The Samsung GALAXY Note is getting an update to the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and it’s quite a huge update with lots of improvements to the Samsung GALAXY Note calling it the “Premium Suite”.

Here’s a run through of the improvements:

• S Note – Create your own notebook through various productivity tools
• 7 templates – Note, Meeting Note, Idea Note, Magazine, Travel, Diary, Recipe
• Record and play back step-by-step details of your drawings
• Quick access to productivity tools with the floating tool bar
• Automatic shape correction
• Predefined shapes with editable size and colour
• Find answers to complicated formulas using Wolfram Alpha
• Knowledge Search with Wolfram Alpha by writing
• Various notebook covers, and paper backgrounds
• Quickly scan through contents of notebooks
• Annotate and save PDF documents
• S Memo Upgrade – Capturing ideas from anywhere
• Instantly capture any idea directly from the homescreen
• My Story – Express emotions to family members and loved ones
• Write a letter or card and make multimedia albums to share
• Ice Cream Sandwich Upgrade -  a more intuitive user interface, faster performance, Face Unlock, Snapshot, Photo Editor and other features
• Multi-task and visually manage tasks with simple swipe gestures
• Visualize data usage and easily manage data consumption
•  Improved Hangouts experience
• Exclusive Samsung GALAXY Note level in Angry Birds Space, the newest Angry Birds game from Rovio Entertainment, along with a special package of 30 challenging levels in “Danger Zone”

The Samsung GALAXY Note upgrade will be made available any time between March 22nd to June 21st (2Q 2012), depending on markets. No idea when Singapore’s going to get the upgrade. Fingers crossed!

“Sponsored by Samsung”

Recently, the phishing attempts are happening again as seen above from my twitter account. Those who had received such direct messages and have given their account details should change their passwords immediately.

Scammers are also taking advantage of tweets in a way similar to how they rely on Internet search engines – they create Tweets that include keywords in them. Similar to how websites are designed to gain visibility through search engine optimization, scammers use Tweets that require less effort. For example, new Tweets appearing at the top in the search results list for the most recent Tweets.

There are about 100 accounts tweeting around 300 Tweets with bad links every hour. Twitter blocks suspected malware URLs and flags suspected harmful shortened URLs. However some users may be directed to sites when clicking on the malicious links using smartphones. Users are typically informed that they have completed registration for a paid video service and ask that payment be made. These sites display information such as IP addresses, customer IDs, and browsers used to access the page to make the user believe that the site owner can track them down.

So beware before you click on any links on twitter. Check out Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.2 or later. You can download it here at the Google Play store.

Recently, the phishing attempts are happening again as seen above from my twitter account. Those who had received such direct messages and have given their account details should change their passwords immediately.

Scammers are also taking advantage of tweets in a way similar to how they rely on Internet search engines – they create Tweets that include keywords in them. Similar to how websites are designed to gain visibility through search engine optimization, scammers use Tweets that require less effort. For example, new Tweets appearing at the top in the search results list for the most recent Tweets.

There are about 100 accounts tweeting around 300 Tweets with bad links every hour. Twitter blocks suspected malware URLs and flags suspected harmful shortened URLs. However some users may be directed to sites when clicking on the malicious links using smartphones. Users are typically informed that they have completed registration for a paid video service and ask that payment be made. These sites display information such as IP addresses, customer IDs, and browsers used to access the page to make the user believe that the site owner can track them down.

So beware before you click on any links on twitter. Check out Norton Mobile Security for Android 2.2 or later. You can download it here at the Google Play store.

Google+ Photos isn’t immediately ready for its prime time, with many “features” missing like Slideshow and Media RSS Feeds which you can easily get from Google Picasa Web previously. For those who have Google+ Pages or just didn’t start out with a Picasa account would be at a loss how to share your Google+ Photo gallery outside the realms of Google+.

Reason for getting a Media RSS Feed – To load Google+ Photo gallery in a slideshow that supports Media RSS Feeds on WordPress. I use Cooliris for my slideshow viewer on my blog.

Here are the steps:

1. Go to the specific gallery you want to get the Media RSS Feeds on Google+ Photos – Remember this gallery needs to be public.
2. Notice the URL of the gallery
• In my case it’s “https://plus.google.com/b/112290004776472583114/photos/112290004776472583114/albums/5685898783893740641″ from my JustinLee.sg Google+ Page
3. The 1st set of numbers “112290004776472583114″ is your User ID.
4. The last set of numbers “5685898783893740641″ is your Album ID.
5. Construct the Media RSS Feed URL.
• http://photos.googleapis.com/data/feed/api/user/[User ID]/albumid/[Album ID]?alt=rss
• e.g. http://photos.googleapis.com/data/feed/api/user/112290004776472583114/albumid/5724024897712532113?alt=rss
6. Add that Media RSS Feed URL to your favourite slideshow plugin, and you’re off!

That’s how you find out the Media RSS Feed of your Google+ Photo gallery.

Check out Cooliris Express if you’re looking for a slideshow viewer.

A few members of Google Brazil and U.S. Street View and Google Earth Outreach teams were invited to the Amazon Basin to collect ground-level images of the rivers, forest and communities in the Rio Negro Reserve. Today, on World Forest Day, Google is making those images available through the Street View feature on Google Maps. More than 50,000 still photos were stitched together to create these immersive, 360-degree panoramic views.

Start exploring Amazon and other collections around the world on the updated Street View site and gallery.

The Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD is an Android 4.0 10″ tablet with audio-visual entertainment features, including a 1.5GHz K3 quad-core processor.

The Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD will be available in Singapore from Q3 of 2012.

Key Specifications:

• 10″ 1920 x 1200 IPS high definition display screen, 598g and measures at 8.8mm thin
• 1.5GHz K3 quad-core processor
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)
• Dolby surround sound
• Supports LTE, HSPA+ 21/42/84Mbps
• 8 MP rear automatic-focus camera and a 1.3 MP front-facing camera
• 2GB internal storage (SERIOUSLY ONLY 2GB?!?!)

A summary of the Huawei Mobile Word Congress 2012 Press Conference on 26th February 2012 at 10:30pm SGT.

Huawei Ascend Series – Y for Youth. G for Gold. P for Platinum. D for Diamond.

Huawei Ascend D quad - fastest, most compact 4.5-inch phone, best sound and image quality, most power-efficient technologies

• Huawei K3V2 Quad-core AP (application processor) with Intelligence Core Management
• 1.5GHz, 4 CPU + 16-core GPU, 64-bit architecture
• Lowest chip temperature, 30-50% power savings
• 32-bit true color graphic processor
• Compact 4.5″, 330 Pixels per Inch (PPI), 720p HD touchscreen providing excellent outdoor visibility
• Screen that vanishes into the edges (like the Nokia Lumia 800), creating an “infinity” feel
• 64mm narrow and 8.9mm slim and 130 grams
• 1,800mAh battery (Huawei Ascend D quad XL will have 2,500mAh battery) with 1-2 days average usage (2-3 days for XL)
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)
• 8-megapixel BSI rear-facing camera, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, and 1080p full HD video-capture, 35.004 fps recording
• Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound
• Huawei Ascend D series: D1, D quad, D quad XL
• LTE support in 2H of 2012
• Available in both Black and White (yes, full white including the front bezel)

More about the new Quad-core tablet from Huawei tomorrow.

The Sony Tablet P will be available in Singapore from 24^th February 2012 at all Sony stores and authorised outlets, retailing at SGD$848.

Key features:

• Clamshell design featuring dual 5.5-inch TFT screens
• Weighing just 372g
• Android 3.2 OS, with an over-the-air upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the future
• NVIDIA Tegra 2 mobile processor
• Seamless cross device connectivity with the “throw” function over DLNA technology
• PlayStation certified, with access to the “Sony Entertainment Network”

The Samsung GALAXY Nexus (Black and White) will be available in Singapore from 11th February 2012 at a suggested retail price of SGD$948, inclusive of GST, without line contract. Check out my post of the Samsung GALAXY Nexus and first look video at the Samsung GALAXY Nexus on tech65.

The Samsung GALAXY Tab 7.7 will be available in Singapore from 11th February 2012 at a suggested retail price of  SGD$898, inclusive of GST, without line contract. Check out my post on the Samsung GALAXY Tab 7.7 and first looks video of the Samsung GALAXY Tab 7.7 on tech65.

Experian has released their analysis of web searches by Singapore Internet users in 2011, providing interesting insights into Singaporean social habits online. There are some interesting findings in 5 different areas.

Social media

• Facebook continues to be the most popular social media platform with website traffic of almost 32 per cent.
• YouTube peaked at second place with almost 21 per cent share of visits.
• Followed by the increasing popularity of Google+ at almost 16 per cent, up from 1.2 per cent in August 2011.
• Microblogging and community forums such as Twitter and Singapore HardwareZone Community are also gaining ground in the category with a combined website traffic of 6.67 per cent.

Shopping

• UK fashion brand ASOS has surfaced as the top website at 13.22 per cent share of visits in the fashion and lifestyle category
• Forever 21 only has 4.03 per cent share which has a physical store in Singapore.
• Love Bonito, which claims the title of most popular Singapore blog shop, has a visit share of 2.89 per cent in the category.

Group-buying sites

• Groupon Singapore and Deal.com.sg are the top two deals aggregators, accounting for 35.25 per cent of website traffic of sub-category rewards and directories.

Electronics

• Apple remains the top website Singaporeans go to with 18 per cent share of visits.
• Other top websites in this category include Gizmodo, Sony Singapore and Samsung Singapore.

Celebrity and music

• Singaporeans prove to be unwavering fans of K-Pop as clearly shown by 65.49 per cent combined share of visits on the following websites within the Music Band and Artists category: Entertainment on xinmsn, AllKPOP.com and Wonderful Generation, resonating the popularity of the Korean boy and girl bands’ concerts held in Singapore last year.
• Celebrity websites in Singapore are dominated by the K-pop fan community as well. One of these websites is Soshified.com with 50.37 per cent share of visits.