Volvo S90 and V90

Continuing on Volvo's path to revitalization and modernization that started it all with the new XC90, with safety is its top-priority, the Scandinavian carmaker continues to revive itself from its dreariness and blandness from its current lineup in a more technological manner with the brand new flagship saloon, the S90.

2017 Volvo S90

The S90 name sounds hardly familiar to any Volvo historians many because that was once used back in 1996 as a minor change version of the 960 saloon. It was known to be the last Volvo in history to be rear-wheel drive, just like its wagon derivative, the V90. Of course, with the S90 and V90 names brought back as the company's flagship, don't expect they'll behave as the ones from the last century, though, because they are basically offered with front-wheel drive or four-wheel drive configurations.

2017 Volvo S90

2017 Volvo V90

What matters about the new S90 and V90 is the technology that serves as the driving force of these new flagship models and sticking true to its "zero casualty" promise that Volvo delivers within the next decade, the new S90 and V90 are packed with autonomous driving technology.

Sure, Tesla has that Autopilot shindig going on with their Model S but for Volvo, Tesla's Autopilot is nothing but a serious wannabe in the autonomous driving stakes so Volvo's kind of autonomous tech is something beyond reach from Tesla's hands. Called Pilot Assist, it is the most advanced standard safety package on the market today, and apart from doing most kinds of stuff that Tesla's Autopilot do most of the time such as making good use of its sensors, camera, front radar, and autonomous emergency braking for collision prevention, this tech comes with large animal detection and run-off road mitigation, something that Tesla should put in the first place, huh?

Autonomous driving can be good news and bad news for us but as a word of warning, drivers who are solely relying on autonomous driving tech should need to be aware on the road at all times because autonomous driving isn't all fun and games or rest and relaxation because having learned from Tesla's mistakes, it's imperative that drivers need to be active on the road, even when they engage the car's autonomous driving features for the benefit of themselves. One more thing though, while these cars are born to be autonomous, they're just semi-autonomous ones and you need to be extra clever to study its merits and demerits while on the road.

2017 Volvo S90 interior

What about design? Having learned from its large crossover derivative, the XC90, the new S90 and V90 features Volvo's new design language packed with "Thor's hammer" headlamps that looks strikingly impressive even after hours. Although squarish to look at from back and front, the sidelines are all dynamically proportioned to deliver that luxury mandarin that you expect from the German saloons. As for the interior, it's surprisingly very nice to be accommodated and very high tech. You could spend hundreds of minutes trying to toy around the inside of the car but once you have it, it means a very serious business proposal for you to get behind the wheel of one of Volvo's most technologically advanced vehicles ever made.

2017 Volvo S90

2017 Volvo V90

If the S90 and V90's main paradigm shift is safety, has they completely forgotten about performance? Not quite because even it its front-wheel drive powertrain, driving one of these can be broadly similar to the Audi A6 but in a very Scandinavian kind of way thanks to its new platform that was used on the XC90 but if you try to opt in for an optional AWD powertrain, it can be a proper multirole that can take on any weather it sees at the cost of being too much grip and prone to understeering when you corner it hard on the bends. Most models do come with different two-litre engine configurations, be it petrol or diesel, but the most powerful is the T8 Twin Engine, which combines this with an electric motor, resulting to 407PS of power and 640Nm of torque. Believe it or not, diesel models now come with a brand new PowerPulse technology that eliminates the turbo lag, which makes it wonderful on the go, and the new i-Art injection system which keeps these engines smooth while running. Depending on the variant, these models can be mated with either a 6-speed manual or an 8-speed automatic.

Should you buy it? The new Volvo S90 starts at 364,900 krona while the V90 starts at 374,900 krona so on paper, they're somewhat more costly to own than the Audi A6, in sedan and Avant derivatives, but if you didn't mind about the price differences, the S90 and V90 deserved a lot more respect than the Germans because of its unparalleled tech it offers for the drivers on today. It maybe here today, but these cars are ready for tomorrow thanks to the science that Volvo promises within the next decade.

Photo: Volvo Cars

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Kim's top aide leaves for Rio

Sourced from NHK World:

A close aide of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is on his way to Rio de Janeiro to attend the Olympic Games and meet officials from friendly nations.

Choe Ryong Hae, a vice chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, arrived in Beijing on Saturday. Diplomatic sources say Choe will fly to Brazil for the opening ceremony next Friday.

Choe is one of five members of the Presidium of the ruling party's Central Committee Political Bureau. He has served as Kim's special envoy and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

North Korea watchers say the visit is part of an effort to promote diplomatic activities amid growing international pressure over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

Kim also appears to be keen to enhance his country's prestige through success in sporting events.

Faith, hope, and love trumps all in today's Kalyeserye

Photo: Official EB Facebook

In today's Kalyeserye segment of Eat Bulaga, now on its 37th year, following the assassination of Lola Nidora, we all thought that all the hope is lost on her and following the slow response done by the Rogelios and Rogelia, Alden, Maine, and Tinidora try to get their grips on coping with Nidora's critical state upon getting shot by the assassin following death threats received from her after days of playing cat and mouse. Just as we thought that all the hope is lost, a miracle happened and yes, Lola Nidora's alive. With the police reported that the assassin finally brought into justice, Lola Nidora's not ready to give up her life just yet. She wants to see great things for Alden and Maine but what great things do we expect from them?

Keep watching Eat Bulaga every weekdays for more Kalyeserye, and in the meantime, happy 37th anniversary to Eat Bulaga! Having been on air for almost four decades since the end of Martial Law from the Marcos regime and goes on until the edge of eternity for three networks, nine presidents from the Marcos regime to the Duterte administration, even President Rodrigo Roa Duterte congratulates Eat Bulaga for the show's longevity! For over 11,000 days on the air, numerous memorable segments shown, millions of Dabarkads viewed here and across the globe, and its international presence, no other show comes close than the longest-running noontime variety show in the Philippines.

Happy 37th anniversary, Dabarkads, mula Batanes hanggang Jolo, saan mang sulok ng mundo! (From Batanes to Jolo, from all corners of the world!)

#BGGameOfShows

On the July 29, 2016 episode of Bubble Gang...

- Game show gags

- A man with a split personality

- The Pool Senorita gals reached their hot climax

- Hugot lines in theaters

- Wise words from Tata Lino

- Bubble Gang does Payless XTRA BIG by spoofing this commercial as PAINLESS XTRA BIG! Sa akin, it's DOBLE OR NOTHING!

- Another life of a gay is explained with a song

- An office worker makes her excuse to the boys

- BASA-BASA PIK!

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Kishida, Ban agree on resolute response to N.Korea

Sourced from NHK World:

Japan's Foreign Minister and the United Nations Secretary-General have agreed that the UN Security Council should resolutely respond to North Korea following its ballistic missile and nuclear tests.

Fumio Kishida and Ban Ki-moon met in New York on Thursday.

Kishida said Japan wants to increase pressure on North Korea by strictly implementing Security Council resolutions and taking a resolute stance.

He said Tokyo wants to continue cooperating with the United Nations to comprehensively resolve the abductions of Japanese nationals by the North, as well as issues arising from Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs.
Kishida referred to the action program to fight violent extremism Ban compiled in January.

Kishida expressed hope that the United Nations will play a central role in immediately putting the program into action with the cooperation of various international organizations.

Let's Do The News! (July 29, 2016)

- Tropical Depression Carina is expected to bring moderate to heavy rains over Bicol, Eastern Visayas, and CARAGA, according to PAGASA. As of 1100 hours local time, the LPA east of Borongan City, Eastern Samar has developed into a tropical depression. It was estimated to be at 195km East of Borongan City, Eastern Sama at 1000 hours. It moves northwest at 11kph with max winds of 45kph near the center.

- The former presidents of the Philippines advised the administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to exercise restraint on the West Philippine Sea row following the issuance of an international arbitral court ruling that voided China's expansive territorial claim. President Duterte said he would take the advice of his predecessors and be cautious in handling the issue to avoid risking soldiers' lives.

- DILG Secretary Ismael Sueno yesterday warned all local government units and the public against con men posing as his staff and extort money. Sueno said they received a report that certain individuals approached two mayors and asked for P50,000 as down payment for the purchase of fire trucks for their districts.

- In the dramatic final day of the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton finally accepted her nomination as the party's presidentiable. As she accepted her nomination, she delivered her best speech yet. She urged supporters of her former rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, to support her because they all share a common goal. He main task is to create more jobs with higher wages. She accused the Republican Presidentiable Donald Trump of trying to divide Americans from the rest of the world and from each other.

- Right now, a total of 106 Russian athletes from 7 sports had been banned from participating the Rio Olympic Games over the doping incident. This includes the entire track and field team. Russia had initially planned to send 387 athletes to the Rio Games. Meanwhile, about 70 Russian athletes arrived at an airport in Rio.

- On a related note, protesters have disrupted the Olympic torch relay just over a week before the Games open in Rio. The Games' organizing committee says Wednesday's protest, staged to coincide with the torch relay, forced its route to be changed in a town about 100km southeast of Rio. The step was take after torch bearers complained about their safety.

- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned recent attacks launched by refugees in her country and pledged counter-terrorism measures, including greater monitoring of online communications. At a news conference in Berlin on Thursday, Merkel said the refugees who carried out the attacks had slapped the country that welcomed them in the first place. She stressed that the unforgivable attacks threatened national security and placed a burden on innocent refugees.

- Formula E racers will be given a brand new look in the upcoming 2016-2017 season and apart from the new two-tier front wing, teams can now make changes to their vehicles and the machines are now better and lighter than the previous ones. Although power remains at 200kW (with 20kW increase in the 2017-2018 season and another 30kW for the 2018-2019 season), the regenerative braking level is now bumped to a massive 150kW and lost 8kg of weight.

- Meanwhile, Formula 1 cars will have cockpit protection for the 2018 season to protect drivers. The decision was made to allow more time to develop the technology, instead of rushing it into use.

- In case you missed the recent Eat Bulaga Kalyeserye, with Alden and Maine finally saved and reunited with the lolas, a grave threat is happening on Lola Nidora. While getting out of their "safe zone" for something, someone's going to be assassinated and that someone might be Maine but Lola Nidora took the hit...and did Lola Nidora died? Tune in next time and find out!

TTFN!!!

THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars

THE IDOLM@STER has been one of the most successful titles in Bandai Namco's timeline for over a decade now and even though it faces a much stiffer competition in the world of anime idol genre, everyone should respect that this decade-old franchise is how this kind of competition started in the first place. For 2016, the world of THE IDOLM@STER introduces us a new vision for the loyal fans, for the first time, on the Playstation4 console.

THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars

Here it is, it's called THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars and judging by the franchise's brand new logo, this is totally the next generation of Bandai Namco's hit franchise and while most fans call the move of making this new game a PS4-exclusive a sacrilege while others try to deny it and go drunk with the other sub-brands, mostly the show-stealing Cinderella Girls sub-brand (with a PSVR Viewing Revolution game to follow this autumn), the aim of the new PS4-exclusive Platinum Stars game is to show loyal fans some love to the ever-favorite 765PRO ALL-STARS just as what they did over the past decade and because this is the next generation of the hit IM@S franchise, Platinum Stars sees a bold new turn for the 765PRO ALL-STARS as they're undergoing a training camp and you're in charge of nurturing all 13 idols to its true potential.

Just like One For All two years ago, Platinum Stars allows players to raise their favorite idols such as Haruka Amami, Yayoi Takatsuki, Makoto Kikuchi, Chihaya Kisaragi, Ritsuko Akizuki, Azusa Miura, Yukiho Hagiwara, Iori Minase, Ami and Mami Futami, Miki Hoshii, Takane Shijou, and Hibiki Ganaha. How you'll live it up to your favorites' expectations is all up to you.

Before heading to a live show, be sure to keep them prepared with some lessons ranging from their vocals, dance, style, and everything else. Then, you can outfit them with the proper costumes that are well suited for the live show of your choosing but here in Platinum Stars, there are new ways to keep your idols prepared. There's the new costume combining feature where you can combine two costumes of the same level to create a more powerful costume fit for idols and each costume has its own rarity so you'll never know what sort of costumes you'll get until you get a more powerful one. 

After live shows, you'll get fan presents, which are broadly similar to the lucky boxes from the Tekken games, and fan presents can contain random items. Could be a voucher for your next costume acquisition, cash, fan letters, or any other item you might come across. You can increase your chances of gaining better items by using P-drops, which can also be purchased on the Playstation Store.

While you're not in the middle of the game, Platinum Stars gives players a glimpse on what the girls are up to, especially birthdays which makes us super jealous that fans like us should have the 765PRO gals sing a happy birthday song for us just as what they did to their fellow idols. With the girls look and behave more realistic than ever thanks to the PS4's capabilities, the new Platinum Stars game will surely make fans come back for more and more and more...until they give up their juice.

Thoughts on Platinum Stars? Well, it may sound sacrilege for a PS4-exclusive but with so many fans starting to change sides, I believe that Platinum Stars is Bandai Namco's last-ditch effort to show some love to the 765PRO ALL-STARS, even though blokes are starting to shy away from them in favor of its Cinderella Girls sub-brand, even the longstanding rivalry of the Love Live franchise, and many other idol-related stuff we all know about. Isn't that why these girls brought us the never ending idol wars in the first place? If so, let's hope this is just a friendly competition not just for themselves, but for the devoted fans who can't hardly decide which anime idols are the best. Hope you're happy that the girls are back for more.

LIMITED EDITION: THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars starts at 8,856 Yen (around 4,000 Pesos) but the Limited Edition, priced at 13,392 Yen (somewhat over 6,000 Pesos), features tons of extras such as an ALL-STAR LIVE PAMPHLET, LisAni Live 2016 bonus CD, calendar, bonus photos, a photo frame, a specially-designed box, and a code to unlock a special "Antique Star" costume. The Antique Star costume is a variation of the game's Twinkle Star cover costume but it features the color scheme as the corresponding 765PRO idol (Red for Haruka, Lime Green for Miki, Blue for Chihaya, and so on). 

That's not all, because for a limited time, a copy of Platinum Stars grants you a chance to win tickets to THE IDOLM@STER PRODUCER MEETING 2017 concert, coming this January 2017.

Oh, and for its launch, the first DLC Catalog is now available on the PlaystationStore. The first catalog features the brand new song Miracle Night as well as the brand new Miracle Dance Hall costume, and two additional songs such as I Want and 目が逢う瞬間, among many others. Watch out for the Gothic Punk Queen DL Live, coming this August 4, and you can stand a chance to win a brand new Rouge/Nowaru Q costume with the highest Rank S fit to blitz through your next live performance as well as various Rank A accessories packed with different attributes!

WELCOME TO THE NEW VISION OF IM@S! 

Producer-san! Let's play Platinum Stars! Platinum Stars!