Skype- the way to stay connected for free

With my impending departure for Japan, I have been seeking opinions of friends who have lived abroad for a period of time, on the different channels to stay connected to home. How to make overseas calls cheaply? Since I think for the first few months, and probably in winter, I would likely be making more overseas calls home than usual.

The very traditional way? It will be getting a telephone card. Actually *pai seh smile*, I did get one, when I was on holiday in Japan during April. But there's limited credit, and very restrictive options. I would need a public card phone which is near my apartment. Not a very smart idea during winter. Imagine, shivering in the cold while making a public phone call home.

Friends suggested other options such as Skype, MSN, VOIP phones, etc. Yup, there are actually quite a few options. Hence, when Daphnemaia invited me for the Skype event at CommunicAsia 2010, I took it up immediately. I would like to see and speak to the Skype people on this new technology and how it can help me ease my homesickness.

Founded in August 2003, Skype is a relatively young company, which grew from simply offering internet voice calls for individuals to now video and voice calls not only via desktop, laptop, but mobile phones and even TV! And of course, now it not only serves individuals, like you and me, but businesses as well.


Peter Parke from Skype showing us the latest features that Skype offers.

From 21 June 2010, Panasonic is the first company to work with Skype to offer video calls via TV screens. You would need to attach a web camera, and viola, the Skype software which comes with the TV set will complete the rest.




You can start to skype on Panasonic VIERA CAST from June.

And here's a fun tip, which you can try: hold the skype logo in front of the web camera of the TV set, and there will be animation hovering above the skype logo, just like the picture below.



In future, more companies, such as LG, will be working with Skype to produce more of such TV models. Thus, look forward to the future, where we skype with each other via TV/ iPhone/ Sony Ericsson smartphones using Symbian/ laptops/ desktops.

I was told that Nokia N900 was the first phone which allows video skype calls, too. Mmm.. I look forward to the day I can make video skype calls with my iPhone. :)

Btw, you can now make wifi and 3G calls using your iPhone Skype application, provided it's the latest version. Skype-to-skype calls on 3G will remain free till end of 2010. Wifi calls will continue to be free.

For more convenience, you can also pay a monthly subscription of about $1.09 per month to call any landline or mobile phones worldwide. It's really cheap, compared with making overseas calls using landline/ mobile phones.

Mmm.. I shall give skype a try when I'm in Japan. :)

And special thanks to Daphnemaia, for the invite!

I'm a HipStar

If you're like me, who love snapping random moments with the iPhone (the most convenient camera), you would probably not miss Hipstamatic.

Lately, there are new updates.
I've stumbled upon a tweet on a Hipstamatic contest today. Without that, I would not have notice that there are now new icons within my favourite iPhone application.

For each picture you've taken with iPhone, you can now enter it to the monthly Big Hipstamatic Show.

There are currently 2 contests which you can enter:

• Life
• Solstice

The most voted picture, will win. :)

To enter the contest, prepare the following:

1. Hipstamatic App (Submission of picture will be via this app, so don't clear your prints yet from the Hipstamatic viewer.)
2. Twitter account (not necessary, but nice-to-have, as it helps to garner more votes)
3. Flickr account (needed, the picture will be uploaded to Flickr as well.)

And finally... don't forget to vote for my picture! :P
Under the theme "Sunshine and Moonbeams", here's my very coincidental picture of sunset which I took yesterday - Sunset Horizon.

We only have 5 days from the day we submit to gather votes. :)
Hence, vote now, don't hesitate.

Or join in the fun, and be a HipStar, like me. :)

Learning Japanese the iPhone way #2

With the dictionary, now it's time to download iPhone applications which provide more structured learning of the Japanese language.

I've tried 3 free iPhone applications. 2 of which are Lite versions, and full versions are available, too, at some costs. While the last one is a full free application.

Japanese Phrases

This free application concentrates mainly on vocabulary, with its huge bank of study cards.

However, I like the lessons offered as well. For beginners, there are basic lessons such as the the 3 types of characters in Japanese - hiragana, katagana and kanji. Followed by verb usage, to counters and even polite "Mr/Ms" enders (when to use -san, -chan, -sama, etc).

I particularly liked the flash card bank and the quiz function. Clear audio of the word's pronunciation is provided, and you can also flip the card to view the meaning of the newly learned vocabulary. Categories of the vocabulary include hiragana/ katagana characters, numbers, conversational phrases, slang to even proverbs. I especially liked proverbs... that's something new which an intermediate learner can pick up from. (Since there aren't many applications developed for intermediate/advanced learners. Let alone free ones.)

In addition, you can refresh your knowledge by quizzing yourself. A random set of 15 words will then be selected from the selected topic for each quiz.



Pocket Japanese - Beginner
If you prefer passage style, like school-based learning, this is the application for you. It adapts from the podcast, Japanese Pod 101 . From the passage, there is line-by-line audio revision, explanation of each line, and even grammar and vocabulary lessons based on selected phrases/ sentences from the passage.


Line-by-line audio


Flash cards based on new vocabulary

For the lite version, only one lesson is offered though.

Japanese Word of the Day
Need to build up more vocabulary? Use this iPhone application. Each new vocabulary is expressed in hiragana, and the meaning in English is also provided. There is no audio though.



This application reminds me of my twitter series, A Japanese Word A Day :)

Yup, so that's all for today's review. I shall post more reviews when I've tried other applications. Have fun learning Japanese! :)

In Love with Hipstamatic

Recently, I've stopped bringing my trusty point-and-shoot Canon Ixus 80IS around, as more and more I am relying on Hipstamatic to take random pictures of my life.

This is also by far, the only paid iPhone application, that I have.

(Disclaimer though, as of today, my phone is only 2 weeks old.. so I may start buying more apps? Well.. who knows, right? :P)

For USD$1.99, the basic Hipstamatic applications comes with 3 lens, 3 films and 1 flash.

The 3 lens are:

1. John S (my personal fave!- bluish tint)
2. Kaimal Mark II (reddish tint)
3. Jimmy (yellowish tint)

The 3 films are: (they form the frame effect)

1. Blanko (Polaroid with sharp corners)
2. Ina's 1969 (Polaroid with round corners)
3. Kodot Verichrome (my personal fave! - rough edges, vintage look)

The only flash - Standard flash (no tint effect)

And the results?

All 3 are taken using the Kodot Verichrome film, and John S, Kaimal Mark II and Jimmy lenses respectively (from top to bottom).

Other pictures taken using my fave combi:

Not convinced yet? Here are other reviews by:

• Vic
• Claudia

Have fun hipstamaticking! :)

Learning Japanese the iPhone way #1

Recently I've joined the iPhone club as well, as more and more of my friends and colleagues become enthusiastic ambassadors of iPhones, a possible side-effect of new owners. :P

Just as enthusiastic, I immediately tried downloading Japanese learning applications from the App Store, too, after I've downloaded the essentials like Facebook, Plurk, Tweetdeck, etc.

There are dozens of iPhone applications on learning Japanese language, but mostly they are paid applications. Currently, my reviews are on some selected free applications. They were picked mostly based on the users' reviews provided by the App Store, hence, there might be many good ones outta which I've missed. I shall update as I stumble upon other useful Japanese learning applications.

To kick-start, let's begin with dictionaries. A must-have for all foreign language learners!

The application you MUST get...

This application.. long before the iPhone craze started, I've seen ex-classmates using on their iTouch, and is deeply fascinated by it. It is so much like a functional dictionary which costs hundreds of dollars, and probably needs to be bought in Japan itself. There aren't many places selling electronic Japanese dictionaries in Singapore, especially the ones which has handwriting recognition.

And.. the application is Kotoba! A fully functional English-Japanese dictionary. Occasionally it offers other languages as well in the explanations. Here's how to use Kotaba!:

1. Either type the English/ romanji term in the search bar.

OR

Type in the hiragana term.

OR

Write the kanji term:

2. Select "Search"

3. Vola... here's the searched result, it has sample sentences as well:

This is the only bilingual dictionary that I've downloaded on my iPhone so far. Go, give it a try.

In my next entry, I will cover on 2 language learning applications for beginners. They provide more structured lesson plans. Stay tuned! :)