Ежегодная благотворительная акция "Поделись светом" (Share The Light), инициированная сотрудниками Samsung, в 2019-м получила своё продолжение. На этот раз собранные руками работников южнокорейского офиса техногиганта 1000 светодиодных фонариков, работающих от солнечной энергии, отправились в отдалённые вьетнамские деревни, где практически нет доступа к централизованной электросети. О том, как это происходило, рассказал корреспондент редакции Samsung Newsroom, который отправился в поездку, прихватив с собой фото- и видеокамры. Его репортаж был сегодня опубликован на официальном сайте корпорации. Sharing the Light: Bringing 1,000 Solar Lanterns to Vietnamese Villagers by Samsung Newsroom reporter A recent Samsung initiative saw my colleagues make over a thousand solar lanterns and donate them to residents of places like Chieng Noi, a rural Vietnamese village with extremely limited access to electricity. I was tasked with shooting a video about the journey to donate these lanterns to the villagers – and with experiencing their way of life, far away from the urban bustle I am used to. When a village is remote enough to lack electricity, inevitably the location will be, though eco-friendly, isolated from urban areas. Ahead of us was a painstakingly long journey, rife with the promise of encounters with various insects and new and unusual local foods – all of which at first seemed overwhelming to our group, accustomed as we were to urban life. But the importance of our mission was undeniable, and so after much planning and preparation, we finally set off on our five-day trip to Chieng Noi, Vietnam, to bring our carefully crafted solar lanterns to the residents. Journey to Chieng Noi Prior to leaving on this trip, I had researched Chieng Noi and was pleased to discover that the journey seemed relatively easy. The flight from South Korea to Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, was less than five hours, and the drive from the airport to Chieng Noi was only 400km. However, upon setting off in our cars from Noi Bai Airport, I realized it was going to be nothing like I had expected. For the seventeen hours that ensued, we drove through dust clouds that brought visibility down to almost zero. Other difficulties also arose that further hindered our progress. The first obstacle we faced was trees felled by a storm. The sheer length and number of the fallen trees made it difficult to clear a path. Therefore, all of us, including the whole camera crew, a local coordinator and an accompanying Vietnamese government official, rolled up our sleeves to help clear the road. After hours of hard work shifting fallen trees, we were on the road again for a while before coming across a second obstacle. The wheels of our cars had gotten stuck in mud and were spinning, but the cars wouldn’t move. What made matters worse was that the previous day, it had poured with rain, creating a huge puddle of water. Once again, all of us joined forces to fill in the puddle and push the cars along by hand, but nightfall came quickly and we decided to spend the night in a nearby residence and call a tow truck in the morning.
Chieng Noi: A Village of Kindness As we were behind schedule, we set off early the next morning in order to reach Chieng Noi, a small village made up of only 38 households. The first impression that I received upon arrival was one of kindness – even though it was the first time the village had received visitors from overseas, we were warmly welcomed by all the villagers. Ahead of my visit, I had learned that there would be no official accommodation for our crew, and so I had brought a tent from Korea. But upon learning this, Lo Van Toan, the head of the village, led us to his house, waving away our protests with iterations of: “it is only for a few days, please make yourself at home.” And his hospitality did not end there. In Vietnam, there is a custom that states a host must provide his guests with delicious food. During our dinner, pork was served – a rarity for the residents of Chieng Noi. Children gathered around and looked at us with eyes filled with curiosity. As I regarded them, the 12-hour journey I had just undertaken was forgotten. As we went around the village, I couldn’t help but note how dark it was inside the houses, even in daytime – and I could only imagine how hard it must be to see at night. We were also lucky enough to hear stories from the villagers themselves. “Our village is a farming village,” stressed one resident. “We often don’t finish until nightfall, and then must return from the fields in darkness, often getting lost on the way back home.” “In this village, households are located apart from each other along a slope,” noted another villager. “If an accident was to occur… Well, it is scary even to think about.” It became clear that safety was the biggest concern regarding the village’s lack of electricity. Another concern faced by the villagers was for their children. They described it as “heartbreaking” that the lack of light makes it difficult for their children to practice reading after dark. Each household in Chieng Noi has three to four children – and the nearest school is an hour and a half’s drive away. Therefore, children stay in a dormitory during the week and return home to the village on weekends. When they return, they have to use the daylight hours to study and do homework, which means being outside or sitting in residence doorways in order to have enough light to see by. A Brighter Future for Chieng Noi As night fell, we started delivering the solar lanterns. The local children were particularly excited by the lanterns, playing around with them as if they were toys and shining them on each other’s faces, laughing all the while. The adult villagers, meanwhile, expressed to us how useful they expected the lanterns to be. “I normally have to go outside and set a fire in order to be able to prepare vegetables at night, but now I can do it at home,” noted one villager. “I did not know a solar lantern could be this bright,” said another, excited to use the lanterns to read books at night. We delivered a total of one thousand solar lanterns to the residents of Chieng Noi. Each is expected to last around two years, assisting the villagers as they go about their nighttime activities, helping them on their journeys home, and alleviating boredom by permitting them to read at night. Given the arduous journey and remote location of Chieng Noi, it was a challenging undertaking, but now that I am back in Korea and can reflect upon the trip, I am taken aback by what a rewarding and special experience it was. And if someone asked me if I would do it all again? I would say, of course! And the opinion of our colleagues from Samsung Electronics Vietnam? Nguyen Phuong Uyen Thuy Anh, Corporate Communications Manager, noted how heartwarming it was to see the smiles on the faces of everyone who was involved in the lantern program, saying:“I personally am so glad that I could be part of Samsung’s philanthropic efforts!”
Samsung решил изменить подход к бытовой технике, чтобы она стала настоящей частью интерьера. Вендор предлагает не выбирать холодильник из двух-трёх цветов, а превратил выбор в своеобразный конструктор. Для этого инженеры разработали 8 форм-факторов, 9 цветов и 3 текстуры дверцы, чтобы покупатели смогли подобрать модель под интерьер своего жилища. Таким образом, покупка холодильника теперь больше похожа на выбор мебели — получается больше 200 комбинаций цвета и формы. Крупнейший мировой производитель потребительской электроники назвал свой проект по выпуску дизайнерской настраиваемой бытовой техники PRISM. В будущем должно появиться ещё больше девайсов, которые покупатели смогут адаптировать под свои нужды. Samsung уже давно выпускает телевизоры The Frame — они могут отлично имитировать в любом интерьере картину со сменной рамкой. Samsung пока не раскрыл технические характеристики дизайнерских холодильников серии BESPOKE. Однако сообщается, что вскоре такие аппараты можно будет заказать в фирменном интернет-магазине, выбрав подходящую форму, размер и внешний вид. Поначалу это будет доступно покупателям в Южной Корее, но позже корпорация собирается наладить поставки и на зарубежные рынки. Samsung Launches Project PRISM With Customizable BESPOKE Samsung Electronics’ Project PRISM, recently launched in Korea, features home appliances that can fit into any lifestyle by allowing customers the ability to personalize the materials, colors, shapes and designs of the products. Launching PRISM On June 4th, Samsung Electronics held a launch event to introduce Project PRISM at the Samsung Digital Plaza in Gangnam, Seoul. From the product displays to the café to the experience zone, the event held at Digital Plaza was more than just a showroom; it was a digital playground where visitors were able to explore the different types of customization offered. The welcoming speech at the event was given by Samsung Electronics’ President and CEO of Consumer Electronics Division, Hyun Suk Kim. “There is a growing trend across this generation, especially among millennials, that sees us valuing personal tastes and experiences foremost,” noted Kim. “With Project PRISM, we are reflecting this trend, and hope that Samsung can become a prism-like medium, able to reflect each and every colorful consumer lifestyle.” Kim also introduced the driving ideas behind Project PRISM and its first customizable product, BESPOKE. “Project PRISM’s philosophy is that only when truly reflecting a consumer’s lifestyle can a home appliance fit seamlessly into their lives – and BESPOKE marks the start of this process.”
Samsung’s First Customizable Refrigerator: BESPOKE In order to bring about this new era of customized home appliances, Samsung has introduced BESPOKE, its latest refrigerator first showcased at the Samsung Digital Plaza event. The name itself has a clever double meaning, playing on the word for ‘custom-made’ and a combination of ‘be’ and ‘spoke’, highlighting the role the voice of the user has in its creation. With the BESPOKE refrigerator, customers can customize their own configurations of material, color, sizing and other feature choices. Able to fit naturally into whatever home space the customer has available, the BESPOKE refrigerator comes in 8 sizes; 4-door freestanding, 4-door “kitchen fit”, 2-door BMF (upper refrigerator and lower freezer), 1-door refrigerator (24 inches), 1-door freezer (24 inches), 1-door kimchi refrigerator (24 inches), 1-door (alternating temperature, 18 inches) and kimchi plus. With a BESPOKE refrigerator, customers can choose their preferred color from a 9-strong color range that includes navy blue, mint, pink and coral. Able to fit in seamlessly with any home interior styling, BESPOKE also features three different refrigerator door texture options. At the launch event, visitors experienced six different lifestyle scenarios, from a one-person household to a double income family household, witnessing firsthand how the BESPOKE refrigerator could easily be adapted for any lifestyle. The BESPOKE refrigerator is the first product in Project PRISM that, by encouraging customers to think outside of the box, is set to take home appliances to the next level and beyond their traditional spaces within the home.
Samsung Electronics начинает публикацию серии онлайн-курсов в помощь студентам и профессиональным разработчикам. Объявление о старте обучения появилось в российском сегменте официального сайта корпорации. Тематическая программа «Нейронные сети и компьютерное зрение» доступна на образовательной платформе Stepik.org. Это первый из серии бесплатных онлайн-курсов, которые будут посвящены таким перспективным направлениям как искусственный интеллект (Artifical Intelligence или сокращённо AI) и машинное обучение (machine learning или ML). Курс разработан экспертами Samsung Research Russia: Исследовательского центра Samsung и Центра искусственного интеллекта Samsung в Москве. Курс «Нейронные сети и компьютерное зрение» для студентов ВУЗов IT направлений и профессиональных разработчиков рассчитан на 6 недель, состоит из 7-ми модулей видеолекций и практических задач (3 – 5 часов в неделю), где последовательно излагается терминология и принципы построения нейросетей, рассказывается о современных задачах, методах оптимизации, способах упрощения и ускорения их работы. Завершается курс решением прикладной задачи по компьютерному зрению. Все выпускники получат сертификат о прохождении курса от Samsung и Stepik.org, а лучшие номинанты будут приглашены на собеседование в Samsung Research Russia. Авторы курса Михаил Романов и Игорь Слинько, выпускники МФТИ, эксперты московского Центра искусственного интеллекта Samsung, занимающиеся на практике задачами машинного обучения. Материалы курса были не раз успешно апробированы авторами на студенческой и взрослой аудиториях. «Для Samsung Research Russia социально-образовательные программы – это приоритетная область корпоративной социальной ответственности. Это вклад корпорации в развитие наукоёмкого направления разработки искусственного интеллекта в России. Российский Исследовательский центр Samsung обладает большим опытом разработки IT курсов, являясь автором социально-образовательных программ IT ШКОЛА SAMSUNG и IT Академия Samsung. Неслучайно, что с открытием год назад Центра искусственного интеллекта Samsung в Москве, появились образовательные инициативы в области искусственного интеллекта и машинного обучения – одной из самых востребованных в IT индустрии, но имеющей высокий порог вхождения из-за большого разнообразия прикладных задач и специфических математических инструментов. Мы хотим дать всем энтузиастам AI опору под ногами, с которой они совершат рывок в сферу новых компетенций, где AI – не теория, а верный рабочий инструмент. Желаю слушателям наших курсов постоянно развиваться и не останавливаться, даже добившись успеха!», – прокомментировал Джин Ук Ли (Jin Wook Lee), генеральный директор Samsung Research Russia и руководитель Центра искусственного интеллекта Samsung в Москве. При активной поддержке российского Исследовательского центра Samsung развиваются федеральные социально-образовательные программы «IT ШКОЛА SAMSUNG» (с 2014г.) и «IT Академия Samsung» (с 2017 по апрель 2019 гг. имела название "IoT Академия Samsung"), реализуемые Исследовательским центром Samsung совместно со штаб-квартирой Samsung Electronics по странам СНГ. В 27-ми российских городах тысячи студентов и школьников получили возможность бесплатно пройти обучение по наиболее востребованным IT курсам. Успешный опыт реализации программ тиражирован в странах СНГ. Кроме того, в 2018 году Исследовательским центром Samsung были разработаны и организованы такие актуальные образовательные инициативы как курс «NLP & Deep Learning» в МГУ и ежегодная студенческая летняя школа по машинному обучению Samsung AI Bootcamp. В Центре искусственного интеллекта Samsung в Москве под руководством профессора Дмитрия Ветрова, руководителя лаборатории машинного обучения, проводится Deep Bayes School для экспертов по анализу данных с участием международных спикеров. В результате реализованных социально-образовательных и научных программ количество стажёров в российском Исследовательском Центре Samsung в 2018 году увеличилось в 3 раза по сравнению с предыдущим годом. Ссылка на курс: https://stepik.org/course/50352/promo. Samsung Electronics announces the launch of a free online course on computer vision on the Stepik platform Samsung Electronics begins publishing a series of online courses to help students and professional developers. The announcement of the start of training appeared in the Russian segment of the official website of the corporation. The thematic program "Neural networks and computer vision" is available on the educational platform Stepik.org. This is the first of a series of free online courses that will be devoted to such promising areas as artificial intelligence and machine learning. The course was developed by experts from Samsung Research Russia: Samsung Research Center and Samsung Artificial Intelligence Center in Moscow. Details on the official website: https://stepik.org/course/50352/promo.
