Archive for the ‘Tickers’ Category

New arrivals: Nikon D5500 & 2 new NIKKOR lenses (300mm & 55-200mm)

Tuesday, January 6th, 2015

Nikon has introduced the 24.2-megapixel DX-format Nikon D5500, as well as the AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200MM F4-5.6G ED VR II and AF-S NIKKOR 300mm F/4E PF ED VR lenses.

Available in February 2015, prices TBA.

The Nikon D5500 is available in classic black and chic red colour kits.

The Nikon D5500 is available in classic black and chic red colour kits.

Nikon claims that the D5500 is “the world’s smallest, lightest and slimmest DSLR”. It comes with built-in wireless connectivity and touch-screen.

The FX-format AF-S NIKKOR 300mm F/4E PF ED VR incorporates Nikon’s Phase Fresnel (PF) lens element for the first time in NIKKOR lenses, resulting in a light 755 grams.

The AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200MM F4-5.6G ED VR II (bottom) and AF-S NIKKOR 300mm F/4E PF ED VR (top) lenses.

The AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200MM F4-5.6G ED VR II (bottom) and AF-S NIKKOR 300mm F/4E PF ED VR (top) lenses.

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Anime Festival Asia 2014 announces updates on regional plans

Thursday, December 4th, 2014

Collaborations with key industry heavyweights will see AFA debuting in Thailand as part of SEA’s largest popular culture festival in May 2015.  Photos in this article are courtesy of Anime Festival Asia 2014.

(from second left to right) Koichiro Natsume (CEO, Aniplex Inc. and Founder of Anime Japan); Shawn Chin (SOZO’s Founder, Managing Director and Anime Festival Asia’s Executive Festival Director); Ongard Prapakamol (BEC-Tero True Visions’ Managing Director); and Hidetoshi Takigawa (South East Asia Region Head, Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Limited Singapore Branch).

(from second left to right) Koichiro Natsume (CEO, Aniplex Inc. and Founder of Anime Japan); Shawn Chin (SOZO’s Founder, Managing Director and Anime Festival Asia’s Executive Festival Director); Ongard Prapakamol (BEC-Tero True Visions’ Managing Director); and Hidetoshi Takigawa (South East Asia Region Head, Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Limited Singapore Branch).

Industry partners spoke during the press preview for AFA 2014 in Singapore which takes place at Suntec City starting tomorrow till Sunday (5-7 December).

Key announcements include:

  • AFA: AFA announced a partnership with BEC-Tero True Visions (BTTV), a joint venture company formed by Thailand’s largest pay TV operator True Visions and the country’s largest concert and live events promoter BEC-Tero – to grow the popular culture markets in Thailand and Indonesia. AFA Thailand will be held with Bangkok Comic Con in April 2015, with an event in Indonesia slated subsequently.
  • Sony PlayStation: PlayStation is celebrating its 20th Anniversary and has unveiled the limited PlayStation 4 20th Anniversary Edition and an online contest.
  • Anime Japan: Anime Japan 2015, to be held on 21st and 22nd March 2015, will work together with AFA to cross-promote and introduce AFA to visitors during the event. Anime Japan 2015 will feature a new area to target trade visitors keen to discuss business collaborations and programmes.
HoriPro artistes May’n and Hayato Kakizawa, who plays Light in the musical Death Note that's premiering in Japan in 2015.

HoriPro artistes May’n and Hayato Kakizawa, who plays Light in the musical Death Note that’s premiering in Japan in 2015.

Below are more details from the press release.

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VMware expands vCloud Air to new service location in Australia

Tuesday, November 4th, 2014

The company also announced the general availability of its Hybrid Cloud Service in Japan.

VMware to continue vCloud Air global expansion to new service location in Australia.

VMware to continue vCloud Air global expansion to new service location in Australia.

VMware, a global leader in virtualisation and cloud infrastructure, has announced that it will extend VMware vCloud Air (previously VMware vCloud Hybrid Service) to Australia.

“VMware vCloud Air, combined with the VMware vCloud Air Network of service providers makes VMware the largest hybrid cloud network in the Asia Pacific region with more than 40 service locations in Asia,” said Bill Fathers, executive vice president and general manager, Cloud Services Business Unit, VMware.

Complementing the VMware vCloud Air Network of service provider options, the new Australian service location will provide customers with a hybrid cloud option operated by VMware that addresses local compliance and data protection concerns.

The service is expected to be available in Australia in the first half of 2015.

Additionally, the company announced vCloud Air will be generally available in Japan in the coming weeks, after completing a successful beta program that began in July of this year.

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iPad plans in Singapore: SingTel price plans for iPad Air 2 & iPad mini 3

Friday, October 24th, 2014

SingTel will offer the much-anticipated iPad Air 2 with Wi-Fi + Cellular and iPad mini 3 with Wi-Fi + Cellular from today, 24 October 2014.

For complete details on pricing and availability, please visit www.singtel.com/ipadupdates.

Click on the image to enlarge. For complete details on pricing and availability, please visit www.singtel.com/ipadupdates.

The new iPads will be offered with a range of new 4G Mobile Broadband data plans that feature SingTel’s premium WiFi service.

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Samsung donates 3,000 smartphones to fight against Ebola

Tuesday, October 21st, 2014

The GALAXY S3 Neo smartphones will be used in a UN project for the three worst-hit African countries. The donated smartphones are worth about US$1 million.

Update (23 October, 2014):

LG Electronics is also contributing 2,000 smartphones to the United Nations’ response to the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa.

“We hope that our contribution will make a difference as the UN and NGOs fight on the front lines to improve healthcare, food security and sanitation in areas affected by the Ebola epidemic. This endeavor is representative of LG’s ongoing mission to use its technology to contribute toward resolving global issues,” said Choong-hak Lee, senior vice president and head of LG’s corporate social responsibility efforts.

The donated smartphones from LG will be provided to healthcare and other key personnel dispatched by the UN in the affected areas where they are urgently needed.

The smartphones will allow for fast and seamless communication between the teams on the ground, focusing on medical data gathering, monitoring and planning.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will facilitate the distribution of the mobile devices.

According to OCHA, almost one billion dollars will be needed to address the immediate humanitarian needs caused by the Ebola virus.

Almost 5,000 people have been infected with Ebola since the outbreak started in West Africa in March with more than 2,400 individuals having died across the region.

Support from LG and other international partners are critical to the UN’s efforts to stabilize the outbreak.

All donated smartphones will be destroyed once the virus outbreak has subsided.

All donated smartphones will be destroyed once the virus outbreak has subsided.

The smartphones, to be donated through the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA), will be used in the Humanitarian Connectivity Project, the UN’s IT project that utilises mobile devices to provide humanitarian support in disaster areas.

By installing the UN’s Smart Health Pro mobile application, medical staff can utilise the smartphones to treat patients and collect medical data, while quarantined patients can contact their families using the devices.

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Apple unveils iPad Air 2 & iPad mini 3 and other new products

Friday, October 17th, 2014

Following last month’s big launch of the iPhone 6, Tim Cook has just introduced the new iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 ahead of the holiday shopping season.

Apple also unveiled a new 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display (from S$3,388), updated the Mac mini and made OS X Yosemite available today as a free upgrade.

The new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 are available in three metallic finishes: gold, silver and space grey.

The new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 are available in three metallic finishes: gold, silver and space grey.

This is the second big launch for Apple close on the heels of the iPhone 6 launch last month.

iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3

The iPad Air 2 is only 6.1mm thin and weighs less than 450g, featuring improved Retina display for enhanced contrast and richer, more vibrant colours, and better cameras for taking stunning photos and videos.

The new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 offer Touch ID so users can unlock their iPad with the touch of a finger.

Local prices for the new iPads are as follows.

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China Huaxin acquires Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

Wednesday, October 1st, 2014

The acquisition places Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise on a long term growth trajectory. The acquisition amounted to 202 million Euros in cash proceeds to Alcatel-Lucent.

Matthieu Destot, Vice-President of Sales for Asia Pacific (4th from right); Amit Bathla, Head of Marketing, APAC (first from right); celebrating the birth of their new company - together with their staff in Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise.

Matthieu Destot, Vice-President of Sales for Asia Pacific (4th from right); Amit Bathla, Head of Marketing, APAC (first from right); celebrating the birth of their new company – together with their staff in Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise.

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) has announced that it has successfully closed a transaction with China Huaxin Post & Telecommunication Economy Development Center (“China Huaxin”) for the divestment of its Enterprise division.

“As a ‘new’ company our core mission is to help companies transform the way people communicate, harnessing capabilities offered by ever smarter devices and new use models. We see success as creating long term value and customer relevancy by delivering business outcome to customers and partners through technology and business innovations,” commented Michel Emelianoff, Chief Executive Officer, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise.

Following the divestment, Alcatel-Lucent will maintain a minority stake in a newly-formed holding company, incorporated in France.

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise will also continue to work with Alcatel-Lucent on a privileged business relationship basis.

The transaction will now enable Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise to benefit from a strong and recognised investor, providing the means and resources necessary to strengthen its ambition including leadership positions in enterprise communications while accelerating investment in new areas of net growth.

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise will continue to invest and innovate in the core markets where it is already recognized as an undisputed leader, namely enterprise communications and networking – while exploring new market opportunities in select, high-growth countries, vertical solutions and cloud services.

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Tech focus: StitMe – keeping your phone numbers private

Wednesday, September 24th, 2014

Our phone numbers are something we hand out readily to our contacts, yet we would like to protect them from misuse. StitMe is a service that enables users to control who can call you and when, without divulging your real number.

StitMe allows you to keep your mobile number private and control who can call you and when.

StitMe allows you to keep your mobile number private and control who can call you and when.

I was having tea the other day with Gurtaj Singh and he caught my interest with this app that he had launched just recently in the US.

It’s called StitMe and is not available outside of US yet but it sounded like it had great potential to solve one of the biggest dilemmas of the modern age.

You want as many friends, colleagues and potential contacts to be able to contact you, but you don’t want to receive calls from unwarranted telemarketers because your telephone number had been harvested and compiled in some call list that are being sold or circulated without your consent.

Worse still, in the US, anybody can use your telephone number to do a reverse number lookup (the equivalent of a Whois query) and get personal information about you like your residential address etc.

This is where StitMe comes in – users of the free service need not hand out their real telephone numbers anymore.

Between two StitMe users, all you give out is your StitMe User ID.

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New arrivals: Microsoft Xbox One debuts in Singapore at Funan DigitaLife Mall

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014

Singapore officially welcomed the Xbox One today at 1300hrs.

Update (9pm, 23 September):

Xbox One fans got to pit themselves against each other on board the Singapore Flyer, against the Skyline.

Singapore F1 GP may be over but #Xbox One fans are still racing the McLaren on #Forza5 in the Singapore Flyer. #XboxOneSG. Photo taken using Samsung Galaxy S5 and posted on Instagram.

Singapore F1 GP may be over but #Xbox One fans are still racing the McLaren on #Forza5 in the Singapore Flyer. #XboxOneSG. Photo taken using Samsung Galaxy S5 and posted on Instagram.

Microsoft Xbox One Launch at Funan DigitaLife Mall.

Microsoft Xbox One Launch at Funan DigitaLife Mall. Photo: Microsoft Singapore.

The event kicked off with pre-order collection amongst the mass of over 500 fans as they turned Funan DigitaLife Mall into a sea of green.

“The feedback from our fans in Singapore has been overwhelming. We are on track to making this the biggest ever Xbox launch in history in Singapore. Today marks a historic day for us and our fans,” said Hanson Yap, Marketing Manager, Interactive Entertainment Business, and Microsoft, Singapore.

The console launch continues into the evening as invited fans battle it out in the sky onboard the Singapore Flyer.

The iconic landmark will light up Singapore’s skyline with the Xbox’s signature green – telling Singaporeans that the new entertainment console has landed.

This holiday, gamers will be able to create Car Clubs of up to 1,000 members and race through a wide-open world featuring the stunning landscapes of Southern Europe in “Forza Horizon 2”.

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News: Deezer offers Elite HRA streaming service through Sonos

Thursday, September 11th, 2014

Deezer and Sonos have announced an exclusive partnership to stream Deezer Elite HRA through Sonos speakers.

The collaboration will bestow music lovers all over the world with the first high-resolution streaming experience.

The collaboration will bestow music lovers all over the world with the first high-resolution streaming experience.

Deezer Elite will first be available in the US on 15 September through Sonos and Home Integrators, followed by a global rollout.

Deezer Elite and Sonos will offer audio enthusiasts high quality audio streaming exclusively available on Sonos and through Home Integrators.

Deezer Elite and Sonos will offer audio enthusiasts high quality audio streaming exclusively available on Sonos and through Home Integrators.

Deezer Elite and Sonos will offer audio enthusiasts high quality audio streaming exclusively available on Sonos and through Home Integrators.

There are approximately 22,000 Home Integrators in the US that represent an estimated $14 Billion in annual revenue, according to a CEDIA industry study.

Professional integrators can enroll in Deezer Elite for Sonos at www.pro.deezer.com to offer the product exclusively.

More details from the press release below.

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