TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #6 - realme achievements, Huawei, Intel, LG, Shopee, MDEC, Gigabyte, Aorus, Double Eleven, Micron, OPPO, MediaTek, DingTalk, Lenovo, SK Magic, Red Hat, GoPayz and Canon + Special: 18 things about your Apple iPhone you didn’t know

This time around in TechNave NewsBytes realme pats itself on the back for more achievements while Huawei, Intel and LG contribute to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. Shopee and MDEC chip in for SMEs and Gigabyte and Aorus show off new laptops.

Other news comes from Double Eleven, Micron, OPPO, MediaTek, DingTalk, Lenovo, SK Magic, Red Hat, GoPayz and Canon. In this TechNave NewsBytes #6 our special focuses on 18 things you really didn’t know you could do on your Apple iPhone.

The realme X2 Pro Master Edition recently won the Red Dot Design award for Product Design 2020. On the other hand, the realme 5 Pro became the Top-Selling Model while realme C3 became Highest-Selling for the Entry-Level Model for the 4.4 Shopee Brands festival. This allowed realme to become the No.1 Best-Selling Smartphone Brand for that event with both the realme 5 3GB RAM + 32GB storage and realme 5s 4GB RAM + 128GB storage selling out.

On the 4.4 Lazada Sale side, realme also got the No. 1 Best Selling Smartphone Brand title where the realme 6 was regarded as their No.1 Top-Selling smartphone. The realme 6 4GB RAM + 128GB storage variant did the best within the first 24 hours thanks to its discounted price of RM799 (normally it retails for RM999).

Malaysia’s Ministry of Health received four technology solutions from Huawei Malaysia today, to assist in the nation’s attempts to combat the spread of COVID-19. Huawei’s Public Health Event Emergency Response Solution will enable healthcare experts to work with frontline medical professionals to conduct remote online consultations with patients, enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment, and ensure there is continuous communication in real-time between the Government and public hospitals, via its video conferencing and wireless connectivity capabilities.

Present at the donation ceremony, Michael Yuan, CEO of Huawei Malaysia expressed Huawei’s willingness to support Malaysia in fighting against COVID-19. He told the Health Minister that the Malaysia office has taken stringent prevention measures to uphold the safety and protection of its employees. Its operations will continue to serve its clients, working to guarantee smooth network operation in this critical time.

The four components as part of the response solution are as follows:

Huawei Malaysia had joined hands with the Malaysia Ministry of Health to contribute Huawei Cloud AI-assisted Diagnosis solution to Sungai Buloh Hospital to empower local medical personnel with AI capabilities by providing an AI solution for CT image analysis of possible COVID-19 patients.

The Huawei Cloud AI-assisted quantitative medical image analysis system, which was used to help handle the COVID-19 situation around the world, can analyze hundreds of CT images in seconds, precisely locating lesions, and doctors can now provide diagnosis results in just one minute. Huawei Cloud worked with HY medical (a Beijing-based startup focused on medical imaging through artificial intelligence) to develop an AI platform.

The AI platform has been trained with 4,000+ confirmed COVID-19 patients' image data and can service as a "super doctor". It can analyze suspected contours of pneumonia from CT Chest DICOM images, and provide the probability that they represent COVID-19, to radiologist as a reference to help them screen suspected cases and make an appropriate diagnosis.

Some 70,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country are expected to benefit from the RM15 million Shopee Seller Support Package. The e-commerce platform today announced its support package to help SMEs and businesses that have been adversely impacted by the Movement Control Order (MCO).

The package addresses the struggles businesses are facing following an engagement between Shopee and retail associations, chambers of commerce as well as business owners.

Two pain points that have been identified were:

The Shopee Seller Support Package will aid local SMEs and businesses in various sectors including retail, fresh produce, food and beverage (F&B) and more by driving digitalization of traditional businesses and bringing them online. The Package also seeks to support all its sellers by creating sales and growth opportunities, reducing operational costs and facilitating sustainable development through funding, subsidies and education.

The Shopee Seller Support Package opens for application starting 13 April 2020, until 31 May 2020. It will feature the following benefits for local sellers:

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) recently announced a partnership with seven crowdfunding operators to help entrepreneurs tide the economic challenges brought on by the COVID19 onslaught.

This is MDEC’s second funding facilitation initiative led by its Global Growth Acceleration Division, following its successful launch of Meet Your Match Malaysia, a virtual investor-matching initiative with KK Fund Pte. Ltd., which has drawn 90 global investors and 75 promising local startups that are in a quest to raise close to USD100 million in investments.

According to a recent survey by The Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) involving 239 startups, 35.1% of the respondents said they needed loans, 23.8% asked for grants or subsidies and 3.8% asked for deferment in repayments.

In this second funding initiative, MDEC is supported by the Registered Digital Market Association (RDMA) with members comprising Equity Crowdfunding

(ECF) and Peer-to-Peer Financing (P2P) operators that are registered by the Securities Commission of Malaysia. ECF enables groups of investors to fund businesses by taking up stakes in the investee companies for investment, whereas P2P involves funds being lent at a fixed interest rate over a fixed tenure.

Entrepreneurs who wish to explore this alternative financing option may do so by submitting an expression of interest at their site. This drive is available until 24 April 2020. MDEC will offer priority assessment to all applicants by expeditiously screening their eligibility before submitting the profiles to the applicants’ choice of ECF/P2P operator.

Huawei recently launched its innovative Huawei MeeTime After Sales Official Hotline offering an online one-stop face to face solution to solve any issues you might face while using your new HUAWEI P40 devices. The hotline was rolled out on April 11, 2020 and will be available first for HUAWEI P40 Series smartphones.

All you need to do is schedule an appointment with HUAWEI’s friendly After Sales Customer Service representatives who will help you solve your device issues, using three easy steps.

Using the MeeTime Hotline is as easy as three simple steps:-

Step 1: While setting up your new HUAWEI P40 Series smartphone, select your Region (if you’re in Malaysia, choose “Malaysia”). Input your HUAWEI ID. MeeTime will be automatically available on your device.

Step 2: Send a text message to the HUAWEI WhatsApp Hotline saying that you would like to book an appointment with a MeeTime Hotline representative and state your preferred time slot. The number to text is +6012 685 5652 or click here.

Step 3: A MeeTime Hotline representative will call you at the appointed time and help you solve your problems.

The HUAWEI MeeTime After Sales Official Hotline is part of the HUAWEI Care 2020 initiative to ensure that its customers can make their HUAWEI purchases with ease of mind.

GIGABYTE, was recently awarded numerous 2020 Red Dot Design Awards for two creator laptops from the AERO line – AERO 15 OLED & AERO 17 – as well as two professional gaming laptops – AORUS 15G and AORUS 17X.

Aside from many high-end gaming features, the 2020 lineup of notebooks feature the latest 10th gen Intel Core i9/i7 H series 8-core CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 Super graphics. AORUS partners up with multi-championship winning G2 Esports to launch our brand new gaming notebooks tailored to meet the requirements of pro gamers, from mechanical keyboards to a 240Hz high refresh rate display and enhanced cooling technology, redefining the requirements of a professional gaming notebook.

Together with G2 Esports, GIGABYTE launched its flagship models, the AORUS 17X and AORUS 17G,  AORUS 15G high-end models, tailoring its notebooks to the needs of the modern gamer. Upgrades to these include three overclocking-ready 10th gen Intel® processors – Intel® Core™ i9-10980HK, Intel® Core™ i7-10875H, and Intel® Core™ i7-10750H. As for graphics, in addition to NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 20 series and the GTX 16 series, the all-new flagship NVIDIA® GeForce RTX 2080 Super™ and the NVIDIA® GeForce RTX 2070 Super™ GPU’s have been added to the ranks for increased gaming performance and faster processing of graphics-intensive workloads

The AORUS 15G and 17G had recently been awarded the Red Dot Design Award for best design in 2020, combining powerful hardware and an all-new design language.

The AORUS 17X, AORUS 17G, and AORUS 15G are the lightest notebooks in the industry that comes with true mechanical keyboards. AORUS works exclusively with a world-renowned mechanical switch manufacturer, OMRON, to minimize the size of mechanical switches while retaining its quality to create the world’s lightest mechanical keyboard notebook.

GIGABYTES’ content creation notebook AERO series has been widely praised since its launch in 2016. Aside from winning multiple awards such as the “2019 European Hardware Association Notebook of the Year” the “Taiwan Excellence Award”, and recently this year, the Red Dot Design Award 2020. AERO is also a favorite of Jensen Huang (CEO of NVIDIA), who was seen holding it in conferences like GDC and CES. AERO is referred to as the model for “next-gen high-performance professional notebooks”.

This major upgrade includes enhancements across a whole series of products, the 15” AERO 15 OLED (Supports 4K resolution and HDR400), AERO 15, 17” AERO 17 HDR (Supports 4K resolution and HDR400) and AERO 17. The color display has always been GIGABYTE’s strong selling point, says Chen. Most of your average devices for commercial design use display panels with a Delta E that’s around 3. Displays with Delta E < 2 are considered high standards where people can visibly see a color difference. GIGABYTE takes it one step further by working with X-rite Pantone, the authority in color display, implementing color calibration and achieves Delta E < 1. Combined with the AMOLED 4K display and HDR True Black high contrast, colors and details are always at their very best, helping content creators work accurately and proactively.

To facilitate the bump of CPU and GPU to the current generation, AERO keeps cool with an improved WINDFORCE Infinity cooling system. Through a series of improvements in terms of fan and pipe placements, AERO can provide a more cooling and comfortable experience for users during heavy workload, in which most notebooks tend to heat up and begin throttling.

The AERO series also offers a 144Hz high refresh rate display capable of satisfying both the inner gamer and game developer in you. Whether you want to game, work or just simply chill on the internet, the AERO can run all, and most importantly, last all (day). Being dubbed “The most versatile notebook” means our performance must be at its strongest, but also the most sustainable and stable as it can be.

Pre-ordering of professional gaming notebooks AORUS 17X, AORUS 17G, AORUS 15G, and the content creator AERO series are available, with official sales starting from 4/15(4/16). Entry-level premium gaming models AORUS 5 & AORUS 7 are expected to launch in late April.

Games developer and publisher Double Eleven are delighted to announce that they have appointed games development veteran Ian Ng as Studio Head of Double Eleven Malaysian. The appointment coincides with the official opening of the company’s studio in Kuala Lumpur.

With a career spanning over 20 years in games development, Ian’s appointment brings a wealth of experience to Double Eleven’s new studio in Malaysia. Throughout a rich, varied career Ian has held positions at Tap4fun, Ubisoft Singapore and LucasArts and is credited on over 20 titles spanning from mobile games to AAA console games, including the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Micron Technology recently announced their new Micron® 5210 ION enterprise SATA SSD capacity and features, solidifying Micron’s leadership in QLC technology volume production. The world’s first QLC solid-state drive (SSD), the Micron 5210 is based on the company’s advanced QLC NAND technology and quickly replacing legacy hard disk drives (HDDs). Rapidly supplanting 10K HDDs, the Micron 5210 delivers 175 times faster random reads, 30 times faster random writes, two times more sequential throughput, and three times more energy efficiency than the largest 10K RPM HDDs — all at a compelling price point.

OPPO has announced that it has successfully conducted voice and video calls solely based on the next-generation 5G network, bringing high-quality 5G experience closer to reality.

Partnering with Ericsson and MediaTek, the VoNR (Voice/Video on New Radio) calls were made on a modified commercial smartphone from OPPO featuring MediaTek’s Dimensity 1000 series SoC using an end-to-end 5G Standalone(SA) network powered by Ericsson Radio System products and solutions.

VoNR is a basic call service that completely relies on the 5G network (SA architecture). Compared with earlier call services, VoNR provides significantly lower latency, greatly improved sound quality and picture quality, resulting in an elevated overall experience for users.

SA architecture is one of the mainstream architectures of future 5G networks. Global operators are actively laying the foundation for 5G SA networks. As one of the first mobile phone brands to support VoNR calls under the SA architecture, OPPO aims to ensure that even the early adopters can have a more complete 5G experience.

It also positions OPPO as the mobile phone partner of choice for operators and communication equipment suppliers building 5G networks around the world as the next generation of communication technologies demands a much higher technology capability from smartphone makers.

The successful joint test was carried out under the 5G SA network environment provided by Ericsson at its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. After dialing, the two phones connected almost instantly and then seamlessly switched to a high-definition video call with a single keypress.

DingTalk, Alibaba’s enterprise communications and collaboration platform, recently announced that its lite edition is available to download on multiple app stores, to support local businesses and schools with challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The free-to-download communications app supports video-conferencing for over 300 people simultaneously, a thousand people live-broadcast function in high-definition quality, photo and video sharing and basic one-to-one text communications. The app, currently with the interface languages available in Japanese, English and Traditional Chinese, is tailored for users in Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.

Key features in DingTalk Lite include the ability to:

Leveraging the secure and resilient global infrastructure of Alibaba Cloud, the data intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, DingTalk has been able to deliver high-definition video-conferencing and live-broadcasting with low latency, amid surging demand for telecommunications in recent months. Some 10 million enterprises in China have used DingTalk for remote work, and over 120 million students across China attended online classes through DingTalk during the virus outbreak.

DingTalk also offered its live streaming and group chat functions to support the International Medical Expert Communication Platform, an online destination designed for medical experts around the world to communicate seamlessly with each other and share their invaluable experience fighting COVID-19.

Dingtalk was also mentioned by UNESCO as one of the platforms that can facilitate distance learning during the coronavirus outbreak.

Intel is pledging an additional $50 million in a pandemic response technology initiative to combat the coronavirus through accelerating access to technology at the point of patient care, speeding scientific research and ensuring access to online learning for students. Included in Intel’s effort is an additional innovation fund for requests where access to Intel expertise and resources can have immediate impact. This is in addition to prior announcements of $10 million in donations that are supporting local communities during this critical time.

Approximately $40 million will fund the Intel COVID-19 Response and Readiness and Online Learning initiatives. The Intel COVID-19 Response and Readiness Initiative will provide funding to accelerate customer and partner advances in diagnosis, treatment and vaccine development, leveraging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and edge-to-cloud service delivery. Through the initiative, Intel will help healthcare and life sciences manufacturers increase the availability of technology and solutions used by hospitals to diagnose and treat COVID-19. It will also support the creation of industry alliances that accelerate worldwide capacity, capability and policy to respond to this and future pandemics, building on Intel’s own experience in driving technology innovation in the health and life sciences arena.

The Intel Online Learning Initiative will support education-focused nonprofit organizations and business partners to provide students, without access to technology, with devices and online learning resources. In close partnership with public school districts, the initiative will enable PC donations, online virtual resources, study-at-home guides and device connectivity assistance. The Intel Online Learning Initiative builds on Intel’s long-standing commitment to technology that improves learning. It will begin immediately in regions with the greatest needs across the United States and expand globally.

The company has also allocated up to $10 million for an innovation fund that supports requests from external partners and employee-led relief projects, addressing critical needs in their communities.

Red Hat, Inc., recently announced that it has named Paul Cormier as president and chief executive officer of Red Hat, effective today. Cormier, who previously served as Red Hat’s president of Products and Technologies, succeeds Jim Whitehurst, who is now president of IBM.

Since joining Red Hat in 2001, Cormier's leadership and vision have driven major strategy shifts and expansion of the company’s portfolio of products and services. Cormier is credited with pioneering the subscription model that transformed Red Hat from an open source disruptor to an enterprise technology mainstay, moving Red Hat Linux from a freely downloadable operating system to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the industry’s leading enterprise Linux platform that today powers more than 90% of Fortune 500 organizations.

Korean wellness and home appliance company, SK magic recently collaborated with Alumni Graduan Institusi Korea (AGIKO), a group of Malaysian alumni from Korean education institutions, to supply and deliver support equipment to health screening stations across four hot spots in Klang Valley, namely Titiwangsa, Lembah Pantai, Kepong and Cheras.

The screening stations are specifically targeted at screening individuals with asymptomatic symptoms in order to prevent overcrowding at government health facilities. Trained medical workers are doing their best in these challenging times and conditions, assessing patients that steadily stream through the screening stations.

SK magic has donated four portable air conditioning units to each screening station, for a total of 16 units, that will help to ease the working conditions for the tireless medical workers as well as the anxious patients.

GoPayz by U Mobile, is giving away RM1 million worth of cash as part of its GoPayz #GiveBack campaign. From now till 30th June 2020, any new user who signs up with GoPayz will receive RM5 cash and if the new user is also a U Mobile customer, they will receive an additional RM3 e-voucher from 7-Eleven.

To qualify for GoPayz #GiveBack campaign, one only needs to sign up for the universal e-wallet and upon successful registration, the new user will receive the RM5 cash within 3 working days.

Apart from the GoPayz #GiveBack campaign, GoPayz is also offering a promotional price of just RM2 per month for the first 2 months for customers who subscribe to GoLife Plus — a micro life insurance plan underwritten by SunLife Malaysia, who has recently set up a Special COVID-19 Relief Fund for customers who have been impacted by COVID-19.

The Coronavirus pandemic is affecting every facet of our daily lives, including the way we work. A rapidly increasing number of employers across the world are requiring their people to work from home as part of the efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. But this may not be an isolated shift.

According to a new Lenovo research completed in mid-March 2020, the majority of employees (77%) surveyed across five countries (US, Italy, Germany, China, and Japan) believe this may have a long-lasting impact on how employers view remote-work policies going forward. There is a sense that companies will be more open to or even encourage letting workers work from home once things return to normal.

Enabled by the increasing sophistication and affordability of mobile smart technologies, the global workforce has largely been untethered from the desk. Productivity levels at home have always been a concern for employers. Surprisingly, nearly half of the respondents say that their work-from-home (WFH) productivity is on par with at the office (46%), with a handful saying it even increases when at home (15%).

As workplace trends are transforming due to millennials and generation Z forming most of the workforce, patterns of work are also becoming more fluid and mobile even prior to the current pandemic. Companies had been implementing WFH rules to take steps to help workers be ready for WFH. The research shows that nearly all companies have made some sort of effort (95%), with half providing employees with the tech and tools they need to WFH (56%), such as portable laptops and compact desktop PCs.

Lenovo has also come up with some useful tips and hacks to increase or maintain your work efficiency and productivity during this current Movement Control Order, which may change your perception of WFH: -

Canon Marketing (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. recently announced the appointments of acclaimed photographers Asmady Ahmad, Andrew Koh, Bonnie Yap, Edwin Lay, Fazry Ismail, Glenn Guan, Grace Tan, Johnson Wee, M. Hamdan Ruhimin @ Adam R. Adzim and M. Safuan Salahudin as  their 2020 EOS Ambassadors (EA). As for the 2020 EOS Youth Ambassadors (EYA), the lineup are Rhiannon K, Samuel Goh, Barathan Amuthan, Annice Lyn, Reuben Liu and Acacia Diana who were the incumbents since 2019.

The EOS Ambassador programme’s main objective is to increase awareness and relevancy of the Canon brand amongst semi-professional and professional photographers, and to strengthen the brand’s position as the choice amongst professionals. As advocates of the Canon brand, the EAs will promote and build affinity amongst other professionals within the photography industry. The EYAs will be promoting Canon to their peers and fellow photography enthusiasts. In addition to the opportunity to learn from a team of their peers,

Canon believes that the new EAs and EYAs will make an impact on photography culture and preserve precious moments that matter the most to them and their generation. This  programme not only creates a lasting connection between the ambassadors and the community, it also translates Canon products and features from something technical, into something artistic and powerful.

Aside from the EOS programme, Canon has also established the Canon Imaging Academy (formerly known as EOS Academy Malaysia). The Academy provides opportunities for photography and videography enthusiasts to learn from and be inspired by some of Canon’s EAs and EYAs, such as Andrew Koh, who is an official trainer on the Academy. With a wide range of experiences and skills, some of the ambassadors, as well as professional trainers, will be able to share knowledge and current trends on photography, as well as skills and technical know-hows through the academy. The carefully curated workshops are open to photographers of all levels, ranging from amateurs to professionals. For professional photographers using Canon cameras and equipment, the Canon Professional Services (CPS) is an exclusive membership service that offers on-site imaging support at various high-profile events.

LG Electronics Malaysia recently donated their latest PuriCare Air Purifiers to Hospital Serdang. They feature industry grade HEPA filters and Plasma Ionizer functions. The donation was received by Yang Berusaha Dr. Rohana binti Johan, Director of Hospital Serdang and Nurul Insyirah Mohd Ishah, Public Relations Officer of Hospital Serdang.

LG’s decision to donate their new air purifiers to Hospital Serdang during the extended duration of the Movement Control Order (MCO) goes in line with the home appliance manufacturer’s approach in producing ‘Technology that Cares’.

In related news, LG announced their preliminary earnings results for the first quarter of 2020 with tentative consolidated revenues of KRW 14.7 trillion in the first quarter of 2020 with an operating profit of KRW 1.1 trillion. Sales are expected to be 1.2 percent lower than the same quarter last year with operating income increasing 21.1 percent year-on-year.

These figures are the tentative consolidated earnings based on K-IFRS provided as a service to investors prior to LG Electronics’ final earnings results including net profit. Details regarding each division will be announced officially later this month.

So that’s it for TechNave NewsBytes #6. Do email us or our Editor-in-Chief if you feel your article or news should be included in our next TechNave NewsBytes. All the best and stay tuned for more at TechNave.com


TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #7 - Huawei P40 wins TIPA, Samsung Galaxy fit tips, Maxis #KitaSapotKita, SOCAR, Experian, 515 EParty, Boost, Texas Instruments, Vivo, PMPL MY/SG S1, Carousell + Special: Redmi Note 9S interview

In this episode of TechNave NewsBytes, Huawei’s P40 series wins awards from TIPA and Samsung has some fitness tips for their Galaxy users during the MCO. Maxis is working on #KitaSapotKita while SOCAR Malaysia is offering promos for Malaysia’s Healthcare Heroes. Experian is offering freebies for Malaysia’s SMEs and Moonton is holding a global Mobile Legends: Bang Bang 515 EParty.

Boost got recognised as leading fintech, Texas Instruments helped donate and Vivo achieved a few things. Team Secret emerged as champions of the PMPL MY/SG S1 and Carousell also pitched in free ad inventory for charity. For TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #7 we got some special Interview time with Xiaomi about the Redmi Note 9S and other plans for Malaysia, so do read on and check it out at the end.

The Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) recently announced that the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) has given the Huawei P40 Series the highly coveted TIPA World Awards 2020 to the Huawei P40, Huawei P40 Pro and Huawei P40 Pro+ for the Best Photo Smartphones of 2020. This marks the fourth consecutive year that the Huawei P Series has been recognised by TIPA, standing alongside a range of exceptional gear and solutions that professional photographers have come to love and rely on.

The TIPA World Awards 2020 adds to Huawei P40 Series’ expanding list of accolades. The Huawei P40 Pro was recently given a DXOMARK rating of 128, the highest overall score ever seen on the recognised leader board. In the same review, the flagship smartphone also earned the highest scores for photo and selfie performances, at 140 and 103 respectively.

Samsung recently weighed in with some tips and tricks on staying fit and active with their Galaxy devices. For Galaxy users, Samsung Health provides many programs and trackers to help you stay active and healthy indoors. Just take a few seconds to set up your goals and the app will give you a range of fitness programs tailored to different needs, including stretching, toning, and endurance building. From diet and exercise trackers to meditation guides, the app offers simple and easy ways to help you maintain your wellbeing. Check out their tips below to learn more.

For more information, visit www.samsungmobilepress.com, news.samsung.com/galaxy or www.samsung.com/my.

Beyond providing essential connectivity and other initiatives to support Malaysians during the Movement Control Order (MCO), Maxis wants to bring Malaysians closer together despite our restricted movements to stay safe at home. In doing this, Maxis recently launched its #KitaSapotKita campaign to bring entertainment and business content to the masses. In collaboration with top key opinion leaders (KOLs) and business opinion leaders (BOLs), Maxis has co-created hundreds of videos and articles for the three-part campaign.

In the first part of the #KitaSapotKita campaign, Maxis has got Malaysians covered with the best original entertainment content, created together with, and in support of local artists and the entertainment industry amidst the challenging COVID-19 situation. Since the launch of the videos on 27 March, they have received over 3.4 million views and over 26,000 hours of watch time.

Watch Amyra Rosli, Ayda Jebat, Sweet Qismina and Fatin Afeefa’s PSA social video, ‘Hadapinya Bersama – Duduk Di Rumah, Kekal Berhubung’, and sing along to Ayda Jebat’s hilarious music video parody, ‘Duduk Diam Diam’, where she plays, Mak Cik Kiah, Tok Abah, Sis Popo and Diva AJ, raise awareness as to why it’s important to Stay Home, Stay Connected with Maxis.

Besides that, Maxis has also partnered with popular online influencers – Alyssa Dezek, Fatin Afeefa, Sazzy Falak, Nana Sheme, Leona and Along Cham – for #KitaSapotKita daily livestream sessions to keep Malaysians at home entertained during the MCO. For those who have missed out on any of their daily one-hour livestream sessions, they can still watch playbacks on Maxis’ YouTube channel. If that’s not enough, catch more entertaining Public Service Announcements (PSA) shout-out videos from Kaka Azraff, Aizat Amdan, De Fam, Bunga Isme, Sweet Qismina, Nana Mahazan and Nabila Razali on their respective Instagram channels.

Maxis recognises that businesses have not been able to operate as usual since the start of the MCO on 18 March, so it wanted to support the business community and help them operate as usual. Collaborating with BOLs for the second part of its #KitaSapotKita campaign, Maxis is co-creating 100 stories with constructive tips and hacks on how to stay in business during these difficult times, which are now available. No matter what line they’re in – be it F&B, retail, fitness, consumer goods, or even event management – there are myriad topics and takeaways for all businesses.

Hear from prominent entrepreneurs like Benjamin Yong of The BIG Group, Christy Ng of Christy Ng Shoes, Dahlia Nadirah of SO.LEK Cosmetics, Roen Cian franchise owner of Gong Cha, Dato' George Lim, Persatuan Usahawan Muda Malaysia (PUMM) National Vice President cum Sabah State Chairman, and Andrew Ngo of Stone & Co. Benefit from the wisdom of brands such as Bata, Hai-O, Haruka Bakery, Kumon, Kuvings, Lim Tayar, Neubodi, Tupperware and Xixili, as well as regular entrepreneurs, as they share their relatable experiences and struggles to keep their enterprises afloat.

From one business to another, #KitaSapotKita brings various ways that businesses can stay connected through video and editorial content, and help them find the right answers and spark ideas that will enable them adapt or even thrive throughout the MCO and beyond.

Join Maxis in encouraging more Malaysians to inspire one another positively by taking part in the #KitaSapotKita campaign. To do this, just upload videos of your version of entertainment-at-home, or share your tips on how to stay in business with the hashtag #KitaSapotKita. Don’t forget to share the entertainment with family and friends, and with entrepreneurs who might find the content helpful! Meanwhile, stay tuned for the next phase, where Maxis will be announcing the #KitaSapotKita pledge campaign through a brand new song collaboration with Zee Avi, Faizal Tahir and 10 local artists, coming soon on 21 April 2020.

To find out more about Maxis’ initiatives and incentives during the MCO, customers can visit www.maxis.com.my/stayhomestayconnected, www.hotlink.com.my or call 123 from their mobile or 1 800 82 1123 from their fixed line.

SOCAR Mobility Malaysia is showing appreciation for Malaysia’s healthcare heroes and the critical work they are doing with the Healthcare Heroes Support Promo.

Created to support healthcare heroes in Malaysia who are working round the clock to help Malaysians stay healthy during this challenging period, the promo offers 70% off for every booking (capped at RM100) as well as free petrol for 20km travel for each hour booked (capped at 240km for 12 hours booking). SOCAR hopes that this initiative can help ease transportation challenges faced by medical frontliners during the MCO period. Medical personnel can fill out the form in this link to verify their eligibility as a medical frontliner. Successful applicants would be notified via email and the promo code will be automatically available on their “My Coupon” page in the app.

The healthcare heroes will be able to choose from a variety of car models, including Perodua Axia, Honda City, Honda Jazz, Toyota Vios, Volkswagen Polo, Toyota Rush and many more. The promotion is running wherever SOCAR is operating - in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bahru and Ipoh. There are a total of 212 SOCAR zones located within a walking distance of major hospitals and clinics including Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Hospital Sungai Buloh and Hospital Shah Alam.

Users can also have the car delivered to their doorstep for free via the SOCAR-2-YOU delivery service within the coverage areas. Those with group requests (more than 10) are urged to email the SOCAR team at [email protected] with the email subject #kitajagakita for enquiries.

Download the SOCAR app on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store and follow SOCAR’s Facebook page for the latest promotions and deals.

In support of Malaysian consumers and businesses through the Covid-19 pandemic, Experian is offering its credit health monitoring and credit management solutions on a complimentary basis to help mitigate present challenges. Malaysian companies and SMEs can get a 2-month free subscription to CrediTrack+ which offers solutions for credit risk management and debt collection and also digital customer relationship management, secure file sharing & storage, business analysis.

Over the 2-month period, they can evaluate potential prospects by using the 60 complimentary credit reports, protect their business through free monitoring of up to 500 existing customers, suppliers and partners each month and access the credit recovery and management platform to monitor and manage payments. Companies can rest assured that critical documents and reports are securely stored on its CrediTrack+ platform.

For consumers, Experian in Malaysia is offering a 3-month free credit health monitoring service through JagaMyID.

Among other features, Experian’s complimentary JagaMyID allows consumers to access their refreshed credit scores (iScore), update their personal credit profiles, review their CCRIS information and obtain other information pertaining to legal suits, bankruptcy actions and payment default by non-bank creditors.

To claim the free subscriptions head on to their site for CrediTrack+ and JagaMyID.

Moonton is excited to announce its 515 EParty events on a global scale for its mobile gaming title, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. In order to encourage players of all ages and backgrounds to join in the fun of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, the 515 EParty will be featuring in-game events where players are able to team up with their friends and family together to unlock exclusive prizes when they complete a certain mission! At the same time, there will be various community events available for everyone to join on social media (the 515 EParty started on 17 April 2020).

Additionally, there would also be a new Mobile Legends: Bang Bang theme song to be released in conjunction with the 515 EParty. The theme song will bring you a fresh vibe of the song to jam to whenever you launch  Mobile Legends: Bang Bang on your device.

In order to bring the community closer together, Moonton is also organizing a series of contests with in-game and cash prizes including one of the most wanted Lesley’s Spear of Holy skin. In addition to the prizes, Moonton will also be featuring a one of a kind in-game interface during the Ramadhan season! It is known that the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang community is filled with creativity, there will be a photo challenge, an art contest for the talented artists, creative music competition, as well as the viral Finger Dance challenge to bring the community even closer. Moreover, the photo challenge is open for everyone where they can win time-limited skins! With that, the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang community will be able to flex their hero skins prizes whenever they play in Classic, Ranked or Brawl matches.

To add up to the hype, familiar local influencers from Malaysia and Singapore will also be joining the 515 EParty to play alongside and participate in the activities with the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang community. Further, Moonton will also be featuring an All-Stars tournament to find out which influencers team are the best!

Boost has been named as part of International Data Corporation (IDC) Financial Insights’ 2020 FinTech Fast 101 list of fast-growing fintech companies in the Asia/Pacific region.

IDC Financial insights Asia/Pacific FinTech Fast 101 is a list that highlights fast-growing fintechs in Asia/Pacific in terms of their ubiquity, utility, and usability. The framework evaluates fintech data across the following key metrics: addressable market, customer adoption, investments, alliances and partnerships, innovation, chance of survival, and marketing.

In conjunction with the recent 4.4 Brands Festival on Shopee, vivo ranked as the top 2 best-selling smartphone brand. Featuring the performance-driven NEX series – NEX 3, the camera-centric V series – V15, V17 and V17 Pro, the youthful and trendsetting series – S1 and S1 Pro, as well as the affordable vivo Y series vivo Malaysia has recently announced that it will unveil its greater variant of its V series – the V19 soon.

In related news, Vivo announced that according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the total shipment of China’s smartphone industry fell 38.9%, and 56% during February but vivo was able to increase their growth by 10% against. They aim to lead the group in 5G smartphones in the near future.

Texas Instruments recently announced a donation of US$250,000 (MYR 1,085,000) to support COVID-19 relief efforts in Malaysia. TI’s donation will be used to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline medical and public service workers, and food aid to support communities affected by the pandemic surrounding our factories and throughout Malaysia.

TI employees in Malaysia have also found creative ways to help using TI resources. A team of engineers at TI Kuala Lumpur utilized the factory’s 3-D printer to manufacture face shields for healthcare workers on the front lines. Employees researched designs and programmed the machine to halve printing time, producing 40 shields per day to help ensure the safety and health of Malaysian frontliners. In addition, teams from both factories delivered PPE worth MYR50,000 to local hospitals and police stations and donated groceries worth MYR15,000 to local communities.

Tencent Games recently concluded its PUBG MOBILE Pro     League (PMPL) MY/SG Season 1 Grand Finals which started with a three-week-long round-robin league featuring the best 24 professional PUBG MOBILE teams in the Malaysia and Singapore region. PMPL MY/SG S1 ran from 3rd March - 15 April 2020 and marks the first time an official PUBG MOBILE tournament for the Singaporean crowds.

At the end of the Grand Finals, Team Secret finally emerged as the overall champions of PMPL MY/SG S1 and will be walking away with a prize of US$15,000 and secure a spot in the World League as well as the SEA Finals. On the other hand, Yoodo Gank who scored second place and Bigetron AROV in third place will also be awarded US$10,000 and US$7,500 prizes respectively and both teams are also qualified to the SEA Finals.

MOBILE game title with the objective of bringing the next level of esports for the Malaysian and Singaporean PUBG MOBILE community. Additionally, this league also creates an opportunity for players from MY and SG to reach within the global scene. As Tencent Games has run a series of PUBG MOBILE events prior to PMPL including PMNC 1 & 2 and Community Events, the league could also serve as a platform to nurture the overall professional PUBG MOBILE scene.

With the partnership with one of the largest social media and streaming platforms, Facebook Gaming, PMPL MY/SG S1 is broadcasted live in both English and Malay to cater for both local and international crowds. As the live streaming goes, a concurrent peak viewership as high as 68,428 viewers has been recorded during the Grand Finals.

Carousell, is stepping up to help in the fight against COVID-19 by announcing the launch of “COVID-19 Free Ads for Charity”. This initiative will offer up to RM6 million in an advertising support program for non-profit organisations helping the communities impacted by COVID-19.

This RM6 million fund will focus on supporting any non-profit organisation in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and in the Philippines and their efforts to replenish supply of food and essential health products, donations for upkeep cost, call for volunteers and other initiatives caring for families-at-risk and seniors in need.

The initiative will launch with existing partnerships including Parents without Partners Berhad in Malaysia, Singapore Red Cross, Habitat For Humanity in Hong Kong and Caritas Manila in the Philippines. Interested non-profit organisations can simply apply via https://caro.sl/freeadsforcharity.

Apart from supporting non-profit organisations, Carousell has committed to additional resources that will empower small and medium businesses and local entrepreneurs during this COVID-19 crisis.

We recently managed to get some QnA time with Nicolas Shi, Xiaomi Country Manager of Malaysia and Singapore and we got some questions answered that you might be interested in. Check out the Interview below:

Thanks for reading folks. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do more Interviews and other stuff with the next TechNave NewsBytes, and if you think that your business, brand or organization deserves a place here please email our Editor-in-Chief about that. As always, stay tuned to TechNave.com


TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #8 - realme 6i sold out, Samsung Jet, MPL-MY/SG S5, Digi Yellow Heart, Lenovo TGX Remote Workstation, Maxis Cloud, Hitachi Vantara, Spotify, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent, LG Earth Day

For this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020, we have the realme 6i sold out, the Samsung Jet cordless vacuum cleaner and a chance to catch the latest MPL-MY/SG S5 playoffs. There’s also the Digi Yellow Heart, a free 120 day license for the Lenovo TGX Remote Workstation and Maxis Cloud, targeting SMEs and Enterprises.

Also for SMEs and the enterprise are announcements for the Hitachi Vantara, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent. Spotify has some instructions on setting it up on a console and LG weighs in on Smart Appliances for a better Earth Day.

realme Malaysia recently held a special One Day Flash Sale through its official e-commerce store on Shopee by selling the latest realme 6i (3+64GB) for just RM599 instead of the retail price of RM699. The RM100 discount was given out to all purchases made on 23 April 2020 in conjunction with a campaign called Raya Bersama Shopee becoming the fastest-selling smartphone with 1000 units sold out under 40 minutes.

Other titles for the realme 6i include No. 1 Best-Selling Smartphone Brand and Top-Selling Smartphone Model. In addition, two more products were also made available for purchase during the Flash Sale. They were the realme Buds Air for RM199 (RP: RM299) and realme Buds 2 new colour Orange for RM49 . The realme Buds Air have been recognised as the Highest Selling TWS in 2020 (in terms of unit sold and revenue).

Samsung Malaysia Electronics recently launched a new lineup of the Samsung Jet cordless stick vacuum cleaner for RM1699, along with a compatible Clean Station for RM699 that can deliver the ultimate end-to-end cleaning solution for the home. The new Samsung Jet has great usability and can generate up to 200W (150W for Jet 90E & Jet 70) of industry-leading suction power. Samsung’s latest cleaning products will be launched in Southeast Asia in March, followed by the U.S., Europe, China, and CIS regions.

The Jet series’ industry-leading capabilities are made possible by its Digital Inverter Motor and the Jet Cyclone system. The Digital Inverter Motor incorporates an ultrasonic welded cover and diffuser that optimize airflow. It allows Samsung Jet to maintain a high level of energy efficiency needed to generate a significant level of suction power. Meanwhile, the Jet Cyclone system features nine separate cyclones, each with 3-way multi-air inlets to minimize loss of suction power while securely trapping fine dust particles that are sucked into the vacuum cleaner.

Users can also enjoy longer cleaning times with the Jet series’ high-capacity battery. The long-lasting battery addresses consumer needs for a reliable vacuum cleaner that can maintain suction for up to one hour. And since the battery can easily be removed and replaced with a spare, users can clean for up to two hours in one session if needed.

The newly unveiled Clean Station is an innovative dust disposal solution that automatically empties out the Jet series’ dustbin to provide users with a simpler way to manage their Samsung Jet. The Clean Station incorporates a highly advanced dust filtration system that directly solves the issue of having dust fly everywhere while disposing collected dust from the vacuum canister.

Users simply need to place the dustbin on top of the Clean Station to automatically empty out its contents. The Clean Station also has an Anti-Dust Emitting Structure that has been verified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to prevent ultrafine dust from getting released back into the air while the dustbin is being emptied out. Its air-tight design prevents 400 times more emission than conventional dustbins. It also has its own 5 Layered HEPA Filtration System that traps up to 99.999-percent  of fine dust particles to ensure purer air in the room.

Check out the site and here for more information.

The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Professional League Malaysia and Singapore Season 5 (MPL-MY/SG S5) Playoffs, with Yoodo as its official digital telco, is happening this 1st to 3rd May 2020. The finale of MPL-MY/SG S5 will be played entirely online with matches starting every day from 2pm onwards. Fans can watch the matches live with Bahasa Malaysia commentary on MLBB’s official Facebook page and on Astro Arena CH801/802(HD), while the stream on MLBB’s YouTube Channel will be casted in English.

With the MPL-MY/SG crown won by two Malaysian and two Singaporean teams over the past four seasons, the upcoming Playoffs will be an exciting tiebreaker for both countries. Players from all four past season champions have advanced into this season’s Playoffs, and there is yet to be a two-time champion of MPL-MY/SG.

The eight teams who have made it into the upcoming Playoffs are: Resurgence (SG), Geek Fam (MY), EVOS SG (SG), Team Bosskurr (MY), Orange Esports Reborn (MY), Todak (MY), Team SMG (MY) and Axis Esports (MY).

Resurgence, whose line up consists of three players from Season 1 Champions IDNS SG, have been dominant this season, taking the top spot in the Regular Season standings. Malaysia’s Season 3 Champions Geek Fam came in second, indicating that they are once again a top contender after a lacklustre performance in Season 4. In fact, both Resurgence and Geek Fam only lost one match throughout the entire Regular Season.

Defending Champions EVOS SG remains a consistent force to be reckoned with, finishing third in the Regular Season standings. Axis Esports, whose line up consists of four team members from Season 2 Champions Saiyan Reborn, came in eighth in the standings, barely making it into this season’s Playoffs. With Singapore’s Siren Clan and Notorious Villains eliminated, the last eight teams will be competing for the top prize of RM109,700 (US$25,000).

Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd recently introduced its first Yellow Heart crowdfunding initiative with the COVID-19 Aid campaign. The initiative is aimed at enabling Digi customers to join in the cause to collect funds in support of the Ministry of Health (MOH) and frontline healthcare workers as they fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Digi customers can easily contribute on the MyDigi app, a feature-rich self-care mobile app that offers customers convenience and great rewards.

The Yellow Heart COVID-19 Aid campaign complements Digi’s existing RM1 million contribution to the GLC Disaster Relief Network (GDRN) coalition to support the MOH in addressing the COVID-19 crisis. It will run for four weeks, and all proceeds will be used to acquire medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical supplies required for hospitals involved in stemming Covid-19 across Malaysia, as guided by MOH.

Digi’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Joachim Rajaram said that the Yellow Heart COVID-19 Aid campaign was founded in the spirit of #DigiCares, to provide a way for Digi to partner with customers to make a difference during this crisis.

Interested Digi customers can donate anywhere between RM2, RM5, RM10 and RM20 per transaction on the MyDigi app by purchasing the Yellow Heart COVID-19 Aid pass. The donation campaign is open exclusively to Digi customers, where customers are limited to purchasing only one pass per denomination. This means, you can only donate each amount one time, with a total donation of RM37 per customer.

In order to donate, customers just need to follow these simple steps:

For Digi Postpaid users, donation pass purchases shall be reflected in their bills according to their billing cycle, while for Digi Prepaid users, the purchased amount will be deducted from their available credit immediately. Check out the site for more details.

To supply the remote workforce with the power their work demands, Lenovo is offering a free 120-day license of Mechdyne’s TGX Remote Workstation software. This software leverages NVIDIA Quadro GPUs to remove performance deltas to take advantage of the built-in video encoder to compress and send information from the host workstation to the end-point device to decode. This eliminates lag on complex and detailed application files.

Teams can share powerful, high-end workstation resources across the business, easily dialing-up performance and powerful GPUs from their standard workstation and collaborate remotely with coworkers around the world. Users keep data and company IP secure onsite, while reducing the risk of data breaches and remotely administering computer hardware assets from anywhere, anytime.

Users can install the trial on their host workstation and the receiver software for their local device to access their applications and projects as if they were in-office without restrictions. If you would like to learn more about this solution, please visit Lenovo Remote Workstation.

Maxis’ recently expanded its cloud solutions and services offerings. The telco is accelerating its talent capacity and capabilities to support and stimulate business growth across the nation, as it seeks to help with adoption of next generation digital networks and solutions to drive market competitiveness, particularly for the critical SME segment.

This expansion and enhanced capability was a result of Maxis’ recent acqui-hire of Malaysian-based cloud solutions company, Infrastructure Consulting & Managed Services (ICMS), primarily for their talent pool of specialist professionals. This will result in a strengthened technical workforce for Maxis with new expertise in Microsoft and cloud solutions.

The solutions that will be integrated into Maxis’ offerings include Microsoft 365 including Microsoft Teams, IaaS and PaaS implementation on Microsoft Azure, Managed Services, Project and Professional Services, Disaster Recovery and Backup solutions. The expansion will allow businesses to now have access to a wider suite of industry leading product offerings, combining cloud, IoT, Unified Communications, mobile and fixed connectivity.

As a Microsoft Gold-certified Partner, Maxis will deliver a wide range of industry leading cloud technologies with best-in-class capability within specialised areas of business over its leading converged 4G mobile and fixed network in Malaysia. These come with significant benefits to businesses including costs optimization, increased flexibility, enhanced security and better scalability – key ingredients for digital transformation.

With an ambition to be Malaysia’s Leading Converged Solutions Company, the newly enhanced capabilities in cloud solutions further accelerates Maxis’ momentum in becoming a trusted converged ICT solutions provider for businesses of all sizes, leveraging its superior mobile and fixed connectivity.

Leveraging its unique Fixed and Mobile network, Maxis’ converged offerings are built around an “Always On” proposition. Its vision is to help businesses across key segments succeed by simplifying and improving the way they work. Its innovative technologies and digital solutions are delivered over its market leading converged network that ensures an unrestricted and worry-free experience which can be utilized as a service.

For more information, please visit: maxis.com.my

Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), today introduced Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) E990, the company’s new storage platform for midsize enterprise customers.

The company also unveiled EverFlex from Hitachi Vantara, a program that provides simple, elastic and comprehensive acquisition choices for the E990 and the entire Hitachi Vantara portfolio. EverFlex adds consumption-based pricing models that range from basic utility pricing, to custom outcome-based services, to Storage as a Service. It will align IT spend with business use for midsize enterprises, enabling effective ways to lower cost, avoid wasting capacity and eliminate disruption.

With data volumes forecast to rise to 23%1 and data storage budgets growing only 10%2 on average, midsize enterprises urgently need solutions to reduce storage costs. The new Hitachi VSP E990 with Hitachi Ops Center delivers industry-leading 4:1 data deduplication – twice that of Hitachi’s closest competitor – guaranteeing to free up 75% of storage capacity3.

Hitachi Vantara VSP E990 addresses the data infrastructure reliability challenges that many enterprises continue to face: One-third of enterprises still suffer outages5 or significant performance degradation as a result of storage reliability issues. VSP E990 delivers Hitachi Vantara’s long-standing leadership in reliability to midsize enterprises at a price point they can afford. It features an all-NVMe architecture with the industry’s leading and lowest-cost IOPS (as low as $0.03 per IOPS) and ultra-low latency for the most resource-hungry business applications.

New EverFlex adds greater choice in consumption-based pricing models that make pricing predictable for cloud-like storage usage. It starts by enabling customers to pay only for what they use and align technology spending with business use to reduce costs by up to 20%3, eliminating the need to pay for the essential reserve capacity that every installation needs. Added services are available to further reduce costs and avoid disruptions to business by providing outcome-based operational services that help deliver more consistent service levels without placing additional burden on staff.

The VSP E990 is ideal for partners to deliver innovation and benefits important to midsize enterprise customers. Hitachi Vantara continues to invest in its predictable, profitable and pioneering partner program with enablement tools, marketing resources and incentives designed for distributors and resellers focused on midsize enterprises. Read the blog post by Hitachi Vantara Channel Chief Kimberly King to learn more about the opportunity VSP E990 presents for partners and to read commentary from the company’s global partner community.

Check out this site for more information.

How to Set Up Spotify on PS3™, PS4™ and Xbox One

The first step is to download the app on your device. Once you’ve done that, you can log into Spotify one of three ways:

Alibaba Cloud recently launched a Global SME Enablement Program to provide cloud technology relief worth more than USD 30 million to new and existing small and medium-enterprise (SME) customers around the world and equip them with the solutions needed to maintain business continuity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the program, new SME customers worldwide can apply for the relief between now and June 22 to start using a portfolio of proven solutions from Alibaba Clouds. The portfolio consists of a support package with 12 key products, including Elastic Compute Service (ECS), which powers cloud applications with low latency, and Object Storage Service (OSS), an encrypted service for data storage and backup in the cloud, as well as Alibaba Cloud Academy Courses.

Existing customers can also apply for product coupons between now and June 22 to help them expand or upgrade their cloud applications. In addition, Alibaba Cloud will reach out to SME associations to help meet their members’ technology needs as they fight the pandemic.

Alibaba Cloud announced the Global SME Enablement Program at its Digital Cloud Day. The interactive one-day online conference introduced Alibaba Cloud’s latest technologies and customer case studies; and in particular how Alibaba Cloud is applying cloud computing, data analytic, and artificial intelligence capabilities to help businesses and the wider communities better cope with COVID-19.

For more information about the Alibaba Cloud Global SME Enablement Program, please visit: their site.

With the development of Internet of Things and cloud adoption by enterprises, for the enterprises in digital transformation, the significance of host security, which is the infrastructure of data assets and business management, is increasingly prominent. The latest technologies such as virtual machine, cloud hosts and containers are also breaking the security boundary between virtual and reality, bringing stronger challenges to hosts.

On April 14, Gartner, an IT research and advisory company, released the Market Guide for Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP). Tencent is listed in the research.

Since Earth Day was first observed 50 years ago, the day’s message has only grown in importance. For anyone wondering how they can contribute to a better tomorrow, a good place to get started is right at home with smart, energy-saving home appliances and tools. You may not believe it but even the smallest changes can ultimately make the biggest difference.

Many of us are guilty of forgetting to turn off the lights, fans and air conditioner before leaving the house – resulting in the spending of unnecessary resource and money. Thankfully, there are easy-to-use smart tools that can easily be controlled and monitored from anywhere with your smartphone.

Smart thermostats such as Nest and smart lighting like Philips Hue enable you to control the indoor temperature and lighting using only a smartphone from anywhere or set up automated schedules.

Smart appliances – from room air conditioners to laundry – can also be monitored and controlled more efficiently than ever through a simple, central app – like the ThinQ app from LG. The app makes it easier to check if the TV has been left switched on or to adjust settings on the air conditioner to avoid wasting power, or download specialised cycles for the washer and dryer to minimise water usage.

The environment wins when large home appliances like washers, dryers, refrigerators, and more are kept in tip-top shape for optimal performance. Features like “Proactive Customer Care” can help do just that, improving product performance and longevity by reminding LG appliance users when to perform regular maintenance tasks, and offering tips on preventative care.

For example, if Proactive Customer Care detects that your LG dryer is experiencing reduced air flow in the vent, it alerts the user with the steps to take to fix the problem and restore optimum drying capability while saving energy. If you used too much detergent, it would send you an alert and instructions to avoid overworking your washer, which often runs an extra rinse cycle when there is too much soap.

Buying energy saving appliances is one of the best ways to make your home greener. The growing availability of products earning the Energy Star label makes it easier than ever to help save the planet – and save on monthly energy and water bills at the same time.

For clean, bright lighting in the home, LIFX’s smart LED bulbs are an excellent choice, lasting an incredibly long time and using less energy than conventional bulbs. Then there’s smart plugs and smart power outlets like those from ZigBee Plug-In, which can make all manner of devices ‘smart,’ meaning less energy consumption and convenient energy tracking.

Smart washing machines like the TurboWash 360 can help to lower household water consumption. Equipped with LG’s AI Direct Drive technology, this advanced Energy Star washer gets clothes cleaner while intelligently increasing water-use efficiency

AI is also used in smart air conditioners. For example, the AI Dual Inverter in LG units delivers impressively fast cooling without sacrificing an ounce of efficiency. Switching to smart appliances not only makes your life easier, it also goes some way toward protecting the planet and conserving our natural resources.

Learn how smart home appliances can contribute to this effort at their site.

That’s it for this TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #8. As always, if you think your news deserves to be here, contact our Editor-in-Chief. Stay tuned to TechNave.com


TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #9 - Samsung Happy Mother's day, Google Teach from Home hub, Maxis Q1 results, Microsoft 365 Subscriptions, Astro + Allo, Micron HSE, TnG, Altair, Biji-biji PPE, YANA MDEC, Razer, Special: #SonyWFH

This time around for TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #9, we have Samsung reminding us to wish our mother Happy Mother's day, Google with their Teach from Home hub while Maxis unveil their Q1 results and commitment. New Microsoft 365 Personal and Family Subscriptions are now available in Malaysia while Astro and Allo are collaborating. Micron reveal their world’s first HSE and there’s also #LEBIHBANYAKEKSTRA with Touch ‘n Go eWallet.

Altair have refreshed their branding while the Biji-biji Initiative and Me.Reka revealed their PPE plans for frontliners and sponsors. MDEC weighed in with YANA and Razer’s face mask manufacturing line has gone full swing. This issue we have a special from Sony on their Work from Home solutions.

Samsung recently shared with us the importance of Happy Mother's Day by having their employees contact their mothers. In line with the current MCO or lockdown period, they've used video calls. Have you wished your Mother well today?

In addition, Samsung are also holding a campaign for Mothers. Go check it out at their site.

Google and Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia has a new distance learning resource hub for Malaysia called Teach From Home, a central hub of information, tips, training and tools from across Google for Education to help teachers keep teaching, even when they are not in the classroom. This includes a collection of training materials on how to get started, best practices for conducting lessons with or without video call capability, tips on engagement and community building, and a downloadable step-by-step Teach from Home Toolkit.

In conjunction with this, Google has also made the Google Meet video conferencing features free for schools and educational institutions until 30 September 2020. This includes the ability to have 250 people in a call together, record lessons and livestream.

Productivity suite G Suite for Education is free for all eligible educational institutions. For educators and educational institutions that have not yet signed up, follow this link to Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia’s site. For private educational institutions not under Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia that have not yet signed up, follow this link which contains a guide on creating a domain and account for your educational institution.

For Malaysia, Google has built the Teach from Home hub with the support and cooperation of Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia. Teach From Home is now available in Malay as well as English, with downloadable toolkits available in 18 languages, and additional languages coming soon.

Maxis Berhad (Maxis) delivered a strong performance for the first quarter ended 31 March 2020, driven by a steady core mobile business and solid convergence growth. The Company reported steady EBITDA although core performance was impacted slightly by early Covid-19, while maintaining an industry-leading EBITDA margin and a healthy Profit After Tax (PAT).

During the quarter, the mobile segment continued to be resilient with positive growth in postpaid subscribers reflecting increased digital adoption and successful prepaid-to-postpaid subscriber migration. Postpaid subscriptions grew 13.7% year-on-year (yoy), bringing the total to 3.4 million, providing a larger base for resilient ARPU. On the fibre front, the Company saw consistent growth in subscriptions by both families and small businesses. Fibre connections grew 40.0% yoy to be at 392k connections in total, consolidating Maxis’ convergence ambition.

Underpinning these worry-free propositions was its leading 4G network, which continues to deliver the best in coverage and quality. Based on MCMC’s Network Performance Report 2019 announced recently which measures the performance of mobile and fixed broadband access and voice services, Maxis has maintained its position as the leader amongst all service providers by excelling in all criteria for four consecutive years.

In related news, Maxis also announced their commitment to maintain network quality despite unprecedented circumstances. This in part due to a surge in network traffic driven predominantly by Internet browsing, video streaming, instant messaging and collaboration tools. Therefore, they have reaffirmed their commitment to the lifestyle and business customer experience with accelerated capacity upgrade for both fixed and mobile network. This includes a dedicated 24x7 network command centre monitoring traffic closely and technicians working round the clock to keep fixed and mobile networks running healthily.

For more information, please visit: maxis.com.my

Microsoft 365 is now available in Malaysia. It is a refresh of Office 365, which provides users with new artificial intelligence (AI), rich content and templates, and cloud-powered experiences. These experiences are being rolled out regionally and will reach over 38 million Office 365 subscribers globally in the next few months.

Users can look forward to two new Microsoft 365 experiences. Firstly, a new Microsoft Family Safety app designed to keep families safe across the digital and physical worlds. Microsoft will also launch Microsoft Teams later this year for users to stay connected with their family and friends. Through Teams, users can connect in group chats, make video calls, stay organized, collaborate over shared to-do lists with family and friends, assign tasks to specific people and coordinate schedules, as well as share photos and videos all in one place.

The new Microsoft Edge browser also takes a step forward with new features to protect users on the web with Password Monitor, and to simplify research with Collections. The new features available with Microsoft 365 are listed below.

Skype has seen an increase in usage with 40 million people using it daily, up 70% month over month and, we are seeing a 220% increase in Skype to Skype calling minutes month over month. To help people get connected even faster, Microsoft recently introduced a new feature in Skype called Meet Now, that allows users to easily create video meetings in as little as three clicks for free, with no sign ups or downloads required.

The new Office features have been rolled out to all existing Office 365 customers and Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions are now available worldwide. These include premium desktop Office apps, 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage per person, 60 Skype minutes for calling mobile phones and landlines, advanced security features to protect users from malware and phishing attacks, ongoing technical support, plus all the new features and benefits that come with it. Microsoft 365 Personal costs RM 27.00 a month. For the best value, a family of up to six people can use Microsoft 365 Family for RM 36.00 a month. For more details check out this site.

Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad’s and Allo Technology Sdn. Bhd. recently announced a strategic partnership where Astro will offer its bundled broadband and content offerings to new and existing residential areas connected by Allo. The offering, which will provide residents with high speed broadband connections as well as Astro’s content, is part of Astro’s support of the Government’s National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (“NFCP”). The agreement was signed by the CEOs of the respective companies, Henry Tan for Astro and Rodzi Ahmad for Allo.

As part of this partnership, Astro will be able to resell all of Allo’s broadband products, including broadband speeds up to 1 Gbps. At launch, Astro will offer cost efficient high-speed broadband services of 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps, at a special price of RM 99, and RM 129 respectively.  This fee will include Astro’s Family Pack content which has more than 60 channels, including Astro Ria, Astro Prima, Astro Arena, Astro Awani, Astro AEC, Astro Xiao Tai Yang, NatGeo WILD, and FOXlife and HD content among others.

All customers will also have free access to Astro GO which allows them to stream videos at their convenience. Customers are encouraged to connect their set top box to unlock more than 15, 000 On Demand titles as part of their pack entitlement.

Micron Technology, recently announced the first open-source, heterogeneous-memory storage engine (HSE), designed specifically for solid-state drives (SSDs) and storage-class memory (SCM). Legacy storage engines born in the era of hard disk drives (HDDs) failed to architecturally provide for the increased performance and reduced latency of next-generation nonvolatile media. HSE, originally developed by Micron and now available to the open-source community, is ideal for developers using all-flash infrastructure who require the benefits of open-source software, including the ability to customize or enhance code for their unique use cases.

In addition to delivering performance and endurance improvements, HSE reduces latency, especially for large-scale data sets, through intelligent data placement. HSE improves throughput of particular storage applications by up to six times, reduces latency 11 times1 and improves SSD endurance by seven times. HSE can also take advantage of multiple classes of media concurrently, such as flash and 3D XPoint technology. When a Micron X100 NVMe™ SSD, the world’s fastest SSD, is added to a set of four Micron 5210 QLC SSDs, throughput more than doubles and read latency improves nearly four times.2

Features and Benefits of the Heterogenous-Memory Storage Engine:

To learn more about HSE, visit www.micron.com/hse or to start developing, visit www.github.com/hse-project.

With the “new norm” setting in for Malaysians during this MCO period, Muslims in the country are now experiencing a very different Ramadan 2020 as they go about observing one of the holiest months in the year. With that in mind, Touch ‘n Go eWallet kickstarted Ramadan 2.0.2.0 with #lebihbanyakekstra value. Starting with a collaboration with 'lebih' leading food delivery companies, ‘banyak’ cashback e-vouchers and ‘ekstra' directory listing of the best Ramadan vendors in town.  Ramadan is also made more meaningful as they offer options to do good and perform Zakat payments.

Through this partnership with like-minded partners like MBPJ, Beepit, DeliverEat, Go Eat, Hungry and Wonderfly, users can either order annual must-haves or try out their virtual version of Ramadan bazaar while aiding SMEs whose livelihoods have been adversely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

For more information on the exclusive Touch ‘n Go eWallet Ramadan 2.0.2.0, visit their site or for businesses who wish to be listed, visit this page.

Altair, recently announced a refresh of its Altair brand. The brand refresh was conducted to more accurately reflect Altair’s position as a solutions-based company that empowers innovation while evolving for sustainable growth. It strategically reflects Altair’s leadership position in the convergence of simulation-driven design with data analytics, while leveraging high-performance computing and the cloud. The new brand with the mantra “Only Forward,” demonstrates that Altair continually looks to the future creating technologies and solutions that are ahead of their time - enabling clients to design and deliver next-generation advancements.

Altair’s new brand has launched globally and can be seen online at Altair.com. It can also be seen in Altair’s social media activity through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and YouTube, as well as offline at industry events and Altair offices worldwide.

Biji-biji Initiative and Me.reka have collaborated with a community of partners to initiate a COVID-19 relief effort. Phase 1 of this initiative saw success in distributing over 24,670 face shields, 1505 aerochambers, and 58 patient isolation boxes to 75 frontline organisations across Malaysia.

The Ministry of Health publicly cited on April 13th, 2020 the increasing demand for PPEs such as face shields and medical gowns. Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah requested for community initiatives to continue efforts in donating to the MOH. We have currently received requests from 36 frontline organisations in need of over 60,000 PPE scrub sets. A community of over 9 social enterprises (appendix 1) has banded together to mobilise this effort by engaging with over 100 local makers. Social Textiles is a collective of social impact organisations utilising a decentralized production platform to tackle the increasing demand of PPE scrub sets during this fight against COVID-19.

The initiative is made possible through a consolidation of production partners and makers, consisting of impact-focused individuals, organisations and communities. Social Textiles comprises sew x dignity, Suri Lifestyle, Tanoti Crafts, Batik Boutique, Earth Heir, MyFund Action, Setia, Taylor's Me.reka Makerspace and Biji Biji Ethical Fashion. The sense of synchronicity felt amongst the social enterprises, corporate organisations and Malaysian communities is a testament to achievable and streamlined impact creation.

The community-centric initiative aims to engage and mobilise various players, from producers and suppliers to logistics providers, designers and much more. The platform utilises an open-source methodology where a sharing of designs, knowledge, resources, and expertise,  allows for the community to leverage from the communal capacity to maximize production efficiency.  The initiative is able to activate communities across the nation to contribute to a network of shared impact creation.

The initiative is actively seeking corporate sponsorships to help fuel the production. Corporate donors are able to pledge a quantity of PPE Scrubs Sets to be produced. Social impact tracking measures will be in place to ensure corporates are provided with complete impact reports which measure and indicate the extent of the impact and goodwill that came from the sponsorship.

The initiative is possible only through the support of companies and corporates joining together to achieve a communal goal. As of 21st April, Fibertex Personal Care have provided material sponsorship for the first 7,191 sets of PPE scrub (RM13.50 material cost per set). Being the largest local nonwoven fabric manufacturer for the hygiene industry, Fibertex Personal Care repurposed their facilities to produce nonwoven fabric for the medical industry to support the urgent need of our frontliners. This initiative is very grateful for the support from Fibertex Personal Care without which it would not have been possible to make these PPE scrubs. The assistance provided by Fibertex Personal Care is a testament to Malaysian solidarity. Their responsiveness in such times is an indicator of the sense of comradery and community that is built in times of adversity.

The intrinsic value of the corporate sponsorships is exponentially increased through the impact that each sponsorship creates. A sponsorship of RM 100,000 is able to unlock compounding impact, resulting in RM 24,090 of value directly to the hands of individual tailors, RM 24,090 of value directly to local social impact organisations and upwards of RM 100,000 of CSR value for the benefit of the Corporate.

Social textiles products are made by a community, not a factory. The funds provided directly contribute to the wellbeing of a multitude of families and households that are otherwise affected by the current shift in work. Many households are left without a flow of income due to the shutdown of brick and mortar businesses and activities. The 9 social impact organisations within the Social Textiles movement will go on to further mobilise 100 makers from within Malaysian communities, allowing these individuals to earn and provide for their families. The business model ensures that 25% of proceeds from each sale go to the individual maker.

Active participation in this production initiative directly contributes to the impact of creating meaningful opportunities, equipping under-utilised resources, and creating an engaging and thriving economic atmosphere through sustainable and ethical practices. Go here and fill out the form if you'd like to sponsor.

YANA, the global game day aiming to bring people together through video games on May 2, 2020, is pleased to reveal the first wave of events and talent for the official broadcasts of Facebook Gaming and Twitch. With the world in lockdown and isolation having a substantial effect on day to day living YANA aims to help connect people by harnessing the strength of the global games community. YANA was designed to encourage gamers around the world to unite through their favourite games to show that isolation doesn’t have to be isolating while also promoting social distancing. YANA was first revealed alongside prominent brands and publishers including Barclays, Facebook Gaming and Ubisoft each offering their support for the initiative.

YANA will also be collaborating with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to extend selected broadcast streams for Malaysia and its neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia. YANA will offer a truly global event with the broadcast spanning North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. The 12-hour official broadcast on Facebook Gaming and Twitch will see a series of world renowned esports teams and athletes participate across a diverse range of major video game titles and will offer something for everyone from casual gamers to sports and core competitive titles. The the first batch of events and talent can now be revealed with the final schedule and line-up being released early next week:

Follow @10milliongamers or visit YANA.gg to find out more. If you would like to participate in the event by creating content or to sign up to play in the official broadcast please register your interest at YANA.gg. Watch the official YANA broadcasts on May 2nd on Facebook Gaming and Twitch from Noon BST to Midnight BST. To donate to your charity of choice head to Just Giving.

Razer recently announced that Singapore’s first fully automated mask production is now operational within 24 days of initiating the project. The announcement follows the initial 30-day target set by Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan.

Razer has been actively contributing toward the fight against COVID-19, including donating up to 1M face masks globally which have shipped to date to Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and the United States. In addition, Razer’s subsidiary, Razer Fintech, has also recently launched a US$50M COVID-19 relief fund for partners.

Due to the lack of high quality and reliably manufactured face masks in the market as well as the lack of face masks in Southeast Asia, Razer committed to setting up a fully automated face mask production line in Singapore within 30 days from 1 April 2020. The demand for face masks has also increased in recent times due to the call by global government health bodies for citizens to mask up at all times.

The said mask manufacturing line is now operational within 24 days of initiating the project and has begun production. The mask line is fully automated and expected to have a manufacturing capacity of approximately 5 million masks per month and can be scaled up if required. Unlike many other mask manufacturing facilities that manufacture in non-controlled rooms, the Made in Singapore face masks by Razer are manufactured in an ISO 13485 certified controlled room environment and the masks produced will be certified according to local and international standards.

More news on the availability of the face masks for Singapore and the region will be made shortly via the Razer social media and press channels. Sponsors such as Frasers Property, JustCo and PBA Group have each committed US$50,000 upfront for the initial shipments of masks from the line in support of Razer’s efforts. Many other potential sponsors have since reached out and interested parties in supporting the Made in Singapore masks are encouraged to reach out to Razer. Min-Liang Tan will be sharing updates via his Facebook.

Working from home? Plenty of people are, due to the Covid-19 outbreak. It could be quite challenging than working from office. As you know, trying to focus within a bising-bising kinda environment is one of the major issues. A pair of decent headphones is all you need!

With Sony 1000X-series industry leading noise cancelling headphones, you can now work peacefully for hours and stay focused without any distraction in all-day comfort while #dudukrumah.

Listen with next-level silence thanks to Sony's industry-leading noise cancellation technologies. The 1000XM3 features a newly developed HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1.

The WF-1000XM3 truly wireless headphones feature Dual Noise Sensor technology that works with the new HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1e to catch and cancel noise respectively, so that all attention is on your music. Thanks to Dual Noise Sensor Technology, one feed-forward microphone and one feed-back microphone on the surface of the headphones catch more of the ambient sound around you. The processor cleverly creates an inverted sound wave to offset bothersome background noise. It not only cancels more noise across almost all frequencies but also uses less power. Anything ranging from annoying sounds from family fighting, to birds chirping or dogs barking outside, is dramatically cancelled by the buds - so it’s all about the music.

With a huge 30 hours of battery life in WH-1000XM3, you’ll have enough power for even longer concall meeting or video call. And if you need to charge in a hurry, you can get 5 hours’ worth of charge after just 10 minutes with the optional AC adapter.

On a full charge, the WF-1000XM3 truly wireless headphones on the other hand offer 6 hours of power and the handy charging case provides a further 3x charges to keep you going throughout the day. That’s up to 24 hours of noise-free listening. With noise cancelling off, it’s even longer – 8 hours of power on a full charge, with a further 3x charges from the charging case, for up to 32 hours of play time

See how Adaptive Sound Control automatically detects your activity such as walking, cooking and waiting, then adjusts ambient sound settings to you. And with Quick Attention, you can communicate without removing your headphones - simply place your hand over the housing to turn the volume down for instant conversation if you are wearing WH-1000XM3; or placing your finger over the earbud turns the volume right down and lets in ambient sound if you are wearing WF-1000XM3.

For product specifications, please visit: [WH-1000XM3], [WF-1000XM3] or [WI-1000XM2]

So, that’s it for TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #9. Thanks for reading, and if you think your press release or brand should be here then let our Editor-in-Chief know. If it suits it could get featured but in the meantime stay tuned to TechNave.com