The Moto 360 – a smartwatch with a degree of style

The Moto 360 – a smartwatch with a degree of style
Sarawak River a plethora of colours on Day 2 of regatta
Shell hopes govt can enhance competitiveness within O&G sector
Malaysia total trade in July increases to RM118.59 bln
Digital economy in good position, says MDeC
Palm oil set to regain stronger price in 2015 and 2016

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 04:55 PM PDT

AFTER six months of hype and sneak peeks, Motorola has finally taken the wraps off its first smartwatch, the Moto 360, so called because of its classically circular face.

And it's classicism, not technology, that's the key to understanding the timepiece because when the premium materials are stripped away, the Moto 360, like all smartwatches that use Google's new Android Wear operating system, is essentially an extension of your smartphone's display. So it presents notifications such as text messages and emails and offers news headlines, weather forecasts and reminders about upcoming appointments, plus navigation instructions.

Motorola claims that the watch will offer users an all-day battery and when it's time to recharge, the Moto 360 comes with its own rather smartly designed wireless charging cradle. Just rest the watch on top and everything happens automatically.

In terms of features, as well as notifications on screen, the watch has an integrated heart-rate monitor and pedometer and is sufficiently water-resistant to be left on in the shower — but not for a lap of the pool.

But it's on looks where Motorola wants potential owners to focus their attention. And in that respect it does stand out from other smartwatches already on the market. Its circular, high-resolution display with six choices of watch face, its stainless steel casing and its Horween leather strap mean that it could sit alongside a Tag Heuer or a Tissot in an existing watch collection and not look out of place.

The price for that elegance comes in at $249.99. And, if you want to enhance those looks with a stainless steel bracelet (launching later in 2014) it will add another $50 to the retail price.

The Moto 360 is available to buy in the US from Friday from Google Play or Best Buy. It will roll out to European markets on September 14 and is expected to cost €249. -AFP/Relaxnews

Sarawak River a plethora of colours on Day 2 of regatta

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 04:40 PM PDT

by Antonia Chiam reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on September 6, 2014, Saturday

KUCHING: Seventeen events were held on the second day of the Sarawak Regatta at the Sarawak River yesterday.

The final round of the Men 20-Paddler Bidar race among government agencies and corporations ended with Yayasan Sarawak Group in first place, as well as the Nippon Oil Challenge Trophy. Sarawak Museum came in second, while Enraz Cahaya Zen was third.

The final of the Women 10-Paddler Bidar race was also won by Yayasan Sarawak Group. Second and third placings went to Armada Pemuda and Sri Muara Tuang, respectively.

In the final for the Women Kayak Individual event, Hazalinawati Osman emerged winner, leaving Bong Nyuk Phin in second place and Noraida Abdul Kassim in third place.

In the Men Kayak (Team) final, Richie Muktelus and Anthony Anyie were placed first, Jury Amrullah Ibrahim and Mohd Nur Fariezman placed second, and Hardy Suntol and Hamdan Mohamad placed third.

Other events held yesterday were Men 7-Paddler Balok Round D, Men 15-Paddler Bidar Round D, Men 20-Paddler Kenyalang Antarabangsa Round B, Men 30-Paddler Bidar Round C, Men 20-Paddler Bidar Round D, Petra (Local) Men 30-Paddler Bidar Round A, Petra (Local) Men 30-Paddler Bidar Round B, Men 10-Paddler Bidar Round D, Kenyalang Campuran Round B, Mixed 15-Paddler Bidar Final, 1KM Men 30-Paddler Bidar Round B, Men, 20-Paddler Kenyalang Final, and Men 30-Paddler Bidar Round D.

Shell hopes govt can enhance competitiveness within O&G sector

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 04:37 PM PDT

MIRI: Shell hopes the Malaysian government can enhance competitiveness of the oil and gas sector by looking into reducing costs.

Shell Malaysia Ltd chairman Iain Lo said on a regional comparison, Malaysia was still too expensive to operate which could impact operations such as developing smaller discoveries offshore.

"To make things economic, costs must be competitive. This is perhaps an area that Malaysia could do more," he told a media roundtable discussion here earlier this week.

"When we benchmark costs against regional costs, Malaysia is still too expensive."

Lo added the downside to this was that smaller discoveries could not be developed because costs were too high, outweighing the benefits of development.

"We need the help of the government to address the cost competitiveness of the O&G services industry so that every discovery that is made can be produced in order to help Malaysia gain income from its natural resources."

During the media roundtable, Royal Dutch Shell plc Upstream International director Andrew Brown emphasised on growing energy needs over coming decades which supports the need for further O&G developments.

"From Shell's perspective, if you look at the future of energy – let's say from 2000 to 2050 – you'll see the doubling of energy demand.

"We are seeing the growth of renewable energy, we can expect renewable energy to take a larger share.

"But still by 2050, we believe a vast majority of energy demand will be met by oil and gas," Brown explained.

Although oil and gas prices were softening at this point, Brown believed this to be temporary.

"Oil prices will stay robust,"he affirmed. "We think that gas prices will also be in a position that we can invest in a project.

"We believe gas is going to be on a global scale see its demand grow significantly. We predict LNG demand to grow globally from 250 million tonnes per annum today to 450 million tonnesin 10years time.

"Prices will have their cycles, but there will be enormous requirement to invest in new O&G productions and we have to make sure that when we do that, we do it in the most cost-effective way and environmentally sensitive as well."

Meanwhile, Lo awaited the government's decision on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as to how it would be categorised.

"There has been quite a lot of discussions with the government on the GST's implementation. I think the government has been quite sensitive to the needs of the industry to make sure that we have enough time to put in all the IT systems necessary for this, so that everybody in the supply chain will be adequately prepared.

"The other conversations revolves around which tier does fuel fall into? Will it fall under standard, zero-rated or exempt? This is what we are awaiting," he said.

Malaysia total trade in July increases to RM118.59 bln

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 04:35 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's total trade in July 2014 increased to RM118.60 billion from RM118.59 billion recorded in the same month last year while trade surplus was recorded at RM3.64 billion, said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) yesterday.

In its Malaysia External Trade Statistics reports, MITI said exports in July expanded 0.6 per cent, year-on-year, to RM61.12 billion while imports decreased by 0.7 per cent to RM57.48 billion.

"Increases in trade were recorded with Singapore which rose by RM1.41 billion, Australia (RM775.4 million), Taiwan (RM763.5 million), Kuwait (RM577.2 million), Hong Kong (RM529.6 million), the Philippines (RM479.2 million), Saudi Arabia (RM361.3 million) and the United States (RM291.6 million)," it said.

For the seven months period, Malaysia's total trade grew 8.4 per cent to RM834.05 billion compared with the same period last year while trade surplus expanded 76.6 per cent to RM48.45 billion.

"Exports were higher by 10.7 per cent to RM441.25 billion while imports rose 5.8 per cent to RM392.8 billion," it said.

MITI said trade with the free trade agreement partner countries expanded 6.6 per cent to RM524.85 billion, with export rising 8.6 per cent to RM282.57 billion while imports were 4.3 per cent higher at RM242.27 billion.

"Exports to Asean rose 7.6 per cent to RM123.38 billion and imports grew 4.4 per cent to RM103.41 billion, registering a total trade of RM226.79 billion which accounted for a 27 per cent share of total trade.

"Higher exports to Asean was contributed by petroleum products, crude petroleum, palm oil, chemicals and chemical products, and, electrical and electronic products," it added. — Bernama

Digital economy in good position, says MDeC

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 04:35 PM PDT

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's digital economy is in a good position with the information communication technology sector contributing 12 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).

Multimedia Development Corp's (MDeC) vice-president, Michael Warren, said the healthy contribution amounted to RM113 billion, which represented a significant share of the national GDP of RM941 billion in 2012.

"To further accelerate this growth, MDeC's Digital Malaysia 354 Roadmap will game-change Malaysia's digital landscape and undoubtedly sow the seeds to grow Malaysia into a high-income country driven by innovations of the digital economy by 2020.

"MDeC's Digital Malaysia 354 Roadmap has now moved forward to the next phase and details of the roadmap would be revealed soon," he said. Warren said this to reporters after the release of the Global Market Expansion Services (MES) Report here yesterday.

The report, jointly published by DKSH Malaysia and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, focuses on digitisation, transformation of business processes through digital technologies and how it is impacting corporate business models.

Warren said the three digitisation trends – mobile commerce, business intelligence and smart infrastructures – would have a meaningful impact on companies within the next five years.

He said although digitisation was not changing the fundamentals of doing business, it has enabled new business opportunities and opened up possibilities for growth and efficiency gains.

"These trends will affect the ways business transactions are conducted and how companies interact with their suppliers, customers and other stakeholders," he said.

Warren said leading market research institutes had forecast that as of 2018, Asia-Pacific would become the region with the busiest e-commerce activities and transactions in the world.

DKSH is a leading MES provider focussing on Asia.

It helps other companies and brands to grow their business in new or existing markets. — Bernama

Palm oil set to regain stronger price in 2015 and 2016

Posted: 05 Sep 2014 04:34 PM PDT

KUCHING: Analysts expect stronger recovery of crude palm oil (CPO) prices in 2015 and 2016 despite weak CPO futures prices reported since June at below RM2,000 per metric tonne (MT).

The research arm of Affin Investment Bank Bhd (Affin Research) in a recent note said the three-month CPO futures dipped below RM2,000 per MT after a series of bad news such as projected record-high US soybean production, weak palm oil exports growth, slow progress in the biodiesel mandate implementation in Malaysia and Indonesia, reduced chances of a strong El Nino event, and recently, tight credit faced by Chinese importers.

Nevertheless, the research team opined that there is potential for price recovery, as prices below RM2,000 per MT are likely to lead to cutbacks in plantation upkeep as well as an increase in replanting activities and a slowdown in new plantings.

"The normal palm oil premium to crude oil has also turned into a discount.

"Based on the still-tight global supply of major vegetable oils in 2014 to 2015 and further progress in biodiesel adoption in Malaysia and Indonesia, we expect firmer CPO prices in 2015 to 2016," it said.

Affin Research also believes the long-term outlook for the plantation sector remains bright as key drivers remain in place.

Nevertheless, given the weak CPO prices since June, Affin Research cut its CPO average selling price (ASP) assumption to RM2,600 per MT in 2015 and RM2,700 per MT in 2016 to 2017.

"Factoring in a CPO ASP of RM2,100 per MT to RM2,300 per MT in the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14), we cut our 2014 forecast from RM2,700 per MT to RM2,400 per MT," it added.

Meanwhile, in a separate note, AmResearch Sdn Bhd (AmResearch) said it is positive about the recent scrapping of CPO export tax by the Malaysian government.

"This would allow some of the upstream producers to export their CPO if the storage tanks at the refineries are full.

"We reckon that these upstream producers would probably use brokers as intermediaries for their exports.

"Also, refiners may export more palm oil in crude form instead of refined, to take advantage of the zero tax," it explained.

Of note, the government of Malaysia said it would scrap the export tax on CPO in September and October to boost shipments by 600,000 tonnes, which should ease palm oil inventory to 1.6 million tonnes by year-end.

Earlier, AmResearch noted, the government had set a CPO export tax of 4.5 per cent for September. Based on the export tax schedule, there is no tax if CPO prices are below RM2,250 per tonne.

Meanwhile, on the roll-out of B7 biodiesel, the Plantations Industries and Commodity Ministry is preparing a paper on B7 to be presented to the Cabinet.

It added, the ministry plans to implement B7 from December 2014 onwards and if B7 is implemented nationwide, about 700,000 tonnes of palm oil will be used.

AmResearch remained generally neutral on the roll-out of B7 as a step up from B5 to B7 would see an incremental absorption of palm oil of only 200,000 tonnes per year.

Also, it said, it is uncertain if car makers would have issues with warranty.

On the roll-out of B5 biodiesal, AmResearch said B5 has been implemented fully in Peninsular Malaysia but it has been delayed in Sabah and Sarawak due to pricing and infrastructure issues.

Looking ahead, the research team noted, consensus forecast for Malaysia's palm oil inventory is at 1.95 million tonnes for August 2014.

It added, India would likely be the main market for palm oil in crude form as currently, India has an import duty of 2.5 per cent on crude palm oil and 10 per cent on refined palm oil.

AmResearch further pointed out that currently, most Indian buyers prefer to buy refined palm oil instead of crude due to the small tax differential between CPO and refined palm oil.