Shilla Duty Free opens six retail stores at HKIA

The Shilla Duty Free has begun operations at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) after its successful bid on the perfume and cosmetics, and fashion accessories concessions earlier this year. Six temporary retail outlets opened for business on 12 December 2017. The move follows the November opening of the Shilla Duty Free’s 1,375 sq m T4 main store at Singapore Changi Airport.

Source: Shilla Duty Free. The Shilla Duty Free has unveiled six temporary retail stores inside Hong Kong International Airport. Store exterior. 

Source: Shilla Duty Free. The Shilla Duty Free has unveiled six temporary retail stores inside Hong Kong International Airport. Store interior. 

The Hong Kong license marks Shilla as the first operator to simultaneously secure duty free perfumes and cosmetics concessions across the major hub airports of Incheon International, Hong Kong International and Singapore Changi. 

Shilla also introduced a new vision for experiential retail - Beauty&You. Outlets will be transformed in phases into the new identity, with a grand opening slated for the summer of 2018. In Singapore, the T4 store features high ceilings and spaciousness to foster more creativity in the designs of the brand counters. Large digital screens have been incorporated into the walls and pillars in order to amplify the key branding messages and promotions.

Beauty&You presents a new retail concept for HKIA, combining innovative store designs with a wide array of products, excellent service and exciting activities to delight guests at every stage of their shopping journey. The new Beauty&You store layout will incorporate both branded counters and non-branded areas, as well as immersive engagement zones. At the same time, the number of brands featured across the six stores at HKIA will eventually increase to over 200. 

“We’re extremely excited to expand The Shilla Duty Free network to one of the busiest airports in the world,” says Alice Woo, MD, Shilla Travel Retail Hong Kong. “The airport served more than 70 million passengers annually and 1,100 aircraft daily in the past 12 months. Hong Kong’s proximity to other Asian countries and mainland China also makes HKIA a powerful and promising hub for duty free sales.

"With the upcoming launch of Beauty&You, we hope to redefine the airport retail experience and customer journey through personalised service, interactive and engaging environment in one of the most robust travel markets in the world.”

N&N Agriculture visits UK farm to observe cage-free egg production in action

Source: HSI. Ma (left) and Gordon Alexander, Manager at Heal Eggs (right).

Humane Society International (HSI), a global animal protection organisation, has organised a trip to Europe to show Asian farmers more about cage-free egg production.

Ma Chin Chew, CEO of N&N Agriculture, joined other farmers from Asia at Heal Eggs, an egg farm in Shrewsbury, the UK, where he learned about new types of cage-free housing systems, techniques and procedures for managing hens in cage-free environments, and the benefits of such systems for hen welfare.

Heal Farms has been awarded the RSPCA Assured certification, which prohibits the use of cages and provides guidelines for hen health, diet, environment and care. RSPCA operates this ethical food label dedicated to farm animal welfare.

As part of HSI’s farm animal protection campaign, the organisation helps the food industry adopt higher standards for the care of animals in farms, including by connecting companies like N&N Agriculture with the technical training and resources they need to transition to cage-free egg production.

Around the world, including in Asia, the majority of egg-laying hens spend nearly their entire lives confined in battery cages too small for the birds to spread their wings, let alone express natural behaviours like perching, dust bathing, and laying eggs in nests. This practice is changing in response to growing consumer concerns about the treatment of animals raised for food, make it increasingly clear the future of egg production is cage-free.

According to HSI dozens of countries have national or local restrictions on the use of battery cages, and a growing number of multinational companies have pledged to eliminate eggs from caged hens from their supply chains globally, including in Asia, by 2025. Last month, hospitality company The Lo and Behold Group became the first Asian company to adopt a cage-free egg policy.

Dawn Neo, Corporate Outreach manager for HSI Farm Animals in Asia, said: “The cage-free movement has already begun to take root in Asia. We look forward to helping food companies and egg producers meet consumer expectations for eggs produced with higher standards for animal welfare.”

Ma said: “Asian consumers are increasingly concerned about the treatment of animals used for meat and eggs. We are thankful to Heal Eggs for sharing their expertise on cage-free housing with us.”
RSPCA Senior Scientific Officer Mia Fernyhough said: "We are delighted to support HSI with this initiative, and that this meeting was a success. It's fantastic that Mr Ma Chin Chew made
this journey to see firsthand the RSPCA's higher welfare standards in practice at Heal Farms. We hope that his visit to an RSPCA Assured farm proved informative and insightful for his future ventures with his own business.”

RSPCA Head of international, Paul Littlefair said: “In recent years we have seen a surge in interest particularly from East Asia in the RSPCA Assured scheme, and members have welcomed on their farms officials, scientists and producers from Korea, Japan, Taiwan and (mainland) China, so we are especially pleased that Heal Farms are now able to show best practice to HSI's partners in Singapore.”

Tony Heal, owner of Heal Farms said: “At Heal Farms, we have invested in the latest technology and equipment to enhance the management and welfare of our birds. We are delighted to have the opportunity to share our knowledge and experience with other producers wishing to make the switch to higher welfare free-range egg production.”

AC works launches Korean versions of free stock image websites

Source: AC works. Screen capture of illustAC.

AC works, which already has over 2.3 million users in Japan, is now expanding internationally. The company has launched the Korean version of its flagship stock image websites photoAC, illustAC and silhouetteAC. 

Traditionally, the stock image industry imposed a number of restrictions on the use of a stock image, charging each time the image is used for different purposes. Stock images and the vector files that govern their shapes often cost money, for example. Once an image is purchased, it can typically be used in limited circumstances, for example once in an advertising campaign for a specific website. Royalties may need to be paid each time the image appears. Recognisable people featured in an image must sign a model release to allow the image to be used freely, under any circumstances. Images may also come with other stipulations, such as who they may be credited to, whether they can be edited, or if they can be used in commercial settings.

AC works has cut through the complexity with the three sites, which offer free high-quality images and vectors which can be downloaded and used for commercial purposes, with no credit title required. PhotoAC has acquired all rights from photographers and models so that there are no image rights to worry about. IllustAC and silhouetteAC also offer editable AI/EPS format vector files for free. AC works further dispenses with account registration or requiring an app to use the services. Images can be downloaded with a single click, the company said.

The company plans to expand its content portfolio, and aims to reach more than 20 million users worldwide by 2020.

Delcie's offers halal, vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free mooncakes

Delcie's Desserts and Cakes has opened orders for mooncakes in 2017.

Delcie's makes halal-certified vegetarian, vegan, sugarfree and low-sugar mooncakes, as well as gluten-free sugarfree mooncakes which can be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis with full prepayment.

Source: Delcie's website. The spiral flaky sugar-free mooncakes are a best-seller, and contain sugar-free pandan paste.

A new flavour is available this year, a white lotus with salted mung bean mooncake that has no cane sugar.

All mooncakes contain wheat and gluten except for the gluten-free mooncakes. All mooncakes contain peanuts and nut sources, but nut-free mooncakes are also available on a limited basis.

Interested?

View the full list of mooncakes

A box of four mooncakes costs S$108. Early bird discounts end 20 August. Collection is from 20 August to 24 September

Call +65 6282 2951 Tuesdays to Sundays from 11am to 7.30pm to check if nut-free mooncakes are available. These can be picked up in-store at 34 Whampoa West #01-83, Singapore 330034, next to Boon Keng MRT exit B at S$29 each

Email order at delciesdesserts.com to pre-order. Include your personal particulars and preferred date of collection

New Parfums Christian Dior Paris Pavilion at Hamad International Airport

Source: QDF. QDF unveils the Maison de Parfum  pavilion at HIA’s
main passenger terminal.

Qatar Duty Free (QDF) has brought the south of France to Hamad International Airport (HIA) with the new Maison de Parfum Pavilion by Dior, featuring the private perfume collection.

Passengers departing, arriving or transiting through HIA will be transported to the Dior perfume laboratory in Grasse, France, where they will discover the origins of Parfum Christian Dior’s craftsmanship. The brand’s full fragrance catalogue will be on display, with specific focus on male and female fragrance bestsellers, including Sauvage, Dior Homme, Miss Dior and J’adore.

Senior VP, QDF Luis Gasset said: “QDF provides passengers with the latest premium services and a variety of products available across all QDF’s outlets in HIA’s main departure terminal. The exclusive Dior Pavilion will enhance passengers’ experience while shopping, giving them the opportunity to try technology by being transferred to Grasse gardens in France through virtual reality (VR) and enjoying the customisation or the personalisation of their purchases with special engraving and wrapping services.”

This is the third consecutive year that QDF has collaborated with Parfums Christian Dior to create a unique and luxurious experience for passengers travelling through HIA. In 2015, the pavilion featured a 'Bed of Roses' installation displaying six thousand hand-planted flowers; last year it featured a 180-sq m animated Dior Les Parfums installation inspired by the Rose de Mai.

QDF is a leading duty free operator in the Middle East, offering its customers an extensive range of leading international luxury brands including Moncler, Bally, Burberry, Coach, Hermès, Hugo Boss, Rolex, Bulgari, and Harrods.

Rawstream launches free protection for Dropbox files

Internet security company Rawstream is launching free cloud antivirus software that protects cloud-based files on Dropbox for emerging market users who only use mobile devices.

Said Rawstream founder Brian Azzopardi: "We always thought it was unfair that people in developed markets had their Norton and McAfee antivirus software protecting their files on their laptops and PCs while emerging market users really had no protection. After all, Dropbox doesn't offer antivirus protection to users so their files in the cloud - everything that is important to them - are completely vulnerable to attack.

"SkyAV is for the people who don't have the iPhones, the Galaxies and other high-end Android phones. We made it free for them because we know that in many, if not most, cases they couldn't afford to buy it."

SkyAV is security-as-a-service. It scans files for viruses and malware from the cloud, so there is nothing to install on the phone and therefore no impact on phone performance. SkyAV also helps consumers save Dropbox storage space by compressing documents.

Interested?

The first release of SkyAV on December 15 scans Dropbox folders. Google Drive support will launch in the second quarter of 2017.

Get SkyAV

Get free Wi-Fi at over 200,000 hotspots in Japan

Source: Wire and Wireless Company. Logo featuring the Wi-Fi symbol and Mt Fuji.

Japanese telecommunications company Wire and Wireless Company has marked the two-year anniversary of its free TRAVEL JAPAN Wi-Fi app with an app upgrade as well as expanded coverage for free Wi-Fi, enabled by the app.

The app also provides tourists with information on nearby shops and sightseeing spots, as well as with a wealth of discount coupons. There are no limits on Wi-Fi data usage, and no costs.

By downloading TRAVEL JAPAN Wi-Fi and completing the setup before leaving their countries, tourists can launch the app upon arrival, leave it running in the background, and get Wi-Fi access at 200,000 hotspots throughout Japan. The app enables free Wi-Fi at all the major airports in Japan, including Narita Airport and Haneda Airport in Tokyo, New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, Fukuoka Airport in Kyushu, and Naha Airport in Okinawa. It also automatically connects with free Wi-Fi hotspots such as Wi2, Wi2_Club, Wi2premium, and Wi2premium_club at major train stations, tourist spots, popular shops, and restaurants and cafes such as Don Quijote, Bic Camera, KFC and Starbucks.

The app has already been downloaded by over 1.5 million users in the last two years. The app is available in simplified and traditional Chinese as well as in English. Currently, people from Chinese speaking countries account for nearly 45% of the user base.

Michiko Seto, Sales Engineer, Wire and Wireless Company said, "There are many spots where this TRAVEL JAPAN Wi-Fi app can be used, but the fact is that they are mainly concentrated in busy, densely populated areas like shopping districts. If the main destination on your trip is the mountains or the seaside, I recommend you to get a Wi-Fi router, and mainly use it when you're on the road or in remote locations, whereas when shopping or eating out, use the free Wi-Fi app hotspots with unlimited data usage."

Seto also stressed that there are many lookalike apps today. The TRAVEL JAPAN Wi-Fi app can be downloaded from the official website and should have the deep blue logo with the Wi-Fi symbol in white below a graphic of Mount Fuji.
 

Interested?

Download the TRAVEL JAPAN Wi-Fi app before arriving in Japan. The app is available for
Android and iOS

Kaspersky Lab offers software updater to help users keep on top of patches

Kaspersky Lab has released Kaspersky Software Updater – a free application for Windows computers that makes it quick and easy to update software, to help eliminate potential security holes.

The more popular the application, the more actively criminals will scrutinise it for vulnerabilities that, for example, allow malware to invisibly penetrate devices. In 2016, Kaspersky Lab has detected over four million exploits that use vulnerabilities in popular applications and operating systems as of mid-December.

Software developers regularly patch any vulnerabilities they discover by releasing new versions of their applications, but many users do not check for updates regularly or install them. According to Kaspersky Lab data, only half of people update their most exploitable software within a week of an update being available.

The Kaspersky Lab solution works by scanning a device for popular programs* that need to be updated, and provides a report to the owner. Updates that are critical are marked accordingly, so that users do not miss them among other, less important, updates – such as those due to new features or software code blips. From this report, users can select which programs to update, and the application can automatically download the latest software from the developer sites, replacing all out-of-date versions in one stroke. A user can benefit from regular automatic checks or launch scans manually.

"Our main task is to improve the level of user protection against cyberthreats,” says Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky, Head of the Anti-Malware Research Team at Kaspersky Lab. “Software vulnerabilities are now a critical problem, as they allow cybercriminals to secretly gain control of a user’s PC. We believe it is better to prevent a threat rather than combat it, and that’s why we call on all users to regularly update their operating system and the applications installed on it.”


Interested?

Kaspersky Software Updater is available ​​online at free.kaspersky.com, or as part of Kaspersky Security Scan – an application designed to scan Windows-based computers for malware infections and hazardous settings.

*The list of programs that are checked, as well as the technical requirements for optimal operation of the solution, are available at: http://support.kaspersky.com/11827

Free USB devices could be vectors for malware, Check Point warns

Source: Victoria Police. The unmarked USB drives used are similar to these.

On 21 September the police in Victoria, advised residents of Melbourne suburb Pakenham to be wary of USB flash drives left in their mailboxes.

"Members of the public are allegedly finding unmarked USB drives in their letterboxes. Upon inserting the USB drives into their computers victims have experienced fraudulent media streaming service offers, as well as other serious issues. The USB drives are believed to be extremely harmful and members of the public are urged to avoid plugging them into their computers or other devices," Victoria police said in a statement.

Check Point Software has commented on the phenomenon. "Hacking by USB devices are not new, and can wreck serious or fatal damage to computers (including holding users' data at ransom), or embed malware to infect the computers as zombie/attack hosts, potentially even landing users in legal trouble. While this form of attack has not been seen blatantly in Singapore yet, it would make sense to educate the public on how to avoid such risks, especially since some may succumb to the temptation of getting a 'free' USB device. What's worse, such attacks can also target business mailboxes, putting businesses at jeopardy should unsuspecting corporate users plug in such devices," a Check Point spokesperson said.

Interested?

Anyone with information about those behind the scam is urged to contact Crime Stoppers in Australia on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online

Thai ordinary passport holders can travel visa-free to Taiwan

Thai ordinary passport holders are now able to travel visa-free to 26 countries and three economies, namely Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Taiwan’s authorities have launched a one-year trial visa-exemption programme for Thai ordinary passport holders who wish to visit Taiwan for tourism, effective from 1 August.

Those eligible will now be able to travel and stay in Taiwan for up to 30 days. Thai nationals who wish to take advantage of this visa-free privilege must: hold a Thai ordinary passport with a minimum validity of six months; hold a return ticket or an onward ticket to another destination; and not be considered an inadmissible person.

Interested?

View the full list of countries and economies where Thai nationals may enter without a visa (in Thai)

At Shopee university: going #instagramworthy

As part of Shopee's launch of Shopee University, the Garena e-commerce platform arm arranged for a hands-on real-life Shopee University session to show media what Shopee sellers and members of the public will experience.

Each free session runs from about an hour to 90 minutes, and there is a requirement that students go through two basic and two advanced classes before being allowed to attend an expert class. Once they are eligible for expert classes, they may attend as many expert classes as they like. A photography class such as this one would be considered advanced to expert. Shopee often invites third party professionals to teach expert classes in the evenings, and students have bonding time over dinner afterwards. Shopee provides a graduate certificate for completion of a full curriculum of six classes.

An introduction by Avril Khoo, a Graphic Designer at Shopee, who was our photography expert for the day. 

The lesson was on flatlay photography, the type of photography where items are arranged lying on a flat surface, after which the camera takes in a bird's eye view of the items. Flatlay styles are currently popular especially with fashion bloggers, said Avril Khoo, Graphic Designer at Shopee, who shared some tips on how to make flatlay photography more 'Instagram worthy' or 'Pinterest worthy'.

The mood board shows how different flatlay styles evoke different moods. Items should be placed on a basic background, so that the background does not distract from the items themselves. There can be items of contrasting colours to add interest. If black backgrounds are used, there should be elements of colour to help the items 'pop out'. 

There should be a colour scheme to the picture. If it is about PC accessories, for example, a darker, metallic look might appeal to the largely male audience, whereas wood as a background is more evocative of lifestyle imagery. "It really depends on what products you have and how you want to feature them," Khoo said.

Flatlay styling should be done on relatively plain surfaces, so the items can stand out. Large pieces of paper can be used as a background surface. 

Lighting is very important. Khoo said it can make or break the photo as there is only so much Photoshop can do to save an image. The preference should be for natural daylight but not direct lighting, as that could create a lot of glare on shiny products and very heavy shadows. Indirect natural daylight, by a window, will provide nice, soft even lighting, Khoo said.

Display your wares in interesting ways, against a relatively plain background. I used a black marble surface.

Khoo also suggested using the 'square function' in iOS when taking pictures as Instagram pictures are by default square, making them more noticeable.

When it comes to styling and proportions, less is more. The props picked to accompany the main items should be 'in proportion', that is not drowning out the main items. Props, textures, colours, and positioning come into play. The stray mosaic tile (right) may be considered a distraction, and can be removed digitally later.

All pictures should be edited before uploading. Khoo recommends two free tools, VSCOcam and Snapseed. She said Snapseed is very flexible as the edited image can be saved as a separate version, and that different procedures carried out on the image can be individually reversed. Some procedures would include tuning brightness, contrast, editing the highlights and shadows, sharpening, rotating, using the 'dodge and burn' tool, and the healing tool. 

Interested?

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog posts about Shopee's new launches and the droolworthy Garena office

Hashtag: #instagramworthy, #shopeeSG

posted from Bloggeroid

Shopee goes all out to attract community members for its e-commerce platform

Feng charts Shopee's growth in Southeast Asia and Taiwan since its launch late last year. 

Source: Shopee. Feng shows off the Shopee e-commerce platform on a screen replicating what is on his phone.

Shopee, Garena’s* e-commerce platform, today launched two initiatives—Shopee Free Shipping, now in beta, and Shopee University, at its inaugural Biannual Press Conference. The moves mark the beginning of a major growth strategy that the mobile-first social marketplace is commencing on for the months ahead that includes streamlining buyer and seller experiences as well as building a community around Shopee.

At the event, Chris Feng, CEO, Shopee, who is also the Head of Mobile Business, Southeast Asia and Taiwan for Garena, disclosed that the company aims to build a more holistic and robust customer-to-customer (C2C) social marketplace to further empower individuals to buy and sell on its platform. These plans come on the back of Garena’s recent announcement that it raised US$170 million in Series D funding, to be used on accelerating its regional market leadership across its digital content, payment, and e-commerce platforms, including Shopee.

“Since the official launch** version of our platform, Shopee has seen tremendous growth with our sellers, buyers, product listings and orders now in the millions. To ensure this growth rate continues, we are committed to invest more in constantly enhancing our ecosystem through innovation and developing initiatives such as Shopee Free Shipping to empower individuals, especially budding entrepreneurs, to start their business journey on our platform by first removing the hassles of shipping costs," said Feng. "This in turn elevates mobile commerce standards and further strengthens our regional market leadership position, bringing us closer to achieve our aim in becoming Southeast Asia’s mobile commerce destination of choice.”  

Shopee has seen 10 million downloads, 12 million product listings as well as 1.2 million social media followers across the region. Singapore accounts for 500,000 of the downloads and 300,000 of the listings as well as 600,000 of the social media followers - all in just a few months**.

Ander Orcasitas, Managing Director of Shopee Singapore said, “Shopee University is an entrepreneurship development initiative aimed at empowering individuals to grow their businesses on Shopee and enhance their e-commerce management skills. With this new curriculum developed based on the best practices of Shopee’s top sellers’ entrepreneurship skills, we are very excited to be able to impart valuable knowledge to other sellers within the community. With more in-depth topics around Shopee’s extensive features as well as tips on online marketing and photography, we are confident that these classes will benefit our sellers greatly.”

Shopee free shipping goes into beta. Registration is open.

Shopee Free Shipping (beta)

With Shopee as a free-to-use platform***, Shopee Free Shipping further lowers barriers to entry for all participants. The beta for Shopee Free Shipping will reimburse shipping costs**** for sellers who register in-app for the initiative, enabling to pass on the savings to buyers. 

Shopee University

Shopee University aims to help sellers develop business skills around e-commerce. It will also jumpstart a community for sellers so that they can share their experiences with each other. "We want to form a community behind this ecosystem where people can really learn and share with the other sellers," said Feng.

The revamped curriculum was developed based on the best practices of Shopee’s top sellers’ entrepreneurship skills. Compared to the curriculum at the soft-launch in December the new offering features more in-depth topics including online marketing and photography. These classes are organised every two weeks and members of the public as well as Shopee sellers can register to attend, as well as receive more information in-app. 

Shopee prides itself on ease of use. Sellers can list products for sale in a handful of steps using their mobile phones – snap a picture, fill in product details and set the price, upload the listing, and share with friends. A shop can be set up in less than 30 seconds. For peace of mind, payments are held in escrow - buyers' payments are held by Shopee and only released to the seller when the buyer sends an update that the item was received in good condition. There are no listing fees and no commissions for sellers. Product enhancements made to Shopee’s platform since its official launch version include:

A summary of key product innovations introduced since the launch: improvements in social features, discovery - being able to find items that would be of interest to the buyer - and more help for sellers.

More social features

 A Live Chat feature supports person-to-person (P2P) conversations 

 Search now supports hashtags so users can easily discover what is trending as well as the latest deals (trending hashtags of the day included #koreanfashion #nyx, and #flyknit)

 The home page allows users to view real-time updates from sellers they follow as well as sellers recommended by Shopee

Improved discovery

 The Daily Discover feature recommends items a visitor might like based on browsing and purchase history
 A two-level Category feature allows users to search and discover products more easily  

 New Search Filters enable users to explore products by discounts and surfaces products with free shipping 

Assisting sellers

 Product Boosting feature allows sellers to push their products to the top of a product category 

 Featured Sellers provides greater exposure for selected sellers with different categories of products. A one-click follow-all function allows buyers to pursue categories of interest 

 Chat Response function indicates how responsive a seller is in terms of how many responses, and response times

 Product Variation allows sellers to manage multiple models of a single product under one listing, such as the same product in different sizes and colours

Seller management console

 Seller Centre allows sellers to more easily manage their products and orders, as well as support their customers. This feature is designed for web usage and is batch-oriented, as against updating products one by one on a mobile device

Logistics

 Integrated Logistics now includes additional support from Shopee Singapore’s third-party logistics provider Ninja Van

Top sellers on Shopee share their experiences: from left, Wong, Lee and Foo.

Lee Yi Hui from HushSG, one of Shopee's top sellers, is focused on e-commerce full-time. Lee did not start using Shopee immediately after finding out about it, he disclosed, but decided to give it a try as the platform added more functions. "It worked quite well for us," he said. "We started to list more and more of our products on Shopee, and have quite a huge chunk of revenue from there."

Brydan Foo, GameProSG, deals mainly with PC gaming peripherals and laptops, which typically has a niche customer base. Foo said Shopee had helped him locate more customers. "They (Shopee) don't just view us as just a seller on a platform," he added. "They have a strong working relationship. I have learned about e-commerce from Shoppee. This is why I enjoy using Shopee as my preferred platform."

Lee added that with Shopee it is quite easy for a small seller to begin uploading and selling. "There's not much paperwork involved. Even if you're not a full time seller, you can just take a picture, take it in well-lighted areas, and immediately start selling, If you are a serious seller you can upload your products en masse - that's one concern for those who have a lot of products, it's very tedious to list your products one by one... a lot of platforms are still manual, that's what got me started," he said. 

He added that Shopee's community is particularly responsive. "Shopee has the most reviews. The community is very involved and really give feedback after they purchase," he said.

Valerie Wong of ReverendRabbit, which sells men's apparel, praised Shopee's initiatives for sellers. "Sellers get to meet one another, it creates a whole seller ecosystem," she said. "It's not like you're alone. The more sellers there are, the more people will be shopping in the industry."

All three sellers noted that Shopee has been very responsive to feedback as well.

Interested?

Register for Shopee Free Shipping

Hashtag: #shopeeSG

*'Garena' refers to Garena Interactive Holding. 

**Shopee was officially launched in Singapore in November 2015. 

***Shopee is a free-to-use platform with no hidden costs.
****Shipping costs applies to normal mail which is capped at S$2 per shipment. 

 

posted from Bloggeroid

Dell introduces midmarket backup appliances, free Windows data recovery software

· New data deduplication appliance models are built for midmarket, deliver higher capacity, speed and performance

· Free set-and-forget recovery solution protects Windows clients

Dell has announced data protection solutions to help small and midmarket organisations better protect business-critical systems, applications, and data – either on premises or in the cloud. Offerings include data deduplication appliances models; and the new Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Recovery – Free Edition.

Back up more and store less 

New releases to the Dell DR series of deduplication appliances include the new Dell DR4300e, DR4300 and DR6300. Dell DR appliances relieve network bandwidth congestion and boost ingest performance, ensuring that backups get completed on time, every time. Ingestion refers to the reformatting of captured data into a form suitable for storage.

· The DR4300 delivers up to 108TB of usable capacity while ingesting up to 23TB of data per hour. The entry-level DR4300e is a smaller scale, low-cost appliance that can scale up to 27TB. With these offerings, small and midmarket organisations can now easily adopt enterprise-grade data deduplication capabilities that have traditionally been out of reach.

· The DR63000 is a larger midmarket and small enterprise solution that delivers up to 360TB of usable capacity while ingesting up to 29TB of data per hour.

Freemium protection and recovery for Windows clients

To help companies protect the growing volumes of data created by endpoint devices, Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Recovery – Free Edition will be available as lightweight, easy-to-use software for Windows clients. A no-cost, set-and-forget client protection solution designed for a single user, the freemium offering provides file deduplication and compression to reduce storage costs and enables fast recovery of lost data.

Interested?

Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Recovery – Free Edition will be available in the Singapore beginning in early March, while all other solutions are already available in Singapore.

Singtel celebrates Lunar New Year with free unlimited mobile data and Singtel TV previews

Source: Singtel.

Singtel is ushering in the Year of the Monkey with a festive treats for customers. All Singtel postpaid customers will enjoy two days of free unlimited mobile data from 12am on 7 February to 11:59pm on 8 February while Singtel TV customers will be treated to free previews of more than 150 channels from 12am on 5 February to 11:59pm on 14 February.

Yuen Kuan Moon, CEO, Consumer Singapore, Singtel, said, “We are delighted to present our customers with complimentary services that they can enjoy with their family and friends over this auspicious season. The free TV viewing and mobile data will provide hours of quality family entertainment as they celebrate the festive period. We thank them for their continuous support and wish them a happy and prosperous Lunar New Year.”

Interested?

Read more about the promotion

Google brings free Wi-Fi to Mumbai Central Station, introduces Indic keyboard app

Source: Google Asia Pacific blog.

Starting 22 January, those passing through Mumbai Central station in India will have access to free, high-speed Wi-Fi, courtesy of Google. The service is part of a project announced in September 2015 to provide high-speed public Wi-Fi in 400 train stations across India.

Working with Indian Railways, which operates one of the world's largest railway networks, and RailTel, which provides Internet services as RailWire via its fibre network along many of the railway lines, Google's Access & Energy team plans to cover 100 of the busiest stations in India before the end of 2016, with the remaining stations following in quick succession.

"We’re hoping those of you from — or travelling through — Allahabad, Jaipur, Patna and Ranchi, will be as excited to learn that your stations are up next!" said Gulzar Azad, Head of Access Programs in India for Google in a blog post.

"Commuters will be able to tell if there is high-speed Wi-Fi available if they can see the ‘RailWire Wi-Fi’ network in Wi-Fi settings. If you see it, select it and follow the simple steps below to gain access on your phone and up to two additional devices, like a laptop or tablet — you’ll just need an Indian mobile number to get an access code for each device."

Azad said the Wi-Fi will initially be free, with a drop in speed after the first hour online. The long-term intention is to charge for the service in some way for self-sustainability.

The news follows an 18 January announcement that Google has developed a touch-based keyboard for the easier input of Hindi—and ten other Indian languages—with a phone or tablet. The Google Indic Keyboard app has been downloaded over 10 million times, and supports the alphabet used for that language, a transliteration keyboard, and handwriting input. Both Latin characters and native characters are recognised.

"By making mobile input easier for almost one billion speakers of Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu, we also hope to see more engaging content in these languages on the web," said Linda Lin, Product Manager, Google in a separate blog post.

January 2016 also saw the launch of YouTube home pages customised for Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in the local language and domain. YouTube was previously available in Nepali, Sinhalese and Urdu.

Interested?

View the associated video
How to watch YouTube videos offline
Download the Google Indic Keyboard from the Play store

Qatar Duty Free presents new Dolce&Gabbana display at Hamad International Airport

Source: Qatar Duty Free. A new Dolce&Gabbana display features a 4m snow globe at Hamad International Airport that will be on display until 14 January 2016.

Qatar Duty Free welcomes the festive season with the installation of a Dolce&Gabbana display featuring a larger-than-life snow globe at Hamad International Airport (HIA). The snow globe, at four m high, is the centrepiece of a display showcasing Dolce&Gabbana’s products, and celebrates the launch of their newest fragrance for men, The One Royal Night. It will be on display until 14 January 2016.

The black and gold display, which is located behind the HIA Lamp Bear sculpture, brings the magic of a winter wonderland to the desert, with a snowman, gifts and the snow globe featuring the Doha skyline. The joint collaboration between Dolce&Gabbana and Qatar Duty Free offers plenty of options for passengers looking to buy a gift.

Qatar Duty Free Senior Vice President Keith Hunter said: “Qatar Duty Free prides itself on offering passengers exclusive fragrances and beauty products, and this is no exception. This partnership not only marks the launch of The One Royal Night at HIA, but is an opportunity for Qatar Duty Free to offer customers the Dolce&Gabbana makeup and Velvet collections. We hope that those travelling from, and through, HIA will enjoy visiting the beautiful display and exploring some thoughtful and personalised gift ideas.”

Source: Qatar Duty Free. The One Royal Night for men is featured together with Velvet niche fragrance collection and D&G makeup.

The One Royal Night for men is an exclusive fragrance within Dolce&Gabbana’s Classic House, The One. The newest fragrance, with an Arabian twist, is an exclusive product from the designers for the Middle East, inspired by the richness, culture and traditions of the region.

The One Royal Night for men is described by Dolce&Gabbana as a blend of opulence and sophistication boasting a woody composition with notes of cardamom, basil, wild pear wood, and spicy nutmeg, followed by a base of cedar, sandalwood, labdanum* and pure amber in its most refined form. Qatar Duty Free will also offer a select number items from the Dolce&Gabbana makeup and niche fragrance collection, Velvet, for the first time at the display.

Dolce&Gabbana makeup available include Classic, Voluptuous and Matte lipsticks, nail polish, Perfect Luminous Liquid Foundation, Perfect Matte Liquid Foundation, Perfect Matte Concealer, eyeliners and mascaras. The Make-Up Essential Palette Beauty Voyage is also available and includes eyeshadows, eyeliner, blush, illuminator, lipstick and lip liner in a stylish compact case.

The Velvet Collection offered will include both 50ml and 150ml bottles of some of Dolce&Gabbana’s most popular niche fragrances such as Velvet Love, Velvet Patchouli, Desert Oud and Tender Oud.

Interested?

For all Dolce&Gabbana products purchased at the display personalised engraving and gift-wrapping will be offered free of charge. 

*Labdanum, also called laudanum, is a resin from shrubs called Cistus ladanifer and Cistus creticus.

Pixelglow Software updates Instaviz, launches free lite version

Source: iTunes.
Instaviz 2.1 screen.

Pixelglow Software today launched Instaviz 2.1 to support Apple's iPhone 6s, 6s Plus and the iOS 9 update. The intelligent diagram sketcher now works with iPad multitasking in both Slide Over and Split View modes, allowing users to run another app at the same time. The developer also launched Instaviz Lite, a free app that showcases the core sketching features of Instaviz.

"Our customers absolutely love our rebuilt Instaviz 2, giving us 75% 5-star reviews since our relaunch in June," says developer Glen Low, winner of two Apple Design Awards. "With the new free Instaviz Lite, even more users will see how easy it really is, turning doodles into diagrams."

Instaviz users create formal diagrams by beginning with rough sketches of shapes, typing in some text, then linking the shapes together. Instaviz and Instaviz Lite neaten and rearrange them as the users work. With the paid app, the users can refine their ideas with different fonts, colours, styles and shapes. The diagrams can be shared on the paid app in different formats and through different channels, including email, message, print, AirDrop, and a number of popular social networks such as Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest, Twitter or WhatsApp.

"This is the best simple visual thinking, simple diagramming or back-of-the-napkin thinking app available for the iPhone and iPad," said Dr George Huba, a prominent mind-mapping and healthcare advocate. "And, unlike the napkin you draw on at lunch, diagrams from the program can look good enough to use in books and professional journals without further enhancements. And unlike those napkins, the diagrams from Instaviz come without ink smears, coffee cup rings, and grease stains from errant French fries, freedom fries, chips, British fish and chips, sweet potato fries, tempura, or pizza!"

Instaviz is built on two key technologies: Recog and Graphviz. Recog is a new shape recognition library. Trained on over 2,500 sketches drawn by real users, Recog uses advanced fuzzy logic and sophisticated geometric algorithms to recognize sketches in a split second. Graphviz is an automated graph layout engine. The industry standard for automated graph layout, Graphviz represents over 20 years of AT&T information visualisation research.

Interested?

Download version 2.1 of Instaviz or Instaviz Lite

View a collection of Dr Huba's mind maps

Watch the associated video

Download the PC/Mac companion app, Instavue (Instaviz app on a mobile device required)

Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre now sports free Wi-Fi

Visitors to Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) can now experience complimentary Wi-Fi through the 'ADNEC Free Wi-Fi' wireless network.

Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri, Acting Group CEO at Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company said: “The complimentary Wi-Fi service articulates ADNEC’s priority to leverage technology to enhance visitor experience. The service will relieve ADNEC visitors from the hassle of calling around for accessing basic internet services. At ADNEC, we are committed to developing our technology infrastructure and improving services portfolio to serve the evolving requirements of our stakeholders.”

ADNEC is already offering high bandwidth Internet connectivity and related support services to clients at affordable prices. The service, which require secured authentication, allows exhibitors and visitors to use applications and services that require high data transmission rates such as downloading multimedia files.

ADNEC offers 133,000 sq m of inter-connected floor space to match the expectations of a wide variety of events and exhibitions. The venue attracted 1.6 million people across 327 events in 2014.

Free calling app nanu offers new way to reach customers

Source: nanu website.

The world’s first truly mobile and completely free call app, nanu, is seeing exponential growth in its monthly active users (MAUs) and daily active users (DAUs)*. The Singapore-based startup, also called nanu, reported that the apps's MAUs (56%) and DAUs (19%) are nearly double of the industry standard.

“While most technology startups share their download numbers, majority of them are reluctant to disclose the MAUs and DAUs. It is simply because for many of them the numbers are dismal. Luckily we don’t have that issue and are glad to share our numbers. Our data shows that not only are we succeeding with a large number of downloads, the usage of our app is on the rise as well,” says Martin Nygate, CEO of nanu.

“This is indicative of the birth of a unicorn**,” he adds.

According to some estimates, roughly 95% of over 50 million mobile apps downloaded daily are discarded within 30 days. Nanu’s figures, on the other hand, indicate its 'stickiness' with users.

The app makes use of ultra-low bandwidth VoIP technology and an advertising-sponsored free-call business model to provide high quality free calls to everyone, everywhere. Since nanu uses 80% less bandwidth than its rivals, it works on any network, enabling it to offer high quality calls where other apps do not work. These features have driven nanu's popularity in emerging markets like India, where 3G connectivity is a big issue. India accounts for over half of nanu’s users with roughly around 1.6 million downloads.

Nanu, has also developed proprietary technology that allows it to overlay voice adverts over the ringtone when a user calls another phone using the app. This offers advertisers an opportunity for one-to-one targeted campaigns based on users’ demographics. The adverts are non-intrusive as they end as soon as the receiver picks up the call. According to nanu, the click-through rates (CTRs) of initial campaigns run on nanu have been six to seven times higher than industry standards.

Interested?

Download nanu

*Nanu explains that MAUs and DAUs are metrics that indicate how popular an app is with the users and how fast it is growing. The industry standard of measuring a successful growth pattern is the 30/10/10 metric. According to this, 30% of all people who have downloaded the app should be using it at least once a month – this statistic is the MAU. Of these MAUs, 10% should be using the app on a daily basis – a statistic called the DAU.

**A unicorn in investment terms is a startup valued at US$1 billion or more.

Free upgrades to Windows 10 from July 29

Source: Windows blog.

Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 will be available July 29 in 190 countries. Windows 10 will help people be more productive and have a more personal and natural experience across all their devices, the company said. Windows 10 will be available as a free upgrade to people using Windows 7 and Windows 8.1¹, in effect enabling most existing Windows users to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. 

"Windows 10 is a new generation of Windows designed to empower you to do great things," said Terry Myerson, Executive VP, Microsoft. "Windows 10 starts to deliver on our vision of more personal computing, defined by trust in how we protect and respect your personal information, mobility of the experience across your devices, and natural interactions with your Windows devices, including speech, touch, ink and holograms."

With Windows 10, Microsoft returns to the Start menu as an easy access method for files, pinned applications and favourites. Windows 10 is also expected to start and resume quickly while extending battery life. It also has increased security features such as Windows Hello, Microsoft Passport and Windows Defender for anti-malware protection, as well as a commitment to deliver free, ongoing security updates for the supported lifetime of the device. Optimised for both keyboard and touch, the Windows 10 upgrade is designed to be compatible with Windows devices and applications. The experience will remain consistent across devices through Continuum technology, which enables tablets or Windows phones to act like PCs⁴.

The "more personal" part of the experience includes Cortana, a personal digital assistant that helps people get things done across all their devices². Cortana learns individual preferences to provide relevant recommendations, fast access to information and important reminders via talking or typing. Windows Hello³ greets people by name and lets them log in to their PC without a password with the help of biometric authentication. Windows 10 also lets people interact with their device via the traditional mouse and keyboard or through more natural ways such as voice, pen or gesture.

Microsoft Edge, the new browser, offers built-in inking, sharing and reading views. Integrated with Cortana, Microsoft Edge offers quick results and content based on individual interests and preferences.

In addition to the Office 2016 full-featured desktop suite⁵, new Universal Windows applications for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook will offer a consistent, touch-first experience across a range of devices. With new touch-first controls in Excel, people can even create or update spreadsheets without a keyboard or mouse.

On July 29, Windows users can get Windows 10 for PCs and tablets by taking advantage of the free upgrade offer, or through new Windows 10 devices. Windows 10 for other devices will be available later this year. New Windows 8.1 devices will also easily upgrade to Windows 10, and many retail stores will help upgrade new devices. 

Interested?

Reserve a free upgrade at Windows.com. Consumers will have one year from 29 July 2015 to take advantage of the free upgrade.

Read the official blog post

1 Free upgrade available for qualified devices. See http://windows.com/windows10upgrade.
2 Cortana available in select markets at launch; experience may vary by device.
3 Windows Hello requires a specialised illuminated infrared camera for facial recognition or iris detection or a fingerprint reader that supports the Windows Biometric Framework.
4 Continuum for phone available on select models at launch. 
5 Office sold separately.