Don't even have enuff to eat already and still make them pay for it? While FTrash get free scholarships. What a farking traitor govt Peesai has! Thanks to the 66% goons!
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Subsidised PC scheme to reach more needy families
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Wireless@SG speed to be doubled; free access to stretch until 2013 </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Chua Hian Hou & Serene Luo
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MORE low-income families with school-going children will get subsidised computers and broadband Internet to give them access to technology.
With the income ceiling for qualifying for this scheme raised, a bigger number of families will pay no more than a quarter of the price of a desktop or laptop machine, with a broadband connection thrown in.
And everyone else now surfing the Internet at the Wireless@SG hot spots will be able to do so at twice the speed.
Added to this: The service will remain free for another four years.
This raft of initiatives was announced yesterday by the Acting Minister for Information, Communications & the Arts, Rear Admiral (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, at the opening of the four-day Infocomm Media Business Exchange, Asia's largest technology show, at the Singapore Expo.
They are aimed at ensuring that no one is left behind as Singapore and the world get increasingly wired.
The enhancements to the Neu PC Plus scheme for needy families take effect on July 1. Families with a household income of $2,500 or less will be eligible to buy subsidised computers.
With the income ceiling previously pegged at $2,000, 27,000 low-income households bought desktop computers. Laptops have not been an option till now.
The Department of Statistics says 14.8 per cent of households here earned $2,000 or less a month last year; 25.5 per cent of them made $3,000 or less. It does not track the number of households earning $2,500 or less.
Another enhancement to the Neu PC Plus scheme is that such families will become eligible for a new computer every four years instead of five.
And for low-income families which already have computers or do not need to buy a new one yet, the Government will offer them a 1Mbps broadband connection at just $1.50 a month.
Families may apply to get on the scheme through volunteer welfare organisations or their children's schools.
As for the improvements to the Wireless@SG service: The 430,000 people who spend a monthly average of 3.6 hours on board the network of hot spots will speed through the Internet at 1Mbps from September.
The log-in process will also be streamlined from January: Instead of signing on each time, users will need only do it only once - the first time.
Also new: A $20 million training programme to create jobs for new infocomm professionals and to sharpen the skills of veterans in promising areas like green technology and cloud computing.
The sector has been flourishing despite the economic crisis, said RADM (NS) Lui, noting its sales of $58.1 billion last year, up 12.4 per cent from the year before.
Nanyang Technological University Associate Professor Angeline Khoo praised the Government's effort to narrow Singapore's digital divide.
Children, including those from less well-off homes, will benefit 'socially' if exposed to the possibilities of the online world, said Prof Khoo, who used to chair the Parents Advisory Group for the Internet's education sub-committee.
Sim Yi Xiang, 13, is a walking example of her point. Before his family got on the Neu PC Plus programme four years ago, his only experience with computers and the Internet was in the school computer lab and his classmates' homes.
He has gone from listening wistfully to his classmates' discussions on slaying monsters in MapleStory to becoming part of the 'in' crowd, now that he plays the game on his own computer too.
Yesterday, RADM (NS) Lui also unveiled a new $230 million media masterplan, good for the next five years, to strengthen the media industry here and keep the TV medium relevant.
He challenged companies to come up with technologies to shape the future of TV, for instance by allowing users to pick from a range of devices to watch a programme, and to vote on its merits using their remote controls, a Media Development Authority spokesman said.
The minister also announced that the Mediapolis group of sound stages, studios and production houses in one-north will be linked via a high-speed network to SingTel's satellite dishes at its Bukit Timah Broadcast Innovation Centre.
This means companies hosted there can quickly beam out their content, much faster than via Internet cables.
Also announced were tenders for contactless payment projects and rich mobile services - all initiatives to help Singapore ride out the downturn and stay competitive, said RADM (NS) Lui. [email protected]
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Subsidised PC scheme to reach more needy families
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Wireless@SG speed to be doubled; free access to stretch until 2013 </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Chua Hian Hou & Serene Luo
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MORE low-income families with school-going children will get subsidised computers and broadband Internet to give them access to technology.
With the income ceiling for qualifying for this scheme raised, a bigger number of families will pay no more than a quarter of the price of a desktop or laptop machine, with a broadband connection thrown in.
And everyone else now surfing the Internet at the Wireless@SG hot spots will be able to do so at twice the speed.
Added to this: The service will remain free for another four years.
This raft of initiatives was announced yesterday by the Acting Minister for Information, Communications & the Arts, Rear Admiral (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, at the opening of the four-day Infocomm Media Business Exchange, Asia's largest technology show, at the Singapore Expo.
They are aimed at ensuring that no one is left behind as Singapore and the world get increasingly wired.
The enhancements to the Neu PC Plus scheme for needy families take effect on July 1. Families with a household income of $2,500 or less will be eligible to buy subsidised computers.
With the income ceiling previously pegged at $2,000, 27,000 low-income households bought desktop computers. Laptops have not been an option till now.
The Department of Statistics says 14.8 per cent of households here earned $2,000 or less a month last year; 25.5 per cent of them made $3,000 or less. It does not track the number of households earning $2,500 or less.
Another enhancement to the Neu PC Plus scheme is that such families will become eligible for a new computer every four years instead of five.
And for low-income families which already have computers or do not need to buy a new one yet, the Government will offer them a 1Mbps broadband connection at just $1.50 a month.
Families may apply to get on the scheme through volunteer welfare organisations or their children's schools.
As for the improvements to the Wireless@SG service: The 430,000 people who spend a monthly average of 3.6 hours on board the network of hot spots will speed through the Internet at 1Mbps from September.
The log-in process will also be streamlined from January: Instead of signing on each time, users will need only do it only once - the first time.
Also new: A $20 million training programme to create jobs for new infocomm professionals and to sharpen the skills of veterans in promising areas like green technology and cloud computing.
The sector has been flourishing despite the economic crisis, said RADM (NS) Lui, noting its sales of $58.1 billion last year, up 12.4 per cent from the year before.
Nanyang Technological University Associate Professor Angeline Khoo praised the Government's effort to narrow Singapore's digital divide.
Children, including those from less well-off homes, will benefit 'socially' if exposed to the possibilities of the online world, said Prof Khoo, who used to chair the Parents Advisory Group for the Internet's education sub-committee.
Sim Yi Xiang, 13, is a walking example of her point. Before his family got on the Neu PC Plus programme four years ago, his only experience with computers and the Internet was in the school computer lab and his classmates' homes.
He has gone from listening wistfully to his classmates' discussions on slaying monsters in MapleStory to becoming part of the 'in' crowd, now that he plays the game on his own computer too.
Yesterday, RADM (NS) Lui also unveiled a new $230 million media masterplan, good for the next five years, to strengthen the media industry here and keep the TV medium relevant.
He challenged companies to come up with technologies to shape the future of TV, for instance by allowing users to pick from a range of devices to watch a programme, and to vote on its merits using their remote controls, a Media Development Authority spokesman said.
The minister also announced that the Mediapolis group of sound stages, studios and production houses in one-north will be linked via a high-speed network to SingTel's satellite dishes at its Bukit Timah Broadcast Innovation Centre.
This means companies hosted there can quickly beam out their content, much faster than via Internet cables.
Also announced were tenders for contactless payment projects and rich mobile services - all initiatives to help Singapore ride out the downturn and stay competitive, said RADM (NS) Lui. [email protected]
