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Hari Raya Aidilfitri is approaching soon and normally, the month before Hari Raya is usually the busiest time for many households preparing for the coming festive season, which includes shopping for the latest Raya collections, new kitchen appliances and the family’s favourite ‘Kuih Raya’.

However, this year, Malaysians will be celebrating their Hari Raya with a difference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Aligned with the challenges for social distancing and the movement control order, we will celebrate from the safety and comfort of our homes. For instance, the much anticipated Ramadan bazaars are going virtual, while visiting relatives and open houses may go online as well.

However, this doesn’t mean that you cannot continue with the festivities. To keep the Raya spirit alive, why not try making your favourite traditional meals in your own kitchen? Philips has just the right tools to help you get started.

Feast your heart out this Raya with home cooked traditional Raya meals:

1. Philips All-in-One Multi-Cooker

Keep your pressure down when cooking under pressure! Traditional Malay festive foods can be challenging and time-consuming for many people due to the lengthy preparation procedures and cooking processes. With Philips Premium All-in-One Multi-Cooker, your favourite Hari Raya meals are made easier and faster with its Dual Temperature Control System. You only need 40 minutes to cook Rendang, compared to 4 hours with a gas cooker.

2. Philips Airfryer XXL

Children (and most Malaysian adults) love their food fried. But they also love cakes and cookies too. Did you know that beside the everyday meats and vegetables, you can prepare cakes, tarts, muffins as well as bread and many pastries with Philips Airfryer XXL. It is easier and healthier. This innovative air fryer features an innovative Twin TurboStar technology that removes excess fat and makes your frying even healthier!

3. Philips Blender Core

With 5 speed settings, the Philips Blender Core is designed to provide you with the perfect texture from smoothies to soups and sauce. A wide range of locally relevant accessories are available for more convenience and ease of preparation for the perfect Kuah Kacang (peanut sauce)! Serve your family and guests the finest smoothies with the ProBlend Crush technology. Its unique 4-star blade and energy efficient 700W motor transforms hard ice into smooth drinks twice as fast.

Keeping your house spick-and-span and breathe easy:

1. Philips Series 4000 Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner

Keeping your house sparkling clean during Raya can be such a chore. However, cleaning is convenient with the evolution of connected and smart appliances fueled by digitization and technology. Take for instance Philips Series 4000 Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner range of cordless vacuum cleaners that are built for speed, power cleaning and the slim, compact body goes fully flat on the floor to reach under low furniture and around tight corners.

2. Philips Series 3000i Smart Filter Indicator Air Purifier

The Philips Series 3000i Smart Filter Indicator Air Purifier captures aerosols including those which may contain respiratory viruses. Tested independently by airmid health-group to remove up to 99.9% of viruses and aerosols from the air. Also tested for coronavirus. With just one push of a button, the air purifier filters the invisible viruses, allergens or pollutants in your home, to keep it clean and safe. It scans the air 1000x a second to detect ultra fine-particles. Reports the air quality in real time, and intelligently chooses the right speed for your home (in auto mode). The air purifier accurately calculates filter lifetime based on pollution level and operation time. It notifies you when filter needs replacement, for easy maintenance.

Now, it is time to upgrade your home appliances and create precious Raya moments with your loved ones while keeping them healthy and safe.

This article is brought to you by minime insights.

You may shop all the electrical appliances online: www.esh2u.com

Dyson revealed the Dyson Digital Slim™ vacuum, a lightweight and powerful cord free vacuum engineered to deliver a barefoot clean. The new Dyson Digital Slim™ vacuum is both 20% smaller and 30% lighter, with no loss of suction, featuring a powerful Dyson Hyperdymium™ motor, highly efficient cyclones and carbon fibre filaments for fine dust pick up.

“To make a strong-performing vacuum it must effectively capture fine dust and small debris and maintain constant powerful suction. In our latest machine, we set about going even further, seeking to condense our proprietary cleaning technologies, making our lightest machine to date while refusing to sacrifice cleaning performance. Starting at the floor we’ve completely re-engineered our soft Fluffy cleaner head, introducing a new light and robust brush bar, giving a compact and lower profile cleaner head for tight spaces and improved edge pick up. The machine is then powered by our lightweight Dyson Hyperdymium motor and 11 precisely engineered cyclones which ensure no loss of suction. The Dyson Digital Slim™ vacuum is both 20% smaller and 30% lighter, with no loss of suction,” said James Dyson, Founder and Chief Engineer.

Engineered with Asian owners in mind, home trials were conducted to better understand cleaning habits and the ergonomics behind cord free vacuuming. Dyson engineers discovered cleaning is more frequent in Asian homes and that the prevalence of hard floors demands superior fine dust pick up. In developing the Dyson Digital Slim™ vacuum, Dyson engineers focused on making a lighter machine more suited to frequent cleaning habits, with a shorter wand to complement those with a smaller physique, and with powerful suction to give a barefoot clean.

Technology Condensed

The Dyson Digital Slim™ vacuum has the high performing technology features of a Dyson V11 cord-free vacuum, yet it’s 20% smaller and 30% lighter. It features a 40% lighter soft roller cleaner head, a specifically designed motor from our range of Dyson Hyperdymium™ motors that produces the powerful airflow found in all our Dyson machines; 11 scrolled cyclones, unique to this machine with greater separation efficiency for less energy whilst ensuring the capture of fine dust. The Dyson Digital Slim™ vacuum also achieves 99.97% filtration of particles as small as 0.3 microns while maintaining no loss of suction.

The engineers were able to do this through some key advances:

A soft roller cleaner head that is 40% lighter, with a 20% lower profile.

Dyson engineers also stitched the carbon fibre filament and felt on the cleaner head together, rather than using adhesive, which enabled significant weight-loss. Despite the downsizing, the Dyson Digital Slim™ vacuum achieves similar pick-up as the V11 cord-free vacuum, picking up large debris and fine dust simultaneously.

The airflow path through the cleaner head was also re-engineered to create a more direct path for the airflow. Smoothing out sharp corners and creating a more direct and even route for the airflow from the floor into the neck of the cleaner head, which means better edge cleaning performance.

A lighter body and smaller wand

While the Dyson V11 cord-free vacuum cleaner’s main body is made of two pieces, the Dyson Digital Slim™ cord-free vacuum cleaner is one piece, with seals, rivets and the thickness of walls all paired down, to achieve weight reduction.

The Dyson Digital Slim™ wand is 15% shorter and 6.3 mm thinner than the Dyson V11 series.

Other engineering features in the Dyson Digital Slim™ vacuum include:

An adapted Dyson Hyperdymium™ motor

The motor spins up to 120,000rpm, creating powerful suction. Its ceramic shaft is cured at 1,600°C to make it three times harder than steel, yet with half the density.

11 scrolled cyclones

At 100,000g, the 11 scrolled cyclones have been redesigned to fit the machine and ensure they remove more dust and dirt from the airflow. A wider radius at the entry point reduces energy losses, scrolling air in at a less tangential angle to reduce air resistance. As the cyclones narrow, air is accelerated to create the centrifugal forces that capture fine particles.

Properly functioning cyclones are key to no loss of suction as it means less fine dust is pushed to the pre/post motor filters. Efficient cyclones topped with a powerful Dyson Hyperdymium™ motor generates one continuous airflow from the cleaner head pick up through the cyclones and filter out to the exhaust.

A powerful lightweight 3-in-1 cleaner: It cleans floors, mattresses and hard-to-reach areas with different attachments.

Its whole machine filtration captures 99.97% of microscopic particles as small as 0.3 microns, expelling clean air. With an airtight gasket around the cyclone assembly and a pressurised rubber seal around the advanced filter, the whole system is fully sealed – preventing dust from leaking back into the air.

It’s intelligent, with an LCD screen that shows the cleaning mode, and remaining run time, as well as offering filter maintenance reminders and blockage reports. It has a better grip. The circumference of the handle has been made smaller allowing for an easier and more comfortable grip for people with smaller hands.  The shape of the trigger has also been contoured for greater comfort for a finger.

Maintenance is easier as the machine has been engineered for smoother, easier dirt ejection.  The brush bar, clear bin, combined pre/post motor filter, and light-up crevice tool are all washable. The removable, fade-free, energy-dense battery is made up of five nickel-cobalt-aluminium battery cells that run for up to 40 minutes in eco mode on hard floors, and up to 5 minutes in boost mode. The battery is also swappable, providing up to 80 minutes run time in eco mode.

The Dyson Digital Slim™ vacuum is available from now at our ESH outlets. Visit us at Empire Shopping Gallery, Bangsar Shopping Centre and PJ SS2 outlets. You may also shop online at esh2u.com.

There are several helpful and easy cleaning solutions to keep your house free of dust, germs and microscopic mites. Today we are going to focus on how to keep your floors clean with a vacuum cleaner.

The vacuum is one of the most useful tools a homeowner can own to help keep their floors clean. Let's get straight to the tips and start cleaning like a pro!

1. Twice Is Better Than Once

To truly pull up the dust and hair on your floor, it is usually better to vacuum multiple times in the same area. On top of this, it would also be wise to go over the areas from multiple directions, as this will help pull up dirt and debris more effectively.

This is especially important with problematic pet hair. Ask any pet owner, and they’ll tell you how hard it may be to completely get all of the hair off of the carpet and furniture. In extreme situations, you may have to run over the area up to 10 times.

But even if you don’t own any pets, it’s still wise to go over the carpet multiple times in a zig-zag pattern.

2. Start A Cleaning Schedule

Another important cleaning tip when vacuuming your home is to create a schedule. Following a regular schedule and sticking to that routine will help ensure that your floors are clean at all time.

In most homes, vacuuming once every week or two is sufficient. However, high traffic areas of the home may need a little extra attention. If you have household pets that shed, you should probably vacuum more often than once a week. Or, if you have kids that blindly drop crumbs around the house, try schedule to vacuum the floors every weekend, especially in the areas that they play in.

3. Change the Bag / Empty the Canister

You’re going to have a hard time vacuuming your floors in an effective manner when the bag or canister is already full. Whether you have a bagged or bagless vacuum cleaner, it is wise to keep an eye on how full it is.

• Bagless Vacuums

  If you have a bagless vacuum cleaner, you should be able to see how full the container is. While it’s not necessary to empty it before vacuuming, unless it’s completely full, we would still recommend that you do so. Starting off with an empty canister will make your cleaning efforts more successful and effective.

• Bagged Vacuums

  For most vacuums, you should change or empty the bag when it is approximately three-quarters full. If you wait too long, the hose might clog or other parts of the device may not operate as efficiently as they should. When this happens, your vacuum doesn’t have the necessary suction to clean the way you need it to.

No matter what type of vacuum cleaner you own, it is always wise to keep an eye on how full the bag or canister is. If it becomes too full, you will be unable to clean your floors, and in some cases, you may make an even bigger mess as the dirt is unable to enter the vacuum like it’s supposed to.

4. Spot Treatment

Vacuums are not stain-killers. If you spill something on your carpet, you should treat it immediately to minimize the likelihood of a long-term stain. When you notice stains on the carpet while you are vacuuming, it is a good idea to treat them with a spot cleaner before you finish vacuuming. This will keep your carpet in better condition and enhance the result of your vacuuming efforts.

Additionally, if you do notice stains, whether new or old, you should consider using a steam cleaner to help remove some of these stains. Spot treating them is the best move, but utilizing steam on those same spots is just another tool to help you keep your carpets clean and looking good.

5. Remove Small Objects From the Floor

Before you begin vacuuming your floors, make sure to pick up all the clutter and remove the small objects from the floor. Not only will this make it easier for you to clean the floors, but it will also prevent these smaller objects from getting stuck in the vacuum. If they do get stuck, you could ruin your vacuum or break an internal part. Not only will this lead to bigger problems, it will also prevent you from truly removing all the dirt and dust.

6. Move the Furniture Occasionally

Larger items like furniture are usually fine to leave in place while you are vacuuming. After all, it wouldn’t make sense to move everything in and around your home each week for a sufficient clean. While that would help keep your home cleaner, it’s not a feasible solution for most people.

However, on occasion, you may want to consider moving the couch or coffee table so you can vacuum underneath those hard to reach places in high-traffic areas of your home. If you are unable to move these larger pieces of furniture, try using one of the accessories that come with your vacuum cleaner to suck up some of that dust or debris that has accumulated.

7. Choose the Right Setting

One tip that will help many people vacuum their floors more effectively, is to make sure that you choose the right setting on your device. Many vacuum cleaners have different settings that allow you to adjust it based on the surface you are cleaning.

If you have shaggy carpet, you will want to use a different setting than if you were cleaning hardwood floors. The settings on your vacuum cleaner should be adjusted based on the height of the surface in which you are cleaning. By adjusting this height, you will ensure that you get the best suction and, ultimately, clean your floors in a more efficient manner.

Keep in mind that the height of your floors will likely vary throughout your home. If you have different types of flooring in your home, you will want to consider adjusting the settings as you vacuum your home. Whether it’s an area rug or tiled floor, just make sure that you have the best suction possible.

8. Focus on Hard-to-Clean Areas

Some areas of your home are more difficult to vacuum. Some of these include the closet or stairs. While it may be tempting to quickly clean these areas, it is often better to focus more of your time on them, especially if these hard-to-clean areas get a lot of traffic.

When you are vacuuming the stairs, we would recommend using the attachments on your vacuum. This will not only help you clean the many crevices and edges of the carpet, but also prevent you from trying to carry your heavy device and roll it on each step. These attachments may even provide a deeper clean since many of them are designed to tackle furniture, stairs and other hard-to-clean surfaces.

9. Keep it on When You Leave the Room

This cleaning tip is really only effective if you own a HEPA vacuum cleaner. HEPA vacuums can be particularly effective at removing allergens and dust in the air, as well as the floors. One little-known tip to help you freshen up a room in your house is to leave your HEPA vacuum running for a few extra minutes. Make sure the hose is removed, and do not forget about it. When you return, the room will look, smell and feel cleaner.

Note: This tip is helpful, but if you want to truly eliminate airborne particles and improve your indoor air quality, you should look into getting an air purifier for your home. This will be significantly more effective than leaving your vacuum cleaner running. Not to mention much quieter.

10. Dust Other Areas of the Home First

When you are cleaning, it is smart to dust the blinds, baseboards, and higher objects before you start vacuuming the floors. This is because when you dust your home, you will stir up the dust that has settled on the many surfaces. The dust that you were unable to capture with a rag or duster will eventually settle back down, much of which will settle on the floor. If you vacuum before dusting, you may end up having to vacuum the floors again once the dust settles.

With these 10 vacuum tips, cleaning your floors should be easy and fun. If you follow a regular schedule and make vacuuming a priority then your home will be free from problematic dust and debris. Also, remember, vacuuming is a great tool to not only keep your home clean but keep your indoor air levels at healthier levels.