Singapore football fans are finally getting all the live matches for World Cup 2010, after the country almost ended up as one of a handful that could not reach a deal with FIFA to broadcast the world’s biggest football show.

In the end, StarHub and StarHub are said to have ironed out a deal that will cost them about US$15 million (S$21 million), which is half the S$40 million asking price that had been reported earlier. …

Net surfers heading to Asiaone, the Singapore Press Holdings site offering a lot of the publishing company’s newspaper articles, were prevented from entering the news site in the past two days, as it was hit by a “malicious malware attack“.

The news portal acknowledged the problem on Wednesday, saying that users faced error messages on their browsers, which prevented them from entering the site. …

It’s been a while since we saw a sleek phone from Nokia. So it’s refreshing to see the new N8, unveiled today, look the part with a large 3.5-inch screen as well as widget-like shortcuts for social networking sites on its front screen.

More interestingly, it comes with a camera that boasts no less than 12 megapixels – the Carl Zeiss lens here actually captures more info than a lot of standalone cameras out there. It also comes with a handy Xenon flash, though we won’t go so far as to say you can junk your SLR camera. …

code::XtremeApps, the annual Singapore 24-hour computer programming competition organised by the Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC), is going green this year with its theme.

Competitors will be required to create an application to promote awareness of environmental issues and sustainable living. The details of the competition guidelines were released last Wednesday 21st April to the public and media, and can be found online here.

This is the fourth year that ITSC has run code:XtremeApps, and the top three teams for both the Open (above 12 years of age) and Junior (below 12 years of age) will stand to win attractive prizes like S$9,000 in cash (per team) or electronic devices.

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I’ve been wanting to swap out my old Razer Tarantula keyboard for a while now, seeing how the lettering is all gone, and I sometimes have to second-guess where the right keys are. I finally did that yesterday with a Logitech K350 wireless keyboard.

Now, you may think I’m downgrading from a performance gaming keyboard to just another boring wireless typepad. But for me, it’s more like switching to something that suits what I do now, which is, sadly, 95 per cent typing e-mail and articles and 5 per cent games. …

The ash clouds from Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull have created air travel chaos all over Europe for the better part of almost a week and a half.

Things seem to be clearing up over southern Europe (for now), but if you’re one of the few unlucky ones still stuck in a transit airport or hotel around the world, at least here’s one small consolation: Free internet Wi-Fi access!

Skype is waiving internet access charges for Skype Access until the end of the week so that travellers can surf the net, check their email, and make free Skype-to-Skype calls at over 100,000 WiFi hotspots in airports and hotels worldwide.

From 1200hrs GMT on Wednesday 21st April to 2359hrs GMT on Friday 23rd April (0700hrs Saturday 24th April Singapore time), Skype Access will be completely free to use. Typically, Wi-Fi access is charged per minute using Skype Credit.

Skype Access is powered by Boingo through WiFi hotspot operators around the world, and a complete list can be found here.

And well, if your wedding plans are scuppered by the travel disruption, don’t fret. You might be inspired by what this couple did, and throw a wedding bash via Skype!

If you sell applications or services, you cannot afford to ignore telcos — they will become the IT channel of the decade, displacing typical IT hardware and software vendors.

So said Adrian Ho, program manager for telecom and managed services at research firm IDC. He was speaking last Friday, 16th April, at the annual Asia Pacific IDC Directions conference held in Singapore and around the region.

The main reasons? Telcos own the networks in which IT operates, and there is a trend of progression towards cloud services. Add the two together, and telecom carriers are well positioned to “seize the opportunity” in this service oriented era and become the “pre-eminent” IT channel, said Adrian.

“Networks have become intrinsic to a lot of large scale enterprise initiatives,” he said. And telcos own the infrastructure — the large bandwidth and data centres — that make the cloud paradigm possible.

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In the latest use of technology for its “3G Army“, the Singapore Armed Forces is giving each new recruit a laptop – no, not to surf porn, or update Facebook on, but to learn how to strip a rifle and throw grenades. Yes, throw grenades.

I’m sure Singapore readers of The Straits Times would have read the story that first came out last Saturday, but it is still something of a shock to many of us guys who’ve already done two or two-and-a-half years of national service plus a decade of reservist call-ups the old way.

Because there was a time when you would have to actually get drilled countless times on what to do before throwing a live grenade. You work with a dummy grenade, learn that you have to pull out the pin carefully, keep your palm clasped and NEVER drop the thing.

If you screw up during training, you got a smack in the head or a yelling you will never forget – even if you are throwing a grenade 10 years down the road (Singaporeans are liable for call-ups up to 40 years old for enlisted men, and 50 for officers). …

If you can’t wait to lay your hands on an Apple iPad, head down to Lucky Plaza where the device was spotted at several electronics stores in the basement level. Prices are hovering around S$990.

CNET Asia’s Crave blog reported that the iPad is going for S$1,299 at one large 24-hour megamall, so Lucky Plaza might just be offering the best iPad prices in town for now before the device officially ships to Singapore. …

Google has done it, so why not Microsoft? Just hours ago, the software giant unveiled two self-branded phones aimed at getting the non-techy crowd on social networking services on the go.

Called Kin One and Kin Two, they look a little like a miniaturised Nokia N97 mini and a Blackberry with a slide-out keyboard. But hey, why change a proven design if rivals have made it work?

Both phones feature a Windows Phone OS that reminds one of the Zune HD interface, and will hook up to the music service seamlessly. But the OS – not Windows Phone 7 – looks like a hugely simplified affair, going by images and reports out so far. …