The Internet loves cats – that much is obvious. But just how much, exactly? Besides the deluge of cat videos readily available on YouTube (with the most recent one going viral being “Cat in a Shark Costume Chases a Duck While Riding a Roomba“), there is also a deluge of cat related animated gif images online. And who can forget the Internet sensation, Grumpy Cat? Oh, and the Internet-christened Caturday, where netizens share the feline love online?

Perhaps, this obsession with cats simply isn’t enough. Or perhaps, the Japanese have elevated the feline-Internet relationship to a whole new level. Regardless, the latest creation from the Land of the Rising Sun is called Neko Font (“Neko” means “cat” in Japanese). Neko Font is just like any other font, except that the characters are made entirely out of cats, posing in various positions. Real-life cats, too: they’re called Raizou and Mondo – presumably owned by (or owning) the creators of the Neko Font.

It sounds absolutely ridiculous at first, but you’d be surprised at how long you’ll spend typing out anything and everything, just to see how it’ll turn out. Happy (early) Caturday!

(Source: Neko Font via Kotaku)

It looks like the folks at Google have just given YouTube one of the biggest changes yet, YouTube recently launched a pilot program for paid subscriptions on selected channels, going from as low as USD$0.99 a month. Only available for a small group of YouTube channels for now, users can enjoy a free 14-days trial before paying to view the channels; users are also allowed to opt for yearly subscriptions.

According to YouTube, they will be rolling things out more broadly in the coming weeks. To date, it only has 53 paid channels, none of which are available in Malaysia, but more will be added in the future. If you have a channel on YouTube, you can also nominate it for consideration by the Paid Channel team.

Will you pay to enjoy premium content on YouTube, if these content ever make their way to Malaysia that is.

(Source: YouTube Blog)

It’s that time of the year again where restaurants and high-tea’s will all be fully booked out with eager families bringing the mothers out for a day of pampering and love (on top of what you should be doing on a daily basis of course!). Behind a birthday gift, a Mother’s day gift could possibly be the hardest thing to buy. After countless cards and bouquets of flowers, the team here at Lowyat.NET have decided to help you out by sharing with you our picks for a perfect Mother’s day gift for all levels of tech savviness out there. On top of that we’ll be sharing what WE would buy for our respective mothers and why!

Huei

I have to admit, buying mother’s day gift is possibly one of the hardest thing to do, I’ve run out of phone ideas to give her, the last laptop (netbook) I gave her is still in the box and I don’t think another red packet is meaningful enough so this time my Mother’s Day pick for my mum would be the Pebble Smartwatch, the red one to be precise.
Sure, she isn’t tech savvy at all and will definitely not put the watch to full use but it makes sense, for the both of us. She’s loves fashionable items, especially watches, while I’m a geek who’s clueless about fashion so what better than the geekiest watch out there? Moreover, since she checks her watch more than her phone, she can easily see SMS and call notifications right on her wrist. The Pebble Smartwatch can also track the amount of exercise (walking) she has done, a good record to keep.

So head on after the break for some MORE last-minute tech gift ideas for the mother in your life this second Sunday of May!

Canonical, the developers behind the new Ubuntu Touch alternative mobile operating system, have set a soft goal of making the platform fully usable as a daily driver by the end of this month. This bit of info came courtesy of Rick Spencer, Director of Ubuntu Engineering at Canonical, in his blog post.

Of course, a smartphone for daily use can be pretty subjective. Hence Spencer has listed down what he and his team are aiming for to be available on Ubuntu Touch by the end of the month:

• Make and receive phone calls
• Make and receive text messages
• Browse the Internet on 3G and WiFi
• Switch between 3G and WiFi connectivity
• Add, edit and import contacts
• Proximity sensor dims when the user lifts the phone to answer a call

A major factor behind the quick progress is down to the release of the Developer Preview in February, and then adding support for many Android smartphones and tablets; as Spencer noted in his blog, “progress accelerates when people are using, in addition to building, software”.

However, the platform itself isn’t quite ready for a public release just yet, with the company still on course for a public release in October this year before releasing their own Ubuntu Touch smart devices in Q1 or Q2 next year.

(Source: OMG Ubuntu)

Olympus has been one of the original names in the Micro 4/3s game and has never failed to deliver with their PEN series of cameras. Modelled after the film cameras of the same name, the latest in the line, the E-P5 adds a little more to an already stellar offering. Coming in at 16MP, the E-P5 will have the same design as the previous 3 iterations with intuitive changes to the design while still retaining the overall aesthetic. One of the cool features is that the E-P5 actually goes up to a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000s allowing you to shoot wide open on larger aperture lenses in daylight for you bokeh fiends or to freeze motion. On top of that, the E-P5 comes with one heck of a 5 axis stabilizer from the OM-D, allowing you to negate most handshake associated with shooting at a slower shutter speed in dim light.

Hit the jump for more info, pictures and even a sexy video from the media preview.

Mozilla’s alternative mobile operating system, Firefox OS, is set for a public release this summer. Recently Geeksphone, the small Spanish OEM responsible for manufacturing Keon and Peak developer phones for Firefox OS, has put up the two devices for sale - the demand for both were such that the Geeksphone servers were overloaded for almost the entire day that the devices were put for sale.

Seeing the popularity of the devices (the cheaper Keon device was reportedly sold out within hours), Mozilla has launched a new program to spark greater developer interest for the new platform built entirely using HTML5 standards. Called “Phones for Apps for Firefox OS”, the program is similar to BlackBerry’s distribution of the Dev Alpha devices to deserving developers to create engaging and polished apps for BB10.

According to Mozilla, all they want is a proposal for a great app idea and the knowledge to build it. If you can show it from the proposal, Mozilla will send a Geeksphone Keon to your doorstep, wherever you are in the world, to start building the app right away. The organization also adds that the stocks for the Keon are very limited, which means the program could end earlier than the projected end-of-May dateline for proposal submissions, as Mozilla will end the program once their Keon stocks are depleted.

To submit your proposal to Mozilla, head on to the Google Docs link here.

(Source: Mozilla)

Finally after weeks of waiting, it looks like Celcom has decided to offer the HTC One with its postpaid plans. Sign up for a contract with Celcom, and get the latest HTC flagship smartphone from as low as RM1,428. Celcom is offering the device with its usual Celcom First postpaid plans, as well as its data-only mPro Plus plan.

Check out the phone bundles below:

Visit Celcom for more information, or check out what DiGi and U Mobile has got to offer while we wait for Maxis to start offering the HTC One.

For those of you who wish to be one of the first to get the BlackBerry Q10 at launch, you can now register your interest with Maxis and receive extra rebates. Maxis has recently opened up its ROI page for the BlackBerry Q10, giving subscribers the opportunity to be among the first to experience Maxis 4G LTE on the Q10.

The registration starts immediately and will be closed at 5pm on Monday, 13 May 2013. The device is scheduled to hit the shelves (and also your hands) on 15 May 2013. Be among the first 1,500 customers to register your interest with Maxis, and the telco will even throw in an extra rebate of RM150 – applicable with BBMore88 and BBMore148 plans.

Visit Maxis for more information and to register now.