For the first time, Alexa users can now hear ALL their messages and email read aloud.

Amazon’s Alexa has become a household name. The world’s most popular virtual assistant is getting smarter every day, and now with Amazon Echo Auto, it’s in your car too. 

“In today’s highly connected world, messaging in the form of emails, texts, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and work channels like Slack, are integral to our daily routine.” says Barrie Arnold, Co-Founder & CRO at ping. 

“Distracted driving is responsible for more than 25% of car crashes and thousands of preventable fatalities every year.” 

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could ask Alexa to read your messages when checking your phone is dangerous and illegal – like driving, or simply inconvenient – like cooking or working with your hands. Now you can. 

ping, a specialist in voice technology, has developed a powerful new Alexa skill as a companion to its patented smartphone app, that enables the reading aloud of any message type. Designed for safety, productivity and convenience, “pingloud” is the first skill of its kind for keeping users connected when they need a hand or an extra pair of eyes.

“The ping Alexa skill is specifically designed to help drivers stay off their phones while giving them exactly what they want – access to their messages.” says Garin Toren, ping’s Founder & CEO. 

Opening up Alexa to developers has resulted in an explosion of new skills available either for free or for a fee that unlocks premium services or features. These powerful tools magnify the usefulness of your Alexa device beyond the common tasks like asking for the weather, playing a favorite music artist or requesting help on a homework assignment. According to App Annie the most downloaded apps in 2019 were Facebook Messenger, Facebook’s main app and WhatsApp, highlighting the importance of messaging. 

Once you’ve signed up for ping, it takes a few seconds to link with Alexa, enabling all your messages and emails to be read aloud by your smart speaker or Echo Auto device. Simply say, “Hey Alexa, open pingloud.” ping links your account to your voice profile so unauthorized users with access to your Alexa cannot ask for your messages.“The ping Android app is available worldwide from the Google Pay Store, reading all messages out loud in 30 languages. The iOS version is in global beta testing with the US launch coming very soon,” according to Toren.

All major message types are supported including Texts/SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Snapchat, Slack, Telegram, Twitter DM’s, Instagram and all email types. Promotional and social emails are not read by default.

About ping: “The future is voice.”

ping is patented, cross platform voice technology that allows users to hear all their messages and email read aloud, when touching their device is dangerous, illegal (driving) or inconvenient. Optional software-only telematics provides drivers, parents, fleets and auto insurers with extensive driving behavior analysis and reporting. The platform is also available as a white label app and SDK. www.pingloud.com

Press enquiries: +1 917 622 9900

ping8

Vembu, one of the leading Backup and Disaster Recovery Solution vendor, has announced a partnership with MBUZZ technologies, a trusted Value-Added Reseller in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe region. 

This partnership agreement allows MBUZZ to distribute Vembu’s comprehensive backup and DR product, Vembu BDR Suite across the Middle East and Africa, thereby expanding Vembu’s global presence in the region. SMBs and Enterprise businesses across the Middle East and Africa can now take advantage of a comprehensive, affordable and straightforward mechanism of Vembu BDR Suite to provide data protection for their data centers.

“We are extremely delighted to have the innovative Backup & Replication vendor- Vembu in our Distribution portfolio. In the context of Data Explosion happening across the region, our Customers are demanding the most cost-efficient and robust Backup & Disaster recovery solutions. We are sure, the new partnership with Vembu would cater to our customer requirements,” said Fawwaz Al Shammari, CEO MBUZZ.

“With the MBUZZ's expertise of data center, telecom, cybersecurity working in conjunction with the Vembu's complete backup & DR solution for diverse IT infrastructure deployed in virtual, physical and cloud, we intend to provide affordable and enterprise-level functionalities to businesses that have tighter budget and do not want to compromise on critical Backup & DR features,” said Nagarajan Chandrasekaran, Vice President of Product Management, Vembu. 

About Vembu Technologies

Vembu is a leading player in the Backup and Disaster Recovery market for small and medium businesses. Our flagship offering – Vembu BDR Suite – is a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery solution designed to protect the data across diverse IT environments that include virtual (VMware, Hyper-V), physical (Windows, Linux, Mac), Cloud workloads (AWS, Azure) and SaaS applications (Office 365, G Suite). Our solutions are extremely affordable and are ideal for businesses of any size, with a tight budget.

To learn more about Vembu BDR Suite, visit: www.vembu.com


About MBUZZ  Technologies

MBUZZ Technologies is a subsidiary of MBUZZ Group – established in 2007. With headquarters in KSA, MBUZZ has a geographical presence in UAE, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Over the years, MBUZZ Technologies has evolved as a trusted Value-Added Distributor in category-leading Data Center, Security and Networking Solutions in the Middle East and North Africa with highly efficient logistics facilities. Our group is committed to continually adding new strategic vendors to our distribution portfolio to deliver the best products and services to partners and clients.

To learn more about MBUZZ Technologies, visit: www.mbuzztech.com

Soft Xpansion, a company that offers PDF developer tools, standard software and DMS & ECM solutions, celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Bochum, Germany., March 6, 2020 -- This year, soft Xpansion celebrates its 25th anniversary. The company was founded as Maus Software in 1995 in Bochum, Germany. It is still lead by its founders Dr. Juri Stern (Managing Partner) and Michael Kobets (Technical Director). More than 60 permanent employees plus additional freelancers create software for the global market - a PDF SDK for developers, standard applications for end users and individual DMS and ECM solutions for companies. The soft Xpansion group has locations in Bochum, Prague and Vinnitsa (Ukraine).

The PDF Xpansion SDK offers a wide range of modules that allow software developers to implement functionality to create, display and edit PDFs or other digital files directly in their own applications. This also includes features for electronic invoicing (formats ZUGFeRD, FACTUR-X, XRechnung), which gets more and more widespread these days. The SDK is sold through direct sales and by partners like componentsource.com and zoschke.com. The Perfect PDF product family of standard applications, created with that SDK, is distributed by partners through retail chain outlets, online shops and in the Microsoft Store. All individual software projects are tailored to the specific clientsŽ requirements and wishes. soft Xpansion develops them on the platforms OpenText Documentum, Office 365, SharePoint, K2 and Alfresco.

SUCCESS STORIES SDK, STANDARD SOFTWARE AND INDIVIDUAL SOLUTIONS Companies like Amadeus IT Group, DocuWare, HUK Coburg Insurance Group, IQDoQ, Opentext Corporation, STAPRO, ThyssenKrupp and XOS Digital are among the clients of the PDF Xpansion SDK. Individual DMS and ECM solutions have been implemented successfully in more than 100 projects for example for ArcelorMittal, E.ON, Ford, ING Bank, ProCredit Bank Georgian Republic, and a large number of government agencies in the Ukraine. The Perfect PDF standard software, currently available as version 10, is sold globally as well.

SOFT XPANSION GROUP OF COMPANIES IN BOCHUM, PRAGUE & VINNITSA Executive management, the director of the development department and Central European marketing are still situated in Bochum. A few years ago, additional specialized developer teams were merged in a second company (soft Xpansion Ukraine LLC). This company was originally established in Donezk (a Bochum partner city), but had to move west to Vinnitsa in 1994 in order to be safe from the Ukrainian war. The year 2017 then saw the creation of a third company, soft Xpansion Professional Services s.r.o. in Prague. This company is focused on the development and marketing of DMS and ECM solutions for East European markets.

DIVERSIFICATION AND SPECIALIZATION AS SUCCESS FACTORS NO CONTRADICTION Dr. Juri Stern: The IT sector is highly competitive and fast moving, thus a company has to be different in a positive way to be successful. For soft Xpansion, the strategic difference lies in the decision to base its business model on three solid pillars: firstly the PDF tools for software developers, secondly the PDF standard software, and thirdly the DMS and ECM solutions tailored to the customersŽ needs. These solutions benefit from the PDF expertise we acquire in the two other segments: for example, our know-how enables us to use own proven modules in individual features for long-term archiving and for electronic invoicing. Moreover, for digital/digitized documents in general or for eGovernment projects more particularly, we offer a wide range of solutions as well.

About soft Xpansion:
Since its foundation in 1995, soft Xpansion is a specialized software manufacturer with global activities. The product range includes solutions (powerful standard desktop software and apps, innovative software development kits, and flexible, individual programming) in the core areas PDF technology, content/document management and tools. The company looks back on more than 20 years of experience in the IT sector. The software development expertise covers all steps for standard applications and for individual projects - market and requirement analysis, conceptual design, development, implementation, support and advancements. The clients come from all over the world. soft Xpansion is headquartered in Bochum, Germany.

Contact:
Frank Dueckers
soft Xpansion GmbH & Co. KG
Koenigsallee 45
D-44789 Bochum, Germany
+49 234 298 41 73
Fax: +49 234 298 41 72
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https://www.soft-xpansion.com

Singapore, Mar 3, 2020 -- Global digital assets trading platform BiKI.com has entered a partnership with viral marketing platform WinPlay in a bid to provide additional ‘Project Awareness Solutions’ for listed projects on their exchange platform. As a community-driven exchange, BiKi believes that strong communities are what drive blockchain projects and have incorporated this as part of its project listing mission.

In collaboration with WinPlay, the exchange will provide a new community marketing service for listed projects to help them grow, which achieves the following results:

- 5,000 WeChat members
- 4,000 Telegram members
- 10,000 YouTube views
- 4,000 Reddit subscribers
- 4,000 Twitter followers
- 2,000 Medium followers
- 6,000 Facebook shares
- 48,000 website hits

Listed projects will welcome this new interactive move that boosts both community-engagement as well as community-building.

“BiKi is pleased to be working with WinPlay for gamification of our platform. This partnership is part of the core engine that will be propelling BiKi to a leading exchange,” said Ethan Ng, Southeast Asia CEO of BiKi.com. “As a community-driven exchange, we are constantly thinking of new ways to engage with our communities on a much broader scale. This partnership is an answer towards Version 1.5 of our community model.”

Presently, BiKi’s community partners maintain the WeChat and Telegram groups, using their community influence to promote BiKi’s new projects or campaigns. Fees earned from the platform are also regularly used to offset transaction fees and provide subscription discounts for loyal users.

“Ultimately, we want to allow earning crypto to be fun for everyone and easy to pick up for beginners,” added Ethan Ng.

WinPlay.App is a viral marketing platform popular in the crypto industry where users are incentivized to compete with each other into performing gamified marketing actions for the projects sponsoring the campaigns. Users benefit from direct participation by gaining points that will entitle them to handsome rewards. At the same time, projects benefit from all the added exposure and engagement that active crypto users bring by interacting with their WinPlay.App campaigns.

BiKi has conducted a trial with a 11,000 BIKI campaign giveaway to verify the efficacy of the WinPlay community marketing service. Utilizing limited features, the case study resulted in:

- Over 3,500 participants
- Over 40,000 performed actions
- Over 9,000 Twitter likes
- Over 8,500 Twitter shares
- An increase of over 2,000 Twitter followers
- An increase of over 2,000 Telegram members
- An increase of over 1,700 Medium followers

Moving forward, BiKi will include this promotional segment as part of their listing package. Projects can look forward to this new feature that has been tried and tested by the exchange and proven beneficial in community building. Both BiKi and WinPlay will put their combined communities and experience behind this initiative - ‘secret ingredients’ of sorts to ensure a successful recipe of community growth for projects. Interested projects are welcome to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

About BiKi.com:
Headquartered in Singapore, BiKi.com is a global cryptocurrency exchange ranked Top 20 on CoinMarketCap. BiKi.com provides a digital assets platform for trading more than 150 cryptocurrencies and 280 trading pairs. BiKi.com is focused on providing the safest, most stable and most effective cryptocurrency trading platform. 100% of the transaction fees are used in buyback and burning of platform token, BIKI. Since its official opening in August 2018, BiKi.com is considered one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrency exchanges in the world with an accumulated 2 million registered users, 200,000 daily active users, over 2,000 community partners and 200,000 community members. BiKi.com has received investments from Huobi co-founder Du Jun, Genesis Capital Zhu Huai Yang, FBG Capital, ChainUP and others totaling approximately 10 million USD.

Media Contact:
Marketing Team
Chang Jie Lin, BiKi.com
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+65-94556702

Cecilia Wong, yourPRstrategist.com
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+65-91826605

Video Presentation Control App Allows Users to Join Meetings, Share Content and Collaborate from their Smartphones

 

IRVINE, CA – February 27, 2020ATEN Technology, Inc., the technology leader and global manufacturer of KVM and Pro AV connectivity solutions, today introduced several new professional AV presentation switches, enabling users to boost the efficiency and impact of their professional presentation environments. The new “VP” series switches are ideal for small to medium-sized meeting rooms and educational spaces, such as huddle rooms, classrooms, training rooms and other presentation environments, like exhibition galleries or hotels.

VP1420 (4 x 2 True 4K Presentation Matrix Switch)

The multi-in-one presentation switch integrates a video matrix, true 4K scaler, audio processor and analog-to-digital converter functions.

Key features:

  • Smooth Switching – Connect up to four sources (three HDMI, one VGA) to two HDMI outputs; smoothly switch between sources and display contents scaled perfectly to true 4K and 1080p simultaneously.
  • Streamline Operations with Multiple Control Options – Flexible control via front-panel pushbuttons, IR remote control, RS-232, contact closure and web-based GUI through Ethernet.
  • Superior Video Quality – True 4K resolutions up to 4096 x 2160 @ 60Hz (4:4:4) with HDR to deliver vivid content in every presentation.
  • Video Scaling – Supports video upscaling to 4K for display A and downscaling to 1080p for display B.
  • Audio Embedding/De-Embedding – Supports stereo audio embedding and HDMI audio de-embedding to different audio outputs to ease adaptation to the user’s preferred audio setup.

VP1421 (4 x 2 True 4K Presentation Matrix Switch with Scaling, DSP, and HDBaseT-Lite)

Similar to the VP1420, this multi-in-one presentation switch not only integrates a video matrix and true 4K scaler, but also allows for HDBaseT input/output, including an HDBaseT extender, audio DSP and analog-to-digital converter functions.

Key features:

  • Smooth Switching – Connect up to four sources (one HDBaseT, two HDMI, one VGA) to one HDBaseT and one HDMI output and support of audio DSP; smoothly switch between sources and display content scaled perfectly to true 4K and 1080p simultaneously.
  • Streamline Operations with Multiple Control Options – Flexible control via front-panel pushbuttons, IR remote control, RS-232, contact closure and web-based GUI through Ethernet.
  • Superior Video Quality – True 4K resolutions up to 4096 x 2160 @ 60Hz (4:4:4) with HDR to deliver vivid content in every presentation.
  • Video Scaling – Supports video upscaling to 4K for display A and downscaling to 1080p for display B.
  • Audio Embedding/De-Embedding – Supports stereo audio embedding into HDMI output or separation to audio line out and optical audio out. Users can extract HDMI and HDBaseT audio to different audio outputs to ease adaptation to their preferred audio setup.
  • HDBaseT Extended Transmission – Simplifies cabling and transmits AV, power and bi-directional RS-232 and IR control signals up to 460 feet via Cat 6/6a or ATEN 2L-2910Cat 6 cables (applying both HDBaseT input and output ports).
  • HDBaseT-Lite technology – Extends uncompressed AV, IR, RS-232 and power over one Cat 6/6a cable up to 230 feet.
  • Built-in Advanced Audio DSP – Supports microphone input with selectable 48V phantom power; allows microphone input to be mixed with program audio and embedded into display output while automatically reducing program audio to enhance speech audibility.

“Similar products on the market offer two video output ports, which are mirrored outputs, meaning the user must have the same video source on two displays. However, ATEN’s VP1420 and VP1421 solutions are true matrixes, allowing the user to have different video sources on two displays,” said YT Liang, senior product manager, ATEN Technology, Inc. “Additionally, the VP1421’s built-in audio DSP allows microphone input to be mixed with program audio and embedded into the display output.”

VP2120 (Seamless Presentation Switch with Quad View Multistreaming)

The seamless presentation switch integrates a video matrix switch, AV streaming, audio mixing and collaborative functions.

Key features:

  • Built-In Audio DSP – Mixes microphone input, HDMI input and the last streaming input for HDMI or audio output.
  • Stream Via Any BYOD Device – Participants can join meetings wirelessly from laptops and smartphones, making collaboration faster and easier.
  • Bi-directional Multistreaming – Content streaming among four participants simultaneously. Users can stream-in presentation content from their laptop or mobile device or stream-out presentation content in real-time to participants located in different rooms or separate floors.
  • Quad View Flexibility with Auto Layout – The built-in multi-view mode allows up to four streamed-in sources to be displayed in quad view on a single screen and can dynamically adjust its layout according to the number of sources available. Participants can select a streaming-in source to enlarge and make full-screen, enhancing the flexibility of spontaneous presentation adjustments to meet the needs of fast-moving discussions.
  • Data Protection with Secure Connections – The VP2120 connects to existing network infrastructure which ensures the layer of corporate IT security protection needed, especially when it comes to sharing wirelessly. Logins can be controlled by randomly generated room codes to ensure that only related people have access to the meeting and the data shared during it.

 

Additionally, users can download ATEN’s free Video Presentation Control App via the Apple Store or Google Play to join meetings, share content and collaborate directly from their smartphone. The app features advanced online idea-sharing functions including real-time whiteboard annotation for idea exchange and synchronization, chat room, file sharing, video capture and control capabilities to help deliver smooth, engaging and productive meetings.

“Designed for flexible and spontaneous team collaboration, the VP2120, along with ATEN’s Video Presentation Control App, facilitates BYOD meetings with a straightforward user interface, giving users quick and easy access to any on-the-fly meeting,” said Liang. Participants simply use their own devices and access the private QR code or room code, or auto scan the local network to get an available room list to log in, even when they’re not physically in the same area.”

Pricing and Availability

 

Starting at $963 ATEN’s newest presentation switches are now available through the company’s distribution and reseller partners: http://www.aten.com/us/en/where-to-buy/.

For more information, product features and technical specifications, visit:

For more information about ATEN Technology’s complete line of professional AV presentation switches, visit: https://www.aten.com/us/en/products/professional-audiovideo/presentation-switches/.

About ATEN Technology, Inc.

ATEN Technology, Inc. is the technology leader and global manufacturer of KVM and Pro AV connectivity solutions, and the U.S. subsidiary of ATEN International Co., Ltd. (TWSE: 6277), established in 1979. A certified member of the HDBaseT Alliance, holding over 500 industry patents, ATEN offers integrated KVM, Professional Audio (Pro AV) and Intelligent Power solutions, across all industries including corporate, commercial, government, industrial, entertainment, educational and retail environments.

A technology-first company, ATEN’s advanced ability to quickly develop customized solutions in KVM, Pro AV, PDU, USB and data communication lines allows the company to build products that connect, manage and optimize electronics based on customer need. ATEN’s comprehensive portfolio of innovative, reliable products is available worldwide, with local U.S support.

For more information, visit: www.aten.com/us/en/ and follow @ATENConnect on Twitter.

Products, service names and company logos mentioned herein may be the registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

PR Contact:

Angela Tuzzo

MRB Public Relations for ATEN

+1 732.758.1100, x. 105

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