So maybe you’re a student deciding between taking a business or a computing degree (or both!), or you’re thinking about pursuing a career in IT but are unsure of future local prospects. Here’s a quick overview of the current job market for IT professionals starting out in Singapore. ! these reports? References: http://www.salary.sg/2013/graduate-employment-survey-2012-published-2013/ http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page.aspx?id=15206 http://www.adecco-asia.com/singapore/2012SalaryGuideSingapore/files/inc/1285559243.pdf

Hi Folks, We have ended our previous windows phone challenge here, and these are the winners for the specific ideas :) We are opening up the rest of the applications for sudden death mode. This sudden death challenge will end after 14th September 2359hrs, after that we will be running an all new challenge! Be the first to publish the application meeting all the requirement and you will win the challenge! 1. Singapore 4D/Toto result application with Push Notifications whenever the results are available. Live Tiles and Lockscreen capable of showing latest results. Voice command to launch application (“what’s the 4D/Toto/Lottery result today”), (“what’s the previous 4D/Toto/Lottery result”),(“what’s the 4D/Toto/Lottery result last week”), and speech synthesis should read out the results in Mandarin and English. Optional: Location Based Services to find the nearest betting stations. 4DTOTO@SG 2. Address locator application with Live Tiles, Lock-screen and voice command. It will to let you know the civil/friendly address of “where you are”. Voice command for users to ask “where am i”, or “what’s the address of my current location”. The application will launch, read out the location you are and show the civic address (505 bukit panjang ring road)+map on the phone. Live tiles and Lock-screen will show on a periodic basis (using background task) current civic address + map of user. Locate Me 3. Singapore Weather Application with Push Notification, Secondary Live Tiles, Lock-screen and Voice command. You maybe assume that users of this application will only be from Singapore. Voice command to launch application “will it rain today”, “will it rain tomorrow”, “will it rain next Monday”, “will it rain on 4th July”, “is it sunny today”, “is it cloudy today”, “what’s the weather for the next 3 days”, “what’s the weather for the next 5 days”, “what’s the weather for the week”. Application should response with voice and necessary weather information. Push notifications should be implemented for flood warnings, haze level, and rains + probability for subscribed areas. Example user can subscribe to office (raffles place), school (clementi) and home (bukit panjang) location for rain notification. Users can pin secondary live tiles of raffles place, clementi and bukit panjang to start screen. Users should have the option to display the weather information on their Lock-screen. Open for Sudden Death 4. School planning application with Voice command, for parents to find out which primary/secondary schools are nearby for their child. After allowing users to set their home location via GPS/map selection/address/postal code, this application will be show nearby schools on the map control. The application will after which draw a transparent circle around the home location to show which schools are within the radius. Tapping the school on the map should launch the browser or show more information about the school. Voice command to launch application “what are the schools around 018989”, “what are the schools around me now”, “what are the schools around this area”, “what are the schools around 30 bedok north road”. Application to response with map and list of schools around user specified location. EDUHere 5. Singapore Pools Soccer Betting Information with Push Notifications when results are out for user-specified soccer league, Voice command, Live Tiles and Lock-screen showing latest results. Voice command to launch application (“what’s the latest results for champions league”). Application read out results in English, and show the available results on screen. Secondary live tiles should show results of user-specified soccer league. Lock-screen should show the latest soccer results. Optional: Location Based Services to find the nearest betting stations. Closed 6. CarPark lots availability application with Voice command, Secondary Live tiles, which shows a list of CarPark and lots. The application should have the capability of pinning specific CarPark secondary live tile showing the parking lots left. Voice command to query on specific CarPark lots left (“what is the available lots in marina bay sands”), with voice response (“there are 100 lots left in marina bay sands”). Get Me A Lot 7. Queue watch application for polyclinics in Singapore with Voice command and Secondary Live tiles. Users should be able to pin secondary live tiles of specified polyclinics to start screen, showing number of queue and waiting time. Lock-screen should allow users to display the number of patient and waiting time of specified clinic. Voice command to launch “how’s/what’s the queue at bedok polyclinic”. Application should read out number of queues, waiting time and display the live camera feed for bedok polyclinic. The list of polyclinic should be sorted by waiting time, and navigational directions should be given on how to transit to the selected polyclinic from current location. SG Polyclinic 8. Clinic finding application in Singapore. This application will list the clinics nearby or the entire list base on their affiliation. When working in companies, HR typically issues medical benefit cards to employees. Different medical benefit card requires you to visit different clinics. This application will show you the different type of benefit schemes, and the clinics/hospital/ Traditional Chinese Medicine Physician which you can visit. It should show information such as name, address, opening hours and contact number of the clinic. This application should also show the list (top 50) of nearby clinics on a map. Voice command should allow you to search for clinics base on name, or affiliations. Closed Nokia Lumia 925 Challenges 1. Singapore taxi fare calculator with Voice command. This application will estimated price and suggest the route to take. Voice command to launch application (“how much does it cost to take a cab from changi to yishun”), (“how much does it cost to take a cab to changi airport”), (“how much does it cost to take a cab from 505 bukit panjang to 100 bedok north road). Application should read out amount and show the map + route on screen. Do include CBD, Peak hours, Airport, Midnight and ERP charges. SG Taxi Fare 2. Singapore Movie Application to find out the vacancies of SG Cinemas for various movies. Voice command will be able to query “what is the availability of despicable me today”. The application should show the list of cinemas and the available number of seats in the cinema. SGFlix 3. Internet radio for Singapore channels, with capabilities to pin secondary tiles for specific radio channels. Voice command to launch application (turn on the radio for class 95), and secondary tile allows launching of app directly to radio channel. SG Radio 4. Voice command application to find commonly used / amenities around you, example AXS, ATM, SAM Machines, Convenient Store, Post Office, Supermarket, Police Station, MRT Stations etc…. Voice command to launch application “where is the nearest dbs atm”, and would show you the direction+map on how to get there. The list of amenities should be reliably accurate and recently updated. Places@SG 5. Phone book application with Voice command, which searches Singapore’s directory for the contact number and dials the number for you. Voice command enabled and allows you to search by voice. Example “call OCBC, call ministry of manpower, call Macdonald’s delivery, call crystal jade Holland village”. It should show to source of the number (google.com, hungry go where, yellow pages or other sources) before attempting to dial the number. Find A Number 6. Push notification, Secondary Live Tile and Lock-Screen application for Flights out of Singapore, it will send a push notification once the fare to the user once it drops below user’s specified price. The Lock-Screen should also be able to show/monitor a list of flights. The Secondary live tile should be able to show list of countries which fares are below a user specified threshold. The voice command will be able to query “what are the flights below $200”, “how much does it cost to fly to Kuala Lumpur” Closed 7. ERP monitoring application for Singapore with Voice command and Secondary Live tiles. Users should be able to pin secondary live tiles of specified ERP gantry to lock-screen, showing the price of crossing the gantry for different vehicle at last tile scheduled update time. Voice command to launch “how much does it cost to cross (gantry abc) at 3pm on weekdays/weekends”. Application should response with speech, speaking and showing the price of different vehicles of the queried gantry at the queried timing (do take note of weekdays and weekend differences. Show/response with free/nocharge if ERP gantry is turned off for these voice queries. SG ERP Rates 8. Tertiary education application in Singapore. This application will list the cut of points for courses in the 4 universities and 5 polytechnic in Singapore. It should show the history of cut of points published by the school across the years and there should be official writeup on what the courses are about. It should show information such as name, address, contact number of the tertiary institute. The application should allow user to search for institutes and courses filtered by cut off points / grades for A/O Levels. You should also show the transportation, bus services and MRT stations around the institute. It would be great if there is multiple direct bus route coverage show on a map for the particular institute. Voice command should be able to launch the application, allow user to query the cut off point of specific course. It should show the results for both polytechnic and university. Example “eduapp, show me what is the cut off point for computer science.”, “eduapp, what is the cut off point for business administration” EduSG 9. Singapore Post Application - This application will help to find nearby post office and post box. This application will also calculate the cost associated with the weight/size of a parcel. The application must support package tracking of Singapore Post registered packages, and live tiles + Lock-Screen should show the progress of these packages. Optional: there would be a push notification sent to the user when the item is delivered. SG Post 10. Singapore MRT Application - This application will show the map of singapore’s metro / MRT stations. Users would be able to search for a specific station and the station should blink if there is a match. It will also help the user to find the shortest route from one station to another station. Information on the first and last train should be provided to the user. The application should also show various top point of interest near the MRT station. Voice command would be able the launch the application by saying “what are the interesting places around jurong east”, and the application should show a list of point of interest around this MRT station.

The Windows Phone GDR2 update (8.0.1032x.77) is now available for Windows Phone 8 devices in Singapore. This update brings the following improvements:- Xbox Music. Easier to select, download, and pin music. More accurate metadata and other performance improvements. FM radio. Possible to listen to FM radio from the Music+Videos hub. Data Sense. Possible to set a limit based on the data plan Skype. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) apps like Lync and Skype features improved stability and performance. Internet Explorer. Better browsing experience with improved HTML 5 compatibility. Camera. Set favorite Lens so it opens automatically when pressing the camera button. Other improvements. Includes many other improvements to Windows Phone. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwKBy_yf7CA[/youtube] For Nokia Lumia devices, an additional update is bundled with the GDR2 update, titled the Nokia Amber Update (3047.0000.132x.xxxx). This update brings several improvements and features on top of the GDR2 update, including the enhancement of the phone’s camera, the glance screen, flip to silence, new wallpapers, ability to adjust the device’s color profile, call+sms filtering, and support for apps such as Nokia Smart Cam, Pro Cam, Video Upload, and more. You can check for updates by going to “Phone Update” under Settings and pressing “Check for updates”. Alternatively, your phone will tell you if an update is available if it is set to automatically check for updates. Once the Amber Update is complete, Nokia Lumia devices can download new apps and update existing system apps to gain more functionality. This can be done from the Store or via the QR Codes below (QR Codes courtesy of All About Windows Phone). It is worth noting that StarHub was the first to roll out the update. Kudos! For more information/reading, see:- Windows Phone 8 update history | Windows Phone How-to (Singapore) Windows Phone Amber Update - Nokia What’s new in the GDR2 and Lumia Amber Windows Phone updates? Availability in Asia Pacific - Nokia Note: If you do not see the update on your device, note that this update is a phased roll-out and should then be available to you shortly.

Nokia has just updated their extras+info app, adding a new “call+SMS filter” that as the name suggests, allow users to block calls and texts from specific numbers. Your phone needs to have the GDR2 Update, though. This said update is present on new Nokia Lumia 925s and 1020s, and will be coming to the Telco-variant older WP8 Lumias in the coming weeks. You can update your extras+info app by going to this link, or by scanning the above QR Code with your Windows Phone. ...

A startup founder recently shared with me a book called Conversion Centered Design. It’s a handy guidebook on learning how to build, publish & A/B Test landing pages without fussing too much about the technology. What is Conversion Centered Design? “CCD is a discipline targeted at designing experiences that achieve a single business goal. It seeks to guide the visitor toward completing that one specific action, using persuasive design and psychological triggers as devices to increase conversions.” - According to the authors of the book and founders of the company Unbounce (who used to be interaction designers). Focus on Landing Pages “Landing pages are the perfect medium to facilitate CCD due to their ‘less is more’ approach. Landing pages use congruent design – having a single collective purpose – to usher your visitors toward the finish line.” The Seven Principles of Conversion Centered Design If you are too lazy to read the full 70 pages of the book, then the above slideshare presentation gives a good overview of the 7 Principles of Conversion Centered Design. The 7 core elements of CCD can be broken down into two groups; design and psychology. ...

In Windows Server 2012 R2, you can create a new type of VMs called Generation 2 VMs. Gen 2 VMs will give you several benefits including: Emulated devices have been removed Allows for boots from virtual SCSI You can boot from synthetic network adapters Boot from UEFI instead of BIOS UEFI secure boot is enable You can run Gen1 and Gen2 VMs side by side Enable Enhanced Session Mode Why Gen 2 VMs? Historically OSs didn’t natively understand virtualization, and in the case of Hyper-V, could not just use the VMbus. This is why there are emulated IDE controllers, legacy network adapters, emulated BIOS, COM & LPT ports, keyboard or mouse PS/2 connections, floppy drives, and other system devices such as PCI to ISA bridge. All of these emulated type devices include the requirement to boot from an IDE controller, because the assumption was that OSs weren’t natively virtual aware. Today, even Linux now are natively virtualization aware. Therefore in Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V, a new Gen 2 VM is available that removes all the legacy, emulated hardware and provides a UEFI environment that supports 64-bit OSs that are Windows 8 and Windows 2012 or later. Generation 2 VMs can boot from the SCSI bus and from the synthetic network device. ...

One of the common questions I get is how to maximize and activate BizSpark’s MSDN Benefits for Windows Azure. These free Azure credits allow you to save tonnes of upfront capital costs and focus on building your product on top of our services. Multiple accounts also allow you to do testing on multiple machines. Here’s is a quick guide on how you can maximize your benefits! What is Windows Azure? Windows Azure is an open and flexible cloud platform that enables you to quickly build, deploy and manage applications across a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. You can build applications using any language, tool or framework. And you can integrate your public cloud applications with your existing IT environment. [caption id=“attachment_15328” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Windows Azure Offerings[/caption] Windows Azure Offerings for BizSpark Members [caption id=“attachment_15339” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Azure Benefits for BizSpark Members[/caption] Windows Azure provides great benefits for BizSpark members. BizSpark members automatically receive the Windows Azure benefit through their Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN subscriptions. These benefits include $150USD monthly credits of Windows Azure, lower rates and no additional charge for using MSDN software on Windows Azure. In addition, BizSpark members retain production use rights under this Windows Azure benefits offer. [caption id=“attachment_15340” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Azure Rates for BizSpark[/caption] Activate and Maximise Your Benefits for Windows Azure. 1. Add more members to your BizSpark account. Just click on ‘Manage’ on the left bar after logging into BizSpark.com. *Remember that you can add up to 8 developers under your account so that they can have access to the benefits of BizSpark. [caption id=“attachment_15335” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Add more members to your BizSpark account.[/caption] 2. Next, go to this [link](Go to this link to view all Azure benefits and click on ‘activate’. http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/bizspark-benefits/) to view all Azure benefits and click on ‘activate’. [http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/bizspark-benefits/](Go to this link to view all Azure benefits and click on ‘activate’. http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/bizspark-benefits/) [caption id=“attachment_15343” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Azure activation[/caption] 3. Log on with your Microsoft Account (the ID that you provided when applying for BizSpark). [caption id=“attachment_15344” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Windows Azure Login[/caption] 4. Check the box for terms and services and select ‘Purchase’. 5. You’ll be brought to your Azure account management page, where you can access your subscriptions. BizSpark Members get Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN. [caption id=“attachment_15346” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] You can check the amount of credits in your account simply by clicking the subscription.[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_15349” align=“alignnone” width=“610”] Each BizSpark member given US$200 credits at the start, and subsequently, $150.[/caption] Each BizSpark startup gets to add up to 8 accounts to their BizSpark membership and each gets US$150 worth of credits per month. That’s $1,200 credits per month. Feel free to utilize all the accounts and try the great services we have on Azure! Have fun! ...

I get lots of questions about the BizSpark program and how we help entrepreneurs. So I thought this slideshow and little brochure would help you, the startup founder, understand what the community is like in Singapore. Essentially, we provide software, support, visibility, and community to promising startups and visionary entrepreneurs — at no charge. We currently serve 50,000+ members in 100 countries across 6 continents. Navigating the Singapore Startup Eco-system with Microsoft BizSpark from Joyce Huang ...

The Nokia Lumia 920 is no doubt the most powerful Windows Phone 8 device currently out in the market right now. Nokia put so many features into it, but there are some features that some don’t need such as the wireless charging. For some, especially working professionals, the bright colors of the Lumia 920 were not working out for them. Nokia has, however, just come out with the new Lumia 925, which is another Windows Phone 8 device that is similar to the Lumia 920, with some upgraded features and some removed. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uj99wKhhYw[/youtube] Compared to the Lumia 920, the Lumia 925 has no in-built wireless charging, but like the Lumia 820, an optional snap-on cover is available for purchase to enable it. It’s dimensions are also smaller at 127.5 x 70.5 x 8.5mm as compared to the Lumia 920 at 130.3 x 70.8 x 10.7mm. While the Lumia 920 is made from a full piece of polycarbonate, the Lumia 925 has aluminum sides and a polycarbonate back. The aluminum sides are interesting the phone’s antenna, meaning the phone will have great reception due to the open nature of the antenna. “And yes, you can hold it however you like”. ...

In case you hadn’t heard, the Introducing Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview Release book from Microsoft Press is now available. You can download it for FREE or order your own hard copy version. This is a great way for you and our valued customers and partners to see what’s new in Windows Server 2012 R2. A System Center 2012 R2 version is underway and there will be a much lengthier version after Windows Server 2012 R2 is generally available. ...