TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #13 - Xiaomi Q1 2020, realme achievements, Samsung, Digi, Matebook X Pro, TIME, Kaspersky, MediaTek NB-IoT, Huawei, G.SKILL, Epson EH-TW7000, Microsoft Build 2020, Grab, Special: Netflix Guides

In this episode of TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #13 we have the Xiaomi Q1 2020 revenue report and YoY growth, more realme achievements, Samsung on the secure features of their Exynos chipset powering the Galaxy S20 series and a Raya video from Digi. Huawei also weighed in with deals on the Matebook x pro while TIME launched a new campaign.

Kaspersky reveals more online troubles while MediaTek announce their new NB-IoT solutions. Huawei comes back again with more news highlights while G.SKILL shows off what they can achieve with the latest Intel processor and ASUS motherboard. Epson launched a new EH-TW7000 projector while Microsoft announced key highlights for Build 2020.

Grab are showcasing new fun things you can do with their app regarding doodles, while for this episode’s Special: Netflix offer several guides for levelling up at home and answering Raya questions. So, do read on.

Xiaomi recently announced its unaudited consolidated results for the three months ended March 31, 2020.

In the first quarter of 2020, Xiaomi achieved solid growth across all business segments. Its total revenue amounted to RMB49.7 billion, representing an increase of 13.6% year-on-year (“YoY”). Adjusted net profit was RMB2.3 billion, increasing by 10.6% YoY.

According to Canalys, a market research firm, Xiaomi successfully navigated the market downturn and were able to achieve the highest YoY growth in shipments among the top five smartphone companies worldwide. Meanwhile, Xiaomi’s smartphone 5G penetration rate in China was 25.9%, surpassing the industry average, reflecting its leading position in the 5G smartphone market, and the effective execution of the “5G + AIoT” dual-engine strategy.

In the first quarter of 2020, Xiaomi’s revenue in the smartphones segment reached RMB30.3 billion, an increase of 12.3% YoY; its shipment of smartphones reached 29.2 million units in the same period, an increase of 4.7% YoY. According to Canalys, in the first quarter of 2020, Xiaomi ranked 4th globally in terms of smartphone shipments, and its market share rose to 11.1%, making Xiaomi one of only two of the top five smartphone companies worldwide to maintain YoY growth in shipments.

Xiaomi continued to execute its dual-brand strategy, which delivered excellent results, in the first quarter of 2020. Shipments of Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro exceeded 1 million units two months after their launch in February 2020. The Redmi brand continued to introduce highly competitive products at different price points. Redmi launched its flagship K series Redmi K30 Pro and Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition. On the back of the highly popular Redmi Note 8 series, the second best-selling smartphone model globally in the first quarter of 2020 according to Canalys, Xiaomi launched Redmi Note 9S and Redmi Note 9 Pro in overseas markets.

Boosted by the premium smartphone models, the average selling price (“ASP”) of Xiaomi’s smartphones increased by 7.2% YoY in the first quarter of 2020, and the ASP of its smartphones in mainland China and overseas markets increased by 18.7% and 13.7% respectively.

In the first quarter of 2020, Xiaomi’s revenue of the IoT and lifestyle products segment was RMB13.0 billion. Due to Xiaomi’s diversified IoT product offerings and solid business foundation, the Group achieved a YoY increase of 7.8% in revenue despite the pandemic.

As the world’s leading consumer IoT platform, the number of connected IoT devices (excluding smartphones and laptops) on Xiaomi’s IoT platform grew to 252 million units as of March 31, 2020, an increase of 42.6% YoY. Moreover, the number of users who have five or more devices connected to the Company’s IoT platform (excluding smartphones and laptops) reached 4.6 million, an increase of 67.9% YoY. In March 2020, AI assistant“小愛同學” had 70.5 million monthly active users (“MAU”), an increase of 54.9% YoY; Mi Home app had 40.0 million MAU, an increase of 53.3% YoY.

In the first quarter of 2020, despite the overall decline in TV shipments globally due to the pandemic, Xiaomi’s global shipments of smart TVs still increased by 3% YoY to 2.7 million units, and its smart TV business continued to maintain its leading position in both mainland China and overseas markets. According to research firm All View Cloud (“AVC”), in the first quarter of 2020, Xiaomi’s TV shipments in mainland China ranked 1st for the fifth consecutive quarter and its global TV shipments ranked among the top five.

In February 2020, Xiaomi introduced the AX3600, a WiFi 6 enabled AIoT router, making Xiaomi the first brand in China to support WiFi 6 technology from terminals to routers. The sales of its routers increased by 124% YoY in the first quarter of 2020, and according to AVC, Xiaomi ranked 2nd in China in terms of online router shipments. Also, sales of its Mi True Wireless Earphones, Mi Band, Mi Electric Scooter and Mi Robot Vacuum increased by 619.6%, 56.0%, 40.7% and 40.0% YoY respectively.

Xiaomi’s overseas revenue increased by 47.8% YoY to RMB24.8 billion in the first quarter of 2020, accounting for 50.0% of its total revenue. Overseas revenue contributed to half of its total revenue for the first time.

In the first quarter of 2020, Xiaomi’s smartphone captured a market share of approximately 31.2% of shipments in India, and ranked 1st for the 11th consecutive quarter, according to IDC. Xiaomi leveraged its leading position in India, which also accelerated its growth in adjacent markets. According to Canalys, Xiaomi ranked 1st in smartphone shipments in Nepal in the first quarter of 2020 with a market share of 30.9%, the equivalent of the market share of the 2nd and the 3rd ranked smartphone companies combined.

Besides, Xiaomi experienced remarkable growth in major overseas markets. According to Canalys, in the first quarter of 2020, its smartphone shipments grew by 58.3% YoY in the European market, accounting for 14.3% market share and ranking among the top four. Xiaomi also ranked among the top four in Italy, France and Germany. According to Canalys, Xiaomi’s smartphone shipments in Western Europe increased by 79.3% YoY. In Spain, it became the No. 1 smartphone company by shipments with a 28.0% market share. In Latin America, its market share ranked 5th following a 236.1% YoY increase in smartphone shipments, against a decline for the overall market. In addition, its smartphone shipments in the Middle East and Africa grew by 55.2% and 284.9% respectively.

Xiaomi’s internet services revenue amounted to RMB5.9 billion in the first quarter of 2020, representing an increase of 38.6% YoY. User activity and time spent on its devices increased in the first quarter of 2020. In March 2020, the MAU of MIUI increased by 26.7% YoY to 330.7 million, while the mainland China MAU of MIUI reached 111.5 million.

By using diversified monetization methods, including search, pre-installation and news feeds, its expanded advertiser base across a variety of industries, and the optimization of its recommendation algorithms, advertising revenue reached RMB2.7 billion, an increase of 16.6% YoY. Besides, due to the fast-growing online gaming market in mainland China and higher online gaming average revenue per user from its premium smartphone users, its online gaming revenue increased by 80.5% YoY to RMB1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2020. Its internet services revenue outside of advertising and gaming from mainland China smartphones, including those generated from the Youpin e-commerce platform, fintech business, TV internet services and overseas internet services, increased by 71.5% YoY in the first quarter of 2020.

Video streaming and other subscription services provided on Xiaomi’s TVs became a major entertainment choice for many consumers amid the pandemic. As users grew accustomed to paid subscription services on Xiaomi’s platforms, its subscription revenue grew rapidly. In March 2020, MAU of its smart TVs and Mi Box reached 30.4 million, representing an increase of 46.8% YoY. As of March 31, 2020, the number of paying subscribers increased by 53.7% YoY to 4.3 million.

Xiaomi spared no efforts to combat the coronavirus. Xiaomi was among the first internet companies to fight the pandemic in Hubei province, donating and delivering critical medical supplies to more than 30 hospitals in the province. Besides combatting the pandemic in China, Xiaomi actively fought to help address the global emergency and made large donations of medical supplies, including masks, protective suits and ventilators, to more than 30 countries around the world.

In mainland China, as the impact of the pandemic began to ease, the sales of Xiaomi’s major products experienced solid recoveries. The Group proactively worked with its supply chain partners to help them ramp up production capacities. Its production in mainland China has mostly resumed, and smartphone demand has rebounded quickly. Since April, its mainland China smartphone shipments have gradually returned to the pre-pandemic level, and its smart TV shipments have also largely recovered.

In overseas markets, Xiaomi’s extensive global reach allowed the Group to quickly strategize and deploy resources across different markets in response to the pandemic. As lockdown measures in various markets are gradually lifted, sales are starting to recover. As of the third week of May, the weekly number of smartphone activations in the European market had returned to over 90% of the average weekly level in January 2020.

For more information about Xiaomi, please visit their blog.

realme recently ranked in the Top 5 in the South East Asia Smartphone market for Q1 2020, according to the latest research from the Counterpoint Research Market Monitor Q1 2020, with a YoY increase of 173%. In 2020 Q1, with the impact from COVID-19 pandemic, the smartphone shipments of SEA declined 11% and the global market declined by 13% over the first quarter in 2019. realme is one of the only major brands to achieve growth.

According to the research, realme is also among the top 5 players for Q1 2020 in key SEA markets: Thailand and Cambodia rank Top 4, with a 116% and 252% YoY growth rate respectively; Indonesia (105% YoY increase), Philippines (1800% YoY increase), Vietnam (92% YoY increase) and Myanmar (350% YoY increase) rank Top 5.

realme officially announced its smart audio AIoT products achieved a sales record of 1 million with realme Buds Air and realme Buds Wireless. Both products have won great reputation from global media and fans. In 2020, realme will continue to bring more premium smart audio AIoT products, such as the upcoming realme Buds Q and realme Buds Air Neo to be launched very soon.

With the realme 1+1 Strategy: Smartphone + AIoT, the company will make all efforts to make itself become “the world’s fastest growing AIoT brand”. It also plans to launch over 50 Tech Trendsetting products in 2020 to quickly build a 3 in 1 Tech Trendsetting Life around your ‘Personal, Home, and Travel’ experience for the young all over the world.

As a ‘Dare to Leap’ Tech Trendsetter, realme aims to customize products for the young realme. Thus, realme cooperated with Naoto Fukasawa, the world’s top industrial design master, and Alan Walker, the Global TOP 100 DJ, to perfect its products in both design and performance. What’s more, realme invited José Lévy, the designer of Hermes House, to join realme Design Studio as realme Special Art Director and lead the design of realme Buds Q. realme Buds Q will be debuted in China on 25th May.

Inspired by cobblestone, José Lévy combined his design philosophy with realme’s design to bring the consumers leap-forward realme Buds Q. With stylish design, it also has the first-tier performance to entertain your ear.

Besides realme Buds Q, realme also released its Buds Air Neo on the same day. It also has excellent performance and stylish appearance, making it possible to be popular around the world among the young.

At the global launch of realme X50 Pro, realme showed a vivid blueprint for its AIoT deployment: with realme Link App, realme smartphones connect the TOP 4 Smart Hubs, together with managing various AIoT products to build a 3 in 1 Tech Trendsetter Life around your ‘Personal, Home, and Travel’ experience

For the TOP 4 Smart Hubs, realme has already launched the smart earphones and gained over 1 million sales. What’s more, realme will debut its first smart TV and smartwatch in India on 25th May, which marks realme almost accomplishing its goal in its strategic deployment of AIoT with the TOP 3 Smart Hubs around ‘Personal, Home, and Travel’ experience.

Samsung recently provided some info on the security features built into their processors. This includes the exynos processors powering the Samsung Galaxy S20 series, but you can see more below:

To commemorate this year’s special way of celebrating Raya, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) through its Raya video, “Menyulam Budi” brings Malaysians back to the significance of this festivity - a season of coming together and giving.

Along with a message of hope and renewed optimism, the video is told through the eyes of Norfarrah Syahirah, a special person with disability (PWD) who did not let her limitations deter her from being one of the many Malaysians who have contributed and made a difference to our fight against Covid-19 in their own little way. An overnight sensation on social media, Norfarrah was inspired to put her skills of sewing to good use and volunteered to sew protection gowns for the frontliners in Teluk Intan Hospital and Klinik Kesihatan Teluk Intan instead of the usual Raya apparels for this season.

View the full video at Digi’s Official YouTube page at http://digi.my/Raya2020 or Facebook http://digi.my/2020raya.

As far as innovative technologies go, HUAWEI has gotten it right with the upgraded MateBook X Pro. First introduced in 2018 as the first-ever FullView notebook, the latest version returns with improvements that characterise a flagship notebook – perfect for the 2020 business user.

The MateBook X Pro combines intelligent experiences with ultimate design, and will have you prepared for any business scenario, increase your productivity, safeguard your privacy and ultimately the portable companion you will need for every occasion. Read on to find out more about what makes the MateBook X Pro a trend-leading laptop.

When you use the MateBook X Pro, it is hard to miss the notebook’s breathtaking Ultra FullView display – its slim bezels achieves an impressive 91 per cent screen-to-body ratio with an unconventional 3:2 ratio for the display, perfect for productivity as compared to mainstream widescreen laptops – a bigger view means you can see more and do more, so you get to work more efficiently too.

You will not miss out on any detail as the 3K resolution touchscreen will bring all colours and content to life in rich detail – its additional 10-point multi-touch and Fingers Gesture Screenshot features will allow you to interact with it more intuitively. As a digital lifestyle companion, you will spend many hours typing away and working on the notebook. With the MateBook X Pro, you never have to worry about running out of charge as it is packed with a massive 56Wh battery for up to 15-hours of uninterrupted battery life!

If there ever was a way to work more efficiently and productively, HUAWEI Share is the way to go. Leveraging Huawei’s EMUI10 technology that allows for Multi-screen Collaboration, you can connect your smartphone to your laptop and voila! You are now able to control both screens at once without the use of cables. Answer calls on your laptop, drag and drop files, photos and videos between both and you are now ready to take on the day.

A full day of business meetings, video calls and writing reports can put some strain on your eyes and possibly cause some discomfort as you put in the extra hours. This is where the MateBook X Pro’s eye comfort mode comes in handy – you can adjust the screen brightness and tone to your preferences for a smoother, more comfortable experience.

As you are reading this – how many of you have a sticker or cover to block your laptop camera while it is not in use?

This security concern will be a thing of the past for you with the MateBook X Pro’s recessed camera that pops up from within the keyboard only when you want it to, so you can have peace of mind no matter where you go.

All of the MateBook X Pro’s features come packed in an ultra-portable, ultra-slim frame. It only measures 14.6mm at its thickest and weighs in at 1.33kg so you can easily slip it into your favourite briefcase or backpack and not worry about lugging a heavy piece of machinery around.

In today’s working environment, it is not uncommon for one to have several devices for both work and play, and the MateBook X Pro comes with a 65W Type-C 2-in-1 charger that can be used to charge both your laptop as well as your smartphone. You no longer have to carry a bulky power bank or multiple chargers with you when you work outside of your home or office.

The innovations continue inside the lightweight and portable MateBook X Pro – it is fitted with a 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-10510U and equipped with NVIDIA ® GeForce ® MX250 running on 2GB GDDR5. This means you can use the notebook for all your business needs, whether it is an important presentation laden with heavy graphics, video editing or even gaming and multimedia consumption – the MateBook X Pro will do it all seamlessly.

Also, you never need to worry about storage or a laggy notebook with the MateBook X Pro – its 16GB RAM and additional 1TB SSD will ensure you can store as much data as you want without the notebook slowing you down. Now, isn’t that neat?

HUAWEI is also celebrating the month of Ramadan with the Huawei Dihati Promotion from now until 7 June. Customers can enjoy gifts and freebies worth up to RM1,700 including HUAWEI accessories, vouchers from Baskin Robbins, the Chicken Rice Shop and Tealive, as well as exclusive discounts. They can also be in the running to win exciting gifts from the lucky draw such as the MateBook X Pro, HUAWEI Watch GT, HUAWEI 360 Camera, HUAWEI SoundStone Bluetooth Speaker. Visit https://shop.huawei.com/my/ramadan-online.html to view all promotions.

The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro is now available on the HUAWEI Store and is available in Space Grey and Emerald Green** at RM7,999. For every purchase of the MateBook X Pro, customers will receive the HUAWEI Sound X for free (RRP: RM1,299) and other gifts while stocks last.

The celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri this year is going to be quite different. Due to strict regulations imposed during this Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), Malaysians will not be allowed to balik kampung this festive season. With these changes, it is more important than ever to stay connected with family during this year’s Raya celebration. With that in mind, TIME dotCom Berhad (“TIME”) has taken an initiative to roll out a heartfelt Raya campaign - Stronger Connections, Stronger Together - starting from 20th May 2020.

The campaign aims to bring people closer together to celebrate this festive season virtually, and to encourage people to cherish and share Raya moments at home, whilst practising safe distancing rules in the fight against the pandemic. Building on new social norms, the campaign encourages everyone to spread positivity using videos along with words of kindness to their loved ones during the season, sharing wonderful moments of celebration regardless of distance and boundaries.

For those who wish to participate in the Raya campaign of spreading joy and positivity, simply post a photo or video of yourself dancing or singing to Raya songs, showing your favourite Raya food or even a video of yourself cooking on Instagram and Facebook. Get creative and capture how you celebrate Raya at home and include a greeting or message with the hashtag #SatuSamaRayaTIME. Participants are also encouraged to tag three (3) friends or family members in their photo or video to further spread the positivity and festive cheer.

Throughout the MCO/CMCO, TIME has dedicated its resources to ensure its customers stay connected and supported. For Raya this year, TIME will continue to work hard round-the-clock to deliver a quality fibre broadband experience so its customer can stay connected. The distance between loved ones has never been closer. Let’s stay stronger together for a better Raya.

To find out more about “Stronger Connections, Stronger Together” Raya campaign, visit their site.

Nearly half (46%) of consumers have heard of a social credit system, according to Kaspersky’s latest report, Social credits and security: embracing the world of ratings, that reveals people’s perception of social ratings and if they are prepared to be a part of such a system. Users are actively ready to share their private data and are happy for the government to monitor their social media activity for safety reasons. But for many consumers, it still remains unclear how these automated systems of data-driven services work.

The growing popularity of social media networks and online services has led to a growth in social scoring systems – automated algorithms based on users’ behavior and influence on the internet. Initially, such consumer assessment algorithms were integrated by financial institutions, as well as by e-commerce providers. Today, such systems are applied in many other spheres and sectors. For example, governments and organizations can assess which people are eligible for a wide range of real-world services. Moreover, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world saw the implementation of automated systems to control people’s movements, their ability to buy goods, and their access to social services. But are people actually ready for this?

According to Kaspersky’s report, nearly half (46%) of respondents who participated in the survey from around the world , have heard of a social credit system. At the same time, despite these systems being put in place and becoming more well-known, there is some ambiguity over how they operate and how effectively they are being implemented.

Thus, 45% of consumers have experienced issues in understanding how a social credit system works. People can find it is impossible to discover their score, how they are being calculated and how they can be corrected if there are inaccuracies. But furthermore, as these systems are based on automated machine learning algorithms, it is difficult to know what choices they make and whether it’s possible to rely on them - especially in terms of security. According to Kaspersky’s overview of security of social scoring systems, such schemes can be particularly vulnerable to artificial manipulation, like being able to lower someone’s score for various purposes.

Additionally, like any other computer system, they are susceptible to different types of attacks, either on the technical and programming implementation or system mechanics. The latter could lead to the emergence of a new type of black market where users’ scores can be converted into real money and vice versa.

However, this does not prevent organizations from further collecting data, especially when people are willing to let it happen. Kaspersky’s report reveals that over 40% of respondents would share sensitive private data to secure better rates and discounts, and to receive special services. Moreover, consumers are much more prepared to share their social media profiles for other aspects of their daily lives.

Remarkably, security issues are especially important for consumers.  One-in-two survey respondents (51%) say they are happy for the government to monitor social media activity to keep its citizens safe.

Kaspersky advises consumers to take the following steps to safeguard themselves:

MediaTek recently announced its MT2625 NB-IoT chip has been validated for LwM2M over NIDD (Lightweight Machine-to-Machine over Non-IP Data Delivery) on SoftBank Corporation’s cellular network across Japan. This achievement marks the first global commercial readiness of LwM2M over NIDD; a secure, ultra-efficient IoT communications technique that is being adopted by operators worldwide. The benefits of LwM2M over NIDD include security improvements, cost-efficient scalability and reduced power consumption.

This collaboration builds a firm foundation for the IoT industry in Japan to embrace new IoT applications and services, accelerating market growth in the country.

IoT (mMTC - massive Machine Type Communications) is driving over 50% of 5G use cases through devices such as smart meters, smoke detectors, logistics trackers, home appliances, smart city applications and much more. NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT) plays an important role in the IoT ecosystem, by connecting a wide range of data-efficient IoT devices. MediaTek is enabling the 5G IoT revolution that will connect billions of devices with its MT2625 chip, which offers leading NB-IoT capabilities and global operator support.

LwM2M standard is widely used in Asia, Europe and the United States by major operators, with NIDD (Non-IP Data Delivery) providing a highly data- and power-efficient communications protocol and an additional layer of security through pre-defined routing.

The MT2625 is a leading NB-IoT chip with wideband support for up to quad-band operation, allowing a single design to address worldwide markets, reducing cost and development time. The ultra-efficient MCU provides extensive peripheral I/O in a tiny package size for a wide variety of device possibilities. It is available now for NB-IoT device makers and commercial application developers.

Learn More about MediaTek MT2625 at their site or here for LwM2M

Huawei recently held their 17th Annual Huawei Global Analyst Summit which was held in Shenzhen.

At the event, Huawei was joined by over 2,000 analysts, key opinion leaders, and media representatives from a range of industries, including telecoms, the Internet, and finance. Together, they discussed how the industry can work together to weather the difficult times, achieve win-win outcomes, and accelerate the arrival of the intelligent world.

In related news, at the Huawei Global Analyst Summit 2020 (HAS 2020), Huawei Enterprise Business shared its insights into industry trends and challenges it currently faces with global analysts and media. Huawei Enterprise Business will work with partners to explore the industry digitization market and help customers accelerate digitization and intelligence processes.

Due to external environmental changes, Huawei has great confidence to achieve its challenging new goals. Firstly, the development and unified application of new ICT technologies such as 5G, AI, and cloud computing has significantly accelerated the digital transformation in vertical industries. Secondly, due to the pandemic, governments and enterprises around the world have now realized that digital transformation is imperative. Therefore, the power and potential of a digital world is evident.

Mr. Qiu Heng, President of Global Marketing for Huawei's Enterprise BG, introduced the business performance and objectives of Huawei Enterprise BG in 2019 during his "Bring Digital to Every Organization" speech. With support from global customers and partners, Huawei Enterprise BG achieved a sales revenue of CNY 89.7 billion in 2019, 86% of which came from partner contribution. Huawei serves more than 50,000 enterprise customers worldwide. Furthermore, 228 of the Fortune Global 500, and 58 of the Fortune Global 100 have chosen Huawei and Huawei's partners to assist them in digital transformation. In Shenzhen alone, Huawei has helped more than 1800 enterprises implement digital transformation across finance, transportation, manufacturing, electric power, education, and healthcare. In the future, Huawei will continue to empower customers' business success by leading industrial digital transformation, driving campus and data center reforms, and developing cutting-edge star products.

The digital transformation of the financial services industry strives to be "fully digital, fully intelligent, and fully open". Due to the pandemic, the financial services industry has never been more confident and determined to implement digital operations. In addition, the financial services industry has demonstrated its advantages and value in conducting digital operations with new technologies. Mr. Vincent Chen, CTO of Huawei's Global Financial Services BU, said that Huawei will continue to leverage its innovative technology and leading practices in ICT infrastructure to help financial institutions execute business strategies such as inclusive finance, as well as data-driven business innovation and open banking in order to deliver stable, secure and agile financial services.

The energy industry is facing challenges such as energy transformation, low-carbon needs, energy security, and friendly interaction in energy consumption. Mr. Xia Wenbo, Chief Digital Transformation Officer of Huawei EBG Global Energy Industry, believes that these challenges will accelerate the transformation and upgrade of the electric power industry. "Huawei will work with customers in the electric power industry to promote the application of cloud computing, big data, 5G, and AI technologies in the industry, thereby ensuring secure and stable running of the power grid, supporting large-scale new energy access, and improving operational efficiency. In addition, this will help develop new services and accelerate the industry's digital transformation," said Xia.

In the future, Huawei will build the foundation for digital China and the core for a digital world based on "New Connectivity, New Computing, New Platforms, and New Ecosystems".

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd. with the latest release of the 10th Gen Intel® Core™ processors and Intel® Z490 chipset-based motherboards, G.SKILL demonstrates that DDR4 memory is capable of reaching a higher tier of extreme speed than ever before, at up to DDR4-5000MHz with 8GB and 16GB memory modules, as well as DDR4-4400 with high-capacity 32GB modules.

Memory capacity has come a long way, where a 64GB kit used to require 8 memory modules. Now, 64GB is achievable with two high-density 32GB modules, and G.SKILL shows that a massive capacity 32GBx2 kit is capable of an incredible DDR4-4400 with CL19-26-26-46 timings. Stress tested on the latest Z490 platform and 10th Gen Intel Core processors, they ran on the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XII FORMULA motherboard with an Intel® Core™ i7-10700K processor and the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XII APEX with an Intel® Core™ i9-10900K processor.

Pushing the extreme limits of low latency at high frequency speed, G.SKILL validates a 16GBx2 kit at DDR4-4400 with an extremely low latency of CL17-18-18-38 timings on the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XII EXTREME motherboard and an Intel® Core™ i9-10900K processor.

DDR4-5000 is a major memory frequency milestone, and on the latest Intel Z490 chipset platform, G.SKILL has successfully reached this DDR4-5000 CL19 landmark achievement with 8GBx2 capacity on motherboards from multiple vendors, including the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XII APEX, ASRock Z490 AQUA, and MSI MEG Z490 GODLIKE motherboards running with Intel® Core™ i9-10900K and i9-10900KF processors.

Epson, recently launched a new home entertainment projector, the EH-TW7000, that is powered by the latest 4K PRO-UHD technology for the beginner home projector enthusiast. The projector is currently priced at RM6,238.

The EH-TW7000 projector is engineered to deliver an exceptional home theatre viewing experience at an affordable price point with up to 3,000 lumens of equal color and white brightness for bright, vivid images with brilliant colour.

One of Epson's most compact and affordable 4K PRO-UHD projectors to date, the new home entertainment model uses advanced processing technologies for resolution enhancement, colour and image processing that’s able to upscale Full HD contents.

The EH-TW7000 projector has a range of connectivity options to media devices, including its ‘smart projector’ feature, where users can easily plug a USB-powered media device to enable screen mirroring. It includes Bluetooth wireless speaker support and aptX™ compatibility.

With support for the latest 18 Gbps HDMI 2.0 specification, the projector displays exceptional 4K HDR content at full 60 fps from the latest streaming devices and gaming consoles. With a wider HDR range, the projector delivers brighter images with greater accuracy in brightness adjustments.

The EH-TW7000 projector features Epson Precision Lens technology, a proprietary multi-element Precision Glass structure for outstanding image clarity and focus uniformity. Designed for flexible installation, the projectors come with wider lens shift range – up to ±60 percent on the vertical axis and up to ± 24 percent on the horizontal axis.

CEO Satya Nadella kicked off Microsoft Build 2020, the company’s annual developer conference, via virtual experience. He shared how Microsoft and its customers are addressing developer needs across all industries and how the company is uniquely positioned to help businesses adapt in a remote world.

The virtual conference featured 48 hours of free continuous programming for attendees including key segments from Scott Hanselman, Partner Program Manager, Scott Guthrie, EVP Cloud and AI Group, Rajesh Jha, EVP Experiences and Devices Group, Kevin Scott, CTO and James Phillips, President, Business Applications.

Celcom Axiata Berhad sparks the spirit of sharing further in the month of Ramadan, as children, single mothers and senior citizens from various charity homes nationwide, were treated to Celcom’s unique festive treats and warm cheers.

As the holy month of Ramadan is filled with the spirit of generosity and giving, Celcom’s Enterprise Business Division reached out to lighten the burden and spark joy for charitable homes that were also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 20 May 2020, charity homes in Klang Valley such as Rumah Titian Kaseh Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur, Pusat Jagaan Amal Syurga in Sungai Buloh, Rumah Anak Yatim Asnaf Assolihin in Kanchong Darat, and a shelter home for the elderly at Pusat Jagaan Mahmudah in Semenyih, along with a few other orphanages received Celcom’s Ramadan spirit.

The occupants of the homes were delighted to receive special ‘buka puasa’ treats from members of Celcom’s Enterprise Business Division, together with Azlan Zainal Abidin, Chief of Enterprise Business Officer, Celcom Axiata Berhad. Azlan also took the opportunity to be on ground with his team, where he handed over the relief of essential needs such as rice, flour, and other food supplies to Rumah Titian Kaseh, a shelter to over 80 orphans, single mothers and senior citizens.

Furthermore on the same day, Celcom’s regional teams throughout the nation, also extended their reach and shared the spirit of Ramadan, to 18 charity homes nationwide, which include Rumah Anak-anak Yatim Teratak Rahmat in Perlis,  Lembaga Pengurusan Anak Yatim Miskin in Melaka, Rumah Anak Yatim Huzai in Terengganu, Kompleks Kebajikan Laila Taib in Sarawak, Rumah Kanak-kanak Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Rumah Anak Yatim Curahan Kasih Sayang Ikhwan in Temerloh, Pahang and Rumah Anak Yatim Salimah in Bachok, Kelantan. Celcom’s sharing spirit initiative resonates the telco’s ongoing commitment to ensure that no one is left behind, during such challenging times.

Grab has launched a new feature, Delivery Doodles that turns any kid’s doodles of their favourite dishes into food orders delivered via GrabFood––with a little help from Google’s AI.

GrabFood Delivery Doodles is built using a machine learning model that can recognize drawings of local dishes like Martabak, Bánh mì and Nasi Lemak. Volunteers from Grab, Google and their families submitted over 10,000 doodles to “help teach a computer to recognize kids’ drawings”. Many of these same parents and children also became our talents and DIY videographers for this simple demo video.

Netflix recently sent in some guides on levelling up at home and answering Raya questions. Check them out below.

It’s been said that if you give a person a fish, you feed them for a day - but if you teach them how to fish, you feed them for a lifetime! So, instead of just giving you a list of shows to watch while we’re all stuck at home right now, we thought we’d also get in the #kitajagakita spirit and help you level up your Netflix skills with these pro tips:

1)    See What Other Malaysians Are Watching with Top 10 Lists

Netflix recently announced that you can now see what’s popular in your country through a special Top 10 row. Did you know that this list is updated every day? Not only that, if you look under the “Series” or “Films” tabs - you will also find a Top 10 list each for TV series and movies, which are also updated daily.

The Netflix “Search” function may be one of its most underrated features. Did you know that besides searching for specific show or film titles and genres, you can also search for shows that may have been tagged under specific categories? Entertainment is about moods, so there’s something for whatever mood you’re in right now. Missing your girl gang? Maybe a gal pal movie is just what you need to cheer you up. Or you’ve had your fill of reality, and want to escape into a world of fantasy movies, or epic worlds. Or you’re looking for an initiation into anime, or K-drama. Here are a few to get started:

3)    Liked that show? Check out ‘More Like This’

If you enjoyed watching a particular show or movie, you can actually check out similar ones under the “More Like This” tab under the show’s title page. Clicking on it reveals a list of other shows that Netflix thinks are similar. So, if you enjoyed that one show or film, this is a great way to find more that might interest you.

This only works on the web interface but there’s seriously a lot of useful information hidden away under the “Details” tab of a show. When you click on it, you will find the show’s creators, cast, genres, and even interesting tags. Here’s the thing: Did you know that all these are clickable? So, if you click on the name of an actor, Netflix will show you all the films on the service that the actor appears in. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, click on the interesting tags under “This show is” which will take you to shows that have been tagged with words like, “Goofy” or “Feel Good”.

Imagine you’re trying to get some work done, while your child is busy watching reruns of Peppa Pig or Upin and Ipin. If you’re not particular about having every profile streaming at the highest quality, you have the choice of controlling it. From Account>Profile & Parental Controls, hit the dropdown on Profile you want, and click ‘Change’ on Playback Settings. You can set the Data Usage Per Screen to Low or Medium to control how much streaming bandwidth that particular profile consumes.

6)    Never miss a movie/show that’s Coming Soon

On mobile devices, there is a tab called “Coming Soon” - it’s a great resource to find out all the shows that are, well… coming soon to Netflix. Under this tab, you’ll see the trailer and a helpful synopsis. Not only that, if you’re looking forward to a specific show, you can also click on the “Remind Me” bell icon so that you can get a notification when the show premieres on Netflix! That way, you never miss out on the next big movie or show.

7)    Watch What Your Kids’ Watching with Profile Locks

So you created a Kids Profile (from Manage Profiles) for your little one and gave strict instructions to only watch Netflix from there. But you’re ever so slightly worried they might go into your account, and feel the need to always keep an eye on what they’re watching.

Well, you don’t need to be Hopper to your Eleven. Simply set a 4-digit Profile Lock, so your child is never able to go into your Profile, from any device. To set a lock, go to Account>Profile & Parental Controls, select the Profile to lock and hit ‘Change’ on Profile Lock.

Netflix has a wide variety of shows and movies for you to watch. And the joy is that as you watch more, Netflix recommends you more movies and shows you might enjoy. One of the ways Netflix does this is via email. By default, emails only go to the account holder. But what happens when you share Netflix with your parents, siblings or spouse? If you’re using different Profiles, you can add a Profile email, so that Netflix can let you know about suggestions for what to watch, new features, etc. To add, go to Account>Profile & Parental Controls, select the Profile and hit ‘Add’ on Profile Email.

9)    Love what you just saw? Share the love!

Does this happen to you? Once you’ve seen a show or a movie that made you laugh, cry, happy, sad, all of the above, you cannot wait to recommend it to your friends. Well, you can always call them, or message them about it. Or, from the Netflix app on your phone, you could simply go to the movie or show, hit ‘Share’ and post it to Instagram Stories, Twitter, or share via WhatsApp or Messages.

While Netflix recommends a lot of shows to us, did you know that you could also return the favor and recommend shows to Netflix? Tucked away in their Help Centre is a little page that lets you recommend TV shows or movies for Netflix to add to their service! You can either access this through a web browser at help.netflix.com/titlerequest or by clicking on “Help” in your account menu. These days, you might be watching enough Netflix to realise what you might be missing - so, here’s your chance to prop up that one show you’ve been dying to watch!

11) Too many devices on Wi-Fi? Get downloading

With everyone at home, we’re working our Wi-Fi connections like never before. Everyone and all their devices are on it, you need to get work done, kids are on online classes, and it’s being stretched a little thin. Or, you just want to escape to the bedroom and watch a bit of Netflix; but the signal is not great in there. It’s time to put Smart Downloads to work. Simply go to the App Settings on your smartphone/tablet, and make sure Smart Downloads is turned ON. Now, put the episodes you want to watch to download by hitting the   symbol next to it. Once done, you are free to watch anywhere, without worrying about internet speed or dead zones. What’s even better, say you downloaded episode 1-3. When you’re done with episode 1, and back on Wi-Fi, your Netflix app will automatically clear episode 1, and download episode 4. That’s why it’s smart!

Some people say that Raya is a month and for those Raya moments or questions, Netflix have come up with a guide for all those sticky questions. Quite a few of them will probably get you more questions than silence, but if you have a fun they’ll understand. In any case check it out at HERE.

Wishing you a Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! Semoga ‘Raya Kita, Berbagai Cerita’ on Netflix. For more of your favourite shows this Hari Raya, look out for the watch list at www.netflix.com/salamaidilfitri

So, that’s it for this episode of TechNave Newsbytes 2020 #13. As usual, if you feel that your brand or press release deserves to be here, let us know. Stay tuned for more tech at TechNave.com


TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #14 - Samsung QLED TVs, Huawei, OPPO A’Design, Honor, Digi + MDEC, AMD, YouTube, TIME, Akamai, Tune Protect, LEVEL UP, Goodday webAR, LEGO, LG + Miele, Mercedes-AMG, ILLEGEAR, Special: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Hidden Hinge

This time around in TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #14 we have Samsung’s new QLED TVs including The Serif, The Sero and The Frame with Malaysia pricing. In addition, Huawei comes in with several new 5G and networking certifications, OPPO received 3 A’Design Awards and the Honor 9X achieved more than 10 million global shipments.

Digi and MDEC are helping SMEs to be BCD-ready while good guy AMD have donated Supercomputing clusters to researchers combatting COVID-19 and AMD and Amazon Web Cervies have announced the general availability of AMD powered Compute-Optimized EC2 C5a instances. 5 new Malaysians join YouTube Malaysia’s Gold Creator Award Club while TIME maintains growth for Q1 2020. Akamai helps combat Credit Card skimming while Tune Protect also stays tough for Q1 2020.

Malaysia’s LEVEL UP SPACEBAR and PLAY-ONE are coming in June, Goodday Milk launched a webAR for Raya and the LEGO Technic Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 was launched for RM1599.90. LG signed off their vacuum cleaner patents to Miele while Mercedes Benz announced their new Mercedes-AMG Compact cars virtually. MERCY Malaysia selected Digi’s Omni Hotline for counselling support while ILLEGEAR announced their ONYX V and ROGUE laptops powered by the AMD RYZEN 4000 series.

For this episode’s Special we have the hidden technologies behind the Hidden Hinge on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, a tutorial on how to take great photos and greener smartphone chargers from Samsung. As usual for Specials, you can scroll all the way down to check it out but you can also read through from the top, your choice.

Samsung’s 2020 QLED TVs, The Sero, The Frame, and The Serif are now available in Malaysia. We previously covered it but the 2020 QLED TV is equipped with Samsung’s most complete TV technologies ever. Powered by its state-of-the-art Quantum Processor, the 2020 QLED TV ensures that you always feel the full power of the 8K resolution, regardless of the original source’s quality.

Sound innovation has been further redefined in the 2020 QLED TV as well. With its new Object Tracking Sound+ (OTS+) in QLED 8K TVs, sound travels more dynamically than ever as it follows an object’s movement around the screen. Its built in speakers give sound the freedom it needs to move and be where it sounds best for a realistic, three-dimensional sound experience. Moreover, its Active Voice Amplifier (AVA) and Adaptive Sound+ features identifies and analyzes its surroundings and potentially distracting noises, which then delivers the optimum sound for its current environment.

With its gorgeous Infinity Screen feature in QLED 8K Q950TS models, its black edges have been shrunk to almost nothing, displaying an exquisite and elegant design that takes your viewing experience to levels of immersion and realism unlike any other. Its ultra-slim design and Magic Screen+ feature perfectly blends into its surroundings as well, allowing you to discover a new beautiful harmony of TV and interior design!

The Sero, which means vertical in Korean, has the ability to pivot between horizontal and vertical orientations, just like a smartphone or a tablet. Moreover, it is able to seamlessly connect with and display the content of a user’s mobile device. Simply put, it is the TV of the current generation, created specially to cater to the trends and lifestyles of today.

With that said, The Sero doesn’t ignore picture quality either! Powered by top-level QLED technology with 100% Colour Volume by Quantum Dot, images produced by The Sero are guaranteed to be of the highest standards. With a dynamic design, enormous possibilities, and first-rate technology, The Sero is a display as unique as your own style; redefining what a TV can do.

The latest artistic TV was developed as an aesthetic-focused TV in collaboration with the Paris-based design brothers, Ronan & Erwan Bourollec. Ideated with a timeless elegance and versatility that goes in harmony with your room, The Serif’s iconic I-shaped profile is a contemporary and sophisticated one; designed to make a statement and elevate a home with a brand-new artistic character and inspiration.

Artistic sophistication isn’t the only defining characteristic of The Serif though! Its display picture boasts over a billion colours powered by Samsung’s patented QLED technology for immersive viewing as well, allowing home owners to enjoy any form of content like movies, or even unique patterns via The Serif’s Magic Screen!

The Frame was conceptualized as the home device perfect for art lovers, taking the form of a luxurious art frame. When it is turned “off”, anything from curated art collections to photography can be displayed, turning your home into your very own contemporary art gallery.

Moreover, The Frame is equipped with several intelligent features to complement its home and surroundings. For one, it has a time setting that allows you to enjoy specific art pieces at certain times of the day. It has a Brightness Sensor as well, which detects ambient light and automatically balances the screen’s brightness and colour tone for a natural illumination. Apart from those, a Motion Sensor is able to detect your presence – the screen displays your favourite artwork while you’re there, but intelligently turns off when you leave, conserving power.

To celebrate the official availability of its latest 2020 TVs, Samsung Malaysia Electronics is thrilled to announce its Raya Bergaya, Ceria Bersama promotion by giving out complimentary gifts worth more than RM7,000, starting from now till 30th June 2020! The promotion details are as listed below:

Samsung Soundbar’s Purchase with Purchase (PWP) Promotion

For more information about Samsung’s Raya Bergaya, Ceria Bersama Promotion, please visit www.samsung.com/my/rayabergaya-2020. To know more about Samsung’s latest TVs, please visit their site.

Huawei, recently won the world’s first Common Criteria (CC) Evaluation Assurance Level（EAL）4+ certificate for 5G products. This certificate indicates the security of Huawei 5G base station products reaches the world-leading level and can provide trusted security assurance for 5G wireless access.

CCN (Centro Criptologico National), a Spain certification authority, officially issued the certificate to Huawei 5900 Series 5G gNodeB software on May 20. The evaluation has been conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Spanish IT Security Evaluation and Certification Scheme, and the conclusions of the evaluation facility in the evaluation technical report are consistent with the evidence adduced, according to CCN.

CC certification is a widely recognized security certification in the world. There are seven levels. For EAL4+ or higher level, the source code needs to be tested and certified. EAL4 is “the highest level at which it is likely to be economically feasible to retrofit to an existing product line.”

Huawei has incorporated internationally recognized cyber security certification standards and requirements, such as CC and FIPS, into product R&D, and actively invites third-party labs to certify Huawei products. Currently, its products and solutions have obtained more than 270 security certificates (including CC, FIPS, and CSA).

In related news, Huawei recently announced the launch of its Carrier Consulting Services and 5G Consulting portfolio and practice at the Huawei Global Analyst Summit (HAS 2020). Huawei Carrier Consulting Services’ aim is to help carriers to proactively cope with the opportunities and challenges brought by new technologies, new business, and new models, to create and obtain value for customers.

With changes to the ICT industry and the emergence of new technologies such as 5G, Cloud, and AI, and the rise of B2B market demand, carriers are facing more and more uncertainties and refined operational challenges. To solve these difficulties, carriers require comprehensive professional consulting services and solutions, covering strategic predictions, top-level design, product and offering designs, end-to-end network planning, operation optimization, and reconstruction and ecosystem value-based operations, to maximize investment benefits, achieve sustainable development and positive business cycles. On this basis, Huawei will now offer consulting services for the carrier market and its customers.

Huawei Carrier Consulting has developed the V-ID3EA®[1] methodology, a consulting operation platform and more than 150 methods, models and tools to efficiently support global consulting project delivery. Huawei will provide carriers with 12 consulting portfolios in the four domains of strategy, business, operations, and networks.

These portfolios include: 5G Business-Network Synergetic Consulting, Value-based Management Consulting, Enterprise Know-how Consulting, Operation Optimization and Reconstruction Consulting, a DTPC®[2] (Digital Transformation Practice Center), Operation Assistance Consulting, Video Consulting, Home/ Fixed Network Consulting, Consumer/ Mobile Network Consulting, Intelligent Operation Consulting, Digital Service Consulting, and Service Experience Monetization Consulting.

To address typical challenges faced by carriers in different stages of 5G development, such as a lack of confidence in 5G investment, difficulties in bridging the gap between massive sites, and the slow innovation of new products and offerings, Huawei 5G Business-Network Synergetic Consulting provides consulting services in the areas of 5G industry and service-network synergetic planning, 5G product and offering innovation, and large-scale 5G service development for carriers.

It does this by offering close linkage with business design and network planning, Huawei's profound professional knowledge, its DTPC innovation, and Cloud Open Labs platform. This ensures network deployment is driven by service development, on-demand network construction and precise network construction, to achieve a positive business cycle during 5G development. Huawei has already provided 5G consulting services to carriers in China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and across the Asia Pacific region.

Huawei Carrier Consulting Services aims to become a professional consulting service provider with in-depth scenario capabilities, systematic analysis and problem-solving capabilities, with global reach and telecom industry know how.

As of today, Huawei Carrier Consulting has served more than 100 carrier customers around the world with the support of a consulting team distributed across nine regions and two competence centers. In the future, Huawei will continue to invest in carrier consulting services to help more carriers create and obtain value. Meanwhile, Huawei is expecting to cooperate with more global carriers, industry partners, and professional institutions to establish a regular communication mechanism to enhance mutual understanding and collaboration, thus playing a more active role in the development of the telecoms industry generally and the consulting industry specifically.

Huawei also recently announced that the FusionServer Pro 2288H V5 and other servers have passed the latest VMware vSphere 7.0 compatibility certification. VMware vSphere 7.0 provides enterprise applications with three advantages: simplified lifecycle management, native security and control, and application acceleration. With these advantages, VMware vSphere 7.0 helps enterprises build intelligent virtualization platforms to accelerate digital transformation. It leverages the latest technologies of VMware vSphere 7.0 to transform data centers into simplified cloud-based O&M environments with compelling speed, security, and simplicity.

Ever since they hit the market, the OPPO Enco W31 true wireless headphones have garnered wide-ranging praise for their visual appeal and low latency. At RM259,  the headphones have been called the best entry-level true wireless headphones available. In honor of their design quality, the W31 headphones recently won a Platinum Design Award in the 2019–2020 Digital and Electronic Devices Design Award Category at the internationally acclaimed A'Design Award & Competition.

The A'Design Award & Competition is a large-scale international design event that holds considerable weight in the industry. It recognizes innovative achievements in architecture, interior, product, fashion, and graphic design – particularly those that break convention and incorporate novel ideas.

The competition brings together top-notch work from designers, businesses, and organizations from around the world, and receives more than 10,000 entries every year. Out of the possible Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Iron awards, the OPPO Enco W31 headphones won a Platinum award this year.

The OPPO Enco W31 headphones stood out from the competition with their "distinctive form factor designed for ergonomic comfort and fit," secure touch control stem designed to rest between the ear antitragus and tragus, and elegant circular design featuring spun anodized aluminum alloy.

Broadly speaking, what earned the OPPO Enco W31 headphones their Platinum award was their ergonomic design and appearance. The A'Design jury praised the headphones for having both an outstandingly ergonomic design and visually stunning look, suitable for ears of different shapes and sizes.

In fact, external appearance isn't all that differentiates the OPPO Enco W31 headphones. They also feature strong functionality – in particular, their ultra-low latency technology. The headphones were designed to address common issues with typical Bluetooth® headphones, such as poor connection stability and high latency. Through binaural low-latency Bluetooth® transmission and system optimization, the OPPO Enco W31 headphones have reduced latency to the lowest level among the industry. This virtually imperceptible latency enables a smooth and stable gaming and viewing experience.

Overall, it's clear that the OPPO Enco W31 A'Design Platinum award was well deserved. From their highly acclaimed appearance to their low latency, from sound quality to battery life, these headphones are at the top of the industry. And at RM259, they could be the most cost-effective true wireless headphones of 2020.

Other members of the OPPO Enco series were also recognized by A'Design. The OPPO Enco M31 true wireless headphones and the OPPO Enco Q1 wireless noise-canceling headphones both received Gold awards in the competition.

The OPPO Enco M31 design team created this pair of lightweight and flexible neckband headphones to be suitable for all-day wear. The headphones weigh just 22g and feature a unique ergonomically curved neckband and streamlined design. They offer a best-in-class wearing experience thanks to their liquid silicone neckband with a built-in memory titanium alloy band, which allows them to be flexed and stored in a pocket on the go. As a wireless headphones supporting LDAC codec and certified as Hi-Res standard at its price range, the OPPO Enco M31 stands out with its form as well as functionality.

The OPPO Enco Q1 headphones feature a high-quality unibody neckband that balances form and function. Because no seams are in contact with the skin, residue buildup from extended use is minimized and maintenance is easier. Complementing the headphones' excellent audio quality, the sleek, seamless unibody and ergonomic neckband ensure all-day comfort and hygiene.

The Platinum and Gold awards won by these three OPPO wireless headphones are a prestigious mark of OPPO's excellence in industrial design – and OPPO is far from finished. Looking ahead, OPPO is preparing to bring users even more products that innovatively fuse aesthetics and technology.

The OPPO Enco W31 is available at RM259, while the OPPO Enco M31 is available at RM199 and OPPO Enco Q1 at RM399. O-fans can get the OPPO headphones at OPPO Official Concept Store, OPPO Official Online Store, e-commerce partners namely Lazada and Shopee, OPPO official dealer stores and OPPO Chain store partners.

HONOR recently announced that the HONOR 9X series has recorded a sales volume of over 10 million units worldwide since its initial debut in late July 2019, proving once again that the brand’s X series is well-loved by fans all over the world. Its predecessor, the HONOR 8X, also hit the remarkable 10 million mark. The latest offerings from HONOR’s dynamic X series feature three smartphones – the HONOR 9X, HONOR 9X Pro and the newly-launched HONOR 9X Lite. With the HONOR 9X series now complete, users are sure to find one that suits their needs and lifestyle.

The HONOR 9X boasts a 6.59" HONOR FullView Display with an impressive 91% screen-to-body ratio. Thanks to its pop-up front camera design, users are able to enjoy an immersive, notch-less viewing experience. Equipped with a 48MP AI Triple Camera on its rear with an f/1.8 aperture and ½-inch sensor, users can capture their extraordinary moments in clarity. Together with an all-day 4,000 mAh battery, this is one smartphone that’s bound to go on and on!  The HONOR 9X is now priced at RM899, with a free HONOR Band 5i and HONOR 9X giftbox.

As the first HONOR smartphone pre-installed with HUAWEI AppGallery, the HONOR 9X Pro marks the start of an intelligent and interconnected ecosystem for HONOR users. Armed with a 7nm Kirin 810 AI Chipset, 6.59” HONOR FullView Display and 48MP Triple Camera plus liquid cooling feature, the HONOR 9X Pro is set to deliver an enhanced user experience with upgrades across day-to-day performance, gaming, and photography. Powered with a 4,000 mAh battery, the powerful smartphone offers an extraordinary user experience at an accessible price point of RM999 with a free HONOR Band 5i and 50GB of free storage on Huawei Cloud.

The HONOR 9X Lite is priced at RM699, available in Emerald Green and Midnight Black. Purchases made on Hihonor will come with free gifts worth RM219 in the form of HONOR 10,000 mAh power bank and RM70 Hihonor voucher, while those who purchase the smartphone at HONOR Experience Stores (HES) and HONOR’s official store on Shopee will receive a free HONOR 10,000 mAh power bank.

For more information on HONOR Malaysia, visit HONOR’s official e-commerce website and information portal.

Digi and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) today announced its Business Continuity Digitalisation (BCD) Programme aimed at helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) mitigate the impact of Covid-19 by leveraging digital opportunities.

With a series of activities in the pipeline taking place throughout the year, the BCD Programme will focus on equipping SMEs with the right knowledge to realise the benefits of digitalisation as well as utilise the right digital tools and solutions to get their businesses running seamlessly.

In addition, with Digi identified as a Technology Solutions Provider (TSP) by MDEC under the SME Business Digitalisation Grant, the company is also keen to help SMEs capitalise on the various incentives from adopting digital solutions.

The BCD Programme is in collaboration with MDEC’s 100GD initiative, which sets out to enable SMEs to adopt digital solutions to improve customer experiences and enhance efficiency of their business operations.

SMEs can look forward to Digi’s BCD Programme, featuring a series of free webinars and online clinics that will address critical areas for a business’ digital transformation. Every webinar will provide practical steps and resources on digitalisation for efficient operations, maintaining sales, engaging customer support and more, especially while we face a once-in-a-generation shift due to the Covid-19 pandemic and change of consumer behaviour.

Registration is now open for the first webinar, which will be held on 10 June 2020. For more details and to register, please visit their site.

As part of the Programme, Digi will also help SMEs assess their business’ BCD readiness, and with the findings, SMEs can then get guidance on the best digital tools and solution providers to partner with, as well as how the tools and solutions can help their business survive and grow.

In addition, Digi will also walk SMEs through details of the SME Business Digitalisation Grant. Designed to encourage SMEs to adopt digitalisation in their daily operations, the grant was announced during Budget 2020, with the government committing a 50% matching grant of up to RM5,000 per company for the subscription of any three of these five digitalisation areas: electronic point of sale system (e-POS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), electronic HR payroll system/CRM, e-procurement, and digital marketing and sales platforms.

SMEs who subscribe to the following digital solutions from Digi are eligible to apply for the grant:

AMD and technology partner Penguin Computing Inc. recently announced that New York University (NYU), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Rice University are the first universities named to receive complete AMD-powered, high-performance computing systems from the AMD HPC Fund for COVID-19 research. AMD also announced it will contribute a cloud-based system powered by AMD EPYC and AMD Radeon Instinct processors located on-site at Penguin Computing, providing remote supercomputing capabilities for selected researchers around the world. Combined, the donated systems will collectively provide researchers with more than seven petaflops of compute power that can be applied to fight COVID-19.

The recipient universities are expected to utilize the new compute capacity across a range of pandemic-related workloads including genomics, vaccine development, transmission science and modeling. Additionally, scientists from around the world conducting COVID-19 research can request access to the remote AMD-powered cloud HPC cluster at Penguin Computing by submitting proposals to [email protected].

In related news, AMD and Amazon Web Services announced the general availability of the AMD powered Compute-Optimized EC2 C5a instance. Powered by 2nd Gen AMD EPYC™ processors, C5a provides AWS cloud customers with a new option that enables better performance and cost for a variety of compute intensive workloads.

Available in U.S. East, U.S. West, Europe and Asia Pacific AWS regions, C5a delivers impressive x86 price-performance for a broad set of compute-intensive workloads including batch processing, distributed and log analytics, data transformations and web applications.

What started out as a means to satisfy their curiosity and explore their passions has led some of Malaysia’s biggest YouTube creators to great success, like growing their fan base to 1-million-subscribers and beyond.

Here are five of the latest YouTube creators that have entertained, humored, and inspired their way to 1M subscribers with their unique content -- from entertaining skits and insightful tips on starting a business, to showcasing cultural diversity and addressing various topics.

TIME dotCom Berhad or TIME recorded consolidated Group revenue of RM293.9 million for the quarter ended 31 March 2020. The 12.0% increase relative to the same period in the preceding year was driven by higher overall revenue growth seen across all core product and customer groups.

A current quarter consolidated profit before tax of RM125.6 million was recorded. This was driven by higher overall revenue growth, a large net gain on foreign exchange, lower interest expense and a higher share of profit from associates.

The Group’s immediate and ongoing priorities are to safeguard the health of all its employees and to ensure 100% network availability and stability through these challenging times. In the medium-term, the Group will continue to focus on supporting the Malaysian government achieve its national telecommunications objectives by strengthening and expanding its existing domestic fibre network infrastructure.

On the regional front, the Group will continue working with its partners in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia to tap on increasing demand for cross border connectivity across the ASEAN region. The Group will also assess opportunities to further establish itself as a key regional data centre player and operator with the intention to unlock the long-term potential of its data centre business.

Akamai recently announced the launch of Page Integrity Manager, an in-browser threat detection solution designed to uncover compromised scripts that could be used to steal user data or impact the user experience. Initially popularized by Magecart groups, and now being leveraged by other threat actors, the attack vector of malicious web page scripts is growing and has become a frequent source of data breaches.

A typical website relies on dozens of third-party sources -- many that result in scripts executing in user browsers. Third-party scripts are essential for the dynamic user experience expected in modern websites, inclusive of sensitive information pages used for payments, account management, and personal information forms. However, security teams have little visibility into or control over these third-party supplied and maintained scripts.

Akamai designed Page Integrity Manager to protect websites from JavaScript threats, such as web skimming, form-jacking, and Magecart attacks, by identifying vulnerable resources, detecting suspicious behavior, and blocking malicious activity. By detecting suspicious script activity in real-time, Page Integrity Manager offers a more effective way to defeat well-hidden supply chain attacks such as Magecart when they happen.

The FBI recently reported that web skimming has been on its radar for nearly seven years, but the crime is growing because cybercriminals are sharing the malware online and becoming more sophisticated.

For more information on Page Integrity Manager, please visit their site. To layer with other web application solutions, visit Akamai’s security suite.

Tune Protect Group Berhad posted a Profit After Tax of RM2.8 million with Operating Revenue of RM122.4 million and Gross Written Premiums of RM113.2 million for the first quarter of 2020. The Group’s PAT and OR declined by 86.2% and 3.4% respectively while its GWP decreased 3.8% YoY.

The lower 1Q2020 PAT is a factor of the decrease in travel business, lower underwriting profit and unrealised investment loss due to weaker performance in the fixed income market, whilst the drop in GWP is partly due to a decline in its travel business recorded by Tune Protect Re (‘TPR’), the Group’s reinsurance arm, aligned to the reduction in air travel demand, and a decrease in the Motor line of business recorded by Tune Protect Malaysia (‘TPM’), the Group’s Malaysian General Insurance subsidiary.

TPR managed to record a PAT of RM7.8 million in 1Q2020, despite the challenging business environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. On a YoY basis, TPR’s PAT declined by 37.8%, attributed to lower travel demand in Asia and Middle East.  However, on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, TPR’s 1Q2020 PAT was 26% higher.

Meanwhile, TPR posted a 1Q2020 GWP of RM17.8 million, a decrease of 22.9% YoY. The decrease in premium was a result of the reduced performance of the Travel business and the lower premium retention for the Malaysian market.

TPM recorded a minor decrease in GWP by 2% to RM98.2 million compared to the same period a year ago, mainly due to the lower Travel Personal Accident (TPA) and Motor portfolios, partially offset by the growth in the commercial and retail Non-Motor classes of business. 1Q2020 PAT decreased to RM0.5 million mainly due to unrealised investment loss as well as lower underwriting profit. Despite the marginal decline in GWP for 1Q2020, TPM is moving towards the preferred portfolio mix between Motor and Non-motor, a ratio of 35:65.

The Group’s 1Q2020 overseas ventures recorded a share of loss of RM1.9 million, versus a share of profit of RM1.0 million in 1Q2019. The decline is mainly due to unrealised investment losses by Tune Protect Thailand (‘TPT’), the Group’s associate company in Thailand, and the lower premiums from Tune Protect EMEIA (‘TP EMEIA’), the Group’s joint venture company in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

The Group has put together a comprehensive recovery plan to address the impact caused by the pandemic. The plan focuses on three sections: Immediate interventions on current business; Re-prioritise line-of-business, channel and partner diversification; and Expand offerings and solutions focusing on the new normal.

Immediate interventions on current business: The Group is closely managing its receivables and expenses as well as optimising its investment returns by planned asset reallocation.

Re-prioritise line-of-business, channel and partner diversification: The recovery focus will be on driving the preferred business segments of key agents and brokers businesses, as well as expediting digital and affinity partnerships.

Expand offerings and solutions focusing on the new normal:  New products and solutions that meet market’s demand, particularly in areas that address consumers’ preventive, protective, and lifestyle propositions are in the plan. Together with its airline partners, plans are also underway to expand travel protection to align with the enhanced safety requirements of the travel sector.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing popularity of Southeast Asia’s largest gaming festival, LEVEL UP KL, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) is organising a satellite event to bring the gamer community together. Set for June 2020, the goal is to continue exploring and developing Malaysia’s games industry.

Designed to attract both businesses and the public alike, this new online event consists of LEVEL UP SPACEBAR and LEVEL UP PLAY-ONE. The former, which will run on June 16, 2020, will be targeting businesses and game publishers. As for the latter, it is a gaming festival that is open to the public that will be running on June 13 and 14, 2020.

With both events being hosted online, anyone can take part from the comfort and safety of their homes. MDEC will be collaborating with Astro’s eGG Network to extend selected broadcast streams around Malaysia and its neighbouring countries. The content streams will be mostly from the LEVEL UP PLAY-ONE webinars. More than 16 speakers from across the region – be it renowned streamers to esports operators – will be sharing their knowledge about esports opportunities and challenges during the pandemic.

As for the games that will be streamed during the 12-hour official broadcast on Facebook Gaming, it will feature a diverse range of local and global major videogame titles. All of them will offer something for everyone, from casual gamers to sports enthusiasts, and core fans of competitive titles.

As Malaysia’s video games development industry has become the focal point for Southeast Asia, with multiple global studios setting up around Kuala Lumpur, it is now striving towards being a global powerhouse. In doing so, it aims to take this thriving sector to the next level through empowering various related market segments, attract more investments, and create more job opportunities for digital talents. In many ways, this embodies the vision of transforming Malaysia into the Heart of Digital ASEAN.

Over at eGG Network, excitement for LEVEL UP PLAY-ONE can be felt, as CK Lee, Head of Sports, eGG Network, Astro added, “We look forward to this collaboration with MDEC as we believe that LEVEL UP PLAY-ONE is exactly what gamers in the region need at this moment. eGG Network has been engaging our fans with the “Stay Home” message throughout this pandemic via our content streams. We hope that all gaming fans in the region will tune in and enjoy the digital festivities and content we have in store at LEVEL UP PLAY-ONE.”

LEVEL UP PLAY-ONE will showcase the latest games created by Malaysian studios and publishers during its two-day run. Part of the event will see game enthusiasts and professional players all over the world being able to download and play the games, share it via social media and stand a chance to win exclusive gifts.

Additionally, online tournaments will also be planned and enable players to compete in locally made games and win prize pools of more than RM10,000 in cash.

Prospective gamers can register now via LEVEL UP KL’s website to secure their place in LEVEL UP PLAY-ONE.

Goodday Milk is championing a series of virtual, tech-driven initiatives to celebrate Ramadan and Hari Raya amidst social distancing. Following their attempt to host the nation’s biggest virtual moreh session on 22th May 2020, Goodday Milk has launched another digital Raya initiative – ‘Selamat Selebraya’ – a WebAR based (web-based Augmented Reality technology, without the use of an app) 3D celebrity house visit experience. Using the WebAR technology, consumers will be able to bring “virtual celebrities” to life for “house visits” during Hari Raya celebration, adding an element of excitement to Raya celebrations.

With Goodday Milk’s latest digital initiative, Malaysians will get a unique opportunity to celebrate Raya this year with the nation’s top celebrities including singer Andi Bernadee, Mark Adam, and artist Elfira Loy right in their own houses – making this the first ever WebAR based AR artists experience campaign.

To bring this campaign to fruition, Goodday Milk partnered with Entropia Extended Reality (EXR) to get three top celebrities to literally visit every Malaysian’s home, during this ‘socially-distanced’ Raya. This extraordinary feat was achieved through cutting edge webAR, 3D volumetric capture and character modeling.

The WebAR technology enables a user to click a link on their smartphone, give access to their phone camera and get a virtual realistic 3D model of their favorite celebrity to appear in their homes. The user can walk around the celebrity, take pictures with the celebrity and even make the celebrity perform a song and wish them and their family for Raya.   The mix of virtual augmentation on reality is an experience that will bring a smile to everyone’s faces as it is easy to use and intuitive and doesn’t require them to download any app to relish a celebrity visiting their homes. Imagine having your idol serenading to you and only you!

Not letting the fun end here, Goodday Milk has also announced a creative photo challenge for consumers with exciting rewards to make their Raya even more memorable. From 25th May to 21st June, just take a photo via Selemat Seleb-raya WebAR with the chosen AR artist to express your best creativity, then upload it and  hashtag #GooddaySelamatSelebraya and hashtag @goodddaymilk on Instagram feed or Goodday Milk Malaysia on Facebook wall, to join the contest and win some duit Raya. Every week, 5 lucky winners with the most creative photos will get to win RM500 cash each – totalling up to RM10,000 cash prize. Find out more info from Goodday Milk Malaysia Facebook page.

Since social distancing has led to a different Raya celebration this year, Goodday Milk has been constantly innovating and coming up with digital campaigns that consumers can participate in, from the comfort of their homes. The includes our attempt to host the nation’s largest virtual moreh session dotted with celebrity guests to bring back a sense of community in the holy month. “Through these virtual experiences we hope to bring some excitement to this year’s festivities in a safe yet interesting manner,” added Santharuban.

For more information on the ongoing campaigns and promotions, please visit Goodday Milk Malaysia Facebook page.

Recently, the LEGO Group and Automobili Lamborghini unveiled the eagerly awaited LEGO® Technic™ Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 in true style for RM1599.99.

Boasting a vivid lime-green colour and elegant golden rims, the model measures over 5” (13cm) high, 23” (60cm) long and 9” (25cm) wide. This one-of-a-kind model is the ultimate addition to any LEGO collection.

The LEGO Technic Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 will be available directly from LEGO Certified Stores and LEGOLAND in Malaysia from June 1st, then in many retailers globally from August 1, 2020.

To make the building experience as thrilling and immersive as a spin behind the wheel of the real car, proud owners can also pop open the front hood to discover a stylish Lamborghini overnight bag and a unique serial number that unlocks special content at the site.

All purchases of the LEGO Technic Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 in Malaysia will receive a minibuild of LEGO Lamborghini as a gift with purchase, while stocks last.

There will also be a contest with each purchase of the LEGO Technic Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 in Malaysia between 1 and 21 June 2020. 10 winners will receive exclusive Lamborghini merchandise.

LG Electronics Inc. (LG) and Miele & Cie. KG (Miele) have entered into a long-term patent license agreement covering robot vacuum cleaner technologies. The terms of the agreement will allow Miele to produce and sell robot vacuum cleaners using patented technologies developed by LG R&D.

The license agreement includes the use of LG patented induction signal guide and infrared-induced signals to enable robot cleaners to accurately and precisely return to their docking stations for charging. Other LG patents being licensed relate to dust and agitator attachment. LG has more than 700 registered patents globally related to robot vacuum cleaners making LG one of the most advanced and awarded robot vacuum cleaner brands in the world.

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia celebrates its first ever digital premiere of the latest Mercedes-AMG compact cars – the hot hatch Mercedes-AMG A 35 4MATIC, A 45 4MATIC+, and as the first model debut, the CLA 45 4MATIC+. The aggressively-bred trio has presented a real benchmark in the compact segment due to the demand of the compact models which has developed very dynamically in recent years.

The new Mercedes-AMG A 45 S 4MATIC+ and CLA 45 S 4MATIC+ are even more distinctive than their predecessors. With an output of up to 310 kW (421 hp), the completely newly developed 2.0-litre engine is the world's most powerful turbocharged four-cylinder manufactured for series production.

The new Mercedes-AMG compact cars Recommended Retail Price (OTR without Insurance) starts from RM 379,888

In response to increased mental health concerns since the Movement Control Order (MCO) kicked in, MERCY Malaysia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC), has set up a dedicated hotline, powered by Digi’s virtual business system, Omni Hotline, to provide counselling to those requiring assistance during these unprecedented times. To date, the hotline has received over 1,500 calls with queries ranging from seeking help with mental health related issues to getting access to food and medical aid.

A team of 31 psychosocial volunteers from MERCY Malaysia and 10 volunteer-counsellors from MoH managed and serviced the calls through Digi’s Omni Hotline, a digital office phone solution that operates fully on smartphones and provides landline numbers without the need for desk phones.

Given that the volunteers and counsellors are located at various locations across Malaysia, and with the MCO restricting mobility, it was not possible for all of them to be physically present at MERCY Malaysia’s offices to attend to the calls. Omni Hotline became a vital digital tool that enabled them to take the calls via the Omni app on their smartphones from wherever they are, yet maintain an official landline number for the public to dial, instead of the volunteers’ personal mobile numbers.

Furthermore, the non-profit organisation had no prior experience in operating a call centre or hotline, but with hundreds of callers in need of their assistance, leveraging digital tools to help run their operations proved to be a practical and effective solution. Omni Hotline equipped them with the capability to receive hundreds of calls at any time, and redirect these calls to the counsellors’ mobile phones.

Besides that, through Omni Hotline’s department extension feature, MERCY Malaysia was able to cluster multiple numbers under a single point of contact.

MERCY Malaysia’s psychosocial hotline is a non-clinical service for the public. With the success of the hotline, it is now linked to the Women’s Aid Organisation’s (WAO) domestic violence hotline, where callers are given a third option of speaking to a WAO crisis support officer on cases of child abuse and domestic violence. Public who wish to speak to a counsellor can call the hotline at 03-2935 9935.

In line with initiatives to assist relevant government agencies on services needed to address the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, and to help customers stay connected with their social, learning and work life during this time, Digi have also zero-rated the following critical service hotlines and websites for customers including Ministry of Health’s (“MOH”) Crisis Preparedness Response Centre (CPRC), MoH state branches, identified Covid-10 screening and admitting hospitals, the MCO hotline,  MoH’s official website as well as other important helplines such as Befrienders KL and Penang, Talian Nur and Childline.

The launch of the new AMD Ryzen 4000 Series mobile processors extends AMD’s competitive reach into consumer notebook market. Today, ILLEGEAR unveils two high-performance laptop models powered by AMD Ryzen 4000 Series processors, namely ONYX V and ROGUE – offering more performance choices to laptop users.

Introducing the latest ONYX V and ROGUE, the powerful performance laptop duo built for delivering satisfactory performance powered by AMD Ryzen 5 4600H and Ryzen 7 4800H with up to 8 cores and 16 threads. The 15.6” ONYX V is constructed with premium anodized aluminium, it’s not only sleek to touch but is also superior in durability and lighter in weight compared to conventional laptop body materials. The 17.3” ROGUE is constructed by hard plastic body and matte black coating. The ONYX V weighs only 1.85kg, 19mm thin while ROGUE weighs 2.45kg, 22~25mm thin.

Like other ILLEGEAR’S mid-range laptops, both ONYX V and ROGUE come with single-zone RGB keyboard, 120Hz IPS display, INFINIVISION narrow-bezel technology, THX Spatial audio and Intel / Killer Wireless-AX module. Pricing starts from RM 3,899 and RM 3,499. Check out their site for more information.

While the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip uses a foldable display, the technology that lets it flip open for their new one-of-a-kind Hideaway Hinge includes a dual CAM mechanism and sweeper technology. You can check out more about it on their site for the dual CAM and sweeper technology.

In related news, if you want to learn to take better photos, especially with Samsung phones go check out their site. Samsung also announced new smartphone chargers that are more environmentally friendly.

Aaand, that’s it folks! Thanks for reading and if you think your news, press release or brand should be in the next TechNave NewsBytes 2020, do let us know. As always, stay tuned to TechNave.com