Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Telegram – that’s the growing list of apps that are allowing users to send expiring or disappearing messages. The latest app to join is none other than WhatsApp. After what seems like an eternity behind other apps, it seems like the feature is now coming to WhatsApp.
Evidence first popped up in March showing options which allow users to send messages with an optional expiration time for the platform. If a user enables the feature, all message that sent individually or in groups will be automatically erased after seven days. Users can configure the setting for individual chat while only group admin able to turn on the feature for group chats.
The feature seems to also work with with media files. However, the media file will not disappear if the user turn on the auto download for receiving any files. This may be one of the more convenient implementations of the feature as not everyone wants media to be downloaded to their phones.
WhatsApp has recently updated their FAQs to include a new answer regarding the new feature. In their response about the feature they clarify, ” Once enabled, messages sent in the individual or group chat will disappear after seven days. The most recent selection controls all messages in the chat. This setting won’t affect messages you previously sent or received in the chat. In an individual chat, either user can turn disappearing messages on or off. In a group chat, only group admins can turn disappearing messages on or off.”
With the FAQ is live on the WhatsApp website, it seems like the feature will be making its way to users in the coming weeks. The features will be available to users on Android, iOS and KaiOS.
WhatsApp has also published tutorials for enabling and disabling the features on their website.
The era of the Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5) is finally here and it brings with variety of exciting gaming titles to look forward to. In this new generation, Sony’s iconic gaming console series is said to deliver the most immersive experience to date, thanks to its impressive specifications and the DualSense controller. We already know this console is going to be epic and probably the best line up for the console ever.
With tons of PS5 games confirmed for arrival, we are summing up 5 of the most promising games coming to the new console.
1. Marvel’s Spider-man: Miles Morales
Source:Caboon
Following the success of 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man which followed Peter Parker, Sony and Marvel are now zooming in on one of Marvel’s most popular Spider-Men: Miles Morales. What was initially supposed to be a piece of added content for the original game is now a full sequel to the game akin to Uncharted: Log Legacy.
The sequel will have all the action packed gameplay that made the original Spider-Man one of the best titles on the PS4 but it will take it to a whole new level with better graphics, more immersive gaming and even some surprises for players. Marvel’s story telling will, of course, take center stage as they unfold a new chapter of the Spiderverse. The game is expected to launch on November 12, 2020 and will be a launch title for the PS5.
2. God of War: Ragnarök
Source : WhatCulture gaming
It’s hard to deny that 2018’s God of War from Sony is still one of the best games on the PlayStation 4; so it comes as no surprise that Sony unveiled the next chapter in Kratos’ story just recently. The new chapter, God of War: Ragnarok, will continue two years after where God of War left off; telling the story that is unfolding as Kratos and his son, Atreus.
Although not much has been revealed of the game, we do know that this time, Kratos will be facing Ragnarök – the supposed end of the world according to Norse mythology. Seeing as how the tales of God of War has always seen Kratos’ going after a pantheon of Gods, it would be a surprise to see Kratos and Thor clash. The bar is set pretty high for this installation as God of War brought an action packed, open world adventure to the PS4 like no other. There is no actual date for the game released but we do know that it will be coming in 2021.
3. Cyberpunk 2077
Source: Wccftech
The new open-world, role playing game from CD Projekt Red looks like it’s going to be an immediate hit thanks to it’s gigantic, open world. Being a CD Projekt Red title, it will undoubtedly come littered with side quests and immersive story missions. Cyberpunk 2077 is set in a futuristic world where humans and technology have converged. It will feature extensive character customisations, vehicles and character choice driven story-lines.
The stories will began as you choose your own life path. You’re able to choose from three paths: Street kid, Nomad or Corpo. Cyberpunk 2077’s story will revolve around V, the protagonist which the player controls while you explore the dystopian Night City. While not much else is known about the game, one thing is certain – you’ll be meeting Keeanu Reeves in your Cyberpunk 2077 exploits.
Cyberpunk 2077 was initially set to debut on 19 November 2020 as part of the PlayStation 5 launch title line up but CD Projekt Red made the announcement in a Tweet that the title will be delayed. The new release date is set for 10 December, 2020 – just in time to binge over Christmas. I
4. Far Cry 6
Source: Metro
The Far Cry series is well known for several factors: its well-designed, expansive worlds, and a first-person immersion experience like no other. Far Cry 6 is the latest installment of the franchise.
In Far Cry 6, you take on the role as the revolutionary leader, Dani Rojas, a revolutionary in the thick of a battle for the future of Yara, a fictional Caribbean island. The country is divided and protests are taking over the place opposing the ongoing dictatorship of Anton Castillo, the antagonist of the title.
The title was initially set for release on 18 February 2021 for the PlayStation 5. However, Ubisoft has since pushed the release with a release window of between April 2021 and March 2022.
5. Final Fantasy XVI
Source: PlayStation Blog
A PlayStation generation would be incomplete without a Final Fantasy release. Final Fantasy XVI is an upcoming action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. The upcoming title has received a provisional rating of PEGI 18, the most mature that any Final Fantasy game has received.
The new epic in the Final Fantasy story will be taking place in the world of Valisthea – a land blessed in the Light of the Mothercrystals. However, the world is divided into six factions. The latest entry could be a continuation in the Fabula Nova Crystallis with the ethos centered around the crystals.
Final Fantasy XVI will feature a more robust combat system and will also feature the return of summons, known this time as Eikons. We’ve already seen Phoenix and Ifrit in the trailer. There is no actual date for Final Fantasy XVI released, but it is expected to launch at early of 2022. The title will be a timed exclusive for the PlayStation 5
Huawei’s status as the world’s largest smartphone maker might be jeopardy soon, as the company scrambles to get key parts for its popular phones. Issues began slightly over two years ago with the U.S. trade ban which prevented Huawei from trading with U.S. companies. More recently, the trade ban was expanded to include every company in the supply chain. This led to further complications as it meant that not only couldn’t Huawei get access to Google services for it’s Android based smartphones, it couldn’t trade with any company including chip-makers Qualcomm and Broadcom and even non-U.S. companies intending to trade in the country.
However, things are taking a turn as Samsung Display has received a license from the U.S. government to supply its panels to Huawei Technologies. The company is the first company outside the U.S. known to have been given a license to trade with Huawei.
While the news is definitely a turn of events in Huawei’s favour, it could be the least of the company’s concerns as it has still able to source displays from BOE, a new Chinese display manufacturer. That said, Samsung Display is definitely a welcomed supplier as the company is one of the largest manufacturers is renown for its display quality.
Unfortunately, Huawei’s outlook is still bleak as the company is running low on supply for its Kirin SoCs. The U.S. ban is still affecting the company’s supply chain when it comes to working with fabricators which are able to collaborate and create their chips.
Sony recently teased the PlayStation Plus Collection in the September PlayStation 5 showcase. The list of games and mechanics have officially been detailed in a post on the PS Blog. The service will launch together with the console in the U.S., Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea on November 12th; while Europe, the Middle East, South America, Asia and South Africa will see it launch on the 19th. It will offer PlayStation Plus subscribers access to over a dozen first and third party titles at no extra charge. To date, there are no limitations for any of the games on the list as long as the plus subscription is active.
Source: Sony
The PlayStation Plus Collection will be available to PS Plus subscribers from the very moment the PS5 is released. The Collection will include several big hits from Sony’s Worldwide Studios which including God of War, The Last Guardian, The Last of Us Remastered, and Uncharted 4. In addition, Sony is also including selected third party titles such as Final Fantasy XV and Resident Evil 7. There will be no visual improvements for the PS4 titles played on PS5. However, Sony guarantees more consistent frame rates as well as quicker load times.
Source: Sony
In its announcement, Sony also revealed the full list of games in the launch line up of the PlayStation Plus Collection. This includes the first free PS5 game, Bugsnax, which will be available from November 3rd to January 4th.
In addition to Bugsnax, two PS4 titles join the official November line up for the Playstation Plus Collection: Middle Earth: Shadow of War and Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition.
PS Plus Collection Full Launch Line Up
First Party Titles (From Sony Interactive Studios Worldwide)
Bloodborne
Days Gone
Detroit: Become Human
God of War
Infamous Second Son
Ratchet and Clank
The Last Guardian
The Last of Us Remastered
Until Dawn
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Third Party Titles
Batman: Arkham Knight
Battlefield 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Zombies Chronicles Edition
TikTok is quickly becoming a go to platform for musicians. Just recently, the social media platform had an exclusive event with Korean band, BLACKPINK. Now, the ByteDance owned platform is going to become the exclusive debut partner for a KRU Music artist. DUKU & Tuju will be sharing their exclusive pre-release of their latest single, ‘Salawat 1442’ featuring Tyco on TikTok LIVE. The debut is happening on the 27th October at 8p.m. on the @KRU.Music account.
The collaboration between TikTok and KRU subisdiary, Imaan Music, looks to cultivate a younger audience aligned with the platform’s user demographic. The song being debuted adapts traditional dakwah and is a first in bringing together artistes from different genres for a momentous record.
The debut comes in conjunction with Maulidur Rasul, a Muslim celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. To know more about this collaboration and more on the subject, remember to tune live on 27 October at 8pm @KRU.Music on Tiktok.
At Next@Acer 2020, Acer has also introduced new monitors for business and home users: the eye-friendly Acer B248Y, the HDR-capable Acer CBL272U and the Acer BL270 with virtually no side-bezels.
Acer B248Y – Work All Day, Every Day
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Acer claims that this B248Y is an ergonomic monitor that was designed with various pain points that is often faced by users at work in mind. The monitor is equipped with various features that aim to make your eyes more comfortable even in prolonged working environments, such as Acer LightSense and Acer ColorSense.
The two technologies combines in the display to automatically adjust the screen brightness and color temperature. The adjustments are made for a more comfortable experience with the display depending on the environment. The monitor’s Full HD (1980×1080) IPS display sits on something they call Ergostand. The Ergostand, as per Acer, is a flexible stand that allows for ever more flexibility in adjusting the display to your liking.
The B248Y’s built-in docking station turns the monitor into a workspace in its own right. The RJ45 and USB Type-C 100W PD ports allows you to clear up plenty of clutter on your desk. The ports also means that you can choose to work from home or the office at anytime without worrying too much about moving the items, or even clearing a new space for the monitor. You can also daisy chain multiple monitors for a larger screen real estate, if that is what you need. There is also an adjustable Full HD webcam to let the users find the perfect angle for camera feed. That, and you do not need to spend extra on a webcam.
Acer CBL272U – QHD Goodness
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
The Acer CBL272U is a 27-inch TUV/Eyesafe certified monitor with QHD 2,560 by 1,440 resolution, Delta E<1 color accuracy and 99% sRGB gamut coverage. It is an IPS panel which also means that you can look at it from nearly any angles with its 178o viewing angle. HDR10 means that any compatible video content looks superb on the display. All this means your eyes will just start to water at the sight of the display. Not because it hurts, just because it is so good. C
It is not just an eye-watering, colour attack for your eyes though. It is also built with a number of eye-friendly features. BlueLightShield Pro, for example prevents harmful bluelight especially for extended period of use. With Acer’s proven ComfyView anti-glare technology and low-dimming capability, enables the monitor’s brightness to be turned all the way down to 15% for night-time use. In that case, the monitor will not blind you even when you view it in total darkness.
Acer BL270 – Thin, Thin Bezels
Source: Acer
Dreaming of having a two-monitor set-up that looks like a single large monitor set-up? The Acer BL270 is a certified FHD 1920×1080 monitor with thin size bezels that taper off, this is what making the two monitor be placed virtually seamlessly side-by-side. This clean and powerful monitor is perfectly designed for any business environment. The flexible stand allows you the ability adjust the height, swivel and pivot perfectly according to your preferences. You can also use the display to mirror your smartphone’s content via Acer’s Smart Console App.
Price and Availability
Despite the monitors powerful features, the price is seem to be reasonable. Three of the monitors: B248Y, CBL272U and BL270 will be available in North America starting with price of US$ 329.99 (RM 1,369*), US$ 299.99 (RM 1,245*) and US$ 229.99 (RM954*.11) respectively. As usual, exact specifications, prices, and availability will vary by region. No word on availability or pricing in Malaysia just yet. These are perfect monitors for our work from home set up though, so we are hoping to hear something soon.
*Based on approximate exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.14 as of 21/10/2020
Acer’s Planet 9 was launched a year ago as the company’s comitment to the growing eSports scene. The platform allows aspiring professional gamers to hone their skills and collaborate. The vision for this next gen platform is to provide a “training arena” where pros, semipros and enthusiasts can improve their game.
“Planet 9 is a community-oriented platform designed to give gamers everywhere a chance to interact and learn from each other. It is intended to be a social platform that caters to multiple audiences: those looking to improve are introduced to similarly skilled teammates and opponents, likewise, those just looking to chat and enjoy themselves can meet other casual players…”
Andrew Chuang, AVP, Esports Services, IT Products Business, Acer Inc.
Source: Acer
Planet9 was designed to bring different eSports communities together in one place, and a major part of the platform is effectively managing and integrating these communities. The platform helps users to find teammates based on a variety of factors such as game type, skill level and time zone. It also gathers and records a wide variety of data such as score, pathing, kill-death ratio and death location. This provides coaches and managers information they can use to help guide their players.
This year, Acer is bringing cutting edge AI to Planet9, its next-generation eSports platform, in the form of the SigridWave In-Game Live AI Translator. SigridWave has been specially designed to handle gaming terminology and jargon. It leverages deep learning technologies to bridge language barriers allowing gamers to communicate no matter where they are from. This is an important step in enhancing the gaming experience.
When SigridWave is deplyed, it will utilise Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology to recognize speech from gamers. It then converts this into strings of text, similar to how smartphones do when you use virtual assistants. This string of text is then recognised using Neural Machine Translation (NMT) technology. The NMT deployed by SigridWave has so far been trained to recognise over 10 million bilingual sentence pairs. This allows it to recognise game specific language and jargon such as “ADS” or “camping”, giving it context awareness. In-game overlays will be supported for League of Legends on launch in late 2020 or early 2021, and support will be made available for additional titles in the future.
The new technology has the potential to take competitive and professional gaming to a whole new level. Together with SigridWave, Acer also unveiled Clubs and Tournaments; two new features that will help players collaborate and compete regularly to up their game. These join a slew of new features designed to enhance competitive play and facilitate communication between brands and players.
Canon is making getting genuine toner cartridges by rewarding customers who do. The company has launched its “Be Original: Genuine Toner Loyalty Program” in Malaysia which will be happening from 1 October, 2020 until 31 December 2020. Throughout this program, customers will be rewarded with 1000 points with every purchased of a genuine Canon toner. These points can be redeemed as MYR10 Touch ‘n Go eWallet credit or other goodies such as a Canon mini projector, printers and more. This campaign comes at a time when the demand for toner cartridges are increasing due to the increase of remote work arrangements brought on by the current global pandemic.
People often forget the importance of a genuine toner which sometimes come with an additional price to pay. Third party cartridges and toners can accumulate on the drum and the fixing roller, resulting in printouts with unsightly lines, blurring or gray backgrounds. What’s more, it can lead to irreparable damage to your printer.
Canon claims that their genuine toners are specially designed to bring out the best in your laser printing device, facilitating sharp characters and detailed images, and ensuring that your Canon printer always operates at peak performance to deliver the best printouts possible. Besides, Canon is also touting higher page yields, making them more cost-effective.
Source: Canon
Identifying a genuine Canon cartridge is easy; the Canon Genuine Security Label can be found on the exterior of Canon genuine toner cartridge boxes. All you have to do to redeem your points and rewards is scratch the label, scan the disclosed QR code with a smartphone. The QR Code will lead you to the Your Live With Canon website for verification. Once verified, you will be rewarded the 1000 points.
Of course, to take part in the campaign on the Your Life with Canon page, you will first have to register as a member. After this, you will be rewarded everytime you key in the toner serial number. Submissions and redemption end on 7 January, 2021. Once you confirmed the redemption request, the merchandise will then be delivered to the registered address within a month. As long as the customers have sufficient points, there is no limit for redemption.
It is completely fair and not overstating to say that the Google Assistant has become one of the Google’s most important products. While people are still fantasizing of contact-less computing experience, which is still not realized by most people, Google Assistant has already worked its way into the society through variety of products like the Google Home and Chromecast. Google Assistant, we can safely say, has become a big part of plenty of people’s lives.
Google has added several new features to the Assistant this year, making it better and more helpful to users. The virtual assistant is now gaining the ability to open up, search, and perform general tasks across your favorite apps. As long as you have an Android phone that is Assistant-enabled, you will be able to open and search within Android apps just by calling; “Hey Google,” or “Okay Google.”
Google has kicked off this deeper integration by partnering with over 30 of the top apps on the Google Play store. Here a list of some of the apps such as Nike Adapt, Nike Run Club, Spotify, Snapchat, Twitter and of course more.
Source: Google
The new integration will allow you to do things that need several taps in the apps themselves. For instance, apps like Nike Run Club can be easily accessed without needing users physical input. This can be huge time saver.
For all the apps that support Google Assistant, you can simply create a shortcut phrases for it and it will perform whatever preset actions for you. Nike’s Adapt training shoes could be a great example. Through Google Assistant, could create a preset action command and get your shoes to automatically tighten itself on your feet. All done via Google’s voice command, something that dreams are made of.
Source: Google
The new usefulness is a major advance towards Google offering a totally without hands processing experience. While Android 11 previously included some genuinely incredible voice control openness choices, this adds much greater usefulness to the Google Assistant.
Google says the Assistant will be able to work with more apps in the near future. You could be a part of this exciting future though by creating these shortcuts and allow developers to map users’ intent to get Google Assistant to integrate with their favourite apps. Stay tuned and be excited for more fantasy acts.
Thirsty for Justin Bieber new song? Still looking for where to hear it? Snapchat has just launched a new feature called “Sounds”. They are launching the new feature with a collaboration with Justin Beiber featuring an exclusive track from his new album. Beliebers everywhere are undoubtedly celebrating the shocking revelation. For now, Snapchat is the only platform to hear the vocals for his new songs “lonely” featuring Benny Blanco before it is available on October 16, 2020 at 12pm.
The music can be added to Snaps either pre- or post-capture, then shared without any limitations. You can post it to your Story or share directly with friends, as you choose. At launch, the Snapchat music catalog offers “millions” of licensed songs from Snap’s music industry partners, the company says.
Source: Snap Inc
When users receive a Snap with Sounds, they can then swipe up to view the album art, the song title and the name of the artist. There’s also a “Play This Song” link that lets you listen to the full song on your preferred streaming platform, including Spotify, Apple Music and SoundCloud. Snapchat is also testing out recording with your own covers with “Sounds” which should be rolling out in the coming months. The move to introduce a music feature is meant to counter the growing threat of ByteDance owned, TikTok app, which has popularized short-form video sharing with posts set to music from a large catalog.
According to a research, In the U.S., Snapchat now reaches 90% of all 13 to 24-year-olds, which the company notes is more than Facebook, Instagram and Messenger combined. It also reaches 75% of all 13 to 34-year-olds and, on average, more than 4 billion Snaps are created every day.
