Microsoft Build 2020 was the first time the annual developers’ event was held completely online, because of COVID-19. Here are some interesting snippets from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during his keynote address for the conference.
“Already, we’ve seen something like two years’ worth of digital transformation in just two months. And we’ve seen how critical digital technology is in the three phases of this crisis, from emergency response to the recovery phase to the reimagining the world going forward,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO at Build 2020.
How has developers come together with those on the frontlines in the fight against COVID-19?
Here were some examples that Nadella highlighted.
At Johns Hopkins University, epidemiologists and software developers created a canonical dashboard to track the spread of COVID-19.
Adaptive Biotechnologies is using cloud compute and AI to decode the immune system’s response to the virus.
In the United Kingdom, a cross-section of manufacturers adjusted their production lines to build ventilators for the NHS, using mixed reality to guide workers through the process.
The NBA is using the power of the cloud and Xbox to engage fans and maintain the joy of the game.
What would developers need to be capable of going forward?
Epson showcases its business-to-business solutions in Singapore and aims to help Small-Medium Enterprises (SME) grow and develop with the adoption of sustainable technologies.
Another robot barista, this time from Epson. I met its cousin Ella at Crown Digital in Singapore last month.
A showcase of practical innovations that help reduce an organisation’s impact on the environment, B2B Ignite demonstrates how the adoption of sustainable technologies will meet the business and productivity needs of Singapore’s SMEs.
Epson’s move to expand and strengthen its B2B offerings in Singapore is in step with the country’s Smart Nation plans and its sustainable future.
Gojek President, Andre Soelistyo (left) and Global Head of Transport, Raditya Wibowo.
Eager to try out the competitor to Grab? Here are some FAQs about the beta-launch in Singapore of the ride-hailing app.
Can you share more about the process of waitlisting?
Waitlisting is the process of giving riders access to Gojek’s ride-hailing service.
What are the areas in Singapore covered in the beta launch?
During the beta launch, Gojek’s service areas will cover more than half of Singapore, including the Central Business District, Jurong East, Changi, Punggol, Ang Mo Kio and Sentosa.
We fully intend to serve the whole island and will progressively expand our coverage throughout the beta phase.
Why start with these areas?
Gojek’s service areas during the beta launch are chosen based on population density, and limited initially to better manage supply and demand.
It is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Riders will have to download the Gojek app and sign up for an account.
They will be placed on a waitlist and receive an email or push notification once they have been given access to the service.
DBS cardmembers can enjoy priority access on the waitlist by entering an access code during registration.
The code is “DBS” followed by the first 6 digits of their Visa, Mastercard or AMEX card (eg, “DBS123456”).
More details for DBS/POSB cardholders can be found here.
I’ve previously used Gojek in Indonesia. Do I need to register again?
If you have previously registered with Gojek, there is no need to register again.
Jens Heithecker is the Chairman of CE China, IFA Executive Director and Executive Vice President Messe Berlin; while Dirk Koslowski is the IFA Senior Executive Manager at Messe Berlin.
Jens Heithecker is the Chairman of CE China, IFA Executive Director and Executive Vice President Messe Berlin.
Here are some thoughts from the men behind CE China 2018.
Question: In 2017, you had 120 exhibitors showcasing their innovations to 11,500 visitors from 38 countries, within one exhibition hall with 15,000 square metres of exhibition space. This year, the scale is similar. I understand CE China focuses more on quality and focus rather than on size, but in terms of future evolution, is this the ‘steady-state’ size of the show that you’re looking at for the next five years, or are you planning to scale it up in terms of size.
Koslowski: That’s correct. Anyone who has experienced CE China since its premiere in 2016 has witnessed the level of quality that the organisers of IFA pursue with our international retail events. It continues to be our objective to provide all our partners with the most efficient and effective platform for the continuous exchange between brands and retail, outside of political intentions and issues, purely focused on the core purpose of doing business.
Dirk Koslowski is the IFA Senior Executive Manager at Messe Berlin.
Koslowski: This does not necessarily go hand in hand with huge growth spikes in exhibition space, especially during the introductory phase. What matters more to us is a consistent, credible qualitative development that is based on partnerships – just like outlined above. We may be acting very German in this regard – however, that is exactly what we aspire to and what our partners expect from us.
Jens Heithecker on the roles and significance of CE China 2018.
Question: How do you envisage CE China 5 years from now, in 2023 – in terms of scale and nature? What is your vision for CE China in that timeframe?
In less than 100 days, the grace period for businesses to get themselves General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant will end. While the GDPR might be an EU regulation, its impact is guaranteed to be felt by all organisations that conduct business with the EU.
This guest blog was contributed by Raymond Goh, Head of Systems Engineering, Asia & Japan at Veeam Software.
Raymond Goh, Head of Systems Engineering, Asia & Japan at Veeam Software.
Asia represents an active and growing market for EU.
ASEAN, in particular, is EU’s third largest trading partner outside of Europe, and has been recognised for its high growth potential, with EU companies investing an average of €19 billion annually in the region.
Check for any personally identifiable information (PII) of EU residents
Manage Sensitive Information
Protect your Data
Strong business relations between EU and Asia highlight the importance of the GDPR to all Asian organisations, and the clock is ticking for corporations to ensure they meet the stringent criteria before 25 May arrives.
GDPR compliance is unique to each company as each company is unique, but below are three tips to get you started.
Based on countless conversations over the past 12 months with customers, partners, government officials, Blackberry’s internal cybersecurity experts, and leaders from both the security and research communities, Alex Manea – Chief Security Officer at BlackBerry – shares what he believes are the Cybersecurity Trends for 2018.
As BlackBerry’s Chief Security Officer, Alex Manea regularly speaks to Fortune 500 C-Suites and leaders representing the world’s top global brands, listening and learning about what security concerns keep them up at night. Alex also tries to spend just as much time speaking with security researchers – ethical hackers devoted to discovering security flaws and vulnerabilities.
While many other things will impact the cybersecurity industry this year, I believe those I elaborate below will be some of the biggest trends for 2018.
Though these trends may seem bleak to some, they too present many opportunities and possibilities if we are well prepared.
So here goes…
#1: 2018 will be the worst year to date for cyberattacks
IT departments are being tasked to manage increasingly complex networks, support new types of endpoints, and protect more and more sensitive data.
Legacy systems are still rampant throughout most industries and cannot be easily upgraded or replaced.
“With 2017 being the worst year ever for cyberattacks, it is tempting to think that we have hit rock bottom, but what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg.
The fundamental issues that have caused the majority of recent cyberbreaches have not been resolved.”
These systems often contain publicly known software vulnerabilities which can be exploited to penetrate the corporate network.
At the same time, attackers are getting increasingly sophisticated and have more incentives than ever to mount cyberattacks.
From building ransomware or mounting DDoS attacks and demanding bitcoin payments, to working with organised crime and even national governments, malicious hackers have numerous ways to monetise their skills and to protect themselves.
Governments and enterprises are recognising these new threats and deploying modern security solutions, but it will take years to decommission all of the legacy systems.
2018 will be yet another year where the shortcuts of the past come back to haunt us.
Chandra has had an illustrious career since graduating from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad, India.
He began his career with Laser Soft Infosystems (a Polaris company) in 1995 where he progressed rapidly to become a senior software engineer leading a team of 13 before joining Franklin Templeton Investments one-and-a-half years later as a senior software analyst.
Chandra went on to join OpenText as an Advanced Software Engineer for two years, Standard Chartered Bank as a Senior Software Engineer and Framework Specialist for a further two years, and Barclays Investment Bank as a Big Data Lead for a year – before commencing his current job with Singtel and DataSpark in May 2014 as a Data Scientist.
As a Senior Data Engineer with DataSpark, he was one of two speakers from the company who participated in Strata + Hadoop World 2016 in Singapore, a conference which attracted the top minds around the world working on Big Data and analytics.
Chandra spoke on how to go “from telco data to spatial-temporal intelligence APIs”, by “architecting through microservices”.
He explained in detail the production architecture at DataSpark and how it works through terabytes of spatial-temporal telco data each day in PaaS mode.
Chandra also shared with fellow data scientists attending his talk how the platform operates in SaaS mode.
Chandra’s in-depth knowledge of Big Data makes him the best person to give pointers to an aspiring IT engineer in the field.
I’ve asked Chandra to share his valuable insights on carving a career in this intensely competitive arena.
What must today’s IT worker do to get a foothold in Big Data?
Chandra:There is a paradigm shift in the way traditional software is being transformed into data-driven software.
With the rise of many small and medium startups in the market, various cloud-ready tools – in terms of storage, compute, processing and visualisation – have emerged.
Ying Shao Wei – Chief Operating Officer, DataSpark – was one of the distinguished speakers in Strata + Hadoop World Singapore to helm a session attended by fellow data scientists and C-suite leaders as he shared his insights into the analysis of “mobility as a vital sign of people and the economy”.
Strata + Hadoop World Singapore 2016 saw the congregation, in Singapore, of thought leaders in the Big Data analytics and insights arena, enabling practitioners to learn through the sharing of experiences and exchange of ideas. It also provided participants the opportunity to network for future collaboration.
To understand more about Big Data and where it is heading, I sat down with Ying to tap his insights into the trends and prospects of Big Data in this fast-paced sector.
Big Data is the buzz word in the world of Enterprise IT. However, to the man in the street, how does Big Data affect them in their daily lives?
Ying Shao Wei: There are significant ways in which Big Data is already benefiting the man in the street.
Ying is a veteran in the Big Data sector with deep expertise in telecommunications and Government sectors in multiple geographies across Asia.
The Imperial College graduate had served as a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Singapore, and was an Associate Principal in McKinsey and Company, before joining Singtel as Head of Strategy and Analytics in the Digital Life Group of the leading telco in Singapore.
Since 2014, Ying has led DataSpark as its COO, transforming the fledgling startup into an innovative Big Data analytics and insights powerhouse which leverages a variety of datasets and technologies to address geo-spatial needs across multiple industries.
Big Data enables the huge amount of customer feedback – through online reviews and social media – to be processed so that companies have a better chance of responding to and acting quickly upon such feedback.
So with Big Data, customers are more likely to have their preferences addressed.
When you visit an e-commerce website, you will be provided more relevant recommended products and services, thanks to recommendation systems enabled by Big Data.
Because of Big Data, I am able to see and sense my surrounding environment with better clarity than ever before.
When I use online maps to navigate or plan for a journey, I am using Big Data to save tremendous time and effort in getting from one place to another.
With Big Data, mobile subscribers are also now getting better network experiences when they use their mobile broadband connections.
The “Beyond Boundaries” photo exhibition showcases Laxmi’s photos from multiple visits to the Kashmir. This story first appeared on The Travel Memoir.
Here you can see the photographer, Laxmi Kaul with one of her subjects.. A juxtaposition of the modern Indian woman with one in traditional garb.
Beyond Boundaries presents Laxmi Kaul and her journey with the people and nomads of Kashmir, where life is about simplicity, serenity and sincerity.
“After shooting in a highly turbulent & conflict–ridden area, I have realized that it is the everyday lives of the people living there that matter to me. They are the ones who makes me want to go back to and continue to narrate their stories. Their daily lives & cultures. I have discovered there is something special in the everyday; for one, we are alive,” said Laxmi Kaul.
What goes on around the borders?
Sometimes life is about the unplanned moments, the appreciation of nature and how civilisations interact.
Laxmi Kaul is a self -taught professional photographer, having started photography at a young age when she saw her father’s passion for making images.
Since then, she has never looked back.
Despite being a commercial photographer, she still holds people and documentary photography closest to her heart.
Laxmi connects with spirituality in daily life and travels with a patriotic zeal.
This photo is one of many beautiful shots that Laxmi Kaul is exhibiting at the Leica Galleries Singapore at Raffles Hotel Singapore from now till 5 December, 2016. Photo credit: Laxmi Kaul.
She believes the camera is her tool and photography is an extension of her very being.
As a follow up on the opinion piece that Tony Jarvis contributed yesterday on Endpoint Protection, I asked him to share his take on the Singapore Government’s move to cut Internet access from work computers used by civil servants from May next year.
Tony Jarvis is the Chief Strategist (Asia, Middle East and Africa) for Check Point Software Technologies.
Below are some of his personal views
Question: Is banning internet the right approach to securing government?
There is no right or wrong approach around banning the Internet.
At first glance, the decision to ban Internet access might seem extreme.
Background
The Singapore Government is cutting off Internet connections from work computers used officially by public servants from May 2017, in an effort to plug potential leaks from work emails and shared documents – amidst today’s advanced security threats.
Employees can still surf the Web on their personal smartphones and tablets since these devices are not connected to the government network.
Dedicated Internet terminals will be issued to those who need them in work.
However, it is important to note that this decision will have been made after careful review, taking into consideration a number of factors.
For example, removing access to the Internet will bring with it the benefit of reducing exposure to many threats.
Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of the productivity and effectiveness of the organisation and its employees.
These are policy decisions made by organisations, in this case, the government, and we are certain that they have considered multiple aspects.
This particular case highlights the ongoing challenge organisations have remaining secure in a connected world.
