New Istana Negara hosts King's birthday

KUALA LUMPUR: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah's birthday celebrations tomorrow will, for the first time, be held at the new Istana Negara in Jalan Duta here.

Tuanku Abdul Halim was the first ruler to be installed as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the 14th, at the new national palace in a ceremony steeped in royal traditions in April. 

The historic installation saw His Majesty re-elected as the country's head of state under a rotation system where the nine hereditary Malay rulers take turns to be the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for a five-year term each.  

Tuanku Abdul Halim was installed as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the fifth, for the first time at the age of 42 in 1970, and four decades later as the 14th Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the age of 84.  

This time, the Istana Negara will once again play host to another celebration steeped in tradition in conjunction with Tuanku Abdul Halim's birthday. 

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong's birthday is officially celebrated on the first Saturday of June, regardless of the Malay ruler's actual date of birth. This year, the first Saturday falls on June 2. 

The birthday celebrations began last night with a 'Yasin' recital and prayers at the National Mosque. 

Tomorrow, the events will start in the morning with a trooping of the colours at the Sungai Besi army camp, followed by the paying of homage and an investiture at the Istana Negara. 

This is the first time that the investiture will be held at the Istana Negara Throne Room which can accommodate 1,000 people.  

A royal tea reception will be held on Sunday at the Istana Negara, and is expected to be attended by about 3,000 people

*Taken from NST Online

MAS: The A380 has landed on Malaysian soil

PETALING JAYA: Almost a decade after it was ordered, the world's largest and fuel efficient A380 aircraft finally landed on Malaysian soil at 3.35pm Wednesday, signalling a major advance for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) as it joins the elite A380 club.

The 73m-long A380 can carry up to 494 passengers and offers one of the best seating arrangements of the industry for its first class cabin.

It will take to the skies for commercial flights on July 1 on the lucrative Kuala Lumpur-London-Kuala Lumpur daily route.

A second A380 will be added to the system by August, with delivery expected in July. MAS, in 2003, ordered six A380 aircraft and the first delivery was scheduled for 2007. However, there was a five-year delay by the aircraft manufacturer.

On board the A380 were MAS top brass, group CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya and deputy CEO Mohamed Rashdan Yusof. After the handing over ceremony held in Toulouse on Tuesday, the flight took off at about 8pm (French time) for the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Soon after its arrival, several MAS employees, including MAS chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof, took a ride to Langkawi, before the aircraft was moved to Hanger 6 for some final touches. The aircraft is also slated to return to Toulouse on June 6 for some additional touches.

MAS is the eighth carrier in the A380 club, the others being Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Air France, Qantas, Lufthansa, Korean Air and China Southern Airlines.

*Taken from The Star Online

1Malaysia Pad: joins Malaysia’s lucrative tablet market

PUTRAJAYA: A new player has come into the country’s lucrative tablet market — the 1Malaysia Pad.

The 7-inch pad, using the Android Gingerbread operating system, was developed by MalTechPro Sdn Bhd.

It was officially unveiled at a soft launch yesterday, promising affordable mobile connectivity on a device which the developers claim was on par with those currently available in the market.

Being a new kid on the block, MalTechPro executive chairman Datuk Sohaimi Shahadan did not rule out the difficulty in breaking through the highly-competitive tablet market, but he is optimistic their business model would give them an edge over the rest.

It was reported earlier this month that Malaysia is the largest tablet market in South-East Asia, racking up sales worth US$374mil (RM1.18bil) last year.

Sohaimi said that unlike other tablet makers which only sell hardware, MalTechPro has the advantage of an in-house team that could tailor the tablet to match the business and communication needs of companies and corporations.

“We are an apps (applications) developer, and the 1Malaysia Pad can be customised according to the needs of the client.

“Let’s say a company wants 500 units. We can customise the apps to do whatever they need, and these apps will be exclusive to that particular company,” Sohaimi said after the soft launch by Domestic Trade, Consumer Affairs and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob here.

The tablet also comes with a clutch of built-in applications, the most notable being the 1Malaysia Messenger or 1MM app, which offers free messaging between users akin to popular applications such as WhatsApp and Blackberry Messenger.

Sohaimi said the 1Malaysia Pad will be in the market next month after its official launch by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, at an introductory price of RM999 for the first 5,000 units.

The tablet comes with two cameras – 3.0 megapixel device at the back and a 0.3 megapixel in the front – WiFi and 3G data capabilities, a Li-Polymer 4000mAH battery and a 32GB micro SD memory card.

*Taken from The Star Online