Just like the then battle of T-C-S-8 and C-H-A-N-N-E-L-U, the bigger player wins and the smaller one got bought over. But those are the big big players and probably the only player that’s in the media broadcast business locally. So there’s really nothing that any smaller player can do.

But now with the advancement of technology and the increasing use of internet for entertainment purpose, the big players started providing video-on-demand sites for internet users to enjoy their program anywhere anytime (with a small amount of monthly subscriptions). However, for alternative and FREE entertainment online, (Internet is FREE isn’t it?) users are going to YouTube, Vimeo, TuDou, Pomoho and many many other video hosting sites.

But now… we the people of this nation are trying to step into the online entertainment scene. Providing yet another alternative for users of the Internet to go to for entertainment. And almost anyone and everyone can become a self-proclaimed producer or director overnight. With the right tools, concept and skills, everyone can have their own show in the world of Internet! Fantastic isn’t it?

There’re so many users online, and there’s no limitation like fixed showtime, missing out of any show, having to pay to watch the show etc etc. Internet is 24-7 isn’t it? And the show will always be there! So if you missed one episode, you’ll still be able to catch it anytime you want.

Sooo the question is why is everyone so “troubled” by what’s happening behind the scenes of these productions? Just because bloggers are the one doing the show, it doesn’t mean that they should be airing out their thoughts so openly on their blogs too. Work is work. If one is so openly sharing their personal life in their blog, and mixed work with this. It just doesn’t sound and look professional isn’t it?

(Ok, I think I’m sidetracking a little too far. Back to my initial point…)

My point is, there’s no need to fight about these things ya. Everyone who watches SGBA can also be audience of Blogger’s Treats and Sweets.sg (<<----VERY Looking forward to this one!) right? As long as the show is worth watching, there'll sure be their loyal fans and followers. So concentrate on the production instead of the battling part k.

This is the coolest I’ve seen so far! I admit I’m a little skeptical at first, but when I saw the phone, I simply couldn’t stop drooling! I loveeee it sooo much that I’m willing to forgo all my other presents for the rest of the year just so someone can buy this one for me!! Wahahaha! So who’s going to buy it for me??

Imagine these…

WATCH videos online on the web browser at ultra high speed! YES! Video streaming is possible on the HTC Touch Diamond!! There’s even a customized build in UI for YouTube fans!

Forget about scrolling left, right, up, down just to read a page on your mobile phone, now you can zoom to the exact parts you want to read and the text AUTO adjusts itself to fit within the screen! (No matter how big the font you’re zooming into!) I loveeee!

Small, sleek and stylish! Loveee the metal body, glass screen and diamond-like behind!

Runs on Win Mobile 6.1 Professional with HTC customized interface. And I’m NOT talking about normal boring drop-down menu nor those dull looking lists loh! Using TouchFLO 3D technology, you can view your contact lists as if you’re flipping through your favorite photo album! Watch your email being sent to your inbox in envelops! Watch (not read) the weather forecast right from the phone! Do all this on the super clear and brilliant 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen VGA resolution display!

There are just sooo many WOWs for this sleek stylish phone! I’m sure you’ll be able to experience it more with Rinaz’s videos and Jayden’s photos. I’m just toooo excited about the phone to do anything. (Excuses! Real reason cos I forgot to charge my camera battery!)

The men from HTC -
Jack Tong (VP HTC Asia), Jason Juang (Executive VP)
and John Wang (Cheif Marketing Officer)

But SERIOUSLY!!! This phone is better than the iPhone UI lah! It’s smaller and less prone to scratches too! And it comes with a stylus and ladies with long fingernails can use it too! Some of us were sooo intrict by the phone, we stayed on after 6 to discover more about the phones with the nice people from HTC. Thanks Melvin and Jessica for being so patient with us.

OK… now you must be wondering this phone is just too good to be true. Of cos, nothing is 100% perfect lah! Some not so good points about this phone is that it doesn’t allow add-on memory so we’ll have to make do with the inbuilt 4GB storage. (Not so good cos iPhone got like up 32GB?) While trying on the demo set, there seem to be some lagging when changing between functions and it took quite awhile for the camera to load. But since its just a demo set, the real thing might not have this problem. With super sleek graphics, I worry about the battery life thou. But they assured that its good for a day use and if used moderately, it should last for about 2 days.

But STILL!! HTC Touch Diamond is just tooooo good to miss lah!!! So who’s going to buy for me?? I promise to be good and not buy anymore new gadgets for the rest of 2008! Wahahahaha!

For those who’s planning to get an iPhone, but does not own a mac, or even if you do, hold your horses! Go check out the HTC Touch Diamond first and compare before deciding which to invest in!

Here’s the product video for this latest craze coming to town in June. I video-ed it while they played at the launch but I found the video at HTC website, and since I can’t embed it, I downloaded and uploaded to vimeo instead. Hope they wouldn’t mind. Please inform me if this has to be removed ya.

P/s: Thanks Gina from The Right Spin for the invitation to the launch of this super cool phone!

UPDATES:
You can watch a demo video of the Touch Diamond at work here.

Great video montage by Rinaz on the highlight of the phone… (plus me, with messy hair and orgasmic look, at the end of the video. Haha!!)

Claudia’s Unofficial Survival Guide for IT Show 2008

PLUS Review of the Canon Ixus 950IS

Part 1 – Before Going to IT Show 2008

Check out the prices and promotions from the IT Show newspaper guide, or from hardware zone. Do your homework before heading down. Read reviews, compare prices and packages with those at Sim Lim Square. Know what you want to buy before leaving your home or office. This is very important as it’ll save you lots of time and agony too! You’ll see why later… read on…

Part 2 – Getting to Suntec City…

The not-too-bad jam towards Suntec at around 7.15pm

Every year before we head down to IT Show at Suntec, we’ll strategies a plan. We know the kind of traffic, both vehicles and human, will be horrible during this crazy period of time. So today, we head on down to Suntec City after a trip to the Army Market at the Beach Rd.

Approximately 7.03pm, after ERP hours, we entered the crazy jam going towards Suntec City. Same as previous years, we parked our car at Shaw Towers. (Parking is $2/entry after 5pm on weekday, after 1pm on Saturday and whole of Sunday)

This time round, getting into Shaw Towers was pretty easy. Be prepared to get stuck in a mini-jam over the next 3 days cos everyone will be parking at Shaw Towers since parking charges is one of the lowest around Suntec.

Part 3 – Travel light! Get ready to squeeze and push!

Study the map displayed almost everywhere around Suntec Convention Hall. Mark down the locations where you should be going to get your things. Most of the big brands are on Level 4, and Starhub and Sony are on Level 3. Level 6 are mostly consumable stuff and some gaming stuff.

Part of the loooong Sony Booth along concourse at Level 3

Look at the crowd! I got giddy riding on the escalator!

Entering Hall 404

At the entrance into the main hall on Level 4, you’ll be surrounded by rows of flyers distributors. Since you’ve already done your homework earlier, please don’t take them. Save the trees! Just smile to the pretty ladies and handsome guys and move on.

When you enter the hall, be prepared to squeeze through the jammed packed hall. Be alert at all times. Look after your personal belongings and stay close to your friends! These are what you’ll be encountering upon entering the exhibition and sales area…

“People Mountain People Sea”…

I caught some people looking at me!

Tell me how to shop like that???

That’s why we should prepare before we go! Like what we did today… Know what we want to get, locate the booth, go straight to the booth, get the stuff, and out we go! You really don’t want to stay in there and compare prices, ask questions, check out the gadget and what not in there! The hall was overly packed and with all the lightings and all, the hall was very hot and sometimes you’ll even get stinky smell from people around you.

Thanks to my research and my BF’s credit card, I consider myself one of the happy and satisfied shopper today! So you know what you should do already ya? All the best to those of you who’re planning a trip down to IT Show 2008! (If you’ve totally nothing to buy, please don’t go add yourself to the crowd. Spare some thoughts for the serious buyers. I’m sure you also wouldn’t want to go squeeze with the crowd right?)

Phew… that’s the end of my IT Show 2008 Survival Guide. Now… my damage for today…

3 bags of Canon products!

These are the stuff inside…

Canon IXUS 950IS ($599), Canon Selphy CP740 (FREE!), Canon Ink Refills (for office), and whole lot of other freebies that came with the camera purchase.

This can be considered a very good deal from Canon this year! Before the promotions were released, I was hoping that they’ll throw in a free printer with camera purchase cos I need a new photo printer. And when I saw the flyer online, I was thrilled! Canon heard my wish! Haha! So of course, I got to get it right? The total worth of the bundle is about… $998 (cam:599 + printer:199 + SDcards:70 + etc:30 + swensen voucher:100).

I did a simple comparison between my new toy and my current ones…

Shot taken with Nikon D40 (DSLR)

Taken with the new IXUS 950IS

Taken with my old Fuji Z3

All the shots were taken in similar mode without flash. Using the white text “DIGITAL IXUS 950IS”, we can see that the D40 gives a sharpest and cleanest shot. If we were to compare just between the IXUS and Z3, there’s more noticeable noise by the Z3. The color by IXUS is also brighter and the focus (the picture of the camera) is sharper too.

Here’s the videos I took with both the IXUS 950IS and Z3…

The quality is compromised due to the web movie settings. I can see much more difference between the 2 videos in their original state. IXUS 95IS takes a better quality video as compared to the Z3. Both are able to continue recording up till the capacity of the memory card used.