Apple’s Quarterly Revenue Tops US$100 Billion; Becomes World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

There are plenty of smiling faces at Apple HQ this week. The tech giant has just reported that its quarterly revenue (Q4 2020) exceeded US$100 billion for the first time in its history. And at least for the last three months of 2020, Apple was the biggest smartphone seller in the world, thanks in large part to the stellar performance of its new 5G-capable iPhone 12 lineup in China.

The company said its quarterly revenue grew by 21% to US$111.44 billion (~RM450 billion). Reuters, citing data from research firm IDC, said that Apple captured 23.4% of the global smartphone market last quarter, making it the reigning king of the hill – at least for awhile.

Apple has now 1.65 billion devices active throughout the world, company CEO Tim Cook told Reuters, and that includes over 1 billion iPhones. Once again, China came in strongly for the company – surging sales in the country by 57% to US$21.31 billion (~RM86.2 billion). Cook noted that two of the top three selling smartphones in urban China were Apple products and added that, “upgraders in particular set an all-time record in China.”

The rosy numbers for Apple are somewhat surprising, considering that smartphone sales were largely battered by the COVID-19 pandemic last year. But even back then, there were strong indications that Apple was doing better than other smartphone makers, including chief rival Samsung. Lo and behold, Samsung recently reported that its mobile business declined by 11% in the last quarter.

But will that change with the recent launch of the Samsung Galaxy S21? We’ll have to see in the upcoming first quarter revenue report for 2021.

Fujifilm Announces The GFX100S; A Compact Medium Format Camera With 102MP Sensor

Fujifilm has recently announced the new GFX100S medium format camera. It is a compact variant of the original GFX100 model, significantly reducing the overall size to a common mirrorless shooter, while also featuring the brand’s more advanced imaging technology.

The Fujifilm GFX100S measures 5.9-inches wide, 4.09-inches tall, 3.4-inches deep, and weighs approximately 900 grams with battery and SD card included. Additionally, it is constructed with a magnesium alloy casing and is made to operate in temperatures as low as -10 Celcius. The camera is also claimed to be dust and water resistant, but no rating was provided.

In terms of framing assistance, the GFX100S comes with an eye sensor-equipped 0.5-inch OLED electronic viewfinder with a resolution of approximately 3.69 million dots, 23mm eyepoint, 0.77x magnification and 38-degree view angle. On its back is a tiltable 3.2-inch LCD touchscreen with 2.36 million-dot resolution.

The new camera is equipped with the same back-illuminated 102MP sensor as the original, which is enhanced by the high-performance quad-core Fujifilm X-Processor 4 CPU. It has a standard ISO range of 100 – 12,800 (1/3 step) for both stills and video, and features an updated focus tracking algorithm for its built-in autofocus (AF) systems. For the latter, the company claims that the GFX100S’ on-sensor phase-detection pixels cover nearly 100% of the onboard sensor, enabling it to acquire focus in as little as 0.18 seconds even in low light conditions.

Also featured on the device is a newly designed in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) system that further enhances visual stability when used in handheld situations. Specifically, it is a five-axis system which provides 6-stops of CIPA-rated image stabilisation, and is also noted to be 20% smaller and 10% lighter than the one featured on the original GFX100.

The new camera is capable of recording 4K videos up to 30fps in 16:9 and 17:9 aspect ratios in either H.264 or H.265 codecs. In addition, it can output 4K30p footage in either 10-bit 4:2:2 F-Log or 12-bit Apple ProRes RAW via HDMI out and an external monitor recorder. Concurrently, videos can also be recorded internally to an SD card at bit rates of up to 400Mbps in 10-bit 4:2:0 F-log. Fujifilm says that it included 19 Film Simulation modes built into the device as well, including the new Nostalgic Neg mode.

The Fujifilm GFX100S is priced at US$5,999 (~RM24,268) and expected to be available globally starting March 2021. Fujifilm Malaysia has listed the new camera on its official website, but its local pricing has not been revealed at this time.

PlayStation Plus Subscribers To Get Five Free Games Next Month

PlayStation Plus usually gives its subscribers two free games, and this month, we got three. For February, it looks like Sony Interactive Entertainment is pushing five titles out for free.

The free games in question are Concrete Genie, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Biped, Control: Ultimate Edition, and Destruction AllStars. The first three games are for the PS4, while the latter two are for the PS5.

Though it’s worth pointing out that Control: Ultimate Edition is a bit controversial, in more ways than one. There is the issue with the way upgrades from the PS4 to PS5 versions were handled, which we won’t get to now. And then, there’s this, where seemingly only the PS5 version of the game is free for the Asia region. In the US, the version for both versions of the console will be claimable next month.

That aside, the highlights for this month are probably Destruciton AllStars and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. The former launches on the day it becomes free, much like Fall Guys last year. As for the latter, it’s made by Castlevania series producer Koji Igarashi, and is considered the spiritual successor to the series since Konami is still sleeping on the IP.

At any rate, PlayStation Plus subscribers can claim these games starting from 2 February until 1 March 2021. Destruction AllStars, though, will be available until 5 April, for some reason. As always, if you haven’t gotten this month’s free games, now’s as good a time as any to claim them.

Tomb Raider Gets A Netflix Adaptation; Set After Reboot Trilogy

As far as video games go, the reboot to Lara Croft’s story ended with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Incidentally, it’s also a free game for PS Plus subscribers this month. But it looks like that’s not where the story ends. Netflix has announced that Lara Croft’s adventures will continue beyond the games, and will be animated for the streaming platform.

The announcement came via the NXOnNetflix Twitter account. And it specifically mentions that the plot of the new animation will be set after the events of the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy. So there’s little room for doubt there. The tweet also mentions that the animation will be done by Legendary Entertainment.

Though Netflix has not provided any other details beyond what’s in the announcement tweet. Which means no images to serve as hints as to which direction the animation will be going. All this suggests that the animated Tomb Raider project is still in its very early days.

This announcement comes after a string of other video game adaptations on Netflix. We’ve seen The Witcher and Castlevania, both of which were well received, to say the least. So it makes sense that the platform wants to adapt another video game into a series for its platform. Though Tomb Raider remains an interesting choice.

Garmin Lily Is Now Official: A Stylish Fitness Smartwatch Designed For Women

Garmin has officially unveiled Lily which is a fitness smartwatch that the company said is designed specifically for women. It is apparently Garmin’s smallest smartwatch to date and has a huge focus on fashion.

Featuring a 34mm watch case alongside a slim 14mm watch band, what made Lily rather unique among Garmin’s smartwatch is the patterned lens within its monochromatic touch display. Whenever the display goes idle, the pattern would then reveal itself which is how Lily able to position itself as a stylish watch.

As you may expect from a Garmin fitness smartwatch, Lily which has a water-resistant rating of 5 ATM is also equipped with heart rate and blood oxygen (Pulse Ox). Users can also utilize it to track body’s energy levels, stress, hydration, respiration, menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and sleep alongside workouts such as running, swimming, cycling, yoga, and more.

However, the Lily does not come with built-in GPS though which means users need to carry their phone if they want to track outdoor runs via the Connected GPS feature. Users can choose to obtain Lily in its Classic variant which carries stainless steel bezel and Italian leather band or go for the Sport model that offers aluminium bezel and a silicone band.

Price-wise, the Lily Classis goes for USD 249.99 (~RM 1,012) while the Lily Sport is priced slightly lower at USD 199.99 (~RM 810). Unfortunately, its availability in Malaysia has not yet been announced by Garmin.

AirAsia X Warns Against WhatsApp Scammers Using Its Name

AirAsia X today warned members of the public against falling for a scam involving WhatsApp messages claiming to be from AirAsia X Berhad or its affiliates. These messages apparently ask recipients to deposit payment into an account allegedly belonging to a credit management company.

The airline company strongly denied having anything to do with the messages, emphasizing that all official announcements are made through AirAsia Group’s official channels on social media and in the mass media.

“We strongly advise the public to disregard the message and not to share any confidential information with anyone through any messages or phone calls they receive claiming to be AirAsia X Berhad,” the company said in a statement.

This seems to be the latest Malaysia-based scam making its rounds on WhatsApp. Just last week, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) warned the public about a scam that could make you lose access to your WhatsApp account. That scam (similarly) involves perpetrators impersonating WhatsApp to ask for your verification code.

Online scams have predictably been on the rise in Malaysia since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, it’s generally a good idea not to give any personal information to anyone requesting it on WhatApp or other messaging platforms as legitimate organisations, whether government or private, never reach out that way. You may read this if you want to know more about common scams in Malaysia and how to recognise them.

YouTube Has Taken Down Over 500,000 COVID-19 Misinformation Videos

YouTube has removed over 500,000 videos containing false or misleading information about COVID-19 since February last year, said its CEO Susan Wojcicki in a recent update addressed to YouTube content creators. Like many other tech companies, YouTube has been trying to showcase its efforts against falsehoods even as the platform has become a repository for COVID theories that range from doubtful to the absurdly wild.

“We’ve updated our policies to remove egregious medical misinformation about COVID-19 to prohibit things like saying the virus is a hoax or promoting medically unsubstantiated cures in place of seeking treatment,” wrote Wojcicki. She also said the company is now reaching out to its countless content creators to help spread accurate and up-to-date information about the vaccines.

YouTube has an official policy document explaining what considers as COVID misinformation. And that document can be described as both amusing and depressing – given that it’s a window into the sort of nonsense people are uploading to the platform.

Among the examples listed of content not allowed on YouTube are: “claims that COVID-19 is caused by radiation from 5G networks” and “claims that the COVID-19 vaccine will contain a microchip or tracking device.” But the best of all is this: “videos alleging that if you avoid Asian food, you won’t get the coronavirus” – that’s clearly why COVID numbers in Malaysia are on the rise (we’re being sarcastic, of course).

This all isn’t to detract from the scale of the problem that YouTube is wrestling with. Last year, a study published by BMJ Global Health found that over a quarter of the most-viewed English YouTube videos on COVID-19 gave out misleading or false information. The problem has probably gotten a lot worse since then.

Live Photos Of Upcoming OnePlus 9 Pro Smartphone Leaks

Live photos of the upcoming OnePlus 9 Pro smartphone recently surfaced online. The design of the phone, shown in the images, does resemble the renders provided by Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka OnLeaks) back in November last year.

Much like the leakster’s renders, the phone is seen sporting a large curved display with thin bezels and a tiny punch-hole camera cutout on the top left. While on its back is a glossy case with a rectangular camera island that houses four cameras and a LED flash module. Besides giving us a glimpse of the design of the handset, the leak did not provide any details of its specifications. 

According to Chinese tech site IT Home, it is said that the OnePlus 9 Pro will feature a 4,500mAh battery with fast charging support at 65W for wired and 40W for wireless. The phone will also sport dual stereo speakers, and is water + dust resistant with IP68 rating. Prior to this, OnePlus confirmed that the new flagship series will feature Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 888 chipset.

Photography-wise, the rear cameras are believed to include dual Sony IMX689 48MP sensors (one of which suggested to feature a telephoto lens), paired with an ultra-wide angle and a macro shooter. Housed in the punch-hole cutout on the OnePlus 9 Pro’s display is a 32MP selfie camera.

The new OnePlus flagship series is expected to consist of two models: a standard variant and the Pro model. As mentioned before in our previous report, it is rumoured that the company will launch both models sometime in March.

Kevin Hart Cast As Roland For Borderlands Movie

We first heard reports of a Borderlands movie last year, which will be directed by Eli Roth. There hasn’t been much in terms of development since. But 11 months later, the people behind the film has decided on who to play Roland: Kevin Hart.

The Hollywood Reporter quotes Roth as saying “Borderlands is a different kind of role for him, and we are excited to thrill audiences with a side of Kevin they’ve never seen before”. Which is a very accurate description of the disparity between Roland as a character and Kevin Hart as an actor.

For context, Roland is the Soldier-class character for the first Borderlands game. He’s generally a stoic, serious and no-nonsense character. Which is the opposite of what Kevin Hart is famous for. And that’s before we get to the physical differences. But Roth is confident that Kevin is “going to be an amazing Roland”.

At any rate, this makes the second character getting cast for the Borderlands movie. The first was Cate Blanchett, who will play the role of the Siren Lilith. Considering only two of the four main playable characters have been cast, never mind the villains and side characters, it’s going to be a while before the film gets released.

Crypto Miner Installs Mining Rig Inside Boot Of BMW i8 Just To “Annoy Gamers”

Simon Byrne is a name that is unlikely to raise any eyebrows among normal folks. Mention his name to people in both PC gaming and GPU mining circles, though, and you’re likely to hear them clicking their tongue in disgust as they recall the picture of 100 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards, neatly and uniformly arranged, in a mining rig.

Recently, Byrne took it a step further by installing a miniature GPU mining rig – it holds a total of six RTX 3080 cards – inside the boot of his car. Specifically, inside the boot of his BMW i8 hybrid sports car. Then, as if to add insult to injury, when asked why do such a thing, Byrne simply responded by saying “just to annoy gamers”.

We won’t deny that the Byrne’s GPU miner on wheels is pretty to look at, but from a practical standpoint, it’s hard not to think that this setup feels terribly inefficient in the long run.

Crpytocurrency mining has been a revival of late, thanks on no small part to Bitcoin soaring exponentially and currently sitting at RM130000 per coin, on average. Byrne, however, isn’t mining Bitcoin but rather, his rig is tweaked to mine Ethereum, an alternative cryptocurrency to Bitcoin, and currently the second most valuable digital coin on the market. With a current average value of RM5300 at the time of writing.

Now, Byrne’s use of his 100-odd RTX 3080 cards is are not illegal by any legal measure of the word, but it is important to remember that supplies for NVIDIA’s Ampere-powered GeForce RTX 30 series are in desperately short supply, and demand for said cards have also been overwhelmingly high.

Sony Launches Alpha 1 Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera; Arriving In Malaysia This April

Much to everyone’s surprise, the new camera that was originally teased by Sony to launch yesterday was not a successor or variant to its A9 series but a brand new flagship altogether. Meet the Alpha 1 (A1), the company’s latest professional full-frame mirrorless shooter that is equipped with a large sensor and features 8K video recording capability.

The camera comes with a 50.1MP full-frame stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor and new Bionz XR processor. It supports an ISO range of 100 to 32,000, and offers over 15 stops of dynamic range for videos and stills. The A1 is able to shoot full resolution RAW photos at 30 frames per second, and its large buffer allows for 155 compressed RAW or 165 JPEG images. Sony claims that the onboard hardware enables the camera to do 120 autofocus (AF) and auto exposure (AE) calculations per second, with an AE response latency as low as 0.033 seconds.

Its autofocus system features 759 phase detection points and real-time eye tracking AF for both human and animal subjects. Sony says that it has significantly improved the eye tracking algorithm on the A1, which now is able to track and maintain focus on birds – even when they suddenly take flight.

The camera also comes with an improved electronic shutter with 1.5x less rolling, enabling it to offer anti-flicker continuous shooting under any lighting condition. It is also able to sync up to 1/200 of a second with flash, and 1/400 of a second via mechanical shutter. The latter is made possible thanks to a new onboard lightweight carbon fiber shutter curtain and dual driven shutter system.

To further complement the AF and shutter performance on the Sony A1 is a built-in 5-axis stabiliser with 5.5Ev of compensation (CIPA). The camera also saves gyro data for post production stabilisation editing, which can be imported to the Sony Catalyst Browse software.

Video-wise, the A1 uses the full width of its 50.1MP sensor to capture footage at 8.6K resolution, which would then be downsampled to 8K. The video is recorded in 10-bit 8K 30p at 4:2:0 in XAVC HS Long-GOP format. 4K videos, on the other hand, are downsampled from 5.8K resolution via Super 35 mode, with 60p and 120p frame rates in 10-bit 4:2:2 in Long-GOP and All-Intra formats. Sony has equipped the flagship camera with a new heat-dissipating structure inherited from the A7S III, which enables it to record 8K videos for 30 minutes.

As for other specifications, the Sony Alpha 1 comes with a 0.64-inch Quad-XGA OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) with 9.44 million dot resolution, and a 240Hz refresh rate – a first for any camera in the world. The EVF also offers 0.90x magnifacation, 41-degree diagonal FOV and a 25mm-high eyepoint. Meanwhile, on the camera’s back is a tiltable 3.0-inch 1.44 million dot LCD touchscreen display, featuring the new Sony camera UI as the A7S III.

The device supports various connectivity features including Gigabit Ethernet, dual-channel 2×2 MIMO 802.11ac Wi-Fi and USB-C. There’s also dual card slots that each support UHS-I and UHS-II SDXC/SDHC cards or the new CFexpress Type A cards.

Sony Malaysia has confirmed that the new Alpha 1 full-frame mirrorless camera will arrive locally sometime in April, but its local pricing has yet to be announced. For reference, the camera is set to retail at US$6,500 (~RM26,286) when it is released in other regions this March.

Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake-S Desktop CPUs Rumoured For September 2021 Launch

Last week, rumours surfaced about Intel preparing a 16-cores, 32-threads 12th generation Alder Lake-S Core CPU, a little more than a week after its official CES 2021 keynote. Now it appears the new CPU platform has gotten a launch date of sorts: September 2021.

To be fair, the alleged launch date is nothing more than a tweet from Uniko’s Hardware (@unikoshardware). However, the source has often proven themselves to be on the nose about such things in the past, so it is actually worth taking this bit of news with a pinch of salt.

To that end, we more or less know what to expect of Intel’s next-generation Alder Lake-S lineup: the CPUs will be the first desktop CPU to depart the brand’s archaic 14nm process, moving forward with its new 10nm SuperFin die lithography. Further, the processors will also introduce a new LGA 1700 chipset and 600-series motherboards, as well as support for a new DDR5 memory standard and PCIe 5.0 interface.

SK Nexilis Decides to Open Copper Foil Factory in Kota Kinabalu

South Korean copper foil manufacturer SK Nexilis will be building its first overseas plant in Kota Kinabalu, the company announced on Tuesday, according to The Korea Times. Copper foil is a key material in the production of batteries for electric vehicles – a burgeoning industry that has seen incredible recent interest from global players including Apple and Baidu.

The South Korean company said it picked Kota Kinabalu and Malaysia because of power considerations. Malaysia has the most stable power supply in Southeast Asia, it said, along with a low electricity cost and a high dependence on hydropower. Kota Kinabalu was also picked because of its abundant land available for factory expansion, as well as convenient infrastructure – access to a port and international airport.

The RM2.3 billion factory will be constructed in Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park, and will begin commercial operations in 2023. It will be capable of churning out 44,000 tons (50,000 – according to MIDA) of copper foil every year, and, when completed, will push SK Nexilis’ total battery copper foil production capacity to 100,000 tons annually.

“At the Malaysian plant, we will build facilities that can fully materialise our technology of making the thinnest and widest battery copper foil,” Kim Young-tae, CEO of SK Nexilis, reportedly said. “By building the plant in Malaysia, we will improve cost competitiveness and enhance our commitment to RE100, so we can consolidate our status as the world’s No. 1 supplier of battery copper foil.”

RE100 is a global initiative that has companies commit to operating on 100% renewable energy. That explains SK Nexilis’ reference to hydropower in Malaysia. All in all, Malaysia may be (slowly) turning out to be a key industrial base for the production of electric vehicles.

Nvidia Patent Replaces Controller’s Right Analogue Stick With Touch Sensor Trackball

Nvidia isn’t normally a name that you’d associate with game controllers. But the company has a patent that claims to address the lack of precision with a controller’s analogue stick. Specifically, it looks to combine the precision of a mouse and the “velocity control” of a stick.

The Nvidia patent replaces the right analogue stick of a controller with a touch-based stand-in for a trackball. The company claims that this gives the controller the “absolute accuracy and precise positioning” of a mouse.

But because the trackball is actually touch-based rather than an actual track ball, when you lift your thumb, it resets the position of the trackball. This is similar to the way an analogue stick snaps back to the centre when you lift your thumb. This allows it to retain the aforementioned “velocity control” of the analogue stick.

For context, velocity control refers to the way the intensity of the input increases the stick further from the centre. Like the way your character walks when you push the left analogue stick halfway and runs when you push it all the way. Or when the camera pans slowly when you push the right stick halfway and quickly when pushed all the way.

This Nvidia patent does make a lot of sense. After all, some games are better experienced with a controller, while others with keyboard and mouse. This serves as a supposed best of both worlds, especially for the console scene. That being said, it definitely won’t be replacing the KBM setup. It also remains to be seen if this is something that will actually be sold, or just another patent filing.

Capcom Is Selling Chris Redfield’s Wool Coat From Resident Evil Village For RM6229

A couple of years ago, Capcom made available for purchase the trench coat worn by Dante in Devil May Cry 5. It was a Japan exclusive thing, and exorbitantly expensive. But now, the company has another piece of clothing from an upcoming game, Resident Evil Village. And while it’s not as expensive in comparison, it looks even more undeserving of its price tag.

In another Japan-exclusive deal, Capcom is selling the wool coat worn by Chris Redfield in Resident Evil Village. And the company is asking for JPY159731 for it (~RM6229). Which is ridiculous, as it is literally just a wool coat. It has nothing going for it – no unique print, nothing hanging off of it, nothing. It’s as plain as you saw it in the trailers. It doesn’t even have buttons.

What it does have though is four sizes to choose from. These range from medium, large, extra large, and an “Original Model”. The last one is the largest of them all, and is the one that was 3D-scanned into Resident Evil Village. This implies that it’s the size a real-life Chris Redfield would wear. The other sizes were adjusted to fit the proportions of more average people.

And if you thought that the price of the wool jacket was not high enough a price, don’t fret. Capcom has a bunch of other items in its “Complete Set Collectors Edition” for Resident Evil Village. This comes with the aforementioned coat, a Chirs Redfield statue, 1/6 miniature replicas of gear you’ll find in-game and an art book. This is priced at JPY192500 (~RM7508).