Xiaomi is no stranger to the mobile and tech market. The company has built an empire spanning smartphones to smart home items and it achieved this in a relatively short time. The company emerged and grew in the span of a little over a decade. In fact, Malaysia’s first Xiaomi device was the popular Mi 3. It’s been nearly a decade since – and it looks like things are about to change.
According to a statement to XDA Developers, it looks like Xiaomi will be streamlining its branding. As part of the move, it looks like the “Mi” branding that we know and love is going to be retired. In its statement, the company highlighted that the recently announced MIX 4 was the first device to have its new, streamlined branding.
The move to retire their “MI” branding marks a close in a very important chapter in Xiaomi’s history as it moves to be a more international company from its humble beginnings. Xiaomi’s first product wasn’t a smartphone – it was MIUI, the Android fork that is now a hallmark feature of all its products. Today, the company has become one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world with a smartphone literally built for everyone.
With the retirement of the “Mi” brand, new flagships will come under their “Xiaomi” name. This should bolster the recognition of their brand worldwide. However, Xiaomi now has the task of differentiating itself in a market saturated by so many. In addition, it also has POCO and Redmi under its belt. The two brands are wildly popular in their segments but do little when it comes to Xiaomi’s branding.
Xiaomi now has the behemoth task of maintaining its dominance in the mobile space. The market has always been ruled by big guns like Apple and Samsung. However, just recently, Xiaomi dethroned the companies as the largest OEM in the world.
Today is a funny world of memes and GIFs. Pronounce ‘GIF’ however you want, but you cannot deny its popularity and its significance in modern communication. It has become a tool to quickly express yourself in certain moments with your friends, and even with the world of social media. You can even create your own GIFs these days with your smartphone or even the web. One of the most popular platforms for virtually unlimited GIFs is Giphy.
If you are not aware, Facebook currently owns Giphy (what else do they not own?). They made a bid of US$ 400 million earlier in 2020 for Giphy and now owns at least a major part of Giphy. Facebook’s acquisition of the popular GIF platform should not come as a surprise though. After all, GIF is now a large part of social media and Facebook has been relentless in their quest to be a one-stop-shop of all things social media. The acquisition of Giphy also allows Facebook to directly access Giphy’s database and develop APIs that would seamlessly integrate Facebook’s platforms to Giphy, which is a big win for WhatsApp users at least.
It seems that not everyone agrees with Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy though. The Competition and Markers Authority (CMA), an anti-competition regulator in the United Kingdom (UK), launched an investigation following the acquisition of Giphy last year. Yes, last year, not this year. They finally came to a finding that was released yesterday though that might be alarming for Facebook.
Their statement (as per The Verge and quoted below) raises concerns over how Giphy is a platform of choice for many of the other social media platforms that are currently not owned by Facebook. CMA argues that Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy might affect that access from other social media platforms; in other words, CMA thinks that Facebook will cut off access to Giphy making it a Facebook exclusive instead of the open platform that it is currently known for. CMA also cited that Facebook could also acquire more user data that was previously not available to it from other social media platforms like Snapchat and Twitter via Giphy. They also argued that Giphy was on its way to building their own ads business model that could be a possible competition to Facebook, and those plans were derailed with Facebook’s acquisition. They will be producing a final report on the issue in October 2021.
“Millions of posts every day on social media sites now include a GIF. Any reduction in the choice or quality of these GIFs could significantly affect how people use these sites and whether or not they switch to a different platform, such as Facebook. As most major social media sites that compete with Facebook use Giphy GIFs, and there is only one other large provider of GIFs – Google’s Tenor – these platforms have very little choice.
The CMA provisionally found that Facebook’s ownership of Giphy could lead it to deny other platforms access to its GIFs. Alternatively, it could change the terms of this access – for example, Facebook could require Giphy customers, such as TikTok, Twitter and Snapchat, to provide more user data in order to access Giphy GIFs. Such actions could increase Facebook’s market power, which is already significant.”
Of course, Facebook did not sit still with the investigation that was launched last year. They have since made a few submissions to CMA claiming that Giphy had “no meaningful audience of its own”. They also claimed that Giphy relies on Facebook for most of its traffic anyway. To be fair too, Giphy has not been posting any profit numbers in its 8-year history, even with some US$ 150 million raised over their course of existence. Since the acquisition too, Giphy’s employees have not been integrated into Facebook and everything has been kept at status quo at the moment.
So far then, it is still business as usual on both ends. That also means that you still can enjoy Giphy on any platform of your choosing, for now. If the deal still goes through though, CMA’s fears could come true, and your source of never-ending GIFs will be exclusive to Facebook apps sooner than later. At the same time, Giphy needs money to keep operating, and in that case, who would keep Giphy funded if Facebook is not allowed to own Giphy?
When I was a young boy growing up in Jersey in the British Channel Islands, I’d turn on the grainy TV to warm up so I could watch sports with my father and brother. FORMULA 1 racing was the most exciting sport for us, even though the cars often sped by faster than the camera operator and the technology could keep up.
Now, racing is covered in a far richer and more engaging way, especially since F1 launched F1 Insights powered by AWS in 2018, bringing data analytics as a live feed to my screens. Watching on my phone in Singapore, I love the real-time Car Performance Scores, which include thousands of data points streamed every second from every car on the track, giving me a much better understanding of where my favorite car ranks in the field – and what’s driving its performance.
It’s exactly this type of real-time information that businesses need to understand their performance, so they can make decisions rapidly and keep up with market changes. During the pandemic, we have learned that speed matters, whether you’re a digital native or a more traditional organization. As all businesses faced social distancing measures, those who survived the pandemic adopted new ways to do business, and they adapted fast using the cloud.
Some moved faster than others. Some enterprises with legacy systems seem resigned to moving slowly. Even today, I often hear comments like, “It’s just the nature of our size and heritage.”
We must debunk that myth. Speed is not preordained by heritage. Speed is a choice that any organization can make if it is prepared to harness the cloud. As a recent McKinsey article put it: “For CEOs, cloud adoption is not just an engine for revenue growth and efficiency. The cloud’s speed, scale, innovation, and productivity benefits are essential to the pursuit of broader digital business opportunities, now and well into the future.”
Culture Change
Many organizations can look for ways to change their culture and embrace speed, creating an environment that values urgency. In a culture designed for speed, people are actively encouraged to experiment and are rewarded for it. Although, flipping a switch won’t suddenly deliver speed – companies have to build muscle while they learn how to innovate at pace, all the time.
Amazon has been around for nearly 27 years, and to this day we maintain what we call a “Day 1” culture – approaching everything we do with the entrepreneurial spirit of being on the first day of your organization. We do this by giving our teams autonomy, on the understanding that they operate within the guardrails of our culture.
We believe the more we can equip people to make high judgment decisions at all levels, the better off we, and our customers, are. We encourage employees to make high-velocity, high-quality decisions by setting the vision and context for teams. Since Amazon was founded in 1994, we’ve consistently operated based on three big ideas that every employee knows. The first is to obsess over customers. This is cemented in our mission statement to be “earth’s most customer-centric company.” The second is that if we focus on the customer it will force us to innovate – to look at new ways of solving problems on behalf of our customers. The third is to be stubborn in sustaining our long-term vision while being flexible in how we get there.
As Jeff Bezos explains, “In a traditional corporate hierarchy, a junior executive comes up with a new idea that they want to try. They have to convince their boss, their boss’s boss, their boss’s boss’s boss and so on – any ‘no’ in that chain can kill the whole idea.” Systems and processes that identify, validate, and approve new ideas from within the business are invaluable in democratizing company-wide idea exploration and driving experimentation in business as usual. For example, at Amazon, we make it easy for those closest to our customers to raise ideas for speedy review. Imagine a time-wasting process or one that results in a poor customer experience. People complain about it regularly, but they know that it can be so hard to implement change, that it’s not worth the effort. The problem is put in the “too hard” basket and no one says anything. Now, imagine actually rewarding teams for suggesting a fix. Imagine if the process was fast and painless and resulted in change. How many great ideas would happen every week?
Thinking Big and Acting Small
Thinking big is the hallmark of innovation. But, as we look to move quickly and embrace greater experimentation, we should also look to de-risk the process. This means recognizing that the most powerful innovations often come through simplification. One small, seemingly insignificant cost or time-saving can drive enormous benefits for both companies and their customers when applied at scale. Thinking big also means starting big ideas with very small, reversible experiments. At Amazon, we look for “two-way doors.” If an experiment fails (as they often do), we can back out of the decision rather than being committed to moving ahead through a “one-way door,” which can be expensive and difficult to undo. This way, you learn quickly with very low stakes.
A great example of innovative thinking in the face of legacy technology is FashionValet. As the modest fashion brand grew, its multi-environment hybrid technology infrastructure was unable to keep up with demand during product launches. In 2019, FashionValet went all-in on AWS to optimize processes and meet growing demand. With Auto Scaling Groups and RDS Aurora features, FashionValet can now run 10x more servers during product launches to meet demand, then scale down automatically with no downtime. Using this technology, FashionValet has also accelerated their product development timeline by 200% and reduced their infrastructure management costs by 75%.
Companies don’t have to bet their business on innovation, but they shouldn’t let legacy thinking hold them back. By actively empowering teams, clearing the path to “Yes,” and using small experiments, companies can build capability to promote high-velocity decisions – helping them operate at the speed of F1.
Businesses today are not conducted in the office anymore. Business deals are also not sealed in a meeting room most of the time these days. Instead, if you consider the 2020/2021 pandemic situation, businesses and deals are conducted and sealed at home. But even before that, businesses and deals are done outside of the office environment like coffee shops and even restaurants, public spaces.
Portable computing solutions like notebook PCs play a big role in the rising trend in moving out of the office to get your work done though. At the same time, laptops are also getting more sophisticated, especially when they start becoming more function specific. For example, the ASUS ExpertBook line-up that ASUS just launched are built specifically for the modern road warrior.
ASUS ExpertBook B1
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
A thin and light notebook PC does not need have to come with a heavy price tag. The prime example of an affordable thin and light notebook that is also versatile is the ASUS ExpertBook B1 (B1400 & B1500). They are thin (19.2mm for B1400, 19.4mm for B1500), and they are not exactly back breaking (1.45kg for B1400, 1.73kg for B1500). While they may not be the lightest laptops available today, you do have to remember that the B1400 ExpertBook B1 is a 14-inch notebook, while the B1500 ExpertBook B1 is a 15.6-inch notebook.
The display size is the only thing that separates the two notebooks in the series though. The ExpertBook B1 notebooks come with up to the 11th Generation Intel Core i7 1165G7, a powerful CPU with Integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics. Alongside up to 8GB of RAM, the ExpertBook B1 makes short work of any sort of documents you need to get through for the day anywhere.
It is truly a laptop you can take anywhere with you with little worry that it will work in any condition. ASUS built the ExpertBook B1 to MIL—STD 810H military standards to ensure that it can withstand all the kinds of drops and bumps it will go through in its lifetime. At the same time, it has versatility like no other with a slew of I/O ports that could prove useful in a lot of conditions. It has a full HDMI port, an RJ45 LAN port, a USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 port, three USB Type-A ports (2 x USB 3.2, 1 x USB 2.0) one MicroSD card reader, a VGA D-SUB port, and an Audio combo 3.5mm AUX jack.
Physical connection, while much appreciated is secondary these days when it comes to networking today. The ExpertBook B1 comes with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. These things mean that the ExpertBook B1 will have a stable and fast connection to any wireless internet line, or when you need to transfer data between two Bluetooth devices.
Of course, security is a big concern in the corporate world. To ensure only the right people gets access to the ExpertBook B1, ASUS includes a fingerprint sensor that integrates to the power button for Windows Hello’s biometric security measures. It is seamless too, with users only needing to turn on the device with the power button to simply log in. At the same time, Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM 2.0) ensures that the ExpertBook B1 is more secure than ever. As a bonus, it is Windows 11 ready with TPM 2.0.
ASUS ExpertBook B5
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Next up is the new standard in convertible notebook PCs, the ExpertBook B5. To be fair, there are two flavours in the ASUS ExpertBook B5 line-up – a convertible flip variant, and regular clamshell variant. They are basically the same notebooks though, on paper at least, with the flip convertible ExpertBook B5 Flip being the heavier one of the two (1.11kg vs 1kg).
The MIL-STD 810H aluminium and magnesium-alloy constructed body is light while containing a lot of power. It packs a lot of punch with up to an 11th Generation Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU with the proven integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics. 8GB of RAM ensures that the ExpertBook B5 maintains its speed and power through any sort of work you can throw at it.
The 16.9mm ExpertBook 5 series still packs up to 512GB of SSD that gives you ample storage for all kinds of documents you need for work. SSD speeds also allows you to quickly access any files you need at any time. Dual-band WiFi 6 should also supply the ExpertBook B5 with enough networking speeds when needed.
Of course, security and privacy are not forgotten with the ExpertBook B5 series. The 720p HD webcam comes with a physical shield to cover the webcam when not in use. The power button also doubles as a fingerprint sensor for super quick log in to Windows 10 Pro. At the same time, you can get the ExpertBook B5 with TPM 2.0 which also means that it would be compatible with Windows 11 when it is available.
At up to 1.11kg, the ExpertBook B5 series is made to be travelling with you to all corners of the world. This is also while providing you the power to get any sort of work done anywhere and anytime with up to 14-hours of battery life from its 66Wh battery. When you run out of battery, charge quickly via USB Type-C using the provided 65W charger that you can also use to charge your smartphone, if needed.
ASUS ExpertBook B9
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
Source: ASUS
The start of the show is none other than the ExpertBook B9. The most premium device in the ExpertBook line-up offers the world’s lightest 14-inch business laptop experience at 880 grams. At 14.9mm, it is not exactly thick either.
ASUS managed the weight and also achieve MIL-STD 810H military build standards with a unique magnesium-lithium-alloy chassis mix. They still manage to fit a 33Wh battery in the 880g variant of the notebook for an impressive battery life. For a full day of battery life though, there is the 1005g variant that packs double the battery size at 66Wh. Both of which are still contained in a 14.9mm thick body.
The 14-inch display is an LED-bakclit, IPS panel that projects 1080p Full HD resolution at up to 400nits in brightness and up to 1005 of sRGB colour gamut. To keep Windows 10 Pro and all its applications running happy on the ASUS ExpertBook B9 is a powerful 11th Generation Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU with integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics. With up to 16GB of RAM too, the new standard in thin and light can multitask like a champ.
You get WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 as standard in the ASUS ExpertBook B9 notebook for high-speed and stable networking. The only way to extract more speed for the ExpertBook B9 is to connect the notebook to an RJ45 line, which is possible with the laptop via the micro HDMI port (adapter included). At the same time, you have up to 1TB in SSD to store all your important files and documents while maintaining the speed to access needed files.
Instead of writing off the 3.5mm AUX combo jack though, ASUS manages to keep the headphone jack in the ExpertBook B9. Alongside the AUX jack are two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB 3.2 Type-A port, and a single standard HDMI port alongside a micro HDMI port. This also means that the ExpertBook B9 can handle up to two 4K displays at the same time.
Security is handled by a combination of hardware and software implementations on the ASUS ExpertBook B9 to make it the most secure business notebook you can find in their line-up. There is the fingerprint sensor that is integrated with the power button. At the same time, the 720p HD webcam also comes with an IR sensor for Windows Hello’s biometric facial recognition feature. TPM 2.0 comes standard in the platform for encryption. ASUS Business Manager and ASUS Control Center apps allows you to monitor and control all the security features and even drive access on the ExpertBook B9.
Price and Availability
All ASUS ExpertBook laptops come pre-installed with Windows 10 Pro. There are no colour options on the new notebook PCs unfortunately, but they all come in a shade of grey that could blend into any workspace easily.
The ASUS ExpertBook B1 will be available in 14-inch and 15.6-inch trip equipped with either an 11th Generation Intel Core i7 or Intel Core i5. Prices start from 3,599 (B1400 with Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB) and tops out at MYR 4,399 (B1400 with Core i7, 8GB RAM, 512GB). The 15.6-inch trip only comes in an 11th Generation Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, and 512Gb storage option at MYR 3,759.
The ASUS regular clamshell ExpertBook B5 will be available in either an Intel Core i5 (256GB) trim or an Intel Core i7 (512GB) trim. It will be priced at MYR 4,299 and MYR 5,199 respectively. The convertible variant of the ASUS ExpertBook B5 comes with a sylus too. It will be priced at MYR 4,999 (Core i5, 8GB RAM, 512GB) and MYR 5,599 (Core i7, 8GB, 512GB).
The ASUS ExpertBook B9 in Malaysia will only be available in the slightly heavier 1,005g option that comes with 66Wh battery that could last you a full working day. You get 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage as standard too with the top-of-the-line business notebook from ASUS. All these will set you back MYR 7,989. More information on ASUS’ ExpertBook series can be found on their website.
Edge computing is the ability to give life to the transformative use cases that businesses are dreaming up today and bring real-time decision making to last-mile locales. This can include a far-flung factory or train roaring down the tracks, someone’s connected home, or their car speeding down the highway or even in space. Who thought we’d be running Kubernetes in space?
This shows that edge computing can transform the way we live, and we are doing it right now.
Why Collaboration Is Critical
Edge technologies are blending the digital and physical worlds in a new way, and that combination is resonating at a human level. This human resonance might sound like an aspirational achievement, but it is already here. A great example is when we used AR/VR to improve safety on the factory floor.
Continued collaboration, however, is necessary to keep enabling breakthrough successes. Across industries and organizations, we are all highly dependent on one another. Thinking about the telecommunications and industrial sectors, in particular, there is a mutually supportive, symbiotic relationship between these industries—5G development cannot be successful without industrial use cases, which, in turn, are based on telco technologies.
However, numerous challenges remain: reducing network complexity, maintaining security, improving agility, and ensuring a vibrant ecosystem where the only way to address and solve those is by tapping into the collective wisdom of the community.
With open-source, we can unify and empower communities on a broad scale. The open-source ecosystem brings people together to focus on a common problem to solve with software. That shared purpose can turn isolated efforts into collective ones so that changes are industry-wide and reflect a wide range of needs and values.
The collaboration that open source makes possible continues to ignite tremendous change and alter our future in so many ways, making it the innovation engine for industries.
If we collaborate on 5G and edge in this manner, nascent technologies could become exciting common foundations in the same way that Linux and Kubernetes have because when we work together, the only limit to these possibilities is our imagination.
From Maps to Apps and Much More
Do you remember having to use a paper-based map to figure out driving directions? Flash forward to today: Look at the applications we take for granted on our phones or in our homes that allow us to change our driving route in real-time to avoid traffic, or to monitor and grant access to our front doors—to the point that these have shaped how we interact with our environments and each other. Yet not too long ago, many of these things were unimaginable. We barely had cloud technology, we were in the transition from 3G to 4G, and smartphones were new.
But there was important work being done by lots of people who were improving upon the core technologies. The convergence of three technology trends, as it turns out, unlocked a hugely disruptive opportunity: a cloud-native, mobile-device-enabled transportation service that picked you up wherever you were and took you wherever you wanted to go.
This opportunity was only possible because each trend built on the others to create a truly novel offering. Without one of these trends, the applications from the ride-sharing apps of the world would not have been the same or as disruptive. Imagine yourself scrambling to find a WiFi hotspot on the street corner, whipping out your laptop outside a restaurant while standing in the rain, or starting your business by first constructing a massive data centre. The convergence of smartphones, 4G networks, and cloud computing has enabled a new world.
Today we are creating the next set of technologies that will become the things so embedded in our lives and so indispensable to our daily habits that we will wonder how we ever got by without them. Are you ready to be wearing clothes with sensors in them that tell you how healthy you are?
The possibilities with edge technologies are equally as exciting. It starts with the marriage of the digital world with the physical world. Adding in pervasive connectivity—leveraging a common 5G and edge platform—we can transform how operational technologies interact with the physical world and that changes everything.
The Future Is Now
We are creating this new world that is hard to imagine, yet it is not so foreign because we have seen how this story has played out before. Expect these new technologies to have profound implications for humanity—in our daily lives, how we interact with one another, and the social fabric of our world.
We have only to look at how open source has empowered collaboration and how working together has helped people across organizations and industries build more robust, shared platforms more quickly and differentiate on top of them—with apps and capabilities built on the foundation of Kubernetes and Linux, for example.
In just the first four months of 2021, Trend Micro’s Research team detected 113,010 ransomware threats in Malaysia. Ever since the first detected case of ransomware infection in 2005 globally[1], ransomware has evolved. Over the years, ransomware has evolved and has resulted in the emergence of what is often termed modern ransomware; which is even more targeted and malicious in nature.
The recent attack on enterprise technology firm Kaseya[2], where hackers demanded US$70 million (RM290.92 million) worth of bitcoin in return for stolen data, is a stark reminder of the sweeping damage and disruption that modern ransomware is capable of.
Traditionally, ransomware attacks were conducted through a “click-on-the-link” that leads to compromised websites or spam emails. This was typically aimed at a random list of victims to collect moderate pay-out.
Today, threat actors have evolved their strategies to inflict greater damage on a company’s reputation and potentially collect larger pay-outs from high-profile victims. This is what is becoming known as a “double-extortion” strategy in modern ransomware attacks. According to Trend Micro’s research[3], criminals take these steps to personalize the attacks:
Organize alternative access to a victim’s network such as through a supply chain attack;
Determine the most valuable assets and processes that could potentially yield the highest possible ransom amount for each victim;
Take control of valuable assets, recovery procedures, and backups;
Steal and threaten to expose confidential data;
In Malaysia, Trend Micro found that the industries most targeted by ransomware are government, healthcare, and manufacturing[4]. As these sectors continue to play a role in driving economic growth in the country, it is clear that a multi-layered cybersecurity defence system is necessary. These enterprises will need to create such a defence to defend their networks and protect their business-critical data to keep up with the ever-evolving ransomware landscape.
In order to keep up with the ever-evolving ransomware landscape, among the three most important must-dos for Malaysian organizations are:
Maintain IT hygiene factors: Security teams should ensure that proactive countermeasures, such as monitoring features, backups, and trainings in security skills, are in place to enable early detection. Alongside that, everyone in an organization should also have the latest security updates and patches installed.
Work with the right security partners: Start by clearly defining the needs and priorities around enterprise security in an organization. Then, collaborate with a security vendor that aligns with these priorities to create a solid security response playbook to be used on an ongoing basis.
Have visibility over all security layers: In order for security teams to be able to detect suspicious activity early-on and to respond to cyber attacks quicker, organizations should utilize tools such as Trend Micro Vision One, which collects and automatically correlates data across email, endpoints, servers, cloud workloads, and networks. By putting the right technologies in place, enterprises can also help reduce the alert fatigue commonly faced by security operations centers (SOCs), with 54% reporting that they are overwhelmed by alerts[5].
In today’s world of constant attacks, cybersecurity should be a top priority for everyone across the entire organization; and not just be the sole responsibility of the security team. While an organization can eventually recover its data or financial resources post-attack, the loss of trust among customers and partners will be a difficult challenge to remedy. All stakeholders must collaborate, invest in proper resources, and take proactive steps to transform workplace culture and best practices in order to stop pernicious ransomware threats at the door.
Zoom just made an announcement earlier today that they will be acquiring Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions (KITeS). While an acquisition of another firm may not sound like much, this is a significant acquisition for Zoom. This acquisition should improve the experience and the interface that is Zoom.
Zoom has been an immensely popular platform since its rise in the recent pandemic situation. In the situation that is the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us are driven to work-from-home measures. That also means that communication with your colleagues and friends are limited to phone calls, online chat platforms, mobile text messaging, and video calls for more intimacy. Hence, the boom in Zoom’s popularity last year.
The company has also been facing plenty of challenges and criticisms when it comes to its user friendliness and, most of all, the platform’s overall security. Of course, the ever so popular video conferencing solutions provider responded to all the security issues pointed out by its users as swiftly as they can. Most of the issues have been rectified, according to Zoom.
The pursuit to the best video conferencing experience is a never ending one for the likes of Zoom though. Recently, Cisco’s Webex have been updated with new interfaces and features. One of the includes a live transcription and even instant highlights of the video call with the help of a clever integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI).
KITeS is a developer of a real-time translation and transcription software, or AI. In some ways, the technology that KITeS is working on mimics the capabilities that Google wants for its Google Translate software except that everything is sort of integrated. At the same time, the technology does sound promising for companies like Zoom.
Source: Zoom
Zoom already has their own real-time transcription algorithm integrated within Zoom though. The only issue with the real-time transcription function in Zoom is that it only works with English and no other languages. That is the problem that Zoom’s latest acquisition looks to solve.
With the acquisition of KITeS, Zoom hopes to integrate their clever AI into their video conferencing app to ensure that real-time transcriptions are more accurate than before. On top of that Zoom hopes that the AI would also allow real-time translations from other languages to eliminate the language barriers altogether in international video conferencing.
Zoom did not provide a timeline to when the said functions would make it to Zoom. We also know that Zoom will not be the only video conferencing solutions provider that is looking to integrate more accurate real-time transcription and translation functions in their app. Platforms like Google Meets has already integrated real-time translations into the platform thanks to their clever Google Translate. Microsoft’s Translate algorithm is also integrated into Microsoft Teams, if you are wondering.
Zoom is available for free on all major computing and mobile platforms in the world. Of course, free membership also means limited access to Zoom’s functions. Free membership also means that your video calls are only limited to 40 minutes at a time. Paid subscriptions range from US$ 14.99 a month to US$ 19.99 a month with differing access to features in Zoom. You can find more information on Zoom in their https://zoom.us/.
Working on-the-go comes with a lot of compromises. When you are on the move, you want a companion that is fuss-free, easy to work with, reliable, and most importantly light and compact. The trade-off to that is always power.
You see this in modern laptops made for the working professionals. When you get super lightweight, super compact laptops, they usually do not come with a discrete GPU. That also means that if you need your PC to do more than just word processing, or browsing the web, or even create presentations, you are going to have to compromise a little bit.
It is 2021 though. In that sense, we should not have to compromise that much when it comes to portability and power, especially if your work relies on that kind of power. Of course, you want something industrial, durable and reliable too in your work notebook PC. The one name you can associate with all the things mentioned above in a professional notebook is Lenovo’s ThinkPad.
Source: Lenovo
Specifically, we are looking at the most powerful ThinkPad in their line-up; we are looking at Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Extreme. In its Gen 4 clad, it is the most powerful Lenovo ThinkPad ever; or at least it can be.
Within the very familiar all-metal body of the ThinkPad lives an Intel Core i9-H series 11th Generation processor (up to). The most powerful mobile processor that Intel has to offer is accompanied by a very powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (up to) for good measure. With up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM at 3200MHz, the new ThinkPad X1 Extreme is an extremely powerful machine that can chew up 3D rendering work, eat video workflow for lunch, and drink photo editing work for tea-time without breaking a sweat, especially with Lenovo’s reworked and patented cooling technology.
You can pair the powerful internals to a 4K+ (up to) 16-inch display to ensure that you get every detail exactly right. You see more too with a unique 16:10 display ratio. With 10-bit colours, HDR 400 and up to 600nit in brightness, you will get every colour for your projects right too. If you are working with a lot of Audio, the Dolby Atmos certified speakers should do that job for you.
Source: Lenovo
While a lot laptops stop at 720p video webcam, the Lenovo ThinkPad goes beyond that to make this your ultimate work laptop anywhere you may be working from. It packs a Full HD 1080p webcam as standard with a physical shutter. For added security with Windows Hello, you can spec it with a Full HD 1080p Infrared Hybrid webcam. Of course, the ThinkPad also comes with the a fingerprint reader as standard.
The familiar all-metal chassis is even more durable than ever too. It is MIL-STD 810H certified, which also means that it can withstand more than just the regular bumps and nicks. You can be sure that it will survive a drop from your desks too, just in case you are that clumsy that day. The build standard is not really to allow you to be clumsy and rough with the laptop though, it is just to ensure that you do not lose your important work data in case the inevitable happens.
Everything above might make the laptop sound like a chunky block of aluminium slab that you would dread to carry in your backpack. That is not the case though. It only weighs 1.82kg; and at 17.7mm, it is not exactly thick either. It might come with a chunky power brick though to ensure that the powerful processors get enough power.
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is expected to be available in select markets from August 2021 onward. Prices for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 starts at EUR€ 2,099 (MYR10,431*). There is no word on availability and official pricing of the device in Malaysia just yet. They did say that the availability and pricing for Malaysia will be announced soon though, so watch this space.
*Approximately based on exchange rate of EUR€ 1 = MYR 4.97
Many companies are moving slowly towards becoming more carbon-neutral and environmentally responsible. We’ve seen companies make commitments in the past year to make their operations more environmentally friendly, however, companies like Dell Technology have been hard at work behind the scenes. The company has been working to realise their “Progress Made Real” blueprint as early as 2012.
One of the pillars of their blueprint is a coordinated effort to advance sustainability in their operations. Under this lofty pillar, Dell has committed to reducing their energy intensity and also sourcing 75% of electricity from renewable resources. To this end, the company has implemented the world’s largest on-site solar panel in the Dell Technologies Asia Pacific Customer Center in Bukit Mertajam in Penang, Malaysia.
The solar panel consists of 1,590 individual efficient solar panels which will produce 1,000MWh of renewable electricity annually at their centre. This will account for more than 25% of the energy consumed at the 24-hour facility. Dell Technologies is aiming to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases at the facility by an impressive 650 metric tonnes (650,000 kg) annually.
The solar panel is the latest in Dell Technologies ongoing efforts to become a more ecologically responsible company. Previously, they have made changes to their product lineup to incorporate more recycled materials in the products and packaging. It is the company’s step forward in attaining its goal of having nett zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
We also spoke about sustainability in our recent episode of the Tech & Tonic Podcast in which we praised Dell Technologies for creating a meaningful impact in their operations. Their incorporation of recycled plastics in their flagship products such as the Dell Inspiron and even their Precision and XPS line ups.
The world is arguably never going to be the same after the COVID-19 pandemic. The sentiment rings true in many aspects and sectors even now, a year on. However, the effects of the pandemic have spurred our normal to take a digital shift in which more companies are accelerating their digital transformation journeys with some further than others. That said, the adoption of technologies has created waves and trends that seem to be influencing everything in our lives.
In a nutshell, these trends are going to change the way we approach a whole myriad of thing from the way we work to the way we shop. We’re seeing businesses like your regular mom and pop shops adopt cloud technologies to help spur growth while digital native businesses and companies are doing the same to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances. The adoption of technologies and, in particular, cloud technologies, is building resilience in businesses like never before.
Our interview with the Lead Technologist for the Asia Pacific Region at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Mr Olivier Klein, sheds even more light on the trends that have and continue to emerge as businesses continue to navigate the pandemic and digitisation continues.
The Cloud Will Be Everywhere
As we see more and more businesses adopt technologies, a growing number of large, medium and small businesses will turn to cloud computing to stay competitive. In fact, businesses will be adopting cloud computing not only for agility but due to increasing expectations that will come from their customers. However, when referring to “The Cloud”, we are not only talking about things like machine learning, high performance computing, IoT and artificial intelligence (AI); we’re also talking about the simple things like data analytics and using digital channels.
Digitization journeys are creating expectations on businesses to be agile and adaptable. That said, businesses with humble beginnings like Malaysia’s TF Value-Mart have been able to scale thanks to their willingness to modernize and migrate to the cloud. Their adoption of cloud technologies has created a more secure digital environment for their business and has augmented their speed and scalability. This has allowed them to scale from a single, mom and pop store in Bentong in 1998 to over 37 outlets today.
The demand for cloud solution is increasing and there’s no deny it. Even businesses like AWS have had to expand to accommodate the growing demands for digital infrastructure and services. The company has scaled from 4 regions in their first 5 years to 13 regions today with more coming in the near future. AWS’s upcoming regions include six upcoming regions, of which four are in Asia Pacific: in Jakarta, Hyderabad, Osaka and Melbourne.
Edge Computing Spurred by 5G & Work From Anywhere
In fact, according to Mr Klein, AWS sees the next push in Cloud Computing coming from the ASEAN region. This will, primarily, be spurred by the region’s adoption of 5G technologies. Countries like Japan and Singapore are already leading the way with Malaysia and other countries close behind. The emergence of 5G technologies is creating a new demand for technologies that allow businesses to have a more hybrid approach to their utilisation of Cloud technologies.
As companies continue to scale and innovate, a growing demand is emerging for lower latencies. While 5G allows low latency connections, some are beginning to require access to scalable cloud technologies on premises. Data security and low latency computing are primary drives behind this demand. Businesses are innovating faster than ever before and require some of their workloads to happen quicker with faster results. As a result, we see a growing need for services like AWS Outpost which allows businesses to bring cloud services on premises, and with their recent announcement at AWS re:Invent, Outposts are becoming even more accessible.
Edge computing is also part and parcel of cloud computing as the mode in which we work continues to change. With most businesses forced to work remotely during the pandemic, the trend seems to be sticking; companies are beginning to adopt a work from anywhere policy which allows for more employee flexibility and increased productivity. That said, not all workloads are able to follow where workers go. With the adoption of 5G, that is no longer the case. Businesses will be able to adopt services like AWS Wavelength to enable low latency connection to cloud services empowering the work from anywhere policies.
The same rings true when it comes to education. The growth experienced in the adoption of remote learning will continue. Services like Zoom and Blue Jeans have become integral tools for educators to reach their students and will continue to see their roles expand as educational institutions continue to see the increased importance of remote learning.
Machine Learning is The Way
As edge computing and Cloud become the norm, so too will machine learning. Machine learning is enabling companies to adopt new approaches and adapt to changing circumstances. The adoption of machine learning solutions has paved the way to new expectations from customers that has and will continue to spur its adoption. In fact, Mr Klein, tells us that businesses will not only be adopting machine learning for automation but also to provide better customer experiences. What’s more, a growing number of their customers are also going to expect it.
Machine Learning’s prevalence is going to grow in the coming years – that’s a given. Customers and users have already had their experiences augmented by AI and machine learning. This has and continues to create expectations on how user experiences should be. Take for instance, services like Netflix have been using machine learning and AI to recommend and surface content to their users. Newer streaming services which lack these integrations are seen to be subpar and are criticised by users.
Aside from user experiences, businesses are getting more accustomed to using machine learning to provide insights when it comes to making decision making and automating business operations. It has also enabled companies to innovate more readily. These conveniences will also be one of the largest factors in the increasing prevalence. It will also see increased adoption which will be largely attributed to the adoption and development of autonomous vehicles and other augmented solutions.
Companies like Moderna have been utilising machine learning to help create and innovate in their arena. They have benefitted from adopting machine learning in their labs and manufacturing processes. This has also allowed them to develop their mRNA vaccines which are currently being deployed to combat COVID-19.
To Infinity & Beyond
The growing adoption of digital and cloud solutions is also spurring a new wave of technologies which allow businesses deeper insights. These technologies allow businesses to access insights gained from satellite imaging. Data such as ground imaging and even ocean imaging can be used to gain actionable insights for businesses. Use cases are beginning to emerge from business involved in logistics, search and rescue and even retail.
However, the cost of building and putting a satellite in orbit is nonsensical for a business. That said, we already have thousands of them in orbit and it would make more sense to use them to help gain these insights. AWS is already introducing AWS Ground Station – a fully managed serve that gives businesses access to satellites to collect and downlink data which can then be processes in AWS Cloud.
These trends are simply a glance into an increasingly digitised and connected world where possibilities seem to be endless. Businesses are at the cusp of an age that will see them flourish if they are agile and willing to adopt new technologies and approaches that are, at this time, novel and unexplored.
