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My sister will be going to Singapore with work in the near future and I have asked her to look into buying a Diver's Watch, probably a Citizen.
Are there many fakes that she should aviod? How expensive are watches in Singapore, someone told me that if a watch is 100UKP then it will be 100SGD which is about one sixth of the price. Are the real thing really that much cheaper? I was thinking of buying something like a Citizen MA9034-21E if that helps.
The last time I check, the S$ and £ is at a 3:1 rate, and such £100 and S$100 is a 1/3 difference. Or you've just went to a bad money changer?
There are certainly fakes goods to be avoided. But the rules of thumb is, if it is too cheap, probably it is fake (NOTE: does not apply the other way round - i.e. if it is expensive, doesn't mean it is not fake).
ANYWAY, since the watch you are looking for has the function, it would be difficult to find a fake to it (i.e. you can't fake a function). Check at the citizen website and look at the instruction manual, and be familiarized with the function (i.e. what happen when what is pressed.. etc).
My advise is, avoid Orchard Road (especially Lucky Plaza) area where thats a main tourist attraction area where you tend to get hammered with high price (usually real goods though). Check the price you get in UK to put a cap on the price you are willing to pay in Singapore.
There is a place, a quiet place off tourist's list, is a nice place that I would recommend, sells lots of Citizen watches. I can't remmeber its name, I think it starts with a B, it is opposite (across the road) SimLim Square (i.e. Singapore largest IT building).
Anyway, check on eBay as well, there are tons of Singapore sellers on eBay sellings watches as well.. compare the price there.
Thanks for that chap, can anyone else offer some additional info? Current prices etc. would be most welcome, but I understand this would likely mean people going out of their way to help.
I have been searching the forum trying to find a good software to watch TV with. I want to add a little more to my device and try to watch episodes that I cant normally watch while I'm at work.
What are some good softwares I can use to watch TV with? I found Sling and looking up another called "Orb". I have no experience with either. Can someone educate me if you have experience?
Are there more out there that I have not ran across?
Thanks in advance!
orb is excellent, check it out ! (but make sure you are on an unlimited dataplan, and you have 3g in your area.
I do have an unlimited dataplan but I dont have 3g (not in area yet)?
Will 3g make any difference?
Thanks for the reply!!
Kenjari said:
I do have an unlimited dataplan but I dont have 3g (not in area yet)?
Will 3g make any difference?
Thanks for the reply!!
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a huge difference mate, GPRS is around 50 Kbps ( a tiny grainy postage stamp for a pic and mono sound)
3G starts at 384 Kbps and maxes out a 1200 Kbps on the athena and means full screen decent quality pics and stereo sound !!
PS since upgrading to Ap 4.0 I am having a problem with this, it works but the video (windows media video) is very stop start, where as on AP 2.0 I got fluid full motion video in TCPMP
Makes since. Well I can only wait until Tmobile get 3G hopefully soon! I have been struggling with TCPMP and Windows Media since the upgrade to AP4.
Kenjari said:
Makes since. Well I can only wait until Tmobile get 3G hopefully soon! I have been struggling with TCPMP and Windows Media since the upgrade to AP4.
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if you dont mind my asking, where are you ? here in the uk Tmob have fairly good 3g coverage
I'm in Minnesota over in the US. I have read talks about Tmo getting 3G but I called yesterday after i read your post and they said they have plans to launch it this year. But he didnt know when.
i also read that in other states they already have it up. A little confused if that was accurate information or not!
Thanks for asking!
Makes me want to move to the UK!
trust me, you dont wish you live here, the only reason we have 3G coverage is that in comparison to the US, it is cheap to set up here, as the country is so small and densely populated, did you know that London is only around 30 miles across but home to around 7 million people, This pressure on land makes housing cost stupid amounts here.
plus we pay around $9.85 for a US Gallon (3.79 litres) of diesel
OMG I cant believe that many people live in such a small area. That make since about the inexpensiveness of 3G.
Wow...we complaining about 3.99 per gallon here. I cant believe gas is that much. I'm certain we will be there in 12 months, in less we find away to do something.
What would an average 1 bedroom cost in London? It cant be a crazy amount is it?
Well maybe I will come visit first!!!!
Kenjari said:
Wow...we complaining about 3.99 per gallon here. I cant believe gas is that much.
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Try it here in CT for 4.40 per gallon of regular gas, and that's the cheapest.
...
If CT is paying 4.40 per gallon. Then it is around the corner before MN get over 4.10.
I wonder who is paying the most in the US? Clearly we arent where London is or are we?
Kenjari said:
OMG I cant believe that many people live in such a small area. That make since about the inexpensiveness of 3G.
Wow...we complaining about 3.99 per gallon here. I cant believe gas is that much. I'm certain we will be there in 12 months, in less we find away to do something.
What would an average 1 bedroom cost in London? It cant be a crazy amount is it?
Well maybe I will come visit first!!!!
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in a really bad area, around $250,000 ~$300,000 and at the other end of the scale the sky is the limit, roughly $1,000,000 or more.
see for yourself, this is an example of one of the best area's in london, 99.9% of the normal people that live in london can't afford this, but renting a 1/2 bedroom flat will set you back around $20,000 per month
http://www.belgraviaestateagents.com/
the normal price for renting a 1/2 bedroom flat is $1000 ~$2000 per month, I pay $1400 for mine. but I live just outside london.
but at least mobile phone calls are cheap, the cheapest being 1100 anytime any network minutes or texts for $40 per month
I learn something everyday!!
I never knew it cost this much to live in London. Following your link, some of the flats were going for 3,500. I dont know what that would cost in dollars!!!
When i clicked on "buying" I saw some houses stating 'Leasehold 63 years' or 'Leasehold 193 years'. Excuse my ignorance...but what does that mean?
I'm also curious about the general demographics of who occupies these sky is the limit areas or the really bad areas? Are there families? College students? Single business owners? Political statesmen? Who live in these areas in London?
LOL £3500, is the per WEEK rental value and at current exchange rates, it is 2 dollars to the pound, so that is $7000 per week or $28,000 per 4 week month.
However apart from feb we don't have any 4 week months, so to get the true monthly value they multiply the weekly figure by 52 (weeks in the year) and then divide by 12 which is $30,333 per month.
Im not 100% on the following as I rent, but as far as I know, When you buy a House in the UK you are litteraly buying the house only, IE the bricks and mortar ! with regards to the actual land the house is sitting on, you are leasing it, houses normally come with a 99 or 999 year lease bundled in with the cost of the house (measured from when the lease was last renewed not when you purchased the house) , if you buy a house and the lease expires, you dont have to move out (infact you are protected from being forced out by law) however you do have to start paying the lease holder rent, (even though you fully purchased your property several decades before) obviously this is not a desireable situation, and if there are only a few years left on the lease, it will have a serious negative effect on the value of the house !
And with regards to who lives where, people just buy what they can afford ! you have famillies with 2 kids or more living in 1 bed flats in really bad areas and the uber rich businessman/woman using the multi million dollar house or flat in central london as a boarding home, just somewhere to stay by him/herself during his/her week in work before heading back out to the countryside to spend the weekend with the family.
The average wage in the uk is around £28,000 ($56,000) people in london are supposed to get more to absorb the higher cost of living but a lot don't even earn the average, to buy a home in the UK, the banks have just gone back to the good old days stipulating you can only borrow 3 times your wages (if your by yourself) , which means nobody on average wage in london, can buy any properties FULL stop (unless they have a mammoth deposit). you have to be earning around £45,000 ($90,000) and have the usual 10% deposit if you want a shot at purchasing a £150,000 ($300,000) 1/2 bedroom flat.
My goodness, the cost is crazy. The average or medium is clearly not in support of home buyers, (sounds exactly like here) but was is the home buying market look like there? Meaning....are people buying? Is the market ripe for it in conjuction to people's ability? What about you down the line....do you who hope to buy a home there in London for your family or maybe stay on the countryside?
Are there other places that use a different formula to calculate rent?
If rent cost that much, even for a flat, what is the homeless situation in London? Have the banks ever financed buyers, single or not, where they gave more then three times the yearly salary? Are there other programs that will support buyers outside the bank? gov., corp, etc.
Sorry for having a lot of questions.....this is just interesting to me! Besides, I'm trying to observe more or less the parellels between the states and your hometown.
Thanks ice_coffee
Kenjari
My goodness, the cost is crazy.
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On top of that whenever you buy a house you pay stamp duty (a form of tax) for the house purchase, due to the high prices the govermet eliminated stamp duty for houses below £120.000 ($240 thau) wich is ridiculous due that the average U.K house price approaches £200 thau, then you got council tax (average £130 per month)...I stop ranting about the staggering number of taxes but I really would like to know how Spain France or Germany manage to have first class National health, public transport and council services (compared with those here) and the fourth rich country in the world does not manage.
In the other hand
Unemployed people can apply for housing benefit and income support (the rent paid and a meager amount of money every 2 weeks to help them keep going) single mums and people without income can apply for coucil houses and pay nil
NHS is free as in beer
Buses are free for children and the eldery....there are more benefits, and yes there are homeless some people abuse the system and the system is a mess but just say that in other parts of the world the needy gets nothing.
London is a sprawl rather than a concentration ( more LA than Newyork) Given the chance people will live in garden houses rather than flats, in flats will live however cannot afford a house or profesionals that can aford the £500000+ Luxury pad with river views plus the home at the country and profesionals that use a small flat during work days to avoid long conmmuting, an hour conmuting to work is the norm.
just an anecdote, an american couple both layers and her daugter came on holidays and wanted to see Nothing Hill, they liked the area as charming but after enquiring the price of one house the guy commented, "my god a million pounds for a place that fit inside of my garage"
Welcome to London
and now I better get back on topic
The housing market here has just come out of a massive boom period, where they were giving everybody mortgages, and I really mean everybody, they copied the US companies by giving out N.I.N.J.A mortgages to people with N.o I.ncome N.o J.ob or A.ssets or giving people 6 times their salary with no deposit, this pushed the house prices up, as supply could not meet demand. Now that this boom is over and house prices are falling, there are lots of peeps with mortgages they can't afford, having their houses repossessed. The banks are stuck with repossessed homes that they have to sell for less than they paid for them, which is why ALL the banks have gone cautious again, back to the old days of 3 times your mortgage and deposit upfront !
My fiancé and I are saving a 10% deposit at the moment, we are at £15,000 ($30,000) but we need to get to £30,000 ($60,000) so we can buy a house, we will probably stay where we are, I work nights all over London on the underground rail network, so traffic is not a problem for me, plus it is really nice where I live.
There are homeless people in London, but there are also volunteer organisations to look after them, plus the government will give free accommodation to those who apply for it as mentioned by PBL1! although it would be really crappy accomm and in a bad area and if your a single man you will be waiting years as pregnant teenage girls (thrown out by their parents) get to jump the queue!
There are some part buy schemes where you buy a percentage of a property and another organisation buys the rest and you pay them rent for their portion (this equates to a lower monthly outgoing but adds years to how long it will take for you to own outright !
also if you are a KEY worker (Medic, Police, fire etc etc) the government will put you in discount nice accommodation, any new build housing complexes have a percentage of the homes/flats dedicated to key workers only with heavy discounts.
Feel free to ask questions, that is what forums are for !
tv
orb is cool, or you ould download dvd fab and down conver dvds to lower format like mp4 o avi so there saller size nd load movies or tv shows you own you know whatever
I'm waiting to see more news on this
http://www.nokia.com/NOKIA_COM_1/Pr...ata_sheet_Nokia_Mobile_TV_Receiver_SU_33W.pdf
Is a nokia dvb-h bluetooth receiver, so the software would have to be adapted to windows mobile.
and also
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2008_Feb_11/ai_n24255349
see it in gizmodo
http://uk.gizmodo.com/2008/02/12/dab_bluetooth_headset_somethin.html
Because the manufacturer is working on this also
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Feb2006/2630.htm
I know is DAB and the dongle is not the pretiest but show promise
If only somebody released a device like the Nokia thing for WM6 devices.
The Fandango app in beta is out on the android market now!!
I just got done playing with it. It's good, but Flixster is better in literally every way except one: with Fandango's app you can buy tickets from pretty much anywhere. Flixster's pretty limited in which theaters you can buy from.
But honestly, I don't buy tickets online. Screw convenience fees, that's just stupid. So I'm definitely sticking with Flixster.
Gonna use Fandango for buying tickets and Flixster for movie reviews and basically everything else . Lets see if they do more with fandango in the future.
Ayesuku said:
Screw convenience fees, that's just stupid.
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Couldn't agree more! I just don't understand the moronic logic of fandango... "Let's see, how can we entice people to buy online instead of at the theater where they are going anyways? Oh, I know, let's charge them MORE!"
Never thought of it that way LOL
Chahk said:
Couldn't agree more! I just don't understand the moronic logic of fandango... "Let's see, how can we entice people to buy online instead of at the theater where they are going anyways? Oh, I know, let's charge them MORE!"
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The logic is that if you want to go to a movie on opening night you buy them online so you reserve your space and not risk getting to a sold out movie.
Sure you can drive on earlier and just purchase them before hand but with the price of gas now a days you'd end up spending the same on the drive + added time of travel.
There's also the convenience of not having to stand in line, which is sometimes pretty long.
You pay a little extra for convenience
See, that's why you go there an hour or two before, buy the tickets, then go to dinner before the movie. Maybe it's different where you live, but the only way a movie is going to be sold out an hour before it plays is if it's a HUGE movie.
I don't know. I realize it's convenient, and I like convenience. But unless they can show me that the extra charge is necessary to cover additional costs on their part, I can't support the concept of the "convenience fee." It's just an extra charge for extra profit, because they can.
Anyway, enough of my ranting. I'm looking forward to seeing what Fandango does with their app too, but I have serious doubts it'll out-do Flixster in anyplace other than ticket buying.
tickets are already 8.50 here in austin.. why would i wanna pay more lol..
Ayesuku said:
See, that's why you go there an hour or two before, buy the tickets, then go to dinner before the movie. Maybe it's different where you live, but the only way a movie is going to be sold out an hour before it plays is if it's a HUGE movie.
I don't know. I realize it's convenient, and I like convenience. But unless they can show me that the extra charge is necessary to cover additional costs on their part, I can't support the concept of the "convenience fee." It's just an extra charge for extra profit, because they can.
Anyway, enough of my ranting. I'm looking forward to seeing what Fandango does with their app too, but I have serious doubts it'll out-do Flixster in anyplace other than ticket buying.
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How about the convenience of being able to order from ANYWHERE. You know, it takes money to run their online servers and their web site to provide a service. Not to mention the money spent for developers to make apps for different mobile platforms. If you don't want to pay a convenience fee and go pick it up, fine. To some people (like myself), I see it as a waste of time to go there and pick up tickets just so I don't come back two hours later to a sold out show.
That's great, go for it. Your choice, you know? I just don't personally like paying a dollar for the "convenience" of it.
Besides--and maybe this isn't true about theaters where you others live--don't most theaters allow you to prepurchase tickets directly from them via phone or internet? I usually go to a Kerasotes theater and it looks like they don't charge any convenience fees for buying their tickets online...
Lots of offices have 'secret santa' arrangements, or maybe you're the kind of person who just loves to give out interesting, and hopefully cheap, widgets for Xmas gifts to friends/co-workers like I do. This year, I decided Chromecasts were the way to go: introduce tech to folks stuck in an i-everything world, not need much after-gift support, etc. etc. So I walk into Bestbuy, head to the TV section and easily locate Roku, WDTV, Sony streamers. I look and look. No Chromecasts. I ask a blueshirt...he knows what it is, but doesn't know where it is. He asks another blueshirt..he doesn't know what it is. He asks another blueshirt, who 'knows' what it is (but doesn't really) and says it's over in comuters ' because it's actually a flashdrive". 'Oh..okay' I said, trying my best to hide my rolling eyes and avoiding the nagging pressure to set him straight..I occasionally have focus. I walked to computer and still could fine them. Asked another blueshirt, 'oh they're in front of the back service desk' as she points. I walk over and continue to search. FINALLY, I find a Google display, that looks like a faux wood locked cabinet, see-through glass with Chromecasts hanging inside a few inches off the floor. Pathetic. I wait another 12 minutes while someone finds a key to unlock the cabinet. Ultimately, someone never seen screaches over the walkie-talkie to my anxious blueshirt that no keys can be found. I sigh aloud. A blueshirt overhears the 'commotion' while checking out someone's new laptop at the service desk beside us, and pipes up...'you know, I think there may be a few hanging near the Chromebooks...low and behold, I find 4 Chromecasts hanging in small locked plastic cases right next to the HP 14 Chromebook. The service desk can sell them to me, but I must have them unlocked at the front, while the laptop buyer can walk right out the door. Unbelievable. Took a half hour, in a Bestbuy that literally had a dozen customers, at least 2:1 blueshirt to customer ratio, to buy a cheap device hidden and locked down tighter than Fort Knox. Lesson: Xmas shopping sucks...unless you go Amazon. Cheers, and Merry Xmas!
Be sure to put that in your customer feedback. That store is majorly slacking. I'm pretty sure Google puts good money into having those displays there. Also, Chromecasts should be in both the Computer and the TV/Audio/Home Theater departments.
Sad.
bhiga said:
Be sure to put that in your customer feedback. That store is majorly slacking. I'm pretty sure Google puts good money into having those displays there. Also, Chromecasts should be in both the Computer and the TV/Audio/Home Theater departments.
Sad.
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The Packaging is so small that I suppose they were flying off the shelf but not being paid for! LOL
Hence the Lockbox!
I bought 3 from Amazon at $29.99 each as Christmas presents to give loved ones.
Sent from my SCH-I605
bhiga said:
Be sure to put that in your customer feedback. That store is majorly slacking. I'm pretty sure Google puts good money into having those displays there. Also, Chromecasts should be in both the Computer and the TV/Audio/Home Theater departments.
Sad.
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The last BestBuy that I found a huge amount of them at they were on a free standing shelve display in the middle of a large open floor area in no real department. It was a new store and very big.
wptski said:
The last BestBuy that I found a huge amount of them at they were on a free standing shelve display in the middle of a large open floor area in no real department. It was a new store and very big.
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Yeah, I visited one that had all the new stuff - Microsoft wall-o-stuff, Samsung Experience, a Google wood theme endcap near the front of the store and a Google wood theme mini-pavilion in the computer area. The overall store design seems to be moving toward more islands rather than aisles.
bhiga said:
Yeah, I visited one that had all the new stuff - Microsoft wall-o-stuff, Samsung Experience, a Google wood theme endcap near the front of the store and a Google wood theme mini-pavilion in the computer area. The overall store design seems to be moving toward more islands rather than aisles.
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This particular store also had two cash registers right in the computer department.
**Really sorry if I shouldn't have asked a question here, but wherever I try to post it, it pops up with a message saying it's not a Q&A forum, but I can't see where I should put it, plus the answer would be really useful to others I should imagine**
Hi
Just over a week ago I released my first Android app, I made an ad supported free version, and a paid version with no ads in it.
Since having a look around the settings in my Google Merchant account, I discovered a section about setting tax rates for my apps.
I have been through the hassle of getting the rates for each country I want my apps sold in.
I am wondering whether that was the correct thing to do, I have seen things on various forums saying I don't need to collect VAT unless I earn over £81,000 (I'm in the UK btw, and I'd be quite happy to make £100), others have said only put in the tax rate for the country which I'm selling from, others have said input for every country selling to.
I'm confused as to which I should have done.
Also, I saw that it said that Google will take the VAT off the gross price, then take their 30% off the net price, they will then pass on the gross price minus their cut, e.g.:
if app is £1
UK VAT is 20% so £1 minus 20% is £0.80
Google will take 30% of the £0.80, so this would be £0.24
They will then pass on the gross price minus their cut, so pass on £0.76
The way I read that I have £0.20 which is VAT sitting in my bank account, am I supposed to pay this in somehow, even if I'm not VAT registered, do I have to do that for every country around the world that I sell my apps to? And can I pay it all to the UK government or do I have to pay each relevant government their cut?
It's only a 69p app, I'm an unknown, I don't expect it to make huge amounts of money, I just wanted to learn and see how far I could get, might even look good on my CV, but the "paperwork" side of getting this thing up and running has been a headache.
For a multi billion dollar company, I think Google have done a really bad job of trying to encourage people that aren't part of large companies to develop apps, Apple deal with it all for you!
Money Saving Expert (great UK forum for anything to do with money have answered the question for me, as being a No don't put tax rates on as charging VAT when not VAT registered (due to being below the threshold) is fraud
I'm from Italy and I'm blocked on this question too.
Is there somebody who knows The Answer?