Roomy yet sleek, Audi gets it right

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Roomy yet sleek, Audi gets it right

Auto & Audio November 03, 2018 01:00

By Kingsley Wijayasinha
Nation Weekend

Despite its presence on the road, the A7 Sportback has something of a classic look in blend of luxury and performance

Audi is intelligently picking the right models to offer in Thailand, looking at areas where it can match or even beat rivals with attractively priced imported models.

Take the A7 Sportback, for instance. Priced at Bt5.399 million, this is a full-sized high-performance five-door hatchback that’s got everything you need, and makes you think “who needs a Porsche Panamera?” I picked up the A7 Sportback 55 TFSI quattro S line at the newly opened Bt1-billion Audi Center Thailand and was impressed at first sight. I usually don’t like large cars (especially quirky sportbacks), but the A7 has the sleekness that makes the five-metre body length seem acceptable, thanks to the low 1.42-metre height, resulting in a drag coefficient of only 0.27.

At the front are HD Matrix LED lighting, and there’s also light staging front and rear – when the doors are unlocked or closed, the headlights and tails lights team up to perform dynamic lighting animations.

The Thai version gets 20-inch wheels with low-profile tyres.

Despite its size and presence on the road, the A7 appears classic-looking and doesn’t attract too much attention when you drive around.

The interior is spacious and the quality does not disappoint – Audi is well-known for making excellent car interiors. I loved the gloss black/aluminium styling that has that very strong Audi design (but modernised of course), although I had to admit that finding the right seating position was pretty difficult (despite all the powered seat and steering wheel adjustments). The roofline is pretty low (there’s a large panoramic sunroof) and there’s not much headroom adjustment available.

The A7 features the Audi virtual cockpit that’s highly detailed and adaptable, along with MMI Navigation Plus and MMI touch response, multi-function flat-bottomed sports steering wheel, headup display, Bang & Olufsen audio system, Bluetooth connectivity, etc.

Move to the back and there is plenty of room (long, long legroom), in fact so much you start thinking who needs the A8 limousine? Children can even do somersaults in here. Open the luggage compartment and you’ll also be surprised by all that space (535 litres). Fold the rear seat backrests and you have as much as 1,390 litres.

The A7 comes with a MHEV powerplant, meaning that apart from the normal combustion engine, there’s a 48-volt primary electrical system and a belt alternator starter (BAS) generating up to 12 kilowatts of recuperation power.

Audi is moving quickly with its electrification programme, and next year we could see the German brand offering EV models in the Thai market.

Meanwhile, the base engine of the A7 is a silky-smooth turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 capable of pumping out 340hp and 500Nm, mated to a seven-speed dual clutch that’s so smooth you’d think it’s a conventional automatic.

The A7 weighs in at over 1.8 tons, but it never feels sluggish, and in fact when you floor the throttle it can accelerate like a sportscar. Audi claims 0-100kph acceleration in 5.3 seconds, and a top speed of 250kph. People who drive it would definitely feel it is more powerful than a regular turbocharged 3.0- litre car.

The steering is feather-light at low speeds and weight builds up as speeds increase, which is the way it should work. But you’ll be surprised how heavy the steering becomes during the first high-speed cornering opportunity you get. Nevertheless, the quattro all-wheel-drive system always maintains the best possible traction, and you just need to concentrate on where the car’s heading.

The suspension is multi-link both with stabilisers both front and rear. Audi said that the A7 comes with sports suspension but you hardly notice it as bumps and cracks on the road are still well-absorbed.

Audi brakes are always good in stopping performance, but the pedals are usually super-sensitive, making stop-and-go traffic exhausting. The brakes in the A7 have been improved with better feel and calibration, allowing for better convenience. Meanwhile, the braking performance is top-drawer as well, especially from high speeds.

There are plenty of driver assistance systems, plus cruise control, six airbags, all-around view camera with guiding strip (unfortunately no parking pilot or remote garage pilot which would be ideal for a car this size).

The fully imported A7 Sportback offers a good blend of style, luxury and performance, along with a comprehensive equipment package. And at slightly over Bt5 million, has pretty attractive pricing too.

Audi A7 Sportback 55 TFSI quattro S line specs

Engine: DOHC 24-valve V6 Direct Injection with turbocharger plus 48-volt mild hybrid system

Displacement: 2,995cc

Bore and stroke: 84.5x89mm

Compression ratio: 11.2:1

Max power: 340hp/5,000-6,400rpm

Max torque: 500Nm/1,370-4,500rpm

Transmission: 7-speed dual clutch

Ratios: 3.188/2.190/1.517/1.057/0.738/0.508/0.386

Final drive ratio: 4.410

0-100km/h: 5.3 secs

Top speed: 250km/h

Average fuel economy: approx. 6.8-7.2 litres/100km

CO2: 154-163g/km

Suspension (f/r): 5-link, stabiliser/5-link, stabilizer

Steering: electromechanical powered rack-and-pinion

Turning circle: 12.2 metres

Brakes (f/r): vented disc/vented disc

Dimensions (mm)

Length: 4,969

Width: 1,908

Height: 1,422

Wheelbase: 2,926

Track (f/r): 1,651/1,637

Weight: 1,815kgs

Wheels: 20-inch alloy

Tyres: 255/40 R20

Fuel tank capacity: 73 litres

Price: Bt5.399 million

Distributor: Audi Thailand Co Ltd

Commercial vehicle expo in top gear

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Commercial vehicle expo in top gear

Auto & Audio November 02, 2018 18:51

By The Nation

Bus and Truck ’18, the 15th commercial and special purpose vehicle exposition, is being held under the concept of “Mobility Solutions” at BITEC Bangna until Saturday.

The three-day event includes vehicles for commercial purpose, gadgets, auto parts, and innovative technologies with more than 100 items on show.

Organisers said this year also marks the first-ever exhibition of Logistics Startup Pavilion to showcase Logistical Solutions in Digital Age.

The show runs from November 1 to 3 and covers over 15,000 square metres.

Supaman Munka, Deputy Managing Director of TTF International Co Ltd the organiser of the event, said it serves as the center stage for innovations and technologies for commercial and special purpose vehicles along with the various involved auto parts products.

“In this 2018 Expo, most public transport manufacturers have focused on showing off new automotive innovations, namely Golden Dragon to bring in multiple sizes and types of coach, city bus, and mini-bus, Sakun C to feature the first Thailand-made aluminium-bodied mini-bus, and Globalcraft to exhibit city mini-bus. Hino will be bringing in small and large six-wheelers to display while Fuso will surprise visitors with its brand-new tractor along with hot promotions available only at the event,” he said.

Nissan launches 2018 Teana

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Nissan launches 2018 Teana

Auto & Audio November 01, 2018 23:51

By The Nation

Nissan has launched the 2018 Teana mid-sized sedan that comes with improved exterior design and added features.

The Teana will be available nationwide, with prices starting at Bt1.339 million for the 2.0XE model, Bt1.426 million for the 2.0XL model, Bt1.476 million for 2.0XL Navi model and Bt1.674 million for 2.5XV Navi model.

The Teana now comes with the Remote Engine Start feature, which allows the driver to start the vehicle and the air conditioning before arriving at the car.

It also offers the latest embedded Nissan Intelligent Mobility features and advanced technologies for safer and more confident driving. These include the Intelligent Around View Monitor (IAVM) with Moving Object Detection (MOD), Blind Spot Warning (BSW) and Lane Departure Warning (LDW). These are helpful whether commuting on city streets, getting into tight parking spaces or driving on a highway.

Secutech: Please feel secure

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Secutech: Please feel secure

Tech November 02, 2018 13:35

By The Nation

Secutech Thailand 2018, at Bitec in Bangkok’s Bang Na district from November 8-10, will feature the latest security technologies, including IoT digital security, mobile security and even fire safety for homes and buildings.

The event will be held alongside the Lighting Fair and Thailand Building Fair under the “Smart City Safe City” concept.

Learn more at https://bit.ly/2Dif3kU.

Apple unveils new Macs, iPad Pro

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An attendee uses a new iPad Pro during an Apple launch event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on October 30, 2018 in New York City./AFP
An attendee uses a new iPad Pro during an Apple launch event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on October 30, 2018 in New York City./AFP

Apple unveils new Macs, iPad Pro

Tech November 01, 2018 09:22

By Agence France-Presse
New York

6,853 Viewed

Apple has unveiled a new version of its MacBook Air laptop, this time made of recycled aluminum, as well as a new Mac Mini and an iPad Pro, all pricier than their predecessors.

Nearly 10 years after the launch of the first MacBook Air by the late Steve Jobs, his successor Tim Cook presented on Tuesday the latest version of this PC, just 1.56 cm thick, compared to 1.94 cm (0.75 inches).

This model was made with 100 percent recycled aluminum and recycled plastic, a change which reduces its carbon footprint, Apple said.

Last year Apple announced it would aim for a circular production system for its iPhones, which it said would allow for making new products with recycled materials.

The Mac Mini unveiled Tuesday — the latest version of Apple’s high performance mini desktop computer — is also manufactured with completely recycled aluminum and plastic as well.

Apple is not the only computer manufacturer to use such material, but a report by Greenpeace last year called it among the best performers in the industry in terms of going easy on the environment.

In its most basic model, with 128 gigabytes of memory, the MacBook Air will be available November 7 in the United States at a price of $1,199, which is $200 more than the simplest current version of the computer.

The Mac Mini comes out on the same date for $799, compared to $499 for the most affordable version today.

Apple also unveiled a new version of its iPad Pro tablet with a screen that looks nearly edge-to-edge and boasts a faster processor. It includes features from the latest iPhones.

The changes are part of an effort to overhaul a product that has seen sliding sales in recent years.

Sales of iPads peaked in the first quarter of 2014 at 26 million units. By comparison the company sold about half that many last year in the final quarter.

The 11-inch model starts at $799, up from $649 for the 10.5-inch version from last year.

NetApp Data Fabric enables businesses to drive competitive advantage with AI

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NetApp Data Fabric enables businesses to drive competitive advantage with AI

Tech October 31, 2018 15:13

By The Nation

NetApp has announced ONTAP 9.5, MAX Data, StorageGRID SG6060, NetApp Solution Support for FlexPod, and Flash Performance Guarantee.

These new data services and solutions further extend the NetApp Data Fabric across edge, core, and cloud and enable organizations to fully realize the promise of artificial intelligence,NetApp said in a press statement said.

Global business value derived from AI is projected to total $1.2 trillion in 2018, an increase of 70 percent from 2017, according to Gartner, Inc.1, and IDC predicts that nearly 75 percent of commercial enterprise applications will use AI by 20212. However, even though businesses plan to use AI to create new and innovative business opportunities fueled by diverse, distributed, and dynamic data, they often find that their most valuable data is trapped in siloes, hampered by complexity and too costly to harness for resource-intensive AI applications, the statement added.

“With the speed and volume of data now generated and managed across IoT devices and sensors, on-premises data centers, and in hybrid cloud environments, having a Data Fabric that spans edge, core, and cloud is essential to AI success,” said Joel Reich, EVP, Storage Systems & Software, NetApp. “With today’s new data services and solutions, integrated through the NetApp Data Fabric, organizations can accelerate data pipelines across an entire enterprise to train deep learning models and power AI applications with the simplicity, choice, and scale necessary to achieve real impact.

Modernize Storage to Enable Data Management for AI

NetApp ONTAP 9.5 software helps companies modernize their data services with solutions that deliver leading cloud integration, the highest all-flash performance, and greater efficiency and simplicity.

The statement said NetApp ONTAP 9.5 software has following features:

– Delivers unmatched versatility that offers high performance and consistent low latency, accelerating critical workloads with industry-leading end-to-end NVMe capabilities.

– Unifies data management across storage environments — flash, disk, and cloud.

– Automates tiering of petabyte-scale datasets to object stores in the cloud or on the premises.

– Reduces deployment costs for multisite business continuity solutions.

– Accelerates read performance with cached data sets within a cluster and at remote sites.

– Increases storage efficiency savings by up to 15% for relational database applications.

– Radically increases performance by auto-tiering data between AFF systems and NetApp MAX Data on servers.

MAX Data allows customers to turbo charge their application performance without rewrites to application code. MAX Data is the industry’s first solution to leverage persistent memory in servers to deliver memory-like ultra-low latency and flash-like capacity.

The statemetn said MAX Data has following features:

– Accelerates performance of application-level data, enabling faster processing of data for AI applications and real-time data analytics.

– Speeds application data recovery with data protection services for persistent memory in servers.

– Improves efficiency by using fewerservers to achieve similar or better performance.

– Leverages all the data management capabilities of NetApp ONTAP.

Flash Performance Guarantee:

NetApp offers the industry’s first latency guarantee that allows customers to consume AI applications with the confidence of predictable low latency. Unparalleled in the industry, the performance guarantee offers consistent latency of .5 ms or less and enables businesses to reduce cost and risk by deploying flash with confidence.

Build a Hybrid Cloud Architecture for IoT​

NetApp provides industry-leading data management capabilities and solution support to tap into growing data sources with virtuallyunlimited scalability and performance to feed, train, and operate data-hungry AI, machine learning, and deep learning applications.

The statement said NetApp StorageGRID SG6060 has following features:

– Flash-accelerated object storage addresses the needs of high-performance, high-concurrency workloads for IoT, big data analytics, and machine learning environments.

Combined with ONTAP FabricPool capabilities, customers now have best-in-class data management capabilities while harnessing the value of object storage economics.

According the the statement, NetApp Solution Support for FlexPod has following features:

– The single-point-of-contact support team has expertise across the key components of the entire solution —storage, storage network, compute, compute OS, LAN networking, and hypervisor.

– NetApp Solution Support also includes NetApp Converged System Advisor(CSA) software, which simplifies the customer’s operations and lifecycle management of FlexPod. The CSA superior monitoring and management with a single-pane view of the system’s health helps reduce time toresolution for support incidents.

Oracle advances emerging tech with latest innovations

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Oracle advances emerging tech with latest innovations

Tech October 31, 2018 15:05

By The Nation

Oracle has announced continued advancements in emerging technologies across Oracle Cloud, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, blockchain, IoT, and human interfaces.

Oracle’s strategy is to make emerging technologies pervasive throughout its cloud offerings. To help customers more easily take advantage of these technologies as part of their digital transformation, Oracle has embedded innovative technologies into its business applications and extended these new capabilities into the platform so customers can build upon them. Additionally, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure serves as the foundational enabler for Oracle’s AI and Autonomous capabilities, Oracle said in a press statement.

“The real opportunity with emerging technologies is enabling our customers to embrace innovation on a scale we’ve never seen before,” said Amit Zavery, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Platform. “Oracle’s technologies provide the building blocks for customers to pioneer new innovations, create new opportunities, and drive amazing breakthroughs.”

Machine learning and advanced AI are woven into Oracle Cloud services. For example, Oracle CX applications include built-in AI tools that better predict account health, deliver next-best service actions, automate answers and provide more personalized services.Oracle also embeds machine learning into its security offerings in order to help detect security threats. Most importantly, Oracle also combines machine learning with decades of database optimization to deliver the world’s first and only self-driving database.

Continued emerging tech advancements across Oracle’s portfolio include:

– Digital Assistant for Personalized Interactions: The next evolution of Oracle’s chatbot functionality, Oracle Digital Assistant enables companies to build personalized digital assistants to help employees work smarter and more productively. With this technology, employees can leverage one comprehensive digital assistant that can be trained to support domain skills from multiple applications such as HR, ERP, CRM and CX. Leveraging AI, Oracle Digital Assistant understands context, derives intent, and identifies and learns user behaviors and patterns to automate routine tasks proactively, such as expense approvals and meeting reschedules, on behalf of the user.

– Blockchain for Supply Chain Applications: Recently launched, Oracle Blockchain has already seen global adoption spanning multiple industries. Now, Oracle is expanding its blockchain service offering to include new business applications built on its own blockchain developmentplatform to support new use cases, such as track and trace for supply chain and logistics. New Oracle Blockchain Applications enhance traceability and transparency throughout the supply chain and include Intelligent Track and Trace, Lot Lineage and Provenance, Intelligent Cold Chain, and Warranty and Usage Tracking.

– Automation for Security Services:Oracle offers new cloud security services that use machine learning and intelligent automation to help prevent, detect, and respond to security threats. The new cloud services include a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to help protect against attacks on web traffic; Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) protection to stop outside parties from disrupting running applications; an integrated Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)which monitors and enforces secure configurations; and a Key Management Service (KMS) that allows customers to control the encryption of their data.-

– Intelligent Apps with Built-in AI:To help enable faster and easier adoption, Oracle Cloud Applications weave AI features seamlessly into the existing tasks and processes to reduce the learning curve for end users. For example, the applications send users subtle cues – slide outs and alerts – to let them know about new AI features within the familiar user interface of the application. New interaction models, such as voice recognition and chat bots, are built into applications to create a more intuitive and personalized user experience.

Nirvana adopts ‘Turnkey Solution’ strategy

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Nirvana adopts ‘Turnkey Solution’ strategy

Real Estate November 02, 2018 15:18

By The Nation

Nirvana Daii Plc (NVD) plans to expand its business nationwide with the adoption of a “Turnkey Solution” strategy to jointly develop quality housing projects with landlords in strategic locations.

In a press release issued on Friday, the company said that it will launch four new housing projects under this business model in 2019, the company’s CEO Sornsak Somwattana said.

The four new projects next year are in Pattanakarn and Srinakarin areas in Bangkok and in Sriracha District, Chonburi, and the last one is being negotiated in Phuket and Bangkok, he said.

Nirvana expects to launch one housing project under the Turnkey-Solution model every quarter and generate revenue of Bt3 billion by 2020, Sornsak said.

CHARN ISSARA Developer to launch condo, hotel

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CHARN ISSARA Developer to launch condo, hotel

Real Estate November 02, 2018 01:00

By The Nation

Listed property firm Charn Issara Development Plc plans to launch a condominium and a hotel worth a total of Bt6.4 billion next year, the company’s chief executive officer Songkran Issara said at press release yesterday.

 Up to Bt4.4 billion will be spent in its hotel busines, including increasing the number of rooms and pool villas at Sri Panwa Phuket Hotel costing Bt1.2 billion, a Bt1.5 billion room expansion at Baba Beach Club Hua Hin, and the development of a Bt1.7 billion five- star hotel and pool villas at Tiew Talay Hua Hin.

It wil also launch a Bt2 billion condominium project at Chan-Sathorn road, he said.

NHA PROJECT FOR LOW-INCOME EARNERS IN LAMPANG

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NHA PROJECT FOR LOW-INCOME EARNERS IN LAMPANG

Real Estate November 02, 2018 01:00

By The Nation

The National Housing Authority of Thailand (NHA) will develop rental residences for lower income people worth Bt111.65 million in Lampang province, after the cabinet approved the plan on Tuesday, NHA’s governor Tachaphol Kanjanakul said yesterday.

 He added that the project will 229 units, offering a rental of Bt1,700 per months. Construction of the project will start in the second quarter of next year for cpmpletion at the end of 2020.

This project is aimed at people with an monthly income of not more than Bt16,400 per month, he said.