Influenza A(H1N1) - update 55

Laboratory-confirmed cases of new influenza A(H1N1) as officially reported to WHO by States Parties to the International Health Regulations (2005)

29 June 2009 09:00 GMT

The breakdown of the number of laboratory-confirmed cases is given in the following table and map.

Map of the spread of Influenza A(H1N1): number of laboratory confirmed cases and deaths [png 171kb] (http://twurl.nl/dkmw3e)

Country, territory and area	Cumulative total		Newly confirmed since the last reporting period
	Cases	Deaths	Cases	Deaths
Algeria	2	0	0	0
Antigua and Barbuda	2	0	0	0
Argentina	1488	23	97	2
Australia	4038	7	758	4
Austria	12	0	0	0
Bahamas	4	0	0	0
Bahrain	15	0	0	0
Bangladesh	1	0	0	0
Barbados	10	0	0	0
Belgium	43	0	7	0
Bermuda, UKOT	1	0	0	0
Bolivia	126	0	79	0
Brazil	452	0	53	0
British Virgin Islands, UKOT	1	0	0	0
Brunei Darussalam	29	0	18	0
Bulgaria	7	0	0	0
Cambodia	6	0	1	0
Canada	7775	21	1043	2
Cap Verde	3	0	0	0
Cayman Islands, UKOT	9	0	0	0
Chile	5186	7	0	0
China	1442	0	353	0
Colombia	88	2	16	0
Costa Rica	255	1	33	0
Cote d'Ivoire	2	0	0	0
Cuba	34	0	0	0
Cyprus	25	0	16	0
Czech Republic	9	0	0	0
Denmark	44	0	3	0
Dominica	1	0	0	0
Dominican Republic	108	2	0	0
Ecuador	125	0	0	0
Egypt	50	0	7	0
El Salvador	226	0	66	0
Estonia	13	0	5	0
Ethiopia	2	0	0	0
Fiji	2	0	0	0
Finland	26	0	0	0
France	235	0	44	0
French Polynesia, FOC	3	0	2	0
Martinique, FOC	2	0	0	0
Germany	366	0	33	0
Greece	86	0	13	0
Guatemala	254	2	0	0
Honduras	118	1	0	0
Hungary	8	0	0	0
Iceland	4	0	0	0
India	64	0	0	0
Indonesia	8	0	6	0
Iran	1	0	0	0
Iraq	10	0	10	0
Ireland	39	0	10	0
Israel	469	0	64	0
Italy	112	0	10	0
Jamaica	21	0	2	0
Japan	1212	0	163	0
Jordan	18	0	3	0
Korea, Republic of	202	0	60	0
Kuwait	30	0	0	0
Laos	3	0	0	0
Latvia	1	0	0	0
Lebanon	25	0	0	0
Lithuania	1	0	1	0
Luxembourg	4	0	1	0
Malaysia	112	0	44	0
Mexico	8279	116	0	0
Monaco	1	0	1	0
Montenegro	1	0	0	0
Morocco	11	0	0	0
Nepal	3	0	3	0
Netherlands	118	0	2	0
Netherlands Antilles, Curaçao *	3	0	0	0
Netherlands Antilles, Sint Maarten	1	0	0	0
New Zealand	587	0	134	0
Nicaragua	277	0	12	0
Norway	31	0	9	0
Oman	3	0	0	0
Panama	403	0	45	0
Papua New Guinea	1	0	0	0
Paraguay	85	0	6	0
Peru	360	0	108	0
Philippines	861	1	416	0
Poland	14	0	1	0
Portugal	11	0	4	0
Qatar	10	0	0	0
Romania	24	0	5	0
Russia	3	0	0	0
Samoa	1	0	0	0
Saudi Arabia	69	0	21	0
Serbia	5	0	3	0
Singapore	599	0	284	0
Slovakia	9	0	2	0
Slovenia	4	0	1	0
South Africa	1	0	0	0
Spain	541	0	0	0
Sri Lanka	9	0	2	0
Suriname	11	0	0	0
Sweden	67	0	6	0
Switzerland	49	0	2	0
Thailand	774	0	0	0
Trinidad and Tobago	53	0	28	0
Tunisia	2	0	0	0
Turkey	27	0	1	0
Ukraine	1	0	0	0
United Arab Emirates	8	0	1	0
United Kingdom	4250	1	653	0
Guernsey, Crown Dependency	1	0	0	0
Isle of Man, Crown Dependency	1	0	0	0
Jersey, Crown Dependency	8	0	0	0
United States of America	27717	127	6268	40
Uruguay	195	0	0	0
Vanuatu	2	0	0	0
Venezuela	172	0	19	0
Viet Nam	84	0	21	0
West Bank and Gaza Strip	9	0	0	0
Yemen	6	0	0	0
Grand Total	70893	311	11079	48

Chinese Taipei has reported 61 confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1) with 0 deaths. Cases from Chinese Taipei are included in the cumulative totals provided in the table above.

Cumulative and new figures are subject to revision

Abbreviations

UKOT: United Kingdom Overseas Territory
FOC: French Overseas Collectivity
OT: Overseas Territory

Netherlands Antilles, Curaçao *: 3 confirmed cases: The three confirmed cases are crew members of a cruise ship. They did not leave the boat during their illness nor during the 24 hours preceding the onset of symptoms.

Brain-controlled wheelchair rolls out

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp has developed a way of steering a wheelchair by just detecting brain waves, without the person having to move a muscle or shout a command.

Toyota’s system, developed in a collaboration with researchers in Japan, is among the fastest in the world in analysing brain waves, it said in a release on Monday.

Previous systems required several seconds to read brain waves but the new technology requires only 125 milliseconds — or 125 thousandths of a second.

The person in the wheelchair wears a cap that can read brain signals, which are relayed to a brain scan electro-encephalograph, or EEG, on the electrically powered wheelchair, and then analysed in a computer program.

Research into mobility is part of Toyota’s larger strategy to go beyond automobiles in helping people get around in new ways.

The new system allows the person on the wheelchair to turn left or right and go forward, almost instantly, according to researchers.

Coming to a stop still requires more than a thought. The person in the wheelchair must puff up a cheek, which is picked up in a detector worn on the face.

Others

Japanese rival Honda Motor Co is also working on a system to connect the monitoring of brain waves with mechanical moves.

Earlier this year, Honda showed a video that had a person wearing a helmet sitting still but thinking about moving his right hand.

The thought was picked up by cords attached to his head inside the helmet. After several seconds, Honda’s boy-shaped robot Asimo, programmed to respond to brain signals, lifted its right arm.

Neither Honda nor Toyota said it had any plans to turn the technology into a product for commercial sale as each said they are still developing the research. — AP

Tell online scammers to BEAT IT!!

SAN JOSE (California): Minutes after any big celebrity dies, Internet swindlers get to work. They pump out specially created spam e-mail messages and throw up malicious websites to infect victims’ computers, hoping to capitalise on the sudden demand for information.

Michael Jackson’s death was no different, and security experts say the fraud artists are just getting started.

The scams started cropping up almost instantaneously as Jackson’s death was still hitting the news. As days have gone by, they’ve gotten more sophisticated — and dangerous.

Jackson’s death “took a lot of people by surprise — the spammers, too,” said Dermot Harnett, principal analyst for anti-spam engineering at Symantec Corp, a security software maker.

“It might take them some time to really pounce on this issue. They are catching up pretty quickly, though.”

Any major world event, such as the recent protests in Iran, triggers a barrage of Internet attacks. Security experts say the malicious traffic associated with Jackson’s death will likely match and perhaps exceed those of other big spamming campaigns, such as those connected with the swine flu outbreak and Saddam Hussein’s execution.

Spam is the most common way for fraudsters to find victims after these types of events. They can use a shotgun approach with a boilerplate message about Jackson, taking advantage of people’s interests in the topic to improve their batting average over their usual spam campaigns.

By enticing users with such messages and tricking them into clicking on e-mail attachments, scammers can easily infect victims’ computers and take command of them for more nefarious activities.

Bad and dangerous

The spam about Jackson’s death gets more convincing every day.

One message promises a YouTube video showing the exclusive “last work of Michael Jackson.” Instead, victims get a malicious program that steals their passwords.

Another promises to show the “latest unpublished photos” of Jackson if you click on a link — one that also tries to install a password-stealing program on your machine.

Others purport to be from legitimate news outlets and may contain accurate enough information to convince viewers they’re real enough to click on. Others promise access to secret songs.

The effects of specific spam campaigns, like the one surrounding Jackson’s death, are hard to quantify, though. Spam levels are already so high that there might not be a noticeable increase in overall spam levels, Harnett said.

By some estimates spam accounts for more than 90% of all e-mail sent around the world, though the bulk of the messages get filtered out before ever reaching the user.

Celebrity deaths are a gold mine for criminals because lots of people go online looking for news. Google Inc says the spike in searches for news stories about Jackson’s death was so sharp the company initially mistook it for an automated attack.

Many of the information-seekers can be tricked, via e-mail, into visiting malicious websites. That opens the door to all kinds of nastiness, like spying on what someone’s typing or using the hijacked machine to send spam.

Starting something

There are also so many more websites about celebrities after their deaths that it’s hard to figure out which ones are legitimate fan sites, and which ones were created by criminals.

Registrations of domain names related to Jackson have spiked since the pop icon died. A leading registration company, GoDaddy.com, said it registered about 7,500 such names since then.

Actress Farrah Fawcett, who died the same day, got about 100 domains in the same period. GoDaddy said, however, that it had yet to get any complaints that any of those addresses were used for scams.

Within minutes of Jackson’s death hitting the news, scammers started sending out spam e-mail with links purportedly to provocative news stories or videos about Jackson.

The news stories, of course, never appear. Instead, people who click on those links are often directed to sites that try to install viruses.

Another thing to remember: It’s not wise even to just “check out” a link you’re interested in if you suspect the site might be bogus. Sometimes just visiting a malicious website is enough to get you infected, and you don’t need to actively download anything at all. Many scams ask people to download a video player or other piece of software — supposedly so they can see the video or hear the audio — that winds up being a piece of malicious software.

The lesson for users is, as always, avoid unsolicited links from senders you don’t know, and don’t install any programs that an unknown site is telling you you need. — AP

Formula 1 stands on the brink

SILVERSTONE, June 19 — Formula One stands on the brink today unsure whether it is going to tear itself apart or move towards a united future.

Which way it will go, with five of the current teams facing a deadline to sign up unconditionally for 2010 or risk being excluded, is the billion dollar question that nobody can answer with any certainty.

The likelihood that the teams would refuse to bow to the demands of the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) appeared very real at the British Grand Prix yesterday with at least two clearly determined to give no ground.

The consequences of that happening would likely be far-reaching.

If the five — Brawn, BMW-Sauber, McLaren, Renault and Toyota — are then replaced by would-be new entrants waiting in the wings, a threatened rival series looks very much on the cards.

Both sides have been waging a war of letters and statements for weeks and, despite attempts to reach a last-ditch deal, appeared as entrenched as ever.

The eight-member teams’ association FOTA want significant change to the governance of the sport and see FIA president Max Mosley, who is up for re-election in October but has yet to announce whether he is standing, as the major obstacle.

The FIA has accused the FOTA teams, led by champions Ferrari, of wanting to run the sport.

While some paddock veterans saw a split as inevitable, others questioned whether FOTA’s unity would hold or whether the FIA would be first to blink.

FOTA MEETING

While FOTA bosses met at Renault’s Enstone headquarters to decide how to respond to FIA president Max Mosley’s latest letter, drivers expressed dismay.

“I have no idea what is going to happen, it’s such a strange feeling,” said Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, whose team are one of those threatening to walk away.

“It will be a big disappointment if they can’t find an agreement. A piece of history is going to break down and it will be everyone’s fault probably.

“I am only sad for the fans and the sport, because we are here to write history, and for the moment we are only writing about what the future of F1 will be and the politics.”

Both sides can muster persuasive arguments and both have plenty to lose.

The FIA say costs have to come down and a budget cap is necessary to allow new teams to come in and to keep existing ones in the face of the credit crunch.

They are prepared to soften the blow by allowing a cap of €100 million (RM490 million) next year before going down to the originally proposed €45 million in 2011.

Some FOTA teams say the social and human consequences of such a measure, with thousands of jobs at risk, are unacceptable and unnecessary.

The FIA has suggested teams agree to extend the now-expired 1998 Concorde Agreement governing the sport until either 2014 or the signing of a new deal.

However that date alone represents a significant stumbling block, requiring a huge leap of faith on the part of the teams that all the parties would then be willing to put pen to a revised deal. And trust is in short supply.

FOTA have the manufacturers, the engines and the top drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who made clear yesterday that he would not compete in any series without the glamour names.

They also have Ferrari, although the FIA say they are entered unconditionally for 2010 under an existing contract along with Red Bull’s two teams.

Going it alone would give the teams control of the revenues but whether the manufacturers, at board level, have the stomach to do this at a time of financial turmoil is a moot point.

Some FOTA members have more to lose than others. As one source pointed out, Formula One is mere marketing to some manufacturers but the only reason that the likes of championship-leaders Brawn and McLaren exist.

The legal consequences of a split are also to be considered.

“If they do try to set up their own series...there are big problems ahead for them,” commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone warned this month.

“Any action could run to hundreds of millions of pounds, who knows how much?” — Reuters

F1 teams announce breakaway series

SILVERSTONE, England (AP) - Formula One's biggest teams began preparations for a breakaway series early Friday after failing to resolve their dispute with the motor sports' governing body over financial constraints.

The Formula One Teams' Association announced it would not compromise on the quality of the series by signing up unconditionally for the 2010 F1 season under the FIA's radical new plans for cost-cutting.

FIA president Max Mosley is insistent on introducing a voluntary $60 million budget cap for teams to curtail a "financial arms race" in F1.

But with FOTA refusing to agree to the FIA's conditions, championship leader Brawn GP, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso are set to be lost from F1.

"The teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 world championship," FOTA said after a meeting near Silverstone ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix. "These teams, therefore, have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners.

"This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders. The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series."

Amid the global economic downturn, FOTA said it has already embarked on substantial cost-cutting.

"FOTA is proud that it has achieved the most substantial measures to reduce costs in the history of our sport," the statement said. "In particular, the manufacturer teams have provided assistance to the independent teams, a number of which would probably not be in the sport today without the FOTA initiatives. The FOTA teams have further agreed upon a substantial voluntary cost reduction that provides a sustainable model for the future."

Penang close to securing US$200m investments

GEORGE TOWN: Two hi-tech firms are set to invest up to US$100 million (RM353 million) each at the industrial estates on mainland Penang, said InvestPenang Bhd executive committee chairman Datuk Lee Kah Choon.

He said the firms, one of which is from the US, were currently in negotiations with the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) to buy land at the Bukit Minyak Industrial Estate or the Science Park in Juru.

Lee said the new investments were expected to be sealed soon, after the finalisation of a few issues.

The companies were keen to commence operations as soon as possible, Lee said in his media update of investments and employment in the state on June 17.

However, he declined to reveal further details as the agreements have yet to be finalised.

“These are both totally new investments. Both are involved in hi-tech industries, one of them part of a supply chain for certain industries, and once they commence operations will employ hundreds of engineers each for their operations,” Lee said.

New foreign investments in Penang this year include those by St Jude’s Medical Devices, Chakra Biotech and US-based National Instruments.

St Jude’s Medical Devices is investing RM108 million and employing up to 1,000 workers to produce cardia rhythm management products. The facility would be fully operational in 2011.

Chakra Biotech is investing RM8 million to produce new drugs and screening service by the end of this year, while National Instruments’ RM280 million investment will provide 1,500 jobs when it is fully operational.

Lee also said Penang Career Assistance and Training (CAT) centre, in collaboration with the Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC), was allocating 100 places in two training programmes to SPM/SPVM school-leavers and job-seekers from families registered under Penang’s Hard Core Poor Programme.

The training programmes are in precision machining technology and water management certification. The trainees will enjoy free tuition and a special monthly allowance of RM800 each during the training period.

Parliament: 39 websites, blogs banned (Update)

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Bangkok

Knock It Off: A Thai Museum for Counterfeit Goods

By Gary Jones / Bangkok Monday, Jun. 08, 2009

Bangkok's Museum of Counterfeit Goods

Courtesy of Tilleke & Gibbins

It was a typical evening stroll along Bangkok's bustling Sukhumvit Road, among the ramshackle stalls that line that tourist-magnet thoroughfare. I landed one knockoff Fred Perry polo shirt in navy blue and a pirated DVD copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Both purchases were mildly disappointing: the shirt, once I tried it on back at the hotel, appeared to have been made not from cotton but from itchy polyester — hardly ideal for the sticky Thai climate. The Hollywood blockbuster had been dubbed into Russian. I cursed the waste of 10 bucks on shoddy merchandise.

By the following afternoon, this buyer's remorse had morphed into full-blown guilt. Clemence Gautier, an intellectual-property consultant with law firm Tilleke & Gibbins, took me on a tour of Bangkok's Museum of Counterfeit Goods, a 1,070-sq.-ft. (100 sq m) Aladdin's cave of thousands of illicit products. Incongruously chic, with its polished wooden floor, shimmering glass display cases and subdued lighting, the museum is incorporated into the firm's offices on the 26th floor of downtown Bangkok's Supalai Grand Tower. (Read about the war on knockoff bags.)

According to Gautier, stallholders on Sukhumvit are not the main beneficiaries of transactions like mine. Criminal gangs are behind Asia's black market in fake goods, and misguided shoppers like me inadvertently support child labor, human-trafficking and other nefarious undertakings by indulging in the cheap goods. The directness of the revelation is sobering. "Money spent on counterfeits is easy profit for criminal organizations," the soft-spoken French native insists, "and supports other activities like prostitution and drugs."

As Gautier spoke, she stood in front of a large wall of contraband streetwear. Lacoste, Adidas, Kappa, DKNY: all the labels and logos so prevalent on Sukhumvit as well as in the backpacker ghetto of Khaosan Road and in neon-drenched Patpong Market were on display. A Fred Perry shirt hung there, accusingly, in pink. "In countries like Vietnam and Cambodia, very often it's kids involved in the manufacturing," Gautier says. "People think, 'Oh, it's just a T shirt and it's no real harm,' but we try to explain where the money is going. What if a 10-year-old girl is working every day to make those T shirts?"

Established in 1890, Tilleke & Gibbins is Thailand's oldest law firm. It got involved in intellectual-property law in the early 1980s, and by 1989 the company had stockpiled so many phony bags, clothing and sunglasses as evidence in its IP cases that a senior partner decided they could do a valuable public service by putting them on display. In today's troubled economic times, the role of the appointment-only museum is arguably growing in importance as consumers worldwide become desperate for bargains. Security experts with the Hong Kong–based consultancy Asia Risk recently estimated that international trade in counterfeit goods could rise to nearly $1 trillion in 2009. The business has long exceeded the value of the global narcotics trade.

As early as 2005, in fact, high-end fashion houses like Burberry and Louis Vuitton were warning that profits from cheap reproductions of their desirable goods might be used to fund terrorist organizations. Many people were skeptical of alarm bells emanating from such well-heeled manufacturers until Interpol backed up the claims. "North African radical fundamentalist groups in Europe, al-Qaeda and Hizballah all derive income from counterfeiting," John Newton, an Interpol officer specializing in intellectual-property crime, told the London Times in 2005 when it came to light. "This crime has the potential to become the preferred source of funding for terrorists."

The most surprising thing about the Museum of Counterfeit Goods, however, is the sheer diversity of its exhibits. Any tourist in Bangkok would be familiar with the knockoff Rolex and Tag Heuer watches, the G-Star jeans, the Nike sneakers. But ripoff shampoo and candy? Toothpaste that might have been cobbled together in a grubby lab on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh? Ballpoint pens? Staples? For a moment the guilt dissipates and I wonder why I've sacrificed an afternoon to a museum showcasing the most basic wares to be found in any stationery store. (I could, after all, be at Bangkok's Siriraj Medical Museum, where stands on display the preserved corpse of Thailand's most notorious serial killer and cannibal, as well as a deformed human testicle 18 in., or 45 cm, in diameter.)

But a skip through the Counterfeit Museum is not about macabre trivia. In many cases, the global trade in fakes is a matter of life and death. Fake pharmaceutical drugs — their active ingredients either missing or present in insufficient volumes to be effective — are proving increasingly difficult to discern by IP investigators. "The technology used to copy holograms [on packaging] is so good now that manufacturers have to change them all the time," Gautier said. "It's difficult to stay in front." Gautier also explains that product-counterfeiting, as with legitimate industries, is frequently determined by geography, and some countries have developed expertise in certain products. Cambodia, for instance, is to knockoff name-brand cigarettes what Belgium is to quality chocolates. Malaysia pumps out pirated DVD movies faster than the Scots can sink single malts. And China? Secreted factories across China are copying just about everything you can imagine, says Gautier. "If there's money to be made, there's not much that people will not to try to copy these days."

While I am heading back to the hotel in a taxi, one of Bangkok's countless motorbike taxis weaves erratically through the traffic. A young woman rides sidesaddle behind its rider, and I flinch at the potential for tragedy. There was a complete scooter on display in the museum, and Gautier had informed me that every single component — tires, brakes, fuel tank and all — had been manufactured on the sly. As the taxi veers east onto Sukhumvit Road, the traders are busy erecting their stalls for another evening of busy commerce. But me? Tonight I'll hole up in the hotel. I'll chuck that shirt in the garbage, order a pizza (is it possible to fake a pizza?) and watch a movie on HBO. Shopping is just too scary.

National Instruments secures land in Batu Maung for Penang operations

Last year, I chanced upon a press conference by US-based multi-national company National Instruments to announce their investment of USD80 million in Penang. So this year, it should be appropriate that I follow up on this matter.

Yesterday, National Instruments' vice-president of manufacturing Rob Poterfield (the one shaking hands, on the right) was in Penang to ink a land lease agreement with the Penang Development Corporation. The occasion was witnessed by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P Ramasamy.

At a press conference after the event, Poterfield said that about 1,500 jobs would be created when they begin recruiting workers for its planned research and development facility in Batu Maung. Those recruited would be sent for extensive on-the-job training at the National Instruments headquarters in Austin, Texas, for a year.

“We have secured 6.8ha of land in Batu Maung for the facility which cost us about RM36mil. We hope the site can be ready by next year. The company is developing the facility as part of our ongoing plan to expand our global operations."

"Malaysia offers an exceptionally skilled workforce that can help National Instruments provide engineers and scientists with the hardware and software they need to develop the innovative applications that are improving our world," said Robert Canik, vice-president of R&D for instrument and distributed control at National Instruments. "This talent-rich environment was a key factor in selecting Malaysia, and Penang in particular, as the site for our new R&D operations facility, and we are excited that the people of Penang will be an integral part of our companys success."

The company develops and manufactures software as well as hardware for engineers and scientists. Poterfield said the recruitment included posts in manufacturing, product development, R&D, shared services, information technology and finance. “In the next few years we plan to invest about RM280mil in Penang,” Poterfield said.

"National Instruments is bringing high-value jobs to Penang and we are confident that the people here have the training and aptitude necessary to deliver tremendous value to National Instruments," said Guan Eng. "Penang offers many resources that make it a competitive business environment, and we are pleased that National Instruments is making such a significant contribution here."

Courtesy of Quah, Seng-Sun

National Instruments investing USD 80 million in Penang Plant

Two days ago, I briefly dropped by the ballroom at Hotel Equatorial to witness a press conference called by US-based National Instruments to announce their investment of USD80 million into their new facilities in Penang.

I was a bit late so I did not get to see the Chief Minister speak but I learnt later that National Instruments would be setting up their new R&D and operations facilities on a 6.8-hectare site on the island. It's targeted to employ about 1,500 people when it opens in 2010 but of course, spill-over effect on the local economy - SMEs and other support services - will benefit even more of the local population. I also learnt that this million-dollar deal was only sealed 17 days earlier so I'm quite impressed by the speed with which this announcement was made public. There's a will shown by the state government to get things moving fast. I like it: it's professional.

The plant will be NI's first in the Asean region and third major global operations centre. NI president and CEO Dr James Truchard (left) said their management team had visited many countries and finally settled on Penang because of the environment, highly skilled workforce and the close proximity of the plant to the Asian market. "Our goal is to be a major centre of manufacturing and R&D globally by 2015 when the plant is running at full capacity."

And their CFO and senior VP of manufacturing and IT operations, Alex Devern (right), added that Penang was selected because of the availability of electrical and electronics resources. "We anticipate that by 2015, this site will be capable of generating 40 percent of global revenue amounting to approximately US$650 million annually."

NI is a global leader in computer-based measurement and automation hardware with its headquarters in Austin, Texas. It has more than 5,000 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries.

Courtesy of Quah, Seng-Sun

New incentives for buying original music

SHAH ALAM: The local music industry is having a hard time selling digital song downloads and blames it on the rampant piracy fostered by P2P (peer-to-peer) filesharing platforms.

So, the next best thing for the music barons to do is give away digital music as a value-add whenever someone buys an MP3 player.

senQ appliance stores is giving away songs when you buy any Samsung MP3 player at its Klang Valley, Seremban or Malacca outlets.

The number of free songs will depend on which particular model of MP3 player you choose but it can be anywhere from 10 to 60 songs.

senQ’s music catalogue has 200,000 Malay, Chinese and Tagalog titles from labels such as Maestro Talents (which houses talents from the hit Akademi Fantasia TV show) and New Southern Records. International titles will be available from this month.

The songs will be in a Digital Rights Management-free MP3 format which means you can transfer the music to other devices without complications.

The digital music can also be loaded from the senQ kiosks onto your cellphone’s memory card or a thumb-drive.

This initiative, called Download Originals Only, is driven by senQ chain owner Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd and the newly established Ikon Works Pte Ltd — the distribution arm of Ikon Media Group which deals in events management, publishing and other businesses.

Sweet deal

Ikon Media Group managing director Gan Kheng Chai said music can be a great value-add to push related products.

“Selling the music itself is secondary. In this case, it’s a great sweetener for selling MP3 players,” he said.

He said senQ already sells at least 3,000 MP3 players a month nationwide.

Besides the senQ stores, there are also download kiosks in selected Station One Cafe outlets in the Klang Valley — Setapak, Bandar Menjalara, Kuchai Lama and Overseas Union Garden. There is a total of 20 kiosks in senQ and Station One Cafe outlets.

Station One is allowing redemption of free songs by its members, where they earn points for every purchase which will eventually entitle them to free songs.

The set-up costs for each of the kiosks in senQ or Station One is RM7,000, said Gan. “This is just the beginning. Our plan is to install up to 150 kiosks nationwide before the year ends; at fast food chains, cafes, restaurant chains, convenience stores and bookshops.

“These are the places patronised by our target market — youths and music lovers,” he said.

Party with Stacy

Besides promoting music as a value-add, Ikon is also providing incentives to purchasing original music outright.

Music fans can buy a song for RM3 at the senQ outlets. They pay the cashier who will then give them a code which enables them to transfer a song from kiosk to thumb-drive.

“But people expect more than just music for their money nowadays, so we are giving music fans a chance to enter a competition when they buy digital music,” Gan said.

The winner will receive a visit from Akademi Fantasia 6 winner Stacy to his or her home.

“The one who downloads or redeems the most songs will win the prize, which also includes inviting 50 friends and throwing a party where Stacy will make a one-hour appearance. Food and beverage will be paid for by SenQ,” he said.

The contest ends June 30.

Gan said more of such activities are in the pipeline. “We support the industry’s stand on original digital content.

“And we want to help all artistes and musicians to continue receiving their dues so that they can create more music for the listening pleasure of everyone,” he added.