YTechCity.com

This is it right here. Retro designed Smart Covers-inspired iPad 2 covers don’t look any cooler than this — the World 4? iPWN! by Lootiful.

The makers of this drool-worthy cover has begun taking pre-orders for the awesomeness and it comes with the same magnetic mumbo-jumbo as the original Smart Cover by Apple, and it doubles up as a stand as well.

World 4 iPWN Specifications:

•Designed specifically for iPad 2.
•Magnetic technology keeps your Smart Cover snug on your iPad 2.
•Protect your iPad 2’s screen while keeping it slim-fit.
•Close the cover and your iPad 2 goes to sleep!
•Open the cover and your iPad 2 wakes up!
•Full access to peripheral ports and buttons.
•Durable yet lightweight polyurethane material.
•Best of all, the ‘World 4′ Smart Cover also folds into numerous positions, creating the perfect media-browsing/video-playing/web-browsing stand.

The World 4 iPWN! cover is going set you back $79.99 or about RM253 excluding delivery. Reasonable, considering the amount you street-cred you’ll be getting sporting this retro-chic cover.

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U Mobile is boosting up its HSPA+ network offering with a MiFi and a new USB modem. While U Mobile’s network is capable up to 42Mbps, the MiFi offered is limited up to 21Mbps.

The device is priced at RM250 outright and comes bundled on either MB68 or MB128 plans which offers 5GB and 20GB data quota respectively. The price of the MiFi is not bad considering the previous HSPA+ USB modem costs RM450. Like its previous broadband offers, a RM100 upfront payment is required which will be rebated back over 5 month period.

For those that prefer something simpler, they are also offering the HSPA+ USB modem on rental basis for RM20/month. Unlike the previous HSPA+ USB plan, the new USB modem is not available for outright purchase. There’s also a 1 month additional upfront payment required for the USB rental plan.

In addition, if you’re not satisfied with their service for any reasons, you can demand a refund within 7 days with their Money Back Guarantee. Of course there are some T&Cs which includes returning the modem in good order and your usage did not exceed more than 500MB. If all their Money Back Guarantee terms are met, you’ll get a full refund including activation fees. All that without finding a competitive plan with certain number of modems and other criteria.

How fast can you get really depends on the coverage and congestion of their sites. Earlier on, their network was spotted doing a respectable 17Mbps. At RM128/month for 20GB and with speeds above 10Mbps, U Mobile HSPA+ MB128 plan is a steal for wireless broadband. We can’t wait to try it out ourselves and see how it compares with others technology such as 4G WiMAX.

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Finally U Mobile has released the full details for its Samsung Galaxy S II offer. As reported earlier, the Galaxy S II is offered as low as RM849 with 24 months contract of U Premium’s RM168/month plan, while DiGi offering Samsung Galaxy S II from RM1349.

While that option is quite heavy for some, there are other lower options which are surprisingly affordable ranging between RM999 to RM1499. The best part is the contract duration of only 18 months instead of 24.

For example, those that want the least commitment and cost of ownership, the Galaxy S II is offered at RM1499 on U Lite plan. The U Lite plan offers combined 300 minutes of calls, 200 SMS (within U Mobile and for other networks) and a rather generous 3GB worth of data for just RM68/month. That totals up to RM1,224 for subscription over 18 months and you get to enjoy RM875 subsidy for the phone. On other telcos, RM68/month only give you mobile internet without any calls/sms included.

Overall, these plans aren’t too bad at all and probably is the lowest ownership plan for the Galaxy S II. The only downside of course is the upfront payment which you would need to pay as much as 7 months in advance. That doesn’t necessary mean its a bad thing since you would be paying for subscription anyway.

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Here’s the latest piece of new from the official Windows Phone blog. Eric Hautala the General Manager of Customer Experience Engineering says in a blog post that the much awaited Mango release of Windows Phone 7 is expected to roll out “in the next week or two”.

Mango will bring to the Windows Phone 7 platform a whole host of features (like multitasking and much, much more) to put it on par with the likes of iOS and Android. Closer to home, the lack of local support for the Windows Phone Marketplace is a major issue for users, so we hope that gets fixed in the upcoming release as well.

Full excerpt below:

Hi everybody. Given all the recent speculation around the timing of our Mango update, I wanted to bring you up to speed on what to expect next.

For months, we and dozens of our partner companies have been laying the groundwork for the Windows Phone 7.5 update—and making solid progress. As a result, we now expect to start rolling it out in the next week or two. At that time, we’ll also refresh the Where’s My Phone Update? table to reflect the worldwide rollout status.

This also seems like a good time to caution against installing unofficial or leaked copies of Windows Phone software.

During the official Windows Phone 7.5 update process, every Windows Phone will also receive software from the handset manufacturer. This matched and paired firmware has been painstakingly tuned so your phone—and apps—work with all the new features of Windows Phone 7.5. Since your phone requires the proper firmware to function as designed, my advice is simple: steer clear of bootleg updates and homebrew tools.

By the way, in case you missed it, we recently released new versions of both the Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac and the Zune software for PCs, which you’ll need to update your phone. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to install it. I think you’ll like the update-related improvements, which speed up the overall update process and give you more control over backups. A small favor: When you update to Zune 4.8, you’ll be asked to participate in improving the update process. Please consider doing so.

I know you’re eager to get your hands on the next release of Windows Phone—and everyone involved with Windows Phone is equally excited and eager to deliver it to you. Please hang on—we’re almost there.

Eric Hautala

General Manager, Customer Experience Engineering

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Google+ for Android is now available in Malaysia. You can download it direct from Android Market just search “Google+” and you’re good to go or just click on this link right here.