STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb. 11, 2022 — Crunchfish’s Gesture Interaction technology has evolved to a versatile Skeleton platform that addresses many gesture interaction scenarios in AR/VR, public screens as well as automotive applications. Crunchfish’s Skeleton platform was the topic of the sixth Survival of the fittest webinar on February 11th, 2022.
The webinar on Crunchfish Skeleton platform was the sixth of the Survival of the fittest webinar series. After a presentation by Crunchfish Gesture Interaction CEO Joakim Nydemark, Johan Wester moderated a Q&A session and open forum also including Daniel Milesson, R&D Director of Crunchfish Gesture Interaction and Joachim Samuelsson, Group CEO of Crunchfish in a panel.
"Crunchfish’s skeleton platform provides a wide range of new solution areas. It also shows a technical versatility that enables new use cases and a variety of features in our gesture control products", says Joakim Nydemark, CEO of Crunchfish Gesture Interaction.
Crunchfish is a deep tech company developing a Digital Cash platform for Banks, Payment Services and CBDC implementations and Gesture Interaction technology for AR/VR, automotive and digital interfaces. Crunchfish is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market since 2016, with headquarters in Malmö, Sweden and with representation in India.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11, 2022 — MatchCraft, a global leader in digital advertising technology, was recognized as the Rising Star of the Year by Microsoft Advertising at last night’s virtual awards ceremony honoring the accomplishments of 2021. MatchCraft took home the top prize for its accelerated focus on integrating features that drive both scalability, feature adoption, and growth for its reseller and agency partners.
At the heart of MatchCraft’s vision and mission is its ability to deliver consistent results across multiple channels and to do so in a scalable manner. A critical component of their success is the inclusion of Microsoft Advertising inventory in their suite of solutions. "Given the challenges local businesses have faced over the last year, maximizing advertising budgets and reach was the driving force behind much of our development in 2021," says Sandy Lohr, CEO of MatchCraft. "To be recognized for the hard work our team has undertaken to ensure our partners have access to Microsoft Advertising’s valuable inventory is truly an honor and speaks to the strength of our partnership with Microsoft Advertising."
"Microsoft Advertising is delighted to show our appreciation and acknowledge the well-deserved recognition for MatchCraft as the Rising Star of the Year. Our partners are critical to our business and it’s a privilege to recognize those who lead with a spirit of collaboration, innovation, and inclusive behavior. Our partners have displayed a strong commitment to their clients, and to their communities during a time of uncertainty and disruption," added Sean O’Connor, International Marketing Director at Microsoft Advertising.
About MatchCraft MatchCraft provides a best-in-class advertising platform that enables companies to successfully sell and manage search, display, and social campaigns for their advertisers. Unlike other advertising technology platforms, MatchCraft’s platform AdVantage™ helps organizations efficiently manage campaigns of all sizes, enabling clients to deliver results to their advertisers. MatchCraft’s sophisticated real-time bidding algorithms, and a team of digital marketing enthusiasts, work relentlessly to deliver exceptional ROI for merchants around the world. MatchCraft is a fully remote company with team members across the US, Europe, Mexico, and India. For digital marketing news, advice, and to stay in the loop on product rollouts, follow MatchCraft on Facebook, MatchCraft on Twitter,MatchCraft on LinkedIn or visitwww.MatchCraft.com.
About Microsoft Advertising
Represent your brand at its best with advertising solutions guided by an uncompromising respect for privacy, brand safety, and data security. Microsoft Advertising provides intelligent solutions that empower you to deliver engaging, personalized experiences to over a half a billion people worldwide. Bing powers billions of searches monthly on the Microsoft Search Network, including Verizon Media properties (AOL, Yahoo), platforms like Amazon and Apple, and on Microsoft services like Windows, Office and Microsoft Edge. Extend your reach and campaign performance with Microsoft Audience Network, high-quality native placements across devices on premium sites like MSN, Outlook.com, Microsoft Edge, and Verizon Media. Only Microsoft Advertising offers LinkedIn Profile targeting on search and native to help you find highly relevant audiences based on their company, job function and industry. With Microsoft Advertising, gain access to in-depth insights, intelligent advertising tools that use AI to improve campaign performance and audience targeting solutions to create more personalized advertising experiences. Microsoft Advertising. Intelligent connections.
SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 11, 2022 — WeBank, the world’s leading digital bank, is featured in the Forbes Blockchain 50 2022. The bellwether list recognizes large corporations that lead in employing distributed ledger technology and reflects the spreading impact of the blockchain market globally. WeBank has been recognized for top-notch research and development of consortium chain technologies, as well as its continuous efforts in building an active consortium chain ecosystem. WeBank has provided open-sourced consortium chain technologies to the "The Green Bud Points" based on "Green Inclusive Cloud" developed by China Beijing Green Inclusive Network Technology Co., Ltd (”Green Inclusive”). It encourages the public to reduce carbon emissions by recording daily green behaviors on blockchain and rewarding those behaviors with credits that can redeem vouchers and gifts.
The Green Bud Points, a United Nations Sustainable Development GOALS partnership project, is built on the Green Inclusive Cloud. It intends to promote a green and low-carbon lifestyle by quantifying and calculating the carbon emissions of various environmental protection activities. The Green Bud Points stores users’ carbon emission reduction records on chain. Then, the underlying blockchain technology ensures that the issuance and distribution of records are transparent and traceable, thus securing trust among all users and involved parties. In 2021, the Green Bud Points has recorded more than 2,500 tons of carbon emissions reduced.
The Green Inclusive Cloud is one of many practical applications that surfaced in WeBank’s long-term commitment to provide open-sourced blockchain technologies. So far, WeBank has open-sourced more than 10 blockchain technologies, including leading the development of the underlying blockchain platform FISCO BCOS and the identity authentication and trusted data exchange solution WeIdentity. By implementing FISCO BCOS and WeIdentity, the Health Code Mutual Recognition System between Guangdong and Macao achieves reliable and compliant information verification across borders without direct exchange of personal data. From May 2020 to the end of 2021, more than 100 million border crossings have been through customs between the Chinese mainland and Macao using the system.
Besides providing technologies, WeBank strategically focuses on building consortium chain ecosystem. By the end of 2021, the WeBank-powered FISCO BCOS community has brought together more than 70,000 individual developers, more than 3,000 companies and institutions to participate in the construction of the blockchain industry ecosystem. There are more than 200 public administration, finance, agricultural, social welfare, entertainment, supply chain and IoT applications operating stably in the production environment.
WeBank’s full-stack blockchain technologies for new digital infrastructure
Henry Ma, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of WeBank, said, "Innovation and technology have always been core to WeBank’s strategy to become a world-leading digital enabler. In the coming years, we expect more opportunities in utilizing advanced technologies to serve the real economy and drive financial inclusion. With our leading-edge blockchain and other fintech capabilities, WeBank will continue to collaborate with our ecosystem partners to drive digital transformations across industries, and explore the paths for equitable, sustainable and green developments."
Annual awards program recognises public and private-sector organisations in every region of the globe for their impactful results transforming the way people work with process intelligence and automation
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Feb. 11, 2022 — Nintex, the global standard for process intelligence and automation, today announced that the nomination process for the 2022 Nintex Solution Innovation Awards is open to organisations who leverage the Nintex Process Platform to drive business outcomes and deliver modern digital experiences to their employees and customers.
"We look forward to recognising organisations across every industry that are leading the digital revolution and overcoming obstacles brought on by the pandemic," said Nintex Chief Customer Officer Josh Waldo. "And as we have done previously, this year’s categories will reflect the most recent innovations and solutions that meet today’s challenges."
Every organisation that leverages the easy-to-use and powerful capabilities from Nintex—Nintex Promapp®, Nintex Workflow, Nintex Forms, Nintex DocGen®, Nintex RPA, Nintex Mobile and App Studio, Nintex Drawloop® for Salesforce, Nintex AssureSign®, Nintex Analytics, Nintex K2 Five, and more—is eligible to submit nominations.
Nintex is transforming the way people work
In 2021, Nintex honoured 18 organisations for their transformative business results including Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC (Coke Florida) as the Nintex Champion. By leveraging the Nintex Process Platform, Coke Florida automated simple to sophisticated business processes across departments and operating locations in the state of Florida to support the company’s growth.
Baptist Health, BDO Australia, Capital Bank, City of Toronto – Corporate Security, E.T. Browne Drug Company, Inc., Hanes Australasia, Hernando County School District, Hitachi Vantara, HMT, Jio Platforms, KBR, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS), Matchis Foundation, Mohammed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), National Gallery Singapore, Rakuten Medical, Inc., and RG Construction were the 2021 Nintex Solution Innovation Award category winners.
Important details for 2022 Nintex Solution Innovation Awards
Nominations will be accepted through Friday, 11 March 2022. Winners of this year’s Nintex Solution Innovation Awards will be selected across three regions of Americas, Europe Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific and publicly announced in June 2022.
All entries must include a brief description of the business challenge(s) or project goal(s) and identify which Nintex capabilities were leveraged.
Clear business outcomes with resulting benefits and quantifiable metrics are also required with every entry.
Nominations will be accepted for Nintex solutions across on-premise, hybrid or cloud environments as well as those integrated with Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, SAP and others.
Nintex partners are highly encouraged to enter solutions on behalf of and in partnership with their customers. Entries submitted on behalf of customers must include customer consent of the entry and the primary customer’s contact information to ensure aligned consent.
About Nintex Nintex is the global standard for process intelligence and automation. Today more than 10,000 public and private sector organisations across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Process Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating and optimising business processes. Learn more by visiting www.nintex.com and experience how Nintex and its global partner network are shaping the future of Intelligent Process Automation (IPA).
Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
HUAWEI, in the past, was making some of the best smartphones in the world alongside the likes of Samsung. While the idea of comparing a HUAWEI device today to a Samsung device seems a little on the funny side, you cannot deny that HUAWEI still makes some very interesting, very compelling smartphones that, on paper at least, could be one of the best smartphones in the world. The only undoing for HUAWEI is Western politics.
Funnily enough though, the political issues did not hinder HUAWEI’s PC development. They introduced notebook after notebook, and most of them comes with Intel processors, and Microsoft Windows operating system. Weird? Yes. Do we care? Not one bit. In fact, we are happy about that. HUAWEI genuinely makes great notebooks at relatively reasonable prices compared to more established players in the field.
Now there is this new thing. They introduced the HUAWEI MateBook 14S, a sort of thin-and-light notebook based on Intel’s 11th Generation processors. Amid the latest 12th Generation Intel though, is it still relevant? Is it worth the MYR 4,999 asking price? Should you even consider getting one if you do not have a HUAWEI device? We find out.
Design
It comes in two distinct colours, and the unit they passed to us is Green in colour. We have to say that we quite like the light shade of green that HUAWEI shipped this with. It stands out while remaining conspicuous and understated, if that makes sense.
The shell of the HUAWEI MateBook is clean. It only features the enlarged ‘HUAWEI’ wording on the cover. You find no sign of HUAWEI’s usual petal logo anywhere on the notebook. We assume that that the exclusion is to make the HUAWEI MateBook 14S cleaner and more professional.
The entire MateBook 14S is made from aluminium. The extensive use of metal means two things. It is very solid, but also quite hefty. It weighs 1.43kg, which is not exactly heavy, but it is still heavier than most thin-and-light notebooks out there. We appreciate the solid build and premium feel of metal, though.
Hardware
Our test unit is not the most expensive variant available in the market. It packs an Intel Core i5-11300H made for efficiency and long battery life. It also packs less RAM than the more premium Core i7 variant at 8GB. Everything else is the same, so it is not like you are shorthanded with the lesser model.
Specification
HUAWEI MateBook 14S (2021)
As Tested
Processor (clock)
Intel Core i5-11300H
GPU
Intel Iris Xe Integrated Graphics
Display(s)
14.2-inch LTPS (2520 x 1680 2.5K 3:2) 60Hz 400nits 100% sRGB 1500:1 contrast ratio 10-point multi-touch sensitive Narrow Bezel
Memory
512GB NVMe PCIe SSD 8GB LPDDR4X RAM
Networking and Connections (I/O)
2 x USB 3.1 Type-C (Charging, Data, DisplayPort) 1 x USB 3.2 Type-A 1 x 3.5mm AUX 1 x HDMI 2.0 WiFi 6 (802.11ax) Bluetooth 5.1
Operating System
Windows 10 Home (64-bit) upgradeable to Windows 11
Battery
60Wh
Miscellaneous
1.43kg HUAWEI Share Fingerprint Power Button Windows Hello Facial Recognition Quad Speakers Quad Microphone All-metal body
Features
MYR 4,999 is still a lot of money to ask for a thin-and-light though. That is entry-level gaming laptop money. Then again, you should not compare it to gaming purpose devices.
Form With Function
Usually, a thin-and-light requires sacrifice in terms of port practicality. Because most thin-and-light comes with USB Type-C Ports exclusively, you need to obtain an extra dongle so that it’ll take your USB drives, your external hard drives and whatever peripherals you want to work with.
For the HUAWEI MateBook 14S though, you can leave your dongle at home if you want. HUAWEI managed to fit one full USB 3.0 Type-A port on the right side. On the left side are two USB Type-C ports, both can be used for charging, or data, or display. There is also a full-sized HDMI port at the same side. On top of that, a 3.5mm audio jack will always come in handy.
3:2 Aspect Ratio Goodness
Most notebooks today are moving to the 16:10 aspect ratio. That is because with a taller display you can see more, and that bodes well for productivity. A 3:2 aspect ratio is not that different from the 16:10 option but with more height than usual. We admit that it is a little weird at first, a near square display is strange.
The taller display allows us to fit more information on the display, which also means putting two windows beside one another does not make the display feel cramped. Reading articles off websites also requires a lot less scrolling than before, so web browsing feels a lot less cumbersome.
That is not to say that 3:2 aspect ratio should be the standard in mobile computing though. It works with web browsing, article reading, and even essay writing. It makes less sense for most gaming conditions and movies.
While certain games might benefit the taller aspect ratio, most tend to look a little odd. When you watch movies, you get large amounts of dead space at the top and bottom of the display. It makes the movies look small and takes a little bit away from the immersion.
The Correct Place for a Webcam
We want to say that early MateBooks were odd. Not because they looked like nothing you can find in the market. It was because the MateBooks featured super thin bezels that would not fit a webcam. They chose to relocate the webcam to be tucked within the keyboard itself with a pop-up mechanism which met hilarious results.
Thankfully, at the age where webcam is a big part of our lives, no thanks to the pandemic, HUAWEI’s MateBook 14S has it in the right place. It does mean that HUAWEI have to compromise with bezel thickness a little bit. From the looks of it though, it does not look like HUAWEI had to sacrifice all that much too.
Use Your Finger, or Your Face
Of course, most modern thin-and-light notebooks come with biometric security in the form of a basic fingerprint sensor. This one does too, but it has another thing up its sleeve, or rather, in its bezel. The webcam also comes with a slew of sensors that works with Windows Hello to scan your face.
That also means that you can walk away from the notebook, and it will lock itself to ensure that whatever you are working on is safe. When you come back, it sees your face and unlocks. In the case that it does not unlock, the fingerprint sensor is quick enough also that it unlocks the moment you touch the fingerprint sensor that doubles as the power button. Just do not mistakenly press it down to power down the notebook and you will be fine.
HUAWEI Share
This has been one of the biggest selling features for HUAWEI’s devices, or at least HUAWEI notebooks if you have a HUAWEI device. Of course, most of the current features of the program can only work with HUAWEI’s latest OS on its mobile devices. Unfortunately, we did not have a HUAWEI device that is running on Harmony OS 2 at the time of review, so we could not test the feature.
Unlike the previous HUAWEI Share functionality too, there is no NFC tag to be found on the notebook, which also means that transferring data through HUAWEI share has to be done manually instead of just touching both devices together like before. While it just feels like you are going back to the conventional data sharing method, transfer speeds over HUAWEI Share are faster than Bluetooth.
Performance
The HUAWEI MateBook 14S is not a gaming notebook. The unit we are reviewing does not even come with Intel’s Core i7 processor. It also only features 8GB of RAM. It also lacks a dedicated GPU to work with.
Multitasking & Productivity
Where the HUAWEI MateBook 14S shines is when you take it out for a day of work. 8GB is ample enough for you to entertain multiple tabs on Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox browsers; both have been our browsers of choice these days. Google Chrome can be a RAM hog, but five tabs on the browser still did not hurt the HUAWEI MateBook 14S.
While you might want to spend a little more for the Intel Core i7 variant, the Intel Core i5 variant never felt sluggish in most cases. If you only need it to complete mundane tasks like filling up Word documents, create Powerpoint slides, or even work with Excel sheets, you will have enough push from the Core i5 to complete all of them with ease.
When it comes to content creation though, you might want to adjust your expectations a little bit. You can technically edit 4K videos thanks to improved optimisation of Intel’s 11th Generation CPUs. It may not be entirely smooth, but it is useable with Adobe Premiere Pro. Rendering videos will take some time still. But that is just about the most it can handle though.
Typing an Essay
The keyboard on the MateBook 14S is not the best you can find out there. It is not the worst thing to come on a laptop though. It works, and well enough at that to ensure that you do not throw it against a wall whenever you need to reply to an email with a long essay, or when you need to type out long documents with it.
The key travel is shallow, which makes it a little odd to type with. Strangely, typing on the keyboard does not wear us out as much as we thought it would though. We could attribute that to the mushiness of the keyboard. The combination of the short travel and mushiness makes the keyboard feels odd to work with. It is not quite unpleasant, just odd.
At the same time though, the keyboard is very much silent. You can bring it to the library, type out an essay and get out without anyone noticing that you have been working on it. You can even sneak in an email reply or two in the meeting room.
Gaming
You can still game on the HUAWEI MateBook 14S. You do have to adjust your expectations, though. You can still play games like Two Point Hospital, Cities: Skylines, or even Counter Strike: Global Offensive on the MateBook 14S. If you really want, you can even play Dota 2 at the screen’s 2.5K resolution. You might want to set your graphics to medium or even low if you want to take full advantage of the 2.5K display.
Battery Life
In our typical use, we usually have a few apps open on the notebook. Our browsers have about 10 tabs open at any given time. We kept our screen brightness to the maximum in most use cases. Our speakers are usually turned down to about 20% or less on the HUAWEI MateBook 14S, it can get quite loud. That said, we usually will play music via Tidal, which also means we have Tidal installed and opened. We also will have a couple of Microsoft Word instances open.
In that use case, we get about 8 hours of use from a full battery before we need to think about plugging the device to our charger. The Charger provided is a little bit of an overkill at 90W, but that means you can use it to charge other devices and other laptops that charges via USB Type-C also, which is always welcome since you just need to carry one charger for all your devices now.
Display & Audio
As mentioned, the HUAWEI MateBook 14S packs an odd 3:2 display. True to its name, it has a 14-inch display too; 14.2-inch specifically. The 14.2-inch display covers up to 90% of the body. This points to a massive display experience from a small notebook.
It is a very beautiful 2.5K (2,520 x 1,680) high-resolution display. It is a higher resolution display than regular notebooks of its class making it really stand out. It covers 100% of the sRGB colour gamut, which should mean that you get highly accurate and vibrant colours on the display. 400nits also means that it should be bright enough to work with in any indoor situation.
Its 1500:1 contrast ratio comes to play when you are watching movies with the HUAWEI MateBook 14S too. Movies look amazing on the 14-incher with vibrant and rich colours. The only issue with it is the two big black bars at the top and bottom of the video itself.
Did we mention that it is also a touch sensitive display? While we do not think that Windows 10 is very much optimised for touch experience, we think Windows 11 will change that once you get it to update. But still, having a touch display when you scroll through the web makes a lot of sense. Even going through long word documents is a much better experience with touch sensitive display.
Then there is the audio, which is not actually half bad. It does not have a subwoofer installed to it, so you cannot expect it to produce the best audio experience from a notebook. But for a notebook its size, the audio experience is respectable enough that you can enjoy good music from the HUAWEI MateBook 145S. The high-frequencies and mid-frequencies are detailed enough that vocals tend to stand out a little bit more in most music. It tends to be quite loud too, which is surprising coming from speakers its size. Then again, there are 4 speakers on this thing.
The HUAWEI MateBook 14S – Green Lit
The HUAWEI MateBook 14S is pretty in its Spruce Green guise. While there is not much in terms of design cues, its green colour helps it stand out. It is also one of the only thin-and-light notebooks you can find in the market that comes with a full-sized USB port and a full-sized HDMI port.
At MYR 4,999, it is more expensive than a lot of thin-and-light notebooks out there. Most of them does not come with a display quite like the one you can find on the HUAWEI MateBook 14S. It is not just a touch display, it is a 2.5K display that is stretched out to 3:2 aspect ratio, which is unique. On top of that you get facial recognition, also a premium feature you do not normally get in a regular thin-and-light notebook. It is a feature you mostly find on enterprise class device, or at much higher price point.
If you are a HUAWEI device owner that works with Harmony OS 2, this should be a no brainer to boost your productivity even more. With a HUAWEI MatePad 12.6, you are effectively carrying an extra storage, notepad, drawing pad, and display in your bag. HUAWEI Share is also wireless, which also means you do not need to tangle your bag with cables.
So, is this HUAWEI MateBook 14S worth MYR 4,999? We would say so, in some ways. We are not saying that it is not expensive, because it is. But at the same time this is one of the most practical thin-and-light notebook out there with a unique and beautiful display. It packs features that most thin-and-light notebooks in its price range does not too. Of course, if you have a HUAWEI Harmony OS 2 device, the HUAWEI MateBook 14S makes more sense than any other notebook in its class.
SHANGHAI, Feb. 10, 2022 — OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. (NYSE: OCFT) ("OneConnect" or "the Company"), a leading technology-as-a-service platform for financial institutions, has made it on to the Forbes Blockchain 50 2022 list for the second consecutive year, as OneConnect continues developing its cutting-edge solutions to facilitate trade and financing.
The latest Forbes list, released on February 8, honors industry-leading companies with top performances in blockchain applications. Those that made the list include Adobe, A16Z, Paradigm, Coinbase, Microsoft, as well as Chinese conglomerates such as Ant Group, Tencent and Baidu.
To further its blockchain development, OneConnect formed a dedicated blockchain team in 2016 and has built a mature ecosystem in terms of technical support, products and consultancy.
Technology-wise, the Company has developed its own blockchain underlying infrastructure to ensure financial security and efficiency. Product-wise, its mature model has allowed easier access and significantly lowered the bar for clients to participate in blockchain projects. Service-wise, the company’s experts have offered well-rounded support with their years of project implementation experience.
OneConnect has been recognized by Forbes for its two blockchain projects, as the Company has demonstrated its technological capabilities for building smart and one-stop solutions for businesses and banks to facilitate cross-border trade financing.
The Company has gained traction with its financing platform built with blockchain technology for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China’sGuangdong province. With blockchain’s unique tamper-proof nature, the platform has overcome the hurdles of information asymmetry between SMEs and commercial banks.
OneConnect’s financing platform has syndicated data from 34 government agencies to analyze a borrower’s risk level, with over 480 financial institutions offering more than 1,300 financial products on the platform. It has served more than a million businesses with an accumulated financing volume of over 68 billion yuan (approximately US$10.7 billion).
In addition, the Company’s support for Hong Kong’s "eTradeConnect" project has helped it make the cut. In November 2021, OneConnect teamed up with the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency research institute for the central bank’s Trade Finance Platform (PBCTFP), a project that uses blockchain to track and simplify the financing process for imports and exports between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.
The successful cross-border connectivity between the PBCTFP and Hong Kong’s eTradeConnect — coupled with OneConnect’s solutions — has further expanded the project to the second phase of "mainland imports, Hong Kong exports" from the previous stage of "mainland exports, Hong Kong imports."
Hong Kong officially launched the eTradeConnect project in September 2018 under the guidance of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city’s de facto central bank. It is the world’s first blockchain trade financing platform led by regulators, enabling businesses and their trading partners to carry out cost-effective trade and financing activities through information sharing thanks to its advanced distributed ledger technology.
Such cross-platform connectivity has simplified and expedited the trade finance process by reducing the need for exchange of paper documents, thereby strengthening the economic development in the Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macau Greater Bay Area.
About OneConnect Financial Technology
OneConnect Financial Technology is a leading technology-as-a-service platform for financial institutions. The Company’s platform provides cloud-native technology solutions that integrate extensive financial services industry expertise with market-leading technology. The Company’s solutions provide technology applications and technology-enabled business services to financial institutions. Together they enable the Company’s customers’ digital transformations, which help them increase revenue, manage risks, improve efficiency, enhance service quality and reduce costs.
The Company’s technology solutions strategically cover multiple verticals in the financial services industry, including banking, insurance and asset management, across the full scope of their businesses — from sales and marketing and risk management to customer services, as well as technology infrastructures such as data management, program development, and cloud services.
Samsung just launched their latest flagship smartphones for the year 2022. They launched a few things last night. You see the Samsung Galaxy S22 series launched, including a Samsung Galaxy Note-esque Galaxy S22 Ultra. Alongside the Ultra is the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S 22+. They also launched their latest larger-than-life tablet that is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 in three variants as well – the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, Galaxy Tab S8+, and Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra.
With the new devices, they have also announced a new commitment to their devices, new and old. They have announced that they are going to be supporting updates to up to four generations for their latest Samsung Galaxy devices. That means that their new shiny Samsung Galaxy S22 devices will stay relevant until the year 2026 (if my math is right) at least. If you count the security updates, that could mean 2027 even.
The commitment is not just made for Samsung’s latest Galaxy devices that was launched last night though. The four generations of support extend of some of Samsung’s devices that was launched last year too. This includes the flagship models like the Samsung Galaxy S21 series and the Galaxy Z series of foldable devices. It also extends to certain Samsung Galaxy A devices coming this year, none of the older Galaxy A series gets the treatment. You Samsung Galaxy Watch4 devices will also get updated for the next four years.
While 4 years is a big deal in the world of Android, it still pales in comparison to what Apple has been doing over the years though. Their Apple iOS 15.2 is available even to the Apple iPhone 6S, a device launched in 2015. That is seven years of software update and support, which is already normal to Apple iPhone users at this point. That also means that if you are on an Apple iPhone, you may not have to worry about not getting the latest and greatest from Apple until your device is old. That also eliminates the need for you to upgrade every few years or so. That saves you some bucks too, of course.
To be fair, while we are avid fans of the Android ecosystem, we must admit that the manufacturers have horrible track record in keeping their devices relevant for more than two years, let alone three. Earlier Samsung devices would only be updated to the next iteration of Android once before becoming completely irrelevant in the coming months. It is highly annoying, and if you want to be updated, it gets expensive.
Four years, compared to Apple’s seven may still pale in comparison. But it is a start, a commitment at least from Samsung that their devices should remain relevant in the coming years. That also means that if you are on a Samsung Galaxy S21, or even a Galaxy Z Fold3, you can hold off your device upgrade until 2025 or so, and you will be completely fine. Still, we do hope that Samsung and Google can commit to a more robust and stretch their software support to at least five years; we think that is a reasonable amount of time before you upgrade your smartphone.
SUZHOU, China, Feb. 10, 2022 — Robotics expert obode, a brand of Midea Robozone, just announced the launch of P8, a next-generation smart robot vacuum & mopping for automated floor cleaning for the entire home. Featuring mop pads self-cleaning with the cleaning agent, LDS intelligent navigation,smart automatic water replenishment and customizable app. The P8 is available now.
P8 is a vacuum mop combo robot with the ability to self-clean its mopping pads to prevent mold and bad smells. As the ultimate all-in-one floor cleaning solution with 3 modes for sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, and combination cleaning. P8 is equipped with double-spin mops and a heavy-duty vacuum motor with 2000pa of suction power, and the smart lifting roller brush can be raised to 7mm during its mopping motion. The system easily picks up debris and hair from both hard floors and carpets. P8 uses an advanced ultrasonic sensor to determine surface types and apply the proper vacuuming, mopping, edge cleaning, and full mapping as needed. It moves seamlessly across the room, and intelligently switches between sweeping and mopping for safe, effective cleaning of any floor type.
"Many people have made the move to robotic vacuum cleaners for home convenience. However, over the past few years, technologies such as robotic navigation and surface sensors have greatly advanced. For P8, we applied these next-gen technologies to create the ultimate robot vacuum cleaner with mopping functions. The result is the most advanced multi-surface floor cleaning device with superior mapping, intelligent surface identification and multi-mode cleaning for all household floors. P8 intelligently cleans and features programmable functions that take the hassle out of household chores. It efficiently and thoroughly keeps your floors clean so that you don’t have to. It’s the perfect addition to the modern home." Yuan Chen, founder of obode.
P8 uses the sixth-generation navigation algorithm is combined with ToF Lidar and more than 30 sets of navigation sensors to achieve centimeter-level high-speed mapping to avoid obstacles and barriers as it determines the most efficient and effective cleaning route through the home. With a 6200mAh battery built-in, P8 is capable of up to 2.5 hours of continuous cleaning, enough to do the entire house, before it automatically returns to base for recharging. P8 is also equipped with 4.6L and 4.7L water tanks. One for dirty, one for freshwater. For superior cleaning, P8 has a backwashing mopping cloth with the cleaning agent to prevent secondary smudging and automatically returns to the base to clean and hot dry the mop to disinfect it after each cleaning session.
Convenient control of the P8 is achieved with voice commands via Alexa or Google Home and the system has the obode Life app for scheduling, customized cleaning, setting virtual no-go zones, and ‘Do-not-disturb’ modes.
P8 is available now for sale with special deals and pricing for early adopters.
About obode
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Samsung’s commitment to tabs hasn’t wavered since its first lineup of tablets. The Galaxy Tab S series emerged from the chaotic Android tablet landscape with Samsung taking the lead in creating a tablet experience that made a difference. More recently, the Galaxy Tab S7 series took a sharp focus on bringing a seamless, multi-device experience with other Galaxy devices. The newly announced Galaxy Tab S8 series takes that focus and turns things up to a 20.
Source: Samsung
For the first time, Samsung announced not one, two but three tablets: the Galaxy Tab S8, Tab S8+ and Tab S8 Ultra. The new lineup takes a sharp focus on enhancing the experience that the Galaxy Tab S7 series brought when it came to multitasking and productivity and turns it up a notch for a more hybridized life with work from anywhere.
Technologically Packed for a Future of Hybrid Living
The Tab S8 series comes with the same 4nm processors used in the S22 series and the same enhanced S Pen from the S22 Ultra. Of course, it goes without saying that the size of the S Pen is larger than the one on the Ultra. With up to 16GB of RAM on the Tab S8 Ultra and up to 12GB of RAM on the Tab S8 and S8+, the new lineup should be able to handle nearly anything you throw at it. It also has up to 256GB of internal memory with support for additional memory via a microSD card.
The new tablets share the same build DNA as the Galaxy S22 series. It is made of armour aluminium for added strength and rigidity. The Tab S8+ and S8 Ultra come with a Super AMOLED display with support for up to a 120Hz refresh rate. The former has a 12.4-inch display while the latter comes with a humungous 14.6-inch display. The Tab S8 comes with a smaller 11-inch LTPS TFT display which supports the same 120 Hz refresh rate.
When it comes to the cameras, the tablets come with the same dual-camera setup across the board. The main sensor is a 13-megapixel sensor with autofocus. This is complemented with a 6-megapixel ultra-wide sensor. The cameras are built to help with content creation and also video calls. The focus on video calls is most apparent in the dual-camera setup on the front of the Galaxy Tab S8+. The setup consists of two 12-megapixel sensors: a wide and ultra-wide one. On the Tab S8 and S8+, this is a single 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor. However, both versions are augmented with software features that try to enhance the video calling experience.
The tablets promise all-day battery life with their large batteries. The Tab S8 comes with an 8,000mAh battery while the S8+ comes with a 10,090mAh and the Ultra comes with a larger 11,200mAh. The tablets support 45W fast charging which allows them to get a full charge in 90 mins.
Software Features that Make Sense
While the hardware may differ slightly in the Galaxy Tab S8 series, they all come with the same One UI 4 interface. The interface is built on Android 12 and brings a level of customizability that One UI has never had before. Everything from icons to colour accents on the interface can be changed.
Of course, a Samsung tablet experience would be incomplete without Samsung DeX. This interface allows the Tab S8 series to look and feel more like a laptop computer. The new Tab S8 series brings an updated version of DeX that will support more apps in windowed mode and work seamlessly across multiple Galaxy devices.
Samsung has also upped the ante when it comes to integration with other platforms particularly Windows. The Tab S8 series can function as an additional display when you’re using your Windows laptop. That said, it brings its own productivity features with enhancements brought by One UI 4. With One UI 4, you will be able to use up to three apps simultaneously in split-screen mode with the ability to shift and resize as needed.
The Galaxy Tab S8 series also comes with three mics for a better, more optimised video call experience. The mics work simultaneously with AI algorithms to cancel ambient noise and enhance your voice when on video calls. You’ll also be able to focus on your call as the camera also comes with Auto Framing which detects and optimised the frame for up to 10 individuals within 5 meters of the camera. You can even track yourself to ensure you’re always in frame.
Pricing & Availability
The Galaxy Tab S8 series will be available starting on February 10, 2022. The Galaxy Tab S8 and S8+ will be available in Silver, Graphite and Pink Gold. The S8 Ultra will be available only in Graphite.
The Tab S8 is priced starting from USD$699 (MYR2,925.45) while the Tab S8+ will start from USD$899 (MYR3,762.48) and the Ultra will be priced from USD$1,099 (MYR4,599.52).
In Malaysia, the Galaxy Tab S8 series will be priced as follows:
Samsung isn’t messing around with the Galaxy S series this year. With their refocusing of the Galaxy S22 and S22+, they’re also working on redefining their Galaxy S22 Ultra. After skipping the release of a new Galaxy Note last year, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is being imbued with the DNA and ethos of their most popular lineup.
The new Galaxy S22 Ultra is going through a total makeover this year and it starts with the design and seeps into its features. The first thing you’re going to realise about the new Galaxy S22 Ultra is that it doesn’t even share a hair with the design language of its siblings, the S22 and the S22+. Instead, its design cues hearken from the Galaxy Note series. In fact, it’s even adopted the integrated S-Pen slot! In essence, the Galaxy Note seems to have found new life as the top-of-the-line Galaxy S22 Ultra.
When it comes to materials, the Ultra shares the same materials that were used in its sibling devices. It comes with the same armour aluminium frame sandwiched in Gorilla Glass Victus+ that we see in the S22 and S22+. However, that’s where the similarities end. The Galaxy S22 Ultra adopts a dual-curved design that meets at the middle of the frame for a more ergonomic finish. It also has an angular finish. It has a rectangular silhouette that we saw in the Galaxy Note20+. However, like the Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+, the S22 Ultra is also thicker. The thickness gives it a more natural feel in the hand. The S Pen finds itself back where it belongs in a slot on the right side of the device. On the back, the cameras are nearly flush and protected by Gorilla DX.
Making a Note-able Comeback
Speaking of the S Pen, it’s making a note-able comeback. Puns aside, the S Pen on the S22 Ultra is not the same we’ve seen in the Note10. Samsung has worked on making the writing experience on the S22 Ultra an even more natural one. The latency of the S Pen has been reduced even further to 2.8ms. This is done with improvements to the Wacom technology in the S22 Ultra as well as with AI prediction algorithms. The new Wacom IC is more sensitive allowing faster reaction to inputs while AI works in the background to predict the trajectory of the S Pen when in use. This time it will be able to predict multiple trajectories which allow the experience to feel even more instantaneous.
Together with the new hardware and AI, the S Pen is also supported by new software features. The Samsung Notes app is getting a few new features including improved handwriting recognition. You will be able to convert your handwritten notes into tidier typed out notes with a single click. It’s also coming with a new Quick Notes feature which allows you to capture full web pages for your notes. Additionally, it will also be able to work seamlessly with the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 in Collaboration View. This allows you to not only share via nearby share but also work on a larger display when needed. Similarly, Samsung has worked with Clip Studio to allow you to use the S22 Ultra as your colour palette for more precise control of colours in your digital art. You can even use the S22 Ultra’s camera to get colours you can’t get in the palette by snapping a photo and lifting the colour from there.
Packed with Cutting Edge Technology
Of course, it goes without saying that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s note-able features are supported by the latest technologies. Like the S22 and the S22+. the S22 Ultra is coming with the latest 4nm processor. Depending on the region you’re in, it may be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or the AMD RDNA touting Exynos 2200. The processor will be complemented by either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of internal storage. The S22 Ultra comes with the same 120 Hz capable Dynamic AMOLED 2X display as its siblings albeit in a larger 6.8-inch flavour.
When it comes to the camera, it’s imbued with the same features that are packed in its siblings. However, it comes with a more robust quad camera setup. The main sensor is a 108-megapixel wide sensor with dual pixel autofocus, an f/1.8 aperture and an 85° field of view (FOV). This is complemented with a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and 120° FOV and two 10-megapixel telephoto sensors. One of which is capable of 3x optical zoom and has an f/2.4 aperture while the other is capable of 10x optical zoom with an f/4.9 aperture. The front camera is a 40-megapixel sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and 80° FOV.
Like the S22 and S22+, the camera of the S22 Ultra comes with new enhancements. The biggest enhancement is the larger pixels of the 108-megapixel sensor which is 1.23 times the size of the pixels of the Galaxy S21. In addition, it utilizes the same nona binning technology for better low light photographs. Galaxy AI enhances this with multi-frame exposure. This means that the camera will take up to 20 frames and use the data in each to get a more detailed picture with better dynamic range. The more capable NPU in the processors of the Galaxy S22 Ultra allows it to process up to 4 times the data. The Galaxy S22 Ultra is also able to shoot in 16-bit RAW which allows for more flexibility when processing pictures.
It also comes with an enhanced super steady mode which allows you to shoot even steadier video at higher resolutions. Portrait mode has also been enhanced with Galaxy AI. A new feature called AI Stereo map captures a more detailed picture of your subject and allows you to adjust everything from the intensity of the bokeh to the light positioning with the new Studio Lighting feature.
Pricing & Availability
The Galaxy S22 Ultra will be available starting February 10, 2022, in Malaysia. It will be available in Phantom White, Phantom Black, Green and Burgundy. Prices for the Galaxy S22 Ultra will start from MYR5,099 (USD$1,218.46) for the lowest variant.
