Samsung launches its 3D TV offering with what it claims is the world’s first 3d LED tv. Folks in Singapore can get to see it at one of the many roadshows that the company is putting up around the country, such as at Courts and Vivocity.

So whats all the hype about 3dtv? Is it really as good as it gets? We talked to the man on the street and got these remarks

- It looks really cool and all, but I’ll wait for the prices to come down before getting one myself.

- I love the pictures, they really seem to pop up and you can reach out and touch them.

- Not sure what I’d be watching since there are no 3D TV channels and there’s only 1 Blu ray DVD to watch. Monsters vs Aliens is nice, but how many times can you really watch it

- If I want to see 3D, i’ll go to the movies and see it on the huge screen

Well, there you have it, the word on the street – Now, you can win yourself one of these sets, along with a pair of 3d glasses and a blu ray disc, just head on over to http://www.samsung.com/3dtv

Mr Tan Poh Heng, 29, a sles promoter in Singapore was charged with corruption in court for allegedly taking a bribe of $1200 so that he could take the blame for a speeding incident.

Huang Yongjie was caught speeding along Upper Thomson Road on 4 Dec 2007, and the fine was $150.00

Huang didn’t want that on his record, so he looked for someone else to take the rap for the offence. He asked his colleague, Yap, if she knew anyone who might want to take the rap instead, and she recommended that Huang talk to her boyfriend, Tan.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said it had conducted an investigation on Tan in August last year.

If he is convicted, he can be fined up to S$100,000 or he could be  jailed for 5 years, or both.

No word on what action or punishment Huang and Yap might receive for their involvement.

University of California, Berkeley and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore have just agreed to pursue a research alliance collaboration to focus on the three research areas which are synthetic biology, stem cells and energy efficiency in order to achieve in new peaks in research excellence.

Last March 23-24, 2009, a joint workshop was held which allowed NTU and UC Berkeley faculty to have a face-to-face discussions and the opportunity to get to know the latest research and developments in the three key research areas.

It was agreed that faculty from the two universities will be working on joint research projects on an equal footing which includes the bringing in resources and funding. It is expected the colleagues from Schools outside of NTU’s College of Engineering will likewise participate as the research on these three areas are multidisciplinary.

The first research area which is synthetic biology, which is an emerging multidisciplinary field, actually combines science and engineering to design and build or “synthesize” novel and biological functions and systems. This may be a new area in biological research but it holds a great potential for answering problems in biomedicine, energy supply and environmental remediation.

The second research area is Stem Cell research and it is greatly important to the future of biomedical research as it has major implications for treating and preventing devastating human diseases. In Singapore, there is a critical mass of stem cell researchers working on embryonic including adult stem cells which was built up.

The area of energy fills up the third research area and the important issue in this field is the impact of energy use on climate change and global warming. In order for the adverse impact of climate change be mitigated, energy efficiency needs improvement as it is one strategy to ensure that the economy will grow in an environmentally sustainable manner.

NT President Dr. Su Guaning said “Within the University, we have developed peaks of excellence in energy research and we hope to develop our capabilities further including in collaboration with Berkeley especially in the area of energy efficiency for tropical buildings.” He further stated that the university is widely seen as the best public university in the United States and that Berkeley leads in cross-disciplinary research including in the area of bioengineering and clean energy.

“We are excited to work with Berkeley to tap complementary capabilities in the defined topical areas to achieve new peaks in research excellence. I am confident our collaboration will generate innovative solutions to the global research challenges in the three focus areas, creating positive contributions to the welfare of humankind and deepening our collaboration,” Dr Su continued.