The launch of Andy - the ArtBot

Meitu Inc., publisher of the world renowned photo-editing app Meitu, is dedicated to the pursuit of beauty around the world. For almost 10 years, Meitu has been an innovator of apps that generate 6 billion photos per month globally. Today, Meitu managed to expand its expertise to Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and created its first ever A.I. painting robot - Andy, the ArtBot.

What makes Andy so unique?

Unlike other photo-editing functions that add effects to original photos, Andy breaks up and reconstructs photos, then turns them into paintings within 5 seconds. Its segmentation technique is so humanized that it recognizes humans in photos and is able take them out from the backgrounds behind them, and turn into a brand new painting.

Undoubtedly, Andy marks the beginning of A.I. in the art industry. As Andy continues to learn, more painting styles created through A.I. will be developed. Andy may not be comparable to any of the great painters like Picasso, Van Gogh, etc., but it will certainly lead a different art trend for the future.

[Sponsored] Seeing Double @ Wild Wild Wet!

I had the chance to attend Wild Wild Wet's Seeing Double Event last Sunday whereby we dressed identical to break the Singapore Book of Records! And also to try out the Singapore's longest Inflatable Freestyle Water Slide, The Woosh!

Twin wear

To gear up for the event, I brought D along with me, since it's a Seeing Double event. Both of us wore quite identical :) in our favorite couple wear from Disneyland.

Went there on the dot and there was a quite a crowd, waiting to enter for the Seeing Double event!  It just don't look like how I remembered Wild Wild Wet as! I was quite excited as I hadn't been to Wild Wild Wet for a long time, probably the last time I went there was like 12 years ago?? Ain't a water sports person, naturally I can't remember much about the old Wild Wild Wet.  The only thing I remembered the most about Downtown East was the resorts. It was pretty much the in thing to do during school holidays, where we used to book chalets to hangout and BBQ. Downtown East had everything, including bowling alley, water rides, it was THE one stop entertainment area.

Already felt so excited even before entering

Upon entering, I was greeted by the vibrant colors of the place as the attractions are all so colorful! That definitely helps in getting hyper to play under the bright sun~  The new Wild Wild Wet is definitely catching my attention to visit often.

The Woosh is the attraction of the day, as it is the longest inflatable freestyle water slide in Singapore. However, I couldn't ride it that day due to some reason, but D went to try a few times, sliding down each time differently! It brought back old childhood memories of sliding down the slide. But of course, in a more stylo way.  I got him to take a few videos in his perspective when he slide down.

It definitely looked fun ! Sadly I couldn't do any water rides that day. :( Perhaps next time. Besides The Woosh, which is available from 1 June to 30 July, there's also other great attractions like the Royal Flush, which was launched on March 2017.

Looks a little like caterpillar 

If you are someone whose not afraid of heights and high speed, this is definitely the attraction to try out with your friends! This ride features both the Behemoth BOWL40 and TornadoWAVE! Great way to bond with your friends and family.

If you think Royal Flush and The Woosh isn't giving you the hyper rush, then you can try the Torpedo! Basically its a near-vertical full-body free fall ride where the drop is from six storeys high, at the speed up to 55km/hr.  Not for the weak heart ones aka me. :(

Apart from The Woosh, the Kids zone is more of my kind of water play. *hahah* Where the rides and slides are miniature and less haunting for the heart

This is definitely a great place to hangout with your friends and family. Even with kids, they get to enjoy the day out!

Besides sliding down The Woosh, we also took part in the 'Largest Gathering of Dress Alike Duos'.  And in total, there were 111 pairs of duos, breaking the Singapore Book of Records.

Look at all the twinssssss in the photo! If you have missed out this event, not to worry. In this month of June and July, dress identically with your friend or family to enjoy double the fun for half the price at four different key places at Downtown East - Wild Wild Wet, D'Resort, Orchid Bowl and eXplorerkid!

Besides enjoying the fun at half price, there's also a instagram contest going on. Just snap a creative twinning outfit and upload on instagram, hashtag #SeeingDoubleSG, you could be one of the lucky winners to walk away with great prizes!

 

The Plextor EX1 External SSD

Plextor finally released their latest generation external SSD, weighing only 30 grams, we all now don't have to sweat whenever we need to bring our external SSD out. Not only light weight and slim, The Plextor EX1 is built with extreme speeds in mind, using the latest industry-leading USB Type-C connector with the powerful Plextor high-performance SSD core to provide exceptional data reading/writing speeds. It fully enhance the performance of external storage devices, especially for large-capacity file transfer and backup.

Equipped with the Plextor's renowned high-performance SSD core, it offers amazing 550/500 MB/s continuous read/write speeds, respectively, providing data transfer efficiency that is unheard of in traditional flash drives or external hard drives. This will not affect the overall performance of the system.

Also the USB Type-C supports the USB 3.1 Gen 2 standard that is capable of transfer speed up to 10-times faster than the USB 2.0 standard. Besides the speed, The Plextor EX1 is exquisitely designed to be shock-proof, quiet during operation, to minimize any data loss and overheating, which are the typical known issues to external HDD with moving mechanical parts.

This external SSD is good for users who are always on the go, ultra-slim laptops and even mobile users. It supports mobile storage on Android devices via OTG. With the storage, it greatly expands the capacity to run any applications, backing up files or even transferring files. With its speed, users can do post-production photos or videos or even playback ultra HD video clips on it. Moving even further, users can even launch operating systems and complete databases from the EX1 to streamline their efficiency in terms of both work and play.

Besides gold, The Plextor EX1 also comes in titanium silver. The package comes with a Type-C to Type-A USB adapter cable, as well as a carrying pouch, which perfectly complement any smartphone, tablet, or laptop to create a mobile storage solution that offers the most professional and stylish experience. However for android users, OTG cable has to be purchased separately.

The EX1 will be available in three different capacities (128 / 256 / 512 GB) to choose from, and the entire series comes with a 5-year limited warranty from Plextor.

NVIDIA and partners unveiled GTX 1000 series notebooks in Singapore

On September 7, 2016, NVIDIA announced NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080, 1070 and 1060 GPUs for notebooks, now available in SEA region, providing gamers with a quantum leap forward in performance and power efficiency on the world’s fastest-growing gaming platform. Based on the NVIDIA Pascal™ GPU architecture, GTX-10 Series GPUs are manufactured on the leading-edge FinFET 16nm process, and have been crafted for performance and optimized for performance per watt. The award-winning Pascal architecture makes GTX 10-Series GPUs the ideal foundation for building notebook platforms that enable virtual reality to be experienced on the go.

Notebook manufacturers are using the GPUs inside potent portable gaming devices as thin as 18mm, as light as four pounds and equipped with cutting-edge technologies to deliver astounding performance at 120Hz and 4K gaming.

NVIDIA Pascal-based GPUs represent the single largest generational performance jump in the history of gaming notebooks. Designs range from thin and light to desktop replacements. Performance for VR and PC gaming reaches levels never seen before in a mobile platform. Compared with prior-generation Maxwell architecture-based GPUs, the new GTX 10-Series GPUs for notebooks deliver up to 75 percent more performance right out of the box. And with the Dual-FET power supply and multi-phased power controllers, they offer more than 3x the overclocking potential, for even faster performance.

The GTX 10-Series GPUs for notebooks also include support for the latest NVIDIA BATTERY BOOST™ technology, delivering up to 2x more battery life while gaming and ensuring significantly smoother gameplay when unplugged from the wall. And with NVIDIA G-SYNC™ technology, the best gaming displays are getting even better, marking the first time that 2500×1400 resolution and 120Hz displays are available in a notebook.

Like all Pascal-based GPUs, the new GTX 10-Series GPUs for notebooks also support NVIDIA VRWorks™ technologies. This includes NVIDIA Simultaneous Multi-Projection technology, which can yield up to a 3x VR graphics performance improvement over previous-generation GPUs. This advancement allows notebook gamers to play VR games with higher levels of detail for a more realistic, immersive experience.

Simultaneous Multi-Projection technology is also being integrated into the world’s biggest game engines, Unreal Engine and Unity. More than 30 games are already in development, including Unreal Tournament, Pool nation VR, Everest VR, Obduction, Adr1ft and Raw Data.

Also supported is NVIDIA Ansel technology, a powerful game-capture tool that allows gamers to explore, capture and share the artistry of gaming in ways never before possible. With Ansel, users can compose the gameplay shots they want, pointing the camera in any direction, from any vantage point within a gaming world. They can then capture 360° stereo photo spheres for viewing with a VR headset or Google Cardboard. Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and The Witness are the first games to ship with Ansel support, with more on the way soon.

Gaming notebooks equipped with the GTX 1080, GTX 1070 and GTX 1060 are now available from the world’s leading notebook OEMs and system builders, including Acer, Alienware, ASUS, Clevo, EVGA, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Origin, Razer, Sager and XMG. Features, pricing and availability will vary.

Taiwan Trip - Yonshin Tea & Cake Selection Bar

Located a one corner of the street in Gaoxiong, Yonshin Tea & Cake Selection Bar opted for a vintage concept for its interior. Another photoshoot place for those who likes to take vintage looking photos. Walking into the bar,  I felt that I was transported to another timeline, probably the 50s and I was mesmerized by this.

Some kind of old radio I guess. 

This radio was placed like it was meant to be there. I'm guessing its a radio, kinda forgot to ask. *haha* The place is warm and welcoming, just like a cafe, where I would love to chill and read a book to spend my afternoon or hang out with my friends. Instead of a cafe, this place serves tea, hot brewed and cold brewed tea. Cold brewed tea? Not literally hot tea with ice but prepared with 5 degrees water and placed in the fridge for 8-24 hours, depending on which kind of tea.

6 cold tea selections, available for take away too! 

Something different from what I usually drink in Singapore, I don't remember we have such cold brew tea, apart from getting my cold tea fix of Oolong from MUJI *haha*. 

Preparation counter, look at those tins of tea leaves.

Since cold brew tea is something different, I got a chance to try out their cold brew tea, served in wine glasses. As mentioned by the boss, to serve in wine glass is to bring out the taste of the tea, the fragrance and the colour.

The only decent photo I have with the tea wine glass. 

Had a chance to taste a few different teas and I think the one I like the most, and by far most, favorite of most ladies (according to the 店长) is the Hualian Honey Aroma Black Tea (花莲蜜香红茶). It has the light flowery smell yet not too strong on the taste.

Up close of the 6 Cold Brewed Tea that they have in store. 

Besides just tea and cakes and pineapple tarts, they also serve main courses! Their food isn't really westernised but retaining a little Taiwanese style and steering a little towards Japanese in taste and style. You can have a cold brewed tea first before meal and order hot brewed tea after meal, as suggested by the boss. Worth the try to spend a few hours there drinking and having meals, while catching up with life.

I even ate Rice Noodle Soup with Squid Taiwanese Style (小卷米粉汤), the taste of the soup overpowers the fact that I hate Rice Noodles. [Ok, besides the soup that was really nice, but because the boss was just standing there, it wasn't nice to say no to others who had already prepared a small bowl for me]

Rice Noodle Soup with Squid Taiwanese Style (小卷米粉汤)

Handmade Dumplings with Sesame Dressing

Pan Fried Sea Bass Filet with Rice. Credits:周杰克.

These were some of the dishes we had that day. I think my favorite of all the dishes I had there was the Stewed Pork Ball in Brown Sauce (I kinda forgot to take photos before I ate them) and the Onsen egg that appeared in nearly every dish (haha, who can resist eggs?!). 

Their bottles for takeaway cold brewed teas are pretty too~~~ And if you are planning to be there for a short stay, bringing the bottles back to them you are entitled to 10TWD off your next purchase.

Look how pretty the label is. I know, I know, I'm a sucker for such stuff. 

More photos to spam on the vintage place. 

One cozy corner to take photos. I think at least 5 people took their photos in that position. 

The busy staffs behind the counter. 

Some of the little souvenirs you can get. 

Before I end this post, after all the lovely little vintage details, tea and food......

Notice the word TEA in the middle?

I didn't notice the word TEA in the middle of the Chinese word 鳳 until the store manager pointed it out. What a clever design, combining the 鳳茶 in one word.

Address of 永心鳳茶 Yonshin Tea & Cake Selection Bar:
No. 404, Jhong Shan 2nd Rd., Lingya District, Kaohsiung City, Kaohsiung City 802, Taiwan
苓雅區中山二路404號, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 802

Tel: +886 7 536 2718
Official facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yonshintea/

PLAY THE FUTURE with GeForce GTX

Had a chance to attend NVIDIA's private gaming party event, Play The Future with GeForce GTX on the 11 Dec at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport. It was held at level 1, Chengal 2.

Hi food! 

Reached there just in time, as the event was supposed to start at 6pm with dinner allocated till 7pm. We were given a private pass and a t-shirt for this event. Had dinner first while waiting for them to allocate rooms for us to try out the VR. There were only 3 station, and two of it was in each room, designed to give us the space to experience VR to the fullest.

The room where the one of the station was held. 

I got my chance to try out two different station since out of the three, two station had the same games to try out. The first station that I tried out had three games on VR for us to test, however, no photos of the games itself allowed as the games just looked normal on computer screen anyways.

The first game was The Blue, the setting of the game is underwater, on a shipwreck. The objective was for us to touch the fish and also the big whale. I was terrified, for I have never stood so close looking at the eyes of a whale, and secondly, it was all so real that was trying not to stare at the whale too long. Of course, my main fear was the tail of that big whale, it was racing in my mind "OMG OMG OMG, will the tail hit me in the face?". Probably those who were in the room were laughing at my silly actions. Trust me, I looked silly as it was just 2D on computer screen but it was all sooooooo real with VR.

The second game is Cool draw, or something, can't remember as it was not that scary. Actually that game is pretty cool as you can change the canvas to something that you like, it can be starry night, or space. You can be as creative as you want, walking into your drawings , enjoying what you can create. Basically it is a safe environment of your own world~~

The last game for the first station is to fix the robots, basically you are the so-call "mechanics". This game allowed you to test the remote to pull, turn and push. Pretty interesting as you can feel the remote's vibration in every movement. Wells, it was still scary for me, for I was afraid that the bits and pieces of the parts will fall onto me. And from what I know, no one managed to find the faulty part of that machine that we were supposed to work on. 30 seconds was given for each player to find the faulty part, dang! I failed and suddenly the floor decided to open and dumped out the poor robot. That was my ultimate fear! To fall off the room and i tried to moved myself as far from that portal as possible *sweats*. Poor staff had to pacify me that it was okay, I'm still on ground floor, I'm not going to fall off. But it was so real that I cannot contain my own fear T_T.

After experiencing the VR in the first station, I was as shaken as a little lamb. This is how future gaming would be like, experiencing each game at its fullest, real-life experience. If CS were to be set in VR, I would wonder if each player gets to feel the pain of each bullet if they get shoot in the game :p. hahaha But I would love to experience games like the second game, Cool Draw (or something), where I can glaze into the lovely skyline while enjoying my own creation.

Taking shoot of the station while someone else was trying out. 

The second station was just a sit down setting with a few games for us to choose, and a time-frame of 5 minutes each player. I got the chance to try out two games and it was fun to be able to look into the game 360 degrees with the Oculus glasses. Tried out a sword battle and a machine battle game, wells I suck in the machine battle because I'm not used to game controllers. The overall experience was fun but not as fun as the first station.

One of their staff, Sharone trying out the games after everyone was done. :p 

The overall experience with Nvidia was truly amazing and wells, in the near future with VR introduced to the market, I can turn one of my rooms into a gaming room. Soon Soon, as a part of my wishlist.

Must post with the banner. *hehe*
Credits: ourberries.com

[Sponsored] ClearSK Laser SHR Hair-Free

I always have issues with keeping my under arm hair-free, but that's impossible with just shaver. Especially that is an action that you have to do everyday. Waxing is out of question since it does hurt (I guessed). The other alternative is to go for Laser SHR and ClearSK has the solution to solve the hair issue that we have been all worried about.

Their Laser SHR Hair-Free is their latest treatment for ladies who have no time to spend on shaving or scare of pain.

Lasers and light sources use the principle of selective photothermolysis to eliminate hair and its potential regrowth without damaging the surrounding skin. During ClearSK Laser SHR treatment, light passes through the skin and is absorbed by the melanin in the hair shaft. This absorption raises the temperature of the hair follicle and thermally destroys the cells responsible for regrowth.

Clinically-tested by US FDA for safety and efficacy, this treatment is suitable for all hair types (from thick to fine) and skin tone (light to dark). Highly comfortable for bikini line and Brazilian hair removal too.


So i was offered a session of Laser SHR Hair-Free treatment at Novena Medical Centre. And was ushered into the treatment room once I've reached as I reached on the dot for my appointment. *haha*

Machine

This is the machine that is used for the treatment, the applicator is rather small for a big machine.

Before

This is a pic before my treatment, basically I didn't really shave for the treatment. The consultant had to do a little shaving before the treatment (my bad).

Cooling gel applied

A layer of cooling gel is applied on the area before the session. It's a little similar to the LaserSlim Treatment, a cooling gel is applied before the applicator is used. Then my consultant started to use the handpiece and I felt a slight warm sensation but it was not painful at all. The handpiece is to deliver continuous repetitive pulses of light. 

After treatment

Pardon for the blur photo, but it was taken right after the treatment. Not really hair-free but most of the hair were gone and basically can't even see the tiny heads like I do see after shaving ( either that I really suck at shaving).

After treatment, I applied moisturizer as I felt a little dryness over that area. And after a month, I do see even after a session of Laser SHR Hair-free treatment, the hair growth is minimal! This is amazing. Their recommended sessions to see optimal results is a minimum of 6 weeks and once per month. For hairier people, they recommend up to 10 sessions.

Hair reduction is observed after 4-6 sessions. Hair is evidently finer. For those with less serious case, the treatment causes permanent damage to the hair follicle and hence the results will be permanent.

SHR Hair Free treatment targets the deeply seated hair follicles and permanently damages them as opposed to shaving, waxing, hair removal creams which only serve to remove the hair shaft. Unless you have gone through hormonal imbalances caused by pregnancy, menopause, intake of hormone pills, most people enjoy permanent hair reduction/removal.

The 1st trial treatment is 20 minutes at the price of $68 each. They have outlets at Scotts Medical Center, Novena Medical Center, Velocity, Orchard, Tampines, Jurong East. They have an outlet at the different parts of this sunny island to cater to their customers.

You can visit their website for more information: http://www.clearsk.com

[Sponsored] DrShape® 3D Spot-On Slimming - LaserSlim

Got a little fatter ever since I came back from my Korea trip last year and after coming back from my Japan trip, my weight went up a little more on the weighing scale *sob*. I was lucky to be given 3 trial sessions of Laser Slimming treatment by ClearSk Medi-Aesthetics.

This is one of their slimming programs to get rid of stubborn fat, which is especially designed for Asian bodies. This program, Laser Slimming uses powerful laser beans to induce leakage of fat globules from the adipose tissues. In layman terms, to breakdown the fats using laser beam. After which, the fats are naturally drained out through the body's lymphatic drainage system. As I've understood, is to either pee out or sweat it out.

I had this treatment at their Novena Medical Centre outlet, and they have two units, side by side, to cater to more customers.

Reception area

The reception area is nice and cosy, even if you arrived earlier, there are magazines for you to browse through while waiting.  I arrived at my appointment time and was ushered into the treatment room before I could grab any magazines to read.

Got into the treatment room and first measurements had to be taken. The states were pretty horrifying to me since the last time i measured was before my wedding and that was nearly a year ago. After looking at the stats for my waist, I've grown about 2 inches, dear lord, no wonder my s size shorts feels damn tight.

In the room, Joyce, the consultant, explained the treatment to me, where they started off with Lipo machine using the laser light to break down the fats in the tummy area (that's for me). It uses gentle laser to break down fats, mimic photo-bio-modulation to stimulate your body’s natural process for breaking down and releasing stored content in the fat cells, and followed by laser vacuum drainage to enhance the removal of released fat cell contents

Machine Used 

The four small box-like shaped are the laserlight to break down the fats.

This is how my fat tummy looks like

The box-light items are then placed at the sides and the front of my tummy to maximize the light used on the surface area that is required.

Looks liek dumpling 

I felt like dumpling for that moment. *haha* You can see the laser light from those box-light applicators. It wasn't hot or anything for me, just lied there and wait for it to do its magic.

After the laser light, it was time to drain the fats out from the body, or rather, to flash them out from the body. Since it has been broken down, the fats still needed some rolling to be flashed out.

The roller has a suction in the middle whereby it is supposed to suck on your skin and roll along the area for draining effectiveness. Before the rolling begins, Joyce applied a gel cream for easy application of the roller.

The gel cream applied all over the body.

Joyce rolling the applicator

This process was rather ticklish and painful for me, as Joyce required to use more strength so that the suction works better and she could roll off the fats better. However, there were certain places that were just slightly on top of my bones, so it kinda hurt when she rolled over the bones. :( She went gentle after I feedback to her that she was rolling on the bones. (haha) 

I was told to drink lots of water to drain out from either sweat or pee. It is best to drink plain water and lots of plain water. Quite effective I would say, as after each session I get a little peeish. *haha*

1st Session Before treatment and 3rd Session After treatment

I could see the results after 3 session, which is 30 minutes in total. After the treatment, I saw a lost of 2 cm around my waist area. Not a lot but 2 cm is quite a bit for a lazy bum like me. I even had durian before my last session (opps).  I was still rather bloated right after the 3rd session and was still peeish after peed. But after the third session I could feel the slight different when I'm wearing my clothes and my weight went down too. Not a lot, around 300gs  but it is still a significant weight lost after 30 minutes of treatment. 

LaserSlim is very good for stubborn soft fats around the waist, thighs and bottom. I've got too much soft fats for years, especially at my thighs area. They are the hardest to remove, even squats can do that much to tone them but not to remove them completely. I've tried going to gym before to reduce my weight, but somehow the fats still remains flabby.... until i lost quite a big of weight due to water actually. The fats just remains there, softer but still unable to remove them. 

LaserSlim is an effective treatment for: 

• Soft Fat Reduction 

• Tummy / Love Handles Slimming 

• Bottom / Thighs Slimming 

• Arms Slimming

This is best combined with Ushaping to shape the body for better results as LaserSlim removes the soft fats but not shaping the body. For people who are worry, there are no side effects to this treatment as it does not require any surgery and the laser light used are safe.  Also, ClearSK does not restrict your diet even if you are doing the treatment.

Besides slimming treatment, ClearSK has other treatments for wellness and beauty. Founded in 2008, ClearSK®'s mission is to be the trusted partner to our clients in their pursuit of beauty and wellness, using medical technology to make our clients look as good as they feel at any age.

ClearSK® is a one-stop provider of expert-guided medi-aesthetics solutions for the face and body, using medical technologies designed and tested by mediaesthetics experts. ClearSK® has a wide selection of medi-skincare and medi-slimming treatments that are personalised and prescribed by aesthetics experts to custom-fit the unique make-up of the individual's skin and body.

The actual treatment is 30 minutes at the price of $98 each.  If you find Novena outlet too far for you, no worries! They have outlets at Scotts Medical Center, Novena Medical Center, Velocity, Orchard, Tampines, Jurong East. They have an outlet at the different parts of this sunny island to cater to their customers.