S'pore to get Rugby Village

SINGAPORE: Singapore will soon get a taste of the culture and spirit of the 2011 Rugby World Cup hosted by New Zealand. The Rugby Village 2011 concept will see ex-Kiwi stars such as Jonah Lomu possibly as part of the attraction. Earlier in June, former England international Gareth Chilcott and Australia's Simon Poidevin, who played for the Wallabies in the 80s, visited Turf City in Singapore to drum up support for the upcoming Rugby World Cup Village 2011. When completed, the village will feature live screenings of matches, where fans can gather to cheer their favourite teams, with food and beverage and entertainment thrown in. Chilcott, who gave the Village concept the thumbs-up, thinks England can repeat their title-winning run of 2003 in Australia despite the event being staged in the Southern Hemisphere. "England is a very good side at the moment. They have got a right mixture of older ones, some youngsters coming through (including) Ben Foden, Chris Ashton, and Ben Youngs. These young players have made Martin Jonhson (the coach) think again," he said. However, Poidevin, said he feels New Zealand -- winners of the first edition in 1987 -- are still favourites to lift the title at home. "New Zealand's got so much to play for, 1987 is a long time ago," Poidevin said. "Historically, they have been the strongest rugby nation in the world, and they are playing in a country which has had a huge (earthquake) in Christchurch, so that's lots of motivation for the players." Like Poidevin and Chilcott, more big name ex-players are being lined up for the Rugby Village. Organisers of the Rugby Village 2011 are currently looking at securing a site for the village, which is likely to be around the Marina Bay area. It will be able to accommodate up to 2,000 people and activities at the village will start even before the World Cup kicks off in September. -CNA/wk

Growing urban population strains Chinese cities

CHONGQING, China : A forest of buildings and cranes rises through thick fog above roads jammed with cars in a Chinese city the size of Austria and home to more than 32 million people. The southwestern megacity of Chongqing is bursting at the seams as authorities struggle to keep pace with its rapidly growing urban population -- a situation seen repeatedly across the vast country of 1.3 billion people. Lifelong resident Zhou Dechong, 80, says he is stunned by the speed of development in the teeming metropolis which, like many Chinese cities, is plagued by chronic traffic jams, dirty air and the deafening sound of jack-hammers. "In every aspect, the pace of development has been very fast," Zhou told AFP. More than 350 million people are expected to move to Chinese towns and cities in the coming years, boosting the country's urban population to one billion by 2030, according to a report by consultancy firm McKinsey & Company. The unprecedented urbanisation will more than double the number of cities with one million residents to 221 and require the construction of five million buildings, including 50,000 skyscrapers -- equivalent to 10 New Yorks, it said. The staggering expansion is putting enormous strain on China's already depleted natural resources and could trigger more social unrest as millions of people leave the countryside to live in densely populated urban areas. "There's going to be more volatility and uncertainty," Jonathan Woetzel, a Shanghai-based director for McKinsey, told AFP. "Urbanisation essentially picks you up and moves you to a place where you don't know anybody nor do you have as many formal rights as you would have had in your previous residence." It means living "cheek by jowl with other people who they have never met and literally don't share a common language with nor do they have the same sense of rights and responsibilities," Woetzel said. University of Sydney professor Lu Duanfang said the massive human migration would also have "huge ecological implications" as valuable farmland near urban areas is used for high-rise buildings, and demand for energy and water soars. "As more peasants convert to the modern urban living style, it will cost more energy" as more people use microwaves and washing machines, said Lu -- a specialist in architecture, design and planning. Land sales -- a key source of revenue for cash-strapped local governments -- also threaten China's food security by reducing the area available for growing crops and grazing animals needed to feed the world's most populous country. Demand for resources is likely to double while air pollution -- already severe in many cities -- could reach "critical levels" without further investment in green technology, the McKinsey report said. The burgeoning urban population has sparked a nationwide building boom as China spends billions of dollars developing new cities, power plants, roads, high-speed rail networks and airports to accommodate the masses. Authorities -- anxious about the widening wealth gap -- have pledged to reform the controversial household registration system so migrants can access public services such as health insurance and free education when they relocate. After 30 years of rapid growth, Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are starting to groan under the strain of populations the size of Australia's at more than 20 million. Officials are trying to relieve the pressure by restricting the number of cars allowed on the roads and urging people and companies to move inland. But analysts say the key to successful urbanisation will be maintaining the country's rapid economic growth -- a blistering 9.7 percent in the first quarter -- so enough jobs can be created for the new urban dwellers. "China is very much an expectations-driven environment -- as long as people feel like it is getting better, then the base for fundamental social stability is there," said Woetzel. "If you are out of work for a long period, one loses the expectation of things getting better." Lu agreed, saying, "As long as the growth rate is high, it doesn't matter how many are moving into the cities. Density itself is not a problem; what matters is whether the economy can sustain itself." So far, the government has done "pretty well" moving more than 300 million people into urban areas in the past three decades, said Paul Kriss, a World Bank urban specialist based in Beijing. "You don't see the major slums like you see in India, Cairo or Lagos or in South America," Kriss told AFP. "Having said that, they do have mega-challenges." - AFP/ir

Marsiling hit by dengue / Scary, can ?

SINGAPORE: A rarely-seen type of dengue - DEN-3 - has hit the Marsiling area with more than 60 cases reported as of Friday. The National Environment Agency (NEA) said residents may have little or no immunity against the infection, leading to quicker dengue transmission.However, it added there is no sign for alarm that this form of dengue is spreading to the rest of the island.The Marsiling area has seen two clusters of dengue transmission recently, with the first detected at Marsiling Rise on April 21.The second cluster detected on May 19 is also the largest so far this year.NEA has since stepped up control measures, including dispatching 70 officers to carry out mass operations to search and destroy potential breeding habitats.The agency has also roped in various partners, including Sembawang Town Council and the National Parks Board to get rid of larvae.A Marsiling resident told Channel NewsAsia he welcomed the increased monitoring.Property agent Allen Lee recently contracted dengue along with other members of his family.Mr Lee, his daughter as well as his domestic worker were affected for the first time."My daughter's platelets count dropped tremendously and she was feeling nauseous. She couldn't eat at all (and) was hospitalised at Mt Alvernia (while) my domestic maid was hospitalised at Tan Tock Seng CDC. "The sad part was my wife had to do all the running (around) because three of us were down," he said. NEA is also advising residents to be alert to any potential mosquito breeding areas in their homes.The agency said enforcement action will be taken against all parties found breeding the Aedes mosquitoes.Meanwhile, Mr Lee said he has also taken his own measures. "My domestic worker has been taught... how to check for breeding (in places)... like pots of plants. "I think the rest of the residents here have to be well-informed and also to do their part as a community," he said.-CNA/wk

This Hotel Is Going To Be A New Landmark In Beijing

The creator, Emergent named this “Beijing National Hotel”. It will be the largest, the most abstract looking, and the most eco-friendly hotel in Beijing. Locate near the Beijing International Airport. Well, I never want to live at anywhere near an airport though, the aircraft is very disturbing when landing! Hope the creator had already taken this into consideration. So what else is so special about this hotel?

The building is 2.3 million square foot, composed by three volumetric rings, seems to signify the three different parts of this hotel.

It will include 1,500 rooms (Provides views of the city and the rainforest), international conference halls (Of course you know what is this used for), a 107,000 square foot indoor rainforest and a sky restaurant located at the highest level of the building (all direction of the view of the Beijing city).

The building enclosed by a double skin system where the outer layer is a weather break and the inner layer is the weatherproof enclosure, which creates a thermal buffer zone.

Its outer layer is made from a lightweight cable-net structure with many windows. Therefore, it allows a certain amount of natural light penetrated into the interior of the building and the rainforest. Within this layer, it embedded with system of solar thermal pipes and grey water capture grooves which hybridizes the base diamond pattern with a sporadic weaving pattern.

Source: Emergent via Gizmodo

‘Free-to-Air’ channels to be available on the Internet

Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Dr Yaacob Ibrahim announced on Monday that MediaCorp's seven 'Free-to-Air' channels will be available on the Internet within the next year.

The initiative, he said, will be a good way forSingaporeans overseas to be updated on events at home through the latest local TV programmes and be entertained by other programmes that MediaCorp has rights to.

Dr Yaacob, who was speaking at the InfocommMedia Business Exchange (IMBX) opening ceremony, added that the media company will be announcing the details of this service nearer to its implementation, reported Channel News Asia.

Touching on the 3DTV trial which he said has been successful since its implementation a year ago, the country's Pay-TV operators — StarHub and SingTel, as well as Free-to-Air operator MediaCorp — are now able to transmit 3D content into homes.

SingTel's mioTV has also recently successfully screened the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester United in 3D-format to all its subscribers.

The Republic is also on track in its plans to go fully digital, in line with ASEAN's committed timeframe to switch off analogue TV transmission between 2015 and 2020.

Dr Yaacob said following ASEAN's adoption of the DVB-T standard for Digital Terrestrial Television,Singapore is looking into the early migration to DVB-T2, the second and latest generation of this standard.

The move will provide consumers with an enhanced viewing experiences and greater choices in TV content and services.

Dr Yaacob said the Media Development Authority (MDA) is now putting in place a nationwide trial network to determine how the new standard can be suitably adopted for Singapore's terrain.

With this network, Singapore will be among the first in the region to establish a wide-scale DVB-T2 trial infrastructure, and MDA is planning for the trial network to be installed by September 2011.

80+ Time Saving and Free Photoshop Action Sets

Photoshop is a wonderful tool that not only lets you create amazing graphics but alsoautomate your work and improve your workflow. With Photoshop Actions, you can perform your repetitive tasks with a simple click that not only saves you time but helps improving your efficiency.

Photoshop actions allow you to record a sequence of commands and operationsthat you can set aside and can access afterward. They can also perform some extremely complex techniques with just a push of a button.

Here we have compiled a list of 80+ top-quality Photoshop actions to share with you, so you can expedite your design work. Before presenting our hand-picked collection of downloadable Photoshop Actions, however, we would like to offer a short explanation on how to install and create your own Photoshop Actions.

Creating Photoshop Actions

Creating Photoshop actions is very simple. All you need to do is open up the “Actions” palette and click the New Action button as seen in the picture below:

A new window pops up giving you different options for creating actions. Name the action and then place it in a set. For quick access, you can assign a shortcut to your action that will immediately activate it in Photoshop. This is a useful option to be used for those actions that you use with regularity.

Hitting the “Record” button allows you to record your desired actions by carrying out the necessary steps. The only thing that needs to be remembered here is selection sizes, saving and other specific steps will be duplicated precisely as you perform them in the action. So, you need to keep your steps as generic as possible so that they will work on the complete range of the images you want the action to apply to.

Once you’re done, hit the “Stop” button in the action menu. Your action has been recorded. Now you can hit the “Play” button if you want to perform the action on another file.

Installing Photoshop Actions

There are numbers of ways to install Photoshop actions. Dragging the downloaded actions into the ‘Actions” folder enclosed within the “Presets” folder in your Photoshop application folder is the easiest way. Note: you may need to restart Photoshop so that the installed actions can appear in the actions menu.

On the other hand, hit the little arrow on the right of the actions menu and then click the “Load Actions” option to quickly install the downloaded actions into the Photoshop.

Useful Photoshop Action Sets

Photoshop Actions – 4

Red Action

Action Contagious