Want a sneak preview of your new surroundings in exchange?

Use Google Street View!

If you are ensure how to use it, check this video

Go there to find out whether Google street view is available in the area you want to view

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Street_View

Explore your surroundings and even find supermarkets/diners nearby before you go there!

I am starting a new series in my blog.

Exchange survival tips  will be added as i learn new stuff from the international exchange to Paris i am involved this semester!

A quick search on itunes will reveal many apps that are mostly free and would help u on your journey.

Apps which i found helpful in france range from metro maps to language help (free versions of paid apps) to mini pocket guides.

Below is a screenshot of some of the apps i am using currently.

Many of us forget the power of our iphone/itouch when overseas so this is a reminder not to leave your apps at home!

A few months ago, many local stations stopped streaming their programs online due to copyright problems with the recording industry.

Today i found a way to listen to all of them again online for free!! (and many other stations worldwide)

http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=singapore

the volume is alittle soft didnt notice the speaker icon could be used to increase vol. but its the only way (as far as i know) you can listen to the local stations online!

woohoo!

I received an email recently from Daniel who is in China that reminded me that you can do wonders with SMU’s VPN or any VPN for that matter. What makes SMU’s VPN much better than the rest is that it is free (you paid school fees lol) and very fast.

Connecting your iPhone/iTouch/Laptop to SMU’s VPN while in countries who block (using national security as an excuse to protect their local versions of the same website) all your favorite services will enable you to use them as if you were still in Singapore.

In a time where many are overseas, this little trick could save you loads of headache, also to note is that using a VPN in public areas or hotels will increase your security as the data is encrypted when passed from the school’s vpn to your computer

Check here learn how to connect to SMU’s VPN

A Major update to the website has been done!

I have removed much of the content that i deemed as irrelevant to me now but most of the popular posts have been kept and all mac/iphone help has been condensed into 1 single page located in SMU Mac/iPhone 101 link above.

If i did remove some content that was relevant to you and is now missing please let me know and i will repost it up.

Stay tuned for new content coming up as well as more website tweaks ;D

Although i love macs and apple, due to the number of plugins and tweaks you can do with it, my fav browser is still firefox, . I wont go into detail to that but i will teach you how to make it faster than ever.

Download optimized 3.51 firefox for Intel Macs

http://www.latko.org/downloads/

Optimize MYSQLite tables

to make bookmarks and overall actions faster and more responsive. My bookmarks took 2s to load and now it is instant!

Scroll down to OSX and run the command on terminal

http://webupd8.blogspot.com/2009/07/increase-firefox-3-perormance-by.html

Get Fasterfox (not compatible with firefox 3.51 for now)

for network tweaks

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1269

Get a download accelerator! (this really works)

downloading at super speeds on normally slow sites

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201

Score this design: “Carnivorous Plant,” to help it get printed on Threadless!

Or rather known as the WePresent which has no mac comptiblity and lags when performing high bandwidth operations. (movies games etc)

Step 1

Get a VGA to VGA cable!

Step 2

Take a look at the panels.

Remove the blue cable.

Step 3

Replace it with your cable that is connected to your mac.

Done done!