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News
Articles
NEWS SNIPPETS
2007
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Singapore's ultra-high speed digital highway ready by
2015 |
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The Next Gen NBN is expected to be available
nationwide by 2015, although consumers can begin to look forward to a
range of new and exciting Next Gen Services such as high-definition
video conferencing, telemedicine, Grid Computing-on-Demand, security and
immersive learning applications on the Next Gen NBN from about 2010... |
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More..... |
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Singapore to start video games classification system
in 2008 |
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The Board of Film Censors (BFC) will be
launching a video games classification system next year to provide more
choice for adults while protecting the young. |
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In the interim period, the BFC has decided
to selectively use games rating to enable highly anticipated games to be
launched in Singapore... |
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More..... |
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Inaugural National Infocomm Club Awards |
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The National Infocomm Club Awards recognise
the creativity of Infocomm Club students in using technology to educate
and connect to the wider community, or within schools... |
Primary Category
Top Winner : River Valley Primary School (Project: The Adventures
of Respect)
Merit Winner : Chua Chu Kang Primary School (Project: Intelligent
Communicators)
Merit Winner : Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Project: HOPE) |
Secondary / Junior College
Category
Top Winner : Raffles Institution
(Project: E-learning Packages for Down Syndrome Youths)
Merit Winner : Hwa Chong Institution (Project: Spiderportal)
Merit Winner : Victoria Junior College (Project: Automated Quiz
Management System)... |
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More..... |
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Regulation of cyber gaming cafes in HDB estates |
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Computer gaming establishments are only
allowed to be set up at shopping, recreational or commercial centres.
This includes HDB Town Centres, which are part commercial and part
residential. |
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In addition, licensees of computer gaming
centres are required not to admit persons below 16 years of age before
6.30 pm on a school day. |
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Further, the licensee has to ensure that
students wearing school uniforms are not admitted into the establishment
at any time, and is not allowed to provide a change of clothes to
students... |
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More..... |
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Police bust illegal Internet cafes in Geylang |
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Police raided 3 internet cafes at in Geylang
on 9 November 07, which resulted in the arrest of 15 men and 3 women
aged between 18 and 47 years old. |
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Acting on information received, Police
quickly established that three Internet cafes along Geylang Lorong 17
and 18 were involved in the provision of illegal online gambling
games... |
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More..... |
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SGNIC launches bidding for fully numeric domain names |
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While alphanumeric domain names already
exist, (eg, www.in2015.sg), fully numeric ones like www.123.sg have not
been allowed till now... |
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SGNIC, the national registry for domain
names, will now also allow pure numeric domain names in all the seven .sg
categories (ie. .sg, .com.sg, .net.sg, .org.sg, .gov.sg, .edu.sg, .per.sg).
The registration for pure numeric domain names will be phased
accordingly: |
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- 05 November – 28 December 20071:
All qualifying applicants including businesses and individuals can
register. Trademark owners2 will get priority over other
applicants. Example: A company with "123" as its trademark will get
priority for 123.sg, or in any other .sg domain category... |
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More..... |
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Secondhand Goods Dealers Act effective from 1 Dec 2007 |
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Under the new Act, only dealers who deal in
secondhand goods that are listed in the Schedule will be regulated. This
will be regardless of whether such dealings take place at a shopfront,
via a makeshift stall or over the Internet. |
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The list of items was drawn up based on
crime data of commonly stolen items. While the existing Act has a wider
list of items, the new regulatory regime has a reduced list which
comprises commonly stolen items. This allows a sharper regulatory focus
in preventing fencing1. |
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Dealers who deal in items which are not in
the new list will not be regulated. The list of items may also be
revised according to crime trends... |
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More..... |
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NYU Tisch School of the Arts Asia opens Singapore
campus |
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Tisch School of the Arts Asia is the
first-ever branch campus of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and it is
also the first American art school to set up residence in Singapore. |
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Tisch Asia’s inaugural class of 33 graduate
film students began their studies in September. More than half the
students in this first group are from the United States, while the
others come from Australia, Europe, Asia, and Central America. |
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In 2008, Tisch Asia will also begin offering
MFA degrees in animation and dramatic writing... |
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More..... |
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Singapore's seaport to be world's first Wi-Max-Ready
by 2008 |
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By early 2008, all ships in Singapore can
have access to mobile wireless broadband, allowing real-time and
data-intensive communications between the ships and their customers and
business partners... |
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WISEPORT is one of the initial projects
under the Infocomm@SeaPort programme, which aims to provide a mobile
wireless broadband network within 15km from Singapore's southern
coastline... |
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More..... |
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SingTel launches pay TV service |
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"Subscribers who opt for the Set-Top Box with
recording function can pause, rewind and record live
TV programmes so that they no longer have to miss
anything. |
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"The mio
TV website allows subscribers to programme their
recordings even when they are not at home, and an
upcoming service that will enable them to do it via
their mobile phones..." |
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More..... |
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Minister answers questions on Internet-related sexual
crimes |
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"There
were 124 reported cases of females becoming victims of
sex crimes as a result of them knowing the offenders
through the Internet between 2001 and 2006... |
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"Of these
reported cases, 80 cases (or about two-thirds)
involved victims who were below 16 years of age. Of
these 124 cases, two of them also involved the
victims’ property being stolen..." |
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More..... |
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Company using pirated software raided by police
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Update on growth of Infocomm industry in Singapore |
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"The Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore’s (IDA) Annual Survey on
Infocomm Industry shows that in 2006, the total
revenue for our infocomm industry shot up almost 20%
to S$45.4 billion (US$29.5 billion). |
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"The strong performance
was driven by healthy growth in our export market. The
export market accounted for some S$29 billion compared
to S$22 billion in 2005 while the domestic market
accounted for S$16.4 billion compared to S$15.8
billion in 2005..." |
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More..... |
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Shell LiveWIRE Awards 2007 launched |
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"Jointly organised by Shell Companies in
Singapore, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), the ITE Alumni
Association and the Singapore Press Holdings Chinese Newspapers
Division, the prestigious Shell LiveWIRE Awards 2007 aims to groom,
recognise and reward promising young entrepreneurs and promote the
spirit of enterprise... |
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"To qualify for the Awards, applicants should
be 35 years or below and have been in business from three to 36 months.
The Top Award is $10,000. There will also be four Merit Awards of $2,000
each. The Closing Date of the Awards is 31 July 2007..." |
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More..... |
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Funding and mentorship for Casual Games development |
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"Game studios and independent developer teams
are invited to submit their concept proposals from 16 June to 10 August
2007, and successful applicants will be eligible for up to S$35,000 in
prototype development funding. |
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"Each of the 10 project teams that receive
funding under INVIGORATE will be expected to produce a playable PC demo
by 25 January 2008..." |
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More..... |
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The future is looking bright for the infocomm industry |
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"In a recent survey conducted by IDA, the
number of infocomm job vacancies has more than doubled, from 2,100 in
2004 to 5,700 in 2005.. |
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"Overall, the infocomm industry has put
in a sterling performance. Its revenue grew from $38 billion in
2005 to cross the $40 billion mark for the first time in 2006..." |
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More..... |
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Spam Control Bill 2007 passed |
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"Part I of
the Bill defines spam. A message is “spam” when it is
an unsolicited commercial electronic message sent more
than 100 times, with the same or similar
subject-matter, during a 24-hour period, or more than
1,000 times during a 30-day period, or more than
10,000 times during a one-year period... |
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"An opt-out approach
is adopted under the Bill as it balances the need of companies and
marketers to send unsolicited messages for business reasons... |
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"In order to balance
between consumer interests and industry needs the Bill will
require that each message contains a valid unsubscribe facility,
an ‘<ADV>’ label to mark it out as an advertisement,
accurate header information or subject titles and functional
contact details of the sender... |
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"The unsubscribe
process has been structured to be consumer-friendly so that even
individuals who receive small volumes of spam have a means of
recourse, without resorting to legal action. The Bill makes it
mandatory for senders to allow recipients to unsubscribe via the
same medium through which the spam was received. This ensures that
unsubscribing from spam can be done easily and conveniently by
replying to an email or SMS..." |
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More..... |
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The Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on
Society formed |
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"A new Council, The Advisory Council on the
Impact of New Media on Society (AIMS), will be formed on 1 April 2007 by
the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), to
study the far-reaching social, ethical, legal and regulatory
implications of a rapidly growing Interactive and Digital Media (IDM)
sector..." |
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More..... |
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Singapore first country to host Toon Boom Animation Festival |
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"Singapore will be the first country to
host the inaugural Toon Boom Animation Festival, which kicks off
on 2 April 2007... |
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"Free workshops will be conducted by
ITE to train students who are not familiar with the Toon Boom
software. Said Mr Bruce Poh, Director & CEO, ITE..." |
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More..... |
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StarHub launches online storage solution for companies |
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"Targeted at companies and individuals that
need to manage numerous large documents and files on a daily basis,
StarHub’s OSB lets customers store and back up files safely, send and
share information effortlessly and allow multiple users to access
documents from their notebook or PC on-the-go, be it text, graphics,
presentations, video, voice or any other digital media... |
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"Price packages for OSB starts as low
as S$60 per month for 10GB storage space and five User IDs, and
can scale to as high as 2TB (i.e. 2000GB) and up to 1000 User IDs..." |
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More..... |
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Police raid second company using pirated software
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StarHub first to launch HDTV service in Singapore
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2006 survey finds almost nine in ten children aged
10 - 14 years are infocomm users |
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"Almost nine in ten children (aged 10 to 14 years)
use the computer and Internet for communications,
learning and play... |
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"The second highest proportion of
Infocomm users are our youth and adults (aged 15 to 59 years),
with about seven in ten using the computer and Internet
extensively for communications and leisure activities. |
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"The
elderly (aged 60 and above) are also Infocomm users. Three in ten use the
computer, while two in ten have accessed the Internet in the past
year..." |
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More..... |
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Singapore launches Infocomm Enterprise Programme
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MDA launches new licence framework for IPTV
2006
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Web surfing in Singapore largely back to normal
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Damaged undersea cables cause slow Internet access in Singapore
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Singapore launches world's first commercial 100Mbps residential
broadband service
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M1 offers free wireless broadband service at Parco Bugis Junction
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Key developments in the Singapore media industry |
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Dr Lee
Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications
and the Arts |
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"The terrestrial and cable trials have
kicked off, making Singapore the first in Southeast Asia to launch
HDTV public trials. |
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"In tandem with the launch, MDA is leading a
drive to promote the development of local HD content and speed up
nationwide adoption and deployment of HD technology..." |
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More..... |
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Police arrest 12 people in island-wide anti-piracy raids
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Three years of free Wi-Fi for Singapore from 1 Dec 2006
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Police nab Internet trickster selling car parts and
accessories |
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"The culprit lured unsuspecting car
enthusiasts in an online motoring forum into parting with their money by
claiming that he was able to get bulk discounts on car parts and
accessories. |
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"The victims would place orders with the
culprit and make payment electronically. However, the victims never
received their goods. When the victims discovered that they had been
cheated, the culprit taunted them to catch him if they could..." |
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More..... |
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One-stop NS
portal launched
Two Years of Free Wi-Fi for Singapore |
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"Come 2007, Singaporeans will be ushering the
new year with at least 24 months, or two years, of free (basic tier)
wireless connectivity at up to 512 kbps speeds almost everywhere -
thanks to IDA's 'Wireless@SG' programme... |
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"The three operators are extending this
two-year free offering with unlimited usage to all residents and
visitors in Singapore, including tourists and business travellers.
The sign-up details will be made known from December 2006 by the
operators..." |
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More..... |
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- Government
continues to invest in technology-enabled work environment
Prime Minister's National Day Message 2006 |
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"The internet is a tremendous tool
which is changing the world. We should make full use of it to link
up with the world, engage one another, and be a productive economy
and vibrant society. |
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"But the internet creates new problems
too. Not everything on the internet is reliable; it is not easy to
tell apart fact from fiction in cyberspace; and instant
communications can cause people to over-react hastily and
unthinkingly to events. |
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"Therefore we must learn how to live
with this new medium, and adapt to it. This is a
challenge to many societies, not just Singapore..." |
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More..... |
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True telephone number portability by 4Q 2007 |
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"From the
fourth quarter of 2007, consumers can switch between
telecoms service providers easily and yet have full
use of their existing number, rather than having to
update family members, friends and business contacts
about a new one... |
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"Currently, mobile subscribers can switch telecoms
service providers and keep their numbers. But he gets
in essence a call-forwarding service as a call to his
old number is routed to his new one. His contacts will
see only this new number when he makes out-going calls
and sends messages (SMS)..." |
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More..... |
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SingTel starts ultra-fast 80 Mbps broadband trials at two condominiums
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Q & A on lewd photos posted by bloggers on blogs
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Singapore delivers games to Asia's $14billion video game market
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Singapore takes second place in WEF's Global IT Report
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Singapore to Have Next Generation Broadband Networks
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Home Affairs Minister tackles MPs' questions on crime
situation |
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"As for snatch theft, where a person’s
belongings are forcibly snatched away from him, cases involving
handphones have increased from 160 cases in 2004 to 280 cases in
2005 and accounted for 45 per cent of the total number of snatch
theft cases in 2005. |
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"Of particular concern are the cases
specifically targeting the handphones of young victims, which has
increased from 50 cases in 2004 to 93 cases in 2005. |
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"Robbery and theft cases involving
handphones remain a key area of concern for the Police. The number
of such cases increased significantly by 42 per cent to 4,830 cases
in 2005. |
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"This is due to the higher mobile phone
penetration rate in Singapore, thereby giving rise to a larger pool
of potential victims. There are 4.3 million handphone subscribers in
Singapore..." |
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More..... |
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Survey on Infocomm Usage in households & by
individuals 2005 |
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The
proportion of households with access to a computer at home was 74%. This proportion has remained unchanged since 2003. |
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The proportion of households with two or more
computers was 28%. |
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Nine in ten households
in private housing had access to a computer at home;
compared to seven in ten households in public housing. |
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About
two-thirds of the Singapore’s resident population aged
15 years and above were computer users. |
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More..... |
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2005
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NUS School of Computing holds int'l multimedia conference
Survey shows some companies infringing software
copyright law |
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"...a recent survey highlighted that for
small medium enterprises, nearly a third of them are
still not fully compliant in the proper usage of
software products in their business environment. This
could be as a result of the use of illegal software or
under-licensing the use of software products... |
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"The survey also found that among those who
were non-compliant, a significant number were smaller
companies, averaging ten workstations or less. 47.3%
of this group were non-compliant... |
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More..... |
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Update, renew & terminate 45 different licences online
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SingTel launches e-surveillance service for businesses
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Compulsory registration for pre-paid SIM card holders |
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"From 1 November, mobile service providers,
such as the Singapore Telecom Mobile Pte Ltd, StarHub Mobile Pte Ltd and
MobileOne Ltd, will be required to ensure compliance in recording the
personal details of all customers who buy prepaid SIM cards... |
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"...all existing prepaid SIM card users are
required to re-register at retail outlets which sell prepaid SIM
cards sold by their respective mobile service providers. |
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"Customers must be at least 15 years old
before being eligible to purchase a prepaid SIM card..." |
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More..... |
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Police raid company using pirated software
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Three arrested for illegally distributing copyrighted
songs online |
| "A pre-dawn raid on 3
locations by the Police on 17 August 2005 saw the
arrest of 3 male subjects aged between 16 and
22 years old for distributing infringing copies of copyrighted music on
the Internet. |
| "The 16 year-old student, 21 year-old
unemployed man and 22 year-old factory operator were arrested in their
respective residences..." |
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More..... |
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'Intelligent Nation in 2015' vision for Singapore
2004
- Getforme
offers free one-month hosting
- Mobile
phone use and acoustic reuroma, a benign tumour
- Hitwise:
Singapore online retail report - What's hot & wanted
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SGNIC
launches second-level '.sg' domain names
- Copyright-based
industries boost Singapore's economy
- Legislation
against spam to be put in place in Singapore
- Netcraft
Survey finds 50 million Web sites on the Internet
2003, 2002, 2001,
2000
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