It’s CommunicAsia week this week, and the tech reporters here at the newsroom are running around Singapore Expo (where the exhibitions are) and Suntec City (where the conferences are).

At the opening of the yearly trade show today, the Singapore Government said it was looking into stronger, two-factor authentication for gov’t e-services, as part of what it calls the National Authentication Framework.

This means all those far-from-secure transactions that you have been performing on government websites will be a thing of the past. With the security provided by two-factor authentication, like what you use on online banking now, the Government intends to put in more “sensitive” apps in future.

In future, you’d likely have to not just key in a password, but also to key in a second password shown on a cellphone SMS or perhaps on a security token. Maybe, who knows, a fingerprint scan might not be out of order if prices for these scanners drop in future.

In any case, the IDA is to call for tenders in the next six months. But right now, the details are a little sketchy.

The date is not set for rolling out yet. Plus, what transactions can you do on it, for example (IDA said at a press conference today that perhaps you can even transfer CPF funds to pay for your flat – but will CPF allow it!)?

But who knows, when this more secure method for logging in is up, you might just not be feeling that scary feeling when logging in with that SingPass (which someone can sniff or easily guess) any more.

Singaporeans have it good when it comes to mobile services. As we read about the rivalry going on among the three telcos in the run-up to full number portability, my American counterparts do not know what they’re missing. It’s partly to do with the infrastructure providers getting cozy with the legislators, a history that goes back to the early days of the railroad.

Not only are handsets at least 6 months before what you get in Asia, you’re charged for both incoming and outgoing text messages. No wonder SMS isn’t such a big hit here. People prefer to talk on the phone than send text messages.

What amuses me is that the media created such a big fuss when AT&T and T-Mobile said they were opening up their networks to “unsupported” devices not too long ago. In case you’re unaware, all the phones here are locked by service providers. Things we take for granted like swapping SIM cards from one phone to another just doesn’t happen here, unless of course you get yourself an unlocked phone overseas.

The operator’s rational for the phone-locking is so that they can provide you with better service, and to avoid security problems. They’ll tell you that if you use an unsupported phone, there is no guarantee that it will work as well as a supported one. Unsavvy consumers have been tricked into believing this was really the case. Isn’t GSM supposed to be a global standard? A GSM phone should work on a GSM network. Even the so-called operator specific services are really just ringtone and wallpaper downloads, and my case, the T-Mobile Web service which lets me surf on a couple of WAP sites for free at GPRS speeds.

There’s Xbox 360 going for S$399 with freebies like Webcam and charger, and $0 phones like Motorola Q offered by SingTel… but one of the fastest price drops and best deals is Western Digital’s Element portable drives.

The no-frills 2.5-inch external drives are going for $119 (previously $149) for a 250GB unit at various booths, and is one of the cheapest external drives you can get (Sim Lim sells a bare 2.5-inch drive for $111 cheapest).

Go down there and grab the bargains…

One day (or rather hours) before the number port exercise kicks in, the battle begins at the PC Show, where SingTel and StarHub are readying $0 PDAs and extra $100 here and there to get switchers who have been waiting to choose a better deal elsewhere.

Besides big print ads in ST, StarHub has also come up with a website (www.choosefreedom.com.sg) which gives you a calculator to compare StarHub plans to any other M1 or SingTel plan directly. Talk about direct rivalry.

And in a nod to new media, the “green” folks have also set up a Facebook group for people who “choose freedom”…

Of course, we all know that’s all the freedom we get now – until we sell our souls for $300-$400 a phone with a two-year deal with one of these telcos!

In any case, if there’s any time to sell your soul for a cheap phone bargain, it is now, as the telcos fight it out for your signature. StarHub has a midnite gig going on tonight at Plaza Singapura (a gimmick unless you want another $100 discount for that phone), and you can expect fireworks at PC Show…

Let the bargains begin!

Do we really fancy jabbing our fingers at a VERY large touch-screen monitor, like 22-inches wide, all the time? HP says yay to the idea with its “closer to B&O than HP” TouchSmart IQ500 PC unwrapped yesterday in its conference in Berlin. In the interest of combating greasy fingers, the company better also sell lots of wiping alcohol to go with this drool-worthy PC, which it sez will sell for US$1,399 later this month across Asia Pacific, according to this report. Better quit that habit of snacking on chicken wings while surfing the Web if you are lusting after one.

Sorry, stole that headline from elsewhere… but it’s exactly how i feel:

“Iphone is next gen? It has been around and remain pretty much unchanged for very long! And 3G? I ask you, how many of you are using non-3G phone? Even my M600i that is no longer in production (a very very very old phone) is 3G enabled. Apple is slow in putting out a 3G Iphone. The newspaper should be have the headline, “Apple releases 3G Iphone… finally!”

Source: Weikiat.net.

We’ve been led to believe that SingTel will be “first” to have the iPhone for months now, in a deal that would make the hyped up gizmo at least exclusive to it for a while.

But in today’s news, you’ll read that M1 and StarHub are also confident of getting the gadget in by the end of the year.

Now is already June, so how many months exclusive does that give SingTel on the iPhone?

Worse, Apple seems to say in its SEC filings that it has not signed exclusive deals in many countries coz they are “generally not exclusive with a specific carrier”.

Apple has signed multi-year agreements with carriers authorizing them to distribute and provide network services for iPhones in over 70 countries. These agreements are generally not exclusive with a specific carrier, except in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, and certain other countries.

Source: http://www.secinfo.com/d141Nx.t14nr.htm
(thanks to yc for that!)

Does “certain other countries” include Singapore? That’s the mystery.

But for users out there, it’s clear: There’s no need to rush for it. And no need to change operators (via number port) for it! Just wait for your operator to bring it in. Or the friendly ahbeng shop to bring it in without contract.

Finally, full mobile number portability comes to Singapore on this Friday 13th. This means you can switch cellphone operators without changing your old phone number, ie one number for life.

So what’s the best plan and is it time to switch?

From looking at the 3 operators offerings, prices haven’t changed much.. basically, there’re 3 popular plans that people will be interested in (yeah, there’re some less popular ones on the fringes). All 3 operators offer similar plans:

I call them:

1. the lite plan:
-$25 a month
-100 min of talk time, 500 SMSes and of course, free incoming calls.
-who should sign up: students, aunties and people who don’t call much.

2. the “middle” plan
-$48 a month
-300 min talk time, 500 SMSes and free incoming calls
-who should sign up: most of us who worry about exceeding the 100min talktime that the “lite” plan offers. this “middle” plan offers the best balance of price and usage for most people.

3. the “high” plan
-$82 a month
-700 min talk time, 500 SMSes and free incoming calls
-who should sign up: real estate agents, busy execs, towkays and anyone who is a heavy user and needs to contact clients on the road.

There are cheaper plans (SingTel has one for under $20) and more talktime plans (SingTel has a $192 plan), but if you are a mainstream user, you’d likely settle for one of these 3 “common”plans which operators offer the same rates for.

So, which operator? It comes down to more than the cellphone service for many people.

1. Bundle deals with bb and pay-TV
For example, if you are on SingTel or StarHub bb, you can choose a bundle with their services, which can give you up to 15 per cent off.

2. Services
One key feature that is becoming more important is content. Football fans do note: StarHub has EPL live on their mobiles for free if you are a Sports Group subscriber on their pay-TV service. SingTel plans to beam their Champions League on mobile next year too.

3. Sharing plans
All three offer plans which let you roll over unused minutes to your family members. M1 now leads the way with its SunShare plan, which lets you add a number for $12 a month and share unused minutes from a main line. You can do this with 4 additional numbers.

StarHub and SingTel both have similar offerings, but offer deals with fewer family members. SingTel gives parent and child calls for free- up to $160 worth a month, while StarHub lets users share with up to two familar members.

So, in the end, what do you choose depends more than just the price alone. In fact, the prices are very similar for most users. It’s gonna be down to the bundles and the extras like content. Make your choice wisely, before signing up for a 2 year deal!

After some quiet for a while, AMD and Nvidia seem to be finally at it again.

Already purported beta drivers are out for Nvidia’s new GT260 and GT280 graphics cards (Source: TC Magazine). These cards have been said to promise much faster performance (30fps for Crysis on Very High settings, according to some reports).

AMD is also readying much faster 4850 and 4870 cards this month, so it’s gonna be a slugfest that users have not seen since ATI’s long marriage with AMD.

More updates can be had regularly at Singapore’s excellent overclocking/hardware site www.vr-zone.com.

I am no rabid fan of Apple’s “I am so cool” iPhone. I think it is a cleverly designed phone, but so is my Sony Ericsson W880i. Why all the nauseous hype given to it? It’s probably not the phone for me since I need a real and tactile keypad to cater to my clumsy fingers and long-sighted eyes. But Apple’s announcement today (should be yesterday by the time I finish this post) is cool for one thing: its price. US$199 is cheap, cheap. Well, at least for a smartphone, that’s pretty cheap. And it will hopefully force the others to slash prices, like how HTC did yesterday. Yay! Price wars please!