Sony offers cut-price PlayStation

A cut price PlayStation 3 (PS3) with a smaller hard drive and no backwards compatibility with previous consoles goes on sale later this month.

The £299 (HKD$4,738) PS3 has a 40-gigabyte hard disk and will be released in Europe, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.

Link.

The time has come to act on class sizes

The education community should reject the chief executive's policy address if it does not include a commitment to reducing class sizes, a leading principal told an education forum this week.

"If the policy address does not say when small-class teaching can be implemented, I think we should not accept [the chief executive's] homework," said Tsoi Kai-chun, chairman of the Subsidised Primary Schools' Council.

Speaking at a forum on small-class teaching at Hong Kong Institute of Education on Thursday, he urged the government to begin reducing class sizes from next September.

Mr Tsoi said the chief executive should turn "adversity into an opportunity" in dealing with the declining student population.

"A third of primary schools are already being forced to teach small classes due to falling enrolments," Mr Tsoi said. "We are ready for this change. We are just waiting for this one thing: for the chief executive to give the go-ahead."

There have been reports Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen is likely to unveil plans to extend free education to senior secondary from 2009, coinciding with the implementation of the "3+3+4" reforms.

But although speakers said it would send a positive message, some criticised the move as a political one that would have a minimal effect on the quality of education.

"This is unrelated to the quality of education," said Choi Kwok-kwong, chairman of Education Convergence. "It is not an educational question, it is a political one." The small-class issue was also political. "Once there is a loud enough call from society, it will happen," Mr Choi said.

Principal Assistant Secretary for Education Ip Ling-bik appeared to indicate the government could be willing to alter its "wait-and-see" approach to the issue. She said although the pilot study into small-class teaching in 37 primary schools would not be released until late next year, early results appeared to show benefits.

"Teachers recognise they need to change from their traditional role," Ms Ip said. "When they do . . . there is a better relationship between teachers and students."

School leadership was an important factor in how well teachers adapted to the change. "Some of the principals in the pilot scheme are able to do something to enable the school to make big changes."

Ip Kin-yuen, principal of HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity and a former lecturer at HKIEd, said it was not necessary to wait until teachers had been prepared for that change before reducing class sizes.

"I hope we can give our teachers an opportunity to learn this at the same time as they are teaching smaller classes," he said.

However, Alex Cheung Chi-hung, chairman of the Aided Primary School Heads' Council, questioned whether it would be practical to reduce class sizes across the school system starting next September.

"Schools are already crying out for help due to difficulties finding qualified English teachers."

Lai Kwok-chan, head of the HKIEd's Centre for Development and Research in Small Class Teaching, the forum organiser, said it was impossible to predict Wednesday's speech.

"We don't know what will be in the policy address as the education sector has heard nothing from the government," Dr Lai said. "We hope to hear some good news."

Consider your present situation, do you wish to have a smaller class size? Is it going to improve your learning experience?

iPods cheap in Hong Kong, but a Brazil bank-breaker

In the market for a new video iPod? Head to Hong Kong or, if Europe-bound, stop off in Switzerland. But best avoid Brazil.

Link.

Ultra-thin TV to hit the market

An ultra-thin television brighter and crisper than current generation screens will go on sale from Sony in December.

Link

Is this our future?

10.40pm. 32°C. The future's red hot for HK

This is the first thermal satellite image of Hong Kong taken in summer - and it shows just how hot the nights can get in urban areas.

The high-resolution image, taken by Nasa's Terra satellite at 10.40pm on August 4, shows broad swathes of Kowloon sweltering in temperatures of 32 degrees Celsius or higher (shown as white and red on the map).

It was taken for researchers at Polytechnic University who are studying the urban heat island effect in Hong Kong - the tendency for densely populated urban areas to become much warmer than nearby rural areas.

Janet Nichol, associate professor in its department of land surveying and geo-informatics, said the picture - taken during a record-breaking 12-day period of very hot weather - was the shape of things to come.

"The temperatures are exceptionally hot for the night ... It is a very, very good example of the extreme of the urban heat island effect we might expect in future. Based on predictions of a three degree increase in air temperature in Hong Kong by 2050, these periods may become quite commonplace in the next 10 years."

Professor Nichol, who runs the project with Dr Lam Ka-se, of the department of civil and structural engineering, said the image was taken using a novel technique that is accurate to within 10 metres - nine times the resolution of a typical satellite image.

The variation is caused by the greater heat absorbency of man-made materials and concentrations of tall buildings which limit air flow.

Professor Nichol said the urban heat island had expanded markedly into Hung Hom and Whampoa and towards West Kowloon since the team's first satellite picture of Hong Kong was taken in January. The 490-metre-high International Commercial Centre and subway station under construction at Union Square could be factors, while air conditioners were a likely contributor in mixed residential and commercial areas.

"We didn't expect to see any heat island effect in the Union Square area because it is near the coast," she said. "This could be the start of a general expansion of the heat island towards southwest Kowloon."

Residents of Tai Kok Tsui are campaigning against plans to build a 40-storey tower block they say will complete a "great wall" of buildings that will block the area's last air corridor.

People have been complaining about the intense heat of Hong Kong's summer, but not many people have tried to evaluate the whole issue from a more scientific point of view. This thermal satellite image reveals us something we have not witnessed before. What should we do? Should we all just sit back and enjoy our cool air-conditioning at home?

Nokia's poster advertisement at New York

See whether you are familiar with the latest gadget trend in the world. This is a poster ad found in New York. The thing I want you to find out is which product is this ad attacking? If you've read this post and have an answer, just tell me in my lessons.

(It's interesting to find out how many of you have actually been visiting this blog on a daily basis.)

Where is the missing stone?

One of our historic city boundary stones is missing

The government is hunting for a missing boundary stone, one of at least seven marking the limits of the city of Victoria, the first urban settlement in Hong Kong after it became a British colony.

The stone disappeared in June during slope renovation work on Magazine Gap Road.

"The Antiquities and Monuments Office has been attempting to approach the owners of the private lot for the whereabouts of the stone, but has yet to get a reply," a spokesman for the Development Bureau said.

Winfoong International Limited, the owner of the private lot on which the stone had stood, claims to know little about the missing marker.

"We are not aware of this stone and we have no further information to provide," company secretary Julia Cheng Kin-nam said.

When Hong Kong Island was occupied by Britain in January 1841, there were 16 villages. In 1843, Britain created the city of Victoria covering Sheung Wan, Central and Wan Chai. The government later erected boundary stones on Hong Kong Island marking the city limits. Each stone bears the inscription "City Boundary 1903".

Six boundary stones can be found on Sai Ning Street, Pokfulam Road, Hatton Road, Old Peak Road, Bowen Road and Wong Nai Chung Road, all on government land. In late 2005, a seventh stone was rediscovered along Magazine Gap Road on a private lot.

But the granite stone, half embedded in a retaining wall, disappeared during slope reinforcing works between June 10 and 14.

Lee Chak-yan, the chairman of the Hong Kong History Study Circle, the group that discovered the seventh stone in 2005, said: "The seventh stone means a lot in our history. It was the footprint of the city's early urban development."

Joseph Ting Sun-pao, author of The City of Victoria and the former chief curator of the Museum of History, confirmed the providence of the seventh stone last year.

Mr Lee wrote an urgent e-mail to the Antiquities and Monuments Office in June regarding the missing stone. The office's assistant curator, Lui Kin-pui, replied a month later to say its status as a boundary stone could not be confirmed.

"I was so outraged that the government failed to recognise this significant city pillar," said Mr Lee, who launched a letter-writing campaign this month to urge the chief executive to find out the fate of the stone.

"It is possible there is an eighth stone around Wan Chai Gap Road, according to the location and distribution of other boundary stones," Mr Lee, who has been searching for boundary stones since 2005, said.

"Historical documents reveal that boundary stones are usually fixed on main roads. Wan Chai Gap Road was one of the main roads along the boundary of Victoria city," he said.

A spokesman for the Lands Department said there were no official records detailing how many boundary stones had been erected.

Concerning the other stones, the spokesman said: "Relevant departments have been requested to alert the monuments office of any works proposals that may affect these stones, so the office can render appropriate advice to protect them."

None of the boundary stones have been graded or declared monuments, so they have no legal protection against damage or demolition.

Other countries do not treat something like this so lightly. Should we be more aware of our history?

Bike Hits 130.7 mph. On Snow

33 year old Austrian Markus Stoeckl has smashed the World Speed Record for series mountain bikes. Link.

(Wired Blogs)

Is Singapore doing a better job in preserving their cultural heritage?

As Hong Kong's historically minded repeatedly try in vain to save even the ugliest of its long-standing man-made structures, our old rival to the south has become a relative beacon of preservation.
Singapore's well-established ethnic enclaves - Chinatown, Little India and the Malay quarter of Kampong Glam - are still defined by rows of gaily painted shophouses, many built a century ago and restored to perfection. Government building restrictions ensure these districts retain the charms, if not the vitality and - in some cases - sleaze, of decades past.

But, in a densely populated state where land is at a premium, history sometimes has to take a back seat to more pressing concerns. In its drive to ensure a swelling population has ample space to live, work and play, Singapore's main land planning agency, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), has adopted a "pragmatic yet flexible" approach to preservation, which has recently produced some controversial results.

When an ageing structure can't be preserved in its entirety, URA guidelines - or concessions by developers - often ensure chunks of it are retained and integrated into a new project, producing a growing number of apartments, hotels and retail spaces that fuse modern structures onto old facades or foundations. Some see these creations as a harmonious marriage of past and present, or at least the best compromise possible in a space-scarce country. Others dismiss "hybrid" developments as monstrosities, and have bestowed a name upon them that now resonates throughout the island's webpages and media outlets: Frankenstein buildings.

Few spots are more emblematic of this struggle than Amber Road, a sedate neighbourhood in eastern Singapore just a few blocks from the beach. Tucked among the high-rise condominiums that now dominate the area is Butterfly House, a mansion built nearly a century ago by A.J. Bidwell, the British architect responsible for the iconic Raffles Hotel. The imposing residence, now a forlorn, fading yellow, has a number of captivating touches: multiple Renaissance-style archways, open verandas that once overlooked the sea, decorative carvings framing windows. But its most distinctive features are those that lend it its moniker - the sweeping, curved "wings" that extend from the centre of the house to form a graceful crescent, designed to admit as much of the ocean breeze as possible. It is the only structure of its kind left.

Unfortunately Butterfly House's wings are about to be clipped. Last August, developer AG Capital snatched up the mansion for S$9 million (HK$46 million) and quickly unveiled plans to erect an apartment block on the plot. No doubt to the company's - and the government's - surprise, the move sparked what amounted to a torrent of resistance in a city where most forms of protest are restricted. Independent bloggers, activists and concerned members of the public joined forces with preservation-focused civic group Historic Architecture Rescue Plan (Harp) to bombard the developer and the URA with e-mails and letters that called for the house to be designated a conservation property and saved.

This was where things became complicated. After consultations with the developer and advocates for the property, the URA agreed the house needed to be spared - but only part of it. In June, the authorities unveiled a plan to name the plot of land at 23 Amber Road, along with the porch and entry hall of Butterfly House, a conservation area. No mention was made of the rear of the house or its characteristic wings, leaving the developer free to hack them off to make room for the building going up directly behind. AG Capital now envisions residents scurrying through the residence's facade on their way to lifts that will whisk them to 18 storeys of flats boasting sea views.

The company declined to be interviewed for this article, but director Tan Chee Beng was quoted in Singapore's Straits Times as saying the firm was a "good citizen" for agreeing to spare part of a building that was close to being demolished. The URA, too, is calling the planned condominium a "win-win" solution. The preservation-minded, of course, beg to differ.

"It will be an eyesore, a blight on the Amber Road landscape, and will constantly remind people of another chapter in Singapore's history of hideous architectural mistakes," says Harp spokesman Terrence Hong.

The development is bound to be a "disaster" as Butterfly House's curved arcades "are the whole point of the building", agrees Ed Poole, a renowned Singapore-based architect who has reinvented several historic properties for corporate clients. "What's the use of conserving the rest?" According to the URA, applications to develop conservation properties have increased only slightly - 410 in the past year, compared with 387 in the 12 months before - but groups such as Harp say with the property market growing at fever pitch, there's no doubt higher prices have increased pressure on Singapore's shrinking roster of old homes.

A Georgian-style house in the central neighbourhood of Tiong Bahru, a unique twin-domed shophouse on the border of Little India and Singapore's former French embassy are among the properties on Harp's endangered list.

If past and present experience is anything to go by, many of these structures could end up in awkward marriages. Last March, the new incarnation of the Cathay Building, Singapore's first skyscraper, opened for business with a decidedly avant-garde design but its 1930s art-deco facade intact. The family home of former Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation chairman Tan Chin Tuan now sits at the foot of a 20-storey luxury apartment block. Buyers at Draycott8, a high-end residential development off the shopping hub of Orchard Road that commands prices of about S$2,000 per square foot, gain access to Singapore's largest condominium clubhouse - an intact two-storey colonial-era home that now contains mahjong and billiard rooms.

And more are on the way. A stone's throw from Amber Road, developer Singapore Land is erecting the Grand Duchess at St Patrick's, which will place five condominium blocks around the former seaside bungalow of merchant Tan Soo Guan (a descendant of 19th-century businessman and benefactor Tan Kim Seng), erected in the 1920s.

Just to the north, a key landmark of the still-quaint Katong district, the fiery red Katong Bakery and Confectionary, is about to get a new lease of life as part of a serviced apartment and retail complex after nearly 80 years of dishing out cakes and curry puffs.

Those involved in these projects are quick to note not all "hybrid" developments are created equal. Peter Wong of ADDP Architects, the lead architect on the Grand Duchess project, points out it will maintain Tan's bungalow in its entirety - as a clubhouse of course - and treat it with respect.

"The idea we have here is we not only wanted to conserve the physical building; we wanted to recreate the spirit of the place, bringing back the nostalgic lifestyle unique to Katong, where people have their afternoon tea along the verandas of the bungalow and children swim and have fun in the waters of the pool: a reflection of the sea that used to be there before the reclamation of land," he says.

Zahid Yacob of Warees Investments, which owns the Katong Bakery, acknowledges the building is "almost a monument" and says the company will preserve the exterior, "right down to the red colour".

Warees has communicated its plans to Katong retailers and grassroots groups, who feel it will "revive the whole area, and that's very much welcomed", Yacob adds.

Those who look askance at "Frankenstein" creations point out they all seem to serve the same purpose - shopping or housing - and that many end up cut off to the public.

"This whole half-and-half concept has gone off on a tangent in Singapore," says Hong, sighing. "On a small scale it could work, but right now most of [these projects] are just lip service for conservation."

Agencies such as Harp believe that while the government may have good intentions, conservation rules tend to favour developers - and add fuel to the Frankenstein-building fire. Authorities keep a tight grip on the Kampong Glam, Chinatown and Little India districts while permitting companies to demolish the rear portions of shophouses and homes to erect new buildings in slightly younger "secondary settlements" such as Joo Chiat and Jalan Besar. Here, it's only the original fronts that have to be maintained as long as developers abide by local height restrictions.

The status of independent properties is usually evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with the value of conservation as well as the development potential and economic impact of a site all taken into consideration. According to a URA spokeswoman, if a historically significant bungalow sits on a large plot of land the agency will typically require a company to work the whole structure into building plans. But if the site is relatively tight - as is the case with Amber Road - "an old and new approach is usually adopted, to allow the familiar streetscape and street experience to be retained", while helping a developer "to meet its objectives by building a new block at the rear". Few could contest the URA's assertion that given Singapore's growth plans - the government hopes to push the population from 4 million to 6 million in the next few years - trade-offs between preservation and the need to ready the country for a more crowded future are inevitable. But Hong still argues the administration could do more to save Singapore's visible history, such as offering tax rebates for people or companies that buy and maintain old houses.

Poole is more blunt: "There are a lot of interesting buildings tucked around, but the way Singapore's going there's going to be nothing left."

He believes his colleagues and developers have a responsibility to guard the historic architecture in their care, noting many "wipe out interesting internal details" when reworking conservation properties for contemporary use. He clearly views refurbishments with some scepticism - the "new" Raffles Hotel, which first opened in 1887 and was closed between 1989 and 1991 for a revamp, is "disturbing" and the much-touted Chijmes complex, a cluster of entertainment outlets occupying a convent dating from 1840, "a bit of fakery". But he also believes hybrid projects can work, when they "contrast the new with the old and clearly separate the two".

Builders tend to have a more favourable view of the state of affairs. "In general developers are receptive [to] conserving Singapore's heritage buildings and the government is giving developers incentives for doing so," says ADDP's Wong, echoing the URA's view that the two sides often manage to strike win-win deals.

Even Hong sees reasons for hope in the 23 Amber Road debate. He says Harp was taken aback by the government's willingness to hear it out and he believes the dialogue over the project may have shifted some attitudes in officialdom. Hong also notes what's left of the house could draw even more locals to the conservation cause, provided it's unattractive.

"Perhaps people will forever remember it as a lesson, though generally Singaporeans aren't too keen on conservation," he says. "Eighty per cent of people here are born and live in high-rise estates, and what you don't know, you can't really miss."

Proponents of conservation warn decisions to raze or overhaul Singapore's ageing properties may be based on unsound economics. The city-state's leaders have big plans to lure more tourists here: two "integrated resorts", complete with casinos, will have opened by 2009; a massive observation wheel that strongly resembles the London Eye will begin accepting passengers early next year; and yet more retail complexes will be springing up on Orchard Road soon. Hong says attractions such as these may bring people to Singapore, but the city's distinctive old properties and the historic atmosphere they contribute will do a better job of convincing visitors to stay.

"How many more shopping malls can you build?" Hong asks. "Look at Macau; they've revitalised the old waterfront, or Shanghai; they're restoring concession houses. What are we doing? There's a false economy at the moment and we're making a lot of decisions people are going to quietly regret."

Does that remind you of anywhere else?

Chemical levels high in 10pc of preserved foods

Excessive preservatives were found in almost one in every 10 samples of dried fruits and pickled vegetables tested by the Centre for Food Safety in July and August.

The centre said yesterday that of 460 samples tested, 91.4 per cent were satisfactory and the remaining 40 exceeded the statutory levels for preservatives.

They included 25 samples of preserved vegetables, including mustard greens, rakkyo kiu choi, ginger, chillies and choi sum, and 15 of preserved fruits, including dried raisins, apricots, plums, blueberries, kumquats and olives.

They were collected from retail outlets like Wellcome, ParknShop and City'super.

A sample of raisins from the Sogo Fresh Mart was found to carry 3,700 parts per million of sulfur dioxide - a common food preservative - nearly double the statutory level of 2,000ppm.

The food safety centre pointed out that these preservatives were commonly used and were of such low toxicity that they should not pose a significant health threat for consumers.

But the preservatives could be an irritation to people with allergies or who suffered asthma if consumed in excessive quantities.

Constance Chan Hon-yee, assistant director of the Centre for Food Safety, said it was unsatisfactory for so many samples to fail the test.

"Some of the manufacturers may not have adequately followed good practices, and used the preservatives inappropriately or excessively."

Dr Chan added that the department had issued letters to remind the concerned manufacturers about the importance of food safety and urged them to comply with the legal requirements.

She said a balanced diet would be the best way to minimise the risks of the preservatives.

"These preservatives should not be eaten too much in a healthy diet," Dr Chan said.

Apart from the information on preserved food, the report, which was the fourth one this year on food safety, found other foods, including frozen confectionary and meat and vegetable products, failing to meet safety standards.

Three ice-cream samples were reported to exceed total bacterial counts and nine watermelon juices and strawberry cream bars had coliform organism levels that were above the standard.

The centre said the confectionary that failed the tests were not sold at local outlets because they were either destroyed or stopped at the import level.

The full report can be viewed at www.cfs.gov.hk/eindex.html

It is quite common for Hong Kong people to consume preserved foods. The tests show that a wide variety of foods have failed to meet safety standards. The consumption of such kinds of foods can cause serious health problems. What should the consumers do to deal with this issue? Can the government help by regulating the food processing industries?