Much has been said about the Mate 30 lineup, Huawei’s latest but not-so-greatest flagship series that can’t run Google apps and services.
Since its September launch in China and the dozens of reviews that have gone out since then, the general overview is this: the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro could have been the best smartphone on the market if not for the lack of a proper Android operating system.
What we got is an excellent, specced-out device (that shoots really well!) painfully hampered by the lack of apps that everyone has come to rely on. The lack of feasible replacements on the Huawei AppGallery (Huawei’s own store) didn’t help.
But even after all that jazz and razzmatazz, if you’re still interested in the Mate 30 series (at premium flagship prices of up to $1,298, no less), then by all means, head down to Huawei’s launch event at 313@Somerset this Saturday (Nov 16).
SINGAPORE – Instead of safeguarding the monies meant for automated teller machines (ATMs), an auxiliary police officer stole $23,000, hiding most of the stash under his bed.
Former Aetos Security Management employee Chai Chong Sien pilfered the monies on multiple occasions between March and June this year, while his colleagues were busy replenishing the cash in the ATMs.
On Tuesday (Nov 12), the 34-year-old was sentenced to nine months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust.
Chai was part of a three-man team charged with topping up the cash in ATMs belonging to DBS bank, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Thiam Jia Min told the court.
He was commonly deployed as a driver in the team, and his two teammates were responsible for transporting cash cassettes to the ATMs.
As the designated replenishment officer and guardsman, Chai’s teammates were required to don body-worn cameras to ensure they did not steal cash while handling the cassettes. But Chai, as the driver, did not have to as he was not supposed to be handling the cash cassettes.
His letter even included a picture of himself wearing a frown instead of his usually sunny face.
While his audacious message seemed like a guilt trip to some, for many others the idea that one of the most iconic mascots in Singapore history was done shook them the most.
SINGAPORE: A project by a Singapore consortium to build part of a new capital city for the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has been cancelled, said Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in a press release on Tuesday (Nov 12).
MTI said the decision to close the Amaravati Capital City Start-Up Area project was made by Andhra Pradesh in a government order on Monday.
The ministry added that the closure was “based on mutual consent” between the Andhra Pradesh government and the Singapore consortium, consisting of Ascendas Singapore (now part of CapitaLand Group) and Sembcorp Development.
Surbana Jurong was the lead consultant in planning, urban design and conducting economic studies, positioning and infrastructure-industrial estate planning, according to the company’s website.
A total of 7,000 sq km had been slated for land use for the capital region, and almost 50 million people had been projected to be involved in the urbanisation project, said Surbana Jurong.
Illustration of Amaravati, new capital city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. (Image: Surbana Jurong)
The Ascendas-Sembcorp consortium was appointed by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2017 to develop a 6.84 sq km start-up area for the state’s planned new capital city, said Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations S Iswaran.
The Andhra Pradesh government has decided not to proceed with the project “given its other priorities for the state”, the minister added.
The city was the brainchild of the state’s former chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, who lost power in elections in May.
Since December 2014, Singapore had been playing a vital role in building Amaravati, a city which had to be created from scratch after Andhra Pradesh lost its former capital Hyderabad to the newly formed state of Telangana.
The cancellation came after the World Bank in July withdrew a US$300 million funding for Amaravati’s construction, following the Indian central government’s decision to cease its support for the project.
It also prompted the Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which was due to finance US$200 million of the project, to review its involvement.
Noting that companies recognise the risks involved in overseas ventures and factor them into their investment decisions, Mr Iswaran said: “In this instance the Singapore Consortium companies have stated that the project has cost them a few million dollars, and that its closure does not impact their investment plans in India.”
He added that Singapore companies continue to take interest in opportunities in Andhra Pradesh and other Indian states “because of the size and potential of the market”.
“Our economic agencies will continue to help our companies internationalise by exploring opportunities in India and other overseas markets,” said Mr Iswaran.
SINGAPORE – In the months leading to his death in Oct 2016, a 5-year-old boy was subjected to all kinds of abuse, including being confined in a cage meant for the family’s pet cat.
He was also pinched with pliers on his thighs and buttocks, hit with various objects – including a broom and hanger – and was burnt with scalding hot water.
These acts of physical and psychological abuse were allegedly inflicted by his own parents, from July 2016 until his death on Oct 23 that year.
When the boy – who cannot be named due to a gag order – finally collapsed from his injuries that included severe burns across 70 per cent of his body, the couple allegedly delayed sending him to the hospital for six hours.
Azlin Arujunah and Ridzuan Mega Abdul Rahman, both 27, did this out of fear that they would get in trouble for child abuse.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Tan Wen Hsien, Daphne Lim and Li Yihong said the couple blatantly disregarded the boy’s welfare and his life.
“This is a murder as horrific as it is tragic,” said the prosecution team in their opening statement on Tuesday (Nov 12) in the High Court, on the first day of the trial.
Lenovo Singapore hosted its first-ever all-female esports tournament over the weekend in Lenovo’s Flagship store in Funan.
Christened the Legion of Valkyries (LoV), this all-female semi-pro tournament for Counter-Strike: Global (CS: GO) is part of Lenovo and Intel’s wider Legion of Champions (LoC) tournament.
Speaking to Clifford Chong, Lenovo’s Gaming Category Manager of Lenovo Asia Pacific, he explained that while League of Champions is opened to everyone, the number of female gamers who sign up for it are still a minority.
With LoC entering its fourth year, the League of Valkyries is one of Lenovo’s way of making esports more accessible to female gaming enthusiasts and semi-pro gamers alike.
PHOTO: Hardware Zone
At the LoV Singapore local competition itself, the gaming area within Lenovo’s flagship store was packed with supporters of competing teams.
SINGAPORE: Excessive exposure to digital devices such as tablets, smartphones and video consoles could worsen emotional and behavioral difficulties among preschool children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) such as autism, a new study showed.
It does so by interfering with the amount and quality of their sleep, said the study conducted by researchers from the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and the National University of Singapore (NUS).
In particular, exposure to an electronic screen before the child turns 18 months of age and the presence of multiple screen devices in the bedroom led to greater sleep disruption.
In the long term, these sleep disturbances could contribute to difficulties such as hyperactivity, low mood and inattention, said Dr Wong Chui Mae, a senior consultant at KKH’s department of child development and the study’s principal investigator.
The report was published in Journal of Development & Behavioural Pediatrics earlier this year.
Dr Wong Chui Mae is the principal investigator of the study. (Photo: Rachel Phua)
IMPACT OF SCREEN USE
Between 2015 and 2017, the study’s authors collected self-reported data from 367 caregivers of children between the ages of two and five.
Through the responses, the authors found that 57.7 per cent of children had at least one screen device in their bedrooms, while 52 per cent were exposed to electronic screens at the age of 18 months or earlier.
Sleep problems, which range from having difficulty falling asleep to daytime sleepiness, arose in 72.3 per cent of the children and 59.9 per cent of the children evaluated had emotional and behavioural difficulties, according to the response from their parents.
WHAT SHOULD PARENTS DO?
In light of these results, the authors recommended that parents and caregivers should keep their children’s bedrooms free from screen devices and discourage screen use before 18 months of age. Caregivers who share the same room as the children are encouraged to reduce and avoid screen use while their children are sleeping.
For children between 18 months old and two years old, Dr Wong said that some screen use can be introduced, but it must always be co-viewed with a caregiver “so there is still some interaction”. As for children between the ages of two and six, they should be permitted no more than one hour of screen use a day.
Addressing the common routine where parents use screen devices as a substitute to keep their children engaged, Dr Wong added that this habit is unhelpful.
“We always teach parents that if you give a child something to stop their tantrum, they will always tantrum to get that same thing from you.
“The general advice to parents is if your child is doing an unwanted behaviour like a tantrum, we would advise parents to ignore the unwanted behaviour, tell their child firmly that this is not right, to calm down, and to take their attention off the child.”
Other recommendations include stopping all screen use among children one hour before bedtime, and encouraging and setting house rules that limit their daily exposure to devices.
Dr Wong added that the study is applicable to children without NDDs as well given the available evidence on this topic.
“Our study actually serves to cement the current information that we know already,” she said.
Mr Chan Fook Chin is a parent (but not a study participant) who started introducing house rules about two to three years ago after seeking Dr Wong’s advice.
Mr Chan Fook Chin is a father of two daughters with autism who have benefited from less screen time. (Photo: Rachel Phua)
The self-employed 44-year-old, who has two daughters with autism, said that before having any sort of house rules, his children would “jump and sing” in the bedroom before bedtime. It would take about an hour before they settled down.
They were using digital devices for about four hours each day, Mr Chan estimated, and had trouble finishing their homework.
But after talking to Dr Wong, he came up with a schedule that both of them had to follow, and one he got his helper to enforce. They were only allowed 10 minutes of screen time at lunch, and another 15 minutes or so after finishing their homework.
It took about six months to get his children to comply, but sleep comes easily to his daughters now.
They are able to automatically follow the schedule and they focus better at school, with his younger daughter exhibiting less of the stimming or self-stimulating behaviour in children with autism. Interactions within the family have also increased.
The victims, aged 11 and 12, were in one of the cars outside Sultan Iskandar Building in Johor Bahru when the accident took place.
Both of them suffered various degrees of injury; the younger boy suffered broken bones in his arms and legs while the older boy’s head, arms and legs were injured, reported Sin Chew Daily.
They were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Multiple dashcam videos of the incident posted on social media showed the exact moment of the collisions.
SINGAPORE – The Housing Board launched 4,571 new Build-To-Order (BTO) flats for sale in the year’s last and biggest BTO exercise on Tuesday (Nov 12).
Also up for sale are 3,599 flats under the Sale of Balance Flats scheme in mature and non-mature estates, such as Bishan and Clementi.
This brings the total number to 8,170, which is also the biggest HDB flat launch in 2019.
Most of the BTO flats for sale in the latest exercise are in the upcoming “forest town” of Tengah, spread across three housing projects, while the rest are in the mature estates of Ang Mo Kio and Tampines.
Units in the three Tengah projects – Plantation Village, Plantation Grange and Garden Vines @ Tengah – range from two-room flexi to five-room flats. There are also three-generation flats for sale in the latest exercise.
Prices start from $110,000, excluding grants, for a two-room flexi flat and from $442,000 for a three-generation flat. This is the third batch of Tengah flats to be launched.
SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has launched 8,170 flats for sale under its latest Build-to-Order (BTO) and Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercise, it said in a press release on Tuesday (Nov 12).
The launch includes 4,571 BTO flats in Tengah, Tampines and Ang Mo Kio as well as 3,599 SBF flats across various towns and estates.
This brings the total number of BTO flats offered this year to 14,591 units.
BTO EXERCISE
The 4,571 BTO flats on offer are spread across five projects.
They include three in the non-mature towns of Tengah and two in the mature towns of Ang Mo Kio and Tampines, HDB said.
The Tampines GreenSpring BTO project offers 657 units with another 457 units available under the Yio Chu Kang Beacon project in Ang Mo Kio offers 454 units.
In Tengah, a total of 3,460 units are being offered under three BTO projects – Plantation Village, Plantation Grange and Garden Vines @ Tengah.
Plantation Village and Plantation Grange are the second batch of shorter-waiting-time flats to be offered, where at least 95 per cent of the 4-room and bigger flats will be set aside for first-timer families, HDB said. This is a 10 per cent increase from the current quota of at least 85 per cent in the non-mature estates.
Artist’s impression of Plantation Village BTO project in Tengah. (Photo: HDB)
Eligible first-timer families can enjoy the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG) of up to $80,000. With EHG, flat buyers could pay as little as S$30,000 for a 2-room Flexi flat, S$133,000 for a 3-room flat, S$242,000 for a 4-room flat, and S$364,000 for a 5-room flat.
“First-timer families will continue to enjoy priority in flat allocation. Married/courting couples who wish to live together with their parent(s) can apply for a 3Gen flat in Plantation Grange,” HDB said.
It added that applicants who wish to live close to their parents or married children in the same BTO project can submit a joint application under the Multi-Generation Priority Scheme (MGPS).
Artist’s impression of Plantation Grange BTO project in Tengah. (Photo: HDB Facebook)
SBF EXERCISE
In addition to the BTO flats, HDB will also offer 3,599 balance flats under the SBF exercise.
They comprise 760 units of 2-room Flexi, 536 units of 3-room, 1,677 units of 4-room, 561 units of 5-room, 56 units of 3Gen and 9 units of Executive flats across various towns and estates.
“The majority of the flats offered under the SBF exercise are reserved for first-timer families. Eligible first-timer singles may also apply for a 2-room Flexi flat in non-mature towns,” HDB added.
Eligible first-timer singles may also apply for a 2-room Flexi flat in non-mature towns.
Application can be made online on the HDB website from Tuesday to next Monday. Buyers can apply for only one flat type in one town under either the BTO or SBF exercise.
Together with the balance flats offered in the May and November 2019 SBF exercises, and the units in the February and September 2019 Re-Offer of Balance Flats (ROF) exercises, HDB has offered a total of 22,751 flats in 2019.
The next BTO project will be launched in February 2020, with about 3,000 units in Sembawang and Toa Payoh, HDB said.
In May 2020, HDB will offer about 3,700 BTO flats in Choa Chu Kang, Pasir Ris, Tampines and Tengah. Of these, the flats in Choa Chu Kang will have shorter waiting time, HDB added.
