NEC, AWS Expand Collaboration in the Global 5G and Digital Government Spaces

The Japanese IT Multinational conglomerate NEC has announced the expansion of its collaboration with AWS in the areas of global 5G and digital government.

The two behemoths had announced a corporate-level strategic collaboration agreement in November 2020. Now, NEC will expand on this collaboration.

"NEC is pleased to announce the expansion of its strategic collaboration with AWS. Last year, NEC announced this global collaboration as the first of its kind between AWS and a Japanese company. It has been a great year, seeing many successes in the areas of government, modernization and in the skill enhancement of NEC engineers. NEC is now expanding the collaboration with AWS in the areas of global 5G, digital government and in enhanced hybrid cloud offerings. With the strong global support from AWS, NEC will help drive digital transformation in the government sector and across industries as part of orchestrating a brighter world," said Toshifumi Yoshizaki, Executive Vice President at NEC Corporation.

Through this renewed collaboration, NEC will look to develop an end-to-end 5G offering and provide it globally by combining NEC's high performance cloud-native open 5G mobile core, OSS/BSS solutions, local 5G use cases etc., and AWS cloud and edge solutions. This effort will also try to accelerate the cloudification of network workloads and enhance digital transformation for enterprises by deploying 5G-based infrastructure and application at the network edge.

NEC will also strengthen its relation with AWS to develop and provide a range of offerings to accelerate the digital transformation for government activities in Japan.

NASA's Perseverance rover successfully extracts the first-ever Martian rock sample

In a first-ever for Humankind, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover collects a sample of Martian rock at the Jerezo crater on the planet Mars. The Mission Controllers confirmed the historic milestone at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California.

The sample, slightly thicker than a pencil, was extracted from a flat, briefcase-sized rock named "Rochette" at the Jerezo crater. The rotary-percussive drill at the end of the Perseverance rover's robotic arm collected the sample and placed it in an airtight titanium tube for future retrieval. The rover Perseverance confirmed the collection of the sample by using its camera to send a picture back to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California before closing the tube.

In subsequent space missions organized by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), this Martian rock sample and samples to be collected will be retrieved in the future.

A key objective of the Perseverance rover's mission on the red planet is astrobiology, including the search for ancient life on the planet. The rover will also study and characterize the planet's geology and past climatic conditions. This mission will be instrumental for future human exploration of Mars and will be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock, soil, and dust samples.

 

 

The NoiseFit Active smartwatch might be the next big thing in the mid-range category

There are many fitness trackers in the market which also tend to serve as smartwatches, and most of the smartwatches come with fitness and health tracking features. Previously, fitness trackers and smartwatches had some kind of distinction between them, but now we get a healthy blend of both. This has led to making the mid-range segment becoming more competitive and interesting, with brands like Noise, Realme, Fire-Bolt, Boat, Xiaomi, and Zebronics delivering excellent options under 5k. The latest entrant in this segment is the NoiseFit Active smartwatch.

The new budget smartwatch has some interesting health-tracking features, and it stands out well from the competition. Some of the features of the NoiseFit Active smartwatch include blood oxygen tracking, sleep monitoring, heart rate sensor, and exercise monitoring. The new smartwatch can also show the notifications of your phone, and it is one of the best buys right now. The dial on the NoiseFit Active smartwatch is 1.28 inches and comes with a TFT-LCD screen. Two buttons are placed on the side of the smartwatch, and it is for power and to open the menu. The method of navigation is totally touch-based, with taps and swipes to select options and move around.

 

 

Xiaomi has teased the launch of HyperCharge support for its upcoming global event

Xiaomi, a popular smartphone manufacturer, has recently made an announcement that it will hold a global launch event on September 15th. The company is looking forward to introducing its new fast charging technology. In a separate, new video, Xiaomi has teased that it will be launching a new range of Xiaomi 11T smartphones. The new 11T series is expected to have two variants, namely 11T and 11T Pro, and both phones will come with a 120W HyperCharge feature. The official teaser from Xiaomi’s Twitter handle had revealed that the new flagship devices would come with the hyperfast charging feature.

As of now, there is no official name for the models or the hypercharge feature, but the teaser leaks make it clear that the devil will come with a hypercharge adapter and charging support. Many tipsters in the past had revealed about Xiaomi’s upcoming phones, and in addition to the above-mentioned hypercharge feature, the smartphone is expected to come with a 5000mAh battery, super AMOLED display, octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset. The vanilla variant of the new phone from Xiaomi is expected to be powered by MediaTek Dimensity 1200 Soc, and it will also have a 120Hz display. The camera on both devices is expected to come with a 64mp sensor.

 

Bangladesh's Full-stack B2B Commerce Platform ShopUp Secures $75 Million in Funding

Bangladesh's ShopUp has secured $75 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures. The Series B round also saw participation from Prosus Ventures, and existing investors Flourish Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and VEON Ventures.

The funding round for the largest full-stack B2B commerce platform in South Asia went oversubscribed. The company has raised $110 million in total funding till date.

"Our mission is to put 4.5 million small retailers in the driving seat of Bangladesh’s economic growth. We are building best-in-class infrastructure to support retail operations all over the country, adding new categories to serve the underserved small retailers and launching new financial products to meet the unarticulated needs of the retailers we serve," said Afeef Zaman, CEO and co-founder of ShopUp.

Bangladesh has one of the largest fragmented retail markets in Asia. 98% of retail consumption in the country happens through the small mom-and-pops stores. These stores often struggle while procuring goods from multiple suppliers, distributor and wholesalers. They also encounter many other problems such as unreliable delivery, lack of price transparency. ShopUp is looking to help these retailers by removing the inherent blockers within traditional supply chain, logistics, and financing.

 

Western Union Recommences Afghanistan Money Transfers and Waives Transfer Fees

Western Union, one of America's most renowned multinational financial services companies which had to suspend all forms of money transfer and payment services in Afghanistan last month as the Taliban took control of the country following the withdrawal of US-NATO forces, has now announced that it will resume its money transfer services into Afghanistan, and it will start from September 3.

The financial services company has stated that it is restarting its money transfer program so that its customers can once again send money and care for their loved ones at this crucial time of financial crisis in Afghanistan. Remittances from Afghans who currently reside abroad can now easily transfer money. The money transfers will be paid out in US dollars or Afghani, based on the type of the transfer as per the sender's requirement.

Western Union has further added that the payouts are available in only select locations based on local operating times, and most of the transfers will happen in the Kabul area. The firm has also confirmed that other outbound services, such as sending money from Afghanistan to other countries will remain suspended at this time.

 

The new Realme Pad is teased to come with a bigger display and aluminum unibody

Realme Pad is gearing up to be launched this week on the 9th. A dedicated page for the release of the same on ecommerce platforms has made it clear that the device will be available soon. The page has revealed some key details about the tablet’s specifications, and new details regarding its display were also available. The tablet’s build and design were teased online through ecommerce pages. Two cameras are present on the tablet, one at the back and one in the front. The tablet is also expected to be 6.9mm thin.

The Realme Pad will house a 10.4-inch fullscreen with a display resolution of 2000x1200. The renders on the ecommerce pages make it clear that bezels will be on all sides. The tablet shown on the page has a gold finish, but leaks from the past have confirmed that it may also come with a Grey finish. The Realme logo will be seen on the back panel of the tablet. The launch event will take place at 12:30 pm on 9th this week. The event is online-only, and it is free for all to see. Past leaks also have hinted that the new Realme Pad may have an aluminum unibody and type-c port for charging with a stylus.