Press Release : Preserve Life’s Most Precious Moments in 4K[1] with Sony’s New Handycam® Line Up

Today’s special moments are tomorrow’s greatest memories with

new Handycam® range featuring new 4K and new HD model

·       FDR-AXP55 4K Handycam® with new Exmor R™ CMOS sensor with approx. 1.6x  bigger pixel size[2] for unrivalled sensitivity, particularly in low light conditions

·       New ZEISS® Vario-Sonnar T* lens for astounding resolution up to a wide angle of 26.8mm[3] and 20x optical zoom and 30x Clear Image Zoom[4]

·       Featuring 5-axis image stabilisation enabled by Sony’s Balanced Optical SteadyShot™ enhanced with NEW Intelligent Active mode,[5] compensating for camera shake even whilst running

·       New microphone structure which collects sound from five directions for advanced sound quality

·       Full HD 100fps high speed recording for post-production editing of incredible slow-mo movies⁷

·       Built-in projector (50lm) with external input

·       Pro-style features including manual ring, EVF, Time Code recording and User Bit for increased shooting flexibility

·       HDR-PJ675 HD camcorder with enhanced camera functions including 5-axis image stabilisation, Fast Intelligent AF, and Time-lapse Capture

(SINGAPORE, 22 February 2016) – Life’s defining moments can happen so fast, we often fail to fully appreciate the essence of the experience. Whether it’s a child’s first steps, a school play, graduation or a wedding day – having a video to re-live your happiest times with friends and family can become one of your greatest treasures. Sony’s newest Handycam® camcorders allow you to perpetuate those moments in vibrant 4K detail.

FDR-AXP55 4K Handycam®

FDR-AXP55: Breath-taking picture quality with 4K Handycam®

The patriarch of this year’s camcorder family takes form in Sony’s newest 4K Handycam®, the FDR-AXP55, combining enhanced image quality and incredible sound performance.

The FDR-AXP55 features a new Exmor R™ CMOS sensor, providing exceptionally detailed 4K movies. Due to the new sensor’s approximately 1.6x larger pixel size², the FDR-AXP55 enjoys a much greater sensitivity level than its predecessor and allows for fantastically clear content with outstanding resolution even when shooting in low light conditions.

The FDR-AXP55 features a newly developed ZEISS® lens that extends to a wide angle of 26.8mm³, accurately capturing the scene from wide angle through to telephoto. The lens empowers the camcorder with a remarkable range of 20x optical and 30x (4K)/ 40x (FHD) Clear Image Zoom, for beautiful close-up footage you don’t want to miss.

Due to its Advanced Aspherical (AA) and Extra-low Dispersion(ED) lens elements, colour fringing is highly reduced allowing the lens to produce incredibly accurate colours for beautifully precise footage. The multi-layer film ZEISS® T* coating reduces unwanted reflections like ghosting and flare which delivers a crisper, clearer image even when shooting on bright days outside.

The FDR-AXP55 is the first Handycam® with an enhanced version of Sony’s own Balance Optical SteadyShot™; a 5-axis image stabilisation system that brings you blur-free footage when shooting handheld and thanks to its new Intelligent Active mode⁵, also ensures crisp footage whilst running. This incredibly powerful image stabilisation system allows for exceptionally smooth and clear video footage from all angles, even when on the move or whilst using the telephoto end of the 20x optical zoom when aiming for close-ups shots. The new Intelligent Active mode takes it a step further and even allows for incredibly clear HD footage when running.

The FDR-AXP55 records at an incredible high bit-rate of 4K 100Mbps, using the high-performing XAVC S™ recording format[6], allowing each frame to be filled with astonishing 4K detail so you can relive everything from splashing waves to colourful confetti. 

The camcorder comes with a newly adapted AF algorithm, Fast Intelligent AF, also featured in Sony’s α7S II, which optimises communication between the lens and processor to achieve speeds up to approximately 40% faster² than previous models and more precise subject capture.

Advanced sound quality

The FDR-AXP55’s new microphone structure collects sound from five directions, thereby capturing real-life sounds and delivering a more realistic sense of ambience. Due to the enhanced microphone structure, noise levels have been reduced by approximately 40%², and stereo performance is approximately twice as high as previous models², allowing for clear recordings in a greater range of environments. Its 5.1ch microphone records high stereo sound in 2ch in XAVC S 4K/HD and high surround sound in 5.1ch in AVCHD. In addition, the My Voice Canceling function reduces the user’s own voice whilst recording.

Full HD 100fps recording for slow-mo movies[7]

As a first for the Handycam® series, the FDR-AXP55 can record at 100fps in Full HD meaning that footage can be edited into breath-taking slow motion footage with the free PC software, PlayMemories Home™, to add a whole new dimension to home movies.

It boasts many pro-style refinements for greater shooting flexibility, including a manual ring and button that can be allocated to functions like zoom, focus and exposure and electronic viewfinder (EVF), allowing the user to easily compose scenes even when recording on sun-filled holidays. For greater control of the edit, advanced users can benefit from Time Code and User Bit options.

Post shooting, instant on-the-spot video playback is made possible with the Handycam’s built-in projector (50 lm). To enjoy recorded footage at home, 4K content can be played back on a compatible 4K TV through a supplied HDMI cable or by automatic down conversion of 4K frames in Full HD playback on an HD TV. For beautiful framing, this Handycam® also allows you to playback trimmed 4K images from selected video frames, enlarging or cropping[8] selected parts of the frame in Full HD quality.

HDR-PJ675 Handycam®

More new ways to capture and share the memories

Sony’s Full HD camcorder range welcomes the HDR-PJ675. As with its elder siblings, it can extend to a generous wide angle of 26.8mm³, meaning beautiful family moments can be captured in any situation. The new model benefits from image stabilisation technologies including advanced Balanced Optical SteadyShot™ with 5-axis Intelligent Active mode on the HDR-PJ675 - ensuring highly detailed, blur-free footage.

The Handycam® camcorder allows for XAVC S 50Mbps high-bitrate recording⁶ and also features Fast Intelligent AF. With 5.1ch surround microphone performance[9] and My Voice Canceling, superb sound quality is also guaranteed.

Using Sony’s free PlayMemories Home™ PC software, you can organise and edit your footage and also create your personal high-quality time-lapse movies⁷ with Time-lapse Capture for powerful, impactful scenes in 4K using the FDR-AXP55 and HD with the HDR-PJ675. In addition, the built-in projectors allow for instant playback of saved videos on large surfaces.  

Live broadcasts

To get others involved in the action, all new Handycam® models allow Live Streaming via USTREAM™[10], enabling you to stream HD video footage and sound from Handycam® camcorders through a wireless access point. You can now ensure that no one, no matter how far away, will miss out on those defining moments, no matter where in the world they may be.

Like all of Sony’s Handycam® line up, the new models feature the automatic in-cam movie editing function, Highlight Movie Maker[11], which picks key moments in your footage like laughter or zoomed in moments and assembles them into short-clips without any need for post-production editing. You can customise with transition effects and soundtrack music and once completed, easily share your MP4 movie on social media sites.

The HDR-PJ675 full HD camcorder will be available at all Sony Stores, Sony Centres and selected Sony authorised dealers from February 2016 onwards, at a recommended retail price of $1,299.00.

The FDR-AXP55 4K Handycam® will be available at all Sony Stores, Sony Centres and selected Sony authorised dealers from March 2016 onwards, at a recommended retail price of $2,299.00.

Full specifications on the new FDR-AXP55 can be seen here and for the HDR-PJ675 here.

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[1] 3840 x 2160 pixels.

[2] Compared to FDR-AXP33/FDR-AX33.

[3] 35mm equivalent.

[4] 20x optical, 30x (4K)/ 40x (FHD) Clear Image Zoom.

[5] Available in HD recording only.

[6] Requires SDXC/SDHC memory card UHS-I U3 or Higher for XAVC S 4K 100Mbps recording and SDXC/SDHC memory card  Class 10 or higher for XAVC S 4K 60Mbps  and XAVC S HD 50Mbps recording.

[7] Available with PlayMemories Home. To create time-lapse movie, ver. 5.1(Windows)/3.1(Mac), scheduled for release in January 2016, or later is required.

[8] Minimum trimming size is 1920 x 1080.

[9] Recording in 5.1ch is in AVCHD only.

[10] Requires a Wi-Fi router or smartphone capable of tethering.

[11] Available in AVCHD only.

Press Release : Firmware upgrade/Smartphone App for Canon’s Connect Station CS100 makes sharing and managing photos and videos even easier

SINGAPORE, 18 February 2016 — Canon announced today a free firmware upgrade and smartphone app for the Canon Connect Station CS100 (released in January 2015), providing an enhanced user experience for the sharing and managing of photos and videos on the device.

The Connect Station CS100 is a convenient one-stop platform which enables photos from different devices to be stored and organised within a central device for easy sharing and viewing. In response to the needs of a wide range of users, the firmware upgrade and smartphone app will help strengthen coordination between computers and smartphones. The new firmware upgrade also makes it possible for selected photos and movies to be exported to an external hard disk for back up.

Improved Functions with firmware upgrade

With the firmware upgrade, photos and videos saved on the computer can easily be grouped together and uploaded to the CS100 via drag and drop, an improvement over the previous version of repeatedly selecting individual files for transfer.

In addition to the existing 11 supported languages, 13 new languages (Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finish, Polish, Hungarian, Ukraine, Turkish, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian) will be added, making it a total of 24 supported languages for users in both Asia and Europe/USA.

New Connect Station smartphone app

The new dedicated Connect Station smartphone app (available for both iOS and Android devices) dramatically improves existing specs for viewing from a web browser. Connection to the CS100 from a smartphone can be done in just one-step, even on non-NFC compatible smartphones, an improvement over the previous method of manually inputing the IP address in the web browser.

All the photos saved on the CS100 can now be viewed and searched by date on a smartphone, compared to previously when only photos registered in albums can be viewed. Multiple photos can also be selected and uploaded together directly from the smartphone to the CS100. Likewise, multiple images can also be selected and downloaded to the smartphone from the CS100.

Press Release : ShareCare AND BlackBerry Launch New BBM Channel

Partnership to provide actionable health information to millions of BBM users 

Barcelona, Spain/Waterloo, Ontario — Feb. 24, 2016 — BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB), a global leader in secure mobile communications, today announced an expansion of its partnership with Sharecare, a leading digital health and wellness engagement platform, to provide consumers with better and more secure insights into their health.

Together, the companies have launched the Sharecare BBM channel, which hosts information from experts, including health organizations and medical professionals. Experts ranging from the American Cancer Society to licensed physicians and nurses, and luminaries from Deepak Chopra to Dr. Oz can be connected to users to help them find the health answers, advice and resources that are right for them. The Sharecare BBM channel lives on a user’s smartphone right in BBM for access anywhere at any time; and with notifications built into BBM, users can receive important health updates on the Sharecare channel or when someone interacts with a post on the channel.

“Beyond BlackBerry’s best-in-class privacy standards, their expansive reach gets us closer to realizing our vision of becoming the de-facto digital health destination for anyone, anytime, anywhere and on any device,” said Jeff Arnold, founder and CEO of Sharecare. “In particular, the Sharecare BBM channel provides us with a unique and secure avenue to provide hundreds of millions more consumers with the tips and tools they need to help them live their healthiest lives.”

“Leveraging Sharecare’s rich background and pedigree in the healthcare industry, we’re able to provide an opportunity for consumers to access important health-related information in a safe and secure manner via BBM Protected,” said Marty Beard, COO, BlackBerry. “We are addressing the privacy concerns consumers may have regarding personal health data and ensuring we’re providing the solutions necessary to thwart anything that could compromise sensitive information.”

BBM works on iOS®, Android™, and BlackBerry smartphones and is free to download. The Sharecare healthcare channel is available now via BBM Channels. Find out more about BBM at www.bbm.com.

Press Release : BLACKBERRY To Offer Secure Enterprise Solutions And Services VIA Microsoft's Azure Cloud Platform

Availability of BlackBerry’s multi-OS EMM platform in Microsoft Azure Marketplace extends secure mobility and collaboration capabilities to more organizations in the cloud

Barcelona, Spain/Waterloo, Ontario – February 24, 2016 – BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB), a global leader in secure mobile communications, today announced Microsoft customers now have access to BlackBerry’s secure enterprise mobility solutions in the open, flexible, enterprise-grade cloud computing platform Microsoft Azure.   

Enterprises can opt to install and manage their BES12 deployment through the Azure platform. This means customers have full access to their BES12 licenses while benefiting from the Microsoft cloud architecture – without having to invest in their own IT infrastructure. BlackBerry and Microsoft complement their best-in-class security capabilities in this combined offering. BES12 is designed with the compliance needs of the most strictly regulated industries in mind, while Azure places an emphasis on the customer’s security and control over their own data. BES12 is part of the recently announced Good Secure EMM Suites and BlackBerry will continue to introduce other products in the Good Suites to Azure.

In the coming months, BlackBerry and Microsoft will also add the network crisis communication solution from AtHoc into the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. AtHoc enables people, devices and organizations to exchange critical information in real time during business continuity and life safety operations. The integration into the Azure Marketplace will further extend the AtHoc software platform globally, enabling crisis communications networks in the cloud for customers and helping them to address their local privacy concerns and regulations.

“By 2017, approximately 75% of EMM solutions will be deployed in the cloud, with on-premise solutions mostly reserved for legacy installations. Further, high capability EMM installations beyond simple mobile device management will represent 50% of deployments, up from 25% in 2014. This reflects the ease of enabling higher end capabilities like file management, app stores, single sign on and data security when provisioned by cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) systems,” according to Jack Gold from analyst firm J. Gold Associates LLC.

“Working with Microsoft enables BlackBerry to provide our industry-leading enterprise software solutions to a larger business audience,” said Marty Beard, COO at BlackBerry. “By utilizing BlackBerry’s enterprise solutions through the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, customers have greater choice, more flexibility and the ability to reduce IT costs – backed by the gold standard in security, privacy and productivity.”

“We are excited to have customers advance their business while protecting IP and customer data with BlackBerry´s multi-OS EMM platform BES12 on the Microsoft Azure platform,” said Steve Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President, Developer Experience & Evangelism and Chief Evangelist, Microsoft Corp.

BlackBerry and Microsoft will continue to collaborate to bring more integrated solutions for customers. Many organizations that run BlackBerry´s secure enterprise solutions also deploy Microsoft solutions. Those customers will start to see additional synergies as they mobilize BlackBerry solutions through the Microsoft Azure platform.

Find out more about BlackBerry in Microsoft Azure at

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/partners/blackberry/production-1-vm/

The BlackBerry and Azure white paper is available at http://blackberry.com/microsoftazure

Press Releases : BLACKBERRY Launches New Professional Cybersecurity Services Practice To Expand Porfolio

BlackBerry acquires Encription to provide customers industry-leading threat mitigation and cybersecurity services

Waterloo, Ontario — February 24 — BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB), a global leader in secure mobile communications, today announced the launch of its new Professional Cybersecurity Services practice that will further expand BlackBerry’s security portfolio by offering organizations new consulting services, tools and best practices to assess and thwart ever-changing cybersecurity risks.

Cybersecurity is a persistent and increasing business risk for organizations that depend on mobile endpoints that connect through networked and cloud-enabled platforms. It is estimated that data breaches currently cost the global economy more than $400 billion every year.[1] Some industry sectors, such as automotive, are being forced to grapple with cybersecurity threats for the first time as cars become more connected, intelligent and self-sufficient. As cybersecurity threats become more pervasive with increasing Internet connectivity, there is a greater demand for more robust defensive tactics to combat these risks. BlackBerry’s Professional Cybersecurity Practice is intended to address that market demand.

Cybersecurity consulting is currently estimated to be a $16.5 billion annual global business that is forecast to grow to $23 billion per annum by 2019[2]. As such, cybersecurity consulting represents a natural market opportunity for BlackBerry since it already securely manages hundreds of millions of mobile endpoints and provides critical systems software for more than 60 million connected cars.

BlackBerry’s new cybersecurity consulting services and tools, combined with BlackBerry’s existing security solutions will help customers identify the latest cybersecurity threats, develop risk appropriate mitigation strategies, implement and maintain IT security standards and techniques and defend against the risk of future attacks. BlackBerry’s new global Professional Cybersecurity Services practice will address:

·   Strategic Security: best practices in IT operation ranging across enterprise mobility management and cloud services.

·  Technical Security: technical assistance for infrastructure and product development lifecycle.

·      Automotive and IoT Security: security consulting services as the rapid commercialization of IoT solutions makes security and privacy a top priority.  

·   Detection, Testing and Analysis: threat detection and mitigation penetration testing, vulnerability assessment and incident response analysis. This includes forensic services, business security status via IT health checks, training, regulatory compliance and security breach management through incident response.

As part of the new Professional Cybersecurity Services practice – and aligned with BlackBerry’s core emphasis on securing mobile communications across all platforms – BlackBerry acquired UK-based Encription Limited, which brings years of cybersecurity consulting experience to the organization. The acquisition of Encription was completed on February 19, 2016. Specific terms of the deal are not being disclosed. 

Encription’s specialties range from deep technical skills in software security to hardware capabilities. This includes industry-leading assessments in penetration testing, mimicking the techniques of malicious hackers to ensure organizations are aware of cyber risks posed by criminal hackers and how to address them. Additionally, Encription has been entrusted by one of the UK government’s highest security standards with the CESG CHECK IT and ISO/IEC 27001 certifications. This adds another significant security certification to BlackBerry’s portfolio in order to meet the stringent standards and requirements for countries the company serves.

“BlackBerry is the gold standard when it comes to security and we’re always evolving to maintain this high standard as the complexity of enterprise mobility and security increases,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry. “We recognize that security vulnerabilities are a top risk concern for public and private sector organizations alike. The creation of our Professional Cybersecurity Services practice and acquisition of Encription reinforces our commitment to providing customers the industry’s most secure mobility solutions and helping them to assess and mitigate risks.” 

BlackBerry has provided the world’s most secure mobility solutions for more than two decades, and has earned more than 70 government certifications and approvals - greater than any other mobile vendor. BlackBerry is also the trusted mobility partner of all G7 governments, 16 of the G20 governments, 10 out of 10 of the largest global banks and law firms, and the top five largest managed healthcare, investment services, and oil and gas companies.

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[1]2015 Cost of Data Breach Study: United States, Ponemon Institute, May 2015

[2]“Forecast Analysis: Information Security Worldwide”, Gartner, 2015

Golden Village Multiplex is the first to launch Auro 11.1 in Singapore

The revolutionary 3D immersive sound technology, Auro 11.1 by Barco, has landed in Singapore. Golden Village Multiplex is the first cinema operator in Singapore to support this technology. Incidentally, I am also one of the first group of Singaporean to experience this technology in Singapore. Thanks to Golden Village, the nice people from Touch PR, Olivia, Rachel and my fellow blogger, Wee Wu for the invite. 

The first movie to deploy Auro 11.1 was my favourite Jack Neo's movie "Long Long Time Ago".You can check out my review of "Long Long Time Ago"  The movie was natively mixed in the new immersive technology at the Galaxy Studios in Belgium.

According to Mr. Sebastian Fong, Manager, Projection Management, GV Multiplex, 

"Visualisation has grown tremendously in recent years. On the other hand, the evolution of audio technology has been at a gradual pace. This makes Auro 11.1 by Barco, a monumental evolution in the history of cinema audio technology. We understand that 50% of the movie experience relies on pitch-perfect audio, which makes it most gratifying for us to be the first cinema operator to launch Auro 11.1 in Singapore."

We have been pursuing natural true-to-life reproduction of sound all this while especially with the arrival of surround sound but now Auro 11.1 give us the most realistic 3D sound experience that is currently available in the market. 

Auro 11.1  uses a sound reproduction speaker layout based on three axes ( x=width y=depth, z=height) and three vertical layers (surround, height, top) to give this realistic 3D sound experience. 

So far, more than 125 films have leveraged on this new sound technology. As what Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation, has praised Auro 11.1 for offering the best cinematic experience to movie patrons. Every boom, swoop and whisper will be fully experienced, making your movie experience the ultimate adventure.

My Opinion

Before the start of the movie, "Long Long Time Ago", there was a special clip to showcase Auro 11.1 capability. It was impressive as the 3D sound simply move around your ears. The result was a complete natural life-like sound that you would have experience on location. 

I would say depending on the movie, the Auro 11.1 capability would have been more prominent on action movies and I believe will have a much greater impact on the audience. As for the "Long Long Time Ago" movie, only certain actions scene can be felt especially at the flood scene. 

Be sure to experience this realistic sound technology at GV. Dreamworks Animation's latest film, Kung Fu Panda 3 is currently playing in theatres in Auro 11.1 by Barco. 

More information on how you can experience Auro 11.1 by Barco at GV Suntec City, click on www.gv.com.sg

Information on Auro 11.1 by Barco, click on www.barco.com/nl/Auro11-1