Reuben Chew

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August 2016: A Most Eventful Month for Singapore

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A Chun Cui He bottle that I managed to get by some stroke of luck
A Chun Cui He bottle that I managed to get by some stroke of luck

What were we doing at the start of August this year? Well, obsessing over 纯粹。喝 (Chun Cui He) milk tea bottles. Because we Singaporeans are savvy hoarders and flippers (just look at the number of opportunists on Carousell), 7-Eleven had to limit each person to just six bottles.

I managed to get my hands on it only after the craze died down somewhat–and the milk tea tasted almost exactly like Mineshine as I remember it. Nothing too special, and certainly not up to the standards of Gong Cha or Koi. The latte was slightly better, but nothing worth queueing for.

Of course, within the same month itself, the AVA discovered that the milk tea version contained a food additive that was banned in Singapore. The latte version is still being sold sporadically, though the demand has mostly subsided.

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My 1st Jay Chou Concert — Great Start, Lacklustre Finish

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Like most other Singaporean Chinese teens in the mid-2000s (or at least those who listened to Mandopop), Jay Chou was a constant in my playlist. Don’t ask me how–but I ended up having every of his albums in my iPod then.

I never got a chance to attend his concerts, though. Maybe I wasn’t that big of a fan, or perhaps his tickets were just too expensive. Meanwhile, I made do by listening to his concert CDs, which I enjoyed very much, because of the way he would try to sing the song in a slightly different way each time.

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Courage… or Foolishness?

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Something the iPhone 7 can't do.

Some nine years back, I purchased my first ever Walkman phone, the W850i. It didn’t come with a 3.5mm headphone jack–instead you had to connect a dongle to the phone’s proprietary FastPort, from which you could then attach your own headphones. It wasn’t much of a big deal back then, since I also owned an iPod, and the dongle also served double duty as a microphone. Or perhaps because I didn’t need to charge my phone multiple times per day back then. Even so, the W850i charger had a pass-through port allowing you to charge and listen to your tunes at the same time.

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Four Weeks of Pokemon GO!: My Experience (and Fatigue)

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A crowd gathers outside Hougang Mall as news of a wild Snorlax appearance spreads.

I woke up the morning of August 6th, habitually reaching out for my phone. I had intended to go back to sleep after that, but I needed to get out of bed and download Pokemon GO!, which finally reached Singapore’s shores exactly a month after its initial release. For those unaware of the game, the …

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The Rise of the Pokemon GO Economy

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A few weeks ago, someone wrote in to the Straits Times Forum, urging Singapore (or rather, the authorities?) to think twice before giving Pokemon Go the go-ahead. While she has a point–I’ve seen people standing beside dustbins looking silly just because it was a Pokestop (apparently dustbins with graffiti artwork on it qualify)–she has neglected the main reason why Pokemon GO will probably be given the go-ahead anyway.

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Pokemon GO: Places to Scout in Singapore

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Source: Pokemon GO
Source: Pokemon GO

Update 6/8/2016: Pokemon GO is finally here in Singapore! And yes, it seems that most of the places in Ingress are also Pokemon stops.

As the original article was written before Pokemon Go was released, you may find the main contents irrelevant. So here’s what you need to know:

Based on my personal experience at Bishan Park, Serangoon, Botanic Gardens and VivoCity, you should check out VivoCity if you want the most fertile catches–you can find hoardes of Magikarps (you need a hundred of these to evolve a Gyarados), a number of Tentacools (and Tentacruels as well), Slowpokes, Horseas, Psyducks (and the occassional Golduck), Zubat (and the occassional Golbat), Meowths and many more. Not to mention, there are more than seven Pokestops at the rooftop of VivoCity alone, in very close proximity to each other. On National Day, most of these stops had lures, making it very fertile land indeed.

After what seems to be an interminable wait, rumour has it that Pokemon GO is all set to be rolled out in Southeast Asia within the next couple of days. If you want to stay ahead of the game, you may want to start scouting for possible PokeStops and Gyms scattered across Singapore. This is something you can do legally even before the game’s released.

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Save More on Online Shopping with ShopBack

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Source: ShopBack
shopbacklogo
Source: Facebook

I first wrote about ShopBack in late 2014 on Buyfromwhere. Since then, ShopBack has grown from strength to strength.

I was recently invited to be part of ShopBack’s Street Team, and my role is to spread the word. Since I am (slightly) incentivised to promote ShopBack (in return, you get incentives too!), I have decided to write an updated article about ShopBack, and why you should start using ShopBack now.

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Hachi.tech – Here Comes a New e-Shopping Challenger

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Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook

Hachi.tech (henceforth referred to only as Hachi) launched a few months ago, as Challenger’s new entrant to the increasingly crowded online shopping space. I did not pay much attention to it initially, because with a name like that, you would think that it’s selling geeky Japanese toys rather than real tech gadgets.

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McDonald’s Salted Egg Burger Review

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The first salted egg yolk dish I ever tried was this salted egg chicken rice at a food stall at Far Eat Plaza some two years ago. Since then, the popularity of the salted egg yolk flavour has grown from strength to strength, displacing truffle as the trending ingredient in Singapore’s culinary scene. If I were to open my own cafe now, I’ll probably call it “Salted Egg Yolk” and proceed to douse every edible thing I can think of in that delicious yellow gravy.

Well, maybe that’s not a very wise move since food trends come and go. But if you’re an incumbent player in the market looking to spice things up a little, following the trend can’t go very wrong, right?

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Game of Thrones: The Winds of Winter — A Fitting Finale

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What a finale. The Winds of Winter was by far, if not the best, one of the best episodes of Game of Thrones ever. Instead of leaving us with a cliffhanger (is Jon Snow dead or alive?), the episode deftly tied up most of the loose ends and for once, provided more answers than questions. …

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Free Grab rides every Monday

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Just received this in the mailer today…. It’s certainly hard to believe that time has passed us by so quickly–but yes, Grab is turning four this month. To enjoy the promotion, simply use the code GRAB4YEARS to get up to $15 off. This promo is valid every Monday in June (i.e. 6, 13, 20, and …

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