Posts Tagged ‘research’
Tuesday, October 25th, 2022
The four-year investment will facilitate the opening of new beauty research labs and the development of 20 new beauty products across the next four years.
Dyson’s research into hair care underpins its hair and beauty products.
Dyson is commiting half a billion GBP to expand and accelerate its research and technology development across its beauty portfolio, announcing plans to launch 20 new beauty products in the next four years.
Alongside this investment, Dyson also releases the results of its most comprehensive hair research study, deepening understanding of hair types, styling behaviours and perceptions of hair types and hair health around the world.
Key Study Findings
Hair perceptions & hair health misconceptions:
- 7 in 10 respondents say their hair is damaged, with dandruff, hair loss and greying hair as top concerns. However, these are not damage concerns. 67% of all respondents also agree their hair is healthy, despite it being damaged.
- However, respondents seem to understand what ‘healthy’ hair looks and feels like, describing it as shiny (36%), smooth (29%) and linking it to a healthy scalp (26%).
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Tags:Airwrap, announcements, Corrale, Dyson, haircare, news, research, Supersonic
Posted in Announce, Appliances, Beauty, Dyson, Hair Dryers, News, Press Release | No Comments »
Monday, September 12th, 2022
Dell research suggests that Singapore and the APJ lags the world in its “Breakthrough Benchmark” – a measure of the readiness for digital transformation.
Dell Technologies’ research from over 40 countries details how despite two years of accelerated digital transformation, only 5% of the Singapore workforce has an appetite for digital change. Click to enlarge.
I was looking through a study report from Dell on digital transformation and couldn’t help but notice that the survey results seem to indicate that Singapore and APJ seems to lag the global index for its “Breakthrough Benchmark”.
The survey of 10,500 respondents from around the world measured participants’ readiness for technological change and placed them in four benchmark groups:
- Sprint: Traiblazers ready to chase after innovation and technological change.
- Steady: Poised to adopt technological change selected by others.
- Slow: More inclined to hold back and observe / deliberate rather than take action.
- Still: Take a pessimistic view of innovation based on perceived risk. Tend to anticipate problems and resist proposed technology innovations based on perceived risk.
Respondents in the “Sprint”and “Steady” groups tend to be more confident that they or their organisation will advance in areas of technology adoption, while respondents in the “Slow” and “Still” groups are more likely to see the potential risks involved and retreat.
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Tags:APJ, DELL, opinion, research, Singapore, study, survey, transformation
Posted in Business IT, Dell, Enterprise IT, Figures, Infographic, infographics, Opinion, Singapore, Study, Technology | 3 Comments »
Friday, August 21st, 2020
The InfinityGlove contains ultra-sensitive microfibre sensors that can translate hand gestures into in-game commands, allowing users to play first-person shooters such as Battlefield V without the need for a traditional controller or a keyboard.
The InfinityGlove was developed by a team of NUS researchers led by Professor Lim Chwee Teck (left). With him are two members of the research team, Dr Yeo Joo Chuan (centre) and Dr Yu Longteng (right). Photo: National University of Singapore.
Simply flex your index finger to fire your weapon and rotate your wrist clockwise to move forward. Immersive controls have always been a pipedream in the world of gaming but is steadily becoming reality.
Editor’s Comments
This is an interesting and innovative project.
Currently each finger of the glove contains one microfibre sensor that can differentiate two states – straightened or curled – due to the difference in conductivity of the liquid metal within the fibre in the two states.
So the overall status of the glove should be readable as a five-digit binary.
Would be good to add one more to the wrist to include bending of the wrist.
And in the longer term, I can think of two ways of improving the resolution of the sensing.
One would be to implement multiple sensors per strand of microfibre.
Another would be to weave multiple microfibre strands to provide a matrix detection pattern for a snapshot of the state of each sensor.
That could probably come in useful as a grid sensor to monitor the distribution of stresses/deformation on a surface etc.
A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS), led by Professor Lim Chwee Teck, has developed a smart glove – called ‘InfinityGlove’ – that allows users to mimic a variety of in-game controls using simple hand gestures.
While the concept of controlling a game using your hands is not new, the main problems have always been weight and flexibility.
The current generation of smart glove type controllers available on the market are usually bulky and rigid as they rely on conventional sensors which put the hard in hardware.
The InfinityGlove overcomes existing problems with weight and flexibility by weaving ultra-thin, highly sensitive microfibre sensors into the material of the glove.
These sensors are not only lightweight and accurate, but also fulfil the role of wires thus reducing the need for additional wiring.
Currently the prototype weighs about 40 grams, and is flexible and comfortable.
More details below from the press release.
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Tags:gaming, healthtech, IoT, NUS, prototype, R&D, research, Singapore, Tech Focus, wearables
Posted in Accessories, Brief, Entertainment, Events, events, Gadgets, gadgets, Gaming, Gaming, Healthcare, Internet of Things, IoT, Medical, Mouse, Online, Opinion, Press Release, Robots, Tech Focus, Technology | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, May 20th, 2020
Imec has combined advanced machine learning algorithms and innovations in chip design to extend its secure proximity portfolio with next-generation high-precision and low-power ultra wideband technology.
“UWB’s power consumption, chip size and associated cost have been prohibitive factors to the technology’s adoption, especially when it comes to the deployment of wireless ranging applications. For one, imec’s brand-new UWB chip developments result in a significant reduction of the technology’s footprint based on digital-style RF-concepts: we have been able to integrate an entire transceiver – including three receivers for angle-of-arrival measurements – on an area of less than 1 square mm. Importantly, our design also targets a very low power consumption: less than 4mW/20mW (Tx/Rx) – which is up to 10 times better than today’s implementations. And it builds on imec’s long standing expertise in secure distance bounding to increase the technology’s resilience to potential relay attacks,” explained Christian Bachmann, program manager for Secure Proximity and Sensitive Networks programs at imec.
Ultra wideband technology is perfectly suited to support a variety of high accuracy and secure wireless ranging use-cases.
“Using machine learning, we created smart anchor selection algorithms that detect the (non) line-of-sight between UWB anchors and the mobile devices that are being tracked. Building on that knowledge, the ranging quality is estimated, and ranging errors are corrected. Since our approach also comes with machine learning enabled features that enable adaptive tuning of the network’s physical layer parameters, the right steps can then be initiated to mitigate those ranging errors – for instance by tuning the anchors’ radios,” explained Professor Eli De Poorter from IDLab.
Think of the ‘smart lock’ solutions commonly used in automotive – automatically unlocking a car’s doors as its owner approaches, while locking the car when the owner moves away.
While UWB is inherently more difficult to compromise than some alternatives, its potential has largely remained untapped because of its higher power consumption and larger footprint.
The innovations imec introduces today mark an important step to unlocking the technology’s full potential.
More details below from the press release.
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Tags:imec, news, press conference, R&D, research, technology, UWB
Posted in Announce, Events, events, Live Event, News, Press Release, Tech news, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 29th, 2020
Just as IoT is taking the tech world by storm, ingestible pills enable doctors and researchers to emplace micro sensors in our bodies to monitor sustained measurements for diagnosis or research.
In this guest blog, Nick Van Helleputte and Chris Van Hoof discuss how ingestible or electronic pills can revolutionise the way stomach ailments are diagnosed.
Mock-up of an ingestible pill with prototype transceiver. Image: Imec.
Speak about an electronic pill or a small ingestible machine that can be swallowed by patients to monitor their bodies – and what comes to mind is often swarms of nanobots.
The reality is a little different.
Today, breakthroughs in electronics are making it possible to imagine such ingestibles, which are small enough to be swallowed so they can stay inside a body to monitor, say, a person’s stomach condition over a period of time.
Editor’s Comments
These nifty gadgets open up a whole new frontier in medical diagnosis and research.
Think the Internet of Things (IoT) but applied to the interior of our bodies.
By emplacing sensors within our bodies, doctors and researchers don’t just get a one-off snapshot of the organ of interest.
The sensors can provide sustained monitoring of measurements over a period of time, enabling the identification of trends in the data, or triggering of alerts to flag out anomalies breaching threshold levels.
This means a doctor would be able to more accurately see the changes in a person’s digestive tract, for example, instead of having only a quick look by using a scope or collecting stool samples.
So, instead of a number of nanobots swimming inside a person, ingestibles are miniaturised versions of electronic devices that require low power and have reliable wireless communication to relay the signals that they are reading.
In February 2020, Belgium-based research outfit imec presented the world’s first fully integrated millimetre-scale wireless transceiver for ingestibles or electronic analytical devices that can be swallowed.
This breakthrough, presented at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2020 conference at San Francisco in February, means that in the future, ingestible devices could be easier to be manufactured and be more effective in staying in a stomach to monitor important signs of diseases, such as diabetes, Crohn’s Disease or coeliac.
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Tags:diagnosis, healthcare, imec, ingestibles, IoT, MedTech, research, sensors
Posted in Brief, Gadgets, gadgets, Healthcare, Internet of Things, IoT, Medical, Opinion, Tech Focus | No Comments »
Friday, September 23rd, 2016
The ‘Max Berek Innovation Lab’ will conduct R&D in the fields of new optical systems, computational imaging, virtual reality and augmented reality.
Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei (right) and Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, majority shareholder and chairman of the advisory board of Leica Camera AG (left), signing the agreement on the establishment of the ‘Max Berek Innovation Lab’. Photo source: Huawei.
Huawei and Leica Camera AG today announced they have expanded their strategic collaboration with the establishment of a jointly operated research and innovation center.
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Tags:announcements, cameras, Germany, Huawei, imaging, Leica, optics, partnership, photography, research, smartphones, VR
Posted in Announce, audioVisual, Cameras, cameras, Huawei, Leica, Lens, News, Phones, Photography, Press Release, smartphones | No Comments »
Thursday, November 20th, 2014
WeChat has the youngest demographic out of all competing social communications apps, with one third of its global users aged 16 to 24. Andrew Ng attended the media brief for tech4tea.com.
Jason Mander, Head of Trends, GlobalWebIndex, briefing on major trends of the social media scene. To the left is Jowie Law, Director of Global Communications at Tencent, the parent company of WeChat. Photo credit: Andrew Ng.
A recent research by GlobalWebIndex (GWI), a market research company specialising in online consumer behaviour claims that 80% of WeChat’s young users said it was critical for them to be contactable at all times.
“WeChat has witnessed a remarkable growth rate during this period especially among the youth generation, with WeChat’s efficient and entertaining platform continuing to attract users on a massive scale. We are excited about WeChat’s strong growth momentum both globally and throughout Singapore, and expect to see it adding more users in the coming quarters,” said Jason Mander, Head of Trends at GlobalWebIndex.
GWI is a multi-market research company, covering 32 markets and representing 89% of the global Internet population.
Focusing on Singapore specifically, WeChat is most popular with 16 to 34 year olds, with this age group dominating nearly half of the WeChat user base.
According to GWI, WeChat had experienced significant growth with an active user base increase of 156% globally, and a staggering 499% in Singapore between Q1 2013 to Q3 2014.
Nearly a quarter (23%) of the world’s Internet users and 39% within the APAC region now actively use the app.
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Tags:APAC, Facebook, research, Singapore, study, survey, Tencent, Twitter, WeChat
Posted in Brief, Events, events, Figures, infographics, Study | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 11th, 2014
In conjunction with international Safer Internet Day (SID), Microsoft has today released the results of its third annual Microsoft Computing Safety Index (MCSI).
To support Safer Internet Day, Microsoft is also asking consumers to “Do 1 Thing” to stay safer online and commit to doing so on a new, interactive website. Click to view/download the full infographic.
The MCSI survey measures the online safety behaviour of almost 10,500 consumers in 20 countries, including Singapore and the US, UK, Australia, China and India.
“The Internet is an integral part of our daily lives; we email to stay connected, share photos and videos, pay bills, and shop,” said Stephanie Hung, Director, Public Sector, Microsoft Singapore.
The latest survey revealed that online trouble has resulted in an estimated US$23 billion in worldwide financial losses in 2013, with financial loss due to compromise of professional reputation being the most costly.
To support Safer Internet Day, Microsoft is also asking consumers to “Do 1 Thing” to stay safer online and commit to doing so on a new, interactive “SaferOnline” website.
Microsoft Consumer Safety Index reveals impact of poor online safety behaviors in Singapore. Click to view/download the full infographic.
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Tags:infographics, Internet, MCSI, Microsoft, research, security
Posted in Figures, Howtos, Infographic, infographics, Internet, Microsoft, Press Release, Reference, Security, Software, Study | No Comments »
Friday, November 9th, 2012
The 3rd annual VMware Cloud Index shows 84% of respondents have adopted or are planning to adopt cloud solutions.
Infographic showing the findings for Singapore from the VMware Cloud Index 2012. Click to enlarge.
The 84% cloud adoption rate shows an increasing trend from 63% in 2011 and 53% in 2010. The findings were released in conjunction with the annual vForum in Singapore.
“Organisations in Singapore are increasingly recognizing the strategic role that cloud computing can play in enabling them to be more productive, stay competitive, and enter new markets,” said Nicholas Tan, country manager, VMware Singapore.
Of the respondents who have not implemented a cloud initiative but were planning to, 55% plan to implement within the next 18 months.
73% of respondents in Singapore said their business outlook for 2012 and 2013 would include growth and expansion, or consolidation with some growth, signaling more potential opportunities to increase cloud adoption.
77% described cloud computing as a top priority or highly relevant to their organization, and 88% agree that cloud will empower their business by simplifying access to IT resources.
69% agree that their organization needs to pursue cloud initiatives or risk falling behind competitors.
“By leveraging VMware solutions on a subscription basis from our telco and service provider partners such as Fujitsu Asia and SingTel, customers can have their data reside in Singapore, and only pay for the services that they consume,” said Kevin Pratesa, director, Service Providers and Public Cloud, VMware ASEAN.
When rating the top reasons for implementing cloud computing in Singapore, respondents strongly rated the need to empower the business by simplifying access to IT resources (80%); supporting a more mobile and flexible workforce (77%); and ensuring that they only pay for the IT they actually use (77%) as factors driving cloud adoption.
The VMware Cloud Index 2012 revealed that the barriers to cloud adoption in Singapore continue to persist and include data privacy, residency, or “loss of control” (72%); cost (69%); and availability or performance concerns (67%).
Despite growing cloud adoption, only one in two respondents (50%) in Singapore agree that their organization is investing in training for cloud-related skills, and 32% say their company is actively seeking to hire new IT staff with cloud computing expertise.
Tags:Asia Pacific, cloud, data center, data centre, Japan, research, study, survey, trends, vForum, virtualisation, virtualization, VMware
Posted in Cloud, Enterprise IT, Events, Figures, Seminars, Study, Technology, VMware | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 7th, 2012
The 3rd annual study by VMware shows cloud computing entering a new stage of evolution in the region as it highlights the growth and importance of cloud as a business enabler.
Infographic showing the findings for APJ from the VMware Cloud Index 2012. Click to enlarge.
The results of the study was presented at the annual vForums in Asia. Here are several key trends revealed by the VMware Cloud Index.
Key trends for APJ
- Despite global economic concerns, nearly 80% of respondents in Asia Pacific indicates that their companies’ business outlooks for 2012 and 2013 include some growth and/or expansion.
VMware Cloud Index 2012 findings for Singapore. Click to enlarge.
- Cloud computing is seen by respondents as enabling the business to optimise IT (85%), reduce costs (80%), and supporting a more mobile and flexible workforce (81%).
- The CIO is increasingly empowered, with 44% of them cited as a final cloud decision maker. CEOs remain the top decision maker at 52%, but this is down 6% compared to 2011.
- 71% of respondents state that cloud computing has made their jobs less complex.
- Top barriers to cloud adoption are data privacy, residency, or “loss of control” (69%); security (64%); and cost (62%).
Businesses in APJ (Japan and Asia Pacific region) are forecasting business growth and see cloud computing as an integral part of their strategy.
“There is a transformation taking place in the industry and the datacenter has become a more automated place,” observed Andrew Dutton, senior vice president and general manager, VMware Asia Pacific and Japan.
There is an increased readiness for cloud and indication that it can provide competitive advantage, with 67% of APJ organisations believing that they currently have the skills and infrastructure necessary to manage a private cloud.
68% stated that without pursuing cloud initiatives, they could fall behind the competition.
With 83% of organisations stating that cloud can empower their businesses by simplifying access to IT resources, companies are looking to leverage cloud computing as a business enabler.
“VMware’s software defined approach to the datacenter not only helps organisations address concerns about integration, hybrid management and security, but also allows business leaders to leverage cloud computing in a way that aligns to their business needs,” Dutton added.
On the other hand, IT today is struggling to impose governance, control, access and self-service over heterogeneous cloud services.
VMware is working to solve this challenge – with the introduction of the software defined datacenter as the tenet to cloud computing.
IT has also evolved from its traditional role as a builder of services to become a broker of services and infrastructure capacity.
In the era of the enterprise hybrid cloud, there are new and increased responsibilities for IT, and CIOs will need to be at the helm to bridge the gap between business and IT and manage this transformation.
About the VMware Cloud Index
The 3rd VMware Cloud Index in 2012 is the largest regional cloud-related study in Asia Pacific.
VMware
Headquartered in the Silicon Valley, VMware is a global leader in virtualisation and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the Cloud era.
With 2011 revenues of US$3.77b, VMware has more than 400,000 customers and 55,000 partners.
Forrester Consulting and ITR (for Japan only) were commissioned to conduct the annual research in September and October 2012.
Approximately 6,500 senior IT practitioners across the APJ (in eleven countries/regions: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand) were surveyed this year.
Check out the infographics for your region here.
Tags:Asia Pacific, cloud, data center, data centre, Japan, research, Singapore, study, survey, trends, vForum, virtualisation, virtualization, VMware
Posted in Cloud, Enterprise IT, Events, Figures, Seminars, Study, Technology, VMware | 2 Comments »
