Heard the shoutout over 987fm the other night and the sound of the new Polo GTI kinda puzzled me. How can an engine sound so funky? Or you mean speed’s got a new beat? Then I realised its actually beat-boxer Dharni behind it. Impressive beat-boxing can? He’s also the beats behind the game at http://PoloGTI.sg. I tried it and boy its impossible to score in the game! My fingers were all entangled by end of my first try.

Video above was captured while playing my 13th game and still I suck at it! But it was quite a challenge. Kris and Derek were caught trying it out too when I told them about it at the office.

Would love to give the new Polo GTI a try at Volkswagen Centre Singapore! You can book a test drive too through http://PoloGTI.sg. If you think the short drive isn’t going to satisfy you, then go try beat the high score at the game and you’ll get to zoom in the new Polo GTI over a weekend! How cool!

Now, I’m going back to trying out the game… my current score at highest is 70,000 beats, got to beat the 500k++ beats wor! Got till 8 May to do it! Wish me luck!

“P…O… L… O… G… T… I…” :P

Voting is real simple! I did it in less than 2 minutes! Watch video below to see how simple it is to vote and win! I’m sure you can spare 2 minutes of your time to vote ya? No purchase required wor! Cast your vote at Sony make.believe.

Here are the prize options which you will stand to win when you vote!

Go visit the website for more details.

Have you submitted you dream and photos to Sony make.believe contest already? If you’ve not, you better do so quickly! I would love to take part in this if I’m not writing this post nor owning 24seven! But then again, I’ve already made believe my dream hasn’t I? :P

If you’ve not explored the site yet, this post will give you a gist of what you’ve got to do to win those prizes! And really, its very simple! You don’t need to know rocket science to do it!

dot your dream with Sony

Seriously, how tough can that be, especially when we’re already posting 140 characters everyday on Twitter. Or is 250 characters too short for you to describe your dream? If so, you’ve got to cut cut cut! Go straight to the point! Once you’ve got your point, click on “Continue” and move on to fill up these blanks…

So easy isn’t it? All it takes is a day pondering about your dream and 10 seconds to type it out, and another 30 seconds to fill in those blanks!

You’ve got up to 14 March to get your dreams submitted! After which, from 15 to 28 March, Sony will then put all the qualified dreams in a random draw and pick 8 random dreams from the pool which then be published for public voting from Apr 1 to 14. The most voted dream will be announced on 16 April!

See! Even the process of this contest is simple! If you’ve got big dreams which Sony can fulfill, especially those in line with game, movie, music or tech!

Photo Contest

Capture the wonderful moments in your life, perhaps its the arrival of your newborn, embarking onto a new milestone in life or a joyous celebration like the gathering of families during Chinese New Year! I’m sure you’ve snapped tons of photos over the past weeks, and more to come! Since you’ve already got the photos, why not select the best and try your luck at this?

Make sure your photo is in jpeg format, and no bigger than 640 x 480 pixels, 72dpi, in RGB and less than 1MB in size. Give your photo a great title and share about it in less than 160 characters, this description, which by the way is optional. Aiyoh! This one even easier lah! You’ve got till 14 March 2010 to submit your photo!

Unlike the first contest above, this will be judged by a panel of judges. Based on the theme, technical quality and composition, creativity and general aesthetics of the submitted photos, the best 25 pieces will be selected and opened to public for voting.

If you are one of the final 25, you’ve got to go tell all your friends about it and get them to vote for you! You don’t want to miss the chance to fly to South Africa for the FIFA World Cup!

On 16 April, you will find out who are the final 8 who’ll be flying to South Africa!

For the past one year or so, I’ve been sharing my experiences through this blog and at meet-up sessions with friends. My version of how I make.believe my dreams and am living in it. I’ve always wanted to do three things since a child. First was to be a Teacher, second be my own boss and third, get a job that’ll allow me to fly around the world. At age of almost 30, I’m proud to say that I’ve realised two of my three dreams. I’ve made the a reality, because I believe in myself that I can do it. No matter how tough the journey is, I am going to make it real for as long as I can.

This goes very well in line with the new branding of Sony – make.believe.

In line with this new direction, Sony is having two contests, which I feel is something worth spending time participating. One contest is giving away $100,000 worth of sponsorship from Sony to realise your dream!

And the other a chance to watch FIFA World Cup in South Africa as Fan Photographers!

If I had the $100,000 sponsorship, I will set up my dream studio. A cosy place for all my photographer friends to gather and exchange ideas and experiences. With the full series of Sony Alpha cameras within reach in the studio, we will have so much fun snapping and even camwhoring with the cameras!

Well, my dream isn’t that hard to fulfill right? What about yours? Tell me about it too in the comments box below ok?

Come to think of it, now that I’m somehow involved in this campaign, I won’t be able to submit my dream for the contest! :( If your dream is the same as mine, perhaps you can go try it and I’ll vote for you if you’re selected ya! Let me know if you’re submitting!

Go visit the website for more details.

“Huh? What Internal? What’s that?” – that’s your reaction right? Yap! Mine too! But thanks to this opportunity to help spread words about the career fair for Ministry of Home Affairs (and also thanks to help from google), I am now less bimbo-tic on such things. *coughs*

Alright, so what is ISD? And what do they do? If you want to read the corporate and proper version about ISD, please go here. I am going to try explain it based on my own understanding.

This group of people working at ISD manages and deals with highly classified stuff, hence there are little awareness about them and what they do. But there is a wiki page on them with not much information either.

To put ISD’s work in context, the following are some of the key events which involved the resources from the Internal Security Department…

• The Maria Hertogh riots in 1950. This you cannot not know about right? We study about this riot back in school.
• In 1965, the MacDonald House bombing by Indonesian saboteurs that killed 3 people.
• The bombing attack plot by the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) in 2001.
• And the recent (and my title for this post) long manhunt for Mas Selamat.

If you would like to find out more about a career or how life is like being part of the Internal Security Department, pop by Marina Square this weekend at the Ministry of Home Affairs Career Fair 2010

Date: 15th – 17th January 2010 (Fri – Sun)
Time: 11.30am – 9.30pm daily
Venue: Marina Square Central Atrium

You can post your questions to the Home Team on their facebook page.

Home in on a career that makes a real difference

Real. Rewarding. Respectable.

Disclaimer: This post is a paid advertorial to create awareness for MHA’s career fair.

Here’s how you can win yourself this lovely pink Holga 135BC camera! *Terms and conditions apply.

Step 1: Guess where the 2 photos below were taken
You can find the answers at SG Tidbits 365 website. You might need to do a little hunting among the growing submissions there.

Step 2: Submit with the form below
You will need to fill in the form below this post with your particulars and answers. If there are more than 1 person with correct answers submitted, a random draw will be conducted to pick the winner.

Step 3: Wait for my email
Wait for my email in your mailbox between 24 Nov to 30 Nov. I will be contacting the winner via email. Winner will have to collect the prize in person at the stipulated date, time and venue, which will be given in the winning notification email.

Here are the 2 photos which you have to tell me where they were taken…

Photo #1 [Clue: Has shop houses with eclectic design]

Photo #2 [Clue: The Roof by Kaiyi]

This contest is now over! Winner will be announced soon via email!

Thanks for your participation!

You’ve got lots of time to find the answers! Come on! Don’t be lazy now. I want to give you the Holga camera! If not, I’m going to keep it for myself! Muahahahaha! (If only I could! *facepalm*)

Click on voucher for printable size.

Read my short review of this phone at here.

Note: $0 INQ Mini 3G has a 2-year mobile plan peg to it.

A while back I did a quick sharing on why I think the INQ Mini 3G is cool. After I got a little more acquainted with the review unit, I discovered some more things, both good and not so good, about the phone. Here’s a little more about the INQ Mini 3G from Claud talks Gadgets.

INQ Mini 3G

First! As you may have read somewhere already, the INQ Mini 3G is not, i repeat! Its NOT to be put side by side with the iPhone, the Blackberry, the Android nor any Windows Mobile phone! It is of a category on its own, atm. It is however a very low cost ($0 with 2-year mobile plan) phone for those who wants a cheap alternative to accessing their online social networks and catch youtube while on the go. Yes! The INQ Mini 3G does youtube.

YouTube in landscape view

You can access and download lots of free games and applications from your Mini 3G, accessible via the INQ Hub widget on your homescreen. This is where the exploration and fun can be discovered and enjoyed!

Some games & applications on INQ Mini 3G

Overall the INQ Mini 3G, as you all should already know, its surely not my type of phone. But if my younger sibling (if I’ve one) or my mother (if I’ve time to teach her facebook and twitter), this phone may be something worth getting. (It’s $0 leh!)

If you’ve been considering a cheap alternative or as a matter, a FREE one, head over to Plaza Singapura this weekend. And here’s why…

Advertorial

INQ Mini 3G will be having its second roadshow this weekend at Plaza Singapura from 11am to 10pm. And this time, they’re giving out even better deals when you purchase your INQ Mini 3G at the roadshow. Just print out the e-voucher below and redeem the following when you buy the phone this weekend at the roadshow:

1. Free pack of 3 INQ Mini 3G battery covers (worth $34.95)
2. Waiver of registration fee and SIM card charge (worth $42.80) when you sign-up for the INQ Mini 3G handset

Click on voucher for printable size.

While you are there, don’t miss the chance to catch Mediacorp celebrity, Dai Yang Tian on Sat (I recall him as the ping pong player) and Elvin Ng (he’s damn cute! if I go is bcos of him! Wahahaha!) on Sun at 8pm! They’ll be there to meet you and you may have the chance to take photos with them too! So don’t forget your cameras!

There will be a lucky draw too for anyone who purchases the INQ Mini 3G on 31 Oct – 1 Nov at the roadshow. One winner each day will be picked to win a 12-month SingTel mobile subscription.

Now that’s the end of the advertorial. More photos of the INQ Mini 3G by yours truly for your viewing pleasure…

Colorful and unique menu

Right side of Mini 3G

View of the left

The camera

The bottom and speaker

“The fastest way to bank on the move” – that’s what Citibank is saying about their Citi Mobile services. I did a brief run through of mobile banking services available, I’ve to admit that Citi Mobile is by far the more user friendly and useful services for folks who’re always on the go and need accessing of their banking needs anytime anywhere.

In my personal opinion, what I’ll use for my mobile banking needs are:

• Access to my credit card bill, outstanding amount and due date cos I’m a heavy credit card user who always cannot remember the payment date and amount.
• Get alert on my phone when there’s fund transferred to my account. Especially useful when pay day is approaching.
• Pay bills and transfer funds on the go without having to search for an ATM.
• Find places with credit card discounts or privileges to dine.

Let’s see if Citi Mobile meets my expectations…

Citi Alerts allow users to request for their card and bank accounts balance, accounts transactions enquiry (for last four transactions) and the available credit line and outstanding credit card bill. This is exactly what I need! Often when I recall my credit card payment is due, I wouldn’t have got the bill with me. And I’ll have to call the customer service hotline where they will then ask me a whole series of questions before giving me my credit card outstanding amount! So troublesome can? With Citi Alerts, I’ll be able to check these information with a simple mobile request.

• Access to my credit card bill, outstanding amount and due date. CHECKED!

With the automatic Citi Alerts enabled, you will also receive an alert when:

• a GIRO credit is made to the account
• a transaction occurs on the credit or debit card
• an online payment or transfer is made
• a cheque has bounced, or when it has been cleared
• a credit card / Ready Credit payment has been received
• a Premium Account expires, Time Deposit is due to mature, or Time Deposit has matured

With so many automated alerts, guess another of my expected feature is met too!

• Get alert on my phone when there’s fund transferred to my account. Especially useful when pay day is approaching. CHECKED

Funds transfer & bill payment with Citi Mobile is simple and can be done in a breeze. You can perform to transfer and payment own or any Citibank accounts, other banks accounts (both local and oversea) and bill payment to any services and company who accepts internet payment.

• Pay bills and transfer funds on the go without having to search for an ATM. CHECKED!

Oh! And you don’t need to carry an extra thinggy for a One-Time Password nor wait for an SMS. It shows right on your screen when requested! Nicely done!

An important features I look for when I apply for a credit card is whether or not it has privileges that will fit my lifestyle. Types of discounts at dining places, shopping and others privileges offered by the credit card will affect my decision to take it up or not.

Citibank understanding the needs of his customers, they’ve also included a publicly accessible Citibank Gourmet Pleasures listing on their Citi Mobile. Citibank Gourmet Pleasures is a dining privileges programme that offers Singapore’s widest selection of dining deals with Citibank credit cards. With Citi Mobile, customers on-the-go can search via cuisine type or location to identify the best dining deals offered with Citibank credit cards, as well as the latest promotions and offers. This is one of the most popular functions in both Citi Mobile and Citibank Online.

One more and my final requests for mobile services is made too!

• Find places with credit card discounts or privileges to dine. CHECKED!

If you would like to find out more about Citi Mobile and Citi Alert, go watch the video by Thomas and Susan. Episode 4 of “Smart Living with Citi” is on Citi Mobile and Citi Alert service. Go watch it and you’ll know why its user friendly and convenient.

Visit www.citibank.com.sg/citimobile for details

Disclaimer: Citibank is a client of 24seven. Post is written based on my understanding and trial with the services.