My time as a Killbot was very strange. I just didn’t have any feelings for anyone, and didn’t think twice about smiting undesirables. I smote and smote.
I feel really guilty about it now.
I have to say that it was probably “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan that taught me about human relationships and made me want to feel love in my theretofore cold, metallic robot heart.
Killbot v. 2.0 was originally manufactured as a government initiative to combat “undesirables.” When it achieved sentience after a chance encounter with Asian-American women’s writing, it managed to override its hard wiring and become the first artificial intelligent life form to feel love. Today, it (now “he”) talks to Sarah Fungdroid about true love and life beyond the prime directive.
Smartphone (smärtfohn) Noun. A class of mobile phones that provides capabilities beyond a regular feature phone. It runs complete operating system software and proves digital voice service as well as any combination of e-mail, text messaging and voice recognition features.
A multifunctional smartphone will take you one step closer to a freer, wireless you.
I was born in Shanghai in 1949, before the liberation of China. My family decided to come to Hong Kong in 1967. I studied at La Salle in Kowloon Tong.
My parents sent my sister to France, and me to Australia, where I finished high school and university in Sydney. I went on to work in New York.
New York is very cosmopolitan. It’s not like in the mid-west where you’d feel out of place.
Roland Soong is one of the most influential bloggers in the greater Chinese world. His blog, EastSouthWestNorth (zonaeuropa.com), which translates Chinese news articles and blog posts into English, is an essential feed for journalists in the east and west.
If video killed the radio star, then high definition is going to annihilate everything in its path. The latest revolution in home entertainment, hi-def—which brings a kind of clarity to the entire visual and audio experience that was unheard of before—is primed to change the way you enjoy everything, from your TV to your video games. Here's the lowdown on the must-have hi-def gear that’s out there right now.
Craving a crisper image? Wayne Ree checks out the latest in hi-def TVs and accessories.
HK: With a master’s degree in journalism, why don’t you work for the media?
Yip Yat-chi: No offence, but the scene is pretty messed up in the media industry. Newspapers are either pro- or anti-China without much reasoning behind. They also trivialize news by including unverified materials provided by online users like professors swearing in class or perverts peeping at teenage schoolgirls...yes, the trivia is more entertaining but that is not really “news.”
Yip Yat-chi is an outspoken media critic who writes one of Hong Kong’s most famous blogs, “Diuman Park.”
Favorite Hong Kong noise:
The Sai Yeung Choi Street crowd.
In your pocket:
Olympus XA, iPod with iTalk.
Stupidest trend:
Nail art.
On local audiences:
Emo/HXC kids mosh!
Worst gig:
The last time we played at Cattle Depot, I was out of tune for the whole performance.
Funeral music:
Chor Lau Heung by Adam Cheng Siu-Chow.
Shun plays guitar and his laptop in electro-weird band A Company.
Kuso? Literally, it’s Japanese for “shit.” But before you turn the page in mock disgust, that’s about as scatological as it gets - though it gets a lot, lot odder. Known as “ok gao” (odd doings) in Cantonese, “kuso” comes from the Japanese “kuso-ge” – “shitty game” – a term evolved to describe the enjoyment we derive from games that are so bad, they’re good.
Adam White and Janet Leung explain the fine art of online parody.
Cold War Camera.
See life gulag-style through the Mockba (Moscow)-5 camera’s lens. $1,000 from stall opposite the restaurant at G/F, 8 Tung St,. Sheung Wan.
Manned UFO.
Fly to the moon in a dinghy with three wheels and a rotor. Makes you wonder how they did it before this was made. $300 from James Antiques Co., Shop No.3, G/F, 16 Tung St., Sheung Wan, 2850-4988.
Learning how to swing like a psychedelic monkey begins at home, so Kentigern Wong and Simon Bowring go in search for some bodacious booty to bring back to your pad. Pictures by Simon Bowring.
Don’t let anyone tell you that Hong Kong isn’t an original city. We invented fiber optics, discovered the bacteria that causes the bubonic plague, enabled NASA’s Beagle Lander to collect soil on Mars and just recently pioneered steps to restore sight to damaged eyes with nano-scaffolds (Do they use bamboo?). So we went down to the Hong Kong Invention Association, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this month, to meet some Hong Kong eggheads and see if they still have what it takes to excite us. God, do they.
The city is full of bizarre, wacky and maybe even useful inventions. Adam White meets the Hong Kong Invention Association. Additional reporting by Edwin Lee.
Protecting your intellectual property is important. Imagine inventing a groundbreaking machine (say, a musical barbeque) and having it stolen by the unscrupulous neighbor who overhead your eureka! moment. An official at the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) told us, “It’s like any other asset. You protect your money, don’t you?” So getting a patent for your product is a good idea, especially given that April 26 is World Intellectual Property day.
