2012: War of the Tablets

Starting from January 2012, notebook manufacturers will be putting their resources into making tablets. Non-iPad tablet vendors has started cutting prices in September in an attempt to reduce their overstock inventory and minimize losses, and the decisions are expected to trigger a new price war within the tablet industry, according to sources from notebook players.

This year we have witnessed the price reduction on Android tablets, noticeably Lenovo IdeaPad K1 pricing on launch day was RM1,499 in August and now selling at RM1,299 after they revised the retail price.

Samsung and Motorola have both seen weak tablet sales, while Research In Motion and HTC are looking for better results next year, according to DigiTimes.

Lenovo heats up the competition for Q1 next year with the introduction of Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet A1 and will land in our shores next month for RM799!

Spotting a 7-inch form factor, the new tablet is equipped with a single-core 1.0GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor together with 512MB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory as well as a capacitive multi-touch LCD display with a maximum resolution of 1024x600. Apart from that, it also comes with 0.3-megapixels front-facing camera and 3-megapixels main camera.

Other features also include magnesium alloy roll-cage inside its chassis, microSD card reader, micro-USB port, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth 2.1 and offline GPS navigation system. However, this tablet runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread that is usually used in mobile phones rather than the tablet-optimized Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system.

It will be available in black and white and released at all Lenovo Exclusive Stores as well as authorized dealers in Malaysia next month.

Source: Lenovo, LowYat.net

Wing Heong's viral video campaign “The Rice of Yok Man”

1930's, on the eve of World War II, the Japanese Empire was eyeing the Malaysian food industry. In order to destroy the anti-Japanese forces in Kuala Lumpur, the Japanese have sent spies for infiltrating missions. The young Yok Man has been implicated by the incident...

An uncanny bak kwa superhero has burst into the social media scene, leaving almost half a million Internet viewers agape with the made-in-Malaysia cartoon hero.

The Rice of Yok Man (loosely translated as “the rise of meat man”) is a four-minute video about flat-faced Yok Man, whose character was inspired by the dried sliced meat (known as bak kwa) taking the form of famous Wing Chun martial arts master Ip Man.

Bak kwa is a traditional delicacy enjoyed by the Chinese community, particularly during the Chinese New Year.

The story is set against a hypothetical backdrop of World War II, with the Japanese portrayed as having the desire to conquer the Malaysian food industry.

A food war ensues between the Japanese warlords (who take the form of a sushi and a tempura) and the Malaysian camp , represented by Yok Man and his martial arts compatriots, the egg-head named Double-Yolk Egg and the feminine Seremban Siew Bao.

Witty lines in the Cantonese dialect lace the interactive video, which requires viewers to click the pause and mute buttons to assist Yok Man in winning his fight.

The video with English and Chinese subtitles was created as a publicity gimmick for a local dried meat company.

Source: The Star

Metallica Releases 'Beyond Magnetic' Digital EP

Metallica celebrated its 30th anniversary as a band last week, performing four shows at the Fillmore Theatre in San Francisco, CA, exclusively for members of their fan club, the Metallica Club.

Photo by Steffan Chirazi courtesy of Metallica.com

‘Beyond Magnetic’ is available exclusively via iTunes in North America for one week only. Once the week expires, the songs will be available via all digital retailers. The EP features a batch of songs that were recorded during the ‘Death Magnetic’ sessions but didn’t make the album. The band performed each of the EP’s four songs live during the anniversary celebrations and then gifted the rough mixes of the studio versions to fan club members afterwards. Now the whole world can enjoy ‘em. Metallica are nothing if not generous and considerate of their fans.

The band released a statement about the EP and why they choose to release the songs now:

“During the ‘Death Magnetic’ album sessions in 2007 and 2008, we originally recorded 14 songs. When it came time to pick the songs for the final album, we decided on 10 songs that you’ve all come to know over the last three years. Some of you may have heard bits and pieces of those other songs on ‘Mission Metallica’ (remember ‘Mission Metallica’?!) or heard rumors about them during the recording process, and wondered, ‘What ever happened to those other four songs???.’ We kept them in the vault and decided to pull them just for this special celebration, so here are the four leftover tracks from the ‘Death Magnetic’ sessions. They are ROUGH mixes, unfinished to their original degree of mixing from March ’08. These four songs were released as gift to our closest fans, the members of our Fan Club, to enjoy. Now they’re being made available to you.”

"Beyond Magnetic" track listing:
01. Hate Train
02. Just A Bullet Away
03. Hell And Back
04. Rebel Of Babylon

Metallica's 30th anniversary celebration ended late Saturday night with drummer Lars Ulrich telling fans to listen for news to come in mid-January 2012 about something very special coming in June.   

Source: Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles

Groupon Malaysia Deal: MiPow MACA-Air and MACA External Battery Cases

Link to Groupon Malaysia page:

[Up to 37% Off] iPhone MACA Air External Battery Casing + iDock from RM139. Nationwide Delivery Available

Link to Groupon Malaysia page:

[Up to 37% Off] iPhone MACA Air External Battery Casing + iDock from RM139. Nationwide Delivery Available

Product specifications: