We are back for another episode of Tech & Tonic Podcast. In this episode of the Tech & Tonic show, we look deeper into Apple’s Car project and whether or not Apple is reaching too far out from their own industry and expertise. While we are on that subject, Google is also shutting down one of their most hyped project, the Stadia Studios.
On Apple’s end, Hyundai and Kia have severed any ties they had with Apple on their autonomous vehicle projects. On Google’s end, Stadia’s closure also means that Stadia may not be competitive at all. What is happening here? Are they taking bigger bites than they should have? What will become of autonomous cars and cloud gaming?
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It is January 2021 and we are back for another episode of Tech & Tonic podcast, the very first one for 2021 and it came from our own houses because Malaysia is under a second lock down (Movement Control Order). The global pandemic did not stop CES 2021 from happening though. Although everything is happening online.
The year kicked off with a bang though because Xiaomi now joins HUAWEI and DJI in the United States banned entities. Xiaomi does not have an official presence in U.S. though. They only stateside link they have is the Operating System they use (Google’s Android), their processors (Qualcomm), and few other components. In that case, what will happen to Xiaomi? We discusses a little further on this topic on the podcast.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 series just launched last week too. The renders look exactly the same as the actual device except that the device looks even more impressive. The Samsung Galaxy S21 flagship series packs Samsung’s latest Exynos with 5G capabilities. The Galaxy S21 Ultra even sports S Pen compatibility and up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. All of these comes with a price though. The Samsung Galaxy S21 starts at MYR 3,699 and tops out at MYR 5,899.
It is also the first Samsung Galaxy S21 series that sells without a charger out-of-the-box too. With all the shade that was thrown to Apple’s decision to not include a charger for ‘ecological’ purpose, we start questioning the motive behind not including chargers in smartphone boxes. We also discuss a little further on the fact that the S Pen now lives on in the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, a sign of death in the family of Samsung. All this and more on Tech & Tonic Podcast.
2020 is a year full of surprises and new beginnings. For us, it is the mark of our entry into the world of Podcasts with Tech & tonic. We want to first thank all of you listeners who have stayed with us and listened to our sometimes meaningless rambles about tech.
We want to thank our supporters, new and old, that has been the kindle in our fires and the motivations we needed when we were wondering if podcasting was the right area to pursue. We have learnt plenty too from our first year and season in podcasting. Of course, we have enjoyed it alongside all our guest too. For that, we also want to thank all of our guests that has appeared on our show and has shown continuous support to our show. We are looking forward to 2021 and a bigger year ahead of us with new contents and expansion to new platforms.
Back to today’s very special and final episode of the year 2020 though. We explored some shopping ideas for Christmas to prepare us for 2021 and even beyond. We pick some things that we could easily buy online right now to gift, and even keep for yourselves this Christmas and New Year. Here are our top 5 list of things that you can buy for yourself or to gift your loved ones for the year ending celebrations of 2021!
Of course, we are not just going to leave the podcast here alone. We are going to help you decide on your Christmas 2020 shopping options. In no particular order, here are the top 10 things we think you can buy for yourself or gift your loved ones in 2020.
Nintendo Switch (~MYR 1,339 onward)
Source: Nintendo
No, it is not new. But it is fun. The Nintendo Switch revolutionised the portable gaming industry with a highly compact, yet powerful hardware that you can bring around without while keeping games like Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild running as smooth as butter. It is also the perfect size for you to carry around in your travel pack should you need to bring gaming with you on your year-end holidays. Either that, or something to keep you busy at home.
Source: Lazada
Source: Shopee
The Nintendo Switch go from as low as MYR 1,339 on Shopee. Of course you can get your hands on one from Lazada too. We are looking at local options with proper local support too, so we do not recommend getting one that ships from out of the country. You might be able to get your hands on the Animal Crossing special edition or the Fortnite edition too for a little bit more money. Again, go for reputable dealers.
Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite (MYR 249)
Source: Xiaomi
What better way to keep yourself sane than constant exercises? To be fair, I have more than one answer for that; I do not know what I asked that question in the first place. Keeping yourself busy at home is very important at this time though, exercising is one way to keep yourself busy and healthy.
So there is no better gift than a fitness tracker in that case. No, not a Fitbit. Not even a Samsung Galaxy Watch. It is a Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite that will only set you back MYR 249.
The Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite can last up to 9 days on a single charge, more than most fitness trackers can manage. Its 1.4-inch square display gives you all kinds of fitness information and even allows you to keep track of your smartphone notifications. All of that in a package that is priced less than MYR 250.
Source: Lazada
You can get the Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite at this time for MYR 199 exclusively on Lazada. This is the current pre-order price and would be a perfect gift for not just fitness lovers. We do not know when the promotional price would end.
Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam (MYR 539)
Source: Logitech
Video conference calls are more important now than ever. The thing is, a video call is still not as natural as meeting someone face-to-face. But better video quality will always help. So you need a better webcam than the one that your notebook PC comes with.
You need a Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam for all your video calls. That, or start your own streaming channel, because even streamers love this as their main stream camera. it feeds up to 1080p footage up into the streaming platform and even your video calls, why would they not love it.
Of course, any videographer would tell you to get your lighting set up correctly to make stream and video calls look much better. But starting with a good camera does not hurt at all. The Logitech C920 HD Pro is definitely a good option to start with.
Source: Lazada
Source: Shopee
The Logitech C920 HD Pro is available on both Shopee and Lazada from Logitech themselves, which is definitely a good news. It is originally priced at MYR 539, which may sound like a lot of money for a small webcam. It is now only going for MYR 398.99 though, at least for the time being. It is still not exactly cheap, but this is a perfect upgrade for you, and even your loved ones.
Razer Seiren Mini (MYR 249)
Source: Razer
Speaking of video calls and conferences, you need a good mic. Sure, the Logitech C920 HD Pro already has a built-in mic. But you can make your set-up even better with a separate dedicated mic. You can go for the Razer Seiren Mini for something that is relatively inexpensive.
Out-of-the-box, this nifty little mic comes with its own plastic base that you can quickly work with and get things going. It is a USB mic too, so its basically plug and play. There are nearly zero set-up required after that, so you can really get going in 10 seconds when you get your stuff.
Source: Lazada
Source: Shopee
Besides the added benefit of better audio quality in your conference calls, you can use the mic for streaming purposes, or even for podcasts. I know I use it for podcasting. All this, in a package you can just chuck in your bag and worth MYR 249 on Shopee and Lazada. At this price, it is really hard to find a good mic for all those purposes.
DJI Pocket 2 (MYR 1,549 ~ MYR 2,169)
Source: DJI
They say the best camera is the one that is accessible to you at the time. Most of the time, that is your smartphone. But what if we tell you that there is an alternative that could really change your video creation experience?
That is the DJI Pocket 2, DJI’s latest small form factor OSMO product. It is super cute, and uber cool in our books. Like its name suggests, it is small enough to fit in your pockets when you need a compact and quick set up for videos and even photos. If you get the Creator Pack, it comes with a whole slew of stuff as well that enhances your experience with it and even help with vlogging and other content creation process.
Who says you need a large gimbal set up to take impressive videos for social media and even YouTube? Nobody said that you need to spend MYR 10,000 and above too, for all these purposes. A package that is smaller than your smartphone and a budget of MYR 2,200 is more than enough.
Source: Lazada
Source: Shopee
We admit, MYR 1,549 is not exactly cheap. It is not something that you can easily buy and giveaway as well. We think that this is perfect for those expecting too though, so shower them with some love. It is also still cheaper than buying a regular camera, and even most mid-range smartphones. You can get the DJI Pocket 2 from DJI’s Official Store on both Shopee and Lazada.
1MORE Dual Driver ANC Pro Wireless Headphone (MYR 599)
Source: 1More
We recently had a chance to review this piece of kit and was very impressed with the audio quality, build quality, and its overall performance. We do not blame you if you have not heard of the brad before. No, it is not some china product that tries to copy JBL and Jabra products.
The 1MORE brand actually comes from the United States of America (U.S.A.). The 1MORE Dual Drive ANC Pro Wireless Headphones may be built in China, but it exudes the quality expected from an American, or even a European company. Of course those mean nothing if the audio is not great.
To that, we are happy to report that the audio produced from this piece of kit will not disappoint. What might stop you from buying it is probably its price at MYR 599. We promise though though, if you live an active livestyle and do not trust those Truly Wireless type earphones, this is the one for you. You can get yours now exclusively on Lazada.
Source: Lazada
Sony WF-1000XM3 (MYR 999)
Source: Sony
This is our personal favourite when it comes to audio gear. If you ask us to leave every other earphones and headphones at home and only carry one pair of earphones for our travels, we will pick this every single time. No joke, we were so impressed by this device that we actually went out of our way to pre-order these kits.
The Sony WF-1000XM3 is probably the best sounding Truly Wireless Earphones at its price. It is not cheap, to be fair, at MYR 999 retail. It sounds fantastic though. It does a lot of other wireless earphones no justice because the price suddenly looks reasonable when you put on the WF-1000XM3.
Sony also arguable has the best active noise cancelling technology to date. The latest WH-1000XM4 over ear headphones still use the same processing as the WF-1000XM3 as well. That is just a testimony to how good the noise cancelling technology is on the Sony earphones.
We have to say though that this kit is a little on the bulkier side compared to other solutions. Still, we love it, and it is an essential part of our travel kit and gear bag. It can go on and on for 8 hours and the case holds two charges for 24 hours of music playback. Nearly nothing comes close to this pair of earphones.
It is not a new piece of gear though. It is out in the market for over a year already. It is still a highly popular piece of kit for audiophiles even. So if you have any friends claiming to be audiophiles, this is a really good gift for them. At this time too you can get your hands on one from Shopee and Lazada for as low as MYR 749.
Source: Shopee
Source: Lazada
LG XBOOM Go PL5 (MYR 649)
Source: LG
Sticking to the theme of audio, we understand that not everyone likes to have something stuffed into their ear. Thanks to the unique equatorial climate and weather behaviour in this region of the world as well, wearing a pair of over-ear headphones might get uncomfortable thanks to sweat. In that case, you want some good speakers.
In that case, we pick the LG XBOOM Go PL5 Bluetooth speaker with Meridian Audio. “What is Meridian?”, I hear you ask. Meridian is a British firm that dedicates their lives in high-end audio and video solutions. They are more established in the audio world as one of the world’s renown High-Fidelty audio system makers. They do not just let anyone use their name on products. That also means that the LG XBOOM Go PL5 is the real deal.
We have it too, thanks to LG, and we were so impressed by it when we first fire it up, it became our speaker of choice when we go for parties and when we need a wireless speaker to work with in parties and social gatherings. This is truly one small package that packs a lot of punch.
It goes on and on for up to 18 hours as well with the light show. You can either plug audio in via the 3.5mm jack, or even connect it via Bluetooth for convenience. It charges via USB Type-C and is even water resistant. That also means you can safely bring your speaker to the pool to enjoy.
The only issue is that all that goodness does not come cheap. This little pill looking speaker will set you back MYR 649 on retail. Thankfully for the holiday seasons, LG has some promotions going on these punchy little things. You can now get them from LG’s offcial store on Shopee and Lazada for as low as MYR 449.
Source: Lazada
Source: Shopee
Logitech G304 Lightspeed Wireless Mouse (MYR 245)
Source: Logitech
What is tech without gaming? These days also, every other person can appreciate gaming and the way that small part of the tech world affects the tech world as a whole. Yes, the gaming industry is also a billion dollar industry with growth still predicted to continue. You cannot ignore gaming then.
One of the biggest benefits from the gaming industry is that we can now enjoy products made for gaming and e-sports, but not pay an arm and a leg for it. The improvements made for the gaming industry culminates to the really simple things we take for granted every day on our desks, our mouse.
There are plenty of reasons why you should choose a gaming mouse, especially wireless ones, over regular mouse. For one, latency and stability. Gaming mice like the Logitech G304 Lightspeed gaming mouse you see here are built for not just speed, but accuracy. In eSports and gaming, every second counts, so you want your mouse to respond to your every input as soon as you hit the buttons. Hence, Lightspeed technology from Logitech.
The Logitech G304 Lightspeed wireless gaming mouse made it to our list not just because of its Lightspeed moniker though. It is a rather portable nifty mouse you can even carry around in your work bag. You can take it anywhere and it will not stand out as a gaming mouse too, if you want to be a bit more conspicuous. But it still has the performance to slay your opponents when you need it to.
All these are packed into a package that will set you back MYR 245 on retail. No, that does not sound cheap, because it technically is not. But then again, wireless mice do go for around those prices and even more. Still, you can get it for a steal at MYR 168.99 from Logitech’s official store on Shopee and Lazada this Christmas.
Source: Lazada
Source: Shopee
External HDD/SSD (~myr 150 onward)
If you really do not know what to pick still for your loved ones, the best thing, and the most general thing you can buy for them is an external storage drive. Why? This could be the most versatile thing in our arsenal of gears, and it could be the most crucial at times.
When you work outside a lot, you tend to rely on things that are portable and easily accessible from any device. You also want something reliable, something that will not fail when your own device fails. You want a backup external storage unit.
You can choose between the traditional hard disk drive (HDD) format, or the new age solid state drive (SSD) format. Of course, there are speed differences. But there are some reliability benefits to the older, slower HDDs too. Of course, they are also cheaper.
No matter which type you get from them though, they can appreciate the extra storage and backup space you have given them. They can store more movies now, or rather, you can store more movies to enjoy on various mediums now. You can even back up your smartphone data to your external storage if you want.
The benefit of getting an external storage drive for yourself or your loved ones though is the relatively inexpensive options you can find today. You can find a 1TB sized HDD for less than MYR 150 these days. Of course, if you want to go for something like a Western Digital Passport pre-built external HDD, that is going to cost you a little bit.
Samsung just launched their Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G device last week globally. It is coming to Malaysia soon too with the global availability. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 is probably the most anticipated and exciting devices to come out in these two years. Naturally, we are quite excited to see and review the device itself.
Before we can review the device though, we brought Jeff Sandhu in to our studio for a podcast. In this podcast we discuss all things foldable. When we say that, we mean smartphones and gadgets that are foldable, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2.
Jeff Sandhu was formerly from BFM. His 10 years experience in BFM includes producing his own talkshows featured on the radio channel itself. He joined BFM when the channel was only 2 years old. He recently left BFM to join a Sunway iLabs and Sunway Education Group initiative called 42 Kuala Lumpur. He is currently heading the media team in the initiative. He is an avid tech enthusiast like us though.
In this podcast we explore, with Jeff, some of the upcoming foldable devices. We discussed what we liked about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2, and what we do not like about the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
The Malaysian creative industry is climbing up the ladder! Since it’s nascent years, the industry has been working to create innovative content and share Malaysian stories. The Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has been hard at work promoting and upskilling the industry’s key players since 2009 and it has been endeavouring to create an international platform to grow and progress the ASEAN region’s animation and emerging media industries. Kre8tif! was their chosen platform to marry regional talent with international players.
Kre8tif! 2020 is happening on the 7th to 10th of September 2020! This is an interesting conference that highlights the Malaysian Digital Content industry. It is happening virtually now, with over 700 participants from all over the world. You can even attend it for free. Participants will be able to gain insights from companies like Netflix, Epic Games, Pixar and Disney!
In this podcast, we spoke to Hasnul about this year’s Kre8tif! conference and how they are pivoting themselves around the current pandemic. We got a little insight too on what we can expect from this year’s virtual conference! You can find more information on Kre8tif on https://kre8tif.com.my/!
Hasnul Hadi is currently the Vice President of the Digital Creative Content Division over at MDEC. He has spent nearly a decade advocating and championing the game development and creative industry in Malaysia. He and his team have been tirelessly working away behind the scenes pushing policies and connecting companies to build the creative industry. Aside from his dedication in making Malaysia a creative powerhouse in the Southeast Asian region, he’s also an avid gamer. He’s spent many hours honing his gaming skills behind a keyboard, on a controller and on-the-go!
In this episode of Tech & Tonic Episode 21, we explored the wonderful world of noise cancelling headphones. Actually, we just watched Sony’s WH-1000XM4 announcement and discussed about the MYR 1,599 headphones.
We think that the headphones could be the best noise cancelling headphones the world will see. It will be at least until Bose releases their new one. This new Sony headphone comes with new material constructions though, to make it even more comfortable than before.
Will you get the Sony WH-1000XM4? Or should you get the older WH-1000XM3 instead? Come discuss with us!
Back at Computex 2019, we had the honour of sitting down with Eduardo (Eddy) Goyanes, Alienware’s product marketing manager. We took the chance to get a dive into the brand, their ethos and also their big redesign which has made the brand one of the best looking laptops and desktops in the market right now. He lets us in on some of the most compelling behind the scenes stories that inspired and influenced the brand’s design and also where the brand is headed.
Eddy Goyanes is the Marketing and Communications Consultant over at Alienware. He has been the public face of the brand as he has worked his way through the years at Alienware. As the voice of the brand he has worked to place and communicate the ethos and positioning of the Alienware brand. He also works to better Alienware products by acting as the voice of the consumer, looking at the products through the consumer’s eyes and helping with the development and optimisation of products.
In the interview, techENT had the pleasure of delving into the thought process and design process of the Alienware team when it came to refreshing their brand with their new Legend Industrial design language. We were also able to talk about the many cornerstones of the Alienware brand and how they seek to cater to the consumer with their high degree of customisability and wide range of products.
This week we had the pleasure of speaking to Hasnul Hadi Samsudin of the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). You may recognise him from the many, many press appearances he’s done and also from our social media and around the internet.
Hasnul Hadi is currently the Vice President of the Digital Creative Content Division over at MDEC. He has spent nearly a decade advocating and championing the game development and creative industry in Malaysia. He and his team have been tirelessly working away behind the scenes pushing policies and connecting companies to build the creative industry. Aside from his dedication in making Malaysia a creative powerhouse in the Southeast Asian region, he’s also an avid gamer. He’s spent many hours honing his gaming skills behind a keyboard, on a controller and on-the-go!
In this episode, we sat down with Hasnul to speak about the recent unveiling of Sony’s upcoming gaming console, the Playstation 5and the growing Gaming and Creative industry in Malaysia. Hasnul shares with us his insights into the industry and shares how much the industry has grown over the years as well as some of the plans his team has for Malaysia’s LEVEL UP Gaming Conference which is still slated to happen this year!
In this special, we sat down with Mr. Alex Tan, the Director of Sales for the ASEAN Region for Physical Access Control Systems from HID Global. We had a conversation about some of the emerging trends in the industry on the use of biometrics and security. One of the biggest issues we discussed was the use of biometrics and its implications on personal data privacy and security with the emergence of legislations such as the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in the European Union and Malaysia’s own PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act). The issue brought us to talking about how personal technological devices can be a security risk with how they handle data collected by facial recognition and fingerprint reading technologies.
Mr. Alex Tan heads the strategic developmental and organisational growth of HID Global’s Physical Access Control business within the ASEAN Region. He has been in the security access control industry for about 19 years and has, prior to this, headed the sales and entreprise solutions at another leading access control manufacturer.
HID Global has over two decades of expertise in the security industry. The American company has its roots in radio frequency identification technologies and has over the years become a recognised brand when it comes to premise access and security as well as biometric technologies. You may recognise the company’s logos from the many devices and solutions it provides to buildings and businesses across the world. They may even be responsible for keeping you safe in your apartment building!
Take a listen to the podcast and let us know if you still have any unanswered questions when it comes to biometrics and personal data protection in the comments down below.
In this week’s Tech & Tonic Podcast, we have a hotshot in our guest seat. Why hotshot? He used to be in the professional eSports scene. He is Keegan Perez Tan, a former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch eSports player. He is still an active gamer though and plays titles like Escape from Tarkov, Apex Legends, and even Dota 2. He is also currently a content producer for Technave, one of Malaysia’s largest tech news platforms.
In our stream we spoke plenty about the COVID-19 situation, like we have done since the beginning of Malaysia’s government sanctioned Movement Control Order (MCO). We caught up a little bit with Keegan about his activities at home for the past 20 days of quarantine. Of course, we will end up talking about games though. We revealed what sort of games we are most looking forward to. We also touched a little bit on the eSports community and growth in Malaysia.
Unfortunately, we cannot fit everything we spoke about in our morning livestream show on the Podcast. For extended and full contents, we recommend you head down to our YouTube page for the livestream that we are doing every Monday 11.00 a.m. at least for the MCO period (until 14th April 2020 at the moment). Our podcast is available on the most popular podcasting platforms, so do check out our other episodes. Let us know if we are not, so that we can try to get ourselves on the platform.
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