TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #29 - Samsung Generation17 + Top Five Interbrand, Huawei JIOS Academy + Nandos + ICT, Huawei Q3 2020 and Special: [email protected] Interview

Welcome back TechNavers and NewsByters, in this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #29, Samsung announces Generation17, while Samsung Electronics achieves Top Five in Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2020. For Huawei, they recently signed an MoU with JIOS Academy, while the Nandos Malaysia app is now available on their AppGallery. They also announced the top ICT Students to represent Asia Pacific in the Huawei ICT Competition Finals and they also announced their Q3 2020 Business Results.

For this issue’s Special Feature we have the [email protected] interview with Acer’s Andrew Hou, President, Pan Asia Pacific (PAP) RO, Acer Inc, Jerry Kao, President IT Products and James K Lin, General Manager of Notebook Product Business in conjunction with the recent [email protected] event. Check it out at the bottom below.

Counterpoint: realme reaches 50 million product sales

Adobe forecasts $189 Billion U.S. Online Sales

unifi helps Malaysian micro SMEs with [email protected] and eBiz Pack

Epson launches new range of E10 business projectors

Digi goes virtual for Customer Obsessed Day 2020

Alibaba Group unveils plans for 2020 11.11 Global Shopping Festival

Boost enables SMEs and launches #BoostGotYou campaign

Coursera Announces Free ‘Coursera for Campus’ Options for Malaysian Students and Academic Institutions

In celebration of the United Nations’ 75th Anniversary, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. recently announced Generation17, an initiative in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to inspire action to achieve the Global Goals - a set of 17 interlinked goals that provide a blueprint to achieve a better future for all by 2030.

Generation17 merges the power of Samsung Galaxy smartphone technology with UNDP’s platform to galvanize an entire generation of young people to achieve the 17 Global Goals in less than ten years. The UNDP and Samsung will provide mentorship, networking opportunities, and Galaxy devices to help broaden the reach of each of the young leaders’ voices and strengthen their organizations and businesses.

They will also use the Samsung Global Goals app, which is preinstalled on the latest Galaxy smartphones, to show users how they can make a difference across the 17 Global Goals in their daily lives. Through educational content, the app aims to increase awareness of the Goals and has so far raised $1M in donations  for UNDP. The 2020 cohort of Generation17 is made up of four trailblazers who are mobilizing communities from Mali and Argentina, to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, to tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our lifetimes:

Samsung Electronics recently announced that it has become number five in the Best Global Brands 2020 list announced by Interbrand with its largest-ever brand value of USD 62.3 billion. Despite the challenging business environment brought onto global companies by COVID-19 in 2020, Samsung saw a 2% rise in brand value from USD 61.1 billion in 2019 to USD 62.3 billion this year. Samsung ascended to the global top five in three years after reaching number six in the list of Best Global Brands 2017.

The company has been recording consistent growth in terms of brand value since starting in 43rd place in 2000 when Interbrand began publishing the Best Global Brands. Since entering the top ten with a number nine rank in 2012, Samsung has continued its steady climb, reaching 6th place in 2017 and 5th place in 2020. The company excelled due to their Mobile Communications business with the Galaxy A series and the Galaxy Z Flip. In the network business, Samsung has established its position as a leader in 5G.

In the Visual Display business, Samsung has been leading the TV industry by launching The Sero and The Terrace. In digital appliances, Samsung continued product innovation to suit changing customers lifestyles with the BESPOKE refrigerator and Grande AI washer and dryer. In the Memory business in particular, Samsung announced Vision 2030 as a solid number one in the market. Samsung became the first company in the world to produce the EUV-based DRAM and has been continuously making investments in HBM2E Flashbolt applied with AI, automotive parts, IoT, AI and 5G for years.

The expansion of work-at-home measures resulting in growing demand for server and cloud services is expected to increase sales of DRAM and NAND flash chips. In system LSI, the company continued technological innovation and investment for Exynos and ISOCELL, and reinforced cooperation with major partners such as Audi.

Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (“Huawei”) recently inked a Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) with JIOS Academy Sdn Bhd (“JIOS Academy”) to jointly support digital initiatives spearheaded by the Johor Digital Economy Centre (JDEC), which was launched today. Through this collaboration, both parties will work together to plan, develop, and implement innovative digital solutions to enhance and upgrade businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Johor, by leveraging Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies provided by Huawei.

Huawei will take on the role as Technology Partner and Advisor, while JIOS Academy will be Project Owner and Content Provider. This strategic collaboration will also drive the adoption of AI and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions within Johor. This is in line with the state’s vision to transform the state into a Smart City with a digital-first government.

Huawei recently announced that the Nando's Malaysia app is now available for download locally on the Huawei AppGallery. With the app installed, you can now register as a member for Nando’s Loyalty Programme and start collecting ‘chillies’ to earn rewards and get member exclusive promotions. On top of that, the app also allows you to order your favourite dish online, locate nearby Nando’s restaurants, count your Nando’s calories and so forth.

The Nando’s Malaysia app joins the ever-growing family of HUAWEI AppGallery, the third-largest app store in the world. Apart from Nando’s Malaysia, HUAWEI AppGallery is filled with many frequently used applications in Malaysia such as Maybank2u, Zalora, TikTok, Lazada and more. To find out what other applications are on HUAWEI AppGallery, head over to their site.

The 2019-2020 Huawei Asia Pacific ICT Competition, under the theme of "Connection, Glory, Future," successfully concluded recently. Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) from Indonesia won champions of both the Network and Cloud tracks in this regional finals, and will represent the Asia Pacific region in the global finals. This year, the Huawei ICT competition in Asia Pacific attracted 4051 participants from 65 ICT Academies of six countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, India and Thailand; to compete in two technological tracks of Network and Cloud.

Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) from Indonesia won Champions of both the Network and Cloud tracks in this regional finals. From Malaysia, Universiti Malaya (UM), the former Network champion, won the first runner-up spot, while Singapore’s Nanyang Polytechnics (NYP) was the second runner-up. All winners will proceed to the Global Finals which will be held in Shenzhen, China in November.

The Huawei ICT competition aims to develop a platform for government organizations, higher education institutions, training partners, enterprises and students to support ICT education. The competition not only recognises and rewards student achievements in technology, but also provides guidance for future career development. The tech company aims to develop at least 200,000 ICT professionals over the next five years in the Asia Pacific region through Huawei ICT Academy and various programs.

Huawei recently announced its business results for the first three quarters of 2020. During this period, Huawei generated CNY671.3 billion in revenue, an increase of 9.9% over the same period last year. The company's net profit margin in this period was 8.0%.  Throughout the first three quarters of 2020, Huawei's business results basically met expectations.

As the world grapples with COVID-19, Huawei's global supply chain is being put under intense pressure and its production and operations face significant challenges. The company continues to do its best to find solutions, survive and forge forward, and fulfill its obligations to customers and suppliers.

Moving forward, Huawei will leverage its strengths in ICT technologies such as AI, cloud, 5G, and computing to provide scenario-based solutions, develop industry applications, and unleash the value of 5G networks along with its partners. Its stated goal is to help enterprises grow their business and help governments boost domestic industry, benefit constituents, and improve overall governance.

LG Electronics Inc. recently announced third-quarter 2020 consolidated revenue of KRW 16.92 trillion (USD 14.24 billion) and operating profit of KRW 959 billion (USD 807.14 million).  Both sales and profits were the highest for a third quarter in the 62-year history of LG Electronics. Led by strong growth in home appliances and home entertainment, overall sales increased 7.8 percent and operating income improved by 22.7 percent compared with the same period last year.

Get more details which will be available for download at the LG Electronics website at approximately 15:00 on October 30, 2020. For those unable to participate, an audio recording of the news conference will be available for a period of 30 days after the conclusion of the call. The webcast replay will be available at their site.

realme, was recently named by Counterpoint's Q3 2020 smartphone shipment report to have reached the 50 million smartphone sales milestone. realme achieved this in merely nine quarters. In addition to this milestone, realme also recorded quarterly shipments of 14.8 million and growing 132% QoQ for the quarter.

Check out the Counterpoint Q3 2020 Global Smartphone Shipments Report or the Counterpoint Q3 2020 Global Smartphone Shipments Report for more details.

As the holidays are around the corner, Adobe released its online shopping predictions for the 2020 holiday season. Based on Adobe Analytics data, Adobe predicts that U.S. online holiday sales will total $189 billion, shattering all previous records with a 33% YoY increase, equal to two years’ growth in one season. If consumers receive another round of stimulus checks and physical stores need to shut down in large parts of the country, consumers are expected to spend an additional $11 billion online, surpassing a total of $200 billion (47% YoY increase).

Adobe expects November and December to turn into Cyber Months this year instead of Cyber Week. Here are some of the other predictions:

Please find the full blogpost on their site.

unifi is helping Malaysian Micro SMEs via the launch of [email protected] and eBiz Pack. This will help micro SMEs (MSMEs) to transit their businesses online and simplify the way they do business. In recent years, the contribution of MSMEs to the economy has increased exponentially, however many of them tend to fall by the wayside as they do not have the right tools and capacity to continue staying afloat and be able to adapt to the new digital landscape. [email protected] enables MSMEs access to a larger pool of customers by offering FREE online advertising in listing their businesses on [email protected]’s online directory. Small businesses like home-based bakers and even roadside burger stalls can benefit from this platform by getting their businesses known to the local community.

Besides housing an easy-to-use online directory of local MSMEs nationwide, [email protected] will also host targeted content such as featured articles, and videos, to promote businesses listed on the platform. Micro SMEs interested in listing their businesses on [email protected] can sign up today by visiting this page. For more information on eBiz Pack, please visit this site.

Setting a new minimum resolution standard for business presentations, Epson recently announced the launch of a new range of business projectors, including the Epson EB-E10. The new E10 range of business projectors all incorporate XGA, WXGA or Full HD resolution, leaving behind the conventional entry-level SVGA resolution, while setting new industry standards for quality business presentations. The wide range of entry level models also offer competitive specifications that are affordable while meeting an extending range of business needs.

All models in the range offer XGA or higher resolution and also include Epson’s 3LCD technology, allowing for more accurate and higher quality colour output than 1 Chip DLPTM Projectors. They feature a wide range of connectivity options, from optional wireless to Miracast® connectivity. With a long lamp life of up to 17,000 hours in ECO mode – the equivalent of 14 years' worth of use – the projectors also provide a low total cost of ownership to help businesses of all sizes manage their operational overheads.

The new EB-E10 business projector series is now retailing at RM1,420 at Epson Flagship store on Lazada and Epson Authorised Dealer stores. Other models in the series will be made available progressively by December.

Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) continued their annual Customer Obsessed Day 2020 (COD) for the ninth consecutive year. Unlike previous years where employees were mobilised to the streets of key market centres nationwide, the pandemic has inspired Digi to pivot to digital means. For this year’s COD, more than 1,000 Digizens interacted with customers virtually.

Themed “You Inspire Us. Our Customers, Our Priority”, this year’s COD objectives centered around 3 key areas  – (i) to learn from our customers so that we can better serve them, (ii) to help our customers stay connected at the safety of their home via MyDigi, and as always (iii) to thank our customers for their continuous support.

The COD activities were all organised and managed digitally, from recording of customers stories, to Digizens having a live video chat with more than 3,000 customers, and gifting of MyRewards to thank our customers with a personal touch. Digizens were also required to strengthen their knowledge on customer engagement topics through 3 hours of e-learning as part of the mandatory COD tasks.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited recently kicked off its 11.11 Global Shopping Festival with new innovations and features. These include the participation of Alipay’s digital lifestyle platform; broader consumer reach and bigger promotions; “double” the number of shopping windows that will spotlight more brands, products and special offers; as well as the popular livestreaming technology creating more fun and engagement for Chinese consumers with the largest international presence to date.

This year the Festival expands the concept from “single” to “double,” enabling merchants to double up on promoting their products to consumers across China not just once, but twice. A new sales window will be added from November 1 to 3, ahead of the main event on November 11, with the aim of providing merchants, specifically new brands and small businesses, the opportunity to showcase their products and tell their brand stories amid the pandemic.

Livestreaming is expected to take the center stage of this year’s 11.11 where Taobao Live will offer sessions ranging from cosmetics, electronics, to cars and houses. New features like online property viewings and virtual vehicle test drives will provide more realistic and engaging experience to help consumers with their buying decisions. Alibaba’s DAMO Academy will use artificial intelligence technology to create its first virtual livestreaming host, while Fliggy will host travel-related livestreams.

Boost is building an enabling ecosystem with three components for MSMEs including startups and entrepreneurs to crisis-proof their businesses. The first is cashless payment tools with the e-wallet. The second is micro-financing through sister company Aspirasi. The third is supporting businesses to move offline to online under the SME Digitalisation Grant by the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), in partnership with Celcom who is an official Technology Solutions Provider (TSP).

Additionally, with #BoostGotYou, users who spend a minimum of RM30 in a single transaction purchasing insurance policy underwritten by Great Eastern Life Assurance will be eligible to win Samsung’s Galaxy Note20. Users who spend RM30 cumulatively on Bill Payments or prepaid top up will stand a chance to win a prize of the month. Prizes for October, a total of 2,000 winners will receive 2,500 Boost Coins each. Whereas prizes for November and December, a total of 250 winners will be chosen weekly to receive RM50 Bill Payment Wallet and another 250 winners will be chosen weekly for RM30 Top Up Wallet.

For more information, check out the website.

Coursera, recently announced free versions of its Coursera for Campus programme, with upgraded features, that will enable universities in Malaysia to deliver academic integrity for credit-bearing online learning and improve student employability.

Coursera for Campus is available to students and academic institutions in these offerings: -

For more information about each offering, visit their site.

Microsoft Malaysia in partnership with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) have launched the Highway to a 100 Unicorns initiative, as part of a joint effort to strengthen the nation’s startup ecosystem and empower local startups with mentoring, technology, and access to enterprise clients.

Eligible startups will gain access to focused workshops on business and technology, as well as monthly knowledge-sharing webinars with the global startup community. Additionally, the top startups from Malaysia will stand to gain from an intensive year-long mentorship program, access to enterprise clients as well as engagement opportunities with Microsoft experts and industry leaders.

Applications close on 31 October 2020. For more information, visit their site.

Acer recently held an online interview with Andrew Hou, President, Pan Asia Pacific (PAP) RO, Acer Inc, Jerry Kao, President IT Products and James K Lin, General Manager of Notebook Product Business. This was in conjunction with the recent [email protected] event where Acer revealed a number of new devices and products for launch.

For the interview, they noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has really made an impact on Acer’s markets with Year-on-Year (YoY) growth throughout the region. More users working from home are buying more Acer laptops, Chromebooks and other tech devices, with a Q3 PAP revenue YoY growth of 15% after the lockdown.

Because of the pandemic, the demand for Acer devices actually increased. Growth in gaming was also noted, despite the recent cancellation of the Predator league. During the interview they revealed that plans for new Acer products for next year are already underway.

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 2020 #3 - Digi, MDEC, HID Signo, Adobe 36 Days of Type, Kaspersky Coronavirus, Celcom, TIME, Tibco, eJamin, realme, Xiaomi and more

Sorry folks, the TechNave NewsBytes have piled up recently with news from Digi, MDEC, HID Signo, Adobe 36 Days of Type, Kaspersky Coronavirus, Celcom, TIME, Tibco, eJamin, realme, Xiaomi and more. We’ll try and cover more, more regularly as they roll in so stay tuned to TechNave.com

HID Global recently announced the launch of HID® SignoTM, its signature line of readers that creates a new industry benchmark for the most adaptable, interoperable and secure approach to access control.  The new readers dramatically simplify system deployment and management, meet the advanced security requirements of today’s dynamic environments and set organizations up for smarter, more connected access control.

For ultimate versatility, the readers are interoperable with over a dozen physical and mobile credential technologies so organizations can use their technology of choice and easily migrate to the latest solutions at their own pace. Packed with smart features such as automatic surface detection that recalibrates and optimizes read performance based on the mounting location the readers are also IP65 rated with no additional gasket needed, and feature a capacitive touch keypad resistant to harsh weather conditions.

The new line of HID Signo Readers is available through Advantage Partners in major markets worldwide, with a phased roll out in select regions.

Adobe is proud to announce the partnership with 36 Days of Type to celebrate the art of type and lettering design around the world. For the next 36 days, any designer, illustrator, artist, or hobbyist can upload their own creative take on a letterform and share it with the world. On April 10, a panel of five judges around the world will pick the most unique, creative, or innovative letterform sets. Six winners will be awarded a one-year Creative Cloud subscription for their 36 Days of Type submission.

As coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread across the world, users are increasingly being left confused with fake information being distributed online at a very high rate. Cybercriminals have been amongst the first to jump on this activity, hoping to take advantage of unsuspecting users.

At first, we found emails offering products such as masks, and then the topic became more commonly used in Nigerian spam emails. We also found scam emails with phishing links and malicious attachments. One of the latest spam campaigns mimics the World Health Organization (WHO), showing how cybercriminals recognize and are capitalizing on the important role WHO has in providing trustworthy information about the coronavirus. Users receive emails allegedly from WHO, which supposedly offer information about safety measures to be taken to avoid infection. Once a user clicks on the link embedded in the email, they are redirected to a phishing website and prompted to share personal information, which ends up in the hands of cybercriminals. This scam looks more realistic than other examples we have seen lately, such as alleged donations from the World Bank or IMF for anyone who needs a loan.

In order to stay safe, we advise users to carefully study the content of the emails they receive and only trust reliable sources. If you are promised a vaccine for the virus or some magic protective measures, or content of the email is making you worried, it has most likely come from cybercriminals.

This is especially true if the sender suggests clicking on a link and sharing your personal data or opening an attachment. You should not donate any real money or trust information with promises to help those affected by the virus, even if the email comes from someone who introduces themselves as an employee of a trusted organization. Finally, double check the email address, as scammers often use free email services or addresses that have no relation to the organization mentioned.

Kaspersky detection technologies have also found malicious files disguised as documents related to the virus. The malicious files were masked under the guise of pdf, mp4 and docx files about the coronavirus. The names of files imply that they contain video instructions on how to protect yourself from the virus, updates on the threat and even virus detection procedures, which is not actually the case. In fact, these files contained a range of threats, from Trojans to worms, which are capable of destroying, blocking, modifying or copying data, as well as interfering with the operation of computers or computer networks.

Some malicious files are spread via email. For example, an Excel file distributed via email under the guise of a list of coronavirus victims allegedly sent from the World Health Organization (WHO) was in fact a Trojan-Downloader, which secretly downloads and installs another malicious file. This second file was a Trojan-Spy designed to gather various data, including passwords, from the infected device and send it to the attacker.

Governments and businesses across the world are increasingly encouraging home working in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19/coronavirus. It is likely that, where feasible, companies will allow more people than ever before to work remotely, so now is a good time for organizations to re-examine security around remote access to corporate systems. Once devices are taken outside of a company’s network infrastructure and are connected to new networks and WIFI, the risks to corporate information increase. There are a number of simple steps that can be taken to reduce the cyber-risks associated with home working, and Kaspersky advises the following:

TIME dotCom Berhad closed the financial year ended 31 December 2019 with a consolidated revenue of RM1,113.9 million, a 13.3% increase over the RM983.4 million recorded in FY2018.

Revenue growth was recorded across all core customer groups, led by Wholesale and Retail customers. Excluding one-off revenues from non-recurring contracts, the data and data centre businesses recorded year-on-year growth of 16.6% and 2.4%, respectively.

In FY2019, profit before tax grew to RM328.1 million, representing a 7.6% increase over the same period for the preceding year (FY2018: RM304.8 million). On an adjusted basis, excluding the impact of foreign exchange and one-off items, FY2019 profit before tax grew 21% year-on-year.  The increase can be attributed to higher overall revenues, a higher share of profit from investments in associates and a higher interest income in the current reporting year.

For the financial year under review, TIME declared an ordinary interim and a special interim tax exempt (single tier) dividend of 9.95 sen and 19.08 sen per ordinary share respectively, which will be paid out on 31 March 2020.

Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi), Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), and UNICEF with the support of the Ministry of Education (MOE) today announced their collaboration to embark on a Future Skills For All programme. It aims to make the learning of digital skills easier and more accessible for schoolchildren.

Future Skills For All is a three-year programme that aims to support MOE’s efforts to strengthen the teaching and learning of Computational Thinking and Computer Science in national schools. The initiative will see the digitisation of modules for the Design and Technology (RBT) subject for Primary 5-6 students, Basic Science Computer (ASK) and Science Computer (SK) subjects for students from Secondary 1-3 and 4-5 respectively. The digital modules, comprising tutorial videos, practical quiz assessment and project making contents will supplement learnings from existing textbooks used by schoolchildren as part of their education syllabus, thus leveling up their comprehension of these subjects.

The programme, which is in its first phase, will be implemented nationwide. Schoolchildren and educators can begin accessing the digitised modules of the Design and Technology, and Science Computer subjects via MOE’s Google Classroom platform towards end of March this year.

In order to ensure widespread reach and to drive adoption of the modules across schools and community centres, the Future Skills For All programme will progressively be introduced at Digi Internet centres, Digital Maker Hubs affiliated to the #mydigitalmaker movement, state libraries, rural internet centres, alternative learning centres for refugee communities, and other selected community centres across Malaysia. Additionally, over 1,300 micro:bit starter kits which are pocket-sized micro-computers often used in programming studies, will be distributed to these community centres to provide students with a more enriching and hands-on learning experience.

TIBCO recently announced it has been selected by Affin Hwang Asset Management Berhad (Affin Hwang AM) as a technology vendor supporting the company’s digital strategy to achieve reliable data migration. Affin Hwang AM is an independently managed, bank-backed asset management ﬁrm that started in 2001. The company will use TIBCO Data Virtualization for real-time access to their data while minimizing complexity and cost.

TIBCO Data Virtualization is essential to digital businesses, helping improve stability and performance for downstream systems, as well as flexibility and faster time to market. TIBCO’s Data Virtualization capabilities save the time and effort of physically moving data into a single source. In addition, large data volumes from across multiple data warehouses can be combined into a single view and quickly analyzed or turned into a report.

Celcom Axiata Berhad and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation Sdn. Bhd. (MDEC) will explore joint initiatives with the goal of accelerating digitisation of SMEs and expanding the digital ecosystem to support Malaysia’s vision of becoming a digital nation. This includes leveraging on the push for Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) and 5G development.

Idham Nawawi, Chief Executive Officer of Celcom Axiata Berhad and Surina Shukri, Chief Executive Officer of MDEC signed the MoU in a ceremony held at Celcom’s headquarters, @celcom in Petaling Jaya.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will initially enable Celcom to engage with MDEC’s established partners that offer products, solutions, and services of various technology pillars. Celcom is looking forward to leverage on the anticipated partnerships as a platform to enhance its IoT and 5G Centre of Excellence, as well as expanding its reach into multiple verticals and consumers, providing IoT solutions, Smart City and Smart Home Solutions, e-sports, connectivity, digital content, cybersecurity, among others.

As the MoU will focus mostly on digital business acumen development for these segments, Celcom and MDEC will collaborate to accelerate digitalising of businesses among local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups, This will include digital entrepreneurship training and skills development that will create more space for the budding entrepreneurs to build and scale their businesses in the digital economy. Other than that, SMEs and start-ups will have the opportunity to leverage on Celcom’s digital offering for businesses, such as Business Suite for Retail™.

DAPAT Vista (M) Sdn Bhd, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd and Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd have signed Collaboration Agreements to launch Malaysia’s pioneer digital bail payment solution, eJamin. eJamin is the first digital bail payment solution in Malaysia and South East Asia that provides bailors the convenience of expedient and efficient payment to ensure the quick release of those in remand.

eJamin allows bailors to post bail through mobile devices and desktops. Bailors will no longer be required to go through the lengthy and time-consuming process of traveling between the court and the bank to open a surety account. The convenience of eJamin allows bail payment to be made instantaneously via FPX online banking. What used to take four to five hours can now be done within thirty minutes.

Bailors are required to complete an electronic form on eJamin with both their required personal details and that of the Accused’s. Once payment is made through the FPX online interchange, bail money is automatically routed to the designated Bank Islam or Bank Muamalat accounts. At the close of the case, bail money will be refunded to bailor’s bank account via eJamin within a reasonably short time.

eJamin is currently available at the following Courts:

Plans are to fully deploy at Courts throughout Malaysia by the end of 2020.

Following last year’s global announcement on the AMD Ryzen 5 3500X, we are happy to announce that it will be available this week for RM639. Featuring a base clock speed of 3.6Ghz, 6 Cores and 6 Threads, it can reach an estimated Boost Clock speed of 4.1GHz with a TDP of 65w. It offers a 32MB cache and comes with a Wraith Stealth cooler.

Xiaomi is proud to announce its popular smartphones, the Redmi Note 7 and Redmi Note 8 series, have reached a new milestone in 2019. According to the latest data from Canalys, both the Redmi Note 8 and Redmi Note 8 pro were featured in the 2019 Global Top Smartphones list in Q4 2019.

According to the global smartphone analysis in Q4 2019 released by Canalys recently, realme has entered the Top Smartphone Vendors as Top 4 in the Philippines and Top 5 in the Egypt market. The facts inferred that realme has surpassed many other major brands in both of these two regions.

In the Philippines market, realme became the 4th smartphone vendor with a market share of 9%. Meanwhile, the YoY Growth of realme reached to 709% which looks quite outstanding, making it one of the fastest-growing smartphone brands in the market. In the Egypt market, realme has also made it to the Top 5 list.

Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd is collaborating with the Ministry of Education Malaysia and Google Malaysia to launch the second iteration of the Yellow Heart CyberSAFE in Schools Competition in conjunction with Safer Internet Day.

The competition is part of the CyberSAFE in Schools public-private initiative that started in 2011 to address rising concerns around online risks through awareness raising, capacity building for digital resilience and to empower schoolchildren and teachers with digital citizenship skills to stay safe online.

The competition will be held from February 2020 until October 2020 in three, 3-month long seasons. Each season will have 4 winners (primary and secondary schools) that will walk away with a cash prize of RM200 and goodies worth RM400. One winner will be chosen as the Grand Winner from each season and will be entitled to a Mystery Grand Prize.

Open to all primary and secondary students nationwide, students are required to watch a video-story theme around disinformation exclusively created by popular animator Cartoon Hooligans. The video which features the four superheroes, Ah Hock, Besi Man, Black Harimau and Steve Rojak tackling the issue of how information can be easily manipulated and spread maliciously on the internet but ends in a cliff hanger.

Participating students will then need to come up with a solution to the issue by providing a creative ending using information gained from the resources and education games available from cybersafeinschools.my. Submissions are through online via the same website.


TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #30 - Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 for Work and Play, Samsung AI Forum 2020, Samsung TV, Huawei Mate40 Series sold-out, Lenovo EdVision and more

Welcome back TechNavers and NewsByters, in this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #30, Samsung starts the ball rolling with featurettes on their Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 for Work and Play, their Samsung AI Forum 2020 and the reasons why Samsung thinks Bigger is better when it comes to Your TV.

For Huawei, their Huawei Mate40 series sold-out during launch in China while Lenovo launched their EdVision program with Microsoft to help educational institutions in Malaysia.

For this issue’s Special, find out How to Safeguard your Smartphone and Become a Cybersecurity Wiz with Samsung. Check it out at the bottom.

Picking up right where the Galaxy Fold left off, the Galaxy Z Fold2 continues to build on Samsung’s best-in-class foldable innovations. Combining the power of its larger Cover Screen, immersive Main Screen, and a versatile camera system, the device delivers a wide range of productivity and entertainment experiences that defy expectations. All these groundbreaking functionalities are made possible by one foundational feature – the expanded Flex mode.

The Galaxy Z Fold2 is available in Mystic Black and Mystic Bronze at RRP RM 7,999. From now until 30th November, customers who purchase Galaxy Z Fold2 will be entitled to amazing gifts - a pair of Buds Live worth RRP RM699 and One-time Inner Screen Crack Protection1. On top of that, customers can purchase the Z Fold2 case at 20% off for every purchase of Galaxy Z Fold2 device.

The Samsung AI Forum is an annual event that brings together globally renowned experts in the industry as well as across academia to serve as a platform with which to disseminate the very latest in AI trends, technologies and research. On November 2, Dr. Kinam Kim, Vice Chairman & CEO of Device Solutions at Samsung Electronics, commemorated the start of the first day of the AI Forum 2020 by delivering an opening speech that highlighted how AI technologies have shown remarkable progress over the years.

He went on to note that, given these changes, many are expecting AI to address the issues brought on by the recent pandemic, but highlighted that since AI bases its models on massive amounts of real-life data and simulations, the task of modeling the current pandemic and other natural disasters with AI was a daunting one.

At this year’s AI Forum, Samsung introduced their inaugural Samsung AI Researcher of the Year awards with the view to identify prominent emerging researchers in the field from around the world and to support their research activities. Check out the Samsung Malaysia Newsroom for more information on the Samsung AI Forum 2020.

Today’s consumers want a bigger, more immersive picture. Which may explain why, according to recent consumer segmentation research conducted by Samsung Electronics, consumers rank screen size as a major reason to upgrade to a new TV, and why this year, experts predict that sales of 75-inch and larger TVs will increase by 17 percent, and sales of 8K TVs will increase by 110 percent.

If you’re thinking of upgrading to a big-screen TV, here are a few points to consider before making your purchase. If you’re unsure how a big-screen TV would look in your home, here’s a handy idea: try using painter’s tape to create an outline of the TV size you’re thinking of buying on your wall for reference. When buying a big-screen TV, make sure that the display you choose will offer you the most immersive experience possible.

Samsung’s QLED 8K TVs combine a high resolution with cutting-edge innovations like the 8K Quantum Processor to offer users the ultimate in terms of both image quality and in-home entertainment. To know more about Samsung 2020 QLED TVs, please visit their site.

Recently the Huawei Mate40 series smartphones were launched in China where they were sold out in just 28 seconds. The newest additions to the HUAWEI family also recorded sold out units on official HUAWEI e-commerce platforms, marking users’ continued trust in HUAWEI and the products they deliver.

“We are truly honoured to receive continued support from our users. Just ten years ago, HUAWEI had only 1 million users. Today, we’ve reached the milestone of having 1 billion HUAWEI users, in which a vast majority of 700 million are smartphone users,” said Richard Yu, HUAWEI Consumer Business Group (CBG) CEO. “While we continue to face our fair share of challenges, we are fairly confident that we’ll be able to pull through, driven and motivated by the support of our consumers.”

Lenovo Malaysia recently launched their EdVision program in collaboration with Microsoft where individuals and schools in Malaysia will be provided with access to online resources that will help them through their education transformation journey, as well as prioritized access to the latest solutions in education tech.

Especially for the school partners, Lenovo will work with Microsoft to host workshops for the school committee teams, ranging from school principals to teachers from selected primary and secondary schools, and provide tech consultation along their digital transformation process.

Schools and industry partners who join the EdVision program will work collaboratively with Lenovo and Microsoft to promote the digital transformation of education, by participating in press conferences and other outreach activities. For more information, please go to their site.

Canalys recently released the latest market data showing that Xiaomi's market share in Malaysia rose to No. 4 at 16% in Q3 2020, with its annual growth rising by 113% year-over-year (YoY). Xiaomi’s annual growth in Malaysia is the highest among the top 5 smartphone brands in Malaysia in the same period.

Xiaomi's market share in Southeast Asia rose to No.4 at 14% in Q3 2020, with a rise of 18% YoY. Worldwide shipments in Q3 2020 were 47.1 million devices shipped globally at 13.5% global market share and 45% YoY growth.

Based on what was shared during the tabling of Budget 2021, MDEC believes the measures that Minister of Finance, YB Senator Dato’ Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, shared during his speech are a clear reflection of the Government’s focus on ensuring the rapidly growing digital economy needs are met and local businesses are able to digitalise quickly. This is to address the immediate challenges brought on by COVID-19, an unprecedented event that forcefully shifted people and businesses to digital technologies and solutions for all their daily routines.

The measures are welcomed, especially as Budget 2021 is perceived as the most challenging ever to be tabled due to the pandemic and economic slowdown it caused.

Budget 2021 shines the spotlight on the Government’s ongoing efforts to improve the digital skills of all Malaysians and their marketability in a competitive workforce. The end-goal: to digitally empower Malaysian society.

Mercury Research recently released their Q3 2020 x86 CPU Market Share report and AMD continues to make significant gains, quarter over quarter (QoQ) and year over year (YoY), in all key segments. The unit share info is as follows:

In response to the release of the AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards, a new 3DMark feature test that measures pure ray-tracing performance has been released. You can use the 3DMark DirectX Raytracing feature test to compare the performance of the dedicated ray-tracing hardware in the latest graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA.

The DirectX Raytracing feature test is available now as a free update for 3DMark Advanced Edition from Steam and the UL Benchmarks website. 3DMark Advanced Edition owners who purchased 3DMark before January 8, 2019, will need to upgrade to unlock the latest ray-tracing tests. Check out their site for more details.

The question of ‘hackability’ and the overall security of our smartphones is one of those issues that seems to pop up in the news. After all, we use our smartphones for just about anything – sharing photos, ordering food, shopping online, sending emails and messages, banking and financial services, etc. – without realising all of the ways we could be putting our device and ourselves at risk, allowing cybercriminals to get access to our sensitive data.

While many of us are better informed today about the potential dangers of being connected on our smartphones, hackers and cybercriminals are also changing their methods of attack. As the global pandemic have left many of us stuck at home and more reliant than ever on our mobile devices, cybercriminals have also adapted new ways to target users. Over the Movement Control Order (MCO), cybersecurity cases spiked by 82.5% compared to the same time last year, with 18% attributed to attacks against local companies and the remaining linked to home users and others .

Recognising Cyberattacks and the Need for Cyber-resilience

Among the new waves of attacks brought on by the pandemic are COVID-19 themed phishing lures, high-risk fake domains, and scams . These new methods employed by cybercriminals are aimed at taking advantage of the public fear of the virus, combined with heightened stress levels from unfamiliar ways of working. The most common attacks in Malaysia can be attributed to phishing attempts, the spread of malicious code via untrustworthy websites, and passwords, as below:

Cyberattacks continue to grow day-by-day, and it is crucial that we learn to minimise risk, with good cyber habits being a pivotal and essential first step in combatting threats.

Defending your Smartphone, the Moment it is Turned On

As such, while it is important to take steps and measures to protect yourself online, it is also crucial to have a strong security platform on your smartphone, helping you encrypt and secure confidential data. Most smartphone breaches happen because they may not be equipped with advanced security measures, have outdated systems that may not be able to withstand current attacks. Similarly, smartphone owners may also not consider the importance of securing their phones or performing regular security check-ups. However, there are certain devices that come with a safe and secure in-built mobile interface to keep your personal data protected.

For example, Samsung Knox sets a foundation of security to users at both the hardware and software level as a security platform that’s integrated within Samsung smartphones, tablets, and wearables to protect it against malicious threats. Users can safeguard passwords, save private files under a secured folder, and even secure mobile transactions with Samsung Knox. Getting to know your security platforms is just as important when considering the range of services that is available to ensure that it is updated to meet global information and technology security requirements. This helps its users stay ahead of the modern-day threats with its game-changing security features.

Given that smartphone usage has only grown exponentially over the past few years, it is important that we have more security platforms allowing us the freedom and peace-of-mind in staying connected.

On top of having a top-tier security platform for your data, having that protection extended to all the essentials in a mobile device is equally important. While many of us are familiar with installing apps on our phones, we may be unfamiliar with the authenticity of the sources producing these apps. Learning to identify unverified and suspicious sources can help users identify potentially harmful apps.

Similar to how Samsung devices come built-in with Google Mobile Services (GMS) to help ensure that your vital applications have the latest updates and patches from verified sources, using trusted sources from well-known app stores like Google Play can help protect you from downloading and installing apps that can harm your devices.

Staying Secure, Safe, and Savvy about Security

Cyberattacks are nothing new, the challenge is in identifying and combatting the updated approach that many cybercriminals are using when it comes to their targets and the frequency of their attacks. Whether it is a hacking attempt by a third-party app or a fraud email redirecting you to a malicious website, most cybercriminals have one common goal: exploit your personal data and use that data to make profit. As such, it is critical that we keep our sensitive information protected at all costs, with the help of a smartphone built with highly advanced security features to always keep you safe from unwanted threats.

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 2020 #31 - Samsung features, Huawei features, Xiaomi Q3 2020, Maxis tool, AMD Hangar 21, Special: OPPO Reno4 Vlogging tips and more

Welcome back TechNavers and NewsByters, in this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #31, Samsung showcased a number of their feature stories including how they make their cameras, Kickboxing Champion Janosch Nietlispach's morning routine with the Galaxy A51 and how Samsung upgrades Sound Experience for Galaxy smartphone owners.

Also revealing a score of feature stories is Huawei which include Huawei’s Ken Hu: 5G will creates new value and growth, China Unicom Beijing Branch and Huawei announce "5G Capital" Innovation Project achievements and Huawei's Ryan Ding: Maximizing Wireless Network Value for a Golden Decade of 5G. In addition, there was also the Huawei Spark Malaysia competition organised by Huawei + MDEC and powered by TM ONE α Edge (Alpha Edge) for tech startups and the Huawei ICT Competition 2019-2020 Global Final has ended.

Xiaomi announced their Q3 2020 result achievements while Maxis prepared a Digital Readiness Index tool to help Malaysian businesses digitalize. A new “Hangar 21” Tech Demo shows off what you can get with AMD RDNA 2 and OPPO came up with our Special: Need to Step Up Your Vlogging Game? Here are 5 Steps From OPPO for this issue.

Samsung Newsroom talked with Joshua Sungdae Cho, VP and Head of Visual SW R&D at Samsung Mobile, to discuss Samsung’s camera philosophy and legacy of imaging technology. According to him, the driving philosophy behind the features and specs for cameras on Galaxy devices is to satisfy two very different needs.

First, to help general users by democratizing the experience of professional photography, making it easy for them to create high-quality photos and videos with nothing but their smartphone. Secondly, to bring a more customized shooting experience for pros who want to use their Galaxy smartphone as a professional tool. To do that, they focus on three key areas: the best shooting and viewing experience, ease of use, and controllability.

For more information, check out their site.

According to Samsung’s internal data, over 50 percent of Galaxy users use a personalized ringtone. One UI is designed to make everyday life simpler and bring joy to the everyday experience. Along with visual refinements, the Galaxy Note20, Galaxy Z Fold2, Galaxy Z Flip 5G and Galaxy S20 FE devices now offer an expansive sound palette.  The updated sound experience includes ten brand new ringtones performed exclusively for Galaxy by professional classical and jazz musicians from around the world to create a relaxing vibe while giving users more options for personalization and self-expression.

Bringing the new music to life was a process that spanned the globe. For the classical pieces, Samsung invited seasoned musicians from conservatoires in South Korea to participate in the recording. The jazz recording session, meanwhile, brought together a group of award-winning musicians and composers in the U.S. For more information, visit their site.

At the recent 11th Annual Mobile Broadband Forum, Huawei's Deputy Chairman Ken Hu spoke with leaders in the telecoms and digital technology sectors about the new value that 5G can bring to different industries around the globe. As 5G is poised to transform the way we live, connect, and work, the telecoms sector is deeply invested in creating more value beyond the consumer market.

Global 5G rollout is progressing quickly. As a leader in this domain, China has already seen over 600,000 base stations deployed in more than 300 cities, supporting more than 160 million 5G connections across the country. 5G services in China now deliver speeds in the hundreds of Mbps, and a wide array of 5G services have already been implemented in more than 20 domestic industries, including healthcare, ports, steel, power grids, mining, and manufacturing.

At the 2020 Global Mobile Broadband Forum, Huawei will share insights into global industry trends and hot topics with carriers, regulators, partners, and media analysts from around the world. They will explore how innovation in ICT technologies such as 5G and AI can be mutually beneficial to industries and society at large. For more information, please visit their site.

At the China Unicom Beijing Branch and Huawei 5G Capital Press Conference, the two parties announced the achievements of the 5G Capital innovation project with the theme of "Smarter, Together". They also launched "5G Capital Cube" together with industry partners such as Yitong Century, and Tencent Games to build E2E network capabilities and a win-win ecosystem.

In the past six months, China Unicom Beijing and Huawei have built a superior 5G network by implementing the 5G Capital joint innovation project (6 innovative solutions + value monetization of 4 smart services + 2 showcase projects). The two parties also invited partners to engage in the implementation and development of use cases, laying a solid foundation for the 5G industry in Beijing. These actions helped improve the 5G E2E model from applications to terminals, networks, and businesses, transforming Beijing into a global 5G benchmark.

For more details, Please check out their site.

At the 2020 Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF), Huawei's Executive Director and President of the Carrier Business Group Ryan Ding gave his keynote speech "Maximizing Wireless Network Value for a Golden Decade of 5G". Ding said that the coming decade will be a golden age for 5G's progress around the world, and that the whole industry must have faith in 5G, build the best 5G networks, and make the most of them for shared value.

Ding emphasized that developing industrial 5G applications is an industry-wide effort, rather than just carriers' responsibility. Accelerating this development is only possible when telecommunications integrates with other industries. In the recently frozen Release 16, 3GPP added an improved standard for broadcasting services and 5G functions like location and ultra-low air interface latency. Upcoming releases, including Release 17, will address additional industry needs.

At the end of his speech, Ding stated that the next decade will be a golden age for 5G. The whole industry needs to have faith, build the best networks possible for consumers, and nurture new capabilities for industry customers to maximize the value of wireless networks for a golden decade of 5G. For more information, please visit their site.

Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (Huawei) has brought the Huawei Spark programme to Malaysia – a programme which aims to incubate and accelerate company growth and build an ecosystem for businesses in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. The programme was launched in collaboration with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation’s (MDEC) Global Acceleration and Innovation Network programme (GAIN) and powered by TM ONE – the enterprise and public sector business solutions arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) – through its α Edge (pronounced as Alpha Edge) Cloud platform.

The competition was launched online followed by a panel discussion featuring experts from Huawei, MDEC and TM ONE on the tech ecosystem in Malaysia. Representatives from Soft Space Sdn Bhd and Hexa Food Sdn Bhd also shared their insights during the panel session. The Huawei Spark programme is a hybrid accelerator programme to support deep tech companies in APAC, with a focus on firms that use 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning & Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), Edge Computing and Software as a Service (SaaS) applications.

The Global Final of the Huawei ICT Competition 2019–2020 came to a successful conclusion on November 14, at Huawei's Songshan Lake campus in Dongguan. Focusing on the theme of "Connection · Glory · Future", this year's Global Final was held online for the first time due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Following fierce competition, the final winners are as follows:

The Grand Prize for the Network Track in the Practice Competition went to: Team Algeria, China's Shenzhen Polytechnic Team, Team Indonesia, Team 1 from Malaysia, and Team 3 from Nigeria. The Grand Prize for the Cloud Track in the Practice Competition went to: Team Nigeria, Team Indonesia, Team Brazil, China's Nanjing Vocational University of Industry Technology Team, and Team Egypt. The Grand Prize in the Innovation Competition went to Singapore Polytechnic Team and China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University Team. The Singapore Polytechnic Team also won the TECH4ALL Social Contribution Award.

A total of 109 teams (327 students) from 39 countries and regions successfully made it to the Global Final. At the Innovation Competition, the Singapore Polytechnic Team shared their entry — Forever-Smart glasses, which was designed using NB-IoT technology and intended for people with Alzheimer's. Their innovative and practical design was recognized by all judges and won the TECH4ALL Social Contribution Award. For more information about the Huawei ICT Competition, please visit their site.

Xiaomi Corporation (“Xiaomi” or the “Group”; stock code:1810), an internet company with smartphone and smart hardware connected by an Internet of Things (“IoT”) platform at its core, recently announced its unaudited consolidated results for the three months and nine months ended 30 September 2020 (“the Period”).

Xiaomi’s stellar Q3 2020 performance sets 15 records:

In Q3 2020, Xiaomi’s smartphone business grew significantly - both revenue and shipments achieved record high levels - and kept the momentum for growth in both mainland China and in overseas markets. Smartphone revenue amounted to RMB47.6 billion (RM29.6 billion) in the quarter representing an increase of 47.5% YoY while smartphone shipments totaled 46.6 million units, an increase of 45.3% YoY.

For more information about Xiaomi as a company, please visit their site.

Maxis has officially launched the Digital Readiness Index (DRI), which is an online, interactive self-assessment tool that helps companies of all sizes across industries assess their level of digital readiness.

AMD recently released the AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture-powered “Hangar 21” Technology demo, showcasing the power of FidelityFX with the next-generation visual technologies enabled by DirectX 12 Ultimate. This demo shows how developers can harness multiple methods to achieve the perfect balance of visual fidelity and performance – rasterization, compute effects, and raytracing together can create the mind-blowing visuals of tomorrow’s games. The intelligent combination of different effects, both FidelityFX effects like Ambient Occlusion, Screen Space Reflections, and DXR shadows and reflections, enable a high-fidelity demo at a level of performance that wouldn’t be possible with raytracing effects alone.

AMD FidelityFX is available in 35 games today, including in both some of the latest titles such as Little Hope, Flight Simulator, Second Extinction, Serious Sam 4, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, and F1 2020. In addition, AMD also released a collection of new content on GPUOpen to help developers take full advantage of everything AMD RDNA 2 architecture has to offer. The new release includes three new FidelityFX effects, updates to the developer tools, as well as new tutorials and videos. Learn more at their site.

Since introducing RM2 delivery fees on GrabFood back in June, orders on the platform with delivery fees below RM5 grew by more than 3X in Klang Valley. With a clear growth for cheaper delivery fees from nearby restaurants, Grab is once again introducing lower delivery fees, by subsidizing delivery fees for both customers and delivery riders. This ensures that while customers are able to enjoy lower delivery fees, delivery-partners’ income will not be affected. Delivery fees nationwide for customers favourite eats will now be as low as 50 cents for selected restaurants less than 1.5 km away.

Following the success of the first Food Court initiative, ‘Food Courts by GrabFood’ is expanding to more locations nationwide which will see over 100 food courts and close to 900 hawker vendors across the country adopting the ‘mix & match’ feature by the end of the year. The feature which was introduced earlier this year allows users to order from multiple stalls within a food court and only pay one delivery fee. This will give these vendors the avenue to maintain their operations despite having a loss in dine in customers. In tandem, this also allows users to support local and traditional eateries affordably while still practicing social distancing.

From 1st until 31st December, LG invites all Malaysians to celebrate the year-end with innovative premium products that bring consumers a new level of experience at home. LG Electronics Malaysia (LG) is giving Malaysians a reason to kick-off the year-end celebrations on a positive note with its LG Trio Bonanza Y.E.S (Year-End Sale), which includes discounts up to 40 percent and cash rebates worth up to RM1,000 across all LG authorised dealers nationwide, on both offline and online stores.

Not only that, LG Trio Bonanza Y.E.S offers consumers an additional rebate up to RM500 with its Mix & Match option and also a lucky draw, where consumers stand a chance to win LG products worth up to RM56,000!

TIME dotCom Berhad (“TIME” or “the Group”) recently announced its financial results for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2020 (9M 2020) with a consolidated Group revenue of RM908.3 million, an 11% increase over the same period of the preceding year owing to increased revenue growth across all core product and customer groups.

The Group also posted a consolidated profit before tax of RM313.8 million for the current 9M period under review, which is RM65.6 million higher than the consolidated profit before tax recorded in 9M 2019 of RM248.2 million. This was driven by higher overall revenue growth, lower interest expense and a higher share of profit from associates.

The remainder of 2020 will remain challenging as the economy continues to face uncertainties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. While impact on the Group’s business has been relatively modest, the Group will continue to monitor for any changes or developments and stay prepared to take any pro-active measures in order to continue protecting and safeguarding its employees, while minimising any potential disruptions to its business.

3DMark recently added a new design for the benchmark results screen. You can now see how your 3DMark score compares with results from other systems with the same components and see the frame rates you can expect in a selection of popular games.

3DMark now shows you how your benchmark score compares with results from other systems with the same components. This makes it easy to see if your PC is performing correctly. The peaks in the chart show the most common scores. The green line shows your score. The blue, dotted line shows the average score for your combination of components.

If your score is close to the average, it means your PC is working as it should. A score well below the average could indicate a hardware or configuration problem. The best score gives you an idea of the overclocking potential of your setup. From now until December 1, 3DMark Advanced Edition is 85% off, only $4.49 (USD), from Steam and the UL Benchmarks website.

Kingston Technology recently announced a creative alliance with CSD, a leading brand of face masks, to kick start a one of a kind initiative, the Kingston x CSD APAC Mask Design Competition, centered around the theme of ‘There’s Strength in Memory.’ The winners of the competition stand a chance to win exciting prizes worth up to USD $14,400.

The artwork submitted by the participants will be judged based on two criteria. First, 3 Colors Creativity, which emphasizes creative interpretation of the theme and quality of artistic composition allowing up to three colors. Second, Unlimited Colors, which underscores the use of colors and overall impression of the art as well as allows color gradients.

Submission of artworks/design will be from November 24, 2020 - December 24, 2020 while the announcement of results is on February 9, 2021. The competition is open to residents in APAC such as Taiwan, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong. For more details please refer to their site.

realme Malaysia’s latest product line 'realme by narzo' has achieved its first amazing result on Lazada's 11.11 Biggest One-day Sale. The latest realme narzo 20 with the mission of “Entertainment for You” was ranked as No. 1 Best-selling New Smartphone in Lazada 2020 (1 Jan - 11 Nov 2020) and The Best-selling Smartphone Series in Lazada 2020 (1 Jan - 11 Nov 2020).

realme Malaysia also broke their record with Lazada by having its smartphone sales growth up to 115% as compared to the previous Lazada 11.11.2019 Sale's Day. The total unit of realme smartphones sold yesterday has also led them to be the Top 4 Best-Selling Smartphone Brand on Lazada 11.11.

OnePlus Malaysia achieved an ultra-good result as 250 sets of its OnePlus Pop-up Bundle were sold out in just two minutes from 11th November, 12am to 2am. The OnePlus Pop-up Bundle came with OnePlus 8T in Aquamarine Green (12GB + 256GB), OnePlus 8T Quantum Bumper Case and OnePlus Buds (White).

For more updates and details on products’ availability, stay tuned to the official OnePlus Malaysia site.

Lazada Malaysia recently achieved a record-breaking performance during their 11.11 Biggest One-Day Sale, smashing its 2019 sales figures. Lazada’s branded destination LazMall enjoyed unprecedented popularity among Malaysian consumers this 11.11. Lancôme, Xiaomi Global and OnePlus Flagship Store all recorded one-day sales of over RM 1 million to join the Lazada’s Millionaires Brand Club. Mobiles & Tablets was the number one selling category, with Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo and Apple showcasing stellar sales performances as the Top 5 brands in the said category.

As part of its ‘Shoppertainment’ push, the iconic Lazada Super Show and newly created Chief Discount Officer Show (CDO Show) continued to win high engagement, with over 10 million viewers across all platforms. The CDO Show had 240,000 user engagements and sold more than 13,000 items in less than 2 hours.

Lazada’s logistics capabilities was critical to the campaign and its LazMall Guaranteed Delivery service stepped up to new level during the nation’s biggest one-day sale. Our logistics arm made 100% successful same-day deliveries direct from Lazada’s warehouse to shopper’s homes, delivering a premium quality shopping experience with 50,000 LazMall orders delivered within 24 hours the following day.

Xiaomi recently announced that it has performed exceptionally well in Malaysia and the Southeast Asian region on e-commerce platforms Lazada and Shopee during the 11.11 campaign. Xiaomi has recorded a combined total of over 40,000 smartphone units sold in a day in Malaysia.

The 11.11 campaign has set new records for Xiaomi smartphones with Redmi 9A as the top-selling Xiaomi smartphone model on Lazada with over 9,000 units sold. The recently launched Mi 10T Pro by Xiaomi has continued to gain its popularity as it was sold out within the day.

In addition, Xiaomi has also topped the list as the best-selling mobile brand on both Lazada and Shopee in Southeast Asia, marking significant achievements for the world’s third-largest smartphone brand.

Intel recently announced key milestones in its multiyear journey to deliver a mix of architectures with a unified software experience. The company announced the gold release of Intel® oneAPI toolkits coming in December, and new capabilities in its software stack as part of the Intel’s combined hardware and software design approach. Intel also debuted its first discrete graphics processing unit (GPU) for the data center, Intel® Server GPU, based on the Xe-LP microarchitecture and designed specifically for high-density, low-latency Android cloud gaming and media streaming.

Intel announced that the gold release of Intel oneAPI toolkits will be shipping in December, available for free, locally and in the Intel® DevCloud, along with commercial versions that include worldwide support from Intel technical consulting engineers. Intel will immediately transition Intel® Parallel Studio XE and Intel® System Studio tool suites to its oneAPI products.

Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) is celebrating this Deepavali with an inspiring message to all Malaysians through the video ‘Villalan’ or Archer, that was inspired by the true story of paralympic S. Suresh, Malaysia’s first world champion in para-archery.

Digi is also continuing to champion everyday Malaysians who have gone above and beyond to have touched lives and made a difference in their respective communities through the annual Unsung Heroes or “Saathanai Hero-kkal” campaign. Malaysians are encouraged to nominate the unsung heroes in their life for the chance to have their stories featured on RAAGA’s Kalakkal Kaalai segment.

The full “Villalan” video can be viewed at Digi’s Official YouTube page at their site.

Astro customers can now download their favourite shows on the Astro GO app to watch offline anywhere. The download function is available for iOS, Android and Huawei devices. The software update for the new download function will be rolled out in batches to users. More than 85% of all content on the app can be downloaded and enjoyed offline by Astro GO users.

To download a show to watch offline, just search for the content and then click on the “Download” button. Users will also be able to choose the download quality (Higher, Standard and Lower) for all content. There will be no limits on the number of downloaded content, and customers can choose to download the same shows as many times as they wish.

Users can find all downloaded content by clicking the “My Library” tab on the Astro GO app. All downloaded movies will be retained on the device for two days while each TV series episode will be retained for seven days. Expired content will be automatically deleted from the app, freeing up device storage for more new downloads.

In related news, Astro customers will be able to enjoy exclusive content deals on the iQIYI app, the leading Asian over-the-top (OTT) video streaming service. This is possible due Astro’s strategic partnership with iQIYI, to bring more exclusive and exciting popular dramas, variety shows, and movies to Malaysian fans.

Customers can add the iQIYI VIP membership to their monthly Astro bill to enjoy the best exclusive deal at only RM6.90 per month (retail price RM8.90). The VIP membership allows customers to enjoy a better viewing experience with exclusive features, such as concurrent viewing on multiple screens, advance viewing of episodes and ad-free viewing.

Our smartphones have become an essential part of life, especially with fleeting moments investing in a good camera is necessity. A full proof camera that assist your creativity is all you need to help you shoot awesome videos, the camera experts at OPPO have come up with five easy tips to make your vlogs look on fleek all day, every day.

Curious on how movie scenes are captured so perfectly like it was just meant to be ?

Apart from the years spent honing their craft, the tools and software that filmmakers have at their disposal is key in enabling them to create those iconic scenes that we get to know and love. The technique of isolating color has been employed by filmmakers to highlight the plot or relay hidden messages, or just make a character stand out against a crowd.

With AI Color Portrait and Monochrome Video Mode on the OPPO Reno4 series, you can now do the same with your smartphone and no edits required! Plus point? We think so. Simply bring your subject into focus when in AI Color Portrait Mode or select colors like red, green, blue while recording in Monochrome Video Mode to make your subject pop!

Protip: For AI Color Portrait - Observe the colors around you to ensure that they differ from the colors on your subject for the best results. The best outcome is if the subject has a mixtured of bright vibrant colours.

Step 2: Slow down time for dramatic shots

As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun. However, the OPPO Reno4 series enables you to capture those fun moments and slow it down for you to enjoy every detail of it!

Packed with an AI-powered slow-motion video recording feature, the OPPO Reno4 series unlocks new possibilities for content creation. Capture the finer details - the beauty of a raindrop as it hits the ground or the turn of a Formula1 racer as it whizzes by the track in our 960fps AI Slow-motion mode.

Tracking fast objects isn’t easy, but don’t worry as the Reno4 series’ slow-motion capture feature has you covered. While recording the focus will automatically lock on the moving object, reducing the margin for error while filming.

The 960fps AI Slow-motion feature also automatically recognizes motion, so once you switch this feature on, it can automatically detect that dramatic moment and slow it down!

Timing is key when capturing objects that move fast. Hence, run some tests before filming the actual footage. Practice tracking and panning in the direction the object is moving towards - this will help keep the object you’re filming focused in the center of your screen to produce jaw-dropping shots!

Step 3 :Capture extreme footages without a gimbal

In an action film, car chases and fight sequences are key elements that provide an immersive experience. But owning a professional gimbal is not for everybody, especially those who are exploring videography.

This is where the OPPO Reno4 series Ultra Steady Video 3.0 Mode will come in handy for all you aspiring action directors. Powered by its in-built electronic image stabilization (EIS) technologies, the Reno4 series can accurately sense and reduce any shake from your hands, allowing you to capture adrenaline-pumping action with ease.

Vloggers and live-streamers will also appreciate this feature that is available on the front-facing camera. You can now share the energy and adrenaline rush you are experiencing with your fans without the blur in your vlogs or videos!

Recording your off-road activities or an intense extreme sports session? Switch your frame rate to 60fps and turn on Ultra Steady Video Pro for buttery smooth videos!

Step 4 : Are you Afraid of the Dark ? Don’t be!

Every photographer, amateur or pro, will tell you that lighting is key to recording outstanding photos. This comes as a no-brainer, but there are still ways for you to capture stunning images even during the night.

Many of us struggle with taking selfies and wefies at night as it tends to result in underexposed and grainy photos. Fret not now, as the Reno4 series’ Ultra Dark Mode and Ultra Night Selfie Mode helps make your shots bright, even in extreme low light environments. To bring your night photography up a notch, OPPO has also introduced its new Night Flare Portrait Mode which adds a bokeh effect against a vivid background to produce eye-catching results!

Select a location that has a busy street or the city lights as the backdrop to achieve the best shots with Night Flare Mode. Alternatively, you can use candles, sparklers or fairy lights to achieve similar effects.

Step 5 : Produce your own video at ease with Soloop

Everyone knows that the key to creating an outstanding video is adding the right sound and visual effects — but it can be a pain to send all your videos to your desktop, look for the right video editing program, and fiddle with a mountain of settings just to make your vlog on point.

These pains disappear with the OPPO Reno4 series! Not only do they come with a great set of cameras to capture sharp footage — they also sport processors powerful enough to help you edit your videos on the go! Just add your videos to the Soloop Smart Video Editor app to put on the finishing touches in a jiffy. Developed independently by OPPO’s ColorOS team, Soloop turns your footage into a professional looking vlog by adding music, filters, subtitles, captions and transitions — perfect for making your videos go viral on TikTok or YouTube.

Soloop can even help sort your footage and apply all these professional effects automagically! The app does all the work for you by intelligently picking the most exciting clips from your footage, enhancing it with music and editing them to match the beat of the track perfectly. With a multitude of themes and smart templates on board, there’s no lack of ways to express your creativity through editing.

If you’re intending to view your masterpiece on a TV, make sure to select the right aspect ratio number, located at the top of Soloop’s interface! 16:9 and 4:3 works best for big screens like monitors, while 3:4 and 9:16 will make your videos look great on a phone. There’s also a 1:1 aspect ratio that’s perfect for Instagram and Facebook!

These five simple and easy tips are a great way to up your game on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube. Ready to get hands on? Try these tips out on the OPPO Reno4 and the OPPO Reno4 Pro today. The in-built cameras, photography or videography software, and high quality display make the OPPO Reno4 series your perfect content creation companion!

For more information on the OPPO products, kindly refer to 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 2020 #32 - Samsung leads in 5G, No one owns Huawei but its employees, Huawei Best of 2020 Holiday Gifts, OPPO ranks 2nd, Celcom accelerates 4G and more

Welcome back TechNavers and NewsByters, in this issue of TechNave NewsBytes 2020 #32 Samsung continues to lead in 5G along with a number of Samsung deals for home electronics for Christmas. Huawei responded with a feature about how no one owns Huawei but its employees while Huawei + SME Corporation Malaysia + MDEC continued to drive digital transformation of SMEs.

In addition, Huawei has a Best of 2020 Holiday Gift for you while their Huawei Private Line Solution helps the Enterprise Private Line Market. OPPO retains 2nd highest Malaysia Smartphone rank for Q3 2020 while Celcom accelerates efforts to expand and enhance 4G coverage nationwide.

An October 2020 report from Strategy Analytics revealed that the Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G was the best-selling 5G device by revenue for the first half of 2020, accounting for 9 percent of global revenue. The Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G was second, accounting for 8 percent of global revenue, and the Galaxy S20 5G was third, accounting for 5 percent during the same period. Together, Samsung’s S20 trio were the top selling 5G smartphones in the world, accounting for 22 percent of global 5G sales revenue.

In addition to leading sales records, Samsung has also launched a series of new devices and network solutions to bring 5G to more people across the world. In the last two years, Samsung has introduced a full portfolio of Galaxy 5G phones, from mid-range devices like the Galaxy A51 5G, to category-changing devices like the Galaxy Z Fold2. Samsung has also released 5G enabled PCs and tablets. Samsung has also worked closely with leading mobile operators around the world to advance 5G through a wide array of network solutions, including 5G RAN, Core and Network Automation tools.

Recent decisions by countries like Sweden have seen Huawei excluded from 5G network rollouts based on the misconception that Huawei is owned by China. In response to this Jiang Xisheng, Chief Secretary of Huawei Technologies' Board of Directors replied. This is an excerpt of it:

Huawei was founded in 1987, and I joined in Huawei in 1989. Back then banks were reluctant to lend money to small start-up companies. Huawei had to raise capital by selling shares to employees, an arrangement that continues to this day. Employees buy shares with their own money, and receive annual dividends based on the number of shares they hold. They also elect members to form a Representatives' Commission on a one-vote-per-share basis. The Commission elects the company's Board of Directors. Such a profit- and risk-sharing system provides Huawei with the funds it needs for long-term growth and lays the foundations for its governance and management.

Being privately held frees Huawei from the short-term pressures faced by publicly listed companies, whose shareholders expect them to meet quarterly earnings targets. Liberated from such external pressures, Huawei can maintain its long-term focus on research and development, while shareholding employees can reap higher rewards. Currently, Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei holds about 1% stake of Huawei; the rest is held by Huawei’s union, the platform through which employees own the company. It is common and legitimate for companies in China to set up trade unions to serve as their shareholding platforms. Although the media likes to describe this arrangement as opaque, it is actually not so different from what one finds at employee-owned companies elsewhere in the world, including John Lewis Partnership (a department store group in the UK) and Essilor (a French-based international ophthalmic optics company).

In the meantime, the facts remain unchanged: No government entity dictates Huawei's business or investment decisions, and no one owns Huawei but Huawei's employees.

Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (“Huawei”) have kick-started a series of SME programmes, in collaboration with the SME Association of Malaysia (“SME Association”), SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp. Malaysia), and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), to drive digital transformation among SMEs and create a sustainable ecosystem for SME growth.

Through the programmes, SMEs will be able to enjoy facilitation for innovative solutions, funding, as well as advisory and capacity building services. Huawei, SME Association, SME Corporation Malaysia and MDEC presented these joint efforts during the SME Day virtual event on December 11.

HUAWEI has prepared you the ultimate holiday gift guide to ease your stress. Featuring the very best of its class and range, each of these products promises to bring true value to the table. This includes the HUAWEI MateBook 14, FreeBuds Pro, WATCH GT 2 Pro and MatePad T 10s.

In time for this gifting season, HUAWEI is treating all its Malaysian fans with fantastic promotions to enjoy their favourite HUAWEI products through the 12.12 Super Sale including flash deals as low as RM12! , must buy items, and RM200 vouchers for selected items will be up for grabs until 12 December . Head over to the HUAWEI Store online to find out now!

From 28th November 2020 till 3rd January 2021, consumers will enjoy double rewards when buying the HUAWEI MateBook 14, FreeBuds Pro, WATCH GT 2 Pro and MatePad T 10s. With every purchase, consumers will receive an exclusive gift and stand a chance to win prizes worth more than a total of RM300,000 including the brand-new Proton X50 . Check out more information at their site.

At the Huawei Optical Innovation Forum 2020 held on November 30, 2020, Simon Lu, President of Huawei's Transmission Network Product Line, officially unveiled a new premium private line solution and an array of innovative products, including optical virtual private network, Liquid OTN, and iMaster NCE. These will help operators explore the enterprise market.

Huawei's sliced optical virtual private network (OVPN) solution can implement hard isolation at wavelength, sub-wavelength, and OSU levels to offer greater flexibility and transform private lines to private networks. Huawei launched Liquid OTN to reduce bandwidth granularity from 1 Gbit/s to 2 Mbit/s, making private lines more affordable for small businesses, and supporting 100-fold connections.

Huawei's AI-based iMaster NCE implements centralised network management and control, monitors networks in real time, and supports E2E automation of service provisioning and network O&M. Private lines can therefore be provisioned in days, and a self-service portal is available for enterprises to subscribe to, check SLA performance, and upgrade their bandwidth online. Network infrastructure is a vital part of our lives, and Huawei remains committed to building ubiquitous premium optical connectivity for enterprise customers to facilitate their transformation and boost the digital economy.

OPPO maintained its position in Malaysia by staying the second highest smartphone vendor in Malaysia.With a wide range of products from smartphones to IOT devices, OPPO takes Malaysia to a better digital world with its innovative products and services.

According to a Canalys report, OPPO maintains its position with over 17% unit shareof Malaysia’s smartphone market. OPPO is maintaining its strong and stagnant share of Malaysia smartphone market from Q2 to Q3, staying as the 3rd largest brand in Malaysia. OPPO did well in their smartphone segment in the range of RM1000 - RM1500, with 31% market shares in Q3 2020, the highest in its category.

During the recent 11.11 sales, OPPO sold over 6000 smartphones sold in the first hour, making the top 2 smartphone brand on Shopee and top 3 on Lazada platform, with revenue tripling that of 2019’s on OPPO Official Shopee store. OPPO A31 is the top 3 selling smartphone on Shopee, while OPPO A93 is the top 2 best selling smartphone on Lazada. Overall, OPPO reached new heights in sales volume, with RM14 million revenue achieved within 24 hours on its Official Store and e-commerce platform. OPPO IoT devices is also plays a huge contribution, with OPPO Enco W11 gaining the most traction on OPPO Official Online store.

Celcom Axiata Berhad (Celcom) is accelerating approximately RM256million of network investments to upgrade its network capacity and deploy more 4G base station towers nationwide, improving 4G coverage and quality, in both rural and urban areas. Celcom’s accelerated network investments from 2020 into early 2021 will be further supported by the allocated capital expenditures in FY2021.

By February 2021, Celcom targets a total of 4,700 network sites, 49% in urban areas and 51% in rural areas, to be upgraded and optimised with capacity upgrades, installation of new 4G equipment and core network optimisation programs. This also includes upgrading and optimising almost 1,000 4G network sites in Sabah and Sarawak, improving Celcom’s 4G coverage in rural areas.

This drive was recently showcased in Tanah Merah, Kelantan, Bukit Pampong, Pahang and Kg Jemukan, Sarawak, where Celcom erected new tower base stations to bring 4G connectivity. Furthermore, Celcom will also continue with a nationwide cluster optimisation program for an additional 3,600 network sites, upgrading to better capacities to address buffering issues and deliver better voice and video quality for consumers, targeted to be completed by August 2021.

Permodalan Nasional Berhad’s (PNB) week-long Minggu Saham Digital (MSD) – a digital adaptation of Minggu Saham Amanah Malaysia (MSAM) – ended with a resounding success having recorded more than two million views over seven days. The edutainment livestream, themed #LaburBersama, was aimed towards enhancing financial literacy amongst Malaysians of all ages, through various programmes focusing on the importance of investing and financial planning.

MSD succeeded in garnering 7.5 million unique reach via its official Facebook page and 2.2 million cumulated views on its official Facebook page and YouTube channel, while the website recorded 11.5 million impressions. MSD featured more than 70 edutainment programmes with the aim to close the financial literacy gap and encourage all Malaysians to uplift themselves and families financially with helpful tools and resources.

During an online press conference today, Norm L. Gilsdorf, President of Honeywell ASEAN iterated Honeywell’s ongoing support by capitalizing on new strategic solutions to help customers navigate their business challenges and enabling them to meet their needs.

Through this pandemic, Honeywell believes that the importance of digital transformation and cybersecurity is accelerating in the different industries and will help ready their operations into a postpandemic world. Honeywell is now rapidly working on software solutions leveraging its enterprise performance management platform, Honeywell Forge, that enables real-time data and transforms them into actionable insights. This will add values to customers with a comprehensive level of control over operational data that allows improved decision making.

With decades of experience in ASEAN, Honeywell’s technology is serving many critical and large industries and facilities in the region such as commercial and defense aviation, commercial and public buildings, refineries, petrochemical plants, pulp paper mills, life science facilities, logistics, warehouses, ecommerce and many more.

Recently, Spotify revealed the top artists, songs and video game soundtracks globally and in Malaysia that highlights what gamers listened to in 2020. As people played more games, Spotify saw nearly a 55% global increase in streaming from gaming consoles over the past year. Interestingly, early morning (6AM-9AM) streaming on gaming consoles saw an increase by more than 47%. These consoles include both Xbox and Playstation, where Spotify has custom build integrations.

In Malaysia, streaming on gaming consoles has increased by more than 63% over the past year. The most-streamed tracks from gaming consoles in Malaysia this year include Trevor Daniel’s “Falling”, followed by Powfu and beabadoobee’s “death bed (coffee for your head)” and Roddy Ricch’s “The Box”. Rounding out the top five lists are “ROXANNE” by Arizona Zervas and “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd.

Globally, Rap and Trap were the most-streamed music genres for gaming this year while the top video game soundtracks globally came from popular games Minecraft, Doom and Death Stranding. The most-streamed video game soundtrack lists include “Minecraft - Volume Beta” by C418, “Doom (Original Game Soundtrack)” by Mick Gordon and “DEATH STRANDING: Timefall” by DEATH STRANDING: Timefall.

Group Chief Executive Officer of U Mobile Group, Wong Heang Tuck, and Chief Executive Officer of Majlis Agama Islam dan ‘Adat Melayu Perak (MAIPk), YBrs Shahrul Azam bin Shaari met for a simple Plaque Presentation ceremony today to mark the partnership between GoPayz, the standalone universal e-wallet developed by U Mobile, and MAIPk. GoPayz has been appointed as an official agent of MAIPk to collect zakat, wakaf and derma payments for customers residing in Perak and recently, both parties collaborated to launch a Muslim-friendly GoPayz-MAIPk Visa prepaid Ta’awun card.

The new Ta’awun card enables Muslim customers to pay their zakat, wakaf and derma thorough a variety of accessible digital channels namely the GoPayz website and app, MAIPk payment terminals and MAIPk payment kiosks.

MDEC, SME Association of Malaysia and Boost came together in a virtual roundtable to discuss the topic of Digitalization of Traditional Businesses - What the Future Holds and its Potential Pitfalls. The recording of the virtual roundtable can be found at their site.

Panel speakers Dato' Ng Wan Peng, COO of MDEC; Mr. CS Chin, National Vice President of SME Association of Malaysia; and En. Mohd Khairil Abdullah, CEO of Boost shared insights on their key observations from this year, the robustness of the country’s digital ecosystem, challenges and sentiments of SMEs and micro-enterprises in this pandemic, how to further digitally-empower SMEs and the 'green shoots' for next year.

Following months of hard work from innovative talents across Malaysia and finalists pitching their solution prototypes to a panel of judges, the top three winning teams of the Maxis IoT Challenge 2020 have been revealed! In addition to cash prizes, the winners will have the opportunity to be among the first developers in the country to trial and commercialise their 5G-enabled solutions around immersive retail experiences and township security, and accelerate them to market.

Launched on 4 September, the second edition of the Challenge themed Transforming Industry Challenges Today into Business Opportunities Tomorrow, is part of a continuing partnership with Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and industry collaborators to promote the IoT ecosystem development of 5G-enabled solutions and spur the digital economy. It is also one of the many joint initiatives that Maxis is undertaking with MDEC to foster innovation for all Malaysians and encourage the startup community in the country. For more information, please visit their site.

HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology, Inc., announced it has been chosen as an Acer memory partner for the refreshed Predator Orion desktop series. Working closely to create a premium gaming experience, Acer is HyperX’s first strategic partner to feature 3600MHz1 high-frequency memory in its Predator Orion 9000 gaming desktop.

HyperX will provide its FURY DDR4 memory for all Acer Predator Orion desktops, which is optimized for the PCs to deliver extreme performance and reliability. The next-generation Predator Orion 9000 desktops can be configured with HyperX FURY DDR4 3600MHz1 memory up to 128GB in eight-channel configurations. Featuring high speed and low latency, the Intel XMP-ready HyperX FURY DDR4 provides a performance boost for the PCs and makes overclocking easier to meet the expectations of all gamers.

HyperX previously announced supporting Acer as a memory provider for the Acer Predator Orion gaming desktops. For more information about HyperX DDR4 memory in Acer Predator Orion Desktops, visit their site.

Exclusive Networks Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (“ENMY”), has inked agreements with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Nutanix, which allow ENMY to offer a full range of HPE servers and systems that are optimised with Nutanix software solutions for powering HCI applications. The agreements help enable ENMY to better serve Malaysian enterprises, including data centre operators, by providing state-of-the-art solutions to optimise and improve enterprises’ operational efficiency.

With the agreements sealed, ENMY can now distribute the complete suite of HPE and Nutanix integrated products, including a line of Hyperconverged Infrastructure solutions, to government-linked companies as well as, enterprises in the public, financial services, telecommunications, and manufacturing sectors. For more information about the integrated solutions by HPE and Nutanix, please visit Exclusive Networks Malaysia at 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.