Do you own a Smart Phone or Smart Aleck Phone?

新手机上市 - Samsung Jet

Samsung Jet的大小挺好握的，而且又扁又轻，如果男生要放在裤子里的话应该不是问题。虽然它没有key pad，它的virtual keyboard挺敏感的，不过手指大的朋友就要小心点咯！

进入Samsung Jet的menu的方式有几种，有最普通的平面menu，也有最有iPhone feel的摇一摇menu。这个摇一摇menu蛮好玩的，可以设定说向左摇是开一个application，向右摇则是开另一个。跟LG Arena一样，它也有的一个六面的menu cube，不过我觉得如果用久了之后，我大概还是会用回它的平面menu吧，因为比较快，不必转来转去的。

Samsung Jet的相机只有5 megapixels，不过拍出来的照片蛮清澈的。我拍了一张有荧光灯字母的黑色招牌，招牌上甚至有白色的字，它并没有跟我乱乱expose，拍出来的亮度刚刚好，蓝色的荧光灯字母依然是鲜艳的蓝色。

最喜欢Samsung Jet什么？超清澈的荧幕和敏感的touch screen，而且它收录的游戏蛮多种类的哦！



Technical Specifications:

• Dimensions (H x W x D): 108.8 x 53.5 x 11.9 mm


• Built-in storage: 2GB


• Connectivity options: A-GPS, EDGE, GPRS, HSDPA, microUSB, WAP, Bluetooth, WLAN


• Display size: 3.1-inch screen OLED


• Max. standby time: 422 hours


• Camera: 5 megapixels with dual flash

Cloudywind Podcast #16 - Wise Words from the Thick-skinned MP

The wise thick-skinned MP might be whacked by the netizens but these people hiding behind the cloak of anonymity will not bring him down. "There will always be people who disagree with my views", said the wise thick-skinned MP. There will always be people who thought that waiting for more than 15 minutes for the bus is worth complaining. There will always be the lesser mortals. But the wise thick-skinned MP will not shut up and give in to them, because that is not the function of an MP.


那位大人是一位永不对恶势力低头，永远坚持自己的立场的英明大人，因为那是他身为大人所应该做的。就算他得当无理的言行极端的网民的沙包，也不愿看他们把任何怨气发在无辜的新移民身上。他不明白为什么岛上的lesser mortals有那么多的怨气，看别人花大笔的钱去巴黎学烹饪也不开心，等15分钟的巴士也不开心，为什么他们不可以好像新移民那样子耐心一点，可爱一点。但不管怎样，他还是觉得他是对的。因为他已经当了21年的大人了。


PLAY >> Cloudywind Podcast #16 - Wise Words from the Thick-skinned MP


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成语故事 - 对牛弹琴 Play tune to the cow

对牛弹琴(dui niu tan qin)
Play a tune to the cow

指说话人或作者没有考虑到听众或读者的水平。
When the one who speaks or writes has not considered his audience well and thus over-estimated their level of understanding.


从前，有个筝弹得非常好的著名音乐家叫做公明仪。有一天，他看到一头牛正在他家附近的田里吃草。突然之间他有了灵感，就跑出去为这头牛弹琴。公明仪弹的曲子非常优美，连他自己也陶醉在音乐之中，偏偏那头牛根本不理会那美妙的音乐，只顾着吃草。公明仪感到十分讶异，不明白为什么那头牛对他的演奏无动于衷。当然，我们都知道那头牛不理会他的原因并不是因为他的演奏很差，而是因为它根本听不懂也不会欣赏这种高深的曲调。


Once upon a time, there lived a musician named Gong Mingyi who was very good at playing the Zheng, an ancient string instrument. One day, he saw a cow eating grass in the field near his house. He was inspired by the scene and immediately ran out to play a tune for the cow. Gong Mingyi played so beautifully that he was even mesmerized by the music. However the cow paid no attention to the music at all, but simply focused on eating the grass. Gong Mingyi was shocked to see that happening and he wondered,"My music so bad meh?". Of course, we all know that the only reason that the cow had been indifferent to Gong Mingyi's musical performance was because it could neither understand nor appreciate such elegant music.

Cloudywind Podcast #15 - Spam call that didn't work

The spam calls are back again, with even more excuses to ask for more cash. The spam calls have expanded their market as well, making wild calls at corporate numbers now. Your business partner has killed someone, or your colleague has gotten himself into trouble. The spam callers are threatening to show up at your office now, or even kidnap your wife and have her nude photos taken by force. But will these spam calls work this time?


电话骗案又回来咯！这回，电话骗子集团生意做大，已经打到公司里去了！你的生意伙伴或亲戚杀了人，需要一大笔钱！如果不就范的话，这次电话骗子不只是会对伤害家人，还会上公司捣乱！甚至还会绑架女亲友，强行脱光她们的衣服后，逼她们拍下裸照！手段有多精彩就有多精彩！简直比“双子星”还有看头！


PLAY >> Cloudywind Podcast #15 - Spam call that didn't work Princesses


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No free iced water at these restaurants!

从澳洲到欧洲到美国，从小cafe到大餐厅，只要你一坐下来，服务生就会很自然的拿一杯冷水过来。如果是香港、台湾、韩国或日本的话，你甚至可以喝到热茶！对这些国家的人来说，免费的饮料是服务的一部分。

但在新加坡，有很多大大小小的餐厅都没有这种服务，有的甚至要你付钱！就算你叫的主菜已经不便宜！就算你已经还了10%的服务费！这里就有网友收集的一堆专不给白开水的贪得无厌的无良心餐厅！下次要光顾之前，记得先到7/11买一支$1的可乐！

如果你知道还有哪一些餐厅不给客人白开水的话，快上这位网友的网站去纪录一下哦！
http://sparklette.net/food/restaurants-that-do-not-serve-water

后来,Sunday Times也报导了这位网友的网站，但比较让人意外的是有些餐馆的反应！

"Our patrons are serious diners and come for our food, not to taste water." - La Forketta

"To be frank, I don't think customers will just boycott because of water. There's no urgent need to take action at this point of time." - Cafe Le Caire

"People who complain are not educated about business costs because nothng is free." - Mad Jack's

How to save your smart phone battery life!

有没有发现smartphones的电池都很不耐？好像只用了一两天就得充电了？那是一定的啦！以前的手机只是用来打电话，当然用不了多少电，但现在的smartphones除了拿来打电话，又要拍照、听MP3、上网、玩游戏等，电池会耐才奇怪咧！

我从网上找到了一些资料，在这里告诉你可以怎么延长smartphones的电池的使用时间！

• Do not switch off the phone
  Your phone's battery charge will last longer if you don't turn it off. The reason for this is that smartphones are actually pocket-sized computers with a phone built into them, and just like PCs, smartphones take a while to boot up, and this booting process involves lots of intensive computing processing. If you switch a phone on and off lots of times, it will use up the battery very quickly because you're asking it to boot up lots of times. Your battery will last a LOT longer if you just leave the phone on all the time, and charge it while it's still on.



• Shut down unnecessary applications
  Some smartphones like S60 smartphones can run several applications at once (for example you can listen to music while surfing the web and receiving instant messages). However, the more applications you run at the same time, the faster the battery will be drained, so it's a good idea to shut down any applications you don't need.



• Turn down the screen brightness to the lowest acceptable level
  One of the biggest battery drains on portable devices is the screen's lighting system, which is why mobile device screens usually dim themselves when they're not in use.



• Switch off the screen when not in use
  When you're not using the smartphone it's a good idea to lock the screen, partly because it stops the screen being touched by mistake, but also because it switches the screen off too. The phone itself carries on running, but the screen being off will make the battery last a lot longer.



• Use headphones instead of speakers
  If you listen to music on smartphone's built-in speakers you will use the battery up more quickly than if you listen through headphones. Headphones are inside your ear so they use much less power to deliver the same intensity of sound.



• Avoid using the camera flash unnecessarily
  There are many situations when your smartphone camera will automatically use the flash even though you could get a reasonable photo without it. In those circumstances you may want to switch the flash off because it's using up the battery unnecessarily.



• Use 2G instead of 3G
  The advantage of 3G is a very high speed internet access. In fact, the latest 3.5G HSDPA technology allows you to use speeds up to many megabits, comparable to PC broadband connections. The disadvantage of 3G networks is that they use up a phone's battery more quickly during calls. Usually, a smartphone will use GSM/CDMA for 2G and UMTS/WCDMA for 3G. By default most smartphones use 3G networks, but can automatically switch to 2G when there is no 3G network available in the location. If you don't need high speed internet access, try switching your phone into 2G-only mode in order to save battery life during phone calls.



• Try to get a good signal
  The better the signal on your phone, the easier it is for the phone to connect to a base station. The easier it is to connect to a base station, the less power a phone uses during calls. You can get a better signal by being out in the open, or if you're indoors try to be near windows.



• Use Offline Mode or Flight Mode
  If you're using your smartphone just to do offline stuffs like listening to music or watching a video, and you don't need to take any calls on it, you might want to switch it into Offline mode or Flight mode. Offline mode means that the phone switches off anything which involves radio transmissions, such as phone calls, text messages, internet connections, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Offline mode saves a certain amount of battery life as the phone no longer has to use its radio transmitters.

试试看你可以怎么省电吧！毕竟用少一点电就可以环保一点点哦！

What happened after you have eaten only mussels for lunch

今天同事们建议去The Mussel Guys那边吃午餐，因为他们有$10.50的特价Executive Lunch（为什么要叫做“Executive Lunch”咧？如果职位是specialist还是officer的话就不可以吃吗？）。坐下来后，服务员告诉我们说如果我们有某银行的信用卡的话，吃mussels main courses就可以拥有1-for-1的折扣。哇！1-for-1咧！同事A立刻问谁有兴趣跟他一起吃！其他两个同事对于只是吃mussels当正餐觉得很奇怪，我倒觉得可以试一下，便跟同事A一起叫了Spicy mussels和Creamy mussels各一份。

其他两个同事：就只是吃mussels很怪咧...
我：应该有面包配吧？记得我在Fish & Co吃的时候，他们有给我几片面包喔！

结果咧？

服务生拿来了那两大盆mussels和另外一个空的大盆子让我们丢壳。那两大盆的mussels里除了mussels就只有mussels，还真的没面包的说。同事A突然好像有点后悔的问：“呃... 这样子会饱吗？没有碳水化合物咧...”。不过后来我们发现他的这个顾虑是多余的。因为原来连吃350g的mussels也会超饱的！再加上那些mussels还真的蛮不错吃的，这个1-for-1的午餐应该算是很划算吧！

唯一的问题只是... 我们两个应该会有好一段时间不想吃mussels...

Cloudywind Podcast #14 - Too Hot for Fairy Tales Princesses

Cloudywind Podcast #14 - Too Hot for Fairy Tales Princesses

How hot is 34 degrees Celsius? Too hot. Too hot even for the princesses in the fairy tales. Too hot for Snow White to eat the apple! Too hot for Cinderella to dress up! Too hot for Sleeping Beauty to sleep!


34度C有多热？是非常的热！热得连童话故事里的美人们都受不了！热得白雪公主不要吃苹果！热得灰姑娘不要换装！热得睡美人睡不着！


PLAY >> Cloudywind Podcast #14 - Too Hot for Fairy Tales Princesses


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Apple iPhone 3GS and all its new features

天啊！如果你看了这段影片还不心动的话，你的定力就真的太强了！



尤其喜欢：

• 开启applications超快的速度


• 可以从网页上拷贝图片然后MMS出去


• 摇一摇来undo


• 用声音遥控寻找要听的歌曲

Singtel Red Hot Sale: Will you buy Nokia N97 or HTC Magic?

Nokia N97

Dimensions: 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm (18.25 mm at thickest point)
Weight (with battery): 150 g
Display Size and Resolution: 3.5", 640 x 360 pixels
Talk time (maximum): GSM up to 570 min
Standby time (maximum): GSM up to 430 h
Memory: microSD memory card slot, hot swappable, up to 16 GB and internal memory of 32 GB
Data Network: GPRS class A, WCDMA, HSDPA, WLAN IEEE 802.11b/g
Navigation: Integrated GPS, A-GPS receivers, Compass and accelerometer for correct orientation of display, Nokia Maps, Nokia Map loader application via PC
Camera: 5.0 megapixel (2584 x 1938 pixels) camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Auto focus + dual LED flash
Operating system: S60 5th edition
Price (with Singtel iOne Plus/Classic Plan and 12/24-month MobileMail Plus): $598



HTC Magic

Dimensions: 113 x 55.56 x 13.65 mm ( 4.45 x 2.19 x 0.54 inches)
Weight (with battery): 116 g
Display Size and Resolution: 3.2", 480 x 320 pixels
Talk time (maximum): GSM up to 450 min
Standby time (maximum): GSM up to 420 h
Memory: microSD memory card slot, 512 MB ROM, 288 MB RAM
Data Network: HSDPA/WCDMA, Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WLAN IEEE 802.11 b/g
Navigation: Internal GPS antenna, G-sensor, Digital Compass
Camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus
Operating system: Android
Price (with Singtel iOne Plus/Classic Plan): $568



结论

Dimensions: HTC Magic 比较短也当然比较薄
Weight (with battery): HTC Magic 当然比较轻
Display Size and Resolution: Nokia N97 比较大也比较清楚
Talk time and Standby time (maximum): Nokia N97的电池比较耐
Memory: Nokia N97的存量比较大，applications可以跑比较快
Camera: Nokia N97的照相功能比较好，也有闪光灯
Price: HTC Magic 比较便宜

不过必须注意的是，Nokia的applications会比Goggle的来的少，也比较贵哦！

成语故事 - 歧路亡羊 Where there are too many forked roads, the sheep will be lost

歧路亡羊(qi lu wang yang)
Where there are too many forked roads, the sheep will be lost

形容当事情复杂多变，没有正确的方向的时候，人们很容易因为迷失或偏离正道而找不到真理。
When confronted with too many choices and complications, one who seeks the truth is likely to be lost if the correct method is not applied


学者杨子的邻居丢了一只羊，就叫了亲戚朋友又请了杨子的仆人一起去找羊。杨子问他：“只是丢了一只羊，为什么要找这么多人去追呢？”。邻居回答：“因为路上有很多岔路啊！”

过了一会儿，人们都回来了。“找到羊了吗？”，杨子问。大家回答：“没有，路上有岔路，岔路上又有岔路。我们不知该往哪儿找，只好回来了。”

杨子听了后沉默不语。他的学生不明白老师在想什么，便跑去问老师的朋友心都子。心都子说：“你们的老师在担心你们的学业呀！这件事让他想到你们的学习和研究上是会有很多困难的。如果你们找不到正确的学习方向和方法的话，最终将不会有任何成就，就像大家找不到这只跑丢了的羊一样。”


Scholar Yang Zi's neighbour lost a sheep and had asked all relatives and friends, and even Yang Zi's servant to help search for it. Yang Zi asked him,"Only one sheep lost wat, why you send so many people to look for it?". His neighbour replied,"Because there are a lot of fork roads out there loh!"

After some time, everybody came back. "So how? Found the sheep?", Yang Zi asked. "Don't have leh," they replied. "Every road also got branches and then every branches got more branches! Let that we also don't know which road to follow, so we give up lor."

Upon hearing this, Yang Zi stood silent. His student was puzzled what the teacher was thinking about so he looked for Yang Zi's friend Xin Du Zi to ask him. Of which Xin Du Zi replied,"Your teacher is worrying about your study. That sheep incident reminds him of the difficulties you will face in learning and doing research. Scali you fail to find the correct orientation and method of study, you will accomplish nothing, just like how those people have failed to find the lost sheep."

"Break In"... the iPhone 3GS Ad

新加坡时间星期一晚上，Apple终于在World Wide Developer’s Conference里把iPhone 3GS的神秘面纱掀起来了。在问这个新款的iPhone有什么新的东东之前，先来看看它的广告。导演是David Fincher哦！

Cloudywind Podcast #13 - Some Hookers and Two Students

With the police clearing the streets, the prostitutes have shifted from Geylang to Chinatown. There they would prey on those uncles having lunch or browsing at book shops, offering service to them as early as 2pm in the afternoon. While these prostitutes tried to make their way into the hearts of Chinatown uncles, two 14 years old students tried to make their way out of a forest in the middle of the night. Their taxi driver could not find the way to these girls' destination, so he let them off onto a road somewhere near the forest, not before taking all their cash to pay for the taxi fare.


最近几个月警方在芽笼大扫黄，那里的流莺因为害怕被捉就结群一起从芽笼街移到牛车水的珍珠坊去。在珍珠坊吃午餐也好，甚至逛书展也好，就算是下午2时，只要是阿伯都会被她们搭讪问要不要开房。当这些流莺大白天的在牛车水大摇大摆接客时，有两个女生却因为三更半夜被丢在马路上而吓个半死！这两名14岁的女生本来想搭德士到林厝港参加学校的露营，不料途中迷路，司机竟说怕黑，不敢走暗路，要她们半路下车！我们这个社会到底怎么了？


PLAY >> Cloudywind Podcast #13 - Some hookers and two students


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Maybe Long John Silver should stick with fried fish...

很久没去Long John Silver了。毕竟他们卖的都是油炸的食物，炸鱼片、炸鸡片、炸虾，好像超罪过的说。如果有快餐之华山论炸的话，他们应该就是天下第一了。听老妈说他们最近“改邪归正”，卖起了比较健康的grill fish套餐，便决定去吃它一吃。

我叫了一份deep sea fish（深海里那么多鱼却偏偏不告诉你是什么鱼，应该就是所谓的catch of the day吧！），老妈就叫了一份salmon。既然是套餐，除了鱼，还包括了一些饭，一小片好像pita的面皮加一些好像蘑菇酱的东东，还有一个side。本来想吃马铃薯沙拉的却not available，我就只好选择了淋上芝士酱的带皮炸马铃薯片（哈~ 还是逃不过炸的食物！），而老妈就选择了那几片菜的沙拉。有点不满的是虽然这些套餐不便宜，要整$8，却没有包括饮品。一杯汽水的成本有那么贵吗？

两份鱼片的大小差很远。那片salmon只有好像我的手掌那么小（不包括手指哦！），deep sea fish却是它的一倍大！虽然说salmon的成本比deep sea fish贵，但它的套餐的价钱也已经多收$1了啊，干嘛那么小气！不过那片deep sea fish是很大片啦，却淡而无味，全靠淋上的黑胡椒酱才有点味道。问老妈那一小片的salmon如何，她说：“还好啦”。

感觉上我家楼下kopitiam的姜葱鱼片饭好像比较好吃咧，而且才$4.50!

成语故事 - 兔死狗烹 With the rabbits dead, the hounds are cooked

兔死狗烹(tu si gou peng)
With the rabbits dead, the hounds are cooked

比喻事情办成功后，把有功劳的人杀掉
Trusted aides are eliminated when they have outlived their usefulness


范蠡和文仲是春秋时期越国的两个大官。越王勾践不听范蠡劝告，盲目进攻邻国吴国，结果被吴国打败，搞得他自己也被吴王抓去当苦力。范蠡跑去说服勾践要他忍受耻辱，假装服从，等待机会报仇。文仲也多次到吴国拜访，给勾践鼓励，帮助他恢复信心。几年后，吴王终于把勾践放回越国。在范蠡和文仲的相助下，越国很快就恢复了之前的强大，最后还把吴国给消灭了。

因为范蠡和文仲为越国作出了巨大的贡献，越王就很开心的赏给他们两个人很多的财宝，甚至还把国土的一半分给范蠡。但范蠡太了解勾践这个人了，所以他谢绝了这些赏赐，找了个地方隐居起来。他还写信给文仲告诉他：“当天上的鸟儿都被射完后，弓箭就没用处了。当所有的兔子被抓完后，猎狗也会被杀了煮来吃掉的。我劝你还是早点离开勾践，免得惹来杀身之祸。”文仲看完信后，接受了范蠡的劝告。他假装生病，不再参加朝中会议，可是已经太迟了。勾践听信了别人对他的谣言，把他逼得自杀了。


During the Spring and Autumn Period, Fan Li and Wen Zhong were senior officials serving the Yue king Gou Jian. Against Fan Li's objection, Gou Jian blindly launched an attack against the neighboring State of Wu. As a result, he suffered disastrous defeat and was even held prisoner by the Wu king and had to work as his slave. Fan Li persuaded Gou Jian to endure the temporary humiliation, pretend to surrender and wait for an opportunity to strike back. Wen Zhong too tried to encourage Gou Jian and helped him to stay positive when he went to the State of Wu on diplomatic missions. Years later, Gou Jian was eventually set free. With the help of Fan Li and Wen Zhong, the State of Yue rapidly rehabilitated and annexed the Wu.

Due to their great contribution, both Fan Li and Wen Zhong were richly awarded. Gou Jian even offered half of the state to Fan Li. However Fan Li rejected the King's offer and went to live in seclusion instead. He had known Gou Jian too well. Fan Li then wrote to his friend Wen Zhong, "After you shoot all the birds already, the bows and arrows no use liao. After all the rabbits have been caught, the hunting hounds sure kana killed and cooked one. Brother, you better leave the King, if not sure kana one!"

Wen Zhong took Fan Li's advice and faked MC to skip imperial court meetings, but it was already too late. Gou Jian had believed slanderous gossips about Wen Zhong and commanded Wen Zhong to kill himself.