Singapore MRT

One thing I miss the most about Singapore is having that feeling of safety – you can use your iPhone and other expensive gadgets on trains and not worry about being the apple of the eye of criminals.

The authorities in Singapore are quick to say though that “low crime doesn’t mean no crime.”

I agree. But when I was in the squeaky clean city-state, I felt that I could lower my guard a little bit.

Manila

Why am I writing this article? Well, a pickpocket took my cellphone at a train station in Manila yesterday.

I wasn’t the only victim. A 26-year-old seafarer and his wife raised hell when they realized they had lost their cellphones. The commotion that ensued was one helluva scene.

To cut the long story short, a suspected pickpocket was arrested. It’s obvious that the guy had cohorts who were able to get away with the loot.

Singapore

Singapore

After that incident, I couldn’t help but wonder: How does Singapore do it?

I really don’t know the answer, but at this point, what I do know is that I’m longing for Singapore-style safety.

iPad 2

This article compares the iPad 2 of Apple with the Galaxy Tab P1000 of Samsung. Why these two? Well, the iPad 2 and the Galaxy Tab P1000 are the tablet PCs that I’ve personally seen and touched.

Price

Without a doubt, price is one of the main considerations of customers before buying anything.

In this regard, the Galaxy Tab P1000 is slightly better because it’s cheaper than the 16GB, Wi-Fi only iPad 2.

Size

Another thing that should be considered in tablet PC comparison is the size of the gadget. Size does matter here because portability is seen as one of the main advantages of tablet PCs.

The Samsung product can fit in a big pocket. The iPad 2 can’t.

While the size of the Apple device seems like a negative thing in terms of portability, it does have an advantage. The iPad 2 makes typing easier because of the bigger keyboard. I can’t even imagine writing a 500-word article using the virtual keyboard of the seven-inch Galaxy Tab P1000.

However, the size of the iPad 2 has led some critics to derisively call it a giant iPhone, another Apple product. Some people see the iPad 2 as a humongous Apple smartphone, sans the phone function.

Phone

For me, the main advantage of the Galaxy Tab P1000 over the iPad 2 is the phone function: the Samsung device is both a tablet PC and a phone in just one gadget. 

There are really a lot of factors to consider when buying a tablet PC. After all, customers need to make sure that they spend their hard-earned money on something that’s worth it.

The bottom line: it’s different strokes for different folks. Regardless of the reason though, it’s really important for a customer to come up with a tablet PC comparison before making that big purchase.

Toa Payoh Town Park

It’s no secret that there are many tall buildings in Singapore, the smallest country in Southeast Asia in terms of land area. Due to the limited space, the city-state builds vertically.

This doesn’t mean though that Singapore is only about skyscrapers. Despite its small size, Singapore strives to make sure that it has ample space for greenery.

Some of the green areas in the country are the various town parks, the Chinese Garden and the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

What’s impressive is that the greenery and the concrete jungle don’t really compete for precious space. They actually complement each other: the greenery softens the look of concrete, while the buildings serve as a reminder that Singapore is a prosperous nation.

The greenery has an additional function. Trees help lower the sizzling temperatures in Singapore, which sits almost on the equator.

Today: a post featuring the Singapore skyline as seen from the city-state itself.

The Singapore skyline is considered to be one of the best skylines in the world. But for me, the fact that it can be seen from neighboring Indonesia makes it a little bit more special. 

Is there any other skyline that can be seen from foreign territory?

Next post: a closer look at the Singapore skyline.

I’m discussing in this post how I transfer videos from other cameras to the iPad 2 and make those videos visible in iMovie for editing.

There are many other ways, I’m sure, but I can say that my own way of doing it is easy and cheap. I use free apps, and I transfer the videos without a Camera Connection Kit or iTunes.

Tools I use:

1. Laptop (Windows)

2. Dropbox

3. Film Genie app

4. Video Editor Free app

Process:

That’s how I transfer videos to the camera roll of the iPad 2 for editing in iMovie.

It’s a given that videos shot with the iPad 2 can be edited in iMovie. But videos taken with other cameras can be edited in iMovie as well, even without a Camera Connection Kit and iTunes.

The video above is a combination of videos shot using four different devices:

The tools I used to transfer the non-iPad 2 videos to the iPad 2 were my laptop (Windows), my Dropbox account and some video editing apps (apart from iMovie, of course). The best part: all of the tools I mentioned are free, except the laptop.

In a future post I’ll explain how I transferred videos from other devices to the Camera Roll of iPad 2, and how I made those videos visible in iMovie for editing.

Pros

1. The iPad 2 is portable. It’s thin and light, making it easy for anyone to carry it around.
2. Taking pictures with an almost ten-inch device was a new experience for me. It was indeed cumbersome at first, but you’d get used to it.
3. Shooting videos – please refer to my description of taking pictures.
4. The iPad 2 is an all-in-one media production tool. You can edit photos and videos, create animation and publish texts in the field using just one device.
5. Battery life is good. The battery charge was still above 60 percent after about three hours of heavy usage (3G, photo and video editing, writing).

Cons

1. The WordPress app wasn’t as easy to use as the WordPress website. I couldn’t see any button or feature allowing hyperlinking and writing picture captions.
2. I wasn’t able to include audio because the SoundCloud player couldn’t be seen on the iPad 2. There was also no slideshow in the article, because just like the SoundCloud player, the Slide.com player couldn’t be seen.
3. Using 3G is expensive.

These are my initial thoughts on the pros and cons of using the iPad 2 as a mobile journalism tool. I said “initial” because my perceived pros and cons could still change. For example, the battery of a new iPad is, of course, in good condition. What about a one-year-old iPad?

I’m using 3G right now and it’s draining the battery quickly.

In the blog post “iPad 2 as a media production device for mobile journalists,” I said “I will attempt to come up with an entire blog post, with text, audio, video, photo, illustration and animation, using only the iPad 2, to see for myself if this Apple product can be a good media production device.”

I can include an illustration and animation in this article, but I don’t think it’s really necessary to do so. In a breaking news environment, photos, videos and the story itself are the things that matter. Illustrations and animation can come later.

My subject in this post is the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. I chose UP because the scenery is beautiful, and it’s relatively safer to use an iPad here compared with other parts of the metropolis.

Below is a video of some UP scenes, which I edited using the free app Video Editor. It doesn’t do too many things, but at least I was able to combine two videos into one video and upload it to YouTube.

Below, and the two pictures above, are photos taken using the camera of the iPad 2. I did some minor edits using the app Adobe Photoshop Express.