Entertainment

Xiaomi MiJia Youth Projector: An incredible device

August 13, 2020August 14, 2020by Inez1 Comment

My family purchased the Xiaomi MiJia Youth projector during Phase 1 of Singapore’s circuit breaker as a form of entertainment in our living room.

After a solid three months of using it, here are some of the things I like about this projector and some minor complaints.

What thrilled me

The projector is only slightly bigger than my hand. With a height of just 15cm, the projector weighs only 1.3 kg. That’s a projector and a speaker packed into one compact and mighty device.
The throw is really good. Powered by a 500 ANSI lumens light source, it trumps the average 300 lumens projectors — it can fill my 100-inch projector screen nicely and looks bright and crisp at night (the colour’s a tad faint in the daytime due to the sunlight but that’s honestly acceptable). It supports 1080p resolution and in a small living room, the resolution is superb!
The auto focusing is accurate. If the projector is shifted, the feature is triggered to re-focus the screen. Alternatively, you can also easily call the function from the remote control to deal with focus issues should you want to readjust it.
The speaker is loud. While it doesn’t give a strong bass, it is loud and can fill the entire living room without an external speaker. One can also easily use the projector as a speaker.
My MacBook Pro and iPad connects well with the in-built AirPlay. Hooked on the same WiFi network, my Apple devices connect fast and well with the Xiaomi MiJia Youth projector without any lag.

What could be better

Remote-control with AI Voice Search Function Available

We got the China edition, which unlike the international version, does not provide Netflix or Chromecast-related features. The in-built MIUI TV does not run in Singapore and almost all content inside is paid content which cannot be accessed. All content is in Chinese too, and while switching it to English provides some English headers, the bulk of the content is still in Chinese.
To get the throw you want, you’ve got to shift the projector manually. Unlike some other projectors on the market which allow one to shift the scale of the throw on the screen on the projector itself, the Xiaomi MiJia Youth projector needs to be manually shifted to get the exact throw you want. It works but is inconvenient.
The fact that the version I got was the China edition also rendered a lot of the remote-control features useless for us. Apart from turning the projector on, changing the input source, volume, and dealing with the auto-focus, we do not get to make use of the AI-driven audio search function that’s available on the remote control. This doesn’t affect the overall use of the projector but would have been much better if we had been able to use it.

The Xiaomi MiJia Youth projector is an incredible projector. It costs less than a TV, is highly portable and can be connected to the Internet and a plethora of devices – Nintendo Switch, AirPlay, XiaoMi devices, and basically anything with a HDMI cable (even Google Chromecast). For the convenience and its price, getting this projector is hands-down a win for my family!

Rating: 5/5

You can find the product on Lazada or Shopee. Alternatively, you can head to XiaoMi’s flagship store in Funan (that’s where we first set our eyes on it!).

Entertainment

Netflix to end inactive accounts

May 22, 2020December 10, 2020by ContentED8 Comments

How many of us really track everything that we’ve subscribed to? With auto deductions from our bank accounts, sometimes we don’t even know what we’re paying for. That’s why Netflix’s move to cancel inactive accounts is such a world changer.

Instead of accepting payments from inactive accounts, the steaming service provider will cancel all inactive accounts. The company will take a hit revenue wise but what the great customer goodwill generation is worth lots more.

“You know that sinking feeling when you realise you signed up for something but haven’t used it in ages? At Netflix, the last thing we want is people paying for something they’re not using,” wrote Eddie Wu of Netflix.

All who have not watched anything on Netflix for the past year will be asked if they want to continue subscribing. The same applies to those who have stopped watching for more than two years.

The notifications will go out this week and those who do not indicate that they want to continue using the service will have their subscriptions automatically terminated.

To make it easy to onboard again, those who cancel their account and rejoin within 10 months will still have their favoruites, profiles, viewing preferences, and account details just as they left them.

“These inactive accounts represent less than half of one percent of our overall member base, only a few hundred thousand, and are already factored into our financial guidance. In the meantime, we hope this new approach saves people some hard earned cash,” said Wu.

What a statement! At such a diffifult time for many, every cent counts.

Let’s hope telcos and software services companies will pay attention and make similar moves.

Entertainment

5 reasons why Korean drama LIVE is worth binging on

May 11, 2020May 13, 2020by ContentEDLeave a Comment

Like many others, I’ve had lots of opportunities to catch up on entertainment on Netflix while waiting out the circuit breaker period in Singapore. I mean, how many meals can one cook in a day? And one Zumba session daily is enough for me. In between, there’s work, family time, and Netflix.

It’s been a case of exploring the multitude of Netflix offerings and I’ve managed to go through a few series, mostly K-dramas including the must watch Crash Landing on You. While my preferred fix is period dramas, there seems to be a dearth of them recently. I turned my attention to other genres and stumbled on a series called Live.

Live is about the lives of police officers, centring mainly on a group of rookies who were mentored by patrol officers and led by their superiors in Hongil Patrol Division. Each character has a story to tell and their stories are so real that I would give this series a five-star rating.

Here are five reasons why I think they are good:

Relatable characters. Live does not feature renowned stars or even eye-candy celebrities. Instead, its line-up comprises support and relatively unknown actors. Main lead Lee Kwang Soo is probably the most familiar face because of his height and role in the highly popular Running Man series. Perhaps its because of the lack of star power that makes the show’s characters so relatable. Their struggles with getting a job, staying in the job, finance, and relationships are so down-to-earth real.
Great acting. The cast more than made up for being not eye-catching with their looks with their great acting. They portrayed their joy and pain, ecstacy and heartache so well that I feel like joining in their triumphs and suffering together in their defeats.
Excellent story line. The stories deal with societal issues and major challenges facing the police force in Korea. This includes political interference, abuse of police, and the constant need to keep up a good public image.
Simple romance. Instead of typical lengthy love triangles that seem to be the mainstay of every Korean drama, there’s only one and it did not last long. It’s just enough to show that relationships can develop while working together, yet not so draggy that the outcome is only discovered in the last episode.
Well edited. The series is well edited with each episode starting with a little more background than the end of the last. While this technique has been applied in some other recent series, this is done really well in Live.

According to AGB Nielson, viewership grew from 4.337 percent in the first episode to 7.730 percent in the last with an average of 5.798 percent.

This 2018 series is one that grows on you. Its characters, the plot and the realism of police life outside the glitz and glamour make this a sleeper hit for me. It’s well worth binging on!