CHiQ Awarded Top Accolade by Canstar Blue

February 1, 2021 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

The brand was awarded the top-spot in Canstar Blue’s 2020 refrigeration category

MELBOURNE, Australia, Feb. 1, 2021 — International designer and manufacturer of consumer electronics and home appliances, CHiQ has been awarded the top spot in Canstar Blue’s 2020 "Most Satisfied Customer – Refrigeration" category. CHiQ is a new generation of high-end smart home appliances from Changhong, including a full set of home Internet consumer electronics, such as TV sets, refrigerators, air conditioners, and small home appliances. With the advent of the 5G era, the global interaction mode will be upgraded again with the help of CHiQ.

CHiQ AWARDED TOP ACCOLADE BY CANSTAR BLUE

In the annual market survey conducted by Australian consumer tracker Canstar Blue, CHiQ topped the list of best refrigeration brands earning five stars in criteria categories: food freshness, design, quality of fittings, overall satisfaction and more.

David Esler, General Manager of Sales and Marketing at CHiQ says that the award is a testament to the brands leading innovation and quality at an affordable price point, adding:

"We are delighted to be recognised as number one in Customer Satisfaction and attribute this to the CHiQ methodology of creating human-centric appliances." says Esler.

CHiQ has 40 SKUs in its growing fridge and freezer portfolio including Retro Fridge, hybrid fridge-freezer models, side by sides, top and bottom mount configurations, a range of chest-freezer models and bar fridges.

CHiQ is adding to its growing catalogue of product innovation in 2021 with plans to add a selection of laundry products and computer monitors during the year.

eSports, Gaming, News

ROG Masters Asia Pacific eSports Tournament Goes Online for 2021 Season

February 1, 2021 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

ASUS kicking off a region wide eSports Tournament called the ROG Masters Asia Pacific eSports Tournament which will see eSports athletes from the region compete for a grand prize of USD$10,000. The tournament kicks off in March 2021 with matches happening throughout until the finals in April 2021. Given the current global situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament will be held entirely online.

ROG Masters APAC 2021 Teaser Video | ROG

This year, the game of choice is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). The competition will involve 15 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. It’s open to enthusiasts, amateurs and professionals across the region. All you have to do is register at rogmasters.gg. Registration opens on February 8 2021.

The competition will be held in three stages over the two months. Kicking off the competition is the Country Qualifiers which will see all the registered teams face-off for a shot in the Country Finals starting on the first week of April 2021. The Country Finals will see professional teams from each country seeded into the battlefield allowing enthusiasts and amateurs to climb further up the ladder. Teams in the Country finals will then stand a chance to head to the Regional finals where they will battle it out for the grand prize.

Matches for the Country finals will be streamed on ASUS ROG’s official YouTube and Facebook pages. The Malaysian Finals will be live-streamed on 4 April 2021. The APAC Finals will be live-streamed at the end of April 2021.

Teams that rise above the rest in the Malaysian Finals will stand to win USD$800 for first place and USD$400 for second place. These prizes also include ASUS ROG Swag. Teams in the APAC finals will then be vying for the USD$10,000 grand prize. The top 3 teams will be awarded USD$10,000 for the grand prize, USD3,500 for the runner up and USD$1,500 for third place.

Get to registering fast for your chance as registrations close on 28th February 2021.

Computers, News

Acer’s TravelMate P4 Makes its Way to Malaysia

February 1, 2021 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Acer’s TravelMate P4 is making its way to Malaysian consumers! The new offering from Acer brings the best of durability and specifications to meet the rigours of the current work from anywhere culture. Equipped with military standard toughness, the TravelMate P4 is made to accompany users where ever they may decide to work. It even comes with features to ensure that critical information is secured.

The TravelMate P4 is equipped with Intel’s 11th generation Core i3, i5 and Core i7 processors. These processors come with performance enhancements that not only make them perform better but also make them even more power-efficient. This allows users to enjoy a whopping 15-hours of battery life. If you require more power in the graphics department, there are options which include the NVIDIA GeForce MX350; otherwise, the laptop comes built-in with the Intel IRIS X^e which should be just as powerful as the MX350.

On the connectivity side of things, the TravelMate P4 comes with support for WiFi 6 (802.11ax) which allows stable, high speed connectivity for your work needs. It also supports Bluetooth 5.1. The webcam on the P4 is a standard 720p HD webcam which is complemented with Acer Purified Voice technology for all your video calling needs.

The display on the TravelMate P4 is a Full HD IPS display which should give you enough visual real estate to complete any task. It has up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage.

Pricing & Availability

The Acer TravelMate P4 is available in stores now. It will set you back MYR4,999 for the version with the Intel Core i7 and MYR4,099 for the one with the Core i5.

Purchases made between 1st January to 31 March 2021 will be entitled to redeem MYR80 Touch ‘n Go eWallet or Boost eWallet credit.

PR Newswire

Megaport Adds IT Sales Veteran Rodney Foreman to the Executive Team as Chief Revenue Officer

February 1, 2021 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

Rodney Foreman joins Megaport as Chief Revenue Officer after senior leadership roles at IBM Corporation, Nutanix and Cobalt Iron

BRISBANE, Australia, Feb. 1, 2021 — Megaport (ASX: MP1), a leading global Network as a Service (NaaS) provider, announced today the addition of Rodney Foreman to the executive team in the newly created role of Chief Revenue Officer. Foreman will lead Megaport’s global sales organisation and have responsibility for all revenue generating programs.

Foreman brings more than 20 years of expertise and leadership in product management, direct sales, and channel sales to Megaport. As Vice President of Worldwide Cloud Channel and Mid-Market Sales at IBM Corporation, he led a global sales team that consistently overachieved on annual revenue targets of over one billion US dollars. Most recently, Foreman was the Chief Revenue Officer of Cobalt Iron, a data protection and security SaaS provider, where he spearheaded the company’s transformation to a channel-based business. He also launched successful channel sales programs at Nutanix and Informatica.

"We are excited to bring Rodney’s deep expertise and track record in leading global sales organisations to Megaport," said Vincent English, CEO of Megaport. "With the coming launch of Megaport Virtual Edge (MVE), which will enable the hosting of Network Function Virtualization (NFV), such as SD-WAN capabilities, Megaport has never been in a better position to maximise the revenue opportunities of a tailored and robust channel programme."

"With our increasing focus on the systems integrator market as well as our excellent momentum in the data centre partner space, the timing for Rodney coming onboard could not be better," English continued. "His experience with product and managing scalable direct sales programs will help us further our capabilities with direct-to-customer sales while also creating even better customer and partner experiences."

"I am delighted to join Megaport at an exciting time for the company," Foreman said. "As an established leader and innovator in the cloud connectivity and NaaS space, Megaport has a huge opportunity to put their industry-changing solution in the hands of more customers and partners around the world. I look forward to working with our global teams to capture greater market share and advancing Megaport’s mission to transform the way businesses, data centres, systems integrators, and managed service providers build agile networks in the cloud."

Based in Austin, Texas, Foreman will report to English.

About Megaport

Megaport is a leading provider of Network as a Service (NaaS) solutions. The company’s global Software Defined Network (SDN) helps businesses rapidly connect their network to services via an easy-to-use portal or our open API. Megaport offers agile networking capabilities that reduce operating costs and increase speed to market compared to traditional networking solutions. Megaport partners with the world’s top cloud service providers, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, as well as the largest data centre operators, systems integrators and managed service providers in the world. Megaport is an ISO/IEC 27001-certified company.

Health, Lifestyle, News

Garmin Announces the Garmin Lily, A Smartwatch for Women

February 1, 2021 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Smartwatches have always been seen as gender neutral in design. However, when it comes down to it, the design and finish of any given watch can leave an impression. So far, we’ve only seen designs that versatile and are adaptable to both feminine and masculine styles. However, Garmin is paying close attention to women in it’s newest line up – the Garmin Lily.

The Garmin Lily comes with a sleek, fashion-forward design which looks to keep its users looking sharp while keeping up with their fitness goals. The smaller, 34mm smartwatch comes with a monochromatic, liquid crystal touch display with 14mm straps brings a refined sense of femininity that other smartwatches on the market are lacking. Garmin says that the Lily is inspired by the jewellery-like design of timepieces which are designed for smaller wrists. The Lily classic comes with straps made of Italian leather while the Lily Sport comes with a sweat-proof silicone band.

The Garmin Lily doesn’t skimp on the health features even in its petite form. It is capable of measure blood oxygenation, stress, hydration, sleep and heart rate continuously. It also has a Body Battery energy monitoring feature which will help users monitor their energy levels and plan activities like workouts and rest times. Being made for women, the Lily also comes equipped with software features like menstrual cycle tracking and pregnancy tracking to help women stay in tune with their body and wellness via the Garmin Connect app.

Aside from the software features, the smartwatch comes with connectivity features that we see in all smartwatches including WiFi and GPS connectivity via your smartphone. It also comes with smart notifications for you to keep focused while you’re out and about. It also boasts a 5-day battery life.

Pricing & Availability

The Garmin Lily will be available in Classic and Sports editions. The Garmin Lily Classic will be retailing for USD$249.99 (MYR1,010.60) while the Garmin Lily Sport will be retailing at USD$199.99 (MYR808.47).

News, Social Media

Facebook News Hits the U.K., More Countries Coming

February 1, 2021 Shireen Lee Leave a comment

Facebook’s recent woes with misinformation surrounding not only the U.S. Elections but also the COVID-19 pandemic have led the social media platform to look for more viable ways to serve news and content. The company initially rolled out its News Tab in the U.S. back in 2019. Now, the feature is making its way to users in the United Kingdom. The Facebook News feature filters out content based on user interest and publisher reputation.

Facebook News allows users to access news and articles based on categories such as business, entertainment, sport, and even the top news or stories of the day. Using the feature, Facebook will provide the news digests which summarize the developments during the major events, like the COVID-19 pandemic or the U.S. Elections. In addition to aggregation, the content collated in the Facebook News Tab will be ranked based on authoritative sources and original reporting. This will help users discern credible sources before sharing.

The introduction of Facebook News also comes in the shadow of Australia implementing legislation that will require organizations such as Facebook and Google to pay content and news companies for using their content in news feeds. Considering this, Facebook claims that they are going to paying UK news organizations for the use of their articles and cooperate with more news organizations so that users can access more information.

To date, the news organizations involved in the partnership include The Guardian, The Economist, Channel 4 News, Daily Mail Group, and others. The roll out in the U.K. seems to be the first in a more global roll out of the feature. Facebook mentioned that they are dealing with the publisher in France and Germany to bring the news tab features to their country. The company also announced that the features will launch in India and Brazil in the future.

PR Newswire

ECXX and UOB Kay Hian collaborate to offer Securitised Token Offerings

February 1, 2021 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

This collaboration brings ECXX technology platform to UOB Kay Hian’s large pool of investors in Asia.
ECXX’s digital platform was an early pioneer RMO offering securities in Fintech Sandbox Express approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Robust and exciting pipeline of deep-tech start-ups to be marketed to the accredited investors of both parties.

SINGAPORE, Feb. 1, 2021 — ECXX Global, a pioneer in operating digital asset exchange using blockchain technology, announced today that it has entered into an important collaboration with regional brokerage UOB Kay Hian to bring in deep-tech start-ups to their network and offer them the opportunity to list via Securitised Token Offerings (STOs) to raise growth capital.

Under this collaboration, both companies will facilitate tokenization projects and tap on UOB Kay Hian’s large pool of investors to market and distribute tokens to potential investors.

They will comply with regulations for token issuance and they will provide investor education and analysis on tokenization and tokens investment.

"We are excited by the opportunities arising from this collaboration with UOB Kay Hian.

They are one of the leading regional brokerage out there and we believe that we are able to address their large list of accredited investors who are interested in token investment. In addition, the synergy from this collaboration will create more opportunities for investors to tap into digital assets and the blockchain space," said Mr Branson Lee, Chief Executive Officer of ECXX.

With Singapore currently being Asia’s highest-ranking fintech city and seeing a growth of 30% of fintech funding over the past few years from 2015 to 2019^[1], this collaboration presents great opportunity for UOB Kay Hian to expand their business into the fintech sector, growing their already well-established presence in the banking and finance sector.

ECXX is also able to leverage on this collaboration and accelerate the development and expansion of their fintech business.

ECXX had already previously secured admission from the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS") to the Fintech Sandbox Express under a Recognised Market Operator (RMO) regime.

This makes them an early pioneer RMO offering securities in Fintech Express Sandbox approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to be integrated with MyInfo, the one-stop Singapore government identity platform.

Mr Esmond Choo, Senior Executive Director of UOB Kay Hian, said, "The ECXX platform is designed to be very versatile and will serve the fast growing digital asset space. UOB Kay Hian is very happy to work with ECXX, a company which has a strong domain knowledge in STO offerings matched by a robust pipeline of rapid growth technology-based companies. We believe that this collaboration will allow us to leverage our respective strengths to grow our presence the fintech sector."

[1] Oliver Wyman, Singapore Fintech Landscape 2020 And Beyond, https://www.oliverwyman.com/content/dam/oliver-wyman/v2/publications/2020/dec/singapore-fintech-landscape-2020-and-beyond.pdf

About ECXX

ECXX is a premier Digital Securities Exchange made in Singapore with a global reach, allowing users to buy, sell, and store digital assets. Its platform is dedicated to offer unique experiences regardless whether you are a professional or institutional trader. It is a Recognised Market Operator (RMO) offering Digital Securities In MAS Fintech Sandbox Express. ECXX is the 1st Exchange to be approved and the only private company to be onboarded for MyInfo Business.

For more information, please visit https://www.ecxx.com/

About UOB Kay Hian

UOB-Kay Hian Group is a regional financial services group headquartered in Singapore. It is a widely recognised brand in every jurisdiction in which it has operations such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, London, New York and Toronto. In Singapore, it is the largest domestic broker based on the number of registered trading representatives employed. In addition to its broking agency services in equities, bonds, CFDs, DLCs, Robo, LFX and commodities, it provides high value-added services in corporate advisory and fund raising, leveraging on its wide network of corporate contacts and deep distribution capabilities to execute IPOs, secondary placements and other corporate finance and investment banking activities. Our regional distribution footprint now spans regional financial centres.

For media queries, please reach out to:

Ashley Tan
FPR
E: ashley@financialpr.com.sg
T: (+65) 6438-2990

Beeper Brings Together Your Chat Apps Under One Roof

February 1, 2021 Shireen Lee Leave a comment

Nowadays, most of us use a smartphone to communicate. One of the ways we do this is via communication apps such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Messenger, Skype, among others. Most of the time, these apps are free of charge and come with features that make communicating easier. However, we are at a point where there are way too many apps offering users different kinds of communication styles and experiences. This had led to a conundrum where users have become overwhelmed by messages leading to some messages being missed or overlook. Seeing that reality, Eric Migicovsky, the founder of the now Fitbit-owned Pebble, has unveiled a new, universal communication app, Beeper, which unify up to 15 chat networks.

Beeper brings all the widely used chat applications under one roof. This allows users to not only be on multiple platforms at the same time, but also have one screen to rule them all. It offers users the option to reply messages in a fast and convenient way while being platform agnostic. The new app supports 15 chat networks including Apple’s iMessage. Beeper is available on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Users can enjoy all the features offered by their multiple apps such as unified search, snooze, and archiving messages on Beeper. However, supporting Apple’s iMessage is a little trickier. To allow Android, Windows, and Linux users to use Apple’s service on Beeper, the Migicovsky and his team had to find a workaround. This involves using Apple’s own devices for some digital trickery. The company is using an always on Apple device as a bridge to enable iMessage on Beeper. If you don’t have an Apple device to use as this bridge, the company will send the user a jailbroken iPhone with the Beeper app installed; otherwise, it’s as simple as downloading the app on your Mac or iPhone to enable the service.

The platform is built on an open-source platform called Matrix. The platform is run as a non-profit by the Matrix.org Foundation like Mozilla. It offers a set of APIs and SDKs for developing and running chat platforms. It enables decentralized, secure communication on these platforms with end-to-end encryption. This also means that larger adopters of Beeper have the option to run the application on their own servers for additional security and peace of mind.

It’s pretty hard to imagine that Beeper would be available for free given the elaborate lengths the creators have taken to enable all the services. For those interested in using Beeper, it come with a monthly subscription fee of USD$10 (MYR40.43) for the app. If you need the jail-broken iPhone the fee is not included in the subscription.

Beeper is hardly the first app on the market that aggregates chat platforms into a single app. There are apps such as Franz and Rambox which are available on the internet without the support for iMessage. That said, Beeper holds much promise when it comes to having literally all your messaging platforms under one roof. There will be more chat networks for users to enjoy soon with night mode coming in the next version.

PR Newswire

Microland appoints industry veteran Vivek Radhakrishnan, as Senior Vice President, North America

February 1, 2021 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

BENGALURU, India, ISELIN, N.J. and LONDON, Feb. 1, 2021 — Microland, a global digital transformation company today announced the appointment of Vivek Radhakrishnan as Senior Vice President, North America to accelerate the business growth in the region. In his role, Vivek will be responsible for all Microland’s business in the USA and will be based out of Iselin, New Jersey.

Vivek joins Microland with a 25-year track record of success in driving the digital transformation agenda for clients across verticals that include Banking, Financial Services & Insurance, HealthCare & Life Sciences and Energy & Utilities. Vivek has donned several leadership positions with major IT services firms and has been responsible for key business roles that included Sales, Delivery and Solution Engineering.

Vivek is a result-oriented executive who is passionate about bringing high growth strategies to his clients and excels at managing executive governance through the operations lifecycle across complex transformation projects. He is deeply committed to driving innovation and best practices in client engagements that help them meet their strategic objectives and exceed on their business goals.

Ashish Mahadwar, President, Microland mentioned, "I am pleased to welcome Vivek to Microland’s leadership team. Vivek’s vast operating experience across multiple business roles will augment our digital transformation capabilities in the Americas thereby accelerating our growth. In the pandemic hit world, there is a significant need to deliver innovative IT infrastructure solutions that meet the new needs of our clients and help them deal with the new set of challenges. I believe Microland’s recent recognition as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Network Services* reflects our ability to bring to bear a broad suite of innovative solutions to address these client challenges. Vivek’s experience of managing global relationships will augur well for Microland in deepening our client relationships. His tremendous experience of driving the Client’s transformation agenda will help Microland better execute on "new normal" solutions."

Commenting on his appointment Vivek Radhakrishnan said: "I am excited to be a part of Microland which has such a deep and resolute focus in the IT and IIoT infrastructure services sector. Microland over the last 3 decades, has been continuously adapting itself in adding value to the everchanging demands of its clients in a fast-changing technology and business landscape. The post pandemic world offers a tremendous growth opportunity for a company like Microland and I am looking forward to contributing towards the realization of its goals."

Source(*) : Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Managed Network Services, Ted Corbett et al., 09 Nov 2020

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Microland

Microland’s delivery of digital and "Making Digital Happen" allows technology to do more and intrude less. We make it easier for enterprises to adopt nextGen Digital infrastructure. We enable this using our expertise in Cloud and Data Centers, Networks, Digital Workplace, Cybersecurity and Industrial IoT—ensuring the embrace of brilliance is predictable, reliable and stable.

In the COVID impacted world, Microland is making digital happen for enterprises with a laser focus on services that are more relevant to our clients and prospects than ever before. Incorporated in 1989 and headquartered in Bengaluru, India, Microland has more than 4,500 digital specialists across offices and delivery centers in Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East and North America.

Read more here: https://www.microland.com/

Logo: https://techent.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/microland-appoints-industry-veteran-vivek-radhakrishnan-as-senior-vice-president-north-america.jpg

techENT

Yearly Archives: 2021

CHiQ Awarded Top Accolade by Canstar Blue

ROG Masters Asia Pacific eSports Tournament Goes Online for 2021 Season

Acer’s TravelMate P4 Makes its Way to Malaysia

Pricing & Availability

Megaport Adds IT Sales Veteran Rodney Foreman to the Executive Team as Chief Revenue Officer

Garmin Announces the Garmin Lily, A Smartwatch for Women

Pricing & Availability

ECXX and UOB Kay Hian collaborate to offer Securitised Token Offerings

Beeper Brings Together Your Chat Apps Under One Roof

Microland appoints industry veteran Vivek Radhakrishnan, as Senior Vice President, North America

Tech Your Way