ECOVACS DEEBOT OZMO T8 vs Roborock S6 MaxV: Which to buy during 12.12 sale?

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When it comes to robot vacuums, two names come up more than others — ECOVACS and Roborock. Both companies have been around for quite some time and offer many models of robot vacuums, but today we’re finding out which is better – the ECOVACS DEEBOT OZMO T8 or the Roborock S6 MaxV.

Design

There isn’t too much of a difference in the overall design of the robot vacuums — both are round and have a lid that opens so you can clean out the dust box. There’s also a tool blade to help brush out the dust or cut off hairs that are tangled around the brush. Speaking of brushes, both vacuums have a main brush underneath them, but the OZMO T8 has two side brushes while the S6 MaxV only has one.

When it comes to the exterior, the OZMO T8 is easier to maintain in the long run because it doesn’t attract dust and fingerprints as easily as the S6 MaxV — the latter gets dusty easily so it needs more frequent cleaning. However, it has extra buttons so it can be asked to clean or return to its charging dock without using the app. The S6 MaxV also has dual-cameras that allows remote viewing and object recognition with images.

Mapping & Obstacle Detection

Mapping is one of most important features that a robot vacuum should have, solely because it makes automated cleaning much easier. The OZMO T8 uses TrueMapping technology while the S6 MaxV is equipped with Roborock’s PreciSense LiDAR navigation system. I expected both to be good at mapping, but surprisingly the OZMO T8 is more efficient and accurate. It could map out my place and label the different areas accurately in one session whereas the S6 MaxV required an extra session and still failed to differentiate my rooms.

Both devices also support multi-floor mapping so those with double-storey houses can also use them to map out different levels of their homes.

But it’s not just mapping; the ability to detect obstacles is also needed because you simply won’t want the vacuum to roll over or get stuck trying to suck your slipper and what not. Fortunately, the T8 has TrueDetect 3D technology and the S6 MaxV has ReactiveAI. The S6 MaxV is a true winner at avoiding obstacles like shoes and weighing scales, but terrible when it comes to cables. It often gets tangled up to a point where it requires human assistance to untangle it. That’s a huge letdown since the main purpose of a robot vacuum is to clean independently without any assistance.

On the other hand, the OZMO T8 usually nudges the object gently before it realises that it’s an obstacle and turns away. What really impressed me is its anti-tangle system — despite rolling over messy cable, the vacuum could always untangle itself from the mess and continue cleaning. This is most likely thanks to the millimeter-level accuracy that allows it to detect objects as tiny as 1mm, allowing it to recognise the cables and avoid being tangled up. Also, the TrueDetect 3D technology allows it to recognise obstacles from a distance of up to 30cm including things like carpets, so even when the OZMO T8 starts mopping, it avoids the carpets.

Vacuuming

Despite having three brushes, the OZMO T8 isn’t as efficient as the S6 MaxV with only two brushes. Both aren’t perfect when it comes to picking up dirt — I had to make them clean the same spot twice when I tested their abilities with cat litter. That being said, both are great at cleaning the common dirt — furs, hairs and dust.

It took me a week before I had to clean out the dust box for both vacuums and that’s with daily cleaning. Cleaning works the same way for both, but because I also have the Auto-Empty Station from ECOVACS, I didn’t need to clean the OZMO T8 myself. It’s a charging station that also empties the vacuum’s dust box when it returns, so the dirt gets sucked up into a dust bag that can be taken out and thrown without dirtying your hands. The dust bag can supposedly store up to 30 days of dirt and debris, so cleaning it out once a month is good enough.

Mopping

Now, both can vacuum and mop simultaneously and while they did a good job at mopping my floor clean, I also swapped the OZMO T8’s usual mopping module with ECOVAC’s OZMO Pro Oscillating Mopping System. It comes with high-frequency vibration and disposable pads so not only is it better at cleaning stubborn stains, but I also won’t have to wash the cloth every time I’m done cleaning.

Still, both brands recommend using only water to mop and I wish they could do something about that. As a person who’s used to using floor detergent to mop my floors, I still believe that it’s necessary if I want my house to be squeaky clean. Also, if you have lots of carpets at home, you may want to keep them beforehand if you want the S6 MaxV to mop your place. It doesn’t have carpet detection when mopping so it’ll either mop over your carpets or just push them around the house.

App

App Pairing

Both the OZMO T8 and Roborock S6 MaxV come with their own apps that should be downloaded to enjoy the full features. App pairing is relatively easy and can be done within minutes, but do note that they only support 2.4GHz wireless networks.

App features

ECOVACS DEEBOT OZMO T8

Both apps have similar features too; I can choose to clean the entire house, by rooms or select a specific area to clean, and I can also adjust the suction intensity and water flow level. I can also schedule cleanings, turn on the Do Not Disturb mode, view the cleaning history, the battery status and manage my maps.

https://klgadgetguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ROBOROCK-1.mp4

However, here’s where the S6 MaxV stands out; its dual cameras lets me remotely control the vacuum so it also acts as a monitor when I’m not home. I can also send audio messages that get broadcasted on the vacuum, so I can speak to my pet, scare off strangers and just communicate with my housemates when I’m not home. Some may be worried that there’s a risk of privacy invasion, but Roborock claims that everything is captured and deleted instantly so nothing will be stored or sent to the cloud. However, it would’ve been great if there’s camera cover included just for reassurance.

Maintenance

You should know that robot vacuums still need maintenance every now and then; each part needs to be cleaned or removed every now and then, but you won’t have to remember the dates to do so. Both ECOVACS HOME and Roborock keep track of the condition of the vacuum parts so you just have to check the app to know when it’s time to change them.

Should you get the OZMO T8 or the S6 MaxV?

At the time of writing, the
OZMO T8
 is priced at RM1,799 while the
S6 MaxV
 is priced at RM2,199. However, during the 12.12 sale, the
OZMO T8
’s price will be RM1,599 and the
S6 MaxV
 will be RM1,989.

I’d go for the OZMO T8 because even if I purchase it with the
OZMO Pro
 priced at RM359, it’s still slightly cheaper than the S6 MaxV. Plus, it performs better at mapping, mopping and detangling itself from wires
 via its obstacle detection technology
. You can purchase the OZMO T8
here
, and you can also get the
Auto-Empty Station
 at RM799.

However, the S6 MaxV has better pick up ability and also comes with a dual camera system for remote monitoring. That being said, you can also consider the
OZMO T8 AIVI
 that is priced similarly with the S6 MaxV.

This article is sponsored by ECOVACS.

DEEBOT OZMO T8
ecovacs
Roborock
S6 MaxV


ECOVACS shows off a range of robotic floor and window cleaners

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ECOVACS Robotics has held its official launch and announced its official entry into the Malaysian Market, showing off some very interesting cleaning solutions that are more intelligent than other robotic cleaning solutions.

At the launch, the company unveiled their DEEBOT and WINBOT series in Malaysia. DEEBOT OZMO is a series of floor cleaners that can intelligently swap between cleaning and mopping depending on the surface and technology that offer a more efficient water flow system that does not require you to refill the water during the cleaning process. The DEEBOT series include the R98, R95, M88 and the best selling M81 Pro.

With ECOVACS’ Smart Navi technology, a proprietary laser distance sensor technology, found in the R98 and the R95 is able to create a map of the environment to plan the most efficient way to move around and clean the home.

Aside from floor cleaners, they also showed off the WINBOT, which is a cleaner for your windows. The cleaner main objective is to ensure the user is safe when cleaning windows, as it would eliminate the need to climb up to high places and avoid risk when cleaning.

This comes in the form of the WINBOT 950 and the 850 which is able to stick on to 90 degrees glass windows and perform cleaning without the worry of it dropping.

All of ECOVACS’ products can be viewed on their
official website
 if you are interested in getting your self probably the smartest robotics cleaners around.

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ECS dismisses reports of quitting its DIY motherboard business

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ECS, the Taiwanese PC motherboard maker have dismissed rumors of selling of its business as reported by DIGITIMES, the company has sent out a press release confirming that it is still in business and will never give up any opportunity in making its own branded DIY motherboards.

While this piece of news could have hurt consumers a little, the rumour has been posted by irresponsible Taiwanese media DIGITIMES, which claims that the company will consider ceasing production of its consumer DIY motherboards and undertake ODM/OEM demands. While ECS’s motherboards aren’t as big here, the company still manufactures impressive DIY motherboards and some embedded solutions that we happened to notice over at COMPUTEX this year.

We hope this report helps ECS clarifies its position in the PC DIY market and look forward to see more interesting products coming up from the Taiwanese motherboard maker.

business
diy
ecs
motherboards
taiwan


ECS will showcase the LIVA Z Family at Computex

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ECS has introduced a new generation of LIVA Z family which gives a more all-around diversified choice for mini PC enthusiasts. The company is constantly striving for perfection and the pursuit of perfection when it comes to innovation, efficiency and product design, at the same time providing the best experience to consumers with superior quality and performance.

The LIVA Z Mini PC is equipped with the latest 14 nanometers Intel Apollo Lake quad-core processor, rich I/O connection ability and 4K/UHD ultra HD display support, making it the perfect choice for a home entertainment centre. With the built-in microphone and support of Windows 10, the mini PC will have access to Cortana voice secretary to enjoy a more convenient and efficient way of running applications and media, making it an ideal home entertainment centre. In addition to that, it will also run quietly ensuring that PC sounds will not distract you when enjoying music and movies.

The LIVA ZE Mini PC, a family of the LIVA Z family series, will come with a modular dual storage design which supports the M.2 interface SSD as well as a 2.5 inch HDD hard disk, giving consumers the option of fast access and boot up times and large enough storage to enjoy all their media needs. The last line in the family of minicomputers is the LIVA Z Plus which comes with the latest 7th gen Intel Core processor and two built-in DDR4 SO-DIMM slots with 8GB support for one slot, totalling it to 16GB DDR4 RAM. With 4K video in HEVC 10-bit and VP9 format, it can output smooth 4K UHD visuals making it a good fit for work computing and home entertainment centre.

ECS will be demoing their LIVA Z and LIVA ZE computers in Computex on May 30 – June 3 at NangGang Exhibition Hall and the LIVA Z Plus will be demoed at CES 2017. For more information check out ECS website
here

computex
ecs mini pc
intel
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Edifier W860NB Review: Stepping Stone into the world of Active Noise Cancelling

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Our smartphones are used for more than just browsing the Internet, social media and watching funny cat videos. Over the years, it has become our music listening device allowing us to connect a headphone or earphones for a great mobile music listing experience. But sadly, in recent years, we have seen companies removing the 3.5mm jack and without a good reason, (unless you consider Apple’s reason which was “courage”). Now, people like me, who still prefer a wired connection, have no choice but to either use a dongle or get a Bluetooth headphone or earphone which I still stand firm will not be better than wired connection.But perhaps the Edifier W860NB Active Noise Cancelling Stereo Headphones has given me some faith in Bluetooth audio listing devices.

The W860NB comes in a rather minimal design, although majority of the headphone is made of plastic, they were careful enough to ensure that parts of the headphone that comes in contact with your head and ears are padded with this soft leather-like material, particularly on the headband and ear cups. This makes it very comfortable to wear and helps to counter the weight of the headphones when wearing it.

There are microphone slits around the plastic of the earcups which is used for the ANC feature and on the right ear cup, you will find the switch to turn on ANC and a power button.

 The right earcup also has touch controls which allows you to pause/play music, control the volume and the forward/back function for navigating your music tracks. Overall, I found the gesture controls to not be an issue and it pretty easy to use.

On the left earcup, there is a microUSB charging port and a 3.5mm jack if you still prefer to go wired. It also supports NFC connection for easy pairing.

Now comes to its audio quality, the W860NB has an obvious focus on bass, it offers a powerful punch and on occasion, depending on the music, it can overwhelm the other parts of the song. It is definitely suitable for baseheads, but I found my self tuning the audio on my phone to make the bass less powerful. The trebles are slightly above, it offers great clarity especially if you like listing to rock or jazz music, but I did which it had a bit more focus on the mids to gel the sounds together.

When it comes to its Active Noise Cancelling feature, I did feel like it does not do a good job in drowning out the ambience noise especially when I am in the train. I am still able to hear the wheels on the tracks and LRT announcements can still be heard. It’s not really a problem as I usually listen to music on slightly higher than the recommended settings on Android but I won’t complain much as it is pretty hard to find audio listing devices with ANC for RM499.

Battery life on the W860NB is rather good, it might not match up to its advertised battery life, then again, no product I have used matched its advertised battery life. However, I am satisfied with what it can offer to me. Averagely, it can offer me at least one and a half weeks of battery life and that is using it headphones for around three to four hours a day. With ANC turned on, it does last up to about a week. However, in my honest opinion, if a Bluetooth audio listing device can last me until the end of the week, I consider it to have good battery life, as I can just charge it on Sunday night and it will be ready for the entire week. Perhaps the only issue I have with this headphones is the charging time, it takes almost four hours to charge which is normal as the box has stated the charging time is four hours. I feel it slightly on the long side and I did which it charges faster.

Verdict

The Edifier W860NB is one of the cheaper alternatives to an ANC headphone, but with it being the cheaper alternative, there are some compromises that you need to live with. The ANC might not be the best and the sound quality is not on par with other non-ANC and ANC headphones, but it is a good stepping stone to a more expensive device. Should you buy the headphones? If you are on a budget, this is definitely a good option, but if you have the spending power, you are better off getting something else.

The Good

Comfortable earcups

Good battery life

Easy to use gesture controls

The Bad

Bass too strong

Lacking in mids

anc
bluetooth
edifier
headphone
review
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Editorial: Super thin smartphones, do we really need that?

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When I first met the Oppo R5, I was astonished by how thin a smartphone can be. At 4.85mm, the phone is an incredible piece of gem, and it makes the 5.2-inch display extremely easy to use as well thanks to its extremely thin bezels. After that, I started pondering, do I really need that slim form factor? Does it make sense for a phone to be so thin?

When a smartphone gets thinner, its internals are more soldered than ever, of course we are not talking about swapping RAMs or processors just like our PCs, but more to how reliable it is to be protected from shocks and bumps, let alone the phone being bent. If a phone gets too thin, cooling is also a major concern, phones such as the Oppo R5 has implemented its own patented heat dissipation technology onboard, how it will perform in extreme temperature conditions is still very questionable, and we haven’t really got that proof of concept from the company itself.

In addition, you’ll have to sacrifice battery capacity when you have a
slim smartphone
, take the iPhone 6 for example, it has a small
1810mAh
 battery while the Oppo R5 has a 2000mAh battery. In other examples, we can also refer to some extremely slim powerbanks out in the market. I personally have big hands and I don’t mind having a more bulky smartphone, but not too bulky of course, my real issue slim smartphones is the feel of gripping the device itself, it just feels weird and not complete.

Of course, until I get myself a unit of the Oppo R5 and use it as my daily driver, I’ll soon begin to know if a super slim factor will be a requirement for my next smartphone purchase. What say you? Do you think super thin smartphones are a gimmick or it really helps? Share with us.


Editorial: Why I will pay more for a flagship smartphone

330

I’m always out and about meeting people, this question always seem to be the first sentence to kick off our conversation, “Hey KLGadgetGuy, would you recommend me to buy flagship Chinese smartphones?”. As much as I always like to give them the ‘Yes’ answer, deep in my heart I’m saying ‘No’ to cheap flagship smartphones. Alright, you can probably call me a Chinese smartphone hater or whatever you can think of, Chinese smartphone makers such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and OnePlus produces great smartphones with powerful internals and beats almost any other branded smartphones down the hill with a totally unachievable low price tag, that is a fact and I certainly won’t deny.

I used to write about the Top 5 reasons for not buying a Chinese branded Android smartphones and one of the points have become valid even at this point of time – Chinese smartphone makers can make great hardware, and you are trading it off by simply getting an unpleasant user experience, i.e. slow software updates, crappy user interfaces, poor software quality, inconsistent software support. Put it in real life, it’s like getting to know a beautiful girl but you probably have to bear with her bad temper in the long term. We can see very clearly that Chinese phone makers simply lack the ability to create beautiful and unforgettable user experiences – and yes, I know you can replace the launchers with 3rd party apps – the first impression of a smartphone software experience is extremely important and fits the price that you are actually paying for.

Till then, you’ve probably got an idea of what this write up is all about, I’m not suggesting that you should pay almost RM3000 for an
iPhone 6
 or a five figure amount for a premium smartphone, what I simply wanted to tell my readers and friends is you shouldn’t judge a phone’s price by its hardware alone, but you should also consider if the phone’s software is able to demonstrate its reliability and consistency in its overall experience throughout its lifespan. Let’s face it, if you’ve already set a budget on buying a pricey smartphone that gives you confidence on its brand and user experience, why should you actually settle for a powerful hardware despite being cheap if it doesn’t offer you a great brand and user experience?

I could go on and on about this, I’m neither a fan of some branded smartphones either but I certainly do appreciate the work that those developers have put hard work into perfecting a great product. Therefore, if budget isn’t a problem for me, I’ll definitely pay more for a flagship smartphone that can offer me a great brand and user experience, that includes the ecosystem, accessories and after sales service.


Edward Snowden and Andrew Huang teams up to create a mobile phone case

361

American whistleblower Edward Snowden and Andrew “Bunnie” Huang has been busy developing a mobile phone case. However, this isn’t just a regular phone case, its one that can inform you whenever your smartphone is transmitting information that could be monitored.

Called the “Introspection Engine”, this phone case is able to connect to a phone’s different radio transmitters. Once connected, the case would then be able to inform its owner when a cellular, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection is being used to share or receive data. While the function of the “Introspection Engine” is limited to just monitoring connections, the device can be developed to act as a “kill switch” that would disconnect a phone’s power supply when it detects that a radio is transmitting data after its owner has attempted to turn it off.

While the phone case seems promising, both Snowden and Huang has said that there’s no guarantee that the “Introspection Engine” will ever be more than a mockup. However, should they be able to secure funding for this device, both men intend to release the device in partnership with the Freedom of the Press Foundation media advocary group as Snowden says that the phone case was designed to help protect journalists.

Source:
The Guardian

andrewhuang
edwardsnowden
introspectionengine
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eGames to debut at Rio 2016 Olympics

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eSports is about the receive a huge boost in a big way as the eGames international gaming tournament is scheduled to be held during the Rio Summer Olympics this year.

Backed by the UK government, the eGames will be run by the new International eGames Committee (IEGC). Scheduled to take place during the both the Summer and Winter Olympics, it seems that the eGames is set up to be a bi-yearly affair. During a non-Olympic year, national qualifiers will be held domestically in order to create a team that would be sent to compete in the following year.

Unlike other eSports competitions that have a prize pool, the eGames will be done in a style akin to traditional Olympics. In short, winners and runner-ups in the event will win medals for their achievements.

Currently, only Britain, Canada, Brazil and the USA are the confirmed entrants. That said the IEGC has promised that more information will be revealed during April and May, so team announcements as well as the games being contested, will continue throughout the next two months.

The eGames that would be held in Rio 2016 would happen for two days as a sort of pilot project. The IEGC has said that the first full eGames is expected to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018 and Tokyo, Japan in 2020.

Source:
eGames

egames
esports
olympics
rio2016


EK Announces Monoblock for X99 Motherboards.

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EK Water Blocks, known German-based premium liquid cooling parts manufacturer, recently announced the ASUS X99 motherboard monoblock – EK-FB ASUS X99 Monoblock. It’s compatible with four ASUS X99 motherboard models – X99-A, X99-DELUXE, X99-PRO, X99-S.

The EK-FB ASUS X99 Monoblock is an all-in-one (CPU and motherboard MOSFETs) liquid cooling solution for Intel X99 socket Haswell-E CPUs and the upcoming Broadwell-E CPUs, having support on the X99 platform as well.

ASUS X99-A (USB3.1)

ASUS X99-DELUXE (USB3.1)

ASUS X99-PRO (USB3.1)

X99-S

It was designed and engineered in cooperation with ASUS, with this monoblock housing the award winning EK-Supremacy EVO cooling engine ensuring the best possible CPU cooling. It cools the Intel LGA-2011-v3 socket type CPU and power regulation (MOSFET) module as water flows directly over all critical areas. It is a very high flow water block that can be easily used with the system even on weaker water pumps.

The base of the monoblock is made up of nickel-plated electrolytic copper while the top is made of quality POM Acetal or acrylic glass material, depending on the variant.

EK-FB ASUS X99 monoblocks are made in Slovenia, Europe and are readily available for purchase through
EK Webshop
. Shown below are the pricings.

Source:
TechPowerUp

asus
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EK Releases CoolStream CE Series Radiators

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Custom water cooling nowadays is popular and most of hardware enthusiasts will have it installed in their rig for better cooling potential. EK Water Blocks are one of the premium water cooling parts manufacturer and they once again release a new version of the radiator for the CoolStream family – EK-CoolStream CE. This new radiator offers a combination of EK’s unique CSQ design with radiator core engine and the radiator is optimized for maximum heat dissipation across an entire fan operational range, thus delivering exceptional performance at both low and high airflow operation.

The company ensures quality level, optimal price-performance ratio, and unique minimalist design to create EK-CoolStream CE series radiators to become a perfect choice for any computer liquid cooled system. The radiator offers best cooling capacity in the 45mm thick 140mm radiator class and it has a massive surface area while the parallel flow cooling chambers reduce hydraulic flow resistance to minimum. Besides that, the radiator features two recessed G1/4 threaded ports with two pre-installed extenders from the front side to allow any G1/4 threaded fitting to be used.

The price for the EK-CoolStream CE 140 is USD 56.99 (approx. RM 220), EK-CoolStream CE 280 is USD 75.99 (approx. RM 290), and EK-CoolStream CE 420 is USD 99.99 (approx. RM 390). You are able to purchase it over
EK Webshop
 or approach the local distributor –
APES.my
.

ek
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EK releases GIGABYTE GTX 980 Ti WF3 Full-Cover water block

281

EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce a new Full-Cover water block, designed and engineered specifically for GIGABYTE Gaming G1 and WindForce 3X series NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti top-tier graphics cards – the EK-FC980 GTX Ti WF3.

The EK-FC980 GTX Ti WF3 standing as WindForce 3X abbreviation as a high-performance Full-Cover water block that designed for GIGABYTE non-reference design GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics cards. The cooler actively cools the GPU, RAM as well as VRM (voltage regulation module) as water flows directly over these critical areas, thus allowing the graphics card and its VRM to remain stable under high overclocks.

It has a unique feature that keep that centralize the inlet split-flow cooling engine design for best possible cooling performance, which also works flawlessly with reversed water flow without adversely affecting the cooling performance.  The base is made of nickel-plated electrolytic copper while the top is made of quality ROM Acetal or Acrylic (depending on the variant). Screw-brass standoffs are pre-installed and allow for safe installation procedure.

The EK-FC980 GTX Ti WF3 will price at USD 131.99 (approx. RM 570) and are readily available for purchase through EK Webshop.

ekwb
gigabyte
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gtx980ti
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EK Releases Monoblock for GIGABYTE Z170X Motherboards

338

EK Water Blocks is one of the world’s leading premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to release GIGABYTE Z170X motherboard monoblock – EK-FB Z170X Monoblock. It’s compatible with three GIGABYTE Z170X motherboards models – Gaming 5, Gaming 7, and UD5 TH. It features a complete all-in-one (CPU and motherboard) liquid cooling solution for Intel LGA-1151 socket Skylake CPU and the following GIGABYTE Z170X motherboards:

GA-Z170X-UD5 TH

GA-Z170X-Gaming 5

GA-Z170X-Gaming 7

The block is designed and engineered in cooperation with GIGABYTE. This monoblock uses award-winning EK-Supremacy EVO cooling engine to ensure best possible CPU cooling which cools Intel LGA-1151 socket type CPU and power regulation (MOSFET) module as water flows directly over all critical areas. It has a very high flow water block that can be easily used with the system using weaker water pumps.

The base of the monoblock is made of nickel-plated electrolytic copper while the top is made of quality POM Acetal or acrylic glass material, depending on the variant. This monoblock is designed to not interfere with M.2 connectors on the GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 and GA-Z170X-Gaming 5. People that interested with these block can head over EK Webshop to purchase them. Following are the models and pricing for all different blocks that are available.

SOURCE:
EKWB

ekwb
gaming5
gaming7
gigabyte
monoblock
pcmasterrace
watercooling


EK releases new Extended Range range series fan of EK-Vardar fan

331

EK Water Blocks, a company that brings premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is proud to introduce the latest addition to the company’s first fully in-house engineered computer cooling fan family – EK-Vardar. Dubbed Vardar, this family of cooling fans carry the name of a type of the cold northwesterly wind blowing from the mountains down to the valleys of Macedonia.

The EK-Vardar Fx-120 series fan features high static pressure and low noise profile, which specifically designed for computer liquid cooling systems as radiator cooling. The 7-fin fan blade design is optimized for high-pressure operation while maintaining the low noise profile throughout the whole operating range of the fan. However, Vardar’s design and construction are also very suitable for high-performance heat-pipe air coolers.

In addition, the fan uses a high-quality motor and bearing assembly that will actively cooled motor windings and Double Ball-bearing with 50,000 hours lifespan (MTBF) ensures uninterrupted operation for years to come. The company also retains sealed-edge fan casing as classic but yet have an effective shape of the fan casing ensures optimal performance in either fan configuration.

Besides that, the latest addition to the Vardar family is the EK-Vardar F4-120ER standing for Extended Range. The PWM duty cycle in this model can extend to a range between 25% and 100% and both models (black and white) come with four self-tapping screws and pre-sleeved cable for your convenience.

You can purchase the fan over
EK Webshop
,
Partner Reseller Network
 and
APES.my
. The fan will price at USD 20.00 (approx. RM77.00).

ek
ekwb
f4120er
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EK Releases the DBAY D5 MX Reservoirs and Reservoir/Pump Combos

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EK Water Block release the MX series of Dual Bay reservoirs, which brought forward with four new products to the EK liquid cooling portfolio and has been designed to lower the production costs of the existing EK-DBAY D5 reservoir yet still offer a convenient solution as a two-slot 5.25-inch drive bay form factor reservoir. The EK-DBAY D5 MX is a reduced cost variant of EK-DBAY D5 high-performance hydraulically improved pump top (volute) with a two-slot 5.25-inch drive bay form factor reservoir and integrated Laing D5 PWM water pump.

The reservoir are made from injection molded black ABS polymer (Acetal version) or injection molded transparent MABS polymer (Plexi versiQon), this sturdy, monoblock design guarantees maximum reliability and rigidity. At the behind of the unit features a mounting space for the EK-D5 PWM pump motor (can be purchased separately or as a combo).At the back of the unit features a mounting space for the EK-D5 PWM pump motor (can be purchased separately or as a combo). Locking ring nut and O-rings for the pump (if installed), made from black anodized CNC machined aluminum, are enclosed. All four variations can be used as a drain port – and allow for installation of virtually any G1/4” threaded fitting/barb. Besides that, it has an integrated anti-cyclone is pre-installed and made from acrylic glass effectively prevents excessive vortex formation of the liquid.

EK-DBAY D5 MX and EK-DBAY D5 PWM MX is price at USD 139.99 (approx. RM 600) and can be purchase through EK Webshop.

SOURCE:
EKWB

components
cooling
dualbay
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EK Water Blocks Released Radeon R9 Nano Full-coverage Block

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EK Water Blocks is a premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is excited will be releasing a true single-slot liquid cooling solution for AMD Radeon reference design R9 Nano graphics card. EK-FC R9 Nano directly cools the GPU, HBM as well as Voltage Regulation Module (VRM) and water will flows directly over these critical areas, thus following the graphics card and the VRM to remain stable under high overclocks.

EK-FC R9 Nano water block features EK unique central inlet split-flow cooling engine design for best possible cooling performance. Such system also works flawlessly with the reversed water flow without adversely affecting the cooling performance. Furthermore, such design offers great hydraulic performance, allowing the product to be used in liquid cooling systems using weaker water pumps.

The water block transform to one single-slot graphics card from the original cooling solution from AMD that takes up two slots. The base of the water block is made of electrolytic nickel-plated copper, while the top is made of either acrylic or POM Acetal material, depending on the variant. Plexi variants feature two pre-drilled slots for 3mm LED diodes. In addition, the EK-FC R9 Nano has been engineered with FC Terminal connection ports for up four R9 Nano’s on a single ATX form factor motherboard, thus allowing for trouble-free swap out and upgrade without any additional changes to the cooling loop.

The EK-FC R9 Nano water block is available now in EK Webshop with the price at USD 122.99 (approx. RM 540.)

amd
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EK Water Blocks Releases EK Predator AIO CPU Cooler

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Looking for a near-perfect all-in-one water cooling? EKWB got you cover with the latest EK-Predator AIO product line. This will be the next big thing because it will shake up the liquid cooling market because the originally custom loop parts manufacturer for enthusiast segment is now offering high-end complete all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooling solutions for the mainstream market. The existing Enthusiast product line and assembled them together into one compact pre-filled solution.

The EK-Predator is pre-filled and pre-assembled CPU liquid cooling unit, then it comes in two different versions; 240mm and 360mm that will provide extreme cooling performance unseen in the AIO segment so far. Inside the AIO, the company provides EK-Vardar high static pressure fans in combination with PWM controls to provide minimal noise footprint which is common for existing AIO users.

In addition, these AIOs uses industry standard G1/4 threaded ports and 10/16 mm Zero Maintenance rubber tubing (EK-ZMT) that can expand the existing loop with all custom loop gear available on the market. Surprisingly, EKWB features an integrated Quick Disconnects (QDC), special connectors that allow quick and tool-less expansion of the system without the need for draining off the unit.

The EK Predator AIOs will be using Supremacy MX CPU water block because it’s one of the world’s top performer water blocks in the world. The water block has a copper base that is made from purest copper available and is further polished to absolute mirror finish (this will greatly improve the cooling performance of the block). Other than that, it will be used CoolStream PE radiator that has a full Copper core become superior to aluminium alternatives in terms of
heat
dissipation
.

Apparently, the all-in-one liquid cooling comes with a DDC pump and it’s capable of providing 2-3x higher flow rate compared to other AIOs on the market due to its 6W. It has a PWM pump that capable been controlled, allowing for automatic pump speed regulation depending on your CPU temperature with an integrated fan splitter hub reduces cable clutter and keeps the unit aesthetically clean.

Pre-orders for EK-Predator 240 will begin on August 23, 2015 and price of USD 199 (approx. RM 820), with EK-Predator 360 following on October 19, 2015 priced at USD 239 (approx. RM 980), and both of the models will only be available for Intel CPU sockets, while AMD versions are planned for release in 2016.

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EK Water Blocks releases new EK-FB ASUS X99 Monoblock

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Designed and engineered in cooperation with ASUS, this monoblock uses
award winning
 EK-Supremacy EVO cooling engine to ensure best possible CPU cooling. This water block directly cools Intel LGA-2011-v3 socket type CPU and power regulation (MOSFET) module as water flows directly over all critical areas.

The blocks feature a very high flow water block that can be easily used with the system using weaker water pumps. EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana-based premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to release ASUS X99 motherboard monoblock – EK-FB ASUS X99 Monoblock and it’s compatible with four ASUS X99 motherboard models – X99-A, X99-DELUXE, X99-PRO, and X99-s.

The base of the monoblock is made of nickel-plated electrolytic copper while the top is made of quality POM Acetal or acrylic glass material, depending on the variant. But the company just launched Intel X99 Series VRM (
mosfet
) block. According to Niko Tivadar, monoblocks are becoming a very popular choice with enthusiast’s users and we will bring two more monoblocks to the market by the end of this year.

Following is the price for EK-FB X99 Monoblock:

EK-FB X99 Monoblock – Nickel USD136.99 (approx. RM590)

EK-FB X99 Monoblock – Acetal+Nickel USD136.99 (approx. RM590)

SOURCE:
EKWB

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Elephone beats Huawei on having 5 camera sensors on a phone

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2018 seems to be a year where smartphone companies tend to compare whether they can have the thinnest display notch or the most number of camera sensors. As for the latter, the Elephone U2 is now the champ of having the most camera sensors – three on the rear like Huawei’s P20 Pro, and two on the front with a motorized sensor that works similar to the vivo NEX.

In terms of overall design, the Elephone U2 looks like the brainchild of the OPPO Find X and vivo NEX, sporting a notch-less 6.26-inch display on the front, and a OPPO Find X inspired glass back with a rear fingerprint scanner.

It is unclear of what the rear camera setup would do, but we could expect it to have the very same function as the P20 Pro, with two of the main sensors being RGB and Monochrome wide angle lenses, and the third one being a telephoto lens.

Judging from the promo picture, the Elephone U2 seems to be a rather high end handset that will ship with Android 9.0 when it goes on sale, there’s also a translator feature, which we assume to be some kind of text recognition translation feature that leverages on the phone’s camera. Elephone smartphones aren’t officially available here, but you could probably keep tabs on sites such as GearBest if you are interested in getting one.

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Elite: Dangerous — E.V.E. in first person

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Elite: Dangerous
 is a game which is not getting a lot of spotlight but there has a very aggressive fan-base. I don’t mean they’re starting and riots or anything over the game, but they have some pretty crazy ideas about how their flight simulators would look like.

For those of you who need a slight introduction to the game, Elite: Dangerous is a crowdfunded flight-sim which basically takes you from the RTS play style of E.V.E. and puts you in the fighter cockpit. That means that you live in a sandbox universe, and you have full control over what happens in the
galaxy
. You can be whoever and whatever you want to be, a fighter pilot, a junk trader or even a transporter. Everyone who starts in Elite: Dangerous start out equal and everyone gets to create their own story. You can fly the ship of your dreams, watch it blow up and then take out a loan for another ship. And if that one blows up, you’ll be in debt and have to pay it off doing menial tasks.

Being a flight-sim at heart, you’ll be put into a cockpit where you will have full control over the weapons, attachments and flight controls of your space craft. With that being said, you also might imagine a lot of players wanting to get a full immersion into the game.

Here are some insane implementations of flight-sim cockpit mock ups that are sure to make you wonder if your money is going to the right places. Most of these cockpits implement the use of a HOTAS, which is an acronym for Hands On Throttle-And-Stick and some form of crazy monitor system, the craziest of which is the 3-projector display with the inclusion of an IR tracker on his head. I would’ve thought it would be easier to get an Oculus Rift, but looking at his implementation, it looks like he really doesn’t like wearing the headset it might seem.

What are you waiting for? Get it on
Steam
 for $59.99 (USD). Don’t worry about getting a flight-deck rigged up, cause you can enjoy the full game with a keyboard and mouse.


Elysium Signature HyperBass 2 Review: Affordable headphones with impressive bass

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Elysium recently launched the successor to its HyperBass wireless headphones, the Signature Hyperbass 2. For RM199, does the HyperBass 2 really live up to its name?

Design

The HyperBass 2 doesn’t scream fancy — so if you’re looking for a pair of headphones to complete your hardcore gamer look, this isn’t it. But what they lack in aesthetics, they make up for in build quality.

With vegan leather headband and ear cushions, they’re not too heavy and fit comfortably over my ears. Though the HyperBass 2 fits well for me, those with larger/longer heads will appreciate its extendable headband that feels firm — nothing like your typical
pasar malam
 headphones.

Features

Although the HyperBass 2 is a pair of wireless headphones, I advise against using them wirelessly when you’re gaming. The audio delay is bad so if you’re in a game of PUBG, you may be dead before you even hear the gunshot. But that doesn’t mean these headphones are lousy, just make sure you plug in the 3.5mm aux cable for a seamless connection.

Nonetheless, pairing them via Bluetooth is pretty straightforward; just press and hold the power button and the pairing process will begin. You can also play/pause music or answer/end calls using the power button or control the volume via the volume buttons.

Audio

performance

Now, to answer the question at the very start of this review: yes, it does live up to its name. The HyperBass 2 has a boomy bass and clear vocals, but its midtones are slightly underwhelming. For its price, these headphones are quite up to expectations, but I wish the audio had more depth. Making calls with these headphones is fine, but only if you’re in quieter environments. It does its job, but it’s average at best.

Battery life

I’m also impressed by the battery life of these headphones — they can last up to 25 hours and I found it to be true. It charges via a MicroUSB cable and you’ll need about two hours, but for 25 hours of playback, I think it’s worth it.

Verdict

The Elysium Signature HyperBass 2 is a great pair of headphones for the price of RM199. You get great bass and good battery life — perfect for those who use it solely to listen to music. As for gamers, they’re still an option to consider, provided you use the aux cable.

To purchase the Elysium Signature HyperBass 2, check out their store on
Lazada
 and
Shopee
.

The Good

Comfortable

Boomy bass

Clear vocals

Long-lasting battery life

 The Not So Good

Underwhelming mids

Mediocre mic quality

Elysium
Signature HyperBass 2


EMC is the No.1 most-shipped storage for mission critical applications

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EMC Corporation, a leading storage solutions provider has proudly announced that it has been named the #1 storage vendor for bothe revenue and storage capacity shipped in IDC’s Storage User Demand Survey (SUDS) for the first half of 2013, which includes over 1000+ end users globally.

Recognized as a top storage solution for Microsoft Exchange, Oracle and SAP applications, the study by IDC estimates that EMC has led capacity with 26.3% of the overall external enterprise storage systems terabytes shipped in 1H13, and 30.8% revenue share, and this is EMC’s third consecutive year for leading the first place in storage industry.

Natalya Yezhkova, Research Director, IDC

“For the third year of the IDC’s Storage User Demand Study, EMC has come out as a leading supplier of external enterprise storage systems with regard to both revenue and capacity for most data use cases covered by the study. As enterprise application environments become more complex and the demand for flash grows, IDC analysis demonstrates that EMC is shipping the most storage capacity in support of today’s mission-critical IT needs.”

IDC has also found that flash storage will continue to grow over the next 12 months with 48% positive responses on investing solid state drives for their businesses, EMC is confident that it’s portfolio of widely developed flash solutions will be able to help customers leverage flash as part of their overall storage strategy as demand for flash grows.


Emoji Kitchen on Google’s Gboard combines different emojis to create new stickers

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Emojis have made it so much easier for us to express ourselves in daily online conversations, but being humans, we always thrive for more. Well, Google recently introduced Emoji Kitchen for you to make new “recipes” of emojis.

Available via Gboard on Android, Emoji Kitchen is Google’s latest offer that lets you mix and match your emojis to create stickers. For example, when you pick a cowboy heat emoji, you’ll get more mash-up options like an in love cowboy, a kiss cowboy, a ghost cowboy and more.

As of now, it’s still limited to certain emojis — mostly the smiley faces. Almost all the plant and animal emojis will come up with no mash-up options, but that could change in the future. This feature can be used on many communication apps including Gmail, Messenger, Snapchat, Telegram, WhatsApp and more.

Emoji Kitchen is rolling out to all Gboard users on Android, so it won’t be long before you can experiment with different emojis to create emoji stickers that matches your personality.

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Emoji Kitchen
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Employee gets fired from job for using “OK” emoji in a group chat reply

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Reports say that an employee working for a bar in China was fired for replying a company group message with an “OK” emoji – ridiculous right?

According to the report, the employee’s manager had asked for meeting documents to be sent via WeChat, which she replied to with the emoji – you know, the hand gesture version of “OK”. Her manager didn’t take to the casual nature of her reply too kindly and had her resign from her post.

Why this is not ok

This brings the discussion of chatting apps as a means of communication among colleagues and superiors. Let’s talk – any governing body that requires, or accepts the usage of chatting apps should take into account the non-formal nature of such a means of communication.

Part of what emojis serve in an app is to lighten the mood – shake things up from the mundane and bring in casual vibes. Surely a business that frown upon casual work-related interactions wouldn’t have a group chat in the first place – e-mails have been the go-to option for years.

Now, the report for the story quotes the manager as saying “You should text to reply to the message, don’t you know the rules?” – this implies that certain rules have been set initially that we’re assuming has “Thou shalt not use emojis” printed in bold. Given the prominence of chatting apps, texting with emojis have become somewhat instinctive to literally anyone who texts.

What we say is – if you want to keep things formal, stick to e-mails; if you’re not allergic to emojis, use chatting apps, they’re so useful.

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Employers in the U.S. and Canada will be able to put up job openings on Facebook

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Employers will soon have a reason to browse Facebook during work hours as the social network service will be implementing a new feature that would allow them to create job postings on the service.

Available only to U.S. and Canada-based businesses for now, Page Admins will soon be able to create a job posting directly from the company’s Facebook page itself. All they have to do is click on the “Create Job” button, fill in all the required information, and publish the post onto their wall. Once it is up, aspiring candidates can then apply for the job directly through Facebook by filling in an application form.

To streamline the experience further, Facebook will be implementing a Jobs bookmark into the service. If you’re looking for work, the bookmark will give you a list of businesses who have open job postings. If you’re the employer, the Jobs bookmark will let you track and review applications, as well as allowing you to communicated with the potential employee directly. Employers can also choose to boost their job posting in order to make it more visible to the general public.

Source:
Facebook Business

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EMUI 8.0 and Android 8.0 update is now available for Huawei Nova 2i

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Huawei Malaysia has just announced that the EMUI 8.0 and Android 8.0 update is now rolling out to all Nova 2i devices here. with the updated version of EMUI, customers can enjoy a better user experience, thanks to its prediction capabilities that allow it to better accommodate user needs.

Other than that, it also comes with a navigation dock, allowing users to place the home button anywhere on the screen along with the shortcut dock. Thanks to machine learning, EMUI 8.0 can provide more CPU power to the apps that are frequently used by users and low memory management rearranges memory space to reduce fragmentation and compresses memory to save space for other important applications. Other than just EMUI, thanks to Android 8.0, users will experience a smarter, faster and powerful device, alongside two times the boot speed when powering up the device.

Users can start checking for updates on their Nova 2i if the update notification has not appeared and immediately start enjoying EMUI 8.0 and Android 8.0 now.

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End of HTC? Company suspends stocks

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It looks like we won’t be seeing HTC’s glory days anytime soon, as the company suspends its stocks for trading, after making losses for more than two years now. The Taiwanese company is still operating, but is currently being taken off the stock market in order to save itself from plunging further.

In terms of smartphone quality, it looks like HTC has finally found ground in 2017, releasing the HTC U Ultra and the HTC U11, along with a series of entry level to mid range handsets. But quality isn’t good enough to save the company from making continuous losses. HTC even relied on its Vive VR headset sales to make up for its losses, but to no avail as well.

Statistics from August saw HTC reach a record 13-year low revenue at a measly 3 billion yuan, with the company’s chairman Wang Xuehong taking the sale of the company’s mobile phone business into consideration. Currently, HTC’s global market share is only at 0.68 percent, and the company fears of facing the same fate like the original Nokia company did before being revived by HMD Global.

Other rumors point to an acquisition by global giant Google tomorrow, which seems likely as well as these rumors also mention a pending major announcement by HTC. The company has said to be in talks of negotiation with Google since a couple of weeks ago.

HTC’s improvement in smartphone quality and its investments in VR technology were not enough to keep the company in the stock market. Let’s hope the company floats well before it attempts to swim again. Perhaps, the company will take flight once again with the help of Google. What do you think?

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Energizer introduces the Power Max P18K Pop, a phone powered by a 18,000mAh battery

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Besides just making batteries, Energizer have also produced a list of smartphones – most of which have gone under the radar. This time, however, Energizer’s upcoming device will turn heads. Think a smartphone with a, wait for it, 18,000mAh battery!

Energizer introduced the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop smartphone during MWC in Barcelona, and it’s essentially a functional brick with a screen.

Image credit: TrustedReviews

Get this: the 6.2-inch phone is a behemoth measuring at 153mm tall, 44.8mm wide and 18mm thick. These are non-official measurements but according to TrustedReviews, the thickness is about as fat as two fingers.

The phone’s 18,000mAh is supposedly able to give you 90 hours of calls, 100 hours of music and standby. You’ll also be able to use the phone as a power bank.

Image credit: TrustedReviews

Under its hunk of a boot is a MediaTek Helio 970 processor, 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD card – so, pretty standard as far as specs go. It runs on Android 9 and sports a triple-camera setup (12MP + 2MP depth sensor + 5MP).

The phone lacks a headphone jack but comes with a USB-C port and supports 18W fast charging.

Image credit: ExpertReviews

The phone will be available June this year and has a tentative price tag of around $787 (RM3,206). For that, you get a functional smartphone (albeit a massive one), a power bank, and a weapon to protect yourself with.

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Energizer releases a smartphone with a 4500mAh battery

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If a soda company could make a smartphone, then it isn’t surprising for a power company to make one. The longest lasting battery brand Energizer, has released its very first smartphone known as the Power Max 600s, the phone comes with a 4500mAh battery and aims to offer over 12 hours of use and 16 hours of standby, and it features a pretty cool carbon fibre looking back that we haven’t seen a while on smartphones.

If you think Energizer would have maxed out everything on its first smartphone, you’ll be disappointed to know that it is powered by a Mediatek Helio P25 processor, which isn’t exactly the most efficient chipset we have known, but on the other hand, it does come with a decent 18:9 5.99-inch FHD+ display, 3GB RAM/32GB storage or 4GB RAM/64GB storage configuration, a dual camera system consisting of a 13MP+5MP lens, and an 8MP selfie camera, which ain’t to shabby for a mid-range smartphone.

The Power Max 600s is set to release this month and no pricing has been indicated just yet, question is, would you buy this because of its battery?

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Energous’ WattUp can wirelessly charge any device without docking it.

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Wireless charging is technically not fully wireless, sure you just need to place your phone on the dock and it will charge the phone, but that still does not enable you to walk around your house with your phone while it’s being charged. One company aims to change that by giving you a truly wireless charging experience that will work with any type of phone.

Energous has just announced that it has received FCC certification for power-at-a-distance wireless charring with its WattUp Mid Field transmitter. The transmitter will convert electricity into radio frequency and transfer that energy to nearby devices equipped with the receiver. This gives the truly wireless charging experience and works differently from how Qi wireless charging systems work. WattUp can charge multiple devices at the same time by using an app which manages connected devices to the charger. In theory, any device that has the receiver connected to will be able to use this technology.

The company does not have any retail ready devices but as you can see from the video above, the technology seems to work as adverticed, but we still dont know what are the charging speeds or if there is any setbacks this techology might have. They plan to show off the charger at CES 2018 which we will be getting more information on.

charging
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Energous’s new chip can be smartphones’ wireless charging receiver

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Wireless charging is a feature that many are already embracing, but Energous is a company that make wireless charging even better by allowing you to charge without needing a charging pad.

First of all, Energous already have an RF-based scalable technology (RF stands for Radio Frequency) which allows users to charge their electronics devices in both contacts-based and over-the-air methods. This means if users are actually within the range of the WattUp Wireless Charging Ecosystem which is up to 15 feet, their devices can be wirelessly charged.

Image credit: Energous Corporation

However, this technology is already introduced last year, so the big news now is that Energous plans on launching a new DA2223 receiver chip, which will increase the accessibility to their technology. This chip is smaller than the size of a coin, and when coupled with several other components, it can actually fit inside smartphones as a wireless charging receiver. Of course, users will still need to obtain the charging stations in their homes or offices for the wireless charging to occur.

WattUp also can charge devices quicker the nearer they are to the transmitter, and the best part is that the WattUp transmitters can be placed at many locations, and it can charged various kinds of devices.

Energous
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ENERMAX showcases new and interesting PC DIY components in COMPUTEX 2018

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ENERMAX is a household name for high quality power supplies in the PC component market, and this year in COMPUTEX, the company has a number of cool products that differentiates from the sea of PC cases, power supply units and coolers, and we happen to come across three products that caught our attention.

MaxTytan 80 PLUS Titanium PSU

Designed for achieving extreme system performance, the MaxTytan is a fully modular power supply that features a patented Dust Free Rotation technology, which the cooling fan spins in reverse when it gets turned on, it also features passive cooling, which the fan only starts spinning once the system reaches 60% load, therefore offering absolute silence when you are doing lightweight tasks on your system.
The MaxTytan features a built-in wattage meter, so that PC enthusiasts can understand their system load without using an external power meter.

What’s even more interesting here is that ENERMAX has bundled a little gadget with the PSU called COOLERGENIE, which can be used to control system fans, the module gets power from a dedicated port on the MaxTytan PSU, and offers Semi Fanless and Fan-Delay function, which users can choose to control how fast they want it to spin during operation or keep it running for 40-60 seconds after the system is turned off.

SABERAY PC Case – Addressable RGB Strips and Quick Release Panels

This is one of the more interesting PC cases that we have come across, not only it allows PC enthusiasts to build their systems with ease with a tool-less design, it also features addressable RGB strip lighting running from the front to the top, the lighting effects can also be synchronized with RGB motherboard softwares from ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI.

The SABERAY is a pretty versatile mid-tower RGB gaming case, the top and side panels can be quickly removed to access your system internals by pushing down a handle fitted to the tempered glass panel, it supports 360, 280, 240 and 120mm radiators, and the spacious internals are designed with airflow in mind.

LIQTECH TR4 Liquid Cooler for Ryzen ThreadRipper CPU

While this isn’t the coolest looking CPU cooler in the COMPUTEX showfloor, ENERMAX’s cooling solution to to the largest AMD CPU – the Ryzen ThreadRipper, is definitely worth checking out. The LIQTECH TR4 is a closed-loop liquid cooler, it is the first and only AIO water cooler with a base plate that covers 100% of the Ryzen ThreadRipper CPU’s surface, the CPU’s water coolng block features a patented Shunt-Channel-Technology cold-plate design that is able to deliver a 500W+ TDP for heavily overclocked CPUs and demanding HEDT systems.

All ENERMAX products featured above are already available in the Malaysian market and is distributed by CUDO Technologies Sdn Bhd.

computex 2018
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GrabRewards introduces non-expiring points along with expanded catalogue and in-app challenges

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If you’re a frequent Grab user, you’ll be glad to know that the GrabRewards feature will be re-worked with a host of improvements for customers.

Image credit: Grab

One of the biggest changes is that you can prevent your GrabRewards points from expiring – previously, your points will expire three months after it is earned, forcing you to spend it. Now, you can prevent it from being unusable by performing a Grab transaction – which also includes car rides – within the three months, and your point expiration date will be extended three months from the day of that transaction.

This essentially allows you to save up your points for the big money rewards that you’ve been eyeing – granted you perform one transaction every three months.

Image credit: Grab

Besides that, Platinum and Gold users now have new exclusive airport access rewards on top of existing ones like travel discounts, lounge access and more. Starting from October 1, users will earn up to 3 points for every RM1 spent, while users can also earn three times more points when they use GrabPay for in-store payments, online shopping or prepaid top ups.

Along with these new updates, Grab will also be introducing play-to-win challenges where users can participate in in-app challenges and ear more rewards there. Exciting times ahead.

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Enjoy 100% cashback at ShopBack Malaysia next week

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If you’re someone who appreciate good deals and discounts, then here’s some good news. ShopBack Malaysia, a reputable cashback in Southeast Asia will be celebrating its first birthday next week and to commemorate this event, ShopBack Malaysia will be offering up to 100% cashback for your shopping pleasure. Whether you are into gadgets or just looking for everyday essential items, you can find something from its 500 online retailers.

Some of the popular online retailers that might be of interest to you are such like Agoda, Booking.com, Groupon, HappyFresh, Hermo, Lazada, Qoo10, Photobook Malaysia, Supermodel’s Secrets, Taobao and Zalora. You can expect discounted deals, exclusive promo codes, contest, and Cashback from 50% to 100% on special home electronics, mobile gadgets, travel packages, hotel accommodations, beauty and fashion, as well as grocery items on the event day.

According to Gil Carmo, Country Head of ShopBack Malaysia, cashbacks are very popular since it is a saving tool especially in the West. He also mentioned that ever since this concept was introduced to Southeast Asia, in Malaysia alone, there were cashbacks more than RM4 million in 2015. Since you are getting back cash instead of credit transferable to your local bank account, you will find this entire process easy and hassle-free.

This biggest cashback sale will only be available for 24-hours and will start from 00:01 on 21 February 2016, ending on 22 February 2016 at 00:00 GMT+8.


Enjoy 50% Cashback on movie tickets when you purchase through WeTix via Boost app

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Malaysians love to watch movies, don’t believe it? Just head on down to any nearby cinema and you’ll see fellow Malaysians queuing up to buy movie tickets to watch the movie of their choice. The queue’s could sometimes be crazy long but thank God for ticketing machines. But as the years goes on, technology has been improved over time and now most people would purchase movie tickets online for convenience.

One thing’s for sure, whether you purchase your movie tickets online or offline, it’s not cheap. Boost has picked up on that, and would love to help out movie goers to save some cost on buying movie tickets by offering 50% cashback when you make your purchase of movie tickets or movie tickets plus popcorn combo through WeTix in the Boost app.

In order to get the 50% cashback, the cashback is capped at RM20 per transaction and it is two transactions per user, in terms of first come first serve basis. The cashback will be credited within one working day, and discounts will only be applicable for the first two transaction.

This promotion will only be available from now until 31 December 2018. For more information, visit Boost’s official website
here
.

boost
WeTix


Entry level Honor 6A announced with fingerprint sensor

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Huawei has been pretty focused on its primary line of smartphones, but that doesn’t mean that its subsidiary Honor is being left out in the cold. Recently, the sub brand launched the Honor 6X and the Honor 8 Pro (known as the Honor V9 in China). Both phones feature dual camera setups respectively. Now Honor has announced a new smartphone, leaning towards the budget side of the spectrum.

The Honor 6A is probably what Honor wants you to get if you can’t afford the Honor 6X. Design wise, it isn’t flashy by any means, but Honor managed to give it an aluminium build. The display is of 5-inches in 720p resolution, which isn’t too shabby considering the screen size. You’ll find more entry level elements when you look under the hood, with the Honor 6A sporting a Snapdragon 430 processor. The phone comes with 2GB or 3GB RAM options and and 32GB or 64GB of expandable storage.

You might want to lower your expectations in the camera department as the Honor 6A does not have a dual camera setup like many of Huawei and Honor handsets these days. The phone features a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front facing shooter which are pretty standard for a mid ranger. It also packs a 3,020mAh battery, which sounds like more than enough given its specs. The Honor 6A has a rear fingerprint sensor, a welcome feature for a phone of its stature.

The Honor 6A will be available for sale starting 1st June. It will only be sold in China for the time being as we expect it to be available in other regions as well. The 2GB RAM variant will go for 799 CNY (RM497.78) while the 3GB RAM variant will cost 999 CNY (RM622.38). These are relatively attractive price points for an entry level phone. Thoughts?


Entry-level HTC Breeze leaks, comes with 18:9 screen and MediaTek processor

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With MWC 2018 right around the corner, news and leaks of the upcoming phones are in abundance and no company is safe from leaks. HTC is one of them and it looks like an entry-level phone with the codename HTC Breeze has been leaked thanks to Evan Blass.

Blass has mentioned that the phone will come with a 5.5-inch 18:9 screen, a MediaTek processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. On the back, there will be a 13MP camera and the front is a 5MP camera. Powering the device is a 2,730mAh battery and is expected to come with Android 8.0 out of the box. The design is still a question mark as only the specs were leaked but we should expect to see some design elements borrowed from the other recent HTC phones and perhaps, even the squeeze function.

HTC U11 Plus

It is very interesting that HTC wants to cover the entry-level market as well, and if they can bring the same design quality as their flagship range to that market as well, it could potentially put HTC as a company to watch out for once again.

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Entry-level Huawei Y6 Scale coming soon

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There is a rumor that has appeared from Huawei, which they having a new entry-level phone that named Huawei Y6 Scale. However, this smartphone has not been officially introduced by the manufacturer. The phone to be expected has a 5-inch screen display at the resolution of 1280 x 720 and has a pixel density up to 294 psi. Besides that, the device has a Snapdragon 210 chipset, which carries a quad-core CPU and the Adreno 304 GPU along with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.

In addition, Huawei might include a 8 MP for the rear-facing camera and a 2 MP camera for the front-facing camera. The important and key component of this device will be the battery on this device, it has a 2,200 mAh battery that could let you continuously allow you to use the phone throughout a day. The phone is equipped with Android 5.0 that has pre-install with Huawei’s Emotion UI running on top. It also supports 4G LTE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Huawei didn’t release any statement on this upcoming entry-level phone, but it should release sometime early Q4, 2015. The expected price for this device is USD 165 (approx. RM 630) and this pricing isn’t too bad for an entry phone like this.

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Entry level Moto E4 and E4 Plus unveiled

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Despite making good phones, Motorola hasn’t been performing as well as it should be since the company got acquired by Lenovo. Lenovo has been reported to shift its focus for the future, launching more high end phones to target a slightly more niche market. But for now, Motorola has launched another budget series of smartphones – the Moto E4 and E4 Plus.

Design wise, both the Moto E4 and E4 Plus retains the general design cue of current Moto devices, mostly centered around the camera design and the fact that it has a metal build. The Moto E4 sports a 5-inch 720p display, while the E4 Plus has a 5.5-inch screen, retaining the same resolution. The smaller E4 features a Snapdragon 425 processor and its larger sibling packs a slightly better performing Snapdragon 427 chipset. Both phones have 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage with the E4 Plus getting another 32GB storage variant.

Since they are entry level smartphones, the camera package of these phones should be fairly decent at best. The Moto E4 has an 8MP rear shooter and a 5MP selfie camera. The larger E4 Plus sports a slightly better 13MP rear facing camera, with the same front facing snapper. The biggest difference lies in battery, where the Moto E4 packs a 2,800mAh battery. The Moto E4 Plus on the other hand, packs a battery which is almost twice as large in capacity, at 5,000mAh. Motorola did not specify the battery life of either handset, but the battery of the E4 Plus should last users for quite some time.

The Moto E4 will carry a price tag of $129.99 (RM553.82) while the Moto E4 Plus will start at $179.99 (RM766.84). Sounds like a decent buy for both these budget handsets. What do you think?

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Entry level Samsung Galaxy J2 2016 benchmarks spotted

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Samsung’s low-end or entry level phones are often catered to the Asian market or consumers from developing countries. Such is the case of the Samsung Galaxy J2, and we have spotted its successor of the same name that have gone through GFXBench benchmarks, with a couple of upgrades in its spec sheet.

A benchmark of the Galaxy J2 2016, with the model number SM-J210 was found on the GFXBench site. The handset still sports minimal specs which are nothing to shout about. First off, the Galaxy J2 sees an increase in screen size from 4.7 inches to a 5-incher with 720p resolution. Under the hood lies a Spreadtrum SC8830 SoC in place of the Exynos 3475 Quad and a Mali-400 MP2 dual core GPU replacing the Mali-T720 in its predecessor. In the RAM department we’re looking at 50% more RAM – 1.5GB of RAM compared to the 1GB RAM from last year, although 2GB of RAM seems like a better option.

Camera optics however, remain the same from last year at 8MP for the rear cam and a 5MP selfie shooter. The Galaxy J2 2016 will be running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, topped with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. What do you think of the newere Galaxy J2?

Source:
GFXBench

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Entry level smartphones could get 128GB storage, thanks to Samsung

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Samsung
 is a do-it-all company, almost any technology component you think of, the company has it. Earlier today, the Korean firm announced that entry-level smartphones will no longer need to live with paltry 4GB, 8GB or even 16GB storage space as the company is set to make affordable 128GB memory chip based on eMMC 5.0 standards for them, by utilizing the 3-bit V-NAND manufacturing process the chip will be able to achieve transfer speeds up to 260MB/s.

The semiconductor company stated that since high capacity storage has made its appearance in flagship smartphones – just like the company’s very own Galaxy S6, its time that entry level smartphones get some love for high capacity and fast flash storage, this move will also attempt to bring down production costs once mass production starts, eventually leading to cheaper devices with huge internal memory.

Such move from
Samsung
 is galvanizing, which will give its competition like Hynix a good run for its money and it also means that phone manufacturers could start making super slim entry level smartphones without even the need of including a MicroSD card slot. In addition, that speedy transfer speed could also mean we should expect a faster and responsive user experience on future entry level smartphones.


ePENJANA RM50 initiative: Redeem now from Touch ‘n Go eWallet, Grab and Boost

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The ePENJANA initiative given by the government has finally started and just like the previous
e-Tunai Rakyat program
, you can get your RM50 using the Touch ‘n Go eWallet, Boost or Grab.

ePENJANA eligibility

The first thing to do is to check if you’re eligible to claim this incentive; you’ll need to be a Malaysian over the age of 18 with an annual income that’s less than RM100,000. You’ll also need to be a registered user of the
MySejahtera
 app.

Touch ‘n Go eWallet

To claim the incentive from your
Touch ‘n Go eWallet
 app, just make sure that your details on both apps matches and tap on the ePENJANA section that has the label “Claim now”. Then, just fill in all your necessary information and submit. You’ll be notified either via the in-app notification or your inbox under your profile.

Grab

For
Grab
 users, the ePENJANA tile will appear at the top of your homepage. Make sure your app is updated and click “Claim Now” followed by “Next”. Then, confirm your submission and Grab will verify the details and notify you within five working days.

Boost

As for
Boost
 users, you’ll first need to upgrade your wallet to Premium Wallet – unless you’re already a Premium user. To upgrade your wallet, you’ll need to submit pictures of your IC and your selfie. Once verified, you’ll be able to claim the RM50 incentive by tapping on the ePENJANA claim page and select “Submit Claim”.

The best e-wallet to claim the RM50 ePENJANA incentive

It really depends on your usage and lifestyle. Daily drivers will appreciate the Touch ‘n Go eWallet’s advantages which allows them to purchase RFID tags and pay for toll fares using the RM50 incentive. On the other hand, Grab users will get extra RM50 vouchers and stand a chance to win a weekly bonus of RM75 in the form of vouchers.

However, if you want to stand a chance to win a new Perodua Myvi or even the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, then you should claim from Boost. The app offers an extra RM60 voucher to use on Celcom Postpaid XP Lite and RM20 worth of “Partner Wallet” rewards to pay your bills, purchase top-ups and more.

All three apps do not allow transferal of the incentive to other users and require users to spend the ePENJANA credits by September 30, 2020.

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Epic Games files antitrust hearing against Apple in Europe

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Epic Games has
announced
 that they have filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in the European Union – bringing their fight for ‘fairer’ digital platform practice to a wider scale.

While the world battles a pandemic, Epic and Apple battle to keep their coffers full – and this stem from the Cupertino-based tech giants removing the Epic Games Store as well as Fortnite from the Apple App Store. What ensued was a legal war, fought on and off, Apple’s monopoly on digital stores in the iOS ecosystem.

To make sense of all of this – Epic Games explains in their blog post that this decision comes from their want to address the ‘harm’ caused by Apple’s long-standing policy that removes competing products on the store that
distributes
 apps, and carries out its own payment processes.

Apple requires all third-party app publishers pay up to 30% in an Apple tax to list their products on the Apple App Store; and this tax also applies to in-app purchases, whereby Apple receives a cut of however much a publisher earns from the transaction.

To circumvent this, Epic Games tried introducing their own app store, which was to be distributed on the Apple App Store, whereby users can download games like Fortnite onto their devices; it was promptly removed. Epic found a way to bypass Apple’s tax for in-app purchases like Fortnite’s V-Bucks, which also then prompted Apple to ban the game from the App Store.

Why the fight matters?

Image credit: Coalition for App Fairness

Because Apple takes a cut of all transactions, publishers need to up their prices in order for them to maintain a healthy profit – this increase in price is directly borne by the end users. Should publishers be allowed to push their own app stores, and payment systems without needing to share a cut, they can keep product prices low, which is what consumers want.

In fact, Apple’s in-house apps don’t need to pay the dreaded tax rates, and therefore can afford to offer their products at a lower price, leading users to choose Apple’s apps over its third-party counterparts – that’s basically a monopoly.

The Coalition

Image credit: Coalition for App Fairness

Realizing that to overthrow a mammoth that is Apple requires a joint effort, the likes of Apple, Spotify, Deezer, and more formed the
Coalition for App Fairness
; and proposed a solution in a form of an improved code of conduct that it wants Apple to follow.

From here, we can see the Apple tax and the company’s practices don’t just affect Epic Games, but other publishers as well – especially if Apple has a competing in-house app; we’ll now have to see what comes of the antitrust hearing, and how the results will affect users like us.

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Epic Games sues Apple after Fortnite removal on iOS

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Apple recently threatened to terminate Epic Games’ Developer Program membership in response to the developer’s decision to introduce direct payment in Fortnite for iPhone and iPad.

Epic Games adds direct payment in Fortnite

Almost two weeks ago,
Epic Games
 decided to add direct payment inside Fornite on iOS and Android to “pass along the savings to players”. This will allow users to save up to 20% as compared to purchasing V-Bucks via Play Store or App Store. Epic Games believes that the 30% tax cut that Apple implements is unpair and forces developers to use their payment processing service.

Apple retaliates by removing Fornite from App Store

Apple then decided to remove Fornite from App Store, preventing users from installing and updating their game on iOS. Not only that, but the tech giant also wants to revoke all accounts that are affiliated with Epic and their access to developer tools.

“Apple’s intention to cut off access to developer tools and cripple the Unreal Engine is a naked effort to exert business leverage over Epic to try to get Epic to back down from challenging Apple’s unlawful contact,” the
motion
 reads.

Microsoft sides with Epic

Today we filed a statement in support of Epic’s request to keep access to the Apple SDK for its Unreal Engine. Ensuring that Epic has access to the latest Apple technology is the right thing for gamer developers & gamers
https://t.co/72bLdDkvUx

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3)
August 23, 2020

Microsoft also supports Epic’s move with its own
statement
 against Apple, claiming that games build on Unreal Engine will be at a great disadvantage due to Apple’s revocation.


Epic Games has acquired Rocket League and its developers; Steam sale to stop by late 2019

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Epic Games are at it again – they’ve been making strides of late in title acquisitions to bolster market share; but this time around, the Tencent-owned company have gone one step further by acquiring an entire developing brand. The name in question is Psyonix, the creators of Rocket League.

Part of the reason for this acquisition comes off of the popularity of the vehicular soccer (read football) game that’s been garnering eSports notoriety as well. This change in ownership will affect PC gamers, as most EPIC acquisitions do; according to a statement by Epic, Rocket League will be brought over to the Epic Games Store by the end of 2019; until then, the game will still be available for purchase on Steam, but thereafter will only be playable for owners of the game. Rocket League on Steam will still continue to get support by way of updates and DLC – so it’s not as bad as first thought.

Image credit: Rocket League

But this brings about the issue of monopoly – Epic Games have been securing deals with AAA titles such as The Division 2, Metro: Exodus, The Walking Dead: The Final Season, and more; all at the expense of Valve’s Steam. Now that Epic has pried another popular title – that has millions of active players – out of Valve’s hands, gamers are becoming irritated that their options on platforms are dwindling.

Image credit: Engadget

Unlike multiplayer games like CS:GO and Overwatch Rocket League has cross-platform support meaning that the player base should still be in healthy, fun numbers; but think about this, if it wasn’t for cross-platform support, numbers would eventually die, as new players could be hard to come by since not a lot of PC gamers would opt for Epic Games Store.

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Epic Games secures Borderlands 3 as a six-month exclusive – Steam to release the game in April 2020

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It’s happening again boys and girls – Epic has sunken their greedy claws on yet another upcoming PC AAA title. This time around, the game in question is the highly-anticipated shooter Borderlands 3 which is set to release in September this year.

Previously the gaming world got up in arms about Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds being announced as a Epic Store excusive until April of 2020. As it turns out, Borderlands will face the same fate as it too will only come to other digital platforms on PC on the same month of next year.

We’ve mentioned this before in our previous coverage of this matter – what gamers – and ultimately consumers, regardless of industry – want is options; a competitive market where gamers are given the options to purchase whatever from wherever they want is a healthy one.

Image credit: VG247

As you may already know, the Epic Games store already have The Division 2 and Metro Exodus under their belts as exclusive. They have now expanded their hold on products from other developers too. Since Borderlands 3 is published by 2K Games, one must wonder if future 2K titles such as NBA 2K, XCOM and Civilization would be roped in as Epic Stores exclusives too.

This is bad folks. Monopoly, even if its just for a limited period of time, is bad for any market, especially the gaming one where consumer options have always been at the forefront of the industry’s success.

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Epic Games Store has plans to launch on iOS and Android

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Epic Games Store is owned by one of the most famous gaming publishers for PC and Mac platforms, and now it’s rumored to come to mobile platforms, iOS and Android.

Back in 2018, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has talked about bringing Epic Games Store to iOS and Android devices in 2019, but 2019 has already passed. Nevertheless, Sweeney brought up the topic again in a
recent interview with GameSpot
, meaning the company still hasn’t given up on bringing EGS to mobile platforms.

One of the most popular games,
Fortnite
, is currently on Play Store. However, that might change when Epic Games Store comes to Android devices. According to
SlashGear
, Sweeney’s intention is to provide an alternative to offer a higher revenue to developers.

“We think it’s a good way to help the industry [move] forward and it’s another way where Epic as a game developer had built up this audience around Fortnite and learned how to operate a distribution platform on PC and Android,” said Sweeney in the interview

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Epic Games sues Youtuber for cheating in Fortnite

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The developer of the game “Fortnite” known as Epic Games have reported that they are suing a Youtuber by the name of Brandon Lucas for cheating in Fortnite in his videos of his Youtube channel named the “Golden Modz Channel”. Brandon’s Youtube Channel has a total of 1.7 Million subscribers who watches his videos of him playing modified or hacked versions of Fortnite and other games.

According to Epic Games documents, Brandon runs a website and has been accused of not only selling cheats online, but he also promotes and advertises software that enable those who use it to cheat or hack a game. Brandon sells cheats such as aimbot, which allows players to aim their enemies and kill them without having to aim for as much as $200 or more.

After nine of his videos were removed from Youtube following a copyright complaint by Epic Games, Brandon uploaded a video entitled “Golden Modz sued by Fortnite”, where he informs and talks to his fans about the situation that he was in and claim that Epic Games have no evidence of him cheating in his videos.”I’m confused because there’s about a thousand other content creators on YouTube that make Fortnite content.” Adding that there’s also a lot of famouse Youtubers who has done Fortnite videos on hacking and cheating without repercussions but has decided not to mention their names.

In Epic Games statement, they mentioned “When cheaters use aimbots or other cheat technologies to gain an unfair advantage, they ruin games for people who are playing fairly. We take cheating seriously, and we’ll pursue all available options to make sure our games are fun, fair, and competitive for players.” The case was filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina and Epic Games took over anti-cheat software firm Kamu as part of its efforts to tackle unauthorised modifications to its games.

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Epic Groupon Deal to meet Brad Pitt, Bruno Mars and Kings of Leon

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When we visit sites like Groupon we always expect really good deals from various merchants and they are really attractive. Today, Groupon has the most expensive deal ever in history which costs RM82,500 for you to attend a charity event hosted by Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt, Bruno Mars and Kings of Leon, so before you say ‘boo’ to this article just read on for details.

This charity campaign from Groupon is hosted together with Make It Right, an organization that helps to build environmental friendly homes for people in need. Groupon has also contributed $100,000 to the organisation and offering this ‘epic’ deal which includes a VIP experience for two with airfares to New Orleans USA, tickets to the 2014 Make It Right Gala on May 17, 2014, and tickets to the after-party. The deal also includes the opportunity for both people to participate in a tour of the Make It Right site in New Orleans with an award-winning architect and the chance to meet Brad Pitt.

The Make It Right Gala will be hosted at The Sugar Mill in New Orleans and feature performances by platinum-selling recording artists Bruno Mars and Kings of Leon. The Gala also features a cocktail hour, three-course dinner prepared by the city’s finest chefs, including Susan Spicer and Donald Link, local jazz musicians, gift bags and more.

The deal includes:

· Round-trip airfares from the purchaser’s home to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

· Accommodation in a suite at the W Hotel New Orleans

· Two VIP tickets to the Make It Right gala on May 17, featuring Make It Right’s founder and event chairman Brad Pitt, internationally celebrated artists, including Bruno Mars and Kings of Leon and award-winning chefs

· Two tickets to the after party

· Chance for meet and greet with Make It Right founder Brad Pitt

· Tour of a Make It Right home with an award-winning architect

· Private round-trip transportation to and from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

Groupon here is obviously doing a charity sale in a very epic way. Folks, if you really have the money to spend and are a fan of Brad Pitt, Bruno Mars and Kings of Leon, you can pretty much consider this deal as we believe it will give you a real fantastic VIP experience, who knows you get to have a private tea session with the stars as well! The deal is pretty limited as usual and we doubt the sale of it, head on to the source link to visit the deal page.

Source:
Groupon


Epic launches Unreal Engine 4.27; and rolls out support for local creators to boost digital content industry

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Epic Games has just released the latest version of
Unreal Engine 4.27
, and it comes with plenty of improvements for video game developers and content creators.

Improved in-camera VFX workflows

3D Config Editor allows users to easily design their nDisplay setups for LED volumes and other multi-rendering app combining all related settings into a single nDisplay Root Actor for easier access.

There’s also multi-GPU support now that lets nDisplay make use of the extra rendering power and scale more efficiently, as well as maximise resolution on wide shots.

Virtual Camera has been enhanced to support more features such as Multi-User Editing, and Live Link Vcam, which is an iOS app that enables a new app for iOS that lets users drive a Cine Camera in-engine using an iPad.

Improved GPU Lightmass

The feature uses GPU rendering to leverage new ray tracing capabilities with DirectX 12 and DXR framework.

GPU Lightmass deduces the amount of time taken to generate lighting data for scenes that require global illumination, soft shadows, and other complex lighting effects.

Path Tracer

This is a DXR-accelerated rending mode in Unreal Engine that can be nabled without any additional setup.

The new update brings physically-correct global illumination, refractions, and feature-complete materials within these lighting effects.

RAD Game Tools

Oodle Compression Suite and Bink Video codec are new built into Unreal Engine, putting super-fast compression and encoding tools into the hands of developers, for free.

Aiding local developers and creators

The brand is also rolling out support for local creators by democratising access to next-generation technology with the free-to-download Unreal Engine; offering a wide gamut of online training initiatives, and development courses to help users get acquainted with the engine.

Epic is also enabling greater access to talent and expertise across the network of Unreal creators. MegaGrants is also another initiative to help developers attain capital and funding to carry out their projects using Unreal.

Learn more about the new version of Unreal Engine via Epic’s website
here
.

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EpicGear introduces EG Infinity experience in COMPUTEX 2018

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EpicGear has been well known for its modular gaming peripherals, and while the company is still pretty great at what it is doing, it is moving on by introducing the EG Infinity gaming experience to the market, as a concept of the experience is being showcased at its COMPUTEX booth. EpicGear believes that the EG Infinity concept experience is the best way to allow gamers to experience the best of their products and train their skills, it’s Malaysian partner CUDO Technologies will be responsible for this initiative and will be converting one cybercafe starting next month.

Sporting a futuristic space ship and sci-fi design, the EG Infinity Odyssey collection will offer a customized battleground, eSport center design and build kit that aims to revolutionize PC games and LAN party events, the battle station concept includes modular walls that can be easily installed, and we were particularly impressed with how the PC motherboards are being showcased right in front of each respective battle stations instead of using standard PC cases.

EpicGear intends to have the EG Infinity experience reach out to more than cyber cafes, as EG Infinity’s Danny Chiu mentioned to us that it can be adapted to places like gyms or a retail store that sells anything, the EG Infinity experience aims to bring eSports gamers closer than ever and discover their true potential. Asked where the first EG Infinity experience cybercafe is going to be in Malaysia, CUDO Technologies’ Anson Chen told us to look out for one soon in Subang Jaya.

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EPLAY 3R Review: A reliable TV Box for your living room

9.6K

If you are hesitating to cancel your satellite TV services, chances are you might be afraid of losing access to live TV and sports matches, but you really just want to stop paying expensive monthly subscription fees simply because you simply do not fully utilize the service. Hence, you turn to Android TV boxes as an alternative, which many of them are illegal and usually don’t offer reliable content services.

The EPLAY 3R TV box will cancel all that phobia you had about owning an Android TV box, not only it is certified by the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and SIRIM, it offers a lifetime subscription of over a hundred Live TV channels and thousands of video on demand content. I have been using it for over a month and it has not disappointed me at all, so here’s my take on why this RM400 device should have a space on your TV cabinet.

Specs wise, you really can’t compare to the likes of the NVIDIA Shield TV or any modern smartphones, the EPLAY 3R is powered by an unmentioned octa-core processor that’s capable of support 4K HDR10 content playback, there’s 2GB of RAM and 8GB of built-in memory that’s more than sufficient for some additional apps, you can expand storage with a MicroSD card, but just make sure you don’t run any graphics heavy games on it, not unless you want choppy frame rates.

The EPLAY 3R is technically an entry-level variant of the popular EVPAD TV box, but the company hasn’t skimped on its input ports, you get two standard USB ports on the left (one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0) for connecting external peripherals, a full-sized HDMI 2.0 port, a 3.5mm AV port for legacy RCA connections, an SPDIF port for digital sound and a LAN port for wired connections.

Oh, it even has a nice LCD in front that tells you the time and the type of connection it is using.

Like other Android boxes I’ve reviewed, the EPLAY 3R can be powered using a powerbank as it comes with a USB to DC cable. Of course, you do also get a power adapter and a free HDMI cable out of the box.

Setting up the EPLAY 3R for the first time is extremely simple and straightforward, once you fire it up you are then presented with its TV remote friendly interface that’s based on Android 7.1.

No Live TV and VOD apps are preinstalled, so once you have set up your Internet connection, press ‘6868’ on the remote while you are at the home screen, you will be taken to a ‘One-button’ installation screen where you will need to install four apps – Dolphin TV, Dolphin VOD, Dolphin Playback and Dolphin Store.

The Dolphin Store lets you install additional apps, which most of them are in Chinese and you will need to master the language a little if you want to use them. You can still download apps directly from Google Play if you prefer to, you are basically getting full Android functionality so there’s nothing to worry about sideloading apps or rooting the system.

I have been watching live TV channels on the Dolphin TV app such as Animal Planet, CNN, FOX HD Movies and TVB Jade, they have so far worked well for me and I merely encountered occasional buffers after some time. With over 600 channels from China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan, it can be hard to discover which TV channels you will want to watch, but thankfully the app has categorized its channels into movies, documentary, news, sports and kids on the sidebar, so it makes hunting for your favorite channels easier.

If you happen to miss any shows on Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore channels for the past week, this is where the Dolphin Playback app comes in handy, as you will be able to stream shows that has already aired in these channels and there’s no need to have an external storage to save the shows you have missed.

Always missed that blockbuster movie in cinema or want to catch up a K-drama that your friends have been talking about? This is where the Dolphin VOD app will serve you well with a plethora of movies and series, there’s no need to click on any ads to watch them and they all stream without any issues.

At RM398, the EPLAY 3R TV box isn’t the cheapest out there if you are considering to purchase it as a mere Android box, but considering the content service it comes with, it is a cost effective solution than paying expensive monthly satellite TV or on demand video services. The only thing that I wished is that the Dolphin suite of apps would come with a better English UI, as users without Chinese literacy will definitely have problems in using the device.

Otherwise, you can’t go wrong with the EPLAY 3R TV Box, it comes with a 1-year warranty and there’s a 15-hour 7 day online support should you encounter any issues with the content playback. The EPLAY 3R TV Box can be purchased over at
Shopee
.

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