Nintendo Makes Its Presence Official In Southeast Asia With Singaporean Website

While there are plenty of ways to get your hands on a Nintendo Switch here in Malaysia, the company doesn’t actually have an official presence. Never mind in the country, the company doesn’t even have an official presence in Southeast Asia. But it looks like this are changing, as the company now has an official Singaporean website.

The website itself is pretty bare bones, and you would be forgiven to go as far as to say that it’s still incomplete. One of the few things that give the impression are the URL for the games. None of them are referred to by name, instead they get a serial number equivalent that’s made up of four letters – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is just “aaaa” for example.

And then there’s the fact that there’s no mention of price pretty much anywhere. Not for the games, nor for the hardware. This may have something to do with the fact that Nintendo also has official stores on Shopee and Lazada, also only for Singapore.

This is quite the change for Nintendo, which has generally left the supply of its hardware to the regional distributor Maxsoft, or M.M.Soft in Malaysia. That being said, it remains to be seen if this will actually change anything for customers, especially when it comes to the prices of hardware.

As for the website itself, it may be a might-as-well move for the company. After all, Universal Studios Singapore is also getting a Super Nintendo World theme expansion which, according to Geek Culture, is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Disney+ Web Address Now Redirects Malaysian Users To Disney+ Hotstar Website

For the longest time, Malaysian users that have tried to visit Disney+ official website would be redirected to a placeholder page where they can register their interest for the streaming service. Things have changed though as the Disney+ web address now redirects users to a different site.

Specifically, if you typed Disney+ URL (disneyplus.com) on your browser, you would be redirected to Disney+ Hotstar’s website (hotstar.com/my) instead of the ROI’s site (preview.disneyplus.com/my). As you can see from the redirected URL, we are likely looking at the address for Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia.

However, that address currently brings users to Disney+ Hotstar India (hotstar.com/in/my) instead. Furthermore, that specific section would return a 404 error as you can see from the screenshot above.

So, there is still no Disney+ Hostar Malaysia at the moment but we still deem that the sudden URL redirection is yet another huge sign indicating that the service is coming to Malaysia soon. Before this, we have seen its social media pages as well as the specific Malaysian user interface within the Disney+ Hotstar app.

Not to forget, Disney has also recently confirmed that it is shutting down the majority of its TV channels in Southeast Asia in order to focus on its streaming service. For what it’s worth, we believe that it is just a matter of time before Disney+ or Disney+ Hotstar make its debut in Malaysia.

Sony No Longer Lists A-Mount Alpha DSLR Cameras On Its Website

It appears that Sony has finally closed the lid on its A-mount Alpha cameras, which have been on hiatus for several years now. First spotted by Sony Alpha Rumours, the company has removed the three remaining mirrored DSLRs, the a99 II, a77 II and a68, from the camera product list on its website.

The phasing out of the A-mount camera line is a long time coming. With the Sony a99 II flagship being the last of its kind launched back in 2016, no newer models or lenses from the same product line were introduced ever since. By then, the company had already fully shifted its focus to the more advanced E-mount mirrorless cameras, which have been well received by consumers and fans alike.

The A-mount system itself has an interesting history. Before Sony entered the picture, the system was originally developed by Minolta in 1985 and first introduced on its then-latest SLR camera known as the Maxxum 7000 – or better known as the Alpha 7000 in Japan and Asia. 

Minolta, which later eventually became Konica-Minolta after the merger of the two companies in 2003, continued to release newer A-mount SLRs and DSLRs – up to its withdrawal from the camera market in 2006. Fortunately, it wasn’t the end for the system just yet, as Sony acquired its assets as well as the Alpha branding not long after Konica-Minolta’s departure. Under its new owner, the A-mount system lived on for another decade.

Until recently, that is. After 36 years being part of the camera market, the curtains have finally closed on the system – marking an end of an era.

Fortunately, not all is lost for the A-mount – or rather, the lenses that feature it. Back in September of last year, Sony released the LA-EA5 lens adapter which allows its current generation E-mount mirrorless cameras to utilise the legacy lenses. On top of that, it also comes with an internal AF drive that enables the older optics to be used with autofocusing abilities, even those that lack the necessary built-in focus motors. This indeed has brought new life to the wide-range of A-mount lenses that Sony has released over the years.

You Can Now Check Your Vaccination Appointment Status Directly On JKJAV’s Website

As previously announced by the authorities, Phase 2 of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP) will kick off tomorrow, 19 April 2021. With the aim to immunise 9.4 million people, this particular phase is focusing on senior citizens, people with disabilities, and those that have chronic diseases.

Since earlier this month, the national contact tracing app, MySejahtera has begun notifying users of the details for their vaccination appointment which include the date, time, and location of the Vaccine Administration Centre (VAC). In case you have forgotten your appointment date, you can always return to the app to check them out.

Alternatively, you could use this online tool that the Special Committee On COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV’s) has recently implemented on its website. All you need to do is just input your MyKad or passport ID as well as phone number and once you solve the captcha, you are then able to check out the details of your vaccination session:

As pointed out earlier, you don’t have much to be worried about if you are using MySejahtera as information in the status check should ultimately match what has been stated inside the app. What’s more important is that you get yourself registered for the vaccine and keep a look out for MySejahtera’s notification or SMS in which you then have 48 hours to accept your vaccination session:

If you are not a MySejahtera user, you can also register for the vaccine manually via JKJAV’s official website or call the NCIP’s hotline at 1800-888-828. The NCIP has been scheduled to take place until February 2022 but nevertheless, we do recommend registering yourself for the vaccine as soon as possible.

Spotify Launches Website To Explain How It Pays Musicians

Under frequent criticism for exploiting artists, Spotify has launched a new website called Loud & Clear to better explain how it pays musicians – or in fact, how it doesn’t, not directly anyway.

Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek said the website is intended to “increase transparency and shed light on the complicated economics of music streaming.”

He claimed that, last year alone, Spotify paid over US$5 billion (~RM20.5 billion) in royalties and makes up about 20% of global recorded music industry revenue – more than any other streaming service.

Where does all that money go?

The website and nifty accompanying video makes it very clear that Spotify doesn’t hand money directly to artists, but rather to rights holders like record labels, distributors, aggregators, and collecting societies.

Spotify explained that it makes agreements with those right holders and pays them roughly two-thirds of the revenue it gets from subscriptions and advertising. Then the right holders will pay artists according to their contracts.

It sure looks like Spotify is saying, don’t blame us, go blame greedy record companies instead – an argument that has so far failed to convince many irate artists.

On Monday, artists and other music workers protested at Spotify offices around the world under a campaign organised by the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW), Pitchfork reported.

Spotify was recently in the news due to a brief licensing breakdown with Korean music distributor Kakao, which caused K-pop songs to be temporarily yanked from the platform. Whether that confirms the case made by Spotify or its critics is hard to say.

You Can Also Now Register For COVID-19 Vaccine Through JKJAV’s Website and Hotline

The Special Committee for Ensuring Access To COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) yesterday has opened up the COVID-19 vaccine registration through its official website. Alternatively, the public can also register themselves by calling a dedicated hotline that has been set up by the committee.

The two new registration method were launched slightly around a week after JKJAV activated the registration page on the national COVID-19 app, MySejahtera. Up till 3:00 PM yesterday, more than 2 million people have registered for their COVID-19 vaccine through the app which has since been updated further to show a much clearer vaccination progress timeline to users.

Based on our experience though, we can confirm to you that the registration information submitted through JKJAV’s website is not being crosschecked with those that already existed within MySejahtera’s backend system. This is because we managed to submit our details through the website even though we have registered ourselves via MySejahtera last week:

Then again, the form did say that users would receive confirmation SMS within 24 hours after submission which can be taken as a sign that there is some manual work involved in the registration process. Hence, if you have been using the MySejahtera app, we do recommend you to just register for the vaccine through it.

Nevertheless, in case you need to register yourself or your loved ones via the website, just head on to vaksincovid.gov.my. You can also do it by calling the National COVID-19 Registration Vaccination Line at 1800-888-828.