold parties for everyone during Christmas and any major holidays the company celebrates. “Claud! Are you crazy?? Where got such good job in this world? If have I also want lah!” Yap! Who don’t want this kind of job right? Claud is determine to continue the quest for her ideal job. If she cannot find it, she might just start one on her own! Wahahahahaha!! SOooo… What’s YOUR ideal job? UPDATED Interestingly, I saw a twit by benkoe and I have to agree with what Charlene said… “At a career management course for HBS alumni, I learned that a person typically gets sick of a job after 18 months. This is a natural cycle, as you go through the excitement of learning a new job, become expert at it, and then gradually, it gets routine. So the advice I got was to plan for job obsolescence every 18 months. This didn’t mean that I had to leave the company and go to a new place – it had more to do with redefining my current job first to incorporate new challenges” Perhaps I’m a faster learner (or at least I think I’ve already learned all the things I can), 18mths seem too long for me. Perhaps 13 or 15 months will probably be the end for me. Unless something damn good or exciting takes place. ((PLUG)) - FINAL 3 DAYS! TAKE PART NOW! Closing date 18 July 2008! Hurry! Don’t miss the chance of winning the latest Motorola V9 Ferrari Edition Phone! You may just be the one who’ll get to flaunt this cool 3G phone on the street! E27 Unconference Singapore [Warning: Extremely long post + videos!] Spent my entire Saturday at Matrix @ Biopolis for E27 Unconference. I reached SUPER early due to miscalculation of traveling time. Registration starts at 11.30am but I was already there at 10.15am! Bumped into Ridz outside Matrix and decided to go up to disturb whoever’s setting up there. Many interesting start-ups showcased their project and there was also a Guitar Hero 3 challenge by Microsoft. Had a few rounds of it and it’s pretty fun. But fingers got cramp after awhile. Grand winner actually walk back with a set of Xbox 360! I wonder who won it. Anyway, back to the unconference. Finally at around 1pm, everyone gathered into the main theater for the keynote by Daniel Ingitaraj from Microsoft. Some notes and highlight can be found on Brian’s Plurk. After a rather interesting Q&A session, it was time for the pitches by the start-ups. As described by someone on twitter (can’t remember the userid! any clue?), it was a mixed bag of pitches. Few which I’ve already seen and heard about, and some hearing for the first time. Just a personal thought, they should hire a PR or Communication person to handle such pitches. (also evidenced here) Some highlights and thoughts on the start-up pitches by Brian here. Few pitches that I like and see potential (IMHO) are Widgeo.us, Gothere.sg and Homespace.sg. The amazing crowd at the Unconference Finally after 10 pitches, 2.5hrs of sitting and butt-aches, it was time for a break and then the breakout sessions. It was the main reason I was there. And am glad that it turned out pretty good and interesting. Sessions attended were on Enterprise 2.0 and Social Media in Asia Pacific. Both topic pretty close to my heart since I’m involved in Yebber. James Ong from Origami Frontiers discussed what is Enterprise 2.0 and how it can be implemented in the corporate world. Some local companies who are involved in the development of Enterprise 2.0 for corporate were mentioned. Namely, Techsailor (hearing it for the first time), Zopim (first heard at PopOut) and Figment (an interactive digital media and virtual world agency for Asia). He discussed that Enterprise 2.0 is very much the empowerment for the communities. However, it is important to have some form of governance in the communities. And it is important to blend Enterprise 2.0 into the existing system in place, such as ERP and CRM within the corporation. When he presented on the community development lifecycle, I was nodding my head in agreement. Although the process seem very simple and easy, however to implement it is a very tough process. Right at the start of this lifecycle is to mobilize people to join in the community. This is the toughest and most critical start for any community. With my experience at Yebber, we try to encourage and motivate our thousands of daily visitors to sign-up in order to enjoy the full features and more exciting things that’s to come. However, users are generally lazy to sign-up for such communities unless they’ve the intention to participate in the reviews or commenting of reviews. For users who’re just visiting to read and get information on the businesses, they will not see the need to register. (I’ve got more thoughts on this lifecycle, shall discuss this in another post.) Next breakout session was on Social Media in Asia Pacific region. Chairing this session was Gavin Foo from Fleishman-Hillard. It was a great session with many experts in this field sharing their thoughts and experiences with everyone present. Since I’ve got the entire session recorded (YES! 50mins of holding the camera in my hand! I could feel the heat and cramp loh! But its worth every pain of it), I shall not write too much. If you’d missed this session, you can watch the following videos… broken up into 5 parts as the file was too huge to post as a single video. Part 1: Gavin shared his experience with his client who took up the Social Media way of getting their brand out to their target audiences. Part 2: Can we trust all the reviews posted by bloggers? How do we know if its true and not an advertorial? + Social Media = Word of mouth marketing + Difference in social media approaches within Asia Pacific + Be in the audience shoes + CTR is not as valid in Social Media. Part 3: Measuring returns for Social Media effort + Any tools to measure conversations? + Should corporations enter Social Media now? (YES!! Of course!! Social Media is here to STAY!) Part 4: The swift of social media every 3 years + Future of web browsing going to be virtual 3D worlds? + Brian plugging Seth Godin + Creditability of Bloggers + Crisis Management Part 5: Is it right for PR agencies to pay bloggers for advertorial/article? + Paying vs Perks vs Non-monetary returns for bloggers Psss… Daryl Tay: This is the kind of discussion, which can take place and discussed further at the Social Media Breakfast. Perhaps we can incorporate some form of structure to enhance discussions in SMB3? Overall it was a great event and great work by the team at E27. Congrats them for such a successful event! Looking forward to attending more in the future. Here’s what others have got to say about the event… List of all startups at this Unconference by Daniel (he’s in one of the videos above) More thoughts on the keynote by Chin Yong (His thoughts on start-up pitches here and here.) Thoughts by Jonathan Wong (he’s in one of the videos above) Thoughts by Hisham Thoughts by Bernard Leong My 1st 5-minutes with Google Lively Today there were people Plurking about this Virtual world Google released. Since it doesn’t work on mac, I tried it before I left office today. It’s almost my first 5-min in any virtual world environment. Have tried Secondlife for less than 5-min and I didn’t know what to do already. I’m jus too stupid for these kind of things I think. Google’s version is not as complex as Secondlife, and the characters look more cartoonist and the screen size of the world is rather small. I’ll probably have to spend more time trying it out over the weekend from home. (Reminds self to bring back the laptop.) Connection at office is just not sufficient for such heavy loadings. Here are 2 screenshots I took… this is me in the virtual world! Ha! I wanted to make a bigger sizes one, but there wasn’t any control to adjust the size of the characters! Those weird looking characters are members who’s new in the room I guess. Or they’re in process of changing themselves. Seriously, I don’t know why the character has to stand like that! So auntie lah!!! I think I look like a chao ah lian in there. WAHAHAHAHA!!! UPDATED Have tried playing around more and I’ve also created my own rooms! It’s almost like playing THE SIMS! I used to love THE SIMS few years back. This sure brings back some fun memories.