One year ago, I released SG Radio, but the app encountered a major glitch, and was taken down.

I am sorry for taking so long to fix an app.. yeah 1 year to be exactly apologetic

Here it is, back to the App Store.

Five days ago, I posted what happens when you have a hackable voting system, and I decided to curl SG Blood to become an undisputed winner.

However, under pressure, e27 admitted their epic mistake and fixed their voting system. They employed Facebook’s like and Google’s +1.

With the voting system fixed, there is no way for me to curl SG Blood to become the winner

I know SG Blood is not a top 50 app candidate. . It was submitted to asiatop50apps merely because of the hackable voting system.

So my game halted. However, if you want to show support, please go ahead and vote SG Blood!

A couple of useful apps

There are a couple of good & useful apps, and I want to take this chance to highlight some that I cast my votes for:

1. Hoiio – Yeah, I do work for Hoiio, but our phone bill slashing app is definitely useful!
2. Gothere – The #1 app for finding your way around Singapore by bus, train or car
3. around! – Nice app for finding discounts around the island
4. movend – This is not really an app, but their payment SDK is a good work
5. SG Buses – Very useful for finding bus arrival times
6. Pigeonhole – Innovative real-time Q&A tool
7. Zopim – Add live chat to your website, like how I use it

So those are my selections, go cast your votes too!

Unfortunately, this happened to Asia’s Top 50 Apps nomination, presented by Singtel Innovation Exchange, and e27 as the organizer.

Interestingly, e27 community manager posted a blunt story about their flawed voting system.

I like how the story revealed things from an organizer perspective. However, he is admitting to his mistake, and yet not doing anything about it. Quoted:

Go ahead, do it. We probably won’t find out.  Keep it up, kudos to you. You’ll probably end up on the top of the list and be awarded the People’s Choice Award.

Since the voting system is not going to be fixed, there are only 2 possibilities:

1. No one cheated (because developers have integrity!)
2. Someone cheated

Since (2) is always a possibility, whoever turn out as the winner, will also turn out to be a cheater/loser..

I thought, since that is the case, I might as well submit my SG Blood and curl it to be the winner.

No one going to dispute a non-profitable app winning for a good cause, right?

I have recently developed a Voice Polling app, which polled users on who is the cutest presidential candidate.

This app was at first created as a demo to a client. But to make it  fun, I chose to make use of the current presidential election to conduct a cute poll.

Do try it out! You can also enter your friends’ phone numbers and ask them :)

This marks my first attempt at creating a voice app – a different experience from developing mobile or web app. And surprisingly, it can be done in a short timespan (when you know the right tool).

There are many online websites that helps SMS marketers send thousands of SMS. You have to upload an excel file containing the mobile numbers, then configure to run the campaign.

It was never easy finding and choosing a good web service that does that well.

However, running an SMS campaign actually do not need any web services. All you need is a Google Spreadsheet with all the mobile numbers and messages that you want to send.

I am introducing to you Google Spreader – A Google Spreadsheet app that helps you send thousands of SMS.

The benefits are:

• Use what you are familiar with in SMS Marketing – spreadsheet
• Send thousands, or millions, of SMS directly from the spreadsheet
• Use placeholders such as ${“NAME”} to customize the messages
• Create campaigns and get delivery report in the same spreadsheet
• And all other benefits that Google Spreadsheet brings you!

How to use?

To use, simple open up this spreadsheet template and make a copy.

To make a copy, go to File > Make a copy. If the options is disabled, logout and login with your Gmail account.

Enter the mobile number and SMS messages in the campaign sheet. Once you are ready to blast the SMS, press ACTIONS > Send SMS at the top menu.

App Store reviews play a very important role in a customer’s decision to download an app.

As such, it is very common for the developers to write “reviews” for themselves.

I was prompted to write this article when @mugunthkumar mentioned “the reviews looked like insider job”.

I took a look and is very sure it is fake reviews, generated by Singtel Idea Factory.

These are the characteristics of fake reviews that you will be able to identify with WheresApp SG:

• All ratings are 5 stars
• Number of reviews = number of ratings
• Reviews all on the same date and close to release date
• Suspicion reviews voted helpful
• Overdose of exclamation marks
• Same writing style eg. First letter uppercase, title style
• Mentioning functions similar to app description
• Reviewers have only reviewed that 1 app in their lifetime
• Reviewers gave a lousy 1 star review to competitor’s app

With those pointers in mind, you know not to trust the review when you encounter one. And not waste that $1.99.

All 5 stars, reviewed on same day (with no further reviews), lots of !!, title styles with “app”.

Reviewer only reviewed 1 app.

Reviewed gave M1’s My Movies (competitor to Singtel) a 1 star app (when the app averages 3.5 stars).

Disclaimer: As a developer myself, I admit I have written my own “reviews”, but mildly, and smartly.

My first WP7 app for KAI Square is released on 28th Dec, 2010.

It is a free app that streams live images of the traffic condition, to help motorist on the roads in Singapore.

Despite there are already a number of traffic camera apps (SG Roads, SG Transport), we believed our app is most focused in displaying the images on the road. Why? Because that’s what we do for smarter surveillance.

Screenshots:

Following the release of iDon8, TBA is reaching out to High School by giving away an iPad, and introducing them the convenience of the blood donation app!

Quoted from TBA press release:

The iDon8 App offers eligible donors the opportunity to keep a record of their previous donations, alert them of their next available date to donate, and conveniently provides locations of blood drives via Google Maps. iDon8 also provides donors with area notifications when the community blood supply becomes low or critical. Convenience is the best resource in reaching donors, and the blood bank’s App offers donors the ability to become a hero – by saving lives from the palm of a donor’s hand.

“We are always looking for creative ways to encourage our younger community members especially high school students, to become donors, and we thought this might be a great way to provide them with an incentive to start donating,” said Valerie Collins, Chief Operating Officer of The Blood Alliance. “With our iPad promotion and our smart phone App, we feel we are speaking their language.”

Update: The app encountered glitches with many stations not being able to play. App is taken down until this is fixed.

SG Radio is (finally) released! It took a long 2 months before it is finally approved by Apple.

There were some hiccups due to our first design that looked too much like Apple’s iPod, and so we had to redesign, and redesign.. More details on how SG Radio was rejected by Apple in a later post.

Now, let’s look at what the app does!

Simply put, SG Radio plays radio from SG!

It is like MeRadio, Radio 91.3 and  Radio 100.3 combined, but with slicker interface, yet packed with better features! We highlight 3 features below:

15 Radio Stations

This is the only iPhone app that plays ALL 15 Singapore radio stations, from BOTH Media Corp’s and SPH’s!

Specifically, SG Radio supports:

✔ FM 913 – Today’s Best Music
✔ FM 938 – Live
✔ FM 987 – Only the hits
✔ FM 950 – Class 95
✔ FM 905 – Gold 90.5
✔ FM 995 – Lush
✔ FM 924 – Symphony
✔ FM 958 – 城市频道
✔ FM 972 – 最爱频道
✔ FM 933 – 醉心频道
✔ FM 897 – Ria
✔ FM 942 – Warna
✔ FM 968 – ஒலி
✔ FM 963 – Expat Radio
✔ FM 1003 – 資訊娛樂台

Rewind and Forward

This is a feature that only we support!

Missed something that your deejay said? Don’t worry! With SG Radio, you can rewind, and listen again and again! (Note: Rewind is a locked feature, while pause and forward is free)

You can also pause a radio station while you pick up a call, or attending to some other business, and SG Radio will buffer whatever you are missing! When you un-pause, you will be able to listen from the point you paused, missing not a single thing!

We love this and hope you like it!

Currently Playing Songs

Showing the currently playing song from a radio station is nothing fantastic.

But we have done it better. We show you ALL songs that all 15 radio stations are currently playing in 1 place! Now you can switch over to a station easily when you see your favorite song playing.

We love this too and hope you like it!

Download now, its FREE

We believe this is a must have app for radio fans, so please download it now from App Store!

Listen, enjoy, have fun (:

SG Toto has been updated to version 2, after a long 1 year!

The last update (version 1.0.8) was 1 year ago, and it was just a minor fix. In fact, nothing much has changed since it was released 2 years ago, in Nov 2008.

What’s New?

The fundamental changes are similar to version 2 of SG 4D. And if you are interested in the technical aspects, you can read here.

Specifically, these are what’s new for SG Toto:

Faster results, more details

You now get results faster, approximately at 6.33pm when the numbers are drawn!

You also will get push notification once all numbers are drawn (locked feature).

Furthermore, the app now provides the winning tickets information. Now you know where the lucky outlets are! And under More > Outlets, you can easily find the outlets and how to go there!

Past Results 24 years back

We know you are interested to know what is the result 1 year ago, 2 years ago, on your birthday, Michael Jackson’s birthday, … or 24 years ago!

As such, we provide you the entire history of Toto.

Number Analysis

To help you further in the game, we are providing more thorough number analysis!

This is a much sought after feature, and we will provide more different kind of analytics in the future.

For now, there are 3 analysis that you can perform:

1. Check what numbers are not drawn in the last X draws. This is similar to what Singapore Pools provides, but with no restrictions on the number of draws to analyze on.
2. Frequency Table shows you how many times a number has been drawn, sorted from highest frequency to lowest. With that, you know what are the hot numbers to buy! Again, unlike what Singapore Pools provides, the app gives you the freedom to analyze X draws. Furthermore, the app has data since 1986, while Singapore Pools only provide since 1997.
3. Search your favorite number and know when they last came out in a draw.

Next Jackpot

Okay, version 1 had this too.

But version 2 is cooler as I have my custom wallpaper blessing me :)

Outlets, Push Notifications, Wallpaper

You can now find the outlets near you, get Push Notifications when results arrived, and set your lucky wallpaper!

Retina Display & Icon

Lastly, we have updated the graphics and they now looks sharper and prettier for your iPhone 4.

And the new icon for version 2.