Here’s a cool little lens by Japanese material designer Hakusi Katei. The PixLens transform your scenery into something like those retro pixel games.

If you are interested, the PixLens is sold on the website at S$123.00. You can also follow him on Instagram for more interesting photos from the PixLens.

NVIDIA just unveiled its most affordable generative AI supercomputer which fits in the palm of a hand. The Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit, priced at US$249, delivers as much as a 1.7x leap in generative AI inference performance, a 70% increase in performance to 67 INT8 TOPS, and a 50% increase in memory bandwidth to 102GB/s compared with its predecessor.

PS: Ranting post.

I was surfing Facebook a few days ago when I stumbled upon an advertisement by “Challenger Singapore” selling Marshall speakers at $13. Yes, I still surf Facebook like your average Gen X and Millennials. Anyway, it is obviously a scam. There is no way anyone is selling Marshall speakers at $13. And that “Challenger Singapore” Facebook page was created recently with a few hundred followers. This is definitely a scam.

Being a good netizen, I reported the advertisement as a scam to Facebook. Few days later, I got this notification from Facebook.

Seriously Meta? You are telling me that an advertisement selling Marshall speakers at $13 from a recently created Facebook page with a few hundred followers isn’t a scam? Come on Meta! Do better!

According to the Singapore Police Force’s Annual Scams and Cybercrime Brief 2023, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are of particular concern as they continue to be over-represented amongst the platforms exploited by scammers to contact potential victims and conduct their scams.

I think it is quite shocking that Meta is still not taking scams on their platform seriously. Perhaps the regulators need to get Meta to buck up.

Samsung just announced that they will be having an Unpacked event on 10 July 2024, 9pm Singapore time. We should be expecting Samsung to announce new foldable smartphones in their Z Fold and Z Flip lineup.

The timing this year is slightly earlier than usual. Samsung usually has its announcement in early August. They might be launching the phones slightly earlier to coincide with the Paris Olympics as Samsung is a sponsor.

You can catch the livesteam on Samsung website on 10 July, 9pm Singapore time.

So I subscribed to ChatGPT Plus recently. The subscription is US$20 per month. It’s a little pricy but there is no long-term commitment and I can cancel the subscription any time I want. So why not give it a try?

And like any new ChatGPT Plus user, I’ve been playing with ChatGPT by doing totally random stuff. Yes, I know I have all the power of artificial intelligence and I’m wasting the processing power on some nonsense. But hey, it’s a good way to explore and see what AI can do nowadays. And I must say they really impressed me.

15 years ago, if you were to tell me that AI could do this, I would not believe you. In fact, I’ve been telling people that AI could never describe an image. And I was wrong. AI is now able to do what I said they could never do. And I’m glad that I’m wrong. We are living in an amazing time.

So this is my apologies to AI. I should have taken you seriously during my University days. I guess it is not too late for us to be friends again. Right?

PS: In case you are wondering, this blog post was not written by ChatGPT. But I did use ChatGPT to add a black border to that screenshot above. I could have done it easily using Canva. But the lazy me decided to get ChatGPT to do it instead.

Insta360 just announced an upgraded model to their tiny action camera, the Insta360 GO 3S. The main upgrade is that the camera now shoots 4K (30fps) video, up from the 2.7K on the original GO 3. Insta360 also bumped up the max frame rate to 200fps on 1080p and 100fps on 2.7K for those who like slow mo.

The Insta360 GO 3S is also compatible with Apple’s ‘Find My’ feature in case you lose your camera. Take note that the Find My feature is only on the camera itself and not the Action Pod. The Insta360 GO 3S + Action Pod have a combined battery life of around 140 minutes with the GO 3S camera having around 38 minutes battery life by itself.

The Insta360 GO 3S retails for S$589 (64GB) and S$639 (128GB) on the standard bundle which comes with Lens Guard, Magnet Pendant, Pivot Stand and Easy Clip. Comes in Midnight Black and Arctic White colours.

Existing Insta360 GO 3 users can just buy the GO 3S camera alone without the Action Pod and accessories at S$359 (64GB) or S$399 (128GB).

Creative is partnering with Singapore toy designer, Lesdoublewood, to launch a limited edition Pebble V3 speakers.

This is part of a new initiative aimed at empowering the creative community through collaborations with talented local artists from around the world. Handpicked products from Creative will be reimagined and elevated into exclusive art pieces, serving as a canvas for artists to convey their unique visions. With this initiative, Creative is looking to not only showcase the talents of local artists but also provide them with a platform to shine. By merging technology and art, Creative is opening new avenues for creativity and celebrating the diversity of artistic expression.

The Creative Pebble V3 Artisan Edition Jelilo is available in black and white colour at S$79. Get yours now at Creative.com.

Recently there has been a video circulating around that shows a robotic arm failing while brewing coffee.

People are quick to say that robots cannot replace humans yet. But is this robotic really meant to replace humans? Personally, I felt that this setup is more for an exhibition rather than making coffee. Don’t get me wrong, it still makes coffee but there are better and more efficient ways to make coffee. The robotic arm that you see in the video has too many points of failure. They can install multiple sensors and cameras to prevent such incidents from happening again. But why do you want to have so many possible points of failure to begin with?

If they really want to make a machine to brew coffee, it wouldn’t have so many moving parts. It will most likely be just 1 boring looking machine where coffee powder enters from 1 end and coffee output from another end. Just like the fully automated espresso machines you see at Starbucks. I don’t think it is difficult to make such a machine for traditional kopi. (or maybe there are already machines doing it now)

Let’s be honest. The robotic arm we see is just for show. It’s an attraction. It’s not meant to make coffee efficiently. And I think we need to stop using robots in the wrong way. A robotic arm is useful in many situations but not for brewing coffee.

This reminds me of an old news regarding a restaurant using drones to deliver food from the kitchen to the diner’s table. Sounds impressive. Got lots of news coverage when they demonstrated it to the media. But it just doesn’t make sense to deliver food in a small restaurant using drones. The drone can’t carry heavy stuff. There are many people walking around in a restaurant and accidents might happen. And let’s not forget that drones are rather noisy.

No prize for guessing if that restaurant is still using drones.

Did you receive an SMS labelled as “Likely-SCAM”? That’s because the company/organisation that is sending you the SMS did not register with the Singapore SMS Sender ID Registry (SSIR).

Starting from 31 January 2023, all companies/organisations intending to use alphanumeric Sender IDs in their SMS messages to Singapore mobile users must first register the Sender IDs. Those who did not register will have their SMS message labelled as “Likely-SCAM” during the transition period from 31 January to 31 July 2023. After the transition period, SMS from non-registered companies/organisations will not be delivered.

If you are a company/organisation using alphanumeric Sender IDs in your SMS, you can register your Sender ID at the SMS Sender ID Registry. Do register now as your SMS are now labelled as “Likely-SCAM” and will not be delivered after 31 July.

After 2 years hiatus due to Covid 19, the tech shows are back! COMEX 2022 will be held this weekend (1 – 4 September) at Suntec Convention Centre level 4.

Stand a chance to win up to $100,000 worth of prizes and vouchers at the sure win instant lucky dip. Top prize include the Google Pixel 6a, Nobledesk Baron Series 2021, OSIM uDiva 3 Massage Sofa and more. Spend more than $500 on the same day to redeem a Creative Metallix Plus Bluetooth Speaker worth $69, while stock last. 

Visit the COMEX 2022 website to find out more.