One of China’s most highly regarded universities has partnered with the country’s biggest ecommerce company to create a new website for massive open online courses, or MOOCs. The generically named Chinese MOOCs was just launched by Peking University and Alibaba as schools around the country begin their new semesters following the Chinese New Year holiday (h/t to TechNode).
https://www.techinasia.com/alibaba-and-peking-university-launch-chinese-moocs/
BARCELONA: Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and Nokia said on Monday they are working together to develop networks running at high frequencies for use in the 5G wireless era — technology expected to be showcased at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile operator, and Nokia, the world’s third biggest telecom equipment maker, said they will be demonstrating their early technical progress on 5G radio equipment at the Mobile World Congress show here this week.
SINGAPORE: To get free shipping on their online purchases, Singaporeans are willing to spend more just to qualify, a new survey by logistics company UPS showed. The extra spend could be from adding more to their shopping cart (45 per cent), searching for promotion codes (37 per cent) or joining a loyalty programme (32 per cent), the survey revealed on Wednesday (Mar 3).
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/technology/singaporeans-willing-to/1690828.html
Acer has unveiled the Liquid M220 smartphone, its first Liquid smartphone to run on the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, featuring a 4-inch 233ppi display. The Liquid M220 features a 5-megapixel auto-focus back-end and a 2-megapixel front-end camera. The back-end camera also sports an 89-degree wide-angle lens for better photo shot.
The Victorian government will soon start accepting applications from providers interested in operating the state’s smartcard public transport ticketing system Myki. Myki was introduced as a replacement for Metcard in the Melbourne metropolitan area and paper tickets for V/Line commuter services when the contract for the ticketing solution was first awarded in 2005.
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/401131,victoria-looks-for-new-operator-to-run-myki.aspx
SK Telecom said Monday that alongside Intel it has showcased a mobile network technology that dramatically enhances data transmission capacity at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015 in Barcelona, Spain. “Together with global network companies such as Intel and Kumu, we have reached an important milestone in commercializing a fifth-generation (5G) mobile network,” said SK Telecom Chief Technology Officer Choi Jin-sung. “We plan to further cooperate in establishing a 5G network system and demonstrating related services for the first time in the world.”
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2015/03/419_174410.html
The Games Solution Center (GSC) in Singapore, initiated by the Media Development Authority and managed by Nanyang Polytechnic, is going all out for the Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Francisco this year. It’s not only hosting the largest number of Singapore game companies to date – 21, if you’re curious – it’s also sponsoring three different events and parties at the con.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on February 27 announced the release of FDD-LTE licenses to China Telecom and China Unicom. MIIT released TD-LTE licenses to China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom in December 2013 and approved experimental TD-LTE/FDD-LTE convergence network test by China Telecom and China Unicom in main cities around China in June 2014.
HTC has unveiled its new flagship smartphone the HTC One M9 along with its first smart sports bracelet the HTC Grip and a VR (virtual reality) device the HTC Vive during a pre-MWC 2015 event. The HTC One M9 is comparable with its predecessor the HTC One M8 in terms of design and hardware specifications, although the CPU and memory parts of the new flagship model have received upgrades.
There were 1.29 billion subscribers of mobile communication services in China as of the end of January 2015, growing 0.34% on month and 4.47% on year, and 485.05 million (37.59%) of them were 3G users, 117.87 million (9.13%) were 4G users and 880.14 million (68.20%) were mobile Internet-access users, according to statistics published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
Australia’s aviation services body Airservices Australia has partnered with mobile satellite comms provider Inmarsat and two local airlines to trial improved flight tracking services on commercial flights. Airservices started working with Inmarsat, Qantas and Virgin last month to develop the operational concept for the trial, which uses Inmarsat’s automatic dependant surveillance – contract (ADS-C) satellite-based positioning and messaging technology on flights within Australia’s oceanic regions.
A survey of US CIOs underlines the role of cloud technologies in enabling a more agile and collaborative way of delivering citizen services. A new overview of the impact of cloud technologies, published by SAP, highlights the role of cloud computing in improving the lives of citizens. A survey by NASCIO, the US association of State CIOs, pointed to a number of key benefits that are finding acceptance by government organisations.
http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/6227-per-cent-see-cloud-driving-government-innovation
BARCELONA, Spain ― KT, the nation’s second-largest mobile carrier, said Monday that it has teamed up with China Mobile and NTT DoCoMo to jointly develop the fifth-generation or 5G network technology. “KT has agreed with China Mobile and NTT DoCoMo of Japan for co-development of 5G mobile technology. The agreement calls for joint marketing to promote new telecommunications technology,” KT said in a statement on the sidelines of 2015 Mobile World Congress (MWC) exhibition here.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2015/03/133_174409.html
A global shortage of cybersecurity professionals is being acutely felt by the region’s government organisations – and they are increasingly under attack as a result. New findings have identified Southeast Asia as a region that is increasingly under cyber- attack. A joint Singtel-FireEye report, “Southeast Asia: An Evolving Cyber Threat Landscape”, details how Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors and other cyber-attack groups are among those keenly interested in targets located in Singapore, The Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei.
HackOsaka 2015, held earlier this month in Osaka, featured a pitch contest where 10 startups pitched their services and products. The event was hosted by Osaka Innovation Hub (OIH) and Osaka Economic Strategy Bureau. I would like to introduce prize winners and other presenting startups. mClinica CEO Frouk Meralli is originally from Canada but now based out Manila, the Philippines.
Philippine health startup mClinica wins this year’s HackOsaka Award
Cloud News Asia 