Google !! ..See streets of America ..Street view

Google maps has a new view now, apart from earlier available like ..Satellite(shows you  view from top a s if you are in a plane), Traffic(shows you traffic situation in USA), Map(Map with street  information for most of the cities, Hybrid(combination of Map+Satellite).



So the new view is : Street View. Its amazing to see how they have done it.Street View lets you navigate down the streets of big cities like New York, Denver, Miami, Las Vegas and San Francisco.



I checked out the SFO street view & was amazed with it !!. Its an excellent use of information. Its like visiting that place in real. Its amazing to see the use of technology in such a way, I wonder how much information Google has like this & how they will put together in future :) ...



That brings me to a blog entry by : Steven Feuerstein, Google's goal to organise your daily life



So be ready for the future :)

Blogging at Singapore Metroblogging

Hello everyone I have started blogging for Singapore Metroblogs. This will help me to write more about Singapore !!

Checkout : http://singapore.metblogs.com/

This blog will continue to get new posts about useful stuff & travel & recently personal finance as earlier !! ..so keep checking ...

btw Bangalore folks there is : http://bangalore.metblogs.com

Some more on Credit Card Debt

Its a sad story I see everywhere in Internet about Credit Card debt, not sure how much they are true as I personally do not understand how people managed to get into so much of debt, is it lifestyle need or habit.



Here is the story : Couple Learn the High Price of Easy Credit



I am reading the book : The Riches Man in Babylon



I am still reading it. But its very interesting to read a 1926 published book. Its a series of financial parables. The first message the book gives by a story is "A Part of All You Earn Is Yours To Keep"



I guess this is the most important & simple thing in order to stay away from debt which is not good for you. Some debt like Home Loan is always there which appreciates(hopefully).

Calling ICICI Phone banking : Home Loan

This post will make lot of people happy who are frustrated after calling ICICI phone banking several times, but not able to speak to the operator for their queries. Specially for Home Loan account queries, when you call & even after correct following their instructions on the phone IVR(Interactive Voice Response) system, you still cannot access your account.

Here is the trick ...

1) Call ICICI Phone Banking Number
2) After listening to the initial annoucements
3) Press : 1 - 1 - 5 - 2 - 1
4) Then you will be asked to enter your Loan Account Number(The numeric part only) ..
5) Enter any 10-11 digit number
6) The IVR will say "Sorry that was an Invalid Entry, please try again"
7) Again enter some other 10-11 digit number  - The Step 6) will be repeated
8) Again enter some other 10-11 digit number - The Step 6) will be repeated
9) Then it will say "You have exceeded maximum tries, transferring the call the phone banking officer " !!

You made it to the operator in less than 5 minutes(depending upon call volume)

Try this !!!

Happy calling ...."Hum Hai Na..."

Calling ICICI Phone banking : Home Loan

This post will make lot of people happy who are frustrated after calling ICICI phone banking several times, but not able to speak to the operator for their queries. Specially for Home Loan account queries, when you call & even after correct following their instructions on the phone IVR(Interactive Voice Response) system, you still cannot access your account.

Here is the trick ...



1) Call ICICI Phone Banking Number

2) After listening to the initial annoucements

3) Press : 1 - 1 - 5 - 2 - 1

4) Then you will be asked to enter your Loan Account Number(The numeric part only) ..

5) Enter any 10-11 digits

6) The IVR will say "Sorry that was an Invalid Entry, please try again"

7) Again enter some other 10-11 digits   - The Step 6) will be repeated

8) Again enter some other 10-11 digit number - The Step 6) will be repeated

9) Then it will say "You have exceeded maximum tries, transferring the call the phone banking officer " !!



You made it to the operator in less than 5 minutes(depending upon call volume)



Try this !!!



Happy calling ...."Hum Hai Na..."

Singapore : Rain City !!

Being coming here from Bangalore, India. I see lot of rain in Singapore since last 4 months I came here. Its good cooling effect when it rains. In Bangalore it used to rain only in a rainy season which is during june-july or sept ..



So when I first came to Singapore, I was asking this question about rainy season here & people laughed, it rains most of the time :)..So there is nothing like rainy season here ...



To checkout weather for Singapore : http://intranet.mssinet.gov.sg/nowcast/ ..pretty good forecast !!



Tips for people who are new to this city :

• Carry a small Umbrella always
• Book Taxi in advance when it is rainy day !..As there are more people looking for Taxi that day !!
• Plan more time for travel when it rains as sometimes there is heavy traffic on highways & busy lanes.
• go home early to avoid traffic :)

Some photos taken just now :

Singapore : Indian Restaurants

Singapore is generally good for Indian good for Indian Restaurant as there are plenty in all the areas. Mainly some are catering to the needs to the office people & others are in the areas where Indian people hang out more !! ..like Mustafa, Little India etc ..



But it is very common to see Singaporeans also eating Indian food a lot & they like it !



There is a chain of restaurants called Komala's. Which gets lot of business as it is located in very strategic locations where lot of people go for office or shopping.



You can get a partial list of Indian Restaurants from here



But at the same time the food quality varies. So many people who are expecting good food at the price they pay may not be true always. So be prepared for the surprise always !!



Specially for Vegetarian people who do not eat meat or fish, it is tough sometimes to get good Indian vege food. So if you are living in Singapore, you really need to research before you step out in good mood to eat outside.



There are fake meat vegetarian food joints are also there, but  the taste may not be liked by many Indians. I have only tried few of them & it was ok ...



On an average in a restaurants the dishes are around $8-12 depends on the restaurant again.



I plan to put my reviews about some of the restaurants I have visited till date, probably it will help others !!

Finding Train Route in India

Ever trying to find a train route in India with all the options with multi-station, multi-train options !! ? Here is the way ..



There is a website http://www.indiagroove.com which offers you excellent way to find a train from one place to another in India ..e.g. you give Pune to Bangalore & It will provide you all the options of trains(direct or with stops or train change). Its a fastest way to find a train for planning your journey in India ...



btw .this website is still beta ..but works !!



Also see the website : http://www.seat61.com if you want to travel by train in any country ..even from one country to another country using train as means of transportation ..excellent website !!

Reading : The Net Worth Workout: A Powerful Program for a Lifetime of Financial Fitness

Reading the Book : The Net Worth Workout: A Powerful Program for a Lifetime of Financial Fitness.



Very interesting book to understand personal finances, without too many complex words ti understand. I always like simple reading !!



This book uses personal fitness analogy to make you understand your finances & how to keep them fit.



I will post the review about it soon !! 

Tracking Expenses : Using Buxfer

I have been tracking our expenses using Buxfer effectively & it is just great way to manage this stuff. It uses Google Authentication so no more new accounts too ...

This website also recently added a "budgeting" feature. Which I am yet to use it much. I will try to compile the "Cost of living Singapore" again with few more items added to the list !!

Take a tour of Buxfer here : http://www.buxfer.com/tour.php

Casual Medical Expenses : Singapore - 2007

Yesterday first time we went to a Dr. here in Singapore, as my daughter was having mild fever since early morning. But it was a good experience to understand how one needs to react to the medical situation like this.

The visit to the Dr.( Paediatrician ) cost us $85.00(Dr. fees + medicine) ..She did checked the way normal normal Dr. does. The medicine given was normal paracetamol & cough syrup. But the clinic was in a private hospital, which was known to charge higher than normal rates(this is something we got to know when the Taxi driver mentioned to us !!).

This is very high cost compared to what other clinics charge. Which is around $20-30 range.

Also most of the times, unless the child is very sick, the medication given for normal fever, cough, cold is very common one(I am not advising we should do self-medication here). But we also need to think about the cost which generally offers nothing other than the same medicine which we normally give.

Overall Singapore is expensive for all medical expenses specially when done in private hospitals/clinics. Which is in-line with the economy. Infact in India too, the medical expenses are rising very high Year after Year.

I would try to update more on the "Cost of Living in Singapore" this weekend.

Paying Credit Card dues with Credit Card :)

It was a quite a funny & good experience today for me. As always I pay my Credit Card Dues before they become due. so when I went to pay my dues using my Bank(DBS) website. While paying the dues, in the To Pay From Account it included the Credit Card Account as well :) ..So that means I can pay my credit card dues using my credit card itself !! ..Great idea by these credit card companies to facilitate people to clear their dues( or get more deep into debt) !!..

I know this Credit Card debt thing is more in Developed countries(as I heard & read on websites). But it is soon catching in India too ..Lot of people use lot of credit card & pay fine till they realize that its not good for them in long term

Recently i have been following a good blog on Personal Finance & it really gives good insight about managing money in a better way ... http://www.thesimpledollar.com/

Birla Sunlife : Funny Error !!

I was trying to access the Birla Sunlife Insurance website & this is what I got :)..Isn't it strange to see error like on website ...this could have been handled in better way !! "We are maintaining our website, please login later!" ;)

Using ScribeFire to blog

Trying to see how Scribefire will work with blogger !! ..btw I am looking for a offline blog post editor !! ...

Choosinng Cable TV, Internet, Phone, Mobile Contracts in Singapore

I discovered it little late. So would like the people to understand this concept very well when they try to subscribe to any New Cable TV, Internet, Mobile, or Land Phone services from any of the companies in Singapore.

Being coming from India the concepts from getting into contracts for new subscriptions was little new to me.

For all the above services there are several companies like :

1. Starhub - http://www.starhub.com - Mainly for Cable TV
2. M1 - http://www.m1.com.sg/ - Phone + Internet
3. Singtel - http://www.singtel.com.sg - Phone + Internet

All the companies run "promotions" all the time. So this is very important to know that these companies run it all the time. They offer lot of discounts/gifts etc when they run promotions, one needs to choose between the discount & gifts they offer.

So points to remember before you finalize your contract with any of these companies :

• Research well to to understand which service you want & who is the best provider in your area
  
• Always look for best option in order to minimise the contract period & penalty in event of you breaking the contract
• Generally the contract is for 12 or 24 months
• The 24 months contracts is always better sometimes & offer maximum gifts like even Laptops in some cases !!
• Try to understand your need & subscribe based on that, not on the based on what you are getting as a part of contract ..e.g. One company is giving away Laptop(they say worth $1500) for your 24 months contract with them for taking 3 services(Cable TV+Internet+Phone). But if you break the contract within 24 months, you might have to pay $1000 back :) ..So decide what you want...
• Look for your needs - e.g. You want to make more local calls or IDD Calls.
• Some companies will offer Free IDD calls to India, USA etc for a fixed minimum rental per month. So if you are going to make more calls to that IDD destination make use of this facility.
• Generally breaking the contract is never profitable :(
• Never rush for the promotional offer or discounts, there is always something hidden in it. So take your time & then go for it.

Some more general Information for these services :

• Starhub Cable TV has only 3 Hindi Channels - Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony
• Internet Services by Starhub is advertised at upto 6000 kpbs speed. So it might vary, it is not a dedicated speed.
• Singtel promises to provide better Broadband than Starhub - I have personally not used it.
• Generally - the Local calls are charged at .15 cents per minute
• IDD to India from Starhub mobile is expensive, instead buy a calling card which gives upto 80 minutes for $10 value
• M1 has a 384 kpbs anywhere wireless broadband service which is cheaper & good if your Internet usage is not much : http://m1.com.sg/broadband/m1bb.htm

Disclaimer : The above points are written by me based on my own experience & may change depending on the offer going on by the company at any given time. So please check the offer before deciding.

Cost of living Singapore - 2007

I have been trying to get realistic picture of "cost of living in Singapore" before I moved in here. i searched many blogs & yahoo answers. I surely got some idea, but it was hard to find the close the approximate feel of how much does it costs a couple with one child or for a couple to live in Singapore with moderate expenses NOW !!.

As it is very important for us to know the cost of living in a new country or city before we move-in, so that we are financially & emotionally prepared to live there !!.

Now that I have already been living in Singapore for more than 3 months, I guess I can put some math around for other people who are in search of the same question "How much does is cost to live in Singapore?".

Again what I am trying to put here is something based on my experience & my lifestyle(which call as Moderate).

I will try to update more on this as I get more data based on my experience here in Singapore.Now let me explain some of the expenses in short to avoid any confusion.

Local transport will cost around $100 for commuting daily to office by MRT/Bus

Fixed Expenses

These are some of the expenses you will have on a monthly basis.

Variable Expenses

These expenses can be different for some months, but most of you will have these as well. Now again here is the lifestyle comes into picture, someone using more of Taxi or eating out frequently will have more amount spent in this category.

Rent

Rent is the major expense in singapore & it ranges from $1000 to $1500, depending where you stay in Singapore. Staying closer to the CBD(or city area/downtown area) is more expensive. So one needs to decide a cap on this before you try to find a good house to stay. The HDB(developed by Singapore Govt) are the most economical & do serve the purpose.

There are 3 types of housing·

• HDB Most of the housing is HDB. Economical & most people prefer this to start with. Choices are 1,2,3,4,5 Bed Room flats in most of areas of Singapore.·
• Condo These are expensive housing schemes by govt or private builders. They are few in all areas & provide facilities like Swimming pool, gym, guarded security etc. But the rooms generally are smaller & you have to pay more for it.

Settlement Expenses

Consider some settlement expenses when you arrive, following are based on my experience·

• One Month rental as Deposit (e.g. $1300)·
• 50% of the per month rent as Brokrage to Agent (e.g. $650)·
• Most of the HDB/Condo flats will have furniture, but sometimes you might have to buy something. Furniture is expensive depending on what you want to buy (e.g. $500 for a Queen size bed)·
• Buying any electronics items like Mixer Grinder/Vaccum Cleaner etc will cost more here.·
• Indian style Kitchen utensils are expensive here (e.g. $50 for a 4 ltr Aluminum Hackings cooker)·
• Any other item you want to buy which is not there in Flat you rent or required.

Some other points about Singapore

• All Indian vegetables/grocery are available in Mustafa 24 hour shop· Little India(a Place in Singapore) has most of the other Indian Stuff & food items.·
• No need of Car as pubic transport is very effective & cheap to travel all around Singapore·
• Weather is not extreme..humid climate·
• Lots of Indians for community help·
• Roundtrip to India is about $700-1000 per person
• Deposit to Schools for registration (e.g. 1 month fee or around $1000-1500 for Indian Schools.
• There are 2 Indian Schools : Bhavans & DPS !! Having CBSE system.

Some useful websites·

• http://www.ecitizen.gov.sg/ - Singapore Govt Site·
• http://www.mustafa.com.sg/ - Mustafa where all Indians go every weekend :)
• http://tt.ecitizen.gov.sg/index.htm - Transportation Info

Related Post

• Cost of Living in Singapore - 2008
  

Window Vista & Webcams :(

I was happy to have Windows Vista Business on my new laptop :) ...but not for long after I realized that my old(not too old) Logitech Webcam is not compatible with Vista :)

So here u go again...buy a new one :) ..not sure whether it is a strategy by Logitech or other vendors for not supporting the new OS by MS.

So now I know that it can happen to any of my old softwares/hardwares or something which was working earlier may not work properly ..so first thing is to checkout for compatibility.

The most important thing is that here after whatever you buy make sure that it is Vista compatible. You may not be using it today but may use very soon. Also sometimes the hardware vendors might selloff the old not so compatible stuff for cheap to lure the customers ;)

So its long way to go for Vista !! ..propbably some device driver writers can start a new business :)

Bangalore Wish lists !!

Living in Bangalore for more than 6+ years I always had several wish lists coming in my mind whenever I travel on roads & or discussing about infrastructure in Bangalore with my friends.

Recently I noticed some of my wish lists coming in reality ..It feels good about the positive change ..specially when you start noticing more of that ...

• Closed Garbage Collection Trucks
• Whenever I used to drive in my car to Office, I would see Garbage collection is done in a open truck everyday in the morning, stinking & putting garbage on roads while it moves along the path :(....But now I see all the trucks have been modified as Closed Trucks to carry the garbage !!
• Good Roads
• There are good roads been laid out on all the main road from my home to Office & even in the by-lanes !!..This is very good initiative by the BMP.
• Footpath for Walking beside roads
• This is another Wish List which is coming true in most of the areas in South Bangalore & other areas as I have seen them. The Path way is very much required on the side of the road for people walking on roads instead. It helps the traffic to move smoothly too.

The above is just something I thought I will share to help people who are looking to visit Bangalore or relocate Bangalore !!. As it definitely adds value to the City.

My other wish lists :

1. Roads with divider for main roads leading to offices
2. Driving time to the Airport/Railway Station to be reduced
3. Ample Parking spaces for market areas
4. More 24x7 Medical Shops

cheers

Airtel : Great Service ..Every time !!

Its good to see that some professional company provides same excellent level of service everytime, over a period of time, infact it improves !!

Its good to praise the services of companies like these !!

I had Airtel Telephone Services outages 3 times till date all because of some issue local at my place & every time it was fixed within 2 hours time(infact < 1 hour time for 2 times). Its a amazing service standard, as the Broadband Service too depends on the Phone line.

It always feel good when something like this happens in service industry. I guess every company should take such examples & try to see that they keep on improving standards of service so that they get more business & also customer feels happy for paying fees for the services.

great day !!

Air Deccan : Amazing Service Experience !!

Today I had good service experience with Air Deccan ( http://www.airdeccan.net) !!. I had few tickets booked with them for my return journey in Rs.6(yes Rs. SIX !) ..As I had change in plans I called Air Deccan to Cancel the tickets.

The Agent gave me in option to pre or postpone the dates of journey with NO EXTRA charges. Also for the return journey I canceled 2 other passengers on the same PNR & they canceled that refunded me the entire ticket amount. As otherwise the cancellation of these tickets would have been around Rs. 750/- per ticket :(

It was good service on part of the Airline to offer advise to clients. I know there are lots of people cribbing out there about Air Deccan service & stuff like that ..but this was a good experience for me.

I guess we need to give sometime to the airline industry to mature in India to give better service to customers. Also at the same time keep realistic expectations about Service Offering & Price Paid ..that helps a lot !!

Its almost midnight & I will get a good sleep as this saved a lot of money as well as hassles to find another value for money fare for the same journey !!

cheers