HIDE-Listed Premises Ordered To Close Immediately; Bazaars In MCO Areas To Cease Starting Monday

 

Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yakoob earlier announced that all premises including Ramadhan bazaars that are listed under the Hotspot Identification for Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) system will be ordered to close for three days, effective immediately.  The system’s list of high-risk locations, which serves as an preventive measure to prevent further spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia, was released to the public earlier today via various sources, including the National Security Council’s (MKN) Telegram channel and the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Twitter account.

Enforcement activities for all premises will be monitored by police, armed forces, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry as well as local authorities, he added. The minister also revealed that all Ramadhan and Aidilfitri bazaars in areas under the Movement Control Order (MCO) will be closed from Monday.

In addition, Ismail Sabri noted that individual sport and recreational activities, as well as non-contact sports with compliance to physical distancing of at least 1.5 metres in open spaces are still allowed for health purposes. “At the moment, the government is studying the standard operating procedures (SOP) and if the daily cases continue to rise, the government will obtain the advice as well as risk assessment of the Health Ministry to enable the SOP to be tightened,” he said.

As a quick recap, locations listed under MCO includes the entire state of Kelantan, the areas of Gali and Tras in Pahang, the areas of Hulu Langat, Petaling, Gombak, Klang, Kuala Langat and Sepang in Selangor, and also Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, the locations under CMCO currently includes the areas of Kuala Selangor, Sabak Bernam and Hulu Selangor in the state of Selangor, Raub in Pahang, and the entire states of Penang, Johor, Sarawak and Sabah. Those under RMCO are the other areas within the state of Pahang, and the entire states of Kedah, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Perlis, Terengganu, as well as the federal territories of Putrajaya and Labuan.

Sony Reverses Decision To Close PS3, PS Vita Stores

Late last month, Sony Interactive Entertainment quietly decided to end the online stores for the PS3, PSP and PS Vita. Following the unsurprising backlash, the company has reversed the decision, at least partially. It looks like the PS3 and PS Vita stores are here to stay for awhile more. The PSP store is still scheduled to go on 2 July though.

The announcement came via the official PlayStation blog, penned by company head honcho Jim Ryan. In the post, Ryan did not include the exact details behind the company coming to the decision to close the stores initially. All that he shared was “a number of factors, including commerce support challenges for older devices”. That, and the desire to redirect resources to current generation machines instead, “where a majority of our gamers are playing on”.

It’s no doubt good news for those who still enjoy games on the PS3 and the PS Vita. It’s a bummer for PSP owners, unless they also own a PS3. Then there’s a potential workaround that involves getting the games for the Sony handheld onto the console first, and then transferring them out.

Overall, it’s good news for a lot of games on the PS3 and PS Vita. Hopefully this also solves the issue of games not getting their patches as well.

The Star To Close Down Dimsum Streaming Service This September

Local on-demand video streaming service, Dimsum will cease its operation later this year. The closure was announced by its parent company, The Star Media Group (SMG) who also counts the daily English newspaper, The Star as one of its subsidiaries.

Set to take place by 30 September, one of the key reasons behind the closure is the fact that SMG’s key management team has identified new opportunities to pursue. It is not clear for now whether this decision is being spearheaded by SMG’s new CEO, Alex Yeow Wai Siaw who has just taken over the role on 1 March.

Meanwhile, the media conglomerate also said that the Dimsum team will be reassigned to other projects within SMG. Originally launched at the end of 2016, Dimsum primarily focused on contents from Asian countries including South Korea, China, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Singapore as well as from Malaysia itself.

At the moment, the service runs on a freemium model with most of Dimsum’s contents  being made available for free with ads while those considered as premium contents can be accessed with a monthly fee of between RM 8 to RM 13.90. According to SMG’s annual report for 2019, more than 1.1 million users have subscribed for the service but seems like it is still not enough to save Dimsum from its imminent closure.

IBM Cyberjaya Global Delivery Centre To Close Down On 31 May

IBM has confirmed that it will be closing down the firm’s Global Delivery Centre (GDC) in Cyberjaya at the end of May this year. The official confirmation finally comes in after rumours about its impending closure have begun making rounds online since a few weeks ago.

The Cyberjaya’s facility was originally opened in 2014 and involved an investment of around RM 1 billion at that time. It was one of several IBM GDCs across the world that is part of the company’s massive shared services operation that handle customers from all sorts of industries around the clock.

According to the report by The Edge, IBM spokesperson declined to provide the number of jobs that will be affected by the closure of its Cyberjaya GDC. However, the company has confirmed that it will not affect other IBM operations in Malaysia.

IBM didn’t provide much information regarding the reason behind the closure aside from the fact that the decision was taken as part of the company’s “continual review of the most efficient way to source our products and services,”. The closure of IBM GDC Cyberjaya came just months after another well-known global IT firm T-Systems decided to leave the city in order to follow one of its major client Shell who has since relocated its IT services from Cyberjaya to Bangalore, India.

Angry Birds Activity Park Johor Bahru To Close Down This April

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent Movement Control Order (MCO) implementation have a major impact on so many industries throughout the country including tourism. Some are able to withstand the tide but for others such as the Angry Birds Activity Park Johor Bahru, things didn’t bode too well for them.

Located at Komtar JBCC which is just across the road from Johor Bahru’s main transportation hub JB Sentral, the Angry Birds Activity Park originally opened in October 2014. Said to be the first Angry Birds theme park in Southeast Asia, it was a joint venture between a subsidiary of Johor Corporation, Damansara Assets together with the creators of Angry Birds, Rovio Entertainment.

The 26,000 square feet indoor activity park is mainly designed for children and given its name, all of the attractions within it were inspired by the acclaimed game franchise. Naturally, the park also contains a gift shop that sells official Angry Birds merchandises.

As per the announcement on its Facebook page, the Angry Birds Activity Park Johor Bahru will be closing its doors on 5 April 2021. Since Johor is still being categorised as a Conditional MCO zone, there may be not enough time for Angry Birds fans from outside the state to make their final visit to the park.

Nevertheless, those who are able to make the journey to Komtar JBCC can take advantage of the lowered admission fee for the park which is now listed as RM 35 for kids and RM 25 for adults while a family of five can pick up the family ticket for RM 140.

Australia Claims Google And Facebook Close To Pay-For-News Deals

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Google and Facebook are “very close” to striking “very significant commercial deals” to pay Australian media outlets for news, Bloomberg reported, citing a transcript from the minister’s office. The development, if true, could end a months-long standoff between Australia and the tech giants, which have previously threatened to block or limit their services in the country.

Frydenberg has held discussions with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the weekend. Both companies have publicly opposed a proposed Australian law that would force them to pay fees to domestic news outlets for content. That very law will be considered in the Australian Parliament this week, prodding the tech giants to agree to payment terms before it is passed.

At the same time, Seven West Media, a major Australian media company, announced that it reached a paid deal with Google to provide content for the latter’s News Showcase. According to the Associated Press, Google has struck pay deals with over 450 publications across the world since News Showcase debuted last October.

Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes praised Australian authorities and credited the proposed pay-for-news law for allowing the company to reach a deal with Google that resulted in “fair payment” and that would secure its digital future.

Despite their bluster, it seems that both companies are unwilling to concede their dominant market positions in Australia. Google rival Microsoft was already looking to capitalise on the former’s possible exit from Australia by pushing Bing as an alternative.

Many other countries, including Canada and those within the EU, have been trying to get Google and Facebook to pay local media outlets for content. As such, this development could set a significant precedent for the global journalistic industry.