"I Am A Macha" & That Effing Show! Interview with Ezra Zaid

If you haven't seen the surprise hip-hop sensation "I Am A Macha" yet, do yourself a favour and WATCH IT NOW! Right. With that out of the way, we speak to Ezra Zaid, publisher/talkshow host/rap artist/macha about Malaysian politics, Will Farrell, and his laugh-a-half-minute show That Effing Show. Read more

5 greatest M’sian Twitter #tags of ALL TIME + some others!

Your companions are looking at their laps instead of enjoying your company. In their laps are smart-phones. You know what to blame: Twitter. As social media wrecks/enhances our social lives, one thing's for certain: its potential to entertain us is limitless. Here are the best Malaysian hashtags of all time.

(Photo from theTparty) Read more

Do you support the right for all Malaysians to refer to each other as 'macha'?

If you are a Facebook addict, and enjoying scouring through scores of the network's groups, chances are you've come across "We support the right for all Malaysians to refer to each other as 'macha' ". The group currently has 9,000 members.

We got in touch with founder The Lord Panda - of the satire shock band The Panda Head Curry? - to find out the reasons behind this macha business.

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8 things, besides the Internet, that bukan budaya kita

Over the weekend, our dear Information Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim proclaimed that Twitter, Facebook and L-band were not entirely suitable for Malaysians, "especially Muslims". The Internet is a form of business from the West, and "Malaysians are just users ... We accept all this in a state of cultural shock." 

Ever-willing to heed Rais's advice, KLue got to thinkin': if the Internet is bukan budaya kita because it hails from the West, what other things common in modern Malaysia should we discard, because they originate from a westerly direction?

(Photo from Wikipedia) Read more

Bunkface gets in on the Youreka! action

Only 5 days left to the Youreka! Finale Party! A few important updates: 1) The venue has been moved to KL Live Centre at Life Centre, along Jalan Sultan Ismail. Formerly known as Ruums, it's fast becoming the hottest venue for events (Basement Jaxx has a show there, so does The Bloody Beetroots). And 2) as of today, pop-punk princes Bunkface has joined the line-up. Read more

Youreka!'s got us going yahoo with Urbandub, Inspirational Joni, LapSap & DJ Inquisitive >> UPDATE

OK so you've noticed the colour purple on our website and November issue by now. What's that all about, you wonder. Well it's all about you this month, and Yahoo!. Together, you've got Youreka!, your getaway to discoveries, prizes and a cool party to cap it all off. UPDATE: The Youreka! Finale Party venue is now at KL Live Centre. Read more

Project 500: How social media savvy are you?

Well well well. Look what the Internet has brought us today: Project 500! The organization or the people behind the website is a mystery (all we know that it's probably by a Singaporean company, Vocanic Pte Ltd) and we don't exactly know the purpose behind it ... but we do know the aim: to uncover Malaysia's top 500 social mediaphiles. Read more

Daily Digest: Perak state assembly a police state!; McDonald's quits Iceland!; Warner Bros scuppers Harry Potter-themed Halloween party!

Hello, hump day! What wil you have in store for us today? (Nothing too shocking, please.)

• There're bound to be some, unfortunately. This morning, the Perak state assembly opened its last sitting of the year. Yesterday, (dodgily appointed) Speaker Datuk R Ganesan announced a slew of security measures and regulations: wires and cameras, listening posts, no cellphones in the Dewan. What signal is the government sending -- if Perak's house of reps itself is a police state? [Malaysian Insider]
• Shockers from last night: first, it was reported that PKR secretary general Salehuddin Hashim was resigning. Calls to the guy himself confirmed that it was untrue. Then word was that PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan had quit. Ugh, so confusing! [Malaysiakini]
• A real Halloween scare: Warner Bros legal people warn a restaurant proprietor that she can't host a Harry Potter-themed party. "Warner does not, of course, object to you holding a generic wizard / Halloween night." Wow, since when did you need permission from a media conglomerate to celebrate a festival? [guardian.co.uk]
• More corporate signs-of-the-times: fastfood giant McDonald's gives up on Iceland, citing "unique operational complexity" of running outlets in the 300,000-person island nation, and the falling krona. McDonald's has been proverbial for never pulling out or closing shops, ever! Apahal? [BBC News]
• The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) meets this week in Seoul. The agenda? Whether domain names can be opened up to accommodate non-Latin script -- Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Cyrillic, etc. The Internet is getting a whole lot more democratic. [guardian.co.uk]
• Some splendorous (and really disturbing) photographs of pollution in China. Stunned silence. [China Hush]

(Photos from China Hush) Read more

Youreka, you're a winner!

Yahoo!'s got a pretty sweet treat for all you Internet junkies out there. Just by sitting pretty at your desk and clicking away at your mouse, you get to win awesome stuff like adidas accessories, tickets to blockbuster movie screenings, BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphones and loads more cool stuff. All you have to do is discover and then... Youreka! Read more

Daily Digest: "It's homicide!" says famed Thai CSI doc about Teoh Beng Hock; Rais denies M'sian broadband speeds are slow; Hollywood gags celeb Twitterers

Hello hump day! One item of big news, with several smaller ones:

• Finally, a development on the Teoh Beng Hock case: famed Thai forensic pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand suggests that the political aide could have been strangled before "falling". 80% chance it was homicide. Chance of justice being served: unclear. [Malaysiakini]
• Oh, official deniability! Information MInister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, responding to Australian firms' concern over our slow broadband speeds, decries it as an attempt to besmirch Malaysia's good name. As if our daily struggle with connectivity is not evidence enough. [Bernama]
• From the lands of steadier connections, news: clauses in Disney and DreamWorks contracts now forbid their talent from candid Facebooking or Tweeting. [guardian.co.uk]
• Continuing on about the Internet: an interesting look on how web news giant Huffington Post chooses its headlines. They field several at a time, and the headline that gets more clicks stays on. [Nieman Journalism Lab]
• Lots of people are hooked on Facebook's Farmville. The Chinese social networking analogue, Kaixin, also has a farming app; now, veteran's of this "happy farm" are renting plots of land, and farming, for real. [Shanghaiist]
• Finally, very powerful photographs of dead albatross chicks, more decomposed than their stomach-fulls of plastic detritus. [chrisjordan.com]

(Photo from Malaysiakini) Read more

Daily Digest: PM rules out web censorship, 900 zombies, aliens and Stormtroopers dance to "Thriller", dominate the world with Google Maps Monopoly!

• PM says efforts to deal with illegal and immoral activities on the Internet will not lead to censorship. [The Star]
• A parade of 900 zombies, aliens and Star Wars Stormtroopers that performed MJ's Thriller last weekend may have set a new Guinness World Record. [Straits Times]
• Google and Hasbro teams up to produce Monopoly City Street. Using Google Maps, you can buy any street in the world. World domination! [Mashable]
• The oldest film festival in the world honours Pixar directors with its lifetime achievement award. [BBC News]
• The Joker is the world's best-loved villain, beating X-Men's Magneto, Spiderman's the Green Goblin, Star Wars' Jabba the Hutt and Superman's Lex Luther. [Contactmusic.com]
• 100 things that annoy the Brits (people who chew food with their mouth open, coughing without covering the mouth, slow internet connection and more! [Telegraph]
• 10 weirdest ice cream flavors in existence. [SFWeekly.com]

  Read more

Daily Digest: Loch Ness on Google Maps?, Apple's 5 Suckiest Products, M'sia apologizes to Indonesia for pendet dance fiasco

Check out what's keeping us talking over the water-cooler.

• Muslims can't go for Black Eye Peas's Arthur's Day concert next month? [Straits Times]
• Apple's Five Worst Products, Ever - sorry to burst your perfect, sleek bubble Apple fangirls and Mac daddies. But WHY is iTunes on that list?! [Wired]
• Remember last week when 'pendet dance' was trending on Twitter and for some reason, Malaysia was accused of stealing from the Balinese? We found the reason why. Watch for the bid where they imply KRU is Malaysia's culture and tourism ministry. [Antara News]
• Trust Google. Nessie the Loch Ness monster apparently spotted on Google Maps. [Telegraph]

  Read more

Daily Digest: China to end Chinglish, Jamie Oliver's Asian food chain, Jessica Biel: #1 threat on Google?

You've hit the hour where productivity starts to dip - time to read our Daily Digest then, woohoo!

• Asia is the new market for a chain of restaurants from Jamie Oliver. Hong Kong will be first, and Singapore is bookmarked. No plans for Malaysia currently :(. [Straits Times]
• "Please leave your values at the front desk." Why does Shanghai want to get rid of Chinglish when it's comedic gold? [BBC] [BBC: More Chinglish Signs]
• The ultimate TV rooms - literally. 14 designers transform 2 NYC penthouses inspired by series Dexter, Weeds, The Tudors and more. [If It's Hip, It's Here]
• Poor Jessica Biel. It's bad enough her career's going no where, now her name is no good too. Read why you shouldn't Google her. [Mashable]
• 50 Funny People You Should Follow on Twitter. Tweet examples:"#failedsexualpositions A BJ Novak."  [Huffington Post]

Picture from If It's Hip, It's Here. Read more

Malaysia to get web filters for porn

By now, you net savvy and socially networked readers will already have read (click here if you haven't) that the government has confirmed that they've tendered for an Internet filtering system for pornography. Read more

Social networking helps productivity

You might want to forward this article to your boss. According to a study by University of Melbourne, sites like Facebook, Twitter or YouTube might actually help boost productivity. Read more

No Gmail for 4 hours = ARGGHHHHH

Yesterday around 6pm or so, our office was rendered useless as Gmail refused to load. Did you experience the same problem? Read more

Facebook is five years old now

We've been such a bad, forgetful friend to our dearest companion Facebook. It turned five on 4 February, and it celebrated by giving all its 150 million users a virtual gift (where's mine?!) ... that's 20 million more users than MySpace has, making it the numero uno social networking site. Read more

TasteSpotting for foodies and the hungry

Thanks to a friend, we found a really addictive website recently and we just had to share it with you guys. For foodies, chefs, gourmands and the hungry, TasteSpotting should be bookmarked now. Read more

"Democracy Is" video challenge

What does democracy mean to you? Better yet, can you answer that question in the form of a short video? If you can, you might just be the right participant for the "Democracy Is" video challenge which can win you an all-expenses paid trip to Washington D.C., New York and Hollywood. And that's just the tip of the prize iceberg. Read more

All is unwell with the internets

Guys, are you going absolutely bonkers over how bad your internet connection is today? Well guess what - you'll have to deal with it until maybe 31 December! Just when you thought our internet speed couldn't get any worse, it has. Read more