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Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2022 – Be the Change, Shape the Future

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Samsung’s global competition – “Solve for Tomorrow“, is back in Singapore with its sixth edition. The theme for this edition is “Be the Change, Shape the Future“. This competition starts from 5th October 2022 until 20th November 2022, it is open to all Singapore full-time students, aged 16 years and above.

Solve for Tomorrow is aligned with Samsung’s global vision for corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, this competition aims to encourage students to think deeply about the social issues affecting their community and act on it.

The competition is held in support of the Digital for Life movement, launched by President Halimah Yacob in February 2021, and managed by Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). Solve for Tomorrow 2022 aims to galvanise Singapore’s next generation of leaders to innovate and use technology for good to build a better and more inclusive society. It aligns with the Digital for Life movement in the mission of empowering youths to be more active in addressing the nation’s most pressing challenges.

“Whether you are a dreamer, problem-solver, or inventor, this is the platform where we enable young people to bring to life their dreams and aspirations for the future. The competition allows youths to express their creativity and passion, which will improve the lives around them,” said Mark Kim, President, Samsung Electronics Singapore. He added, “This is the platform that will enable them to apply their knowledge and skills across multiple disciplines – including critical and design thinking, marketing and communications skills, technological expertise and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) knowledge”.

Last year’s winning team, Team Adustio, shares their takeaways – “We are so thankful to Samsung for allowing us to express ourselves through our ideas. We took home more than the prizes. The competition gave us the confidence and experience to pursue our ambition and make an impact on our community,” said Alyssa Cheok. “We would like to encourage all our peers and aspiring changemakers to participate in Solve for Tomorrow 2022. It will definitely broaden your horizon and unleash your potential.”

Addressing Singapore’s Present and Future Challenges

What are Singapore’s present and future challenges that we are facing? Samsung has identified four broad themes for this year’s competition. Participants can develop their ideas around any one of these themes:

  1. Environmental Sustainability

Sustainability remains a critical challenge today. Our society need bold ideas to address our most pressing environmental issues and build a sustainable future.

  1. Health & Wellness

Technological innovations hold the key to unlock better quality of life, physically and mentally, for Singaporeans. It will also play a vital role in battling pandemics and other health risks in our society.

  1. Education & Learning

Innovation and creative application of technology will play a pivotal role in transforming our youths’ learning journey and prepare them more effectively for the evolving future workplace.

  1. Singapore’s Digital Future

As Singapore continues its digitalisation journey, there are tremendous opportunities for the next generation of innovators to create future solutions that are uniquely Singapore, such as digitalising our hawker culture.

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2022 Competition Details

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2022 – Be the Change, Shape the Future, starts from 5th October till 20th November 2022. Students that are interested, can participate in the competition by forming groups of two to four and submitting their innovative ideas or solutions on the Solve for Tomorrow 2022 website.

There are two categories for Solve for Tomorrow 2022.

Prizes

A total of 20 teams (10 from each category) will be shortlisted. Each of these teams will receive a S$600 cash prize to develop and refine their ideas and/or develop their prototype.

Out of these 20 teams, 10 teams (five from each category) will be selected to present at the finale event in January 2023, where the top three winners from each category will be announced.

  • First Prize for Category 1 and Category 2:
    • S$12,000 worth of Samsung products
    • S$5,000 cash prize
  • Second Prize for Category 1 and Category 2:
    • S$7,000 worth of Samsung products
    • S$3,000 cash prize
  • Third Prize for Category 1 and Category 2:
    • S$4,000 worth of Samsung products
    • S$1,000 cash prize

For more information on Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2022 

If you like to know more information on Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2022 – Be the Change, Shape the Future, please visit https://www.samsung.com/sg/solvefortomorrow.

Do Pay-It-Forward and Pass-It-On this information to the students in your family and friends networks!  

* Information and picture courtesy of Samsung and IN.FOM *

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Singtel welcomes F1 to Singapore as official network partner of GPSS 2022

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Singtel welcomes F1 to Singapore as the official network partner of Grand Prix Season Singapore 2022 (GPSS 2022), powering the experiences and festivities along Orchard Road and Clarke Quay with 5G. With Singtel’s nationwide 5G coverage, F1 race spectators, visitors to the various MICE events coinciding with Singapore GP, locals and tourists alike will be able to experience the high-speed connectivity and ultra-low latency of Singtel’s 5G network from anywhere on the island.

Singapore is the first country to be fully covered by standalone 5G network, Singtel is taking the 5G experience to the next level at GPSS 2022 and F1. In a world’s first, Singtel will be applying the most advanced form of network slicing technology  to support its digital app marketplace, CAST. With Sports Plus on Singtel CAST, race fans will be able to catch the entire high-velocity night race from wherever they are, even around the high traffic areas of the circuit, where over 250,000 spectators are expected, due to the dedicated capacity being allocated to the service.

Ms Anna Yip, CEO of Consumer Singapore, Singtel, said, “We’re extremely excited and honoured to be the official network partner for the upcoming Grand Prix season. This is also why we raced to complete our nationwide standalone 5G coverage in July, 3 years ahead of schedule, in time for Singapore’s National Day and now F1. As the first major international event held here since travel restrictions lifted, this race is significant as it marks Singapore’s comeback and demonstrates the potential of 5G to drive innovation and unlock new digital use cases that can help boost the nation’s recovery. Our CAST app gives race fans full visibility of the track action by enabling high-definition content streaming while locals and tourists can enjoy other digital experiences from making video calls, augmented reality gaming and more with 5G – bringing greater fun to the festivities.”

With Sports Plus on Singtel CAST at S$9.90 for the week, customers can also enjoy the race on their 5G mobile devices which will offer an enhanced lag-free, high-speed streaming experience. If you like to find out more about Singtel CAST and Sports Plus, please visit cast.singtel.com.

Immersive experiences beyond the track

In addition to having the fastest and most extensive 5G network in Singapore, delivering 5G speeds of up to 1.2Gbps, and spanning more than 1,300 outdoor and 400 in-building locations, as well as underground, Singtel is bringing more 5G experiences beyond the Marina Bay area.

  • The Singtel 5G Experience booth, open daily from 11am to 10pm in front of Ngee Ann City from 23 September to 2 October, will include an immersive 3D augmented reality race simulator that enables users to feel like their favourite F1 drivers, showcasing the high-speed, ultra-low latency advantages of 5G. The first 100 visitors to the booth who share a photo of their experience on their social platforms with the hashtag #Singtel5GEverywhere stand to walk away with exclusive 5G merchandise.
  • The Singtel 5G network will also be powering the live broadcasts from the Mediacorp roadshow, for the first time, on Orchard Road via 5G SIM cards instead of local area network cables or WiFi, ensuring smooth, ultra-low latency transmission of their content. Visitors can catch their favourite Mediacorp DJs and artistes such as Justin Ang, Vernetta Lopez, Dennis Chew, Qi Yuwu and many more, hosting games and giving away premiums on site or via their online radio app.
  • Over at *SCAPE, Singtel 5G will be powering the Teleios Next-Gen Racing Simulators which feature actual training scenarios used by F1 drivers for users to try their hand at.

Singtel customers can also enjoy exclusive perks at the precinct activations, such as:

  • Up to 15% discount off sustainability workshops held at *SCAPE, including guided workshops on figurine making and slime making
  • 10% off the total bill at the Auchentoshan Whisky Art Installation booth by Beam Suntory booth at Orchard Road, Outside Mandarin Gallery
  • Free Peroni Nastro Azzuro or Peroni Nastro Azzuro 0% for the first 100 Singtel customers at the Peroni activation at Clarke Quay

To find out more about the Singtel 5G Experience at GPSS 2022 precinct activations, visit singtel.com/5G/GPSS.

  • In the heartlands, race fans can also enjoy an ultra-responsive and lag-free gaming experience that emulates the hyper-realistic conditions F1 drivers face via the #SingaporeGP Roving Truck. Equipped with Singtel 5G, the first-of-its-kind truck in Singapore is equipped with high-definition digital screens on both sides and has been broadcasting some F1 races from this season since July. The truck will be at One Kampong Glam on 27 and 28 September, from 4pm to 10pm.

5G connectivity for tourists

To support the high number of tourists keen to experience the GPSS at its best, Singtel is launching the Singtel Prepaid 5G $50 and $30 hi!Tourist SIM card, which comes with up to 120GB of 5G data, unlimited local talk time and SMS, 90 minutes of international minutes, and up to 5GB of data roam to popular destinations.

Tourists can also look forward to SIM cards with popular Singapore landmarks and race car images printed on them as well as an exclusive race car thumb drive that has been developed to commemorate the F1 season.

The prepaid SIMs are available at the Travelex Foreign Currency Exchange, Changi Recommends, and Cheers at Singapore Changi Airport, as well as at any Singtel Shop. Customers may also pre-order the cards online via Singtel, KKday, Traveloka and Trip.com, and pick them up at the airport or any Singtel Shop.

For more information about 5G Singtel’s hi!Tourist SIM cards, visit singtel.com/hitourist and on Singtel’s 5G offerings, visit singtel.com/5G.

* Information and pictures courtesy of Singtel *

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Zoho Sign integrated with “Sign with Singpass”

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Zoho Corporation, a leading global technology company, signs on with Singpass to launch Zoho Sign, a complete digital signature app for business signatories. Singpass is Singapore’s national digital identity, it’s one of the Singapore’s Smart Nation strategic national projects. Singpass provides a convenient and secure platform for Singapore residents to transact with Singapore Government agencies and private sector organisations. To date, this includes 700 organisations offering more than 2,000 services. The “Sign with Singpass” feature was launched in November 2020, allowing users to digitally sign documents such as contracts and agreements using their Singpass credentials.

Zoho Sign

Zoho Sign is a complete digital signature application by Zoho Corporation, a leading global technology company. Recognised by top-industry analysts, Zoho Sign offers military-grade encryption and ensures the highest level of data security and is ESIGN and eIDAS compliant. Beyond, digital signing, Zoho Sign combines document management, workflow configuration and document tracking capabilities in a simple user interface.

Zoho Sign + Singpass

From September 2022, users in Singapore with a Singpass account will be able to use Sign with Singpass to authenticate their Zoho Sign signing process.

To use Zoho Sign + Singpass, you would need to do the following:

  1. Enable Sign with Singpass in Zoho Sign.
  2. Upload the document and select if you are signing yourself or to collect signature from others.
  3. Select the Sign via Singpass option during the document signing process.
  4. Open the Singpass app on your mobile device and scan the QR code to sign the document. Singpass and Zoho Sign handshake happens here showing a “Code” that ensures the authenticity of the signing process and to make the user feel comfortable of the authenticity.
  5. Once the document is signed, you can download the document signed with Singpass from your Zoho Sign account at anytime. The document would have a “Singpass” logo in the PDF now as the Identity provider is Singpass.

Where can Zoho Sign be used?

Zoho Sign can be used in the following context:

  • Business – Invoices, sales contracts, Income tax filings
  • Banking & Finance – Loan agreements, account openings, credit reports, beneficiary forms
  • Real Estate – Mortgage forms, brokerage agreements, leases, rent agreements, closing disclosures
  • Government – Procurement forms, enforcement documents, licensing documents
  • Employment contracts

Benefits of using Zoho Sign + Singpass

What are the benefits of using Zoho Sign + Singpass? As Singapore is striving towards a Smart Nation country, this is part of the digital growth journey and transformation that we have to embark on.

Using e-signatures are now recognised, allowing organisations to make the commitment towards paperless operations. This move significantly saves time and money, it also eliminate the hassle of printing out documents, chasing for signatures and the process of filling the physical documents there after. With a digital technology like Zoho Sign, organisations are able to remotely obtain required signatories.

Sign with Singpass allows users to digitally sign documents using their signing certificate (issued by the National Certification Authority) contained in their Singpass app. The digital signature generated using the signing certificate is cryptographically linked to the signer, providing businesses with higher assurance of the authenticity and integrity of the signed documents.

This integration is now readily available to all existing Zoho Sign users. Enable this integration to all your signers by navigating to the Settings menu and then Integrations. Zoho Sign also offers comprehensive help documentation to configure this integration in your account.

Not a Zoho Sign user?

If you are not already a Zoho Sign user, you can sign up for a 14-day free Enterprise trial. If you have any questions or feedback about Zoho Sign, you can email them at support@zohosign.com.

* Information and picture courtesy of Zoho and Priority Consultants *

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Temus to support and accelerate digital transformation in Singapore and beyond

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Temus was established in April 2021 by Temasek in partnership with global digital services UST, to support and accelerate digital transformation of leading enterprises and public sector agencies in Singapore and beyond. Temus today counts some of the country’s most future-forward government agencies and large enterprises as its customers, spanning a range of industries from financial services and insurance, healthcare, education, consumer goods, telecommunications, infrastructure, energy and waste management, among others.

Temus’ workforce has expanded to around 200 professionals in under 18 months, and they are expected to grow by five fold over the next three years, as they continue to serve the digital aspirations of its growing base of customers. Temus has attracted a strong line-up of experienced talents in strategy, design, architecture, technology, data and artificial intelligence (AI).

“Temus’ growth momentum is a testament to our unique proposition of forging long-term partnerships with our customers while keeping ‘value creation’ at the heart of helping to shape their digital futures,” said KC Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer, Temus. “We will build on this promising start to accelerate the growth of Singapore’s digital talent pool and build distinct digital capabilities for our customers – in tandem with the country’s Smart Nation aspirations.”

“Temus was born into a generation-defining crisis, at a time when organisations accelerated their investments in digital to thrive,” said Srijay Ghosh, Founding Member and Chief Revenue Officer, Temus. “Experts predict that by the end of this year, more than half the global economy will be powered by digital. Imagine what these digital transformations can do to uplift lives, raise productivity, and grow the economy. Temus was founded for these reasons and more. We remain committed to unlocking economic and societal value through holistic transformation.”

Growing Digital Talent – Step IT Up x Temus – “Hire, Place and Train” programme: Helping locals with no tech training or experience 

Growing digital talent in Singapore, Temus announced “Step IT Up x Temus”, this is an accelerated “Hire, Place and Train” programme, helping to broaden digital opportunities and expand the local digital talent pool for Singapore. Candidates with no prior coding or software programming training and experience will be given priority admission to the programme.

Step IT Up was first introduced in 2014 by Temus’ strategic partner UST, to create computer science career opportunities for minority and disadvantaged groups in the United States. Since then, the Step IT Up programme has run in other countries such as Mexico, Poland, Australia, Costa Rica, and Israel. About 87% of graduates have secured digital and technology jobs at leading global companies, and 90% of them have stayed at least 2 years. A key point to take note is that, none of these trainees had a technology background.

Step IT Up is now available in Singapore, around 400 people are expected to benefit from Step IT Up x Temus by 2025. Candidates will be offered a full training sponsorship, financial stipend, and a full time job upon graduation from their training.

“When Temus was founded, it was as much about building capabilities and value creation, as it was about organically developing digital talent. People and talent are central to any transformation and close to the purpose of Temus and at the heart of what we do, how we do it,” said Srijay. “We are proud of the launch of Step IT Up x Temus. As our candidates digitally transform, so will we – and the customers we serve. I hope more people will join us and be the change.”

Interested to sign up for Step IT Up x Temus?

If you are from a non technology background and you are interested to sign up for Step IT Up x Temus programme, you are welcome to apply to the programme at https://www.stepitup.temus.com. Application for the fist batch of trainees will close on 24th October 2022 and training will commence on 28th November 2022.

Building Digital Capabilities: Temus makes first acquisition – Dreamcloud

Building digital capabilities in Singapore, Temus announced the completion of its first acquisition, Dreamcloud, a home-grown Singapore headquartered, and award-winning integrator. They are founded in 2011, Dreamcloud was one of the pioneers in the low-code space. They became the first partner of OutSystems in Southeast Asia in 2014, and they have one of Singapore’s largest OutSystems delivery teams today.

The integration of Dreamcloud’s capabilities will strengthen Temus’ app development practice and complement its tech modernisation capabilities, helping customers develop, deploy, and scale digital solutions with speed.

“We are excited about this milestone because there is strong alignment between both organisations in terms of culture and purpose. Dreamcloud’s low-code, high speed app development capabilities synergises with Temus’ strategy to build a strong app development practice, and this will allow us to take a broader view of our customers’ digital transformation initiatives and provide more holistic solutions,” said Daniel Lim, Managing Director, Dreamcloud. “Having the full support of Temus gives us the capability to deepen engagements with our global network of over 30 customers, and continue to offer them with cutting edge digital transformation solutions.”

“Organisations of every size and industry are transforming how they do business in the digital age – speed, agility, and simplicity are at the heart of successful transformations,” said KC. “As Temus grows, we will unlock even greater value for our customers by catalysing digital transformation holistically, for economic and societal impact.”

Discovering Digital Transformation Journey

Although I started off writing about and covering consumer technology sectors, I found myself expanding into enterprise and business technology sectors, writing and covering more into those sectors. Discovering digital transformation journey is an area that I am working on whenever the opportunity to discover more about this sector arises. This is also something that I am interested in, continuing on from my previous working experiences in a local small-medium business in Singapore.

This introduction to Temus is opening up another avenue in my discovering digital transformation journey. I would like to find out more and learn more about Temus’ work, and share more when the opportunity arises.

For more information on Temus, please visit their website and check them out.

* Information and pictures courtesy of Temus *

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Smarter Property Search with MOGUL.sg

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Owning a property is probably high on many people’s agenda for their family/growth/future/financial planning in Singapore. Whether they are planning to own a public housing or private properties, people search for property listings in Singapore at different stages of their life, from getting a new property, moving to another new property and even selling their property.

How easy is it to search for property listings in Singapore? There are currently a few websites/portals that potential buyers/sellers can visit and check out. I used some of the property listings websites/portals before, doing some research into second hand public housing flats should I decide to move out on my own. I was even researching on two storey HDB shophouses for potential business investments too! My experiences using some of the property listings websites/portals were alright, it wasn’t fantastic and at times, cluttered with too many things on the page itself.

When I went for MOGUL.sg property search portal launch event, I wasn’t too sure how this new property search portal would turn out. MOGUL.sg uses Singapore Land Authority’s OneMap geospatial data and that is something that caught my attention. The OneMap is probably not as popular as Google Map (for Singapore context IMHO), although OneMap has a lot of details inside them.

Upon listening to the presentation by Mr Gerald Sim, CEO and Founder of MOGUL.sg, I was able to view this new property search portal and have a better understanding. After the presentation, I was able to get a hands on with the laptops available at the event for us to experience it for ourselves and try it out. The user interface (UI) is clean, uncluttered and easy to use, with the OneMap on the side, the user can do a lot more things/inputs to “search for their perfect/ideal home location”.

Whether you are a property buyer, property seller or property agent, I strongly encourage you to experience MOGUL.sg yourself! Try it out and there is a world of difference between current property search websites/portals in the market. To all my friends in the property industry, you have to check them out!

Now, let me share more information and details of MOGUL.sg –

Dubbed “Singapore’s smartest property portal,” MOGUL’s secret sauce is its implementation of custom keywords – which are generated from the Singapore Land Authority’s OneMap geospatial data – to help users search with greater granularity.

Traditional property portals let users filter their search by selecting from a small number of parameters such as district, location, price and type of property. The problem: The results swarm in by the hundreds, and even thousands, making the search unwieldy and time-consuming.

Enter MOGUL.sg’s keyword-based search system. It works just like Google Search. In its database are over 5,000 – and growing – custom keywords that describe the characteristics of the property that the user is searching for. Keying in “near North-South line” will show all property listings that are 0.5 km away from any MRT station along the red line. Combine a second keyword, “near supermarket”, and the system filters out homes which are more than 300m from any supermarket. Throw in more words such as “hawker centre”, “hospital”, “sports complex” and “park” or physical features such as “high floor”, “point block” or “boat dock”, and the home seeker gets the results he or she is looking for.

Gerald Sim, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of MOGUL.sg says: “The proliferation of property portals over the last decade offers consumers more choices but the search process has become too complex and unwieldy over the years. MOGUL.sg aims to use A.I. to simplify these processes and make the matching between property owners and home seekers easier and more transparent.”

MOGUL.sg is one of the pioneer start-ups housed at the Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) recently-launched GeoWorks at Alexandra Road. GeoWorks was set up by SLA as an industry centre to galvanise the geospatial industry by connecting geospatial businesses, entrepreneurs as well as users and support them with the resources and expertise to catalyse geospatial innovation and solutions.

Harnessing OneMap data for smarter searching

MOGUL.sg makes use of SLA’s open-source OneMap which provides highly localised, granular and authoritative government geospatial data and services to the public. For example, OneMap provides information on multiple building types and amenities such as hawker centres, schools, child care centres and expressway exits.

OneMap’s routing API even recognises that void decks are unique buildings where people can walk through. This is important for MOGUL.sg to define the meaning of the word “nearby.” For example, when a user keys in the word “nearby hawker centre” the system will list all hawker centres within 3 minutes of walking time, considering the user’s ability to cut through the void decks.

“Having the most accurate and updated map data empowers our keyword-search system with powerful context. We may be the new kid on the block but integrating OneMap is our competitive advantage which will differentiate us,” added Mr Sim.

SLA Geospatial and Data Director and Chief Data Officer Ng Siau Yong said: “Location-based data is playing an increasingly integral role in our daily lives. We set up GeoWorks to encourage the growth of a geospatial-enabled community to leverage on geospatial technology and analytics to develop innovative solutions to benefit the wider community. We are pleased to be able to facilitate the development of MOGUL.sg by pioneering a GeoTech company based in GeoWorks.”

No ads in MOGUL.sg
The growth of advertising in property portals has made it a battle between agents with the deepest pockets to get onto the top of search results. Getting to the top of the list is often based on how much money the agent is spending instead of delivering the most relevant results to the home seeker. In addition, the organic results are often listed in chronological order with no regard for the degree of relevance to the user.

Mogul.sg does not support ad-listings because its primary goal is to deliver accurate and relevant results for the home seeker.

“We think that users are tired of having to scroll through pages of ads before even reaching organic results from real home owners. We want to do for property search what Google did for the Web search industry in the early 2000s – deliver accurate and useful search results for the users,” added Mr Sim.

Smart A.I. search with more relevant results

With MOGUL.sg’s keyword-based system, home seekers can easily narrow their search down to a manageable number of properties that match all their requirements (e.g. west-facing, near a primary school or any MRT, etc.). And if the home seeker doesn’t find what they’re looking for, MOGUL.sg’s in-built AI will scan all future listings and automatically recommends the ones that suit their search history.

At MOGUL.sg, users can also organise their favourite listings into folders, which can be shared with partners and family members.

Helping home owners find a match through property concierge services

MOGUL.sg also offers a property concierge service for users who do not want to scroll through multiple listings or contact multiple agents.  MOGUL.sg’s hand-picked concierge team can help the user by being their only point of contact throughout their real estate journey.

“Instead of focusing on advertising revenue, we want to move to an agent subscription service which levels the playing field for buyers, sellers and property agents,” added Mr Sim.

MOGUL.sg is currently offering free listings to agents for the first year and $365 for the subsequent year.

MOGUL.sg Features

Smart Search — Home seekers can look for properties using custom keywords and receive in-built AI recommendations.

Property Tagging — OneMap automatically tags keywords to properties that are listed; sellers can further refine the keywords or add more manually.

Up-to-date map — With OneMap support, MOGUL.sg’s map is always up-to-date with the latest building, address and road information.

Property concierge — A selected group of property agents in MOGUL.sg’s agent network forms the property concierge team. They personally filter through messages to ensure that spam does not reach home buyers and sellers alike, as well as recommend properties to potential buyers based on their keyword searches. One property concierge communicates with the home owner as the single point of contact.

To try out MOGUL.sg, please visit https://www.mogul.sg/.  You can also follow MOGUL.sg on Facebook and Instagram

* Information and pictures courtesy of MOGUL.sg and GLOO PR *

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Journey to 5G: Singtel is a step closer to 5G

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In August 2016, I shared an article on Singtel and Ericsson leading the way in Singapore and Southeast Asia, being the first to showcase 5G technology. Today, in January 2017, Singtel is now a step closer to 5G with the launch of nationwide 450Mbps mobile data speeds. With a step closer to 5G, it’s going to change how we work and live with our mobile data usage.

Having to work on the move and outside, the high speed 5G networks in the near future would help us a lot when we are working outside away from the office. The 5G networks are now a step closer to us in Singapore with Singtel’s launch of the 450Mbps mobile data speeds.

Let me share with you more information on the launch of nationwide 450Mbps mobile data speeds by Singtel from the press release information below –

Singtel launched Singapore’s fastest mobile network with the nationwide deployment of a 450Mbps 4G LTE-Advanced service. Delivering up to 50% faster download speeds than prevailing LTE services, this enhanced peak speed will allow customers to download a full length HD movie in less than two minutes1 over mobile data. The 450Mbps service is available to all Singtel 4G customers at no additional charge.

Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, Chief Executive Officer, Consumer Singapore, Singtel, said, “Singtel is investing ahead to deliver faster speeds and wider connections with the steady deployment of innovative technologies on our live network. With more customers consuming and sharing mobile videos, 450Mbps speeds will enable them to download movies in a flash and give them a better entertainment experience while on the go.”

This speed enhancement is made possible by Singtel’s nationwide LTE network upgrade to support 256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, or 256 QAM. A pre-5G technology, 256 QAM increases the number of unique radio waveform shapes to carry up to 33.33% higher data and elevates spectral efficiency.

Customers with Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 edge can enjoy 450Mbps speeds starting today. LG V20 users will also be able to harness the higher speeds with a soon-to-be released software update. More compatible smartphone models are expected to be launched by early 2017.

Singtel and Ericsson demonstrate up to 1Gbps LTE downlink data speeds on live network

Singtel and Ericsson have also demonstrated download speeds of up to 1Gbps in a live 4G network pilot at two sites in Pasir Ris. This ultra-fast download speed was achieved by deploying 256 QAM downlink, 4×4 Multiple Input Multiple Output (4×4 MIMO) and triple carrier aggregation technologies. 4×4 MIMO doubles the number of data paths between a cellular base station and mobile phones, delivering a speed boost of up to two times normal speeds.

Singtel will progressively rollout 4×4 MIMO technology on its network starting next year to deliver up to 1Gbps speeds at selected high-traffic locations. Supporting mobile devices are expected to be ready by end 2017.

Mr Yuen added, “Achieving 1Gbps speeds on our live network marks a significant milestone in our journey to 5G. We’re focused on driving further network innovation to extend our leadership and deliver the benefits of the latest technological advances to meet our customers’ digital lifestyle needs.”

Mr Martin Wiktorin, Country Manager of Ericsson Singapore and Brunei, said, “As user expectations for high speed internet and the ability to use apps on the move increase, network innovations with new advanced technologies are required to enable superior network performance. Ericsson, as a long-standing strategic partner of Singtel for over 20 years, is pleased to collaborate with Singtel to deliver innovative and advanced services to their customers and to further explore the opportunities that will arise with 5G.”

Singtel and Ericsson are leading the way for 4G and 5G in the country, in support of Singapore’s “Smart Nation” vision and the anticipated four-fold growth2 in connected devices. Recently, Singtel and Ericsson jointly won the “Advancing the Road to 5G” accolade at the Global Telecoms Awards 2016 for Singtel’s nationwide IoT-ready 4G LTE network.

* Information courtesy of Singtel Corporate Communications *

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Most Admired Asian Cities – Microsoft Survey

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At the recent World Cities Summit 2016, there was a dialogue session titled “Microsoft CityNext Asian Mayors’s dialogue session” whereby they revealed findings from a study titled “Microsoft CityNext Asia Pacific Survey: Your City, Your Future”.

In this survey, there were some interesting findings that I would like to share with my readers and followers. Singapore comes out top as the most admired city in Asia Pacific from the Microsoft survey yet the majority of Singapore’s residents are not very optimistic about seeing further improvements over the next decade.

Here are the information and findings from the press release –

At the Microsoft CityNext Asian Mayors’ dialogue session held at World Cities Summit 2016, Microsoft revealed findings from a study titled Microsoft CityNext Asia Pacific Survey: Your City, Your Future, which showed that one in four residents in the Asia Pacific region named Singapore as their preferred city to live in, outside of their home country. Key reasons for this preference include: the city’s cleanliness (44 percent), discipline (22 percent), safety (18 percent), as well as Singapore being a modern and exciting city (13 percent).

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The table below shows the list of most admired cities, as voted by the 2,000 survey respondents from 13 cities in the region:

Most Admired Cities in Asia Pacific

1. Singapore

2. Tokyo

3. Sydney

4. Melbourne

5. Osaka

6. Hong Kong

7. Seoul

8. Taipei

9. Bangkok

10. Kuala Lumpur

11. Shanghai

12. Ho Chi Minh City

13. Beijing

14. Jakarta

15. Manila

16. Mumbai

17. Delhi

18. Others

However, despite Singapore coming up tops as the respondents’ favourite city in Asia Pacific, the majority of Singapore’s residents are not very optimistic about seeing further improvements to their quality of life over the next decade. 43.5 percent of the Singapore residents polled expect a decline in the quality of life, contrasting against the views of a smaller group of residents – 31 percent – who expect improvements in the quality of life in the next decade. In addition, 25.5 percent of Singapore’s residents expect the city to maintain its status quo over the next decade. The residents polled also cited employment opportunities (73 percent), housing (71 percent) and transportation (70 percent) as the top three areas most in need of improvement in Singapore.

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In view of the areas outlined for improvement, a large number of Singapore residents agree that technology can play a crucial role in improving living conditions in Singapore. According to the survey, 85 percent of Singapore residents view technology’s most important role as creating better connectivity, while 79 percent of residents see technology as a means to generating greater economic opportunities such as creating employment or starting a technology startup. Other key roles for technology cited include improving information dissemination to residents about government services (78 percent), improving citizen engagement through better communication with government (76 percent), and Big Data analytics (65 percent) which can facilitate city development and planning.

Jessica Tan, Managing Director of Microsoft Singapore said: “As Singapore accelerates towards realising its Smart Nation vision, technology will play an even more important role in cementing Singapore’s position as the most admired nation in Asia Pacific. Our ability to nurture a vibrant public-private ecosystem that harnesses the power of technology to co-create innovative and citizen-centric urban solutions that will improve residents’ quality of living will be key in ensuring the continued success of the nation. The future of Singapore is a “future of us”, one that the government, businesses and residents have a stake in to collectively achieve inclusive growth.”

The Microsoft CityNext Asia Pacific Survey: Your City, Your Future was conducted with over 2,000 residents across 13 cities in Asia Pacific including Bangkok, Beijing, Delhi, Jakarta, Manila, Mumbai, Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei and Tokyo and Osaka.

About Microsoft CityNext

Microsoft CityNext is a partner-led initiative that empowers cities to be more sustainable, prosperous, and economically competitive—with a simplified approach. It helps cities unlock their potential by delivering innovative digital services that can help citizens lead safer, healthier, and more educated lives.

More information about CityNext is available at http://www.microsoft.com/citynext/.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

*Information and pictures courtesy of Microsoft Singapore and IN.FOM*