SINGAPORE, June 30, 2020 — It has now been a month since Quadrant’s Asia Pacific Data Alliance (APDA) launched, and over 100 companies, including some of the world’s leading consulting, geospatial and data analytics firms, have joined the program. The program helps leading corporations, governments, and researchers access quality mobile location data to understand the effects, mitigate the risks and optimize their solutions throughout the pandemic.
We are proud to present some of the pioneering work being done in the world of smart cities by one of our members, Mantra Studios. They are leading built environment intelligence agency focused on providing human insights within big data to help government, developers and designers create and invest in people-centric places. Mantra Studios makes it simple for their clients to understand their community by providing powerful insights on local audiences, uncovering commercial potential, highlighting spatial activity, and discovering the magnetism of places.
Calibrating Mobile Device Data with Smart City Data to Inform Urban Redevelopment Strategies During the Covid-19 Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has created atypical demand patterns in cities and places, creating significant challenges for urban redevelopment in major cities. With social distancing and stay at home orders in effect, historic and trendline data sets are becoming increasingly sought after in the urban arena. They are especially used to inform business and planning strategies as they offer insights into patterns of place use and movement trends.
One of the primary challenges when relying on data findings to underpin long-term investments is that no single data source can provide information on place utilisation. To address this issue, Mantra Studios developed proprietary data calibration methods which use machine learning technologies to ingest cross platform smart city data sources (e.g. IOT, Wi-Fi, and sensor data) to produce reliable calibration metrics to enhance mobile location data, a key data source providing information on place use and utilisation.
In a recent project for a major transportation planning authority in Australia, Mantra Studios was engaged to provide insights into network utilisation during the pandemic. By joining the APDA, Mantra Studios leveraged historic city-scale mobile location data to produce core inputs into the cities multipurpose traffic simulation framework. This framework provides critical intelligence for the allocation of capital to improve and construct metropolitan transport infrastructure.
John Draper, Director of Data Analytics at Mantra Studios, explains, “By starting with metro-scale mobile location data from Quadrant, Mantra Studios was able to develop a city-wide demand model for vehicle movements – to and from major destination centres. This created valuable insights into when and how transport infrastructure was used over time as well as the relative demand profiles of each activity centre.”
Location Intelligence can save Billions of Dollars in Public Infrastructure Investments
The next step was to calibrate the data using a combination of smart city data sources including SCATS (real-time traffic monitoring data on traffic signals to dynamically optimise congestion and improve traffic flow), city Wi-Fi, and public transport tag on/off terminal data. Using neural network regression analysis including Stochastic Gradient Descent and backpropagation algorithms, Mantra Studios was able to produce calibrated data sets and generate validated historic origin-destination matrices.
Applying machine learning regression analyses from diverse smart city data sources to mobile location data can deliver insights with levels of accuracy previously only achievable through the deployment of high cost sensors and manual survey methods. Julien Escande, General Manager of APAC at Quadrant, says, “By revealing patterns and trends of place use and movement, especially at macro or city scale, governments and business can potentially save billions of dollars in public infrastructure investments through optimal design and planning.”
The Quadrant APDA program is still open, and data will remain available to all organizations that require mobile location data until July 31, 2020. As part of the program all partners in this alliance will have access to APAC mobile location datasets that covers over 100 million devices and 50 billion events per month at no cost. Visit our APDA website to learn more and join.
BEIJING, June 30, 2020 — A news report by China.org.cn on China’s remote graduation under COVID-19:
 
Graduation season is drawing near. However, with COVID-19 still lurking, most Chinese universities are yet to resume to normal. This has caused substantial obstacles for both graduation ceremonies and graduates looking for a job.
To cope with the situation, Chinese universities have turned to seek remote solutions. Universities in Shanghai, for instance, have held livestream lectures on social media platforms, and shared employment guidelines, as well as tips for interviewing. Recruitment introductions and job interviews have also moved online. Likewise, a university in Zhengzhou, Henan province held a VR exhibition for its design-majored graduates, making the exhibition accessible to more people. What’s more, the university opened a special channel for companies, so that recruiting teams could contact graduates for interviews after watching the exhibition.
Remote exhibitions and interviews have broken the limits of time and space. Some novel ideas are also used in graduation ceremonies.
Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, for example, has shown its humanistic side in this respect.
The university combined robots and livestreaming in their commencement ceremony. The robots each carried a screen, allowing graduates to witness and even experience the rituals of the whole ceremony from home. Since the graduates were not able to attend, these measures to some extent made it up for them.
The reasons behind this are worth considering. Indeed, the epidemic will eventually be over, and all walks of life will resume to normal. But to each individual student, graduation is an irreplaceable memory in life. A commencement ceremony is supposed to fulfill the students’ sense of ritual. Therefore, Chinese universities didn’t want these temporary challenges to disappoint graduates, and did whatever they could to give the graduates a proper conclusion of their college life. A student from the university said that he had found it to be an interesting experience.
With such facilitating measures, this graduation season is bound to be a special one for graduates.
China is able to make these efforts due to the proficient use of technology. The epidemic has presented challenges to all walks of life. But, remote communication tools and online-to-offline coordination – such as VR, live streams – have helped the social life to move on in an orderly and efficient way in the past few months. As China seeks to build “new infrastructure” featuring new technologies, such utilization attempts have been playing pioneering roles. Hopefully, when the epidemic is over, these technologies will still be valued in various fields, injecting vitality into people’s lives.
eCommerce is growing in Malaysia with an increasing number of Malaysians opting to shop online when it comes to getting their daily needs and essentials. In fact, Shopee reports that users have been spending about 20% more time on their platform on a weekly basis. The increase, spurred by the recent movement control order (MCO), indicates that consumers are increasingly more willing to shop online.
As more consumers turn to online platforms, it provides a golden opportunity for Shopee and its partners to incentivise their platforms. Working together with one of Malaysia’s largest banks, Maybank, Shopee Malaysia and Visa have launched a new platinum credit card. The new Maybank Shopee Credit Card will reward users with Shopee coins for every transaction online and offline. Users will also receive extra bonuses such as 5x the coins during Shopee’s monthly payday sales on the 28th of every month and 4x Shopee coins for dining, entertainment and contactless payments.
Cardholders can then use these coins on Shopee to offset future purchases and redeem vouchers including F&B and services from the Daily Coins Rewards feature on the App. What’s more, cardholders who rack up more than 5,000 coins will be rewarded with Maybank TreatsPoints which they can use to redeem gifts from Maybank.
Malaysians between 21 and 65 years of age can apply for the card beginning on July 1, 2020. Applicants will need to have an annual income of MYR36,000. The card comes with a lifetime annual waiver. Successful applicants will receive 5,000 Shopee coins when they spend MYR300 within their first 60 days.
The new credit card comes just ahead of Shopee’s annual 7.7 mid year sale which kicks off on 7 July. As such, early adopters who successfully apply for the card from 1 July to 7 July will be rewarded with Shopee Vouchers worth MYR500 when they spend MYR300 within their first 45 days. The limited offer can be redeemed on a first come, first served basis.
The mid year sale also brings 50% coins cashback for all Shopee users on a daily basis. Users can also win up to 7 million coins by playing Shopee Claw, Shopee Candy, Shopee Garden, Shopee Poly, Shopee Dance and more during the sale period. Shopee’s Shocking Sale also makes a return with deals from as low as MYR0.77 during the 7 July Sale.
SHANGHAI, June 30, 2020 — Trip.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: TCOM) (“Trip.com Group” or the “Company”), a leading provider of online travel and related services, including accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and in-destination services, corporate travel management, and other travel-related services, today announced that it has completed its previously announced put right offer relating to its 1.99% Convertible Senior Notes due 2025 (CUSIP No. 22943F AH3) (the “Notes”). The put right offer expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on Monday, June 29, 2020. Based on information from The Bank of New York Mellon as the paying agent for the Notes, US$395,240,000 aggregate principal amount of the Notes were validly surrendered and not withdrawn prior to the expiration of the put right offer. The aggregate purchase price of these Notes was US$395,240,000. The Company has accepted all of the surrendered Notes for repurchase and has forwarded cash in payment of the same to the paying agent for distribution to the applicable holders. Following the settlement of repurchase of these Notes, the total number of ordinary shares of the Company on a fully diluted basis will be reduced by 0.9 million shares.
Materials filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) will be available electronically without charge at the SEC’s website, http://www.sec.gov. Documents filed with the SEC may also be obtained without charge at the Company’s website, http://investors.trip.com.
About Trip.com Group Limited
Trip.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: TCOM) is a leading one-stop travel service provider consisting of Trip.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar. Across its platforms, Trip.com Group enables local partners and travelers around the world to make informed and cost-effective bookings for travel products and services, through aggregation of comprehensive travel-related information and resources, and an advanced transaction platform consisting of mobile apps, Internet websites, and 24/7 customer service centers. Founded in 1999 and listed on Nasdaq in 2003, Trip.com Group has become one of the largest travel companies in the world in terms of gross merchandise value.
Businesses and workers call for greater flexibility, questions raised over the hours-based contract, and a new empathetic leadership profile emerges
ZURICH, June 30, 2020 —
Workers demand greater flexibility after coronavirus, with a 50/50 split of remote and office time confirmed as the universal ideal
Questions raised over the hours-based contract, with 69% saying contracts should be based on results delivered rather than hours worked
Boom in digital skills an unintended consequence of lockdown, with tech knowhow improving for six in 10 (61%), and two thirds (69%) eager for further digital upskilling post-pandemic
Leaders need to reinvent themselves as more emotionally intelligent, but they are not prepared, as less than half felt equipped to support employees holistically during the pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in pivotal shifts in attitudes and expectations among workers and leaders, as both call for permanent changes in how and where we work, workplace relationships and future skills, according to new research from the Adecco Group.
The Adecco Group, the world’s leading HR solutions company, today unveiled the results of its latest study, Resetting Normal: Defining the New Era of Work, examining the expected short- and long-term impact of the pandemic on resetting workplace norms. Fieldwork was conducted in May 2020, with 8,000 office-based respondents (aged 18-60) across Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK and the USA.
The Adecco Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Alain Dehaze, said: “The world of work will never return to the ‘normal’ we knew before the pandemic struck. The sudden and dramatic change in the workplace landscape has accelerated emerging trends such as flexible working, high-EQ leadership, and re-skilling, to the point where they are now fundamental to organisational success. As many countries emerge from the acute crisis phase of the pandemic, employers have an opportunity to ‘hit reset’ on traditional workplace practices – many of which have remained largely unchanged since the industrial revolution. This research highlights that employee attitudes have shifted and gaps between workforce expectations and entrenched labour market processes have been exposed. As we step into the new era of work, now is the time to establish better norms that will enable a holistically healthy, productive and inclusive workforce into the future.”
Key research highlights:
The research revealed that the working world is ready for a new “hybrid” model, with three quarters (74%) of workers surveyed saying a mix of office-based and remote working is the best way forward. The universal ideal of spending half (51%) of their time in the office and half working remotely (49%) transcends geographies, generations and parental status. And company executives agree, with almost eight in ten (77%) C-suite leaders saying businesses will benefit from increased flexibility.
Another stark finding could signal the end of the hours-based contract and 40-hour week. More than two thirds (69%) of workers are in favour of “results-driven work,” whereby contracts are based on delivering against business needs rather than working a set number of hours. A high proportion of C-suite executives (74%) agree that the length of the working week should be revisited.
The pandemic has also demanded a new set of leadership competencies and these expectations are expected to accelerate a reinvention of the modern-day leader. Emotional intelligence has clearly emerged as the defining trait of today’s successful manager, but the soft skills gap is evident. Over a quarter (28%) of those questioned said their mental wellbeing had worsened due to the pandemic, with only 1 in 10 rating their managers highly on their ability to support their emotional health.
In a similar nature to flexible working, the findings demonstrate a universal appetite for mass upskilling. Six in 10 say their digital skills have improved during lockdown, while a further two thirds (69%) are looking for further digital upskilling in the post-pandemic era. A broad range of skills development were identified as important by the workforce, including managing staff remotely (65%), soft skills (63%) and creative thinking (55%).
Finally, the findings highlighted the importance of sustaining trust in the new working world. Companies have risen to the challenge of supporting their people during the crisis, and as a result, trust in corporations has increased. In fact, 88% say that their employer met or exceeded their expectations in adapting to the challenges of the pandemic. And with this increased trust comes increased expectations. While the future of work is a collective responsibility, 80% of employees believe their employer is responsible for ensuring a better working world post-COVID and resetting norms, compared with 73% who say the government is responsible, 72% who agree it is an individual responsibility, and 63% who believe it is in the hands of labour unions.
For more information:
Download the Resetting Normal: Defining the New Era of Work full report here.
Follow us on social #ResetNormal for updates
About the Adecco Group
The Adecco Group is the world’s leading HR solutions company. We believe in making the future work for everyone, and every day enable more than 3.5 million careers. We skill, develop, and hire talent in 60 countries, enabling organisations to embrace the future of work. As a Fortune Global 500 company, we lead by example, creating shared value that fuels economies and builds better societies. Our culture of inclusivity, entrepreneurship and teamwork empowers our 35,000 employees and we are proud to have been consistently ranked one of the ‘World’s Best Workplaces’ by Great Place to Work®. The Adecco Group AG is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland (ISIN: CH0012138605) and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ADEN) and powered by nine global brands: Adecco, Adia, Badenoch & Clark, General Assembly, Lee Hecht Harrison, Modis, Pontoon, Spring Professional and Vettery.
Samsung has been hard at work revolutionising traditional living spaces with a touch of technology. They’ve done the living room and the outdoors with some impressive TV offering. Now, they’ve got their sights set on the kitchen with their new refrigerators. The new two door side by side refrigerators are imbued with technology to make life and meal planning easier.
The new Samsung side by side (SBS) Family Hub brings features that make grocery shopping and meal planning a breeze. The new fridge comes with a ViewInside camera which allows users to peek into the fridge without letting any of the cold air out. Not only is this convenient, it helps when it comes to maintaining the temperature of the fridge. It also helps with power efficiency.
The SBS Family Hub also gives you a screen that seamlessly integrates with any Samsung smartphone; allowing you to share precious memories on the screen. The screen can also act as a virtual bulletin board; bringing a traditional use of the refrigerator surface into the future. The Family Board feature also allows you to share music and images on an interactive screen.
The Family Hub brings connectivity to your kitchen like never before. As part of Samsung’s Smart Things ecosystem, it brings seamless connectivity to your kitchen. Interact with your other Smart Things enabled devices such as your Samsung TVs or even smartphones. Mirror your screens on the Family Board, bring your daytime soap opera to the kitchen as you get started cooking for the family or even put your favourite tunes on while you’re getting ready for your day with breakfast. The functionality isn’t device dependent, the Family Hub is able to support apps and independently run music streaming or video streaming apps.
Pricing & Availability
The Samsung SBS Family Hub is now available in Malaysia for MYR8,999.
By now you are probably quite familiar with the name ‘VivoBook’. That is mostly thanks to the fact that we have been reviewing the namesake or each iteration of the same notebook for quite sometime now. We hope that you have not grown bored of the same notebook though, because we have not. Also, because there is a new one in the block.
It seems like just yesterday that we were reviewing a new ASUS VivoBook S notebook PC. It seems like yesterday too that we gave quite high praises to ASUS’ value offering of a notebook PC. That said, we have always liked the ASUS VivoBook series. They are relatively inexpensive offering of notebook PCs that are always outperforming our expectations. They are also always very well built, for the kind of material they employ on the VivoBook.
Because of the wholesome package that is the ASUS VivoBook, it has become one of our most recommended notebook PCs so far. While it is a serious contender for ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution, the designers have never taken a too serious approach to the notebook too. That is also why the ASUS VivoBook notebooks have always been lookers.
The new one? Well, for one I think it is no different from the old recipe of making an attractive looking PC with great internals. They approached the VivoBook with the same ‘one-size-fits-all’ philosophy as before. Somehow, they have managed to make it even better in certain aspects. How? Let us delve deeper.
Design
Like before, the ASUS VivoBook is built with a mix of plastic and aluminium. We suspect that the outer shells are mostly aluminium and the keyboard tray is also aluminium. The only part that is not made from the lightweight metal is the bezel surrounding the Full HD display.
Unlike the previous ASUS VivoBook S too, the new 2020 variant seems to be a bit more scratch resistant. This is mostly due to the aluminium construction and what we think is an anodized surface instead of a paint coating. Anodizing has been a common practice in getting colours on metallic surfaces, and they last a whole lot longer.
Anodizing also has another benefit, you can get really interesting colours on the surfaces. Which is what ASUS has gone for with the 2020 variant of the ASUS VivoBook S. The one we have here is green in colour. Specifically, Gaia Green. It is a stunning colour, in our humble opinions.
Personally, I have always liked green, Emerald Green or British Racing Green especially. Those are great colours, and I have always dreamt of a Bentley Continental GT in Emerald Green shade or a 1961 Jaguar E-Type in British Racing Green. We are getting a little side-tracked.
The point is, it is a very pretty Green that we are getting on the ASUS VivoBook S15. Finally, someone bothers to go with another green coloured notebook. This makes Red shades look over-rated and overly loud. There isn’t a big difference in the branding layout otherwise.
Open the ASUS VivoBook S15 up and you will be greeted with a very familiar full keyboard layout with backlighting. Oh, let us not forget the accented enter key with a lime outline and wording. We may not completely understand why that is included in the design, but it does help distinguish the keyboard itself from its competitors. The numpad is largely similar on the side with a nice layout too.
The trackpad is a little larger compared to what we could remember, but that is not a bad thing. Unlike the more popular wide pad designs, the new one looks more traditional and with additional height. That allows your two palms to rest on the palm rests on either side of the trackpad properly without accidentally touching the trackpad for extra inputs or accidental clicks.
There is no more fingerprint sensor on the ASUS VivoBook S15 anymore though. We are testing the Intel Core i5 variant of the ASUS VivoBook S15. Usually you would find the fingerprint sensor on the top right corner of the trackpad. Not this time though. Although you still get the same on/off button nestled at the top right corner of the whole keyboard layout.
There is a shiny chromed out chamfers on the side of the keyboard tray. That somehow adds to the premium look when its new. The shiny chromed ring surrounding the keyboard is what made us think that the whole top is aluminium. Thing is though, they will smudge a little from the oils from your skin. While that may not be too big of a deal if you keep it clean with constant care, it will not be the case for most people. Still, we feel that that is a nice touch. At least you know when you need to give your laptop a quick wipe down.
Hardware
As we have mentioned, this ‘go-anywhere-do-anything’ machine is made mostly of aluminium. Which is always a nice touch, in our opinion. It also helps with the overall feel and rigidity of the device, which is always nice.
There is more that just an aluminium body with nothing to show for it inside though. While it is not very heavy, it is still quite a powerful package. As we have mentioned, this is powered by an Intel Core i5, the one we have. We also have NVIDIA’s GeForce MX250 to work with, which is no slouch if you are not after outright gaming performance.
Specifications
ASUS VivoBook S15 S533
As Tested
Processor (clock)
10th Generation Intel Core i5-10210U (1.6GHz ~ up to 4.2GHz)
GPU
NVIDIA GeForce MX250
Display(s)
15.6-inch LED -backlit IPS Full HD (1920 x 1080) NTSC: 45% NanoEdge
1 x USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A 2x USB 2.0 1 x Standard HDMI 1.4 1 x Audio combo jack 1x MicroSD card reader Intel Wi-Fi 6 Gig+ (802.11ax) Bluetooth 5.0
Battery
50Wh 3-cell Li-Polymer Fast Charging (60% in 49 minutes)
Operating System
Windows 10 Home
Miscellaneous
Audio certified by Harman Kardon Certification 1.8kg
Features
Do not think for a second that ‘one-size-fits-all’ means that there is nothing that makes this thing special though. There is still a few things that makes this the perfect notebook PC that can do everything you need.
Back to Basics
So instead of the whole ErgoLift technology that ASUS was raving about a year ago, this has a regular hinge that tilts the display as normally as you would expect a normal notebook PC. You still get a similarly styled hinge, it is just that the VivoBook does not stand on the hinge. That also ensures that your keyboard remains at the same height on any surface, at any given time. You are not going to move your display and have your keyboard shift a few mm away from out or what not.
Not to say that the ErgoLift hinge was a bad thing. It really did improve typing positions when you set it on a proper surface to work with. On normal café tables, working on an ErgoLift hinged notebook is a little bit more comfortable than usual. Because your whole set up moves as the display moves though, it is a little inconsistent for my liking.
On the new 2020 line-up of the ASUS VivoBook S, ASUS is saying or listening to the consumers who say; “what was ever wrong with the normal typing position of notebook PCs”? After all, ASUS was one of the only players pushing that that kind of hinge design.
The loss of the supporting body part that extends from the display does create a little bit of an added opportunity in terms of rigidity too. If you turn the laptop around to its bottom, there is an extra rubber nub in the middle of the back part of the notebook PC. While it may not do much, it does add some body rigidity on the ASUS Vivobook S15, especially in the middle of keyboard which is usually where the older ASUS VivoBook S flexes. There is no visible or perceived crease here even when you put a little bigger pressure on the top part of the keyboard. That is really nice.
There is also another plus point with the regular flat-footed approach to the base of the notebook PC. It is much more comfortable using it on your lap. That is exactly the position of this notebook PC as I am typing this review.
The VivoBook S15 (2020) is missing a fingerprint sensor though, which is quite an unpleasant surprise. It was one of the better fingerprint sensors in a position that we thought made a lot of sense. While some may think that having a fingerprint sensor on the trackpad could be a little distracting, we like where it is positioned. It is one of the more intuitive designs and placements we found in the market. We want the fingerprint sensor back – ASUS, take note.
Clickety Clackety
Notebook PCs have improved on their keyboards tremendously over the past few years. The ASUS VivoBook series over the years, in our opinions, has some of the best keyboard feels among ASUS’ other offerings. We feel that they could use a little more travel and softer feedback, but honestly, they are some of the best keyboards we find on an ASUS notebook.
The ASUS VivoBook S15 technically still has the sort of same keyboard as the slightly older VivoBook S of 2019. It feels somewhat similar as well. There seems to be a little more travel this time around, but that could just be me. We still think that it could use with a little more feedback with the keys though, and more travel. But still, travel would be sacrificed in making notebook PCs lighter and thinner.
Still, that comment of ASUS VivoBook series offering the best keyboard experience from ASUS still stands true with the ASUS VivoBook S15. We suspect also that is mostly due to the fact that this product is targeted mostly to students who types long essays. We feel that this could still be perfect for businesspeople too who needs something reliable and affordable to work with.
There is a small complaint on the keyboard though. The backlight still leaks from the sides of the of island keys. That is a very small tolerable issue though. What is slightly a bit more annoying is that the white backlight makes the keys harder to read in bright conditions. Under the light of the display for example, you cannot read the keys. It still helps when you are typing in darker conditions though. This is basically nit-picking already though as that only happens at certain angles.
We find the highlighted ‘enter’ key a little odd as well. We do not really know why it is in a different colour accent compared to all keys. While it helps us find the enter button, it is still rather odd. It could just be a design decision to help you find the enter key in the dark, to differentiate it from the ‘shift’ key maybe.
Harman and Kardon’s Magic Touch
Yes, the previous ASUS VivoBook S was also fitted with audio by Harman Kardon. Yes, the new one is also fitted with audio by Harman Kardon. Is there a difference? Not really. Both sounds great still.
The sound profile, on speakers at least, is similar to the older VivoBook S. With Harman Kardon, audio sounds crisp and clear. Not to forget, it can get quite loud. There is still a lack of bass or low frequency strength from the speakers. Still, that is quite understandable when they have not fitted a subwoofer into the svelte body of the ASUS VivoBook S15. You would need proper headphones for that needed thump from your music.
Still, even if you do not have any good pair of headphones to work with, the audio is plenty usable and enjoyable. That is the case for both movies and music, which is pleasant. Of course, you would want more low frequencies for action movies with plenty of explosions. In terms of music though, if you are not too big into Hip-Hop, you should do more than fine actually. The high frequencies and mid frequencies are great and clear.
Again though, there are still notebook PCs that packs better audio than the ASUS VivoBook S15 (2020). At the same time though audio for notebook PCs have evolved quite a bit and progressed further than anyone would have thought these days. You can hardly fault modern notebook PCs when it comes to audio quality these days – save for weaker low frequencies.
While Harman Kardon is nothing new for the ASUS VivoBook S15, we do think that having that backup from a large audio brand like Harman Kardon is still an exciting feature to have. It means that ASUS can handle what they do best while allowing one of the best in the business to do what they do best.
Plus the Magic of ICESound by ICE Power
Added to the prowess of Harman Kardon’s know how in making great sounding speakers, or tuning them to sound good. But a good speaker is nothing without good software to articulate and equalise sound. Here is where ICE shines.
ICE Power is known to make some professional grade amplifiers and audio equipment. They are one of the world’s best when it comes to studio monitoring and production grade audio solutions. No, that does not mean that ASUS worked with them to fit an amplifier that is made by them within the VivoBook S15. Not quite, those are still a third party developed part and then Harman Kardon would add their clever know how to make the speakers capable.
What ICE Power makes here is quite unique. It is a software based tuning kit that adjusts the frequencies of the media played through the speakers. Yes, in other words, they made a custom equaliser software for ASUS here.
Unlike plenty of other notebook PCs, the equaliser that is given by ICE Power, more known as ICESound that is built into ASUS’ existing Audio Wizard(cheeky) is a lot more comprehensive. You can tune the audio output to however you might like your music to be. You can have different settings for different software too. They are all saved under presets so you can just quickly get a different tuning and EQ in different conditions within a click.
There are preset settings, of course, for those who are not familiar with tuning software or equalisers adjustments. They simply label them as ‘Music’ and ‘Movies’. Both give you different experiences in both instances too.
Even in those settings, you can customise them further if you want your music to sound a certain way, like how professionals work with live audio, you can too with ICE Power, or at least at the default settings, they do the magic work and you just turn it on to work with. I suggest just going with their default setting though.
While to many, this may not sound like a huge difference with no treatments or equalisers; to any trained ear, you can notice differences straight away. Even with Spotify, the sound profile changes dramatically. Vocals sound clearer with that trailing afternote that you always hear when someone talks to you or in live concerts. The instruments sound a little more alive than they really are somehow. All these in just a simple arrangement of different frequencies. It is pleasantly surprising.
Of course, there is still the problem of not enough low-frequency strength from smaller speakers fitted on the ASUS VivoBook S15. Still, for a notebook PC to have audio like this is plenty amazing. If you are a little picky with audio, this could be the notebook that you might want to have.
There is some caveat though. While it does transform your audio experience a little bit, the speakers at times might seem that it hardly copes with the changes in frequencies, especially the higher ones. There are minimal tears in audio if you pay attention. Still, they can be quite negligible in most cases. To be fair, it could be Spotify too.
Performance
Of course, there are some limitations to what the ASUS VivoBook S15 can do. After all, the test device we have here only packs Intel’s Core i5. While it is the 10th Generation processor, it is not the most powerful in its range too. It is made to be power efficient and durable. It is made to be a workhorse instead of a powerful all conquering device with short bursts of power. This is made to last all day and more. This VivoBook S15 is made to stay away from the wall plugs as long as possible.
Still Quite Powerful
That is not to say that the ASUS VivoBook S15 is a weakling though. With the 10th iteration of Intel’s powerpack, it is more powerful than ever. It scrubs through Full HD 1080p videos on Adobe Premier Pro with ease. It renders the video quite fast too. Well, of course, this coming from a modern PC and at 1080p, you can expect as much. The NVIDIA GeForce MX250 does help things trundle along in video editing purposes too, especially when you need to do any extra stabilisation of your footage.
While your gaming rig can render Full HD videos much faster, this is not too far off. We were able to render 2minute Full HD videos in a few minutes. Provided the video does not feature plenty of complex animations, or too many added footages, or generally that much in complexity. It is just a simple cut, join and render from two different Full HD videos.
Where this should shine though is in simple Adobe Illustrator works and even Adobe Photoshop. Thing is, you might be left a little bit wanting from the display a little bit though. You are not getting the most colour accurate display available to you. Still, it is an IPS display; which means you still get best in class viewing angle and colours still look good.
We also appreciate the fact that this comes out-of-the-box with 8GB RAM. We have always said that 8GB should be the minimum RAM size that any notebooks come in. ASUS listened and fitted 8GB into this thing. Of course, you can upgrade it or add another RAM stick on your own if you want to.
Of course, with 512GB of SSD, you are not going to think too much about wanting for more speed out of your storage. 512GB is also plenty to work with when you are just going to work with documents, some light video or image editing, and even looking through endless emails. Trust me, it is enough. If not, you still can add a 2.5-inch HDD if you want to.
Gaming
Obviously the first part of any performance gauge on almost any notebook PC. Well, that is barring the creator grade stuffs. So, gaming.
Before we go on though, we are not going to install or test AAA titles on this notebook PC. Let’s face it, no one will buy this type of PC to run AAA titles in even close to high settings. You might be able to run older AAA titles still though.
We are not very good DOTA 2 players, but we are pretty sure this still can run that. Then again DOTA 2 runs on nearly any machine on the market these days. So DOTA may not be a good marker anymore.
We ran Two Point Hospital and Motorsport Manager on this thing. We relied on Two Point Hospital more than Motorsport Manager to work with though. Motorsport Manager is buggy at best, and does not require super high performance from GPU as well.
In that light, we are delighted to report that this runs Two Point Hospital healthily. As in, we have not complaints on it. We did not fiddle with the settings, for obvious reasons. We are pretty sure we could push the VivoBook S15 to higher settings on Two Point Hospital, but it might make the frames a little choppy, so we did not bother.
No, you will not get anything higher than 60 fps. This display only refreshes at 60hz. Nope, not a competitive esports contender here. Just a regular PC.
Going the Distance – Battery Life
The older VivoBooks have allowed us to work remotely quite efficiently in the past. There is no specific battery life quote from ASUS really for the new ASUS VivoBook S15. The 50Wh battery built into the ASUS VivoBook S15 (2020) though allowed us to stay on the move and work for at least 4 hours. This is considering that we left it at default power mode. You could improve that a little bit by changing your power consumption model like any other Windows notebook.
We got about 6 hours in battery life with no more than 10 tabs open on both Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge, plenty of typing on Microsoft Word (we typed this review entirely on the ASUS VivoBook S15), constantly having audio at various levels of volume with Audio Wizard on full time. Oh yes, we were downloading some things from Steam too. Screen brightness were kept to half though.
Still, we managed to get this review written on the ASUS VivoBook S15 in two full charges. Which is not ideal if we are away from ports for 8 hours or more in a single period. We are not though, so it still works. We are also thinking in terms of the buyers of this notebook PC. It should be more than adequate to work with between charge points if you are a student especially. Unless, of course, your class goes on for more than 5 hours at a time.
Display
We are not going to lie; the display is not the best. This is not some notebook PC that you might want to use to edit photos or images with super accurate colours. Might I suggest you get a secondary monitor that might cost as much?
No, this is not made for super accurate colour reproduction. This is also not made for gaming, so you do not get anything close to 120Hz. It stops at 60Hz, which is quite terrible in today’s gaming standards.
Does it matter though? This is not a PC that is made to be a creator’s tool. It is made to be a reliable workhorse for the likes of students, or some working adults that is looking at a budget. This is made for Word processing, Excel sheet crunching, and PowerPoint creation. This is made to browse through endless research papers and a mindless amount of web pages.
In that sense, the display is great enough for web browsing and reading. It is adequate to work with; you do not need 120Hz or even Pantone validation to process videos or get through an Excel sheet. You only need to protect your eyes. Windows and ASUS has you covered with blue light filter built-in of course.
The ASUS VivoBook S15 S533 (2020) – The Best VivoBook
That should go without saying. Every new device should be the best of its series. But the ASUS VivoBook S15 (2020) managed to do even more than that though. We admit, it lost some great stuff. It lost the highly acclaimed ErgoLift design (somehow, I am personally glad though). Then there is the fact that you do not get the fingerprint sensor with Windows Hello anymore, a mild annoyance. There is also no significant improvements in battery life too.
The ASUS VivoBook S15 (2020) is a mild progression from the older 2019 variant, rather than a revolution. It does everything a little better. Sure, we do not get some things that we have come to expect from the ASUS VivoBook line-up. But a notebook PC at this segment is not made great by those things.
You still get the same sort of great looking design that can stand out anywhere or blend in anywhere. That is up to your colour choices, by the way. It remained at the same great price too at MYR 3,199. That while having slightly better rigidity, which in turn improves durability and overall typing experience (thank you, little nub). The product still feels great but is made better with the slightly more powerful new generation Intel Core i5 processor (the only one we are getting in Malaysia, by the way). Audio by Harman Kardon is still much of the same thing, but the discovery of Audio Wizard by ICE Power made exclusively for ASUS PCs made it slightly better; just the right amount to change the experience.
Everything points to very slight increments in the experience of the ASUS VivoBook S15. All the increments are made at the same price too. Yes, that means that you must give up some good stuff too. But remember, that is not the point. The point of the ASUS VivoBook S15 is to be a great all-rounder. In that, it does well. We would describe it as the perfect all-rounder. It’s 15.6-inch display is large enough, but also light at 1.8kg. It has all the power you need too, and still lasts longer your meetings or classes. Of course, the Harman Kardon and ICE Power combination is a winner in the audio aspect. Music is enjoyable on this, really.
It is like that friend that you hang out with all the time, the one that goes to the ‘mamak’ with you to discuss world issues, and to the bar with you to watch Liverpool winning the 2019/2020 season; the all-around swell and reliable friend. This is that friend. Oh, as a bonus, this ‘friend’ might look better than that friend; whatever you may think, the Gaia Green is gorgeous. Definitely the one I would spend my MYR 3,199 on.
AWS (Amazon Web Services) isn’t slowing down for anything! The company is making quick work of expanding the availability of their Outposts technology. The latest countries to join the fold is Thailand and India with the rollout coming near simultaneously with Malaysia’s.
The new AWS Outposts feature will bring the power of AWS into the on-premises arena in Thailand and India. This will give businesses the flexibility of adopting cloud infrastructure without sacrificing valuable time migrating their on-premises data to a new cloud server. Instead, they will be able to bring the power and flexibility of the AWS cloud to their on-premise data.
The highly flexible and adaptable system allows businesses to deploy all of AWS’s technologies including their EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud), EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Services), RDS (Relational Database Service) and more to help deploy and make sense of the large amounts of data they may have stored on-premises. They will also be able to keep sensitive data off the cloud while getting the benefit of being able to utilise them in computational and machine learning models. In addition, the close proximity of AWS’s many technologies and services also means that businesses stand to benefit from lower latency when it comes to deploying these assets.
The AWS Outposts on-premises hardware is a fully managed service. Businesses will not need to worry about downtime or learning a new interface. In fact, AWS Outposts shares the same interface as its online counterpart. This also removes the lag time required for staff to learn new platforms and interfaces.
ASUS’s VivoBook has come a long way since it’s first debut. The line up which started out by carving a unique niche for affordable laptops with respectable specifications, has evolved to one of the most personalisable ultrabooks available on the market. The line up has become known for its bold, bright colours, gorgeous finish and rather feature rich package.
The new Vivobook S continues this ethos. It comes in bright, vibrant colours that bring a renewed vigour to the line up with updated specifications and new colours. This year, the VivoBook S line up is bringing a whole new range of colours including the Resolute Red, Gaia Green, Dreamy Silver and India Black. These colours allow users to express themselves from the get go while infusing a pop of colour in any mundane environment.
That said, the VivoBook S has never been just about the looks; it has also been about pushing technology and design. The slim, 1.59cm silhouette of the line up belies its technical prowess. The new VivoBook S line up comes equipped with 10th generation Intel processors which promise faster performance and longer battery life. This paired with the NVIDIA GeForce 250MX and WiFi 6 capabilities allows the VivoBook S series to stride a fine line between performance and portability. This is further bolstered by the 512GB of M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD with 32GB of Intel Optane memory and 8GB of RAM out of the box.
Pricing & Availability
The new ASUS VivoBook S series will be available starting today, 30 June 2020 in retail stores with prices starting at MYR3,199 for the VivoBook S14 and MYR3,699 for the VivoBook S15. Both come with 2 years global warranty from ASUS.
If you are interested in getting one yourself, ASUS is offering an MYR100 discount with the voucher code ASUSVS100 on their official stores on LAZADA and Shopee. The offer is valid on a first come first serve basis on 30th June 2020 from 12pm till 11:59pm.
Intel® Core™ i7-10510U Processor 1.8 GHz (8M Cache, up to 4.9 GHz)
Display
14” LED-backlit Full HD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 Frameless four-sided NanoEdge display with 85% screen-to-body ratio 178° wide-view technology; anti-glare IPS panel display; NTSC: 45%
Intel® Optane™ Memory H10 with Solid State Storage (32 GB Optane™ + 512 GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD)
Wireless
Intel® WiFi 6 GIG+ (802.11ax) Bluetooth® 5.0
Camera
HD camera
I/O ports
1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type A 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C™ 2 x USB 2.0 1 x HDMI 1.4 1 x Audio jack combo 1 x Micro SD card reader
Audio
Array microphone with Cortana voice-recognition support 3.5 mm headphone jack Certified by Harman Kardon
Battery
Fast charging: 60% in 49 minutes 50 Wh 3-cell lithium-polymer battery 65 W power adapter Plug Type: ø4 (mm) (Output: 19 V DC, 3.42 A, 65 W) (Input: 100-240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal)
Keyboard
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard
Fingerprint Reader
Yes
Colors
Dreamy Silver / Indie Black / Gaia Green / Resolute Red
Dimensions
Height: 1.59 cm (0.62”); Width: 32.49 cm (12.79”); Depth: 21.35 cm (8.40”)
Weight
1.4 kg (3.08 lb)
Retail Price
RM 3,699 (available on 30th June onwards)
Bundle in Box
ASUS Backpack, Limited Edition VivoBook stickers
Warranty
2 years global
[1] Specifications, content and product availability are all subject to change without notice and may differ from country to country. Actual performance may vary depending on applications, usage, environment and other factors. Full specifications are available at http://www.asus.com
ASUS VivoBook S15 (S533F)
CPU
Intel® Core™ i5-10210U Processor 1.6 GHz (6M Cache, up to 4.2 GHz)
Display
15.6″ LED-backlit Full HD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 Frameless three-sided NanoEdge display with 86% screen-to-body ratio 178° wide-view technology; anti-glare IPS panel display; NTSC: 45%
Intel® Optane™ Memory H10 with Solid State Storage (32 GB Optane™ + 512 GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD)
Wireless
Intel® WiFi 6 GIG+ (802.11ax) Bluetooth® 5.0
Camera
HD camera
I/O ports
1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type A 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C™ 2 x USB 2.0 1 x HDMI 1.4 1 x Audio jack combo 1 x Micro SD card reader
Audio
Array microphone with Cortana voice-recognition support 3.5mm headphone jack Harmon Kardon Certified
Battery
Fast charging: 60% in 49 minutes 50 Wh 3-cell lithium-polymer battery 65 W power adapter Plug Type: ø4 (mm) (Output: 19 V DC, 3.42 A, 65 W) (Input: 100-240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal)
Keyboard
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard
Fingerprint Reader
No
Colors
Dreamy Silver / Indie Black / Gaia Green / Resolute Red
Dimensions
Height: 1.61 cm (0.63”); Width: 35.98 cm (14.17”); Depth: 23.38 cm (9.2”)
SHANGHAI, June 30, 2020 — Hosted by the Shanghai municipal government, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2020) is opening to the public from July 9 – 11 in Shanghai, China, with registration now open for visitors. Under the theme of “Intelligent Connectivity, Indivisible Community,” the annual conference is set to leverage state-of-the-art technologies including 5G, virtual and augmented reality to create an unprecedented tech fest this year by combining physical and virtual exhibitions.
AI and cloud-based technologies have played a crucial role in the fight against the pandemic and revitalizing economic growth. Committed to becoming a global AI tech hub, Shanghai has pledged fresh efforts in advancing the construction of new infrastructures, the projects involving information and communication technologies, 5G, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, with new policies and investments initiated to boost AI cooperation and innovation globally. Set against this backdrop, WAIC 2020 aims to build a platform to accelerate global digital transformation by displaying the practical and innovative implementation of AI, cognitive technology and intelligent automation.
The online section of WAIC 2020 features a cloud platform showcasing a 3D virtual AI community alongside the cutting-edge AI solutions for future smart cities. A comprehensive AI industrial ecosystem will be laid out within the virtual community, allowing the global audiences to learn the strategic and tactical benefits of AI by following the roadmap for next-generation technologies across seven major sectors including education, medicine, transportation, finance, infrastructure, urban management and business.
Integrated with interactive features, both online and offline exhibitions enable audiences to have a close-up experience with world-leading AI technologies. In addition, the world’s most advanced humanoid robots for business and home are set to take the central stage. One of the highlights of the exhibition is the world’s first human-friendly dual-arm robot equipped with breakthrough functionality such as self-balance, collision prevention, object identification and the ability to cope with complex terrains.
The largest WAIC with more than 550 industry leaders joining the conference
WAIC 2020 consists of four regular sections, which include an opening ceremony, two plenary sessions and over ten themed and industry forums inviting experts to share their opinions on topics covering finance, education, 5G, intelligent algorithms, chips and smart hardware. The broadcasting teams in Germany, Korea and Singapore also will join the online showroom in Shanghai to demonstrate local cutting-edge technologies and share industry insight.
Over 550 AI experts, scientists, industry leaders, including Nobel laureates Thomas Sargent and Turing Award winners Manuel Blum, Judea Pearl, and David Patterson will attend the WAIC 2020, with tech gurus from Microsoft, Apple, IBM and Amazon also joining the online events. The conference has also set up “Investor Lounge” which serves as a platform to help leading AI innovators to carve out more commercial opportunities and land their AI innovations.
More than 50 new products and technologies are expected debuted with over 30 milestone partnerships planned to be signed during this year’s event. The conference will feature more competitions and awards to reward leading young innovators and tech trailblazers for their contributions to the AI industry.
To learn more about World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2020, please visit www.worldaic.com.cn
2020 World Artificial Intelligence Conference Summit Online
About World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2020
With the theme of “Intelligent Connectivity, Indivisible Community,” the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2020 is a platform for AI scientists, world leaders and entrepreneurs to share their insights on AI innovations and applications, gathering the brightest minds under one roof to enable them to shed light on a better future powered by intelligent technologies. It aims to connect the best from academia and industry to collaborate and offers opportunities for talented innovators to transform the world, meet investors and distribute their ideas globally.
