INTEL AND MUSICAN FLUME MAKE “INTELLIGENT SOUNDS” TOGETHER

INTEL AND MUSICAN FLUME MAKE “INTELLIGENT SOUNDS” TOGETHER

(Original Flume track performed by tablets with Intel inside)

Sydney, Australia, 

September 27, 2013 – Award-winning Australian musician and producer Flume has worked with some of music’s most exciting artists but his newest song features a very different set of collaborators – a band of tablet computers and Intel.

To highlight the creative power of Intel processors inside the world’s latest must have gadget – the tablet – Intel pioneered an inventive music film project in collaboration with Flume, otherwise known as Harley Streten, one of the world’s hottest new creative artists.

Launched today, “Intelligent Sounds” is a brave technological experiment which sees ‘Felix the robot conductor’, a band of tablet-powered band members and their instruments come to life to perform a new Flume track created specifically for this purpose.

Each ‘member’ of Intelligent Sound’s tablet band was programmed with synthesised notes and triggered to play through on cue, while robot arms were pre-programmed to hit the required notes in time with the final song.

Jayant Murty, Intel’s director of brand strategy and integrated marketing for the Asia Pacific, said the short film is designed to be an entertaining light and sound experience and also to encourage viewers to consider the technology which is at the heart of their tablets.

“It is common place to have tablets play your music but it’s rare to have tablets create them. Intel technology transforms these devices from tools for consuming content into innovative instruments that allow for incredible self-expression,” he said.

Murty said Intel has a proud 45-year history of innovation, bringing incredible performance to computing devices with its world-class engineering and continues to do so with its processors designed for tablet devices, delivering amazing mobile experiences.

Flume said the “Intelligent Sounds” project was one of the more challenging and enjoyable of his career to date.

“I love the challenge of writing music for a particular project and a defined theme. I find working within these boundaries inspires, rather than limits, creativity. This project was a great opportunity to showcase what can be achieved when technology, innovation and creativity come together,” he said.

Fans can view and share “Intelligent Sounds” here and learn more about Intel-based tablets and the making of the video here.

Intel Corporation recently launched the Intel Atom Z3000 Processor Series (code-named “Bay Trail-T”), the company’s first mobile multi-core SoC and its most powerful offering to date for tablets and other sleek mobile designs. For more information visit the Intel Newsroom here.

Xpress Money, Pakistan

Remittances from Middle East countries register exponential growth

by Rizwan Hamdani

Almost seven million Pakistanis have migrated across 80 countries for seeking better opportunities. Majority of the Pakistanis migrating overseas are employed in Middle East region, European region and North American region. Over the years, Middle East countries have emerged as preferred migrating destination for Pakistanis and the region currently employs over five million blue collared workforce.

Remittances from overseas Pakistanis are a lifeline for the Pakistani economy and contribute approximately six percent of the country’s GDP. Coming as a sign of celebration, the continuous growth in remittances in Pakistan has maintained its resilience for the year 2013. As per recent data by State Bank of Pakistan release in July, Pakistan received a record sum of US $13.920 billion in 2013 registered a growth US $ 800 million. Out of the total remittances received by Pakistan, Middle East region has a share of 60 percent followed by North American region and European region with 17 and 16.55 percent respectively.

The Middle East region constituting Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain contributed approximately US $ 8.462 billion in 2013. Among these countries, KSA registered a phenomenal growth of 11.33 percent by contributing US $ 4.104 billion followed by UAE contributing US $ 2.75 billion. However, as compared to FY 2012, remittances from UAE declined by 3.46 percent. The other countries in the region, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, contributed US $ 0.619 billion, US $ 0.384 billion, US $ 0.321 billion and US $ 0.282 billion respectively. All these countries registered marginal growth as compared to FY12.

The North American region is the second largest send region for Pakistan which comprises The United States and Canada. The region contributed US $ 2.363 billion. Inflows from The United States witnessed a significant deficit of 6.35 percent with total remittances inflow of US $ 2.186 billion during 2013 whereas Canada remitted US $ 0.177 billion registering a marginal decline of 0.29 percent.
On the other hand, The European region comprising The United Kingdom and other countries in European Union (Germany, France, Netherland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland and Belgium) has always been a key send market for Pakistan. The region contributed US $ 2.303 billion. The UK had registered significant growth of 28 percent as compared to FY12. Pakistanis residing in the UK have remitted a total of US $ 1.946 billion in FY13.

From the mentioned in-depth analysis, the Middle East region establishes its dominance as the largest send market for Pakistan. The region employs over 50% of the total Pakistani migrant workforce across KSA, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. The remittance inflow from this region has constantly been on rise since 2010 and has displaced North America and European regions from being the largest send markets for Pakistan. (Depicted below)

Remittance Value (Currency – US $)                                                                                   (Million US $)
Year	North American region		UK and European Union		Middle East region
	USA	Canada	EU*	UK	KSA	UAE	Kuwait	Oman	Qatar	Bahrain
2011	2068.67	184.62	354.76	1199.7	2670.0	2597.7	495.1	337.59	306.11	167.29
2012	2334.47	177.71	364.79	1521.1	3687	2848.8	582.57	382.66	318.82	210.95
2013	2186.21	177.19	357.37	1946	4104.7	2750.1	619	384.8	321.25	282.83
Total	6589.35	539.52	1076.9	4666.8	10461	8196.7	1696.7	1105	946.18	661.07
Remittance inflows from each region	7128.87		5743.7		23067.63

    Remittances Data July 2013: State Bank of Pakistan 

* EU includes (Germany, France, Netherland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium)

The growing inward remittances could be impacted with new employment laws in KSA that include visa restrictions and tedious processes for obtaining work permit, which is likely to result in the deportation of 35,000 Pakistanis. Nonetheless the newly elected government is planning to increase the remittances from the existing US$13.92 billion by exploring the Pakistani workers’ market in countries with friendly labour laws particularly the Arab states.

There is an increasing awareness amongst overseas Pakistanis to build a better socio-economic environment for their families back home by improving their standard of living and creating opportunities for the future generation. This is the significant driver for constant year – on – year growth in remittances.

Mr. Rizwan Hamdani is the Country Manager for Xpress Money, Pakistan

The Intel Developer Forum

A Glimpse of the Mobile Future:

The technology industry is undergoing an amazing time of creativity and change. The world hasn’t seen the likes of this in years, maybe decades, and the pace of change is only accelerating.

Mobile is everything and everywhere. Consumers want the internet and computing capability with them at all times and places.  The advent of smartphones, tablets and Ultrabooks means that every device is now thinner, lighter and with longer battery life. New tablets with incredible performance are on the horizon and the marriage of Ultrabooks and tablets can be seen in exciting new 2 in 1 devices offering the best of both worlds with both laptop and tablet capabilities.

Over the years, the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) has emerged as one the key industry events reflecting and defining where technology is headed. This year's IDF is no different, reflecting the trend to mobility. The event, Sept. 10 to 12 in San Francisco, offers least two significant pieces of news to watch.

First, with Intel’s recent leadership transition now complete, the company’s new CEO, Brian Krzanich, and new president, Renee James, are well underway resetting the course of the company – with a clear emphasis on mobile computing leadership.

IDF marks the first major speeches by Brian and Renee in their new roles. They’ll set the tone for the conference – delivering the opening keynote on the morning of September 10. Brian and Renee will discuss the path they have set for the company and how the focus on all things mobile – from the data center to the device – is designed energize the existing ecosystem of Intel hardware and software developers and attract new developers.

The second big news is the official introduction of Bay Trail, Intel’s first 22nm “system on a chip” (SoC) for mobile devices. Bay Trial is based on the company’s much-lauded Silvermont microarchitecture and the chip’s low-power/high-performance 3-D transistors are expected to power a wide range of innovative designs.

We think Bay Trail will be a winner in mobile and are excited to introduce it to the world. Designed for both Android and Windows, Bay Trail out-smarts the competition in tablets, 2 in 1s, value laptops and desktops. Don’t take my word for it, though: A recent financial analyst report said that “Bay Trail/Silvermont will have a performance and performance/power advantage over competing ARM-based processors.”

In addition to the CEO keynote and Bay Trail announcement, IDF highlights are expected to include:

–       A keynote on the future of mobility by Intel anthropologist Genevieve Bell on Thursday, Sept 12.

–       Keynotes on Wednesday, Sept. 11 from Herman Eul on always on, always connected personal mobility devices, including those powered by Bay Trail; Kirk Skaugen on the innovation happening in mobile computing for both consumers and business; and Doug Fisher discussing Intel’s software and services strategy.

–       A “mega briefing” for the media from Diane Bryant, general manager of the Data Center and Connect Systems group, on how mobile devices are putting tremendous pressure on servers and related equipment and how Intel is responding by re-architecting datacenters.

Overall, Intel is on a roll. In just the past four months…

•        The Silvermont chip architecture, unveiled in May, is aimed squarely at low-power requirements in market segments from smartphones to datacenters. Industry observer Anand Shimpi said that Silvermont “…is the first mobile architecture where Intel really prioritized smartphones and tablets, and on paper, it looks very good…”

•        4th gen Intel Core (code-named Haswell), introduced in June, is inspiring dozens of innovative devices including Ultrabooks, 2 in 1s, all-in-ones, laptops and desktops and at a range of prices. Pundits used to say that Intel Architecture fundamentally couldn’t run at low power. 4th gen Intel Core proves that wrong, running on as little as 4.5 watts and, even more impressively, scaling up to power the highest-performing super computers and data centers. No other chip architecture does this.

•        Intel’s CEO is aggressively aiming the company to excel in mobility, including tablets, smartphones and 2 in 1s that are in the market today, and also new device areas, some of which are still on the drawing board.

From phones to the data center, Intel is on the front foot, moving aggressively in mobile markets and beyond.

--Kevin Seller