Source: sohu.com

Source: sohu.com

Source: IT168.com

Early images of China Mobile’s Ophone has surfaced in recent days. Lest you think this is another iPhone rip-off, the Ophone is being made by Lenovo, and will use China Mobile’s Android-based OMS (Open Mobile System) to be launched by the second quarter of 2009.

So far, very little is known about the phone’s full specs, apart from a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, a Marvell 624MHz processor, a microSD card slot and a mini USB connector. It is expected to work on China Mobile’s homegrown TD-SCDMA network.

OMS is built by Borqs, a Chinese mobile platform developer, and can operate on TD-SCDMA/EDGE/GSM networks. Chinese new reports have indicated that China Mobile will not mandate the use of OMS exclusively on TD-SCDMA handsets, preferring to leave the decision to handset makers.

What’s a geek to do before Christmas? Buy a Techgoondu-approved gift to make others – and ourselves – happy of course. Granted, this year-end is shaping up to be more austere than the past few with the financial downturn already upon us. But austerity driving shouldn’t mean no giving for Christmas, right? So here’s a list of diverse geek gifts mooted by us, and we promise it is a cool one:

Thanks to Daft Logic, exercise junkies – those who pound the pavement with their Asics and crank the gears on their Cervelos – can find out exactly how much miles and kms they are covering in Singapore – or any other country for that matter. This Google distance calculator app may not be new to some, but I tried it out for the first time last week and just loved it.

Call me impressed with blobs meet Facebook concept! Having used the new Facebook Xperia panel briefly last week, I must say this alternative mobile interface for Facebook is one of the best to date. Better than Facebook’s own insipid mobile version.

I don’t have a screenshot to show, but click on this link to see what I mean by blobs. Basically, Xperia X1 owners who have installed this free panel will be greeted by a Facebook home screen where their friends’ thumbnail photos float quiveringly in blobs around you. Click on a blob to read your friend’s latest status. Better yet, viewing inbox messages, updating status and all those other addictive Facebook chores are all neatly and intuitively collated in the panel.

And the best part is of this panel is that it is surprisingly fleetfooted, something which the other Xperia panels are not. It’s free for Xperia owners, who can go download here.

by Kevin Lim (theory.isthereason.com), for creativecommonssingapore.wordpress.com

We’ve moved Techgoondu’s content to the Creative Commons 3.0 License (Singapore).

This basically means that as long as you attribute to the source (i.e.Techgoondu), feel free to copy and mash-up any of the content here as you see fit. You can see this license on our front page on the right-hand sidebar.

Why are we doing this?

We’re not deluded enough to think our content is popular enough that it will run into some legal issues over copyright. Far from it. In fact if you take stuff, we’ll be more than flattered.

The whole exercise is more about making a point: content like this should be free, and we are stating upfront we have no issues with that, now and in the future.

Call it a reaction to our backgrounds in media, where “content protection” is the norm. That is not the way the world is heading, and not the way we believe information should be handled. Many of us here at Techgoondu are open source advocates anyway, so we should walk-the-talk, so to speak.

Besides, the site was set up on passion to find an alternative tech voice outside our work, and profit is not on our high list of priorities for Techgoondu.

If you have a good tech blog in Singapore, we’d love to RSS feed your content in a sidebar on our site. I believe it serves the Singaporean readers out there better. Drop us an email.

Thanks to this Tech65.org post for sparking this idea.

When you hear geeks talk about “open source” software, things always end up with this impossible divide between Linux and Windows (okay, “proprietary software” for you Linux cultists out there – like Aaron!).

But it doesn’t have to be all that divisive. There are lots of open source software for proprietary operating systems, I mean, Windows…

Anyway, besides the common stuff like OpenOffice, there are quite a few that do the job as well as – and sometimes better than – paid software. Think of Filezilla, Songbird, Gimp, 7-Zip…

These are the few that I can recommend because I actually use them all the time on my Windows Vista machine.

HTC's "white diamond"?

HTC has come up with a “white” version of the Touch Diamond, its much-loved (but slightly laggy) touch-screen phone.

It comes with all the same features, including a sharp VGA, 2.8-inch screen and 3.2-meg lens that does pretty well in bright light for a Windows Mobile phone.

But the real difference for this similarly-priced (S$1,098) model is just the like-it-or-hate-it “diamond” back cover.

This was the weakest part of the phone for me personally, as the plastic not only looks a little cheap, but also reminds one of the ugly Nokia “fashion” phones of old (yucks, the Prism!).

I wish HTC had brought in the Diamond sold by Japan operator EMobile, which sports a nice rounded frame and a smooth backplate instead of the ugly “diamond” or “Prism” shapes.

It is no surprise really, for those of us not asleep at the wheel, that newspapers are under major threat.

According to this insightful December 9th 2008 press release by market research firm ZenithOptimedia, ad spend on the Internet is scheduled to rise from 10.3% in 2008 to 15.6% in 2011.

Now, if there is an increase in the pie for the internet slice, something else must go down. And this comes mostly at the newspapers expense: from 25.4% in 2008 to 21.2% in 2011.

In terms of numbers, the Internet ad market will rise from around US$50 billion in 2008 to US$84.3 billion in 2011, whilst the newspapers ad market will decrease from US$123 billion in 2008 to about US$115 billion in 2011.

Click chart for sharper details or visit ZenithOptimedia

Another piece of interesting news is that, due to the credit crisis, the global ad market will contract (-0.2%) in 2009, with most of the decline in US (-6.7%) and Europe (-1.0%).

If you live in Singapore and you haven’t heard of or tried Gothere, do yourself a favour and take a look. It’s such a useful resource that I have the URL bookmarked in my brain.

I’ll flat out admit it: I’m a huge fan and user.

Of all the various map, location and road routing sites for Singapore, I feel that Gothere is the best. It trashes the competition out there in terms of usability and function: the incumbent Streetdirectory, StreetDB, and Google Maps.

Don’t even get me started on SLA’s map or Rednano’s one.

Started up in just May 2008 this year, Gothere.sg has generated buzz in the blogosphere but is still under the radar in the mainstream.

Gothere's simple, excellent searchbar interface

“The finish line
is just around the bend
I’ll pause this game
so our love will never end…”

An “emo” love song about the red plumber, his perpetually kidnapped princess, and go-karts, this destined-to-be-classic YouTube video has racked up more than 1.5 million views since it’s release last month. I got this through viral word-of-mouth — a friend who emailed me the URL link coz’ he thought I would love it. And he’s right.

It’s strange yet touchingly sweet – a brilliant concoction that has brought a wistful smile to this gamer’s face.

It even spawned this equally excellent video response. Always had a soft spot for Bowser. Go villains go!

So good, both have been converted to mp3s as part of my music playlists.

Old school gamers, enjoy.