Chinese smartphone comes predloaded with spyware, says German security firm

Yahoo! Finance Singapore, 18 Jun 2014
A cheap brand of Chinese-made smartphones carried by major online retailers comes preinstalled with espionage software, a German security firm said Tuesday.
G Data Software said it found malicious code hidden deep in the propriety software of the Star N9500 when it ordered the handset from a website late last month. The find is the latest in a series of incidents where smartphones have appeared preloaded with malicious software.
The Associated Press found the phone for sale on several major retail websites, offered by an array of companies listed in Shenzhen, in southern China. It could not immediately find a reference to the phone's manufacturer. Full story

Tan Chuan-Jin spending millions to hire internet marketing companies to get more traffic for MOM website

FutureGov Asia, 12 Jun 2014
Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is looking to hire internet marketing firms to boost visits to its websites and help it engage with citizens through social media, it emerged today.
The ministry will ask firms to shortlist at least 50 websites not owned by the government which it can advertise on, and wants a set of keywords to ensure that its material appears more prominently in search results.
The campaign is intended to raise awareness of its existing social media channels, and boost visits to its workwise.sg website (pictured). Full story

iPhone 6 Accidentally Leaked in Video by Apple During WWDC preparations

International Business Times, 1 Jun 2014
In what appears to be an accident, Apple might have just leaked the iPhone 6 during its preparations for its Worldwide Developers Conference next week. According to a report from BGR, a new video from Nowhereelse.fr shows off Apple's next smartphone.The leaked handset features more curved edges when compared to Apple's iPhone 5S and looks nothing like any smartphone that Apple has made in the past. However, the quality of the video makes it hard to confirm that the handset being projected is the purported iPhone 6. Full story

Google takes ISPs to task over bandwidth throttling of YouTube streaming

The Verge, 24 Jan 2014
Soon, YouTube viewers might have a better idea why their videos take so long to load. Google will launch its Video Quality Report next week, a service which will rank internet service providers based on the quality of YouTube video playback. It will first be available for Canadian users, but reports for other areas including the US are expected to be available in the near future.
The company will rank ISPs by how well they stream HD video content. A "YouTube HD Verified" ranking is the best, meaning an ISP delivers HD videos with quick load times 90 percent of the time. A "Standard Definition" ranking means the ISP delivers videos in at least 360p with decent load times, and "Lower Definition" is reserved for the ISPs that deliver videos in resolutions lower than 360p with slow loading times and a lot of buffering. Full story

Singapore among several countries hit by cyber criminals stealing over 2 million passwords to global web accounts

Reuters, 4 Dec 2013
(Reuters) - Security experts have uncovered a trove of some 2 million stolen passwords to websites including Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo from Internet users across the globe.
Researchers with Trustwave's SpiderLabs said they discovered the credentials while investigating a server in the Netherlands that cyber criminals use to control a massive network of compromised computers known as the "Pony botnet."
The company told Reuters on Wednesday that it has reported its findings to the largest of more than 90,000 websites and Internet service providers whose customers' credentials it had found on the server.
The data includes more than 326,000 Facebook Inc accounts, some 60,000 Google Inc accounts, more than 59,000 Yahoo Inc accounts and nearly 22,000 Twitter Inc accounts, according to SpiderLabs. Victims' were from the United States, Germany, Singapore and Thailand, among other countries. Full story

Two Singaporean-owned companies in Batam Island suspected to use illegal software

MIS-Asia, 19 Nov 2013
Organisations with overseas businesses should practise good software housekeeping across all their premises, urged the BSA| The Software Alliance.
This advice comes after the recent raid of two Singapore joint venture companies and one Indonesian shipping company in Batam Island for suspected use of illegal software. The crackdown, which took place last Wednesday (13 November 2013), saw the Indonesian police seizing 35 computers and suspected pirated copies of Adobe, Autodesk, McAfee and Microsoft worth US$68,218 in total. Full story

iPhone 5s crash TWICE as often as older models and randomly reboot when users try to switch within apps

Dailymail.co.uk, 11 Oct 2013
Apple customers who upgraded to the latest iPhone have been complaining that the 5s has a bug that causes the phone to reboot regularly.
This is just part of the problem as iPhone 5s phones are crashing at twice as the older, standard iPhone 5 models, according to AllThingsD.
Online message boards have been filled with unanswered questions about why their screens go completely blue when they try to a different app. Full story

Related:

1. iPhone 5S users report 'Blue Screen Of Death' reboots - The Verge
2. iPhone 5s Users Seeing 'Blue Screen of Death' - PCMag.com
3. Apple iPhone 5s Users Complain About 'Blue Screen Of Death' Error - Forbes.com
4. 'Blue screen of death' attacks some iPhone 5S owners - CNET News

How many "wantrepreneurs" are there in Singapore sucking on the generous funding provided by Govt?

Fortune Tech, 3 Oct 2013
FORTUNE -- In places like Boston and New York, they could be called "wantrepreneurs," but here in Silicon Valley, they're just "wannabes."
They're the poseurs who think all it takes to be a startup founder is sauntering up to the bar at San Francisco's 21st Amendment or cracking open their laptop at Palo Alto's Coupa Café and calling themselves one. And dear god, they're everywhere -- so ubiquitous it's like a localized, vocational epidemic of World War Z-esque proportions.
I'm not talking about the hardworking folks who live and breathe their ideas, sleeping on shared office sofas, paying themselves just enough to scrape by. I mean the rest. Ask them what they do, and they'll say they're working on a startup. Ask them what the startup is, and the answer can be comical. One first-timer said he was still working on the idea, that he'd think about it, and that he'd get back to me. Well, thanks, buddy, but people don't say they're mothers or fathers before they even have kids. Full story

Yahoo Shuts Down Mail Classic, Forces Switch To New Version That Scans Your Emails To Target Ads - Report

Techcrunch.com, 2 Jun 2013
Starting the week of June 3rd, tomorrow, Yahoo is discontinuing Mail Classic. It’s requiring all Mail users to switch to the new version of Mail and accept a TOS/Privacy Policy update that lets it scan emails to “deliver product features, relevant advertising, and abuse protection”. You can opt out of the ads, but if you don’t want to be scanned, you have to ditch Yahoo Mail. Full story

Chinese Smartphone Game Publisher Yodo1 Gets US$5 Million From SingTel

Consumer Electronics Net, 17 Apr 2013
Yodo1 (www.yodo1.com), a leading publisher of Western smartphone games for China's 300 million+ iOS/Android market, has successfully raised $5 million in Series A funding. The funding will be used to meet incessant and continued demand from non-Chinese indie developers avid to enter the world's largest mobile game market.
This round was led by SingTel Innov8, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore-based SingTel Group, with additional funding from original investor Chang You Fund. Full story

Related:

1. Yodo1 Dials Up $5M to Target China’s Smartphone Game Market - PEHUB.com
2. Chinese Smartphone Game Publisher Yodo1 Gets $5 Million in Series A Funding - pr-inside.com

India's US$35 Touchscreen Tablet Fiasco

Asia Sentinel, 4 Apr 2013
It was a project of great national pride - to beat the rest of the world to an affordable touchscreen tablet for online education delivery. Touted in 2009 by Kapil Sibal, then Minister of Human Resource Development as India's low-cost US$35 tablet breakthrough for students, the Aakash made headlines around the world.
The Aakash is now making headlines for failure.
DataWind, the company that pitched the idea to Kapil, received 1.4 million prepaid orders by February 2012. But instead of delivering promptly, DataWind offered 'rebates' for its higher-priced US$77 and US$96 UbiSlate 7 models, angering consumers who refused to take the up-sell bait. Many who did receive their US$35 Aakash found its screen awkward, its battery life too short and with annoying glitches. Many more were left angry with neither tablet nor cash. Full story

NUS buys into Microsofts's big data vision

ZDNet.com, 19 Mar 2013
The National University of Singapore (NUS) today announced the successful implementation of SQL Server 2012 to give employees in its Centre for Instructional Technology (CIT) the ability to run hypotheses and validate IT proposals on a self-service basis.
This, in turn, empowered the team to better deliver content and services to the student population via its learning management system--the Integrated Virtual Learning Environment (IVLE), according to Jeffery Tay, associate director of CIT at NUS. Full story

VIDEO: What Most Schools Don't Teach

Youtube.com, 26 Feb 2013


Link

Related:
http://www.code.org

NTU's scientist unveils "invisibility cloak" at TED Talks

Digital Journal, 27 Feb 2013
On Monday, Baile Zhang, an assistant professor of physics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, debuted his "invisibility Cloak" at the TED2013 talks.
Zhang wowed the crowd when he showed off his cloak, according to Yahoo. Zhang showed off his cloak as part of TED Fellows Day, which is when artists, tech geniuses and young researchers who are considered as being worthy of mentoring give presentations that last for four minutes. Full story

Related:
New Invisibility Cloak Revealed at TED13 Conference- opposingviews.com

Singapore Seeks to Repeat Biomedical Success in Space Industry

Bloomberg, 22 Feb 2013
Singapore, which is planning to send a citizen into space in 2015, said it hopes its foray into space technology will become as important a growth driver as its biomedical industry.
The country can leverage its electronics sector to help develop a satellite industry, Ow Foong Pheng, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, told reporters today. The biomedical industry overtook electronics last year as the biggest contributor to manufacturing, a government report today showed. Full story

Computer Science student creates Chrome VPN extension to bypass MDA censors

Sgentrepreneurs.com, 21 Feb 2013

While the Internet in Singapore is generally free of censorship, the prudish Singapore government has made the extraordinary step of barring users from accessing certain pornographic sites.
Now, a developer has created a Chrome extension that allows users to bypass the censors. Called ‘Go Away MDA’, with MDA referring to the government’s media authority, the extension essentially enables a VPN via a proxy. Full story

YotaPhone to be manufactured in Singapore

CNET Asia, 20 Feb 2013
Yota Devices, the Russia-based company behind the YotaPhone, has announced that the handset will be manufactured by Hi-P in Singapore. Hi-P is also the original device manufacturer (ODM) of some of Yota Devices' wireless modems and routers, devices which have been the Russian company's core business until now.
Speaking with us from his hotel room in Singapore, Yota Devices COO Lau Geckler also revealed that the company is setting up an R&D and Asian sales office in the city-state. This R&D center is the company's second in the world--the first being a former Nokia facility in Finland. Full story

Hong Kong takes top spot in internet connection speed, Singapore ranked 10th : Survey

Yahoo! Finance Singapore, 12 Feb 2013
According to an article by Pingdom, an internet monitoring service provider, Hong Kong offers the fastest internet connection in the world with an impressive 54.1 Mbps.
The data, obtained from Akamai, a global cloud platform also showed that Iran offers the slowest internet connection. Singapore is ranked 10th at 30.7 mbps. Full story

Samsung Puts NFC Stickers In Coffee Bean In Singapore

Techcrunch.com, 12 Feb 2013
Samsung and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf have placed Samsung-branded NFC stickers in all 51 outlets in Singapore.
Their marketing campaign runs from 8 February to 7 March, and will reward Samsung NFC-device users with an upsized drink for tapping the poster and Liking Coffee Bean’s Facebook page after it pops up. Right now, that means the Galaxy S3 or Note 2 devices, and you still have to Like the page to complete the deal. Full story

Singapore telcos to offer 128GB iPad

CNET Asia, 30 Jan 2013
All three carriers in Singapore, SingTel, StarHub and M1, have confirmed that they will be offering the new 128GB version of the iPad. This will presumably be the cellular version bundled with a data plan.
Apple had earlier announced that its fourth-generation iPad with Retina display would soon be available with 128GB of storage, twice that of existing models. The company said that it is targeting businesses and professional users who may need more storage capacity. Full story