Paper by FiftyThree to set ideas free

Love to doodle and sketch out the things around you? Perhaps even create works of art that you would be proud to show to the world. You may even be a designer who regularly creates designs of products. Or do you just need a simple sketchpad app that you can email to yourself.

If you fit into any of the categories above, Paper by FiftyThree is just the perfect app for you. You can sketch and paint using the 5 different tools available to paint up a pretty picture or just write out your ideas in a journal that you can make for yourself within seconds.

The minimalist approach to this app reminds me of something that Apple would do, where it does exactly what it advertises. It simply lets you draw, sketch, outline, write or color to show off your ideas, creating a sketch that even graphic designers would approve. Furthermore, its beautiful ink engine makes for some very nice strokes, reminding me of the times I used a paintbrush when I was a kid.

It allows you to push out your creations to FaceBook, Tumblr, Twitter, or you can simply email it, which seems sufficient for people to showcase their work. If you use it simply to do brainstorming of ideas, then you can just email it to yourself. Heck, I can even see creative insurance agents using it to promote their products while they sales pitch to you, then emailing the things off directly to your email, which you will hopefully look into it again in the future and be reminded of your impending doom if you don't have a policy.

My only issue with the app is even though it comes free, it only provides you with the drawing and erasing tool. The other 4 tools will cost you USD$1.99 each to get that function. However, the app is really easy to use and it might get the graphics designer in you hooked enough to invest in the tools. So since this app is free, what are you waiting for? Try it out today!

• iPad (Singapore)
• iPad (USA) 

Dark Meadow: The Pact for your horror game needs

Today's post is about an old game made into a freemium, Dark Meadow: The Pact!

A freemium game is where the game is available free and you can then pay real money as in-app purchases to get money and equipment to help you advance in the game.
Dark Meadow: The Pact is such a version created from the original Dark Meadow and the graphics looks as good as the original Dark Meadow. It uses the Unreal 3 engine which is also used on graphics intensive games such as Infinity Blade.

As you can tell, it makes for some real awesome graphics, all the more better enjoyed on my nice retina display iPad.

Story line as far as I have gotten involves you waking up in an abandoned hospital and a crazy old guy in a wheelchair who greets you when you wake up and gives you brief information about the hospital and about a witch who is apparently responsible for this. After that brief introduction, he claims he hears the witch coming and runs off, leaving you to find out what to do with yourself.

As you leave the room exploring, you get to pick up various jewels and money, which you may use to purchase equipment to power up your character. You soon meet one of the witch's minions where you learn to use the crossbow and sword you have on you. Gameplay for the sword portion is reminiscent of Infinity Blade, though the control is less smooth.

General gameplay wise is great, especially for people who love mystery mixed with horror genre games like Fatal Frame and Resident Evil. Not to mention for a game with such cool graphics that you get at the awesome price of free, I see no sense to not try it. So click on the links below and knock yourself out!

• iPhone (Singapore)
• iPad (Singapore)
• iPhone (USA)
• iPad (USA)

Check out this guide for Apple product life-cycle advice

MacRumours buyers guide is a site you should always visit and check things out before you buy an Apple product. This site gives you info about all the various Apple products such as when it was released, how long since it was updated.

Further more beyond just info about the release dates, the website goes on to link you to the various info that is related to the product from their main MacRumours site. Which is a site you should visit regularly to check on apple related info as well. I will introduce various useful websites for you along the way as well so do check here out regularly.

Flutter to use THE FORCE on your MacBook

Flutter is a new beta program up for MacBook owners to play around with which practically gives you Kinect like abilities to control your iTunes or Spotify. By using your webcam, you can control your music to start/stop simply by lifting up your hand as shown in the picture below.

I have tested this program out on my MacBook and I must say it works pretty well. It is pretty difficult to accidentally activate this function. Even deliberately trying to create an accident scenario, I have had pretty little success. There must also be a simple face recognition system in place since purely using my hands do not work. My face has to be present for it to work. Also, even though there were concerns of the battery life dying off fast due to the webcam being constantly on all the time, I must say I did not find any real noticeable drop in the battery life.

This program works the best when you are say, listening to background music as you surf the net, then receive a phone call. Rather then hunting which window did you leave your iTunes in, just lift up your hand for a nice pause in your music then pick up the phone. After the call, lift up again to carry on where you left off.

This is still a very new program where they are in the midst of adding more gestures, hopefully with volume controls and next/previous track functionality to come soon. If you should wish to try out this free beta program, check out the Flutter website!

iPad with 4G LTE burns through data

If you have been going through the information about iPads, you would have heard about how practically USA being the only country that supports iPads 4G LTE. What you might not know is how ridiculously low the data cap is on their plans. For those who do not know, here is the basic info about the plan with 4G LTE below.

Isn't that really low? And you know what is worst? Bursting that limit within a day. Wall Street Journal reports Verizon user Brandon Wells was on the 2GB plan. After a few hours of watching basketball streamed to his iPad, his full 2GB was gone, and he is now stuck paying $10 for each GB extra used. Many other users on various forums are reporting similar issues.

Singapore iPad users may lament that we do not have a 4G LTE network, but when you look at such things happening in the US, it makes you wonder how long it will take us to burn through our plans, even when we have 10GB.

Remote control your iPhone position for FaceTime awesomeness

Hi guys! Today's post is to showcase some new tech from Kickstarter, Galileo!

What Galileo does is basically allow you to dock your iPhone on a 360 degree rotate and turn friendly device. So what is so special about that?

How about if you could remote control and program that turning ability?

The possibilities are pretty endless, like some of the things below.
1. You can be on FaceTime with a friend and remote control the movement to follow your friend as he/she moves around the room. (Works well for video conferences at work too)
2. A remote control baby monitor camera makes sure you do not miss any of the action
3. Create awesome steady panorama photos with 0 human error (Time lapse photography with slow panning action sounds pretty cool)
Note: Not officially supported by Apple yet, though I can see this being implemented on either FaceTime or a third-party app for sure

Those are some of the things that I can think off-hand, and I am sure you can think of even more. As they have already reached their target goal (With over 3 weeks to spare to boot), they have already started on production and are also hooking up with app developers to ensure there will be apps that support it on release.

It may seem abit costly at USD$85 for the product and an additional USD$20 for shipping but honestly this looks like a very useful thing to have. I can definitely see this become a popular gadget in the future and I am sure the over 1,000 backers for this project this so as well. You can see the Kickstarter video below or the project page for more info on how it works.


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In other news, anybody interested in Magic? Interested in iPads? How about both? Check out this cool magic video showing a full magic routine done using iPads.

Make a US iTunes account for yourself today!

Today's post, exactly as my post title suggests, about making a US iTunes account with no credit card for yourself. Why in the world would you make a US iTunes account for yourself when you obviously do not stay there??? Not to mention not linking it to a credit card does not allow you to download paid apps so what for? Well, here are some of the benefits I can list for you.

• Gain access to US only apps and content
• This includes apps like the iTunes Movie Trailer app I just shared in yesterday's post. 
• Also download free music/videos which are available in iTunes, which you may not have access to in your country, including Singapore
•  Be able to use iTunes promo codes to get free apps which you would otherwise have to pay for
• Having an account without a credit card linked means you don't accidentally download paid apps/in app purchases, where you can also safely leave your iPhone/iPad with your kids 
• Its entirely legal, where even Apple has a full tutorial on how to do it, and you can even do it on your iPhone.

The only bad point about the account is since you do not have a US credit card, you will never be able to make payment for US content. Meaning you may be able to download apps like Netflix, but not having the credit card means you will not be able to pay for such content.

So how do you make a US iTunes app? I wouldn't try to be more detailed then Apple's own support page linked here, so do head over there for full step by step instructions. The only thing not stated on Apple's page is that you should prepare a US address for you to key in during the signup process, so go get one. 

PS: You will be surprised how many people apparently 'stay' at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino LOL

Multiple Updates for iOS users

Hi guys, I have quite a few interesting news for today, so will be short on each one. Here goes!

Bug in iOS 5.1 for Safari address spoofing

Basically there is a bug in iOS 5.1 which will load another page while your address bar shows something totally different. I know I myself have gotten this on my iPad myself, but just thought that it's probably a small bug (which I was right, lol) so yup. Problem with this bug is this bug can apparently be created manually, meaning as per above, people can make you think you are really at the Apple website, even though you are really somewhere else. So unsuspectingly you may be giving out your credit card detail to some unknown scamming site rather then your favorite trusted shopping site, be warned!
- Apple knows about it already so there will probably be a 5.1.1 coming out soon with a fix.

iTunes Movie Trailer App updated to retina display

This is a pretty cool app from Apple if you don't know about it. Basically it gives you all the info about movies by linking you up to trailers, teasers, image galleries, etc etc. And now it has been updated to retina display! Of course the only sad thing for Singaporeans is it is not available in the Singapore App Store so you will need a US iTunes account for it. Having a US iTunes account is really useful so go get it done! I will share on how to create that account tomorrow. Meanwhile for readers who already have a US account, you can use the link below to download the app.
- iTunes link

iPad charging still even at 100%?

Be it either another bug in iOS 5.1 or basically something wrong with the battery calculation for the new iPad, it has been noticed that the new iPad's battery indicator is not exactly accurate. Quoting Dr. Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation, where he stated “batteries do not actually reach full charge when 100% is shown,” noting up to an additional hour of charging is needed before reaching full capacity. So if you stop charging once you see 100% battery, you will apparently see a quick reduction in battery life, even though what happens is just the indicator adjusting itself. Personally i charge my iPad overnight so haven't had the chance to notice this issue yet.

Giant Angry Birds launch to space????

Has anyone been enjoying the game since it's release yesterday? I know i have! And apparently some more crazy people out there too! The photo above is of the space needle in Seattle where Rovio has set up a giant Angry Bird ready for launch. You can see more up close and personal photos here.

Angry Birds - Space is out!

Its fresh out of the oven now! Have you gotten it yet?? The links are below.
PS: All links are for US accounts other then the last 2

• iTunes (iPhone)
• iTunes (iPad)
• Mac App Store
• Rovio (Windows)
• iTunes (iPhone - Singapore)
• iTunes (iPad - Singapore)

Here's their trailer video together with gameplay. What are you waiting for?

Kickstarter - Place to find new technologies

If you were ever interested in getting your hands on the newest innovations and cool gadgets, Kickstarter is the place for you to go with the technology segment being the most interesting place to be.

Kickstarter is a place where dreams are made for young entrepreneurs who want to startup a business and show off an idea they have, ranging from the weird, the crazy and the downright smart. A typical Kickstarter project which has been approved will include a video and a writeup about an idea which they may have and they will pitch it to you. If you think the idea sounds good, you can then pledge a sum of money to support their cause, typically with a reward of some sort that is (at least in the person's idea), suitable remuneration for what you have pledge.

Should the project be confirmed, which means the project owner has achieved his target amount of pledged money within a certain period of time then will the project be on, and the money be deducted from your account. If the project does not achieve the target set, the project expires and funding is considered unsuccessful. This system makes it very safe since you will be guaranteed either your money back, or your promised reward (Though of course quality of the product is different altogether). So far I have not had any issues with my rewards yet.

The technology segment is a site that I visit every few days to check out what are some of the newest technology and gadgets available out there. Furthermore, rather then some of the more abstract rewards out there, the technology segment is usually more rewarding, Usually it involves the project owner trying to create a new product and needs funding, so should you make a sufficient pledge, you will get the product itself, usually at a cheaper price then what the retail price will be.

If you look carefully enough, you will find that there are several good products which are created through the Kickstarter funding style, like my previously reported Glif and Olloclip, so what are you waiting for. Start going through those projects today! I will also share any good projects iPhone, iPad and MacBook that I find.

Glif - More iPhone photography equipment for enthusiasts

Hi guys, today I am going to share a very simple piece of equipment you can use to mount your iPhone on a tripod while providing a few other simple functions at well, the Glif! You can find out more from their website too.

The Glif is a very small simple item that allows you to attach an iPhone 4/4S (Without case) to a tripod. At an extremely light weight and a length of only 2/3 of your iPhone, you can carry it around anywhere you want to. Furthermore, even though it may seem like a simple holder for your iPhone to attach to your tripod, the simple design actually functions quite well to hold onto your iPhone. Personally, I have attached it to my tripod and it is stable for taking photos/videos at 45 degrees or even more.

I have actually tried and it is stable enough that it can even nicely hold onto the iPhone even totally upside down, though honestly not sure why would you do that when all you get is an upside down photo in return.

Aside from fixing it on a tripod, it provides 2 extra ways for you to hold onto your iPhone (again, only for those without using a case). One props it up at about 45 degrees horizontally so you can use it to read books and watch videos, while the other method allows you to prop it up at a near vertical angle, making it the most useful for FaceTime or other forms of video calls. The above extra functions are what I think makes it different and more useful than some of the other iPhone ready tripods and cases that are slowly appearing on the market.

For the people who are using their iPhones more and more to replace their point and shoot, up to the point of bringing around a tripod for it (Something that i do when i take videos for my other blog, since my 4S video quality turns out much better with less hassle), this is a very good thing to bring around. If not, I would recommend it for the people who prefer the naked iPhone since it is small and light, but attaches easily to your iPhone when you need to just prop it up for one reason or another.

Luckily for Singaporeans, you will be able to purchase it from Red Dot Photo's website at SGD$29. Furthermore, they will be able to do meet ups so you can collect the item directly. For more ideas about the things you can do with Glif, check out the video below.

Air Display with iPad for your multi-monitor needs

Hi everyone! Today, I will be discussing about a new app that you can use with your iPhone or iPad together with your PC / Mac. The app for today is Air Display! You can check out more information about the app from the company that created it, Avatron.

Just as the picture above show, what the app does is give you an extra monitor that you can use together with your Mac or PC. This is especially quite convenient for people who may be used to having multiple screens in their work place, or simply need to refer to have constant reference to a document while doing work. (E.g. Having a multiple safari window show information about the app while I blog about it now)

The app is also quite responsive in where there doesn't seem to be a significant lag in response time. (Even now I am downloading an app on my new iPad but there is no real lag when i try to move my trackpad in the iPad and control the things that I move to the iPad's display.

However, things are slightly different when I try to control the items in the iPad using the iPad itself, which is where things get abit sluggish. (E.g. scrolling a safari page that I moved over to the iPad from my MacBook) I also don't really like the fact that the extra display changes along with my main display as I go through my multi desktop or full screen apps. However I believe that is just my personal choice, since it actually works up till the point where you get double mission control, kinda like what happens when you actually use a projector.

I would recommend that you use this with your iPad rather then using it with your iPhone, since honestly not sure how much real estate your iPhone can offer for your MacBook/PC lol. To get the $9.99 app, click here.

Breaking News - New iPad's jailbreak with untethered complete??

I0n1c has been known to be working on jail breaking the iPad ever since it was released, but to have one done by now and untethered even??? Wow.... Here's to looking forward to the public release coming soon~ Click here to see the actual tweet itself.

List of apps to use with your brand new retina display iPad

Hi guys, hope everyone is enjoying their brand new retina display iPad? If you are still wondering what are some of the apps which you can use to enjoy the graphics on your new iPad, you can go to this link to load the iTunes page on the new apps you can try. For a direct link to the individual apps, click on the links below.

• Barefoot World Atlas
• Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy
• Tweetbot
• Flight Control Rocket
• Solar Walk – Solar System 3D Model
• Touchgrind BMX
• New York Times for iPad
• Another Monster at the End of This Book
• Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nations
• Readability
• Sketchbook Pro for iPad
• Infinity Blade 2
• Stock Touch
• The Daily
• Mass Effect Infiltrator
• Martha Stewart Cookies
• The Early Edition 2
• Real Racing 2 HD
• Reeder for iPad
• Evernote
• Day One (Journal Diary)
• Order & Chaos Online
• MLS MatchDay 2012
• Incredibooth
• Joining Hands
• ABC Player
• Star Walk for iPad
• Diamond Dash
• iStopMotion for iPad
• Labyrinth 2 HD
• Calcbot
• Foosball HD

If you followed Apple's keynote, you will notice the new game Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy which was demo-ed during the keynote is also released, so that may be something you want to check out. A video of the demo for Air Supremacy is below.



Aside from this new game, various updates to graphics heavy games such as Infinity Blade 2 are also up so go update your games and breathe in those graphics!

Also, for those who may be new to using an iOS device, especially an iPad, you may want to check out Gizmodo's article on some of the things you should do and apps you should get for your spanking new iPad. Enjoy!

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Also good news to myself, my iPad that was due to be received only on this coming Friday, 23 March has been brought forward! Just got my email stating that it will be delivered on Monday, 19 March.

Ripping of iPad's guts begin! + more info about iPad!

Well, it was bound to happen. Even while some hardy Singaporeans have barely reached home with their new iPads, with some ready to wake up in a few hours to hike to a nearby retail shop to queue up / praying their iPad is delivered quickly, ifixit has already begun to take apart the new iPad, check it out here!

Here are also some of the new components inside the new iPad confirmed by ifixit teardown.

• Texas Instruments CD3240 driver device
• Broadcom BCM4330 802.11a/b/g/n MAC/Baseband/Radio with Integrated Bluetooth 4.0+HS and FM Transceiver
• Epcos B4064 SAW filters
• Fairchild FDMC 6683
• Displays made by Samsung confirmed
  
  
  
  
  
  

Also, reports are coming in that the new iPad takes much longer to charge, though its to be expected considering that Apple's solution to the battery draining new features was to up the battery capacity. Overnight charging anyone?

Lastly, looks like we will hopefully have a jailbreak coming up for the new iPad soon, since I0n1c has successfully done a jailbreak for 5.1 on iPad 2. Read all about it here!

Hyperjuice for your power needs!

Hi everyone, today I am going to talk about an accessory that will work nicely with your MacBook, iPhone, iPad and also any other USB powered device you have. May i present, the HyperJuice!

Hyperjuice is a creation by Hypershop, where you can find more details here. Basically, this is a portable battery pack, with the smallest being the size of a portable hdd that you can carry around with you to power all your iOS and MacBooks. I find this extremely useful since I no longer have to carry around my charger and hunt for a charging point. Instead, I can plunk myself down anywhere I want and start charging away. On a typical day with my MacBook, i just pack along this battery pack and head out.

This device is mainly for MacBook users, since it is the only portable charger for MacBooks I have seen to date. However, it also provides that nice USB port so it charges any other USB device you have as well.  So if you only have an iPhone or iPad, this may be abit pricey to you (USD$170), but for MacBook users, the price seems ok, especially considering a spare charger for the MacBook already costs USD$79, which is almost half the price.

I have tested it out and even though i personally find that it does not really hit the additional 10+ hours for my MacBook Air 11" as publicized on their website (Though I need to point out I am quite a heavy user and I can burn out my MacBook's battery in about 3-4 hours LOL), it at leasts provides about an additional 1.5 times charge, which is pretty decent to me.

Furthermore, Singaporeans may rejoice since this is already available in Singapore's Sim Lim Square in Maculture (Just to verify, I am not their staff or related in anyway). Furthermore, you won't have to worry about buying an airline adapter/magic box or having to cut cables or whatever it is they have mentioned on the Hypershop site. Maculture sells their Hyperjuice with a proper MagSafe adapter (Licensed through another company apparently, don't ask me for details), so you get just a nice box and a cable with no scissors or extra purchases required. I purchased mine from Maculture at what I believe was around $270 for the 60W variant, so interested readers can head over to check it out. (For overseas readers, you will just have to order from their website directly, sorry)

Updates on iPad price plans for Starhub and Singtel!

Price plans from Starhub and Singtel are out! To make things easier for everyone, I have prepared a simple table comparing the data plans available. You can also scroll down to see the data plans itself from Singtel and Starhub.

Telecom	Starhub	Singtel	M1
Monthly Subscription	$41.30	$40.00	$40.00
Data Bundle	10 GB	10 GB	10 GB
Download Speed	Up to 21Mbps	*1.7 ~ 4.8 Mbps	Up to 21Mbps
Excess Data Charge Cap	$94.16	$94.16	$30.00
Upload Speed	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Up to 5.76Mbps
16 GB iPad	$399	$399	$399
32 GB iPad	$499	$499	$499
64 GB iPad	$599	$599	$599
	*Only typical download speed, maximum not stated

Interestingly enough, only M1 is providing the iPad without any contract, though they do not have a multi-sim plan. On the flip side, Singtel and Starhub provide subsidy prices for multi-sim but none for direct purchase without contract. 

However 1 big minus point for Singtel and Starhub is the excess data cap where they seem to be hoping that people will make use of the new data speeds and forget about their data usage, blowing up to $90+/mth, while M1 sticks to their guns and maintains $30/mth. Considering the excess data cap and considering that lesser people will be on M1's network, which essentially means faster speeds, non believers might really consider to go on M1 purely for the iPad.

Here are the Starhub and Singtel plans below, enjoy!

Starhub plans

Singtel plans

iPad data plans revealed! M1 at least

First signs of the new iPad's price and plans available in Singapore for M1! Check it out from the link here.

 Guess at least M1 is not providing any subsidy for getting an iPad with a cloned SIM. With info from M1 revealed, Starhub and Singtel should be showing their hand soon.

The new plan looks good for Singaporeans, compared to last year's plans, considering that you pay for the same price but get a 21Mbps compared to last year's 7.2Mbps. (Though it is still a far cry from USA's 72Mbps on LTE. 10 times faster then what you are using now!) However, you trade off unlimited data to end off with a 10Gb cap.  

Usually I would say 10Gb is still more then enough for monthly usage. However with 21Mbps, the iPad could very well replace even our home networks which most people have running at about 6Mbps and our other mobile devices running at 7.2Mbps (Based on what an average joe would pay). With that in mind, maybe people may end up heavily using it to stream shows to watch? That would use that 10Gb up pretty quickly. Luckily the $30 data cap is still there to prevent horror bills.

Olloclip for interesting photography effects + new iPad unboxing

Hi everyone, here I am again! Today, I will be talking about an interesting accessory you can get for your iPhone, especially for people who are using it as their main camera, Olloclip! Olloclip is a simple accessory that you can attach onto your iPhone which will give you access to 3 different camera shots, namely Fisheye, Wide-Angle and Macro, all rolled into 1 small accessory as shown below. 1 side for Fisheye, 1 side for Wide-angle, then just unscrew the Wide-angle for Macro.

Here are some of the sample shots, click on them to see a blown up view.

Fisheye: 1 of the more interesting lens of all, use this for interesting photo effects. Even though there are some apps which allow you to digitally put in the effect, the output file is usually lower res due to editing. To maintain a high res photo while obtaining the nice effect, use this lens.

Wide-Angle: Less interesting but more useful on normal day life. This lens gives you access to wide angles, allowing you to take photos without having to go further away from your subject.

Macro: Takes incredibly close-up shots which your iPhone will have problems with. I was pretty surprised when I tested it out and did not get a clear view until I went up to only 1cm away from my subject. For a second I honestly thought I got a lemon. Again, this is more for the arty farty person in you to take interesting photo close-ups of otherwise boring subjects. 

If you are interested in the Olloclip, you can always order it from their website at USD$70, which is what I did. Singaporeans who are interested but do not like the idea of shipping from overseas are in luck, since I spotted it recently at the IT show at the nubox booth retailing at about S$89 which means it should be in its retail stores as well so check it out.

If you need further ideas on how this little thing works, check out the video below.

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Seems like some of our vietnamese friends have received the new iPad, albeit it being 2 days early. Enjoy the unboxing video below!

PS: They also ran some tests and confirmed, the new iPad runs with a 1Ghz processor with 1Gb ram. That means no processor speed bump for the processor but double the ram from the iPad 2.

Info about the new iPad + Apple TV

This time round, I am of course going to focus on the latest announcements made by Apple on 7 March, which is the iPad and the Apple TV. The new iPad is finally coming out on 16 March! Sadly due to some things I had to settle, I managed to get my iPad to be delivered only on 23 March, which is 1 week late! Abit sad that I will get my 1 week later but at least I managed to get it free lol.

For anybody who are interested in getting the new iPad but not very sure what to expect, here are some of the specs available from one of my favorite website here. The biggest killer feature in my opinion is the new 2048 x 1536 retina display together with the A5X dual core processor with quad core graphics processor chip. I am pretty much a sucker for picture quality so this is a winning factor for me.

If you haven't ordered the new iPad, it may be abit too late to order it by now, especially for Singaporeans which gives a delivery date of 2-3 weeks. If you are planning to order a 4G model (Though Singapore we only have up to a 3.5G network), I would recommend you go to 1 of the telcos (Namely Singtel, Starhub or M1) to queue and buy it. It releases as of 16 March so you can head down and buy it directly from them. Assuming their plans are similar to the iPad2, you will be able to choose between the following.

1: iPad subsidy of approximately $450, signup for a $40/mth data plan
2: iPad subsidy of approximately $30, clone your current smartphone's sim card's plan for $10/mth
3: No subsidy for your iPad with no plan

I recommend that if you have a smartphone plan with the standard amt of 12gb data, clone your sim card. Unless you intend to download a movies on a regular basis, 12gb should be sufficient for your monthly usage. Though of course you will have to wait until the price plans are released by the telcos. I will try to update it here once the info goes up. For now, all you have is the FAQ from Starhub here.

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The other part of the announcement made on 7 March is the Apple TV, with it updated to support 1080p. The Apple TV will not be sold in Singapore, due to a restriction which I believe is set by MDA. Even without the restriction, Apple TV will not be very popular as well since we cannot sign up to the various content providers US users will have such as Netflix. However, I will still be getting it for AirPlay.

For those new to AirPlay, it refers to being able to "shoot" your image, videos and even games from your various iOS devices to your TV. This makes it extremely useful for you to play games on the big screen, have movie streaming sessions on the tv even if you do not have a smart TV, show off your family photos to house visitors and much more.

If you are interested, you can find out more about the Apple TV from here. However, interested Singaporean readers will have to purchase it from the US online apple store and arrange for shipping to Singapore.

Introduction

Hi everyone! In case any of you find the blog name and avatar picture somewhat familiar. This is because I am also DSummon from Duelingdays which hosts the Yu-Gi-Oh blog I share with my friend. I created this blog for a number of reasons.

1. I am a newly converted Apple fanboy
2. There isn't any Apple related blog by Singaporeans which are regularly updated. The few existing blogs update once every couple of weeks and focus only on iPhones with hardly anything for MacBooks
3. With my daily homework of checking through multiple tech blogs daily, I believe there are quite a lot of information which are useful, especially for Singaporeans

Though with the above being said, I hope to do this blog in the same style as my other blog, where it aims to cater to all readers and not just the Singaporeans. So the information here will not be Singapore specific (though I will put in exciting Singapore specific news if any)

For some of my Apple related background, I first bought my iPhone 3GS back in 2010. I now also own an iPhone 4S and a MacBook Air (2011) with an iPad (3rd generation) coming in soon. I currently also own several accessories for the above including the GoPano Micro, Olloclip, Hyperjuice, etc. For those who may not be that familiar with these accessories, I will share more about them in the future.

I hope that more people will come here and read this blog, especially my fellow Singaporeans. I aim to be able to blog here on a regular basis, as long as I am not too busy with work. Enjoy~