Category Archives: Business

Why Technology is The Key to Malaysia Overcoming the Fallout from COVID-19

Despite its developing economy, Malaysia is still prone to instability and disruption, both natural and man-made.

The ongoing pandemic has shown us that, but it has also raised another concern – how do businesses continue to manage and maintain operations when staff are unable to physically access the workplace or technical facilities, and yet are still required to be ‘present’ and productive by their employers?

In the long term, the solution will require a change in mindset, organisational behaviour, and a new way of doing business. However, in the short term, technology can help.

Technology steps up in time of need

As millions of workers remain isolated, the pivotal role of technology and how it helps keep the country’s economic engine running has been pushed into the spotlight.

Over the past few turbulent months, a range of software, solutions and applications have ensured that prescient businesses continue operating while navigating the recent unpredictability and uncertainty.

Without a doubt, cloud technology has helped. The adoption of public, private and hybrid cloud services provided access to, and availability of, critical data.

At the same time, the transition from hardware-based to software-defined infrastructure has meant that physical access to offices, tech facilities or datacentres is no longer required and central operations can be handled remotely or by a skeleton staff. Thus, the heart of many organisations has continued pumping.

A truly mobile workforce

VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) and DaaS (Desktop as a Service) are perfect examples of how technology is keeping businesses across Malaysia and Asia running. VDI is a cloud-hosted desktop normally located in an on-site datacentre and operated and maintained by in-house IT personnel.

The advantages of VDI is that it provides the ability to customise and control the on-site hardware and environment – ideal for companies with highly sensitive data. The flexible infrastructure can also be easily expanded incrementally. This is an optimal solution in the face of unforeseen demand surges we have all experienced recently.

That said, the true benefit for the enterprise is that it provides mobility and flexibility for personnel without compromising business security, productivity or performance. VDI allows employees to work from anywhere, on any device with secure and complete access to their work desktop, files and network.

At the height of the Hong Kong unrest, the city’s financial giants used VDI to maximise the safety of their staff, avoiding unpredictable and hazardous commutes, and allowing them to operate safely and securely at peak capacity.

DaaS on the hand is a fully outsourced solution providing a virtual desktop. It neither relies on, nor consumes, any internal hardware. It provides the same flexibility, safety, security and access as VDI – but it is fully handled by a third-party cloud provider and hosted on their cloud.

A software-based future

Together, VDI and DaaS provide Malaysia’s businesses with a simple and accessible option for ensuring their staff remain productive and efficient no matter where they are physically located. The two models are set to become central pillars of the nation’s business survivability strategy as companies seek to mitigate future risk and disruption.

For those businesses caught with an isolated workforce, there is affordable, accessible and immediate relief at hand. 

As VDI and DaaS are cloud-based solutions, virtual workspaces for teams, customers, or partners can usually be up and running in under an hour. Isolated staff can then have safe and secure access to any application simply from their home web browser, with no software download or upgrade required. It is almost as simple as point and click.

For Malaysia’s intelligent businesses, their prudent approach in a volatile region is already paying dividends.  For the rest of the country’s companies, the sooner we all embrace the modern tools we require to keep our staff safe, mobile and productive, our business resilient to disruption, and our economies growing in turbulent times, the sooner we will secure our future. It is up to all of us to ensure Malaysia continues to play a leading role in ASEAN’s future success.

Aruba Introduces ESP (Edge Services Platform), A Sixth Sense for Networks

When it comes to networking there’s a myriad of considerations that go into securing, deploying and even managing the network. This is further exacerbated when it comes to large networks with the current perimeter of safety being disintegrated with BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices) and even with distance work cultures. Corporations and even homes are left with a huge gap that they have had to fill with multiple solutions which sometimes just don’t coalesce.

Aruba has been hard at work developing a solution that will help companies be forward thinking while keeping their security in check. Their new ESP (Edge Services Platform) allows companies to adopt policies such as BYOD without compromising their network security and without them having to dedicate human and large financial resources in managing and administering network access. ESP essentially empowers the network with an AI-driven sixth sense that provides actionable insights for network administrators while taking the bulk of menial tasks off their to-do lists.

Meet Aruba ESP

The Aruba ESP framework essentially consists of three principal components: AI Ops, a unified infrastructure and Zero Trust Network Security. These components work in tandem to deliver increased network reliability and security. With a cohesive approach, Aruba has managed to build an offering that is able to be implemented at scale and even with smaller businesses. In fact, ESP is able to be deployed according to client needs over a period of time.

The AI Ops component of ESP works to help with identifying, segmenting and remediate network issues. With Aruba’s implementation of AI Ops, the network is able to analyse and segment the network to isolate and protect company assets while allowing employees and guests to access the network with their own devices. It also proactively monitors the network for any security risks such as infected devices or even probable attackers to prevent any downtime. Even if there is downtime, AI Ops will allow Aruba’s ESP to automatically heal and repair the network which will, in the best scenarios, negate possible downtime.

Introducing Aruba ESP

The Edge Services Platform is also a turnkey solution for corporations that allows the consolidation of their networking solution on one unified platform. Running on their already proven Aruba Central network management solution, ESP is able to provide administrators with a cloud native solution to manage everything from switching, Wi-Fi and SD-WAN across their campus network. The single, unified interface also allows them to have a one-stop platform to identify and deal with potential networking issues which may arise. This together with the analytics and insights from AI Ops simplifies the process identifying, isolating and fixing network issues. What’s more, Aruba’s ESP is brand agnostic allowing devices and services from other vendors to be seamlessly integrated into the network.

ESP adopts a Zero Trust approach to network security. However, it doesn’t just segment the network. Instead, it uses built-in, role based access technology that will enable Dynamic Segmentation. This simply means that the platform is able to identify and isolate devices dynamically as they enter the network. It uses an AI model that has been trained to identify certain parameter and automatically assign or isolate devices to help prevent potential security risks or breaches. This approach allows companies to be forward looking while keeping their assets and data safe from intrusion; empowering remote work and BYOD policies which have been proven to increase productivity.

Source: Aruba

Aruba’s ESP heavily leverages telemetry and insights derived from the company’s many years in providing networking solutions and hardware to deliver an ever evolving, rapidly adapting solution that can be deployed according the needs and constraints of their customers. That said, ESP isn’t just reliant of Aruba’s data and telemetry, it evolves with the company and learns from the data and telemetry that is natively derived from the organisation and its policies. Aruba ESP will be available for current platforms including Amazon Web Services.

Less Weight, More Power – the ASUS ExpertBook B9 is here for MYR 6,299!

Working on the go and off site is a pain. But it is a norm these days. It is becoming more of a norm as the world faces the global pandemic. Working from home is now an essential part of plenty of companies. That also means that companies now must make their employees a lot more mobile. Heavy, permanent desktop PC set-ups are going obsolete and staffs now make do with mobile workstations and notebook PCs.

Of course, there is no replacing raw processing power when it comes to rendering videos and design work. For that kind of power, even the replacement notebook PCs are quite heavy as it is. But for those who needs to be even more mobile, there is another way. There is the ASUS ExpertBook B9.

You have to keep in mind that this is not something you want to carry if you edit videos or design graphics on-the-go. We recommend the ASUS ProArt series for those. Either those, or go on the ROG line-up. The ExpertBook B9 is made for the executives, the guys that need to quickly pop and email out and check on work documents, the ones that need to send final drafts, edit PDF files quickly while staying mobile at all times. Oh, not to forget, they are mostly not near a charging point.

Source: ASUS

For that, the ExpertBook B9 weighs next to nothing at 870g at a minimum. It is no thicker than your traditional notebook and pen at 14.9mm, but you still get full set of I/O ports including a full sized USB port. But it is not that much larger than an A4 paper too, still with 14-inch of display inside mind you and you can get up to two storage options within its body. Oh yes, this comes with its own dedicated NumPad too. Not in the usual way that you think though.

Do not think for a moment that you are giving up plenty of power to get it weighing less than your cat. You still get a 10th Generation Core vPro i7 (up to), specifically built for corporate users where security is of utmost importance. The new processors are also proven powerhouses for all kinds of work purposes, which means you might be able to edit light videos with it too.

Pair that to 16Gb of RAM (up to) and you get a working powerhouse like no other. You can load up as many tabs as you wish to and still get the ExperBook to run nicely. Of course, with the benefit of WiFi 6 capabilities, you can surf or stream all you want. That, or download as many things as you want on up to 2TB of SSD storage. Not enough storage? Just add another SSD!

Source: ASUS

The added power does not come with a higher tax on its battery life though. A 66Wh non-removable battery ensures a full day of use time. When we say a full day; means 24 hours full day, not an 11-hour workday. As if that is not enough time to get your from one airport to another, you can keep your work going with just about an hour of charge with the fast charging technology. This is partially thanks to the clever energy efficient display panel they use on the ASUS ExperBook B9 too.

It is not like you are giving up on quality as well. Of course, something you take around with you on all your work travels would need to be durable and reliable. That is why ASUS have built this to MIL-STD810 US military standards so that you can drop it, spill coffee on it, bring it to Dubai and then all the way to Greenland, and it will still work; you might not.

All these things and you still get a 14-inch Full HD display with sounds by Harman Kardon for when you need to enjoy some down time, or when you need to make important business web calls with the 720p webcam. For ultra-flexibility, your NumPad is integrated into your touch pad. This gives you more reason to get a wireless mouse though.

Yes, we did say that security is a big concern in the corporate world. ASUS addressed this with a physical webcam cover, for when you are not using the webcam. That webcam also works with Windows Hello as a facial recognition tool however. You can either rely on that or the one-touch fingerprint sensor on the ASUS ExpertBook B9.

The ASUS ExpertBook B9 will be available in Malaysia today onward. You can get your hands on one for MYR 6,299 onward. Of course, if you are doing a bulk purchase, you might want to work directly with ASUS or their official distributors. If not, you can get your hands on one from ASUS’ stores and partner retailers across the nation. For more information on the ExpertBook B9, you can head to their website.

CPUIntel® Core™ i7-10510 Processor
Intel® Core™ i5-10210 Processor
Intel® vPro™ technology support(Optional)
Operating SystemWindows 10 Pro(ASUS recommends Windows 10 Pro)
Windows 10 Home
Display14” FHD (1920 x 1080), sRGB 100% (NTSC:72%), Anti-Glare, 300 nits brightness
4mm thin bezel, 94% screen-to-body ratio, Anti-glare
On Board Memory8GB / 16GB
Memory Slot1
StorageDual M.2 NVMe PCIe® 3.0 x4
512GB / 1TB/ 2TB SSD (Up to dual 2TB)
External video display modeHDMI 1.4
Integrated GPUIntel® UHD Graphics 620
Video CameraHD 720p CMOS module
FingerprintYes
Wireless ConnectivityWiFi 6 (802.11ax) + Bluetooth 5.0 (Dual band) 2*2
LAN10/100/1000 Mbps
Interface2 x Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C™(up to 40Gbps, DisplayPort and power delivery support)
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 x HDMI out, 1 x micro HDMI for LAN insert, 1 x Kensington® lock slot
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 x HDMI out, 1 x micro HDMI for LAN insert, 1 x Kensington® lock slot
AudioQuad 360° far-field microphones(Support noise cancellation)
Built-in Stereo 2 W Speakers, Certified by Harman Kardon
Grade RatingUS Military Grade MIL-STD 810G
NumberPadYes (Exclusive dual-function touchpad)
Built MaterialMagnesium lithium
WeightStarting from 0.87 kg with 33W battery
Dimension32.0 (W) x 20.3 (H) x 1.49 (D) cm
AC adapter65W AC Adapter, Plug Type : USB Type-C
Output: 20V DC, 3.25A, 65W
Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
Battery66Wh, 4-cell lithium-polymer battery
33Wh, 2-cell lithium-polymer battery
Keyboard typeBacklit Chiclet keyboard
Spill-resistant
SecurityTPM 2.0 (Hardware TPM), Windows Hello with facial recognition software (requires IR camera),
Webcam shield, Fingerprint sensor, Kensington Lock Slot
ASUS Business Manager with secure drive setting and lock control to USB storage devices
CertificationEnergy star 7.0, EPEAT Gold, RoHS, FCC Compliance, BSMI, CCC, CB
Warranty3-year limited International hardware warranty.
2 -Cell @ 33Wh modelUp to 12 hours battery life*870 gram (1.92 pounds)
4 -Cell @ 66Wh modelUp to 24 hours battery life*995 gram (2.19 pounds)
MODELPRODUCT VARIANT SPECSBATTERY RAMSTORAGE  SRP in MYR
B9450F-ABM0278Ri7-10510U / 16GB RAM / 1TB SSD*2 (TPM) / Win10 Pro 4CELL 16GB2TB
(1TB x 2)
RM9,299
B9450F-ABM0242Ri7-10510U / 16GB RAM / 1TB SSD (TPM) / Win10 Pro 4CELL 16GB 1TBRM8,599
B9450F-ABM0238Ti7-10510U / 16GB RAM / 1TB SSD / Win10 4CELL 16GB 1TBRM8,299
B9450F-ABM0285Ri5-10210U / 8GB RAM / 512GB SSD (TPM) / Win10 Pro 4CELL 8GB 512GRM6,599
B9450F-ABM0284Ti5-10210U / 8GB RAM / 512GB SSD / Win10 2CELL 8GB 512GRM6,299

Gamer’s Rejoice, Gamescom Asia Will Still Happen; in 2021 That is.

Video games are a big part of our lives. The industry continues to grow and fascinate anyone who cares to look at its stats. In Asia, the industry grows at a pace that is quite unprecedented.

The only thing missing in the grander scheme of things in Malaysia is a big gaming convention that we can liken to E3 in the United States, or Comic Con, or PAX East, or even Gamescom. Well, that was about to change later in the year with Gamescom Asia happening in Singapore from the 16th to 18th of October 2020.

So far, they have been adamant about holding the event in 2020. The mounting pressure that surrounds COVID-19 situations globally though is not encouraging. That is why they have made the decision to postpone the event instead to 2021.

The new dates are 14th to 17th of October in 2021. Yes, it is happening in the final quarter of 2021, about a year after the 2020 dates. It may not be a bad thing though. We are seeing large improvements over the COVID-19 situation currently and would most likely see a large improvement in the coming year with vaccine’s produced and circulated.

While we are going to not see the world’s biggest convention coming to Asia this coming October, we remain excited for the upcoming Gamescom Asia happening next year October 2021. They have reported that the participations and requests for Gamescom Asia 2020 has been quite overwhelming. They also mentioned that there will be AAA title publishers present in the Asia leg of their convention. It will be a world class event, they say. We are hopeful that we would see it too.

Gamescom Asia 2021 will be held, as mentioned, from the 14th to 17th of October in Singapore still. The convention will be housed in Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre; that is right in the heart of Singapore. For more information on Gamescom Asia, you can head over to their website.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Gets More EPYC with AMD Powered Instances

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the most prolific web service platform in the world. In fact, it’s estimated that over half of the world’s small and medium businesses have adopted the technology platform as their platform of choice when it comes to dealing with cloud services for their needs. AWS provides one of the most diverse platforms supporting Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and even rudimentary data storage. They provide their different services as deployable modules which allow companies to deploy and terminate instances as they need to.

AMD is one of the latest additions to the platforms array of instance which can be deployed. The new AMD EPYC instances will be powering the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) C5a instances. These instances will be powered by AMD’s 2nd generation server grade EPYC processors which also power one of the largest supercomputers in the world. The AMD EPYC processors will be able to run at frequencies of up to 3.3GHz and will be able to provide users with high performance x86 processing for large compute workloads. This includes batch processing, distributed analytics, data transformations, log analytics and web applications.

The new EPYC powered C5a instance joins the increasing number of AMD powered instances available on AWS. It will be available in eight configurations with up to 96 virtual CPUs (vCPUs). The new AMD EPYC powered instance also delivers on AMD’s promise of being able to deliver high performance compute at affordable prices. On AWS, the new C5a instance is the one of the lowest cost per x86 vCPU in Amazon’s portfolio.

The C5a instance is already available in AWS U.S. East, AWS U.S. West, AWS Europe and AWS Asia Pacific regions. AMD also has five other instances already available on AWS under the EC2 catalogue: M5a, M5ad, R5a, R5ad and T3a. These instances also provide users with compute capabilities that are catered to their needs and price points.

Parenting Digital Natives

*This article is contributed by Nana Murugesan, Managing Director, International Markets, Snap Inc.*

Parenting the next generation always raises a new set of challenges as well as opportunities. After all, new parents are raising their children in a world that is very different from the one they experienced in their own childhood. Over the past couple of decades, technology has also changed things more fundamentally with parents today raising a generation who at times can feel as if they are speaking an entirely different language to them.

In his 2001 paper “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” the author Marc Prensky said that the rapid arrival and dissemination of digital technology at the turn of the century has created a generation of digital natives who have grown up immersed in technology and who are separated from the generations before who have come to learn technology.

Today’s parents face the challenge of parenting digital natives in a rapidly evolving world that their children understand and adapt to far better than themselves. But while it can sometimes feel like they are inhabiting different worlds, there are ways in which parents can bridge the gap.

Celebrity parents such as Reese Witherspoon and Julianne Moore have realised that Snapchat is a cool way of communicating with their teenage children. The platform can be part of any parent’s digital set up to maintain and develop an intimate relationship with their digital native offspring

Understand their thoughts to understand their actions 

A study conducted by Snap Inc, The Friendship Report[1], explored friendships in four distinct age generations, from Gen X to Gen Z. While both Millennials and Gen Zs can be classified as digital natives, there are some key differences in how they interact and present themselves in the (digital) world.

From The Friendship Report, 37% of Gen Z in Malaysia was found to be more selective over the people they let into their close circle of friends, as opposed to Millennials, who are comfortable sharing intimacies beyond the borders of their close friends.

This is also reflected in differing preferences for social and messaging platforms. While social networks are built to curate a digital representation of one’s self, Snapchat’s emphasis on privacy by design offers the ability to control who has access to your Snaps, is one of the reasons Gen Z’s prefer it over other, more public, platforms. Local Gen Z (27%) are more reluctant than Gen Y (56%) to share life updates publicly on Facebook.

At Snapchat, we have put a great deal of thought into how to empower young people to engage creatively, safely and positively with their close friends when online. Our app was built with privacy at its core — starting with ephemerality — and designed to combat the online popularity contests fuelled by other platforms. In line with that, Snapchat was deliberately designed to be free from public vanity metrics such as likes, comments or shares. Our focus is on creating fun and surprising experiences that make snapping with your best friends fun. We strongly believe that there are different types of screen time and that we should be judging quality and not quantity.

Get on their wavelength

While the familiar trope of parents attempting to be fun, hip or cool will outlast us all, there are ways to learn and understand your digital native’s language. One way is to meet them as an equal and show understanding, which begins with putting away judgement and nostalgia about “the way things were”.

One of the best ways to get to know someone is to find an activity to share. While Snapchat’s audience is predominantly made up of Millennial and Gen Z digital natives, there’s plenty to interest everyone, not just the teens. Create an account and explore the messaging app, which offers entertainment via Discover and Snap Games, and AR experiences through Lenses. Why not move your family group chat over to Snapchat, so you can discuss and celebrate genuine, private family moments with full control over what gets shared outside the group?

Things they don’t teach you in school

In today’s day and age where information is available at the tap of a finger, we have access to high resolution videos of the highest highs, and the lowest lows of humanity. It’s important not to be overwhelmed, and to tackle this anxiety-inducing state of affairs by educating ourselves and our children. Teach them to be discerning consumers who critically assess the information they gain over the internet. One key step is in learning to be discerning when choosing news outlets, which is a lifelong practice.

Discover is a curated platform, with shows and news coming from trusted news sources, and what you are served isn’t based on friends activity – preventing the widespread dissemination of fake news, or creating an echo chamber.

Parenting often involves having one foot in the present and another in an unknown future. While all parents want the best for their children, we can learn to be nimble, and collaborate with our digital natives. Along the way, they might teach us a thing or two about this brave new world, though they can’t imagine a time before cellphones were a gateway to the rest of the world.

The Art of Enabling the Disabled

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI and ML) technologies have come a long way since its first inception. Who would have thought that we would have a working model of actual computer-based assistants that can do things like manage our schedules? Who would have thought that we could even use these assistants to manage our homes? These things can even be used to diagnose cancer patients, something impossible without doctors even five years ago.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is at the forefront of AI and ML technology. As one of the world’s largest technology innovators, they would naturally be at an advantage to feed enough data to the technology and accelerate their development. Because they are also one of the largest technology firms any man has ever seen, they are also at an advantage in placing AI and ML in places and applications we may never have imagined.

Linguistics is one segment that has benefitted greatly from technologies today. Linguistics, if you think about it is also one of the most complex things that us humans can create and understand. The context of it and interpretation can be affected by plenty of things too. Linguistics is affected by area, culture, community, heritage, and even lineage.

For example, there are differences between French spoken in France and Canada. There are even subtle differences between French spoken in France and Monaco, or even Switzerland. The most common language of all, English has differences even in spelling and context in Britain, the Americas, and even Australia. English spoken today is also a distinct form of the language that was spoken 50 years ago.

The Pollexy Project

The progression of technology in linguistics have progressed through years and years of feeding all these data into it. That has allowed us to communicate with global communities with more ease than peeling an orange. AWS has taken it a little further than that though. They have gone beyond spoken or written languages. Through something called AWS DeepLens, they have developed translation algorithms to sign languages.

While that technology might sound like it is as simple as gesture controls, it is plenty more than that. Yes, it is technically gesture control and recognition. But it is way larger and more complex than just a solution for end-point devices. The trick is to teach the native algorithm to recognise all the available sign words and even alphabets. The AWS DeepLens Community projects so far has learnt to recognise most of the alphabets in the American Sign Language.

But technology also goes beyond just recognising alphabets to understanding proper words with the algorithm in Amazon Alexa. It is not just about communicating with your friends anymore. It is about using the platform as a home assistant tool, a customer service tool, a command center, and user defined PC experience that mimics voice control and command for us. Instead of using voice though, its all in the gestures.

Making Amazon Alexa respond to Sign Language using AI

The tool they use is called Amazon Transcribe. It works just like any transcribe apps you can find in the market. It supports up to 31 languages currently with more being added by time. It even supports ASL as a component to create text from sign language.

Simple communication is just the beginning for the technology though. AI and ML still has a long way to go even in the medical field. Just like the human race, the technology gets better everyday though. If you really think about it, the technology is not that new in the first place. We have embarked on the journey of having machine built and defined assistants since we started developing computers to help us with simple and complex mathematical problems.

It is just that simple mathematical problem solver has become something much bigger today. Who would have thought that we would let computers fly a commercial airplane? Who would have thought that cars can drive themselves today? Who would have thought that we could hire a private translator without spending any money or any time? You just have to look into your pocket.

New Dell Latitude Devices Bank on Portability, Flexibility and Power

Dell’s Latitude line up has been on that has had its focus on empowering a mobile work force. That focus remains ever present in their newly refreshed line up. With the current global situation, Dell’s innovations have been pushed to the forefront; some of which enable a remote workforce, empowered by technological advancements that make sense for productivity.

One of the innovations that has taken centerstage for Dell is Dell’s Unified Workspace on the Latitude. The approach to having a single, unified workspace whether working remotely or in the office allows higher productivity and less downtime. In fact, users are able to access documents, files and more remotely with their Dell Latitude setups. Setup and maintenance of Dell’s Latitude is a non issue for IT departments as they are able to image new setups remotely and have peace of mind as they are able to automate and utilise AI technology to keep everything up and running.

2020 Latitudes Have the Same DNA with More Power and Personality

This year’s Latitude line up keeps the same ethos but brings along with it a whole slew of new technological advances that allow it be more versatile and enable different workflows. The new Latitude mobile workstations come with a slimmer build, the same strength and pack more of a punch. The members of the refreshed line up come with nearly bezel-less, high resolution displays, slimmer silhouettes and some even come with multimode functionality.

This year, Dell’s Latitude line up is spearheaded by the Dell Latitude 9000 series. A new, ultra premium line up which comes with more functionality for increased productivity and versatility. The new Latitude 9510 and 9410 are the built to enable a mobile workforce with multimode versatility. The new laptops come with built-in AI that learns the usage and work patterns of the user and adapts intelligently to extend battery life and even keep sensitive documents private. The AI is able to reduce the hassle of signing in with ExpressSign-in while locking the PC as soon as the user leaves the desk. Both also support stylus input with Dell’s active pen.

The Latitude 7000 series has been redesigned for a more mobile and versatile workforce. The heroes of this redesign is the detachable 2-in-1 7210, and the multimode 7310 and 7410. The thinner, lighter form factor of the Latitude 7210 allows users to be more productive on the go and even adapts for constantly moving workflows with its tablet mode. The detachable keyboard allows for more robust work when needed. The multimode 7310 and 7410 allow users to adapt on the go with light-weight, multimode form factors.

Pricing & Availability

Globally, the Dell Latitude series will be available starting from May 19, 2020. Pricing per the table.

ModelStarting PriceAvailability Date
Latitude 9510USD$1,899
(MYR8,269.46)
May 19, 2020
Latitude 7410USD$1,499
(MYR6,527.60)
May 19, 2020
Latitude 7310USD$1,499
(MYR6,527.60)
May 19, 2020
Latitude 9410USD$1,799
(MYR7,833.99)
May 19, 2020
Latitude 7210 2-in-1USD$999
(MYR4,350.44)
May 19, 2020

In Malaysia, it will hit shelves at the End of June.

ModelStarting PriceAvailability Date
Latitude 9510MYR7,269End June, 2020
Latitude 7410MYR6,879End June, 2020
Latitude 7310MYR5,699End June, 2020
Latitude 9410MYR5,249End June, 2020
Latitude 7210 2-in-1MYR6,769End June, 2020

Official Specifications

Latitude 9510

Latitude 9410

Latitude 7410 & Latitude 7310

Latitude 7210 2-in-1

AMD Takes Aim at High Performance Computing with the RADEON PRO VII

AMD has been creating waves in the processor space for a few years now; dropping the gauntlet for its competitors when it comes to their Ryzen processors and also their RADEON graphics cards. The company is also expanding their reach to mobile in a collaborative effort with Samsung to bring their RDNA architecture to mobile processors.

That said, the company has long been working at providing compute capabilities to the industry as well. While they haven’t had a single product geared at taking on the market directly, their products have been used and optimised for years. This year, AMD is filling the void with their new AMD RADEON PRO VII graphics processor.

The new AMD RADEON PRO VII graphics processor uses AMD’s VEGA 20 architecture to help deliver top class performance at a more affordable price point for the industry. In fact, the new PRO VII comes in at about 25% of the price of competing products. This allows companies and workforces to free valuable resources for other functions.

With the new PRO VII, AMD looks to address the increasing demand for simulation workloads. The new card is capable of up to 6.5 TFLOPS of double precision performance and is equipped with 16GB of HBM (High bandwidth memory) to help process compute and simulation tasks more efficiently and at a faster pace. In fact, the RADEON PRO VII has about 1TB/s of memory bandwidth. This allows it to handle even more complex models and datasheets and even enables more efficient 8K broadcasting. It also runs at lower temperatures compared to the competition allowing it to function at high capacity for longer durations.

The RADEON PRO VII also supports AMD’s Infinity Fabric Link which allows two GPUs to share memory resources for bigger project workloads. The new GPU is also built with security in mind with hardware validated boot.

Software Geared for Professionals

Together with the announcement of the RADEON PRO VII, AMD also highlighted their continual support for industry and professional applications with their commitment to providing stable, industry grade software. The company announced the availability of Professional drivers which will be updated regularly. In addition, their software will have Day-0 certification from relevant parties to ensure that programs are stable and compatible for professionals. This certification process will be ongoing and will be applied to every update.

In the same vein, AMD also announced that their RADEON ProRender will have a more simplified licensing model to enable more widespread adoption. The company will be using the APACHE based licensing format to streamline licensing and ease adoption among professionals. At launch, the ProRender 2.0 is supported by Unreal, SideFX, Autodesk Maya and Blender.

Pricing & Availability

The AMD RADEON PRO VII card will be available starting June, 2020. It will cost USD$1899 (MYR8,215.05).

AMD’s entreprise drivers are already available for download as of the announcement.

Lenovo Learn From Home – A New Type of Ambassador

If you look into the PC market these days, you see nearly the same things from every other manufacturer. It has been that way for a while now actually. Every mainstream brand goes with their usual line-up, then there is the high-end professional line-up, a mainstream and high-end gaming line-up, and now, they have the high-end creative industry line-up. There is one segment that many manufacturers are not taking enough advantage of though. That is the student market.

It is a completely different market compared to what the other markets are serving you see. In this segment, consumers are looking to buy value-for-money portable set-up that they are comfortable to work with. Preferably you have something at 14-inch to 15-inch of display, large enough to easily browse through documents and rifle through research papers. It is also large enough to enjoy YouTube and Netflix when they need to relax. Of course, the main aim is to get work done on it. It has to be able to comfortably run excel files, easily create attractive and purposeful PowerPoints, and write long essays away from the charging port preferably.

Lenovo has a number of things that they are already doing to make their Notebook PCs more appealing to students. One of which is to bundle Microsoft’s whole office offering for students into their value Notebook PC line-ups. Their new strategy is to find a completely new kind of brand ambassador.

Source: Lenovo

Their new IdeaPad Slim 1, IdeaPad S145, and ThinkBook 14 Notebook PCs are included under their “Learn From Home” package. The Notebook PCs prices starts from MYR 999, MYR 2,049, and MYR 3,399 respectively. Selected devices will get the Students package with Microsoft Office 365 Student access.

They are looking for a full-time student to be their new ambassador this time. Of course, there are some criteria other than being a full-time student and being able to verify that status. The candidate has to also be active in their campus activities as a student. Interested participants also have to be active on social media and be a registered Member of Lenovo’s Education Store

If selected, the ambassadors will be exclusively invited to watch Lenovo Tech Talks. The Tech Talks are kind of product launch events or even concept show cases. Selected students will also get to participate in the Q&A sessions that happens within the events.

They also get direct access to Lenovo team members as part of a sort of a mentorship program. Students can speak to Lenovo team members in virtual office hours to gain skills that may be essential to their career path or as entrepreneurs. All this, on top of a 15% discount referral code they can use and share with friends or family members to purchase selected Lenovo devices listed under the “Learn From Home” program.

Eligible students may apply for Lenovo Malaysia’s Student Ambassador program or find out more about the program on Lenovo Malaysia’s website. All participants will be awarded with a certificate of participation to be added to their portfolio. At least you tried, you know. If you are selected though, you might be featured in one of Lenovo’s Quarterly Student Ambassador newsletter. For more information on Lenovo’s “Learn From Home” offers, head over to their website too.