As I wrote in The Sunday Times on April 29, Prof Tan passionately believed that the Internet should be accessible to everyone, no matter what language they speak or write in. In the 1990s, he led a research team to invent a software that could read non-Latin languages and displayed it in a browser.

One language he championed was Tamil. This is a story Prof Tan told me of his involvement in this project.

Since his first software could convert Chinese into readable images, he decided to extend his research to include the Tamil language. But he needed a Tamil speaker who would provide the language expertise.

His contacts introduced him to the late Naa Govindasamy, a Tamil teacher and poet who had also developed a Tamil computer keyboard. Together they took Prof Tan's program and customised it for the Tamil language. Tamil characters could automatically convert to GIF (a computer image format) images that could be displayed on a Web browser.

The duo took their project further because they were convinced they had a world class software. Said Prof Tan: 'The late Govindasamy told me that we should show the world our technology and get others to adopt our software as the standard.'

To demonstrate the software's capabilities, they used it to build a Tamil website called TamilWeb which debuted in September 1995 at the Internet For Everyone exhibition. The software was also used in a prototype called PoemWeb which was an digital selection of poems in all four official languages of Singapore. PoemWeb was launched by the late President Ong Teng Cheong in October 1995.

Since there were few implementations of the Tamil language on the Internet at that time, they felt that to encourage greater use of Tamil online, a standard way of using the language on the Internet should be adopted. TamilWeb, as the website was called, could make it commercially viable for software firms to standardise one version of the Tamil language.

Following this, Govindsamy worked through his contacts in Tamil Nadu state in India and his network of Tamil-speakers located throughout the world to get them to agree on one standard form of the Tamil language which can be used on the Internet.

Meanwhile, Prof Tan through a personal friend, Professor S. Subbiah, met Mr S R Nathan, then Director of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) at the Nanyang Technological University and former President of Singapore. Mr Nathan supported the formation of a Tamil Internet Steering Committee (TISC), just like how the Chinese Internet Steering Committee was set up by the then Ministry of Information and Communication. These committees were set up to ensure that the different communities did not lag behind in the use of Internet.

Because of his technical expertise, Prof Tan became a member of the TISC.

Both men then organised the first Tamil Internet conference in 1997. Prof Tan was the only Chinese in the conference. 'I had to remember a few Tamil words so as to be able to welcome guests and make them feel at home.'

Over 100 people attended this event which set in motion the discussions for the standard use of Tamil on the Internet. It was a seminal event.

Singapore became a leading player in the world for the development of a Tamil Internet. It led to the formation of the International Forum of IT in Tamil (INFITT) whose founding secretariat was based in Singapore. Prof Tan was a founding member of the INFITT.

However, the INFITT has evolved and moved away from Singapore and Prof Tan is no longer involved. He is fondly remembered in Sri Lanka for his assistance in setting up the country's first Tamil website www.lk.

His list of achievements and awards are long. If you want to read more, go to his website at www.bic.nus.edu.sg/~tinwee/

Read April 29's edition of The Sunday Times as well for Prof Tan's Internet achievements.

Today, when I return to Delhi I go for walks in the Lodi Gardens, a huge park which houses a series of mausoleums and a big ancient mosque. In the mausoleums are the graves of the Pashtun kings of the Lodi dynasty who ruled Delhi from 1451 to 1526, before the Mughals arrived from Central Asia.

The wind blows through the big stone buildings. When you step into them the domed ceilings act like sound chambers; a pigeon cooing unseen high in the darkened roof fills it with sound.

Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905, then called Delhi a city of 'dreary and disconsolate tombs.' The capital, so often sacked and burned, was remade and rose yet again, but indeed the history of the city can still be told in its mausoleums and memorials.

But there is one that is missing.

In a ruthless political maneuver, the British colonial rulers in 1858, deposed the last Mughal emperor of India, Bahadur Shah Zafar and exiled him to Yangon where he died five years later on Nov 7, 1862.

The British in 1858, deposed the last Mughal emperor of India, Bahadur Shah Zafar and exiled him to Yangon where he died five years later on Nov 7, 1862.

His grave quite near the Shwedagon pagoda, is today a Sufi shrine. It is well maintained, and leaders of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh have visited it. Inside are some old photographs of the deposed King; in one he is a gaunt figure, smoking a hookah pipe, as if waiting for the end. There is also a photograph of his calligraphy laced with loneliness.

The grave of Bahadur Shah Zafar. It is well maintained, and leaders of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh have visited it. Inside are some old photographs of the deposed King.

I am lonely in the city, barren and dead
But who has prospered in a transitory world..

A long life I besought, these few days
Half spent in longing, half awaiting

Life comes to an end, dusk approaches
In peace I will sleep, sheltered by the grave

Zafar the wretched in his death was denied
A few feet of earth in the beloved’s street

Neither light for eyes nor solace for heart
Of use for none, I am fistful of dust..

But Bahadur Shah Zafar is at least remembered even in a quiet way 150 years later. Every evening, in the well-kept memorial opposite a small urban park and pond, local devotees gather for Sufi chants, the place echoing with the ancient sound.

Almost nobody ever visits Thibaw’s small mausoleum, about 1km from the mansion where he lived in Ratnagiri, in western India, far from his beloved Mandalay.

Thibaw was the last King of Burma, also exiled to the furthest place the British could think of at the time.

The deposing and exile of their king in November 1885 was seen as the ultimate humiliation by people in Mandalay, possibly much more so than that of Bahadur Shah Zafar, whose empire was already on its last legs and barely extended beyond the borders of Delhi.

There are numerous accounts of how the British loaded Thibaw, his Queen and their retinue onto bullock carts in Mandalay, and marched them off surrounded by British troops, as local people helplessly wept.

'British policy was to uproot the monarchy entirely and ensure that the clan of Alaungpaya would never again be a political force in Burma,' wrote historian Thant Myint U in his book, The River of Lost Footsteps.

'Dozens were sent far to the south, to Tavoy and Moulmein, and dozens of others were forced to go to India, where they were scattered in different towns and cities.'

Many of the descendants of the royals – both the Burmese and the Mughals – later were reduced to poverty.

Today, Thibaw's small mausoleum lies in the midst of shabby housing blocks. Beside it is the grave of Queen Supayagale – Thibaw’s second wife. Thanks to some repairs in 1994 by India's government, there is at least a low wall around them today; before that squatters would dry their laundry on the graves of the last King and Queen of Burma.

Today, Thibaw’s small mausoleum lies in the midst of shabby housing blocks. Beside it is the grave of Queen Supayagale – Thibaw’s second queen.

Ratnagiri was a tiny place then, with a population of 16,000. Ice would be delivered to the mansion where Thibaw and his family lived, from Mumbai – once a week. Even today it is a small place, with a population of 116,000. A rail link to Mumbai was only built in 1996.

But in Yangon, one man refuses to forget.

U Soe Win, 64, recently retired from director general at Myanmar’s ministry of foreign affairs, is now in charge of the country’s football federation’s international affairs. He is also the great grandson of King Thibaw.

U Soe Win, 64, the great grandson of King Thibaw.

'My great grandfather’s case is a miserable and tragic story. I feel sorry for his descendants,' he told me.

U Soe Win has been waging an often lonely battle to get the remains of Thibaw back to Myanmar – and Mandalay.

The return of the remains would correct a curious anomaly, a shadow of the two countries' shared colonial past. It would also be a poignant moment for Myanmar, and especially Mandalay, the seat of the old kingdom.

U Soe Win and other members of his family visited the graves in 1993, and performed some religious ceremonies there.

Thibaw died in 1916, age 56. Queen Supayalat was allowed to return to Burma in 1919, and died there. The 'little princess' Hteik Supayagale who was also Thibaw's wife, stayed in India and died a few years later and was interred next to Thibaw.

A nationalist movement in Myanmar – then Burma – to have the remains of the couple brought back to Mandalay, came up against British resistance. The British colonial rulers did not allow it for fear it would ignite Burmese nationalism and incite a rebellion.

After independence in 1948 there came another attempt to bring back the king's remains. A committee was formed, and had Prime Minister U Nu’s support. But that effort also failed. The government was fragile at the time, embroiled in civil war, and the country still hurting from the assassination in 1947 of independence hero general Aung San – National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's father.

U Soe Win has written this month to both the Indian government and the Myanmar government to revive the effort. But he is still up against it.

The return of the remains would certainly trigger emotion especially in Mandalay. Myanmar has been through a lot since independence in 1948: decades of civil war and military dictatorship, ostracism and isolation. Today it is finally moving forward.

Amid this fragile transition, with Myanmar only just beginning to experience the rehabilitation of Aung San Suu Kyi and her father Aung San, whether the country wants to travel deeper back into the often bitter past now is questionable, explained a friend in Yangon.

As for the Indian government, an official asking not to be identified said: 'We will be able to do something about it if the Myanmar government asks us. So far, they have not.'

He said in his personal opinion, the Indian government would have no reason to object to the repatriation of the remains. And he doubted that the Indian government was interested in the repatriation of Bahadur Shah Zafar.

U Soe Win sees a slender ray of hope in the imminent visit to Myanmar of India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

But speaking on the phone from Mumbai, Sudha Shah whose book The King in Exile: The Fall of the Royal Family of Burma – the product of seven years of research - is to be published this year, said: 'Nobody except the family is giving this any priority.'

'Both countries have other, more overwhelming issues to deal with,' she said.

In Yangon, one man may still refuse to forget. But it is probably safe to say that in Ratnagiri, even in the dreary flats overlooking the graves, almost nobody dreams of distant Mandalay.

Notes on further reading :

Books :

The Glass Palace, by Amitav Ghosh (Harper Collins, 2000)

The River of Lost Footsteps, by Thant Myint-U (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008)

Online :

An interesting email exchange with Amitav Ghosh, author of The Glass Palace, and more pictures, can be seen here http://amitavghosh.com/blog/?m=20120417

A note by Amitav Ghosh on the forthcoming book by Sudha Shah : http://amitavghosh.com/blog/?p=3306

Yet another iconic food hangout - the McDonald's in King Albert Park - is going to close.

Even as some folks bemoan the loss of heritage places like Bukit Brown cemetary, it is a little-reported fact that other places - arguably also landmarks - are not spared the winds of so-called progress.

But they hardly ever make headline or stir up loud protests from fans even though these places are no less entrenched or treasured in our collective memories.

And while these places or establishments will not likely be championed by interest groups as vocal as nature or conservation societies, they are the places that have fed generations and provided a pivotal socialising point have perhaps made a much greater impact on people’s lives.

But while one can argue that another food outlet can start another chain of cherished memories again, still, a part of our lives is uprooted and lost in this relentless march of transformation, made more acute in Singapore by the fact that money can be made from property redevelopment.

The latter motive is really what is driving a new owner to pay $150 million to take over McDonald’s Place - where the familiar fast-food restaurant has called home since 1991 - at the junction of Bukit Timah and Clementi roads.

Both this outlet and another McDonald’s branch - which closed after its site in Marine Cove was returned to the authorities for a revamp - must have been like a friend or refuge to generations of Singaporeans.

Some employees worked there for years.

Couples spent dating time in these outlets and later came back with their own families.

Deals were nurtured or cemented there, from property to insurance.

Birthdays were celebrated, friendships nourished and toys collected for McDonald’s often tied up with movie distributors to issue premiums.

It was no wonder then that when the Marine Cove outlet closed in March, it marked its end - and a new beginning - by staging a walkathon to its new outlet in East Coast Park, about 500 staff and customers took part.

Thirty years of memories are not easy to let go but, thanks to modern gadgets like mobile phones with video-taping capabilities, enough evidence must surely have been compiled to record who did what and when in that place.

The memories are personal yet communal in the sense that the stories they tell are also a reflection of the changing times, lifestyle habits and trends in Singapore.

Do such photos have a place in the National Archives? I think so.

 Even as some folks bemoan the loss of heritage places like Bukit Brown cemetery, it is a little-reported fact that other places - arguably also landmarks – are not spared the winds of so-called progress. But they hardly ever make headline or stir up loud protests from fans even though these places are no less entrenched or treasured in our collective memories.

But when Kony 2012 - a film calling for the capture of African warlord Joseph Kony - was shown to youngsters in northern Uganda, the overwhelming reaction was outrage.

The audience in Lira - where Kony's army has killed, raped and abducted children for two decades - hurled rocks and complained that the footage did not accurately reflect their lives.

Academics have also criticised it for being patronising and giving the misleading impression that the rebel chief - who leads The Lord's Resistance Army - is still active in northern Uganda. In fact, it was pushed out in 2006, and has been operating in the neighbouring states of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

As someone who has worked in northern Uganda, gathering stories from conflict survivors, I understand the critics' point perfectly. By glorifying the aid-givers and largely relegating the Ugandans as bystanders in their own story, Kony 2012 resurrects the spectre of the white man parachuting in to 'save' Africa.

But for all its ham-fistedness, I believe the film that has spread faster than any other online video to date and is due to have a sequel released this week, is overall a positive thing.

Not only has it raised awareness of the crisis among an audience of tens of millions, but it could also provide a prototype for other charities that want to harness the power of the Internet to tap into a fired-up young demographic.

That’s because, although we hate to admit it, there’s a big fat ‘I’ at the heart of activism. Being an activist makes you feel good about yourself and buzz with the euphoria of being a hero. For a charity appeal film to strike a chord with the masses, the mission must also feel urgent and achievable. Too often, otherwise compassionate people are turned off from engaging in issues affecting the developing world because the problems seem so complex and tangled.

In an era of Facebook and Twitter, where patience is scarce and individualism reigns supreme, this is what Kony 2012 has smashed through so successfully. The 30-minute clip is narrated by 33-year-old Jason Russell - co-founder of Invisible Children - and focuses on his personal mission to bring Kony to justice.

Viewers are urged to 'shape history' by getting a kit with wristbands and posters. The aim is to "make him famous" and ensure that the United States - which sent 100 military advisers to help hunt the warlord last October - cannot quietly drop the mission.

Last week, amid mounting criticism of the film, the African Union announced that it would deploy 5,000 troops to help the US troops in their mission. Although Francisco Madeira, the Union's special envoy, denied that the move was prompted by the Kony 2012 film, it's difficult to imagine that the powerful yet controversial campaign had no influence at all.

After all, Kony and his troops have been terrorising villagers in the Central African region for more than two decades but this is the first time that such an intense spotlight has been thrown upon their atrocities.

Capturing Kony is a noble and pressing cause. His group has abducted more than 30,000 children in Uganda and continues to massacre innocent civilians in neighbouring countries.

But my contact in the region told me the film was "not going down very well locally" and sent a statement from an inter-faith community group lambasting the clip's "sensational messages".

The irony is it that may have been precisely these elements which allowed Kony 2012 to leapfrog the usual staid and dusty NGO channels and mine the rich seam of dumbed-down Western youth culture.

Testimonies

Back in 2010, I was in northern Uganda as part of a team gathering testimonies from children who lost parents or siblings to the conflict. Their stories were featured in a DVD educating British pupils while encouraging them to fund-raise. The four films were told sensitively, through the voices of the Ugandan children and gave an accurate picture of the conflict.

How many YouTube hits did they get? Less than 1,000 between them. This illustrates how Kony 2012 has eclipsed other attempts by charities to harness social media.

Its meteoric rise has floored even its makers. A few weeks after the film became an internet sensation, Mr Russell was hospitalised after San Diego police found him naked and making sexual gestures in public. His wife said he is suffering from brief reactive psychosis caused by the clip's global attention. The sad episode is yet another example of how things take on a life of their own once launched into cyberspace.

Yet this flawed but well-meaning film has provided the first step towards opening up a new arena for activists seeking to reach a mass audience online.  I hope the soon-to-be released Kony 2012 Part 2 will correct some of the more jarring aspects of the original – namely, the lack of historical facts and recognition of local people’s efforts to rehabilitate their communities.

Other charities say they can and should learn lessons from the campaign about how to attract a huge following so quickly. For example, Invisible Children is said to have tapped its established network of supporters on American campuses, which helped the film go viral.

I'd like to think that in future, the message could be made a little more sophisticated without diluting its appeal.

Insensitive? Yes, but Kony 2012 remains a force for good.

Who would think Apple would issue stock dividends and initiate a share buyback scheme?

Steve Jobs, the late Apple co-founder, was terrified of running out of cash. He remembered the company’s brush with insolvency in 1997. So he did what most 'parents' would do: he saved.

And his savings grew and grew to  nearly US$10 billion. Last quarter, Apple had such a sterling quarter, it  added US$16 billion to this mound of money. Apple could afford to drop US$10 billion as spare change to buy Twitter and still have loads money left in the bank.

Ten days before March 19 - when Apple announced the stock dividend and share buyback scheme - I brought the new iPad home from San Francisco.

Wow! In all the 15 years that I’ve been covering Apple’s new launches after Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, I’ve never been loaned a new product for testing.

I did not clutch it close to my chest throughout the almost 20-hour journey to Singapore. But I had to disguise it with older front and back covers so that my fellow travellers would not recognise it.

I mean I couldn’t leave it in my suitcase where it could just be damaged. What would I say to Apple then? It only loaned it to me for 90 days.

Only the favoured American journalists such as Walter Mossberg of All Things Digital and David Pogue of The New York Times were loaned new Apple gadgets for testing on the day Jobs announced them.

The reviews were published on the day when the products hit retail shelves then.

It struck me then, that Apple was behaving differently this time round. Why? Looking back at the news in the last two weeks, I found my answer.

Having covered Apple for more than 20 years, Apple listened to no one except Jobs. His was the final stamp of approval. Post-Jobs Apple was listening to its key public: customers and institutional shareholders.

There’s so much pent-up demand for its products.

Each time a new iPhone or iPad launches in the United States, the queues snake around the key Apple stores in New York or San Francisco.

Many of those queuing are not local consumers. They are buying for customers back home in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

Winning the public

Apple’s decision to sell the new iPads in these countries and six more including the US, was a good move: it made customers happy.

Loaning the journalists who were mainly from the 10 countries only made good business sense. They wrote the reviews that would influence consumers to buy the new iPad.

Having a US$100 billion in savings was turning out to be about hoarding money. It wasn’t about  putting money aside for the rainy day when sales might decline. The huge amount was becoming an embarrassment.

So paying out US$45 billion over three years as dividend and stock buyback was good press and put a smile on shareholders’ faces especially institutional investors.

It always pays to get feedback and listen to your key audiences.

But I certainly hope that the company’s new CEO would stop here. Apple has always believed that it creates new gadgets people didn’t know they wanted until they saw them.

Listening should not extend to getting customer views on what new products should look like. That would be the start of Apple’s downfall.

chngkeg@sph.com

What I’m not so keen on is having scorching wax dribbled onto my face, then ripped off with what feels like Scotch Tape.

Yet, this was my punishment for vanity after I let my wife talk me into going for a facial.

Call me naive, but I imagined it would be a calming, tranquil experience.

Images flashed before me of cool cucumbers over the eyelids and contented housewives nodding off to the soulful strains of amorous whales serenading one another across the ocean.

Never in my blackest nightmares did I imagine being trussed up like a Christmas turkey and tormented with an arsenal of terrifying implements that felt like they’d been shipped straight from Guantanamo Bay.

First, the auntie who ran the beauty parlour asked me to lie on a bed. So far so good, I thought. If lying down were a sport, I’d be an Olympic athlete.

But no sooner had I begun to relax than I was jolted from my reverie by the unpleasant sensation of slippery, weird smelling oil being slathered over my forehead as if it were a bodybuilder’s torso.

Worse was to come. My tormentor vanished momentarily before re-emerging from her back-room lair pushing a trolley packed full of potions and what looked like home improvement tools.

Please, not the Scotch Tape!

I flinched as I felt the hot wax bite. Yet it was nothing compared to the pain as the grinning beauty therapist superglued strips of cloth to my exposed skin then tore them away with a nonchalant flick of the wrist.

I’ve never been a particularly religious man, but as I felt the adhesive clamp itself around my delicate eyelid like the jaws of a Venus Flytrap, I actually found myself praying.

I’m not saying the beauty therapist did a bad job with my facial.

After all, my wife trusts her with her life.

But being poked and prodded by a complete stranger is simply not my idea of relaxation. I’d much rather spend the day sitting in a pub or coffee shop with a good book and a bottle of Tiger.

It’s not like there was even anything wrong with my skin in the first place. OK, it’s always been a bit red, but what do you expect from an Englishman living in the tropics?

A girl once told me I had very big pores. I had no idea what she meant, but took it as a compliment.

I’m even less of a fan of massages, especially ones I haven’t asked for.

The other day, I was having my hair cut when the male hairdresser suddenly put his scissors down and started kneading my shoulders with his stubby fingers.

Now maybe I’m just old fashioned, but when I go to the barber I expect him to concentrate his efforts on my head.

If my shoulders were covered in hair, it would be a different story - he could give them a short back and sides.

But thankfully, most of my hair still resides up top. So as far as I’m concerned, the rest of my body should remain firmly out-of-bounds.

Just try telling this to your average overzealous freelance masseur. I was on holiday in Bali recently when I spied my wife lying on the beach as three old crones hovered over her like the witches from Macbeth.

One was massaging her feet, another was doing something to her head, while the third clutched a bottle that looked like it might contain the eye of a newt or the toe of a bat.

My wife seemed to be enjoying herself, so I lay down next to her to sleep.

Just as I was dozing off, I felt an icy touch on my neck.

It was one of the weird sisters, come to claim another victim.

'Massage, massage,' chanted the old crone as she stroked me with her scaly talon.

I politely declined, only for her friend to come over and do exactly the same thing. In the end, I had to go surfing just to get away from them.

It was either that or hire an exorcist.

I know that I’m in the minority when it comes to massages. You probably love them, and why not?

For millennia, those healing hands have brought calm to many a tense shoulder blade.

For an expat with a phobia of massages, moving to Singapore was perhaps not the most obvious choice.

Although I have no figures to back this up, they seem much more popular here than in my native Britain.

There are parlours everywhere, some of which look like they offer a lot more than just beauty treatments.

But what I don’t understand is why the masseur usually feels the need to say something like, 'Wow, you’re so uptight. Just feel all those knots in your shoulders. You need to relax more!'

If I was already relaxed, I wouldn’t need a massage, would I? Anyway, I can’t think of anything more likely to stress customers out than ordering them to be calm. It’s a bit like trying to fall asleep. The more self conscious you are, the harder it is to actually do it.

Which is why I’ve given up on 'soothing' beauty treatments. Relaxation is all well and good, but sometimes it can feel a little too much like hard work.

Apple's new tablet does not have the iPad 3 moniker as expected. The Cupertino-based company have chosen to simply call it the new iPad. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM

The new iPad was launched in the usual Apple style.

Chief executive officer Tim Cook appeared on stage, wearing a black shirt, trousers and sneakers (but not the New Balance model favoured by the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs).

He updated the audience on Apple’s performance to date: 25 billion apps downloaded, 200,000 plus iPads, 362 Apple stores globally, 315 million iOS devices sold, 110 million more customers in the quarter ended Dec 31, 2011.

Then he called his key lieutenants on stage to introduce the key products such as the Apple TV (which is not available in Singapore), iOS 5.1, new iLife and iWork apps and of course, the new iPad.

The third-generation iPad stole the show. It was what many of the 500 journalists in the Yerba Beuna Centre of the Arts had travelled half the world to see.

Apple’s new tablet did not have the iPad 3 moniker as expected. The Cupertino-based company chose to simply call it the new iPad.

4G LTE feature

Even as the third-generation iPad caused great interest globally, it also generated controversy.

Its 4G LTE (long term evolution) capability works only in the United States (US) and 4G, which enables super-fast download speeds of up to 100 mbps, is incompatible with Singapore’s 4G LTE (long term evolution) network.

In the US, the 4G network runs on 700MHz and 2100MHz while Singapore's network operates on 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz.

The tablet does work with 3G and the faster HSPA+ network available in Singapore.  HSPA+ is considered 3.5G.  All three telcos have the HSPA+ network and the new iPad can be hooked up to that.

Design

Apple has not done much with the design of the third-generation iPad. It retains its 9.7-inch screen and a bezel in black or white.  It is just a tiny bit heavier.  It weighs 652 grams which is 50g heavier than the current tablet and is also 0.6 mm thicker at 9.5mm.

When you are using it, it is best to rest the tablet on your tummy or on a table, because your hands will feel tired.

Since it is the same size, you will not need to buy new covers and cases because it will fit what you have now.  It comes in three varieties: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB and each comes with Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi/4G.

I would have liked to see bigger storage since I buy lots of TV programmes. But there is iCloud streaming which means my content will be stored in the cloud format and I can free local storage for something else.

The good news is that Apple is sticking to the same prices as the tablet’s predecessor. Prices start at $658 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model (without telco subsidy and GST). The company has retained the iPad 2 as a budget option, dropping the price by US$100 for each model.

Retina display

The retina display is stunning. Icons seems to float on the page. Words are crisp and images are sharp and details just come alive. Colours are more brilliant. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM

There is little to distinguish the new tablet from its predecessor until you turn it on. The retina display is stunning. Icons seems to float on the page. Words are crisp and images are sharp and details just come alive. Colours are more brilliant.

The display has the highest definition ever on a mobile device at 2048 by 1536 pixels or over 3.1 million pixels, four times more pixels in the same 9.7-inch screen, or 1 million more than a full HD TV. Text on The Straits Times iPad version appear pin-sharp, making it less likely to zoom in. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM

The display has the highest definition ever on a mobile device at 2048 by 1536 pixels or over 3.1 million pixels, four times more pixels in the same 9.7-inch screen, or 1 million more than a full HD TV. Words on Time magazine appeared clear and crisp, just like a real hard copy. It makes reading easy.

Text appears pin-sharp, making it less likely to zoom in. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM

Text on The Straits Times iPad version appear pin-sharp, making it less likely to zoom in.

Even iPhone apps - which can be expanded to fit the 9.7-inch screen - look better on the new tablet. The edges are more defined and they do not look pixellated.

Photos and movies on the new iPad are also very life-like. Throwing the images up to the TV can also be done via Apple’s AirPlay support or mirrored on Apple TV (that is, if you have one.) -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM

Photos and movies on the new iPad are also very life-like. I watched the Oscar winning movie, Hugo, in high-definition. It took my breath away. Then I linked it up to my nearby HDTV with the Digital AV Adapter. The level of detail was just impressive.

At the start of the movie, where the gears of a clock and a bird’s eye view of Paris appeared, I could see every groove on the gears and each house, road, train and horse-drawn carriage moving in the Paris streets. The colours were crisp and absolutely stunning.

Throwing the images up to the TV can also be done via Apple’s AirPlay support or mirrored on Apple TV (that is, if you have one.)

Microprocessor
There is a new chip, A5X, with four graphics cores. This gives the iPad great fluidity. Multi-touch gestures are smoother and faster. Just brush the screen with your fingertips from left to right to view photos, ebook pages and Web pages. Double tap to instantly enlarge photos.

Graphics-intensive games like Infinity Blade play with zero lag. I can dodge my enemy’s blade and move forward to strike him without a stutter. The satisfying playing experience is also enhanced by the beautiful graphics.

Web pages also load faster. The Straits Times iPad version loads at least two seconds faster on the new tablet.

Camera

The rear camera has been improved. It offers 5 megapixel stills and 1080p video recording. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM

The rear camera has been improved. It offers 5 megapixel stills and 1080p video recording. The optics on the back have also improved. Indoors, - where it tends to be darker - the camera allows in a greater amount of light. Photo quality was much better than those taken on the iPad2.

There is also face recognition for up to 10 people per frame. It also automatically adjusts focus and exposure. Unfortunately, the front-facing camera for video conferencing is unchanged and remains at VGA quality. My friend in California looked rather grainy.

For video, it can produce full HD video clips with good quality comparable to that of the iPhone 4S. Digital video stabilisation is provided, so say goodbye to shaky images. Like the iPhone, simple video editing tools are built-in, so clips can be trimmed down before sending or uploading them.

Apple has improved its US$4.99 ($6.30) iPhoto app but it's a free upgrade if you have the older version. Editing is simple with tools for lightening, darkening and deleting the red-eye effect, all included in the package. Better still, after all that editing and if you prefer the original image, you can still go back to it.

One great feature I like: You can delete your photos in iPhoto without having to do it on the computer. This is a great convenience.

Battery
Apple claims a 10-hour battery life. I charged up to 100 per cent. I watched two movies and three TV episodes continuously, followed it up by reading a Marvel comic and an ebook. Running in the background was email being pulled from three addresses. Traffic, weather and other updates were also being pulled in.

After two days, there was still about 40 per cent of battery juice left.

Verdict
There are many new features in the new iPad which really makes it useful. A photo beam capability lets you beam photos taken on the tablet to your iPhone. You can turn on the personal hotspot location and share the wireless capability with five others.

Apple has focused on making the iPad easy to use with its new features. Slashgear - the online tech website - has this odd but good metaphor: Buying the new iPad is like changing to a set of new tyres for your car. 'You don’t want to reinvent the wheel but you do look at the materials to see how they hold up to the competition,' it said.

The battery life is good, you get two full days of use and have still reserve power. Apple’s competitors have included more features but have not really made them easy to use.

If you are concerned about its incompatibility with 4G, consider this: For the same price of its predecessor, you are getting a jaw-dropping resolution that is four times better and a faster processor and graphics engine. Which other tablet can beat this offering?

Games, movies, photos, text and the icons on the new device look sharp. Text appears clearer and the high resolution means I don't have to zoom in too much.

Apps, websites and videos also load much faster than they did previously.

I accessed a Vimeo website and saw the video clips downloading quickly.

The new chip A5X adds computing power for graphics and is felt only when I play a new game such as Infinity Blade: Dungeons.

A game built especially for the new iPad, I just used my finger to direct the masked warrior to fight monsters. All done with zero lag.

Voice dictation was simple. Not as fun to use as Siri, the personal voice assistant available on the iPhone.

My first try with voice dictation bombed. 'The new iPad is cool and gorgeous' came out garbled instead, reading 'The new iPad is grumbling.'

Blame the tens of journalists around me all trying to dictate letters and emails on the tablet.

But on my second try, speaking slower, I scored 100 per cent. I may not have to type my blogs for The Straits Times Online any more.

Just dictate them into an iPad for your reading pleasure.

Physically, the new iPad looks no different than the current version. It is still a 9.7-inch tablet with a home button.

But it is not a small dumbbell as I imagined it would be. It just weighs a tiny bit heavier at 652g and a little thicker at 9.44mm compared to the old model’s 601g and 8.8mm.

The new iPad needs to be experienced, to feel its power and elegance.

You'll get that chance in Singapore come March 16.

A friend was fiddling with the messaging functions on a new iPhone, sent me some text and asked me whether I received it as an SMS on my 'hp' (meaning handphone or mobile phone) or as an e-mail.

Fond of not giving simple, straightforward replies, I did not send my response as just the mere 'hp' or 'phone' or 'sms' any other similar term referring to the cellular phone. I texted back 'Hewlett-Packard', intending to use its familiar 'HP' initials. My friend thought I meant the PC, and took it that I got the message as an e-mail.

It's like, to most people, ABBA may be the musical group from Sweden that made songs such as Mama Mia popular. But, to me, ABBA is the rhyming scheme of the first eight lines (octave) of a Petrachan sonnet.

As long ago as when the ABBA movie was having its first run, some colleagues on the night shift were in the company-provided transport on the way home. Philip Coorey began a discussion on the World Cup and Surinder Singh, sitting nearest to him, seemed keen on giving his views as well.

After a while, Surinder asked Philip: 'Which World Cup are you talking about?'

'The Cricket World Cup, of course,' replied Philip (a Sri Lankan), to which Surinder said: 'I thought you were talking about the Hockey World Cup!'

Almost in unison, the rest of us responded: 'We all thought you were talking about the Football World Cup!'

It gets worse for those of us who like to use several languages in the same sentence.

My friend, Jacob Idiculas, was once doing his usual round of sending huge drawings (building plans, for instance) for photocopying at Motion Smith's, then in Battery Road. On that particular day, he just wanted one copy each of the plans and told the Caucasian lady boss there so: 'One each, please.'

A few hours later, when he went to collect the copies, he was shocked when asked to fork out double what he had expected to pay. Then he discovered that the shop had made two copies each of the huge drawings.

'Didn't I say I wanted only one each?' Jacob asked the Caucasian lady.

'Yes, you did and that was what I told him,' she replied pointing to her Singaporean colleague, a Malay man, who did the copying of the documents.

'But, ma'am, you said 'two each',' he protested.

'No, I said...' and then she paused for a while and continued, much more slowy, '.... 'satu each'!' ('satu' means one in Malay), and apologised profusely.

One confusion can, of course, lead to another.

I get worried when I see the shorthand used by the wait staff on the order chit to the kitchen. Recently, I ordered barley water in a restaurant and on the chit the waiter had written 'bali'. I know we import water from neighbouring countries but Bali? That seems a bit far-fetched.

On another occasion, in the United States, my family and I were having breakfast and my wife ordered her favourite 'two eggs, sunnyside up'. The waitress wrote '2 up' on the slip she handed to the kitchen.

That taught me a lesson. I will never ever order 7-Up (the soft drink) for breakfast.

I prefer my eggs over-easy anyway.

It was a vastly different world then; the Vietnam war had just officially ended but the Cold War was still very much on. There was no such thing as cable TV; in many countries there was no such thing as TV. It was still the era of the radio.

On Oct 6 that year, military and police units and righ- wing mobs savagely attacked several thousand left-wing students protesting the return to Thailand of Thanom Kittikachorn, the military dictator ousted in a massive uprising in 1973.

There is video footage online from that day. The official death toll remains 46. The real death toll is widely suspected to be more than double that. A general amnesty ensured that nobody was held to account.

The unquiet spirits of that gruesome day when students were shot, beaten and kicked, dragged out on to the Sanam Luang grounds and hung from trees as mobs, inflamed by right-wing hotheads convinced that the students wanted to destroy the monarchy, bayed and cheered and even little children watched, have surfaced again.

Today, Thammasat is again the centre of controversy. Seven law professors calling themselves 'Nitirat' or 'People's Law' have suggested amendments to Article 112 – Thailand's lese majeste law - and have also suggested that Thailand's monarch should swear allegiance to the constitution, thus preventing any monarch from endorsing a military coup.

A fierce war of words has erupted over the Nitirat proposal. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, with absolute monarchy officially abolished in 1932. Yet King Bhumibol Adulyadej – now a frail 84 - is the country’s ultimate moral authority and under him the Chakri dynasty has arguably reached its zenith.

The monarchy is officially above politics. But in reality any accusation of disloyalty to the monarchy is a powerful political weapon for competing power centres, including political parties and the army whose principal allegiance is not to the civilian government but to the monarchy.

Thammasat University rector Somkit Lertpaithoon on Jan 30 banned the Nitirat group from campaigning on university premises to amend Article 112, fearing''conflict and chaos' if they continued. Thammasat has seen small demonstrations since by students, both in support of and against Nitirat. The rector days later backed down slightly and said academic discussion was allowed.

Thailand's powerful army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha has weighed in against the Nitirat group, warning them to stop their campaign. This week, it was reported that the Navy chief Admiral Surasak Roonruangwong has also joined in, saying 'I think every armed force is following this group's activities to see if it will affect national security. I agree with the majority of people that the campaign serves no purpose at all.'

It is not clear on what basis he concluded that the 'majority' of people see no purpose in the campaign. To the best of my knowledge no truly comprehensive opinion poll of referendum has been held on the matter.

General Prayuth reportedly said: 'Don't exploit Article 112 to instigate disturbances. I'd like to ask whether you could accept it if your parents are insulted.'

'Parents' is a euphemism for the King and Queen.

The government – keen to avoid any trace of a taint of being against the monarchy – has categorically said article 112 will not be amended.

Yet, the campaign is set to continue. One article in the Bangkok Post this week quotes Puangthong Rungswasdisab, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, saying that the Campaign Committee for the Amendment of Article 112 was collecting 10,000 signatures to seek an amendment. Several thousand had already signed, she said.

Ms Puangthong said the army chief may not have studied the details of the proposed amendments before criticising advocates for change.

'What we are doing is not new. Civic groups used to collect signatures to petition for legislation. This is a right guaranteed by the constitution,' she said.

'What authority will the army chief invoke to stop us? Does the army think its major duty is to stage a coup to protect the institution [of the monarchy]? The army no longer has legitimacy to stage coups.'

Several commentators have said the atmosphere is reminiscent of the buildup to that frightful October 36 years ago.

'The most salient difference between the current royalist backlash and crackdown on fair dissent and reasonable reform, and its precursors that culminated in October 1976, is the absence of the Cold War,' Chulalongkorn University professor of political science Thitinan Pongsudhirak wrote last week.

Thailand's lese majeste law is the harshest in the world. Under the law anyone defaming or insulting the king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in jail. Hundreds of lese majeste complaints – which can be lodged by anyone against anyone – have been filed since the royalist-backed coup of 2006, which removed the increasingly authoritarian but popularly elected premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

(He was later convicted for corruption and his political party disbanded and a large chunk of his wealth seized; that has not stopped his younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra rising to power last year on his popularity while he himself remains in self-exile, dodging the two-year sentence handed him by the Thai courts).

Back in 1976, one of the right-wing songs widely sung to denigrate left-wing students was Nak Paendin, translated as 'Scum of the Earth.'

In 2010, I heard the song for the first time, at a small gathering of ultra royalists at Victory Monument in Bangkok. They had assembled to protest against the 'red shirt' who had massed in Bangkok to challenge the establishment.

Today, it is being sung by ultra royalists to describe anyone deemed against the monarchy. Calls for amendments to Article 112 on grounds that it violates human rights and does the credibility of the monarchy more harm than good, have been equated with an attempt to destroy the monarchy.

In 1976, there were explicit calls for violence against the students. Today, there are the same explicit calls. One caller to a radio talk show said he would like to 'cut their (Nitirat’s) heads off'. Pressed by the radio host on whether he knew the details of the group's proposal, he admitted he had no idea.

'One hopes that the caller is a rarity in today’s Thai society, but recent Thai history is not on one's side,' remarked a Thai journalist who goes by the pseudonym Kaewmala.

'The brutality... in 1976 was committed by their fellow countrymen,' Ms Kaewmala wrote in an online article last week. 'Hatred against the students was stoked by the deadly mixture of ignorance, blind faith, unfounded fear and disinformation.'

'A a generation later, a group of seven law lecturers.. are being accused of having an evil plan to topple the monarchy, being lackeys of (former prime minister) Thaksin (Shinawatra), being Red (shirts), or simply being suspected of harbouring some mysteriously ill intention.'

In an interview on the website Prachatai.com, Tyrell Haberkorn, Research Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Change of Australia National University, said the language used against the students in the days before the 1976 massacre and that used against Nitirat were 'similar in their tone, dehumanisation, and explicit calls for violence.'

And 'When (army chief) General Prayuth Chan-ocha publicly states that the members of Nitirat should leave the country.. [it] is important to ask what kind of a signal, direct or indirect, it sends to citizens.'

Thai historian Thongchai Winichakul, now a professor of Southeast Asian History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, was one of the students at Thammasat on that day, which in today's Thai school textbooks is referred to as a 'riot' or 'disturbance'.

In an email he wrote: 'Thailand never learns anything from any controversial past. That's not how the country deals with the past. The past is always sanitised and didactic to reproduce only the dominant ideology. The Oct 6 massacre is probably the noisiest dissonance, a haunting voice of the past that refuses to go away, probably until justice is served.'

Sitting at Thammasat, it is difficult to imagine history repeating itself especially given the different context. Perhaps as the saying goes, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose - the more it changes, the more it is the same. It is an ominous thought, yet seasoned commentators have evoked it.

Only the wind in the leaves of the Bodhi tree may know the answer.