U turn at Marina Barrage.
Forgot to bring my garmin today.
Shoe : New Balance MT20
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Run on 30 Apr - CBD run, set Y, Tanjong Pagar MRT to Garden by the Bay.
U turn at Marina Barrage.
Forgot to bring my garmin today.
Shoe : New Balance MT20
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Expanding Surface Pro and Surface RT Availability
from Surface Blog.
Surface RT will launch in Malaysia on April 25th, in Mexico by the end of May and in Korea and Thailand in June.This expansion will result in Surface RT being available in 29 markets. For those that are counting, it’s already available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Surface Pro will launch before the end of May in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Surface Pro will launch in Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, and Thailand before the end of June.Surface Pro is currently available in the U.S., Canada, and China.
The enthusiasm for Surface has been fantastic, and we love hearing the stories of people who are making it the one device they use to work and play. This is what Surface was designed to do – simplify your life while letting you do more! In fact, one of our biggest challenges has been keeping our 128GB Surface Pro in stock. We’ve worked hard to increase availability, and most retail partners in the U.S. and Canada as well as the Microsoft Store now have the 128 GB product consistently in stock.
To those of you who have pressed for information – please understand that before making these announcements we make sure that we have the volume of devices in place and alignment with our retail partners to do each launch well. We value every Surface customer. We’re passionate about the products we’ve built, and we appreciate your passion for getting Surface in your market.
Looking forward to sharing Surface with more folks around the world.
Brian Hall
General Manager – Microsoft Surface
Expanding Surface Pro and Surface RT Availability
At the end of February, we announced that we were broadening the availability of the Surface family. Since then, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback that people want us to expand availability further and faster.
We know it took us a while to get back to you, but we hear you, and are excited to be able to provide an update on the countries where Surface RT and Surface Pro will be launching in May and June. Additional details on launch events, retail availability, and pricing will be provided in future posts to this blog and via twitter at @Surface ahead of actual launch dates.
Surface RT will launch in Malaysia on April 25th, in Mexico by the end of May and in Korea and Thailand in June.This expansion will result in Surface RT being available in 29 markets. For those that are counting, it’s already available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Surface Pro will launch before the end of May in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Surface Pro will launch in Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, and Thailand before the end of June.Surface Pro is currently available in the U.S., Canada, and China.
The enthusiasm for Surface has been fantastic, and we love hearing the stories of people who are making it the one device they use to work and play. This is what Surface was designed to do – simplify your life while letting you do more! In fact, one of our biggest challenges has been keeping our 128GB Surface Pro in stock. We’ve worked hard to increase availability, and most retail partners in the U.S. and Canada as well as the Microsoft Store now have the 128 GB product consistently in stock.
To those of you who have pressed for information – please understand that before making these announcements we make sure that we have the volume of devices in place and alignment with our retail partners to do each launch well. We value every Surface customer. We’re passionate about the products we’ve built, and we appreciate your passion for getting Surface in your market.
Looking forward to sharing Surface with more folks around the world.
Brian Hall
General Manager – Microsoft Surface
Run on 28 Apr - u turn before CTE
Distance : 10.18 km
Avg Speed : 6:58 min/km, 8.6 km/h
Joined Punggol runners for sunday run.
Shoes : Brooks Pure Connect
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Hoot Hoot! WD Elements 320GB harddisk.
Bought the below at Funan challenger sale.
WD Elements 320 GB external harddisk.
Damage = $40.
WD Elements 320 GB external harddisk.
Damage = $40.
Friday, April 26, 2013
OCBC Cycle 2013.
Went to watch the OCBC Professional Criterium on Friday night. 1.5 hours on a 1.6km lap.
Commentary: MDA tells SingTel to show BPL matches on rival channels
By: Alfred Siew
Singapore’s football fans will be relieved the ref has got a crucial decision right on Wednesday evening.
Ignoring SingTel’s pleas of innocence, the country’s media regulator clearly told the team in red to show the next three seasons of the Barclays Premier League on rival services, such as StarHub’s cable TV, starting in August.
In a landmark ruling, it essentially laid out how it will deal with pay-TV operators that have somehow found a loophole in its efforts to open up the market and rid it of ruinous exclusive content contracts that have killed consumer choice for years.
For football fans, the equation is simple. They will likely be watching live BPL matches on either SingTel’s mio TV or StarHub’s cable TV service, like they did with the Euro 2012 competition. In other words, no more having two set-top boxes to watch football and other programmes.
Crucially, the Media Development Authority’s (MDA’s) decision also means no going back to the dark days, when rival pay-TV operators kept bidding up prices for exclusive content in a badly distorted market.
The situation now is still in flux, to be sure. While StarHub promptly released a statement applauding the decision, a clearly upset SingTel said it will appeal – likely to the minister in charge – and “seek legal recourse if necessary”.
Despite its protestations, SingTel will have a lot of convincing to do.
Back in October 2012, when it surprised everyone by announcing it had signed a “non-exclusive” deal with the Football Association Premier League (FAPL) to show the next three seasons of live matches, it probably thought it had beaten the system.
On paper, this meant the door was open for StarHub to negotiate a separate deal. Soon, however, it became clear that things didn’t quite add up.
For months, the English rights owners apparently declined to speak with StarHub despite the deal with SingTel being non-exclusive. Then, StarHub complained to the regulator that its rival had in place a deal that came with a rebate – if the FAPL dealt with someone else, they would have to pay out a hefty fee to SingTel.
Though not in the same words, MDA now appears to have agreed with StarHub.
It said in a statement to the media that SingTel’s deal came with clauses which could have prevented or restricted the live broadcast feeds from being shown on another TV service.
This means SingTel is subject to new “cross carriage” rules that the MDA has just put in place to discourage operators from bidding up prices for exclusive content. SingTel has to show its exclusive football content on rival TV channels.
In the past, the wrong type of competition had pushed up costs and tied subscribers to one pay-TV operator, which the MDA is now against.
Perhaps SingTel has miscalculated the industry referee’s reaction this time. In truth, it left the regulator with little choice. The matter concerns more than just football rights.
If the MDA had allowed SingTel to do things its way after finding this “loophole” in the system, more content owners, who sell programmes for the hundreds of pay-TV channels in Singapore, may follow in the footsteps of the football rights owners and bypass MDA’s ruling in future.
That will be a big step backwards for the industry and its audience, just as things are looking up. An out-smarted, toothless regulator is what the MDA will be seen as.
Football fans will remember how all this unhealthy competition in football rights and exclusive content almost culminated in Singapore viewers not even being able to watch the World Cup on the telly in 2010.
Knowing the country’s operators would bid crazy amounts to acquire exclusive rights, the beautiful game’s rights owners had asked for astronomical amounts for TV rights. Only in the final days in the run-up to the World Cup was a deal struck to show the live matches here.
Fortunately, that appeared to be the much-needed wake-up call for the regulator. Up until then, the MDA had left things alone, to the detriment to pay-TV viewers as well as the industry’s development.
This time round, it has done right to safeguard consumer interest and make sure the market is not lopsided in favour of content owners, or an increasingly powerful SingTel keen to muscle its way into the market with its football rights.
This episode won’t be the last challenge for the MDA. In the hours after its decision, SingTel warned that non-mio TV viewers may have to pay “significantly higher monthly fees” to watch the live matches.
Is it trying to price out rivals? Will things drag on beyond August, when the new season kicks off? Many tough calls ahead for the referee, for sure. For now, it earns plaudits for standing firm.
Singapore’s football fans will be relieved the ref has got a crucial decision right on Wednesday evening.
Ignoring SingTel’s pleas of innocence, the country’s media regulator clearly told the team in red to show the next three seasons of the Barclays Premier League on rival services, such as StarHub’s cable TV, starting in August.
In a landmark ruling, it essentially laid out how it will deal with pay-TV operators that have somehow found a loophole in its efforts to open up the market and rid it of ruinous exclusive content contracts that have killed consumer choice for years.
For football fans, the equation is simple. They will likely be watching live BPL matches on either SingTel’s mio TV or StarHub’s cable TV service, like they did with the Euro 2012 competition. In other words, no more having two set-top boxes to watch football and other programmes.
Crucially, the Media Development Authority’s (MDA’s) decision also means no going back to the dark days, when rival pay-TV operators kept bidding up prices for exclusive content in a badly distorted market.
The situation now is still in flux, to be sure. While StarHub promptly released a statement applauding the decision, a clearly upset SingTel said it will appeal – likely to the minister in charge – and “seek legal recourse if necessary”.
Despite its protestations, SingTel will have a lot of convincing to do.
Back in October 2012, when it surprised everyone by announcing it had signed a “non-exclusive” deal with the Football Association Premier League (FAPL) to show the next three seasons of live matches, it probably thought it had beaten the system.
On paper, this meant the door was open for StarHub to negotiate a separate deal. Soon, however, it became clear that things didn’t quite add up.
For months, the English rights owners apparently declined to speak with StarHub despite the deal with SingTel being non-exclusive. Then, StarHub complained to the regulator that its rival had in place a deal that came with a rebate – if the FAPL dealt with someone else, they would have to pay out a hefty fee to SingTel.
Though not in the same words, MDA now appears to have agreed with StarHub.
It said in a statement to the media that SingTel’s deal came with clauses which could have prevented or restricted the live broadcast feeds from being shown on another TV service.
This means SingTel is subject to new “cross carriage” rules that the MDA has just put in place to discourage operators from bidding up prices for exclusive content. SingTel has to show its exclusive football content on rival TV channels.
In the past, the wrong type of competition had pushed up costs and tied subscribers to one pay-TV operator, which the MDA is now against.
Perhaps SingTel has miscalculated the industry referee’s reaction this time. In truth, it left the regulator with little choice. The matter concerns more than just football rights.
If the MDA had allowed SingTel to do things its way after finding this “loophole” in the system, more content owners, who sell programmes for the hundreds of pay-TV channels in Singapore, may follow in the footsteps of the football rights owners and bypass MDA’s ruling in future.
That will be a big step backwards for the industry and its audience, just as things are looking up. An out-smarted, toothless regulator is what the MDA will be seen as.
Football fans will remember how all this unhealthy competition in football rights and exclusive content almost culminated in Singapore viewers not even being able to watch the World Cup on the telly in 2010.
Knowing the country’s operators would bid crazy amounts to acquire exclusive rights, the beautiful game’s rights owners had asked for astronomical amounts for TV rights. Only in the final days in the run-up to the World Cup was a deal struck to show the live matches here.
Fortunately, that appeared to be the much-needed wake-up call for the regulator. Up until then, the MDA had left things alone, to the detriment to pay-TV viewers as well as the industry’s development.
This time round, it has done right to safeguard consumer interest and make sure the market is not lopsided in favour of content owners, or an increasingly powerful SingTel keen to muscle its way into the market with its football rights.
This episode won’t be the last challenge for the MDA. In the hours after its decision, SingTel warned that non-mio TV viewers may have to pay “significantly higher monthly fees” to watch the live matches.
Is it trying to price out rivals? Will things drag on beyond August, when the new season kicks off? Many tough calls ahead for the referee, for sure. For now, it earns plaudits for standing firm.
SingNet to cross-carry Barclays Premier League on StarHub platform
Football fans will soon be able to catch the Barclays Premier League (BPL) "live" matches on both SingNet and StarHub platforms.
SINGAPORE: Football fans will soon be able to catch
the Barclays Premier League (BPL) "live" matches on both SingNet and
StarHub platforms.
Singapore's Media Development Authority (MDA) has asked pay TV retailer SingNet to cross-carry the matches over the next three seasons, starting from 2013/2014.
This means SingNet will have to offer the BPL matches on rival pay TV retailer StarHub's platform.
The move follows SingTel's announcement that it has acquired rights to all BPL live matches, commencing August this year, for broadcast on "mio TV".
Cross-carriage rules, which require pay TV operators to share exclusive content, came into effect in August 2011.
Under the cross-carriage measure, pay TV retailers who have acquired any exclusive content on or after 12 March 2010 must widen the distribution of such content by offering it to other subscribers through the set-top boxes of qualified pay TV retailers.
MDA said this is similar to the arrangement for UEFA Euro 2012, the first piece of exclusive content to fall under the cross-carriage measure.
StarHub had acquired the rights to UEFA Euro 2012 exclusively last year and the 64 matches were cross-carried on the SingNet mio TV platform.
Commenting on the decision, StarHub's head of corporate communications & investor relations, Jeannie Ong, said "We welcome the decision of the Media Development Authority (MDA) to make the Barclays Premier League subject to the cross-carriage measure.
"Singapore viewers are the biggest beneficiaries of this decision and we are excited to be able to bring the BPL to our customers on our reliable network once again."
SingTel said it was "gravely disappointed" with the decision as it disadvantages both consumers and the industry.
Allen Lew, SingTel's country chief officer Singapore, said the company intends to appeal the decision and seek legal recourse if necessary.
He added that the development also means that soccer fans can expect to pay higher prices to watch matches in future.
Mr Lew said: "Once I have customers who are not sitting on my platform, I cannot subsidise them because there's no commercial rationale for me to subsidise them. So I have to raise the price for them.
"Unfortunately because I cannot have differential pricing... Once I raise the price for my competitor's customers, I also have to raise the price for my own customers because the ruling very clearly states: only one uniform price."
Meanwhile, the Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim will give "due consideration" to SingNet's appeal against MDA's direction to have the "live" matches of the Barclays Premier League cross-carried by rival pay TV retailer StarHub.
SingNet has informed the minister of its intention to appeal against the direction.
In a statement, the ministry said Dr Yaacob will hear representations from both SingNet and the Media Development Authority before making a final decision on the appeal.
Singapore's Media Development Authority (MDA) has asked pay TV retailer SingNet to cross-carry the matches over the next three seasons, starting from 2013/2014.
This means SingNet will have to offer the BPL matches on rival pay TV retailer StarHub's platform.
The move follows SingTel's announcement that it has acquired rights to all BPL live matches, commencing August this year, for broadcast on "mio TV".
Cross-carriage rules, which require pay TV operators to share exclusive content, came into effect in August 2011.
Under the cross-carriage measure, pay TV retailers who have acquired any exclusive content on or after 12 March 2010 must widen the distribution of such content by offering it to other subscribers through the set-top boxes of qualified pay TV retailers.
MDA said this is similar to the arrangement for UEFA Euro 2012, the first piece of exclusive content to fall under the cross-carriage measure.
StarHub had acquired the rights to UEFA Euro 2012 exclusively last year and the 64 matches were cross-carried on the SingNet mio TV platform.
Commenting on the decision, StarHub's head of corporate communications & investor relations, Jeannie Ong, said "We welcome the decision of the Media Development Authority (MDA) to make the Barclays Premier League subject to the cross-carriage measure.
"Singapore viewers are the biggest beneficiaries of this decision and we are excited to be able to bring the BPL to our customers on our reliable network once again."
SingTel said it was "gravely disappointed" with the decision as it disadvantages both consumers and the industry.
Allen Lew, SingTel's country chief officer Singapore, said the company intends to appeal the decision and seek legal recourse if necessary.
He added that the development also means that soccer fans can expect to pay higher prices to watch matches in future.
Mr Lew said: "Once I have customers who are not sitting on my platform, I cannot subsidise them because there's no commercial rationale for me to subsidise them. So I have to raise the price for them.
"Unfortunately because I cannot have differential pricing... Once I raise the price for my competitor's customers, I also have to raise the price for my own customers because the ruling very clearly states: only one uniform price."
Meanwhile, the Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim will give "due consideration" to SingNet's appeal against MDA's direction to have the "live" matches of the Barclays Premier League cross-carried by rival pay TV retailer StarHub.
SingNet has informed the minister of its intention to appeal against the direction.
In a statement, the ministry said Dr Yaacob will hear representations from both SingNet and the Media Development Authority before making a final decision on the appeal.
- CNA/al
from today
from today
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Run on 24 Apr - u turn at esplanade
Distance : 9.05 km
Avg Speed : 6:51 min/km, 8.8 km/h
Shoe : New Balance MT20
Managed to u turn at esplanade and continue on without walk break.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Run on 23 Apr - CBD run, set E, Tanjong Pagar MRT up to Mount Faber
Distance : 10.26 km
Avg Speed : 7:44 min/km, 7.8 km/h
Shoe : New Balance MT20.
No loops tonight.
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