I recently checked out the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2011, a competition that brings together secondary school and students from tertiary institutes to create the most energy-efficient vehicles.

And it just so happens that Ngee Ann Poly's one of the only 4 schools that is representing Singapore, aside from ITE, ITE College West and NTU.

Now, moving on to kick-start the event - Magnum Force, our very own Cheerleading squad, went all out to showcase their awesome dance moves!

Our school had 2 teams. And hear this, their names are: Distanza Proto and Distanza UC! Cool huh! You would think that the event would be just slideshows and all that, but no, be surprised when Transformers music kick in with the driving in of the cars!

The sleek and sexy Prototype makes its grand entrance into the auditorium!

Next up, we have the Batman car-lookalike, UrbanConcept!

That, would be one of the 2 drivers, Jin Xin! (Both teams have 2 drivers each.)

The Director of Mechanical Engineering, Mr Peter Liang, emblazoning the Shell logo onto the eco-car!

After the ceremony ended, we all proceeded out to look at the cars, interview and chat with the team members.

Pay Chin Koon, the driver of NP's very own eco-car UrbanConcepts, told us that "there're probably around 100 pieces we put together for that car and it was a tedious process!"

The team manager, Sun Xianchong laughed a little when asked about the cool design of the car and said that it was "based on the idea of the fighter plane".

On the other side, Jerome Lee (pictured below), the driver of NP's other eco-car Prototype, was explaining why it was a challenge to take up this project and further explained about the process involved.

Wang Yuzhou, the team manager (pictured below), also emphasized that the whole process was "very hard as carbon-fibre fabrication takes a long time" and that they had to stay up from late nights till early mornings to build the car.

Despite knowing the challenges they face, the two gentlemen were pretty positive about the whole project.

The mechanism of eco-car: Prototype. Doesn't this look totally cool?

You wish you were as cool as them, driving this car, right! Pictured above: Poh Ziyi and Jin Xin!

That sums up the event, but here's something I'd like you guys to do to help the teams that've been working so hard:

Like their Facebook links here and here!

A diamond in the rough. This aptly describes Lourence Steven before National Service came along and transformed his life.

“I had always been an average student who had never aimed high or achieved much, but my army experience changed my whole attitude. Having to spend days in the mountainous terrain of Taiwan and the forest of Brunei really pushed me to the limit and made me realise that I could do so much more when put to the test. So, after finishing NS, I set a very clear goal for myself - get a good diploma in the next few years,” he recalled.

Lourence, who is now 25, went to a junior college before he enlisted for NS. He decided to give himself a second chance at getting a degree via the diploma route.

Today, Lourence can happily enjoy the fruits of his labour and bask in the limelight. Besides graduating as the gold medallist for the Mechanical Engineering course, he has also bagged the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew Award and Ngee Ann Polytechnic Outstanding Achievement Award.

Check out his interview with Razortv here!

Judging from my title and my previous post, I do believe you would know by now that I went to The F1 in Schools Championship today. And only one word can describe the whole event: MAGNIFICENT! I was absolutely delighted to see so many people at the Convention Centre. And they were not just any people. They were the participants of the championship, as well as those who came to support their country's team. Walking around and looking at the booths, I spotted one of the cooler displays. It's a car model of the Irish's team, Govannon Racing's car.

Look at it being suspended in the air! It was so cool I just had to GIF it.

Govannon Racing has the fastest timing so far, speeding at exactly 1.056 seconds!

Here are more photos to show you how excited and happy they were when the results were announced:

Competing with them was Czech Republic's team, Speed Performance Show Team. They have been preparing for this competition for 3 months! Can you imagine the amount of hardwork and effort they've put into this competition? It's just simply amazing!

All eyes on the car, ready to roll!

And here's a group shot of the team, who will be making more preparations for tomorrow's competition:

While walking about, I spotted some of our school's students who are playing hosts to the foreigners! They toured the different teams around Singapore yesterday and they have also been the teams' guide around the school and outside. Thanks for the hardwork people!

Meet Jojo, Nurul and Iskandar!

After going from booth to booth chatting with the teams, I located Singapore's very own team from Henderson Secondary School! They are a group of 4 secondary three students who have been going through years of training in the school's CCA (Design & Innovation). Schaeffler Hypersonic is the second fastest team, right behind Govannon Racing! I'm so proud of you guys, keep it up!

Check out the members of Schaeffler Hypersonic!

And here's one with our students and them:

After the timed races, we were all requested to be seated as we listened to Richard Bradley - renowned British kart racing champion and F1 in Schools Ambassador. And I tell you this, I never knew that there was so much to benefit from motorsports until I attended this talk. It was so fascinating! Swiftly after he got off the stage, I went up to him and took a picture with him!

I'm just so honoured to be standing next to him.

Check out the souvenirs I got today:

All in all, I'm really glad I came down to school today for this event. I think this one-in-a-lifetime experience is really worth it. The whole event was such an eye-opener for me. On top of that, I also got to chat with lots of lovely people! Even though I may not have the opportunity to attend the actual F1 racing with all the famous racers, I feel contented that I actually attended this event, held in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. If it was the old me, I could never understand the excitement and nervousness of watching a race, anticipating the results. But after today's experience, I do believe I will never forget this feeling I felt today. So, to all of you out there, head down to Ngee Ann Polytechnic Convention Centre to catch the competitions! Once again, this is Noel zooming off~ Till next time!

Heya people! How ya doing? It’s about two weeks more till school starts and I’m not so psyched about seeing the school buzzing with people. Well... I’m currently on my internship at school, and it’s been awesome because there’s no one to fight with me for seats during lunch!

And all of that will change when the freshies come in to school. *inserts sad face* No more walking slowly to Makan Place (the food court closest to my office at m:idea) because there will be tonnes of people rushing to get tables, so I will also have to chiong to get seats!

Annnyyyywaaaaayyy. Talking about freshies, I can still somewhat remember the first day I came to Ngee Ann. I got lost about half the time because the place was just too big! I was a bit of a clueless idiot back then, so it wasn’t easy find my way around. And compared to my secondary school, Ngee Ann was just really, really HUGE! (This is usually the part where my friends go, "And that's what she said!" >n<)

And guess what I’ve found! APPS! APPS IN THE ITUNES STORE! And it’s not just any kind of app. It’s a.... wait for it..... campus map app called iNP. That. Is. Awesome. Right? *smiles at you and commands you to say yes* And it's done by the friendly people from iMedia Centre! :D

Hehe. And there’s cool features that allow you to quickly find hotspots like lecture theaters, canteens, nearest toilets and even carparks. Plus, you can also easily find different routes to get to places depending on the weather. No more worries about looking for sheltered routes when it’s a rainy day!

Pretty cool, huh? The routes are highlighted in pink (in left piccy) and you see info about the schools in the right piccy.

My only complaint: WHY DIDN’T IT COME OUT EARLIER?!

As an avid Apple supporter here with a MacBook, 2 iPhones, 1 iPod and tons of accessories bought just to keep my shiny toys pretty, this app would have been super super super handy for a klutz like me!

But. It’s OK. It’s here now, and that’s all that matters. But this post isn’t just stopping here, because guess what? There’s more!

There’s also apps for npTribune (our campus newspaper), UrbanWire (an entertainment e-zine), NP News (news for affiliates and partners of NP), and eXtra Magazine (an e-zine for Ngee Ann). Though there doesn’t seem to be an app for HYPE yet, I’m quite certain it’s probably in the makings! (Or maybe it's just me wishing really hard ^^) Who knows, it may turn out to be like those insanely cool magazines for iPhones! *does a happy dance*

Um.... Yes. I was kind of listening to the Glee soundtrack album when I did the screenshot. Hee hee :P

Alright alright, I’ve probably done enough yapping already. Go check it out in your iTunes store, and if you have an iPhone or iTouch, download it! Just search for Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and you should come to this page. (BTW I can't find a webpage link so you can go directly to the page, so if you know how to, let me know via comment and I'll send you virtual cookies and kisses hehe) Gogogogo! :D

EDIT: Here's the link to the app store! Thanks Ee-Lon! http://itunes.com/apps/ngeeannpolytechnic

And finally on an unrelated note: my heart breaks for this shiny new iPad that I waaaaaaant. They could have given me this iPad instead of smashing it up. :(

PS: Notice how the guy is using an iPhone to record a video of the iPad being smashed? O.O

So! Leave a comment below and let me know what you think! :)

Hey there! How has your holidays been going so far? For those of you who’ve just been admitted into Ngee Ann, I’m sure some of you have been heading down to our Convention Centre to get your laptops for school. So here I am with some of my favourite apps ever that you can get to prepare your laptop for those hectic school days that are sure to come!

#1. WriteRoom (Mac, $24.99)
http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom

WriteRoom is like, my favourite app of all time. Being a writer myself, I just love the simplicity of the app. It just makes it so easy to concentrate on writing alone and not get distracted by anything else. You know, like procrastinating and doing stuff like checking your email or chatting with your friends on MSN instead of working on that essay you have due tomorrow!

PS: If you haven’t experienced procrastination yet, hehehehe... Then again, there are some people who are just waaaay too organised and immune to procrastination. T_____T

Yup, that's a screenshot of me working on this blog post! ;) And on the right is how it'd look like on a Mac!

Unfortunately, though, WriteRoom is not a free app - I got mine only because of the MacHeist Nano bundle last December. But! I have an alternative for you. Although not as sleek as WriteRoom imo, this app still manages to get the work done properly! Plus, it works on Win and Linux too ‘cause it runs on Java, so that’s another bonus for those of you non-Mac users!

Alternative: JDarkRoom (Mac/Win/Linux, free)
http://www.codealchemists.com/jdarkroom/

JDarkRoom is almost exactly like WriteRoom, but not only that, it also allows you to customise the colours that you see on your screen. Personally, it doesn't do much for me, but maybe it's to your taste! ;)

Colourful, eh?

And now we move on to our second app of the day!

#2. iProcrastinate (Mac, free)
http://www.craigotis.com/mac/

iProcrastinate is one of the few free task manager apps that I have found. I’m kind of like a geek that way because I go around searching for free apps when I’m bored and feeling techie. Anyway, it's awesome because it has features that allow you to create subjects for your different modules, and then in those modules, you can create different tasks for your homework.

Another awesome feature about it is that it allows you to link files to your tasks, so let’s say that you’re working on an essay (heh, again with the essay), you can link the document you’re working on to your task. It makes it easy to get to your document and get straight to work, instead of spending time searching for the document.

Then again, this might not be your cup of tea. Maybe you prefer seeing all your tasks in one list instead of categorising them. So here’s another alternative!

Alternative: Remember the Milk (online, free)
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/

This is another pretty good task manager (though it’s technically not an app), and there’s quite a couple of features in it. The good thing about this is that you get to take your tasks with you everywhere, so if you have an iPhone (or some other device with 3G), you are literally connected on the go!

Some old tasks I'd completed! :)

And now we come to our third app of the day!

#3. Freemind (Mac/Win/Linux, free)
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Download

I love mindmapping. In fact, I strongly believe in using it when I’m brainstorming because that’s when ideas just pop out from nowhere in my head and it’s just impossible to put my thoughts down linearly. Mindmapping allows me to just think and connect different ideas in my head, so it’s extremely useful to have an app like this on standby! It’s also very simple and easy to use, with no complicating head-messing features that you don’t really need. The good thing about this app: It runs on Java, so it works on almost any operating system with Java. Good for you, eh? ;)

A little story outline I did. Hehehe

And sometimes, after all that hard work, you just need to unwind a little! So here’s the fourth app that you definitely need!

#4. VLC (Mac/Win/Linux, free)
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

VLC runs on almost any operating system out there, so that’s one plus point for it. Personally, the reason why VLC is one of my favourite apps is simply ‘cause it is just able to play nearly every file format that I’ve thrown at it so far. And it also allows you to increase the volume of the video by 400%, which is absolutely awesome! Sometimes the audio of the video that I’m watching is just too soft, so this lets me amp up the volume and hear clearly what they’re saying. ;)

And yup, that's Lips of An Angel by Hinder ;)

And finally we come to our last app of the day!

#5. Tweetdeck (Mac/Win/Linux, free)
http://www.tweetdeck.com/

Tweetdeck. Hehehe. Well, in case you didn’t know, Tweetdeck is an application for Twitter, so you get to check your tweets and stuff on it. The good thing about it is that it allows you to add multiple accounts from Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and even LinkedIn! You can also create custom Twitter lists and easily check up on who’s tweeting what. :)

As a side note: I know more than a couple of friends who’ve decided that they’re not joining the twittering frenzy, but here’s why you should: You get to follow your favourite artistes and see what they’re tweeting, and if you follow Straits Times and Channel News Asia, you also get news on the go! So it’s not just all pleasure, but you get informational stuff too. Hehe.

So what are you waiting for? Most of these apps are free, so go get those apps now! If you think you’ve got a better app to recommend, let me know in the comments below :)

PS: We’re on Twitter too, so follow us @npfriends if you haven’t! Go go go! :D

Helllooo guys, so how have you been? March holidays are here, aren't there?

Well, I know I'm a little slow in talking about this, but forgive me because firstly, I'm not exactly tech smart, and secondly, I definitely don't have the money to indulge in techie gadgets. Ok, maybe I would if I stop spending so much on food. Anyway, last week I finally got my hands on this baby...

Yezz, I've got my hands on the iPhone after it's been out for like, forever, and almost everyone out there has an iPhone. I swear, when I board the train, I can definitely spot at least one person with an iPhone in the same cabin. Regardless, I got myself a white one because the guy at the shop told me that "white would look nicer when you put a neon coloured casing". I regretted my colour choice, however, once I stepped out of the shop. ):

And then I went into a massive iPhone frenzy for the next few days! Ok I'm actually sort of still in my iPhone frenzy right now, because the sheer number of applications available on the App Store is simply amazing! And I'm not even talking about the paid ones! There're plenty of free ones to go about, and they are really awesome. And I even manage to get myself addicted to TAP TAP REVENGE 3. Hehe.

Hahah, well, actually I'd thought that I would be a massive failure at this game because I have really bad hand-eye coordination but so far it's been good! :D I get to tap my fingers to my favourite tunes and with every stage I pass, i get to download even more free tracks! Not only that, did I mention it's free? :) Haha, okay, games aside, there's another application that's been really useful to me, so I hope it is for you guys too!

And it's *drumrolls* SGBUSES..

The really cool thing about SGBUSES is that it not only tells you the routes of the different buses, it also tells you the arrival times of the buses you want to take. I absolutely LOVVVVVEEE this function because knowing when the next bus is coming really helps me to plan my time properly. Plus, the weather these days has been insanely warm, and waiting at the bus stop for a long time would make me perspire like crazy. so with this app, I make sure I time everything nicely so that my wait will be a short one! Consider this ap when you are in school or in NP. It will help a lot, especially if you're rushing your projects or homework. :)

With all these amazing applications coming up, if only there was an application we could use in NP! Like maybe this application to tell us if Makan Place (our popular air con food court) has available seats so we wouldn't have to wait around during the busy lunch periods for seats, or maybe even to look for other food alternatives! (Sorry, food is really what I can think of!) Or even one that can surf as a GPS to navigate around NP when we get lost! That'll be quite cool, don't you think? Especially for the first years coming in April! Dear Editor, are you reading this? :)

Ok, I'm off to continue tapping you know what. Let me know what you think. Do you own an iPhone yourself? Or are you sticking to the traditional handphone model? Leave a comment below, and that's it! Till next time! <3