Goodbye Siri hello Cortana

I suppose we have all been all too familiar with Siri on apple's iPhone platform which claims to be able to understand natural language and be able to interact and do what the user requests.  However all too often Siri will not be able to understand what we want.

Well Microsoft in its latest windows 10 operating system has unveiled that Cortana which is the

name of the artificial intelligence character from the Halo series will be available as part of Windows 10 and should be able to assist all windows 10 users either on a computer, xbox or Lumia device.  To date only users in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and India are able to use Cortana.  Others will have to wait until Microsoft has refined Cortana's understanding of the various English pronunciation.

Till then we will have to wait a bit longer.

Supersize my iPad

The iPad pro has been revealed during apple's latest conference in October 2015 and now it has recently been made available for consumers.  It is a huge iPad and apple is leveraging on it's massive screen and claiming that it could be the replacement to your laptop since it also comes with a foldable keyboard and an apple pencil which you can use to write and draw on the iPad.

This is an turnaround to when Steve Jobs revealed the iPhone to the world and claimed that no one wanted a stylus as an interface to a device and instead focused on using touch input / touch screen.  Well it seems that apple does see what a stylus can do since the Microsoft surface series primarily touts the surface pen as a device that can improve your productivity and the Samsung Galaxy Note series also kept showcasing the capabilities of writing on photos, documents and instantly sending your remarks on the go with the aim of improving productivity.

 

Well good for you apple looks like you've just joined the band wagon.  Let's see what the iPad pro can do in the next coming months when the "huge" lure fades.  Will it be a better productivity tool? Will there be apps that's created to enhance the user experience and will the huge battery be up to mark in the business world. 

Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is out

The latest iteration of the surface pro series has been released by Microsoft along with their brand new surface book and the latest Lumia phone running windows 10.  The new Surface Pro 4 maintains the same form factor as the current Surface Pro 3 but has bigger storage and battery life.  The surface pro 4 look set to become a desktop replacement with all the refinements that we can see in this version.

 

As a current user of the Surface Pro 3 I am truly excited at the prospect of a more robust machine which can switch from a tablet to laptop form factor and is lightweight enough to carry around all day long.  The surface pro 4 is due to start sales on 19th November 2015 in Malaysia.  However do note that both the surface pen and typecover keyboard will be sold separately.

 

 

The new iPhone 6s has arrived in Malaysia officially and consumers have flocked the major carriers (Maxis, Celcom & Digi) looking towards getting the latest apple gadget. It comes designed with the latest iOS9 which promises faster performance, improved security and improved battery life.  It also comes with better apps integration and a "smarter" SIRI.

The new iPhone comes in 4 colours which are silver, space grey, gold and rose gold and is available in the 6s and 6sPlus form factor.  The memory sizes range from 16GB, 64GB and 128GB.

Click on this link to view the image as a pdf

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4wrMt-wFeByUWtLbFBnWTV3aDg/view?usp=sharing

Time Attendance Systems

Currently there are a number of time attendance systems in use by organisations.  They range from the simple to the elaborate.

There are a number of considerations before we can choose a time attendance systems.  Time attendance systems are required to keep attendance records of employees.  These systems include the punch clocks, mag stripe systems, proximity card systems, pin number systems & biometric scanning systems.

 
These systems can be integrated with the payroll and leave management systems and allow increasing levels of automation and self-service.  This enables HR practitioners to deliver better value in terms of data analytics rather than performing data entry work.

 
Considerations include how many Employees that the company have? If a company have a large number of employees it becomes harder it is to keep track of its staff and the more information that needs to be processed.  Due to the sheer volume of a large organisation therefore having an automated system of employee clocking becomes crucial.  Integration with other business systems is equally imperative to ensure maximum value is derived.

 
Another factor is the number of location that the organisation need to manage.  The higher number of locations that the organisation have to more complicated the process becomes.  Therefore a centralised automated system can provide better efficiencies to consolidate the data and enable streamlining rules and regulations across the different locations.

 

Data collection is another factor that need to be considered.  Collection methods can include card, token, device or key for identification.  However this can be lost, stolen, swapped or borrowed which can lead to another set of problems.  An alternative to this is biometrics which include fingerprint, iris scanning or facial recognition.  This system is more difficult to be abused as the identifier is very unique and difficult to replicate.  Another system is via manual online entry where there is a high element of trust in the organisation.