ViewQwest has seen 30 per cent increase in Internet traffic over the past few weeks. It has also received (10x) increased number of requests for WFH solutions from enterprises who are currently not equipped to accommodate a full WFH arrangement for their staff due to network challenges and insufficient VPN licenses.

ViewQwest has rolled out solutions to address issues connecting to office networks due to congested Internet connections at home. With majority of the workforce now working from home, the residential network is increasingly getting congested with traffic from enterprise and consumer usage. The increase in the number of devices that need to be connected to the corporate network also contributes to the network congestion at home.

WFH Solution 1: ViewQwest Private Network

ViewQwest’s WFH Private Network, its key WFH solution, allows the office network to be directly connected to homes. Homes that can install fibre broadband mostly have two fibre optic terminal points for the entire household. Typically, only one of the terminal points will be used for the residential broadband service. The ViewQwest Private Network will then be connected to the second, spare terminal point to build a private network which connects to the office network.

The Private Network directly addresses the main issue that businesses currently face when using standard, noncloud based Virtual Private Network (VPN) services – slow network performance especially during peak hours.

VPNs typically tap on the home or public network to run. In addition, many businesses have planned for VPNs to be used mostly by remote staff or staff who occasionally need to work from home. In the current situation where work-from-home is mandated, the Internet connection at home will be strained under the weight of shared home and work usage. 

As the Private Network is directly connected on the second, spare fibre optic terminal point at home, it does not share the same bandwidth with the home network. There will be a dedicated bandwidth from the home to the office network. WFH staff who connect to the Private Network are guaranteed optimal connection between their homes and their office network without the hassle of VPNs.

At the same time, the home network will not be disrupted.

Vignesa Moorthy, CEO of ViewQwest said, “Traditionally, VPN solutions are sized to support only 10 to 20 per cent of the workforce connecting at any point in time. When too many people who are working from home use VPNs, they are bound to face slower network performance as the VPN solution will be operating over its initial capacity. In addition, the home network in which the VPN is operating from will also be congested with enterprise and consumer usage, which slows the network performance further.”

WFH Solution 2: ViewQwest Cloud Virtual Private Network Service (Cloud VPN)

Legacy VPNs are built upon a hardware-based infrastructure. As such, it is subjected to hardware capacity constraints and will not be able to keep up with sudden increase in usage quickly. This results in businesses not being able to upgrade their VPNs to accommodate a larger capacity urgently when needed.

ViewQwest’s Cloud VPN solution addresses this issue directly by having the VPN on a cloud platform. With a cloudbased VPN, businesses can choose to easily scale the VPN to cater to as many staff as required as there is no need for any infrastructure or hardware upgrade to do so.

Cloud VPN will be offered as an on-demand service. ViewQwest can activate the Cloud VPN for enterprises within 24 hours. 

Pricing

The Cloud VPN solution will cost S$5 per user per month while the Private Network solution will be priced according to the requirements of the customer. Enterprises who subscribe to the Private Network solution will also be charged according to Active and Standby periods.

Syfe’s latest portfolio combines SGX-listed REITs and Singapore Government Bonds to create a risk-managed solution

SINGAPORE – 3 February 2020 – Digital wealth manager, Syfe, today launched the REIT+ portfolio, a first-of-its-kind initiative that allows anyone in Singapore to start risk-managed investing in Singapore real estate with no minimum investment.

Unlike buying a property or REITs as a private investor, Syfe’s REIT+ product offers an easy, risk-managed and low-cost way for investors to access Singapore’s thriving REIT market with a fee as low as 0.4% per annum of your invested capital.

REIT+ consists of 15 high-quality SGX-listed REITs (S-REITs) that span retail, industrial, office, and hospitality amongst other sectors. To protect REIT+ portfolios, Syfe’s Automated Risk-Managed Investing (ARI) will manage risk by balancing portfolios of S-REITs with Singapore government bonds.

Through backtesting, a process that tests algorithms by running them through historical data, the REIT+ portfolio on average has yielded a return of 9.0% over the last five years. The portfolio also pays a dividend, which in 2019, was 4.6%, and can be automatically reinvested or paid-out at regular intervals offering investors a great source of passive income.

In recent years, REITs have proven to be a great investment option because it allows Singaporeans an easy way to become real estate owners, without dealing with the day-to-day worries of being a landlord. By investing in an REIT, you’re investing in properties managed by that REIT and you’re eligible to earn dividends on the rental income earned by those properties.

Dhruv Arora, Founder and CEO of Syfe said: “The launch of the REIT+ offering represents another strong step forward in our journey to making quality investment solutions accessible to all. In addition to our flagship Automated Risk-Managed Investing (ARI) global portfolio, we now offer investors an easy way to enter Singapore’s exciting and rewarding REIT landscape.”

“At Syfe, we’re constantly pushing the boundaries of financial innovation, and we’ll continue to do so to meet the investment needs of investors in Singapore,” added Mr. Arora.

REIT+ is Syfe’s latest addition to the platform, following the launch of a Financial Advisor team, which allows customers to secure consultation sessions with wealth management specialists, providing high quality financial advice.

About Syfe

Syfe is a digital wealth manager offering professionally managed portfolios to everyone, which have previously only been accessible to institutional investors or high-net-worth individuals, driving innovation and democratising investment. Syfe’s proprietary algorithm, developed in-house with state of the art technology and proven investment models, build personalised portfolios for each customer and continuously monitors and adjusts each portfolio to maximise returns and manage risk.

Source: Media Outreach

Admit it. We still desire to own an iPhone; we won’t want to be seen carrying a cheap phone while having drink session with friends. However, running the risk of losing their over-priced iPhone during vacation is like “Ouch”. It is no secret that most of us carry more than 1 device– one for “work” and a second one for practical use.

Here, we got our hands on the new realme XT. One of the key highlights of the phone is its quad-camera. Yes you heard it right. This phone is packed with not 2, not 3 but 4 rear camera and that is against the triple camera of the iPhone 11. The 64 MP image sensor by Samsung, which realme claimed that it is the highest resolution image sensor in the smartphone market, could shoot ultra-high-resolution photo that is equivalent to the size of a 3.2m X 2.4m poster print-out.

Supreme Camera Specs

Wow… The technical specs do look good on paper. But more camera does not mean anything? How about the overall image quality?  We challenged the phone to take night scene of our beautiful Singapore city. The 64MP camera sensor produces reasonable clear, crisp landscape photo even under low light condition. Below is the sample photo of the night scene shot with the 64 MP sensor.

Night shot has always a challenge for camera phone. If we zoomed into the night scene photo, we observe some “noise” on the background. However, the building names are captured reasonably well by 64MP sensor under challenging city lightning.  

We have also tested the night mode. The sensor manages to snap the photo within 3 seconds. The image is quite impressive, and its algorithm manages to brighten the dark parts of the photo. For instance, we captured the red hook of the crane in the photo with the night mode turned on.

Limited Internal Storage

As a relatively new brand, realme XT’s camera performance has surprised us. The 64MP image sensor is very appealing to smartphone users. However, The image size shot at 64MP could be as high as 12MB and that is significantly larger than normal (one 64MP image is about 5 times more than the usual image size).

The 128GB internal storage may not be enough for users who love to take pictures with their smartphones. Fortunately, the realme XT has included external microSD slot that could allow user to store additional 256GB.

Camera is good but what else?

I know this may not be relevant as the customer moves towards wireless earpiece. Who still expect to get complimentary earphone when unboxing a new phone? But still, we may want to bring along our favourite headset when we are out for vacation. The option to connect via the legacy 3.5mm audio jack is still more favourable. Well, you can argue that we could bring an additional 3.5mm-to-Type C adaptor. I am on vacation. I just want to bring the minimal.

It has in-display fingerprint sensor which works reasonably fast and the ColorOS by OPPO gives a very clean Android interface which makes the navigation within the OS very pleasing.

Verdict

This OPPO’s spinoff brand has surprised me. In terms of performance, the phone does deliver what most consumers want but at the fraction of the price of high-end models in the market. Camera performance is very decent for the price point.  

I do carry a handful of phones out for work purposes, but I always have the tendency to use the realme XT for street and food photography. The attractive price tag on realme XT is appealing to frequent travellers who might afraid of losing their “work” phone (yes I am refering to your iPhone) while traveling. The realme XT could save your travel photo in the old school micro-SD card and you don’t need to rely on internet access to backup your photo and this is especially useful when you visit countries where internet accessibility is poor.

SINGAPORE 16 December 2019 -Singapore based technology start-up iTask releases their findings with compilation of a list of top 10 freelance jobs only found in Singapore during the festive season.

To our surprise, renting-a-friend ranks number 9 in Singapore’s top freelance jobs. This market seem to grow acceptance in Singapore society. Fee could go as low as SGD 20 per hour.

iTask is an on-demand talents service marketplace mobile app platform creates the opportunity to improve the community’s living quality.

Here are the top ten unusual freelance jobs that arose from the hype of these two festive seasons:

#1 Spring Cleaning Helpers

Everyone expects their homes to look smack and clean during the festive season, however, not many bears the desire or motivation to perform the task of spring cleaning. A simple solution would be to engage the services of freelance cleaning professionals to do the job with no worries about cleaning up the mess after wild Christmas-eve parties, or fears of homes being not presentable enough for relatives and friends. The professional cleaning aunties and uncles will handle the task easily and prices start from $55 for a three-hour general cleaning service.

#2 Gift and Hamper Wrappers

Wish to wrap an impressive Christmas gift or a Chinese New Year hamper for business clients and associates but lack the proper gift-wrapping skills? Lack the time to buy gifts? An alternative would be to outsource these tasks to a freelancer and let them work their magic. Prices start from $8 per task.

#3 Courier Services

Gifts and hampers wrapped but do not have the time to deliver these personally? Just engage the assistance of a personalised courier service provider. Do note that such services are high in demand during the festive season; hence, try to book the services in advance. Prices start from $5 per item-basis task.

#4 Tuition and Enrichment Activities

The holiday season may not be a relaxing period for children with ‘tiger’ parents who have high hopes and expectation. While some parents may bring their kids out on recreational trips, some parents may wish to send the kids for extra tuition and enrichment classes. This is true kiasu-ism in the workings! Hence, during the holiday season, the demand is high for freelance tuition professionals and enrichment teachers such as a piano teacher. Prices start from $10 per lesson.

#5 Pet Sitting Services

Planning an overseas Christmas holiday or an ‘escapade’ from giving out too many hongbaos during Chinese New Year and need somebody to take care of the furry friends while away? Consider freelance pet sitting services where pet-sitters drop by to feed your paw buddies or take them out for a walk. Rates start from $10.

#6 Buying Groceries From Johor Bahru

Planning to stock up the low-cost groceries from JB for the upcoming Chinese New Year? Engage a freelancer to buy groceries from our neighboring city, for a small fee. Services like these allows for cheaper purchases minus the hassle of queueing at the customs. Prices start from $10 per task.

#7 Bakkwa Buyer

This is another hot-on-the-list request for freelance service providers in recent years. Not wanting to join the queue from a prestigious brand but as a bakkwa connoisseur who cannot survive a CNY season without bakkwa? Engage an errand provider who will queue many hours to buy the best bakkwa for your behalf! Prices start from $10 per errand.

#8 Picnic Set-ups

Wish to have something special for your Christmas party, New Year countdown or even Valentine’s Day? A pretty picnic set-up will definitely pump up the festive mood. There’s never a limit to how you can celebrate any occasions over picnic! Different packages and themes for you to choose from. What you need to do is just dress things up all nice and pretty for an Instagram-worthy-photos. Let the memories stay. Don’t be surprised if you get more likes for your FB & IG than your friends have. Packages start from $130.

#9 OMG… Rent a Friend / Date

No joke! This is also in the list! For all the ‘self-partnered’ people (thanks to Emma Watson for coining this term.) out there, there is an opportunity to rent a friend for the next Christmas or Chinese New Year gathering. Fees for renting a friend starts at $20 per hour. [minus any illegal and naughty stuff]

#10 Mental Supporter or Someone To Share Deepest Secrets With

The festive season are definitely a stressful period, either due to preparations and the mad rush of getting things done on time. Many seek a mental supporter or a companion to share with their worries and secrets with. Either a face-to-face session or via a personal listening service. Rates start from $10 per hour.

So here are the top ten unbelievable freelance jobs ONLY found in Singapore!

Source: Media OutReach 

Today, Acronis, a cloud-based data backup and recovery service provider, announces the acquisition of 5nine, a global provider of Microsoft Hyper-V and Azure cloud management and security solutions. As part of the agreement, 5nine will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Acronis.

5nine offers end-to-end cloud solutions for Hyper-V and the first and only agentless, multilayered security solution for Hyper-V and Azure. Its innovative, powerful, and easy-to-use software is designed to reduce costs, increase productivity, and mitigate security risks.

Acronis will integrate 5nine’s technology into the Acronis Cyber Platform, making new services available through the Acronis Cyber Cloud Solutions portal. 5nine’s solutions will enable managed service providers (MSPs) and IT organizations to simplify cloud service orchestration, create new business, and manage their customers’ needs.

Together with 5nine, Acronis will offer customers and partners an easier way to migrate workloads from their physical or virtual infrastructure to Acronis Cyber Infrastructure, Microsoft Azure or both. 5nine’s ability to unify cloud migration, management, monitoring, and innovative workload management tools and processes enables customers to cover the Five Vectors of Cyber Protection – ensuring the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) of all data, applications, and systems.

“By combining with Acronis, we will be able to accelerate product innovation, expand our distribution channel, and leverage our existing technology to meet customer requirements,” said Karen Armor, Chief Executive Officer at 5nine. “With the knowledge gained from almost a decade of experience managing and protecting Microsoft virtual machines on behalf of our customers, we are certain that this acquisition will drive cloud adoption and ensure secure and reliable cloud infrastructure deployments worldwide.”

Acronis sees the value in offering 5nine’s services to its community of 50,000 partners in the IT channel, enabling MSPs and cloud service providers to better manage their hybrid infrastructure workloads. Acronis’ ability to meet infrastructure deployment requirements by location, budget, and use case provides them with the ultimate in control and flexibility to deliver cyber protection with Acronis Cyber Infrastructure, Microsoft Azure, and more

“By adding 5nine’s solutions to our portfolio of cyber protection products and services, we’re giving our partners and customers an easy way to adopt the Microsoft hybrid cloud platform. With a combined solution, organizations will be able to migrate all or select workloads to the cloud and then manage both on-premises and cloud virtual machines with a single interface. We envision combining the functionality of the two solutions by extending Acronis’ easy-to-use, single pane of glass, resulting in IT administrators monitoring, managing and ensuring cyber protection for all workloads, regardless of their location,” said Serguei “SB” Beloussov, Acronis Founder and CEO.

Trans-Cab Services, Singapore’s second-largest taxi company and Gojek Singapore  announced partnership to allow more than 3000 Trans-Cab drivers to gain access to bookings made via the Gojek platform, and will be able to fulfill private-hire trips on a flat-fare basis from December 2019.

Within a short 1 year span, Gojek claimed to have clocked 30 million completed trips in Singapore. Singapore is now Gojek’s second-largest transport market after Indonesia in terms of transaction value, a testament to customer trust and value in Gojek’s offering.

Trans-Cab chief executive officer Teo Kiang Ang said: “This collaboration with Gojek is fantastic. It will enable our drivers to access on-demand bookings via the Gojek app, while they continue to be able to take on street-hail jobs. Our drivers will greatly benefit from this flexibility and increased earning opportunity.

In fact, Gojek is not the only ride-hailing services provider that Trans-Cab is working with. In September this year, Trans-Cab has inked a partnership with another small local company Ryde.

It is inevitable for Trans-Cab to venture into private hires ever since private hire like Uber and Grab entered Singapore. In less than 10 years,  the number of taxis in Singapore has dropped drastically from 28,000 to under 20,000. To overcome the technological barrier, it may be better for taxi operator like Trans-Cab to partner, instead of going head-on, with car hailing service providers like Gojek and Ryde.

Currently, Trans-cab has a fleet of close to 3,000 taxi which is very far behind market leader ComfortDelGro Corp.’s 11,000 vehicles under its Comfort and CityCab brands, data from the Land Transport Authority showed.

In early September this year, Trans-Cab announced intention for listing in Singapore stock exchange with a valuation of SGD 200 million.

ViewQwest, Singapore-based Internet Service Provider (ISP), launched Vesta, its smart living platform which will provide users with hassle-free and highly personalised smart living services. Unlike traditional smart living products, Vesta is a subscription-based service which comes with full-service installation, maintenance and customer support. 

To kickstart, ViewQwest launches its home security service on Vesta – Vesta Shield, a smart monitoring service which provides round-the-clock monitoring. Beyond that, Viesta Shield alerts users of intrusions. Various sensors can be set up around the home or office to detect opening of doors and unexpected movements. The data collected is wirelessly transmitted to a central Vesta hub which processes the data and sends meaningful notifications to the user via the Vesta app. 

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When there are any unexpected events in the home or office while the system is armed, Vesta Shield will automatically send an alert to the user via the app, SMS, or automated call through its intelligent notification engine. Email confirmation may also be provided for every monitored and triggered activity. There is also an option to set the built-in siren within the Vesta Hub to go off and emit a loud, high-pitched noise designed to alert people at home as well as to scare away the intruders.

If the alert notification is not acknowledged within 60 seconds, the armed siren will sound. The system will then automatically call contacts registered in Vesta Shield’s escalation list if the siren is not turned off within 2 minutes. Vesta’s escalation list provides the primary, secondary and tertiary contacts for effective escalation. For example, if the primary contact does not respond and no action has been taken, another call is made to the secondary contact and if the latter also does not respond, then the tertiary contact is contacted.

Future updates to Vesta will also enable the integration of different smart accessories and hardware, allowing users to operate all smart devices through the single Vesta hub.  

Singapore’s smart device penetration at home is predicted to grow from 20.6% in 2019 to 36.1% in 2023², as more Singaporean homes are keen in smart living solutions.

Vignesa Moorthy, CEO of ViewQwest said, “More Singaporean homes are keen in smart living solutions, but some are deterred by the inconvenience of setting up devices all on their own. We want to take the tough out of the equation with our subscription-based service model.”  

Vesta Shield starts from $25 per month and will be available to all new and existing ViewQwest customers.

To complement smart living solutions, ViewQwest is also partnering security specialist Trend Micro to offer the Home Network Security as a subscription-based service starting November 2019. The Home Network Security creates a new and extensive layer of cyber security protection for the home network, protecting Vesta IOT devices as well as the computers, mobile phones and other devices connected to the network. 

Availability and Pricing

From November 2019 to February 2020, ViewQwest will be offering a free trial of the Vesta Shield to existing ViewQwest customers – residential and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). 

Vesta Shield will be available in Q1 2020 in three bundles:

• Starter bundle: S$25/month with $80 activation fee
• Essential bundle: S$30/month 
• Full Protect bundle: S$35/month

For full details of the availability and pricing, and to subscribe to the smart living services, please visit: https://www.viewqwest.com/smartliving/vesta.

StarHub is the sole telco to launch Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL for Singapore customers.

Starting Saturday, 26 October 2019, customers will be able to buy Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL at $0 upfront cost with StarHub’s #HelloChange mobile plans. They will be able to pay for their new phone over 24 months through their StarHub monthly bills.

Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL will be available for purchase through StarHub Online Store at www.starhub.com/pixel-4 or at StarHub Shops. Online Exclusive: Customers who buy through StarHub Online Store will get an exclusive mobile plan benefit – free surfing every weekend on StarHub’s superfast mobile network at no additional charge. These customers will also enjoy free home delivery.

Customers on StarHub’s #HelloChange mobile plans enjoy the best value and simplicity. On top of having extra-large data bundles, customers get free caller ID forever and complete freedom from hidden activation, registration and SIM card fees as imposed by competitor brands.

StarHub will unveil full pricing details at www.starhub.com/pixel-4 at launch.

The ChillFest@ The Green has been cancelled.

The event has to be cancelled due to the projected turnout is below the threshold for viability.

All tickets purchased through our event site (www.chill-fest.com) and SISTIC Singapore  are eligible for full refunds including transaction fees (if applicable). The information shown below is everything you need in order to receive your full refund.

All participants and ticket buyers to the event will be notified through email.

Enquiries

For further enquiries regarding ticket refunds, kindly get in touch with us via info@chill-fest.com with the following details:

• Please key in <Ticket Purchaser’s Full Name> space <Ticket Purchaser’s Email Address > space <contact number> space <ticket number/transaction number> and send to <number> or <email address>.

Terms and Conditions:

1. Refund Period: Emails to ticket holders will commence 19 October to 31 October 2019.
2. Refund will be done within 14 working days from the date we received your details.
3. Organizer will not entertain any refund request after the Refund Period.
4. Please ensure the information provided is accurate.
5. Complimentary tickets are not applicable for refunds.

All enquiries regarding the event or the refund can be forwarded to info@chill-fest.com.

We all know that Huawei’s latest Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro will not come with Google Mobile Services and that mean customers outside China who bought their latest flagship phones will not be able to use Youtube or Google Maps.

In the early October, Huawei Singapore has finally released the price plan for the Singapore customers. The new Mate 30 Pro is selling at SGD 1,298. Customers can now register their interest for the Mate 30 Pro which comes in either Black or Silver color.

As part of its early bird special, interested buyers who bought the phone will be invited to an exclusive private event and on top of that, they will receive a set of free gift worth SGD 463.

We have heard good reviews about the Mate 30’s camera. No doubt, the Mate 30 is a high-quality phone. However, we don’t just use our smartphone for photography only. We use that for other purposes which is why we need Google Play to download other essentials apps to suit our needs.

Now, Google Play has been taken away and Huawei customers have to get accustomed to their in-house Huawei Mobile Services. To the Android users, this is a switching cost and that’s bring back to one question, “Is the Huawei Mate 30 Pro worthy enough for that switch?”

Personally, I am adopting a “wait-and-see” approach to see how Singapore market reacts to this. Please feel free to leave a comment below if you have some unique insights on this matter. I will love to hear from you.

For those who are interested in the phone, here are the key things to know to get your hands on the HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro:

STEP 1: Register your interest online here from 5 -15 October, 2019
STEP 2: You may receive a call or email between 16 – 24 October 2019 with an invitation to a private event (limited to 200 successful registrants, selected at random)
STEP 3:  Upon invitation, you may attend a private event to purchase the HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro and receive an exclusive gift bundle worth $463 NOTE: Those who did not receive the invitation will be informed of the next opportunity to purchase the HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro. 

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