Osama Bin Laden is Dead!

According to USA Breaking News, Osama Bin Laden is declared dead by the US's House of Intelligence earlier today. Read the source here. Ever since the 911 attacks on USA in 2001, it has been a long wait for the US government to get their hands on Osama, which they never did. Not until now.

Still, we have to see the body in order to believe the claims put out by the US. There have been many near-misses that the US committed, making big boo-boos and shaming themselves in front of the world that they are unable to catch the very culprit who almost destroyed the US back then.

For now, the world shall sit back and celebrate this piece of news while it waits for the US to make its official announcement through its President Obama. Look at the irony of the names. It takes an Obama to take down an Osama. So, let us rejoice for now~

World Cup: Argentina 0 : Germany 4

Wow Germany sure gave Argentina a huge kick in the butt when they scored the first goal in 3 minutes. From then on, it was Germany's game and after the final whistle blew, Germany won the game with a total of 4 goals.

What a thrashing it has given Argentina!

World Cup: England 1 : USA 1

Gosh after all that excitement, you would think that this match would produce a winner. All England can do to stop America is to bring them to a draw. Duh... I expected better of England, especially since they scored the first goal of the match. Gah...

12 June is the final day of shooting for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Oh man. The day has finally arrived. The final shooting of the last movie in the Harry Potter movie franchise has arrived and it's 12 June. Thanks to Mugglenet for the information.

I can't believe that Harry Potter has come such a long way ever since the first movie was released in 2001. I'm feeling all nostalgic about it now.

When the books ended their run in the series, all that was left were the movies. Now it looks like it's time to finish off the movies too. By then, there will be no more Harry Potter to look forward to. Awww....

No more Daniel Radcliffe or Emma Watson. No more wand-waving and certainly no more Dobby, since he is going to be killed off in the last movie. Oops. That's a spoiler for those of you who don't read the books yet.


Oh well, life has to go on without Harry Potter.

*sniffs*

New Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Preview from MTV Asia

Finally, we get to see a HD version of the preview clip of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was shown at the recent MTV Asia Awards 2010.





It looks so awesome and now I can't wait for November 19 to arrive soon. Look at how Emma Watson has grown (she's showing off her cleavage). Those were the days when all 3 stars were still fresh from their first auditions way back in 2001.

Wow... it's been 10 years since the first Harry Potter movie. Time sure flies fast, don't you think so?

Panasonic creates 152 inch 4K resolution 3D Plasma TV

According to Engadget, Panasonic has created its new 152 inch 4K resolution 3D plasma TV and showed it off at the recent CES.

152 inch, mind you. Where on earth could we stuff a TV that size into homes and offices? Apparently it is destined for greater things. Wahaha...

Trust the Japanese to come up with such a super big TV that no one can afford to buy. $500,000 is enough to buy a HDB flat in Singapore. =/

iPhone 4 Goes on Sale June 24

So dear old Steve Jobs has finally announced the golden date.

June 24th. Mark that down in your calendar. That day will be the day that lucky mortals in United States, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Japan will get their hands on the coveted iPhone 4.

Yes. Mark that date right now especially if you happen to be in these 5 countries. Me? Nope. Gotta wait it out. =(

Read more on the iPhone 4 from Engadget

You can go to Engadget's website to read more about Apple's new iPhone 4 here. It's all taken from Steve's presentation at the WWDC 2010. =D

Totally awesomeness on iPhone 4

Steve Jobs said: "You gotta see this in person. This is beyond the doubt, the most precise thing, and one of the most beautiful we've ever made. Glass on the front and back, and steel around the sides. It's like a beautiful old Leica camera."

"24% thinner than the iPhone 3GS. "

"Here are the volume controls... we have a front facing camera, micro SIM tray, camera and LED flash on the back..." 

"Something we call the Retina Display. What's that? In any display there are pixels. We dramatically increased the pixel density, Four times the amount."

"Because we have four times as many pixels, we get really, really sharp text. Now the retina display as 326 pixels per inch."

"Bang! 960 x 640 display"

"3.5 inch display"

" the iPhone 4 is powered by the A4 chip. This was designed by our own team. This is wonderful to have in the iPhone. You take the back off -- first thing you notice is that the iPhone 4 is packed to the gills. There's the A4 right there... micro SIM -- we needed the space! You can see the biggest component is the battery."

"7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music..."

"And 300 hours of standby."

"Quad band HSDPA, 7.2Mbps."

"Dual mics, 802.11n WiFi, GPS, compass, accelerometer."

"We're adding a 3 axis gyro, and we tied the gyro and accelerometer, compass, and gyro together for six axis. It's perfect for gaming."

"Now everybody loves to talk about megapixels, but we tend to ask the question how do we make better pictures? Megapixels are nice, but what these cameras are really about is capturing photons and low light photography. So we've gone from 3 megapixel to 5 megapixel, but we're using a backside illuminated sensor."

"In addition to that, when most people increase megapixels they make them smaller, but we've kept ours the same size. They don't capture less photons. 5x digital zoom, tap to focus, and we've got an LED flash."

"records HD video" ... 720p at 30fps!

"iMovie on iPhone 4"

"iOS 4!"

"Multitasking!"

"I wanted to hit on the enterprise stuff. Data protection, device management, multiple Exchange accounts... and on the consumer side, we have Google search and Yahoo!, and we're adding Bing."

"Number seven - iBooks. We are bringing it to the iPhone with the iPhone 4."

"We'll have it on the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod touch. What can we do with these together? First, you can purchase and download a book. It will download wirelessly. You can download the same book to all your devices at no extra charge. Buy it on your iPad, download to your iPhone. And iBooks will automatically and wirelessly sync your current place, all your bookmarks, and all your notes."

"Number eight... iAds. Why are we doing iAds? To help our developers earn money."

"We're going to turn on iAd on July 1st for all iOS 4 devices."

"It's called FaceTime. WiFi only. iPhone 4 to iPhone 4. No setup."

"Pricing -- there's two colors. White and black. Pricing -- $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB."

"These go on sale June 24th."

"Pre-orders start a week from tomorrow. And we're shipping in 5 countries. In July we're shipping in 18 more." 

Gosh! That is so much more than what my iPhone 3GS is offering!!! And tomorrow is 8 June 2010!

If you are wondering, the 5 countries are United States (duh), France, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan. Lucky Japan since it's the only country in the East to get special privilege from Apple.

One last thing from Steve Jobs:

"And I'd like to talk for minute about iOS 4 upgrades. For the 3G, not all the features are supported, same with the iPod touch, and this excludes the first generation. Upgrades are free for all these products."

And the WWDC continues on...

*Credit to Steve Jobs and Engadget*

Steve Jobs Live on WWDC Keynote! iPhone 4 Arrives!

Oh gosh!!!! It's for real. The boss of Apple has just confirmed it. The newest generation, iPhone 4, has arrived at California!

Right now, Steve Jobs is live at the WWDC keynote and this is a liveblog feed. He is going through the new specifications of the iPhone 4 and it certainly has many many new features that makes me wanna change my iPhone 3GS and mind you, it was still a new model since it was released only last year.

Oh man, Apple has got everybody all keyed up for its new offering and no one will let it go without ever showing its new baby and no, I'm not talking about the iPad. The feed is still live as Steve is still in the midst of his presentation.

Gotta go!!!

Anime Watch: InuYasha Kanketsu Hen

Credit: Anime News Network

Finally, we get to see the last volumes of the popular manga, InuYasha, being animated on TV. The new and final season titled InuYasha Kanketsu Hen (or InuYasha The Final Act) started airing on Japan TV on 3rd October 2009 (my birthday! woo~) and started airing in the States the next day.

The volumes being animated are from 36 - 56 (end) and will officially conclude the anime series for InuYasha. Even though I have not yet seen the previous seasons of the anime, I am still watching the new season as I have finished reading the manga and thus I can follow the anime without any problem.

So far I have watched up to episode 8, where we bid farewell to Kikyo as she passed away in InuYasha's arms. Naraku had wanted to kill Kikyo so that she would die in his arms, the person whom she hated the most. Luckily InuYasha managed to get her back from Naraku before she dies. Still her injuries are too serious for her to recover and InuYasha shared a poignant last kiss with Kikyo before she turned into petals and floated away into the sky.

Here is episode 1 of the anime. I will slowly post links to each episode if I can.


Watch Inuyasha  Kanketsu-hen 01[Sub] in Anime  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Nowadays it is not easy to find animes on the web as these are unauthorised airing of the shows. However for asians fans like me, this is the only way to catch our favourite animes as our local TV network is not good enough to bring these animes to our shores. *sighs* 

So enjoy the videos while they last. See ya!

All 3 Telcos in Singapore to carry the iPhone 3GS

The latest news from CNET is circulating around the web, that Starhub is the latest telco to announce that they will start carrying the iconic iPhone. Singtel has been selling the iPhone since August 2008 whereas MobileOne announced in October that they will start carrying the iPhone at the end of this year.

iPhone 3GS

This is nothing but good for all consumers in Singapore as it could mean that the iPhone could come cheaper and more affordable for many people to buy. For me, I won't be able to buy any contract phone as my two years mobile contract is not yet due for renewal. The earliest time for me is next May so I might as well sit back and relax.

This goes to show how big of a success iPhone has proven itself to be worthy of Apple's new cashcow status since the iPod days. Everywhere you go, people can be seen carrying or using an iPhone in one way or another. I think it's only a matter of time before the iPhone will overthrow Nokia as the world's top selling mobile phone ever.

How will the local mobile phone scene play out for the telcos and the consumers? It could potentially lead to a pricing war between the 3 telcos or it may not. However the consumers only has goodness to gain from it all. It's the telcos' fight to earn and keep the consumer dollar firmly in their hands. Only their pricing plans will sway consumers successfully to their side, provided it's the most competitive amongst all.

I can barely wait for the drumroll to start. =D

Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change

This year, I have decided to participate in the Blog Action Day, which focuses on climate change for 2009. You can read more about it here ~ www.blogactionday.org.

Every year, climate change remains an important part of global environmental topics and this year is no different. In Singapore, the National Environment Agency put up its own climate change programme with the slogan, "Fight Climate Change, Conserve Energy, Save Money". You can view the website here ~ National Environment Agency.

Climate change affects humanity in a number of ways. It can range from the change in weather temperature to rising sea levels to increment in cost of food. In relative to Singapore, a change in weather would meant we are getting hotter days/nights and rainier storms. This could have an adverse effect on our health, causing us to suffer from heatstroke or colds and flus.

As for cost of food, we citizens are affected directly in the pocket as we import most of our food from outside countries. Climate change can cause vegetation to wither and die, thus resulting in lesser food and pushing up the selling prices for these vegetables and fruits. Even life-stocks such as meat and fish are not spared either.

This in turn will cause our cost of living to increase and our disposable income will be affected. When that happens, consumer overall spending will decrease and in turn our national GDP will be affected and reduced.

From this we can see how a tiny change in temperature can escalate into serious national problem. When that happens, it could affect the whole global environment. That is why we need to address the issue of climate change urgently in order to prevent such a scenario from happening.

What we can do on our part as a ciziten of this Earth is to use more efficient ways to use energy to reduce our carbon footprints to help fight climate change. NEA provides some little tips that can help us in our daily lives so that we can help in the cause of climate change. There is also a little energy challenge booklet that can be downloaded for more tips on energy saving tips.

For my own part, I use fan to cool my room instead of an air-con unit but I don't own an air-con unit in my house anyway. I also use energy-saving light bulbs for lightings in my house to reduce the energy usage. These are the small little things that I can help to contribute to fight the climate change.

What about you? Please help to do your part in whatever you can to help save our mother earth. We only have 1 mother earth and it is up to us to save it with our own efforts.

Anime Watch: Inuyasha - The Final Act

Yay! Inuyasha is finally coming back to finish off the last volumes of the story in this brand new anime by Sunrise!

I am so happy to see this anime being listed in Anime News Network as part of a new 2009 fall anime releases. It is said to continue from where the last season left off. To be honest, I didn't watch any of the previous seasons as I don't have the full set of episodes. To find all 167 episodes is a high task indeed and one that I failed. =(

However this latest season shall not suffer the same fate. I will strive to get all episodes and watch them all. After all this is the last season for the manga and I desperately want to see Inuyasha and Kagome being together at the end of the anime. Also I'm not too sure if the previous seasons have covered Kikyo's death. If not, then this new season is most likely to cover it and I must watch it too. It was such an emotional scene for Inuyasha in the manga. *sobs*

Plus we will also get to see Sesshomaru get his arm back, together with a new, powerful sword that truly belong to him. And of course, the final defeat of Naraku, that damn, undying bastard that just refused to go away.

Inuyasha is one of my favourite manga so now they are finally continuing the series is making going all giddy in my head. Hee...

So now I put the video below for preview so that we can see what the new season has to offer for us. =)



Watch Inuyasha Kanketsu-hen 01[Sub] in Anime | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

H1N1 Flu Situation Gets Worse in Singapore

Foreigners can be such a pain in the ass sometimes. They think they are so great when they compare themselves to Singaporeans but in reality, they are not better than any one of us here either.

Take the recent H1N1 cases for example. 1 German researcher came back from the US and 1 Indonesian man came back from Melbourne with flu symptoms yet they behaved irresponsibly by going out in to the public to spread their virus.

The German man is particular nasty. Not only he went back to his office for work, he also went shopping, attended a concert and even attended a French ambassador's function party. All these were done BEFORE he finally called 933 to admit himself to the CDC. This guy is so audacious! Who the hell does he think he is? The King of Germany?!

For the Indonesian man, he also went to do some shopping before he admitted himself to the emergency department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. It was also reported that both had already developed the symptoms way before they flew back to Singapore. The only symptom that failed to arise at that time was fever, otherwise both guys would have already been quarantined long time ago.

These two irresponsible guys should be exposed to the public so that we can be aware of them and be certain not to go near them. The Ministry of Health should issue a health warning and a fine to them for exposing the public to health risk.

We should not be lenient on them just because they are the so-called foreign talent. Anyway if they are really foreign talents, it's obvious that they don't place any importance in our country at all. Going around the country and spreading the H1N1 virus at the same time only tell people that they are idiots. I, for one, would not have any sympathy for these guys and they should be repatriated back to their own countries and be barred from entering Singapore.

Who cares about Germany and Indonesia anyway? It's hard to be understanding towards these guys when they had obviously enjoyed themselves before surrendering over to the health authorities. Damn them to hell.

What could be worse is that if the shopping that they had done was actually at the recent PC show at Suntec City? That would have been a major disaster since there are lots of people who had attended the show.

Now we are facing the prospect of getting more people infected and thus the Ministry of Education has decided to extend the school holidays so as to ensure that students who have been abroad to afflicted countries do not spread the virus further.

Looks like there will never be an end to this whole saga. More people continue to go overseas despite travel advisories issued by the government. People are stubborn to the point of idiocracy.

Oh well, I can't be bothered about it anymore. Just give me the names of the two big idiots that I mentioned earlier. Damn them.

New iPhone 3G S Coming

I had just received an advertisement from Apple, which states that they will be launching the newest version of the iPhone, iPhone 3G S, worldwide soon.

Apple claims that this iPhone is the fastest phone yet and it will come in 16GB and 32Gb sizes. Naturally prices will be high due to the foreign exchange rates. Singtel will be bringing the phone in July 2009, that's 1 more month to go.

Let's see how the reception to the new phone will be like. My guess is that it will be phenomenal as this version addresses a lot of issues that current owners have with their iPhone 3G. I shall wait and see if it would be worthwhile to buy. Otherwise I will settle for a Japanese mobile phone instead.

I shall write more about that the next time. See ya!

H1N1 Influenza A Hits Malaysia

Now the recent H1N1 influenza A has reached much closer to home, with Malaysia reporting its first case about 2 hours ago.

A 21 years old male student who had just returned on a trip from the United States on 13 May had fallen ill yesterday. Laboratory tests confirmed that it was the H1N1 flu virus that caused the illness.

With that, Singapore is now going to be more alert in its fight against the flu virus as so far no cases have been reported yet. But with the virus hitting so close, it would only be a matter of time before the virus finally hit us since Malaysia is only a river away from us.

However I believe we can and are able to fight against the virus as we have already been well-prepared when the virus first struck in Mexico.

We just have to be more vigilant in our stringent screenings of patients who visit GPs and travellers who have just returned from affected countries. So far 33 countries have reported cases of the virus striking but the fatality is only about 65, most of them in Mexico.

That means the virus is highly contagious but is not life-threatening at this stage. Oh well, after the SARS episode, companies are much more aware of the health situations around the world. My company is no exception either and we have purchased many medical stuffs to stock up as well as for our frontline clinical staffs' usage.

Now all we can do is wait for more news from WHO to track the progress of the virus.

New Samsung I7500

Besides HTC, Samsung is also coming up with its own andriod-powered mobile phone, the Samsung I7500.



It looks somewhat similar to the HTC Magic, only that it comes in a black colour. But since most of the Samsung phones are also sleek and pretty, I suppose they might score higher in the looks department than HTC.

Again, there is not much information released on this phone but we do have some basic information like connectivity. There's 3G, HSDPA, HSUPA, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS/GSM, USB, and EDGE.

It also comes equipped with a 5 megapixel camera as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack that allows for use of personal earphones other than the phone's version. It also has a built-in 8GB storage as well as a microSD card slot so overall it's quite a well-rounded phone.

Oh, these phones better come quick then we can have a real look at their functions.

New HTC Magic

Whoa, andriod phones are starting to invade the mobile phone market and the newest model from HTC is the MTC Magic.




It looks so much better than its predecessor, the HTC Dream. So far not much details are known about this phone except that it doesn't come with a slide out keyboard like the HTC Dream.

Based on looks, it sure wins over the HTC Dream anytime but iPhone is still way too sleek for its competitors to catch up to it in terms of the looks.

So far reports are saying that the phone will be selling in Europe but no releases has been announced for Asia yet. By the time that release comes, Apple will probably have released its third version of its hugely popular iPhone, which is slated for an update this July.

Jackie Chan Insults Singapore

The latest hoo-haa about movie star Jackie Chan has landed him in hot soup. His mouth, known for spouting off nonsense, has found its latest target in a tiny country, Singapore.

It was reported that he said that Singaporeans have no self-respect and even mocked fun of its legal law. Despite that, the accuracy of the report is yet to be determined as it's published in a tabloid paper in Singapore, the Shin Min Daily News. That paper is known for publishing rubbish sometimes. Once it even claimed that Ayumi Hamasaki had contracted Aids even though that rumour was false.

Nonetheless, the Jackie Chan fiasco has spread over to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Established papers like New York Times and The Wall Street Journal carried reports of his rude comments on the internet as well as on print.

He alleged that the Chinese people doesn't know how to handle liberty and hence needs the government to step in to control the people. Many Chinese are still angry at him and a group was even set up in Facebook to exile Jackie to North Korea, though it was mainly a tongue-in-cheek reaction to his comments.

In any case, I won't be watching his movies anymore since he's obviously a star with wrong morals and thinking. If he ever comes to Singapore, we had better be sure to quarantine him so that he won't start infect other people with his thoughts. Muawahahaha!