Of course, we aren’t able to get every product that we want to test. So, it is always good to refer to other reviewers to get an alternative opinion. Below are sites/channels which are recommended:

Audio

For all things audio – true wireless earbuds, speakers, headphones, etc.

Music Photo Life

Music Photo Life is run by Chester Tan, and he actually does produce music. So, if you need someone who is able to explain the technicalities of how the earbuds or speaker sound, he is probably the best guy for the job. He is very well established in the tech blogging scene in Singapore as seen with multiple collaborations by large brands such as Sennheiser, Bose, and Sony, to name a few. His articulation of the audio experience of the product is highly accurate and easy to understand.

Check him out here: https://musicphotolife.com/

Scarbir

Scarbir‘s website is very niche in the sense that the test earbuds costs less than $150. If you are looking for budget true wireless earbuds or want to find a gem in the sea of earbuds, Scarbir is the place to go. He also features a leaderboard so it is really useful if you like to compare one against another. His reviews are very well structured as well so it is easy to follow and read.

Check him out here: https://www.scarbir.com/

Picky Audio

Picky Audio is run by James Dimento, and he covers main true wireless earbuds that are not commonly covered in Singapore. The level of detail that James goes into for each earbud is very respectable, so much so that you almost have a good sense of what the earbuds will sound like. If you like detailed reviews, Picky Audio is one of the rare few YouTubers who does such videos.

Check him out here: https://www.youtube.com/c/PickyAudio/videos

Gaming

Gears such as headphones, mice, mousepad, monitors, and more.

The Techne

Techne does a wide variety of tech coverage, such as audio, but seems to have more on gaming products. His videos are on the longer side of things, but that is for good reason. This is because he takes his time to go in-depth and tries to communicate all the factors that will affect the user experience of the product.

Check him out here: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheTechne/videos

Boardzy

Boardzy mainly review gaming mice and mousepads. As he has tested many many gaming mice, he is able to provide a comparative opinion when he tests a new mice/mousepad. So, when he talks about mouse clicks for example, he can give comparisons against other mice. Also, he is brutally honest and is rather entertaining to watch as well.

Check him out here: https://www.youtube.com/c/boardzy

Optimum Tech

Optimum Tech is a YouTube channel run by Ali Sayed, and he produces super clean and minimalistic videos on all things gaming and PC builds. His testing on PC parts and gaming gear are in-depth and he also does many comparisons to better provide context on how one fares against another. He even created his own mouse latency test, which shows his commitment to going into detail.

Check him out here: https://www.youtube.com/c/OptimumTech

Mechanical Keyboards

New hype but there is a lot to learn than just putting parts together to form a keyboard.

Keybored

Keybored is a YouTube channel run by Scott, and the channel name suggests, he posts all things mechanical keyboard. If you’re new to the hobby, his channel is a great place to start learning details on switches, stabilizers, and get exposed to the different boards available in the market. Keybored‘s videos are entertaining to watch and he puts in a lot of effort in testing especially when it comes to switches. He is also rather adept at modding, and was probably the first person who brought out the ‘force-break’ mod for the Keychron Q1 to reduce the pinging noise.

Check him out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzqmTtRqjBgQ_cybekKVGHA/videos

Shoobs

Videos of Shoobs are entertaining to watch as well, and he does explore a wide variety of boards and test out switches as well. If you’re new to the hobby, you can learn new terms and concepts such as plateless boards which can help you find your preference in a keyboard. He is quite good at articulating the feel of switches and how the board feels when typing.

Check him out here: https://www.youtube.com/c/ShoobsTube/videos

Notable mentions

There are many other YouTubers who also produce good content, such as:

• Alexotos
• Andy V Nguyen

Design and build quality

First thing I noticed when I took the Hex.4B Dreamcore Edition out of its carrying case was the weight. It is hefty at about 2kg and the build quality on this is incredibly solid, expected from its CNC milled aluminium and internal brass weight.

The purple colour is what Dreamcore dubs the Vivid Nightshade, and the anodisation on it is pretty nice. It looks really gorgeous in person, and matches really well with the Laser clones keycaps that Dreamcore has clothed them on. You can check out the photos below to get a sense of the colourway.

Do note that the rubber bump-ons on the back of the case on this unit will not be the same as the retail units.

Typing experience and acoustics

In this fully assembled board, the Hex.4B Dreamcore Edition is equipped with Gateron Lion switches, which are custom linear switches designed by Kasterborous of Hex Keyboards. Since I don’t have much time with the board, I won’t be dissembling the board.

As the Hex.4B Dreamcore Edition features a plateless design, the typing feel on this is gentle and has some level of bounce and flex to it. Personally I really enjoy typing on this keyboard. I don’t think the switches in this it were lubed as it felt a little scratchy still. You can have a quick sense of the acoustics by checking out the video below:

Final thoughts

The Hex.4B Dreamcore Edition has VIA support as well, which to me is crucial if you have a 75% layout since the side keys can be mapped to any keys of your liking.

I’ve always been typing on keyboards with plate, so this is my first time typing on a plateless keyboard. And I gotta say the Hex.4B Dreamcore Edition really offers a unique typing experience, where I can kinda feel the bottoming out of the switches as compared to typing on keyboard with a plate. I guess this is something to that you have to try it out physically to feel and decide for yourself.

Perhaps one day SuperSolid will be gracing us with some custom keyboards of their own. But in the meantime, this collaboration between local desktop builder Dreamcore and local keyboard maker Hex is one step in the right direction.

By going for the wordpress.org route, you would have to choose a web host which main service is to make your websites available through the internet. There are a many web hosts you can choose from. If your main target audience is set to be Singapore or Malaysia, then Exabytes should be on your shortlist.

Choose your FREE domain name

Before you decide on your theme, you should have a domain in mind. Exabytes supports many popular domains such as .com, .net, .org, and even .sg. If you wish to build a strong presence in Singapore, then using the .sg domain will get you better Google rankings in Singapore.

Signing up with any Exabytes WordPress hosting plans entitles you to 1 free domain. You can even choose the popular domains such as .com or .sg.

Affordable pricing

If you’re just starting out then their entry level plan WP 12 Beginner is a very attractive option at just S$3.99/mo. And that is in SGD. Other web host are usually priced in USD. Comparing to other web host providers, Exabytes is priced quite competitively so you don’t have to be worried that you are overpaying.

Strengths of Exabytes

I had the pleasure of testing their WP 12 Business plan, which costs S$7.99/mo. The main difference between the Business plan and the Basic plan is its speed, storage size, and the number of databases and add-on domains you can add. You can compare the differences in the table below:

Fast and optimized

Exabytes claims that they are fast so I really wanted to test that. On this site, I usually compress image uploads such that they are within 100-300kb of size. If not they usually take too long to load. When I was testing for speeds on my Exabytes website, I purposely uploaded full size, heavy, uncompressed images taken on my iPhone right into the post. Each image ranges between 2-3mb large, which is close to 10 times larger than what I’d usually upload.

On Exabytes‘ website, they claim that they use a LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress (LSCWP) and SSD storage which will increase loading speed and response time at 5x faster than normal hosting server. Was it really that fast? Yes, and boy was I impressed. Images loaded instantly and everything I clicked loaded super fast too. It was a joy navigating through pages on the website hosted on Exabytes.

The speed to me is one of the biggest pull factor as people nowadays have very short attention span. If your page doesn’t load in 3 seconds, people usually close the page. If you foresee your blog or website to display lots of media, I believe you can benefit greatly from Exabytes speed.

Email

Even on the WP 12 Beginner plan, you get to enjoy free email hosting for your website, ie. creating your own branded email. For example, if your website is hello.com, then one email address could be johndoe@hello.com. And you are not limited on the number of email accounts you can create. In fact, Exabytes gives you unlimited email accounts that you can create.

Having a branded email could be useful to give yourself and your brand a little legitimacy. And if you ever want to expand and hire staff, creating an email for them is straightforward.

Daily backup and good security

Exabytes does a daily backup of the website. So, if anything goes wrong, you will be able to restore all your data without much losses. All good features will not mean much if the security of the hosting is poor.

Thankfully, Exabytes did take that into consideration and ensured they had built-in security system in their hosting service. Exabytes employs Imunify360 to help scan and removal malware and viruses on your website.

24/7 customer support

Building a website can be difficult and if you have any troubles it is best to solve it right away. Exabytes offer a variety of customer support options. Most convenient would be a live chat, or if you prefer Whatsapp they have that as well.

Easy to use control panel management

The web hosting control panel used by Exabytes is Plesk and it is very easy to use for first timers.

On the main dashboard, you can quick and easy access to commonly used functions such as adding sub-domains, email accounts, databases, users, and accessing file manager. You can see the user interface of some of the different quick links below:

There is also a quick link to WordPress toolkit, which allows you to manage all the different WordPress website under your Exabytes hosting account.

Ability to install more than 1 website

This isn’t that big of deal if you’re just starting out, but I thought it’ll be good to point out that even on the basic WP 12 Beginner plan you are able to create up to 30 websites. Bluehost on the other hand, you can only create 1 website on their Basic Plan.

Conclusion

If you’re new to starting a WordPress website, choosing a WordPress web host can be confusing since there are many options to commit on a 36-month term. Each web host will have strengths over the other, and so it is important that you choose one that aligns to your needs. What I liked about Exabytes is that the website speed is fast. My tested website loaded really fast in Singapore. I also like their their Beginner plan offers branded email functionality and multiple website installation that you might not find on other starter plans.

If your target audience is mainly going to be for the Singapore or Malaysia audience, I think speed will be the biggest asset from Exabytes hosting.

Below S$50

Near Smart Light Strip

This is for the ones who care about how fancy or aesthetic their desk setup looks. Stick the Near Smart Light Strip to the back of the desk and working or gaming at night will be a whole different mood! Your friend will have up to 16 million colours to choose from and can set smart automations or even control it with Google Assistant or Alexa. He/she can even adjust the brightness of the light in increments of 100.

The Near Smart Light Strip retails for S$39.90.

MOFT X Tablet Stand 

If your friend has an iPad, the MOFT X Tablet Stand will be the perfect companion for it. It is very slim and sticks to the back of the iPad, so it stays flushed without sticking out. He/she can setup the iPad in both landscape or portrait mode. Be it watching a YouTube video or reading a news article, the MOFT X makes it really convenient. There are multiple angles the MOFT X can be adjusted so there is bound to be an angle that fit their needs.

The MOFT X Tablet Stand retails for $42.90, but there seems to be promotion at Shopee for just S$24.90!

S$50 to S$149

Supersolid DT-001

If your friend is a gamer or someone who wants to get started with mechanical keyboards, the Supersolid DT-001 presents an attractive and affordable option. It has a clean and modern black on black design, and has pretty good build quality in a TKL layout. The keycaps used are of durable PBT doubleshot and they allow the RGB backlighting to shine through. There are three choices of Kailh box switches you can choose from. And if you’re friend wants to try other mechanical switches in the future, he/she can as the Supersolid DT-001 is hot-swappable so changing of switches is super easy.

The Supersolid DT-001 retails for S$129.

Creative Outlier Air V2

Creative’s best selling true wireless earbuds gets updated with a version 2 which is better than ever. Sound quality is improved to sound more refined, and now has touch controls for greater ease of use. The Creative Outlier Air V2 earbuds are also more comfortable thanks to the new rounder ear tips. If your friend is someone who is fitspo, the Creative Outlier Air V2 is rated at IPX5 water-resistance so he/she can push through their workouts without worry. The battery can last 12 hours a per charge so your friend can use it for long without charging.

The Creative Outlier Air V2 retails for S$129, but there is an ongoing promo now at S$99.

Moshi Lounge Q

This is for those who wants a wireless charger charges fast and also looks good. The Moshi Lounge Q is wireless charging stand that has an adjustable rail system such that the charging pad can be shifted up and down. This allows you to charge different phone sizes and you can even charge in landscape mode. So whether your friend has an iPhone 12 Mini or the chonky iPhone 12 Pro Max, they can be all be charged. The Moshi Lounge Q also has very good build quality and even has a 10-year warranty.

The Moshi Lounge Q retails for S$124.90.

S$150 to S$299

JBL Quantum Duo

This is for every gamer what wants his/her gaming rig to glow up. The JBL Quantum Duo comes with lighting effects of which choose from three effects from seven colours. With AUX, USB, and Bluetooth, you can use the speakers more than just for your PC. The JBL Quantum Duo also comes with a surround sound mode, which expands the soundstage to create an immersive sound whether you are gaming or simply watching a movie. As for sound, the 2.0 speaker packs plenty of bass so if your friend like bass, the speaker will be a great option.

The JBL Quantum Duo retails for S$269, but there is currently a promotion at Courts at S$199.

Logitech MX Master 3

The MX Master series is the the best mouse when it comes to productivity and there is nothing else that comes close. If your friend is still using the boring office mouse, perhaps it’s time to give him/her an upgrade with the Logitech MX Master 3. The MX Master 3 is designed ergonomically so it fits the hands comfortably. The new magnetic scroll wheel makes scrolling through long documents a breeze. The variety of buttons on the MX Master 3 can even be customised to suit each individuals unique workflow requirements. Oh if your friend is using a Mac, there’s even a Mac version made to suit the Apple aesthetic.

The Logitech MX Master 3 retails for S$169, but there is currently a promotion at the Mecha Store for S$152.

Creative SXFI Theater

This is for the friend who binges Netflix and movies every weekend. The Creative SXFI Theater features Creative’s award winning Super X-Fi technology which helps to create an immersive expansive soundstage. The Creative SXFI Theater comes with a 2.4GHz USB transmitter so that you can use the headphones wirelessly and enjoy low latency audio-video playback. The headphones can even last up to 30 hours of playback on a full charge. There is also a detachable microphone included in the package it can double as a headset for Zoom calls and even when gaming.

The Creative SXFI Theater retails at S$299, but there is currently a promotion now at S$249.

S$300 and above

Harman Kardon Aura Studio 3

Wow you must be a great friend if you’re exploring this price point. But since you’re already here, the Harman Kardon Aura Studio 3 is a great speaker for your money. First, it is a pretty new product that launched mid-2020. Second, it looks absolutely futuristic and modern which will look great in any room. Third, the design has some practical improvements such as removing the bass reflex port so dust and other small things not get trapped in it accidentally. Lastly, your friend can enjoy 360º audio and enjoy ambient light effects at the same time.

The Harman Kardon Aura Studio 3 retails for S$399, but there is promotion now for S$319.

APOL Sphinx

With work-from-home still being a norm today, getting a chair which you can sit comfortably for hours is important. The APOL Sphinx is a great choice if you’re between 160cm to 180cm. The chair is design for individuals who have a smaller build so ladies looking for a comfortable chair, you finally got something catered for you! The Sphinx is only available in fabric upholstery which I personally prefer over PU leather as it is feels great on the skin. The seatbase features a flat design to provide more flexible sitting postures and has a soft-firm plushiness to it which is really comfy for long hours of sitting.

The APOL Sphinx chair retails at S$399.

Last quick tip

Some of the items listed above are already discounted. But if you’re not in a hurry, 12.12 is coming up so perhaps you might want to wait till then to purchase your Secret Santa gifts on Qoo10, Lazada, or Shopee. Hopefully, this Christmas Gift Guide gave your some inspiration and ideas!

And with SXFI Gamer headphones about to be released soon, it’s a good time to take a closer look at the Gen 2 update of Super X-Fi.

I have reviewed two models of the Creative’s Super X-Fi products – (1) Creative SXFI Air C, and (2) Creative SXFI Theatre. Both were reviewed based on Gen 1 Super X-Fi technology. Overall, the SXFI Gen 1 sound was impressive and realistic especially when used for movies. It had some shortfalls even it comes to gaming and podcasts, or even certain music genres.

So when Gen 2 was released, I wanted to take my time to test Gen 1 and Gen 2 to observe any improvements that were made. After 4 months or so, this is my update on Creative’s Super X-Fi Gen 2 update.

Better positioning cues for gaming

Positioning cues was something that wasn’t that great on the SXFI Gen 1. When used for gaming, audio cues such footsteps and gunfire can sometimes be lost in expanded space.

Switching between my my Gen 1 profile to my Gen 2 version in my SXFI Theatre, I noticed that in FPS games, positional audio becomes more accurate. Rear cues in particular sounded more realistic, clearer, and slightly more pronounced. In games such as Apex Legends, CS Go, the lost details that I experienced in Gen 1 seemed to be recovered in Gen 2.

Sounds less “processed”

The Gen 2 seems to sound less “processed” compared to Gen 1. Depending on the music you play, Super X-Fi in Gen 1 can sometimes make the song sound like there is too much digital alteration.

But in Gen 2 this processing is less obvious, so you get cleaner, crisper sound. Reverb is also reduced, which is much appreciated on YouTube videos that are vocal heavy. Echoes are less apparent on the Gen 2 than one the Gen 1 which is a great improvement.

Summary

The Gen 2 is a great update to the Super X-Fi tech, making an impressive technology even better. Main upgrades you get are improved accuracy in positional cues and better audio fidelity when it comes to music.

To update, you can go to Creative’s support page. If not, there should be a prompt in your Creative SXFI Control app.

I took almost a week to get my site moved from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. And there were much frustration because it just didn’t go as smoothly as those tutorials were shown. Why? Because those tutorials were all very simple scenarios. Their examples usually involve moving a site with minimal posts and media. But in real life, you WordPress.com blog can have 100 over posts and media over 3GB – which can cause issues.

I’m going to go over the steps I took and the problems I encountered along the way. So that if you do move, you wouldn’t have to suffer a week like me.

My setup

This is what my current build is like on WordPress.com

• 87 posts (85 published, 2 drafts)
• 3.2GB worth of media content
• 101 comments
• 3 pages
• Running on ‘Canard’ theme
• Have a custom domain name with WordPress.com

The unique thing about my situation is that I have a custom domain which I paid for with WordPress.com. Most tutorials online usually cover the situation whereby you only have a free domain on WordPress.com, then getting you purchasing a custom domain with Bluehost or GoDaddy.

Because I already had a custom domain bought with WordPress.com, the setup with Bluehost was different. And there was no tutorials online showing me what to do with the nuances involved.

The steps I took

1. Export all my data from WordPress.com

I login to my WordPress.com account, went to ‘Tools’ > ‘Export’. Clicked on ‘Export all’.

A .zip download began. Once it’s done, I extracted the files and got 2 .xml files. One (001) was 3.2mb, the other (002) was 0.2mb.

I was wondering how did all my 3.2GB of media content be compressed into a 3mb .xml file. By doing further research, I realised that the .xml file contains the file URL to your images. Once you import the .xml file into the WordPress.org website, it will ping the file URLs and pull the images over to the new site.

2. Find a web hosting service to setup your WordPress.org site

Many web hosting service providers such as Hostgator or Bluehost offer dedicated WordPress hosting plans. Once you sign up with them, they will provide you with a website link that will bring you to the frontend and backend of your WordPress.org site. There’s no need to download the WordPress.org application, install a database or what not.

I personally went with Bluehost – mainly because it is cheap at US$2.75/mo (provided you sign a 36-month plan), which totals up to around S$155 or S$4.30/mo. Also, they provide free SSL Certificate (very important as your WordPress.com has SSL certification as well).

Once I was done with the payment, I got an email from Bluehost containing the following information which you will need in the later steps.

Because I did not create a new domain with Bluehost, I got a temporary domain to work on my site before bringing the site live. I can then login to the Bluehost Portal and start working on my new WordPress.org site.

Upon entering your temporary WordPress.org site, you will be need to create a new user and set a password. This will be your WordPress.org login details.

3. Importing WordPress.com content to the new WordPress.org site

This is where I faced the bulk of my problems.

I followed all tutorials that suggested using the built-in WordPress Importer. I uploaded part 001 of my .xml file and waited for the media files to populate in the Media Library. Remember that you have to wait because the .xml will ping the file URLs and pull the images over to the new site. All of my media was 3.2GB large so I left the computer overnight in case it was downloading.

But the next morning – only 9 images were imported to my library and only 2 posts were imported. Nothing more was imported. I reached out the Bluehost live chat service but they weren’t much help. Thankfully, I reached out to Andy from SmartWP for help. He was kind enough to suggest alternative methods of importing content to my new WordPress.org site, which worked.

So what caused the import to fail? My guess was that Bluehost has a limit on upload size and execution time. I’m not too sure but I’m certain that Bluehost isn’t able to process a 3.2GB worth of uploads. I even tried using a WXR splitter, and tried exporting my content by a monthly cut then importing them one by one. But the result was always the same – the import was never full and missing images in the media library.

Importing to a localhost then using Duplicator to export and import to WordPress.org site

This sub-title above is TLDR version Andy’s recommendation. Importing the .xml files to a localhost (ie. WordPress.rog running offline on your desktop) will get rid of any upload cap issues. Duplicator is a way more efficient tool of migrating because brings over everything, like its name suggests – it duplicates your site.

This method is more long-winded but it will work better if you are migrating a big site like mine where I have lots of media content.

I will link the full procedure in another post here.

4. Updating Permalinks

After I saw all my content imported successfully in my temporary site, I proceeded to update my permalinks.

WordPress.com uses a ‘Day and name’ permalink style to format post links. I have to change it on the WordPress.org site by going to ‘Settings’ > ‘Permalinks’.

This is important so that when the WordPress.org site goes live, any pingback link in your posts will not get an error.

5. Edit the theme, install Jetpack plugin and Layout Grid plugin

The .xml files in your original WordPress.com exports carries all the content except theme and plugins. As I had made some customisations to my theme in WordPress.com, I had to do the same thing to my WordPress.org theme.

Also, WordPress.com is powered mainly by Jetpack, so certain theme customisations such as site logo and settings you had in WordPress.com will not be available on the WordPress.org unless the Jetpack plugin is installed.

Grid Layout is also another plugin I installed because some of my pages used the grid layout which is pre-installed in WordPress.com.

6. Test the temporary WordPress.org site

After tweaking with the theme and customisation to get it as close to my old WordPress.com look, I surfed my own site to make sure that there are no broken pages or links.

7. Moving your subscribers

WordPress.com is powered by Jetpack, so to move my subscribers, I can use Jetpack plugin on my WordPress.org site.

Simply follow the instructions here, like I did.

8. Bringing the temporary site live – changing the name servers

In the usual tutorials where the new domain is bought with Bluehost, the site is already live with the purchased domain. The only thing left to do is to re-direct visitors to the new domain, which you can purchase this service from WordPress.com for $13/year.

However, as my custom domain is bought with WordPress.com, the re-direct will be done automatically by WordPress.com provided you keep the purchased domain as your ‘Primary’ domain on WordPress.com. But unlike the usual case, my site on Bluehost is not live – it is a temporary website.

In order to switch the WordPress.org site to display my ‘techjioblog.com’ domain, I have to change the name servers of my domain. You cannot just change site URL. At first, I was very confused about switching name servers and there was also no guide on the internet. Based on my experience, here are some things I learnt:

• Name servers are part of a large database called the Domain Name System (DNS), which holds information that tells the Internet what to do. We see as a bunch of numbers.
• WordPress.com hosted sites are hosted on DNS 192.0.78.30 or 192.0.78.31 (if you do a quick Google, you’ll find that they belong to Automattic)
• Bluehost sites are on 74.220.219.26

From my experience, what I understand is that when you switch name servers, you are basically telling the Internet: “for this domain, pull the information from this place (ie. DNS)”.

So, when I switched the name servers from default WordPress to Bluehost, I’m basically telling the internet the stop getting information from WordPress and get it from Bluehost.

The act of switching name servers is called DNS Propagation – ISP nodes across the world will have to update their caches to point your domain to a new DNS. And this process usually takes 1 to 24 hours, or even a full 48 hours to fully complete.

What happened to my WordPress.com site

After I switched name servers, I soon realised that my URL ‘techjioblog.com’ went down. I got error on my web browser saying that the page was not found. This is because my domain was no longer getting information from WordPress.com. And because I did not change the site URL of my temporary site, the domain ‘techjioblog.com’ even when pointed successfully to Bluehost, will be unable to produce any information.

I realised that in order to prevent my blog to go down for hours until the DNS propagation completes, I decided to change the site URL on my WordPress.org site.

Changing the site URL on my WordPress.org site (via Bluehost)

I changed the address to my domain so that in locations where the DNS propagation is complete, people would at least be re-directed to the new site rather than the domain being completely down.

However, I realised that because of doing this, sometimes I am unable to even log in to my wp-admin page. I will end up getting a blank page that just returns the text “()”. I believe this might be due to the DNS propagation not being fully complete. Clearing of my browser’s cache does work as a quick fix to regain access to my wp-admin page.

Also, even if you change your site URL to a https one, you still can have SSL errors on Google when people visit your page. I kept having my website showing up with “Your connection is not private” error shown below.

How to check if the DNS propagation is completed

A Bluehost agent recommended me to use WhatsMyDNS to check the status.

During the DNS propagation, you can see that the DNS returned for my domain is a mix of two servers. This means that in some locations, my domain will pull information from WordPress.com, and some from Bluehost. Sometimes some locations will show that they are with Bluehost servers, then an hour later they go back to WordPress.com’s. I have no idea why that happens.

After about the 36 hours mark, I started to see that all the locations are showing that my custom domain points to Bluehost.

9. Enabling SSL certificate

After the DNS propagation is complete, remember to go into the Security settings of your Bluehost portal to toggle on the Free SSL certificate that Bluehost provides.

If you don’t do this, your site hosted by Bluehost will always show the “Not Secure” exclamation which isn’t gonna do credibility any good.

All done

If your new WordPress.org is linked to your Jetpack account, you should be able to see stats of your new migrated site on WordPress.com as well. When you finally see zero view stats on your old WordPress.com, it is safe to conclude that your site has successfully migrated.

Also, you do not need to login to Bluehost everytime you want to access your WordPress.org site. Simply go to “your domain name”.com/wp-admin and login via the username and password you created, and you’re in.

If you are reading this and are also transitioning from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, I hope you found this relatable and helpful, supplementing the online guides out there. If you have any questions, let me know and I will try my best to answer based on my experience.

Special thanks

Big shoutout to Andy from SmartWP. Not only did he help me out my problem of migrating content, he also shared various tips and plugins which were very useful in settling into WordPress.org.

If you need any WordPress.org help, feel free to visit his site or watch his YouTube channel, he provided in-depth and useful tips and tricks!

The general reaction right after the keynote could be summarised in one word – disappointment. But as the days when by, the disappointment faded and people started being particularly impressed by some of the upgrades Apple made. But let’s face it, there is still a valid reason to be “disappointed”.

iPhone 11 and 11 Pro

If you have been following rumors, you’d know what to expect. But still, there was still sense of disappointment that Apple didn’t surprise us with some new features. Disappointment usually happens when expectations aren’t met. We’re impressed when we get something more than what we expect. So why was there disappointment right after the keynote. Here are my thoughts:

1. Many of the upgrades are assumed, not expected

Three cameras, better camera performance, Night Mode, faster processor, and better battery life. Guess what? All these were the main meat of the upgrades. There was nothing really new about the iPhone 11 or 11 Pro, even the design was the same. As such, this felt like an S update to the XR and XS. Every year these upgrades come automatically, so they are assumed and aren’t taken to be special at first glance.

In many ways, the upgrades such as three cameras and Night Mode is seen as Apple playing catchup to Android flagships, instead of innovation.

2. What was expected did not deliver

USB-C, bilateral charging, 120Hz, 128GB base storage, 5G, new design… All these weren’t present at all. Seems saddening Apple added the Pro monicker but stuck with Lightning, and even more frustrating that 64GB still remained as the base storage when 4K 60p is a norm on the new phones. People expected and wanted these new stuff but Apple didn’t make room for any of them, not even the 128GB base storage.

This was why people were disappointed. They didn’t get those new features they wanted.

But Apple always rolls out new stuff perfecting it…

After many days after the keynote, seeing hands-on and early reviews, people started to get more positive about the new iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. Why? Because most of the assumed upgrades are the highest in class.

Let’s talk about the new camera system – three cameras and Night Mode. Just by watching the keynote I was already impressed by the ability to switch through each camera seamlessly with the same color calibration. Even in video you can adjust the focal length, changing the focus live as you zoom in or out. All cameras now can shoot 4K 60p (yes, even the front).

What about real world performance? Well the early reviews have showed that the cameras are a class above the rest. You can read reviews by The Verge and Mashable, and they all share the same opinion – the new camera system is very impressive. HDR was further improved, and the new Night Mode has a very natural effect and preserves detail in the shot. Against the tough Pixel 3’s Night Sight, Apple’s Night Mode usually prevailed as the winner. Also, Apple’s Night Mode kicks in automatically and not as a separate feature which is pretty sweet.

Apart from the cameras, the battery improvement is also great – 4 and 5 hours more is a huge increase. And the new A13 Bionic chip is just leaps and bounds over the Android chips. There are also other improvements such as better screen contrast ratio, And also there’s some new stuff that Apple didn’t really talk about in their keynote – WiFi 6, U1 chip, Audio zoom, better FaceID.

The new iPhone 11 and 11 Pro is considered a big improvement if you’re a huge camera user (even if you’re using the XS). But if you’re not much of a camera user, then it’s probably hard for you to get impressed. People tend to judge Apple way too soon based on the specs listed on paper. Specs is one thing, but implementation is another. Apple has once again perfected their implementation of their new features.

Apple Watch Series 5

Ok I’m gonna keep this short because there really isn’t much to talk about. The new change is the always on display, which I think most Apple Watch users have been clamouring for. There aren’t that many new upgrades just because the Series 4 had so many great upgrades that I just can’t find anything new the Series 5 can do.

iPad 7th Generation

The move to 10.2-inch for me was a supply chain one. It now uses the exact same chasis as the iPad Air 3, which is pretty smart for Apple because one chasis can be used to make two devices. Another upgrade was the addition of the smart connector so you can now use Apple keyboards.

But other than that nothing much has changed. Apple still stuck with the A10 Fusion chip. I honestly expected an A11 at the very least.

The iPad 7th Gen was the true disappointment in this keynote (was surprised that it actually got featured). Basically other than a larger display, smart connector, support for eSIM and a Gigabit-class LTE connector, there is nothing new or special in this update.

Apple iPad Mini 6 (in iPad Pro design)

Seriously. The day Apple makes the iPad Mini in the form factor of the iPad Pro I’m getting myself one. I can’t justify paying over S$600 for the iPad mini 5 because it just looks so dated. Specs are great but I feel like the iPad mini could be so much more.

And a full-screen design is definitely the way to go. The 7.9-inch screen will be housed in an even smaller body, making it a great portable device. Of course, it better be USB-C.

Creative Aurvana Trio Air

Ok this isn’t the most well done product but hear me out.

The Creative Outlier Air is already such a great product – insane battery life, great audio quality, amazing seal and fit. But perhaps the Aurvana Trio can make a wireless version. And assuming it has even better sound quality than the already great Outlier Air, it’s gonna be one hell of a product.

And of course not forgetting an app…

Creative SoundLab app?

This is inspired by Jaybird’s MySound app which really made my Jaybird experience in the past a joy and made it hard for me to switch out. The ability to tune a specific EQ of your liking is something you have to experience to truly know the value of it.

Faire Leather Co Spectre Bifold Wallet v2

Faire Leather Co makes quality leather products at great affordable prices. They currently have a Trifold and a Bifold collection. However, their Bifold range only allows 2 cards on each side and has a vertical rectangle shape. Card slots are a little limiting for a Bifold in my opinion.

So wouldn’t it be great if there is another variant of the Bifold, basically the Trifold without the inner flap. This is probably easy for Faire to construct as well since they just not sew the inner flap.

There it is. Hopefully some of the “products” actually come true. What products do you guys wish to have? Share it in the comments below!