TechNave NewsBytes 2019 #24 - Facebook safety, HMS 1st dev day, OPPO + Honor 11.11, LG PuriCare Mini, Celcom VDP 2.0, Microsoft Surface, Garmin MARQ and more

This time around in TechNave NewsBytes of 2019, Facebook has some tips on keeping your account / business page safe, Huawei held their 1st developer day for Huawei Mobile Services and a whole bunch of stuff from Digi, MDEC and Celcom VDP 2.0 for entrepreneurs. Boost weighed in for eSports, Lenovo donated for charity, Honor and OPPO did well in 11.11, Garmin MARQ got introduced, LG PuriCare Mini is a portable air purifier and more.

Amidst all the hullabaloo of hackers stealing social media accounts and identity information, Facebook have weighed in with 5 tips to keep account and business page safe.

If you think your personal account has been compromised in any way, please visit facebook.com/hacked to get help, and visit their Help Center for help with your Page security. You can also explore Privacy Basics for more ways to increase your account security.

HUAWEI Mobile Services (HMS) held its first APAC HUAWEI Developer Day (AHDD) n Singapore with more than 150 of its industry partners from all over the APAC region. The event highlighted the company’s open ecosystem – an all-scenario, seamlessly connected digital living supported by progressive technologies such as its own HUAWEI Mobile Services open capabilities, HUAWEI devices, 5G Networks, and AI-powered apps.

At the event, HUAWEI introduced the HUAWEI Ecosystem, which to date, serves over 570 million global users in more than 170 countries. Currently, there are also over 1.07 million global developers registered with HMS, with more than 50,000 apps already integrated into HMS Core, which helps to create a version of an app that is compatible with all HUAWEI devices.

Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) announced today a collaboration to ensure more entrepreneurs, startups and developers obtain access to perform trials on next-generation 5G technology at Malaysia’s first 5G OpenLab in Cyberjaya.

Both parties agree that 5G will drive significant progress in emerging technologies placing entrepreneurs, startups and developers in the best position to test the limits of 5G and bring to fore new ideas for solutions and content. To this end, Digi and MDEC welcome more entrepreneurs, startups and developers to conduct trials in the 5G OpenLab to better understand and verify the technical requirements needed for the deployment of 5G in Malaysia.

Use cases should be related to the areas of smart cities, smart mobility, smart healthcare and digital creative content. Through the data collected, learnings can be applied to narrow down and identify which use cases will be relevant for the growth of 5G in Malaysia.

Digi’s 5G OpenLab is hosted at RekaScape, a community space by Cyberview in Cyberjaya. The Lab serves as a collaborative space for businesses, academics and developers to test their 5G use cases. The 1,102 square feet 5G-powered space is the first-of-its-kind in Malaysia and offers super high-speed, massive bandwidth and ultra-low latency connectivity for 5G use case trials in a live, controlled environment. Applications to participate can be submitted to their site.

ADA (Part of Axiata Group), continued its expansion in the region with the launch of the ADA Centre of Excellence in Malaysia. ADA also unveiled a suite of Retail Business Insights Dashboards – these will allow businesses to precisely target consumers (including their competitors’ consumers) based on their behaviours. The event was officiated by YB Tuan Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Communications and Multimedia.

The ADA Centre of Excellence is located at Axiata Tower in Kuala Lumpur and will support rising data and digital demands both locally and regionally across eight other markets – Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. In line with this, ADA also revealed that they will be doubling their investments in data-related solutions, and talent over the next two years.

OPPO recently celebrated the biggest online sale on 11.11 with its e-commerce partners, Lazada and Shopee. Within 24 hours OPPO Malaysia received RM 4.6 Mil worth of revenue from its e-commerce division. Among the popular smartphones that contributed to this sale was the F11 series.

On Lazada, the OPPO F11 Pro became the top selling smartphone SKU, selling 2000 units in the first 30 minutes. Another 5000 smartphones were sold in 24 hours. A record of 3x revenue growth was seen compared to 11.11 in the year 2018. A great achievement was also seen in Shopee as OPPO received no 1 as one of the top selling smartphones brands sold. OPPO saw 2,000% increase in revenue compared to daily sales and 8x revenue growth compared to year 2018.

Among the 3 bestselling smartphone in success to the 11.11 mega sale, were the OPPO F11Pro, F11 and A5s respectively on OPPO’s Official Store or on Shopee or Lazada. OPPO also received its top 3 bestselling accessories; the OPB-X Powerbank at first place followed by ODC-F Series Cable and 3rd the DDPai Mini 3.

In related news, OPPO also launched an Intelligent Technology Park in Chongqing, which is the company’s 10th global smart manufacturing hub. It is expected to have an annual production capacity of 100 million smart devices by 2024

Located in the Yubei district of Chongqing, OPPO’s smart technology park covers an area of 1,524 mu (102 hectares). With a planned construction area of 1.33 million square meters, the two-phase project will be completed by 2024.

The overall park layout features a central area surrounded by a 2.5km ‘eco-loop’ that connects four groups of complexes including R&D buildings. The tech park represents an ‘all-in-one’ supply chain that combines software and hardware R&D, mobile network, smart manufacturing and logistics - all in one campus.

Phase I of the park will bring in over 13,000 employees and boast an annual capacity of 30 million smartphones. Once fully completed, the tech park will have an annual capacity of 100 million smart devices and resulting in the direct employment of 35,000 people.

HONOR achieved a 1000% YoY (Year on Year) increase in sales during its 11.11 Shopathon for its wearable category on Hihonor alone. This includes sales of the newly launched HONOR Band 5 and HONOR Band 5 Sport.

The HONOR Band 5 Sport was officially launched on Singles’ Day itself at RM 79, and offers features such as Workout Form Guidance, Basketball Mode, and up to 14 days of battery life with phone pairing capabilities as well. It is also the first time that HONOR introduced an eco-friendly design, with the band made entirely out of recycled fiber or more simply understood as recycled plastic waste. The wrist strap is crafted with dynamic braided technology that is not only light but comfortable on the wrist or ankle too.

The HONOR Band 5 continues to prove its popularity, making up 50% of the total wearable sales during the Shopathon. Launched in September this year, the HONOR Band 5 is the epitome of the ultimate fitness band, featuring 24/7 health monitoring and offers up to 14 days of normal usage from a single battery charge on a 0.95-inch AMOLED illusion screen. It also comes with Pulse Oxygen Saturation (SpO2) monitoring, a feature rarely found in fitness bands in its range. As for the smartphone category, the brand’s flagship HONOR 20 proves that it is a hit with Malaysian consumers by making up over 60% of the smartphone sales during Shopathon, thus setting a new record high for its sale.

Homegrown and leading lifestyle e-wallet Boost is sponsoring four out of six e-sports teams consisting of the nation’s nine top professional e-sports players who will be representing Malaysia at the upcoming SEA Games 2019 in the Philippines this December. The sponsorship is part of Boost’s initiative to contribute to the co-development of the local e-sports industry.

Presently, approximately one-third of Boost’s user base consists of gamers and entertainment content fans. The e-wallet serves as a digital platform that enables users to enjoy various gaming services including instant gaming credit purchase from Steam, Garena, PlayStation and Razer.

Boost is currently running a promotion where users enjoy RM5 cashback when they purchase game credits in the Boost app and if they pay with their e-wallet at selected online and offline partners. The e-sports athletes being sponsored by Boost include Zaba, Malaysia’s top Tekken 7 player, Ranger, Malaysia’s top Starcraft 2 player, WKYew, Malaysia’s top Hearthstone player and Seven, Drmcp, TaintedOnes, Kun, Ryo as well as Kc who make up Malaysia’s top Arena of Valor team.

Catch the Boost Pros as they take on the region’s best gamers on the big stage at the upcoming SEA Games.

AMD recently announced that the latest Apple MacBook Pro features the new AMD Radeon Pro 5500M and 5300M mobile GPUs. Based on the powerful AMD RDNA architecture, the Radeon Pro 5000M series mobile GPUs offer superb performance and incredible visual fidelity for video editing, 3D content creation and macOS-based game development. As the first 7nm discrete mobile GPUs for professional users, the new Radeon Pro 5000M series offers up to 8GB of GDDR6 memory with up to 192 GB/s bandwidth – doubling the bandwidth of GDDR5.

Users will also benefit from up to 4.0 TFLOPS of single-precision floating-point performance and ultra-smooth, high-framerate visuals on the MacBook Pro Retina display. The AMD Radeon Pro 5000M series GPUs join the previously announced Radeon RX 5500 series graphics products. The gaming-centric Radeon RX 5500M and RX 5300M GPUs are expected to be available in systems from other notebook manufacturers this quarter.

For more information about the MacBook Pro, visit their site.

With clean air a commodity in high demand today, LG Electronics (LG) recently announced the world’s first filter-type portable air purifier designed for use on-the-go. With an innovative PM1.0 Sensor, the compact and cord-free LG PuriCare Mini helps deliver safe, clean air in the car, a baby’s nursery or even one’s office.

With LG’s 4-Step Air Filtration System, LG PuriCare Mini can detect and remove 99 percent particulates as small as 0.3 μm1. The first step involves the PM1.0 Sensor which quickly and accurately detects the quality of the air before the Dual Inverter Motor forcibly draws in the air at 5,000rpm in the second step. In step three, the high-efficiency Total Allergen Removal filter removes particulates in the air and in the final step, the powerful Twin Tornado Dual Fan disperses the clean air far and wide. The LG PuriCare Mini is not only highly efficient, it’s also fast, cleaning 50 percent of the air inside a car in 10 minutes.2

LG PuriCare Mini can go anywhere the user goes thanks to its small size and light weight, which makes it ideal for use on the go where plug-in models can’t go. Similar in size and weight as a 500-milliliter bottle of water, the wireless portable air purifier freshens the air for up to 8 hours at low speed or 2 hours at the highest setting on battery power alone. And its quiet operation – only 30dB in low setting – allows the LG PuriCare Mini to be used in an enclosed stroller without waking a peacefully sleeping baby.

PuriCare Mini utilizes a durable filter which lasts up to 2,000 hours or six months if used 12 hours a day. The free LG ThinQ app for both Android and iOS devices allows users to monitor the condition of the filter, check the battery status and control their LG PuriCare Mini via Bluetooth with a smartphone or tablet. The LG PuriCare Mini will become available in key markets of Asia, North America throughout the next several weeks into 2019. No Malaysia release dates or pricing details, but hopefully it arrives soon or at least before the next haze season.

Microsoft recently announced the latest Surface line-up – Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 7, which will be available for pre-orders in Malaysia today onwards from commercial authorised resellers and authorised retailers. With prices starting from RM 4499 for the Surface Pro 7 and RM 5499 for the Surface Laptop 3, both devices will be officially launched in the market on 9 December 2019.

The all-new Surface Laptop 3 retains its iconic slim, sleek and lightweight design. Now, it’s twice as fast compared to previous generations, with faster multitasking and improved graphics. Available in two sizes, the Surface Laptop 3 13.5-inch features the latest 10th Generation Intel Core Processor for improved speed and performance. The Surface Laptop 3 15-inch brings a larger display to the Surface Laptop family with an elegant, all-metal design and strong graphics performance powered by a customized AMD processor. For more details, head over to the Microsoft News Centre.

Garmin International, Inc., in celebration of its 30th anniversary, has released the MARQ™ series – a collection of tool watches, forged from Garmin’s long-standing heritage in the aviation, automotive, marine, outdoor and sports markets in Malaysia. The Garmin MARQ Aviator, MARQ Driver, MARQ Captain, MARQ Adventurer, MARQ Athlete and MARQ Commander are designed and engineered for those inspired by their passion for flying, racing, sailing, exploring, sports and tactical performances.

The launch event, with its focus on Celebrating Malaysians, held a panel discussion with notable Malaysians who are at the top of their fields. These towering Malaysians public figures shared their success stories and experiences of making it to the top. Among the invited guests were Datuk Nicol David, retired world No. 1 women squash player; Chris Lau, freelance journalist; Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy, Olympic Athlete (Sailing); Datuk Captain Nik Huzlan, retired chief pilot at Malaysian Airlines; and Zen Low, international race driver.

An outward expression of our consumer’s aspirations, the MARQ series uses premium materials, design elements and unique features. Each watch is built with titanium, which is lightweight, yet incredibly strong for high performance in all activities and are constructed with sapphire crystal formed under extreme heat and pressure to create an extremely durable lens that’s over twice as hard as glass. All watches are engineered with a ceramic bezel inlay to protect the watch from wear and tear in the most challenging environments.

The watches feature an always-on, sunlight-readable display with GPS and premium smartwatch functionality, including built-in music storage, smart notifications, daily activity tracking, as well as wrist-based heart rate and a wrist-based pulse ox2 sensor. All watches are compatible with Garmin’s QuickFit solution for quickly and easily changing between different straps and bracelets. The battery life of the MARQ series ranges from 12 days in smartwatch mode to 28 hours in GPS Mode and up to 48 hours in UltraTrac™ mode.

The MARQ Collection is available for sale at selected authorised Garmin retailers and Swiss Watch Gallery from 13th November 2019 and has a suggested retail price ranging from RM7,999 to RM13,500. To learn more, visit their site.

Lenovo celebrated its month-long celebration in October for Lenovo’s 35th Founding Anniversary in Malaysia with a donation drive which benefited over 400 residents of four charity homes in Klang Valley including the elderly and children. Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Taman Megah, Pusat Jagaan Telaga Kasih Nur Muhammad, Lovely Disabled Home, and Shelter Home for Children had been hand-picked by Lenovo to be the recipient of Lenovo’s donation drive as these homes were in need of additional support.

Lenovo Malaysia collected and donated daily necessities such as dry food, powdered drinks, cleaning supplies and diapers from generous team members as well as through Lenovo funds allocated for this campaign. The items donations were based on the wishlist provided by each charity home. Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Taman Megah were happy to receive over several bags of diapers which will help them ease their monthly expenditure as diapers are costly purchases.

Aside from dropping off the donation items, over 60 Lenovo volunteers also helped to unpack the items. While doing so, the volunteers also spent time with the residents and organizers to learn more about their needs and how Lenovo can continue to support them.

Intel recently welcomed the next wave of artificial intelligence (AI) with updates on new products designed to accelerate AI system development and deployment from cloud to edge. Intel demonstrated its Intel® Nervana™ Neural Network Processors (NNP) for training (NNP-T1000) and inference (NNP-I1000) — Intel’s first purpose-built ASICs for complex deep learning with incredible scale and efficiency for cloud and data center customers. Intel also revealed its next-generation Intel® Movidius™ Myriad™ Vision Processing Unit (VPU) for edge media, computer vision and inference applications.

These products further strengthen Intel’s portfolio of AI solutions, which is expected to generate more than $3.5 billion in revenue in 2019. The broadest in breadth and depth in the industry, Intel’s AI portfolio helps customers enable AI model development and deployment at any scale from massive clouds to tiny edge devices, and everything in between.

The Intel Nervana NNP-T strikes the right balance between compute, communication and memory, allowing near-linear, energy-efficient scaling from small clusters up to the largest pod supercomputers. The Intel Nervana NNP-I is power- and budget-efficient and ideal for running intense, multi-modal inference at real-world scale using flexible form factors. Both products were developed for the AI processing needs of leading-edge AI customers like Baidu and Facebook.

Additionally, Intel’s next-generation Intel Movidius VPU, scheduled to be available in the first half of 2020, incorporates unique, highly efficient architectural advances that are expected to deliver leading performance—more than 10 times the inference performance as the previous generation—with up to six times the power efficiency of competitor processors. Intel also announced its new Intel® DevCloud for the Edge, which along with the Intel® Distribution of OpenVINO™ toolkit, addresses a key pain point for developers—allowing them to try, prototype and test AI solutions on a broad range of Intel processors before they buy hardware.

The Shell Eco-marathon is one of the world’s leading energy efficiency competition programmes where students are challenged to design, build and test their energy-efficient cars on track. Recognising the value Shell Eco-marathon offers to students, Shell with the support from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, embarked on Shell Eco-marathon Access (SEM Access), a platform for future participating universities, seasoned teams, alumni and business partners to come together to discuss, design and decide on how to shape the future of energy together.

SEM Access, which was launched by Y.B. Dr. Ong Kian Ming, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI), provides an avenue for our Malaysian university students to garner investment and mentorship for their participation in SEM Asia through collaborations with corporates and industry players. Students participate in a ‘Make Your Future’ pitch where a panel of business executives listen to their presentations and decide on the teams they want to collaborate with. The corporates and universities then enter into a partnership that provides student teams with the needed support that would enable them to represent the partners and Malaysia in the SEM Asia race.

Besides the pitching session, four workshops by subject matter experts will be conducted from now till Shell Eco-marathon 2020 in June next year for student teams to upskill and prepare themselves in their pursuit towards designing and building the most energy efficient vehicles and to confidently compete in an international arena.

For more information on Shell Eco-marathon, please visit their site.

Celcom Axiata Berhad recently launched its Vendor Development Programme (VDP) 2.0, a new scheme of its VDP that aims at further enhancing the capabilities and competitiveness ecosystem of its vendors to meet the future opportunities and challenges of the fourth industrial revolution (IR4.0). With a focus on Nurturing Innovation, Celcom will provide and facilitate capacity building programs, access to funding and technology 'sandbox' whilst continuing to support business matching exercises for its vendors, locally and abroad.

Since its inception in 2016, a total of 50 local vendors are registered under the VDP programme; out of which two vendors were listed as local champions, and one vendor as regional champion. With this programme, Celcom also aims to create global champions soon. With the launch of its VDP 2.0, Celcom aims to increase and include new vendors, particularly those who are keen to venture into high growth and innovative enterprises.

Celcom’s VDP 2.0 is also aligned with one the six thrusts within the Government’s National Entrepreneurship Policy 2030 (DKN2030) - which aims to promote economic growth through innovation; part of a long-term strategy designed to set the direction of national entrepreneurship development in making Malaysia an entrepreneurial nation by 2030. Guided by this thrust, Celcom will be promoting adaptation of IoT and digitalisation, and further prepare SMEs towards IR4.0.

Celcom’s VDP 2.0 Framework encompasses an enhanced criteria of vendor selection which emphasizes on Shared Prosperity and Inclusivity, including a graduation programme for existing vendors to implement a multi-tier approach and to focus on Celcom’s business ecosystem comprising of network, IoT, digital services and content.

So that’s it for this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2019. Let us know if you think your news should be featured as well and stay tuned to TechNave.com.


TechNave NewsBytes 2019 #25 - OPPO first DSS call, Yoodo's #GoMalaysiaGold, Sony NW-A100TPS Walkman, and more

For our TechNave NewsByte 2019 this time, OPPO got to be the first to make a call using a new technology, Yoodo wants you to message the Malaysian 2019 SEA Games team your words of support, Team Gaventure from Malaysia makes it to the Grand Finals of the League of Champions IV, Sony announces pre-orders for the NW-A100TPS Walkman, Time dotCom Berhad is partnering with Facebook and more.

OPPO recently announced that it made the first DSS (Dynamic Spectrum Sharing) data call using a DSS-enabled 5G smartphone, claimed to be the world's first with the feature. The feat was accomplished in partnership with Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies, Swisscom and Telstra. With DSS technology, telcos can leverage on existing 4G and 5G frequency spectrums and networks to accelerate the global deployment of 5G services, bringing the 5G experience to a wider user base.

For mobile networks, the introduction of DSS technology makes it possible to share a spectrum dynamically through software upgrades, which in turn makes it possible to use existing 4G networks to deliver 5G services. It will also telcos to deploy 5G on a broader scale quicker and is more cost-effective.

To show its support for our athletes competing in the SEA Games 2019, Yoodo started a #GoMalaysiaGold campaign. In this campaign, you can show your own support by sharing your words of encouragement to the many athletes Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts with the hashtag #GoMalaysiaGold. Yoodo will then pick the messages with the hashtag to win prizes that are determined by how many gold medals Malaysia wins.

Specifically, a new tier of prizes is unlocked with every 30 gold medals won. So far, Yoodo has revealed Yoodo Merchandises, Power Banks, and the Google Home Mini could be up for grabs. In addition, if our athletes managed to bring home a combined gold medal count that exceeds our haul of 145 from the 2017 SEA Games, Yoodo will give everyone free 5GB of data. Upon reaching the 150 gold medal mark, lucky winners could also win news smartphones.

Team Gaventure from Malaysia has made it, coming through the qualifying rounds for a chance to play in the Grand Finals of the Legion of Champions IV to find out who's the ultimate winner of the chicken dinner. The e-sports team will be aiming for the prize of 4000 USD (~RM16638) in cash and Lenovo Legion laptops, which are in turn worth 1500 USD (~RM6239) each.

Besides that, the Legion of Champions this year will also have an all-female tournament called the Legion of Valkyries (LoV). For this tournament, Team Bae.Sphynx from Malaysia will be looking to be crowned the best in CS:GO in the region.

If you're feeling nostalgic for Sony's Walkman, you might want to check out the 40th-anniversary edition - the NW-A100TPS Walkman. It's a homage to Sony's very first cassette player Walkman TPS-L2 launched in 1979. Launched back on 1st July 1979. This new edition will have a user interface that's reminiscent of the classic model. You can pre-order one at Sony Stores, Sony Store Online, selected Sony Centres, Jaben Malaysia and Stars Pickers before 13 December 2019. Also, note that there will only be 100 units available in Malaysia.

Broadband company TIME dotCom has entered into a partnership with Facebook to invest in Internet infrastructure. The goal is to open up our country to more connections and international hubs while strengthening connectivity in Southeast Asia.

The Malaysian government is also taking an active role in such undertakings. By working closely with the industry players like TIME, the government aims to boost our country's appeal as avenues for investments to global technology giants like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Alibaba and Tencent. These companies are not only heavy investors in submarine cables but also have large-scale data centres around the world.

It's that time of the year when people get their bonuses and folks start shopping every weekend. So it's only natural for Lenovo to join in the festivities. The PC manufacturer is using the shopping season as an opportunity to promote some of its laptops, including the stylish Lenovo Yoga C640 for the ladies, the Lenovo Legion Y7000 for the gents, and the Lenovo ThinkBook 14/15 for the busy. Additionally, customers who purchase selected models from now till 31st December 2019 will get to redeem a copy of Microsoft Office Home & Student (RM529).

That’s it for this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2019. Let us know if you think your news should be featured as well and stay tuned to TechNave.com.


TechNave NewsBytes 2019 #26 - Gift guides galore, Facebook social trends, and new happenings with Maxis

For this week's TechNave NewsByte 2019, we see a few brands offering gift guides for the holiday season, industry conferences from Cisco and OPPO, as well having Maxis being the most happening of the bunch with its startup pitching platform and Hotlink deals.

Lenovo Malaysia is having an ongoing promotion in celebration of the festive season of Christmas and New Year for various Lenovo machines, such as the Yoga C640 and Legion Y700. If you purchase the Legion Y700, or other selected Lenovo laptops, you may even get a chance to win a copy of Red Dead Redemption II. This promo will run till 31 March 2020.

Sony wants in on the gift guide fun too, releasing its own version for this year. The Japanese company's gift guide is heavily centred on audio and visual products, including the likes of the MASTER A9G TV, HT-Z9F soundbar, WH-1000XM3 headphones, and WP-SP700N wireless earbuds. There were also a few high-end camera gears suggested if you're more interested in those. To view the full gift guide, head over to the dedicated microsite.

With the shopping sprees already starting, HONOR is also in on the gift guide mode. The brand's suggested gifts this year include the HONOR 9X for those who love watching videos/movies, Band 5 for those who need a fitness tracker, Band 5 Sport for that athletic friend you have, and the Sport PRO as the ideal gift for music enthusiasts. If you're interested in finding out more about these products, head over to HONOR's online shop. https://www.hihonor.com/my

Startups were coming out of the woodwork to take the stage at Maxis Market Access Day, the nation’s largest pitching session to date. About 100 startups were there to showcase and present their ideas to approximately 70 of Malaysia’s leading corporates, venture capitalists and angel investors at APW Bangsar recently. They included the likes of EY, Golden Gate Ventures and Astro to name a few.

Maxis’ Market Access Day provided a platform to connect disruptive technology-enabled startups looking to enter the Malaysian market with corporates in hopes for business matching and networking opportunities. Among the 100 present include Pre-Series A startups, Dropee, Lapasar.com, RED ANGPOW and many more. They also had the opportunity to showcase their products and services in an exhibition that was open to the public throughout the day-long event.

The event is held in partnership with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), Malaysia Business Angel Network (MBAN) and Startupmamak. For more info on the event, visit the event page.

Facebook executives recently shared key insights and trends set to shape businesses across Southeast Asia in 2020. At the event, Facebook reinforced its commitment to help businesses both large and small tap into opportunities, such as ephemeral sharing, video, messaging and e-commerce.

According to the 2019 Future of Business survey, a global study of small-medium businesses on Facebook, run in partnership with the World Bank and the OECD, one-third of people identifying as owners or managers of businesses on Facebook are women. Seven in 10 female business leaders on Facebook said that they have a positive outlook for the future of their business. Facebook also benefits Asia-Pacific business owners more broadly with one in five saying that they are involved in international trade. Of the business leaders surveyed, 14% claim to export to more than one country.

The survey provides insights into the challenges business leaders face with 45% of business leaders surveyed in Asia Pacific saying their jobs require them to work at high speed or too tight deadlines “often” or “always.” They also struggle with hiring more than businesses in other parts of the world.

To help address these challenges for businesses in Southeast Asia, Facebook developed a digital marketing skills e-learning curriculum and have launched new tools and trainings to help make running a business easier. Also, during the briefing in Singapore, several executives from Facebook‘s Asia-Pacific leadership team shared insights for connecting the commerce, developer and media ecosystems through strategic partnerships across the region. There were other sessions on brand safety and privacy as well as experiential workshops on using stories on Facebook and Instagram and virtual reality demos.

Cisco recently unveiled further details behind its technology strategy for building a new internet — one designed to push digital innovation beyond the performance, economic and power consumption limitations of current infrastructure.

The company's latest innovations include the Cisco Silicon One, the industry’s only networking silicon architecture of its kind, as well as the new Cisco 8000 carries class routers. Cisco also announced new purchasing options that enable customers to consume the company’s technology through disaggregated business models.

Over the next decade, Cisco expects digital experiences to be created with advanced technologies like virtual and augmented reality, AI, 5G, quantum computing, and more. These future generations of applications will drive complexity beyond the capabilities that current internet infrastructure can viably support.

You can register to watch the fully recorded event broadcast here.

Axiata Digital Capital, a fintech service provider operating under the brand name Aspirasi, and Great Eastern, have signed a strategic partnership to provide affordable and customised insurance and takaful products for consumers, micro-entrepreneurs and SMEs. Fully digital, this will be offered on Aspirasi and its partner platforms.

The comprehensive range of insurance and takaful products are designed to meet the different needs of the customers’ lifestyle, including but not limited to, life insurance and takaful, health insurance, home insurance, personal accident insurance, with premiums or contributions starting from MYR1.50 and IDR5,000.

This marks the first insurtech alliance between a digital financial services platform and an insurance and takaful provider to provide a seamless experience of convenience in immediate online purchase to help bridge the protection and insurance gap in Malaysia and Indonesia. Through this partnership, Malaysians and Indonesians can access a wide range of insurance and takaful products that are simple and bite-sized to suit specific needs.

This partnership also allows Great Eastern to continue its on-going focus on digital innovation to meet the protection needs of the digitally-driven and discerning customer base, complementing their hassle-free cashless lifestyle every day.

OPPO recently held its OPPO INNO DAY 2019 in Shenzhen under the theme of Create Beyond Boundaries, revealing its insights and initiatives for the era of intelligent connectivity. At the event, OPPO also showcased a variety of smart devices including smartwatches, smart headphones, 5G CPE, AR glasses along with key technological breakthroughs in areas such as flash charging, 5G, imaging and software optimisation.

The event served as a platform for industry experts, partners and key opinion leaders to elaborate on the future of technology. To find out more about the event, head over to the event page.

Kaspersky has shown of its the new look of its offices across the Asia Pacific region. According to Stephan Neumeier, MD of APAC at Kaspersky, the changes go beyond the fresh look, it is also about how the brand shift the business mindset, corporate practices, market priorities, vision and mission.

Maxis knows that Malaysians craved many forms of entertainment, with many of us heavy video streaming users. With Hotlink Prepaid, heavy YouTube lovers can get free 10GB on YouTube every month for RM10 through Hotlink SUPERRR, while Facebook users get 10GB for Facebook every month on Hotlink RED, also for RM10.

In addition, Maxis Hotlink is championing non-stop, local Internet entertainment and making it accessible for everyone on their favourite social media channels – be it on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. You can see a list of the company's planned collabs with local artistes and content creators here.

Moreover, the Hotlink RED app is now running a promo till 31st December 2019. By logging into the Hotlink RED App and redeeming the respective ‘Free Prizes Every Day’ deal, you get a chance to win OPPO phones, GoPro Hero 7 cameras, Sony PlayStation 4 Pro consoles, Pensonic air fryers and RM500 Shopee e-vouchers. For more details on that, check out the promo page.

Linksys recently announced that their MR8300 Max-Stream Tri-Band Gaming Mesh WiFi AC2200 Router is now available in Malaysia for RM799. The MR8300 addresses growing consumer demand for a more seamless mobile gaming and 4K entertainment experience at home demonstrating a 93% lower ping time (network latency) than many competing products in a multi-user environment.

The MR8300 is a high-performance router that delivers up to 2.2 Gbps of superior speed and is ideal for homes that require massive bandwidth for 4K entertainment and peak mobile gaming. The router is powered by a 716 MHz quad-core processor that improves overall network performance for faster wired, wireless, and WAN to LAN speeds.

And that's it for this week's TechNave NewsBytes 2019. Let us know if you think your news should be featured as well and stay tuned to TechNave.com.


Apple Watch Series 6 and Watch SE release: up to S6 chipset and Blood Oxygen sensor from RM1199

Apple recently unveiled the Apple Watch Series 6, as well as the Watch SE, at the price of RM1749 and RM1199 respectively. Unfortunately, there is no official news on the Malaysia release date for now, so you might want to check with us on that.

In terms of the tech specs, the Watch Series 6 comes equipped with an S6 chip, WatchOS 7 that comes with various features such as a VO2 Max sensor, new watch faces, as well as the Family Setup (which is exclusively available in the United States, unfortunately.) Other than that, it also comes with the Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop, which is a new stretchable watch band that does not have any buckles. Fall detection also makes a return and supports 5GHz WiFi connectivity.

As for the Watch SE, it comes with largely the same features as the Watch Series 6 other than an S5 chipset, no VO2 Max sensor, and it’s made of 100% recycled aluminium. Apple also mentioned that the Watch Series 3 will still be available for purchase at a lower price of RM849, which is quite surprising as we thought that the Watch SE would replace the Watch Series 3.

With all that said, what are your thoughts on the new smartwatch by Apple? You can learn more on their official website here, and they also announced the brand new iPad Air and iPad 8th-Gen too so check them out here. Let us know on our Facebook page and for more updates like this, stay tuned to TechNave.com.


TechNave NewsBytes 2019 #27 - Mudah.my's "Kena Sell", Netflix's Ghost Bride, TikTok's Best of 2019, and more

This week sees a bit more variety of happenings for our TechNave NewsByte 2019. There's SOCAR's promo, LG winning some awards at the first Asia Tech Awards, Mudah.my encouraging us to sell back stuff we might have bought unnecessarily, and more. Let's see what these are all about, shall we?

With Christmas in a few days, SOCAR isn't about to miss out on the festivities and what better way than to throw in some promotions? What the car-sharing business has come up with are two promotions for all of its users to enjoy. These will begin from now till 31 January 2020.

First up is the 500 GrabRewards points that you when you use GrabPay for the first time to make a SOCAR booking. You will need both the SOCAR and GrabPay app, of course, so make sure to download the both then register GrabPay as your payment method. Note that the reservation value must be a minimum of RM50 to earn the 500 points. The points will be credited on the 6th of the following month after you make that reservation. For example, if you do it today then you will receive it on 6 January 2020.

Secondly, you will get 15% off on bookings made throughout December 2019 right up till 31 January 2020 when you register your bank cards as the payment method in the SOCAR app. The coupon will be auto-applied to the member’s coupon book upon registration and approval of the card in the SOCAR app. This promo is capped to RM80 and limited to one redemption per day.

The inaugural Asia Tech Awards 2018-2019 kicked off this year, adding a new event that acknowledges the greatest tech and innovation of the year to the calendar. And the big winner for this first year turns out to be LG.

The Korean electronics giant won two awards to cap off the year of 2019. First is the Best Food Storage Award for its InstaView Door-in-Door Series and the second is the Best Dryer Award for its Dual Inverter Heat Pump Dryer. Let's take a look at what the two offers.

The Door-in-Door Series comes with impressive features such as a well designed inner storage that ensures you use every space available and FRESHBalancer along with Moist Balance Crisper to keep food fresh with the right amount of humidity and moisture. The most innovative feature thus far is the one that allows the contents of the fridge to be viewed through the InstaView Door-in-Door panel.

Besides that, it can also be monitored through the LG ThinQ app, making it the perfect IoT setup. Through the app, you can easily set the refrigerator temperature, control HygieneFRESH+ - a feature that removes bacteria up to 99.999% and minimises bad odour in the refrigerator, as well as diagnose your refrigerator for any possible issues it may have.

As for the LG Dual Inverter Heat Pump Dryer, it is equipped with an inverter compressor and an inverter motor that offers stellar energy efficiency of A+++-10%. It is also capable of supporting a range of circulation speed from very fast to slow and also provides Eco Hybrid or Time Mode options; all of which is meant to greatly enhance the drying efficiency of a user's laundry while also giving you the option to be more energy-efficient or get those dry clothes faster.

In the meantime, the Heat Pump technology keeps clothes from shrinking or getting further damaged from heat and also comes with an Allergy Care Cycle, which dissolves 99.9% of bacteria and allergens such as house dust mites and pollen. Like the InstaView Door-in-Door series, it can be monitored using LG's ThinQ app. You can find out more about the event at asiatechawards.org.

With all the online flash sales we've encountered in the last few months, it's time to ask if what we bought is necessary. Mudah.my thinks not and has launched a campaign titled ‘Kena Sales? Kena Sell!’ in a bid to help Malaysians declutter and sell unused goods on the online marketplace.

As new items make their way to users’ homes, the online marketplace is amping up its message to sell – offering users a way to earn back the money spent during the massive annual shopping spree. Set against the year-end sales period, the online platform is capitalising on the season’s noise to highlight its unique position as a marketplace that offers users a convenient platform to buy and sell anything, anytime, anywhere. The campaign, created together with Isobar Malaysia, supports Mudah.my’s mission to democratise commerce for Malaysians everywhere – reinforcing the platform’s value as a marketplace and differentiating it from e-commerce sites.

The "Kena Sales? Kena Sell!" campaign follows the online marketplace’s wildly successful "Memang Mudah" campaign, which was launched on the platform’s social media pages earlier this August. The videos have garnered nearly 21 million views on YouTube to date with its humorous storyline, where personified unused items were used to speak to the audience to help them see value in their preloved goods. For more information on how to sell on the platform, visit Mudah.my’s website at www.mudah.my.

Netlix's has a new series that's more eastern in nature, a rarity as far as the streaming platform goes. The Ghost Bride is an adaptation of a New York Times bestseller of the same name created by Yangsze Choo. Set in 180s Colonial Malacca, Li Lan has been offered a marriage proposal from the wealthy Lim Family to become the "ghost bride" to their recently deceased son. The six-episode drama will be directed by award-winning Malaysian directors Quek Shio-Chuan and Ho Yu-Hang, written by an international team of screenwriters led by American-Taiwanese TV writer Kai Yu Wu, and stars Wu Kang Ren, Huang Peijia, Ludi Lin and Tian Tze Kuang.

GameBench tools provide the easiest possible way to retrieve Normalised CPU Usage on an Android device for any app or game even if you are not the developer. In addition to the CPU Usage, the tools also report CPU Core States (Whether a CPU Core was online) and also their frequencies. For instance, an example chart for CPU Core Frequencies looks like below.

The chart shows a mobile chipset with an 8 Core CPU and with a glance you can see that the CPU Frequency was clocked up for the first 25 seconds or so and then the Android OS decided to clock all the cores to lower frequencies. In this case, the profiled app was loading resources from disk and as a result, had to operate all the cores at a higher frequency for 25 seconds. If you would like to try out CPU Usage for your mobile device, sign up for a GameBench Pro trial and have a quick go.

Citrix Systems has announced the availability of Citrix Workspace for Google Cloud. Using the solution, companies can deliver unified access to the G Suite apps employees need and prefer to use and fuel a simple, intelligent experience that improves engagement and productivity.

Citrix Workspace is a unified, secure and intelligent work platform that transforms the employee experience by organizing, guiding, and automating all activities people need to perform at their best. There are three main aspects to Workspace that will help.

First one is the microapps for G Suite, which can be used to streamline everything from bookingresources to sending event reminders and notifications to new team members. Next is Citrix ADC for Google Cloud’s Anthos for hybrid and multi-cloud deployments. And finally, with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Machine Creation Service (MCS), IT departments can quickly and efficiently provision Windows-based Citrix workloads at scale and create a modern digital work environment in which employees can access all of the tools they need to collaborate and perform at their best.

Citrix Workspace for Google Cloud is now available for customers to use. For more information on thesolution and the ways in which it can benefit your organisation, visit www.citrix.com/google.

The Global Esports Federation (GEF) recently announced its official formation at a worldwide launch, with Tencent as one of the Global Founding Partners. The federation aims to create a value-based organisation cultivating collaboration and forging synergies, in order to develop and grow the connections between the esports community and the broader international sporting community.

This has set the future direction of esports, where the role of game publishers and providers in the field of esports is emphasised, and it also encourages conventional sports to consider ways and explore collaboration opportunities between game publishers. GEF is advocating the involvement of game publishers and providers by having Tencent E-sports join GEF.

At the same time, GEF sees an excellent opportunity for esports to learn from traditional sports in terms of experience in sports development, adhere to a "non-violence" stand, maintain fair competition, promote gender equality, prevent all kinds of malpractices and opportunistic behaviours, ban the use of stimulants, strengthen industry self-regulation, and care for players' development physically and mentally. GEF also believes that through organised and standardised activities that are in line with the Olympic values, esports will flourish in a positive and healthy direction.

Edward Cheng, who is also the Vice President of Tencent, is the one who has been appointed as Vice President of the GEF. He shared that Tencent E-sports will be cooperating with GEF focusing on areas, such as intellectual property, e-sports events’ organisations, talent education and training, business model, system and sustainable environment for the future developments of the esports ecosystem.

2019 marks the end of another decade and a year full of creative expression. To celebrate, TikTok has unveiled the celebrities, creators, challenges, music hits and more that made 2019 a truly unforgettable year. TikTok’s Best of 2019 honours all the faces, tunes and special moments that made TikTok the standout platform to find wildly entertaining and genuine content.

This year, TikTok launched several first-of-its-kind campaigns that challenged users to grow culturally, mentally and physically. A few campaigns include the #TikTokTravel, #ExperiencePenang, #EverydayIGetBetter campaign, and more. You can find out more about TikTok or download the app for Android and iOS at www.tiktok.com.

And that's it for this week's TechNave NewsBytes 2019. Let us know if you think your news should be featured as well and stay tuned to TechNave.com.


TechNave NewsBytes 2019 #28 - Save up to 50% with Fave, doubling up on OPPO Reno2, record your 2020 resolutions with Snapchat, and more

Thanks to Christmas followed by the new year eve soon, it's been an exciting week for many but a quiet week on the news front. Regardless, there's always something going on and we've added some of those to our final TechNave NewsByte for 2019. If you're looking to send eCards, hit up Fave for sure, while last-minute shoppers looking for a smartphone might want to consider getting two OPPO Reno2 devices. There's also some news from Kaspersky, a guide from Snapchat, and vivo Malaysia teasing some upcoming stuff.

Now that Christmas is over, it's time to look for to the new year in a few days. Fave wants you to celebrate that with its new eCards feature. Customers can now buy these eCards on Fave, allowing them to send them to other people. These digital cards that provide users with bonus cash back upon purchase.

The paid amount and cashback will then be instantly credited to the user's profile on their Fave account upon purchase. With eCards, you get extra savings for meals with family and friends, plus they are excellent gifts this festive season. You can even write a personal message to truly make it a gift from the heart!

With online shopping growing in prevalence, this practical and innovative gift resonates best with those who prefer a practical gift to go with their cash-light lifestyles. eCards are ideal for those who don't want to burn their wallet this festive season.

OPPO has had a great 2019 in Malaysia and wants to show its appreciation to Malaysians through a new deal. Customers can now own two OPPO Reno2 smartphones for as low as RM40 per month with the Phone Freedom 365 plan. To be exact, you'll need to sign up for the Digi Postpaid 160 plan for RM160 monthly and a supplementary plan for RM38 monthly, to get the two devices at the RM40/month price.

That's a bargain for heavy data users because you'll get a monthly data cap at 140GB and an additional 70GB for the supplementary line. You'll also get free roaming and IDD for the principal line. For more info, visit this promo page or any Digi store near you.

Kaspersky has made it possible for mobile developers to access its Android Automated Testing Framework. The Kaspresso tool allows mobile developers to significantly reduce the amount of time needed for application testing without the fear of overlooking a bug, therefore speeding up the application release process.

It is quite challenging for mobile developers to choose an appropriate automating testing tool that will reduce lead time for an application’s release. Nowadays, there are many frameworks and tools for conducting automated tests, such as Espresso and Appium. However, these frameworks can’t solve all Android developers’ problems, like their concerns around readability, flakiness, logging, and architecture of UI-tests.

The issues mentioned above prevent mobile developers from writing clean, stable, maintainable, and understandable UI-tests. In order to solve existing problems with the convenience of UI-tests, Kaspersky has introduced a new Android app testing tool, named Kaspresso. The tool is based on two libraries for creating automated Android tests – Espresso and Kakao.

Thanks to the inclusion of the Kakao library, serving as DSL wrapper over Espresso, Kaspresso improves the readability of UI-tests, which brings test descriptions to a new level and makes them more understandable.

Kaspresso also solves the problem with flaky tests and logging. Flaky tests are cases in which the test result is unpredictable, and has different reasoning behind each failure, despite the functionality working without malfunctions on the developer’s device. As for Espresso’s existing logging problems, as it does not log its actions, the new tool can show all Espresso activities. Moreover, the user can modify them further.

Therefore, the tool provides a simple and convenient way to manage interceptors, which are the entry point for all the API requests that tests call. Kaspresso presents a rich set of default interceptors for handling flaky tests and improving the logging process.

Finally, Kaspresso offers the best practices which mobile developers at Kaspersky have gained following many years of experience. The framework includes architecture recommendations to unify and standardise UI-tests.

To learn more about Kaspresso, you can visit this blog post. You can also download it at https://github.com/KasperskyLab/Kaspresso.

Another company doing something fun for the new year's is Snapchat. Knowing that there will be people who will be making their new year's resolution, Snapchat wants to create accountability for them and ensure they don't forget!

According to Snapchat, the Friendship Report, a study conducted by Protein Agency and Snap Inc, found that the top activities that we most frequently engage in with our best friends are talking on the phone, messaging over the phone, and doing something active. The study also found that 47% of 13 to 19 year-olds and 43% of 20 to 24 year-olds in Malaysia felt most comfortable talking to their best friends about their hopes and dreams.

In light of this, Snapchat has created a guide to help people stay motivated when it comes to their 2020 resolution. You can check out the 3-step guide below.

Step 1: Create a Snapchat group with your closest friends who need that little motivation

Group chats are a fun and easy way to maintain relationships with your close friends. So, why not use them to update your close friends on your progress and keep each other accountable? Some suggested types of groups can be ‘FitFam 2020’ or ‘Healthy Eating 2020’. Be creative, it will certainly help.

Step 2: Keep yourselves motivated by sending progress updates and motivating Bitmojis

Make your updates fun by sending weekly updates using Bitmoji - your personalized digital avatar. Have a fun game between your friends where you send a creative update at the end of each week. This is an effortless yet personalised way to keep each other accountable towards your 2020 goals.

Step 3: Celebrate your small achievements together using Cameos or Friendmojis

Sometimes the usual thumbs up and confetti popping emojis aren’t as effective when you want to celebrate an accomplishment with your friends. Take it up a notch by opting to use Friendmojis - a sticker of your Bitmoji interacting with a friend’s Bitmoji!

Looks like phones aren't the only products vivo wants to make. With the recent launched of vivo S1 Pro, vivo Malaysia has also been collaborating with local streetwear label, TNTCO and the local music record label, Ban Huat Sdn. Bhd. for something.

We don't know what these companies are working on yet, but vivo Malaysia has hinted that TNTCO will be releasing limited-edition streetwear that features designs of S1 Pro. TNTCO is catered to the young and stylish audience, which is the same demographics targeted by the vivo S1 Pro.

Apart from that, vivo Malaysia will also be collaborating with the local music record label, Ban Huat to produce an exciting series for both mobile and music enthusiasts. For more information, please visit vivo Facebook page, TNTCO official site or Ban Huat Instagram.

And that's a wrap for the last TechNave NewsBytes of 2019. We'll continue to do this next year so look forward to it. Remember to hit us up if you think your news should be featured as well and stay tuned to TechNave.com.


TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #1 - LG's latest for CES 2020, realme 'Christmas tree', MDEC's collaboration with Weibo, and more

With a new year comes a new start and a new week of NewsBytes. But enough of the rhyming and let's get on to the happenings for this week. Being in between new year's holidays means that news has been sparse, though we did see LG announcing some upcoming stuff for CES 2020, realme's giant Christmas tree made of smartphone boxes, and more.

LG Electronics is upping the ante at CES 2020 with new cord-free cleaning products with new mopping capabilities. The LG CordZeroThinQ A9 Stick Vacuum delivers effective vacuuming and mopping from a single stick-type device, while the new CordZeroThinQ M9 combines LG’s robotics and appliance knowhow in a compact package that can take on the most difficult cleaning jobs.

LG’s proprietary Power Drive Mop technology makes both the CordZeroThinQ A9 and CordZeroThinQ M9 excellent tools at keeping floors spotless. Thanks to an advanced automatic water supply system, the two rapidly rotating mop pads always have just the right amount of water to clean without leaving a puddle behind. To accommodate different types of flooring and cleaning power, users can choose to increase, decrease or completely shut off the flow of water.

Homeowners who also own the CordZeroThinQ R9 Robotic Vacuum and CordZeroThinQ M9 Robotic Mop via Wi-Fi to create a comprehensive home cleaning network. Once the R9 has completed vacuuming, it notifies CordZeroThinQ M9 with information on areas of the home that require mopping.

Besides the domestic tools above, LG will also be introducing new 8K displays at the annual event. The diverse 2020 line-up includes premium 88-inch and 77-inch class LG Signature OLED 8K TVs (models 88/77 OLED ZX) and advanced LG NanoCell TVs (models 75/65 Nano99, 75/65 Nano97, 75/65 Nano95).

The new models offer the capability to play native 8K content thanks to support of the widest selection of 8K content sources from HDMI and USB digital inputs, including codecs such as HEVC, VP9 and AV1, the latter being backed by major streaming providers including YouTube. LG’s 8K TVs will support 8K content streaming at a rapid 60FPS and are certified to deliver 8K 60P over HDMI.

LG’s latest 8K TVs also feature upgraded performance thanks to the new α (Alpha) 9 Gen 3 AI Processor. By leveraging deep learning technology, the 2020 line-up delivers optimised picture and sound quality for all types of content through AI-based 8K upscaling. It also has an AI 8K Upscaling method that delivers vivid and accurate 8K images. This is accomplished by analysing the content and applying Quad Step Noise Reduction and frequency-based Sharpness Enhancer to increase lower resolution content to near 8K perfection.

All of the products mentioned above will be on display during CES 2020 from January 7-10 in booth #11100, Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. If you're interested in what LG has to show at this year's CES, you can also stay tuned to the live stream here.

This new year, realme Malaysia collaborated with Mobile 2 Go in bringing fans an exciting leap forward to the year 2020 moment by building a 6.35 meters tall Christmas tree-like using realme smartphone boxes.

The cone-shaped Christmas tree with a height of up to 6.35 meters was built within 7 days by using 1645 realme mobile boxes. Of course, there were other items used to support this massive Christmas tree, including bricks for the base, brackets holder, iron rod as a structure holder, some necessary tools, and materials.

Approximately 20 people were involved in the building of the Christmas tree and is now on display to the public until the 2nd week of January 2020.

According to statistics from the Kaspersky IT Security Calculator, budgets for 45% of SMBs and 50% of enterprises are below the average spent, which is USD 205000 (~RM841013) for SMBs and USD 8 million (~RM33 million) for enterprise businesses. This is even though cybersecurity spending is growing year-on-year with almost 9% growth in 2019, according to a Gartner report.Knowing how much money is spent on IT security across the industry allows companies to understand where they are in the market, to compare their budget with other players and even improve planning. The Kaspersky IT Security Calculator is a free web tool that helps businesses receive these insights, by viewing the average budget for cybersecurity in their region and industry and comparing this to budgets in their organisation.

Globally, IT security budgets are demonstrating positive dynamics. Kaspersky’s own survey of almost five thousand organisations across the world confirms this trend with 70% of respondents showing they expect their IT security budget to increase in the next three years.However, statistics from usage of the Kaspersky IT Security Calculator in October 2018-2019 revealed that some businesses are not keeping up with this trend, as their IT security spending is even lower than average. This is seen in 45% of calculations for SMBs and 50% for enterprise users of the tool.

Overall, budgets for SMBs were reviewed more actively (46%) than for enterprises (38%) and very small companies (16%). For small and medium businesses the budget issue can be even more complicated, as it’s not only about money but also about the alignment of the budget planning process. It can be challenging because of demands on human resources and expertise in relevant cybersecurity risks and protection methods for different business services.

ILLEGEAR has unveiled a new gaming desktop model, the Raider 2020. This desktop PC is designed to provide those who are working with a budget but want optimised performance. In addition to a host of customisation options, the Raider 2020 has enough performance to play games, good design, quality build materials, efficient cooling capabilities, and many more.

The Raider is available with two types of chassis, both with a front mesh panel to enhance airflow for better cooling. There will also be an integrated a dust filter inside the mesh panel to protect components from dust. In addition, the front mesh is secured by magnets only, making it easy to remove for cleaning.

Moving on to the inside, the ILLEGEAR Raider 2020 gaming desktop PCs come equipped with Shiva X 120 and Shiva X 240 all-in-one water coolers to ensure effective heat dissipation at all times. These specially engineered water coolers provide higher cooling efficiency outperforming even some of the big-name water coolers out there.

And of course, the biggest thing to remember about ILLEGEAR is that the brand allows you to customise desktops to the tech specs you prefer. In the case of the Raider 2020, you get to choose a CPU from either Intel's 9th Core i3/i5/i7 or AMD Ryzen 3000 series, RAM with speed of 2666/3200/3600/4266 MHz, and more. Prices starts from RM2599, which is quite affordable for those who have a lower budget for gaming desktops. For more details of choices available to you, visit the product page for the Raider.

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Weibo inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the development and implementation of a pilot for a Virtual City portal. Running on the Weibo social media platform, it will enable China consumers to obtain information of products and services offered by any Malaysian city. It will also provide shared experiences, recommendations, and other useful tips with each other.

This collaboration between MDEC and Weibo is aimed at raising awareness and expanding the cross-border relationship with Malaysian brands and products, by leveraging on the power of China’s social media capabilities. The goal is to drive demand for Malaysian brands and catalyse cross-border eCommerce activities between Malaysia and China. It will also see the cultivation of Malaysian talents who can specifically use the Weibo social-commerce platform.

Weibo is among the most popular social media platforms in China, with over 497 million monthly active users and 216 million daily active users. 94% of the dailies are below 30 years old. As a result, Weibo has become an essential component of any digital engagement strategy in China. This includes leveraging on its highly engaged ecosystem and features, comprising short messaging as well as photos and videos sharing.

MDEC will engage with key government agencies and private sectors to participate in the development and implementation of the Virtual City portal. With its launch tentatively set for some time in 2020, it will be the 1st Virtual City in Southeast Asia and the 3rd to launch outside China, after Virtual City London and Tokyo.

That's all we have for this week's NewsBytes, the first one for the year 2020. Look forward to next week's and do get in touch with us if you are interested in being featured next time. Also, remember to stay tuned to TechNave.com for more news and updates.