YouRail

A friend of mine from Bombardier told me about this design contest his company is having.

Called the YouRail Designcontest, the contest calls for design submissions in the categories of "The Leisure Passenger", "The Business Traveler" and "The Everyday Passenger". Basically you just design the train interior that you want it to be like. Seats orientation, colours, doors position, etc. I wonder if anyone will remove all the seats for the commuter version... Hur hur hur.

Or if you don't feel like firing up your CAD software, you can just do up a design for the seat fabric right at the website. Or even easier, you can go in and look at what others have submitted.


Kind of reminds me of the project we did for the module Human Factors for Engineering and Design, in which we redesigned the interior of a bus. Anyway if I'm not wrong, Singapore's Downtown Line will be using Bombardier trains.

Singapore Souvenirs

Besides the Small Thoughts, Big Ideas exhibition, we also went to nearby City Hall to visit the other exhibitions of Singapore Design Festival 2009.

One of them was Singapore Souvenirs, which as the name suggests, is a booth selling some of the related merchandises for the Design Festival. Again, you will find many uniquely Singapore stuff, like the set of instant drink mixes including Teh-C and Kopi-O, crossword puzzle with acronyms of "gahmen" agencies, chewing gum magnet, and the not-for-sale immigration stamp which I really like! (that picture is of kueh tutu, a local snack)


There are many other interesting events and exhibitions at the City Hall and other venues, such as V for Vase and Sustainab.Italy. Don't miss these events at the Singapore Design Festival 2009!

Small Thoughts, Big Ideas

Visited the Small Thoughts, Big Ideas exhibition held at The Arts House today and I really enjoyed it.

It is a fringe event of the Singapore Design Festival 2009 featuring 15 industrial designers and well, their designs. I particularly like the "Park your Day" calendar, which resembles Singapore parking coupons. Definitely uniquely Singapore. Another one I like is the TeaStick which is basically a redesigned teabag which can hook onto the cup, saving the trouble of coiling that rope that comes with conventional teabags. But then, you won't be able to "fish (diao hur)" anymore~ Some of the industrial designers were there to present their works as well.


Really like their poster presentation as well. I guess it is one thing that engineers can learn from industrial designers.

The exhibition will be on till 29 November 2009.

last day at work

Yesterday was the last day of my temporary assignment. I bet I must be the first few in my graduate cohort to tender :P

I got this job through a blogger friend of mine, and I'm grateful for this opportunity. It was definitely not career, but working in a SME (small and medium enterprise) was really an eye-opener. The company is an IT related company, and I was the only mechanical guy (and non-computing guy) around, so all day I hear Martian languages. At the beginning I was doing some marketing related stuff, then later on I was involved in some research project. Really, don't underestimate SMEs, they actually have very impressive clientele.

The working culture is also quite fast-paced, and the people there are very dynamic. They do task like coding, product development, business development, HR, finance, marketing, etc. Work aside, they are very nice people too. Although I was just a temp, they treated me to a Japanese restaurant for a sumptuous lunch on my last day.

So, what I want to say is, don't rule out SMEs in your job option. You may pick up something new there.

super glue warranty

I was looking at the packaging of the Yamayo super glue (those 50cents ones from bargain shops, elephant sold separately) and it says "2 years warranty".

Erm, what is there to warranty about? A product that is selling at 50cents also has warranty...

But I must say these super glues are very handy lifesavers, especially when your shoe's sole come off at the middle of nowhere. Mine came off at the road junction yesterday. The other time the Father's came off at the airport, but of course they don't sell the super glue at 50cents at the airport.

booking engineering

I don't stay glued to books during meal time or bed time, but I do enjoy some light readings during rides on the MRT or when waiting for things to happen (ie, meetings).

If you stroll down a little, you will see this bookjetty widget I have placed on the right sidebar of my blog. First thing first, I don't earn a dime from the widget. It is just a spot for me to share with everyone books that I find good reads. And on many occasions, coursemates and friends have talked to me about the books that I "put" there, discussing about the content and examples in the books, or asking me where can they get the books. I really like these kinds of sharing.

I'm a stingy bugger and seldom spend on books, so you can most likely find those books at public libraries, if not your institutions' libraries.

So are you sharing your reads too?

kitchen bot

Recently I've been reading and hearing a bit about kitchen automation. How's the thought of having robotic arms doing the cooking and dishwashing in kitchen, and truly liberating the women (and men like me) from the kitchen? I seriously think it can make great FYP.

One recent clip I saw showcases the prototypes from Panasonic.



I wonder if it is cheaper to develop such automated kitchen robots, or to train a chimp to do the honour.

You may also be interested in the ramen robot and dessert machine.

if you can do a better job

Last night I happened to catch a bit of the football match between the red shirts and the yellow shirts. I'm not a diehard football fan, but you don't need to have played FIFA to know what is a good pass and what is a bad pass. Definitely not the most enjoyable of matches.

Whenever I tell myself to be less unforgiving, I will ask myself this question: "If you are so good, then you go and take their place lah!" I am pretty sure any of the 11 on the pitch plays better football than me (maybe even on FIFA).

But it isn't difficult to counter that. Take consumer goods for example. You may complain about how inferior this $50 mobile phone is, but if I throw you $50, can you make a phone half as sophisticated? I bet you can't even mold its plastic case. But the thing is, there are alternatives, and if you can afford it, you can get a better phone. Same thing goes for football. If you can afford to watch better standard matches, go ahead.

Such is market force. If you want supporters, do a better job. It doesn't matter if people can't do it themselves, cos there are others who can.

massive violation

I saw a whole crowd of people violating traffic regulation by crossing the road when the red pedestrian light was on. The cars were at a red light too.

Not sure if you are aware of it, but in Singapore, those pedestrian traffic light with the button on the pole, will remain red until the cow comes home, if no one presses the button.

So it's an interesting social phenomenon. People furthest away from the pole assume that someone nearer to the pole would have pressed the button, and/or are too lazy to check if someone has pressed it (a red light lights up beside the button if it has been pressed). While those nearer to the pole just don't know that they have to press the button. A lot of assumptions, a lot of ignorances.

I wonder if you can plot a graph with x-axis denoting distance from the pole, and draw some conclusion.

repairing the tape measure

I had this cute self retracting tape measure that doubles up as a keychain. But lately it refused to retract, so the mechanics boy in me decided to open it up to try repairing it.

Opening it up wasn't an easy job since the parts were not only snap-fit but also glued. Inside I saw some plastic parts had already fractured (definitely not due to me opening it up). Then I tried to reload the clock spring but I overwound it and it sprung open into a mess. Anyway its edges were quite sharp too. So in the end I gave up and the tape measure keychain ended up in the bin.

Lesson: some products are not meant to be repaired. Either they are not designed to be so, or it is just not economical to repair. These tape measure cost something like $1?

mirror mirror in the lift

There are many functions of the mirrors in the lift. For helping wheelchair users to go in/out of the lift, for the office ladies to touch up on their makeup, for aesthetic purposes (the infinity mirror can be freaky), etc etc.

I just discovered one more function: to catch pervert doing down-blouse or staring at boobs.

disruptive technology with teva vs keen

My old pair of Teva sandals has been with me for some 7-8 years. But like any product, it has reached its end of life, with the soles so smooth I thought it is time to decommission it. (those who drive should know how dangerous "botak" tyres are). I bought a new pair of Teva recently during one store's promotion.

Actually before this, I have been using the Keen Newport H2 hybrid shoes since beginning last year. I really like them a lot, and the Teva became backup. But just last week something unfortunate happened: the sole came off during one rainy day. Now I'm back to Teva.

Let me look at the Keen as a disruptive technology, something I learned during Engineering Product Development.


The Teva satisfies the user's latent need for a pair of sandals, but the Keen provides customer delights with its rubber toe, which I like VERY VERY much. If someone kicks my toe, the one who screams pain will definitely not be me. Now back with the Teva my toes look and feel very vulnerable, especially on crowded public transport. However a pair of footwear with soles coming off doesn't sound very delighting. Anyway nowadays Teva is also coming up with covered-toe sandals. Will rubber toes take over the outdoor sandals market?

Just hoping the contact glue works like magic so that I can wear back my hybrid.

objectified

I chanced upon this trailer of the documentary film Objectified, which is about people's relationship with manufactured objects. Product design type may like it.

engineers and hrm

Technology professionals such as engineers may be good at their technical fields, but many-a-times they don't know how to handle the most dynamic resource they have: human resource. Now I am kind of glad that my university included a module on human resource management (HRM) in our engineering curriculum.

I'm not trained in business or management, so I'm no expert in HR (although I worked in manpower before). But we do know how we want to be managed. Or how we don't want to be managed. I've heard and seen many cases of bosses scolding employee right in front of everyone, peers trying to cover their backside in front of boss by pushing blame away to colleagues (eg, saying things like "I thought I told you already?" You thought, but you didn't), or claiming credits of others (eg, your subordinate comes up with good suggestion, you told your boss it's your own suggestion)

Ok, it sounds beyond HR, more like ugly behaviours.

But employers and supervisors should realize that workers are tools to help you earn money and tools to help you do your work (tools as in assets, not tools like spanner that you can throw around). So when you help your workers, you are actually helping them to help yourself. Why make life difficult and unhappy for them?

This clip was shown during my HR class in university. See if you can pick up any HR tips.

quote of the day

Overload. Please get off last one.
- the lift at my workplace

It was all fine and sunny as people entered the lift. Then this oversize woman entered and the lift's buzzer sounded. She didn't even moved an inch as the lift repeated the line. Then one thinner (and I suppose lighter) person, who entered before the woman, got off. Still overload. Madam Oversize still didn't move. Another person got off. In the end 3 people got off just to let the lift move on.

And later on she was the first to get off the lift, at 3rd floor.

Some people just refuse to face reality, that they are overweight and they are the last one. While others sacrifice.

Clean and Green Singapore 2010 Carnival

Went to the Clean and Green Singapore 2010 Carnival held at HortPark over the weekend. Through exhibits and activities booths, the event promotes environmental friendly practises and also showcases the nation's journey in clean and green.



I think the event was very meaningful, especially some organizations ferried busloads of senior citizens to visit the event. It is one thing to be aware of some of the good practises and the green technology, but another thing to put them really into practise. The activities (and the gift redemption from recycling plastic bottles) should give visitors a feel of doing it. However I guess the printed matters were a bit too much considering the theme of the event.

quote of the day

Sim Lim Square is the place to get computer stuff right?
Sim Lim Tower is the place to get stuff to make computer right?