Archive for January 5th, 2010
Late Canto-pop diva Anita Mui’s mother Tam Mei-kam has claimed that Hong Kong star Andy Lau broke her daughter’s heart by looking her up when he was already in a relationship with his now wife Carol Chu.
“Mui cried so many times because she even came up with the money for a film starring Lau. I say this now so everyone knows. She set up a company and shot a film, ‘Dance of a Dream’, for Lau to star in,” Tam said.
85-year-old Tam and the Mui’s elder brother, Peter Mui, had also expressed disgust at Lau’s apparent indifference towards them after the singer succumbed to cervical cancer.
“I have visited Lau at his home with my mother. Yet he claims he did not know my mother. That is ridiculous! We sent him three, four letters but he never replied, not even once!” said Peter Mui.
Lau, who had only recently come clean about his secret marriage to Chu, refused to comment on their claims.
It is widely known that Lau and Mui were close. Lau once gave Mui a floral plaque made of 1,000 roses to congratulate her on winning the Golden Needle Award in 1998.
Lau was also said to have rushed to Mui’s side and counselled her for an entire night when he found out about about her condition. However, it is not known if he and Mui were ever in a romantic relationship.
In addition to their claims regarding Mui’s relationship with Lau, Tam and Peter Mui have vowed to submit a fresh appeal contesting Mui’s will in May this year.
Mui, 40, passed away seven years ago but her mother Tam and elder brother Peter Mui have continued to dispute her will even today.
Tam had previously claimed that her daughter was suffering from a brain disorder when she made her will, making it invalid. The judge ruled that Mui had been lucid when she made her will and dismissed Tam’s case in 2008.
Mui had originally left behind her properties in London and Hong Kong to retired designer Eddie Lau. She also bequeathed up to HK$400,000 (S$72,000) to each of Peter Mui’s four children as university expenses.
Interestingly, her mother, Tam, was only granted a monthly upkeep of HK$70,000 (S$12,600). This figure was later changed to HK$120,000 (S$21,600) after Tam’s numerous court appeals.
Taiwanese singer Cyndi Wang’s father Wang Ji Hui is under investigation for suspected involvement in a case of fraud.
According to media reports, Wang had introduced a jeweller, Lin Qi Hui, to join the Centre of Cross-straits Peace Law Studies, headed by a Professor Hung Kun Yang, as Lin wanted a free legal consultant certificate and Hung was able to give him one.
After Lin joined the organisation, Hung instead took the opportunity to try and persuade Lin to buy Buddhist figures.
Taiwanese authorities caught wind of this incident and charged Hung with fraud, forging documents and flouting the lawyers’ code of conduct. Hung has since been freed after posting 200,000 Taiwan dollars (S$10,000) bail.
Officials are checking if the scam had claimed other victims. They are also trying to ascertain Wang’s motives for introducing Lin to Hung and may summon Wang to testify.
Cyndi Wang was taken aback when she heard the news.
“I really don’t understand this incident but I am sure my father will handle the matter properly,” the 27-year-old singer said.
Employees at Cyndi Wang’s music label Gold Typhoon were also surprised. However, they said that the elder Wang’s affairs are his own and did not concern the singer at all, adding that this matter would not affect her appearance schedule.
Cyndi Wang and her brother were brought up by their mother after her parents divorced. She has had very little contact with her father since then, though she once sent him flowers to congratulate him when he started a business selling energy drinks.
Lee Min-Woo of popular South Korean boy band Shinhwa has been hospitalised after a serious car accident on Christmas eve.
According to Lee’s management company, the singer was travelling in a car with five friends when the vehicle skidded on an icy road near a ski resort in Gangwon-do and crashed off a cliff.
The car was badly damaged and the driver suffered a spinal fracture and had to be hospitalised for six weeks.
Lee, 30, who was sitting in the backseat of the car, suffered a mild concussion and injured his neck, back, and ankle. He would need about three weeks to recover from his injuries.
A close friend of the singer revealed that the driver and passengers could have lost their lives if not for the car’s airbags.
Due to the severity of Lee’s injuries, his concert which was scheduled to be held on January 16 and 17, would have to be cancelled.
Apple Inc. plans to unveil a long-awaited tablet computer this month which may begin to ship in March, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Citing “people briefed by the company,” the newspaper said the colour screen tablet is expected to be a multimedia device that will let people watch movies and television shows, play games, surf the Web and read electronic books and newspapers.
The Journal said the device, which has been the subject of speculation for years, will come with a 10- to 11-inch (25.4- to 27.9-centimeter) touchscreen.
The newspaper said the tablet would be unveiled later this month, but did not say exactly when.
All Things Digital, however, a technology blog owned by Dow Jones, publisher of the Journal, said Apple had rented a San Francisco venue for January 27 to hold a media event and announce a “major new product”.
Britain’s Financial Times also reported last month that Apple had rented the Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts in San Francisco, a space Apple has used in the past, but for January 26, not January 27.
Apple, the Cupertino, California, company behind the Macintosh computer, iPhone and iPod, routinely refuses to comment on products ahead of their release.
The Journal said Apple does not plan on shipping the tablet until March although “the shipping time hasn’t been finalised and could change”.
The newspaper quoted analysts as saying they believed an Apple tablet would be priced at around 1,000 dollars.
Apple is notoriously secretive about product launches and has declined to address the rumours concerning an “iSlate,” “iPad” or “iTablet”, which analysts have said may resemble an oversized iPod Touch or a low-cost netbook computer.
Skype has already made an impact on the home phone, mobiles and PC desktops (couldn’t do our podcast without it) and now it’s taking on the living room. LG and Panasonic are already lined up to deliver new HD webcams for their internet connected plasma and LCD HDTVs that will enable living room-to-living room calling in 720p. With support for the service’s standard features like free Skype-to-Skype calling, voicemail, receiving inbound calls and more, using the TV to make calls should be just as easy (but likely more embarrassing, try some HD makeup — just a tip) as we’re used to. PC users haven’t been left behind with 720p HD streaming built into the latest client and new webcams on the way from faceVsion and In Store Solutions. Like the ones planned for the TVs, they handle video processing onboard so even older computers or underpowered netbooks can support HD streaming without bursting into flames. Let the good people at Skype explain it all to you in a video embedded after the break, we’ll wait to get our hands and made-for-SD faces some time with the new setup this week at CES
Update: We’ve found a few pics of LG’s version of the Skype HDTV experience to go along with the Panasonic rendering above, check the gallery.