The box!
[USER EXPERIENCE] Recycling hardware always has that satisfaction that I contributed to green efforts as well as feeling geeky about it. One of hardware that is easily recycled is the disk drive in your unwanted computer whether it is a hard disk or solid state drive.

Mostly likely a 2.5" disk, it could then fit into Orico 2.5 inch SATA USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure, my recent purchase!

Solid plastic
I bought the Orico 2.5 inch SATA USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure (model number 2588US3) from Qoo10, seller ID: Goodmart for about S$10.90.

Simple design
It is a fuss-free disk enclosure that provides good value for its price. The good build quality and tool-free installation and a USB 3.0 connection are fundamentals to a quality buy.

As well Orico is not unheard of in Singapore, it's range of products like USB hub are available in Singapor Apple stores such as Nubox. Of course, for premium prices.

No tool required for installation

It doesn't look terrific on the inside but it's decent especially when the disk is loaded.

Proprietary cable connection to PC

The proprietary cable is probably what's not the best solution given a cable that would be hard to find a replacement.

LED when in use

In terms of performance, I am able to achieve the maximum performance or thereabouts of 30MB/s on my USB 2.0 port. Don't have a USB 3.0 port to try but if you are getting this inexpensive enclosure, optimal performance may not be your top priority!


Entrance of First HDB Mechanised Parking System
[EXPERIENCE] Consumer Technology is not always about new gadgets. For one, check out HDB first Mechanised Parking System (MPS) at Changi Village. The automated parking system would automatically park your car in it's five stories building.

The system is operational since December 2015, but I only discover this gem during the pokemon craze earlier this year where Changi Village is a hotspot. The MPS is a real saver at Changi Village with 121 additional slots where parking lots are quite limited and car queues are often seen especially on the weekends.  

The view from the waiting room where car retrieval is completed
Parking my car

Situated behind HDB block 1 within an uncovered HDB parking area, MPS offers 4 parking bay and motorists will be assigned a bay by the gantry when they arrive.  

That said, when I was there, there is a parking attendant Uncle to guide me through the process. It was quite simply to drive into the bay and apply handbrake. Lock the vehicle and step outside of the bay to enter a 8 digit pin of your choice.

That's it, the door of the bay shuts and my car is transferred away. The process is simple but in the digital age somehow the human, parking attendant Uncle, offers a lot assurance.

The whole procedure took approximately 5 mins excluding the queue to enter to parking bay. Of course parking in the regular open space lot is much faster, if, a big if there are lots.

The car retrieval screen
Retrieving my car

The retrieval process begins in the air-conditioned waiting room where I key in my 8 digit pin and wait patiently for my car plate to flash on the queue  number screen in the room.

My car then magical appears like the picture below. The retrieval procedure took around 10 mins excluding the queue in front of me.

All in all a happy experience and my first time in a automated parking system!


My car appears!


Programming tab order from field 1 to field 2 
[TIP] The first post of 2017 has gotten to be what I work most with in 2016, Visual Advanced Basic. An extremely useful programming for automation in offices. Of which, forms are useful when inputting data into spreadsheets.

Technically, there are two forms controls in Microsoft EXCEL, ActiveX and not. In this post, I am referring to ActiveX. It is also possible to setup the latter but not without VBA codes, hence when it comes to forms controls in the spreadsheet, ActiveX controls offers more control.

So here it is, the codes that move the cursor from field 1 to field 2 in the example above when the user press tab while the cursor is in field 1.    

Private Sub cb1_KeyDown(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, ByVal Shift As Integer)
      If KeyCode = 9 Then cb2.Activate
End Sub
 Where cb1 is the name of field one.
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