Merdeka is just around the corner, and despite everything that is going on, a true blue Malaysian will say that we still hold our country very close to our hearts and National Day is the perfect day to declare that.

Saya anak Malaysia is a phrase that we Malaysians are familiar with, but what does that mean to us? Is it our love for nasi lemak? Is it our bahasa rojak? We believe that everyone has a different interpretation of being Malaysian, and sometimes all we need to prove our Malaysian-ness is six little words.

What:

Vulcan Post is looking for someone who knows how to express their Malaysian-ness in just 6 words. Join the challenge and stand a chance to be one of three winners and get your hands on some amazing prizes.

Prizes:

We know how much Malaysians love their prizes, so we put together an fantastic package that covers food, drinks, transportation, fashion, and entertainment! Each of the 3 winners will receive:

• RM20 Chatime cash voucher
• RM50 worth of Uber credits
• RM50 worth of Foodpanda cash vouchers
• RM150 worth of Zalora vouchers
• A pair of TGV Cinemas IMAX movie tickets

How to win:

1. Tell us about what makes you Malaysian in the comments section below. It can be funny, heartfelt, loving, or serious, up to you!

2. But here’s the catch: stories must be only six words long. Or rather, six words short. An example would be:

“Anneh, teh tarik satu, tambah ais!”

“Sorry late ah, traffic jam lor.”

3. Keep your entries clean and hate-free (we have enough negativity going around as it is)!

4. We will select 3 winning entries based on creativity, originality, and Malaysian-ness.

5. You can submit multiple entries and increase your chances of getting selected as one of the winners (you can only win once).

When?

1. Submit your six-word story to us in the comments section below, anytime between the 13th of August to the 27th of August.

2. Winners will be revealed on the 28th of August on Vulcan Post.

So have fun, let the creative juices flow, and share the feels! Malaysia boleh!

Also Read: 5 Things We Malaysians Need For The Ultimate Home Theatre Experience

This article originally appeared on Vulcan Post. 

The Crystal Jade group of restaurants have been as commonplace to Singaporeans as the next Ya Kun or 7-Eleven, but there’s so much about it that we don’t know. The restaurant chain serving Chinese cuisine was founded in 1991, but began facing financial troubles in 1992. Ip Yiu Tung, a Hong Kong businessman who eventually became a Singapore PR, decided to invest $2 million in the business, taking a 49% stake in the company and becoming chairman in the process. (Source)

Just last year, it reported an annual revenue of close to $250 million, and was acquired by L Capital Asia, the private equity arm of French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy). In an emotional interview with The Straits Times, Ip shared that he had sold all his shares to the company.

This was reported and discussed by popular food blogger Daniel’s Food Diary last year, when the news broke. But just today, he revealed another piece of information about the ex-chairman that will melt your hearts. Posting a screenshot of a Facebook post by the son of an ex-Crystal Jade employee, he shared a single act of kindness and gratitude often unseen in billionaire businessmen.

The rough translation of Daniel’s Food Diary’s post reads as such:

My mother has worked for 10 years with Crystal Jade. Today, she received the message to make a trip down to the Vivocity branch….

Basically, after many years of negotiation, Crystal Jade was finally sold for a hundred US million dollars.

But what I did not expect was for Mr Ip to return the money back to the old employees who worked with Crystal Jade throughout the years.

It will be sensitive for me to reveal the exact amount as staff gets different sums based on seniority and position. In short, they each received an amount equivalent to several months of bonuses.

He did not need to do that. Because no one would expect that, especially after the company has already been acquired.

Your former boss returning to give you money and appreciation.

Such a businessman, which values relationship with staff, is worthy of our admiration and respect. Really.”

That act of gratitude and respect he extended to his employees is touching, more so because employees that have helped a company grow are often forgotten once it has attained success. Many remember the name of the entrepreneur that believed it possible; hardly anyone remembers the men and women in the team who made it so.

Image Credit: btinvest.com.sg

In his time as chairman of the Crystal Jade group, Mr. Ip has grown to care for and love his company as a “father”, according to his interview with The Straits Times.

“I actually cried when I announced (the acquisition) to my people on Tuesday,” he said.

Mr. Ip sets an example to many successful Singapore-based entrepreneurs who now are attaining success on the world stage. As Kennedy once said: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” I think Mr. Ip understood that.

Also Read: Jeraldine Phneah On The ‘B’ Word & Being Successful In The Blogosphere

Malaysia Independence Day has been celebrated every year on August 31 for 58 years. It’s a day for every Malaysian to get together and stay united with pride.

Discovery Networks Asia Pacific will be broadcasting 5 new shows in conjunction of Hari Merdeka to showcase the uniqueness of Malaysia to every Malaysian from August 17.

1. Life In The Great Wetlands

Channel: Animal Planet (Astro Channel 556)

When: August 18 (Tuesday) at 9pm & September 5 (Saturday) at 8pm

Over the years the Sabah region has undergone rapid economic expansion that involves logging operations and plantations, the great wetland zone of Kinabatangan offers a palette of diverse habitats to the remaining representatives of endangered species. Therefore the last forest rhinoceroses, orangutans and the surprising pygmy elephants must continually adapt to the whims of the water cycle. Life in the Great Wetlands is about discovering the exciting nature and diversity Kinabatangan.

2. Meet the Orangutans

Channel: Animal Planet (Astro Channel 556)

When: Monday from August 24 – September 14 at 9:30pm

Meet the Orangutans allows you to have a peek into the daily drama of the world’s oldest orangutan sanctuary, Sepilok.

Led by by Orangutan Fairy Godmother, Sue Sheward, a dedicated team of vets, nurses, rangers and volunteers has just one aim: To return their endangered young charges to the wild. But before they can do that, they need to complete up to seven years of Forest School to learn all the skills they would have learned from their mothers—what to eat; how to socialize; nest-building and, most crucially for an ape that spends 90% of its life in the trees, how to climb.

3. Revealed – Perak: Malaysia’s Abode of Grace

Channel: Animal Planet (Astro Channel 551)

When: September 16 (Wednesday) at 9pm

Image Credit: The Star Online

The show is about the coronation ceremony of His Royal Highness (HSH) of the 35th ruler of Perak Darul RIdzuan Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin. The 60-minute special will portray the history of Perak and how it played a pivotal role in the story of Malaysia.

Also Read: 30 Years Later, Successful M’sian Man Reunites With Samaritan Who Changed His Life

4. You Have Been Warned With Ean Nasrun

Channel: Discovery (Astro Channel 551)

When: September 9 (Wednesday) at 11:00pm

Image Credit: http://my.asiatatler.com/

The show finds the best science experiments and stunts posted on the Internet and explains the science behind them. You’ve seen these viral videos yourself—people who attach paper aeroplanes to a weather balloon film them in space, or jump from an 11m high platform into 30cm of water.

In this show, Ean Nasrun, a household name in the radio entertainment industry in Malaysia, will look up of these amazing clips and explain the wonderful science behind them.

5. The Food Surprise

Channel: TLC (Astro Channel 707)

When: Wednesday from September 2 – September 16 at 7:00pm

Seetoh, the “guru of grub” and founder of Makansutra KF Seetoh, ambushes his favourite chow spots totally unannounced, unplanned and unscripted, for a food surprise. His journey takes him from North Malaysia in Penang, through Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, a tiny seaside town Sekinchan all the way to Johor Bharu.

Watch him get thrown out, turned away in style, and receive an earful from the owner of a coffeeshop. Now that’s a good TV show for Maaysians—glorious food with drama.

Also Read: 5 Things We Malaysians Need For The Ultimate Home Theatre Experience

Two Dots — available on the App Store and Google Play — is probably one of the most popular puzzle games there is (barring the unbeatable Candy Crush). The sequel to Dots, the game’s objective is to meet level-specific quotas by clearing multi-coloured dots off a board; a goal that is harder than it seems. With various stages of gruelling mind-busters, it’s bound to burn hours of your day, and is quite honestly the perfect game for travelling.

Here are some pro tips for surviving — and maybe acing — Two Dots.

1. Squares Are The Ultimate Goal

This is the first point because it’s the golden rule. You might have come across many connect-the-dots or connect-three games in the past, but this isn’t like those games. The aim of Two Dots may seem to be about clearing the board, but it’s not. It’s about getting as many squares as possible.

What makes the squares — technically four dots connected in a square formation — so powerful is that when connected, they will clear all dots of the same colour. This will help you meet your colour quota, and possibly spark off a chain of square formations that you can get rid of.

Longer is not better

While you may occasionally see long chains of dots that you can eliminate, and even get feedback from the game music that such chains of colours are a great thing, they often aren’t. These long chains will seem to help you reach your colour goals, but in fact keep you from the actual way of winning — squares.

That’s why your strategy needs to be adjusted to seek out — and eliminate — squares.

The Almost-Square

The almost-square formations are great opportunities to form squares, so training your eyes to spot these formations will help your game immensely. The most common near-square formations include the hamburger and the chair — both a single move away from becoming a square.

The “Hamburger”

The “Chair”

2. Bomb Away

If you’re really stuck in the game, you might want to consider making a bomb. To do so, make a square around a different coloured dot. This will turn that dot into a bomb that will clear and collect the dots around that. This is great for collecting a few dots, and resetting the board to make new moves when you’re almost running out.

3. Start off on the right foot

The one thing that keeps you from playing Two Dots for hours and hours is that you’re given only five lives. The moment you run out of moves and aren’t able to complete a level, you lose a life. If you restart a level, you lose a life. If you quit a level half-way through, you will also lose a life.

Each life takes 20 minutes to regenerate, and you honestly don’t have time for that.

But there is a way to cheat the system to make sure that you have unlimited restart options without losing a single life — and that is by quitting the game even before you’ve made a single move. The moment you’re presented with a level, and you don’t see a square or any viable moves, just go to settings and exit to map. You can then re-enter the level without losing a single life.

Don’t try to completely turn the game off by closing the app — I tried, it doesn’t work.

Image Credit: withoutthesarcasm.com

The only time this won’t work is in the earlier stages, when some levels have a set pattern to meet. As you progress, the levels will become completely randomised, making it possible for you to get a lucky break — or in this case, make your own luck. As a rule of thumb, try to restart the level this way before you actually begin to play the level. The first move sets the tone to the whole game — make it count.

4. Know your obstacles

Squares are the ultimate goal, but as you progress, you will face new obstacles. You will be presented with special dots designed to get in your way and make your life much harder.

Anchors: Black dots with an anchor symbol on them, which can only be removed from the board by dropping them at the bottom of the page. Levels with anchors come with an anchor quota to clear, so you may have to set aside your square dreams for this one.

Image Credit: App Store

Pro Tip: Make sure that there are no single coloured dots below the anchors. They’re impossible to clear and will determine whether or not you make the anchor quota.

Ice Blocks: These are dots encased in ice, and can only be removed when the dots within them have been cleared three times. Squares and bombs are the most effective at removing them, so make sure you start these levels with a strong square advantage.

Monsters: Little dots that legitimately look like evil creatures that will eat away at other dots if you don’t connect them to their respective colours. They’re like double-edged swords: they can clear useless dots, but are impossible to control.

Some levels, regardless of whether they have ice blocks or anchors, may be arranged so that dots don’t fall vertically down, but diagonally — this may screw with the way you’ve understood the game completely.

5. Slow and Steady (but not too slow)

With the game counting every move you make, it’s obvious that each step is crucial. A wrong one could cost you a few extra moves to fix your problem, and either rob you of a three star game or end your run completely.

So take advantage of the fact that there aren’t any timers calculating the amount of time you’re spending on each level, and take your own sweet time. For more accuracy and to prevent making stupid mistakes, play on an iPad or with a stylus, and try to avoid playing with your (fat) thumb, which only obstructs your view of the dots.

Image Credit: WithoutTheSarcasm.Com

The one occasion when time will not be in your favour is when they introduce fire, which can only be put out if you clear the dots next to it. Left unattended, they will spread to consume other dots. However, don’t panic, and keep an eye out for squares, or you may be left with a terrible board once the fire’s been put out.

6. Start from the bottom, now ya here

As with any connect-the-dots game that came before Two Dots, the age-old rule to playing the game effectively is to always play from the bottom of the page. This will not only have the biggest impact on reshuffling dots, but also make the game move faster, leaving more room for fresh dots and possible combos to come into the game.

7. When in doubt, power up

Two Dots has in-game purchases, which come in several forms to up your game. They will gift you with these power-ups through the game and as a daily gift for returning to the app (congratulations). With time and perseverance, you can store many of these power ups without paying a single cent, which I would recommend for the more thrifty among us.

Shufflers

Shufflers are exactly what you think they are: utilising one will cause all the dots on the board to reshuffle, possibly creating new moves for you. The success of shufflers are based on luck, but they are also one of the cheapest in-game purchases around.

Be warned: fire and ice blocks don’t get shuffled, so don’t bother trying.

Booster Boxes

These booster boxes come with several abilities, but which ability gets employed depends, again, on your luck. That said, most of them are great: you might be able to change all the dots on the board to a single colour, or plant dynamites, which will clear one colour off the board.

Erasers

As you play, there’ll be times when you just have that one annoying extra dot that stands in the way of you getting a square. That’s when an eraser will come in handy — just select it and tap the dot you want to disappear. They are one of the most useful, but also the most expensive, so use them sparingly.

8. Force a shuffle

If you find that you have no opportunities to make squares or are stuck, and the idea of actually paying for in-app purchases is just blasphemy, then you can sacrifice a few moves to force a shuffle. The board will automatically shuffle once there are no moves available, which may save you a shuffle power-up and possibly create new combos.

9. Try, try, try again

The most annoying part of Two Dots is exactly what makes it so addictive: harder levels are almost always based on luck. So don’t lose heart, take a break, and just keep trying. It’s more a game of perseverance than skill, and at the end of all the levels, you will be rewarded for your patience.

If clearing all levels of a mobile game is considered a reward, that is.

Also Read: How To Be A Pro At Crossy Road, The Game With The Cutest Pixelated Roadkill

While K-pop stars often receive much flak from Malaysian authorities for their very “Christian” agendas, we have to admit that they are indeed loved and cherished dearly by their Malaysian fans.

As a fan, you may have gone to numerous concerts, checked out piles of videos on YouTube, read countless number of articles both online and in magazines, you might have left a string of comments on their social media pages to show both support and solidarity but you may have realised that you’re still missing the opportunity to truly connect with your favourite K-pop Star.

And now there’s a newer way through which you can connect with your favourite K-pop celebrity or band.

You can connect with them through ‘V’.

Image Credit: V

V isn’t just a letter but it is a live-streaming app developed by a Korean company called NAVER and it features the hottest K-pop stars—all for you to connect with. Groups like Big Bang, SM Town, Infinite, Kara, GOT7 and Girls Day, among others, use V to connect exclusively with their biggest fans.

Also Read: Anonymous Malaysia Threatens Internet Warfare This August 29 and 30

Unlike Twitter’s Periscope

The app allows K-pop celebrities to create an account and then connect with their fans through live broadcasts. Think of Twitter’s Periscope—only much different.

While anyone can create an account on Periscope and start broadcasting the world around them in real time, only your favourite K-pop celebrities are able to do so on V. They create an account that you can follow them and see the lives of your idols unfold in front of your eyes.

Well, that’s not all.

Image Credit: App Store

The difference also lies in the type of content that’s featured on the app. Special Live features videos of concerts and other events; while App Live allows the celebrities to use the app as an avenue to discuss topics around education, personal counseling or even beauty and cooking; or they can opt to offer their fans with a sneak peek into their daily lives, otherwise known as Spot Live.

V also has an on-air lineup that features different bands and groups. They recently featured a live concert of Big Bang on the 4th of August and live shows of Seungri and Taeyang (members of Big Bang) will be aired soon.

V lets you check out special showcase videos and discover fun and genuine aspects of your favourite K-pop star that you may have never found out. The app also gives you an opportunity to comment and to give them “hearts” and you can be sure that they will see them.

In return for your dedication towards your idol, V will reward you with Chemi-beat (chemistry beat). It’s a way through which V identifies just how much you follow a given celeb. The more content you watch, the more you’re rewarded.

The live-streaming app was just released on the 10th of August and so far the reviews from users have been generally positive. Other than the need to fix their English subtitles, V gives loyal fans an opportunity to connect to their Korean celebrities in a more intimate way—and that’s better than desperately trying to get their attention during a concert.

Image Credit: En.korea.com

You can download the app on both iOS and Android.

Also Read: This Startup Launched By 2 Female Globetrotters Might Just Dethrone Travel Companies

After developing an app packed with a treasure trove of information on bars, pubs and restaurants in Singapore, husband-and-wife team Daniel and Marie Toloko are back with another new product in an entirely different niche: a fashion app that gives users honest feedback on their outfits.

Called Pick My Style, their new creation is “a style app that lets you have the second opinion you need, and lets you have fun styling others”. Think of it as asking a bunch of friends to help you pick the perfect dress — only this time round, instead of getting a curt nod in return, you get a ‘Pick This’ or ‘Kick This’.

Image Credit: Pick My Style

If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It

During our interview, Daniel shared, “My wife and co-founder Marie had the idea for Pick My Style so we decided to build it. It’s a common problem that girls and women are indecisive about what to wear, or could use a second opinion. She asks me all the time.”

And it’s not just girls, too: guys can upload pictures of their outfits to gather other users’ opinions, though unsurprisingly, there are significantly fewer male users. Even though I took a considerable amount of time exploring the app, I didn’t stumble on any guys’ outfits. And judging by the design of the app, it’s clear that it is much more female-oriented.

Pick My Style employs a fuss-free approach. Upon registration, users can immediately scroll down their feed and share their two cents via a voting system. After they make their choice, the app will display the respective percentages garnered by each option. If neither styles are to their liking, users can opt to post a trend or fashion find to see if it’s a hit or miss.

Also Read: Singapore App Gotta Have It! Is Giving Out Snacks — For Free

Image Credit: Pick My Style

What’s Brewing

If you’ve already visited the official website or downloaded the style app on your phone, you’d realise that the stock photos look awfully familiar, with the range of designs looking pretty bleak at the moment. And if this frustrates you, don’t worry. Because according to Daniel, new updates are already in the works.

“We have a lot of exciting features coming up. We are currently working on comments and more valuable features in the works for our users.” He continued, “I’ve been in online marketing all my life, and just recently got into mobile apps. Our first project was actually Happyhour.sg, an app that can help you find the best bars and happy hours in Singapore.”

Daniel may be relatively new to the app market, but he certainly has got the expertise to knock Pick My Style out of the park. “The work is never really done. We continuously face different challenges. Initially, it was getting our message and our purpose across. Now that we have a growing number of users, [the]next challenge is to prioritise what features or functions our users really need and want to make it a better and more useful app to them.”

Image Credit: Pick My Style

Verdict: 3.5/5

One thing that surprised me about this app is just how much it helps you learn about yourself — or, more specifically, your personal style. As I scrolled through the feed and came across a vintage-looking skirt, I immediately hit the ‘Picked This’ button. Alas, I found out that 71% of users weren’t fans of it. It definitely made me question my style choice. Do I have debatable fashion taste? It would appear so.

Aside from the unremarkable layout of the app, I really like the concept behind it. I tend to repeat my outfits, so I could see myself using it to reinvent my wardrobe.

Download Pick My Style here (iPhone) or here (Android).

Also Read: This Cool New App Will Remove All Your Embarrassing Posts From The Internet

This article originally appeared on Vulcan Post. 

The heartlands of Singapore are thriving hubs for businesses. Tucked away under HDB flats, or gathering around MRT stations like small shopping utopias, nail salons, barbers, and sundry or clothing stores hawk practically everything Singaporeans need. These businesses, opened by your average heartlanders, are the pride of Singapore’s entrepreneurial spirit.

But with the rise of e-commerce, these businesses are struggling to compete with their online counterparts. Businesses like Carousell are replacing Cash Converters, PurelyFresh your local markets, and even FoodPanda is taking over hawker stalls — if you’re not online, you’re going to miss out. But when most neighbourhood store owners are of the older demographic, how do they compete?

One heartland has seen the threat, and has gone online. A local marketing company Egalite Marketing Private Limited has started a one-of-a-kind community project, OneBedok.Com, that provides heartland businesses in Bedok an online platform to sell their wares. From tech to beauty services, dining to housewares, OneBedok is every Easties’ dream: to shop around your neighbourhood without having to leave your home. At the same time, it offers support to heartland shop owners who may not have the expertise to go online.

To use the website is simple: register for an account on OneBedok, and you can visit the stores for anything you may want, anywhere in Bedok. Bedok is a large place, and the website cleverly sections its large database to map out the various areas in Bedok: Bedok North, Bedok South, Bedok Town Centre, Bedok Reservoir, or Simpang Bedok.

Once you’ve selected the products you want, you can then pay for the goods online, and they will be delivered to anyone living in Bedok — with a mere $1 delivery charge. As long as orders are received before 6am, delivery will take place from 7pm-10pm on the same day.

The Heart in Heartland

With a change as big as this, it’s easy to see the benefits for business owners: it gives local businesses a chance to compete with larger brands on a level playing field.

“On OneBedok.com’s part, they also wanted to provide local heartland shop owners with an equal platform to compete with online e-commerce giants,” shared Egalite Marketing in their press release. “As we all know, these heartland shops are mainly managed by the more senior members of the Bedok community and they have little to no knowledge about e-commerce and how to adapt to the changing retail landscape of new age consumer spending habits and trends.”

Image Credit: OneBedok Facebook

Going online, however, may seem like a huge change to those who’ve grown up in the heartlands, and especially for those who have thrived upon and helped foster the kampong spirit. Does the spread of e-commerce to our local neighbourhood businesses mean the death of the kampong spirit as we know it? What chance will we have, then, to truly know the area we live in?

Perhaps OneBedok is the only way to save these local businesses, what with the tidal wave of e-commerce platforms these days. With online spending in Singapore predicted to hit an all-time high of $4.4 billion by the end of this year, it’s only fair that our mom-and-pop shops get a piece of the pie as well.

To support OneBedok, register on their website now. You may even stand a chance to win an Apple Watch, if you sign up between the 9th of August and the 28th of September 2015. Every $20 spent also entitles shoppers on the site to a 15% discount in the months of August and September.

Also Read: Garena And Its Quest To Take Down Carousell With Newly Launched Shopee App

“Erm…what’s PR? What exactly do you do?”

This was one of the frequently asked questions I got from family and friends when I told them I’d started interning at a Public Relations firm. So let me first explain what PR is. To me, it’s about helping a brand to convey what they want to present to the public through media channels, and looking forward to the results.

Those who knew what PR was, were surprised that I chose to intern at a PR firm — I wasn’t exactly the type of person you’d expect to belong there. Admittedly, I didn’t expect myself to be part of the media industry either, much less go into PR, where communication and professional networking is important. But that didn’t stop me from stepping into the supposedly fancy and glamorous PR world.

My next three months there were mentored and close-knit, and I made sure to learn as much as possible to equip myself with the essential PR skills by the time I’d left.

Image Credit: priscope.com

Whether you’ve already gotten that PR internship you’ve always wanted, or are thinking of breaking into the industry, here are a few things you should expect.

1. The Tedious And Mundane Stuff

Media monitoring — one of the first things any PR intern is taught, and can expect to do on a daily basis throughout their internship. What is media monitoring, you ask? Put simply, it means keeping on top of all content being published about your client’s company. You’ll be expected to constantly scan through all types of publications from online to print, and to ensure that the long-term image of your client’s company is upheld.

Image Credit: stateofshop.com

It’s definitely not a task you should belittle, despite how mind-numbing it can get — every piece of content you find indicates that your PR efforts are being rewarded, and that your client’s money is being put to good use. Online publications are easier to track, but you can never escape from the hands of print media. Be prepared to purchase magazines and newspapers and flip through every single page to look for that single piece of news.

As I was at a startup with only four other colleagues, I got to admit: it’s tedious to have to oversee the entire media monitoring process yourself. In addition to finding news coverage on our clients, I had to save and compile them. That said, media monitoring does have its perks: you get exposure to publications you probably never knew of before, and become more detailed-orientated over time.

2. It’s A Ton Of Emails

Image Credit: stevekayser.com

Alright, so people in PR are not the only ones with plenty of emails to reply to, but I’m sure we rank quite high on the scale. Besides receiving Google Alerts on the latest trends we cannot miss out on, there’s also a long list of people waiting for our responses.

A client from the F&B sector, for example, would require us to send their treats to journalists who might be interested in covering their story. Finding out which publications are keen, their addresses, and answering a whole lot of questions via email is your responsibility to handle. And no — you can’t back out now.

3. From Monday Meetings…To Daily Meetings

Image Credit: funniestmemes.com

The meetings never seemed to end. During my internship, we had weekly Monday morning meetings to discuss the agenda for the week. It’s exhausting enough to have meetings on Mondays, but sometimes, there would be another one after lunch, and another on Tuesday with the Marketing Manager, and yet another on Wednesday with the Content Manager…you get the drift.

So what I’m saying is, brace yourself for potential meetings with almost every colleague — they’ll all have something they need your help with. It’s the way of life in a lean company: there are tons things to do, and your managers will appreciate you being able to assist them. Always be prepared to flaunt your ideas and come up with questions to ask, and never be afraid to ask if you have any doubts.

4. “Can You Do This For Me?”

Image Credit: heyuguys.com

It’s true: one downside of being an intern — no matter what industry you’re in — is that you’ll always be running errands for other people. Besides the mandatory buying of coffee/lunch that most interns would be familiar with, I also had to go to the post office to buy stamps, boxes, and even deliver parcels containing media kits. It’s never a good feeling, but you can’t say no.

You might think that your co-workers don’t care or appreciate your efforts in doing these little things. But they notice. So don’t be disheartened — or worse, feel mistreated — these little things do matter. And never, ever do this. Take the initiative and have tolerance in everything you do.

5. Learn How To Drink

Image Credit: eatsmartblog.wordpress.com

One of the things I definitely did not expect to receive from my boss was a can of beer one Friday evening. Before you judge, bear in mind that this was in fact usual practice for this startup: on some Fridays, we’d all go up to the lounge with a mini-bar to catch up and relax for the day. And sometimes, it’s okay to decline if you really don’t want a beer.

When I say you need to learn how to drink, I’m referring to events, company gatherings and nights-out, which often involve wine and champagne — and which you will be obliged to attend.

Image Credit: hamreflections.wordpress.com

What I’ve experienced may not be exactly what other PR interns have gone through. What’s inescapable, though, is that in all internships, it’s important to do as much as you can, don’t take things personally, be nice, and hold on.

Because before you know it, you’re not an intern anymore.

Also Read: 5 Things Only An Intern At A Fashion Magazine Will Tell You

Earlier in July, a brawl that erupted between thugs and some sales clerks in a smartphone shop was reported and the commotion in Low Yat Plaza caught on a video quickly went viral on the social media.

While the investigation was pending, the incident was speculated to be racial conflict sparked by the suspicion that the Chinese traders sold counterfeit goods to the Malay customers. The cause of the scuffle was later identified to be a group of youths exacting their revenge against the retailers who caught them shoplifting.

Image Credit: http://www.nst.com.my

Prosecution against the wrongdoers were soon carried out and business resumes as usual in Low Yat Plaza. However, this is not the end of the fiasco.

Recently Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob suggested the MARA building in Jalan Raja Laut to be converted to become a Malay-only digital gadget mall. The building is expected to house solely Malay traders.

Also Read: What We Can Learn About Prejudice From The Recent Low Yat Plaza Riot

What do the netizens think about this idea?

1. Low Yat Plaza 3, 4, 5, and beyond should be built everywhere to serve the needs of different races in the country. Because we are 1Malaysia, right?

With this mindset, shouldn't we be getting a Low Yat 2 to 10 for every sort of race we have here?

— Joseph Wong (@joethewong) August 12, 2015

2. Could number 2 be the lucky number of the year? 2 + 2 = 4? Could this be the reason why we have Bersih 4.0 this year?

KLIA 2, low yat 2. Are we going to have KLCC 2 next?

— Afiq Dzulkifli (@afiqdzulkifli) August 12, 2015

3. If number 2 in the building name sounds unimaginative, maybe the authorities should consider exciting names for the complex? Plaza Hang Jebat just for Malays, perhaps?

Come on.. At least come up with an original name. Low Yat 2, but bumi-only? Okay let's open Butik Fatimah but we sell only sarees/cheongsam.

— fhlow (@funghow) August 11, 2015

4. Cautionary Article 153 notice should be placed on the entrance should affirmative action for purchase of goods and services are enforced.

Can the vendors of this 'Low Yat 2' sell their wares at the same competitive prices? If racial quotas imposed, unlikely.

— Syahredzan bin Johan (@syahredzan) August 11, 2015

In case you didn’t know, Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia is about “safeguard[ing]the special position of the ‘Malays’ and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities”. This is usually enforced by establishing quotas for entry into the civil service, public scholarships, and public education.

So the question here, is will Low Yat 2 also offer special discounts to the Malay community but fixed prices to the non Malays?

5. But hey, if things get out of hand everywhere, we can just build a new nation.

Low Yat 2. Hmm… Make toilet 2, restaurant 2, bank 2, hospital 2, MAS 2, KTM 2, jalan raya 2, and last but not least, Malaysia 2.

— Vic (@victorrymk) August 12, 2015

6. Ironically, if the new Low Yat 2 is meant only for Malays, why does it still sound Chinese?

Nak buat "low yat" 2 . utk melayu je kata menteri . Tapi nama "low yat" ?

— Winston McNepp (@HanifisaMutant) August 12, 2015

nk buat low yat 2 utk melayu sahaja tapi nama cina ==

— royforeveralone (@RidhwanulHakim) August 12, 2015

Truth to be told, I have been living in a Malay neighbourhood for nearly two decades and we have lived peacefully with one another. There was never a clear distinction between us and them for we are all Malaysians. Be it Chinese New Year or Hari Raya, Malaysians everywhere rejoice over the public holidays.

Also, despite certain authorities’ efforts to segregate the races, what’s surprising (or maybe it shouldn’t be) is that many of the objections towards the idea of Low Yat 2 are coming from the Malays themselves. They, too, realise that it is a step backwards for the country and society.

Should the construction of Low Yat 2 gets the green light, it would be a lamentable monument of the crumbled racial unity. For we coexist with each other in harmony for decades now, why is there a need to segregate the Malays into a designated premise? Let’s not make something out of nothing due to misinterpretation of the Low Yat incident because the act of pointing a finger to a particular community would only divide us further.

Also Read: Tips You Need To Know About Before Buying Gadgets Online Or In Lowyat

In 2012, during mega music festival Coachella, rapper Snoop Dogg invited a very special guest to perform with him onstage. People went nuts when Tupac Shakur stood alongside him for the song. Why? Tupac died on September 13, 1996. But wait minute, this is no magic voodoo thing — this is real science. And some high level technology.

Ever since I watched the live stream of Snoop Dogg’s performance, I haven’t been the same. Holograms are amazing. Just imagine the possibilities: all your favourite dead musicians playing shows again — you saw the Beatles live in Wembley in ’65? Yeah well, I’m getting tickets to their 2017 concert.

To believe in the power of the hologram, you have to hold it in the palm of your hand. Quite literally. British YouTuber and tech reviewer Mrwhosetheboss showed me the light. Sure, it’s not gonna make Whitney Houston sing in my living room any time soon, but I can now generate a 3D hologram on my smartphone. Some materials, some steps, and you’re good to go.

1. Scavenge

Steal a shitty CD from your sister, get a decent blade, some cellophane tape and a marker.

2. Warm Up Exercises

Destroy the CD sleeve as a statement and a stand against shitty music. No more trashy boybands!

3. Shape Up

Make 4 trapezoids using the CD case. Mark the case first before cutting it with the blade. I freewheeled it, but the shorter bit should be roughly 1cm, the longer part 6cm, and the height 3.5 to 4cm. (It might have taken me 2 shitty CDs.)

4. Construction Time

Stick the shapes together using the tape into a bowl with a small square hole at the base. It doesn’t have to look super pretty or designer — it’ll work perfectly fine even if it is a little rough-looking.

5. Project Some Art

Prop the projector on your phone and you’re ready to project your first 3D hologram ever. Kill the lights, gather round, and get mesmerised by the power of science and DIY craftsmanship. Choose a specific video that will best demonstrate the hologram — Mrwhosetheboss recommends this one.

While watching jellyfish float and hummingbirds flit around in my jewel case prison, I decided to stick my finger in the projector and watch the colours dance on my skin. It felt…hollow. It’s not much, but hey, makes for a pretty neat party trick, eh? Great for cool parents who want to impress their kids, first dates, crafty people, hard-to-impress kids and people, bored people, dinner party hosts — everyone, really. Let’s hope there will be more hologram-specific videos available soon.

Also Read: Night Terrors Is The Realistic Horror Game That Takes Place In Your Own House

Wawasan 2020 or Vision 2020 is a Malaysian ideal introduced by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir bin Mohamad. The vision calls for the nation to achieve a self-sufficient industrialised nation by the year 2020, encompasses all aspects of life, from economic prosperity, social well-being, world-class education, political stability, as well as psychological balance.

Given 5 years to go from now till year 2020, here we review ourselves against the 9 challenges Tun Mahathir lamented that the nation requires to overcome in order to achieve Vision 2020.

Is the nation prepared to welcome Wawasan 2020? You judge.

Challenge 1: Establishing a united Malaysian nation made up of one Bangsa Malaysia (Malaysian Race).

With the recent Low Yat Plaza incident, racial tension has been proven to be still easily manipulated.

Challenge 2: Creating a psychologically liberated, secure and developed Malaysian society.

Is our country psychologically open-minded? And is our country safe and secure? I’m sure we all have the true answer.

Challenge 3: Fostering and developing a mature democratic society.

How can one country be a mature democratic society when there is no freedom of expression?

Challenge 4: Establishing a fully moral and ethical society.

Honest, Righteous, Honorable, and Principled are some of those words you can relate with for this challenge. Do we have a fully ethical society?

Challenge 5: Establishing a matured liberal and tolerant society.

Obama said it all. And perhaps we are being too tolerant for how many things fall in place.

Challenge 6: Establishing a scientific and progressive society.

It would be unfair to say that Malaysia hasn’t been progressing; but our internet speed sums up how “fast” we progress.

Challenge 7: Establishing a fully caring society.

We won’t be one fully caring society until we care for our surroundings.

Challenge 8: Ensuring an economically just society, in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation.

You know it’s hard to achieve a fair and equitable distribution when donations go the wrong way.

Challenge 9: Establishing a prosperous society with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient.

Perhaps its a global phenomenon, but it is also evident from the weakening ringgit that Malaysia’s political upheaval is making things worse.

Also Read: 5 Things We Malaysians Need For The Ultimate Home Theatre Experience

This article was first published on TallyPress, an online ranking magazine that revolves around the hottest topics in Malaysia. The original post can be read here and all images are taken from that article.

So you’ve booked that flight to your long awaited getaway, and are hyping yourself up for the well-earned break that’s coming up in about a month’s time. There’s just one problem: you haven’t exactly gotten your itinerary in place yet. You do what everyone does these days, and turn to the Internet. A few clicks on TripAdvisor or Lonely Planet will fix that, right?

Wrong.

As soon as you get to the homepage of these sites, you know you’ll need at least a few hours to sift through the mass of reviews — some credible, some dodgy — that have been left behind by previous travellers. And this is exactly what the founders of Wedilo, a Singapore startup, want to solve.

Part of the Wedilo team (Image Credit: Wedilo)

Co-founders Philippe Limes and Mixime Cornelli have quite the extraordinary background when it comes to travelling/living abroad. Philippe himself is half French, half Venezuelan, while Maxime is half French and half Italian; both are now based here in Singapore. Between them, they’ve called at least six different countries and four continents home — talk about a globetrotting lifestyle.

Having experienced both the good and less savoury consequences of online review systems, the two founders decided that we need a review system that would benefit not just industry players, but tourists themselves.

After speaking extensively to others, they managed to narrow down two main issues faced by travellers: a mismatch between reviews and actual locations, and the sheer amount of time required to research and plan for a trip. Armed with this information, Philippe and Maxime launched their app Wedilo in April 2014, and more recently, Nothing To Hide (NTH).

Image Credit: Wedilo

Went There, Did That, Loved It

Yup, that’s how Wedilo got its handle — by putting together the first two alphabets of each of the above phrases. It’s not the most elegant name, admittedly, but that’s a discussion best saved for another time.

This is how Wedilo works: upon launching the app, users will get to choose which city you want to explore. You can then select from categories like Eat, Drinks and Stay to browse the available listings in more detail.

Image Credit: Wedilo

The best part of Wedilo, though, has to be the Find Friends feature. For most of us, the recommendations we trust are most likely to come from close friends and family, rather than complete strangers on the Internet — who might or might not have been paid to write reviews of attractions and accommodation. So it only makes sense to gather the reviews of our friends in one place, so we don’t have to do the actual groundwork and ask each of them in person.

Image Credit: Wedilo

Nothing to Hide

To expand further on Wedilo’s features, the team have since created a complementary app that focuses specifically on hotel reviews. Nothing To Hide (NTH) essentially ties up with hotels to get reviews from guests in exchange for free WiFi.

One concern I had with NTH — which I raised with Philippe — was that guests would likely be annoyed at having to do a review, and respond with poorly-thought out answers just to get it out of the way. (I know I would: after a long day, all I want to do is sprawl on a hotel bed and surf the net; hotels that have made it hard for me to do this have not fared well in the reviews department.)

Image Credit: Wedilo

Yet, I was assured that only 5% of reviewers during a beta test provided slipshod responses, while a small scale test run found that an impressive 95% offered “text rich, detailed perspectives that were as good, if not better than reviews on sites like Tripadvisor.”

While I do have my reservations about this figure — the team might find it hard to maintain the same level of response once they launch publicly next month — Wedilo are banking on the fact that a large number of respondents will “neutralise unreliable reviews”. They also have plans to reward frequent reviewers with discounted stays and travel related gifts to encourage participation.

Potential: 3/5

I’ll be the first to admit that reliable online review systems are something that we could all do with. With Singaporeans named as one of the most well-travelled in the APAC region, it’s only a matter of time before our need for trustworthy review platforms outrun the websites that are currently available to us.

Despite my concerns about the quality of reviews that NTH, in particular, might get once it launches officially, both Wedilo and NTH seem to be on their way to great things: they’ve already gotten in touch with 150 hotels which are keen on working with their platform, and intend to expand to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok in the near future.

Also Read: How To Score The Perfect Plane Seat

A working vacation.

I confess I was greatly inspired by a Fast Co. article about why film director Joss Whedon followed up one of the biggest blockbusters ever, The Avengers, with a low budget Shakespeare film, and why he needed a “Creative Shift” instead of a vacation.

While I didn’t write a sequel to The Avengers or create Buffy The Vampire Slayer, I had spent a decade at Ogilvy Singapore. Work had been exciting as well as challenging, given the technology disruptions that were happening globally at lightning speed. There was hardly a moment to pause and reflect.

Image Credit: knowyourmeme.com

After completing several high-profile campaigns and pitches, I decided that I needed a little time off. My wife, who’s also my creative conscience, suggested I take a vacation. However, we both quickly realised I didn’t have to go back to one of my favourite cities — Tokyo — to visit the Maraikan (Japan’s Museum of Emerging Science and Technology), or that I desired more Ramen. I needed a working vacation. I needed to “Creatively Refocus”.

My choice of a ‘holiday destination’ was a local coworking space. Apart from the practical reason of needing a desk to work off — I couldn’t attempt this at home as I was pretty sure I would’ve been distracted by my 2 year-old toddler — I also wanted to spend my limited 2 weeks with a sense of urgency and discipline which a sun-and-beach environment would most likely hinder.

Image Credit: The Working Capitol

I deliberately chose The Working Capitol (TWC) as it housed some notable as well as up-and-coming startups in the region. My ‘itinerary’ included my passion projects and getting to know the startup community and their stories. I was all fired up to embark on this adventure.

My first day at TWC was filled with fresh faces in a whole new space. I noticed quickly how everyone had a real energy to them. They were single-minded and frighteningly focused. I was determined to meet all of them. Oh, did I mention that they were all very well dressed?

The entire space felt like a school campus. People mingled at common and break out areas, sharing stories and lunch. No one was hiding in cubicle hell. Often I heard the words “I’m excited, let’s do this”. Every startup there wanted to change the world. They were both employer and employee with great passion for what they were doing. Guys and girls stood in corridors with earphones and sounded absolutely convincing with their business pitches.

Image Credit: The Working Capitol

What I saw and heard had me worried and envious at the same time — yes, I did a lot of eavesdropping. I wanted to know their motivation and see what I could learn from them.

From discovery to realisation

One of the startups I met was Photomoolah, a branded photo content service. Photomoolah matches brands and photographers to create custom imagery in response to briefs. I found out that one of our Fortune 500 clients worked with them, and would be speaking at an upcoming Photomoolah event. This got me thinking: if our clients are now working directly with content creators, how do advertising agencies maintain their competitive edge?

That same afternoon, I met one of Singapore’s top photographers (he declined to be named for this post) for lunch. With competition like Photomoolah and average Joes with a keen eye and affordable camera equipment, he’s feeling the heat and even had to give up his studio space recently.

Image Credit: Huffington Post

He told me about a recent photoshoot where the client was making changes over his shoulder. He had glanced over to the creatives from the agency (not Ogilvy, fortunately) and they simply shrugged! What’s going on here? What is the worth of agencies if we have lost our unique creative vision and our right to fiercely defend it? Is this why some clients now bypass agencies — because we no longer bring value to the table?

“In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.”

— David Ogilvy

Drawing a parallel lesson in my own work

I’ll admit to have fallen over the wayside recently. I had accepted that the solution to selling emotional ideas to a client was to have safe, objective conversations with them. But if we stopped for a moment to believe that our art and commerce could be analysed with cool detachment, we would never provoke any response. At the end of the day a lot of our art is based on intuition. A lot of music is like that — it’s about ‘gut feeling’ — and yes, data analysts in our agency might just roll their eyes at that term.

We must then think and operate like startups. We need to keep up and get down to doing things. We need all creatives to understand technology, platforms, media, trends, data, and how to generate ideas. We need to pick up cameras to shoot videos ourselves, use software to string the stories together and get our hands dirty. Do WHATEVER it takes to materialise and sell an idea.

Could agencies start sharing in a shared economy?

If you think about it, coworking spaces are occupied by various startups with varying agendas and ambitions. Just like advertising agencies with our business units, disciplines and client cells. The biggest difference perhaps is how everyone here gets together to leverage upon each other’s expertise and connections to pursue a shared goal of becoming successful. I heard one startup asking another for help in data analysis. It wasn’t commercial, it was trade bartering.

Image Credit: The Working Capitol

Could advertising agencies benefit from this culture of shared economy? Would this community be open to agencies bartering both our services for opportunities for great work?

Big inspiration from a Genie

Crowdfunding is fast becoming a route for startups to raise funds, and Djenee‘s (a resident at TWC and pronounced “Genie”) recent record-breaking equity crowdfunding in Asia had me quite excited to meet them. Investor interest in Djenee comes hot on the heels of Magic, a similar service based in the US, which recently raised a US$40million valuation after just six months of operations.

It’s interesting how digital concierge services like Djenee could change how we get stuff done on smart devices. Think of it as Spotify meets Uber: on-demand requests fulfilled by an army of “Genies” in a UI free experience through your Apple Watch.

Image Credit: Business Insider

Djenee working with brands hoping to create a live-response CRM programme. Or for a campaign, rebrand Djenee to become a brand’s mascot on your wrist, transforming an otherwise faceless service into a human to human experience. The possibilities are endless.

Let’s go back to the start(up)

It’s been an amazing 2 weeks. When you’ve worked in the same place for a long time, being in a different environment and meeting diverse folks make you recall why you started in this business eons ago. The ambition, hunger and courage these startups possess all come flooding back to you.

With my work-cation over, I return with renewed focus and energy to 2 big upcoming new business pitches and a baby girl coming in October.

Oh, about that personal passion project I spent 2 weeks on at TWC? Stay tuned my friends. 

About The Working Capitol

Collaboratively designed by Foreign Policy, Takenouchi Webb and FARM, The Working Capitol converted five amalgamated shophouses in Chinatown into an integrated coworking space. It houses a diverse mix of residence from all industries, including a few leading tech related companies like Cloudfare, Hootsuite, Stripe and General Assembly.

It hosts regular events and speakers from the likes of Google, GrabTaxi, Contagious Magazine and Zendesk. It is also in close proximity to the best local coffee and kaya toast!

This article was originally published on Medium by Melvyn Lim,Executive Creative Director at OgilvyOne Singapore.

Also Read: 6 Things I Learnt About Bootstrapping A Startup On The Beach

Avid WeChat users might have come across a new music streaming app called JOOX. Has anyone heard of it?

JOOX was created by Tencent from China, which also happens to be the company who created WeChat. A new entrant to the music streaming industry, JOOX was launched in Malaysia back in June. If you think the name JOOX sounds weird, it’s actually a play on the word ‘jukebox.’

The app is currently available on the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store and you can sign up for an account on JOOX via Facebook or WeChat.

All the content, especially the playlists, are specially customised by the JOOX staff in Malaysia, making them more appealing to the music tastes of local audiences. But if they guess your preferences wrong, of course you can opt to create playlists of your own.

In fact they are so localised, that there is even a playlist called ‘GST’, and the playlist consists of songs that are mainly sad and emotional, just to fit into the mood of the rising cost of living.

To enjoy music via JOOX, users can give the app a spin of the premium service for free for the first 30 days. For those who wish to upgrade to JOOX’s premium subscription, you need to pay RM14.90 (USD 3.90), which is the same as Spotify’s premium subscription.

Like most music streaming services, by being a paying subscriber of JOOX you can get access to more array of songs, download songs for offline usage, stream music without advertisements, and listen to high definition quality soundtracks. Below shows the price of the JOOX’s VIP packages.

The language function of the app makes it user-friendly as the songs suggested to you is based on the language you use to access JOOX. Let’s say if you prefer to listen to songs in Bahasa Malaysia, then it is highly recommended to use the app in Bahasa Malaysia because the app will automatically display songs that are in that language.

Verdict: 4/5

Nowadays smartphone users make use of music streaming applications to save their phone’s storage capacity. Apart from that the process of listening to music is much quicker and faster, long gone are the days when you have to look for music or even check the title of the music on the top Billboards and then download the music. With similar music streaming apps like Deezer and Spotify, users only need to pay a monthly fee to be able to enjoy music.

According to an official statement, the app has been met with great public response since its debut in June. Shortly after its launch, it climbed to the top of the iOS Free Apps Chart in Malaysia.

Image Credit: JOOX Malaysia

One reason is because the app has opened another window for user to discover local music by local artists. Spotify may be a widely used music streaming app, however, the app is not quite up to date when it comes to local music. Apart from that, with Merdeka just around the corner, JOOX has introduced an album called Patriotik (BM). Simply put, the app is pretty much localised to suit what is currently trending throughout Malaysia.

In an interview with New Straits Times, Business Development Director of WeChat Malaysia said, “What we also hope to do is to highlight local artists and encourage users here to discover local talents,” hoping to be a platform to provide local choices as they are catering to the local tastes.

Well they’ve got me convinced.

Also Read: Malaysians Now Have Another Music Streaming Site To Choose From: Guvera

EDM may be all the rage now but sometimes, there’s nothing more satisfying than being able to belt out your all-time favourite tunes — in a bar, with some friends, after work on a weekday. Let’s just say if Maroon 5, Jay Chou, Mayday, and Taylor Swift make prominent appearances on your playlists, then Shuffle Bistro Bar might just be the place for you.

Mandopop is quite the crowd-puller in the bar scene in Singapore, with places like Shanghai Dolly, Mandopop club Dragonfly, and Switch — part of the Timbre Group of restaurants — still a large part of the local entertainment scene. They’ve served as platforms for local artists who perform songs in both English and Mandarin to showcase their stuff, and as places where music enthusiasts who are fans of the genre can get their fix of homegrown talent.

Paraphrase, one of the bands performing at Shuffle Music Festival (Image Credit: Paraphrase’s Facebook page)

And now, establishing themselves as one of the frontrunners in the happening and expanding Mandopop club scene is Shuffle Bistro Bar, which will be holding their first ever Shuffle Music Festival later this week. It will be held at the iconic Clarke Quay Fountain over two nights (20-21 August), and the festival will feature some talented homegrown bands like SundayMorning, Paraphrase, AlphaBeat, and LaiLiaoLor singing everyone’s favourite tunes.

Shuffle Bistro Bar has emerged as a favourite for the discerning bilingual crowd in the last few years. In addition to its music offerings, the bar also serves up decent pub grub and drinks, making it a choice joint for post-work celebrants, Mandopop fans, and the pub-crawling individual.

Image Credit: Shuffle Bistro Bar’s Facebook page

We might have just enjoyed a pretty hectic couple of weekends, what with the mega celebration that was SG50, but Shuffle Bistro Bar is not letting the festivities die out just yet. It might not be as good as another long weekend, but with the Shuffle Music Festival in full swing, it will certainly feel like one!

For more information, visit Shuffle Music Festival’s Facebook page.

Also Read: The Truth About Partying In Singapore: We Stop At 25 Years Old

This article originally appeared on Vulcan Post. 

The latest case of a scam isn’t thanks to Jover Chew or some dodgy website with a less-than-traditional website name, but StreetDeal.SG — a Singapore-grown e-commerce and voucher website. The site, which seems to operate with legitimate products and vouchers, has lately been accused of hiding additional subscription costs.

As reported by MyPaper, Singaporean Smith Leong unknowingly paid an additional SGD88 when he purchased a pair of drumsticks for $16.40. When he approached the firm, he was told that the costs were outlined during the purchasing process and in the terms and conditions, and that the $88 was a premium membership fee.

This is far from being the first accusation StreetDeal.SG has received regarding hidden additional costs. According to MyPaper, CASE has received 49 complaints against StreetDeal since January last year. It was also fined $25,000 in September last year for carrying travel deals illegally on its website without a valid travel agent licence.

Hidden In Plain Sight

But was StreetDeal.SG in the wrong?

A quick test of the portal was very telling. While the final charges don’t include the SGD88, the membership fee was shown on the purchase page — but hidden in plain sight. The option for premium membership was automatically checked, and given the design of the website, seemed to be placed in a location that people naturally glance over. If I weren’t actively looking for the charge, I would have easily missed it.

To get out of paying for that charge? Simply untick that tiny blue box. If you find it hard to find, don’t worry — the website was designed that way.

So will StreetDeal.SG get away with it? Legally, perhaps. They did “clearly” state the charges (depending on your definition of clear), and by the looks of my purchase page, it would seem clear that I agreed to those charges. The scarier part is in the terms and conditions: StreetDeal is entitled to do automatic renewals for their members, which means that they could charge you that amount every quarter, till…forever. They also stated that they will not refund the membership fee:

You can choose to cancel your membership or opt out of the Services at any time by clicking the cancel button in Your account. You will not receive a refund of the membership fee, but you will keep any awarded StreetDollar in your account until they expire. If we issue you a refund, your membership awarded StreetDollar will be removed from your Account.

Ultimately, the success of the StreetDeal fiasco is largely thanks to the clever design of their purchase page, and serves as a lesson to website designers and advertisers about how parts of a website can be practically invisible to users.

But as clever as StreetDeal may have been with their design, their customer retention will need work. With 49 complaints under their belt and a Facebook page with over 600 likes for people who have been cheated by the site, it’s unlikely to become the next Groupon or Lazada.

Also Read: The SingPass Scam Returns: Singaporeans, Be Wary!

Malaysia’s ringgit has slid past 4.0 against US dollar in the worst currency crash seen for the first time in 17 years.

Heightened by worsening global outlook, devaluation of China’s yuan, political scandals linked to the Prime Minister, plus the falling crude oil prices, the four horsemen of the apocalypse have assembled for the ringgit’s troubled days ahead.

The main culprit however, is the decreasing oil prices which destabilises the oil-exporting economy. The continuous ringgit slide is alarmingly disquieting.

How would the decrease of ringgit’s value affect you as a consumer? Are we the generation bound to experience the comeback of ringgit meltdown during 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis?

1. Increased price of goods and services

If you have mixed feelings about Goods and Service Tax (GST) imposed on the things you love, a weak ringgit will worsen your buying mood. Prepare to tighten your belt as the increased cost of imported goods will be reflected on the price tags. The cost of imported components utilised by domestic producers will also contribute to the impact. This results in us expressing great disdain over the price hike of imported fresh goods (vegetables, fruits, etc.) because as Malaysians, we live to makan.

2. Inflation

When the ringgit experiences depreciation, the cost of imported goods will increase as mentioned earlier. The use of raw materials from foreign markets will also contribute to inflation caused by imported goods. As a result, domestic producers are forced to sell their goods on a higher price to sustain the increased cost of operation.

For instance, automobile companies which utilise imported components in their vehicles would feel the impact of weak ringgit and market the finished vehicles on a higher price to the end consumers.

3. Costly oversea travel

Image Credit: http://blog.geovisions.org

The poor exchange rate for ringgit equates to a lesser value it carries when you convert it to foreign currencies. You should revise your plans to study or travel abroad as the expenses in your budget is expected to increase on a consequential proportion. Until the Malaysia’s ringgit has fully recovered, join the Cuti-cuti Malaysia bandwagon for cheaper travel. Why don’t you try holidaying in UK instead? (Ulu Kelang is just nearby, folks!)

4. Reduced purchasing power

When the price of goods and services increase, but your income is not, what do you have left? Answer: A diminished purchasing power.

You have likely felt the pinch after the implementation of GST. With the weakening of the ringgit, the prices of goods and services are expected to increase further. The increased cost of goods does not permit you to spend freely like you used to. As a result, there are lesser things you can buy with your money as your purchasing power is reduced.

Image Credit: http://www.votewolk.com

5. Prolonged difficult times ahead

Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Has Malaysia’s ringgit seen its better days?

The ringgit’s depreciation is mostly caused by external factors. Followed by the strengthening of US dollar, ringgit is unlikely to fare well against greenback in the present. The falling crude oil prices are beyond the control of the Malaysian government as well. If the plummeting value of ringgit persists and threaten the economy, we may expect the government to impose capital controls to protect the economy.

The 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis forced the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to fix the ringgit at 3.80 to the dollar as a form of capital control to prevent the country’s economy from going downhill.

One’s man trash is another man’s treasure. This is a fitting description for Malaysia’s ringgit. There are winners and losers entangled in the underperforming ringgit fiasco. A depreciated ringgit is not entirely undesirable for it has its perks as well.

1. Exports growth

A weak ringgit can act as a stimulus to the Malaysian businesses as it has now become more affordable for foreign markets to purchase Malaysian-made goods. The increment of demand for the domestic products will likely generate more profits for the certain businesses such as the manufacturing sector. Export-oriented businesses which market its goods to international markets will find the weak ringgit beneficial as they enjoy higher sales volume. As a whole, the increment in exports for some economic sectors will be observed.

2. Tourism boost

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Foreign tourists will benefit from a weaker ringgit as it grants them a higher purchasing power to splurge like a shopaholic. Singaporeans who enjoy a quick getaway to Malaysia would likely be the prime benefiters as ringgit falls to an all-time new low trading around 2.90 to the Sing dollar (take note, fellow Singaporeans!). If you are a foreigner reading this, there is no better time to visit Malaysia as the weak ringgit gives you more value for your money.

3. Increased foreign investment

The falling ringgit makes investment in Malaysia more welcoming. As such, investors will take advantage of this and strike while the iron is hot.

A weak ringgit will encourage foreigners to invest through foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign investment portfolio as it is cheaper to operate and buy stocks and bonds in Malaysia respectively. While the effects of capital flow generated by foreign investment portfolio is not immediately felt by the citizens, FDI can generate employment opportunities in the market as multinational companies build new facilities to conduct businesses in the country.

Image Credit: The Malaysian Insider

The depreciation of ringgit is boon and bane for the country. Currency fluctuation is a naturally occurring process of the economy. In a state of perpetual flux, the economy is not immune to global trends triggered by a chain of events elsewhere in the world. Our country is not immune to this phenomenon; however, this is a challenge we can overcome. While surely things will get better in time, it may be wise to assess your current financial security.

If you have been told “Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for the country”, it is time to turn things around. Challenging times for the economy test both the country and citizens but only one party is empowered to exert control on the currency. We can only quietly wait and see whether our country leader is more concerned on advancing his political agenda or to focus on alleviating the financial burden we carry.

Also Read: 9 Challenges Stopping Malaysia from Achieving Wawasan 2020

For businesses, launching new product features or new company initiatives can often be a hit and miss — and mostly the latter rather than the former. If executed wrongly, they could be costly or even deadly for companies.

Recently though, we’ve seen the rise of a school of thought that most of us are familiar with: the lean startup methodology. This favours experimentation over elaborate planning, customer feedback over intuition, and iterative design over traditional “big design up front” development. While the methodology is just a few years old, its concepts — such as “minimum viable product” and “pivoting” — have quickly taken root in the startup world, and closer to home, we have seen almost everyone adopting this.

One such company is RedMart, and they are working on a secret experiment.

When a photo of RedMart’s new locker service at Google Singapore’s office surfaced on social media, we couldn’t help but get in touch with the team to find out more.

RedMart’s lockers at Google Singapore’s office. (Image Credit: Son Le Thanh)

According to Mitch Krogman, who is in charge of RedMart’s new Click and Collect (online to offline, or O2O) efforts, the new locker is but one of RedMart’s many experiments. Such experiments are constantly being conducted by the team to learn what customers find most useful.

“We implemented the lockers at Google to make delivery more convenient to our customers, in this case Googlers. It also happens to bring down delivery costs by consolidating all the deliveries in one place. For our O2O effort, location is one of the biggest things we are testing, and we are starting with Google Singapore, which is quite central and has a good number of Google employees, or Googlers,” Mitch told Vulcan Post.

One thing to note about RedMart’s lockers is that the team specifically sourced for their own lockers and retrofitted them to include additional features. This decision was made because the team found that existing locker companies charged a very high price for specialised retrofitting, so RedMart is “building our own lockers”.

“RedMart really encourages lean startup, we test and deploy quick ideas and see if they work,” Mitch added.

The locker service is currently available only at Google Singapore’s office, but prior to that, there was a simple one at JFDI’s office, which houses a number of startups as well as frequent visitors. While Mitch did not reveal much about RedMart’s O2O efforts, he mentioned that it is still in its early phase, and teased that they are experimenting with a few other things. If the results for the locker service is satisfying, we expect more of such lockers to pop up around the island.

Also Read: Meet Homemade, RedMart’s Secret Meal Kit Division For Time Starved Singaporeans

I still remember when my dad bought me an Xbox in 2002 — the very first one — and I thought, “Man, what a clunky piece of equipment, why can’t I get a Playstation?” The PS2, while equally clunky, was what everyone else had, but my dad was quite the Microsoft fanboy: While other kids began switching to colourful and seemingly cooler Apple computers over the years, we had to endure versions and versions of Windows OS growing up.

Besides the reckless amount of time I spent on gaming after school, I started paying attention to the friendly console war going on between Sony and Microsoft — two of the biggest names when it comes to gaming. As with all consoles, my Xbox’s expiry date loomed ahead and soon enough, became obsolete. I switched to PC gaming for a while, partly because new consoles were getting pricier. Yet, I felt the return to the console would happen eventually.

So I got the PS4. It was a no-brainer. Launched in 2013, it was hailed as “the world’s most powerful console” and came with a library of accompanying games exclusive to the PS4. It was one of the best life decisions I have made in the last five years. I think.

Developments In The Gaming World

The gaming industry is one that is constantly changing and improving. Let’s just null Fortune’s article asserting that the gaming industry is growing old and lazy. Innovation is very much alive in the industry; we’re pretty much spoilt for choice these days.

Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto said once, “The obvious objective of video games is to entertain people by surprising them with new experiences.” And in this day and age, this applies to more than just gameplay and graphics — technological advances in the last few years have brought gaming to a whole new level. The introduction of the Xbox all those years ago has kept Sony on their toes, and the rivalry between the two has led to some spectacular developments in the gaming industry.

The Last Of Us

When gaming entered the realm of the the “next generation”, it came with a tantalising selection of next-gen games. Enhanced graphics, open world landscapes, breaking the wall of the single/multi-player, life-like simulations — all of these have become the norm for games these days. 

Spend days on The Witcher 3, and you’ll only find yourself completing Chapter 1. Watch the light play on the trees and the breeze catching in the hair of characters on The Last Of Us, play as a mega monster in Evolve while your friends try to hunt you down (and kill you) — people now are enthralled by gaming the same way other people love the cinema or theatre; it’s become a storytelling form.

The PS4 and Xbox One have embraced this fully with a couple of exclusive titles under each of their belts. Fans of the Halo franchise and racing series Forza, for example, will always return to the Xbox, while PlayStation continues to keep their share of the market with series like Unchartered and Infamous, the stunning No Man’s Sky, and Bloodborne, amongst others.

In support of independent game developers, Sony has also published a couple of indie breakout titles on its platform, including the recently raved-about Everybody’s Gone to The Rapture, an immersive and exploratory game. It’s no surprise why the game got the reception it did: beyond just great graphics, a next-gen game should bring something completely new to the table — a compelling story, different rules, something that will surprise.

Though 2015 saw very few major releases, market research company NPD Group recently released a video game industry report, which revealed that the industry is still growing and that the information was a “small sample of a larger and more dynamic industry.”

The Introduction Of Apps

Some of the apps that Sony has for the PlayStation.

The PS4 and Xbox One have proven so far to be more than just gaming machines; all next-gen gamers now have access to a variety of apps on their consoles. PS4 has Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, Netflix, HBO Go, Tunein Radio, Hulu and more. The Xbox has Skype, Internet Explorer (haha), Netflix, Comedy Central, Twitch, and heaps more on its platform. And it looks like it’s not going to stop there — more apps will probably be available on both platforms in the near future.

Should Sony be afraid?

This year, Microsoft dropped a huge surprise at the E3 2015, announcing that their Xbox One console would be backward compatible for Xbox 360 games, and that “We won’t charge you to play the games you already own”. This was a jab at Sony perhaps, who charges users who wish to rent games from its PlayStation Now service (although you get free games monthly if you sign up). Still, with all the new tech developments and upgrades, how long will you have before you decide to box up your old Xbox 360?

Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, only emphasised how much effort Microsoft was putting into their gaming arm when he said at the recent Gamescon 2015, “Gaming will be a critical component of the success of Windows. I really believe that.”

And Microsoft has indeed shown what it can do, by allowing its latest Windows 10 upgrade to stream your Xbox gameplay to any Windows device, and vice versa. Its DirectX 12 gaming technology also boosts the amount of work that can be sent to the graphics card — and gets it done in less time. It also allows your GPU to run multiple tasks at once, so you save rendering time, reduce latency, and get more frames per second.

TL;DR you’ll have better graphics, a faster dashboard, and the possibility of displaying content in 4K resolution. Very cool.

Augmented & Virtual Reality

Image Credit: Forbes

Let’s not forget the future of gaming with the advent of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). VR was a big topic at this year’s E3, with Oculus showing off their latest Rift headset and Sony revealing a multiplayer shooter demo for Project Morpheus. And then there’s Microsoft’s HoloLens, an AR headset which is set to provide some tabletop AR gaming on Windows 10 and Xbox One.

Microsoft already did a demo of Minecraft with the HoloLens at E3, which fascinated everyone on the floor. When you consider Microsoft’s deal to support the Oculus Rift VR on Windows 10 and the development of the HoloLens headset, you can see why they’re well ahead of Sony in all realms of realities.

“Most people don’t have an inherent understanding of how to create in 3D — it can be very complicated on 2D screens,” said Microsoft’s corporate vice-president Kudo Tsunoda, in an interview with The Guardian. “This is one of the places that HoloLens and gaming come together in a very interesting way — allowing a lot more user-generated content, not only as part of the gameplay but also involving players in the creation of the game and how the gameplay evolves. I think we’re going to see more communities adding to and customising the games they play.”

With the tech already available in the market or in final stages, we’re pretty sure we’ll be seeing games tailored for this platform in the near future.

Image Credit: gizmodo.com

What can we expect in the next next-Gen of gaming?

Some pretty crazy shit, we hope. We’re already seeing some outstanding stuff from all platforms: Sony with the games, and Microsoft making a comeback after its epic E3 blunder two years ago. While Sony has taken all the accolades in the console war pretty much since the beginning (and are still ahead in sales), Microsoft’s major announcements in the past months (and weeks) are enough to keep them on par, if not slightly ahead of Sony.

As Spencer explained in an interview with Eurogamer, “I think it’s about growing Xbox. Sony’s had great success with the PlayStation, they’ve earned that success over multiple decades of building a great product. We’re growing Xbox year on year, we’re bigger than we were this time in the 360 generation, so generation over generation we’re in a better spot, year over year we’re in a better spot. We’re seeing more people online, more games being sold, more consoles being sold. So generally I feel good about the trajectory we’re on.”

But let’s take a step back. This ‘who is better’ dilemma between the consoles will never end, but that’s okay. In fact, gaming has gotten a whole lot more exciting now than it’s been in a long time. Because no matter how intense the competition gets between these two, the true winners are really the gamers.

Also Read: 10 Reasons To Convince You That Windows 10 Is Legit

As someone who has decidedly sworn off driving, the entirety of my commuting life can be illustrated in the form of a Venn diagram made up of trains and buses.

Plus, I’ve always enjoyed taking the scenic route so walking paired with a healthy dose of public transportation allows me to indulge my hobby—I can already feel the sympathy for my life choices.

But every once in awhile, there will be times when I need more efficient forms of transportation and with cab fares skyrocketing after the implementation of sweet, sweet GST, Uber has become quite the lifesaver in my books.

Image Credit: medianama

Over the last couple of months, I have become a somewhat rabid advocate of the car service and have actively convinced (read: bullied) at least 12 people into utilising it. I like to say that it’s because I think that it’s insanely reasonable and effective but also mostly because I want referral credits. Either way, I don’t see how anyone can possibly be on the losing end.

And while I can’t really speak for all, I try pretty hard to be as considerate a passenger as I can. I like to think that Uber etiquette is a two-way street and that as riders, we are just as responsible for being as respectful and mindful as we expect our drivers to be.

So after two months (and counting) of being an avid Uber rider, here are some tips that I’ve picked up on how to be the best rider you can be.

1. Don’t send your driver on a wild goose chase. Specify where you are.

You are not Waldo and your driver shouldn’t have to constantly circle the block to find you. Try your best to furnish your driver with specific instructions on how to get to you.

If you happen to be in a busy area like the outside of a crowded shopping mall or a street, it helps to provide your driver with a landmark that they can look out for or give them a brief description of your appearance. A simple “Hi, I’m outside Starbucks and I’m in a green dress” will save you both a lot of waiting time.

2. Thou shalt respect the car.

Image Credit: Reloadfood

I get it. You just spent the last eight hours on your feet and they’re plotting your demise.  Still not an excuse to kick your shoes off in someone else’s car and make yourself at home. Remember that as much as you may be a paying customer, you are also present in someone else’s personal space and you want to do everything you can to respect that.

Just like how you wouldn’t go into someone else’s home and treat it like you would your own, the same rule applies to an Uber vehicle. Eating, smoking and leaving bits of trash behind are major no-nos.

Chances are, your driver is going to be picking up another passenger after you disembark so your lingering essence of feet and nasi lemak probably won’t be much appreciated by either party.

3. Last minute cancellations are not cool. Really.

Uber drivers don’t make any money whilst driving to your pick-up location. They are also responsible for bearing whatever charges they may have to endure en route such as petrol and the occasional toll fare; which means that last minute back-outs after a 15 minute drive to come get you probably isn’t going to sit very well with them.

With this in mind, only request for a car when you’re absolutely sure that you want one.  Building on that, don’t be a hero and request for a ride an hour before you’re actually ready to get directly into the car. Waiting costs money too.

4. Be polite. “Hi, how are you” and “Thank you” goes a long way.

Image Credit: autofreaks.com

“After all this time, it’s demystifying how often we need to be reminded to practice basic manners and  this seems to be the number one gripe of most of the Uber drivers I’ve ridden with. I think it’s okay if you’re not keen on talking or engaging in conversation but stony silence upon entering and exiting makes for an awkwardly uncomfortable ride.

In the same way, if you aren’t sure if you should be seating in the front seat or at the back, all you have to do is ask—politely.

Ultimately, treat your driver the way you’d like to be treated.  Even the smallest polite gestures make a difference and it takes so little effort to make someone feel good.

Also Read: 5 Things We Malaysians Need For The Ultimate Home Theatre Experience