WIF-KL 2013 @ Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre !

The World Innovation Forum - Kuala Lumpur 2013 (WIF-KL 2013) is a premier annual event on innovation, jointly organised by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and the Malaysian Innovation Foundation/Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia (YIM). I'm flattered to be invited to join the grand event as a media by SocialGrooves.com, where I learnt a lot on how to be innovative from the talks and exhibition.

Check out the amount of delegates attended from local and around the world! More than 1500 delegates from over 25 countries are expected to participate in the forum!

YB Datuk Dr. Ewon Ebin officiated the WIF-KL 2013 opening ceremony by signing on the screen.

After the opening ceremony has ended, YB Datuk Dr. Ewon Ebin and the media went down to the exhibition hall to check out the booths. The exhibition hall is filled with many innovation that benefit human's lives. YB enjoyed looking at demonstration performed by the participant of the exhibition, a prove that the exhibition is fun filled too!

YB trying out the purified water!

A device that will alert the owner of the car if the car has been stolen!

Clothes made of bamboo. They are claimed to be eco-friendly, easy to clean, odourless and comfortable. Interesting!

What an innocent looking robot with cool dance move! It reminds me of Honda's ASIMO robot!

One of the oversea delegates having a body checkup by KPJ.

Printis, a Lego-like game. A model of windmill and KLCC are built out of Printis!

This is my favourite innovation where many people looked at this innovative machine inquisitively. Yes, it's a pizza vending machine! Choose the type of pizza you like, pay and voilla! Your pizza is hot from the oven, in this case, vending machine!

This reminds me of my collegemate's final year project! We must make full use of the solar energy, a renewable energy.

Renowned speakers such as Göran Persson (former Prime Minister of Sweden), Mark Gallagher (Grand Prix Motor Racing Boss) and Sugata Mitra (global education superstar) are invited to give a speech in the forum. One of the speakers mentioned that Tesla is a car manufacturer that is an example of innovation. This is because Tesla does not have an outside dealer like other car manufacturers. 

It's an eye opener to see the door gift for members of the media is a bag made of discarded banners and car seatbelts! Open the bag up and it can be used to hold envelops and even small plants! Suits well to the idea of innovation and creativity!

One of the presenters, Jason Lo (CEO of Tune Talk) remarked that if we have an innovative product, make sure we patent it and then use social media to look for investor. I think it's a great advice for young entrepreneurs! Hopefully we'll be able to see more innovation products and ideas in the next WIF-KL so that it can inspire more people to be more innovative. No wonder my lecturer highly recommended us to attend the WIF-KL exhibition last year to get some inspiration for our final year project!

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DiGi - Samsung Galaxy S4 & HTC One

I'm sure many of you would know that the latest Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One have come to town! While many will be rushing off to purchase them, why not take a look at DiGi's deals for both smartphones??!! GET MORE, SPEND LESS!!

Now you can get the latest Samsung Galaxy S4 with DG SmartPlan from as low as RM1,199! Official Samsung Galaxy S4 launch is 27 April, DiGi Store at Sunway Pyramid from 10am. Device bundle with new DG SmartPlan that offers all-in-one plan with up to 6GB, 600 mins and 600 sms, and 'Discover millions of songs with DEEZER' for free!

The Galaxy S4 has been laden with plenty great features that make our lives easier - Air Gesture, 13MP camera etc. I've been very amazed with the dual shot feature in the S4! Imagine capturing a scene of the Alps together with a smaller photo of yourself in the same photo!

You can head to digi.com.my/samsung for more info about the plans and pricing!

*** ***

Second device from the DG SmartPlan list would be the new HTC One! An aluminium unibody gives the HTC One an exquisite quality feel to the touch as well as to the sight. What's better is that you can get one with the DG SmartPlan from as low as RM1,269!

Similar to the Galaxy S4, the HTC One bundle with new DG SmartPlan that offers all-in-one plan with up to 6GB, 600 mins and 600 sms, plus free music with DEEZER! One of the best features of the HTC One would be the front mounted stereo speakers with BoomSound tech, crispy clear audio transmitted directly to your direction!

Please visit digi.com.my/htc for more info on the plans and pricing.

*This is a sponsored post.

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FOBO Tag launch event @ MIDA KL !

Hmm... What does that small-ish, blue-ish and UFO-ish device has to do with an iPhone? That roundish device is called FOBO Tag, it's a Bluetooth device that help you monitor your belongings and loved ones by working together with the smartphone application.

I was invited to the FOBO Tag launch event in Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), KL. The event started off with speeches by Datuk Noharuddin Nordin (top), CEO of MIDA followed by Mr. James Lim, CEO of Balda Solutions Malaysia Sdn. Bhd (bottom).

After the speeches and launching, introduction has been made to further explain about the FOBO Tag. There are 3 main functions available in the FOBO Tag:

• PromptME
• Don't MoveME
• FindME

By using Don't MoveME, you can hang the FOBO Tag on your house's door to notify you about unauthorised entry:

Or put it on your bicycle to notify you when someone moved it!

Parents can also let their children to wear a wristband containing the FOBO Tag. By using PromptME, the app will notify them when their children got out of range or entering the range!

Finding the FOBO Tag in a house could be tricky when you misplaced it. Thankfully, there's a FindME function to locate the missing FOBO Tag!

Car can also be located in an open car park area, where the FOBO Tag app will pinpoint the location of your car in the iOS Map!

Ok girls, stop staring at the handsome guy......

Fine, you can take a few more look of the handsome guy in this video! The video will help you understand the features of FOBO Tag better:

FOBO Tag requires coin cell battery to operate, battery life can last for a year and it is user replaceable!

6 vibrant colours to be chosen from!

Right now, FOBO Tag can be operated with iOS devices (iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, New iPad etc.) only. Android users, fred not! FOBO Tag is coming your way soon!

After downloading the app, you just have to sign up for an account and attach your FOBO Tag into the app by scanning the QR code! It's just that easy!

Right after that, you can start using your FOBO Tag for all sorts of purposes! I can't wait to try it out in open air car park space as well as airport luggage!

For more info about the FOBO Tag, please visit:
www.my-fobo.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/fobomy

http://www.facebook.com/pages/FOBO-Wireless-Tag-Bluetooth-Smart/233151600152298

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Review: iPhone 5

Apple iPhone 5, a highly anticipated smartphone in literally every country in the world, was unveiled in Malaysia on December 2012. However, many criticised that iPhone 5 is not doing enough in terms of size and features to compete in the strong high-end smartphone market. There's a saying, "An Apple a day keeps the doctor away", so I guess an Apple product won't do more harm than good, right?


Exterior

Somehow the engineers working in Apple were able to decrease the thickness and weight of each successive generation of iPhone! At 7.6mm thick, iPhone 5 is the thinnest smartphone at the time of its launch. It weighs 112 grams, I compared with 4S and noticed the iPhone 5 is much lighter.

The only dimension increased is the height, now fits 5 rows of icon in the 4-inch screen instead of 4 rows in the iPhone 4S' 3.5-inch screen. However, the width of the iPhone 5 did not increase compared to its predecessor. I believe a slightly wider screen would provide better browsing experience. Note the speaker located at the bottom side of the phone, it is not the optimum position where your hand might block the speaker while holding the phone.

Aluminium back body is smooth to the touch! Has more upmarket and solid feel compared to the plastic back cover of some of its competitors.

iPhone 5 VS. New iPad / iPad 3 in terms of size!

Charger

Changing from the 30-pin connector to 8-pin lightning connector is a huge welcome! Lightning connector is more compact and can be inserted regardless of sides!

Camera

 The same but improved 8 megapixels iSight camera found in 4S made its way into iPhone 5. Now with improve low light performance, faster shutter speed and built-in panorama mode of up to 240 degrees! Video recording is in 1080p HD, but the only downside is the video can't be zoomed-in during video recording.

Somehow the longer screen of the iPhone 5 enable us to take photos of longer or higher objects compared to iPhone 4S!

HDR effect of Chin Swee Temple in Genting!

I'm impressed with the front camera's performance! The front camera can also take 6 person sitting in a row easily!

 Superb close-up shot of marmite chicken!

 However, the location of the camera lens is placed a bit near to the edge of the phone to my liking. People who are not used to it tends to have their fingers blocking a part of the photo they had captured!

Siri

Now Siri understand few more languages (including Mandarin!) compared to iPhone 4S. Unfortunately, Siri doesn't perform well in Malaysia as its database is equipped mostly with other countries' information (restaurant, sports etc.).

Game

Gaming wise, the new A6 chip provides a smooth gaming experience! Playing one of my favourite games, Real Racing 3 on iPhone 5 is smoother than iPad 3!

Conclusion

iPhone 5 is another well made Apple product. It has a sense of solidity and smoothness of processor that few can match. However, there are still room for improvement, especially with its screen size where most of its competitors are equipped with at least a 5-inch screen.

+ Performance, front camera, solid built, lightning adapter.
- Should have wider screen, position of rear camera and speaker.

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GAME: Axiata Cup 2013: Up Your Game

If you are using iPhone, Android or even BlackBerry smartphone, GOOD NEWS! In conjunction with Axiata Cup which is happening between 21st March to 14th April 2013, a free-to-be-downloaded Axiata Cup app has been released to give you the latest updates and also comes with a built-in game to be played with! 

As you can see from below, the Axiata Cup app can be used to check for updates or news on the matches. You can also win your own Axiata Cup via the game inside the app! Best of all, the matches can be streamed live on your phone or tablet! Thus, you can watch the Axiata Cup at ANYWHERE, ANYTIME (provided that your telco 'behaves') !

You can also play with the game - Up Your Game! It's a sports game whereby you have to flick the shuttlecock over the net to gain points. Different skill shots (far shot, smash etc.) used will garner you more points!

You can also hold the shuttlecock for a prolonged period of time to gain bonus points!
However, you'll only get 3 chances/lives per game. One is deducted when a shuttlecock falls off the screen of your device. :(

The main killer - BOMBS! The game will end immediately if you touched a bomb, regardless of how many lives you have left! Bombs will appear randomly in any direction, so be vigilant!!!

Try to beat my highscore of 3015! Best of luck! :P

Axiata Cup: Up Your Game is fun and addictive, and is fairly easy to be mastered by beginners. It certainly had grown in me! I can't stop trying to break my previous highscore now! Now will you excuse me, I got to go break my highscore again!

Let's download the app today! Download links:

iPhone: http://bit.ly/iosaxiatacup
Android: http://bit.ly/axiatacup
BlackBerry: http://bit.ly/BBaxiatacup

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WeChat Media Launch @ Neverland Club !

I believe most of the smartphone users know about a famous app called WeChat! With "The new way to connect" as its tagline, WeChat offers a variety of communication such as video call, messaging, group chat and voice chat with your friends, family or love one. Anyway, WeChat organised a media launch party in Neverland Club, Kuala Lumpur and I was there!

The event was like a huge bloggers gathering, we get to have fun while catching up with each other! Attendees were able to join a group chat where the contents of our chats will be displayed on the huge screen! Unfortunately I don't have data plan on my phone or else, I would join in the fun too!

Elywn, Henry, Joel and me! Credits to Clevermunkey.com

By the way, a good thing about WeChat is that it is available on Symbian devices too! I can use WeChat with my Symbian Nokia smartphone!

The night started with speech by Mr. Poshu Yeung, the Vice President of Tencent Holidays Limited.

Then the rocking dance group!

WeChat officially debuted its Bahasa Malaysia TVC, featuring two of its ambassadors Lisa Surihani and Shaheizy Sam.

Vivian 蔡忆雯 took over the stage! She has lovely and soothing voice!

The energetic Henley 许亮宇 joined Vivian for a performance!

Awi Rafael was one of the performers of the night too!

Deejay in the house!!

There were two round of contests where participants won great prizes including a grand prize of an iPad!

WeChat is a mobile phone text and voice messaging communication service developed by Tencent in China, available in iOS, Android, Symbian, Windows Phone and BlackBerry. WeChat is supported on Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G data network.

Website: http://www.wechat.com/en/

*This is a sponsored post.

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