As technology users welcome 2012 everywhere, it’s clear the year that had just passed was filled with no little controversy and memorable incidents.

From Steve Jobs’ death to the delay of the much-awaited iPhone 5, from the rise of Android devices to Nokia’s return with its Windows Phone devices, and finally, with the potent mix of mobile devices and social media that  helped ignite protests in the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, but also encouraged the thuggery of the London riots, 2011 was a big year in technology.

The next 12 months look to be just as interesting, as existing technologies mature and grow, while other new trends emerge. Here are five things to look out for in 2012:

1. The arrival of the “transform” device
Just a few years ago, it was unfathomable that people would junk their desktop PCs for laptops. Because the portable device had a smaller screen and usually lesser computing prowess, the portable device never matched up to the silent giant under the desk.

These days, however, with power-efficient yet advanced CPUs and graphics chips, laptops can do the job just as well, plus they can be hooked up with a monitor, keyboard and mouse easily to transform into a desktop PC in a jiffy.

The same is happening with tablets and smartphones. In 2012, there will be more devices like the Motorola Atrix, first unveiled in early 2011, that basically turns into a laptop once it is docked with a laptop dock. The Atrix taps on its dual-core chip to run Webtop, which is based on Ubuntu Linux, to give users a regular desktop OS look and feel. It runs the OS you prefer at any time, all in one device.

Essentially, you only need one smart device – your phone or tablet – to do everything you need in future. What you will have are many docks or keyboards and screens to hook up to this increasingly powerful (expect quad core gizmos in 2012, starting with the Asus Transformer Prime) yet portable device in your hands.

Desktops and laptops will definitely still be around, but the mobile gadget is set to be the central device in your life.

2.  Windows 8 brings “touch” on everyday PCs
Related to this portable device rush is Windows 8. The upcoming Microsoft OS, expected this year, is being billed as the biggest upgrade in years for one reason – it is going to unify both mobile devices and PCs with one OS.

It works with touch, and features a Windows Phone-like tile system, where users will be given a panel of information and the ability to go into the nitty gritty only if they wish to. The big icons and friendlier interface also mean that this is the first time the Start button and taskbar – at least in their present forms – will be out of the picture.

Along with Windows 8′s arrival, expect computing of all types – from smartphones to laptops to desktops – to tap on the novel OS.

What to expect? Look to something like the Samsung Slate PC, which crams a powerful Intel dual-core CPU into a thin, portable tablet that can be hooked up with a keyboard and screen to become a full-fledged desktop. It runs Windows 7 now, but come next year, devices like these will sport the even more touch-friendly Windows 8.

3. Tougher times for Apple
It’s not just Steve Jobs’ passing that will affect Apple for the coming year, but also the fact that it is a company that wins big because of the very sharp innovation curve that it sets out each year.

When the iPod was commoditised, the iPhone became the next big thing; when Android smartphones managed to grab huge chunks of market share in 2010, the iPad became the market-conquering portable gizmo in a class of its own.

The question in 2012 is: what next? Surely, there’d be new versions of the iPhone (after the disappointing iPhone 4S) and iPad (which still has a good lead over all over Android rivals). But can these upgrades keep Apple at the top of the pile, or will it see its innovation and design lead cut short in 2012?

The emergence of the Windows-based Ultrabooks in 2011 from Asus, in particular, is a clear answer to how fast the competition is catching up, in this case, with the MacBook Air.

In the next 12 months, Apple will find the going even tougher. Users are often willing to accept Apple’s closed “my way or the highway” approach because of the perceived better design and innovation from the company, but it has to keep coming up with new winners to redefine the field. In 2012, it needs another big winner to pull away.

4. Say hi again to a smart TV
It’s been prophecised several times before, but 2012 could finally see the arrival of smart TVs that do more than just show your cable TV programmes or Blu-ray movies in all their 60-inch Full HD glory. These TVs could be the conduit to many services and apps that were just becoming common in 2011.

Yes, Facebook will be there, as will Twitter and other PC-based services and apps that you had seen on your 2011 Samsung or LG TV when you were free enough to venture into some of its sub menus. But what about YouTube, or rather, a YouTube-type service – on steroids?

Think of an app that is smart enough to offer the same multi-tasking you’d expect on a PC screen, say, talk to a friend on a chat window while watching a live football match, or checking out background information from Wikipedia on the JFK assassination, if you are watching a documentary on it on a National Geographic app, for example.

Not so new, I hear you say? The main difference this time is that the intelligence is built into the TV and possibly delivered straight to the screen – over the TV’s Net link – instead of via a third-party set-top box and third party broadcaster.

Sure, it’d be a leap of faith for content executives who have always preferred to work with their favoured “platform partners”, i.e. broadcasters like StarHub and SingTel.

But for indie channels and content owners looking to jumpstart their work by showing their programmes direct to viewers, they can now create their own content and app and reach out to viewers – in the same way cellphone app developers sell their apps direct to users.

Creating a smart TV programme would thus involve skills needed to develop an app for, say, the mobile phone or tablet. Will this model work for TV? Well, it’s already proven already by Apple and Google in their respective app marketplaces, and what’s there to stop you paying S$2 for a movie on a smart TV, just like you’d buy an app on your phone?

If rumours hold true and Apple decides to create its own TV set in 2012 or if Google takes YouTube to the big screen by signing up more content creators as it has done in 2011, then the next 12 months could see big changes in the way video content is created, delivered and consumed in the big screen in the living room.

5. Fibre broadband takes off in Singapore
This is a banker of a trend, because we know that 95 per cent of the city will be covered by the fibre optic network this year. Going by the long waitlist to turn on a fibre broadband service now – up to a month with M1, we are told by users – the demand for light-speed downloads is going to be even higher in 2012.

It helps, of course, that the network has finally forced open a market that once was dominated by SingTel and StarHub.

Take M1, for example. It used to have to rent the network from the two telcos, but now it can get wholesale access at the same price as its bigger rivals, and it can price its services competitively, as a result. Its S$39-a-month 100Mbps fibre plan sold at computer expos in 2011, for one, has become the benchmark to follow in 2012.

Sony’s Playstation 3 is going for as low as S$399 from today, as the electronics giant drops prices for its game console in Singapore some five years after it first hit the stores worldwide.

With the price drop, a version that comes with a 160GB hard disk will cost S$399 now, instead of the previous S$449, while the 320GB version will cost S$429, down from S$499. 

While most users see the PS3 first as a game console, the price drop also makes the PS3 one of the most affordable high-end Blu-ray players out in the market.

Since its launch, it has always been a popular choice for home theatre buffs looking for fast Blu-ray disc load times and continuous updates that have added support for features like BD-Live, which lets you access added content on a Blu-ray movie online, as well as 3D movie playback.

In comparison, alternative high-end players from manufacturers like Oppo and Denon cost upwards of S$600 and guess what, they don’t even come with a free game console thrown in. Plus, the PS3 even streams movies from your NAS or PCs at home, though with a limited number of formats that excludes the popular MKV.

Still, if you are late to the Blu-ray party, the current slimline PS3, with its reduced price, is surely something to consider. Only downside is you have to control things with a PS3 controller, or fork out an additional S$30 or so for a regular-shaped remote.

As the World Cup got underway last month, I finally succumbed to a long-suppressed itch to buy a new TV – one that could be mounted on the wall to free up my TV console and one which provided better contrast and clarity over my entry-level Full HD screen.

Thus began a long afternoon at Audio House, where I tested and re-tested several TVs, changed my mind a few times, before finally settling on a 55-inch Samsung C7000 (UA55C7000WM).

The C7000 is part of Samsung’s new Series 7 entry-level 3D LED TVs and it comes with your usual array of Internet-based features, such as the ability to watch YouTube (over a wired Ethernet link or optional Wi-Fi dongle).

More importantly, for me, the C7000 provides excellent contrast and smooth, natural motion.

But first, why 55 inches? In terms of screen real estate, the Samsung 46-inchers are not a huge leap over popular 40- and 42-inchers, which are significantly cheaper (think S$1,000 to S$2,000 less). After getting the measurements of my humble apartment (about 3.6 metres wall-to-wall), I decided to go for the bigger screen.

With Samsung’s ultra-thin wall-mount, the 2.65cm skinny screen is a mere 3cm from the wall and is literally hung like a painting using a thin but strong steel cable. This means the screen doesn’t look big at all, even in a living room that is typical of a three-bedroom apartment in Singapore.

Now, after a month with C7000, I am glad I went with the 55-incher. HD videos – whether they are in broadcast TV’s 1080i or Blu-ray’s 1080p – all look sharp. Surprisingly, SD videos look great too, possibly because my C7000 is hooked up to a Denon AVR-2310 that does a little upscaling to keep things looking sharp and in focus.

The dynamic contrast, which enables very deep blacks, and the vibrancy of colours are what attracted me to the C7000 at the showroom. One step down was the C6900, which I also liked, but which comes with a less aggressive sports/action mode (Clear Motion 4o0 versus the C7000′s Clear Motion 600) and no 3D.

In the end, the C7000 caught my eye, and I just had to have it after looking at it for half a day at Audio House. After all, I’d been quite impressed by Samsung’s excellent B7000, which I reviewed last year.

Like the older model, the eye candy in movies such as Avatar (non-3D) and Pearl Harbor is very impressive on the new C7000.

If you prefer the theatre experience, dim the lights and run the Movie mode on the TV. This way, the screen’s a little dimmer and “yellow” in colour temperature, replicating what you see in the cinema.

I personally prefer something with more impact and punch, so the C7000′s Dynamic mode does it for me with the extra brightness and contrast. And no, even after a couple of movies like Terminator Salvation and Pearl Harbor, the eyes don’t tire. They want more.

Blacks really look black, even when compared to LG’s excellent SL90 series from last year (which I considered as an alternative to the Samsungs). And how fast motion is portrayed can also be easily adjusted, whether you prefer the “computer-like” super-sharp/in-focus feel or one that seems more “natural”, so there’s no argument on whether the details are too soft or hard.

What impresses me too are the colours, which really come alive in a movie like Avatar. Here, you never fail to get a good sense of the beauty – and savagery – of Pandora because you are easily drawn into its multi-coloured world.

Details are extremely fine as well. You tend to take more seriously Colonel Quaritch’s safety brief early in the Avatar movie, when you see the battle scars etched on his skull in a stark close-up.

Of course, the C7000 is far from perfect. Quite a few folks on AV forums have complained about backlight bleed issues, especially at the edges where they could see “clouds” forming in place of a solid colour. I personally have not seen this, so either I am lucky or I have not been concentrating hard enough to find the problem.

Plus, some serious video buffs are still a little underwhelmed and are looking to the more precise dimming offered by the more expensive Samsung C8000 and C9000 (going at a cool S$12,888). But those models were surely out of my budget.

For me, a bigger issue I had with the C7000, until recently, was HDMI sync’ing problems with my Denon AVR. With my old Samsung 40-inch LCD, I could turn on my devices in any order and things would just sync up and I’d get sound and video within a second or two.

With the C7000, I actually had to apply a software patch from Samsung to solve persistent sync’ing problems, which a number of Onkyo AVR users have also raised. This mostly solved the problem, even though the occasional failure to sync still happened until I found a workaround.

The simplest way to ensure everything works is to turn on my AVR and source (StarHub set-top box, Sony Playstation 3 or HTPC) before turning on the TV. With this, I’ve never had a problem.

Since I’m at it, here’s another tip for fellow C7000 users. This is for folks running a set-up like mine  - I know there are lots of you out there who bought a Denon AVR in the past year and also use a Sony Playstation 3 as a Blu-ray player.

When playing Blu-ray movies, I had problems sync’ing a character’s dialogue with his lip movements, possibly because I’ve turned on the motion-enhancement settings on the C7000.

To get past this, try setting the Denon AVR’s audio delay to match the video on your Blu-rays. I set mine to more than 100ms and the problem went away immediately. I don’t see anymore out-of-sync lips now.

On the whole, the C7000 has been a big leap over my previous TV. With a list price of over S$6,000 (I got it cheaper after trading in my 3D glasses and 3D Blu-ray player), it had better be.

To be honest, I’m not blown away by the newfangled 3D feature. Going by shop demos, some content are hit-and-miss when upmixed by the TV’s 2D-to-3D converter.

But on regular 2D TV, I’m pretty impressed by the C7000. Great contrast and excellent colours make it an impressive screen for Blu-ray movies and even everyday pay-TV content. Well worth checking out if you are looking for a slim LED TV that packs in the goodies.

Apparently yes, especially if there’s money to be made off tech-crazy Singaporeans.

It’s not a gaming-themed show like last year’s Licence2Play, but the Singapore Great Electronics Sale 2010 this weekend at Suntec city (9th to 11th April) was supposed to be about 3D-TVs. Even though it is not, it drew in 30,000 people on the first day.

The event, which took up one convention hall on the 6th floor at Suntec, turned out to be a pretty meh experience for me.

Besides a few tech vendors like Samsung, LG, Panasonic and AudioHouse, the event was full of non-tech booths. DBS credit cards, crystal fengshui stuff and spa massages were some of the booths I spotted in my quick tour around the hall. It was an eclectic mess.

One of the more interesting booths I spotted was by Joco People, a niche shop selling toy cameras from Japan. The cameras cost around S$49 per camera for those displayed in the picture. Joco People’s website doesn’t sem to be up yet, but they seem to operate more via Facebook, and you can find more about them on their FB page.

Another interesting booth was selling powerballs, which was advertised as the world’s strongest sport gyroscope. It literally “explodes with mind numbing inertial forces” and can be used for strength training and rehabilitation of injuries for the wrist and arm, according to the official Powerball website. From athletes to musicians, the powerball can be used for “sports, hobbies or pastimes”, and can generate up to 40 pounds of resistance.

I tried it. You’re supposed to rotate your wrist whilst the Powerball’s gyroscope is spinning (which I was trying to do in the photo above, although that might not be clear), which creates resistance and tones your arm.

It’s a cute toy, but I doubt it will be part of my gym or sport regiment soon. And it ain’t cheap either. The 250Hz Classic in my hand cost S$39.90. There were a lot of folks gawking and trying out the powerball for its niche novelty, but I wonder how many folks actually bought the toy/training device. If you’re interested, the Singapore powerball website is here.

After some wandering, I finally spotted something I could wholeheartedly indulge in: A PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox games booth. The prices are slightly cheaper than the usual Funan prices, and that is PS3 Bioshock at S$29.90 and FF XIII (English) for S$69.90. As a PC gamer, I spotted the PC Mass Effect 2 going for S$49.90. Not a bad deal.

In summary, I would say that this Great Electronics Sale, compared to the IT Show that was just over in March, is a little underwhelming in terms of choice and range of IT products. If you went there for a dedicated gadget-hunting trip, it’s probably not worth it. But if you were in the vicinity and popped by (like I did), it might be fun for all the random weird stuff.

From April 30, all you couch potatoes will be punching in different numbers on your StarHub remote to access the channels you have grown so accustomed to over the more than 10 years that cable TV has been on the telly in Singapore.

Following other pay-TV operators like Astro in Malaysia, StarHub is changing all its channel numbers into three-digit numbers, themed along the genres they belong to.

So, your favourite Football Channel would be changed from Ch 27 to Ch 222 (Ch 200+ is for sports), while HBO would change from Ch60 to Ch601 (Ch 600+ for movies), for example.

StarHub says this will let users easily locate their more than 100 channels, to which they added four more at today’s announcement and demo.

But the real reason for doing this, I’d imagine, is to prepare for a market without exclusive pay-TV deals. Remember the long-overdue ruling against exclusive pay-TV content?

It means StarHub and its chief rival SingTel can no longer keep the good stuff – be it Discovery or HBO or Barclays Premier League – to themselves, after the current contracts expire in the next one to three years.

That means something of a free-for-all, especially when it comes to StarHub’s large stable of currently exclusive programmes. I can imagine SingTel would like HBO or Discovery or even CBeeBees, which StarHub wrested from the “red” operator last year, in the mio TV lineup.

With a big number of channels tied up for now, StarHub must be thinking which ones SingTel will attempt to grab a share of when their contracts end. It could also try to grab some from SingTel as well.

How will a change in its channel numbers help StarHub? The new system could very well prepare for new channels that are incoming – possibly ones which StarHub would like from SingTel’s current lineup.

The most attractive would be the video-on-demand programmes straight from the United States, which mio TV customers enjoy, as a perceptive journo pal of mine told me today at the StarHub event.

StarHub’s head of content, Kathleen Syron, says it has readied an entire 900 series of numbers to cater to channels showing “must-carry” programmes from its rival. You can imagine these could easily include channels it wants from SingTel too.

Of course, the StarHub folks were mum when asked which channels they were eyeing, or how many they expect to bring over or share with SingTel. They say they do not expect any change in channels this year (no surprise, given that the contracts usually tie up for three years, and the ruling only applies to contracts signed from this month).

Interestingly, StarHub chief operating officer Tan Tong Hai said there is a lot more to be discussed with the authorities, when it comes to the new ruling to kick out exclusive TV deals.

You get a sense that it is still being tweaked as we go. But I, for one, can’t wait for the day when all the barn doors are open, and exclusive pay-TV deals are consigned to the past.

Think about it – change comes not just to the pay-TV landscape, but also the market for this whole triple-play bundle of services that also includes mobile and broadband.

Without exclusive content to anchor a triple-play offering, operators will have to work harder to package their deals. And that’s a good thing for consumers.

Like many shoppers who’ve been to an electronics store lately, I’ve had a look at Samsung’s incredibly slim B7000 LED TVs (also known as its Series 7 LED TVs) and been pleasantly surprised.

With a depth of under 3cm for the 40-inch model, these svelte beauties never fail to get a reaction when you stare at them from the side – even my parents, non-techies that they are, were shocked to see how thin a screen has become these days.

Yet, looks aside, I never expected to be wowed by the equally stunning image quality on the B7000, which I had a chance to check out closely when Samsung sent us a 40-incher.

Watching regular TV on it, you get the sense that the clarity, sharpness and smoothness of the image are, at most, a small notch up over a good Full HD TV you can get for a third of the price. Sure, the blacks are blacker, the depth is natural, and clearly, with StarHub’s HD programs at 1080i, the B7000 looks pretty sharp, but this is still “just TV”.

What really earns the Full HD B7000 its S$5,399 price tag is Blu-ray movies. I was blown away when I watched Pearl Harbour on the 40-incher, which has 4 HDMI ports to hook up to your PS3, DVD player and other gear.

The sharpness and clarity were the best I’ve seen lately. I’ve had an old Samsung Full HD TV for almost a year now, and seeing the same movie on the B7000 was like doing so with a new pair of glasses for my astigmatism. Characters seem a lot more lifelike, with a sharpness and depth that are not seen on other screens. The same can be said for scenery, which really draws you in with fine detail, such as grass and metal, on-screen.

I suddenly find myself noticing details I never noticed before, like a US soldier running across the screen as a fireball erupts from an aircraft hangar, or the small, desperate sailors rushing on deck as a battleship begins to sink.

Even when a camera tilts up along a tower, as in a scene in Pearl Harbour, or when a plane zooms by in a split second, there is none of that annoying trail of blur. The B7000′s 100Hz engine apparently takes care of that, and your suspension of disbelief is well retained.

Usually, I’d keep a TV’s image settings to “natural” or “standard”, but with the B7000, I actually turned it to “Dynamic” and enjoyed Pearl Harbour tremendously. There’s little of the over-saturation on most other TV’s dynamic settings – here, the more aggressive tuning up actually works.

Yes, Pearl Harbour’s sky was bluer and the mountains greener, but if you’ve been to Hawaii, you’ll know how it all looks when the sun is up – the B7000 re-creates that lushness stunningly well.

To have a second look, I then fired up the Batman Begins Blu-ray. Again, the sharpness impresses, as does the contrast. In dim scenes, and there are many in the movie, you can make out outlines of a character better than on regular TV sets.

I’ve praised Pioneer’s plasmas in years past for their natural depth in movies, and Sharp’s LCDs for amazingly fine lines, particularly for games and animation features, say, A Bug’s Life.

But I’m happy to say the B7000 is the king of the hill now if you are looking for everything in a screen. Not just slim. Not just sharp. Not just deep blacks. Not just smooth motion. It’s got them all.

Yes, the B7000 also has as many frills as you’ll find on a TV today – there’s a second, egg-shaped remote, network connectivity, and photo viewing. But ultimately, it’s the image quality that really stands out. Even its slimmess becomes easily forgotten when you see what’s on screen.

If there is an argument against the B7000, it would be that motion can at times seem a little too “computer-like”. That is when a moving object stays very sharply in focus – more so than our eyes and brains are used to. I personally prefer this, up to an extent (I’d say no to Philips’ old PixelPlus, for example), though there are some who prefer a more “natural” image, say, in a plasma.

It’s one of those arguments nobody wins – like whether sound from a set of speakers is warm enough. With the B7000, though, I’d think a large part of its audience – folks used to sharp LCD screens and video games – will welcome the sharpness.

Of course, with a list price of S$5,399 (or over S$4,000 on the street), this is one expensive screen, especially as prices are falling like mad for other Full HD models. All I can say is go to a shop and demo it with a Blu-ray movie, preferably with lots of fast action and explosions, and be prepared to be impressed.

Sweaty crowds, loudspeakers and lelong prices. What else would you expect from the latest quarterly IT bazaar happening at Suntec City from today to Sunday, right?

Crowds at the ongoing PC Show seem thinner than the previous IT Show in March, perhaps due to the fears over the H1N1 swine flu, or maybe the bleak economy is finally getting to some folks. Sony, noticeably, did not turn up with a bang as before – there were no Level 2 booths you’ve come to see at Suntec City.

Still, there are bargains to be had. And here are my own few Goondu recommendations.

1. LG 32-inch HD-ready TV (S$499)
With 37- and 40-inchers going for as low as $899, the smaller screens are obviously free-falling in price. One deal I saw at the LG booth was an HD-ready 32-incher with a built-in terrestial DTV tuner going for a mere S$499.

Just a few shows ago, 32-inchers went for S$799 and they were not even HD-ready. At this price, this LG TV is great for a second TV in the bedroom, or for your console games.

2. Toshiba 42AV550E HD-ready TV (S$1,099)
By the time you head down to the show, this might be going for even cheaper, perhaps due to the competition in the halls. But still, a 42-inch HD-ready TV for about S$1,000 is a not a shabby deal. I saw this at AudioHouse, which have a few other Toshiba TVs on offer too.

3. Linksys Wireless N WRT610N router bundle (S$308 with USB stick)
I’ve been a D-Link fan for a while, but finally switched back to Linksys today. Yes, I bought the WRT610N router, which offers simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, which is great for me as I am getting swamped by these nasty SingTel 2Wire routers blasting their 2.4GHz signals into my apartment.

Considering that the D-Link DIR855 is still too expensive (S$299), I thought about buying a cheaper WRT320N (S$169), which could do only 5GHz or 2.4GHz at one time, which is fine because I wanted to keep my old D-Link DGL-4300 router as a 2.4GHz router and run the WRT320N as a 5GHz-only access point.

But in the end, I was seduced by the considerably cheap offer from Linksys – a S$308 bundle for the more powerful simultaneous dual-band WRT610N + a WUSB600N USB stick. I’m going fully 5GHz now for my laptop and my wife’s laptop. The PDA goes on 3.5G!

4. Dell Studio XPS 435 (about S$1,999, depending on config)
Silly Dell did not bring any Alienware gaming notebooks on show, despite launching the much-vaulted brand in Singapore recently. However, it did bring the nice Studio XPS desktops, which were huge full-tower PCs with a nice reflective finish at the front. Chio!

5. XFX ATI HD4870x2 graphics card (S$539)
The guy at the XFX booth said that there’s only one of these king-of-the-hill graphics cards going for a whopping S$200+ off the regular Sim Lim Square price (about S$750 – S$800). By the time you read this, it might even be gone. If you are looking at a great deal for a top-end gaming card, quickly head 0n down.

6. MSI X340 laptop (S$1,188 to S$1,388)
Forget about the Apple Macbook Air. The cheap and good laptop that you can bring everywhere comes from MSI, the lesser-known Taiwanese motherboard maker. This svelte, ultra-thin notebook (at just 6mm at its thinnest) with a 13-inch screen is really something to fall in love with.

There are two models – a S$1,388 one with Intel’s SU3500 low-power CPU, and a cheaper S$1,188 one with a slower Intel Atom Z530 CPU. Both look great in black or white. If the cheap S$588 MSI Wind netbook (the cheapest netbook around, I think) doesn’t seduce you, then the X340 notebook should do the job of parting money from your wallet.

More pix here from the show… have fun shopping and tell us what you bought!

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What’s the lowdown on the best deals this year? Well, despite the economic downturn and Sitex being usually smaller than the other shows earlier in the year, the halls are chockfull of bargains for those looking for TVs, cameras or memory cards.

But first, make sure you get in early, and I don’t mean in the afternoon.

As you can see from the picture below, the roads just outside the main carpark are jammed on the first day – Thursday – at 4pm.

Fortunately, if you want to get a taxi with that gigantic LCD screen you just bargained for, there were quite a few of them on hand, at least on this weekend afternoon. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that there’s an MRT station right next to Expo, unlike at Suntec City?

Cheap TVs
What first caught my eye were the usual TV discounts. Many manufactuers had Full HD screens for under S$1,700, like this 42-inch JVC (below) being a bargain at S$1,699.

It ain’t the only good deal. Just as you step out of the MRT, at the end of one side of the Singapore Expo, a Samsung Series 4 “entry level” 42-inch plasma TV (below) was going for even cheaper (though it’s not Full HD). S$1,399 with S$300 of vouchers, and home theatre and camera? Not bad at all.

The bargains didn’t just go with the big living room-sized screens. Smaller 32-inchers for the bedroom, maybe to hook up a game console, were also going cheap. Sorry if you just bought one for about S$1,000. A Sharp 32-incher went for just S$749 today.

Somehow we didn’t catch this piece of news last week, but it’s still worthwhile to mention that StarHub has a new Hubstation PVR that now does HD as well.

This is indeed good news for HD buffs who want to also record their favourite programmes on TV. Previously, there was the useful Hubstation PVR which did not do HD and the HD box which did not have a PVR. Now the Hubstation HD gives you the best of both worlds.

I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these, since I got HD on my menu now but want to use the EPG (electronic programme guide) on the Hubstation, which is a really useful feature to ensure I don’t miss my favourite History Channel Battle 360 and Dogfights docus and even some movies on HD5.

For now, the box is only for rental – at S$14 a month (the old Hubstation was at S$8 a month). That’s not bad if you consider a second regular digital box sets you back S$12 each month if you install one in your bedroom.

The other neat features of the old Hubstation are still there, including free fixed line voice, and more importantly, a free 1Mbps cable modem link, which comes in handy for hooking up your Xbox or PS3, which tends to sit next to your TV and cable box. It sure beats connecting over Wi-Fi, especially if your place has lots of blind spots like mine.

The new box, being an HD box, also has useful HDMI output, so the video goes nicely to your new HDTV or one of those swanky new AV amps like an Onkyo TX-SR606 or Denon AVR-1909.

Now the question is: will StarHub let people like me who have recently bought an HD box and those who own old Hubstations to upgrade easily? Come on, offer us a good price and we will upgrade and bring up the total HD takeup in Singapore!

(1) The Ultimate HP Student Offer (but they were willing to sell to this 39-year-old as well) at Booth 8428 level 4

It’s the new HP Pavilion dv5-1034TX running on Centrino 2 with a 512MB GeForce 9600M GT graphics card, Vista Home Premium, 15.4 inch WXGA screen, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, DVD-RW, 6-cell battery, integrated TV tuner and webcam going for S$1,699. It’s simply the cheapest Centrino 2 laptop with a decent graphics card for gaming that I saw at the show. The entire booth only sells this single product. Make sure this is your benchmark model when checking out a new laptop.

(2) The Lightpulse pen at level 6 Convergent Systems booth

This is a really cool gadget. it’s a pen with a built in mic and recorder. As you take notes, you are also recording what the speaker is saying. Now every word that you type is bookmarked to the corresponding portion of the recording, think of it like every word you write is an automatic bookmark.

So if you want to jump to line 3 of your notes to hear what the professor is saying about macroeconomics, just click your pen on that third line and the corresponding recording will playback.

There are loads of other cool stuff you can do, like drawing a set of piano keys and then playing a tune using Do Re Mi, getting the pen to do calculations for you and even translating a foreign language. It’s hard to describe this S$265 device – best you check it out for yourself.

(3) The Acer Predator gaming rig – at one of the Acer booths on level 4 near the entrance
There’s no discount for this new gaming rig which starts for S$3,999 but is definitely worth looking into. Gamers here have been waiting for Voodoos and Alienwares but they remain dreams. The Predator is possibly the first of such rigs that you can now buy in Singapore. It looks powerful, rugged and just right for my desk at home.

See the top orange cover,  it can be pulled down to reveal ports at the top as well as a dashboard to place your small devices and in Acer’s case the brochures!!

This dude comes with four easy to swap HDD drive bays which you can use to set up RAID 0,1 and even 5 (RAID is basically a system that lets you back-up your hard disk drive on the fly by putting multiple drives, so if one hard disk crashes, the remainder acts as backups, you need at least two drives but its better when you have four) You don’t even need to plug in the power and data cables to your hard disk drive. Just slot it in, push it back and it works!

In case you are wondering why its called the PREDATOR, the optical drives sort of ejects with “jaws” holding the drive at the side.

Here are the specs
Processors – Intel Core 2 Extreme quad core QX9650 or Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400
Motherboard – nForce 780i SLI
RAM- up to 8GB DDR2 800
HDD – serial ATA up to 1 TB, four HDD bays
Optical – two drive bays, both with the Jaws look
Graphics – dual Nvidia 9800GTX SLI graphics, single card option available
Ports – front – four USB ports, one card reader, headphone and mic
back – four USB, one firewire, two LAN ports, two eSATA and various audio ports

It also comes with a 24-inch 1920 x 1080 orange screen, G15 gaming laptop and G5 gaming mouse from Logitech. There are two bundles at the show – 3,999 and 5,999. The main difference in the 3,999 does not have Blu-ray, has only a single graphics (think it was 9800GTX) and uses normal Quad Core. The higher-end one uses dual 9800 GTX, Blu-ray and Intel Extreme procs.

Check out www.acer.com.sg/predator for more details.

(4) Samsung 2493HM 24-inch 1920 x 1080 monitor
I liked this monitor a lot – It’s 24-inch, Full HD, has HDMI, VGA and DVI and most importantly can pivot, swivel and tilt. List price only $599. I saw it at level 2 Samsung booth and level 4 as well.