I think now at 32, the novelty of fireworks is gone and I don’t feel that tingle down my spine or any goosebumps like before. It was just ok to me and I was more interested in looking around to see people’s expressions and such. I was actually quite amused by the sea of LCDs from where I was - nearly right at the top. Look at that… I’d say 7 out of 10 had a camera aimed at the sky? How many were looking at it through the LCD and ignoring the splendor that is beyond that tiny screen?

Well anyway so here is my shot of the last night of the Singapore Fireworks Festival… not of the fireworks (because the Lumix FX100 did a bad job with its fireworks mode) but a landscape of digital camera LCDs.

Singtel will start selling the iPhone 3G from this Friday specifically at midnight. If I read it right, you have to have a plan with Singtel to buy it. Depending on that plan, the price ranges from $0 to $848. (Update: It is stated that you can’t buy this phone on prepaid so yes you need a Singtel plan to get the iPhone 3G)

from http://home.singtel.com/singtel/iphone/support_iphone.html#a2

To get one, you have to book an appointment if you have reserved in advance. I know my wifey did so waiting for that email. If you didn’t reserve, you can walk into a store from 22nd August to buy one, though no telling whether they have ready stocks for walk-in customers.

They do have a rather comprehensive FAQ page here,  so check it out.

Will I give up my Samsung i780 for this? Dunno. I can do video calls with wifey, send and receive mms (and I do sometimes) and I am generally quite pleased with it. The iPhone beckons though, but remains to be seen whether I will ditch the i780 for this…

We can all relate ya…

Google has quietly introduced CalDAV support for its excellent Google Calendar. This means, once you set it up proper, changes made in either calendar will be synced. Hooray! There are still some nasty bugs to stamp out but this is certainly good news for Gcal + OS X users. I wonder if SpanningSync is worried. SpanningSync and other iCal/Gcal sync solutions do offer more like syncing different calendars but I think for most, this CalDAV implementation would be more than enough for day to day use.

Since I signed up for MobileMe I have been updating BOTH my gCal and MobileMe calendars. That’s tiring but I have been really trying to get used to it. With this CalDAV solution in place, I can just update my Gcal and everything else should sync nicely. I think. I hope.

The SLA was missing though but no biggie really.

I had to pay for the upgrade, but I think it’s ok. Yes Apple could have given it away free but they could also simply not offer an upgrade path at all. I am happy to part with a little bit to get some new features.

Along the way I signed up for an iTunes Account too. Yes, the App Store is open in Singapore - but we have no access to the Music Store. Bah. Never mind, if you want there are always workarounds, but I am glad with the App Store already open in Singapore. I downloaded a few free apps - through iTunes it’s cool, but through iPod Touch/iPhone itself it’s nifty. I also bought Bomberman Touch game but well only because wifey is quite a Bomberman fan having completed all the Touch DS ones.

Anyway, one reason why I paid for the upgrade is because I wanted to try MobileMe features on the iPod Touch. Kinda like a preview before I (eventually) get the iPhone. Now Apple has been getting a lot of flak for MobileMe for quite a bit -and I did experience some problems with it. Today I couldn’t load my mail for a while, and also Contacts was really slow as well. I am disappointed though that it is not really “Exchange for the rest of us”. This video demo (seems they have removed the video) makes it look ooooh so effortless, and in realtime as well, but in reality you need to wait up to 15 minutes for all to be synced. Two times I had to wait even mroe than 30 minutes though, but I reckon they will fix this up soon enough. At least Apple is a little apologetic now for using the Push term, and are offering 30 days free subscription, and that means my 60 days trial will be 90 days long - since I do qualify for it. (A latest search shows MobileMe’s latest boo boo of charging trial users more for 18 months of service - hmmm I better check my account)

MobileMe would be really useful when I get the iPhone eventually - but I really do prefer Gmail’s threaded view, Google Calendar’s quick entry and overall snazzier interface. The only thing I like about MobileMe’s webmail is the quick reply thingy. MobileMe’s calendar doesn’t support invites as well, so it’s really plain vanilla.

I think I’d stick on with MobileMe after the trial, and really looking forward to using it on an iPhone. I am such a sucker for Apple stuff…