Until Dawn Review: Unexpected Horror

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PS4 exclusive Until Dawn is, in simple description form, an interactive horror film that uses a variety of horror film techniques to scare players more than any other decision-based horror game we’ve come across. UK-based developers, Supermassive Games, obviously love the horror genre, as the company worked with Hollywood talents to put together this mature game that builds suspense, plays on the fear of the unknown, and utilises a blend of common fears and anxiety triggers for a unique horror experience you’d expect in a horror film. This may be why this game feels like such a victory. Because it is, both for the legions of folks like us who enjoy watching people run from knife-wielding maniacs on-screen, and for Supermassive Games, who has managed to bring the macabre appeal of a genre that has enraptured generations of moviegoers for roughly half a century and counting.

The main setting location of this game is set atop a snowy mountain that’s only reachable by a rickety cable car (of course) and see’s a group of friends wanting to ‘party like porn stars’ to mark the one-year anniversary of their friends’ disappearance on the mountain, after a prank they played went horribly wrong. The game is largely based on a choice-and-consequence system that’s a lot more impressive than other story based games. You will learn about the ‘butterfly effect’ early on in the game, and how each and every interaction in the game can affect the outcome.

These interactions aren’t just split second high-tension decisions that you have to make, but even the way you converse with the other characters in the game. Had an argument with a certain character? Don’t expect them to be there to help when you need them most. Broken a pipe or plank of wood? Don’t plan on using it when you’re being chased or attacked! Interestingly, the game will display whenever you’ve made a decision that changes the storyline completely, which made us seriously question every decision we made and the possible repercussions of each.

The number of potential storyline is fascinating, and the idea that two different people could play the same game and experience two completely different stories based on decisions they’ve made is fantastic. It’s not just the butterfly effect that makes this game interesting, though. Early on you’re introduced to a rather shady psychiatrist named ‘Doctor Hill’ whom some gamers may recognise as Prison Break’s Peter Storemare. Doctor Hill breaks the ‘fourth wall’ and addresses you directly to establish your fears and anxiety triggers by showing you a number of images and making you choose which makes you feel more un-easy.

This game features casts with a few familiar looking faces in it which I identified easily at the start, including Hayden Panettiere from Heroes as Sam and Brett Dalton from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D as Mike. Their characters show off some of the best facial and motion capture we’ve seen in a game. Powered by the Killzone Shadowfall Engine, Until Dawn is stunning and manages to capture all the nuances of facial expression, especially as the faces contort in fear, making the characters stand out and giving them more depth.

The game even plays with your own fears too. Another Hollywood cameo comes from Peter Stormare of Fargo as psychiatrist Dr. Hill. Between the chapter of Until Dawn, which all begin with a quick recap of everything that’s happened so far in the game, are sessions with Dr. Hill, who begins to interrogate you as a player on your hopes, fears and impressions of how the game is going so far.

It’s a great way of bringing you directly into the game and as soon as he finds out of how I am terrified of spiders, needles and not particularly fond of scarecrows, I slowly start to notice elements of the gameplay had been tailored to my own fears. Very smart of them.

The actual gameplay is a little of a mix. At a moment, you’ll be guiding a character through an area using the right stick to control the torchlight and picking up glowing points of interest in each room. You can interact with objects by picking them up with R2 and then rotating them with the right stick identifying them further. It’s then you might find a clue as to what happened to Hannah and Beth or to the identity of the masked gunman. But if you miss some of these clues, you might even miss out on some of the more informative cutscenes later in the game that gives you some hints towards the best choices you can make in this game as you progress further.

There are a lot of quick time event (QTE) sequences that forces you to press the appropriate button to make a jump mid-chase, reach a foothold in a climb or even avoid the grip of the gunman. It definitely makes for some tense and jumpy gameplay, but sometimes it feels like you want more control over your characters’ fate.

At first, I hated the sections where you are tasked with keeping as still as possible though, with the PS4 tracking the motion of the DualShock 4’s lightbar, meaning you as a player need to keep statue still in order to save your character. It increases the tension and starts your heart racing, mimicking the emotions felt by the character. It kinda grew annoying at one part (maybe it’s my shaky hands) as I keep failing but it eventually became easier later on.

It definitely had a great storyline with true American-teen horror movie moments that will have you leaping from your seat with fear, strong characters and some good gameplay elements, but ultimately this is a full-priced game that only lasts around seven hours at best. Graphics, on the other hand, was great but it definitely had some noticeable frame drops during snow area gameplay (must be due to the heavy snow particle effects), which I hope to be fixed in a future update (reduce snow particle effect to increase FPS).

Supermassive Games hasn’t gave out word on the possibility of a DLC for this title, so once you’ve finished playing, you’ve gotten everything out of this campaign-only title that you’ve just spent on. A free/cheap DLC would definitely do well to provide the players with a better overall experience with the game.

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Upcoming Android Nougat update for the Moto Z will make it Daydream-ready

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Google’s Daydream VR platform for the smartphone is currently limited to the company’s own Pixel phones. That will no longer be the case as Motorola confirms that the upcoming Android 7.0 Nougat update for the Moto Z phones will make them Daydream-ready as well.

Beginning in the United States, Motorola will be rolling out the Android Nougat update to both the Moto Z and the Moto Z Force. With this update, the Moto Z family of smartphones will get Google’s latest version of the Android operating system which comes with Daydream capabilities. Assuming that you’ve already own a Daydream View VR headset, you can begin using the headset with the Moto Z once the update is installed.

As the Daydream View isn’t available in Malaysia, those who are looking forward to try out Daydream will have to resort to imports. We suggest that you hold off on importing the Daydream View for now though, as the Motorola did not reveal any information as to whether or not the Nougat update will be released to Moto Z phones outside of the country.

Source:
Motorola

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Upcoming “Cheza” Chromebook will be powered by the Snapdragon 845 processor

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There is a new Chromebook being developed behind closed curtains with the codename Cheza, which is said to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. This Chromebook is made to go against the Windows 10 ARM laptops which has still not firmly planted their flag in the education and enterprise market.

With the Snapdragon 845 processor, this makes the Cheza the most powerful Chromebook ever produced. In addition to that, based on its source codes, the Cheza will be a detachable device, comes with a USB-C port that supports video out, a WQHD display but some reports say that it might very well be a 4K UHD display and it will support LTE via the X20 modem. Prior to this, we have only seen Chromebooks running on ARM chips from MediaTek, Intel Atom and Celeron processors, it is definitely a nice change seeing Google equipping the latest Chromebook with the latest Snapdragon processor, aside from the Snapdragon 850 processor which is for Windows 10 devices.

This might be the first step to show off the full power of Chrome OS as there are rumours that states Google intends to replace all Android tablets with Chrome OS. I don’t know about you, but that makes total sense to us.

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Upcoming device by Nubia spotted with a near bezel-less front

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We can safely say that infinity displays on smartphones aren’t as unique as they used to be at the beginning of 2017. We now see more and more companies implementing near bezel-less displays on their respective smartphones. ZTE’s subsidiary Nubia seems to be the next in line to launch a 2:1 aspect ratio display smartphone.

Nubia has previously unveiled its Z17 flagship, which had its spec sheet maxed out – a Snapdragon 835 processor, up to 8GB of RAM, dual 12MP + 23MP cameras and a 16MP selfie camera. A render has been spotted online of a new and upcoming Nubia smartphone, which will reportedly feature a near bezel-less front display.

The new Nubia handset is said to have an even higher screen to body ratio compared to the Mi MIX 2. The design in the render resembles that of the Samsung Galaxy S8, and it is also tipped to sport the same 18:9.5 display aspect ratio as Samsung’s flagship. The screen is seen to have curved edges as well. On the back is a vertical dual camera setup, along with a rear fingerprint sensor.

We are likely in the early stages of this unknown Nubia smartphone. Given its track record with the Nubia Z17, we could expect something big from this company when it launches the bezel-less smartphone in the future.

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This upcoming full screen device has a 11,000mAh battery

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This new and upcoming smartphone by Chinese manufacturer Oukitel is rather unique. The only modern flagship trait that it has is probably its display. The company has just teased the Oukitel K10 handset, and it packs a monster battery.

Based on the video released by Oukitel, we can tell that the company wants to make the Oukitel K10 stand out from the competition. For starters, it sports a real calf leather build for its rear panel, straying away from the conventional glass or aluminium chassis. On the front is an 18:9 display in Full HD+ resolution, measuring at 6-inches. It does however still have a rather large chin below the display, so we know that Oukitel isn’t going for that bezel-less look and design.

Underneath the hood, the Oukitel K10 is powered by a MediaTek P23 processor, alongside 6GB of RAM. It carries 64GB of internal storage. The phone has a dual rear camera setup but Oukitel has yet to reveal its specs. The same applies for the front facing camera as well. The main selling point of this phone is definitely its huge battery, sizing up to a whopping 11,000mAh! We can’t say for sure how many days of battery life will that translate to but we do expect at least 3 to 4 days.

The Oukitel K10 is set for a release early next year. Pricing and other details should be revealed in due time. What do you think of the Oukitel K10?

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Upcoming Google Pixel phone to cost more than RM2,600

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Google’s Nexus phones were previously known as really affordable phones, but their price tags seemed to be hiking up at every Nexus refresh. While we shouldn’t be expecting Google to significantly reduce the prices of their phones, a source has claimed that the Pixel will come at a pretty premium price tag.

To refresh recent rumors, Google is said to have closed to book on their Nexus brand and that the new handset lineup will be named Pixel. Hence, the successor of the Nexus 5X will be known as the Pixel and the Nexus 6P will be replaced with a Pixel XL. According to Android Police, a source informed them that the smaller Pixel will come at a price of $649 (RM2,687.80), which will be significantly more expensive compared to when the Nexus 6P was first launched, in which was sold starting at $499 (RM2,066.58).

While the claim may seem absurd, Android has given the it a “confidence rating” of 6 out of 10, saying that they do trust the source. However, the source didn’t have any info or material that was able to back up such claim. The source also claimed that with the premium price tag, Google will be offering financing options for consumers to ease the burden, or rather the burn in their pockets. With that being said, a $649 Pixel would mean an even more premiumly priced Pixel XL, possibly at $100 more at the very least.

As always, do take this rumor with a huge grain of salt. Meanwhile, l
eaked images
 of the Pixel and the Pixel XL have appeared just yesterday, and both handsets are set for an October 4th unveiling at Google’s event alongside a 4K Chromecast and Google’s DayDream VR.

Source:
Android Police

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Upcoming Huawei Mate 10 will feature glass back, tiny camera bumps

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We’re only a little over a month away from the Huawei Mate 10’s unveiling at Munich in October. Huawei is continuing its trend of launching one flagship in the first half of the year and another flagship in the second. The Mate 10 will be more of phablet category as compared to the P10 from earlier this year, and latest renders show the Mate 10 sporting a glass back.

huawei

According to OnLeaks, the renders of the Mate 10 show the upcoming Huawei flagship flaunting a sleek glass back, a welcome change from the metal body Mate 9. This could mean that the Huawei Mate 10 will be able to charge wirelessly through its glass back panel. The renders also show the fingerprint sensor being shifted to the front, another significant change from the Mate 9’s rear fingerprint sensor.

The Huawei Mate 10 is said to retain the 5.9-inch display, but with a trim in bezels compared to its predecessor. The new glass back is also slightly curved on its sides. Furthermore, we spotted camera bump(s) for the Mate 10’s dual camera setup, which might suggest that the handset is a tad slimmer than the Mate 9.

Huawei recently unveiled the Kirin 970 processor at IFA 2017, so that will be present in the upcoming Mate 10 which will be launched on the 16th of October.

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Upcoming iPhones might come in five different colours

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We reported recently that Apple will be releasing three new iPhones this fall, and a recent leaker showed two of the phone, although it was dummy phones, it gave us an understanding on how the new phones will look like from the back. Now, a supply chain report release indicating to us that the new phone will come in a range of colours, mainly Gray, White, Blue, Red and Orange.

This will be a refreshing change to the iPhone line up as they are known for releasing white and grey variants with the exception of their limited edition Red colour. Different colours were first introduced in their iPhone 5C phones, where it had many colour options and that seem to peek the interest of its users. We even saw
Samsung releasing five different colours
 with their upcoming Galaxy Note 9 phone.

 Other than that, 9to5Mac has reported that the iPhone X Plus will come with a $1000 price ta while the lesser expensive 6.1-inch iPhone will come with a price tag of around $700, which is said to look like the iPhone X but it might not have a dual-camera setup on the back.

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Upcoming iPhones will come with fast charging adapter and cable

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The current generation iPhone support fast charge but for some reason, they did not ship fast charging chargers with the phones. This disappointed customers that were looking forward to a better charging option from the company. Recently, Apple just announced that they are going to ship fast chargers with 2018 iPhones.

Sure, you could buy a third-party charger that supports iPhone’s fast charge, but for those of you that prefer to get the original devices will have to fork out money for the adaptor and a Type-C to Lighting cable which is rather costly. This information comes from supply chain sources who mentioned this year’s iPhones will come with an 18W USB-Power Delivery adaptors alongside a Type-C to Lighting cable in the box.

It’s great that Apple has been listening to its customers and will finally provide fast chargers in the box, but we will see if they will do the same for the iPhone 8 and X.

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Upcoming LCD iPhones will not support 3D Touch

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Apple first introduced the 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus which gave users the ability to view the app without opening it. It also integrated with other apps like Facebook when you want to focus on a picture that your friends and family post. However, it looks like the feature might not come back in future iPhones.

Barclay’s analyst Blayne Curtis who visited Apple’s supply chain has said that next year’s OLED models will not come with 3D Touch, based on the information he has received from his trip. He also mentioned that the AirPod 2 which will come with water resistance will be introduced in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a new version of the AirPod case that supports wireless charging will launch next month. Lastly, he also mentioned that the AirPower charging mat will be available in September and a cheaper HomePod speaker.

Ming-Chi Kuo also confirmed that the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone will not support 3D Touch due to an extra layer of thin film that is required for the display.

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Upcoming OPPO R11s will come with full screen display and Snapdragon 835

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Earlier today we witnessed Vivo launch the V7+, which features an extremely tiny bezel-ed display on the front, with a dual camera setup and a decent spec sheet for quite an affordable price tag. Vivo is one of the latest smartphone manufacturers to hop onto the full screen display bandwagon, and fellow Chinese company OPPO will be following suit.

A couple of leaked photos have emerged on Chinese micro blogging site Weibo, of an alleged OPPO R11s, which had some of its details leaked onto the web not too long ago. A leaked hands on image of the device confirms rumors that it will feature a display with minimal bezels, making it look extra attractive than OPPO’s current line of devices as well.

It is likely that the OPPO R11s will be the company’s flagship smartphone for 2017, as the spec sheet is said to be pretty top notch – a Snapdragon 835 processor and 6GB of RAM. The current OPPO R11 sports a dual camera setup, and that will likely be the case for the upcoming OPPO R11s as well.

As always, do bear in mind to take these rumors with a huge grain of salt to avoid disappointment. Regardless, it is definitely admirable to see OPPO stepping up its game to retain its place in the smartphone competition. Thoughts?

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Upcoming RPG The Outer Worlds won’t be on Steam for at least a year thanks to Epic Games

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If you’re a fan of Bethesda’s Fallout you may have heard of the abysmal showings of Fallout 76 and the backlash the developers have received over the game. And as a Fallout fan, you may have also heard of a competitor in the form of The Outer Worlds, which is directed by former Fallout designers Leonard Boyarsky and Tim Cain, and developed by the same team behind Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian Entertainment.

Now, this is where things get interesting and has become the talk around the gaming community; Epic Games, which have attained distributing rights on PC platforms for AAA titles such as Metro Exodus and The Division 2, have once again one-uped Steam by making The Outer Worlds an Epic Store exclusive for one year.

Image credit: The Outer Worlds

Multiple reports have revealed that Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming first-person role-playing game will ditch Steam for Tencent-owned Epic Games Store, but not completely, as Steam will get to release the game one year later than Epic.

Concerns have been voiced over Epic’s takeover of several AAA games, making them their own exclusives – this is part in due to the question of ethics and monopoly: Epic does not develop any of these games themselves, while the companies that do aren’t part of Epic’s in-house or contracted development teams; therefore it should be free real estate for developers to publish their games on as many platforms as they can.

Image Credit: PC Invasion

It is also the question of options and healthy competition among game distributors – if one platform should get exclusive rights to the most sought-after games, then one can only imagine the power that company holds over the community.

Sure, Steam and other platforms will get to offer The Outer Worlds a year after Epic Games, but this means that eager players would be robbed of choice while other players would have to wait a whole year before being afforded options on which platform they want to patronize. This is not good folks.

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UPDATE: Celcom to offer 10GB of Internet Burung Hantu for new Xpax Turbo prepaid service

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It looks like we are off to an exciting round of telco offerings again, a Celcom dealer has uploaded a YouTube video during the telco’s dealer event and teased us with an upcoming prepaid plan known as the Xpax Turbo, what’s interesting is that Xpax Turbo will be offering 10GB of monthly data for its Internet Burung Hantu service, the user will get to use that additional amount of data from 1AM-7AM for any purposes on top of their current quota.

The Internet Burung Hantu was introduced back in Celcom’s Xpax Magic SIM, which allows you to go online with unlimited quota during godly late hours, while its great that Celcom is continuing to offer this albeit with a limited quota this round, it is still rather commendable effort. We still have no further news of Celcom’s Xpax Turbo, however we should expect more information when the new prepaid plan is launched on September 1.

UPDATE:

The Celcom Xpax Turbo will have a new range of monthly and daily data plans, which we have detailed it below:

Monthly Plan

RM30/month – 2GB of high speed internet, 1GB for Facebook and 1GB for YouTube, totalling up to 4GB
RM50/month – 5GB of high speed internet, 2GB for Facebook and 2GB for YouTube, totalling up to 9GB
RM80/month – 9GB of high speed internet, 3GB for Facebook and 3GB for YouTube, totalling up to 15GB

Daily Plan

RM5/3 Days – 200MB of high speed internet, 100MB for Facebook, totalling up to 300MB
RM10/7 days – 600MB of high speed internet, 600MB for Facebook and 300MB for YouTube, totalling up to 1.5GB

Celcom is offering free unlimited Yonder Music streaming when users subscribe to these data plans, there’s also free 500MB of monthly data for social chat apps like WhatsApp and WeChat. The Xpax Turbo starter pack is priced at RM10 and will come with RM6 of preloaded credit, 200MB high speed internet and 500MB basic internet upon activation, call rates are fixed at RM0.24/min and SMS rates are fixed at RM0.12/SMS to all networks.

Source:
Lowyat.NET
,
YouTube
, Kedai Online smy (Facebook)

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[UPDATE] COBBLE is a beautiful looking portable amplifier for your iPhone

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I know what you are thinking, but this isn’t the Pebble smart watch we are talking about, but the PEBBLE
 COBBLE (note that its all uppercase letters) is an audio amplifier shaped in a pebble stone shape made for your iPhone, requiring no batteries and powered from your iPhone’s Lightning connector, it is of course not as heavy as a stone and aims to take your music listening experience to the next level, the product is coming soon at Kickstarter at $45 (RM185), which is 50% off its intended $89 (RM366) price tag, hence that’s darn affordable if you are thinking to amplify your iPhone’s music listening experience.

COBBLE will deliver a bit depth of 24 bit, a sampling rate of 96KHz and +32dB of gain, which means your iPhone is ready to take on some high impedance headphones and music is upscaled to Hi-Res audio quality, the device’s 3.5mm headphone jack will also support earphones with mic and music controls, hence the reason why the company has mentioned that the device will not limit the phone’s capability and sets a difference from other external audio amplifiers. While this might not be the most powerful amplifier out there as it merely draws power from your iPhone instead of being powered by an external battery, it is something worth considering if you are on a budget seeking to improve your music listening experience on your iPhone.

To know more about COBBLE, head on to
http://cobble.teicneo.com/
 and sign up for their newsletter on their upcoming Kickstarter campaign.

[UPDATE 15/3/2016] The product has been renamed from PEBBLE to COBBLE, due to the naming conflict and trademark of the Pebble Smart Watch.

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[UPDATE: Comparison Included] U Mobile upsizes Hero P70 Postpaid Plan data allocation to 15GB for free

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U Mobile hasn’t been sitting still to see the competition react to its heroic postpaid plan offerings, the leading data strong telco is once again on the move to reward both new and current Hero Postpaid customers additional 8GB of data on top of their already generous 7GB quota, this offer starts from 15 March 2016 until 30 June 2016, despite being a limited time offer it tends to show the generosity of U Mobile and its goals in becoming the best data service provider in the nation.

There are no limitations in the additional data allowance, be it day or night, weekdays or weekends, Hero Postpaid subscribers will get to enjoy 15GB of data for the entire month throughout the promo period. After successfully launching its Hero Postpaid and Hero Plus share plan, the telco has been challenged by the remaining three established players, which all have chosen to offer high data quotas at a competitive price tag. Judging from the above comparison table, Celcom is by far the closest contender with its 10GB data quota however the data allowance is divided equally to weekdays and weekends, it also offers 5GB of complimentary Celcom public WiFi service which isn’t available everywhere, hence this is the most expensive plan users will need to commit and not being able to enjoy 100% of allocated data. DiGi on the other hand offers the same amount of data and allows users to rollover 2GB of unused data to the next billing month with a slightly cheaper price than Celcom, the new MaxisONE plan is only limited to users in East Malaysia with only a mere 5GB of data allowance, though there are speculations that the offer will eventually reach peninsular subscribers, all of these competitive offerings are still no match for U Mobile’s Hero Postpaid plan in terms of data quota and value added services at an affordable monthly commitment fee.

U Mobile’s has been constantly improving its 3G and 4G LTE services over the months, as we can see very clearly from the last few rounds of our Telco Challenge series, it is one of the best performers in a few episodes when tested in most parts of Kuala Lumpur city, the telco is also awarded ‘Malaysia’s Fastest Mobile Network’ by Ookla and more recently, it has launched the Hero Plus share plan that gives member lines additional 3GB of data and unlimited calls to all networks while sharing the principal data quota. For more info on U Mobile’s Hero Postpaid plan, visit www.u.com.my.

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Update for Android's Google app now lets it store offline search queries

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Searching for a topic using Android’s Google app in an area with limited connectivity won’t be as much of a pain soon as Google is now rolling out an update to the app that will give it an “offline mode” of sorts.

Just so we’re clear here, the Offline Mode for Android’s Google app doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to use the search engine when you have no internet connection whatsoever. Instead, whenever you try to search for something with the app while your device has limited connectivity, the Google app will save your search and hold onto it. Once your device receives a more stable connection, the app will send you a notification, indicating that your search is complete and you may now view the results.

For those who are worried that this new feature will affect the device’s battery life, Google’s product manage Shekhar Sharad has said that the new feature won’t drain your battery, nor will it drastically impact data usage. The update is currently being rolled out to users so if the feature isn’t available on your Android device just yet, you can expect it to be available within the next few days.

Source:
Google

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[Update] Huawei P9 to land in Malaysia next week; pricing revealed

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If you’ve been waiting patiently for the P9, you’ll need to wait just a little bit longer as Huawei’s latest offering will be descending upon Malaysia as early as next Saturday.

Co-engineered with renowned German camera manufacturer Leica, the Huawei P9 features a dual-lens camera that is able to capture photos with better clarity, brilliant colour, as well as Leica’s signature striking black and white images.

While the pricing of the device won’t be revealed until this coming Friday, Huawei has confirmed that Malaysia will be receiving the standard P9 as well as the P9 Plus, both of which will be offered in Prestige Gold, Titanium Grey, and Mystic Silver colours.

To those who purchase the P9 or P9 Plus, Huawei will also be offering its Standard Premium Service. This service will allow P9 owners to exchange devices one-to-one within the 12-month warranty period, free door-to-door pick-up and delivery service, a one time use three-month LCD screen warranty that begins on the proof of purchase date, two free cleaning services within the 12-month warranty period, as well as a dedicated VIP hotline service.

Update:
 Both the Huawei P9 and the P9 Lite will be available next Saturday (28th May). The P9 will retail for RM 2,099, while the P9 Lite will be available for RM 1,099. Pre-orders for the device will be available on VMall this Monday. The first ten customers who pre-order and fulfill the payment from the 23rd to the 27th of May will receive an Honor Band Z1 worth RM 269 for free.

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[UPDATE] Motorola may introduce a Moto Mod with a second display

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We have commended the Moto Mods in both our review of the Moto Z and Z Play, and it seems that Motorola has teased a new Moto Mod that involves an iconic device that change the 2000’s coming soon, which indirectly refers to the super slim Moto RAZR phone back then. Since it is already a snap on accessory on its phones, we can assume that the Mod won’t be another phone but instead, a secondary display that could be usable or shows information on the phone without adding too much bulk. The Motorola RAZR was famous for its extremely slim body profile with a clamshell form factor, and we certainly can’t wait to see how Motorola intends to bring its icon back as a Moto Mod.

And here it is! It’s a shaver mod from moto! So much for Razr! Happy April Fool!

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[UPDATE] Samsung GALAXY S5 vs Samsung GALAXY Note 3

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UPDATE: We’ve updated with 4K video recording samples down below!

After comparing it with the Xiaomi Mi3, we once again put Samsung’s
GALAXY S5
 to a comparison with the
Samsung GALAXY
Note 3
, which is the company’s last year heavy weighted flagship device that also won a 5-star rating in our review. Just to recap on the specs of the GALAXY
Note 3
, it has a Snapdragon 800 Quad-Core 2.3GHz CPU, 3GB of RAM, 32GB ROM with MicroSD expansion, 13MP AF Main Camera, LTE/HSPA+ network support and a 3200mAh battery. The GALAXY Note 3 still remains one of the most powerful smartphones to date, how does it compare with the GALAXY S5? Find out the answer on the comparison video and camera samples down below.

Samsung GALAXY S5 vs Samsung GALAXY
Note 3
 Video

Samsung GALAXY S5
 Camera Samples

Samsung GALAXY
 Note 3 Camera Samples

We’ll have more camera samples updated to this post, so stay tuned.

Samsung GALAXY S5
 4K Video Recording

Samsung GALAXY
 Note 3 4K Video Recording


[UPDATE] Samsung GALAXY S5 vs Xiaomi Mi3

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Two heavy weighted flagship smartphones, one that tries to attract consumers by introducing the best of everything and the most powerful hardware available, while the other gives consumers the most powerful hardware at an extremely affordable price tag. Here we go folks, we put the
Samsung GALAXY
 S5 and Xiaomi Mi3 on a heads to heads on comparison in the video down below.

Samsung GALAXY S5 vs Xiaomi Mi3 Video

Updated:
Samsung GALAXY
 S5 Camera Samples (16MP 16:10)

Updated: Xiaomi Mi3 Camera Samples (13MP 4:3)

Samsung GALAXY
 S5 Camera Samples (Taken with 6MP Widescreen)

Xiaomi Mi3 Camera Samples (Taken with 10MP Wide Screen)

Samsung GALAXY
 S5 Low Light Camera Samples (16MP 16:10)

Xiaomi Mi3 Low Light Camera Samples

Samsung GALAXY S5 Video Recording Sample

Xiaomi Mi3 Video Recording Sample

Samsung GALAXY S5 Low Light Video Recording

Xiaomi Mi3 Low Light Video Recording

Benchmark Comparison – Antutu Benchmark

Left: Samsung GALAXY S5, Right: Xiaomi Mi3

Benchmark Comparison – Quadrant Standard

Left: Samsung GALAXY S5, Right: Xiaomi Mi3

The Winner Is…

Both devices has its pros and cons as you can see in our comparison, we leave the choice to you – our readers – to decide on which is the best flagship smartphone that you prefer. Throw us some comments down below, we would like to hear from you! Stay tuned for the full review of both devices as we are working really hard on them.


Update: SwiftKey officially joins Microsoft, announced by both parties

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Not long after some claims of a possible
Microsoft acquistion of SwiftKey
, both parties have announced the buyover on their official blogs.

SwiftKey claims the agreement to join Microsoft as a milestone for them, whereas Microsoft stated on their blog that the aquistion was proof of their commitment to bring its service and software to all platforms.

It’s good news for SwiftKey users as the app won’t be shutdown on their platforms. Instead, Microsoft claims that they will continue to develop the most popular 3rd party keyboard app across Android and iOS platforms, while using its internal technology, applying it across its products and services. The company also stated that SwiftKey’s predictive technology will help assist in their development of intelligent systems.

Microsoft has also announced future plans to integrate SwiftKey technology with their homegrown Word Flow technology for Windows. What do you think about this buyover by Microsoft? Did you see it coming? Comment below.

Source:
Microsoft
,
SwiftKey

keyboard
microsoft
swiftkey


[UPDATED] Moto G (2nd Gen.) Review: The mid-range phone killer

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Ask anyone in their 60’s, 70’s or even those in their 50’s about Motorola and immediately, you’d be taken back to the past where mobile phones were as big as today’s water bottles and also weighed just about that on full capacity. In other words, Motorola has been in the game for a very long time and still has stood the test of time with their products and services. With that being said, today we find out if the company’s revamped version of the Moto G is still relevant by today’s standards after about a week of tinkering with the Moto G (2nd Gen.).

Moto G (2nd Gen.) Hardware Specifications:

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 Quad-Core 1.2GHz CPU

RAM/ROM: 1GB RAM/8GB ROM with MicroSD expansion up to 32GB

Display: 5″ HD (1280×720) IPS LCD panel with Corning Gorilla Glass 3

Camera: 8MP (Main) with LED flash, 2MP (Front)

Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, BT 4.0 LE

Features: Dual front-firing speakers & microphones, matte-textured water resistant body

Networks: GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)

Battery: Non-removable Li-Ion 2070mAh

Ergonomically designed

he Moto G’s aesthetics is as pure as the company intended it to be, subtracting all the unwanted clutter around the device. Motorola definitely had maximum ergonomics in mind as the phone is nicely contoured which gives it a tinge of premium feel in hand although its chassis is made of polycarbonate – read plastic. The front of the phone is adorned with a 5” IPS LCD panel, stereo front-firing speakers, a proximity sensor, a 2MP camera alongside the LED for notifications.

Flipping the phone over to the back and one will immediately notice the smooth matte-textured Motorola shell, the dimpled Motorola logo and also the 8MP camera with LED flash. A good point to note is that the shell is easily smudged or smeared and you might find yourself needing to whip out your hanky from time to time for cleaning purposes if you intend to get any other colored shell besides Black. On a side note, I have a particular affinity to that little dimple on the back for some unknown reason. A 3.5mm jack accompanied with a microphone is fitted at the top of the phone while the bottom is sashayed with the standard MicroUSB port. The Power Button and Volume Rockers are located on the right while the left of the device is left bare.

As mentioned earlier, the Moto G (2nd Gen.) is equipped with a 5” 720p IPS LCD Panel reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. As far as color reproduction is concerned, the panel is rich with 16M colors and a pixel density of 294 ppi, however, the colors are more vivid as compared to my previous daily driver, the ASUS Zenfone 5. With its rightly engineered IPS LCD panel, watching movies or just browsing the web is an immense joy and 5” is ideal for one-handed usage too. The Moto G also has a screen-to-body ratio of 68.9%, a wide viewing angle and is legible under direct/harsh sunlight thanks to its latest upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop which has a more dynamic Adaptive Brightness setting. I found this setting particularly useful in dark rooms as the screen’s brightness is able to drop below the average intensity, which is definitely a plus point if one wishes to preserve eyesight and still use the device in the dark.

Impressive software experience

Do not let the specs sheet fool you when you find out that the Moto G (2nd Gen.) comes with only 1GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 400 1.2GHz CPU as this device is able to take more hits than I expected it to and I was blown away when I first found out how fluid and responsive the Stock Android (with Google Play launcher) was. Motorola has promised a Pure Android experience with less bloatware and indeed they have done their level best with the Android 4.4.4 KitKat as the device is snappy, as they claim it to be. Multitasking is not too hard of a feat for the Moto G and with the Snapdragon 400 chipset, power efficiency is also greatly maximized (more on that in the Battery Life section).

My only gripe was that the company took out some important apps that I constantly use on a daily basis with their so-called, Pure Android experience, namely, the File Manager, Flashlight and Sound Recorder. The Flashlight issue was later fixed with the Lollipop update but the File Manager and Sound Recorder was still absent and this got me a little irked. Hence, I resorted to transfer the two said apps from my Zenfone 5 to the Moto G because I tend to clear and make new folders quite often. Other than those two apps (and Tasker for a little automation) the rest of the experience was pure in its sense.

Moving on, a couple of days into using Android KitKat on the device, I found myself updating to the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop which promises an even
more
fluid experience. Of course I jumped right on it!

The update was more than welcomed as it enhanced my user experience tremendously because prior to the update, there were some issues with KitKat as I found out that certain apps (e.g. Telegram) were not responsive and kept crashing on the Moto G (2nd Gen.) – and this was somehow concluded (by users from all over the world) to be a bug in the software. But no more nonsense like that as the Lollipop update improved the stability of the device overall with consistent notifications for the said GCM apps. On the look and feel of Lollipop, the Notifications Bar has also been revamped and below is the comparison with the KitKat on the Left and Lollipop on the Right.

Major overhauls can also be seen on the Lock Screen as incoming notifications are now in card-like form and can be swiped away or either opened by double tapping. This neat feature is useful as productivity is increased as no time is wasted having to unlock the phone and tending to individual notifications one at a time. The Display settings of the phone is tweak-able as well under Ambient Settings where the screen will light up when a notification arrives if the phone is locked. The white LED indicator is also an added classic touch. As far as everything else on the software is concerned, it’s is pretty much the same and you wouldn’t be cracking your head to relearn how to use the Android OS.

However, a point to take note is that the Moto G (2nd Gen.) comes with Google Now Launcher on-board from the get-go and this might be a make/break point to users who miss the
purer
 Pure Android experience on the first generation of the Moto G. For me, I just didn’t like the look of having a white background in my app drawer and I’d rather have a dim/no background at all. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t give you the luxury of choice in this department. The pre-installed Google apps are are also pretty useful – if you use all of them that is. If not, there’s always the option of disabling them, however, your Internal Storage would still be cluttered with a barrage of unused and (uninstall-able) apps which would take a toll on the already paltry 8GB of space.

And since we’re speaking of storage space, the Moto G (2nd Gen.) comes with a meager 8GB of Internal Storage which is expandable up to 32GB via the MicroSD card slot. Unfortunately, only 5.51GB can be utilized due to the other 2GB+ being used for other purposes – apps, system files, misc. files etc. On the flipside, users will be entitled to free 15GB of Google+ cloud storage for all your back-up needs and USB OTG is also featured on the device.

Point & Miss?

As mentioned earlier in our
First Impression post
, the Moto G (2nd Gen.) comes with an 8MP Rear camera equipped with an LED Flash while the front of the phone rocks a 2MP camera. On to the main camera, the camera interface is simple enough to handle and reminds me of the Lumia 930 with the scroll wheel mechanism for selecting modes/settings, however, it lacks a fast response time when focusing onto a subject and taking a picture. This condition inhibits for fast picture-taking, however, if you get used enough to the set-up, you might be able to work-around this predicament (somehow).

ow light shots are pretty decent and not too noisy and of course, a little Photoshop wouldn’t hurt at all. Below are a few camera samples for your viewing pleasure (all of which are not edited, of course).

Expansive Sound

As far as sound reproduction is concerned, Motorola has definitely upped the ante with the revamped version of this model as it now comes equipped with two signature front-firing speakers which deliver clear, crisp and a balanced sonic experience. The tone can definitely be tweaked via the EQ settings found in the Google Play Music app.

If you do not know me already, I’m one who appreciates a good Music software/app for my music playback and although I have heard from friends of mine who have tried and disliked the Google Play Music app, I decided to try it out for myself to find out what the problem was – and the problem is, I can’t find any. It’s a simple, minimalistic app which plays my .m4a and FLAC files just fine and is simple enough to use and even enhances my phone’s speakers tone with the embedded EQ settings. To me, this was the perfect marriage of the audio hardware and Google music software – big on style, big on sound. Also, this might probably be the closest thing to the HTC BoomSound experience you might get in today’s mid-range phone market.

Benchmarks, Battery Life & Call Quality

As aforementioned that my previous daily driver was the ASUS Zenfone 5 and now the Moto G, I have to say that the experience on the latter is more memorable compared to the former. A quick test under 3D Mark reveals that the Moto G is on par with other mid-range smartphones in this department of gaming and graphics. However, the Zenfone 5 surpasses the Moto G in the AnTuTu Benchmark test. In my opinion, this is so because the SoC of the Zenfone 5 is an Intel Atom CPU capable of hyper-threading, which is no surprise that the scores would be slightly higher. However, in terms of battery life, the Champion title would go to the Moto G as I reveal my reason why below.

For those of you who are a little new to Motorola’s claims on their battery life on their smartphones, they claim it would last a full day (under mixed usage, of course). And I am here to reinforce that claim by stating that I am NOT exaggerating when I say that this phone’s battery life is the BEST I’ve tested on thus far for such a small battery pack at only 2070mAh! This baby lasted me a whopping 12-13 hours under mixed usage and at times with an OFF/ON cellular network signal.

Under
maximum
 heavy usage (think 24/7 Mobile Data/Wi-Fi ON and Location ON), the Moto G still manages to squeeze out of itself an impressive 6 hours of battery life as shown below.

Last but not to say the least, Call Quality. Since the Moto G (2nd Gen.) has double speakers on the front panel, naturally and logically, the sound quality will be LOUD. Call quality was superb and clarity was on the next level thanks to the well-engineered speakers of the Moto G. Although there was
one
 incident of a drop call, I believe it to be a remote one and shouldn’t be taken too seriously as overall, reception and call quality was superb most of the time.

Midrange Phone Killer

The Moto G (2nd Gen.) is indeed a class on its own when it comes to midrange smartphones as one will be forgiven if one thinks that the phone is a flagship device thanks to its beautiful aesthetics and above average performance. Although the device retails for
RM688
or cheaper (depends where you get yours from), and isn’t priced as cheap as other mid-range phones in the market, I would still highly recommend the Moto G (2nd Gen.) to anyone any day anytime. Besides, if you get bored of the default Motorola shells, just get others and swap it over for a fresh new look.

Verdict

Highly recommended for the midrange budget-conscious consumer who wish for a memorable experience.

The Good
+
Great aesthetics
+
Brilliant display
+
 Immersive sound
+
 Fluid-like Pure Android experience
+
 Amazing battery life
+
 Affordable price tag

The Not-so Good
–
Meager Internal & External Storage
–
Incomplete stock apps

The Moto G (2nd Gen.) receives a rating of
8.75/10


[UPDATE]Windows 10 Preview coming soon to more phones

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[UPDATE 10/4] Microsoft’s Gabe Aul has tweeted that the Windows 10 Technical Preview will be reaching to the listed phones below at 10AM PST, which is a few hours away from now.

Microsoft is really fast on it this time, shortly announcing a preview build of Windows 10 for Phones two months back, the company is now announcing a new list of phones that be able to run the preview, while you may think why Microsoft isn’t making it available to all phones at the same time because most of the older Windows Phone models have to be repartitioned in order to support the new operating system. In addition to this, Microsoft has also reported via its blog that the team has been working on the following updates:

– The partition stitching feature code came into our main code branch late last week. The Storage and Filesystems Team had been working on this in their branch and it passed all of their quality evaluations.

– We spent this week testing on individual devices, as well as providing the builds with this feature to our internal rings so that we all could test it on our own phones which had been previously not usable. I’ve been thrilled to get my beloved
Lumia
 1020 on Windows 10!

– This testing will allow us to support A LOT more phones for the next flight. I get a ton of questions every day on Twitter about when your favorite phones will be usable, and I’m happy to report that the vast majority will be supported with the next flight (full list below.)

– We’ll also have support for phones that didn’t have China Mobile Operator support in the last build, so that’s great news too for our Windows Insiders in China.

– We still have some work to do to validate individual phones, as well as the builds that we’re flighting through our internal rings. As I said in the post on frequency I cannot guarantee a date for a new build. What I CAN tell you is that we feel great here about the partition stitching code and current builds, but we likely still have at least one more week of engineering to do to ensure we get a great build for the expanded list of devices.

And finally, Windows 10 for Phones preview will be coming to the following Windows Phone models unfortunately leaving out non-Microsoft brands:

–
Lumia
 1020
– Lumia 1320
– Lumia 1520
– Lumia 520
– Lumia 525
– Lumia 526
–
Lumia
 530
– Lumia 530 Dual Sim
– Lumia 535
– Lumia 620
– Lumia 625
– Lumia 630
–
Lumia
 630 Dual Sim
– Lumia 635
– Lumia 636
– Lumia 638
– Lumia 720
– Lumia 730
–
Lumia
 730 Dual SIM
– Lumia 735
– Lumia 810
– Lumia 820
– Lumia 822
– Lumia 830
– Lumia 920
– Lumia 925
– Lumia 928
– Lumia ICON
– Microsoft Lumia 430
– Microsoft Lumia 435
– Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM
– Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM DTV
– Microsoft Lumia 532
– Microsoft Lumia 532 Dual SIM
– Microsoft Lumia 640 Dual SIM
– Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM

If you have one of these phones listed above, download the Windows Insider app from the Windows Store, keep calm and wait patiently for the update to arrive, you’ll definitely get it


Upgraded Xiaomi Redmi 2A Coming Soon

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Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has announced a new version of Redmi 2A smartphone model that previously is one of the most acquire devices. Compared to the previous iteration of Xiaomi’s cheapest device, the new Redmi 2A will look alike like the predecessor, save for two pretty important upgrades.

Whereas the original model comes with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, but the new Redmi 2A is equipped with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. The new Redmi 2A will share its specs with its predecessor which have a 4.7-inch 720p touchscreen, an 8 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 2 MP front-facing camera, the Leadcore L1860C chipset with 1.5 GHz quad-core CPU, 4G LTE support, dual-SIM functionality, and a 2,200 mAh battery. Although this hasn’t been confirmed, we expect it to run MIUI 6.0 based on Android 5.0 Lollipop just like the original Redmi 2A.

The Xiaomi Redmi 2A for the model will be CNY 549 (approx. RM 375) and this is CNY more than original, but most people will think this upgrade will worth it.

android
redmi
redmi2a
xiaomi


The US authorities are investigating TikTok to ensure US users’ data are protected from the Chinese government

328

TikTok is currently being investigated by the US authorities as US senators are concerned about US user’s data being given to the Chinese government.

According to
Forbes
, the Committee on Foreign Investment in US is reviewing the acquisition of Musical.ly that is rebranded as TikTok. The authorities are concerned that the app will not only offer the Chinese government user’s data, but also remove content that criticises China.

On the other hand, a TikTok spokesperson stated that the company prioritises the trust of the US users and regulators and will cooperate with the Congress for the investigation. TikTok also issued a statement confirming that data collected by them are not subjected to Chinese law and all the data centres are located outside of China. In addition, TikTok reveals that it was never asked by Chinese government to ”remove any content” and “would not do so if asked”.

Indeed, TikTok has grown rapidly as an app that shares viral short videos to capture viewer’s attention. It also seems like the US government is not ready to trust Chinese companies yet, and that’s made more apparent with the whole HUAWEI ban.

TikTok
us


US companies can work with Huawei again to develop 5G technology

336

The Trump Administration has
reversed
 a rule to now allow US companies to continue working with Huawei to develop
5G
 network standards in the country.

Finally playing nice

We previously reported that a new law was being
drafted
 for the same purpose – it looks that has come to fruition and the US Commerce Department have signed off a rule change that will see Huawei contribute their technology to the US’ 5G infrastructure.

A sign of change?

The rule is still awaiting publication in the
Federal Register
, but Reuters reports that it will be official as soon as this Tuesday. At the same time however, US Commerce Secretary
Wilbur Ross
 also tells Reuters that the country will not cede leadership in global innovations and will still continue to protect US national security.

From this, America is still very much keeping their guards up about not letting China ‘spy’ on them, but perhaps they trust Huawei enough now. In any case, we’re hoping this is sign of a positive change to come.

5g
entity list
huawei
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U.S. contemplates solutions in WhatsApp encryption case

317

It seems that Apple isn’t the only one that is fighting the U.S. government on its stance on encryption as it seems they have been having a standoff with messaging app WhatsApp as well.

According to the New York Times, the Justice Department has been discussing how to proceed in a continuing criminal investigation in which a federal judge had approved a wiretap on the suspect’s phone. The problem, however, seems to be that WhatsApp has been encrypting conversions between users, causing the Justice Department to be unable to read the cleartext of the messages.

While both parties have declined to comment about the issues, as the case itself is officially under seal, an anonymous source states that the case involved has nothing to do with terrorism.

In 2014, WhatsApp implemented end-to-end encryption. This system means that only the recipients would be able to read the messages. Prior to that, the Facebook-owned messaging platform did not boast any form of encryption, meaning that in theory, WhatsApp could comply to a wiretap order.

For now though, it seems that the U.S. government would be keeping a low profile for this particular case. As the battle with Apple goes on, it is entirely possible that this case would then be pushed into the spotlight as well.

Source:
The New York Times

encryption
justicedepartment
us
whatsapp


US Government drafts new rule to allow working with Huawei to develop 5G standards

313

The US is ready to work with Huawei again says reports citing a new rule that allows American companies to work with the
Chinese
 company to develop 5G networks.

If you’ve forgotten, the Trump Administration put Huawei in an entity list which prevents US companies from doing business with the Chinese giants citing fears of national security – specifically, the US were afraid that Huawei was spying on them using their technology. That, of course has not been proven to be true until now.

According to Reuters, the new rule where US companies would participate in standards bodies where Huawei are members of – both parties would oversee the
implementation
 of development of 5G networking in the country.

Reuters also notes that the US is concerned about not being at the forefront of 5G implementation with the existence of the entity list – this new rule should offset some ground lost in the race to be a 5G-powered nation.

It’s important to note that 5G isn’t just
going to
 be used by smartphones and tablets, but also self-driving cars and the sort.

5g
huawei
trade ban
trade war
trump
us china war
us government


U.S. government places export restrictions on ZTE; China furious

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Yesterday, the U.S. government placed export restrictions on Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE for alleged violations of U.S. export controls on Iran.

According to Reuters, the U.S. Commerce Department has been investigating ZTE for alleged export-control violations following a report that the company had signd contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of America’s technology companies to Iran’s largest telecoms carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran (TCI), and a unit of the consortium that controls it.

ZTE’s attempt to sell technology to Iran would be violating U.S. export controls as the White House has long banned the sale of U.S.-made technology to Iran. Furthermore, companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and Dell were unaware of the Iranian contracts.

The new restrictions that the Commerce Department has set would force ZTE’s suppliers to apply for an export license before shipping any American-made equipment or parts to ZTE. The restrictions will take effect later today and will apply to any company worldwide that wants to ship American-made products to ZTE.

Understandably, China is not happy about this. “China is opposed to the U.S. citing domestic laws to place sanctions on Chinese enterprises. We hope the U.S. stops this erroneous action and avoid damaging Sino-China trade cooperation and bilateral relations,” says Hong Lei, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Ever since the U.S. announced that it would be placing export restrictions on ZTE, trade in shares of ZTE has been suspended in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Source:
Reuters
,
Business Insider

america
china
iran
politics
zte


U.S. government says that they will continue fight against encryption in court

274

While the U.S. government has decided to drop their case against Apple, this doesn’t mean that they’re throwing in the towel completely in the modern day Crypto Wars. The Department of Justice has stated that it will not hesitate to invoke the precedent it won in its iPhone unlocking case.

In an e-mail to Ars Technica, the DoJ has stated that they would continue to rely on courts in order to compel other tech companies to weaken, if not outright break their encryption. “It remains a priority for the government to ensure that law enforcement can obtain crucial digital information to protect national security and public safety, either with cooperation from relevant parties, or through the court system when cooperation fails. We will continue to pursue all available options for this mission, including seeking the cooperation of manufacturers and relying upon the creativity of both the public and private sectors,” says Melanie Newman, spokesman for the Department of Justice.

It is unclear as to which precedent that the DoJ is referring to exactly, as the Apple vs FBI case was dropped before a judge could render a verdict on the case. That said, we’re assuming it refers to the use of the All Writs Act to compel a company to assist it with an investigation.

Needless to say, this statement was not lost among the tech industry. “While the DoJ consistently claimed its motion was directed at one company and one phone, the fine print reveals it believes it can coerce any company to dsable its security to provide government access. This applies to any company that makes products with software,” says Morgan Reed, Executive Director of The App Association.

Apple has also issued its own statement to the matter. “This case raised issues which deserve a national conversation about our civil liberties, and our collective security and privacy. Apple remains committed to participating in that discussion,” says Apple.

In short, Crypto War II has begun.

Source:
Ars Technica

encryption
politics


US Marshals raid CES booth that was alleged to have infringe on patents

301

What happens when there is a product on the CES showfloor that has allegedly infringe on another company’s patents? That question was answered today as US Marshals have raided and shut down a booth at Las Vegas.

The product in question is called the Trotter, a one-wheeled skateboard made by Changzhou First International Trade Co.. According to
Bloomberg
, the raid was the result of a weekslong effort by Future Motion, a Silicon Valley startup that said it invented and patented a self-balancing electric skateboard called the One Wheel. Future Motion has since filed an emergency motion for injunctive relief, which led to the raid on Changzhou First’s booth.

“Knocking off an invention that is patented and carefully quality-controlled is a disservice and unsafe to consumers. We will continue to vigorously defend our intellectual property rights around the world,” says Kyle Doerksen, CEO of Future Motion.

Changzhou First’s booth has since been shut down by the marshals. All signs, fliers and the Trotter itself has been confiscated as well.

Source :
Cnet
,
Bloomberg

ces
changzhoufirst
futuremotion
onewheel
patentinfringement
trotter


U.S Navy pays Microsoft $9 Million to keep Windows XP alive

702

Windows 10 may be Microsoft’s next big thing, but there are still some folks out there who thinks Windows XP is still the biggest thing ever. According to reports from CNN Money, the U.S Navy has been paying Microsoft $9 million a year to keep the legendary Windows XP operating system running legacy military systems despite of its end of support at April 8, 2014. In return, Microsoft has extended its support to the U.S Navy through June 8, 2017 while the latter is expected to complete its upgrades by July 12, 2016.

While there hasn’t been any specific military applications being mentioned on which is still running on Microsoft’s legacy operating system, the U.S Navy relies heavily on them and they cannot be simply migrated to the latest version of Windows due to how the application was being built around that time, and you really can’t blame them since Windows XP still consists of some Pre-x86 kernels and frameworks onboard.

Windows XP can be said as one of the best operating system in Microsoft’s portfolio and it isn’t really surprising to find some organisations using it despite Microsoft’s decision to end support. According to
NetMarketShare
, there around 14.6% of computers worldwide still running on Windows XP, and I’m pretty sure that a certain percentage applies to the U.S Navy, but its $9 million check certainly isn’t going to apply to everyone out there.


U.S Navy bans TikTok on government-issued mobile devices

276

While the U.S. government is extra cautious towards HUAWEI, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army are taking precautions against TikTok, the viral short video app.

The Navy labeled TikTok as a “cybersecurity threat” and ask those with government-issued mobile devices to remove the app or their access to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet will be cut off.

Senator Chuck Schumer also ordered the Army to stop making use of TikTok in their recruiting due to security concerns relating to the Chinese government. It’s obvious that the U.S. government is skeptical of ByteDance, despite the company denying any close relationship with the Chinese government.

ByteDance is also undergoing a national security review regarding its acquisition of Musical.ly that is rebranded as TikTok. The U.S. government fears that the company will transfer user data to the Chinese government, in addition to removing any content that criticizes China.

TikTok


U.S. PlayStation Plus membership fees to rise in September

313

Bad news U.S. PlayStation Plus users, Sony is about to raise the price of the PlayStation Plus starting from the 22nd of September.

In a PlayStation Plus blog post published back on the 27th of July, Sony has announced that the subscription to the U.S. PlayStation Plus will be raised to USD59.99 for a one-year membership, while the three-month membership will be raised to USD24.99. Previously, both the one-year subscription and the three-month subscription are priced at USD49.99 and USD17.99 respectively. If your PlayStation Plus subscription expires before the 22nd of September, worry not as the your renewal fee will still be at the old price.

“The new pricing reflects the current market conditions while enabling us to continue providing exceptional value to our members,” Sony writes. “As a member, you will continue to enjoy the benefits and features that enable shared experiences, such as online multiplayer, free games and exclusive discounts. You will also continue to get exclusive benefits such as online game storage and discounts across the PlayStation digital services.”

An important thing to note is that the price listed above is limited only to the U.S. PlayStation Plus members. Only time will tell if the Asian PlayStation Plus would have an increase in price as well.

Source:
PlayStation Blog

playstation
playstationplus
price
sony


US Supreme Court to hear Microsoft's appeal in Xbox 360 disc-scratching case

314

When the Xbox 360 was first released, it was plagued with tons of issues. Besides the infamous Red Ring of Death, one other common complaint about the Xbox 360 is that it has a tendency to scratch discs. This problem has led some Xbox 360 owners to file a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft. In 2012, a US federal judge dismissed the class action suit, citing a lack of complaints. This decision has since been overturned in March of 2015 and the
Supreme Court has agreed to consider
 Microsoft’s bid to fend off the class action suit.

Just to be clear, the Supreme Court will not be ruling on the actual case, they will just be deciding if the complaints can be heard as a class action lawsuit. If the judges rule that the complaints CAN be heard as a class action suit, Microsoft would then need to return to court to present their case.

Microsoft, of course, is adamant that the class action suit is improper, claiming that only 0.4% of Xbox 360 owners reported disc scratches, most of which were caused by misuse.

Source :
Reuters
,
Associated Press

disc
lawsuit
microsoft
supremecourt
us
xbox360


US plans to ban shipment of chips to Huawei in new proposed sanction

563

Reuters reports that the proposed law would see a halt to any company that uses US-made equipment, from producing and shipping chips to Huawei – the main subject under the spotlight is Taiwan’s TSMC, who makes Huawei’s HiSilicon chipsets.

The initial flurry of bans were very much geographical-based sanctions, meaning any companies based in the States were not allowed to work with Huawei – now, the President Trump looks to broaden the scope by targeting companies outside the country so long as they use any American equipment. These organizations would need to acquire licenses to continue shipping hardware to Huawei.

According to the report, this is to prevent any chips from going to Huawei that they can control – this sounds absolutely absurd. The silver lining for Huawei and its partners is that the aforementioned licenses would get approval, then its business as usual – but something tells us that it’s not going to be that straightforward.

The proposal for the new law has been drafted by has yet to be approved – and for all that makes sense in the world, we’re hoping it doesn’t.

android
chips
chipset
gms
huawei
kirin
processor
s hisilicon
taiwan
trade war
trump
us


USB-IF publishes specifications for Audio Device Class 3.0

340

You know how people were making noise over Apple’s supposed “courage” over removing the headphone jack. Well, if the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has their way, we may be seeing the removal for headphone jacks from other devices as well. Why you ask? Because USB-IF has published its Audio Device Class 3.0 specification.

With Audio Device Class 3.0, makers of audio equipment can now create devices that would allow them to output audio via USB-Type C ports. Interestingly enough, USB Audio Device Class 3.0 supports both analog and digital audio.

ADC 3.0 is also stated to offer better digital audio support thanks to the fact that digital USB-C headphones will feature special multi-function processing units (MPUs). These MPUs will handle tasks such as host and sink synchronization, digital-to-analog conversion, low-latency active noise cancellation, acoustic echo canceling, equalization, microphone automatic gain control, volume control and others. MPUs will also be able to support the new USB Audio Type-III and Type-IV formats. while remaining compatible with formats supported by ADC 1.0 and 2.0.

USB-IF believes that if more companies would embrace ADC 3.0, it would make the 3.5mm headphone jack obsolete. By doing so, the group believes that devices in the future will be slimmer, have better water resistance, and it would “open the door to innovation.” For those of you who still prefer the old-school jacks, you need not be too worried as the headphone jack will still be here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Source:
Anandtech

audio
audiodeviceclass30
headphonejack
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usbtypec


Headphone jack missing from latest Google Pixel 2 render

271

Now that most flagships from the more popular smartphone makers are out, we are only left with a couple more to go for this year, such as the iPhone 8, Galaxy Note 8 and the Huawei Mate 10. The Google Pixel 2 series falls under the same category as well, and it looks like the company will be omitting the headphone jack for the second iteration of the Pixel smartphone.

Based on a recent render of the Google Pixel 2 by My Smart Price and OnLeaks, the phone in the image above certainly matches the more commercial looking renders from other sources. The Pixel 2 seems to have retained the general design elements set in stone by Google, with the glass panel covering the top half of the rear panel shortened.

The huge takeaway from this render is that the Google Pixel 2 seems to have ditched the 3.5 mm headphone jack, which is definitely a surprising change from the original Google Pixel, given that the company subtly dissed fellow giant corporation Apple for doing so with the iPhone 7 series. If this render appears to be true, we might be looking at more smartphones without headphone jacks moving forward.

The removal of the headphone jack on smartphone still tears the tech consumer world into two. What do you think?

apple
google
headphone jack
pixel 2


USB4 is based on Thunderbolt 3 protocol and comes with 40Gbps bandwidth

358

Speed has become more important to tech users these days, especially when it comes to transferring data. So, with the intention of bringing high data transfer speed to everyone, Intel and USB Promoter Group decided to announce something called USB4.

USB4’s specifications are made based on the Thunderbolt protocol which Intel made royalty-free. According to the company, the combination of Thunderbolt and USB protocols will benefit users in terms of their device connections, and the new USB4 will be able to perform much better as it’ll have twice the bandwidth of USB 3.2.

According to USB Promoter Group, USB4 will be using a two-lane operation that can support transfer speed up to 40Gbps, have various data and display protocols for increased efficiency in terms of bandwidth sharing over the bus.

Image credit: Intel

That aside, it is worth noting that USB4 will still be backward compatible with USB 3.2, USB 2.0 and also Thunderbolt 3. Intel also mentioned that the company is working with Microsoft to allow built-in support for Thunderbolt 3 in Windows 10 and will equip future Intel CPUs with Thunderbolt 3, starting from its 10nm processor code-named “Ice Lake”.

intel
thunderbolt 3
USB4


Use your smartwatch without touching the screen with the help of Deus Ex Aria

338

A group of Deus Ex fans figure out of the box by creating Deus EX Aria technology which is able to recognize finger gestures from the wrist thanks to a layer of sensors. You can customize the gestures in any way you want that ease the action, and this can avoid you from any accidents because you will not touch the screen with your other hand. This tiny device uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to connect the wristband with Android Wear smartwatch and inside it has a sensors and DSP chip to collect data. Besides that, the Deus Ex Aria is also able to control the GoPro through the smartphone and will be expanding its feature to more devices soon like Drone, Apple Watch, Serial communications and many more.

There will be two versions of the Deus EX Aria, the Android Wear version will be using Clip type which will connect using Bluetooth and the Pebble Time version will be using the watch strap which uses a wired serial communication only.

If you are interested with this product you can pledge over
here
.

aria
deus
ex
smartband
smartwatch


Users can now make purchases in Huawei AppGallery through direct carrier billing

384

Huawei recently collaborated with DiGi, Hotlink, Maxis and U Mobile so that Huawei smartphone users can conveniently purchase digital content using Huawei’s own application distribution platform, the Huawei AppGallery.

This means users can now purchase items in the app such as games and customised themes and pay through their monthly phone bills, so that the whole process is faster and more convenient for its users.

Huawei also organised the Huawei AppGallery Carnival that will be running for the whole month of December, so users who use the new payment method to purchase any games on the AppGallery Carnival Collection or any themes of the Carnival Themes collection on Huawei Themes App will get to enjoy discounts, rewards and offers from brands like Lazada, Starbucks and many more.

The Huawei AppGallery is Huawei’s official Android application distribution platform that has a four-layer threat detection and Smart Manager feature for the users to conveniently manage updates, installs and clean up spaces in their smartphones. Huawei and Honor users will also get vouchers, discount coupons and VIP privileges when they use the AppGallery.

AppGallery
digi
Hotline
huawei
maxis
u mobile


Users can now work with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides within Dropbox

303

Dropbox made an announcement at Google Cloud Next 2019, revealing that the company has partnered with Google to let their users work with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides files directly from Dropbox.

As long as their users are signed in to both their Google and Dropbox accounts, they’ll be able to search for all their files in their Dropbox account. In addition, the search results will not just include file names, but also content from the files, meaning that when you search for a word, the search results will show any file names that contains the word and also any files’ content that contains the word.

Image credit: Dropbox

That aside, users will also be able to create web-based files and edit existing files with this new feature. They’ll be able to open their Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, edit these files, and then save them back in the original formats.

Image credit: Dropbox

Dropbox will also make sharing and co-editing more efficient, so now other users can access a file that is placed in a shared Dropbox folder without leaving the app. In addition, users can share individual files if they choose to do so by creating a shared link to be sent to others. Similar to Google drive, users get the option to grant others permission to edit the files or to view-only. Others can also comment on the files and users will be notified by Dropbox.

The new feature is currently an open beta for Dropbox Business — English version only — via the website and Windows, Mac, iOS and Android apps.

dropbox
g suite
google
Google Docs
Google Sheets
Google Slides


Users can track their Facebook usage time with “Your time on Facebook”

489

Facebook finally started rolling out the “Your time on Facebook” feature which is similar to “Your activity” on Instagram and “Screen Time” on iPhones.

The new feature which is only available for iOS users for now tells users the average time they spend on the Facebook app per day, in addition to a chart that daily usage in hours and minutes. It can be accessed in the Settings & Privacy Tab in the overflow menu located at the bottom of the app.

The new feature also has a “Manage your time” section that allows user to manage their time on Facebook whereby they can customise their news feed by following and unfollowing other users and also prioritising posts that will appear on their news feed. Users will also get the option to set a daily reminder which serves to remind them once they’ve reached the limit of using Facebook in a day. Besides that, users can also edit their notifications by muting push notifications and choosing what notifications they want to receive.

Instagram also launched a similar feature awhile back for its iOS users, where they can see their usage time on Instagram by clicking on the sidebar menu at the Profile tab. It is similar to Facebook’s new features, except that it doesn’t allow users to customise their news feed and doesn’t have the access to mange their followers and followings, unlike Facebooks “Friends on Facebook” section that will let its users add or remove friends and also accept friend requests.

While the feature in Facebook serves as a purpose to maintain users’ app usage, it does not have a very strict restriction that can limit users from overusing the app, hence users will first have to be disciplined enough to control their usage on Facebook when they are reminded that they’ve reached the limit of usage.

facebook
ios
Your Time on Facebook


Users report various graphical glitches on the 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro laptop

296

Looking to get the new MacBook Pros within the next couple of weeks? You might want to hold off on the purchase for now as early adopters of the new MacBook Pros are reporting various graphical glitches on their new laptops.

Reports from
multiple

forums
 and
websites
 indicate that the glitches are currently occuring mostly on the 15-inch model of the MacBook Pro. These graphical glitches includes artefacts, flickering and tearing happening on the MacBook Pro’s screen.

According to a poll done by 9to5Mac, it appears that the graphical glitches occur more commonly on the 15-inch MacBook Pro that comes with the Radeon Pro 460 GPU. This has led many to speculate that the glitches are potentially caused by a faulty GPU. Alternatively, the glitches could stem from software or driver problems.

No one has quite pin down the cause of the glitches occuring on the new MacBook Pros and Apple has yet to release a statement on the issue as the U.S. was celebrating Thanksgiving over the weekend. As the Thanksgiving weekend is now over, we expect Apple to figure out the problem that is plaguing the new MacBook Pros within the week.

Source:
9to5Mac
,
MacRumours Forum

amd
apple
glitch
gpu
macbookpro
radeonpro460
screen


Using GoBear to compare financial offerings before making that important decision

345

Making financial decisions is not easy since making the wrong choice can be quite painful to the pocket. On top of that, having to compare packages, prices and offerings can be pretty tedious and confusing as well. However, with the new easy-to-navigate GoBear website, you can now do your comparisons for insurance and credit cards as it gives you an unbiased side-by-side comparisons.

GoBear strives to be an internet company that specializes in an information platform that offers fair, simple, and complete search results, without selling or representing any specific products. It lists more than 1,000 financial products on its website with more to come in the coming months, and offers you the bare neccessities to help you pick the perfect financial product.

Andre Hesselink, CEO of GoBear explained that GoBear is a global brand in the making, however, they are very focused on being local to serve its local customers. According to Iskandar Ezzahuddin, Country Manager of GoBear, the idea of GoBear originated from the idea that people want easy access to service information so that they can compare financial products easily before making a decision.

At the moment, GoBear features travel insurance and credit card information and comparisons, with a plan to further expand its offerings into car insurance and personal loan category by the third quarter of 2016.

comparisons
finance
gobear
website


VAIO announces a new Windows smartphone

253

VAIO has just announced its second smartphone. However, instead of being powered by Android, this particular smartphone will run Windows OS instead.

Called the VAIO Phone Biz, this smartphone will be running on Microsoft’s Windows 10 mobile. On the specification side of things, the VAIO Phone Biz will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage that can be expanded upon via a microSD card. The screen itself is a 5.5 inch Full HD screen.

As the VAIO Phone Biz is aimed at business people, it will come preinstalled with Microsoft Office Mobile. The phone will also feature SharePoint, Exchange and Skype for Business services and will come with support for OneDrive and Azure. Of course, Continuum will also be available on the VAIO Phone Biz.

Two versions of the VAIO Phone Biz will be released in Japan, with one being a standard smartphone and the other being a SIM-free version. Pre-orders for the VAIO Phone Biz will open in April.

Source :
VAIO

smartphone
vaio
windows10mobile


VAIO is announcing something new at COMPUTEX

385

Missed the iconic looking VAIO laptops once owned by Sony? Look forward to June 4th at COMPUTEX, as Nextsgo, the company that produced the colorful lifestyle
AVITA
 Liber laptops, will be showcasing new VAIO laptops at the showfloor, this could actually mean a few things. For one, VAIO laptops are ready to be sold out of the Japanese market, and we can actually expect some good looking laptops from the company.
The tagline of the event is merely called “VAIO is BACK”, which at the same time Nextsgo will be announcing some new laptops under its brand as well. The VAIO laptop division was sold to Japan Industrial Partners in 2014, which Sony still maintains a minimal stake in the company despite shutting down its personal computer business, and VAIO hasn’t been selling its laptops out of its homeland since then. In the media invite, Nextsgo has also mentioned that the company is joining hands with VAIO Corporation to bring back the iconic notebooks, which could suggest that Nextsgo could have been the former’s manufacturing partner.

We’ll be heading over to COMPUTEX next month, so stay tuned while we get to learn more of what computing products that VAIO will be producing.

computex 2018
nextsgo
vaio


Vaio is back in the Asian market and introduces the S11 and S13 laptops

392

When Sony dropped the Vaio brand, it was just left stagnant and eventually, no one heard about it for four years. However today, a company by the name of Nexstgo has revived the brand and at the same time released two laptops, the Vaio S11 and S13.

Both the laptops come with a simple business-like look with a sleek metal finish. Specs wise, the laptops come with an 8
th
 Generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processor alongside the Intel UHD Graphics 620. Vaio has also added their TruePerformance technology which they claimed will fully utilize Intel’s Turbo Boost Technology and a specially designed heat pipe will improve heat dissipation by 33%. The TruePerformance 8th Gen i5 processor is able to outperform a normal i7 processor. Other than that, it comes with 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR3 RAM for the S11 and 4GB to 16GB of LPDDR3 RAM for the S13, and 128GB or 512GB PCIe SSD storage.

Ports-wise it comes with three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI port, VGA port, Ethernet port, SD card reader and a 3.5mm jack. All these technologies are packed into a 15mm body and weighs only 1.07kg for the S13 and 0.85kg for the S11.

Vaio has said that the S13 will have a battery life of up to 8 hours and the S11 will offer 11 hours of battery life. Both the laptops will support rapid charging which will give you 80% of battery in just 1 hour.

The S11 and S13 will come to Malaysia by the end of August and the S11 comes in five colours of Black, Brown, Pink, Silver and Black, while the S13 will come in just Black and Sliver. They have not confirmed the pricing yet, but they will be announcing it soon so stay tuned.

s11
s13
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VAIO S11 and S13 has officially arrived in Malaysia with a starting price of RM6,199

337

The iconic VAIO laptops are back one again under a new company called Nexstgo which is now the official licencing partner of VAIO corporation in Asia. Together they are bringing the VAIO S11 and S13 to the Malaysian market which was first seen in Computex 2018 in Taiwan.

Both the S11 and S13 are optimized with the VAIO TruePerformance technology which improves the 8th Generation Intel Core processors by 11% to 13% when it comes to performance. They achieved this thanks to the specially designed heat sinks which are more efficient in dispersing processor heat. The laptops also come with great battery life with the S11 managing 11 hours of battery life and the S13 will offer 8 hours of battery life. The laptops also support fast charging giving you 80% of battery in just an hour of charging it.

The keyboards on these laptops are also specially made to reduce typing noise and they are also anti-spill keys. If liquid were to spill on the keyboard, it will give you ample amount of time to store and backup your data before requiring service.

The 11.6-inch FHD IPS display S11, weighs only 0.85kg and the S13 which comes with a 13.3-inch FHD IPS display weights only 1.07kg. Both laptops come with the Intel UHD Graphics 620 graphics chip and come up to 16GB of RAM alongside 512GB of SSD. Check out our first impressions video that we did in Computex 2018:

The VAIO S13 will come in two colours of Black and Silver while the VAIO S11 will come in more colour options including Black, Silver, Brown, Pink and White. The S11 will be priced between RM6,499 to RM6,699 while the S13 retails at RM6,199 to RM8,399.

launch
malaysia
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s13
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Smartphones below RM1,500 for Valentine’s Day

443

It’s that time of the year again where love birds spend ungodly amounts of money on flowers and chocolates to profess their love for one another. Well, if you’re going to make a grand gesture this Valentine’s Day, you might as well do it right – and what better way than to literally give your better half a brand-new smartphone?!

But we can’t, in a good conscience, tell you to break the bank either – so here are a few fantastic smartphones for him and her that cost below RM1,500.

For HER

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned – so these smartphones should be good enough to ward off an angry missus.

Samsung Galaxy A51

This is the new kid on the block, and it features a thin and lightweight frame, making it ideal for lugging around everywhere. It also packs an impressive 48MP quad-camera setup
– 48MP main lens + 12MP ultrawide shooter + 5MP depth sensor + 5MP macro camera. With a 32MP selfie camera and Samsung’s ever-reliable photography software, your date night photos would look mightily impressive.

Once you’ve snapped your photos, you can view it on the phone’s other selling point – its stunning 6.5-inch Infinity-O Super AMOLED display. Anything shown on the panel will look crisp with vivid colours. Important for date night Netflix and chill sessions
. The Samsung Galaxy A51 is priced at
RM1,299
 – and for that price, you’re getting a great all-rounder worthy of being your daily driver.

Vivo V17

If your girl is the sort to take selfies, then you’ll be glad to know that this phone has a very capable 32MP selfie camera. Your pictures will come out great with very little need for any editing.

Plus, it’s got Super Night Selfie mode that allows for brighter low-light selfies, with minimal noise. Maybe whip this out as a surprise after dinner and get that adorable couple selfie along with the amazing backdrop too.

And you should absolutely do this because if you submit that photo onto
vivo’s
 Valentine’s Day
contest post
 here, you stand a chance to win a vivo S1 Pro too!

What’s better than getting lucky twice on Valentine’s Day. You can buy the vivo V17 for
RM1,499
.

OPPO Reno

This is an older device, but it’s got one of the coolest pop-up modules around – OPPO calls it the
Pivot Rising Camera, and
it pops up at an angle, revealing the
16MP selfie camera
. This makes for a pretty cool party trick if your partner likes the attention.

It also comes with a dual 48MP camera setup with up to 256GB of internal storage that’s enough room to store all the photos your lady will be snapping. The Reno is also built like a brick, and if your girlfriend has butter fingers, the phone’s got a decent chance of surviving a fall – the pop-up
structure retracts when it detects a fall too.
 At the time of writing, the OPPO Reno is priced at
RM1,498
 on their official
Shopee
 page.

For HIM

The way to a man’s heart is through his hands as he you gift him his new smartphone – not entirely accurate, but it may work. Trust us.

Realme 5i

What’s big and lasts very long? The
Realme
 5i of course – it earns its place on the list for its massive 5,000mAh battery and very affordable
RM599
 price tag.

With a battery this large, you can make your boyfriend text you for longer hours; and it has a reverse charging feature too – that pretty much makes your boyfriend a makeshift powerbank. Meaning buying this phone is very much for yourself as it is for him.

With a Snapdragon 665 chipset and a quad-camera setup, he won’t be complaining a whole lot either, which is nice.

Xiaomi Mi 9T

The Xiaomi Mi 9T can be given marks across the board – but the area that it scores in is in its looks – yes, it’s a devilishly handsome device for your devilishly handsome guy.

It comes in three colourways – the first of which is Carbon Black. This has a
back panel
 finish that looks like carbon fibre like your boyfriend’s Proton
Satria
 hood mod.

For something fiery, like your love – go for the Flame Red which has fiery decals searing in from the sides; if you BF is as cool as cucumber, then Glacier Blue should suit him just fine.

The Mi 9T isn’t just a looker however, it’s got the specs as beefy as your boyfriend’s pecs. Think a Snapdragon 730, 6GB of RAM and a 4,000mAh battery with 18W fast charge support. This is bang-for-your-buck gaming smartphone for just
RM1,199
.

Huawei Nova 5T

If your guy enjoys video games, the Huawei Nova 5T is equipped with a Kirin 980 chipset – the only flagship processor in the list.
Along with 8GB RAM, this phone will run every game available as smooth as butter.

Plus, its 6.26-inch size will fit perfectly in the hands when gaming. Unless you don’t want your man to ignore you over hours of Mobile Legends, then maybe don’t get him this phone; otherwise,
RM1,399
 is a great price for a great Valentine’s Day
gift.

android
budget
gift
mi 9t
oppo
OPPO Reno
Realme
rgalaxy a51
samsung
smartphones
Valentine's Day
vivo
vivo v17
xiaomi


Valve announces SteamVR Desktop Theater Mode Beta

312

With the Vive scheduled to begin shipping to customers next month, Valve is getting its digital storefront/games client Steam ready for the headset’s arrival by introducing the SteamVR Desktop Theater Mode Beta.

The SteamVR Desktop Theater Mode is a bridge that allows games not made for VR to be played inside a virtual environment in a sort of virtual home theater with a huge display. In essence, this feature will simulate the experience of playing a game on a huge theater-like screen.

Not much else is known about this feature other than the fact that it is currently in its early beta stages. Furthermore, Valve has said that this feature would be supported on the Vive and “others”, which probably means that other VR headsets like the Oculus Rift would be supported as well.

Valve is expected to showcase the SteamVR Desktop Theater Mode at the Games Developer Conference 2016 that will be held next week, so we’ll probably see a live demonstration of the feature then.

Source:
Road to VR

htc
steam
valve
vr


Valve found guilty of breaching Australian Consumer Law

316

18 months after the case first started, the Australian Federal Court has found that Valve is guilty of breaching Australian Consumer Law.

The court case between Valve and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission stems from Valve’s lack of a refund policy when the ACCC first sued the gaming company. Valve’s argument was that the company doesn’t officially conduct business in Australia, saying that it only provides access to an online portal to video games through a client which the company claims that this online portal does not fall into the definition of “goods” in Australian consumer law. Valve also brought up the Steam Subscriber Agreement, saying that the agreement was drafted based on the law of the State of Washington in the United States of America and not the law of Australia.

The Australian Federal court, of course, disagreed, saying that as Valve was doing business in Australia, it is bound to operate within Australian Consumer Law. Furthermore, The court found that Valve made misleading statements to consumers in its T&C contained in three versions of its Steam Subscriber Agreement and two versions of its Steam Refund Policy, all of which are focused on the rights of Australian consumers to a refund if they’ve been sold a faulty or defective product.

With the case done and dusted, Valve is expected to pay up an as of yet undisclosed sum of liability, and the company may even need to pay 75% of the ACCC’s legal costs.

Source:
Kotaku

australia
legal
steam


Valve intends to overhaul the Steam Store within the next few weeks

356

The world’s biggest digital games store is about to receive a makeover as Valve has announced to developers that the Steam Store will be receiving an overhaul within the coming weeks.

According to a post found on Neogaf, Valve is looking to make some modifications to its online digital game store/games client soon. Some of the changes that Steam will receive includes cosmetic changes such as an visual refresh of the Steam homepage, as well as modifications to the store layout, with Valve adding a new section to the home page that highlights new releases that have reached the top sellers list.

Valve’s planned Steam overhaul will also include features that expands upon the Curator function. Valve will be adding tools to allow Steam Curators to indicate whether or not a game is recommended, not recommended, or simply informational. Users who follow more than one Steam Curator will also be able to see a specific section on the home page that highlights recent recommendations. This space can include popular new releases or smaller niche titles depending on the curator’s taste in games.

Source:
Neogaf

overhaul
steam
valve


Valve issues warning to third-party "gambling" sites

357

Over the past week, a major scandal erupted in the Counter Strike: Global Offensive community. At the center of the scandal is an activity called “skin gambling,” whereby players take the in-game gun skins or stickers and place it on third-party betting sites.

CS:GO-related skin gambling has been alive for quite a while now, but this case blew up when the community found out that professional YouTube streamers have been not-so-subtly endorsing betting sites which they have a stake in. This discovery has since put Valve in a bad position, as many believe that Valve’s decision to close an eye to such operations has allowed numerous gambling sites to operate while silently receiving a slice of the profits. Indeed,
numerous lawsuits
 have been filed against Valve for this particular issue.

After remaining silent for nearly a week, Valve has finally issued a statement regarding the CS:GO gambling fiasco. Valve’s Erik Johnson has clarified that the company “has no business relationsips with any gambling sites” and has “never received any revenue from them.” Johnson further clarifies that these sites rely on the OpenID API to “prove ownership of the user’s Steam accounts and items,” meaning that Steam did not provide the CS:GO gambling sites any special tools that would allow them to operate.

Valve has promised that they will be sending notices to these gambling sites, requesting that they cease operations through Steam. Should it prove necessary, the company would further pursue the matter. In other words, if these sites continue to operate after the notice was sent, Steam may opt to go for the legal option and bring lawyers into the mix.

Source:
Ars Technica
,
Steam

counterstrike
gambling
legal
steam
valve


Valve releases CAD files for the Steam Controller

453

Valve is no stranger to crowdsourcing ideas for its games, but now, it seems that the company will also be crowdsourcing ideas for its hardware as well.

In a
Steam Community announcement
, the company has revealed that it will be releasing the mechanical CAD geometry for the Steam Controller. What Valve hopes to achieve with this move is that the community would held design accessories or even re-design the controllers themselves. Furthermore, if you have a 3D printer with you, you’ll be able to customise and print out your designs if you wish to do so.

As an example of what Valve hopes to achieve by releasing the CAD files for the controller, the company has released a few alternate designs for the controller’s Battery Door which allows users to carry a USB wireless receiver.

Valve has said that they would allow anyone to share their modified Steam Controller designs anywhere they want. For those who wish to turn their models into a full-fledged marketable product, they’ll need to talk to Valve before proceeding to the manufacturing stage.

Interested? You can get the CAD file
here
.

Source:
Steam Community

design
steam
steamcontroller