TechNave NewsBytes 2021 #1 - Samsung, realme, OPPO, Xiaomi, 1MORE, Celcom, Maxis, MDEC and more

Welcome back TechNavers and NewsByters, in this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2021 #1 Samsung showed off their The First Look 2021 and Galaxy Buds Pro with videos and their CES 2021 Innovation Award-winning technologies. Samsung also showcased their C-Lab Inside and C-Lab Outside Start-ups at CES 2021 while also appointing a new Samsung Electronics SEA + Oceania President.

realme on the other hand highlighted their achievements in just 2-years after being introduced. In addition, they are also set to launch their own AIoT platform in 2021 while also achieving more than 200 global awards in 2020.

OPPO showcased their Full-path Colour Management system which is set to arrive in their upcoming Find X3 series. Last year they also created an interactive OPPO Friendship mural for their Reno5 series launch while their OPPO Reno Festive Virtual Marathon ended after plenty of participation from all walks of life.

Xiaomi’s 1MORE audio sub-brand received 3 CES Innovation awards for their TWS devices while Xiaomi themselves won The BrandLaureate: Brand of the Year 2020 in Smartphones & Devices award. Celcom appointed new leaders while also collaborating with Microsoft to introduce the Celcom Cloud Suite for SME and other businesses.

For our miscellaneous announcements see below:

Samsung recently revealed several videos showcasing their products and plans for 2021. Check them out in the videos above and below and if you’re interested in the RM799 Galaxy Buds Pro on pre-order, check it out at their site.

For this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Innovation Awards, 44 of Samsung Electronics’ latest products and services were awarded the prestigious title, including four Best of Innovation honors. Among the recipients of the CES 2021 Innovation Awards were several of Samsung’s latest innovations in the display category, including the brand-new 110-inch MICRO LED, a breakthrough product that garnered a Best of Innovation award for its leading features that offer users total control over their space as well as their experiences.

For more information about CES 2021, please visit their site

Samsung Electronics recently announced that it will be showcasing its C-Lab projects and C-Lab Outside startups at CES 2021 from January 11 through 14. Samsung will unveil four exciting projects in progress from its in-house venture program C-Lab Inside. Seventeen startups supported by the C-Lab Outside, Samsung’s startup acceleration program, will participate in the event as well.

C-Lab Inside, which began in 2012, is an in-house idea incubation program that encourages and nurtures innovative ideas from Samsung employees. This will be the sixth consecutive year C-Lab is participating in CES. The C-Lab Inside projects to be unveiled this year focuses on personalized products and services catering to diverse lifestyles. Product marketability and customer responses will be gauged during the exhibition to enhance and further advance the projects. The four C-Lab Inside projects are EZCal, Air Pocket, Scan&Dive and Food&Sommelier.

Created in October 2018, C-Lab Outside is a startup acceleration program to vitalize the startup ecosystem in South Korea. Local startup incubation programs by Daegu Center and Gyeong-buk Center for Creative Economy & Innovation are also run as part of C-Lab Outside. Startups enrolled in the C-Lab Outside programs are provided with office workspace, expert mentoring by Samsung employees, opportunities to participate in global IT exhibitions, investor relations and financial support.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. recently announced that Mr. Sangho Jo has been appointed as President and CEO of Southeast Asia & Oceania. A proven Samsung leader with over three decades of experience across business groups and geographies, Mr. Jo will steer the strategic growth directions of Samsung Electronics in Southeast Asia & Oceania.

Markets in Southeast Asia & Oceania are integral to Samsung Electronics’ long-term growth plans, with the region poised to sustain its rapid economic growth into the next decade, built on the digital ambitions of its cities, industries and communities. Mr. Jo will guide the business towards cementing its industry leadership and seizing long-term growth opportunities in this region by forging partnerships, creating operational excellence, and ultimately, building brand trust amongst consumers and enterprises.

He was most recently appointed President and CEO for Samsung Electronics in Europe, where he led the business to achieve sustainable commercial growth and brand favorability in 2020. In the past decade, Mr. Jo has served as President in the following markets: Samsung Electronics Germany (2019), United Kingdom (2015 – 2017), Sweden (2012 – 2014), Austria (2011), Baltic countries (2009 – 2010), and also served as Head of Visual Display business for Samsung Europe based in South Korea (2017 – 2018).

realme was announced recently as the fastest-growing international smartphone brand in the world for 2020. The major brand has leapfrogged over established industry giants and took 7th position in terms of global market share. Research company Counterpoint has announced this milestone in its latest smartphone report on Q4, as realme grew 65% YoY and shipped 42.4 million smartphones last year.

realme has been a highlight in the smartphone industry, employing innovative methods on both consumer and product aspects to grow its market share aggressively. In an economic environment where nearly all major industry leaders were taking a loss, realme was one of the only two major smartphone brands that registered growth throughout 2020. The young company started the year by selling only in 35 markets and concluded it with approximately 100% growth, totalling 61 active markets by the end of 2020. realme has also expanded its user base by 250%, from 25 million to now over 50 million strong.

realme’s meteoric rise is not a secret to industry observers who are now used to such impressive numbers expected from this dynamic company. Part of the ethos of the company set by CEO, Sky Li is the ability to flexibly respond to changing market conditions on the ground. realme’s employees and team, as young consumers themselves, deeply understand the changes on the ground and have adapted cohesively. The results have been shown through the sales and satisfaction reviews of the products, leading to a strong performance underpinned by consumers’ trust and understanding.

realme, the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the world recently leaped into the Top 10 TWS brands in terms of shipments for Q3 2020, according to Counterpoint Research. It was an important news for the brand as it exceeded expectations in terms of corporate, product and design respectively. Counterpoint has also highlighted the possibility that ‘realme could repeat its smartphone success to become 2021’s dark horse among wearables’ in its announcement.

In the true wireless stereo hearables (TWS) market, realme garnered 2% of the global market share. realme will be launching its own AIoT platform which is known as TechLife in 2021, which is merely one step in realme’s strategy to foster new companies and ideas as well as participating in co-creation and scale innovative AIoT products. The initiative will be focusing on bringing a more cohesive and integrated smart living lifestyle to the youths today that allows for greater communication and collaboration among users.

2020 was a year worth remembering for realme as it scooped up awards and international fame in terms of quality products and business milestones. realme’s success in 2020 showcased its real strength in all areas as it not only navigated 2020, but expanded against the industry’s expectations. realme has gained 17 brand awards, 159 product awards and 5 top tier design awards worldwide in 2020 underpinning the strong support from fans.

realme not only achieved Top 5 in market share in 12 countries, it has also expanded to 61 markets globally. These milestones reflect reports and features by notable media and research organizations. Counterpoint Research hailed realme to be the ‘fastest-growing smartphone brand in the world’ and the esteemed Financial Times has affirmed that the company commands a leading position across Asia Pacific.

One major milestone in 2020 is when realme officially became the fastest company to reach 50 Million shipments (according to Counterpoint Research). As a ‘Dare to Leap’ brand, realme has adopted the strategy of selling leapfrog performance and trendsetting design-driven quality products that resonate with its young crowd at affordable and attractive price points.

OPPO recently announced that the official release of the Full-path Color Management System will premiere as part of its 2021 new flagship smartphones, the Find X3 series. OPPO’s Full-path Color Management System is the very first Android color management system to support the full DCI-P3 wide gamut and 10-bit color depth from capture, storage, and display. This delivers an outstanding viewing experience with its authentic and accurate color reproduction.

The system is an end-to-end solution, covering all the steps from image acquisition, to computation, encoding, storage, decoding, and finally display, supporting a HEIF image with 10bit high color depth and the P3 wide color gamut.  As a management system, the full-path color management system has adopted higher specification algorithms and hardware to record color when capturing. OPPO’s R&D engineering promoted algorithms in the areas such as distortion correction, multi-frame noise reduction and perceptual extreme super-resolution. Moreover, OPPO will support image sensors featuring Digital Overlap (DOL) HDR mode. In the DOL-HDR technology, it synthesizes different exposure conditions into an image.

OPPO’s screen calibration procedure enables a professional, digital film-grade color accuracy at around 0.4 JNCD, thereby delivering a consistently accurate display on the screen. On the other hand, OPPO’s proprietary algorithm guarantees color gamut compatibility by adjusting the DCI-P3 with the D65 white point at the center of the color space.

OPPO Malaysia launched OPPO Reno5 Series on 18 January 2021 and have partnered with Abdulrashade Studio to create a magnificent mural that captures the essence of friendship anytime of the day. The mural is also unique, in that it will light up at night if visited by a pair or more than 1 person. Friendship is all about capturing memorable moments together, and it is much easier with the OPPO Reno5.

OPPO Malaysia understands the need of an insta-worthy area to capture picture perfect moments together. Therefore, we collaborated with Abdulrashade Studio and WheyChillin Ice Cream KL to create this interactive mural for the OPPO Reno5. Lead artist, Abdulrashade created this glow-in-the-dark mural at the famous Kwai Zai Hong area in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, specifically on the outer wall of WheyChilling Ice Cream KL, which is located along Jalan Balai Polis, Kuala Lumpur.

To create a better bond among users, OPPO Malaysia and Abdulrashade decided to make the mural interactive and only light up when two individuals stand in front of it. This provides users with a unique spot to shoot some Insta-worthy photos that are accompanied by a beautiful backdrop. During the day, the bright colors of the mural pop up, but at night there is a special surprise waiting to be unlocked within this interactive masterpiece.

The OPPO Reno Festive Virtual Marathon had finally come to an end on 3rd January 2021. Adventure seekers, OPPO enthusiasts, and athletes in all forms from all states of Malaysia had participated in the marathon while ensuring social distance through consistently updating their live status on OPPO’s website. Encik Fuad Sanoesi who is disabled, had also completed a 56.26km marathon.

For Encik Fuad, the longest distance he had challenged himself was 42 km completed in 4 hours 14 minutes and 21 seconds which was outstanding and could totally compete with the time spent for normal people in finishing a marathon. He suggests to train 3 to 4 times constantly every week and ensure to get enough rest (up to 2 days) before the marathon happens.

Encik Fuad stated that, ‘from my opinion, OPPO Reno Festive Marathon was great and I genuinely hoped that it would be held again in the coming years. The only thing that could be improved was the processing time which would be better if it could be shortened rather than requiring 2 to 3 days to be in the leaderboard.’

1MORE recently announced they have received three 2021 CES Innovation Honoree Awards for their 1MORE ComfoBuds Pro True Wireless Headphones, 1MORE ColorBuds True Wireless Headphones (RM299), and 1MORE ColorBuds Pro True Wireless Headphones.

Announced along with the award-winning headphones are the 1MORE ComfoBuds True Wireless Headphones (RM189) and the smart watch plus true wireless headphone combo, the Sound Band Duo. The new collection of true wireless headphones and smartwatch will be available at a later date while the ComfoBuds and ColorBuds are available now on at the official 1MORE LazMall Flagship Store.

Rounding out 1MORE’s CES product launches is the innovative Sound Band Duo, which is part smartwatch and fitness tracker and part compact true wireless headphones in an all-in-one package. Simply pop open the watch, slide out the earbuds and now you have the perfect duo for your on-the-go adventures.

Xiaomi was recently awarded The BrandLaureate World’s e-Branding Award – Brand of the Year 2020 in Smartphones & Devices. The award, by The World Brands Foundation (TWBF), is in recognition of the company’s significant brand achievements during the challenging times caused by COVID-19. In addition, The Brand of the Year 2020 Award further recognises the achievements and success Xiaomi has made in Malaysia.

Xiaomi is the third-largest smartphone brand in the world and within the top five smartphone brands in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, according to Canalys in 2020 Q3. The company also made the Fortune Global 500 list, ranking 422nd.

Celcom Axiata Berhad (Celcom) recently announced several key senior management appointments within the company. Datuk Kamal Khalid will join Celcom as Chief Corporate and Transformation Officer on 1 February 2021. He will provide leadership to the various corporate functions including legal, regulatory, societal development, sustainability, enterprise data governance and program management.

In 2020, Celcom strengthened its management team with new appointments for its technology and commercial divisions. Afizulazha Abdullah was appointed as Celcom’s Chief Operating Officer (Technology) to provide overall leadership across the various technology functions. Afiz was previously the Managing Director of On-Site Services (OnSite) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of edotco Malaysia that focuses on delivering network managed services. Allan Bonke was appointed as Celcom’s Chief Commercial Officer to lead all revenue generating units with focus on strengthening our value proposition and competitiveness in the market.

In addition, Pravind Menon was appointed as Head of Risk and Compliance on 4 January 2021. Pravind brings with him with over 20 years of experience in legal, ethics and compliance across various industries in Asia Pacific covering pharmaceutical, energy and fast-moving consumer goods industries.

Celcom Axiata Berhad (Celcom) introduces Celcom Cloud Suite, an affordable enterprise-class cloud service that focuses on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS), to accelerate digital adoption among local enterprises and businesses.

Celcom, in collaboration with Microsoft Malaysia, brings the trusted solution that combines the tools and platform for applications, infrastructure, data storage, software network, security and seamless deployment experience with reliable site recovery advantages. The service offers unparalleled potential for business owners to transform their business operations with such simplicity and cost efficacy, and is offered together with an array of cutting-edge solutions through Celcom’s one-stop digital kit, Celcom Business Suite™.

Malaysian business owners can customise and personalise their Celcom Cloud Suite based on various business requirements with the packages below:

For more information on Celcom Cloud Suite, visit their site.

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) recently announced that it has disbursed RM2.35 million worth of grants benefiting 47 grant recipients from the SME and start-ups sectors. The recipients are largely from the digital creative content industry (70%), followed by professional services (21%), education (7%) and other industries (2%). These disbursements were made under the DCG 2020 (Budget 2020) and PENJANA Digital Content Grant (DCG).

These initiatives that aim to empower digital businesses are part of MDEC’s three strategic framework pillars: Digital Jobs, Digital Businesses and Digital Investments. Businesses of all sizes can reach out to and engage with various support initiatives that MDEC currently manages. This includes the different grants that are currently made available for different industry verticals.

For more information about MDEC grants, please visit their site.

How to rebuild and transform economies post COVID-19 while confronting the climate crisis? The pandemic reminded us of the impact humanity has had on the environment, making green recovery essential. Cleaner air quality and effective waste management can help generate economic growth, while improving resilience of communities to global pandemics. Digital technologies also have the ability to reduce energy consumption and emissions across a number of industries, from the use of big data to IoT solutions, and can empower renewable energies via the use of AI solutions.

The event featured speakers from Governments and International organizations from the Asia Pacific region, including: Dr. Vong Sok, Head of the Environment Division and Assistant Director of Sustainable Development Director at the ASEAN Secretariat, Mr. Yeon-chul Yoo, Ambassador for Climate Change at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Asad Naqvi, the Head of Secretariat of the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE-UNEP), Ma Aimin, Deputy Director of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China, Hyoeun Jenny Kim, Deputy Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and Meng Liu, Head of Asia Pacific Networks at the United Nations Global Compact.

Find out more at their sites for ELEVATE and Huawei.

LG Electronics (LG) took home the most CES® awards ever at the 2021 all-digital event – a pivotal moment in history for the technology industry – earning more than 190 honors across its home appliance, home entertainment, IT and mobile categories.

This recognition was led by Engadget’s Best of CES Award (the official award program of CES) in the TV category to LG OLED for a seventh consecutive year; in 2021 the acclaimed LG C1 series OLED TV was singled out from the thousands of new TVs shown at CES 2021. Also receiving Engadget’s Best of CES Award was the LG Rollable smartphone, grabbing the win for Best Phone/Mobile Device after it was previewed during LG’s CES 2021 press announcement.

Digitalisation efforts in every corner of society will accelerate in the wake of Covid-19, predicts Telenor Research. From new technology to combat loneliness, to remote education that’s here to stay, compounded by password panic induced by rising security concerns - these are some of the trends that will shape 2021.

For the sixth consecutive year, Sandberg and the Telenor Research team have analysed and reflected on the year that passed, in order to predict what’s to come in five tech trends for 2021:

Continuing its commitment to strengthen 4G network coverage and deliver the best customer experience, Maxis has built more than 150 new sites and completed upgrades at more than 5,500 sites in key market centres in both Peninsula and East Malaysia. At the same time, Maxis continues to expand its fibre footprint with more than 6,500 premises passed in 2020. With that, Maxis has delivered 100% of its own 2020 targets for Jalinan Digital Negara (JENDELA), accelerating capacity with upgrades of more than 35% of the total upgrades of 16,367 sites by the industry.

In providing quality digital experiences, Maxis activated Voice over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) in October last year. It is currently available for Hotlink Postpaid and Maxis Postpaid customers on Consumer and Business plans who are using VoLTE-enabled phones. Continuous investments in its network have also enabled Maxis to stay ahead and maintain its leadership position in the Network Performance Report 2019 by MCMC for four consecutive years.

For the months ahead in 2021, Maxis will remain focused on optimising its network in anticipation of the continuing surge in Internet traffic. 4G coverage expansion is also being accelerated to rural and underserved areas as part of the USP projects, while strengthening Quality of Experience in urban, residential and industrial areas with upgrades to mobile sites in several states including Perak, Kelantan, Pahang, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak. Concurrently, Maxis will be rolling out fibre in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Penang and Johor, with greater focus on rural and remote locations, while collaborating with access providers to connect even more premises in the country. To provide further support and awareness to its customers, Maxis will also be amplifying its communications on 3G sunsetting scheduled for end 2021, including 4G device campaigns.

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) recently announced a key appointment to its senior management team member, naming Nora Junita Dato’ Seri Mohd Hussaini as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Bringing over a decade of C-Level experience, including with multi-million dollar and regional M&A, business turnaround and change management, specifically in telecommunications. She is also a Finance and Strategy professional, with over two decades of sound experience across multiple industries and markets in Europe and Asia, especially the UK, Malaysia and Bangladesh. Nora Junita is appointed to this new role with immediate effect.

In supporting this change, Nora Junita will contribute to business strategy and financial leadership, alongside programmes that are aligned with MDEC's overall national strategic objectives. Leveraging her experiences in finance and business management, Nora Junita will work with the MDEC’s Management Operating Council to achieve sustainable long-term growth, while also having an impact on operational effectiveness across a breadth of functions.

Razer took home a myriad of awards at CES 2021, including the official “People’s Choice Award” for the 2nd year in a row and the 5th time overall, after having been nominated in the “Best Gaming Product” category. Strong demand for the company’s growing ensemble of innovative gaming hardware was also recognized by the NPD Group’s technology division for the “Top Increase in North American Market Share” for gaming accessories .

Beyond solidifying their place as the top gaming peripherals company in 2020 with their core products, Razer expanded into new categories such as gaming chairs, desktop cases, lifestyle products, and a new productivity line. At CES 2021, Razer continued to demonstrate their industry-leading innovation with these exciting products and concepts:

In the recent season of giving, Maxis teamed up with Hope Place, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Kuching to identify underprivileged communities that needed basic personal protective equipment (PPE) such as hand sanitizers and face masks to stay safe.

Volunteers from Maxis’ regional office with Hope Place have been distributing these PPE packages to families in Bau, Serian and Siburan in stages while strictly adhering to SOP. Additionally, PPE packages were also shared with Hope Place for their volunteers to stay protected while they are conducting their community outreach.

Throughout the pandemic, Maxis has actively conducted community outreach and donated aid for COVID-19 relief efforts. Most recently, the company has contributed RM500,000 to Yayasan Kebajikan Negara (YKN) in support of COVID-19 related aid. The contribution will go towards distribution of an estimated 5,000 food boxes to communities severely impacted by the pandemic as well as allocation for flood-stricken areas. The contribution to YKN is part of the RM1 million pledged by Maxis via the GLC/GLIC Disaster Response Network (GDRN) in the recently launched “To Malaysia, With Love” initiative driven by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

In response to the MCO for 2021, Grab has lowered their commission ceiling by up to 5% for all Food and Mart merchants nationwide for four full weeks, from Jan 13 till Feb 10, 2021. In addition, effective Jan 13 to Feb 10, 2021, Grab will absorb all costs for self-pick up orders made via the Grab App and temporarily reduce commission to zero percent if customers choose to pick up their orders themselves.

The ‘Local Heroes’ campaign to provide free visibility, awareness and promotions across various marketing and digital channels has also been brought back. Additionally, with the revamped GrabMerchant platform, merchants will also have more autonomy to manage their online store especially if they are running out of supplies or are unable to cope with the orders.

For customers, the delivery fee is now as low as 50 cents for selected nearby Food and Mart merchants. Customers can also continue to enjoy their nasi lemak, char kuey teow, kopi ais or other food court delights and ‘Mix & Match’ from different stalls while paying only one delivery fee. From now till Jan 22, 2021, customers can use the promo code FREEDEL to enjoy a variety of cuisines from their favourite ‘Signature’ restaurants, with unlimited free deliveries. For more savings, from Jan 15 to Jan 17, GrabRewards is offering 40% points back for any Food, Mart or Express vouchers redeemed.

Kingston Technology, recently announced the launch of its upcoming NVMe SSD roadmap along with Kingston’s Workflow Station and Readers at the all-digital CES® 2021. Despite of adopting a new format this year, Kingston will bring its industry leading SSDs to the forefront for attendees to experience the best-in-class technology virtually.

Kingston’s Workflow Station and Readers give users the freedom to create and customize a file offload setup that fits their needs allowing them to transfer video, photos, and audio from multiple sources at once1. Whether on a 4K/8K multi-cam shoot with portable audio recorders or filming B-Roll with drones and GoPros, with the customizable Workflow Station Dock you can simultaneously connect the USB miniHub, SD or microSD readers that the shoot requires to transfer footage quickly. Workflow Readers can also be used standalone by connecting to a laptop via the included USB-C® cable giving users the flexibility to have their workflow on-the-go. Whether shooting on location or working back at your desk, Kingston Is With You.

LG Electronics (LG) recently revealed that Malaysians can save energy and claim an RM200 e-Rebate through the SAVE 2.0 Programme when they purchase selected refrigerators. With energy-savings up to 46 per cent and rated up to 5-star for Energy Efficiency, there are 17 models of LG 2-door series refrigerators available to choose from, with prices starting as low as RM 1,329.

Implemented by the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA), the SAVE 2.0 initiative aims to benefit 140,000 households in Malaysia. Under this programme, consumers are entitled to RM200 rebate for purchase of refrigerators or air-conditioners with a minimum of 4-star energy efficient rating by the Energy Commission. The rebate is limited to one account only for each home appliance in 2021 or until the quota runs out. For more information, please visit their site.

Thanks for reading TechNavers and TechNave NewsByters. As always, stay tuned to TechNave.com and if you think your brand or PR should be in our latest issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020, contact our Editor-in-Chief.


TechNave NewsBytes 2021 #2 - Samsung Valentine’s Day deals, SmartTag, sustainable future, realme X7 Pro 2.2, Sony World Photography Awards 2021, Huawei Malaysia Country Director and more

Welcome back TechNavers and NewsByters, in this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2021 #2 Samsung has a number of Valentine’s Day Gifts deals, a tutorial on how to use their new Samsung Galaxy SmartTag and how Samsung’s 2021 TVs contribute to Eco-Friendly efforts for a sustainable future.

realme pat themselves on the back for their realme X7 Pro achievements during Shopee 2.2 CNY sale while Sony announced the winner of their World Photography Awards 2021. HUAWEI Malaysia announced Fisher Jiang as Country Director while TNB announced the progress of their Smart Meter installation for Malaysia.

Maxis announced their Programmable Network for enterprise-grade connectivity and performance. Kaspersky chimed in about threats disguised as popular online learning platforms in the second half of 2020 while Astro Radio charts digital heights with SYOK.

Yoodo announced new Partnerships with Moonton & RSG MY, while AMD released a new version of their AMD Radeon Software driver. MDEC awarded RM6.2 Million to 66 Smart Automation Grant Recipients and appointed Zamer Rizal Osman as Head of Performance Management System & Engagement.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and perhaps you are considering a different mode of celebrations this year – centred on quality time with those you love and adore.

Whether you are looking to level up your home living and entertainment experience, or to surprise your loved ones with new gadgets that can create unforgettable memories together, Samsung has got you covered with the following deals:

On January 19, Samsung Electronics launched Galaxy SmartTag, a gadget to take the pain out of misplacing your personal items. Measuring slightly less than 4cm by 4cm and weighing only 13 grams, the Galaxy SmartTag can be attached to keys, luggage or any of your other personal belongings to make them easily trackable on your smartphone.

Before you can use your Galaxy SmartTag, it first needs to be connected to your smartphone. Simply press the button in the middle of the SmartTag, and then press it once more when prompted by your smartphone. You will then be able to see the location of the tag on a map using SmartThings Find in the SmartThings app and use features like navigation to locate the tag or have it emit a chime.

When the Galaxy SmartTag is near your smartphone, it uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology  to provide the location of the tag. If the tag is not near your phone or Bluetooth is disconnected, it uses other nearby Galaxy smartphones to detect the SmartTag signal and help you locate what you have lost. The Galaxy SmartTag is useful not only for locating items, but also in remotely controlling your smart devices. Through the SmartThings app, users can set functions to be executed when the tag button is pressed once briefly, and when it is pressed and held. Once you set up other devices in the ‘Mode’ menu of the SmartThings app , you will be able to control multiple appliances with your SmartTag.

Check out the infographic below on how Samsung’s 2021 TVs contribute to Eco-Friendly efforts for a sustainable future:

realme Malaysia recently announced that their realme X7 Pro 5G smartphone achieved the title of No.1 Best-selling 5G Smartphone under RM2000 as of 1 January till 2 February 2021. realme fans received an RM50 discount for this device during the online first sale on 2 Feb 2021.

realme acknowledged the support from their fans in Malaysia along with an ‘ox-picious’ Happy Chinese New Year.

The World Photography Organisation and Sony Malaysia are delighted to reveal Yoganathan Loganathan as Malaysia’s National Award winner for the Sony World Photography Awards 2021. The National Awards program is an initiative set up by the World Photography Organisation and Sony to support local photographic communities around the world, with 53 countries taking part this year. Over 330,000 images from 220 territories were submitted to the Sony World Photography Awards 2021 and over 165,000 were entered to the Open competition (from which the National Awards winner was selected).

Yoganathan Loganathan was anonymously selected by judges for his photograph “Ray of Hope”, entered into the Natural World & Wildlife category of the Open competition. This photo of a long-tailed macaque also known as a crab-eating macaque was photographed in a mangrove forest of Kuala Gula, Perak. He was walking through the mangrove forest searching for birds or snakes to be photographed during the evening. Then, he saw a group macaque foraging through the mud for their last meal of the day before the Sun went down. This particular photo was taken under a ray of sunset that fell on the macaque when it looked up, picturing a gesture of hope for the future from the animal.

As Malaysia’s National Award winner, Yoganathan Loganathan receives Sony digital imaging equipment. The overall winners in the Student, Youth, Open and Professional competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2021 will be announced on 15 April 2021 via the World Photography Organisation’s digital and video platforms. For more information about winners and shortlists please visit their site.

HUAWEI Malaysia (Huawei Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd) recently announced the appointment of Fisher Jiang as its new Country Director of HUAWEI Malaysia Consumer Business Group. Prior to his appointment, Fisher was the Country Director of HUAWEI Indonesia Consumer Business Group. Jiang brings with him extensive industry experience, notably in the area of business strategy planning, the formation of corporate alliances and relationships and enhancing organisational performance and capability.

In his new role, he will continue the mandate for overseeing all aspects of HUAWEI Malaysia Consumer Business Group’s operations, reinforcing its commitment as a global smartphone brand to deliver high-quality products to Malaysian shores, further enabling Malaysians to live a seamless, AI-powered connected life. Amongst these devices include Huawei Vision Smart Screen which comes equipped with MEETime that offers consumers a new two-way screen sharing function. Currently, HUAWEI Vision is already available in 20 HUAWEI Experience Stores.

With over 15 years of experience in the consumer electronics industry, Jiang has undertaken various leadership roles with HUAWEI Technologies. He joined HUAWEI China in 2005 as a Sales Account Manager, and quickly rose through the ranks handling different positions across markets. This includes being Director of Huawei Consumer Business Group in Netherlands and Director of Channel Sales for Asia Pacific (APAC). In his previous roles, he was responsible for strategy planning, market analysis, sales and services as well as overall operations for the respective markets.

Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) have announced that they have officially installed one million Smart Meters in Melaka and the Klang Valley, with more to come in 2021. The announcement marks a major milestone since the initial rollout of Smart Meters four years ago in Melaka. TNB also reported a huge increase in the number of myTNB users from 1.4 million to 4.7 million, representing an increase of 236% from December 2019 - December 2020. myTNB is a platform that enables homeowners to view and pay their bills digitally, but its features have been enhanced over time.

As myTNB continues to enrich its features to support customers at any time and place, the announcement of nationwide lockdowns earlier this year has helped contributed towards more Malaysians adopting the digital platform to manage their account and energy consumption even more than before. While everyone is encouraged to download and use the myTNB app or visit the portal, it is especially beneficial to Smart Meter users, who in addition to being able to pay and view their bills, can also monitor their daily electricity usage.

TNB hopes to double down on the Smart Meter installation efforts in Klang Valley for the remainder of 2021, with plans to expand into other areas of Malaysia in the near future. For more information on the Smart Meter, please check out their site.

Maxis is continuing with its commitment to help accelerate digitalisation for businesses with the launch of its Maxis Programmable Network (MPN), Malaysia’s first programmable software-defined network. It is a next generation enterprise grade network delivering to the needs of all enterprises for their fixed voice and data requirements. This converged 5G-ready core network infrastructure is designed to give enterprises greater agility, control, scalability and visibility in how they connect their organisations beyond just subscribing to a service.

To illustrate, the MPN allows enterprises to scale their bandwidth with flexible subscriptions as short as a day. MPN enables a key feature that is a game-changer for businesses – Bandwidth on Demand – which provides companies with the ability to upgrade bandwidth in real-time. To take full advantage of MPN, customers just need to log into or register with Maxis Business Hub to access a suite of on-demand services including Bandwidth on Demand.

Real-time Bandwidth on Demand is available with six fixed enterprise broadband services: Dedicated Internet Access, Managed SD-WAN, Cloud Connect, Multi-Protocol Label Switching VPN, Data Centre Connect, and Domestic Private Leased Circuit. Organisations can upgrade their bandwidth almost instantly when needed with the click of a button on the new self-serve portal on the Maxis Business Hub. Data-heavy backups, preventive maintenance, and disaster recovery activities can also now be undertaken more effectively, resulting in savings of as much as 30%.To find out more about the Maxis Programmable Network, please visit their site.

As the pandemic continues and schools experience renewed closures or pursue a hybrid model of learning (in-person and remote), the educational sector continues to attract the attention of cybercriminals on the Internet. From July to December 2020, 270,171 users encountered various threats disguised as popular learning platforms—an increase of 60% when compared to the first half of 2020. To help educators stay secure, Kaspersky has launched a digital toolkit that teaches cybersecurity best practices.

Last spring, more than 1 billion schoolchildren around the globe were affected by school closures as countries attempted to slow rising infection rates. For many, that meant a switch to emergency remote learning—a transition that, unfortunately, left many students and educators vulnerable to cyber risks.Now, schools around the globe, from England and Germany to Malaysia and the US, are once again closing as countries fight a resurgence in infections, and, not surprisingly, this has led to some undesirable consequences.

From January to June 2020, the total number of users that encountered various threats distributed under the guise of popular online learning platforms/video conferencing applications was 168,550 – a 20,455% increase when compared to the same period for 2019. This number has only continued to grow from July to December, as discovered by Kaspersky experts. As January 2021, the number of users encountering various threats using popular online learning platforms as a lure reached 270,171—a 60% increase when compared to the first half of 2020. You can explore the toolkit here.

A recent GfK study showed that 97% of Malaysians continue to consume radio from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. The continuation of travel restrictions has increased in-home listening to radio via mobile devices for the latest breaking news and entertainment. Astro Radio understands that radio listenership is increasingly driven by an omnipresence in digital arenas catering to listeners in their cars, at home or in offices via mobile devices. To this end, Astro Radio’s 11 radio brands housed under its SYOK app continuously create and evolve to remain relevant to fans. Through the SYOK app, all Malaysians can opt to stream their favourite radio brands, music channels and a wide variety of podcasts.

During the pandemic, SYOK saw the opportunity for successful collaborations, including with e-commerce giant, Shopee, for contest ‘SYOK Super Bonanza’, where RM15,000 worth of Shopee vouchers were given out, to reward users whilst keeping them entertained in these trying times, garnering over 14,000 entries. The success led to a subsequent collaboration, ‘SYOK Ang Pow Bonanza’, a Chinese New Year contest giving out Shopee Vouchers as ‘ang pows’.  Separately, SYOK also explored a collaboration with social media platform, Tik Tok, for a hashtag campaign, #TerimaKasihHero, encouraging netizens to pay homage to our frontliners through creativity, which received over 62,300 video submissions.

Under SYOK’s podcast category, Malaysians can explore several different offerings, including ‘Catch-Up Radio’, ‘SYOKcast Originals’ and shows from content partners. In 2020, ‘SYOKcast Originals’, SYOK original podcasts, achieved more than 580,000 streams. Some of the more recent SYOKcasts include ‘Belang Harimau Besi’, a strategic partnership with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and the Malaysian Army (Angkatan Tentera Malaysia), ‘Remang’, Malaysia’s first horror Malay audio drama, ‘Confession Bilik Gelap’ inspiring stories by local personalities, ‘That 20’s Show’ featuring struggles of those in their 20s, ‘The Rockstar’s Guide’, for local musicians and many more.

Yoodo recently announced that they will continue to collaborate with Moonton – publisher of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), and forge new ventures with RSG MY – Southeast Asia’s premier esports organisation. Yoodo also announced partnerships with two new esports teams and announced a roster refresh for popular Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) MOBILE esports team – Yoodo Gank.

The Yoodo + Moonton partnership may see an array of MLBB focused tournaments across the whole of 2021. This will begin with the upcoming MLBB Pro League (MPL) Season 7, which for the very first time will feature a dedicated league for Malaysia. This will then be followed by a special invitational tournament before marching on to MPL Season 8. The MLBB M3 World Championships is expected in late 2021.

Yoodo also announced a strategic partnership with RSG MY which sees the announcement of a brand-new MLBB esports team, Yoodo RSG MLBB, a new challenger in the MLBB competitive arena. The new collaboration also sees the Telco expanding a stronger presence in Call of Duty: Mobile as the partnership also sees the announcement of the brand-new Yoodo RSG CODM team.

AMD recently released a new version of the AMD Radeon Software driver – Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 21.2.1 – continuing AMD’s efforts to provide a leading experience for Radeon gamers. The latest update offers up to nine percent faster performance at 4K with the Radeon RX 6800 XT in The Medium, as they step into the multiple worlds of the latest dark mystery from Bloober Team, along with quality of life fixes for MSI Afterburner and more.

Users can download the latest Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.2.1 driver here.

66 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-tier companies with registered businesses in primarily traditional or non-technology activities from the service sector have been awarded the Government's Pelan Jana Semula Ekonomi Negara (PENJANA) 2020 #SMART Automation Grant (SAG) through the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) involving a total amount of RM6.2 million. The full list of SAG already approved recipients can be found at their site but for more information check it out here.

In related news, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has appointed Zamer Rizal Osman as Head of Performance Management System & Engagement with immediate effect. He will strengthen MDEC’s focus on Human Capital Development, leveraging his extensive expertise and best practices in performance management and the execution of related frameworks.

Thanks for reading TechNavers and TechNave NewsByters. As always, stay tuned to TechNave.com and if you think your brand or PR should be in our latest issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020, contact our Editor-in-Chief.


TechNave NewsBytes 2021 #3 - Samsung #1 Global TV Manufacturer, new Samsung Malaysia Electronics President, Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 with 1000 red roses and more

Welcome back TechNavers and NewsByters, in this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2021 #3 Samsung remains the No.1 Global TV Manufacturer, while a new President for Samsung Malaysia Electronics has also been appointed.

In conjunction with International Women’s Day, Xiaomi also gave away 1000 red roses with their Redmi Note 10 smartphones while for our Misc announcements see the list below.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. recently topped the global TV market for the 15th consecutive year, according to market research firm, Omdia. Newly released data published on February 23 notes that Samsung Electronics recorded 31.8% in global TV market share by revenue in Q4 2020 and retained the largest annual category market share by revenue in 2020, at 31.9%.

In 2021, Samsung expects to maintain its industry-leading market position with the introduction and expansion of core products and by incorporating proprietary technology and features across all TV lineups. This includes Samsung’s new Neo QLED lineup along with Samsung’s MICRO LED, Lifestyle TVs and a company-wide alignment of operations through long-term sustainability programs.

Over the next few years, Samsung will also continue to invest in R&D and product development in strategic business areas to strengthen its core and emerging technology offers. For more information on Samsung’s TV products, please visit their site.

Samsung Malaysia Electronics recently appointed Mr Edward Han as the new President. He will be responsible for maintaining the brand’s strong reputation in Malaysia, lead business strategies and operations, and further drive business and sales growths.

Mr Han is an established leader and brings a wealth of experience in the Samsung environment. Having worked with Samsung for the past 20-plus years, Mr Han has been a core part of the brand’s growth on an international level over the past two decades. Mr Han is a results-driven leader with a particular interest in improving business cultures through talent development and employee engagement programmes with a personal touch.

Mr Edward Han is a long-time Samsung veteran, having began his employment at Samsung back in 2000. Since then, he has held senior leadership positions in several global markets in Samsung, such as Romania and India, Director at Samsung Headquarters in Korea, and Managing Director in New Zealand.

Xiaomi, successfully launched their latest mid-range smartphone, the Redmi Note 10 recently. In conjunction with International Women’s Day, Xiaomi Malaysia gave out over 1,000 red roses across 37 Mi Stores nationwide to all customers who purchased the new smartphone.

TikTok, recently revealed for the first time ever, insights into the shifting consumerism landscape, and how this affects brands during the Ramadan season. TikTok highlighted that in Malaysia, Ramadan shopping habits have changed, and that 28% of consumers shop more online, while 23% buy more each time.

Unsurprisingly, this means that consumers are spending more time online, with close to 3.5 billion minutes spent on shopping apps during the Ramadan season. During the Ramadan season last year, user engagement on TikTok rose 12.5% on average, with 52% of users saying they learn about new products via brands’ video ads on TikTok. What’s interesting is that 61% of TikTok users feel that advertising on the platform is unique while 67% agree TikTok has helped them get ideas about brands/products they had never thought of before.

A key contributor to the high level of engagement on TikTok can be attributed to the fact that 92.3% of users do not use a second screen while on TikTok, making their experience on the platform extremely immersive. TikTok says that its platform is open to brands of all sizes, including SMBs, and with over 98% of businesses in Malaysia represented by SMBs, TikTok may just be what these businesses need given the current economic situation. Check out their site for more details.

Recently, Technologies revealed various solutions at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai 2021 (MWC Shanghai 2021). This included the Edge Native Technical Architecture White Paper 1.0, which introduces the concept, technical architecture, and industry practices of Edge Native, aiming to promote the development of Edge Native technologies and help industries unlock the disruptive potential of edge computing.

Huawei also lifted the veil off a full series of products and solutions for building 1+N 5G target networks, which will provide global carriers with leading 5G network capabilities and therefore, enable them to create greater value.

With an aim to enhance the capability of its fleet of more than 30,000 riders, foodpanda is renewing its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) focus and vision with the launch of panda purpose - a CSR initiative by foodpanda with strategic partnerships to provide the necessary support including accessible funding for riders to attend industry-focused reskilling and upskilling courses.

foodpanda is teaming up with various government agencies to provide support for riders while working closely with its logistic and restaurant partners in the delivery ecosystem to provide career opportunities for riders who have completed training and reskilling via the programme.

A first of its kind programme in Malaysia, panda purpose aims to curate programmes that are sustainable and relevant for their riders while mitigating the risks and uncertainties often tied to these reskilling and upskilling programmes, be it language proficiency, learning capacities, industry relevance, and career guidance. The programme will begin with English language courses.

Razer recently announced that the inaugural Razer DevCon will take place on 7 May 2021 at 10:00 AM PST on the official Razer Twitch channel. Razer DevCon 2021 aims to empower developers of all sizes and on all platforms by providing them insight into how to integrate Razer’s world-class ecosystem of hardware, software, and services at every level of development to drive innovation and provide gamers with a more immersive experience.

It will consist of a series of technology-focused panels packed with over four hours of thought-provoking discussion led by industry veterans from various Razer teams along with support from leading industry partners such as Activision Blizzard, and Renaud Ostrowski, Audio Artist at Vibe Avenue Studios, and Frank Rosay, Game Producer at iLLOGIKA.

Developers are encouraged to register in advance in order to receive access to Razer’s internal team of developers and engineers that will help provide support and insight into utilizing Razer technologies such as Razer Chroma, Razer Gold and THX Spatial to create a unique gaming experience. Check out their site for more details.

In the spirit of encouraging families to stay healthy together in conjunction with the recent Chinese New Year festive season, Maxis provided essential aid to B40 households in the Central and Northern regions. These included face masks, hand sanitisers and basic household necessities such as rice, flour, oil and assorted groceries.

In related news, Maxis and Team Secret PUBG Mobile Team have announced their continued partnership with the theme #BikinSampaiJadi. Fans can celebrate at the opportunity to meet and play with the new team lineup, as well as win exciting prizes on Hotlink’s Facebook page on 11 March, at 9pm. Maxis will also be launching an 8 episode series ‘Kelas #BikinSampaiJadi Bersama Team Secret’ beginning 16 April on Hotlink’s Facebook.

Following this, Maxis has launched two new graduate programmes. Over the course of one-year, the Maxis Graduate Programme will enable graduates to build solid experience in a fast-paced and exciting environment that fosters creativity and innovation to help them get ahead in their career journey. To apply for the Maxis Graduate Programme, interested candidates can visit their site. Applications are open until 31 March 2021.

Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) together with their smart home products subsidiary Maevi Sdn Bhd (Maevi),  have successfully installed one million Smart Meters in Melaka and the Klang Valley. TNB and Maevi surprised Ms. Tang Kwee Eng, the one-millionth Smart Meter customer, with RM2,000 worth of Maevi Smart Home products.

Maevi develops IoT/industrial IoT products and solutions focusing but not limited to energy management and optimisation. As Malaysia moves forward in its digital transformation, TNB hopes to continue on the Smart Meter installation efforts in Klang Valley for the remainder of 2021, with plans to expand into other areas of Malaysia in the near future. Check out their site for more details.

MDEC offers its unequivocal support and commitment towards the success of MyDIGITAL based on MDEC's three strategic thrusts, namely digitally-skilled Malaysians, digitally-powered businesses and attracting digital investments, to achieve a technologically integrated society in line with Malaysia 5.0 and further strengthen its position as the Heart of Digital ASEAN.

MDEC’s Chief Executive Officer, Surina Shukri said the launch of MyDIGITAL is seen as a positive action by the government to ride the rapidly growing global digital wave at this time, and that it is very important for Malaysia as a growing digital market in the region, to remain competitive.

Commenting further, Surina said, the agency also welcomed the conditional permission given by the government to four leading companies; Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Telekom Malaysia, to build and manage hyper-scale data centres and hybrid cloud services.

Thanks for reading TechNavers and TechNave NewsByters. As always, stay tuned to TechNave.com and if you think your brand or PR should be in our latest issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020, contact our Editor-in-Chief.


TechNave NewsBytes 2021 #4 - Samsung, OPPO, Huawei, Acer, realme, Celcom, Xiaomi, ASUS, Lenovo, Sony and more

Welcome back TechNavers and NewsByters, in this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2021 #4 Samsung secures Galaxy S21 Series 5G with Samsung Knox Vault while also making a difference on World Environment Day. On the flipside, OPPO won 12 Awards at CVPR 2021 while also joining LF AI & Data Foundation.

The Huawei nova 8i tech specs appeared and is expected to arrive in Malaysia soon. Huawei also opens largest Global Cyber Security and Privacy Protection Transparency Center in China. In addition, Acer subsidiary Altos Computing announces Altos BrainSphereTM R685 F5 Server. realme’s realstudio realHYPE collection sold out in 24 hours on Shopee and is also one of Top 3 Vendors of Basic Watch in Malaysia. realme Malaysia also achieved 11 achievements during 6.6 online sales while GSMA, Counterpoint, realme and Qualcomm announced their 5G Summit.

Celcom revealed Q1 2021 results while Xiaomi Ranked 70th on the Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2021. ASUS announced their TUF Gaming AX5400 WiFi 6 and ZenWiFi XD6 AX5400 Dual-band Mesh WiFi 6 System.

Lenovo announced their IdeaPad Slim 3i and Slim 3 AMD tablet laptops as available in Malaysia from RM1999, coming with new upgrades while Sony revealed their Group Corporation Corporate Strategy and Purpose.

This time around our Misc Announcements include:

Currently available on the Galaxy S21 Series 5G,1 Samsung Knox Vault delivers next-level security for your personal data. Not only does it encrypt your personal data, but the Samsung Knox Vault processor keeps your important information secure, including sensitive information linked to services like Samsung Pay.

Any data saved on Samsung Knox Vault storage is isolated from the main operating system for even further protection. Not only is your data secure, it is also protected against a variety of attacks including voltage, temperatures and laser attacks. Check out the site for more details.

World Environment Day is celebrated every 5th of June to remind ourselves that everyone has a part to play in addressing the pressing environmental issues around us today. Here are 4 mini projects that you can easily embark on during World Environment Day that will help make a big difference or do check out the site:

OPPO recently took part in the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR) 2021. During thIs event, OPPO achieved seven major Challenges in 12 different contests. These included one first-place, seven second-place, and four third-place awards, demonstrating the company's industry-leading technological strengths and innovative breakthroughs in AI.

Among its eleven honours, OPPO received three awards in the Multi-Agent Behavior Challenge, which assesses an AI model's ability to understand, define, and predict complex interactions between intelligent agents such as animals and human beings. OPPO ultimately won the first-place prize in the Learning New Behaviour category, second-place in Classical Classification, and third-place in Annotation Style Transfer. This same technology is currently playing an essential role in OPPO's factory, where the algorithms assist workers in reducing operational mistakes, particularly in key production steps, to ensure their own safety as well as the quality of products coming off the production line.

OPPO has officially joined the governance board of the LF AI & Data Foundation as a premier member. To accelerate the innovation and adoption of AI technology, OPPO and other premier members will make significant contributions by promoting strong open source AI and data communities.

Established by the Linux Foundation in March 2018, the LF AI & Data Foundation consists of 49 members across several industries. The mission of the foundation is to build and support an open AI and Data community, and drive open source innovation in the domains including AI, ML, and Data by enabling collaboration and the creation of new opportunities for all the members of the community.

As the reveal date for the Huawei nova 8i nears in Malaysia, Huawei revealed several features and functions fans can expect. These include a slim body that will easily fit the 6.67-inch Huawei Edgeless Display and a quad rear cameras which will include a 64MP High-res Main Camera, Ultra-Wide Angle Camera, Macro Camera and Depth Camera.

Other tech specs expected to show up with the nova 8i include support for 66W Huawei SuperCharge and Huawei’s Full-scene Smart Antenna 2.0 design. It will also likely include a Snapdragon octa-core chipset with a 6GB/8GB2 + 128GB memory configuration. No specific Malaysia release dates or pricing details yet, but it is expected to be soon.

Huawei recently opened its largest Global Cyber Security and Privacy Protection Transparency Center in Dongguan, China, with representatives from GSMA, SUSE, the British Standards Institution, and regulators from the UAE and Indonesia speaking at the opening ceremony. The center is designed to demonstrate solutions and share experience, facilitate communication and joint innovation, and support security testing and verification. It will be open to regulators, independent third-party testing organizations, and standards organizations, as well as Huawei customers, partners, and suppliers.

Along with the opening of the new center, Huawei also released its Product Security Baseline, marking the first time the company has made its product security baseline framework and management practices available to the industry as a whole. These actions are part of the company's broader efforts to engage with customers, suppliers, standards organizations, and other stakeholders to jointly strengthen cyber security across the industry.

Altos Computing, a subsidiary of Acer Inc recently announced its new NVIDIA®-Certified server Altos BrainSphereTM R685 F5, which is equipped with two AMD EPYCTM 7763 CPUs, two NVIDIA ConnectX®-6 network adapters and four NVIDIA RTXTM A6000 GPUs based on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. The server has been validated with the best configuration for performance, manageability, scalability, and security, enabling academic research and enterprises to support visual computing, simulation and various AI/DL workloads.

“Altos aiWorks” is an AI/DL computing system that includes a computing resources management tool (Altos Accelerator Resource Manager, AARM), which reduces the high-complexity learning threshold faced by AI/DL developers. Powerful computing servers also play an important role. Altos Computing specifically selects the Altos BrainSphereTM R685 F5 server, which can be equipped with up to eight NVIDIA GPUs. With NVIDIA RTX™ A6000 GPUs, Altos aiWorks accelerates the speed of AI and data model training; with 48 GB of GPU memory, the computing system can quickly process larger images and larger amounts of data. Check out the site for more details.

realstudio recently launched their first collection realHYPE, a limited edition collaborative release with HYPE Clothing CO previously on 18 June 2021. The proud collection which is priced at RM99 has been sold out in the span of 24 hours during its first sale via realme’s Official Store on Shopee.

Limited to only 100 pieces in total, the realHYPE collection comprised of one realHYPE t-shirt in Mustard Yellow and two sling pouches that come in square and triangle. The collection was designed through a collaboration with local talented artist Kide Baharudin.

“We are delighted to announce that our first drop for realstudio was sold out within 24 hours of its first sale. Off to a good start, we hope realme fans will continue to keep an eye on our upcoming collection on realstudio’s Instagram account. We will be introducing more collections combining fashion design and technology in one to our fans through realstudio as a young and trendy brand by realme Malaysia,” Tiffany Teh, Brand Manager of realme Malaysia.

realme Malaysia has been listed as one of the Top 3 Vendors of Basic Watch in Malaysia, according to Canalys Q1 2021 Report with realme commanding 19% market share locally. This includes the realme Watch S Pro which was launched in January 2021, followed by the release of several devices like realme Watch S Master Edition, realme Watch 2, and realme Watch 2 Pro.

Recently, realme Malaysia was also recognized as the Best-Selling Wearable Brand on Shopee Malaysia for six months consecutively. realme’s range of smart devices were introduced with a balanced integration between software and hardware, providing a smarter lifestyle for Malaysians.

In the recent double-digit e-commerce sale, realme Malaysia has received two Champion titles and Top 3 titles respectively for the Shopee 6.6 Awesome Sale. Apart from that, several realme AIoT devices and realme X7 Pro were also sold with the most units within 24 hours:

As for the Lazada 6.6 Shopmania Sale, realme was crowned No 1 for the following products and categories as of 1 Jan until 6 June 2021:

GSMA, Counterpoint, realme and Qualcomm recently held a 5G Summit on 3rd June. The topic of the summit was ‘Making 5G Global: Accessibility for All.’ Leaders from these companies or organizations shared their views on the global 5G development and opportunities from different perspectives.

The panel included Kalvin Bahia, Principal Economist, GSMA Intelligence, Peter Richardson, VP & Co-founder, Counterpoint Research, Madhav Sheth, VP of realme, CEO of realme India and Europe and

Johnny Chen, Brand Director of realme. The key takeaways from this include that while many 5G networks have yet to be revealed, by releasing more lighter, thinner and readily available 5G devices like realme 5G smartphones, this may actually help to accelerate the 5G rollout. More such realme 5G devices are expected soon with a target of 100 million such devices targeted at the youth.

Celcom Axiata Berhad recently revealed their Q1 2021 results with positive performance across core revenue segments which include a 317,000 QoQ increase in its subscriber base. Other notable highlights included adding more than 1 million subscribers over the last 12 months and an improved YoY profitability combined with revenue growth of RM84mil (+5.4%), EBITDA improved YoY with RM142mil (+27.6%).

Prepaid customer base saw 893k (+17.7% YoY) subscriber growth primarily from Celcom Xpax Truly Unlimited Plan with a resilient ARPU of RM30. Postpaid customer base increased with 120k (4.1% YoY) new subscribers, supported by Celcom MEGA™ and Celcom XP Lite™ plan enhancements. Celcom also recorded an almost 70% data traffic growth year on year, no doubt fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic but also notes the cessation of 3G services by end of 2021, with packages in place for the switch to 4G.

Xiaomi recently announced that it ranked 70th on the Kantar BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2021, up 11 spots from last year, with a US$24.8 billion in brand value (50 percent increase YoY). 2021 is also the third consecutive year where the annual publication features Xiaomi as one of the top 100 most valuable brands worldwide.

Xiaomi was also recognized by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) which selected Xiaomi as one of “The Most Innovative Companies 2021”. This is the fourth time Xiaomi has made the list. Xiaomi is also among the top 5 brands in the Consumer Technology Category of the Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands.

ASUS recently announced the TUF Gaming AX5400, a powerful and durable WiFi 6 gaming router designed to deliver premium wired and wireless performance in device-dense environments. The dual-band TUF Gaming AX5400 delivers a combined total bandwidth of up to 5400 Mbps, with up to 80% wider signal coverage compared to previous generations, giving it outstanding flexibility for deployment in the home.

For fast and stable wired gaming, TUF Gaming AX5400 features Link Aggregation for both WAN and LAN connections, bringing true end-to-end 2 Gbps wired connectivity to internet connections and network devices. The TUF Gaming AX5400 also supports AiMesh and is priced for RM838 with a 3 year 1-t-1 swap service.

ASUS also recently announced their ZenWiFi XD6 system, launched at CES 2021 which includes two dual-band nodes that cover up to 5400 square feet of living space with data rates approaching 5400Mbps on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands. It brings the WiFi 6 mesh networking experience while supporting higher data rates across both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, leading to aggregate wireless speeds of up to 5400Mbps from the ASUS ZenWiFi XD6 system.

Each of the ASUS ZenWiFi XD6’s two wireless nodes are built to sustain this performance with a 1.5GHz triple-core processor. Both nodes feature three Gigabit Ethernet ports for hard-wired devices like desktop PCs and gaming consoles, along with a fourth port that can handle WAN or LAN duties. The ASUS ZenWiFi XD6 system supports both wireless and wired backhaul, and connecting the two units via Ethernet will devote all of the system’s wireless bandwidth to client traffic. It is available for RM1499.

Lenovo recently announced new upgrades to the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i and Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 AMD. The devices, now available in Malaysia with starting prices of RM1,999, are equipped with Smart Learning features to help users make better use of their PC. Smart Learning, under Lenovo Aware, is built to enable students and teachers to spend their time more effectively in digital learning environments. With automated break reminders, distance reminders, posture reminders, and attention functions to remind students to take breaks according to computer usage time settings, detect distance between students and the PC screen to prompt students to sit at optimal distances, encourage good sitting habits, and determine whether students are in a state of concentration, respectively.

Additional Smart Learning features include the Noise Cancelling feature that blocks out background noises for better concentration and the Q-Control feature, which optimises processor performance and increasing efficiency while keeping the machine quiet so that students can take study from anywhere.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i is supported by the leading Intel® Celeron® 5205U and utilizes the Integrated Intel UHD graphics, running on the Intel SoC platform. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 AMD on the other hand, offers seamless operations on the AMD Athlon™ Gold 3150U and utilizes the Integrated AMD Radeon™ graphics, running on the AMD SoC platform. Both devices come pre-installed with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2019, worth RM529. Check out their site for more details

Sony Group Corporation recently presented its corporate strategy from a long-term view at the Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting. CEO Kenichiro Yoshida, which outlined his intention to drive the evolution and growth of the Sony Group around the axis of its Purpose, to media, investors and analysts.

Sony’s Purpose, or reason for existing, is to "fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology." It was defined in 2019 so that the 110,000 employees across Sony's diverse businesses could move together along the same vector, and create value from a long-term perspective. Check out their site for more details.

Dell recently came out with an article regarding Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system reassuring Dell customers that they can continue to buy Windows-based Dell PCs and still be offered a free upgrade to Windows 11 after it’s available and meets the Windows 11 system requirements. Dell PCs with Windows 11 will also be made readily available.

Expanding its next generation suite of dive products, Garmin Malaysia presents the Descent Mk2S – Connected watch-style dive computers with a smaller form factor and striking new colors designed with a 1.2-inch color sunlight-readable sapphire display, a 43mm watch case and interchangeable QuickFit bands in silicone, leather, metal and nylon for RM4799. The Descent Mk2S supports multiple dive modes for single and multiple gas dives (including air, nitrox, trimix and up to 100% O2), gauge, apnea, apnea hunt and closed-circuit rebreather. The Descent Mk2S features an underwater 3-axis compass and displays depth, dive time, temperature, NDL/TTS, ascent/descent rates, gas mix, PO2, N2 loading, decompression/safety stop information, time-of-day, and more.

In devoted efforts to aid in marine research for the conservation of marine megafauna and their habitats in Southeast Asia, Garmin introduced The Descent Mission campaign to prompt awareness into marine ecology through photography records and non-government organization Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines’ (LAMAVE) research methods. Divers are encouraged to submit underwater photographs of marine life on iNaturalist from now to 31 August 2021. All winners will win a Descent Mk2i and T1 transmitter worth RM 9,198.

The 3DMark CPU Profile introduces a new approach to CPU benchmarking that shows how CPU performance scales with the number of cores and threads used. The new CPU Profile benchmark tests are available now in 3DMark Advanced Edition and 3DMark Professional Edition.

The 3DMark CPU Profile introduces a new approach to CPU benchmarking. Instead of producing a single number, the 3DMark CPU Profile shows how CPU performance scales and changes with the number of cores and threads used.

Mega Sales Days (MSDs) have become a point of online entry for many, with 38% of Malaysians making their first online purchase during this season, according to Facebook and Bain & Company who released a follow-up to the 2020 study Digital Consumers of Tomorrow, Here Today. Titled SYNC Southeast Asia: Discover the New Wave of Mega Sale Shoppers, the new report provides a detailed look into MSDs, its impact on the consumer journey and how it contributes to Southeast Asia’s growing e-commerce momentum.

MSDs are defined as large-scale shopping events that span several days across the year. These include, but are not limited to, the 10.10 Sale, the Singles’ Day Sale on 11 November, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, the 12.12 Sale and Boxing Day Sale. The report used data from GlobalWebIndex Core Survey Panel involving 3,919 internet users aged 16 to 64 during the fourth quarter of 2020 across six Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The report showed that 86% of shoppers surveyed in Southeast Asia purchased products online during MSD events. Of this number, 43% reported that their first MSD was also their first time shopping online. Closer to home in Malaysia, we are almost at par, with 84% respondents who also shop during MSD events and 38% of Malaysian internet users shopping online for the first time during these seasons. Interestingly, through this study, it appears that not all Mega Sales Days are created equal. In 2020, 10.10 was most popular and recruited more first-timers (48%). For more information, read the full report online at this link.

This interface refresh is a journey that has been a long time coming. It’s a nuanced challenge to take a thirty-year-old app and modernize it for new types of video content (like social video which simply didn’t exist when Premiere Pro was first built), while respecting the needs and demands of traditional post-production. The new Import Mode, for example, is now a streamlined, media-first experience that focuses on what social video creators and editors need to do first — access their content quickly and easily. While the ability to simply import through the finder or media browser is still an option for existing users, we removed the need to read through complex and confusing settings dialogs like New Project and New Sequence.

We’re also introducing a new header bar designed to seamlessly integrate the core phases in the editing process: Import, Edit, and Export. A task-specific workspace dropdown menu and Quick Export are accessible directly through the header. Users can quickly link to check out what’s new in the latest build and provide feedback on the public Beta with the click of a button. This header bar will be a universal design element across the Creative Cloud applications to support the import/export process and provide more consistency and familiarity as users orient themselves within different tools.

We’ll be rolling out these new experiences on a timeline starting with this public Beta to ensure that our customers can provide feedback, explore the changes and continue to use Premiere Pro to its fullest potential.

23% of employees have previously had a dispute with IT staff about the importance or frequency of updating their work devices. Surprisingly, IT teams tend to agree with such demands and let two-thirds (64%) of staff skip installing updates on certain software or OS at all. This was revealed in a study commissioned by Kaspersky to explore workers’ attitudes and habits toward updates.

Updates not only bring new functionality and fix bugs, but also address security vulnerabilities. And once a security update is released, malefactors know about these issues. That is why patch management is essential for corporate security. However, some staff members are reluctant to update their work devices, meaning that there are vulnerable computers, laptops and smartphones in the corporate network.

Worryingly, these disagreements bring about the desired results for employees. Respondents who argued with IT about updates were asked two questions – whether they were allowed to skip updates (64% said they were) or whether they were allowed to choose what to update (the same 64% chose this option).

To help IT staff to encourage employees to regularly install updates, Kaspersky recommends:

The full report is available by the link.

In conjunction with National Camera Day on 29 June, Canon Marketing Malaysia returns to celebrate this day for the 4th year running, with the aim to promote and inculcate a deeper passion and desire towards cameras and photography. Celebrated annually, National Camera Day is observed to celebrate and commemorate the existence of cameras and the benefits it holds to mankind.

From now until 2 July, Canon Malaysia is embarking on a journey to challenge Malaysians' knowledge of cameras, with the "Guess the Camera" contest. Through a series of posts on @canonmalaysia, users will be tasked to guess the featured camera model for the chance to win premium Canon gifts such as EOS R T-Shirts and Canon EOS 5D Mark IV miniature cameras.

The fun doesn’t end there, as there will be a myriad of other initiatives leading up National Camera Day:

You may have seen last week during Computex 2021, AMD announced the new Ryzen PRO 5000 Series Desktop Processors. In case you missed it among all of the exciting news, we wanted to share a deeper look at how AMD is bringing leadership performance and incredible power efficiency to desktop PCs for business.

You can read more about these new desktop processors here.

LG Electronics (LG) and Highbrow, the ad-free video-on-demand education platform for children, is coming to LG TV customers in 145 countries via the LG Content Store. LG’s Smart TVs running webOS versions 4.0 and higher will be the first to provide children up to 11 years of age, parents and educators with Highbrow’s wide selection of age-appropriate educational content to suit the needs of every young learner.

The Highbrow app delivers an engaging assortment of educational videos that have been carefully hand-curated and matched to each learner’s age and interest using proprietary technology for a personalized viewing experience. Highbrow makes recommendations from its library of more than 10,000 videos covering topics ranging from science, humanities, mathematics, music, art, languages and more. To deliver its fresh and engaging content, Highbrow works with over 200 global creators including Pinkfong, best known for its megahit Baby Shark song and video. As a globally trusted online learning platform, Highbrow is already being used in more than a hundred schools around the world.

In related news, LG’s Life’s Good Film Project is intended to convey a universal message of hope and celebrate the diversity of experiences and viewpoints of young auteurs from all over the globe through their inspiring, unique stories. Submissions can be made by posting to Instagram or YouTube with the hashtag #LifeisGoodFilm_LG until June 27. Details for participation in the Life’s Good Film Project can be seen (https://youtu.be/JSKl5MiNGf8).

To accompany the 2021 Life’s Good campaign, LG has also created a brand channel on GIPHY offering a variety of cheerful GIF stickers – including those from both the Life’s Good Music Project and Life’s Good Film Project – for use on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other social platforms.

AMD recently announced the new HPE Alletra 6000 series storage product is powered by AMD EPYC 7002 series processors.

Through the power of AMD EPYC processors, HPE Alletra 6000 series storage solutions offer double the amount cores per socket compared to previous generations and access to PCIe® 4 which all enables up to 3X faster performance than previous HPE Nimble Storage All Flash Arrays.

If you’d like to learn more, please feel free to visit the HPE Alletra 6000 solutions website or the AMD EPYC processors and HPE solutions page on the AMD website.

In related news, AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su delivered a keynote at COMPUTEX 2021, showcasing how the company is accelerating innovation to power the products and services that are essential to our daily lives, expanding into new markets with industry-leading partners, and delivering the performance and features gamers and enthusiasts need. You can access everything here at their site, but the key highlights are as below:

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have also announced the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ Developer Kit. Built in collaboration with Microsoft, this Windows 10-based developer kit is designed for developers to verify and validate their solutions for working, learning, and collaborating on Snapdragon-enabled Windows 10 PCs.

Notable highlights include upcoming apps designed for these Snapdragon-powered Windows 10 PCs, including a Zoom app that delivers significantly longer battery life. The Snapdragon Developer Kit will be commercially available at The Microsoft Store in Q3 if 2021.

Microsoft’s first annual Work Trend Index titled “The Next Great Disruption is Hybrid Work – Are We Ready?” has indicated that business leaders in Malaysia should rethink long-held assumptions for future work arrangements. The report found that 77% workers in Malaysia want flexible working to continue, yet 75% still crave for more in-person time with their teams. Additionally, more than half of the local workforce feels overworked and exhausted, increasing risks of burnout among employees as boundaries blur between work and relaxation. Other key findings from the report include:

Thanks for reading TechNavers and TechNave NewsByters. As always, stay tuned to TechNave.com and if you think your brand or PR should be in our latest issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020, contact our Editor-in-Chief.