Malaysia Airlines begins self service journey

Malaysia Airlines has implemented self-print baggage tags for all* domestic and international flights to make the travel experience for customers faster and more efficient. Starting 18 August 2016, passengers with economy class tickets will need to print the baggage tags at check-in kiosks located around the departure level of Kuala Lumpur International Airport and self-tag their bags before proceeding to the baggage drop counter.

With the new system, the check-in process from kiosks to baggage drop counters is expected to be significantly shorter. Passengers who check-in via web and mobile will also need to print their baggage tags at the 50 kiosks available before proceeding to the baggage drop counter. There will be instructions on the tag and standees around to educate passengers on the process. A maximum of two printed baggage tags per passenger is allowed at the kiosk.

Malaysia Airlines’ Economy Class passengers are allowed to check in a maximum of two pieces of baggage weighing 30kg in total. Passengers are to ensure that they do not pack any dangerous goods in their check-in luggage such as lithium batteries, e-cigarettes and power banks.

The move is in line with Malaysia Airlines’ strategy to leverage on technology in order to simplify and reduce the time for check in. This is the first phase before the airline moves to introduce self-baggage drop in Q416. 

*Passengers travelling to Dhaka and Kathmandu will need to check in at dedicated counters on row A17 and A18 until further notice.

Major LeEco launch covers phones, TVs, VR and a self driving concept car

Source: LeEco. Jia Yueting (left) and Ding Lei demonstrate the self-driving functions of the LeSEE concept car by using a Superphone to control the car remotely.

LeEco, formerly LeTV, has held a major cross-category product launch in Beijing, China during which the company introduced four new device families: Le 2 Superphones, a Super TV, the Le VR virtual reality set and the self-driving Super EV connected car. While traditionally placed in different categories, the four families share the same ecosystem, the company said.

Source: LeEco. The Le 2 (历2, literally Power 2) is the world's first flagship phone to support the LeEco-initiated Continual Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) standard.

The Le 2 is the world's first flagship phone to support the LeEco-initiated Continual Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) standard, which is accredited by the Chinese Musicians Association and takes the music industry into the continual digital lossless audio era.

The Le 2 series is available in three variants: the Le 2, Le 2Pro and Le Max2. While maintaining the first generation's popular features such as boltless exterior design, bezel-less display, Type-C USB support, and a metal unibody, the second-generation series is thinner and has a longer battery life. In particular, the 3.5mm earphone jack has been eliminated to provide users with a Type-C digital lossless audio experience.

The flagship Le 2Pro, treated with a three-level anodic oxidation process for the first time in the industry, gets a new refresh with new bezel-less ID 3.0 screen to provide an immersive visual experience. The three-level anodic oxidation process is the result of ten months of intensive R&D efforts with a total investment of more than RMB20 million, including personnel, material and equipment costs. The top-of-the-line Le Max2 continues Le Max's symmetrical design in the unique "dopamine red", created by applying insights from colour psychology to be emotionally appealing. Le Max2 is also among the world's first smartphones to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and the world's first commercially available metal-body phone to offer the ultrasonic fingerprint scanning feature.

The Le 2 Superphones are offered at "negative profit for hardware", basically priced so low that the company may have no profits from the sale, or may even lose money. The company is promoting the "hardware freebie model" to encourage a new ecosystem consumption pattern, LeEco said.

During the launch event, LeEco also unveiled its fourth-generation Super TV lineup. The Super 4 X50 Pro (RMB2,999), Super 4 X50 (RMB2,499) and Super 4 X50 CSL Edition (RMB2,699) are also offered at prices below their mass production cost, being subsidised by larger LeEco ecosystem.

The highlight of the launch was LeSEE's first self-driving concept car, which was put through its paces by Jia Yueting, LeEco founder and CEO of LeEco, and LeSEE co-founder and Global VP Ding Lei. The concept car's self-driving functions were demonstrated using a Superphone to control the car remotely. Positioned as an intelligent Internet car, it can drive and learn autonomously with capabilities such as face recognition, emotion recognition, environment recognition and road recognition. The car has received 804 patents worldwide, part of the 10,000 patents submitted worldwide to cover the products showcased at the launch. 

Source: LeEco. LeEco launches VR support.

At the event, LeEco's new VR product also made its debut, in addition to the latest EUI 5.8 operating system, which supports nine-camera live videostreaming, a step above the triple-camera live videostreaming support introduced last year. 

Source: LeEco. The new EUI 5.8 OS supports nine-camera live videostreaming.

The Ecosystem without Borders launch event set a number of records, LeEco added. The VR-enabled event was streamed live around the world on nearly 100 online video sites. The event was also the world's first product launch to be livestreamed on Facebook, a LeEco cloud-sharing distribution channel.

Your Story Your Way is a self-published work on realising potential

Source: Hemant Bohra. 

Your Story Your Way by Hemant Bohra is for those starting off on their journey to success. In this real-life guide, the entrepreneur-turned-author discusses centuries-old wisdom that can help readers tap their true potential.

Hemant started his career with capital markets as an equity trader and holds more than two decades of experience across multiple sectors. He worked with Value Dialog, one of India’s earliest investor relations firms, and later co-founded Fortuna Public Relations, a pan-India communications firm. In 2015, he decided to write this book. 

According to Hemant, the heart and mind make the decisions in life. The two reason very differently, pulling the person in opposite directions. Depending on the decisions they make, people can either be the hero or the villain of their own life story. A hero moves towards success, while a villain remains mired in fear and doubt.

The stories in this book are a guide to understanding the role of the heart and the mind and finding the right balance between the two, with the help of six questions. There is no correct order to answering them, nor a single correct answer. Answers to these questions vary from person to person. In fact, the answer to the questions might also differ at different stages in life, but the questions remain the same.

Interested?

The Kindle and paperback versions of the book are available on Amazon

Aptugo creates the web software you want, no training needed

Aptugo, a software tool which helps people with no programming experience to create their own websites, is now in beta* and will be available from 2015, say its developers, also called Aptugo.

"Aptugo will reduce the gap between large and small companies. It doesn't require knowledge of programming at all," emphasised Gaston Gorosterrazu, Head of Aptugo. "At the same time, having some knowledge allows the user to extend what they can do with Aptugo, as it is designed with the idea to empower the user and take him a few levels beyond." 

The Aptugo software is targeted at small business owners and can help them to tailor-make web software such as an online video library. Traditional software development is expensive, may not deliver exactly as conceptualised, and takes months. In contrast, the Aptugo tool guides users into developing their own software, completing it in minutes, the company said. 

Source: Aptugo. The Aptugo software.

Other advantages include:

• Support for different programming languages 
• Ability to reuse the basic structure in future projects
• Optimised for speed: Websites built by Aptugo respond in 40ms to 150ms without expensive hosting infrastructure. The Aptugo website is built on Aptugo, and a reflection of the response times which are possible.

Gorosterrazu said the software should deliver more value than its cost. "It will be 100% free for non-profit organisations of any size," he said.

View a video of how Aptugo works here. In the beta stage, Aptugo is limited to producing web applications in PHP. The ultimate goal is to support the creation of applications for any platform and operating system, Gorosterrazu said.

Existing registered users from Asia Pacific include those from the Philippines, India, Indonesia, and then Australia, Gorosterrazu added.

*Beta software is not fully final, so some features may not yet work as advertised.