Leaping Post – ExpatGo

UberX Offers Rides That Are Cheaper Than Taxis in KL

Leaping Post — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 14:26:29 +0000

If there’s a gun to your head, what would you name the one downside of living in Kuala Lumpur? If you’re thinking about traffic and getting around in the alpha world city, you’re not alone! KL is the most populous city in the country and getting around it can be quite nightmarish, let alone overwhelming. Budget taxis can turn to be very frustrating to get during peak hours and driving around in your own car means waiting behind the wheel during rush hours.

One transportation network company is doing its bit to make the experience, well, less nightmarish and less overwhelming. Uber, which was launched in Malaysia in January this year, has launched its uber-cheap service, “UberX,” in KL.

The San Francisco-based company uses smartphone apps to provide luxury and private car services on demand to its consumers around the world, and was named the tech company of 2013 by USA Today. It boasts of providing a luxurious experience with minimum waiting time. You can download the Uber app for iOS and Android platforms from the App Store and Google Play Store.

UberX for ridesharing and other services at standard budget Taxi rates

The UberX service is Uber’s low-cost, non-luxury car service that will cost you almost the same as any regular metered taxi in KL.

The company charges a base fare of RM1.50 for the UberX service and RM0.22 a minute, plus RM0.55 a kilometer. You’ll have to shell out RM1.50 as the minimum fare. Now compare this to a budget taxi in the city. You are charged a base fare of RM3 and rates start to vary from RM0.10 for 21 seconds to RM0.87 for every kilometer you travel.

For services that fall between midnight and 6am, budget taxis levy a surcharge of 50 percent – something that the UberX service will not. Not to forget that budget taxis make you shell out additional Malaysian Ringgits to pay the toll fares that you may incur during your trip. With UberX, toll payments are not your concern. Pretty sweet, isn’t it?

What to expect of the UberX service

While the ridesharing and vehicles-for-hire platform hasn’t made any official statement yet, it is believed that non-luxury cars Perodua Myvi and Nissan Almera will be used by Uber for this service.

According to sources familiar with matter, close to 20 Nissan Almera cars are plying the streets under the UberX service. While the cars may have turned non-luxury, services remain luxurious. You’ll enjoy the convenience of cashless travel that high-end Uber services like the UberBlack provide. The UberX drivers will have to undergo the same background checks and verifications that drivers of the more premium Uber cars have to undergo.

If you want a more luxurious experience in terms of the car you get to travel in, but still want to remain in budget, you can turn to the UberBlack service. Effective July 1, 2014, the company has slashed UberBlack fares by 20 percent, until further notice, to bring the premium service to standard-taxi rates. The premium service uses cars like Mercedes E-class, Toyota Camry, Nissan Teana, Audi A6, Toyota Alphard, Honda Accord, Hyundai Starex, and a Jaguar XJL.

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Apple Expected to Launch the iWatch in October

Leaping Post — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 12:55:29 +0000

iWatch Concept by Zumtobei Design

The most awaited company jumping into the wearable tech race will be Apple with its plans to launch the iWatch. If a news report from Reuters is correct, Apple’s iWatch could launch in October.

The device is expected to carry a curved OLED 2.5 inch touch screen that is to be supplied by LG with wireless charging capabilities. The device is rumored to be running the iOS 8, which is now available for developers in its beta stage. The operating system is already making waves in the industry for its integration capabilities between other iOS systems, including the Mac.

Features galore

As far as all Apple products are concerned, the amount of features packed into its devices have always been astounding. Apple always wins in terms of design, look and quality. All Apple devices have the premium look and feel that win over customers by the millions. Apart from focusing on these, the iWatch will concentrate on health tracking while, sleep data, blood sugar and calorie counter are expected as standard features. The iWatch can also display incoming messages without having to pull the phone out.

Nike collaboration

The new health app that Apple revealed recently will be the one running the watch. This has been developed in hand with Nike. This comes at a time when Nike shut down its fuelband division. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple unveiled the health app, which will collect health data based on third party apps installed in the phones. Apple expects to sell ten to fifteen million pieces of the iWatch by this year.

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Fire Phone: Amazon Launches a Smartphone Shopping Device

Leaping Post — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 08:51:25 +0000

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos launched his company’s maiden smartphone during an event in Seattle. Named Fire Phone, it is an all purpose, full-fledged shopping device.

The arresting feature of the Fire Phone is the synonymously named Firefly. It is an app that recognizes images and seemingly has the capability to detect and then identify about 100 million buy-able items. This can range from physical products sold through Amazon to songs and even phone numbers.

The Fire Phone has a dedicated Firefly button. This means that this shopping friendly feature requires only a tap.

Amazon is opening the Fire Phone to developers so that they can incorporate Firefly into future and existing apps. To give an example, a food app can be created to get exhaustive information about a particular type of food before buying it from the online store. Companies are encouraged to write customized apps for Fire Phone rather than posting the app at Play Stores.

The Amazon Fire Phone has the potential of becoming a great headache for retailers. It does away with the middle man and reduce the retail price of the product.

There is still no word when or if it would be released in Malaysia. Many Amazon items aren’t available for purchase in Malaysia, and the cost of shipping can make the retail site discouraging.

Read more:

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This Couple Plans to Build Solar Panel Roadways

Leaping Post — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 03:28:03 +0000

The 48 states of the US have roads, driveways, sidewalks, parking lots and playgrounds amounting to an area of about 31,252 square miles. If a couple-Scott and Julie Bursaw- have the independence to do anything they want to do – they will coat the area with solar panels.

Research and discovery

The Idaho resident couple have been researching and working on a prototype of a kind of industrial strength panel which has the capability to withstand weights more than the biggest truck. The Bursaws have been poring over this problem for about 10 years.

It seems that the Bursaws might have found out the solution. They have invented a textured glass coating to be used on the panels which not only have the capacity to withstand huge loads, but also support any standard tire traction. According to their calculation, if all the roads are coated with this solar panel, the public ways will have the capacity to generate three times the electricity that is presently being consumed in the United States.

The material also has the ability to power electric vehicles. This can be made possible via a mounted “receiver” plate below the EV and the installation of “transmitter” plate on the road.

Funding

The US Federal Highway Administration has already funded two phases of this project. It was also featured in the Moonshot series of Google. Solar Roadways is the incorporated name of the effort.

The Bursaws are at presently hoping to collect $1 million through IndieGogo to advance beyond prototype stage and make commercial production. They have collected about $112,000 since they have started their campaign in the earlier half of May.

They have opted to crowdfund their project instead of taking money from large investors as they wish to protect their vision of creating a product which will help Americans the most. They believe that these projects will create jobs and they want to keep the job inside the US instead of outsourcing it to another country. The Bursaws want to create a manufacturing facility which will provide employment to Americans. They also want to keep the manufacturing process as green as possible.

Watch The Videos Introducing Solar Roadways

‘Solar Freakin’ Roadways’

Solar Roadways Indiegogo Video

Would you like Solar Panel Roadways?

MORE ELECTRIC CAR ARTICLES:

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How to Watch Free Broadcast TV Online in Malaysia: FilmOn

Leaping Post — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 14:23:12 +0000

You can watch broadcast TV online in Malaysia through FilmOn. The company offers a bouquet of US TV stations along with a large number of international stations.

The free version of FilmOn includes broadcasts in standard definition. Viewers can also enjoy a higher quality broadcast and the ability of recording the shows so that they can watch them later. However, these features are available only in the paid version. The company charges $9.95 (~32.16 Malaysian Ringgit) per month for the higher quality version. Both free and paid versions carry the original advertisements broadcast.

Film lovers too have a reason to cheer with their FilmOn subscription. Western genre movies that were banned can be availed on FilmOn. Many of the films that are not considered to be appropriate for mainstream TV viewing are also available on FilmOn.

More Online Entertainment Related Stories:

Photo credit: Claudio © / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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AdWords in Malay Language: Google Malaysia Expansion

Leaping Post — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:59:36 +0000

In a recent bid for the expansion of the Google advertising platform AdWords, Google Malaysia has made it possible for advertisements to feature in Bahasa Malaysia. It is a move to bring local businesses under their advertising umbrella, by initiating the endeavor to reach out to the local people.

One of the primary concerns for this addition is Google’s endeavor to make SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) more visible on the web and also become more discoverable, both locally as well as internationally. Country Business Head and Managing Director of Google Malaysia, Sajith Sivanandan, said during the media briefing that the move would enable small and medium businesses to reach out to a lot more local consumers and audiences through the optimization of Malay keywords.

According to Sivanandan, there are approximately 700,000 SEMs in Malaysia, and only 15 percent of them have internet presence. With the huge smartphone revolution and the millions of Malaysian internet users, AdWords in Malay will create a plethora of opportunities for SEMs to tap into the market.

Approximately 60 percent of the Malaysian population uses Malay as their primary language, and by extension also is the language that they browse the internet with. Google is all set to convert these numbers to their advantage and establish a close relationship with their consumers at the same time.

One of the benefits of using AdWords as an advertising platform, according to Sivanandan, is the way it can be used to maximize financial gains and be optimally used for businesses of any size.

Yet another benefit is how the advertisers have the complete hold of the advertising process on this Google platform. Factors like location, data and positioning can be decided by the advertisers in order to reap maximum results given their budgetary concerns, an ideal advertising solution for startups and SEMs.

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Launch of RapidKL Travel Planner App

Leaping Post — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 05:34:07 +0000

It is with the launch of RapidKL Travel Planner that the 10th anniversary of the RapidKL was celebrated amidst men on stilts, fire spitters and park-our performers. RapidKL Travel Planner is a mobile application that will assist travelers plan their journeys.

The mobile application will provide users with status notifications and updates on RapidKL bus and rail services in addition to information about frequency of service, hours of operation, useful instructions on travel and even a fare calculator. The application is designed with the bold use of colors and is also equipped with route and location maps. The mobile application also sports an easy to use interface with options like notifications, routes, directory, tickets and even feedback.

Available for download and use on Android and iOS devices, this mobile application, according to RapidKL is a step to improve its services for the people of Malaysia. Datuk Seri Shahril Mokhtar, Group Managing Director of the Prasarana Group, the creator of RapidKL, said that RapidKL Travel Planner is a continuation of the progress the company has made in the last 10 years.

RapidKL currently has a massive ridership of more than 500,000 people on a daily basis, a figure that is estimated to grow by a hundred percent once the new rail lines are ready for use. The new rail lines (Kelana Jaya LRT and Ampang extensions), slotted for operations from next October, and the enhanced people carrying capacity of the new trains will significantly increase the number of travelers, and may in turn increase the use of the mobile application.

What do you think about the launch of the RapidKL Travel Planner app?

Read About More Apps in Malaysia

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Yuna Launches First Spotify Session in Asia

Leaping Post — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 13:10:15 +0000

Yunalis Zarai, popularly known as Yuna, and one of Malaysia’s most popular artists, showcased her love for music when she launched the first Spotify Session in Kuala Lumpur on May 30. It was the first Spotify Session in Asia.

Yuna performed a total of four tracks from Nocturnal, her latest album. The four tracks were “Rescue”, “I Want You Back”, “Mountains” and “Falling”. There was also a cover “Hold On, We’re Going Home: by Drake.

About Yuna

Yuna, hailing from Alor Setar, has made a lot of progress since she uploaded her music for the first time on her MySpace account while she was a law student. Although she now lives in Los Angeles, Yuna has maintained her fidelity to Malaysian culture through music – an elegant organic mix of R&B, folk and pop. The singer describes her music as a fusion of Coldplay and Mary Poppins.

Yuna has collaborated with a number of famous pop artists like Pharell Williams and holds the distinction of performing alongside legends like Jack White and Florence and the Machine. She shuttles regularly between America and Asia, and recently performed concerts in the regions. Yuna had an extremely successful US tour in the beginning of 2014.

Connecting with fans

The singer-songwriter claims to constantly search for ways by which she can connect with fans back in Malaysia through music. She said that Spotify has transformed the manner by which she discovered and listened to music, and therefore the recording of the first Asian Spotify session gave her a huge thrill. She is hopeful that others will have just as much fun listening to her compositions as she had playing it.

Sunita Kaur, Director responsible for Spotify Asia said that her company is well acquainted with both international and local artists. She added that there were Spotify Sessions with international musicians like Mumford and Sons, Franz Ferdinand and Band of Horses among a number of others.

Watch Yuna’s ‘Rescue’ music video

More about Spotify:

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Never Lose a Thing Again: Meet Tile

Leaping Post — Wed, 28 May 2014 13:04:54 +0000

Losing things can be an annoying habit. If you often tend to lose things when you are out, Tile is just the gadget for you. Founded by Mike Farley and Nick Evans, Tile is a Bluetooth device that you can attach to your wallet, purse or even your smartphone.

The Tile is a small matchbox-sized, square-shaped device that is attached to a purse or wallet, or any other thing that you fear losing. The device is connected via Bluetooth to the Tile App on your mobile and works within a range of 50 to 150 feet. The best part is, even if the item that you have attached to the tile to goes out of range from your mobile, other mobiles with the Tile App can detect it. Once it is detected, you will receive an alert automatically about the location of the item.

The World’s Largest Lost and Found

Nicknamed “the world’s largest lost and found” by its creators, Tile is now available for sale to the public. It is presently available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the EU. The product is shipped via Amazon.com and can be purchased on the manufacturer’s site, www.thetileapp.com.

While there is no news yet as to when Tile will be available in Malaysia, smartphone users are hoping it will be soon. The gadget, which was funded by crowd funding on Self Starter, is presently available for a price of $19.95 on preorders. Once the Self Starter campaign comes to an end, the cost of the gadget will go up to $25.

Compatible with Top Smartphones

Tile is compatible with the latest Apple devices including the iPhone 4S, 5 and 5S, iPad mini, iPad 3 and 4 and iPod 5. At present, the gadget works only with Apple devices and not android devices. The company claims that they have no plans to offer the Tile for Android, as the OS does not entirely support Bluetooth 4.0. Nevertheless, there has been a considerable demand for the app in the regions where it is available.

Watch the Video

Would You Buy Tile?

Cast your vote and post a thought in the comments below.

Read More: Other Cool Gadget Stories

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OutRunner: World’s Fastest Running Robot

Leaping Post — Sun, 25 May 2014 09:00:04 +0000

Two legs is good, six legs is better. OutRunner is a truly fast robot on legs, enough to give Usain Bolt a complex. The latest robot to come out from Robotics Unlimited has six legs and can touch speeds of over 20 mph in an outdoor setting, and 45 mph on the treadmill. OutRunner can keep running for two hours on one charge. The superfast robot weighs three pounds and measures under two feet in height.

Fund-raising

The OutRunner is not yet available for commercial sale and the team that has designed it looks at raising about $150,000 to get going with commercial sales production. The team has already raised $43,019 as of now, and if they reach their goal, the team is all set to plan a race across the globe for running robots. The pace of OutRunner has beaten all earlier records; the ones created by Boston Dynamics have clocked 16 mph in outdoor conditions and 28.3 mph on the treadmill.

The design of OutRunner draws from the way animals tend to run; the same step movement and the mass-length ratio that is used. OutRunner has the capacity to get going on any surface, be it grass, downhill surfaces or curves on a track. The legs also have shock absorbers to ensure the robot is stable during its run. Once the robot is mass produced for sale, you could buy it for just under $250. Not a heavy price to pay for a super fast robot, is it?

You can learn more about this project on Kickstarter.

Watch the Video

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