All posts by Jimmy Chua

Gaming, News

My Life for Aiur! Blizzard Announces End of Support for StarCraft II

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It looks like this era of the war between the Terrans, Zerg and Protoss is coming to an end. Blizzard has announced on October 15, 2020 that support for StarCraft II will be ceasing – at least when it comes to new content. The news comes after the popular real-time strategy game celebrated it’s 10th anniversary earlier this year.

“What this means is that we’re not going to be producing additional for-purchase content, such as Commanders and War Chests, but we will continue doing season rolls and necessary balance fixes moving forward.” said by executive producer Rob Bridenbecker. Also the Blizzard Entertainment is looking forward to what is next for “the StarCraft universe as a whole”.

StarCraft II players need not fret as the game will remain playable. Blizzard will also be supporting the game when it comes to patches and technical support. Of course, being Blizzard, we definitely know the adventures of Kerrigan and Raynor are possibly coming back soon with another installment of StarCraft.

This change comes at the same time with Blizzard is working on Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2, neither of which have release dates or even release windows. The staff is said to be giving lot of attention and aiming for a better work conditions.

StarCraft II is a science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released worldwide in July 2010 for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Blizzard has since made the first campaign of the game free-to-play, with Commander packs added regularly until now.

Accessories, Computers, Gaming, Lifestyle, News

The Razer Iskur is now Available for US$ 499 – Finally, the Green Snake Gaming Chair

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Well known branding like Noble Chairs and Secret Lab released excellent gaming chairs for gamers out there. That said, gaming chairs are all the rage these days. Of course, one of the biggest gaming lifestyle giants, Razer would latch on to this trend. That’s right, Razer has finally unveiled their first gaming chair, the Iskur.

The Iskur is said to have a unique external lumbar support system whose 26-degree customization is meant to improve your posture while gaming or even working. The main focus is to alleviate the middle tension to achieve a neutral spine position to provide minimum burden for your spine. Important when you game for long hours, or when you are sitting down to get your work done all day long of course.

Source: Razer

The Iskur also comes with “4D” armrests, which offer a wide range of adjustment, and will support players up to 6.2′ and 136kg (299 lbs). It’s made from multi-layered synthetic leather and the rear back cushion is made from high density foam cushion. The Iskur’s jut-out-at-an-angle lumbar pad which look like a snake belly is quite one of the highlight of Razer signature. A memory foam head cushion is also included to keep you at the optimum posture.

Whichever way you look at it, the Razer Iskur does look very similar to the Secret Lab’s very own Omega and Titan. That may not necessarily be a bad thing though. The Secret Lab Omega and Titan are very highly acclaimed gaming chairs, regarded to be the best in the business. Razer denies that the Iskur is anything like the Secret Lab chairs though.

Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer
Source: Razer

The Razer Iskur is now available for US$ 499 (approx. RM 2,071) through Razer’s official website. There are no mentions on whether or not the Razer Iskur will come to Malaysia. Here are some fingers crossed. For more information on the Razer Iskur you can head down to their website.

News

More A.I. Coming to Search – Google to unveil more during Search On Virtual Event

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Hot on the heels of the iPhone 12 launch, Google has sent out invites for a live stream event on October 15th at 12PM PT/ 3PM ET (3AM GMT+8/MST) called Search On. Google is looking to highlight how the company is applying the power of AI to help the people to understand the world better.

Source: Google

The event was announced through a brief tweet that revealed little about the virtual event. However, given the company’s focus, you can expect that the search giant will be updating the world, particularly developers, of the new features, services, and products from Google. More interestingly, Google is expected to update the world on how it is updating Search.

The event will be one of a series that has taken the place of I/O this year. The Their events have, in the past, had a singular focus – focusing on Assistant, Maps, and so on; so we are expecting that the search giant will be focusing their keynote on the advancements they will be introducing to Search.

Business, News

Is Astro Gearing for Online Streaming?

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Malaysia’s largest pay TV operator, Astro Malaysia Holdings, is looking to start a streaming service to take on deep-pocketed, international rivals such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. According to a report by Nikkei Asia, Astro is planning to launch a new streaming service sometime in 2021. The service will mainly focus on the original content made by the pay-TV company. This includes their numerous productions spanning multiple genres such as movies, series, and variety shows. Naturally, the main audience Astro is looking at for now, is the Malaysian audience.

Source: Astro Malaysia

Astro’s ability to subsidize local content production and its understanding of the market gives it and added advantage over global competitors. The report by Nikkei also pointed out that Astro is relying on its knowledge on the Malaysian market as well as its extensive customer, marketing, and sales reach in order to attract other content providers. Astro will be a natural partner to welcome any companies that are seeking to enter the Malaysia market . Astro has so far partnered with HBO GO and China’s iQIYI which aligns with Astro’s efforts to position itself as a “super aggregator” of digital content.

As it enters the Streaming (known in the industry as over the top (OTT)) it will be looking at catering to different groups which have emerged. This can be seen from the pricing strategies adopted by its competition which caters to unique groups with different psychologies. However, it seems that one thing that may take anyone by surprise, the pay TV operator isn’t going to banking on its brand for the streaming service opting to go with a completely new brand.

Accessories, Computers, News

Western Digital Announces the Black SN850 SSD with 7GB/s and 5.3GB/s Read/Write speeds – The New Speed King

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Western Digital (WD) has stolen the limelight of Samsung with their latest announcement of their newest PCIe 4.0 Solid State Drive (SSD) offering a serious performance for gamers, along with an NVMe SSD add-in-card, plus a game dock. They call it the Black, and it it serious. It is seriously fast.

Source: Western Digital

The latest WD Black SN850 is the fastest SSD to boot currently, faster than Samsung’s recently announced Samsung SSD 980 Pro. At least in write speeds, it is. The WD Black SN850 offers up to 7000MB/s and 5300MB/s (300MB/s faster than the Samsung) with a brand new cache technology that should help reduce load times on PC or in games.

Furthermore, WD also mentions that the SN850 offers a smooth and responsive gaming experience with up to 1,000,000 random read IOPS. The new drive is powered by the WD/Kioxia BiSCS4, which is a 96-layer TLC 3D NAND memory. What does that mean? It just means that your games will never run the same. That, or you will never play your games the same way.

Source: Western Digital

WD will also sell the SN850 with an optional heatsink. The heatsink features a gamer-aesthetic sleek design, along with an RGB lighting system that is customizable with the WD Black Dashboard software. The RGB system only comes with the heatsink-equipped WD Black SN850 drives, so if you are a fan of RGB, you know your pick. With that kind of read/write speeds too, you might want to ensure that your SSD remains cool to work with.

PCIe 4.0 drive became the most demanded type of drive since the Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5) demo and introduction, with good reason. While Sony hasn’t exactly published any sort of official compatibility list for the drives that can work best on the new console, WD has already marked the WD Black SN850 as PS5 compatible. We wonder if the WD Black SN850 with a heatsink would fit well on the PS5’s PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot.

Source: Western Digital
Source: Western Digital
Source: Western Digital
Source: Western Digital
Source: Western Digital
Source: Western Digital
Source: Western Digital
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Maintaining that compelling price-performance ratio, the SN850 will likely prove a potent challenger for Samsung’s 980 Pro when WD’s drive goes on sale before the end of October (a heatsink-equipped version of the SN850 will follow in 2021, costing a bit more). The new drives come with an optional heatsink, RGB lighting, and comes in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities. If you want one, the 500 GB variant without the heatsink will set you back US$ 149.99 (MYR 618*), the 1TB will set you back US$ 229.99 (MYR 949*), and the 2TB (which we suspect might not make it to Malaysia) will set you back US$ 449.99 (MYR 1,862*). The heatsink will add US$ 20 (MYR 83*) to your purchase.

* Based on Approximate Rate US$ 1 = MYR 4.14 as of 12/10/2020

Android, Mobile, News

Vivo Introduces a New Smartphone Concept – Detachable cameras

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Vivo is that one smartphone brand that is not shy in introducing new and funky features in a smartphone. This is especially true with it comes to camera placements on a smartphone. They introduced the world to the idea of a deca-core smartphone. They were also the first to hide their front facing camera in a pop-up mechanism that appears only when you need it. This year, Vivo Apex spearheads the under-display selfie camera era. Today, Vivo is taking the spotlight once more with a novel smartphone camera that is not even on the smartphone.

The new concept device from Vivo comes with a front camera that they call IFEA. It is a camera front facing camera that can be detached from the body of the device. For all intents and purposes, it is still a regular pop-up front-facing selfie camera. It just happens to be removable once it has popped out and has been activated. Once detached, the camera module is supposedly voice activated. This modular design from the Chinese company has won the Red Dot Design Award.

It does sound like a very interesting feature, this pop-up detachable thing. This new IFEA smartphone design aims to provide consumers with a new photography system and experience which is totally different from what usually offered by a smartphone. It integrates enhanced users-friendly shooting features anytime and anywhere.

Beside, there is another one on the Red Dot website that shows the display and the back of Vivo phone. The screen is seamless, without notches or punch holes. The back features a dedicated main camera as well to suggest that the detachable stuff is only for the front camera.

Source: Vivo/Red Dot

Vivo also stated that the IFEA module will come with multiple accessories and support mechanisms with different modes to increase the stability and storage of the device. Some accessories were also shown such as a magnetic attachment, clips for wrists and a collar mount for dogs, to make better use of the removable camera.

It’s unclear how Vivo plans to use this modular camera design. So far, the device is just in its concept phase and there are no clear intentions from Vivo themselves to make the device commercially available. Stay tuned though, we are keeping our ears close to the ground, just in case Vivo changes their mind.

Source: Android Central

News

99% of PS4 games will be Playable on the Playstation 5 according to Sony

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With the pending arrival of Sony’s long-awaited next-generation console: the PlayStation 5, many are looking for more information about the system’s new UI and for more concrete information on how the backward compatibility will work on the PS5. To cut the issue down to size, one of the biggest questions is whetherr you’ll be able to play PS4 games on the new console.

After much speculation and confusion, Sony has officially announced that approximately 99 percent of the over four thousand titles available on the PS4 will be playable on Playstation 5 consoles. So far, only 10 games are off the list which: DWVR, Afro Samurai 2 Revenge of Kuma Volume One, TT Isle of Man – Ride on the Edge 2, Just Deal With It!, Shadow Complex Remastered, Robinson: The Journey, We Sing, Hitman Go: Definitive Edition, Shadwen, and Joe’s Diner.

Source: Sony

System architect Mark Cerny expressed that the company has been testing the best 100 most played PS4 diversions, and “nearly” all of them will be working as intended when the Playstation 5 arrives. Sony has moreover guaranteed it has, as of now, tried “hundreds of titles” and will be testing “thousands more as we move toward dispatch”. This mean you will likely be able to play games that you have purchased on the PS4 and play them on PS5. Although, we haven’t heard from Sony just yet on how backwards compatibility will work when it comes to digital libraries from the PlayStation Store. That said, Sony strongly suggested to run your PS4 games on PS5 before buying any add-ons or DLC to ensure there is no any other ‘error or unexpected behavior’ occur while playing.

Sony has already done a public tear down of the PS5 and given us an in-depth look at the console’s specs and features. These include an NVMe SSD for super-fast load times, ray-tracing support, a built-in 4K Blu-ray player, backwards compatibility with thousands of titles in the PS4’s game library and a massive cooling system. With all these powerful specs and PS5’s Game Boost Feature, it is expected that compatible PS4 titles will run more smoothly and have a higher frame rate than on the PS4.