Archive for the ‘Internet of Things’ Category

Opening: Xiaomi’s Eighth Authorised Store at Waterway Point

Saturday, May 14th, 2022

Xiaomi has opened its eighth authorised store in Singapore at Waterway Point, with launch promotions of up to 50% off selected AIoT products.

Xiaomi’s 140-square-metre store is situated in Waterway Point, a family and lifestyle shopping mall in Punggol. It is located at B1-41/42 (East Wing) and is open everyday from 11am to 9pm.

Xiaomi’s 140-square-metre store is situated in Waterway Point, a family and lifestyle shopping mall in Punggol. It is located at B1-41/42 (East Wing) and is open everyday from 11am to 9pm. Photo credit: Xiaomi Singapore.

In the store, consumers can physically try out Xiaomi’s smartphones and the array of AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things) products Xiaomi sells, as well as accompanying accessories.

As part of the store’s launch, a series of special promotions are available from 14 – 16 May 2022, while stocks last.

New Store Launch Promotions

To celebrate the store launch, customers can enjoy exclusive discounts and promotions today as well as over the weekend.

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Tech Focus: Looking Ahead – High Speed In-Vehicle Display and Sensor Connections (Part 2 of 2)

Friday, December 17th, 2021

In this two-part guest commentary, Carrie Browen and Kevin Kershner from Keysight Technologies share their insights into the future of high speed in-vehicle display and sensor connections. You may find Part 1 here.

Automotive display use-case. © 2021 MIPI Alliance, Inc.

Automotive display use-case. © 2021 MIPI Alliance, Inc.

For this second half of our commentary, we begin with an introduction of SerDes.

In today’s infotainment systems, it is common for in-vehicle cameras and displays to be connected to the image-processing electronic control unit (ECU) via a SerDes (serializer/deserializer) connection.

Today, they are delivered by individual vendors using closed, proprietary standards.

Extending the reach of feature-rich SerDes links can require operating at lower Baud rates and higher order modulations (e.g. PAM-4).

In addition, it will require higher bandwidth Ethernet links as primary interconnects between zones, perhaps with 802.3ch support up to 10 Gbps throughput.

Emerging SerDes standards like mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) A-PHY (MIPI A-PHY is a physical layer specification targeted for ADAS/ADS surround sensor applications and Infotainment display applications in automotive) and Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA) will be implemented by multiple silicon vendors.

This will create a competitive market that acts to drive down the cost while delivering application specific features.

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Tech Focus: Looking Ahead – High Speed In-Vehicle Display and Sensor Connections (Part 1 of 2)

Thursday, December 16th, 2021

In this two-part guest commentary, Carrie Browen and Kevin Kershner from Keysight Technologies share their insights into the future of high speed in-vehicle display and sensor connections.

A conceptual diagram of a zone-based in vehicle network architecture. Image: Keysight Technologies.

A conceptual diagram of a zone-based in vehicle network architecture. Image: Keysight Technologies.

It is no secret the pace of innovation in the automotive industry is exploding.

If the last 20 years have been linear in the development of electrification, the last two to three years have been exponential.

It used to be that a car was a means of getting from A to B.

Now, we can safely say that is not true for the vehicles of today and certainly not for the new vehicles of tomorrow.

Just about every new car on the market has a backup camera, park assist, and blind spot monitoring.

Some offer a 360-degree view.

Other features offer real-time traffic updates, cellular connection to potential hazards, other road users, vehicles, or pedestrians.

There are features that can detect if a driver is distracted or tired.

Meanwhile, the people in the car are often unaware of driving conditions, while they enjoy infotainment systems.

These features are delivered through a mixture of sensors, cameras, and networks.

As demands go up, next-generation advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) require camera and radar systems with increasingly high resolution.

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Tech Focus: C-V2X Certification – Necessary or Just Nice to Have?

Monday, November 22nd, 2021

Fewer accidents and greater road safety are central to the vision for automated vehicles (AVs). Enabling that vision requires greater situational awareness and the ability to inform the car and its drivers what is happening a mile in front of them, foreseeing what’s likely to happen next, and automatically taking preemptive actions.

In this guest commentary, Cheryl Ajluni from Keysight Technologies shares her insights into C-V2X certification.

C-V2X Applications (Image courtesy of Qualcomm).

C-V2X Applications (Image courtesy of Qualcomm).

Cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology provides see-through, 360-degree, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) sensing in good, as well as adverse weather conditions to enhance the functionality and safety of autonomous driving (see the cover illustration).

C-V2X complements line-of-sight (LOS) sensors such as radar, lidar, camera, with information beyond their reach, and allows the vehicle to make more informed and coordinated decisions.

Whereas LOS sensors cannot indicate vehicle or driver intent, C-V2X conveys intent by sharing sensor data – resulting in a higher level of predictability in traffic situations such as lane changes, variable speeds, or road hazards.

Day one use cases include safety features such as emergency electronic brake light and forward collision warning, ‘do not pass’ warning, blind spot and lane change warning, vulnerable road user, road works warning, and intersection movement assistance.

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Dell Technologies Edge Advances Extend IT Beyond Data Center

Thursday, October 14th, 2021

Dell Technologies has announced new edge innovations as part of the company’s strategy to build new growth areas that help organisations accelerate their digital transformation. These new solutions and updates were revealed during the 2021 Dell Technologies Summit (13-14 October).

New additions to the Dell Technologies edge portfolio. With 69% of the Fortune 100 already using Dell Technologies edge solutions, the company supports data life cycle needs for what is becoming the next major technology frontier.

New additions to the Dell Technologies edge portfolio. With 69% of the Fortune 100 already using Dell Technologies edge solutions, the company supports data life cycle needs for what is becoming the next major technology frontier.

The latest edge advancements by Dell Technologies include innovations across its infrastructure and PC portfolio to help organisations simplify deployments and capture more value from data generated and processed outside the traditional data center and public cloud — from rugged and remote locations to retail stores and factory floors.

  • Dell EMC VxRail satellite nodes, which extend automation and lifecycle management capabilities to smallest configuration to date for edge workloads.
  • Dell Technologies Validated Design for Manufacturing Edge with Litmus, which helps manufacturers make quick decisions to improve quality and reduce costs.
  • Dell EMC Edge Gateway, which connects multiple edge devices across operational technology and IT environments to deliver real-time data insights.
  • Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform, which optimises GPUs to ingest streaming video and supports real-time analytics on Dell EMC VxRail and PowerEdge systems.
  • Dell Latitude Rugged laptops, which can withstand harsh edge environments while maintaining high levels of performance and connectivity.

More details below from the press release.

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Tech Focus: Signify Lighting the Fast Lane to IoT

Friday, September 10th, 2021

IoT – or the Internet of Things – has been the buzzword for a while now and businesses are constantly on the lookout for ways to fast track their IoT adoptions and rollouts.

I spoke with Jitender Khurana to find out how a traditional lighting network can be harnessed to rapidly transform a dumb building into a smart IoT-enabled environment.

Jitender Khurana is the Country Head & Managing Director for Singapore and Emerging Markets at Signify. Photo: Signify.

Jitender Khurana is the Country Head & Managing Director for Singapore and Emerging Markets at Signify. Photo: Signify.

I asked Jitender the key to Signify’s competitive advantage in helping its customers embrace IoT.

Three simple words: “Lighting is ubiquitous,” says Jitender, head honcho for Singapore and Emerging Markets at Signify.

Lighting is ubiquitous,” says Jitender Khurana, head honcho for Singapore and Emerging Markets at Signify.

But how does that give Signify a leg up in helping businesses embrace IoT more quickly and easily?

Well, the most tedious aspect of rolling out an IoT implementation is typically the deployment of IoT sensors and the network connecting these sensors back to the IoT platform.

Laying the network for both power supply and data tends to be both costly and time-consuming.

For Signify – that network is simply the lighting network that forms the basic infrastructure of any building or facility.

As far as the world leader in lighting is concerned, “Where there’s light(ing), there can be an IoT sensor integrated into the luminaire”.

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Review: Philips Hue Outdoor Lightstrip to Liven Up Your Home

Monday, September 6th, 2021

Having had to #WorkFromHome for the past year, I decided to liven up the garden with a Philips Hue Lightstrip (Outdoor). It was a fun little project that was quick and easy to set up.

I got myself the 5m version of the Philips Hue Outdoor Lightstrip.

I got myself the 5m version of the Philips Hue Outdoor Lightstrip.

The Philips Hue Outdoor Lightstrip is a flexible, weatherproof LED strip that can be bent and shaped to produce your own lighting designs and mood in your garden or patio.

You can also use it indoors although there is a cheaper version (Lightstrip Plus) for indoor usage that’s not weatherproof..

With its diffused glow, the lightstrip can be used for direct or indirect lighting, and is able to display 16 million colour and 50 shades of gray all shades of white to create your personalised desired effect.

In the box is the lightstrip itself, the weatherproof power supply for plugging into the mains outdoors, as well as clips and screws to fasten the lightstrip onto the ground or wall based on the design you want to shape it to.

The lightstrip itself is quite flexible so if you’re just laying the lightstrip on the ground, I found that I could shape it without using any clips.

The lightstrip comes in 2m (S$209) and 5m (S$339) versions and is part of the Philips Hue line of intelligent lighting products for the home.

 

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#t4tTUCU: Philips Hue Outdoors Lightstrip from Signify – freshly unboxed. Time to add some fun and snazzy (or calm and relaxing) ambience to the garden.

Note that, in order to maximise the use of the lightstrip, you’ll need to have a Philips Hue Bridge (S$89), which is sold separately.

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TUCU: Philips Hue Bridge for Smart Home Lighting

Sunday, September 5th, 2021

Tech-U-Can-Use (TUCU): The Philips Hue Bridge (S$89) is the starting point for anyone thinking of building a smart lighting system for their homes. It is the hub that connects and controls smart lights and accessories from the Philips Hue family of smart lighting products.

The Philips Hue Bridge is the HEART of the Philips Hue home smart lighting.

The Philips Hue Bridge is the HEART of the Philips Hue home smart lighting.

Since we’re all spending so much time #WorkingFromHome and doing #HomeBasedLearning – thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to turn as much of my dwelling into a smart home.

There are already Google Home wireless speakers around the home, so the next step is to introduce some nice lighting to enhance the ambience for both work and play.

One of the easiest ways to fix up smart lighting in the home is the Philips Hue bulbs and lights from Signify (foremely Philips Lighting).

The Philips Hue Bridge is the hub to which all the Philips Hue smart lights are connected and through which the Philips Hue App controls those lights.

 

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Philips Hue Bridge – freshly unboxed. Excited to take the first step in setting up a smart lighting system at home.

The Hue Bridge is a compact little box that measures 90.9 x 90.6 x 26 mm and weighs 280g.

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New Arrival: Signify Launches New Philips Hue App

Thursday, June 3rd, 2021

Signify has improved the new Philips Hue App with better app performance and enhanced user experience with easier automations, a new Hue scene gallery and more.

The new Philips Hue App serves as the foundation for the future of Signify’s smart lighting and includes familiar user interface elements from the previous Philips Hue app but is now sleeker.

The new Philips Hue App serves as the foundation for the future of Signify’s smart lighting and includes familiar user interface elements from the previous Philips Hue app but is now sleeker.

Rebuilt from the ground up, the fourth generation Philips Hue app has been designed with new technologies to improve app performance both in overall function and in communication with your smart lighting system, while also delivering an intuitive and enhanced user experience.

More details below from the press release.

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New Arrival: Huawei Band 6 Wearable Smart Fitness Tracker

Monday, April 12th, 2021

Huawei’s entry-level fitness tracker Band 6 will be available in Singapore from 15 April at S$88. Introductory promotions below.

From 15 April 2021, HUAWEI Band 6 will be available at S$88 in three different colours — Graphite Black, Sakura Pink and Forest Green.

From 15 April 2021, Huawei Band 6 will be available at S$88 in three different colours — Graphite Black, Sakura Pink and Forest Green.

Huawei has just announced the new Band 6 – featuring a 1.47-inch enhanced AMOLED FullView Display, 2-week battery life, as well as all-day health monitoring.

The Huawei Band 6 supports all-day monitoring of heart rates, SpO2, sleep, and stress measurement; as well as menstrual cycle tracking for ladies.

Details below from the press release.

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