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Copilot+ PCs from Microsoft Surface set to bring AI-powered experiences to Singapore

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Pre-orders for new Surface Pro 11th Edition and Surface Laptop 7th Edition now open

SINGAPORE, July 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Microsoft announced that pre-orders for the new Surface Pro 11th Edition and Surface Laptop 7th Edition – the first AI-powered Copilot+ PCs, which are the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs on the market – are commencing today in Singapore. From July 11, consumers can reserve these next-generation Surface devices via the Microsoft Official Store and authorized retailers, including Harvey Norman and Best Denki, Courts, Gain City as well as Microsoft authorized stores on Lazada and Shopee ahead of general availability on August 6, 2024.

The all-new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop are thin, light, and beautiful devices that empower users to work, play, and create with AI-enhanced experiences, superb performance, and all-day battery life – starting from 1,599 SGD.

Surface Pro 11

After the first-generation Surface Pro pioneered the 2-in-1 PC category more than 10 years ago, the all-new Surface Pro is now unlocking a new way to think about a laptop: Combining accelerated performance, all-day battery life and industry-leading AI capabilities in an ultra-flexible design that can replace your tablet, your laptop and can even power your multi-monitor set-up.

The all-new Surface Pro, powered by Snapdragon® X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors, delivers incredibly fast speeds, 90% faster than Surface Pro 9. It’s built for the ultimate multitasker, supporting up to three external 4K displays, with two USB 4 ports, and a stunning 13″ display with new optional OLED with HDR technology, delivering new levels of peak brightness and immersive colors. Surface Pro also comes with Wi-Fi 7, offering the fastest wireless connection available and optional 5G keeps you connected to the fastest cellular network while you’re on the move.

The ultra-wide, quad-HD front-facing camera is our best Surface camera ever. AI-powered Windows Studio Effects like Automatic Framing keep you in focus, even as you move around your space. The 10MP Ultra HD rear-facing autofocus camera supports 4K video so you can capture and edit all on one device.

Surface Pro is made with more recycled materials than Surface Pro 9, including 72% recycled content in the enclosure. It is serviceable by design with more replaceable components than ever, including the motherboard, battery, cameras and more.

Surface Slim Pen gets even better with the new Surface Pro, with all new AI experiences. The ink now flows naturally with Zero Force inking, ultra-precise shading, 4,096 points of pressure sensitivity and a built-in haptic engine for a more natural writing experience. The all-new Surface Pro is the most flexible laptop, reimagined.

Surface Laptop 7

The all-new Surface Laptop continues to redefine the classic form factor of a laptop with hardware and software that are purpose-built to unlock a new AI era with Copilot experiences that transform the PC experience and set new standards for excellence and innovation.

Redesigned from the inside out, this new Laptop has modern lines and a stunning PixelSense touchscreen display with razor-thin bezels.  With 120Hz refresh rate, HDR technology, Dolby Vision IQ™ and Adaptive color technology, this display delivers crisper whites, darker blacks and an extended color spectrum. There are two screen sizes, as our new 13.8″ display provides larger viewing area than a traditional 14″ laptop, in a more compact design and a 15″ with an even larger working canvas.

Also powered by the Snapdragon® X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors, the Surface Laptop unleashes lightning-fast speed and AI accelerated power for the ultimate multitasking. It is 86% faster than Laptop 5, delivering incredible performance. It can power up to three external 4K monitors. The 45 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second) Neural Processing Unit (NPU) unlocks new AI experiences and delivers industry-leading performance for seamless productivity with the longest battery life on any Surface – up to 22 hours on the Surface Laptop 15″ and up to 20 on the Surface Laptop 13.8″. With a large variety of ports and lightning-fast Wi-Fi 7, you will always be connected.

The new Surface Laptop has a Full HD Surface Studio Camera that supports AI-powered Windows Studio Effects like Automatic Framing, Portrait Blur, Creative Filters and Voice Focus – so you come across clearly and confidently. AI-enhanced sound with premium Omnisonic® Speakers and Dolby® Atmos®, and Studio Mics amplify your voice and presence.

Surface Laptop is known for its comfortable and quiet typing experience and now, every keystroke is perfected. With optimal key travel for accurate and swift typing and a large precision haptic touchpad that is smooth, responsive and customizable for your personal preference. This is the fastest, most intelligent Surface Laptop ever.

Pre-order information

The all-new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop are available for pre-orders in Singapore starting July 11 via Microsoft Official Store and authorized retailers including Harvey Norman, Best Denki, Courts, Gain City as well as Microsoft authorized stores on Lazada and Shopee. They will be generally available from 6 August 2024 in the following configurations:

All prices indicated below are in SGD

Models

Surface Pro 11th Edition

Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD
Available in Platinum

$1,599

Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
Available in Platinum, Black, Sapphire and Dune

$1,948

Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, OLED display
Available in Platinum, Black, Sapphire and Dune

$2,348

Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, OLED display
Available in Black

$2,648

Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, OLED display
Available in Platinum

Exclusive at Harvey Norman, Best Denki and Microsoft Store

$3,248

Surface Pro 11th Edition – 5G

Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD
Available in Platinum

Exclusive at Microsoft Store

$1,999

Surface Laptop 7th Edition – 13.8″

Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD
Available in Platinum

 

$1,599

Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
Available in Platinum, Black, Sapphire and Dune

Dune and Platinum exclusively at Harvey Norman and Microsoft Store

$1,948

Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
Available in Platinum, Black, Sapphire and Dune

Dune and Platinum exclusively at Harvey Norman and Microsoft Store

$2,188

Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

Available in Black

$2,488

Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD
Available in Black

Exclusive at Harvey Norman, Best Denki and Microsoft Store

$3,088

Surface Laptop 7th Edition – 15″

Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD
Available in Platinum

$2,048

Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
Available in Black

$2,348

Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD

Available in Black

$2,648

Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD

Available in Black

Exclusive at Harvey Norman, Best Denki and Microsoft Store

$3,248

A seamless Harvey Norman experience for Surface device and Microsoft customers 

For a seamless experience with Surface, customers can now access convenient support services at the Microsoft Concierge counter that is located exclusively at Harvey Norman Millenia Walk. Concierge staff onsite will be able to assist with Windows-related software queries. This includes troubleshooting or upgrading your device to the new Windows 11, helping with device set-ups or providing guidance on how to use Microsoft software products. Harvey Norman will also be running a Surface Pre-order Event at Millenia Walk atrium this weekend from July 12-14. Customers can enjoy free ice cream and coffee as they try out new Copilot+ PC features.

Copilot+ PC commercial availability

For commercial customers, the new Copilot+ PC Surface Pro for business will be available for purchase on September 10, 2024, including an NFC reader to simplify authentication and safeguard your business with chip-to-cloud security on a Secured-core PC.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

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SOURCE Microsoft Singapore

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ModelBest and OpenBMB Open-Source MiniCPM-OCR Series, Delivering High-Performance Document Parsing and AI-Powered Quality Control

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BEIJING, Oct. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ModelBest and OpenBMB jointly announced the release and open-source availability of the MiniCPM-OCR series, a family of models for efficient document parsing and parsing-quality assessment. The launch includes two models: MiniCPM-OCR 1.0 (1.3B) and MiniCPM-OCR Jev (2B).

As the first OCR-focused model in the MiniCPM family, MiniCPM-OCR 1.0 brings top-tier parsing accuracy to a compact 1.3-billion-parameter architecture optimized for edge deployment, pushing forward the balance between efficiency and performance for open-source OCR models. Built for real-world conditions, it accurately parses scanned, photographed, curved, tilted and screen-captured documents without cumbersome image pre-correction, lowering the barrier to large-scale document digitization.

The model handles dense bilingual Chinese-English content, complex mathematical formulas, and multi-level or borderless tables, consistently performing at a leading level across a broad range of mainstream industry evaluations. Beyond full-page reconstruction, it supports key information extraction (KIE), pulling specified fields from invoices, IDs and financial statements according to business instructions.

Powered by DSpark decoding acceleration, MiniCPM-OCR 1.0 significantly increases end-to-end throughput while lowering per-page latency. For enterprises processing millions of pages—such as financial contract archives, academic libraries and government records—this means processing far more documents with the same hardware and time budget, at a substantially lower computing cost.

To address the long-standing need for page-by-page manual review, ModelBest and OpenBMB also introduced MiniCPM-OCR Jev, the first OCR result decision model that acts as an “AI quality inspector.” Rather than performing OCR itself, Jev compares the source image with OCR output and rapidly assigns confidence scores to text, LaTeX formulas and tables, detecting missing characters, errors and formatting misalignments. Despite its compact 2B-parameter size, Jev delivers judgment accuracy typically associated with far larger models.

Jev supports cross-model deployment and can be integrated into existing OCR workflows without replacing the underlying OCR engine. It can automatically identify reliable results for direct processing, flag potentially inaccurate outputs for human review and select the best result from multiple OCR systems. This enables enterprises to move from full manual inspection toward risk-based, automated quality control.

The MiniCPM-OCR series is available on GitHub, Hugging Face and ModelScope, and supports vLLM, SGLang, llama.cpp and Ollama, along with SDKs, APIs, Agent Skill plugins and open-source fine-tuning code. Day-0 hardware adaptation covers AMD, Arm, Houmo AI, Intel and NVIDIA. Through the FlagOS software stack, it also has Day-0 support for AI and edge chips from CIX Technology, Huawei Ascend, Hygon, Iluvatar CoreX, Kunlunxin, MetaX, Moore Threads, Sunrise, T-Head, TsingMicro, NVIDIA and Apple Mac (Arm).

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/modelbest-and-openbmb-open-source-minicpm-ocr-series-delivering-high-performance-document-parsing-and-ai-powered-quality-control-302925594.html

SOURCE ModelBest

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Wulcea Elevates Consumer Trust in Heated Apparel Through Multi-National Safety Certifications and Rigorous Technical Testing

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NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As smart heated clothing gains broader adoption, consumers are paying closer attention to the safety and reliability of the technology behind these products. Wulcea, a brand specializing in graphene-powered heated apparel, combines its flexible GrapheneNano™ heating technology with documented safety compliance and durability testing for its heating components and battery systems.

“Trust in smart heated apparel goes beyond warmth—it comes down to confidence in battery safety and heating element reliability,” said John C, Founder of Wulcea. “Our goal is to give users peace of mind through certified technical standards.”

Advanced Graphene Heating Elements Supported by Global Standards

At the core of Wulcea’s thermal architecture is its GrapheneNano™ heating technology. Engineered to eliminate garment stiffness, Wulcea integrates flexible graphene elements that deliver balanced warmth across key upper-body zones while preserving natural garment drape and full freedom of movement.

Wulcea supports its heating components with applicable compliance documentation for major markets. These include CE and FCC compliance documentation addressing relevant electrical and electromagnetic compatibility requirements, as well as PSE compliance for applicable products in Japan. RoHS compliance further addresses restrictions on specified hazardous substances in applicable electrical and electronic components.

Multi-Certified Battery System for Dependable Power

To power its heating elements, Wulcea pairs its heated apparel with rechargeable battery systems designed for convenient everyday use. Featuring a compact design and housed in dedicated interior pockets, the batteries provide portable power while maintaining a streamlined garment profile and comfortable fit.

Wulcea backs its battery options with comprehensive third-party accreditations. UL certification demonstrates that the battery system has been evaluated against recognized power bank safety requirements, covering key areas such as overcharge protection, short-circuit protection, and thermal safety. The battery systems are also supported by applicable CE and FCC compliance documentation, addressing relevant regulatory requirements for electrical and electromagnetic compatibility.

For daily handling and travel, RoHS compliance validates that the battery system meets stringent global standards for material safety. The battery models have also undergone applicable UN 38.3 testing, supporting compliance with international requirements for lithium battery transportation.

Real-World Durability and Practical Usability

Component compliance forms Wulcea’s foundation, but reliability is defined by real-world performance. Built for high-flex endurance, Wulcea’s flexible graphene heating elements are tested through 10,000 active flexing cycles to maintain steady thermal output through repeated bending and everyday body movement.

Everyday convenience is equally essential. Built for hassle-free care, Wulcea’s heating elements withstand 100 machine-wash cycles under standard care guidelines, maintaining internal conductivity and structural stability under repeated laundering.

Integrated NTC temperature sensors provide thermal monitoring and are designed to stop heating if temperatures exceed 131°F (55°C). Combined with runtime of up to 10 hours on the low setting and a discreet interior control button, these features support practical everyday use in cold-weather conditions.

Aligning Technical Standards with Everyday Warmth

By combining graphene-based heating technology with documented battery safety compliance and durability testing, Wulcea continues to focus on the technical foundations of dependable heated apparel. This approach reflects the brand’s emphasis on bringing together safety considerations, practical functionality, and everyday comfort for cold-weather use.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wulcea-elevates-consumer-trust-in-heated-apparel-through-multi-national-safety-certifications-and-rigorous-technical-testing-302925554.html

SOURCE Wulcea

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NIDS Co., Ltd. Confirms CES 2027 Participation, Pursues Expansion of Global Supply Chain for Environmental Sensors

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Company introduced optical and gas sensors at SEDEX and is strengthening its composite sensor business for robotics, home appliances, automotive, and smart building applications

SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Environmental sensor manufacturer NIDS Co., Ltd. has confirmed its participation in CES 2027 and is moving to expand its global business-to-business (B2B) supply chain. Building on its experience supplying sensors to domestic and international home appliance and automotive companies, the company aims to secure overseas customers and extend its applications into smart building HVAC and robotics.

NIDS recently participated in the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association’s Sensor Pavilion at SEDEX 2026, held at COEX in Seoul, where it introduced its next-generation sensor modules. The company said the exhibition allowed it to raise awareness of its technology among domestic home appliance and electronic component industry professionals and to lay the groundwork for collaboration in the sensor field.

The company will use CES 2027 as its next stage. NIDS plans to firm up discussions on sensor module supply with global home appliance makers, HVAC specialists, and robotics companies. It aims to extend the industry contacts gained at the domestic exhibition overseas and to convert product introductions into actual supply opportunities.

Founded in 2000, NIDS develops and manufactures environmental sensors and air quality management solutions. According to the company, it has supplied more than 10 million sensors cumulatively to domestic and international companies, including Dyson, Samsung Electronics, and Hyundai Motor. Drawing on this supply track record, the company intends to showcase its precision sensing technology and mass-production capabilities to overseas customers.

Its main products include particulate matter sensors, optical gas sensors based on non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) technology, composite environmental sensors, and electronic nose sensor modules. The particulate matter sensors measure PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10, while the gas sensor lineup targets carbon dioxide (CO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), and other gases. The electronic nose is used for detecting everyday odors, gas leaks, and fires. The company said it designs the core components required for air quality measurement in-house and has a system in place to mass-produce 5 million units annually.

The area where NIDS will expand development and supply going forward is next-generation composite sensor modules. The company has been pursuing a sensor business that responds to industry-specific demand in home appliances, automotive, and smart building HVAC, and is now concentrating its capabilities on markets such as robotics, industrial safety, and odor detection based on this technology. Building on its experience supplying individual components, NIDS plans to continue developing and supplying, on a B2B basis, modules that handle multiple types of environmental data.

The company will also highlight its sensor product lineup and its newly developed ultra-compact MEMS sensor technology at the exhibition. NIDS plans to introduce its optical and gas sensor lineup along with examples of their application in actual air quality management systems. By explaining both the measurement functions of its components and its experience operating sensors for finished-product services, the company aims to broaden the scope of partnership discussions.

NIDS explained that, because it owns its precision sensors, it can control sensor sensitivity and tune algorithms to suit the system in which they are applied. Drawing on this technical operating experience, the company plans to pursue partnerships with customers and to promote its business capabilities extending from sensor components to air quality and odor management and industrial safety management.

NIDS will also leverage its existing branch network in its overseas market development. Through its overseas bases in the United States, Japan, and China, the company plans to widen its touchpoints with buyers and seek new supply opportunities in conjunction with its CES participation. Its goal is to generate export results by combining exhibition participation with its local networks.

The company intends to keep expanding the global supply of sensor components as a core pillar of its business. Building on the supply experience accumulated in home appliances and automotive, it will broaden its partners to robotics, HVAC, and smart buildings, and respond to industry-specific air quality measurement demand through the development of next-generation modules.

“We plan to continue expanding the development and B2B supply of next-generation composite sensor modules needed across a range of industries, including home appliances, automotive, and smart building HVAC,” NIDS said.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nids-co-ltd-confirms-ces-2027-participation-pursues-expansion-of-global-supply-chain-for-environmental-sensors-302925577.html

SOURCE NIDS Co., Ltd.

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