Awesome Together: Samsung launches the new Galaxy A Series in the Philippines with a spectacular launch party

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Samsung’s Awesome Together launch party unveiled the new Galaxy A54 5G and A34 5G series at the Marriott Manila Ballroom, bringing awesome content creation and entertainment to life in a spectacular and immersive event.

Samsung's latest addition to the Galaxy A Series - the A34 5G and A54 5G - redefine what it means to create awesome content and an awesome entertainment experience on a smartphone. With advanced camera technology, brighter displays, and sleek, stylish designs, these innovative devices are a game changer for anyone looking to capture and share their world in stunning detail.

Content creator and singer Renee Dominique opens the Awesome Together Launch party as Samsung Philippines unveils the latest Galaxy A34 and A54 5G

In a program hosted by content creator and singer Renee Dominique, Samsung shared a walkthrough of the A Series’ awesome innovations, from amazing photography and videography features, including improved Nightography, video stabilization and editing tools to make content creation a breeze, Super Smooth 120Hz refresh rate, to its sleek design and aesthetic made with eco-friendly and recycled materials; Samsung’s newest A series was designed to make great experiences into awesome memories for life.

Style icons and it-girls Claudia Barretto and Juliana Gomez led guests on an experiential journey to the Awesome Zones revealed by an upbeat performance from Upeepz, that actualized the feeling of awesomeness the Galaxy A series could give as the Gen Zers’ new best friends.

Awesome Content

Samsung Philippines Head of Product Marketing, Mobile Experience Jun Guevara shared insights on Gen Zs and how the Galaxy A34 5G and A54 5G can enable them to pursue their passions through the phones’ awesome new features – from its design, camera, and performance.

Samsung has transformed several features in its latest Galaxy A series to make content creation more enjoyable. The spectacular lime-green Awesome Content Factory Zone allowed guests to capture, customize and print their amazing photos, letting them play with the awesome editing tools and personalization features of the Galaxy A54 5G and the A34 5G like the photo remastering tool, object eraser, custom stickers and even built-in Snapchat AR filters.

Awesome Interactive Zone

Celebrity IT Girls Juliana Gomez and Claudia Barretto gushed over the new Galaxy A Series Smartphones during the Awesome Together Launch party!

Guests also experienced the style, power and durability of the Galaxy A Series in the deeply engaging and amazingly fun violet hued Entertainment Hub!

At the Awesome Vibes Only station, guests were invited to take a mirror selfie using the Galaxy A54 5G to see how the phone’s awesome design instantly elevates their style while the Awesome Champions station had guests battling it out on fun mobile games, proving the awesome speed of the Exynos 1380 processor for Galaxy A54 5G and MediaTek Dimensity 1080 processor for Galaxy A34 5G.

The last stop It’s Giving Awesome highlights the Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G’s amazing durability as the devices were submerged in water – these devices are Rated IP67, and they can withstand dust, sand and up to 1 meter of fresh water for up to 30 minutes, making them perfect for summer adventures!

Aside from creating awesome content with the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G, these devices are also entertainment powerhouses. They come with AMOLED displays, 6.4-inch on the Galaxy A54 5G and 6.6-inch on the Galaxy A34 5G also allow for an immersive viewing experience, with its FHD+ resolution giving ultra-realistic colors.  With 5G connectivity and super-fast charging  - get up to 50% at only 30 minutes of charging and get more than 2 days of power with a single charge – they are also perfect for uninterrupted video playback and gaming sessions.

The Galaxy A54 5G retails for PHP 26,990 for the 256GB variant and PHP 24,990 for the128GB variant and comes in three trendy colors: Awesome Graphite, Awesome Lime, and the online-exclusive Awesome Violet. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A34 5G retails for PHP 21,990 for the 256GB variant and PHP 19,990 for the128GB variant and comes in two colors: Awesome Graphite and Awesome Violet.

Get your Galaxy A54 and A34 5G with awesome offers like flexible payment deals from Home Credit and  0% Credit Card installment plans. If you want to trade in your old device, you can also enjoy savings of up to PHP 10,150. Bundle deals are also available with other Samsung devices – get 50% off on the Galaxy Buds2 Pro and Galaxy Buds2, and 30% off on the Galaxy Watch5 Series. And you’ll also continue to enjoy  a Free Travel Adapter together with their devices.

Celebrity IT Girl Juliana Gomez together with Samsung Philippines Marketing Communications Manager Lyza Samartino at the Awesome Interactive Zone where they let guests experienced the fast performance, durability and power of the Galaxy A Series through the fun mini-games

Samsung Philippines Product Marketing Manager Mark Que and celebrity, style icon Claudia Barretto led guests to the Awesome Content Factory and demonstrated how the new Galaxy A Series is perfect for content creation utilizing the awesome editing tools such as the photo remastering, object eraser and built-in customer stickers.

The Galaxy A54 and A34 5G is available through samsung.com, Samsung Experience Stores, Authorized Samsung Stores, Lazada, Shopee, Abenson.com and MemoXpress Online.

For more information, visit https://www.samsung.com/ph/

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 About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at news.samsung.com

Palo Alto Networks warns of travel-related scams to watch out for this Holy Week

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Holy Week is one of the peak travel seasons in the Philippines. The Civil Aviation Authority anticipates two million passengers to fly domestically to observe the holiday. With this many prospective Filipinos travelling simultaneously, there is expected to be fierce competition for travel tickets and bookings and good deals through online travel agents and apps. Meanwhile, scammers see this as an opportunity to be exploited, particularly through social engineering and phishing. Attackers target individuals and groups during this time as individuals are focused on family time and religious practice, and organizations have lesser manpower for security. In response, Palo Alto Networks, the global cybersecurity leader, shares insights and solutions to address this increasing cyber risk during Holy Week.

“We’ve seen time and time again how scammers capitalize on people’s eagerness to travel as well as their desire to travel affordably,” said Steven Scheurmann, Regional Vice President, ASEAN, at Palo Alto Networks. “The travel industry is especially attractive for scammers as it is a huge source of sensitive and personal data, including stolen usernames, emails, and passwords, as well as customer data such as identity, payment, and contact information, which means both travellers and travel companies need to be very cautious.”

According to Palo Alto Networks, some of the most common travel-related scams include:

●       The use of malicious domains and URLs that impersonate well-known brands and websites.

●       Phishing emails/SMS/WhatsApp texts to end users to trick them into either downloading malicious attachments or APK files or clicking on links that lead to malicious website pages or attachments. Threat actors use themes that invoke a sense of urgency (such as outstanding invoices) or emotional appeal to the end users with homecoming-themed emails as we approach Eid).

●       Offering a “shadow travel agency” service, they reach out to travellers through various social media platforms, providing travel-related bookings at heavily discounted prices. While travellers transfer clean money to the “shadow travel agency,” the “shadow travel agency” pays the actual service providers, such as hotels or airlines, with stolen payment information. Due to the time gap in payment processing, service providers only realize they have been defrauded when they see the disputed card transactions or chargebacks weeks or months later.

Meanwhile, organizations must implement security awareness training to improve employees’ ability to identify fraudulent emails, ensure that their organization’s data is regularly backed up as a defense against ransomware attacks initiated via phishing emails, enforce multi-factor authentication on all business-related logins as an added layer of security, and implement an end-to-end cybersecurity solution that allows for advanced URL filtering that detects unknown, newly malicious URLs quickly, identifies known samples as malware, and tracks related malware activities.

“Scammers and attacks may affect the individual traveller, major travel corporations, as well as small travel agents and operators—which means everyone needs to stay vigilant in implementing ways to avoid these threats. As Filipinos travel to celebrate Holy Week and spend time with their families, they must also remain aware and cautious of malicious actors to stay safe amid the holidays,” closed Steven.

 

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About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks is the world’s cybersecurity leader. We innovate to outpace cyber threats so that organizations can confidently embrace technology. We provide next-gen cybersecurity to thousands of customers globally across all sectors. Our best-in-class cybersecurity platforms and services are backed by industry-leading threat intelligence and strengthened by state-of-the-art automation. Whether deploying our products to enable the Zero Trust Enterprise, responding to a security incident, or partnering to deliver better security outcomes through a world-class partner ecosystem, we’re committed to helping ensure each day is safer than the one before. It’s what makes us the cybersecurity partner of choice.

At Palo Alto Networks, we’re committed to bringing together the very best people in service of our mission, so we’re also proud to be the cybersecurity workplace of choice, recognized among Newsweek’s Most Loved Workplaces (2021), Comparably Best Companies for Diversity (2021), and HRC's Best Places for LGBTQ Equality (2022). For more information, visit www.paloaltonetworks.com.

 

COMCO Southeast Asia wins PR Consultancy of the Year in Asia-Pacific

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COMCO Southeast Asia, the global award-winning New PR and Smart Social agency of COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises, is awarded Medium PR Consultancy of the Year in Asia-Pacific by PRCA APAC (Public Relations and Communications Association Asia-Pacific) Awards 2023 for demonstrating great business and effective results as well as community leadership and innovation.

COMCO Southeast Asia is the 1st and only Philippine company to bag this recognition besting other PR and Communications agencies and consultancies in the Asia-Pacific region. COMCO SEA also received finalist citations for PR / Communications Leader of the Year Award for the Group’s Chief Executive Director, Lead Strategic Communications Counsel / Partner and Co-Founder, Mr. Ferdinand L. Bondoy; Media Relations Award for its “Meaningful Storytelling with COMCOmigos” initiative; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award for COMCO SEA’s long-time client partner, Teleperformance Philippines.

The PRCA APAC Awards celebrates the best of the best PR and communications campaigns, teams, and individuals across Asia-Pacific. Critiqued by some of the biggest names from the worlds of PR, communications and journalism, PRCA APAC Awards only recognizes leading-edge PR and communications work.

The Public Relations and Communications Association Asia-Pacific (PRCA APAC) is the world’s largest professional PR body, representing over 35,000 PR professionals in 70 countries worldwide, and a global advocate for public relations excellence.

In photo are COMCO representatives (from left): Mr. Justin Harvey Llamosa, Chief of Staff to the Group Chief Executive Director and Senior Executive Initiatives and Integrated Communications Manager / Partner; Mr. Ferdinand L. Bondoy, Group Chief Executive Director and Lead Strategic Communications Counsel / Partner and Co-Founder; Ms. Joan Maslang, Corporate Services Director and Comptroller / Partner.

Last year, COMCO SEA won the highly regarded Purpose Award of the PRCA APAC Awards 2022 for its flagship initiative, “Dear Survivor: The COMCO Southeast Asia Write to Ignite Blogging Project Season 2,” which curated heartwarming and inspiring survivor stories all over the country.

“This recognition came just in time for the celebration of our 7th anniversary milestone celebration dubbed as #COMCOepic7years! It is truly an epic event as this metal demonstrates COMCO Southeast Asia’s excellence and commitment to uplifting the practice, leading the industry, and igniting social change not just in the Philippines but in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. This also kicks off the rollout of the phase 2 of the group’s 10-year masterplan,” said Ferdinand L. Bondoy.

“This award is dedicated to our team (COMCOys), partners in the industry (COMCOmigos), and even apprentices (COMCOwans) who are part of COMCO’s craft of Meaningful Storytelling. Thank you PRCA APAC for this award. It is truly an honor to be part of this upbeat PR and Communications community in Asia-Pacific and be recognized as among the game changers in the region,” Mr. Bondoy added.

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About COMCO Southeast Asia

COMCO Southeast Asia, headquartered in the Philippines and with affiliate network presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, is a global award-winning integrated communications agency championing the practice of the emerging global disciplines of New PR and Smart Social. With the unique brand of Meaningful Storytelling, the Agency has done groundbreaking works for more than 100 local, regional, and international brands including reputable development and humanitarian organizations. COMCO SEA has been awarded thrice as Agency of the Year 2nd Runner-up at the IABC Quill Awards; Agency of the Year – Silver Award at the ASEAN PR Excellence Awards; Finalist for Boutique PR Consultancy of the Year at Campaign Asia Pacific’s PR Awards Asia, PRCA APAC Awards, Marketing Interactive’s PR Awards Asia-Pacific, and the global CIPR Excellence Awards; and 150 metals from various local and international award-giving bodies.

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About COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises

COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises is the parent company and umbrella group for all of COMCO’s existing and upcoming ventures and initiatives, a collective of agencies and programs dedicated to advancing the communications profession and related disciplines such as digital, media, advocacy, training and education, and entrepreneurship, among others; to being a force for social change; to nurturing talent growth and workplace community culture; and to championing borderless collaboration. The COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises is comprised of COMCO Southeast Asia, COMCO Middle East and Africa, TARO AOX Digital + Integrated Communications, SEA Wave Pop Culture Studio, Camp COMCO Mentorship Program and Alumni Society, and Citizen COMCO Advocacy Program.

Study abroad with no additional tuition fees through Assumption College's international exchange program

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Selecting the right school is a significant decision for both students and parents. Schools play a critical role in shaping a young adult's personality and worldview. Moreover, a proper learning environment enables young adults to explore and enhance their holistic potential.

That is exactly what Assumption College offers: enriching opportunities that allow students to go beyond the four walls of a classroom environment and to have the world within reach.

Championing transformative education

When choosing a school, various factors need to be taken into account, from programs and opportunities to costs and location. Assumption College makes the decision much easier, with its esteemed reputation for delivering excellent education for each and every student.

Assumption College has two main departments: liberal arts under the Marie Eugenie School for Innovative Learning (MESIL) and business administration and management under Milleret School of Business and Management for Women (MSBMW). The institution’s roster of excellent academic programs range from communication, interior design, psychology and education, to accountancy, business administration, and entrepreneurship..

Championing transformative education, Assumption College is future-proofing students with a fresh approach to learning. Known as Ability-based Learning or “ABLe”, this student-centered method of education puts an emphasis on developing Prime Life Abilities centered on Assumption College’s Core Values, preparing students to face the real world.

On top of high-quality academic programs, Assumption College also boasts an accessible international student exchange program that opens up the world to its students.

 

An accessible student exchange program

An international exchange program can be a life-changing experience for students, but factors like high costs can deter them from pursuing such programs. Assumption College’s International Student Exchange Program addresses this concern. With the program, students do not need to pay additional tuition fees at their chosen overseas partner institution. This gives more students the opportunity to study abroad for a semester, allowing them to:

●       immerse themselves in a brand new culture and meet new people from all walks of life

●       take the opportunity to learn a new language

●       experience different styles of learning under the guidance of various esteemed educators; and

●       widen their employment opportunities on a global scale.

As such, Assumption College students are able to grow independent, confident, and capable of taking on life’s challenges, preparing them to find success in their endeavors both in the local and global scale.

Assumption College has partnered with reputable institutions around the world, such as Monroe College in New York, Assumption University in Massachusetts, Hiroshima University in Japan, Kobe College in Japan, Reactor School in Singapore, and Universitas Kristen Indonesia in Jakarta, as well as other institutions in the UK, Australia, and South Korea.

Students who have participated in the international student exchange program can testify to how much the program has helped them change in better ways. 

“I was able to grow into the woman of faith, community, and action through the help of the Assumption education and family,” shared Alexandra Victoria Adriano Boccone, who took part in Assumption College’s student exchange program to Assumption University, Worcester, Massachusetts.

“It was an eye-opening experience where I realized that we live in a big world with a lot of opportunities to grow and world,” said Clarisse Ambray, who went to Kobe College under the same student exchange program. “If I’m allowed to enroll again, I’d do it. That’s how much I loved the experience.”

“It’s one of the highlights of my college years,” Bea Marbella, who also attended Kobe College for a semester. “Words can't express how grateful I am that I joined this program. It's really fun and I hope you guys get to experience what I did as well.”

Begin your international studies journey now with Assumption College

It’s time to broaden your horizons and step out into the world. Enroll in Assumption College and get ready to study abroad without paying additional tuition fees to your chosen overseas institution. Application for School Year 2023–2024 is currently ongoing, so don’t miss this chance! Sign up now through this registration form: bit.ly/AssumptionCollegeRegistrationForm.

For more information, visit the Virtual Admissions Hub or contact the College Admissions Office through email at admissions@assumption.edu.ph or mobile at +63 927 966 2341 or +63 926 728 0980.

 

 

‘I Want To Be Here’ of KonsultaMD and Kiana V is new mental health anthem for the youth

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“I Want To Be Here,” a song made through a collaboration between leading telehealth service KonsultaMD and some of the country’s hottest artists, Kiana V, Nix Damn P, and Curtismith, is fast gaining popularity as a mental health anthem for the younger generation.

The song aims to motivate individuals to voice out their mental health concerns and seek support. It is a powerful reminder that no one has to face their struggles alone, and there are always resources available for those in need.

Since its launch, “I Want To Be Here” has garnered significant public interest and has hit mainstream media, with numerous radio pickups and local DJs including it in their setlists in clubs around the metro. The heartfelt message of this music piece has earned high praise, with many people saying that it has helped them express how they feel.

During the song's first week of release, Kiana V was invited to perform it live on the popular Wish Bus of Wish FM 107.5, which helped increase its exposure.

The joint project is a continuation of KonsultaMD's mental health awareness campaign, which started with the successful “Be Kind To Your Mind” concert in 2021.

"Music has a unique ability to connect with people and communicate powerful messages," said Cholo Tagaysay, KonsultaMD's Chief Executive Officer. "We believe that “I Want To Be Here” is more than just a song - it's a powerful tool to raise awareness and support for mental health. We hope that it will inspire people to prioritize their mental health and seek help when they need it.”

In less than a month, the song has amassed over 20,000 audio streams on Spotify and Apple Music. It continues to pick up steam, especially on TikTok, where the #IWantToBeHere dance challenge is growing in popularity. This dance challenge aims to further spread awareness by asking the audience to express how they feel through dance and music.

“I Want To Be Here” is now live on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.

KonsultaMD encourages everyone to stream the song and share it with their friends and family to help promote understanding and support for mental health. Anyone struggling with mental health may reach out to KonsultaMD by visiting https://konsulta.md or downloading the app on the App Store or Google Play.

For more information about KonsultaMD, visit its social media accounts at https://www.tiktok.com/@konsultamd, https://www.facebook.com/konsultamd, and https://www.instagram.com/konsulta.md/.