Sony Borrows Tech From Its Flagship Camera To Put Into Its First 5G Phone

Posted by & filed under TECHNOLOGY.

Pronounced as the Xperia One, Mark Two

Written by Aqil Nasri

The first-ever 5G smartphone by Sony has just been announced by the company, and it is called The Xperia 1 II.

Sony’s president of mobile communications, Mitsuya Kishida, claims that having 5G on smartphones will take mobile experiences to the next level.

Besides obviously 5G their main attraction for their newly announced smartphone, their new flagship smartphone also emphasizes heavily on its camera, with the phone having three rear lenses with a 12MP sensor that offers a selection of focal lengths (16mm, 24mm, and 70mm)  for capturing different type of photos such as super wide to portraits and the front lens having an 8MP lens. Zeiss optics is being used by Sony for the first time in a smartphone, extending a long-running collaboration to a new device. The camera also boasts ultra-fast, low light autofocus, with it supporting up to 20fps autofocus an auto-tracking burst.

Video makers also need to not worry as the phone carries a built-in video editing interface that offers features such as touch autofocus, custom white balance, and noise reduction features as well to further improve audio capture.

The Xperia 1II will also contain the use of an AI technology called DSEE Ultimate, which is said to upscale sound signals to “near high-resolution audio”, even when streaming.

The flagship smartphone will have a 6.5in 21:9 “CinemaWide” 4K HDR OLED (3840×1644) display and is powered by a Qualcomm 865 Snapdragon chip with 8GBs of RAM. The phone is also touted to be packing a 4000mAh battery with fast wireless charging as well.

Also, the Xperia 1II comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack as well, so users wouldn’t need to worry about finding external adapters to use their wired earphones or headphones with.

So, do you think you’ll cop this new smartphone when it comes out? Let us know in the comments below!

G-Shock Pays Homage To Bruce Lee With A Limited Edition Collab Model

Posted by & filed under Design, Lifestyle, TECHNOLOGY.

The Best For The Best

We all need no introduction to Bruce Lee. The legendary action film star, Jeet Kune Do founder was a renowned philosopher who excelled tremendously at his art, and it was only fitting that a collaboration was sanctioned in tribute to the martial arts master’s legacy.

Enter the MRG-G2000BL, G-Shock’s latest flagship, and the perfect canvas for a collaboration of such magnitude. The firs thing that catches the eye is the use of yellow silicon straps, connected to a brushed black metal casing, referencing the famous tracksuit of the same colour worn by Lee in his last film. Yellow and red also appear in the emblem of Jeet Kune Do, as well as the MR-G logo, and second hand.

The entire watch expresses the philosophy of Jeet Kune Do. The bezel is engraved with a quote, “Using no way as a way, having no limitation as limitation,” as an expression of the limitless potential of Jeet Kune Do. The 3 o’clock is replaced with Bruce Lee’s signature “龍,” which translates to dragon.

Only 300 units will be made, each coming with its own special box. No details have been released as of yet, but stay tuned as we update the article when more information is made available.

Up And Coming Producer MKNK Talks About His Love For Mee Goreng | Cool Story Bro Ep.12

Posted by & filed under Lifestyle, TV.


Had a pleasure speaking to MKNK(Clinton), who is an artist/producer from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. His music is a blend between organic pop songs with electronic elements and heavy groove-based hip hop/r&b music. To get a gist of what his music sounds like, do check out his latest single titled Mee Goreng in collaboration with ASYRFNSIR and Neewgxi which is out today! So head on over to the link below to check it out! FYI it is also his birthday today so send your wishes to him at @MKNKofficial. Don’t forget to like, share and subscribe if you haven’t already! Let me know who else you’d like for us to speak to in the comments section below!

The Biggest Tech Flops Of The Past Decade

Posted by & filed under TECHNOLOGY.

Some things just sound too good to be true

Written by Aqil Nasri

The past decade has seen many tech-related inventions that has potentially forever changed our lifestyle, from the defining rise of food delivery services such as Grab, DeliverEat, and Foodpanda to the many subscription services available, such as Netflix, Iflix, and Disney+ that has allowed users to personally pick and choose what they want to consume rather than paying an expensive monthly amount for content that many will end up not even consuming half of the subscribed items.

However, while the ones mentioned above may have struck gold, there are many that have tried but ultimately faltered in the end. These are the ones that may seem brilliant theoretically but were horrible practically. Read on to find out the biggest blunders that tech companies have made in recent years.

MoviePass

Let’s start out with what was probably the worst offender on the list. MoviePass was the epitome of something that was too good to be true because it literally ended up being too good to be true (especially for the owners).

What MoviePass offered to subscribers was the ability to watch one movie per day in theatres for just a lowly price of 10$ (about RM40) per month. I mean, who wouldn’t want that deal right? An average person would probably just spend about two to three times per month at movie theatres, so when given the chance to go every day and just pay up 10 bucks per month? Whew, that’s literally a steal.

And a steal it became because this was clearly an unsustainable business model for MoviePass owners. Throughout its untimely existence before its eventual demise, MoviePass wasn’t really able to make a profit. As it turns out, you can’t really make your money back while charging so little and giving so much to subscribers. So, what they did was increase its monthly pricing and constantly changed the benefits to its few remaining subscribers, which ended up angering what little subscribers they had already.

Google Glass

This piece of revolutionary hardware was truly ahead of its time, which was probably why it eventually failed to really take off among consumers. It debuted with a storm though, as Google co-founder Sergey Brin introduced the glasses at a Google event back in 2012 by showing a live stream of skydivers landing on top of the convention centre while wearing Google Glass. It was a spectacle to behold back then, with people going crazy in envisioning what this piece of tech could possibly do in the future.

However, it was fear that finally put the Google Glasses to bed, as the glasses freaked people out so much that it never really had the chance to show its capabilities. Alarming privacy breaches and the implications of having a camera staring at them at any moment was too much to handle.

Google Glass was truly an awesome concept, but if people aren’t ready for them in 2020, then it most definitely wasn’t ready back when it first introduced to the public.

Google+

When talking about failed social networking sites, Google+ has to be on the list.

Built as a direct response to the threat that Facebook was increasingly posing to Google’s businesses, Google launched its own social network in order to combat this problem. While it did initially launched to massive momentum thanks to a pretty clever system by Google to give users more control over who to share information, excellent photos support, and creating a single unified login system for all of Google’s services (YouTube and Gmail), it was all too cumbersome for users to use Google+.

It was simply too complicated and too forced upon, as Google literally tried to shove the service down people’s throat back when it launched. Not to mention a huge security breach that led to an estimated 500,000 accounts being compromised being the final nail in the coffin for Google+.

Ouya

*Sigh* The Ouya. I dread to even remember the existence of this piece of start-up hardware. This was a real example of Kickstarter’s success turned to real-world failure.

Back when it was first pitched, it seemed like a really good idea, as mobile hardware was on the cusp of being viewed as a viable gaming platform, but most companies didn’t want to take advantage of that. So, in comes the Ouya, a 99$ (about RM400) gaming console with an Nvidia Tegra 3 chip packaged with a game controller. The console was supposedly able to play games for a custom version of Android designed for TV screens. Because of its promises and cheap entry price, people were flocking to its Kickstarter page. It literally raised more than $8 million on the website, making it still the tenth most funded project in Kickstarter’s history. I mean, everything was going so well, they had so much money, so what went wrong?

Well, almost everything after that. The execution was terrible, the controller was horrendous, the software was half-baked, and the storefront didn’t have any noteworthy games worth playing. The console was plagued with problems and overall, it wasn’t able to find a solid player base that would support the system. Razer ended up buying its software assets and the team back in 2015 but wasn’t able to keep it running longer than on June 25th, 2019 where the plug was pulled on the console once and for all.

Nike Pays Homage To Space Jam With The Lebron 17 Low “Tune Squad”

Posted by & filed under Sneakers.

Regardless of whether you loved it or hated it, Space Jam was a phenomenon when it was released back in 1996, combining the characters of Looney Tunes to the star power of Michael Jordan in possible one of the most ambitious crossovers ever in order to defeat a bunch of alien basketballers. The execution was horrible to say the least, but we were starstruck at the possibility of merging reality and cartoon in one movie, resulting in a cultural icon that has had a lasting impact even until today.

Now though, the torch has been passed on to Lebron James, and before the release of the long awaited sequel, Nike has decided to pay homage to the original by imbuing the colours of the Tune Squad jersey onto the Lebron 17 Low. The colours of the laces alternate in a medley of red, white, and blue, resulting in a clean looking colourway that doesn’t look out of place on the court or on the street. The silhouette is finished with a furry grey Swoosh, taking inspiration from the main character himself, Bugs Bunny.

The Lebron 17 Low “Tune Squad” releases on 29th February for a price of RM 649 on Nike.com. Will you cop?

It’s Happening! ‘Friends’ Reunion Special Is Coming To HBO Max This May

Posted by & filed under Entertainment.

It’ll be a one-off HBO Max special

Written by Aqil Nasri

After the final episode aired 15 years and nine months ago, ‘Friends’ is finally making its way back to television screens worldwide.

The full cast of ‘Friends’ will return, which stars Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry. The group will be reuniting for an unscripted hour-long special in May 2020.

In a statement made by Kevin Reilly, the chief content officer for HBO Max, he had this to say, “Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together — we are reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa, and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be programmed alongside the entire Friends library,”

 

Fans were also sent into a frenzy when Jennifer Aniston shared this photo with the caption “It’s happening,” on her Instagram page, prompting it to get more than 10 million likes at the time of writing! Other co-stars, such as Cox, Kudrow, Schwimmer, and Perry also posted the same photo with the same caption on their Instagram pages.

Apart from that, the special will reportedly be filmed on the original soundstage that was used to shoot the original ‘Friends’ series all those years ago.

So, are you guys excited? Let us know below!

goodtimes’ Latest Collection Is Quality, Uncompromised | WDHANFTSY

Posted by & filed under Fashion, TV.

goodtimes wear has been a longtime staple in our streetwear scene, focusing on ensuring the essentials are made with the highest quality possible. Their latest collection, titled “(Nothing But) Flowers” exemplifies humankind’s connection with nature, and how we should preserve it in order to maintain the relationship between urban and jungle.

The collection comprises of 3 outerwear, 3 t-shirts, a sling bag, and 2 pants which will be segregated to 4 drops over the course of a few months. The first drop is available to purchase now at SRP and selected stockists nationwide.

9 Modern Art Galleries In KL That You Need To Visit

Posted by & filed under Art.

Written by Ardi

Be it for a date idea, a place to get inspired by, or simply just to visit during your downtime, art galleries are the perfect place to do just that. Hence, we’ve compiled a list of galleries in KL that is a must for you to visit!

ILHAM GALLERY

Credit: ILHAM’s Instagram

Ilham Gallery is a public art space focused on contemporary Malaysian art. It is a space for art lovers to satisfy their desire for new art and a space to familiarize those who are just starting to get into the art world. There are programs and constant new exhibitions by local artists so don’t forget to check out their next program!

Address: Ilham Tower, 8, Jln Binjai, Kuala Lumpur, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

Hours: Open 11am – 7pm except Mondays

A+ Works Of Art

Credit: A+Works Of Art Instagr

A contemporary art gallery focused on Malaysian and Southeast Asian art. It was founded by Joshua Lim in 2017 and offers a wide range of contemporary practices, from painting to performance, drawing, sculpture, new media art, photography, video and installation. The gallery has showcased different artists with their own unique medium for art, addressing different issues. They have worked with many artists, locally and some from other regions. If you’re looking for fresh new art, this is the place for you.

Address: d6-G-8 d6 Trade Centre, 801, Jalan Sentul, 51000 Kuala Lumpur

Hours: Open 12pm – 7pm except Sundays and Mondays

HOM Art Trans

Credit: HOM art Trans Instagram

HOMS Art Trans is not just a gallery but a studio and art archive. Founded in 2007, this self-supporting art space wants to assist and support the growth and visual art in Malaysia and help to promote the local art to other SEA countries. They do offer programs such as The Residency, The Art Fund and The Art Award to showcase the Malaysian art and bring up young artists.

Address: 6A, Jalan Cempaka 16, Taman Cempaka, 68000 Ampang, Selangor

Hours: Open 11am – 6pm except Sundays and Mondays

A.P Art Gallery

Credit: A.P Art Gallery’s Instagram

Started by Rahime Harun in 1983, A.P Art Gallery is a happening location for local artists. The founder who started collecting art since the 80s, is an avid supporter of the local art so do drop by, you won’t leave unsatisfied. 

Address:Kuala Lumpur MY, No. 9169A, Jalan Negara, Taman Melawati, 53100 Wilaya Persekutuan, Selangor

Hours: Open 11am – 5pm except Sundays and Mondays

ZHAN

Credit: ZHAN’s instagram

A fresh new location for fresh artists. Co-founded by the siblings Desmond Tong and Tong Gin Chee in 2018, Zhan is committed to showcase contemporary fine art from the local and foreign scene. They have already hosted 8 exhibitions, and curated artworks by more than 30 artists. It is a great place for both fresh and seasoned artists to showcase their work and a great place for art lovers to visit.

Address: 100-G.025, Block J, The School, Jaya One, No, 72A, Jalan Universiti, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Hours: 11am – 7pm everyday

The Back Room 

Credit: The Back Room’s instagram

An independent, alternative space for art which is dedicated to connecting artists, creatives and curators and the public. The exhibitions, projects, talks and workshops that are held here are meant to bring the community together and to act as a platform to introduce the new audience to art and let them discover, appreciate and collect art. It is effectively located in the Zhongshan Building’s unique creative ecosystem. It’s a great place to visit If you’re free on a weekend.

Address: Jalan Kampung Attap, 80 – 84, Jalan Rotan, 50460 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan

Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 12 – 7pm

            Saturday: 11am – 7pm

            Sunday: 11am – 6pm

 The Art Seni

Credit: Theartseni’s instagram

It’s not an actual art gallery but an online one! The Art Seni is a new online group that aims to bring art and people together by making it accessible to the local people. They do offer art tours around KL and you get to experience the Malaysian art scene and learn more about the artists and their work.

Click here to book your date now.

Wei-Ling Gallery

Credit: Wei-Ling Gallery’s instagram

A Gallery that has been promoting contemporary art for the past 18 years. It is considered as the largest commercial gallery in Malaysia by having two art spaces.  Their exhibitions are carefully curated and they had a great role in showcasing the Malaysian art to international audiences by bringing the exhibitions to an international platform. There are some well known foreign artists who showcase their work in this gallery as well.

Address: 8, Jalan Scott, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

Hours: Open everyday 10am – 6pm except Sunday and Monday

Richard Koh Fine Art

Credit: Richard Koh Fine Art’s instagram

With spaces in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Singapore, Richard Koh Fine Art has devoted itself to promote Southeast asian contemporary art both locally and internationally. The gallery’s goal is to scout the understated talents, help them grow and provide opportunities for them to bring their work to the next level. The gallery has regular exhibitions, print and digital publications and collaborations with other galleries to make sure it stays true to its belief of showcasing the art of this region. 

Address: 229, Jalan Maarof, Bangsar, 59000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

Hours: Open everyday 10am – 7pm except Sunday and Monday

 

 

Indie Malaysian Movies That Deserve International Recognition

Posted by & filed under Movies.

Written by Charmaine Shaharin

It was not long ago that Parasite, a Non-English film made history at the Oscars 2020 when they literally sapu four awards that night which includes Best Picture, International Feature Film, Directing and Original Screenplay. From that moment on, you could feel the hearts of not just every Korean but South-East Asian person as well, with a little a warm feeling of pride in their hearts for their win and being the pride of Asia. Therefore, that got me thinking about how there are so many other well-produced but under-appreciated movies in South East Asia, especially in Malaysia that deserve to be in the limelight as well. With that, here’s a list of acclaimed Malaysian movies that deserve to win an International award.

Pulang

If you had grandparents or knew other elderly people who had live in the time during the Japanese invasion in Malaysia, you would have then probably heard tales of how their lives had been and no doubt, their stories might be interesting but of course, the feelings between us and them would hit differently due to how we are born in different times Thus, if you’ve ever wondered how life was like back then, Pulang gives us not just a perfect representation but also a beautifully crafted movie of love, loss, loyalty and sacrifice between two lovers, Othman ( Remy Ishak) and Thom ( Puteri Aishah) who had it all but lost it all to time. 

What makes this movie interesting, was the fact that it was set in various timelines which features the past and the present. It definitely gives us a glimpse on how life might have been simple but also difficult back then to make a living and have a family, compared to how everything is so much easier now.

That being said, what makes it beautifully crafted here would definitely be the cinematography which pictures the lovely locations that the characters are set in which gives you that “ kampung life” feel and vibe to it along with the gloomy and suspenseful surroundings in the forest in hopes of not getting discovered by Japanese soldiers. At the same time, the casting of the movie was really well done. Trust no other than Remy Ishak to play the perfect “ Zaman Melayu” male character along with Puteri Aishah who plays a real beauty for that age and time. With that, the acting between the two characters resonated well especially with the audience, keeping everyone on their toes on what their fate would be next. 

The movie directed by Kabir Bhatia, who is famously known for his other distinguished work such as Sepi ( 2008) and Nur Kasih ( 2011) definitely gave it all to make this movie into a 10/10 tearjerker with its amazing narrative and storyline of star crossed lovers as well. The action of “ Loyalty” is immense over here along with the spark of friendship between two races just also gives you a warm feeling in your heart. Pulang the movie is now available in Netflix, although it has earned its place to have a worldwide debut, with all things considered it truly deserves more than that in this riveting story of finding love that’s always so close but yet so far.

Pekak

The poster design for this movie is intriguing enough, therefore Pekak is a film that should be added to your watch list  . If you’ve missed Sharifah Amani’s award winning portrayal as Orked in Sepet, her role as a naive teenager is relived again as this story follows the life of Uda portrayed by Zahril Adzim, a hearing-impaired drug dealer who catches feelings with a troubled high-schooler. 

Written and directed by Khairul Azri, the movie definitely uncovers the hardships and gives a bigger picture to the audience about the “hustling life” in our community and how sometimes people do unimaginable things that we know is harmful to our life in order to survive. At the same time, it also sheds a light on the influence of friendships and how picking the right friends really matters for an individual, especially for the long run. Truly, the storyline is an honest real take about how sometimes life isn’t fair, but you make the best out of it. The romance part of the movie is quite flattering too, as it shows two people from different backgrounds coming together getting to know each other a little bit more through different forms of communication. 

Clearly, this is a movie about survival of the fittest in society, as it shows us a more bleaker idea and a taste of what goes on behind closed doors in the patchy areas of Kuala Lumpur which in reality are even more bleaker with run down living conditions and people with grimful backstories. Apart from that, the colour grading of the movie has a really nice take to it, as it plays with many bright hues of colours that become saturated and highly contrasted when it comes to certain scenes with full suspense.

Adiwiraku

Now, this is a movie that will bring back real high school memories of you and your friends together, maybe even making you wish you could go back and do it all over again despite having to sit for SPM. Therefore, if you do feel a bit nostalgic about your high school life again, Adiwiraku is definitely the movie for you as it follows the heartfelt and inspiring story of  English teacher, Cheryl Ann Fernando and companion, Constant Wong going out of their way in teaching English to a class of students in order to be enlisted for a Choral Speaking Competition. 

Directed by Eric Ong, Adiwiraku unravels life in the countryside and how the level of education and lifestyle definitely differs from how it would be like in the city, as it takes place in SMK Pinang Tunggal, Sungai Petani, Kedah. The film definitely sheds a light on poverty, conflicts within families and low self-esteem amongst students which causes them to drop out. 

The human interest and connection within the storyline of this movie is strong too. In the movie, although there are several scenes of Ms.Cheryl passing out homework and marking papers, you know, just ordinary cikgu stuff. However behind the scenes, it does show the real colours in the passion of  teaching as a teacher which takes a lot of determination and hard work especially in  motivating students and being a real superhero without a cape. What’s also more amazing about this film is that it is actually from a true story, inspired by Two Teach for Malaysia teachers stationed in the same school location as the film. 

KIL

This is a film that exhibits something offbeat than your normal everyday Malay film with the typical Dato and Datin couple or the timid Kampung girl character who comes to Kuala Lumpur and finds herself in a hurdle of challenges. Made in 2013, this movie tackles one of the biggest taboo topics that our society had face which is depression and suicide. Back then, there wasn’t much awareness going on for this, but now times have changed and it is now taken into more consideration. Nonetheless, everyone knows that this is a sensitive issue to talk about, and making it into a movie is a big step as well for the Malaysian industry and society. 

This movie follows the story of Akil also known as Kil played by Redza Minhat your normal average looking guy that you would pass by in the streets but deep down has given up on living and contemplates about suicide which leads him to discover a company that specializes in voluntary enthusia, which he then signs up for but to only realise that life gets better and that dying is never the solution to solve your problems when he meets the mysterious and alluring Zara portrayed by Christina Stockstill.

For a movie that was made eight years ago and directed by Nik Amir Mustapha, the cinematography was amazing, with clear cut angles and a music score that kept the audience in suspense and wanting to know more on what’s going to happen next .All the more reasons to watch back old Malaysian films because you would find gems like this one. Therefore, although this movie has an Indie vibe to it, the purpose of the storyline holds a deeper meaning and connection to society, telling us that life does get better after all and trust in time. 

Guang 

Calling Guang a “ Good movie” is an understatement, what it should be labelled as is a breath of fresh air for the movie industry in Malaysia. Everything about this movie is top-notch and you know what, it actually has picked up a few international awards from the 13th Chinese Youth Generation Film Forum in Wuhan in 2016 and just recently for the Best feature film at the 59th Asia Pacific Film Festival in Macau. What makes this movie so compelling is mostly the storyline, as it follows the life of a young autistic man with a secret passion for music but struggles to find a job to support his family and a brother who loves and takes care of him unconditionally despite the struggles that he faces too. 

This movie is directed by Quek Shio Chuan and the inspiration behind it solely from his autistic brother and how growing up for him was not easy. At the same time, the cast of the movie was a bit of switch up as well, the actors in the movie Kyo Chen, 30 who plays Wen Guang and Ernest Chong as the younger brother were completely new in the industry but absolutely killed their role.We cried when they cried, we laughed when they laughed.  Apart from that, the cinematography in the movie was stunning with amazing visuals and that shows the downtown part of Kuala Lumpur and a well depicted and different vision of sibling love. 

It’s an absolute tearjerker of a film and touching one too that also highlights the awareness of autism as well. At this point, let’s be real here because Guang is a masterpiece truly deserves an academy award passed down to the team for Best Picture. 

Southeast Asia’s Virtual Influencer Fronts The Reinvented PUMA Rider

Posted by & filed under Sneakers.

PUMA goes all in with the vaporwave of the 80s, as the brand gives its FAST RIDER model a refresh for 2020, in the form of the FUTURE RIDER and STYLE RIDER.

In true flash of the 80s, the FUTURE RIDER is equipped with a sleek white midsole and Formstrip, mated to black suede overlays and drops in a vibrant blue colour paired with neon red and green.

If the FUTURE RIDER wasn’t bold enough for you, the STYLE RIDER amplifies it threefold, referencing its roots with a corrugated outsole inspired by the original’s Federbein conical studs in addition to a TPU heel stabiliser for balance. The midsole has been given a striking change of colour, splashed in vibrant red and white, including a new shock-absorbing system, called RIDERFOAM for higher rebound.

In conjunction with this, the brand has also launched its virtual influencer, called Maya, who will spearhead the campaign with three new regional ambassadors, Ismail Izzani, Tosh Zhang, and Adipati Dolken to overcome obstacles and open a pathway to the future, while connecting with audience in building a Southeast Asian culture story together.

PUMA’s latest models are available now online, and across PUMA stores and retailers nationwide at a price of RM 429.