8th Philippine SME Business Expo and Conference to open on May 02, 2019

MANILA – Philippines’ Largest Business-2-Business Expo, Conference, and Networking Event for Small and Medium Enterprises – the 8th Philippine SME Business Expo & Conference [PHILSME] is now all set to open its 8th edition on May 02, 2019 at the SMX Convention Center Manila, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City.

The event provides growth opportunities for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through a 2-day interactive business event composed of an expo and a 2-day business conference expecting to draw over 10,000 small and medium-sized business owners, business professionals, and aspiring entrepreneurs. It will run from May 02-03, 2019.  

A much bigger expo will be expected for this year featuring over 250 exhibiting brands offering various business solutions and opportunities such as IT solutions, business consultancy, logistics, financial technology, insurance, human resources & recruitment, office spaces, marketing & advertising, franchising, distributorship and many more.

The main highlight for this edition’s expo is the launching of the Innovations Village where technological start-up companies are now given the spotlight to showcase the latest technological business solutions to support SMEs.

“In this age of e-commerce, advancements in technology have been a piece of pivotal machinery for most businesses today. This is the reason why this edition’s PHILSME is different – we invested in technology through the launching of the Innovations Village. We are excited to meet and explore a wide array of new and even more technological business solutions that will strengthen and empower the Small and Medium Enterprises here in the Philippines.” says PHILSME Founder and Mediacom Solutions, Inc. Chief Events Officer, David Abrenilla.

In addition, this edition’s business conference will feature over 20 business talks on areas of digital marketing, e-commerce, logistics, operations, finance, sales, information technology, human resources, accounting and many more. Negash Devata, General Manager for Cross-Border Trade from Paypal Southeast Asia and Mr. Mikey Asiddao, the Chief Information Officer of Fexco Philippines will be among the notable speakers for this year.

The 8th Philippine SME Business Expo & Conference is sponsored by LBC Express, Spaces, Esquire Financing, Zoho Corporation, Easy Debit by Fexco Philippines, Epson Philippines, Canon Marketing Philippines, and Benchmark Email Philippines. PHILSME is also supported by the Department of Trade and Industry – Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Filipino International Franchise Association, Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the Cassava Growers and Processors Association.

For visitor inquiries and conference tickets, contact Sunshine Sy at +632-218-9517. +632-266-0092, +63-928-732-5557, or +63-927-395-1575 or send an email to sunshine@philsme.com

Connect with the SME community via Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/PhilippineSMEBusinessExpo

Liyab Esports, PBE|Doujin Establish Legacy at the Philippine Pro Gaming League 2019

MANILA, Philippines, April 15, 2019 — After more than three months of search, the Philippine Pro Gaming League 2019 finally crowned the country’s best Arena of Valor, League of Legends, and Tekken 7 representatives. MET Events (formerly Mineski Events Team), the leading esports event organizer in Asia, in partnership with Globe Telecoms, gathered 16 esports teams and athletes at the Ayala Malls Feliz in Marcos Highway, Pasig City on April 6-7, 2019 for the highly anticipated culmination of the country’s biggest multi-platform esports league.

Nearly 9,000 attendees witnessed firsthand the pinnacle of Philippine esports competition as Liyab Esports claimed the back-to-back Arena of Valor and League of Legends championship titles, while Andreij “PBE|Doujin” Albar emerged on top of seven gritty players at the Tekken 7 finale.

The PPGL AoV grand finals saw the meteoric rise of the newly-formed, yet veteran-filled, the squad of Kidlat Esports. They were the first team to advance to the grand finals, where they were met by the tournament favorites, Liyab Esports. A total of five games were allotted for the grand showdown, but Liyab Esports proved that three is already enough for them to claim the PPGL AoV grand championship title and the PHP 200,000 grand prize.

ARENA OF VALOR

● Champion: Liyab Esports - PHP 200,000
● 2nd Place: Kidlat Esports - PHP 100,000
● 3 rd -4th Place: Resurgence - PHP 50,000
● 3 rd -4th Place: Bren Esports - PHP 50,000

While the grand showdown of the PPGL AoV sported the potential of an up-and-coming esports team, the PPGL LoL grand finals, on the other hand, hosted a rematch between TNC Predator and the former Mineski-League of Legends squad of Liyab Esports.

These two teams went at full five games last season with TNC Predator ending up as the champions. This time, however, Liyab Esports wasted no time in dethroning the reigning kings and swept them to claim the lion’s share of the PHP400,000 prize pool, as well as the championship title.

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
● Champion: Liyab Esports - PHP 200,000
● 2nd Place: TNC Predator - PHP 100,000
● 3 rd -4th Place: Bren Esports - PHP 50,000
● 3 rd -4th Place: ArkAngel - PHP 50,000

Since its inaugural season last year, the PPGL franchise has yet to host a Tekken 7 tournament without Andreij “PBE|Doujin” Albar and Alexandre “PBE|AK” Laverez duking it out against each other in the grand finals—this iteration of the PPGL Tekken 7 was no exception. PBE|Doujin’s commanding 3-0 sweep against his long-time rival allowed him to claim his second-straight PPGL Tekken 7 championship title and the PHP 90,000 grand prize.

TEKKEN 7
● Champion: Andreij “PBE|Doujin” Albar - PHP 90,000
● 2nd Place: Alexandre “PBE|AK” Laverez - PHP 40,000
● 3rd Place: Raphael “CIG.Vermilion” Cuevas - PHP 24,000
● 4th Place: Julius“SGD.Omega|Jules” Lozano - PHP 18,000
● 5th -6th Place: Anthony “DONZRELLIK” Lequin - PHP 9,000
● 5th -6th Place: Ryan “Chongibears” Chong - PHP 9,000 ● 7th -8th Place: Neil Kenneth “Wong” Uy Tan - PHP 5,000
● 7th -8th Place: Reece Justin “Silverfox” Siasat - PHP 5,000

Overall, the PPGL 2019 grand finals that featured up-and-coming athletes and established stars promises a bright future for the Philippine esports industry. Follow the official Facebook page and website for more information about the PPGL 2019.

Experience HP LaserJet Printer quality and reliability with Free HP Everyday Paper

Get any participating HP Original Toners
and enjoy your free HP Everyday Paper now!

Every day, HP LaserJet printers and toner cartridges never fail to deliver on their commitment to making an impact on business documents by consistently printing sharp black texts and crisp graphics. Now, to make sure that enterprises can truly maximize the reliability of HP LaserJet printers to grow their business, every purchase of HP CF217A, HP CE285A or HP Q2612A Black Original LaserJet toner cartridges and HP CE285AD, HP Q2612AD, or CB435AD Dual Pack Black Original LaserJet toner cartridges, comes bundled with a free ream of HP Everyday Paper. Engineered to a higher standard, HP Everyday Paper has ColorLok Technology which helps deliver low levels of paper dust to maximize printer longevity and ensures consistent quality prints. HP Everyday Paper is made of 100% eucalyptus pulp that comes from sustainable forests, making it environment-friendly. So, what are you waiting for? Buy any of the participating HP Original Toners at authorized HP resellers nationwide to get your free 500 sheets of letter-size HP Everyday Paper! Promo period is until April 30, 2019, only. See posters and print ads for more details. Per DTI-FTEB permit no. 1221, series of 2019.

Tetra Pak and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf team up to promote carton recycling and here’s everything you need to know

Manila, The Philippines—In support for Global Recycling Day which takes place on 18 March 2019, Tetra Pak and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf join the rest of the world to celebrate recycling and showcase the vital role it plays in preserving the future of the planet.  These two global companies are teaming up for a carton recycling initiative which will run in select The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf stores until 31 May 2019.

Here’s what you need to know:

Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/tetrapakphilippines/videos/460136091192978/

1.    You can drop off empty drink cartons at participating The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf recycling collection points.

Until May 31, you can drop off empty drink cartons of your favorite juices, milk, and other carton-packed beverages at recycling bins located in the following The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf stores:

·         Eastwood Mall

·         Greenhills Promenade,

·         26^Th St. Bistro Bonifacio Global City

·         Glorietta 2, Makati

·         One Arhcers Place, Taft Avenue

2.    Remember the 3Fs – Flip, Flap, Flatten drink cartons.

Make sure to empty and rinse the pack first and do the 3Fs – Flip, Flap, Flat before dropping it off for recycling.

For packages that have a straw or screw cap, push the straw back into the empty pack so or re-attach the cap when you are finished with your drink before disposing of. This step will ensure that all parts of the package will be recycled together.

        3.    Cartons to Creations

s

Through recycling, beverage cartons are given another life as other useful products. Once empty drink cartons go through the recycling process, the paper fibers are separated from the rest of the materials at a paper mill which are used to produce different types of paper-based products such as notebooks, paper bags, etc. The extracted polymers and aluminum are processed as a composite material, or separately, and then used to make a variety of new products such as roofing sheets, recycle bins, school desks and benches, and other items.

Hope in a Box

This is not the first time that Tetra Pak and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf are teaming up as part of their sustainability efforts. In 2018, they embarked on a collaboration together with social enterprise, GenerationHOPE, to launch Hope in a Box, the first drinking water packed in cartons in the Philippines.

Hope in a Box comes in environmentally sound Tetra Pak cartons and is now available in all The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf stores nationwide. 100% of profits from the sale of Hope in a Box goes to the building of public school classrooms nationwide.

The collaboration was born with the goal of encouraging consumers to make a conscious choice in choosing sustainable alternatives. Continuing its efforts into 2019, Tetra Pak and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf are now promoting carton recycling through a joint initiative wherein people can drop off their used beverage cartons such as Hope in a Box at select The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf stores.

For more details, visit www.generationhope.ph, www.tetrapak.com/ph and www.coffeebean.com.ph.

Follow facebook.com/coffeebeanphilippines, instagram.com/cbtlph, and facebook.com/tetrapakphilippines to stay updated on the carton recycling initiative.

Sony Announces α9, α7, α7 III and α7R III Camera Upgrade by Major Firmware Updates

Sony today announced a major upgrade to its α9 mirrorless camera that will be available via a software update.   

Sony’s revolutionary α9 camera will receive several major enhancements to its award-winning autofocus (AF) performance and image quality, as well as a variety of new features that are designed to improve the overall workflow for professional photographers. In addition, new firmware updates for α7R III and α7 III will be available that update these cameras with the latest enhancements including “Real-time Eye AF” performance and add interval recording capabilities. 

Firmware Ver. 5.0 and Ver. 6.0 for α9

The new firmware version 5.0 for α9 adds Sony’s newly developed “Real-time Tracking” mode for object tracking. This mode utilizes Sony’s latest algorithm including Artificial Intelligence (AI) based object recognition and processes color, subject distance (depth), pattern (brightness) as well as spatial information to ensure that all subjects can be captured with extreme accuracy and precision. When photographing or taking videos of humans or animals[i], face and eye position information are recognized by AI and the subject’s eye is monitored in real time with extremely high tracking precision. In addition, “Tracking On” helps initiate real-time tracking at any time by simply pressing the custom-assigned button[ii]and “Touch Tracking,” which quickly activates through the touch screen².   

Moreover, with this new firmware version 5.0, Sony’s acclaimed α9 camera will receive advanced “Real-time Eye AF,” the latest version of Sony’s acclaimed Eye AF technology. This exciting new capability employs AI-based object recognition to detect and process eye location data in real time, resulting in improved accuracy, speed and tracking the performance of Eye AF. In all autofocus modes, the camera can automatically detect the eyes of the subject and activate Eye AF with a half press of the shutter button, and the camera will seamlessly track the eyes when in AF-C mode. The new firmware also enables photographers to select the preferred eye (left or right) of their subject as the focus point. 

Other focusing capabilities that will be available with the new firmware include TouchPad, Touch Tracking, an extended phase-detection AF aperture range that has been increased from F11 to F16, and Fast Hybrid AF for movie shooting that provides smooth, automated focusing for movies.

Image quality will also be enhanced with the new α9 firmware version 5.0. specifically, in the areas of color reproduction, as the camera will more accurately account for subtle changes in light for smoother, more natural tonal gradations in elements like the sky. There is a new auto white balance algorithm that gets added as well, which produces more consistently balanced images while burst shooting. Other new functions for effective controls and data management include My Dial and Dual Slot media menu improvement, rating and protect functions.

The new software adds compatibility with Sony’s new ‘Imaging Edge Mobile’[iii] application, the successor to ‘PlayMemories Mobile™’.

Version 6.0 firmware for the α9 camera will add Eye AF for animal eyes¹, an exciting new feature for wildlife photographers that will enable interval shooting functionality for creating time-lapse movies⁷.   

The new system firmware update version 5.0 is scheduled for launch in March 2019, and version 6.0 is scheduled for Q2 2019. 

Software ver.3.0 for α7R III and α7 III

Sony’s popular α7R III and α7 III full-frame cameras will both receive enhanced Real-time Eye AF performance with new firmware version 3.0. This will be available on AF-C mode with a simple half-press of the shutter button. Real-Time Eye AF for animals¹ will also be available. 

Additionally, the cameras will also receive interval recording functionality that will allow for the simple creation of time-lapse movies[iv]. The new feature can be set for anywhere between 1 and 60 seconds, with a total number of shots from 1 to 9999. AE tracking sensitivity can also be adjusted to “High”, “Mid” or “Low” during interval recording, allowing for reduced changes in exposure over the shooting interval.

The new system firmware update version 3.0 is scheduled in April 2019.

A variety of exclusive stories and exciting new content related to all of Sony’s exciting announcements can be found at www.alphauniverse.com, a site built to educate and inspire all fans and customers of the Sony α brand. The new content will also be posted directly at the Sony Photo Gallery and the Sony Camera Channel on YouTube.

About Sony Electronics Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.

Based in Singapore, Sony Electronics Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It serves as the regional management and marketing headquarters for Sony’s consumer as well as broadcasting and professional products, overseeing Asia, Middle East, and Africa regions. For more information on Sony’s products and services in the Asia Pacific, please visit www.sony-asia.com