Block Phone Calls Using Your iPhone

Previously, I've always wondered how to block certain contacts in my iPhone such that when that particular number calls in, the phone will not ring. Recently I finally found a way to block those phone calls while still allowing the other calls to come in.

The concept is very simple. Assign an empty ringtone to that contact. Therefore when that contact calls in, your iPhone will use the empty ringtone and you will not hear a thing. :)

To do that, just do the following:

1. Save the phone numbers you wish to block into the iPhone.
   
2. Create a 25 second ringtone of silence. You can also get the ringtone which I've created here using the Sound Recorder and the post here to convert the sound file into a ringtone.
   
3. Add the ringtone into the iTunes Library and sync it to your iPhone. You should see a Silence option under Custom Ringtone.
   
4. Edit the contacts of the phone numbers in the first step and assign the Silence ringtone to them.

That's it. No more nonsense phone calls. :)

First step is always the hardest

I quote from Nikola Tesla:

My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get a new idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination, and make improvements and operate the device in my mind. When I have gone so far as to embody everything in my invention, every possible improvement I can think of, and when I see no fault anywhere, I put into concrete form the final product of my brain.

My ideas are definitely nowhere in comparison with Nikola Tesla but I've been following such patterns since I started working. I've always advised people that the first step is always the hardest.

Personally, that's the part where I'll try to visualize whatever that I'm trying to do before I actually start work. This has been quite effective in helping me focus my thoughts on a particular problem and visualize the alternatives before choosing the most effective one for me. Try it sometime.

Streaming Videos on the iPhone

I was monkeying around with my iPhone today and I realised that the iPhone supports HTML5 video streaming. However, the catch is that it must be encoded using H.264. I've tried a website that was streaming a MP4 H.264 encoded video and it works perfectly.

If you're interested and you're on the iPhone, goto this website here and scroll to the end of the page. You should be able to see a video. Tap on it and it will automatically launch the Quicktime player in the iPhone. Just tap on the play button and the video will start. When you tap on the Done button, it will bring you back to the webpage.

Soon, we'll be able to see video streaming on the Internet without being held hostage by Flash or Silverlight. Many of the browsers can support this capability out of the box even now. Now my hope is that the other websites will start to use this technology. I wonder if Facebook will embed this technology into the Facebook app. It will resolve the video streaming problem that the app currently has.

IE9 will only work on Vista and 7, and still does not conform to ACID3.

I find it very amusing that Microsoft is going to launch a new Internet Explorer 9 that will

• supports HTML5;
• only work on Windows Vista and Windows 7; and
• only scores a low 55 on the ACID3 test based on the IE9 preview.

I've been a Firefox users for many many years and based on the current Firefox v3.6 on Windows XP, it already has a score of 92 out of 100 in the ACID3 test. Furthermore, Firefox v3.6 already supports certain elements of HTML5 (e.g. video streaming). You can see an example of video streaming here if you have the latest version of Firefox / Chrome (not sure if Safari has it). Note that no plug-ins are used (iPhone engineers will love this. No more dependency on Flash).

The only thing that differentiates Internet Explorer from Firefox is that it supports ActiveX, which by the way has been disabled by some companies due to the danger of malware. However, ActiveX by itself has almost been made redundant due to the increasing capabilities of the Web browser and the HTML standard (Cannot wait for HTML5).

Guys, there's no need to wait for IE9. Just download a free copy of Firefox or Chrome that will work on almost any operating systems.

Windows Phone 7 to be similar to the first generation of iPhone?

I was surprised to find out that according to Microsoft officials, Windows Phone 7 may not have the cut and paste functionality in the initial version and they have said that it was a conscious decision (yeah right). However, my take on it is that Silverlight does not support copy and paste and that they are still figuring out how to enable this option.

Microsoft has also indicated that they will not add multi-tasking capabilities and they will be following the iPhone way of handling multi-tasking (saving of states). This is something which I agree. I strongly disagree with the concept of multi-tasking on a small device because I don't see any advantages of such a feature. You can read more about this in this post.

Seriously, I do not understand why Microsoft will want to continue in the mobile space when it's quite obvious that they are copying whatever features that is now currently in the market (iPhone and Android). The only thing that Windows Phone 7 can support better than the other phones are their office applications. However, I seriously do not think that business users will get the phone purely based on this functionality as it's a real pain to edit a word document on a small mobile phone. Apple has already secretly acknowledged that by putting iWorks Mobile on the iPad but not on the iPhone. I believe that it's deliberate. With Android in the market, I believe that mobile web-based office solutions, most probably based on HTML5, will soon be available in their Google Apps.

So why on earth Microsoft wants to come out with Windows Phone 7? There's no differentiating factor at all.

iPad Demo by CNet

This video may be a bit late but I've been trying to catch up on lost time. :) If you're not sure what the iPad is, this video by CNet will give you a general idea what it can do (before launch). For some reason, there's still no news on the iPad launch for Asia. The US will get the iPad on the 3 Apr 2010 while Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK will get it in late April. No mention of Asia at all.

Difference in Internet Speed between iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS

I believe it's quite obvious that the iPhone 1st generation only supports 2G and the iPhone 3G supports 3G, but I've never knew until recently that there is also a difference in 3G speed between the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

I only knew about the difference recently while researching on a comment someone made with regards to the speed of 3G in handphones.

Based on what I've researched, the iPhone 3G only supports speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps while the iPhone 3GS supports speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps (downloading). However for the iPhone 3GS, the uploading speed is capped to 384 Kbps. The reason is because the iPhone 3G only supports UMTS while the iPhone 3GS supports the downloading portion of HSDPA.

It's funny that this information was never put across clearly, at least to me. Anyway, it doesn't matter whether your iPhone can support 3.6 Mbps or 7.2 Mbps. Try using the SpeedTest app and I sincerely doubt you can even reach 3.6 Mbps consistently. Even if the telco supports 3G speeds of up to 42 Mbps, it's of no use to handphone users as their speed is capped at 7.2 Mbps (which I've never achieved before anyway).

Anyway, this doesn't matter because if you've used the SpeedTest app previously, you'll know that it's next to impossible to get 3.6 Mbps consistently. I'll be happy even if I can get 3G signal and in some MRT tunnels, a normal phone signal.

Increase of CPF-SA lock-in in Budget 2010

Somehow this year there seems to be many changes during the Budget 2010 discussions. There are quite a few CPF changes but one thing of note (to me at least) is that from 1 July 2010, the first $40,000 of members’ Special Account balances will no longer be allowed to be used for investments. Previously, it used to be the first $20,000. Reason given was that with the higher risk-free interest rate on the Special Account, it is better to be more conservative than to subject these savings to the uncertainty of CPFIS returns.

There are also changes to the following CPF rules:

• Facilitating Automatic Inclusion in CPF LIFE
• Allowing Payout Adjustments for Minimum Sum Scheme
• Refining CPF Nomination Rules
• Special Needs Savings Scheme
• Enhancements to Workfare Income Supplement Scheme (WIS)
• Refinement to the Public Assistance Scheme 

You can read more about it here.

Circle Line Open House on 4 Apr 2010

To prepare (can't think of any other reason why they would hold an open house) for the opening of the Circle Line from Dhoby Ghaut to Bartley, there will be an open house on the 4 Apr 2010 from 11.30am to 6pm to give a sneak preview of the stations before it is open on the 17 Apr 2010.

You can hop on the train at any of the 10 stations from Bras Basah to Tai Seng. The 10 stations are Bras Basah, Esplanade, Promenade, Nicoll Highway, Stadium, Mountbatten, Dakota, Paya Lebar, MacPherson and Tai Seng. Do note that you'll not be able to enter Dhoby Ghaut Circle Line station from Dhoby Ghaut MRT station.

There will also be events held at some of the stations.

Theme	Station	Activities
Arts and Culture Central	Bras Basah	Balloon sculpting at the road show by National Heritage Board. Performances by grassroots clubs and schools Celebrity DJ: Charissa Seet (Power 98)
Shopping and Entertainment Central	Esplanade	Esplanade Balloon sculptures, caricature artists and games stalls. Performances by grassroots clubs and schools Celebrity DJ: Vernetta Lopez (Class 95FM)
Sports Central	Dakota	Free style football stunts, Balloon sculpture and games stalls. Performances by grassroots clubs and schools Celebrity DJ: Jenson Ho (Power 98)
Culture Central	Paya Lebar	Caricature artists and games stall. Performances by grassroots clubs and schools Celebrity DJ: Glenn Ong (Class 95FM)
Community Central	MacPherson	Teochew Opera, Tattoo artist, balloon sculpture and games stalls. Performances by MacPherson Community Club Celebrity DJ: Evelyn Tan

For more information, refer to the Circle Line Discovery website here.

Think differently when resolving problems.

I quote from Albert Einstein:

Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.


A very simple statement that reveals much about problems that face us every day. The reason why a problem occurs may be due to looking at a situation from a certain point of view. A solution will present itself if you look at it from another perspective.

Think differently when looking at problems and you may have very well found the solution.