1. Browse for the server NPSTD on your network neighbourhood if you’re on a PC. Mac people are supposed to hit Cmd + K and then enter in “smb://npstd.npnet.np.edu.sg”.
2. Enter your Student ID and password (eg. s12345678 and password)
3. Browse for the folder called “Apps”.
4. Hunt down the relevant apps you want in either “MSCampus” or “MacApps”.

NP has changed her reseller for Apple this year. It might be the worst mistake it has made.

Sapura is charging a premium from $300 and above for every Mac they are selling. Take for example the Macbook Pro.

The selling price of $3411.16 (inclusive of GST) is way above the $2788 (inclusive of GST) educational price that the Apple Store online is offering. This is the same price for educational products that Apple resellers will sell you in any Brick and Mortar shops.

There are no differences in the specs apart from the “freebies” that are given.

Sure Final Cut Express, the Dicota bag as well as Applecare sure are worth more than the $623 bucks you pay but do you seriously need all the stuff mentioned?

Microsoft Office 2008 and gang are preloaded because the school has brought the educational site license for them. You do not need Norton Antivirus for your Mac, because it will slow down your system. It only exists as part of the IT policy of the school. If I am not wrong, Final Cut Express is also available in some computer labs.

So essentially you do not need those. So what are you really paying $623 for? Applecare?

That would be bullshit because firstly, the Applecare provided is a variant of the normal Applecare you pay $503.20 for. This “educational”Applecare are Macs with serial numbers that correspond to an education sale to educational institutions with support being provided by the reseller. You could call it sub standard support even though Applecare centres in Singapore cannot refuse to fix your Mac.

Even with that, the $623 is still $119.0 too much.

[Sapura NP Link from MeL]

Updates: Same reseller, different name.

A student is allowed to buy a new laptop from the school’s suppliers every academic year. And with the upcoming Laptop Sales on the 13th of March, its time to cash in on the opportunity.

If you have the funds to support this investment, buy one and sell it to people outside Ngee Ann for a small premium of say… $100-200. Why these “school” laptops are worth selling is because they come with a 3 year warranty support and software like Windows Vista and Office. Of course, there might be legal implications selling school licensed software, but what people don’t know won’t hurt them.

All the school promo websites are down now, but my best bet would be to go with reselling Macs. The other brands include Lenovo(IBM), Fujitsu, and Acer.

For the uninitiated, internet access in NP is spotty at best with different areas of the school having different quality of service. That coupled with the fact that the NP firewall is shit crazy about blocking incoming and outgoing traffic, it makes for a very interesting experience in getting access to certain apps.

The only known ports so far that are open are the HTTP proxy ports (8080) and ICQ (5190). For the more technically inclined, it is not a problem using port 5190 to get your internet fix by running your own servers somewhere. But for the rest of us, you can use a HTTP proxy service called your-freedom.

A plausible guide for Mac users can be found here. The setup experience is almost similar for PC users with an updated client compared to the volunteer effort on the Mac front.

To complete the holy trinity of HTTP proxying and your freedom to get your internet access, you will also have to take a look at SocksCap. Because your-freedom runs its own Socks server, applications that want to use its features have to be able to do socks proxying of their connection. This might not be available for some applications (like MapleStory for the kids).

SocksCap helps in this department by intercepting network messages and dumping it through a socks proxy server like the one your-freedom runs to give you a complete solution for proxying anything you want (like MapleStory). The guide here should suffice in its configuration.

Have fun!

Incidentally, tor is also a good alternative although its really really slow.

We know it sucks that the CCA listings on SDARs homepage is not really updated thanks to them not having the time to do it. So we’re stepping in to ensure that we can an updated directory of links that everyone can use.

So check it out here. If you are a CCA and do not already have your site linked up because we do constant trolling on Google, just send us an email and we’ll be glad to add you to the directory.

Updates: We’ve a whole bunch of new links up. Please continue to write in to us if you have a site so we can put it up for the benefit of everyone.

DSC00753, originally uploaded by theunofficialngeeannweblog.

I had a chance during the Open House to sneak into one of the campus tours going around the School of Film Media Studies.

I’ve always been cynical about this school considering their reputation of churning out haughty pretentious people who are adept at playing the office politics or in this case, school politics game. They also have been described as being fiercely nonchalant about everyone else, choosing to think they are the elite of the school.

I now fully understand how this mentality comes about. Media is huge, no matter how controlled and limiting it is in our country. To be in a place where mainstream media is produced to disseminate to the general population just makes you feel so special and famous.

Of course, its not that it actually happens here, but the general idea of the magnitude of the things that will be taught and possibly applied to a career in media is enough to make anyone want to come into this course.

Still, be forewarned that there are quirks in this course. I”ve been told on numerous occasions by the students in the course themselves that, “Either you get together with someone, or you turn gay.” or that the course is a perfect simulation of how it is like in the industry, with the numerous limitations on the content you can produce and the things you can actually do on some of their aging hardware.

Funny complaint letter from a TP Student might not be that there is actually anything to complain about, but at least it shows a different approach to being disgruntle about one’s own education institution.

The last issue is with the meaning of education. Oftentimes, we hear our leaders including MM Lee talking about the lack of local talent, the lack of grace, the need to move towards a first world nation. Actually, they have an answer to the problem which they created for themselves. That solution is through education. If we start empowering our educators and offer them the venue to work and help students without putting too much emphasis on KPIs, the teachers in our country might be able to inspire our students to achieve what we never imagine for the future of this country. – Simple is the Reason of My Heart

Its a jolly good time that we realise this and start changing. Its not always about the grades or whether what you spit out during your tests matches the answer sheet. Its how much you truely learn and interpret based on what you’ve gleaned from your educators.

There is no true indicators of education other than how a person grows up to become. And you cannot force someone if they do not want to learn.

if you swing by NP for the open house or visit the NP website, you will certainly see that NP boasts to have the most number of CCAs compared to the others.

well, there is certainly nothing wrong with having a hell lot of CCAs, in this present time and age, it is very normal for people to have different interests.

some like the good old kind while others prefer leather and chains.

it is absolutely fine to have tons of CCAs, yes?

i assume your nodding your head with agreement.

the question now is, what is the point of having tons of CCAs but not being able to support the financial requirements of the different CCAs?

you my dear friend(who has nothing better to do than to hear me rant about the inadequacies of NP) would probably not know about the financial problems faced by the CCAs.

let me just state a few for you to find out.
1. Canoing (sprint) does not have their own boats, they have to borrow.
2. Sailing club members have to pay for the rental of boats.
3. Rugby doesn’t have a scrum machine.
4. Cricket club does not have a proper-sized field to train on.
5. Bowling club members have to pay for their training sessions.

in NP, the two CCAs that are strongly supported are Dragon boat and Magnum Force(the cheerleaders).

i’ve spoken to the directors of Students’ Development and Alumni Relations(SDAR) and they told me the reason why, “it is because these two CCAs have a very good track record.”

granted that Dragon boat did very well for the recent IVP(Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic) competition.

how about Magnum Force?

when i entered NP a few years ago, they were the five time champions. right now, they are still the five time champions.

so is it really a matter of biasness or are the CCAs being rewarded for their achievements?

if it is the latter, then let me ask, where is the bowling alley? bowling club won 1st for both the ladies and men in the previous IVP competition.

bowling club has to go to SP’s alumni clubhouse to train. wait, doesn’t NP have an alumni clubhouse? oh yes, we do, it’s pathetic.

bottom line is, if you want to come to NP and join certain CCAs, be prepared for SDAR to tell you, “we don’t have the money.”

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