After a 100 percent growth of paid customers in the region in from 2016 to 2017, Google Cloud Platform launched regional center in Singapore. Called “asia-southeast1”, this is the first Cloud Platform region in Southeast Asia.

According to the search giant, this initiative means improved latency speeds for developers in Southeast Asia. In fact, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) customers in Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok have seen 51 to 98 percent reductions in round-trip time latency, in comparison to its services delivered from Taiwan or Tokyo. The improved issuance speed across the region is thanks to the opening of Singapore's Google Cloud Platform, as previously the closes Google cloud center was in Taiwan.

Thanks to the Google Platform regional center in Singapore, customers in the region have access to Google's core services, such as Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, App Engine Standard Environment, Container Engine, Cloud Datastore, Cloud Dataflow, Cloud DNS, Cloud VPN, Cloud Router, and Cloud IAM products.

GCP customers are also able to combine any of these services deployed in Singapore with other GCP services around the world such as DLP, Spanner and BigQuery.

This initiative is also aimed at getting more startups in Southeast Asia on board. “With startups, we always find that the demand comes from their developers - there's no big procurement department or what have you,” said Tariq M. Shaukat, Google Cloud president for customers. This explains why the company offers such a strong tech support to its customers: to educated them about the service and help them tailor it to their needs.

Shaukat said the company aims at increasing the scale of such collaboration: “We find that startups value the ability to sit down with a solution architect and just map out what they want to do - they value it as much as, if not more than, more traditional companies because in many cases they're trying to do things that are harder, more innovative, different.”

“Google is dead serious about the cloud,” said Diane Greene, the Chief of Google Cloud, at the launch event. Therefore, the company is setting up new regions quite swiftly.

Singapore is not the only new Google Cloud Platform center. GCP, which connects more than 1 billion individuals users on a global scale, has also expanded to other APAC regions, including Sydney and Mumbai.

Google is expanding its products across the world as a response to the tough competition amongst tech giants. According to Google representatives, some of the tactics for keeping up with competition include grabbing market share and the ability to leverage G Suite - Drive, Docs, Gmail, etc.

“The things we care about are the number of customers working on our platform, and how many of their workloads are with us versus with one of our competitors,” Shaukat said. “We're probably the most public in talking about how much of the world will end up being multi-cloud. So we don't see this as a zero-sum game by any stretch, we see it as something where there will be multiple winners.”

Addressing one of the key concerns large customers have about the cloud concerning how sensitive data is handled, Google presented a new data loss prevention API for GCP. API identifies personally information such as email addresses and allows customers to choose to have the information classified or redacted.

Customers are also able to grant access to applications based on certain risk factors thanks to new feature the search giant introduced for GCP, which is the Identity-Aware Proxy.

Some of the large clients Google Cloud Platform has include HSBC, Deloitte, Netflix, Avaya, Adidas, Verizon and the New York Times, among others.

Its customers, which include BBM Messenger, Carousell and Go-Jek, have expressed their excitement with the launch of GCP in the region. In a statement, Ajey, CTO, Go-Jek, said: “We are extremely pleased with the performance of GCP, and we are excited about the opportunities opening in Indonesia and other markets, and making use of the Singapore Cloud Region. The outcomes we've achieved in scaling, stability and other areas have proven how fantastic it is to have Google and GCP among our key service partners.”

Recently Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made a working visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina for the 13th G20 Leaders' Summit (photo).

Singapore and Hong Kong are the eternal competitors to be Asia's ‘Best Place to Do Business'. Rivalry comes naturally to these two places which are both thriving former British colonies in Asia that heavily depend on foreign investment for economic development. That is why it is so important for both of them to be seen among foreign companies as the best place to start or expand a business in Asia.

In the past decades, Singapore and Hong Kong have gone head-to-head when it comes to being the best places in Asia to do business in.

Looking few years back in time The World Bank's 2014 Doing Business report, which measures each country's regulations on 11 business life-cycle events such as starting a business, permits, contracts, credit and taxes, Singapore and Hong Kong top the Asian countries to do business in. Meanwhile powerhouse China ranked lower than several African nations.

According to the report, “around the world, starting a business takes seven procedures, 25 days and costs 32 percent of income per capita in fees.”

Singapore ranks so high because of its early adoption not only of electronic filing for public administration but also of a “trade single window” aimed at easing trade by allowing cross-border traders to submit customs data through a single gateway. According to the report, “trading across borders has been easiest in Singapore since 2007.”

The latest trend is that Singapore is beating Hong Kong as the best place in Asia to do business. According to economists, the island-state leads in innovative thinking, length of the welcome mat for foreign businesses, and proactive management of potential economic issues, like aging populations. There are other governmental reasons. While Singapore runs itself, China runs Hong Kong. Despite Hong Kong's autonomous status, China is known for its legal inconsistency.

Singapore's economy is also more capable of containing shocks, according to Marie Diron, associate managing director in sovereign ratings with Moody's Investors Service. In that category, Moody's gives Singapore a “very high” mark, while it gives Hong Kong a “very high minus.” According to Diron, Singapore earned that distinction through “proactive economic management” such as planning ahead how to accommodate an aging population and on introducing measures to help core sectors such as finance and asset management. As countries with few industries are more prone to succumb to shocks, Singapore is more capable to absorb shocks thanks to their diverse industries.

According to the World Bank's ranking of the easiest places to do business, “Singapore continues to be the economy with the most business-friendly regulation.” Additionally, “efficient dispute resolution is paired with good institutions (such as specialized courts), effective case management and sophisticated court automation tools. And litigants can submit their claim online, pay court fees online and serve the initial summons electronically.”

According to the report, “economies that rank well on the ease of doing business also score well on such measures as the Global Competitiveness Index and Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.”

While Singapore offers world class transport infrastructure, language skills and overall economic freedom, it also comes in with lower “unit labor costs” making more cheaper and efficient for a foreign company to do business there.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's salaries are higher, but this also translates into more productivity and cooperation in employee-employer relations. There are other reasons why Hong Kong is the right place for an investor to start a business. According to Healy Consultants, Hong Kong has a lower corporate income tax and is “strengthening its stronghold within the region. Despite its relative lower placing across the various categories of rankings, Hong Long could well still be the most ideal location for a certain investor to set up a company.”

What makes people nervous about Hong Kong is its dependence on China. Under a weaker Beijing system set of rules, patent protection, fair arbitration and other legal backing investors might rely could become harder to obtain. According to the Asian Century Institute, Singapore ranks world number 9 in rule of law and Hong Kong holds the 17th position.

“Singapore has been climbing up positions and is now generally considered a better offshore financial center than Hong Kong,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia economist with Natixis. “I would tend to agree and it can only get worse as Hong Kong rule of law is under threat.”

Behind the wheel's motorists have a strong believe that night time the percentage of been caught as a result of high speed is very low. They say that to be seen is not easy because the lights are as clear as during the day. Others also think that when they are approaching the cameras they will just lower the lights so that they will not be caught by the camera due to' malseeing'. Nevertheless, the drivers are shocked to hear their names with letters as a result of over speeding of which they are not aware what and when it happened. Thepolice are now dealing with them in accordance to the law. The new laser cameras are on to work. They were given to traffic police last Thursday May 19th. They have features which are more powerful and they are the places which are at risk of accidents at all time, be it night or day, they are constantly monitoring all the activities on the road.

The cameras are capable of detecting the vehicle's number plates even in the places where there is no enough light. They have flash which is infrared and no one can even see the flash using the eyes. They are also in a position to captures some videos and images without any limitation as far as light is concerned. These new cameras are very strong in the way they function, for instance their battery is seven times more compared to the cameras which were used before these new ones. On 19th Thursday briefing the media, Sam Tee who is the traffic police commander said that they have reviewed the areas which are prone to accident so as to enforce strategies which are to be developed. He also said that new cameras which are digital are the ones which are now used instead of the old cameras. He farther said that where the cameras are operating varies as per the locations.

On this same note on the new cameras. They can also be located in different areas especially the areas which are at a high risk of accident like Changi Airport, East Coast and Adam Road. The traffic police goal is to eliminate the road accidents. He said that the cameras are not fixed hence they can be carried anywhere. According to the reports there is a decline in accidents which are as a result of over speeding. In February last year the traffic police recorded a decrease in number of accidents from one thousand three hundred and sixty-three to one thousand one hundred and ninety-seven. This is a difference of twelve point two percent. This means that there are more lives which have been saved as a result on new cameras which are constantly monitoring the careless driver and those who are over speeding as well. The deaths which were recorded as a result of over speeding vehicles went up to forty-eight this year forty-three from the previous year.

There are also motorcycles which are black in color. They are also used to track and catch the motorists who are using mobile phones as they drive. These black motorcycles were introduced so that they may ensure maximum safety and obedience to the road signs. These was said by the police spokesman. However, he did not talk more about these new motorbikes to avoid the great concern of the operation. The commander of police said that the operation in which they ensure monitoring and safety differs in that the traffic police can use cars and motorcycle which have radar guns and laser altogether, but to enforce is all the same way during the night as well as day time.

The comparison of the new and old cameras is that: Old cameras have flash which is visible and captures the images which are near and the battery of the old cameras can last only for a duration of four hours while the new cameras have flash which is modular and infrared which is invisible to the eyes and can capture clear images even during the nigh their batteries can function at a duration of seven hours.

The battle for the finest singers in Singapore for China TV show, featuring Olinda Cho and Ng Chee Yang.

Competition is the order of the day when it comes to selections in TV shows. The heights of competition are high and very unpredictable as new talent steps into the bloc each and every day. It is therefore the reason former crown bearer of idol in Singapore and a fellow young man who is a former superstar for campus are in the list of personalities comprised of 12 singers are battling out to ensure a spot in a glamorous China TV Show.

The duo will be given a chance to showcase the talent in singing as a routine procedure for selection to travel to China for the china super vocal. The show is moderated by experience judges in the music industry amongst other icon singers. The show is showcasing to improve its branding following a legal settling from its former Dutch owner, which was normally referred by another name.

The show brings pride to the singer's audience while giving them the nationalism and patriotism of bringing out the best talent from one of the smallest nations. The desire to showcase their talent is building on the audience confidence of the value of their precious resources being time and money. It does not come easy as the music idols such as Olinda Cho has to receive instructions and critiques during the newly started vocal lessons to bring out the best in her.

Olinda Cho is confident ahead of the show, stating that communication barrier is a non-issue in the meantime. She can communicate fluently in mandarin. The singer has stated that she will be performing a song by Wu Bai's Wanderer's Love song.

Na Ying, a Chinese singer and a judge in the China TV show is the hopeful mentor for Ng Chee Yang, hopefully if he makes it to the stage. Nurturing, supportiveness and critical abilities of the judge is what Na Ying believes he will gain from his mentor. The singer who is 26 years of age, won the campus superstar crown back in 2006 declined to reveal the song he has chosen.

The New York based artiste who wants to develop his singing career in the USA has been camping in Singapore for two fortnights ago for some singing projects before making the crucial decision of participating in the events vocal auditions. Na Ying is set to tour the United States with an American based acapella group known as the vocalosity in the coming years.

Veteran Taiwanese singers and rockers are some of the celebrity mentors that will pick the best showcased singing competence and prowess for further mentorship into the singing career.

In a previous show, a couple was among the contestants in the china based show but unfortunately mentors did not pick them. Over 2,000 concert tickets have already been given out for the event taking place at a major hotel in Singapore, where the 12 singers will battle it out.

Music producer and song writer Billy, Paul L. who is a singer as well a song writer and Mr. D. Lee are some of the personalities in the industry that are also judging in the show. The proprietor of Eeva productions, the company responsible for organizing and facilitation of the auditions, a renowned radio disc jockey Mr. E. Hsiang is also an outstanding judge in the show.

At the age of 52, Mr. Billy Koh who lives in china states that he is participating in the event for an update of the scenes of the music industry that is currently being controlled by the young generation of youths and young adults making up the population of Singapore. A personality with a human touch has an added advantage for gaining more credit from Mr. Paul Lee who is aged 47, whose argument raises the expectation bar of the contestant to a whole new level.