The music service offers ad-free access to more than 10 million tracks, and will initially be offered at a rate of S$0.99 (for web) and S$1.99 (for web and mobile on the Android platform) per month in Singapore.

After three months, the price point will jump to S$4.99 per month for web and S$9.99 per month for web and mobile respectively.

Take a look:

My initial reaction was: meh. I’m not really impressed after I visited the site.

I expected to have some kind of trial or download demo, but that wasn’t the case. Besides having to sign-in with an email account, you have to put in your credit card and pay to see what you can get.

No demo or trial.

Now, music streaming is not a new business at all, and for anybody late coming to the party, you would expect the new kid-on-the-block to come up with demos to persuade people what the fuss was about.

Yes, some of the more dodgy music streaming sites have gone out of business, or have changed business models, but there are still dozens of alternatives — and quite a few are free — out there.

That’s not even mentioning all the strides telcos and mobile vendors have made in making streaming music available over the air, like SingTel with AMPed, and all the experiments Nokia and Sony Ericsson had with mobile music services.

And based on Rara.com’s EULA, the music tracks come laden with DRM, something that is a pet peeve of mine for content issues.

I understand that it is a necessary evil, but I’m not comfortable with the portion on DRM in their EULA.

Quoting directly from Rara.com’s EULA:

“Because the rara Application includes security components, special rules and policies apply. You agree to abide by the rules and policies established from time to time by rara media. We will apply such rules and policies generally in a non-discriminatory manner to users of the rara Application, and such rules and policies may include, for example, required or automated updates, modifications, and/or reinstallations of the rara Application to address security, interoperability, and/or performance issues. These updates, modifications and the like may occur on a periodic or as needed basis without notice to you.

All streaming content is encrypted and, where your Subscription allows you to cache Content for offline playback, that cached Content is protected by digital rights management (DRM) technology to protect the Content against unauthorised use. You must not do anything to disable or circumvent the encryption of the DRM technology.

In addition, you understand that the rara Application is capable of monitoring itself for security-related and tamper-detection purposes and for communicating information to rara media about security incidents. You hereby consent to the operation of the rara Application in this way. Your copy of the Software and your access to certain applications that communicate with it are subject to restriction and/or revocation (such as being shut down) for security purposes or according to consistently applied Content-protection policies. You understand and agree that this may result in Content that was previously available for use being unavailable thereafter.”

I don’t like not knowing what DRM software I’m installing on my PC or device, but more importantly I’d like to know what information it’s sending to Rara.com without my notice. Clarifications on the DRM in the EULA might help.

Yes, Rara.com may have secured international licensing agreements with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Warner Music Group and has a large 10 million-plus track database. It may be available in 20 countries around the globe, and is available in Singapore, unlike Deezer, Pandora or Spotify.

And yes, the music streaming industry is not an easy one — anyone remember Soundbuzz, who was one of Singapore’s first online music store but went out of business about two-and-a-half years back?

But that doesn’t change the fact that, for a latecomer, Rara.com feels pretty meh to me on first impressions.

And given that I cannot try the service without paying money, I’ll stick with Grooveshark, Last.fm and Musicovery for my music streaming needs.

Thanks to Bluetree Electronics, we are giving away four Kube2 MP3 players in our Chinese New Year lucky draw. The Kube2 is touted as the world’s smallest touch MP3 player and sports a unique one-inch cube aluminum body. The S$45.90 doodad also comes with a 4GB microSD card.

To enter the contest:

1. Follow us on Twitter.
2. Post a tweet on any Techgoondu article that you like.
3. The URL of that article (use a link shortener service) must be included in your tweet, along with this hashtag: #TGCNY12.

This contest runs from January 30 to February 7, and we’ll pick the winners at random from all Twitter posts entered for this contest.

Rules and details:

1. Only residents staying in Singapore are eligible to participate.
2. Each tweet is eligible for one entry, so feel free to post as many tweets as you want.
3. Anyone found using multiple Twitter accounts to enter will be disqualified.
4. After the contest closes, we’ll Twitter DM the lucky winners to coordinate with you how you can collect your prize.

Happy new year and good luck!

Echelon, one of Singapore’s most prominent start-up launchpad, has opened their doors for this year’s submissions from aspiring entrepreneurs. Re-branded as the “Startup Marketplace”, this pre-Echelon call-to-action will close on 31 March, 2012.

An as yet unconfirmed panel of judges will be reviewing the submissions and shortlist qualified start-ups to perform their pitches at one of four cities: Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, and Hong Kong.

Finally, 50 start-ups will be hand-picked out of the lot to exhibit at the main Echelon event in Singapore on 11-12 June.

However, this opportunity won’t come cheap: each two-day exhibition slot will cost S$400.

Nonetheless, the potential payoffs of participation are present. Investors and venture capitalists from the region will be attending the event, giving start-ups a good opportunity to network with their peers, and secure partnerships and funding. On top of that, each exhibitor will be given 2 full passes to the various accompanying conferences and workshops.

Prominent Echelon alumni include award-winning remote file access tool iTwin and Japanese online marketplace FlutterScape.

As a regional competition, non-English start-ups are also welcome to Echelon. e27 Community Manager Joash Wee said, “I believe some of the non-English products from countries like Indonesia and Vietnam will have a larger traction because they are built for the home crowd and these countries have a huge population.”

But here’s the catch: participating start-ups must have a tech component. “We do have fashion or art related start-ups that had their services built on the web or mobile space, such as FashionSpace (a website which lets users buy, sell or swap fashion products) and Artyii (an online service which lets Asian artists sell their art),” Wee added.

Besides the start-up competition, Echelon also involves conferences and workshops for start-ups to beef up their arsenal. 2012 will see the conferences tackle issues such as the promise of the cloud, ideas worth investing in, and tried and tested business models.

The speakers and panelists for these conferences and workshops have not been finalised, and e27 is trying to attract about 40 speakers from established companies like Rovio, Facebook, and Microsoft.

If you have an idea that’s been in your head for way too long, Echelon is one of the best ways to get started.

Android might not be the smoothest of mobile operating systems – I’ve seen it slow down even on dual-core chips – but that’s all about to change with the ASUS  Eee Pad Transformer Prime and its brand new quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor.

A brief hands-on I had earlier in the week revealed that it truly is a sea change in the responsiveness of Android, even more so than the Sony Tablet S, which until now is the smoothest Android tablet I’ve tested. With a whole range of goodies packed into this tablet, the Transformer Prime is easily the best Android tablet on the market right now.

The design of the Transformer Prime is heavily borrowed from the Zenbook, and that’s a good thing. The cold and shiny metal back with concentric circles looks and feels great. Slot the tablet into its keyboard dock and one can be forgiven for thinking that he/she is looking at a tiny Zenbook.

The front of the tablet is all Gorilla glass stretching from edge to edge. It’s smooth to the touch, and rather pretty if you can get past the huge bezel around the 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) screen. The Super IPS+ panel also looks crisp and vivid with excellent viewing angles.

The Transformer Prime is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of storage, which you can expand with a microSD card. At just 8.3mm, this tablet is thinner than both the iPad 2 and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, and yet somehow feels more premium than both.

On the back of the tablet lies an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, and it’s quite the camera, with a back-illuminated CMOS sensor, large aperture, high-speed autofocus and colour enhancement. Of course, you have to be the sort who don’t mind holding up a 10-inch slab to take photos.

The bottom of the tablet houses the port which connects to a keyboard dock which the original Transformer was famous for. It fits flawlessly into the keyboard dock, transforming the tablet into a netbook or sorts which greatly increases productivity with a full Qwerty keyboard, USB 2.0 port and SDcard reader.

The dock also packs an additional battery, increasing the Transformer Prime’s uptime to a promised 18 hours. It folds up nicely, too, which makes lugging the whole package around very convenient. This is definitely not your run-of-the-mill third-party keyboard accessory.

The star of the show is undoubtedly the Tegra 3 chip powering the Transformer Prime. The quad-core chip makes Android unbelievably smooth, handles multitasking admirably, and has no qualms running 1080p full HD videos and 3D games.

And I have to say, the 3D games are very, very good. The smoothness of the graphics is particularly noticeable in the water effects. And in fact, if you hook up the tablet to a 3D TV or monitor through a handy micro HDMI port and run a game with 3D graphics (which means all the X-Y-Z axis data are present), the tablet is capable of automatically splitting the graphics on the TV and letting it pop through 3D goggles, while the tablet continues displaying the game in flat 2D. It’s hard to explain in words, so here’s a photo of it in action:

It looks absolutely gorgeous, and coupled with the built-in SonicMaster audio technology, the Transformer Prime is an excellent entertainment device.

The only downside is that the Transformer Prime ships with Android 3.2 Honeycomb. But with a promised 4.0 software update that should be on the way this month, that’s not much of a problem.

Good news is, the prices are not over-the-top crazy as well.

• Eee Pad Transformer Prime + Docking station: S$899 (GST Included) [UP: S$1,098]
• Eee Pad Transformer Prime (Tablet only): S$759 (GST Included) [UP: S$899]
• Docking station: S$199 (GST Included)

Simply put, if you want a top-of-the-line tablet that is not an iPad, the Transformer Prime is the one to get.

eBay has partnered with SingPost and the United States Postal Service (USPS) to offer a new shipping service for eBay Singapore sellers.

Dubbed ePAC, the service lets sellers track the delivery of lightweight goods sold to American customers within six to eight working days. This service is part of eBay and SingPost’s ongoing efforts to boost trade from Singapore to the United States.

From today, eBay Singapore sellers can start using ePAC on a fully integrated platform, allowing them take orders, print labels and track the status of shipments. U.S.-based customers can also track the status of their purchased goods through their eBay account.

Oliver Hua, chief operating officer at eBay Marketplaces in the Greater China region, Southeast Asia and Japan, said Singapore sellers are highly regarded for combining good quality products at great value, and command the second highest sales in Southeast Asia, behind Thailand.

“We foresee ePAC playing a vital role in driving Singapore’s online exports to the United States as demonstrated by a similar shipping service launched with China Post and the U.S. Postal Service in September 2010, which is already processing more than 90,000 parcels a day,” he added.

The e-commerce giant has also been offering a similar service for sellers in Thailand and Hong Kong through partnerships with local postal services.

eBay’s export business is largely led by exporters in China and Hong Kong, according to the company’s Asian Exporter Index published last August.

Large exporters with annual turnovers of more than US$100,000 have experienced year-on-year growth of 26 percent across the region, with 200 exporters – predominantly based in China and Hong Kong – recording annual turnovers of over US$1 million.

The top-selling products sold by Asian exporters on eBay include clothing, jewellery, watches, computers, cellphones and auto parts.

So what is a condom maker like Okamoto to do?

Create a social media campaign around being naughty in Singapore. Watch:

The tongue-in-cheek campaign, which was just launched last month, sources for ideas from the public to create products that help Singaporeans have fun naughty sex more often.

One of the more interesting ones that came to Techgoondu’s attention was the Okamoto iPhone app TipOff. A motion-sensing app that detects when a door is opened, the TipOff app calls a number (presumably your lover’s one) when a door is opened.

This notification is supposed to give you and your lover some reaction time. Depending on the scenario, you could compose yourselves, hide in a closet, or even escape out of a window.

Useful when you’re doing something indiscreet and don’t want your spouse/parents/children to walk in on you and your lover.

There’s even a YouTube tutorial on how this works:

The app retails for US$0.99 on the iPhone app store. The app does not come with complimentary Okamoto condoms, of course.

In the time between the launch of the first iPad and today, a sea of Android tablets have attempted to cash in on the tablet craze, but with the noticeable exception of one Japanese consumer electronics giant. Late last year, Sony caught up to the crowd with their Tablet S, which we managed to get hold of for a review.

Eschewing the traditional flat slab for a shape, Sony took a turn and designed a tablet which looks distinctively different from its peers. Does the Tablet S have what it takes to stand out?

Hardware and design

The Sony Tablet S has a striking shape, which looks like a magazine with one flap folded back, and has no problem standing out from the pack. At first glance, the shape looked ridiculous. It’s clumsily thick on one side, and sleek and thin on the other.

But the moment you pick it up, you start to appreciate the genius of this design. The tablet is weighted towards the thicker part, and feels pleasantly ergonomic. Reading one-handed on a tablet has never been more comfortable.

Turn the tablet to landscape orientation, however, and the experience is less pleasant. I found myself adjusting the tablet constantly to try to find a good way to hold it, but to no avail.

Rest the tablet down on the table, and the situation is reversed. The gentle incline of the screen facilitates reading and typing in landscape orientation. But turn it around to portrait and you’ll find yourself having to contend with the screen’s weird angle.

Despite the innovative design, the materials used to build the Tablet S are nothing to sing about. The plastic feels flimsy and attracts fingerprints like flies to honey. The touch screen is not of the Gorilla variety, and actually flexes if you press too hard. We wouldn’t risk putting the tablet near sharp objects.

The only upside to the use of such materials is the weight of the tablet: at 598g, it doesn’t strain the arm during long periods of holding like the heavier Android tablets do.

The Tablet S has a dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and built-in storage of 16GB or 32GB. While there’s no micro SD support, Sony did include a standard SD card slot and a micro USB port, which can be used to attach flash drives if you have a micro USB to USB adaptor.

Note, however, that plugging in an SD card or thumb drive doesn’t work in the traditional sense. The tablet cannot read files on external storage, and they’ll have to be copied over to internal storage before they can be used. This actually makes it next to useless, since it doesn’t expand the tablet’s storage at all, and you need to conserve space in order to, say, view photos from your camera’s SD card.

The Tablet S can be charged through its proprietary port at the thin edge, which also works as a connector for accessories such as the charging dock. However, the port doesn’t have any sort of cover, which means you’ll have to contend with its ugly exposed metal bits breaking the smooth edge of the tablet.

Display and sound

The 9.4-inch screen (1280 x 800) is a tad smaller than what we’re used to seeing, but it’s a fantastic screen which incorporates the TruBlack tech from Sony’s line of Bravia televisions. The higher pixel density means text is nice and crisp, and viewing angles are excellent, with bright, vivid colours and deep blacks.

There’s no way tablets can have impressive audio, but the Tablet S doesn’t do too badly. Music sounded decent without the sound cracking or sounding tinny when cranked up. But as usual, for the best audio experience on a mobile device, hook it up to a pair of good earphones.

Software

Sony has packed a wealth of software features into the Tablet S, including a useful universal remote control app that works on virtually any well-known electronics, including televisions and even electric fans.

The tablet also comes pre-loaded with two PlayStation games: Crash Bandicoot and Pinball Heroes. It’s a PlayStation Certified device, but that’s also rather useless for the time being as the PlayStation Store is not yet available in Singapore. You’ll have to stick to games from the Android Market and the two preloaded game for the time being.

And we don’t think we have to say more on how much it sucks to play a PlayStation game with all touch controls. Fortunately, an update has enabled compatibility with PS3 controllers, which should make playing those games less painful.

There are also under-the-hood enhancements, including Sony’s own finger-tracking algorithm which greatly improves the tablet’s responsiveness. It’s not an understatement to say this is the smoothest Android tablet I’ve tested to date.

Sony has also done some tweaking to the Android interface, but they’re not that intrusive, and are rather pleasant in truth. Tiny quick launch icons on the top of the screen give you quick access to frequently used apps like the web browser, and the apps menu has a nice stretchy effect as you scroll. You can even add separators in the apps menu to really customise its layout.

The keyboard is also improved, and features a numeric keypad when the tablet is in landscape mode, which is fantastic when you need to crunch numbers. Coupled with the gentle slope of the tablet, the Tablet S has the best soft keyboard without the need for any additional purchase.

Bottom-line

As great an Android tablet as the Sony Tablet S is, it’s lacking in one very important area: the lack of 3G connectivity. Despite being so late to the tablet game, Sony is still taking its time to release a 3G version to market, which makes the Tablet S hard to recommend.

At S$668 for the 16GB version and S$789 for the 32GB, it’s not that much different from other tablets on the market. This means we also cannot recommend the tablet based on its price.

But the tablet is very nice on its own, with its smart design and elegant user interface. Coupled with the superior responsiveness, PlayStation certification, DLNA streaming and IR remote control, it could probably fit the bill for users who don’t need on-the-go 3G connectivity.

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.

In a statement to the stock exchange hours ago, SPH said the United States Internet company had plagiarised its articles by “substantially reproducing the words and expressions used in SPH’s articles without permission”. 

SPH alleged that Yahoo! had reproduced ”identical paragraphs, sentences, phrases and/or words of SPH’s articles and the paraphrasing of sentences, phrases and/or words in SPH’s articles by merely replacing them with synonyms”.

The Singapore publisher also said that it could bring up more evidence of further copyright infringements, beyond the 23 instances it had raised earlier, after it filed its defence in the High Court on Wednesday to a Yahoo! counter-suit.

The legal dispute first broke out in November, when SPH sued Yahoo’s Southeast Asia outfit and claimed that the online group had reproduced 23 of its newspaper articles without permission. Yahoo! swiftly denied this and counter-sued SPH for copyright infringement, alleging that SPH’s Stomp citizen journalism site had infringed on its copyright on at least two occasions.

To this, SPH claimed on Wednesday that Yahoo! had only acquired the copyright to the content a day before it counter-sued, and thus did not own the content when they were first posted by third parties on the SPH site.

As the two media giants lock horns, the tussle is being closely watched as the first such challenge between old and new media here.

The dispute is also played out against a backdrop of increasingly tight competition for Internet “eyeballs”, as more of Singapore’s well-connected news consumers head online for the latest breaking stories and commentaries.