Archive for the ‘Brands’ Category

New mobile music player: Sony Walkman Z Series

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

Sony has launched its new mobile entertainment player. The Walkman NWZ-Z1050 series is powered by Android, and is targeted at audiophiles looking for exceptional sound quality in their music.

The Sony Walkman Z1050 Mobile Entertainment Player has a 16GB capacity and will be available for S$429 from this month.

Sony Walkman NWZ-Z1050 Music Player, 16 GB, Black, S$429.

Sony Walkman NWZ-Z1050 Music Player, 16 GB, Black, S$429.

The Walkman Z1050 is the Android equivalent of the iPod Touch, but with a bigger anti-reflective 4.3” multi-touch LCD screen. It is powered by a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor.

With the form factor of a smartphone, this Walkman allows you to enjoy great music, watch videos, play games, use Android apps and surf the Web using WiFi.

I was at the launch of the new Walkman in Singapore, and got to play with the device and listen to the music quality. It did not disappoint. Audio was crisp and clear despite the loud background music inside the Helipad, and MP3 music sounded almost as good as CD-quality tracks.

There’s no 3G connection so you can only make calls through VOIP when there’s a WiFi connection. There’s no camera but you can upload, edit, view and share photos on the gadget.

From the makers of the original Walkman

Available in May 2012

Available in May 2012

But true to its tradition, it’s a music player made for music lovers by music lovers.

The new S-Master MX digital amplifier greatly reduces noise and distortion level in your music, even if you’re listening to MP3 quality audio files.

This is one of 5 Clear Audio Technologies – S-Master MX, Clear Bass, Clear Stereo, DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine), and EX headphones – which promises quality audio on-the-move.

A new W.BUTTON launches the W.Control app, which allows you to explore your music collection by flicking through the cover art viewing on-screen visualisations while the music plays.

SensMe sorts your music collection into 14 mood-themed channels to suit the time of day or the way you feel.

4.3-inch display, Android 2.3 OS.

4.3-inch display, Android 2.3 OS.

The xLOUD speaker system of the Z1050 to offers a high level of clear sound reproduction from its built-in speaker – you can now listen in to your favourite tunes with friends and loved ones without a speaker dock.

The Walkman Z Series allows you to share your content at home and on the move wirelessly via Wi-Fi and connects to other DLNA-enabled devices.

Simply ‘throw’ your music, pictures and videos from your Walkman screen by ‘flicking’ them directly to compatible TVs, PCs, or home audio system to stream your media.

Connect the Walkman directly to your TV via the micro HDMI to enjoy your videos, photos and games on big screen.

Or connect via Bluetooth to compatible speakers, headphones, hi-fi systems or car stereos effortlessly with no wire clutter.

Below are the main technical specifications of the new Sony Walkman NWZ-Z1050.

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Chelsea FC in Singapore today

Saturday, May 12th, 2012

Samsung-Chelsea FC Youth Football Camp was held for the first time in Singapore today. 173 children aged from nine to 13 years old were trained by youth football coaches of Chelsea FC.

Chelsea FC youth coach explaining to aspiring young footballers in Singapore.

Chelsea FC youth coach explaining to aspiring young footballers in Singapore.

Held at Sports Planet East Coast, the Football Camp was led by Chelsea FC youth football coaches Robert Udberg, Andy Ottley, Steve Shipp and James Lambdon.

Words of football wisdom and experience.

Words of football wisdom and experience.

Under the renowned “Chelsea Way” football programme, the children were put through their paces with skill stations and circuits designed to help refine control, shooting, dribbling, heading and passing skills.

Started in 2007, the ‘Samsung-Chelsea FC Youth Football Camp’ is part of Samsung’s support for developing football at the grassroots level.

It is an important component of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme to give back to the communities, and provide sporting initiatives that encourage youth to pursue their dreams and nurture their sporting talents.

The football camp is open to the public, but 40 underprivileged children from the Salvation Army and Methodist Welfare Services’ Daybreak Student Care Centre were specially given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the camp.

Avid young footballers giving it a go.

Avid young footballers giving it a go.

Singapore is one of nine countries that the Samsung – Chelsea FC Youth Football Camp will visit this year.

The other participating countries are Australia, Ghana, India, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, Qatar, UAE and Vietnam.

Singapore’s participants will join the family of over 1,650 children from around the world who have undergone the football camp.

Adobe CS6 is available now

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

Adobe has announced the immediate availability of Adobe Creative Suite 6.

Adobe CS6 is available now.

Adobe CS6 is available now.

Launched globally two weeks ago, Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6) comprises some 14 software for photo and video editing, graphics design and and web development, Flash/HTML and app building tools, as well as desktop publishing.

Suite Price
Master Collection S$3,925
Production Premium S$2,868
Design & Web Premium S$2,868
Design & Web Standard S$1,963

These software include Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, InDesign and Flash.

The component software have been packaged in into four suites, depending on the needs of the customer.

A subscription-based version of CS6 (Creative Cloud: US$600 per year) is also available in the US although it is not available in Singapore and some other parts of the world.

Photo Contest: Home Without Walls (Professional Category)

Saturday, May 5th, 2012

SingTel has launched a photo contest aimed at the professional photography community – with a top prize of S$15,000. Submit online before 20 May 2012.

Win the grand prize of S$15,000 or one of four S$1,000 prizes for the four themes.

Win the grand prize of S$15,000 or one of four S$1,000 prizes for the four themes.

The contest is part of a series of activities under the “Home Without Walls” campaign.

Capture family moments in one of four themes.

Capture family moments in one of four themes.

The campaign is about inspiring Singaporeans to make real and meaningful connections with the people who matter, with the aim of creating homes where there are no communication barriers, and connect from the heart – whether online or offline.

For the moment, only the Professional Category of the contest has been launched – for professional photographers that earn more than 50% of their normal income from photography.

Photos must be taken after 20 March 2012 and, if possible, reflect a Singapore context.

Each participant may submit up to 12 entries.

There are four separate themes for photos: Attachments, Connections, Memories, and Networks.

Participants must send in photo of family moments based on their own interpretations of the above themes.

Detailed terms & conditions can be found online.

The panel of judges comprises Derrick Heng from SingTel, as well as renowned photographers: Yumi Goto, Marc Prüst, and local photographer Tay Kay Chin.

The winner of each theme will win S$1,000 in cash, while a grand winner will take home S$15,000.

Samsung finally unveils the GALAXY S III

Friday, May 4th, 2012

After much anticipation, Samsung has officially announced the third generation GALAXY S. The GALAXY S III will be available in Singapore from Q2 2012 in Pebble Blue and Marble White. Prices to be announced later.

Update (23 May 2012): RRP (without contract but incl. GST) in Singapore has been announced at S$998. Availability to be announced later.

Latest update (25 May 2012): Marble White Samsung GALAXY S III will go on sale in Singapore on 30 May. Collection of pre-orders begin 29 May. Pebble Blue version will be available at a later date. Stay tuned!

The Samsung GALAXY S III will come in Pebble Blue and Marble White.

The Samsung GALAXY S III will come in Pebble Blue and Marble White.

The Samsung GALAXY S III has a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display, an 8-megapixel main camera and 1.9-megapixel FRONT camera that shoots HD video, and is powered by Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich.

“… it enables one of the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experiences …,” said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung.The GALAXY S III offers WiFi Channel Bonding which doubles the WiFi bandwidth.

For those who are tired of wires, a separate wireless charging kit allows you to charge the phone without plugging it to the socket.

Samsung boasts that the smartphone has been “designed for humans” – by making the phone recognise the user’s voice, understand more human gestures, and by making it easier to share moments on social networks.

Human-centric interface

Samsung GALAXY S III has a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display, an 8-megapixel main camera and 1.9-megapixel front camera, and is powered by Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich.A “Smart-stay” feature senses and recognises how you are using the smartphone.

For instance, when reading an e-book or browsing the web, the front camera detects the eyes and maintains a bright display on the phone for continual reading.

“S Voice” is Samsung’s advanced natural language user interface that listens and responds to voice commands. Does “S Voice” stand for Samsung Voice – its response to Siri?

For example, you can TELL the GALAXY S III to “snooze” when the alarm goes off, or to play songs, reduce/increase the volume, send text messages and emails, organise your schedules, or launch the camera to take a photo.

Samsung GALAXY S III will be available in Singapore from Q2 2012.Easy sharing

The new “S Beam” expands on Android Beam by allowing a 1GB movie file to be shared within three minutes and a 10MB music file within two seconds by simply touching another GALAXY S III phone, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal.

Click to display enlarged view of the tech specs.

Click to display enlarged view of the tech specs.

“Buddy photo share” function allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with the friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.

“AllShare Cast” allows wireless display of the smartphone’s content onto a larger display.

“AllShare Play” shares files between the GALAXY S III and a tablet, PC or television, regardless of the distance between the devices.

“Group Cast” shares the smartphone’s screen among multiple friends on the same WiFi network.

“Pop up Play” allows a video to continue playing on one part of the screen while other apps and tasks continue simultaneously.

New mouse: Logitech Mouse M105

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

The Logitech Mouse M105 is expected to be available in end May (S$16), in black, red or white.

Logitech M105, available in May (S$16).

Logitech M105, available in May (S$16).

The plug-and-play USB optical mouse is targeted towards young users, aged 16 – 25, who are fun-loving and budget conscious.

It has a precision of 1000 dpi tracking and comes with 3 years warranty.

Dell enhances Alienware portfolio for advanced mobile gaming

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Dell’s Alienware M14x (from S$2,699) and M17x (from S$3,599) are now available from its online store.

The M14x claims to be “the most powerful 14-inch laptop in the Universe” while the M17x is 3D-capable – offering an immersive, high-definition, surround-sound experience.

Dell Alienware M14x (left, from S$2,699) and M17x (right, from S$3,599)

Dell Alienware M14x (left, from S$2,699) and M17x (right, from S$3,599)

The M14x features optional dual drive configurations, up to 16GB of memory for extreme multitasking, a Blu-ray combo optical drive, and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics engine with GDDR5 graphics memory.

This is the most advanced GPU in a 14-inch form factor and the first time Alienware is offering GDDR5 graphics on a laptop of this size.

The M17x delivers the latest NVIDIA and AMD graphics card options, up to 32GB of memory, optional 17.3-inch 120Hz WideFHD WLED 3D display, and THX 3D surround sound.

It is one of the first laptops to offer the AMD Radeon HD 7970M graphics card and the latest GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GT 660M and 675M graphics solutionsii.

Both laptops feature Intel’s 3rd Generation processors and Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 technologies, HDMI 1.4, USB 3.0 for fast data transfer, Bluetooth 4.0, optional 3D HD gaming capability, optional Blu-ray disc drive and exceptional surround-sound quality from Klipsch speakers.

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Microsoft and Tata Communications join OVCC

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

Microsoft Corp, Tata Communications, ACT Conferencing, and Kathea have joined the Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC).

Official website of the Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC).
The OVCC is a group of leading service and solution providers creating the blueprint to deliver high-quality video collaboration that connects any vendor, any network and any device, anywhere.

Six months after the launch of the OVCC in October 2011, there are now 23 members in the independent group.

OVCC members contribute to and implement the OVCC technical and commercial blueprint, using established standards and best practices to accelerate and commercialize business-to-business video communications.

OVCC members are committed to providing video around the world to enable enterprise users to place and receive video calls beyond corporate firewalls and across standards-based and proprietary video platforms.

The first OVCC services are scheduled to launch later this year.

Service providers will develop and implement OVCC technical and commercial specifications based on industry standards, best practices and business approaches to answer the need for interconnection, addressing, signaling, interoperability and service coordination.

Interoperable, high-quality connectivity across networks and devices should allow network providers to profitably and predictably monetize their inter-enterprise video exchanges.

By making interoperability requirements invisible to the enterprise, the OVCC specification enables enterprise users to leverage video conferencing investments and enable more efficient value chains – spanning customers, distributors and suppliers – to improve the speed and efficiency of doing business.

Video collaboration stakeholders interested in closing video connectivity gaps can meet OVCC members in person at TIA in Dallas, Texas, June 5-7, or at CommunicAsia in Singapore, June 19-22.

Nubox opens 11th store at JCube

Friday, April 27th, 2012

Nubox opened its 11th store in Singapore at JCube (#02-12) today.

Nubox opened its 11th store in Singapore at JCube today.

Nubox opened its 11th store in Singapore at JCube today.

JCube is located at 2 Jurong East Central 1.

Nubox is an Apple Premium Reseller and Apple Authorised Reseller company in Singapore.

It is an arm of Newstead Technologies and offers the entire range of Apple products from Macs, to iPods, iPhones and iPads to a wide range of accessories to complete the mobile media and computing experience.

Nubox was started by a small group of “Nuboxers” who are passionate about Macs and all things Apple.

The first Nubox opened in Sim Lim Square in 2008.

Today, Nubox has 11 stores in Sim Lim Square, Funan Digital Life Mall, Junction 8 Shopping Centre, Jurong Point Shopping Centre, Causeway Point, Raffles City Shopping Centre, Tampines Mall, nex Mall, MarinaBay Link Mall, 112Katong and JCube.

Support Team Singapore for 2012 London Olympics

Friday, April 27th, 2012

SingTel has just unveiled a 7.5m tall sculpture – the “SingTel Flame of Support”, in bustling Orchard Road to garner moral support for Team Singapore in the upcoming 2012 London Olympic Games (27 July to 12 August).

Singaporeans can express their support of Team Singapore by pressing the button that lights up a portion of the sculpture.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean (Minister for Home Affairs, Coordinating Minister for National Security and President of the Singapore National Olympic Council); Chua Sock Koong, Group Chief Executive Officer, SingTel; athletes Tao Li and Lim Heem Wei; as well as SNOC officials in from of the sculpture.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean (Minister for Home Affairs, Coordinating Minister for National Security and President of the Singapore National Olympic Council); Chua Sock Koong, Group Chief Executive Officer, SingTel; athletes Tao Li and Lim Heem Wei; as well as SNOC officials in from of the sculpture.

The 7.5m sculpture is located outside ION Orchard. It weighs 1,500 kg and consists of more than 3,300 LED lights.

SingTel Flame of Support

SingTel Flame of Support

Designed by Jon Griffin of Brandspeed and the main contractor Light10 Industries, the iconic sculpture comprises of five wave-like structures designed to resemble exuberant flames, each representing one of the five Olympic Rings.

The interactive structure aims to ignite the nation’s passion in a collective declaration of support for Team Singapore.

If there are 200,000 presses of the button, the entire Flame will become fully lit.

The unveiling of the statue by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean (Minister for Home Affairs, Coordinating Minister for National Security and President of the Singapore National Olympic Council) kicks off the 90-day countdown to the Games.

Hopefully, we can garner the 200,000 pledges of support by the Opening Ceremony of the Games on 27 July.

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