Friday, January 27, 2012

Galaxy S III to Be Unveiled at Mobile World Congress? Samsung Still Vague


A couple of days back, rumours claim that Samsung is looking to delay the debut of the Galaxy S III. Many anticipated that Samsung’s new flagship smartphone will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress this year just as the Galaxy S II made its debut at the 2011 MWC.
Speculators speculate that the reason behind the delay is that Samsung didn’t want such a long lead time between the unveiling of the device and it’s slated US launch which is said to happen sometime in June. This sounds legit as Samsung sees the US as a key market where it hopes to break Apple’s stranglehold in the smartphone segment but as far as the delay is concerned, it’s still very much a rumour.
Seeking clarification on the matter, Samsung was asked in a conference call earlier today on whether its next flagship device will be revealed at MWC. Officially, Samsung says that they’re “still reviewing several options when to launch” the Galaxy S III. You can listen to the audio clipping of the official answer from Samsung right after the jump.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Angry Birds Gets 15 New Levels and All Levels Unlocked

Rovio Mobile has rolled out a new update to the original Angry Birds game (now carries version 2.o) to celebrate its 2nd birthday. Happy birthday, birds! :-)
Angry Birds Celebrate 2nd Birthday
The new update (currently available for iOS devices) contains 15 brand new birthday cake levels, special birthday achievements, cool new content in the pause menu and you gotta believe this – All episodes (300 of them) are now unlocked!
Angry Birds Birthday Update with 15 New Levels and All Levels Unlocked
Angry Birds Birthday Update with 15 New Levels and All Levels Unlocked
On top of that, the Orange bird also make it’s first appearance in the original Angry Birds game. The bird first appeared in Angry Birds Seasons : Ham ‘O’ Ween update.
P.S. : The special birthday update will comes to other platforms (Android, Blackberry etc) soon.

Top 10 Games on Facebook in 2011

Zynga CityvilleFacebook’s Most Popular Games in 2011

  1. Gardens of Time (By Playdom)
  2. The Sims Social (By EA)
  3. Cityville (By Zynga)
  4. DoubleDown Casino (by DoubleDown Interactive)
  5. Indiana Jones Adventure World (By Zynga)
  6. Words With Friends (By Zynga)
  7. Bingo Blitz (By Buffalo Studios)
  8. Empires & Allies (By Zynga)
  9. Slotomania-Slot Machines (By Playtika)
  10. Diamond Dash (By wooga)
How Facebook measures the popularity of the social games on its site? According to Facebook, the list was compiled by looking at the top games on Facebook with more than 100,000 monthly active users and giving priority to those games with the highest user satisfaction scores (not solely based the most number of monthly active users).

Google Search Tips and Tricks for Students Conducting Online Research [Infographic]

Get More Out of Google [Infographic]
Couldn’t locate the right information for your online research, even after countless hour of searching using the Google search engine? Most probably the information isn’t there or if it’s there, you just don’t know how to perform a well-executed search on Google.
But it’s never too late to learn how to use Google search effectively, in order to boost your productivity instantly. Check out the following infographic, “Get More Out of Google : Tips and Tricks for Students Conducting Online Research“, where you’ll learn a few awesome Google search tips and tricks to get Google to return the right result you are looking for.
Google Search Tips and Tricks

Tips to Protect Your Facebook Account from Cyber Crimes

Did you know that more than 20 percent of newsfeed links on Facebook currently open viruses? This is what ZoneAlarm claimed in their latest infographic that talks about the security at the world’s most popular social network site, Facebook.
In the “Facebook : A Prime Target for Cybercrime” infographic, ZoneAlarm shows you some statistics about Facebook users, information about the cyber crimes that hit Facebook and outlines six simple safety measurements that you can take to keep yourself safe while using Facebook.

6 Tips to Protect Your Facebook Account

  1. Create a strong password.
  2. Don’t accept unknown friend requests.
  3. Monitor what your friends are sending and sharing with you.
  4. Turn on HTTPS:// browsing on your Facebook settings.
  5. Don’t click on suspicious links.
  6. And last but not least, is to use  ZoneAlarm SocialGuard. It protects up to five Facebook accounts at a time. $19.99 for 1 year subscription. (This is the reason this infographic is made in the first place).
Nevertheless, check out the whole infographic below.
Facebook A Prime Target for Cybercrime

Sony Ericsson CNY 2012 Mobile Devices Promo

Thinking of switching to new mobile device for the upcoming Chinese New Year? Well, there is a special CNY 2012 mobile phones promo deals from Sony Ericsson. The deals start today, January 7 and will end on January 21, 2012. Available at selected participating Sony Ericsson stores.
Sony Ericsson CNY 2012 Promo Deals
The deals offer lineup of Xperia smartphones, Walkman series and Greenheart collection from Sony Ericsson, bundled with free goodies (vary between mobile devices) such as LiveView Bluetooth phone remote, VH110 Bluetooth headset and some Android merchandises (Tumbler, Xperia red packets, Android screen cleaner).
Here’s the full list mobile devices on offer (from highest to lowest price). FYI, there are a few selected devices that carry lower official retail price.
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S – RM 1499
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia pro – RM 1299
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia ray – RM 1099
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY – RM 1099
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia active – RM 899
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V – RM 899
  • Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman – RM 899
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro – RM 788
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia mini – RM 699
  • Sony Ericsson W8 – RM 699
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 – RM 509
  • Sony Ericsson mix Walkman – RM499
  • Sony Ericsson Elm – RM 469
  • Sony Erisson txt pro – RM 388
  • Sony Ericsson txt – RM 349
  • Sony Ericsson Zylo – RM 339
  • Sony Ericsson Yendo – RM 249
Here are the promo leaflets. Click to enlarge.
Sony Ericsson CNY 2012 Promo Deals
Sony Ericsson CNY 2012 Promo Deals
Sony Ericsson CNY 2012 Promo Deals

How to Read Wikipedia Offline in Google Chrome?

What would you do in your leisure time or a time without connecting to internet? How about taking a read on the articles from the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia while working offline? Yes, you can read Wikipedia offline with the help Offline Wiki extension for Google Chrome.
Offline Wiki enables you to download a copy of nearly all of the textual content of the Wikipedia (English articles only) to your computer and make them available offline on your Chrome browser. You can access the articles anytime without having to connect to the Internet.
Read also – Set Random Wikipedia Page as Windows Desktop Screensaver
In the settings page, you can choose to download either a approx. 14 MB compressed dump file of the most popular Wikipedia articles (1337 articles) or a 1GB database containing 314k of articles. On top of that, you can select one of four available parsers which turns the Wikipedia information into HTML contents that are readable in the Chrome browser.
Read Wikipedia Articles Offline in Google Chrome
It will take a while for the download to complete especially if you choose 1GB worth of data. After the download has completed, you can now access the articles offline, now let’s turn off the internet, shall we?
Let’s give Offline Wiki a try. Go the main page to access Wikipedia articles offline. FYI, Offline Wiki app will appear at the Apps section in your Chrome’s New Tab Page. You can look for article by using the search option, article index from the Index button or you can load a random article by hitting on the Random button.
Read Wikipedia Articles Offline in Google Chrome
Install Offline Wiki Chrome Extension [via]

Angry Birds Seasons Gets Year of the Dragon Episode for CNY 2012

Chinese New Year 2012 of Dragon is just two days more. The people over Rovio Mobile come in time to join the CNY celebration too with a new and vibrant red Chinese New Year theme update for the Angry Birds Seasons game.
Angry Birds Seasons - Year of the Dragon update
Called the Year of the Dragon episode, the update contains 15 brand new festive levels, fills with fireworks and lanterns to set you into the CNY mood. In the update too, the Mighty Eagle is transformed into the fearsome Mighty Dragon. And guess what, the Mighty Dragon is available for free throughout this episode!
Here’s some screenshots on the Year of the Dragon episode of the Angry Birds Seasons.
Angry Birds Seasons - Year of the Dragon update
Angry Birds Seasons - Year of the Dragon update
Angry Birds Seasons - Year of the Dragon update
Angry Birds Seasons - Year of the Dragon update
Angry Birds Seasons - Year of the Dragon update
Check out the game animation as well.
Angry Birds Seasons is free for Android devices, can be downloaded from the Android Market. For iPhone/iPod touch/iPad users, the game can be purchased via iTunes for $0.99. If you have Angry Birds Seasons installed on your device, this new update is free for download.

9 Gameloft iOS Games for 99 cent Only Each!

The popular mobile game developer, Gameloft is joining the Chinese New Year 2012 celebration with their latest CNY Dragon sale. For a limited time only, you can purchase and download 9 of Gameloft’s selected iOS games at $0.99 only!
Chinese New Year 2012 Sale - Gameloft iOS Games at 99 cents
Here’s the list of the 9 game titles :

Nuffnang Premiere Screening – Chronicle

Every kid dreams of waking up one day with superpowers. Don’t deny it, Nuffnangers; we’ve all been there once. But the question remains, how well will we be able to cope with our new powers? Will we use these powers for good, or for evil? We do know for a fact that some of the Nuffies will probably go mad with power (we’re looking at you, intern >=o).
Well, in the latest offering from Twentieth Century Fox, Chronicle, we actually see three boys stumble upon a mysterious substance and gain superpowers. The movie chronicles (see what we did there? ;P) the journey of their lives as it takes a turn for the extraordinary. Will they use their powers for good, or will they eventually be corrupted by the evil lure of power?
Synopsis: New technologies and social communities allow us to record, post and comment on every second of our lives, sharing our every emotion and opinion with the world, no matter how mundane.
For three high school classmates who suddenly gain superpowers from a mysterious substance, the chronicle of their ordinary lives is about to take on extraordinary turn. Initially they use their powers to play innocent pranks on each other and people around them, but soon they gain confidence and learn to control their powers better to take on more difficult tasks.
Their newfound sense of immortality and impunity will force them to evaluate their own morality to ultimately decide where to draw the line about how far they should go.

Shot in the found footage format (ala Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield), Chronicle is a movie you must not miss. It gives rise to the question of how three ordinary teens (Michael B. Jordan, Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell) deal with an extraordinary power, slowly evolving from innocent pranks to full out destruction.

Thanks to Twentieth Century Fox, 20 lucky Nuffnangers will have the opportunity to catch Chronicle one day before its official premiere in Malaysia! Details of the screening are as below:
Date: 31st January 2012 (Tuesday)
Time: 9.30pm
Venue: Cathay Cineplex, e@Curve

Getting excited yet? No? Here’s the trailer to further give you the awesome perspective of having superpowers.
To be one of the 20 lucky Nuffnangers, just answer the following question in the comments below.
“If you are given the choice one of the superpowers – telekinesis, flight or invulnerability, which would you choose and why?” Would you choose telekinesis just to play pranks with people? Or would you decide to choose the power of flight because flying is just SO AWESOME? The 20 most creative comments will win a pair of exclusive tickets to watch Chronicle!
So hurry, Nuffnangers! Choose your superpowers and win your tickets before someone teleports it away from you. (Yes we’re still looking at you, intern!) =)
Terms & Conditions
1. This contest is open to Glitterati Nuffnangers only.
2. Your blog URL must be stated in your comment.
3. The first batch of invites will be sent out latest by 24 January 2012 and RSVPs will be required. Failure to RSVP will result in invites being revoked and passed on to the next in line.
4. Screening tickets are not for resale to other parties.

10,000 Steps A Day

We’re not sure how many of you Nuffnangers exercise on a regular basis (we Nuffies sure don’t do it regularly enough :P) but we’re sure you must walk to get around. We don’t have hovercrafts or moving travelators like in the Jetsons. Most of us have to do it Flintstones style. YABADABADOO!
Here’s a fun fact about walking: 40 years ago, the Japanese people came up with a brilliant idea that walking 10,000 steps a day will help you keep fit and healthy without the need for additional exercise. What this means is that between the first few sleepy steps to the bathroom in the morning, to the tired slump as we crawl into bed at night, we should have walked 10,000 steps.
If you’re good in Math, you might have calculated that 10,000 steps is roughly about 8 kilometres. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? Walking is in itself quite difficult and to walk 8km a day, WHEW! Just reading that makes a person feel tired! :P
But how about if we turn 10,000 steps into time? Using Math (again), we calculated that if you walk one kilometre in about 12 minutes at a decent pace, we could easily walk a bit slower and still do a kilometre in 15 minutes. So, by using this calculation, you could walk the whole 10,000 steps within 2 hours! That makes it sound so much easier, right? :D
But wait, there’s even better news! Since we have to walk to move around, most of us walk around 4,000-6,000 steps a day without even thinking about it. Even the laziest of us who sit at desk all day (like us Nuffies) do around 2,000. One thing’s for sure; you won’t know how many extra steps you should be taking, unless you know how many you’re already walking.
If you think you’re a few steps short of 10,000, try the following list to help you fulfill your quota of steps:
• Park at the far end of the car park
• Don’t go round the shopping centre or supermarket in a logical order, you’ll be amazed how far you can walk going back and forth
• Take the stairs instead of the lift or escalator
• Give the dog an extra 5 minutes on his walk
• Stop emailing colleagues in the same office, instead go over and talk to them (how we wish we could do this at our Nuffnang office…)
• Go for a walk during your lunch break, walk to get your lunch or to find somewhere to eat your lunch
• Get up and do something, run up and down the stairs, for example during TV ads
• Walk to the corner shop instead of driving or popping in on your way home
• Get friends and family out of the house for a long, long walk
Okay. Now that you’ve reached the end of this post, please stand up and go take a long walk at your local park, or even a shopping mall. Like Confucius once said, 10,000 steps begins with a single step. Okay, we may have paraphrased a little. So, work those legs and walk, walk, walk! For more information about walking 10,000 steps a day, do visit http://gayahidupsihat.my.
Happy walking, Nuffnangers! :D

Living a Healthy Lifestyle

We’re sure that many of you stopped by the nearest nasi lemak stall this morning and ordered a nasi lemak tambah sambal sotong dan kari ayam for breakfast. For lunch, you probably enjoyed a wantan mee. And more often than not, you probably drove out to eat lunch. For some reason, we love to drive, even if it is just to the nearby shops for…well, a very delicious meal of char koay teow. To get around, most Malaysians take a few steps, get into their car and drive to their destination. Repeat for maximum unhealthiness.
But do you know what this kind of lifestyle does to your body? Well, let’s just say it’s not good. You may feel fine after eating an entire thosai soaked in oil but in the long run, these unhealthy foods coupled with lack of exercise will take a toll on your body. We’re not trying to scare you but heart problems, obesity and diabetes are some of the diseases which will eventually lead us down a road called death.
The most important thing is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It’s easier said than done. This is why it is advisable for Malaysians to walk a minimum of 10,000 steps a day instead of driving around. For comparison, 10,000 steps is like walking around the entire Mid Valley and Gardens combined. It’s may sound difficult but many of us can spend an entire day in the shopping mall without realizing it. If we walk, not only will we be able to keep a healthy exercise regime, traffic jams around the city will almost certainly be cut down. As the saying goes: no pain, no gain.
The second, and probably the most difficult, way to keep healthy is to cut down on intake of salty, oily and sugary foods. In Malaysia, it is especially difficult because the most delicious food we have usually fall under these 3 categories. But eating healthily does not mean totally living on a diet of fruits and vegetables. We can still enjoy the occasional satay, or a delicious plate of char koay teow. But as always, eat in moderation. Don’t gorge yourself with unhealthy food every single day. Not even exercise can save you then.
Use the food pyramid below to help you eat right and eat healthy.

Image via
Of course, we’re not the only ones who support living a healthy lifestyle. Celebrities are firm supporters of healthy living, as evidenced by their good looks and great bodies. One such celebrity is Fahrin Ahmad, who will be providing tips on how he stays fit and active for his photoshoots and movies. These are the tips you don’t want to miss if you want to look like the amazing Fahrin! =)
For more information, check out www.gayahidupsihat.my. Remember, eat healthy and always exercise to live a healthy lifestyle.

Volkswagen UP


These are the first official pictures of the new five-door VW up! – and the more practical sister car to the three-door city car is set to make its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March.


Volkswagen says that it’s due to hit UK dealers in the second half of this year, so you should see it on sale around September. There was little official information about the new car, but it’s expected to cost around £400 more than the three-door, which means prices will start at £8,395.


VW claims the new five-door model will account for half of all up! sales, too. It’s expected to sit on exactly the same wheelbase as the three-door, with no major increase in dimensions.


Under the bonnet is the same choice of 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engines as the three-door, with 59bhp or 74bhp. There will be a road tax-exempt 99g/km car, too, while VW says it’ll offer the same special editions, including colour-coded black and white launch models.

Apple’s Earnings, Sales and Revenue Figures. What does it all mean?


Apple concluded its Q4 financial report earlier this morning and as usual, the numbers are phenomenal. What makes the figures even more amazing is that they surpass even the most optimistic of estimates affirming Apple’s position as the largest technology company by market value in the world.
Apple sold 15.4 million iPads and a staggering 37 million iPhones, making the last quarter its best ever. These are certainly impressive numbers but what does it all mean? Let’s put these figures into perspective.
Market value of almost $400 billion
Apple is hovering just a whisker off its record high. Many on Wall Street target $550 to $600 per share as an achievable milestone: assuming no change in existing shares, that would accord the Silicon Valley titan a value of as much as $560 billion, equivalent to the annual Gross Domestic Product of Switzerland.
Exxon has a market value of $420 billion, annual revenue about four times Apple’s and twice the tech company’s roughly 46,000 employees.
Revenue grew 65% from US$43 billion to US$108.25 billion in fiscal year 2011
That is akin to creating a Fortune 500 company from scratch. For instance, a revenue of precisely $43 billion would place the company below Intel Corp and Sears Holdings Corp – 56th and 57th, respectively, on the 2011 U.S. Fortune 500.
Near $100 billion cash reserve
One of the reasons Apple’s shares trade at a relatively low multiple is because it has huge amounts of cash that investors say can be put to better use. Its cash balance stood at $97.6 billion at the end of December, roughly equivalent to California’s 2012/13 state budget
Apple’s $13 billion profits surpassed Google’s entire revenue of $10.6 billion. Apple’s profits for 2011 exceed Google’s revenue in the same period.
iPad
Apple sold more iPads than HP sold personal computers – 15.4 million iPads versus by Gartner’s estimates of 14.7 million HP computers sold
iPhone
iPhone sales double with every new model:
In 2009, Apple sold more iPhones than it did in 2007 and 2008 combined
In 2010, Apple sold more iPhones than it did in 2007, 2008, and 2009 combined
In 2011, Apple sold 93.1 million iPhones, slightly more than it did in in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 combined
It is estimated that Apple has surpassed Samsung’s smartphone sales figures, with 37 million iPhones sold versus an estimated 35 million Samsung smartphones sold in the same period. This puts Apple back in top spot as the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.
Apple sold 92.94 million iPhones and 40.43 million tablets in the 2011 calendar year. If you laid these devices end-to-end, they would just about stretch halfway around the Earth’s circumference that’s over 20 million kilometres.

Sony Xperia S


We’re bringing this topic back because we felt there’s something not quite right with the sample shots we took from the Xperia S at the APAC launch in Shanghai earlier this month.

With the 12MP Exmor R camera, you’d expect the Xperia S to decimate the competition but once again pixel count is by no means a measurement of how good a camera is. Truth be told, we’re kind of disappointed with the picture quality coming from Xperia S, even in conditions where there’s ample light to produce a good shot you can see a large amount of noise and loss of detail.
We’re perplexed. This is not like the Xperias that we know. The arc, arc S and ray all have decent shooters and naturally we’d assume that the Xperia S will continue where the older Xperias left off. Turns out, this is not the case. Having said that, we only had limited time with the Xperia S at the launch, we’ll test the camera again once we get a review unit.


Pictures taken using Xperia S at Shanghai [via]
Sample 1

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Sample 1 100% Crop

Sample 2

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Sample 3

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Sample 4

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Pictures taken using Xperia S at CES [via]
Sample 1

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Sample 1 100% Crop

Sample 2

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Sample 2 100% Crop

Sample 3

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Sample 3 100% Crop

Sample 4

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Sample 4 100% Crop

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