The Bank of the Lao PDR (BOL) has put out a notice preventing currency exchange units associated with commercial banks from selling foreign currency.
Vientiane’s Chanthabouly District Police Double Down on Crimes
In the first six months of the year, Vientiane Capital’s police have cracked down on numerous crimes being committed in the district and were able to solve many of them.
OPPO held a 2-month carnival to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of OPPO Service Day

Moving back to October 10th, 2020, OPPO Service Day was initially launched in 8 countries/regions. After that, OPPO held a Super Service Day special event last June and officially extended its Service Day from 1 day to 3 days, that is 10-12th of each month. And October 10th, 2022, marked the 2nd anniversary of OPPO Service Day, which represents a new milestone to it. So far, OPPO users can enjoy 8 major exclusive benefits on Service Day at more than 900 service centers in 24 countries/regions all over the world.

“Inspiring” is one of the keywords of OPPO’s service motto. The purpose of the Service Day event is not only about phone repair but also providing users with friendly service. And the process of providing service for users is not only to solve their phone problems, but also to help them gain new skills and expand new knowledge. At the same time, it is also a process for OPPO to listen to users’ voices and feedback, constantly optimize and develop its products and service, and grow together with users.
In the future, OPPO will strive to provide more friendly and professional services, and look forward to the next 2 years together with all users!
On the next Service Day, 10-12th November, OPPO nice to meet you again!
For more: https://support.oppo.com/en/serviceday-select/
Hashtag: #OPPO
7-Eleven new and exclusive Disney Ramen Bowls are here to add magic to your ramen time
Mickey, Spider-Man, The Avengers, and more are featured in these must-have Ramen Bowls through 7-Eleven’s latest Shop and Earn Stamps programme
- Collect all seven designs of the gleeful Disney family featuring: Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck, Winnie the Pooh, Chip ‘N Dale, Toy Story and Marvel favourites – Spider-man and Avengers
- All seven ceramic ramen bowls are microwave-safe, come with a food grade plastic lid and themed slender chopsticks and can store up to approximately 620 ml and can withstand temperatures from 0–100°C
- Earn a stamp with every $5 spent; collect eight stamps, and top up $9.90 in cash to redeem a blind box containing a random ramen bowl with 7-Eleven’s Shop and Earn stamps programme. Get an additional stamp when you purchase any star products
- Stamp issuance and redemption of ramen bowls begin on 26 October at all 7-Eleven stores; stamp issuance ends on 20 December, and redemption ends on 27 December, or while stocks last
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 20 October 2022 – Disney fans can once again look forward to an exciting collaboration between 7-Eleven and Disney through its latest Shop and Earn Stamps programme! Coming to town is a limited-edition collection of 7 Ramen Bowls, featuring characters from Walt Disney, Pixar, and Marvel. Whether you want to satiate your late-night noodle cravings or enjoy a hearty rice bowl for lunch, these functional ramen bowls can be your go-to! They are exclusively available for redemption at all 7-Eleven stores islandwide from 26 October.

This range of Disney ramen bowls comes in 7 designs: the classic Disney duo, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse; the adorable pair Donald Duck and Daisy Duck, Winnie the pooh in a cute yellow bowl; a bowl featuring the playful duo, the Chipmunks, Chip ‘n Dale; Toy Story characters in a bright blue bowl and two bowls with your superhero favourites Spider-man and the Avengers.
Each 140mm ceramic bowl can store up to approximately 620ml and withstand temperatures between 0 – 100 °C, making it perfect for serving your favourite rice or noodles meals! All seven bowls are decorated with different characters in a variety of colours and styles. A set of chopsticks and a matching lid that can be used as a plate for side dishes are also included with the Ramen Bowl. The small handle on the lid, which is decorated with various character images, adds to the charm and ups the cuteness factor!
The Ramen Bowls come with themed chopsticks approximately 19 cm in length and are best suited for kids or even kids-at-heart. When not in use, you can place them in the thoughtfully crafted slot in the lid!
Build your collection, and grab all seven limited-edition designs while stocks last!
Earn a stamp with every $5 spent, collect eight stamps, and top up $9.90 in cash to redeem a randomly packed ramen bowl.
Stamps can be earned for eight weeks between 26 October and 20 December, while the ramen bowls can be redeemed until 27 December or while stocks last. Visit your nearby 7-Eleven right away to purchase this limited-edition collection that will make you swoon! Find your nearest one here.
More Disney treasures coming your way!
Create your own ramen bowl set with Disney sauce plates & spoons
These matching sauce plates and spoons are a must-have to complete your Disney collection. They come in 7 different designs featuring your favourite characters. Place your side dishes or seasoning in the sauce dish and together with the ceramic spoon, savour every bite of the divine Disney experience!
Slurp your favourite drinks with the versatile Disney-themed Stainless Steel Tumblers
There are more Disney goodies in store for you! Bring the magic with every sip with 3 Disney vacuum-insulated tumblers featuring Mickey & Minnie, Winnie the Pooh, and Spider-Man. They are adorably designed and are available in a number of matte colors that go great with the characters. The Vacuum Insulated Double Wall tumbler comes with an inner wall made of food-grade 304 stainless steel, making them suitable for hot beverages. A food-grade 304 stainless steel straw is included with each cup, which has a capacity of about 475ml, also making them perfect for super-sized cold drinks!
7-Eleven is also bringing to you two Disney-themed umbrellas featuring the Toy Story Aliens and Donald Duck. For lifelong fans who can’t get enough of the Disney magic, look out for these delightful Disney merchandise that are landing in 7-Eleven stores across Singapore!
Product Name | Selling Price | Characters |
Sauce plate and spoon | With any purchase + $5.90 |
|
Stainless Steel Tumbler | With any purchase + $16.90 |
|
Umbrella | With any purchase + $16.90 |
|
Qualified spending for stamp collection and purchase-with-purchase items exclude redemption of Disney Ramen Bowl Sets with cash portion, tobacco products, parking coupons, bill payments, top-up services, lottery sales, electronic gift cards, pre-orders, foodpanda and other delivery service purchases.
Hashtag: #7Eleven
About 7-Eleven
Established in Singapore in 1983, 7-Eleven has since expanded to more than 450 stores island-wide to become the leading 24-hour convenience chain store. We take pride in serving the Singapore community 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 7-Eleven emphasises convenience and value by offering a wide array of quality products, food and services to satisfy the needs of its customers. Think 7-Eleven and what comes to mind are the refreshing Slurpee, 7Café as well as a wide range of quality Ready Meals and sandwiches under 7-Select. 7-Eleven is also a 24/7 one-stop destination for customers who need to access bill payment services in their own time. Our services cover payment of utilities, courier services, and even cash withdrawal.
For more information, visit www.7-eleven.com.sg
FZ Digital, a technology solutions company, launches in Singapore to bring cutting edge automation and robotics technology to Singapore’s F&B industry
- It aims to be the platform to propel Singapore’s F&B industry into a robot-enhanced workforce, alleviating Singapore’s F&B manpower crisis
- The company is introducing first-in Singapore F&B robotics and smart kiosks with global partners, CloudMinds and POSBANK
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 20 October 2022 – FZ Digital, a new F&B technology solutions company, is introducing cutting edge automation and robotics technology to Singapore’s food and beverage (F&B) industry. Launched in October 2022, it aims to be at the forefront of a robot-enhanced F&B workforce while being the go-to resource for the best F&B technology solutions in Singapore. Partnering with CloudMinds and POSBANK, FZ Digital will be launching Singapore’s first F&B robotics and smart kiosks, to push innovation and alleviate Singapore’s F&B manpower crisis.

The partnership will see the launch of two AI robots, the Cloud Ginger Lite D Series, and smart kiosks during FHA-HoReCa (25 – 28 October 2022) as part of the timely solution to address manpower woes in the F&B industry and assist F&B SMEs to maximize productivity and revenue while providing better customer experience. Implementing robotics in F&B establishments is estimated to save between 30%-70% on labour costs for restaurants, with many coming out of prototype phase and able to perform most if not all of the tasks humans can[1]. This will significantly reduce both dependency on human labour and manpower costs. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Robots is a fast growing industry projected to be worth USD54.3 billion globally by 2030[2].
“The introduction of robotics into F&B is a much-needed step especially in recent times to push innovation and alleviating the many woes of the F&B industry. Manpower issues and labour shortages have become rampant in Singapore and worldwide, with the recovery of many restaurants and F&B outlets from the pandemic dampened by a stark struggle to hire staff. Many who left the country when borders shut have decided to not return, resulting in severe shortage and, consequently, higher costs to obtain and retain labour,” said Chris Tarr, Chief Product Officer of FZ Digital.
FZ Digital: Automating The Future
1DERLIFE Growth, an acquisition company based in Singapore led by principal, Gregory Lee, acquired FoodZaps, a POS software company founded in 2014 with 200 F&B customers in Singapore and 300 in Malaysia. It then launched FoodZaps as FZ Digital, a hardware and software integrated solutions company for the F&B industry. Lee has long believed that manpower challenges for SMEs in Singapore will be one of the greatest challenges and as a result, software and robotics automation solutions market will grow rapidly. 1DERLIFE Growth has plans for additional acquisitions to build scale in the F&B solutions sector.
Forming a new management team for FZ Digital, bringing together Chelsea Chan, previously FoodZap’s co-founder and 8-year industry leader, as Managing Director, and Chris Tarr, a veteran of software and mobile services industry and former executive of Samsung Electronics, as Chief Product Officer. FZ Digital seeks to streamline and revolutionize the way the F&B industry works.
Chris Tarr is a veteran leader of new business and product innovation, with over 15 years of experience at Samsung, who has recently joined FZ Digital as its Chief Product Officer. As Regional Head of Mobile Services and Partnerships at Samsung, Chris brings extensive experience innovating and launching new mobile services across Southeast Asia. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and spent his early career as a senior software architect in numerous startups after graduating from MIT.
Launching Singapore’s first F&B robotics and smart kiosks
The two robotic stock-keeping units (SKUs) that will be launched officially during FHA-HoReCa are the D300 Circular Tray and D311 Square Cabinets automated food delivery robots, both equipped with an integrated auto navigation and obstacle system to run stably in complex situations. Using clever localization and navigation based on a 3D semantic map and multiple sensors, they have the ability to perceive their 3D environment to deliver food to diners quickly and safely.
The installation is straightforward and takes places across three phases, namely:
- Syncing the AI platform (the robots) to AI machine learning, programmed with modules to make the robots the first cloud-based robot solution
- Digitally mapping and mirroring the real-time and virtual environment to the prototype to develop, test and train the robots on how to manoeuvre themselves
- Installing and plugging the robots into actual physical environment to run
Based on the cloud communication and algorithm architecture, rapid decision-making and intelligent scheduling is carried out according to the urgency of the task to ensure the orderly operation of multiple robots. By interconnecting with other Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as elevators, access control, turnstiles, and telephones, Ginger Lite can provide accurate delivery services autonomously.
Partnership with CloudMinds and POSBANK
CloudMinds is the world’s first operator of cloud intelligent robots and has been committed to the implementation of artificial intelligence technology using robots and all types of smart devices. Utilizing the leading cloud intelligent robot solution, CloudMinds has built a smart cloud platform based on HARIX architecture and will offer a variety of services including smart building, smart security, smart property management, and more. CloudMinds’ full range of intelligent robots may be deployable in many scenarios such as hospitality, reception, security, patrol, or even as a smart doorman. Therefore, FZ Digital has partnered with CloudMinds to provide robot services to Singapore F&B SMEs.
POSBANK is the number one point of sale (POS) and self-service kiosk manufacturing company in Korea and has one of the lowest error rates in the marketplace at 0.5%. It is also the global leading provider of point of sale (POS) with more than 200 partners in 80 countries worldwide. It continually pushes the boundaries of industry standards with sophisticated design and high-performance products to solve industry needs.
For high-res images, please access here.
Hashtag: #FZDigital
About FZ Digital
FZ Digital, previously known as FoodZaps, is a POS software company founded in 2014 with 200 F&B customers in Singapore and 300 in Malaysia. 1DERLIFE Growth, an acquisition company based in Singapore acquired the company and launched it as FZ Digital, a hardware and software integrated solutions company for the F&B industry. Using robotics, smart automation, and Internet of Things, FZ Digital seeks to streamline and change the way the F&B industry works for the better.
Economist Impact, sponsored by Meta to convene industry leaders to discuss hardware, connectivity and communications standards needed for the metaverse
Leading the way into the metaverse: North East Asia’s potential – Enabling interconnected virtual worlds
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 20 October 2022 – Enabling interconnected virtual worlds, the second episode in the three-part webinar series, Leading the way into the metaverse: North East Asia’s potential will be broadcast live next week.

Over the past few decades, consumers have experienced an evolution driven by advances in computing power, network infrastructure and the emergence of new communications standards and platforms.
But what challenges need to be overcome in hardware, connectivity and standards if the metaverse is to become as widely adopted as smartphones and the current internet?
Taking place online on Tuesday October 25th 2022 at 10am SGT/CST | 11am KST/JST, Economist Impact, sponsored by Meta, convenes top policymakers and industry experts to discuss hardware, connectivity and communications standards affecting the enablement of the virtual world.
Leading experts sharing their insights include:
- Karen Makishima, Member, House of Representatives, Former Minister for Digital
- Kyung Sin Park, Director, Open Net Korea
- Chris Hung, Vice-president and director-general, Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute, Institution of Information Industry
- Monica Desai, Vice-president, connectivity and access policy, Meta
- Naka Kondo, Editorial Manager, policy & insights, Economist Impact
- Charles Ross, Principal, policy & insights, Economist Impact
View the full agenda.
Free places to attend Enabling interconnected virtual worlds are available now. For registration and webinar event details, please visit the website.
To engage with Enabling interconnected virtual worlds on social media, use #EconVirtualWorlds in your conversations and follow @EconomistImpactEvents.
Leading the way into the metaverse: North East Asia’s potential is sponsored by Meta.
About Economist Impact
Economist Impact combines the rigour of a think tank with the creativity of a media brand, engaging an influential audience in the areas of sustainability, healthcare and new globalisation. View our global events.
About Meta
Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology.
For more information, visit about.facebook.com/metaverse/impact/.
Seek Sophie Giveaway: Win Free Adventures in Bali for 1 Year
The giveaway winner will win free adventures in Bali for an entire year. They can choose from Bali bucket list experiences such as hiking Mt Batur, snorkelling with Manta Rays in Nusa Penida, going on off-the-beaten-path adventures such as waterfall canyoning, paragliding and even Balinese mud wrestling!
There’s no better way to celebrate travel’s reopening than to see Asia’s Paradise Island with new eyes!
Terms and conditions
- Giveaway participation period is from 20 October 2022 to 6 November 2022, 11:59pm.
- The giveaway is limited to one winner.
- Winner may book any number of Bali adventures on Seek Sophie over the course of a one-year period, for her/himself, friends and family.
- The total booking value of the adventures shall not exceed S$500 in value.
- To participate in the giveaway, you should: follow @seeksophie on Instagram, like the giveaway post, comment & tag 4 other friends, share the post to IG stories and tag @seeksophie.
- Travel duration: 1st December 2022 to 1st December 20220
Hashtag: #SeekSophie
About Seek Sophie Private Limited
Seek Sophie is a Singapore-based experiences booking platform which helps people discover uncommon experiences, things to do in Singapore,
date ideas in Singapore and off-the-beaten-path adventures in Asia. With a mission to create a better world of travel, Seek Sophie does good in the tourism industry by ensuring that travel spend directly benefits local communities, and by ensuring all experiences booked on the platform are carbon neutral. Seek Sophie does this by offsetting one pound of carbon emissions for every $1 spent on their website.
Visit www.seeksophie.com for more information and follow us on our social media platforms to be inspired.
Instagram: @seeksophie
TikTok: @seeksophie
CSG Supercharges Customer Experience with Launch of Industry-Specific Customer Engagement Solution, CSG Xponent Ignite
“Companies are frustrated with spending millions of dollars on generic CX tools that don’t produce the outcomes they were sold on. Generating ROI on CX initiatives is what businesses need and what we offer with CSG Xponent Ignite,” said Eric Carrasquilla, president, customer engagement, CSG. “CSG’s expertise is driving differentiated digital experiences for consumers and patients. Xponent Ignite raises the customer experience bar by delivering industry-tailored, pre-built customer journeys with pre-configured integrations that personalize and automate the most important customer touchpoints to drive immediate value to the consumer and achieve faster ROI.”
“Even with the growing number of deployments, few companies, if any, have mastered the art of delivering a great customer experience. Organizations need easy access today and to be able to connect the dots between programs to realize business results,” said Mila D’Antonio, principal analyst, Omdia. “CSG Xponent Ignite takes the guesswork out of journey orchestration and simplifies it for the end user at scale and with speed.”
By leveraging CSG Xponent Ignite, businesses can:
- Prove and build their CX business case, understand their CX maturity, illuminate ways to generate ROI, and help define a solid CX strategy to drive desired business and customer outcomes.
- Speed time to value with 80+ industry-specific, pre-built journeysthat quickly orchestrate the most important customer interactions to elevate customer satisfaction, drive customer loyalty, spark upsells, and lead to faster ROI.
- Connect with ease and remove data silos by leveraging an API library with 100+ pre-configured integrations to streamline and seamlessly connect to your existing tech stack without ripping and replacing the current IT infrastructure.
CSG Xponent Ignite empowers companies within the telecommunications, financial services, retail, and healthcare industries to personalize customer journeys through use cases for acquisition, support, growth, and retention. The catalog of journeys is based on best practices across these industries and expertise from orchestrating 50 billion omnichannel interactions around the globe. With Xponent Ignite, healthcare providers can enhance patient care with real-time digital communications such as care plan adherence notifications and appointment reminders. Financial institutions can drive mortgage loan application completions with proactive, personalized reminders and real-time status updates. Retailers can hyper-personalize and target offers to customers in the right channel and at the right time to convert purchases. Communication service providers can retain customers with a promotion roll-off journey.
For more information on CSG Xponent Ignite and how it can take your customers’ experiences to the next level, visit https://www.csgi.com/products/xponent/ignite/.
Hashtag: #CSG
About CSG
CSG empowers companies to build unforgettable experiences, making it easier for people and businesses to connect with, use and pay for the services they value most. Our customer experience, billing and payments solutions help companies of any size make money and make a difference. With our SaaS solutions, company leaders can take control of their future, and tap into guidance along the way from our more than 5k-strong experienced global CSG services team.
Want to learn more about how to be a change maker and industry shaper like our 1,000-plus clients? Visit csgi.com to learn more.
Copyright © 2022 CSG Systems International, Inc. and/or its affiliates (“CSG”). All rights reserved. CSG® is a registered trademark of CSG Systems International, Inc. All third-party trademarks, service marks, and/or product names which are referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners, and all rights therein are reserved.