Science & Technology
AI-powered health and wellness tools: Personalising medical care at your fingertips
- 2024-05-11
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Jemima BadajosEdited by: Ming Min AW YONG
- 2024-05-11
With an iPad’s front camera, artificial intelligence and sitting still for just 30 seconds, Vitals, an AI-powered app, can tell your vital signs by simply scanning the colour changes in your face. Vitals was developed by Panoptic.AI, a Hong Kong-based healthtech company founded in August 2022. The health and wellness monitoring app can identify up to 15 health indicators, including your breathing rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation, which can help track current lifestyle conditions and detect any potential health risks down the line. As the colours in your face are affected by blood flow, signals that only show these changes are tracked, which can also filter out “blind spots” such as beards and tattoos. Next, the signals are sent to the company through the cloud, while any personal identifiable information is kept back on the user’s device. Kyle Wong, CEO and co-founder of the start-up, says the product’s idea stems from their previous projects involving temperature screening and thermal imaging technology in large-scale areas, such as border control points and government facilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company’s team realised that it was challenging to identify asymptomatic patients who did not show signs of fever or had taken medication that lowers their temperature, said Wong. “We were doing a lot of research about using a camera, trying to find what other features we can measure from the person,” Wong said. “That led to the idea of what we have now, which is by using a regular camera, and we're talking about the camera of your smartphone, your everyday, off-the-shelf device, we're able to measure these biomarkers,” he said. Artificial intelligence is developing in Hong Kong’s health technology industry as it transforms health and well-being services into a personalised and self-manageable tool. The rise of artificial intelligence in digital wellness …
Hong Kong bus companies driving toward carbon neutrality
- 2024-03-25
- Society
- By: YANG Shuyi、WANG Ludan、WANG JingEdited by: KONG Tsz Yuen
- 2024-03-25
Electric buses are appearing on Hong Kong's streets starting in 2022, transforming the city’s image of traffic clogged up with old double deckers that belch out pollution. These buses use environmentally friendly new energy as fuel, which can reduce emissions better than diesel buses. Citybus will put Hong Kong’s first hydrogen bus into road commissioning this month, and it will soon come into the market. “We plan to test the performance of diesel, electric, and hydrogen buses by deploying five buses of each type on the same route in the second half of this year. ” said Lee Ka-ming, Citybus's Head Engineering Manager. “Based on the results, we will decide on the proportion of hydrogen and electric buses in our plans. We prefer to use data comparisons to support our decisions on which buses to choose,"Lee said. At present, there are 21 KMB routes serving the public with electric buses, accounting for about 56 electric buses. “Double-decked electric buses have been in service since 2023, and their performance has been very satisfactory. Since a bus can operate for 18 years, we will continue to monitor its performance and prepare to cope with any possible difficulties,” said Kenny Kan, Head of KMB's corporate communications and public affairs department. “KMB expects to replace diesel buses with fully electric ones by 2040,” he added. According to local think tank, Civic Exchange, Hong Kong's transportation sector accounts for the second largest share of total Greenhouse gas sessions, emitting 18.7%. Commercial vehicles such as buses only account for 20% of the total number of vehicles in Hong Kong but contribute over 90% of nitrogen oxide (NO) emissions, a significant contributor to roadside air pollution. “Compared with diesel buses, new energy buses do not produce harmful emissions, thus directly reducing the use of non-renewable energy such …
Latest technology in movie production at the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market
- 2024-03-15
- Society
- By: NG Natasha Goa Sheng、YANG ShuyiEdited by: KONG Tsz Yuen
- 2024-03-15
The 28th Hong Kong International Film and TV Market, Filmart, concluded at the Hong Kong International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on Thursday, where industry leaders discussed the future of musical score production, leveraging AI, and the breakthroughs in movie production using Virtual Production (VP) and Extended Reality (XR) techniques. In a program titled Dimensional Innovation: The Application and Impact of New Technologies in Film and TV Production, film production companies shared how technology is bringing revolutionary changes to entertainment content production, including co-production, post-production, location shooting, visual effects, and music, as well as the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Among the speakers was Edmond Tsang, BMus Creative Industries Programme Director at Hong Kong Baptist University. "AI can produce music that meets goals in a very short period of time. It will be a tool for future composers, helping them to get inspired and compose more efficiently," he said. "The use of VP and XR technology applications will result in a production experience with longer preparation time but a faster production process," said Roger Proeis, President of Votion Studios. This is the first time the Hong Kong company Votion Studios has shown their virtual production studio at Filmart. This virtual production studio uses Extended Reality (XR) and camera robotics to combine real and virtual footage through computers to create a virtual environment that can interact with humans. The shift from traditional video technology to virtual production has changed filming technology from green screen filming to the current use of LED screens and the creation of instant filming effects after real people do instant filming. Votion Studios has been collaborating with different directors on commercials, music videos, and real estate advertising using their virtual production technology. “This is the first time we demonstrate to the public that filming …
Hong Kong Electronics Fair attracts global buyers with creative technology and consumer electronic products
- 2023-10-14
- Society
- By: Ka Man Wong、Ji Youn LeeEdited by: Nga Ying LAU
- 2023-10-14
Hong Kong Autumn Electronics Fair kicked off on Friday at Wan Chai’s Convention and Exhibition Centre and attracted 3,200 exhibitors from 22 regions, hoping to expand business opportunities. Registered booths showcased home and office appliances and featured wireless charging, network technology, robotics, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) home appliances. Huizhou TCL Mobile Communications, ranked second in Omdia’s 2022’s Global TV Household Database, presented their tab series with a pad like Amazon’s Kindle. “The fair helps TCL reach the potential customers, sell tablets with full-colour electronic paper display to foreigners or overseas education institutes,” Liu Cui-chan, 30, a product manager of TCL said. Felix Chan, 23, is an engineer for MircroFlow, a startup which specialises in manufacturing microbe detecting kits ten times faster than commercial products. MicroFlow partnered with HKBU to introduce faster detection kits for drug-resistant germs. “I didn't know so many people were interested in my products,” he said. “I think it is a great chance to talk about my product to a wider audience”. The Hall of Fame Zone at the new wing encompassed consumer electronics products of emerging brands from South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Hong Un-gi, 28, the sales specialist for Hantle, a Korean manufacturer of scanners and ATMs, flew from Korea through a government program aiming to connect Korean companies and international buyers administered by the Korean Institute for Advancement of Technology. “One of my goals is to look at similar industries and competitors and reference their sales techniques,” Hong said. “I want to build new connections and get potential buyers.” The organiser, Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), and partners are also hosting more than 80 events and forums at the fair, according to the press release. International product demos and a pitching competition for startups are planned for later …
MWC Shanghai returns with future insights of the telecommunication industry
- 2023-07-26
- Society
- By: Yuqi CHU、Yuhan WANG、Juncong SHUAIEdited by: Yuqi CHU、Yuhan WANG、Juncong SHUAI
- 2023-07-26
With China’s borders reopened the in-person show of Mobile World Congress Shanghai(MWC Shanghai) returned this June to Shanghai New International Expo. This year's show was held under the theme "Velocity" and focused on three main areas: 5G Transformation, the Internet of Things and Augmented Reality.
China's online fitness boom amid the pandemic
- 2021-08-24
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Kate ZhangEdited by: Jenny Lam
- 2021-08-24
As the coronavirus lingers across the world, people are finding ways to keep fit despite being stuck at home. All over China, downloading fitness apps and videos has become a trend. Here’s Kate Zhang to tell us more.
Poly University Makes Contribution to China’s First Mars Landing
- 2021-05-21
- The Young Reporter
- By: REN Ziyi DavidEdited by: Robin Ewing
- 2021-05-21
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University analysed the topography of the landing area and provided the Mars Landing Surveillance Camera for China's Tianwen-1 Mars exploration mission, two professors said in a press conference today. “We evaluated the elevation and the slope of the selected landing area,” Bo Wu, the Associate Head of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Information, said at the press conference. His team used AI-based deep learning to extract and analyze the density of craters and rocks. “Two million rocks and 670,000 craters were picked for density analysis,” he said, “to guarantee the safety of landing.” Chair Professor of Precision K.L. Yung said he designed the surveillance camera to ensure the landing is smooth. The camera, which weighs 390 grammes, can bear an impact of 6,200g and work under -70 degrees celsius, he said. “The temperature on Mars is low, which has different requirements on the camera compared to the normal ones,” said Prof Yung. He said he had to guarantee that the quality of pictures captured by the surveillance camera remains high regardless of the environment, which is challenging. “The biggest difficulty is that we don’t have our own data like the US or Europe, and the time is tight,” Prof Wu said. “We only have one and a half months to analyze the images sent from Beijing.”