Category: Tech News

ZHIYUN WEEBILL 2 wins iF Design Award 2022

ZHIYUN, the world’s pioneering gimbal innovator for cameras and smartphones has won an iF Design Award 2022 for its WEEBILL 2 professional gimbal in the TV/Cameras award category. Each year, the world’s oldest independent design organization, Hannover-based iF International Forum Design GmbH, organizes the iF DESIGN AWARD.

ZHIYUN’s WEEBILL 2 is the latest addition to its WEEBILL series, aimed at professional filmmakers and film enthusiasts. With its first-to-market, integrated 2.88” HD flip out screen for monitoring and parameter adjustment and powerful Infeon chip,  together with its lightweight frame and industrial design, the WEEBILL 2  offers enhanced responsiveness and stabilization capabilities.

In the iF Top Labels ranking, ZHIYUN stands among global top 50 at No. 39, ahead of big market players including INSTA 360, DJI, Huawei and OPPO.

The iF Design Award was founded in 1953 and is one of the world’s most prestigious design awards. Winners are selected by an independent jury of 132 renowned international design  that met in Berlin to determine winning designs, based on a set of objective screening standards. The competition was intense: almost 11,000 entries were submitted from 57 countries in hopes of receiving the seal of quality.

Weebill 2 from ZHIYUN

The jury marked each entry against criteria for  form, function, differentiation and impact, developed with international design experts to evaluate the entries. Based on these criteria, the points were awarded for the individual aspects of each entry and provided the participants with informative feedback.

ZHIYUN’s Head of R&D, said:

“ZHIYUN is delighted to have won an iF Design Award for the WEEBILL 2 handheld stabilizer. As a company, we are committed to R&D efforts for barrier-breaking gimbal technology innovation. We strive to continue delivering product experiences for filmmakers  around the globe with inventions that allow them to fully realise their creative vision.”

YouTubers Tycer, Sqaishey and Tomo announced for @MineVention 2022

YouTube stars Tycer, Sqaishey and Tomo aka Tomohawk, have been announced as specials guests at MineVention – the ultimate event for Irish Minecraft fans. The two-day convention will take place at City North Hotel, Gormanstown, County Meath, on Saturday, 22nd and Sunday, 23rd of October 2022.

Launched in 2014, MineVention brings together fans of the popular computer game, with activities such as build battles, on-stage challenges, educational talks and panel discussions with creators, tournaments and costume competitions. The event will also welcome leading Minecraft YouTube stars for free meet and greet opportunities with fans.

Postponed for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, MineVention 2022 will include a sensory-friendly session on the morning of Sunday, 23rd October to cater for children and families who need it.

 Speaking at the launch of this year’s event, Lisa O’Brien, founder of MineVention, said: “It’s such a thrill to be bringing MineVention back this year and to welcome Irish Minecraft fans back to an in-person convention after several years of lockdowns and restrictions.

“When we launched our first event in Galway in 2014, tickets sold out in just nine hours and year-on-year it gets more popular. We’re hoping to welcome first-time visitors or new fans of Minecraft who have perhaps only discovered the game during the last couple of years.

“In terms of what fans can expect this year, we’ve listened to families by introduced morning and afternoon sessions to accommodate those who might be travelling from further afield. Each session will be jam-packed with activities and opportunities to meet our YouTube stars, and we’ll be announcing more exciting additions to the line-up over the coming months so keep an eye on our social media channels!”

MineVention 2022 techbuzzireland

Confirmed for the October event, YouTube star Tycer said: “It’s fantastic to see MineVention return, and I can’t wait to come and meet Irish Minecraft fans! The Minecraft community has grown and grown, especially over the last few years when so many of us have had to rely on online games to connect with friends. It’s great to be getting back on the road to meet everyone face to face!”

Founded by mum-of-three Lisa O’Brien, O’Brien Event Promotions has welcomed over 65,000 people to MineVention events and workshops across Ireland, United Kingdom, Dubai and USA since the first convention in Galway in 2014 which sold out in just 9 hours.

 Tickets for MineVention are on sale now from €15 and are available at: www.minevention.com.

Nokia to exit the Russian market

Nokia is the latest telco to exit the Russian market.

Espoo, Finland – It has been clear for Nokia since the early days of the invasion of Ukraine that continuing our presence in Russia would not be possible. Over the last weeks we have suspended deliveries, stopped new business and are moving our limited R&D activities out of Russia. We can now announce we will exit the Russian market. During this process our priority continues to be the safety and wellbeing of our employees.

For humanitarian reasons, Western governments have expressed concerns about the risk of critical telecommunication network infrastructure in Russia failing. They have also emphasized the importance of ensuring the continued flow of information and access to the internet which provides outside perspectives to the Russian people. Therefore, as we exit we will aim to provide the necessary support to maintain the networks and are applying for the relevant licenses to enable this support in compliance with current sanctions.

This is the most responsible course of action for Nokia to take as we exit the Russian market.

Regarding the financial impact of the decision, Russia accounted for less than 2% of our net sales in 2021. Considering the strong demand we see in other regions – we do not expect this decision to impact our ability to achieve our 2022 outlook provided in the Nokia financial report for Q4 and full year 2021 issued on 3 February 2022. We expect this decision to lead to a provision in Q1 of approximately €100m which will impact our reported but not comparable financials.

 

 

Square Introduces the Next Generation of Square Stand

Today, Square unveils the next generation of Square Stand, the company’s iconic countertop device that turns an iPad into a powerful, robust point of sale system that sellers can use to run their entire business. Launching concurrently in all of Square’s eight global markets, Square Stand features integrated contactless and Chip and PIN payments technology, a sleek, professional design, and a new checkout flow that provides businesses and their customers with a more intuitive, transparent, and streamlined commerce experience.

The reimagined Square Stand offers businesses the most affordable, comprehensive, and easy-to-use device for conducting commerce. Square Stand combines Square’s point of sale software and hardware into one complete solution, enabling sellers to take in-person payments and manage ecommerce sales, deliveries, and buy online, pick-up in-store orders from a single place. Retaining the classic swivel design of its predecessor, the new Stand now integrates Square’s lightning-fast contactless and chip card readers into the display, helping sellers simplify their countertops and keep their lines moving while eliminating the need for additional payments hardware. In 2021, contactless and Chip and PIN payments made up 98% of global cashless hardware transactions on Square’s fully integrated payments devices*, meaning these new capabilities help sellers accept now-standard payments right out of the box.

The new Square Stand also transforms the buyer experience. New software for Square Stand creates a faster, more transparent checkout process that includes an order summary screen and illuminated payment icons on the face of the device to guide customer transactions and speed up purchases. These additions provide sellers and shoppers with the benefits of a customer display without the need for a second screen.

“Our experience with the new Square Stand has been excellent” said Dee Kelly, Founder of Gralinn – one of the first businesses to test the new product. “It offers us a clear, concise layout for our business. Our staff appreciate the intuitive checkout system while the customers have responded well to the clear user face on the screen when they come to make their purchase. The connectivity and navigation is also particularly fast and responsive which helps us to avoid queues and ensures we never miss a sale.”

“The way businesses and shoppers interact around the world has evolved exponentially in the time since we first launched our original Square Stand,” said Alyssa Henry, Head of Square. “The new Stand was built with the future of commerce in mind. Marrying elegant design with powerful software, Square Stand provides sellers of any size, from boutique retailers to multi-location restaurants, with a versatile command centre for their business. Square Stand offers sellers an integrated way to meet the purchasing preferences of today’s consumers.”

As Square’s innovative ecosystem of solutions has grown, so has Square Stand’s ability to serve sellers as a singular device to manage all of their operations. In addition to supporting Square’s vertical point of sale offerings, which include Square for Restaurants and Square for Retail, sellers can use Square Stand for all their employee management needs, including time tracking, shift scheduling, and tip management. Additional solutions like marketing, loyalty, inventory, and omnichannel commerce tools are also readily available from the Square Stand.

Introduced in 2013, the original Square Stand was a transformational iPad point of sale system, giving merchants a way to take payments and access business insights and analytics, all from one place. Square Stand remains popular amongst sellers of all sizes and serves as a common entry point for new businesses joining the Square ecosystem.

Beginning today, the new Square Stand will be available online at Square shop. Starting at €119 +VAT. Square Stand is compatible with the iPad (2021, 2020, 2019), iPad Air (2019), and iPad Pro 10.5”. Sellers pay one transparent rate for every contactless or Chip and PIN transaction, with no hidden fees or long-term contracts, and free access to the Square POS app. For more information, please visit https://squareup.com/ie/en/hardware/stand.

Investment App BUX Zero to introduce Fractional European ETFs

Beginning today, BUX clients will be the first in Europe to be able to invest in fractional European ETFs outside of an investment plan. In partnership with ABN AMRO Clearing Bank, BUX has built the technology that makes it possible to offer fractional investing in European ETFs. This new feature follows shortly after BUX introduced fractional investing to its clients in January 2022.

Fractional European ETF investing lowers threshold for monthly investing

With the introduction of fractional European ETFs, clients are now able to invest with an amount as little as €10. European ETFs with a higher price tag, such as the S&P 500 Index which typically costs €80, thus become more accessible to investors with a smaller budget. This allows all investors, regardless of budget, to invest in different ETFs monthly and minimises the investment risk by offering room to diversify portfolios further.

BUX introduces a total of 20 fractional European ETFs

In addition to the fractional European ETFs, BUX has also added an additional 95 new fractional U.S. stocks to its already existing offering. Well-known names among the U.S. stocks that are now also available to invest in fractionally include Mastercard, PepsiCo and IBM. In the future, fractional investing in European stocks will also become available.

“With the introduction of fractional European ETFs, we can offer more ways for our clients to build a portfolio that fits their needs and goals. Since introducing fractional investing to our clients at the beginning of the year, we have seen a great deal of interest and this demonstrates that the modern investor is embracing diverse investment options. As the economic climate continues to swing in uncertain directions, we want to offer Europeans a solution that allows them to put their money to work in an accessible way,” said Yorick Naeff, CEO of BUX.

“Fractional trading is trading made accessible for everyone. With our unique fractional trading service we are supporting  our clients to offer embedded investment solutions in capital markets, so all their clients can profit. Expanding this fractional trading service offering with European products will open up the EU capital markets for our clients and their investors to create embedded and efficient investment solutions as well,” said Jan Bart de Boer, CCO of ABN AMRO Clearing.

The modern investor at BUX opts for fractional investing

Fractional investing is quickly gaining popularity among clients at BUX. Internal research has shown that since the launch of fractional investing in January 2022, nearly 1 in 7 orders has been a purchase of a fractional share. The undisputed favorite among fractional U.S. stocks is Tesla. Among all age groups, the electric carmaker is the most purchased fractional stock since the beginning of the year. One notable difference is that among female investors, Beyond Meat (9) and Walt Disney (10) have a spot in the top 10 most purchased fractional stocks, while NVIDIA (9) and Shopify (10)  made the top 10 of the most purchased shares by males.

The Philips Xperion 6000 Slim scoops Auto Express mega-test on workshop lighting, with Xperion 6000 UV Pillar being awarded Recommended status.

The UK’s most respected testing forum for automotive products, Auto Express, has assessed two of the latest Philips Xperion 6000 workshop lights and found them to be the pick of the bunch in its annual mega test. Winning the test with a superb five-star rating, was the Philips Xperion 6000 Slim, while its larger sibling, the range-topping Xperion 6000 UV Pillar, also secured a coveted Recommended Buy award.

The Best Buy, Philips Xperion 6000 Slim, was described as “A great package” – scoring near the top in every aspect of the test, from its substantial feel through its lighting performance to its run-time length and its value for money.

The Xperion 6000 Slim features a wide 100° beam angle from its long slim lighting unit which rotates through 270°, allowing the operator almost unlimited vision, through even the narrowest of gaps. The 6000 Slim has three different outputs – like the other lights in the range – and in the case of the Slim it ranges from 100-500 lm, yet it still offers a long operating time of up to 9 hours – depending on the levels of light required. With two different magnets – one on the base and one on the rear – and a useful torch in the tip, but still light and easy to use, with its folding light blade, and an SRP of £49.99, the lamp is a brilliant all rounder.

Xperion 6000 SLIM

Auto Express also heaped praise on the Philips Xperion 6000 UV Pillar, citing the performance of its 500-lumen light, its colour matching ability, its battery life and its advanced battery display as being amongst its premium features and its worthiness for Recommended Buy status.

The Philips Xperion 6000 UV Pillar, is packed full of features – a multi-purpose work light with several powerful light sources. It has a premium LED movable main light, with three different outputs ranging from 100-500 lumen(lm) and a wide 100° beam angle; a high Colour Rendering Index (CRI) light and a unique UV light which allows leak detection. The 6000 UV Pillar has a long-lasting battery and allows the user to locate it with the “Find My Device” function, which comes as standard (the same function is also available as an option on the Best Buy – wining 6000 Slim).

Both award winning Xperion workshop lights can be charged wireless via a docking station that can be purchased as an additional accessory.

“The Philips Xperion 6000 range employs some innovative thinking for workshop inspection lamps and its great to see this cutting-edge technology proving itself in the UK’s most respected test,” explains Richard Armstrong, Business Development Manager Automotive –UK & Eire for Lumileds, who manufacture and bring Philips Automotive products to the market, globally. “In an extremely competitive sector, having the products recognised as stand-out purchases so soon after their launch, should make both professional and serious home-users sit up and take notice.” 

The ranges of Philips Workshop lamps offer a wide variety of lighting solutions for Professional and home – workshop applications. From the EcoPro selection through the hybrid CBH52 under bonnet lamp and Penlight Colour+, to the new award-winning Xperion 6000 models, Philips workshop lamps offer the right product for the job.

Further details : www.philipsautomotive.com

·       Further details                          : LED work lights | Philips Automotive

·       Video Xperion 6000 Slim           : https://youtu.be/yqzXt6sNjDo

·       Video Xperion 6000 UV Pillar    : https://youtu.be/PZI5Ru7B5RQ

Virgin Mobile sms voice message scam to watch out for

Another day another scam this time it is an sms scam which claims to be sending you a voice message, this is not the case at all and has another unusual twist to it. Check the URL up top for 4smilesdental, then as seen in the image you will be asked to download a voice message app which is not required and you will see that if you can’t download the app you should allow it by changing the settings, clearly malware that will be installed on your phone.

As usual if you get a strange sms which this one is albeit appearing to coming from an Irish number you can spot that the text is all over the place and if you get such you should delete it straight away, I have checked this number out and it just answers with nothing else going on. A quick check on tellows and Who called me also lists the number as trouble.

ZHIYUN Announces SMOOTH 5 Mobile Movie Contest Winners

ZHIYUN, the world’s leading gimbal brand for filmmakers with cameras and smartphones, has announced the winners of its SMOOTH 5 Mobile Movie Contest. The top prize, the Filmmakers’ Choice Award, will receive USD$10,000 plus a selection of filmmaking products including ZHIYUN gimbals, while additional prizes of USD$3,000 plus ZHIYUN filmmaking products will be awarded to five further category winners. The judging panel includes: ZHIYUN, Insta360, Artlist, Artgrid, Motion Array, NANLITE, SmallRig and ESRgear.

Entrants created a video that followed one the five categories: narrative, mini documentary, adventure, music and dance, and how-to. ZHIYUN received over 400 submissions submitted from all over the globe. The judges noted the overall quality was extremely high, with the narrative category receiving the largest number of entries and included many outstanding creative works. The competition gave many new creative teams the opportunity to showcase their abilities, with many stating they were challenged to embrace new styles and techniques, and that the entries also showed the true possibilities of smartphone videography, which can produce quality that approaches close to professional cameras.

Top Prize: Filmmakers’ Choice

Shelly – Tim Hamilton

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgkd2-B0RlY 

Comments: “Incredibly creative and imaginative visual storytelling with a suitably offbeat narrative”

Category Winners

How-to:

How to set up a skateboard – PJ Madd

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXn26trBJng

Judges’ comments: “Lots of interesting tricks, and we can see the author’s intention to work with composition. It’s very well formed into one united story”

Music & Dance:

Words – Polar Eyes

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRNtd2yAsvg

Judges’ comments: “Innovative shots fit perfectly with the music and dance to tell a story.”

Mini-Doc：

Something Is Coming – SJ van Breda

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhbiHg6VdoU

Judges’ comments: “Every element looks harmonious, not a single wasted shot, excellent camera work, good editing.”

Narrative:

The Speed Date – TRIO Stories

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrhPjMhmWbo

Judges’ comments: “Feels like a movie, really cinematic and great storyline. Impactful mise en scene as well.”

Adventure:

Life Breath – Leo Markov

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJQ-15CCzQM

Judges’ comments: “Very time consuming and excellent planning of shots … the order of the shots. Well done.”

BTS Winners:

Camelot – Max Prod.

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efF_pg7qdGY&

This is my adventure – Romuald Kabala

Video Link: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbV2G5JDCdq

The Painter – Roberto Eduardo Mazzarago

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjheGMdX57o

ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 Gimbal Delivers Next-Level Smartphone Videography

ZHIYUN is committed to enriching filmmakers and pushing the boundaries of filmmaking through its products and community initiatives. The ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 gimbal for smartphones offers a 3-axis design, supremely smooth movement, a full-control panel, and the ZY Cami companion app. The ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 gimbal takes cinematic filming with your smartphone to the next level.

MSRP:

The ZHIYUN SMOOTH 5 is now available at USD$169. The SMOOTH 5 plus a combo accessory pack is also available for $219.

National Broadband Ireland Progress Update

NBI, the company rolling out the new high-speed fibre broadband network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP), has today issued a progress update which is showing strong momentum across all 26 counties.

By year end 2022, NBI is on track to deliver:

  • Premises under construction to grow by 43%, to 221,000 homes (40% of the 7-year target)
  • Premises available to order* set to increase by 266% to 128,000 homes
  • Premises passed^ to grow by 219% to 102,000 homes

Specifically on take-up, NBI reports take-up rates of over 30% already in Deployment Areas that have been live for a period of 6 months or more.

David McCourt, Chairman of National Broadband Ireland said: “The leading indicators give us confidence that this ambitious project can and will be delivered on time and on budget. During 2022, 221,000 premises or 40% of the entire Intervention Area will be under construction, up from 28% last year. At the same time, we anticipate that 128,000 premises will be available to order on the NBI Network. Our ability to move premises from the construction phases to the order phase is seriously ramping up which means users can reap the benefits of the transformational network sooner.”

NBI Chief Executive Peter Hendrick said: “Early take-up of services on the NBI network are already exceeding 30% in many of the initial deployment areas and it’s growing all the time, something we see as a really strong indicator of future demand. By comparison with any national or international comparison this is indicative of very high uptake levels, substantially ahead of initial expectations. Ultimately, we are confident of an overall take-up of approximately 85% and already have some 50 broadband providers signed up to sell services on the NBI network. This platform competition is expected to bring significant benefits directly to consumers by ensuring that bundled voice, broadband and TV packages offer real choice at competitive prices.”