PM: Three-Month Loan Moratorium Extension For SMEs And Unemployed Individuals

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has announced a targeted extension of three months for the moratorium on bank loans, applicable to those who have lost their jobs or had pay cuts this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. After three months, the period could be extended further by the respective banks according to each individual’s situation.

He added that this new initiative was a result of discussions between him, the Finance Ministry and Bank Negara governor. “I hope this targeted moratorium and bank assistance extension will be able to ease the burden of those affected by the Covid-19 economic fallout,” said Muhyiddin during a special address held earlier today.

Additionally, the prime minister also said that banks had given their commitment for the initiative in the form of several measures to assist borrowers, including individuals and small/medium enterprises (SME). These measures include only paying the interest for a set time frame, extending the duration of the loan to reduce monthly repayments, and other forms of relief until borrowers are financially stable to commit to their repayments.

Muhyiddin said these measures are expected to benefit up to 3 million individuals and SMEs. Borrowers who are eligible are encouraged to contact their respective banks from 7 August onwards to file an application for this initiative.

(Source: RTM [Facebook] / PMO official website)

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Nubia’s New Accessories Range From A 120W Charger To True Wireless Earbuds

You probably know the name Nubia from its gaming phones to its wide range of accessories. The company has recently announced a wide range of the latter, from chargers to earbuds. There’s even a wireless router and a backpack to go with them all.

There are a total of four different chargers that Nubia announced. Leading the lineup is a 120W three-port charger, followed by a 65W three-port charger. Then there’s a 65W, single port charger and a 45W single port charger as well. These are priced at RMB299 (~RM181), RMB169 (~RM103), RMB119 (~RM72) and RMB99 (~RM60), respectively.

Following that is the Nubia Red Magic WiFi 6 gaming Router, with a look that just screams loot box. But on the inside, it supports OFDMA tech, which goes in line with the WiFi 6 tech. This is priced at RMB299 (~RM181).

Following that, we have three earbuds, headlined by a true wireless variety. It’s called the Nubia Red Magic TWS Gaming Earbuds, and it has the kind of aggressive look that you’d expect from something with the gaming tag in its name. It has breathing LEDs, and has a low-latency mode which boasts a 39ms latency when used with certain Red Magic phones. This is priced at RMB299 (~RM181).

The other two earbuds are of the wired and the neckband variety, called the Red Magic Wired Gaming Earphones and the Red Magic Neckband Gaming Bluetooth Headphones, respectively. Nothing too spectacular about the former, but the latter shares a lot of its features with its TWS sibling. It also has breathing LEDs and a 39ms latency when paired with select Red Magic phones. These are priced at RMB99 (~RM60) and RMB399 (~RM242), respectively.

And finally, we come to the accessories. Nubia also has a Red Magic Backpack which costs RMB299 (~RM181), and a gamepad that is priced at RMB379 (~RM230). No word on if any of these will be available outside of China, or even our shores.

(Source: Gizmochina)

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2020 Acer Predator Helios 700 Gaming Desktop Replacement Now Available In Malaysia

Just in time for Acer Day 2020 that’s taking place this August, Acer has launched several new Predator gaming products in our market including the 2020 iteration of Predator Helios 700. For those who are not familiar with the model, the Helios 700 is essentially a desktop replacement gaming beast and also features an unmissable sliding keyboard.

The 2020 Predator Helios 700 was first introduced during the next@Acer global launch event last month. It carries new hardware options such as the Intel Core i9-10980HK which is paired with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics card and 1TB NVMe solid state drive in RAID 0 mode.

On another hand, gamers can also obtain the Predator Helio 700 with Intel Core i7-10875H processor, GeForce RTX 2070 Super graphics, 512GB NVMe solid state drive, and 1TB 7200rpm hard drive. Both variants come standard with 16GB DDR4-2933 RAM and 17.3-inch full HD 144Hz G-Sync IPS display.

Since the 2020 Predator Helios 700 comes in two variants unlike its 2019 predecessor, this also means that the desktop replacement machine has a lower starting price. Specifically, the model with Core i7 and GeForce RTX 2070 Super can be obtained for RM 12999 while the higher-end variant with Core i9 and GeForce RTX 2080 Super is similar to last year’s model at RM 17999.

Both variants of the 2020 Predator Helios 700 are now readily available for pre-order in our market through Acer Malaysia’s online store. Given the complexity of the machine, Acer has noted that it will be around six to eight weeks from the date of pre-order for the machine to be manufactured and shipped to your premise.

Meanwhile, Acer is currently offering a free Predator Gaming Chair and Utility Backpack for each purchase of the 2020 Predator Helios 700. Additionally, the new owner of this laptop are also eligible to claim either a Predator RGB Mousepad or a Redmi TV Soundbar through Acer Malaysia’s redemption website.

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Intel 6nm Ponte Vecchio Xe GPU Will Reportedly Be Manufactured By TSMC

Intel clearly hasn’t been having a good year; the launch of its 10th generation Comet Lake-S CPUs have been met with somewhat lukewarm reception, and more recently, its technical group hit a snag in the development of its 7nm process node. On an unrelated note, the company has reportedly engaged the services of TSMC to help in the development of its Ponte Vecchio Xe-based GPU.

According to China Times, the Taiwan-based foundry was reportedly approached by Intel and asked if it could work on getting the latter’s 6nm process node for its Xe-based GPU ready for production. To that end, the production of Intel’s uniquely sized die lithography is expected to begin later this year.

To be fair, Intel’s Ponte Vecchio Xe-based GPU is designed and aimed towards the datacentre market segment, and not the consumer market. On that note, and also because it’s not in high demand, Intel’s decision to outsource the production of the GPU’s process node to a third party makes sense.

In terms of capacity, Intel is expected to have 180000 wafers ready for Ponte Vecchio by 2021.

(Source: China Times via Hot Hardware)

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Phantasy Star Online 2 Will Be Making Its Way To Steam On 5 August

Anyone here remembers Phantasy Star Online 2? The Sega-made online action RPG was published in Southeast Asia by Asiasoft, but ended the service back in 2017. Now though, it looks like the western release of the game will be coming to Steam.

Sega made the announcement on the game’s website. Alongside the move to Steam, the game will also be having a collaboration event which rewards players with cosmetics based on references to Valve titles. These ranges from Gordon Freeman’s HEV Suit and crowbar to Wheatley from Portal 2.

This announcement came just a couple of days following the announcement of Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis. Which, in itself, is a very confusing product. Not only is it a separate title coming in 2021, your character in the base game can also be used in it, in a limited capacity. In a sense, this Steam announcement may be a move to increase the game’s playerbase, and then move them all to the new expansion, if it can even be considered so.

At any rate, you’ll be able to download Phantasy Star Online 2 on Steam starting 5 August. As for the quests for the tie-in cosmetics, there doesn’t seem to be a time limit for by when you have to complete them.

(Source: Sega)

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Apple Pay Appears For iOS 13.6 In Malaysia But Don’t Get Too Excited Just Yet

Around two weeks ago, Apple has rolled out the iOS 13.6 update to users which carries several new features including CarKey that allows them to unlock and start selected cars with just their iPhone. Interesting enough, it also appears that the Apple Pay option has been enabled for Malaysian users through the same update.

First reported by SoyaCincau, the Apple Pay option has also appeared on iOS 14 Beta:

(L to R): The Settings section of iOS 13.5.1 vs iOS 13.6.

However, this does not mean that you can utilize the NFC-based payment system with your Malaysian credit or debit card though. As shown in the screenshot below, you would encounter an error when you try to add cards that are issued by Malaysian banks which is not surprising since Malaysia is not listed as one of the official markets for Apple Pay.

Nevertheless, is this a sign that Apple Pay is finally going to be available in Malaysia? Well, it is hard to say given how our financial industry is shrouded in secrecy and multiple layers of regulations.

Truth to be told, it is not a secret that Apple is working to enable its NFC-based payment system in our market. This is something that the company’s representatives have told us numerous times over the years whenever the question regarding Apple Pay’s availability in Malaysia pops up.

But until today, the “work in progress” status for Apple Pay in Malaysia still has not changed. To be fair though, this also applies to Fitbit Pay which apparently has received approval from Malaysian authorities and supposed to be available earlier this year but unfortunately still missing in action.

As contactless payment system has been adopted widely throughout Malaysia, there should not be any problem for our market to support Apple Pay when it comes to infrastructure. But I don’t think we should get too excited just about Apple Pay official support in Malaysia until it is announced by Apple itself or any of our local banks.

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All-Electric Variants Of The BMW 5 Series, 7 Series And X1 SUV In The Works

BMW announced that it is developing all-electric variants of its 5 and 7 Series sedans, as well as the X1 SUV. The company said that the new models are part of a renewed effort to reduce CO2 emissions and increase resource efficiency.

“I firmly believe the fight against climate change and how we use resources will decide the future of our society — and of the BMW Group. As a premium car company, it is our ambition to lead the way in sustainability. That is why we are taking responsibility here now and making these issues central to our future strategic direction,” Zipse said in a statement.

BMW X1 2020 (Image: BMW)

The three cars will join other models from the German automaker that are also in the works of receiving the all-electric treatment. These include a 3 Series variant, the BMW i4, BMW iX3, and the new iNext SUV. The company hopes that the availability of these new eco-friendly models will help achieve its goal to reduce the average amount of CO2 its vehicles produce by at least a third over the next 10 years.

BMW said that the all-electric drive train for the aforementioned vehicles will be one of the four options offered to buyers. Other choices include a plug-in hybrid, and either a diesel or petrol version with 48-volt mild hybrid technology. The company did not reveal when exactly we’ll be expecting these all-electric variants to debut. However, BMW did add that it is expecting to have 25 electrified models on the roads by 2023, with half of them fully electric.

(Source: BMW Group via TechCrunch | Images: BMW)

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Konami Now Selling Gaming Desktop PCs; Preorders Start From 184800 Yen

Now this is a truly genuine surprise. Konami has reportedly begun taking preorders for its own pre-built set of gaming desktop PCs.

According to a report by the Japan-based news outlet, PC Watch, the entertainment conglomerate will ship out its “Arespear” gaming PCs by the end of September to Japanese consumers first. Via Konami Amusement, one of the company’s many subsidiary companies.

In total, The Arespear PC comes in three SKUs: C300, C700, and C700+. Naturally, the C300 is the entry-level of the three, shipping out with an Intel Core i5-9400F, 8GB DDR4-2666MHz RAM, a 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650.

The C300.

As for the C700 and C700+, both desktop PCs are identical in their specification; the only distinction between the two is the see-through panel on the C700+. Specs-wise, both systems ship out with a much beefier Intel Core i7-9700 CPU and an AiO water cooler, 16GB DDR4-2666MHz RAM, a 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD, an additional 1TB HDD, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super. There’s also room for expansion on the motherboard, including a PCIe 3.0 x8 slot, one PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, and one additional M.2 2280 port.

Interesting enough, regardless of the model, all three Arespear PCs ship out with an ASUS Xonar AE sound card. Unfortunately, neither PC ship out with any form of wireless connectivity, meaning that your only form of access to the internet is through the motherboard’s built-in LAN port. That, or you could simply just buy an external Wi-Fi and Bluetooth adapter.

The C700.

Preorder prices for the Arespear gaming PCs start at 184800 Yen (~RM7474), while the C700 and C700+ will costs consumers 316800 Yen (~RM12813)  and 338800 Yen (~RM13702), respectively. At the time of writing, Konami did not specify if it intends to sell its machines to the wider global audience, although considering those prices, it wouldn’t surprise us if the company decides to just keep their circulation within the country.

(Source: PC Watch via Tom’s Hardware)

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CES 2021 To Become Online-Only Affair; Physical Show To Return In 2022

The Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2021 will be an all-digital affair next year. The event organisers, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), made the announcement official at the start of the week, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as the primary cause behind its decision.

The CTA’s decision to move from a traditional, physical event to an all-digital event next year because of the pandemic isn’t surprising, but it should be noted that, prior to this decision, it was still adamant about hosting CES 2021 in person. Instead of going the digital route. As to when things will resume back to normal, the CTA says that CES will revert back to being a physical event the following year in 2022.

It goes without saying that CES 2021 isn’t the first casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, the virus has forced many event organisers to shift and adapt their events from a physical gathering to being completely digital. This includes this year’s Blizzard’s BlizzcCon, E3, the Tokyo Game Show, Google’s I/O, and the Game Developers Conference.

Only one tech trade show will continue with its physical gathering, IFA 2020, albeit under strict supervision and prevention guidelines.

(Source: CTA // Image: Getty Images via The Verge)

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Sony A7S III Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera Now Official; Priced At US$3500

After five years of waiting, Sony has officially unveiled the latest entry to its A7S full-frame mirrorless camera line with the brand new Sony A7S III. True to what was promised by company vice president Kenji Tanaka previously in an interview with DPReview, the device offers improved features and 4K recording at high frame rates.

The Sony A7S III comes equipped with a 12MP BSI CMOS sensor paired with a new BIONZ XR processor, and has a native ISO range of 80 – 102,400. Being a video-focused camera, it is capable of capturing 4K video at 120p and 60p at 10-bit 4:2:2, with no pixel binning or line skipping. Thanks to its fast redout speeds, the camera can also record 16-bit ProRes RAW video over HDMI at up to 4K at 60p. Unfortunately, it isn’t capable of recording 8K videos – unlike its Canon rival.

Other than that, the A7S III features in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) system which offers gimbal-like stabilisation for photo and video capture. The camera is the first in the series that comes with phase-detect autofocus that is capable of 759 phase-detection and 425 contrast-detection points, with 92-percent coverage of the image sensor. According to Sony, it also boasts a maximum continuous shooting speed of 10fps for over 1,000 consecutive uncompressed RAW images with full AF/AE tracking.

Sony’s new full-frame mirrorless camera sports a thicker design, which accommodates a new internal-heat dissipating mechanism. With this, the company claims that the A7S III will be able to record 4K/60p continuously for up to an hour without overheating.

Additionally, it also features a 9.44M-dot OLED Electronic Viewfinder (EVF), dual hybrid card slots that supports UHS-II SD cards or CFExpress Type A, and a rechargeable 2280mAh battery. Connectivity-wise, the camera includes a micro and Type-C USB support with Power Delivery capability, a HDMI port, headphone jack, and built-in WiFi 802.11ac.

Another first for the A7S series found on this model is a new fully articulating flip-out LCD touchscreen that can be swiveled to the side and rotated 360-degrees. Sony said that the menu system has been redesigned to be easier navigation by touch, and its screens and settings can be customised for further personalisation.

The Sony a7S III is slated to go on sale in September 2020, and is priced at US$3,499.99 (~RM14873) for body only. Its availability in Malaysia has not been confirmed at this time.

(Source: Sony [YouTube] [Official website])

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COLOP e-mark Mobile Printer Available In Malaysia; Priced At RM1399

AE Stamp Group has announced that its COLOP e-mark mobile printer is now available in Malaysia. The device is a handheld printer capable of reproducing full coloured images, designs and labels, just by swiping it across paper or other compatible surfaces.

The COLOP e-mark was first introduced in Germany and Austria in 2019 by the company, as an alternative to traditional stamping or printing approaches. The mobile printer is claimed to be able to label up to 5,000 imprints on one ink cartridge, and is managed by a companion app for mobile devices.

The company explained that the e-mark is based on HP inkjet technology and can print up to three lines, depending on the intended label size. It is equipped with a rechargeable battery which lasts up to five hours of continuous operation, and can be charged via a docking station. The device itself weighs approximately at 224.5g and is slightly larger than a PC mouse.

Its proprietary app is available for free on Windows, Android and iOS platforms, which would allow users to create and customise imprints that can then be transferred to the device for printing via WiFi. Additionally, the mobile printer can store up to four customised designs that are ready to print.

The COLOP e-mark is priced at RM1,399 and will come with one ink cartridge. On that note, each ink cartridge refill is priced at RM169. Those interested can purchase the device and its refills at the e-mark official website, or AE Stamp’s official shops on Lazada and Shopee.

(Source: AE Stamp press release / COLOP e-mark website)

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Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Is Now Free For PlayStation Plus Subscribers

It looks like Sony Interactive Entertainment is changing the way it doles out its free games to PlayStation Plus subscribers. On its Twitter account, PlayStation Asia announced its lineup of free games for August, with a twist; you can already download one of them now.

The first free PlayStation Plus game for August – that you can already download – is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Campaign Remastered. As the name implies, it’s the remaster of the 2009 game’s singleplayer campaign. If you need a reminder, it’s the one with the controversial “No Russian” mission.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered are your PS Plus games for August.#PlayStationAsia#PSPlus pic.twitter.com/IDeuQRrynz

— PlayStation Asia (@PlayStationAsia) July 28, 2020

The second game is also special in its own way, in that it will be brand new when it becomes available for download. The title is Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, published by Devolver Digital, and it was first announced back in E3 2019. It’s interesting to see a brand new game being free, even if it is only for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

As mentioned, you can already download Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Campaign Remastered. As for Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, you’ll have to wait until 4 August, when the game launches. Both games will be available to download for PlayStation Plus subscribers until 31 August. If you haven’t gotten this month’s games, now’s as good a time as any to get them.

(Source: PlayStation Asia / Twitter)

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TGV Cinemas and AEON To Organize Drive-In Cinema This August

AirAsia AVA Chatbot Service Now Available On WhatsApp

AirAsia has announced that its AirAsia Virtual Allstar (AVA) service is now accessible via WhatsApp. The artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot was initially introduced for the airline’s official website and app to help with customer inquiries regarding flights and other services.

“Our Virtual Allstar AVA offers a high standard of customer service via artificial intelligence,” stated group chief customer happiness officer Adam Geneave. “AVA already handles millions of cases annually across other platforms such as Facebook, our app and airasia.com so it makes absolute sense to make her available on WhatsApp where there are more than two billion users worldwide.”

He added that AVA currently handles more than 80-percent of customer cases, while the remainder are transferred to a Live Agent who assists directly. AirAsia stated that the virtual chatbot is also able to converse with customers instantly in eleven languages including English, Bahasa Malaysia, Thai, Vietnamese, and much more.

You can reach AVA directly on +60 11-3516 5078 in Whatsapp if you have any queries. Alternatively, you could also access the service via the airline’s official website via this link.

(Source: AirAsia official website)

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Samsung Galaxy Buds Live User Manual Is Now Online

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live already had its renders and a video leaked before its official launch. Now, it looks like the Korean tech giant has, inadvertently or not, put the beans’ user manual online as well. This has revealed a lot more about the true wireless beans.

And one of the first things you’ll see in here is that it’s very vulnerable to water. The Samsung Galaxy Buds Livehas its manual say explicitly to not get the device wet, or risk making it malfunction. Though the warning asking users to not wear it while swimming or showering is more commonplace, it sounds a little too harsh a warning for something that people expect to wear while working out.

Then there’s one section about attaching wingtips. This will likely be the equivalent of eartip sizes for regular wireless earbuds. But the funny thing is that there’s a warning that basically says wearing the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live without wingtips will hurt your ears.

And finally, there’s the bit on the charging indicator LEDs on both the inside and outside of the case. The one on the inside indicates the charging status of the Galaxy Buds Live itself, which is pretty straightforward. But on the outside, the charging case’s LED also has a range of lighting patterns to indicate its own level of charge, which is pretty nice.

At any rate, it doesn’t look like the user manual for the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live comes with a spec sheet. Naturally, the price is also absent. For all that, we’ll still have to wait for its official unveiling.

(Source: Samsung via SlashGear)

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Microsoft Could Use Hydrogen Fuel Cells As Alternative Backup Power For Datacentres

Microsoft has said that it plans on becoming a carbon negative brand by the year 2030 and true to its word, the software brand has been taking gradual steps in reducing its carbon footprint. To that end, the company recently said it was experimenting with hydrogen fuel cells as backup power for its Azure-driven datacentres.

The experiment, Microsoft says, is to see if hydrogen is a viable alternative to its current diesel-powered backup generators. That currently account of less than 1% of its overall emissions when in use, but reportedly just sits around not doing anything “for more than 99% of their life”. Technically speaking, the company argues that with a fuel cell, a hydrogen storage tank, and an electrolyser would help generate electricity for its grid.

As an extra added bonus to the power alternative, Microsoft says that hydrogen-powered long-haul vehicles could also take advantage of the situation and – theoretically, at least – pull up at these datacentres and fill up their tanks.

(Image source: Microsoft.)

At the time of writing, Microsoft said that its hydrogen fuel cells has managed to power a row of datacentre servers for 48 hours straight. Do note that this is all still in its experimental phase and as such, it’s not confirmed that Microsoft will choose to make hydrogen-based power a permanent implementation in its ecosystem.

(Source: Microsoft // Image: Microsoft)

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Black Shark 3S To Launch On 31 July; Features Snapdragon 865 Plus And 120Hz Display

The Black Shark 3 series of gaming smartphones saw a local release in Malaysia earlier this year; with the standard version arriving in April, and the Pro variant in June. It appears that the Xiaomi subsidiary is not yet done with reveals just yet, and has announced that a new variant of the phone, the Black Shark 3S, will launch in China this week.

The brand took to Weibo to reveal the new device and its launch date, but did not give away too much information regarding it. It did tease that the upcoming Black Shark 3S will feature a 6.67-inch AMOLED 120Hz display, which is an upgrade over the 90Hz screen found on the previous versions. The device will also be equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset, which would allow it to go toe-to-toe with the likes of the ASUS ROG Phone 3 and Lenovo Legion Duel.

Sources suggest that the Black Shark 3S will feature a similar design to the previous versions as well. But it is unknown if it would also include the mechanical triggers like the ones found on Pro variant. Its other specifications such as camera sensors, RAM size and battery capacity are still kept under wraps for now.

Regardless, we’ll definitely find out more regarding this new variant soon enough. The Black Shark 3S will launch this Friday, on 31 July 2020.

(Source: Weibo via PlayfulDroid / SparrowNews)

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WhatsApp Testing New Linked Devices Feature In Latest Beta

If there’s one feature that a lot of WhatsApp users have been asking for, it has to be the ability to use their accounts on multiple devices – much like services such as Telegram and Facebook Messenger. Interestingly, it appears that the messaging platform is actually testing this ability in the latest beta version. But not to the extent that most of us have been hoping for.

According to a report by WABetaInfo, a new Linked Devices option have been included in the drop down menu on the WhatsApp home screen. When selected, it will open up a UI that will provide users the option to link a device to their account, as well as listing out all of the devices that have been registered. This new feature seems to suggests that users could finally unify all of their devices to a single account, but its actually far less diverse than that.

Linked Devices basically replaces the WhatsApp Web option in the menu, and its UI description reads “Send or receive messages from your browser, computer or Facebook portal.” Therefore meaning that this new ability is somewhat an extension to its Web feature, which now allows you to use the service on multiple linked PCs via web browser or WhatsApp Desktop – without needing to log off from one device in order to use it on another.

In conclusion, this new ability is not the one that a lot of users have been hoping for, but at least its pretty handy to have. No word on when the new Linked Devices feature will roll out on the public version of the messaging service.

(Source / Images: WABetaInfo)

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Intel Chief Engineering Officer Departs Company; Technical Group To Be Reorganised

Intel has announced that Murthy Renduchintala, the brand’s Chief Engineering Officer, has been relieved of his duties. With Renduchintala on the way out, the semiconductor maker also announced that it will also be compartmentalising his technology group into five teams, while also reorganising its technology, systems architecture, and client group.

Unsurprisingly, Renduchintala’s stepping down comes after an Intel financial earnings report revealed that Intel’s roadmap for its 7nm process was delayed and now six months behind schedule. Forcing the semiconductor maker to push back any delivery of a 7nm processor back as far as 2023.

Murthy Renduchintala, soon-to-be ex-Chief Engineering Officer at Intel. (Image source: Bloomberg.)

On that note, Reuters says that Renduchintala will be replaced by Ann Kelleher, a 24-year veteran at the company who will lead the development for both its 7nm and 5nm endeavour. In addition to the restructuring, Kelleher – among other leaders within the new teams – are expected to report direct to Bob Swan, Intel’s current CEO.

Renduchintala is known within the industry as one of several key hires Intel made back in 2015. Prior to his appointment at Intel, he served as the executive vice president at Qualcomm. Renduchintala will fully and officially depart the company on 3 August.

(Source: Reuters)

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Alleged Apple A14 Memory Images Leak; To Be Used In iPhone 12

The second half of a year is typically when tech giants such as Samsung and Apple begin building up the hype for their upcoming product launches. In Apple’s case, its iPhone 12 series isn’t expected to show itself for at least a couple more months, but as things usually go, leaks pertaining to the upcoming iPhones have sprung.

To be precise, the leaked images aren’t of the iPhone 12 itself, but rather, they appear to be very high-resolution pictures of the phone’s alleged A14 RAM component. That is expected to be fitted inside the phone. First posted on Twitter, it should be pointed out that the source of the leak, a Mr. White (@laobaiTD), is supposedly well-known among the leakster community. Having share somewhat accurate information and images of unreleased Apple products in the past.

A14 RAM pic.twitter.com/UttGtfRRX8

— Mr·white (@laobaiTD) July 27, 2020

Beyond the close look of the front and back of the supposed A14 RAM, the images fail to reveal a great deal of information about the component. Of course, thanks to earlier reports, we at least know that if this component happens to be the real deal, then it’s likely to be based on TSMC’s 5nm die lithography.

(source: Twitter via mactrast)

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