News In Brief

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Welcome to our ‘News In Brief’ column in which we digest all the news releases for you in no more than five paragraphs. Below are snippets of all the media releases that we received from Dec 19 till the end of the week. This column updates regularly throughout the week.

Pinterest 2023 Predictions 

Sydney, Dec 19: Consider the ‘not-yet-trending’ report your very own look into the future—get ahead of the trends before they take off.
Instead of releasing a year-end wrap-up sharing what was trending, Pinterest shares an annual selection of the most inspiring and interesting ideas to explore for the year to come.
People come to Pinterest to plan and be inspired, with more than 400 million people using the platform each month to discover new ideas and bring them to life.
The predictions for what’s going to be big in 2023 isn’t guesswork or clairvoyance. It’s months and months of data, analysis and evaluation.
The result? A comprehensive report of the soon-to-be trends for 2023 that you can’t find anywhere else.
For the last three years, 8 out of 10 trends came true thanks to robust methodology and analysis.
This year, Pinterest analysed what people have been looking for on the platform to identify the key trends that will emerge or continue to grow in 2023.
You can find the full list of 2023 trends here.

Samaiden Group Signs Agreement

Petaling Jaya, Dec 19: Samaiden Group Berhad, a clean energy solution specialist principally involved in engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) of solar photovoltaic (“PV”) systems and power, is pleased to announce that the Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Samaiden Sdn Bhd, has signed a partnership agreement with Management Venture Asia (Cambodia) Ltd today, to explore the clean energy-related business opportunities in Cambodia. 
MVA, a business consultancy and clean energy project developer based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is primarily engaged in facilitating business ventures and taking products to market and market research throughout Asia.
The company has successfully completed the development of 20MW ground mounted solar project in Bavet, in which the project was awarded power purchase agreement by the Electricite du Cambodge in August 2019. 
“We’re looking forward to the collaboration with MVA given their strong presence in Cambodia.
“Expanding in Southeast Asia is part of our five-years plan given the region’s growing population and its geographical advantages,” Group Managing Director of Samaiden, Chow Pui Hee said.
“We firmly believe the partnership with MVA will ensure our expansion plans in Cambodia are focused. We are honoured to have MVA as our business partner in the development of clean energy in the country given its vast experiences and network in clean energy infrastructure.

HK Welcomes Back Tourists

Hong Kong, Dec 20: South East Asia has long been Hong Kong’s important visitor source market with great potential.
Recent visitor arrival figures reveal that SEA are the first group of travellers to return to Hong Kong.
A recently concluded five-day-four-night familiarisation trip will take the trade delegate to check out newest attractions including M+ and Hong Kong Palace Museum in West Kowloon Cultural District, voyage through religious site in “Hong Kong Neighbourhood – West Kowloon” to experience Hong Kong’s authentic local culture, experience new rides and performances in theme parks.
The delegate also left their footprints at the Christmas town of HKTB’s “Hong Kong WinterFest” and made a wish at the tallest outdoor Christmas tree in town.
HKTB also made every effort to assist the SEA trade delegate in liaising with the local travel trade, arranging meetings with both sides to explore future cooperation and open up business opportunities.
HKTB presents Hong Kong’s brand-new experiences to our overseas travel trade partners, whom we haven’t seen in a while, hoping that they will introduce brand new tourism products and share Hong Kong’s tourism appeal to visitors in their respective markets and bring them back to Hong Kong as soon as possible.
HKTB will also continue to roll out various promotional campaigns to actively showcase Hong Kong’s to global visitors, tell the Hong Kong good stories and drive the rapid recovery of the tourism industry.

 Aurelius Healthcare Spreads The Holiday Cheer

Nilai, Dec 21: Aurelius Healthcare released its very own Christmas video just in time for the holiday.
Inspired by classic Christmas songs ‘All I want for Christmas’ and ‘Jingle
Bell Rock’, this unique mash-up song was produced by Amylea Azizan, renowned singer and songwriter featuring local hit artist Jaclyn Victor and actor, comedian, radio DJ Douglas Lim.
The music video features a multi-racial mix of individuals to spread the message of Malaysian diversity.

Zoomcar Announces Appointment Of Delly Nugraha 

Bangalore, Dec 21: Zoomcar, the leading marketplace for car sharing in emerging markets, today announced the appointment of Delly Nugraha as their Country Head for Indonesia. Indonesia is expected to be the second largest market for Zoomcar after India and Delly in his new role will be responsible for all aspects of Growth, Operations, and to build the company’s best achievement in Indonesia.
Prior to joining Zoomcar, Delly has spent years working in various roles in tech companies’ operations in Indonesia such as Qraved, Gojek, Carsome, and Air Asia Super App.
He has worked in sales, operations, marketing, and general management functions across Indonesia.
While he is not busy working, Delly enjoys travelling and playing basketball and tennis.

Teradata Ranked Highest — Again 

Sydney, Dec 22: Teradata (NYSE: TDC) today announced that it ranked highest in all Analytical Use Cases in the 2022 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Cloud Database Management Systems for Analytical Use Cases, published December 15, 2022, by analysts Rick Greenwald, Merv Adrian, Adam Ronthal, Henry Cook, Philip Russom, Xingyu Gu. The four Use Cases in which Teradata received the highest scores — Traditional Data Warehouse (4.71/5), Logical Data Warehouse (4.85/5), Data Lake (4.25/5), and Streaming Analytics (4.25/5) – represent some of the most important use cases for enterprises today. For instance, 17 out of the top 20 global banks rely on Teradata’s superior analytic capabilities to improve operational efficiencies – reducing fraud and improving customer experiences, as two example use cases.
From Teradata’s perspective, of the 17 vendors evaluated for the 2022 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Cloud Database Management Systems for Analytical Use Cases, Teradata — with ClearScape Analytics’ powerful in-database functionality, open and connected integrations, and robust operationalisation features — demonstrates an unrivaled capacity to meet customers’ evolving and multifaceted analytical needs.
Teradata was also named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems (DBMS), published December 13, 2022, by analysts Henry Cook, Merv Adrian, Rick Greenwald, Xingyu Gu. Gartner evaluates vendors placed in the Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute.

What’s Hot on Boxing Day Sales List

Sydney, Dec 22: A recent representative Australian survey (n=1,000) conducted by Savvy has revealed that over half of Australians will be spending their leftover Christmas cash in the 2022 Boxing Day sales.Twenty per cent of Australians surveyed said they’d be spending between $1 and $100; followed by 14 per cent saying they’ll spend between $101 and $250, and 11 per cent intending to spend $251 to $500. Interestingly, one percent of surveyed men said they’d be spending up to $2,000.
As for how they’ll be paying for their post-Christmas presents, when asked to choose their top three methods, a whopping 76 per cent told the survey that they’d mainly be using their savings – with 79 per cent of women indicating they’d be primarily using savings.
The next most popular method was the credit card (28 per cent) and Buy Now Pay Later services such as AfterPay or Zip Pay (17 per cent).  

KL Ranked #2 On Airbnb’s Trending Destinations 

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 22: New data from Airbnb has revealed that Kuala Lumpur ranked 2nd in the top trending destinations worldwide in Q3, pulling ahead of other popular tourist destinations around the world. 
Airbnb revealed the list of top 10 most trending global destinations in Q3, which included popular destinations across Asia, South America and Europe:

1. Kuta, Indonesia
2. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3. Itapema, Brazil
4. Angra dos Reis, Brazil
5. Bangkok, Thailand
6. Sydney, Australia
7. Singapore, Singapore
8. Málaga, Spain
9. Melbourne, Australia
10. Pattaya City, Thailand

“The reopening of more countries this year has unlocked pent-up demand from international travelers eager to reconnect with loved ones or visit their favorite destinations once more. It’s incredibly heartening that Malaysia is top of mind for international travelers as travel bounces back, with its variety of incredible offerings from breathtaking nature to rich culture and delicious cuisine.”Amanpreet Bajaj, Airbnb’s General Manager for Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan said. 
Amidst heightened interest to travel overseas this year, domestic travel remains popular among Malaysians. Ipoh claimed the top spot as Malaysians’ #1 most popular destination on Airbnb in Q3 2022, followed by Kuching, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, and Genting Highlands.
With the biggest travel revolution the world has seen, Airbnb created a completely new way for travelers to search for their holiday homes as designed around Airbnb Categories.
With over 300 million views globally since its launch in May, the top five Airbnb Categories in Malaysia by median earnings in Q3 2022 were amazing views, golfing, amazing pools, beachfront and tropical.
With travel back in full swing, Malaysians are now planning their overseas holidays with renewed enthusiasm. New Airbnb data found that the trending international destinations ranging from near and far by Malaysians in Q3 2022 were, in order of ranking Bangkok, Thailand, Paris, France, Melbourne, Australia, Greater London, United Kingdom and Seoul, South Korea.

‘Always Low Prices’ Turns Into For Graphic Designer

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 22: A simple RM50 cashless retail purchase turned into joy for Siti Rohani of Shah Alam, Selangor, when she won a Honda City Hatchback 1.5L S in the recently-concluded MR. D.I.Y. x MyDebit Je contest. 
The contest, aimed at encouraging cashless payments for everyday purchases, was jointly organised by MR D.I.Y. Group, Malaysia’s largest home improvement retail network, and MyDebit ATM card, operated by Malaysia’s national payments network, Payments Network Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (PayNet).
The 36-year old graphic designer was ecstatic at the prize presentation ceremony, saying “I am not someone who usually wins at lucky draws or contests. I am familiar with card payments, so I decided to participate for fun as all I needed to do was to make a cashless payment using my MyDebit ATM card at MR D.I.Y. – which I do often anyway! Winning a new car has really made my day.  I can’t wait to drive this car home to share it with my family!”
Aside from Siti Rohani winning the grand prize, another 30 winners took home prizes ranging from smart phones, UHD 50-inch televisions, and 500L refrigerators. In addition, cash vouchers from MR. D.I.Y. and MR. DOLLAR worth  RM100 each were awarded as consolation prizes to another 1,000 recipients.  
The ‘MR. D.I.Y. x MyDebit Je’ contest, which ran from July 1 –  Sept 30, was open to all MR. D.I.Y., MR. TOY and MR. DOLLAR customers nationwide. To enter, customers had to make a minimum purchase of RM50 in a single receipt using a MyDebit ATM card, scan a QR code, and then send a photo of their purchase receipt through WhatsApp or Whoop to submit their entries.

Coway Malaysia Ends 2022 With A Bang 

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 23: Coway Malaysia proves once again that it is the Best Life Solution Company with its multiple awards won this year.
As 2022 draws to a close, Coway Malaysia showed what it takes to become Malaysia’s most trusted brand that never fails to produce top-notch innovative products to change and improve the lives of Malaysians across various communities.
This year, Coway also launched its first International Research & Development (R&D) Centre in Malaysia, similar to that of the R&D Centre in South Korea. This centre in Malaysia was built with the purpose of imprinting the same methodology of research and testing in South Korea, in a bid to constantly improve the water and sleep quality of Malaysians. 
Coway Malaysia’s dedication towards changing the lives of all its customers was also evident with the CXP Best Customer Experience Award 2022.
At Coway, the brand has always stood strong about putting its customers first and only providing them with the best service, experience and journey from start to end. 

Samaiden Turns On First Power Generation 

Petaling Jaya, Dec 23:  Samaiden Group Berhad a clean energy solution specialist principally involved in engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and power, is pleased to announce that the Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Samaiden Capital Management Sdn Bhd’s first solar investment project at Sunway Nexis commenced operation on Dec 23.
Samaiden will operate and maintain the rooftop solar PV system with an installed capacity of 531 kilowatt-peak (kWp) for a duration of 20 years. 
“As part of the diversification plan for our Group, we are delighted to see the completion of this first investment project, in which the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was signed with Perbadanan Pengurusan Sunway Nexis (Sunway Nexis Management Corporation) back in December 2021,”Group Managing Director of Samaiden, Ir. Chow Pui Hee said.
“This is a remarkable milestone for us as this facility will contribute positively to our revenue and cash flow on a recurring basis for 20 years.”

Jin Air Maiden Flight From Busan To KK

Kota Kinabalu, Dec 24: Jin Air flight LJ065 with full capacity from Busan landed at Kota Kinabalu International Airport at 11.50pm near mid-night.
The aircraft were greeted with a water arch courtesy of Malaysia Airport Berhad through its Airport Fire and Rescue Service to celebrate the inaugural flight. 
All 180 passengers including captains and cabin crews received a traditional welcome at the arrival gate to commemorate the occasion.  
Jin Air is now flying from Busan to Kota Kinabalu daily.
Busan is the second largest city in South Korea with the largest seaport in the country. 
Present at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport to welcome the passengers are Puan Noredah Othman (CEO of Sabah Tourism Board), Park Jeong Hoon (Jin Air Kota Kinabalu Branch Manager), officials from Tourism Malaysia and the Malaysia Airport Berhad’s officials.

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