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Category: Living

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Living news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Electricity prices will rise

    Electricity prices will rise

    The Ministry of Industry and Trade is considering an electricity price hike following the huge loss reported by state utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) for last year.

    “The rate and time of the increase will be considered carefully to safeguard the benefits of EVN, the public and businesses and control inflation,” Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai told VnExpress recently.

    The ministry said last week that EVN’s costs rose by 9.27% last year, and it caused a loss of VND36.29 trillion (US$1.55 billion).

    Deputy CEO of EVN, Nguyen Xuan Nam, said the huge loss puts the company in a difficult financial situation, and so it has sought a hike in tariffs this year.

    According to estimates by the Ministry of Finance, if power tariffs increase by 5% this year the consumer price index will see a 3.9% increase.

    Hikes of 7% and 8% will push the CPI up by 4.4% and 4.8%.

    The government targets containing inflation at 4.5%.

    The prices consumers pay have remained unchanged since March 2019.

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  • Waze adds ability to personalize drives, launches new zodiac driving experience

    Waze adds ability to personalize drives, launches new zodiac driving experience

    Waze is launching two new features at the same time this month, which is a little bit unusual for the navigation app. I know everyone is used to getting a new driving experience almost every month, this time around Waze is bringing more than just a fun way to spend your time while driving.

    The company announced earlier today plans to bring Waze users more ways to stay entertained on the road with Customize Your Drive and an astrological driving experience. The new ability to personalize drives allows users to choose from various driving experiences and access more such content in one place. For example, you’ll be able to select a theme that fits your mood and change it with ease.

    Whether you’re driving with some of your favorite personalities like Boy George, Christina Aguilera, or Karamo, or looking for something more kid-friendly like PAW Patrol or Fraggle Rock, there’s certainly something for everyone on their journeys.

    Now, the bad part is that while “Customize Your Drive” features is rolling out in the United States today, it will be launched globally in the future. So, unless you live in the U.S., you won’t be able to personalize your driving experience yet.

    On the bright side, there’s something else available those who don’t have access to “Customize Your Drive,” a new zodiac driving experience! Regardless of your zodiac sign, Waze’s resident astrologer has the right driving experience for you.

    The new zodiac driving experience includes a custom vehicle and Mood for each of the 12 signs. Waze users can start driving with a vehicle and Mood that match their sign today. If you live in the United States, the zodiac driving experience can be found through “Customize Your Drive,” The rest of the world can find it via the left menu in the Waze app.

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  • Gasoline prices increase

    Gasoline prices increase

    Gasoline prices rose slightly on Monday after falling to their lowest in 2 months on March 21.

    RON95 went up 0.39% to VND23,120 ($0.98) per liter.

    E5 RON92 increased by 0.28% to VND22,080.

    Diesel stopped its downward trend with a 0.67% rise to VND19,430.

    Globally, the average price of fuel products increased by 0.6-2.4%.

    Per-barrel price of RON 92 was up by 1.7% to $93.82, while that of RON 95 went up 1.8% to $98.29.

    Diesel cost rose 0.6% to $96.89 per barrel.

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  • BetConstruct Wins One-Stop Platform Solution and Online Sports Betting Solution at Asia Gaming Awards

    BetConstruct Wins One-Stop Platform Solution and Online Sports Betting Solution at Asia Gaming Awards

    Since its inception in 2003, BetConstruct has taken the iGaming industry by storm, maintaining a top position as one of the world’s foremost gaming service providers. The London-based firm has grown from a purely Asian-focused company to an industry powerhouse with international outlook.

    Over the past 20 years, BetConstruct has expanded its innovative technology to US and European markets. This scaling up has been largely due to the development of an integrated full-service casino solution and a similarly styled sports betting solution.

    BetConstruct, through its sports betting solution, provides major operators across the world with an all-in-one sportsbook software featuring more than 70,000 live matches monthly. Players at sportsbooks can participate in online sports betting on up to 120 sports. There are also jackpots, access to racing events and omni-channel functionality.

    One of the core strengths of these products from BetConstruct is their terrific customization and highly dedicated customer support. So, it was no surprise when BetConstruct took home awards for One-Stop Platform Solution of the Year and Online Sports Betting Solution of the Year at the 2023 Asia Gaming Awards.

    The event took place on March 21 at the heart of Manila to honor some of the greatest contributions to the development of iGaming and betting worldwide. Attended by industry critics, regulators and casino suppliers and sportsbook operators like DraftKings, the Asia Gaming Awards put BetConstruct’s groundbreaking solutions in global focus.

    In a press release acknowledging the Asian Gaming Awards, BetConstruct had this to say about their products:

    “BetConstruct’s One-Stop Platform Solution is an all-in-one and worry-free platform that offers a complete suite of products for partners to easily manage all aspects of their iGaming business from a single platform.”

    In similar fashion, the statement described the BetConstruct Online Sports Betting Solution as “a fully customizable product that provides a wide range of features and functionalities tailored to every partner’s specific needs. It includes a variety of sports, a bunch of live and pre-match events and multiple betting options for partners to easily launch their own sportsbook business.”

    The Asia Gaming Awards is one of the largest conventions of gaming suppliers, service providers and operators in the Asia-Pacific region. It typically holds as part of the ASEAN Gaming Summit each year. In addition to the Asia Gaming Awards, the Summit features a conference and an exhibition of the leading online gambling products of the year.

    However, the Asia Gaming Awards was not the only event where BetConstruct’s products stole the show. In March, BetConstruct was awarded Esports Product of the Year at the 2023 SiGMA  Eurasia Awards in Dubai. Vigen Badalyan, Co-Founder and CEO at BetConstruct also received an Outstanding Contribution to Gaming Award at the same event.

    At the International Gaming Awards 2023, BetConstruct was announced the iGaming Software Supplier of the Year for its platform solution. The product also won Technology Provider of the Year and Platform Provider award at SPiCE India 2023 and the Global Gaming Awards 2023, respectively.

    Sports betting is growing at an unprecedented rate in Asia and players now have access to multiple markets thanks to suppliers like BetConstruct. With this in view, it is only right that the company is getting accolades for its innovative work.

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  • Netflix games could soon be playable on TVs using your phone

    Netflix games could soon be playable on TVs using your phone

    It has been more or less two years since Netflix started offering its subscribers a whole gaming segment. The company started in 2021 with roughly 50 titles in its arsenal and has increased that with another 40 or so more since then.

    The new service, however, was available only on iOS, iPadOS, and Android. This left the most obvious and exciting medium, TVs — where the Netflix name initially became a household one — unutilized.

    The good news is that an app developer by the name of Steve Moser has discovered hidden code inside the app hinting the company is planning to finally make the big step forward and offer its games on TV as well. Maybe equally exciting is the next information dug out by Moser, which insinuates users would have the option to use their phones, be it Android or iPhone, to play the games on their TV screens.

    Here’s the text hinting at the phone-controller functionality:

    A game on your TV needs a controller to play. Do you want to use this phone as a game controller?

    This could potentially be a game changer for Netflix and bring it one step closer to retaining its subscribers, which is one of the main reasons the platform started introducing Games to its service in the first place. After serious backlash following price hikes and talks of harsher regulation on account sharing, this would be a great opportunity for Netflix to score some extra “cool” points.

    If the streaming giant decides to go along with this endeavor, it would also serve as a solid foundation for the company’s ambition to launch a cloud-gaming service, for which it is perfectly positioned now. That would allow anyone with a Netflix subscription (although it might be a new tier with a new price slapped onto it) to play more demanding titles that would not require powerful equipment and installation, just a very strong and stable internet connection.

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  • Spotify launches new Niche Mixes feature for even more personalized recommendations

    Spotify launches new Niche Mixes feature for even more personalized recommendations

    Spotify already has a Mixes feature that provides users with personalized recommendations, but if you’re not content with what playlists you’re offered, the music streaming service has a brand-new product for you: <a href=”https://newsroom.spotify.com/2023-03-28/introducing-niche-mixes-personalized-playlists-for-almost-anything-you-can-think-of/” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow noopener”>Niche Mixes</a>.

    The new addition to the Mixes family provides users with multiple personalized playlists that bring together everything that Spotify’s Mixes offer in a more user-friendly manner. With Niche Mixes, Spotify gives users access to tens of thousands of Mixes unique to them based on just about anything you can think of.

    The new Niche Mixes feature can be accessed from the Made For You hub within the Search tab. Spotify users looking for something very specific can now search for an activity, vibe, or even an aesthetic that describes the moment they’re in, and then add the word “mix” at the end.

    Typically, you’ll be getting 5-10 Mixes that the service thinks you’ll like, but if none are suitable for you, then you can specifically search for another set of personalized playlists. Each Mix is updated daily, so even if you get similar results, you might actually get different vibes every day.

    Now, the good news is Niche Mixes is available globally to Free users and those who chose to pay for a Spotify subscription. Remember that this is an English-only feature regardless of where you live.

    This feels more like an improvement to Spotify’s search engine rather than an update to the service’s algorithm. Regardless of what stands behind the new Niche Mixes, Spotify’s new feature will certainly add even more functionality useful to those who want to go even more in-depth into what music they’re listening at any given time.

    Anyway, give the new feature a try and let us know in the comments if it’s working for you.

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  • Vietnam struggles to auction outdated gasoline

    Vietnam struggles to auction outdated gasoline

    Vietnam is finding it difficult to sell 102 million liters of RON92, an out-of-date gasoline the country wants to replace with more RON95 in the national reserve.

    To obtain more space and money for today’s most common and popular gasoline RON95, Vietnam needs to sell its reserves of the cheaper RON92 fuel, which was supposed to have been auctioned off last year.

    But Vietnamese ministries could not agree on a set starting price for the fuel so the auction never happened.

    RON 92 is a low-power fuel that is now mainly used to make biofuel.

    But the Ministry of Industry and Trade has reported that selling such a large volume of the gasoline is difficult because few local wholesalers currently need biofuel.

    Vietnam has not had to release fuels from the national reserve for emergencies in five years, but the Ministry of Industry has announced that bulking up the nation’s scant resources is a must.

    According to the National Reserve Law, petroleum is a strategic reserve commodity.

    But the reality on the ground is that Vietnam’s average total reserves over the last five years has been just over 370,000 cubic meters a year, equivalent to only 6.5 days of consumption and 9 days of net imports.

    Vietnam’s national petroleum reserves generally total from around one-third to one-eighth of other countries’.

  • Da Nang restaurants fined, suspended for blasting loud music

    Da Nang restaurants fined, suspended for blasting loud music

    Three restaurants in Da Nang were fined up to VND70 million ($2,975) and two of them were also suspended for blasting music too loud.

    Police of Lien Chieu District on Saturday said the Victory, Max Beer Garden and Idol Food&Beer restaurants on Hoang Thi Loan Street violated noise pollution protocols by blasting music that was too loud.

    The Max Beer Garden restaurant was fined VND70 million and had its operation suspended for 4 months. The Idol Food&Beer was fined VND50 million.

    The Victory got fined VND50 million for a second time and saw its operation suspended as well. Its owner, 38-year-old Phan Duy Tan, was also fined VND12.5 million for allowing repeated violations at his restaurant.

    Hoang Thi Loan Street is popular for its numerous restaurants, bars and dance clubs, often blasting loud music throughout the night.

    Da Nang’s environmental police department said that since 2019, the unit had dealt with 18 cases of noise pollution violations and fined a total of VND232 million.

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  • Expats unhappy with Vietnam visa policy

    Expats unhappy with Vietnam visa policy

    Vietnam’s consternating visa policies helped placed the nation in the bottom 10 of an index ranking countries in terms of how favorable expatriates find their living conditions.

    The Expat Essentials Index, informed by the annual Expat Insider survey by website InterNations (which describes itself as the world’s largest online community of expats), found expatriates vexed about the Vietnam’s visa policy.

    For the 2022 edition of the index, InterNations asked 11,970 expats of 177 nationalities living in 181 countries and territories to provide information on various aspects of expat life.

    To be featured in the Expat Essentials Index, each destination needed a sample size of at least 50 survey participants. In total, 52 countries and territories met this requirement.

    Vietnam landed in the bottom 10, ranking 46th in the overall index, which included the four subcategories of Digital Life, Admin Topics, Housing, and Language.

    The nation was placed 51st out of 52 destinations for the Admin Topics Subcategory.

    Within this subcategory, 48% of surveyed expats reported that they had difficulties obtaining a visa to move to Vietnam, double the global average of 24%.

    Almost two in three, or 66%, said it was challenging to deal with the local bureaucracy, compared to 39% globally. And 41% found it difficult to open a local bank account, compared to 21% globally.

    “The bureaucracy makes simple tasks quite difficult,” said a British expat living in Vietnam, according to the survey.

    Vietnam ranked last for the availability of government services online in the Digital Life Subcategory, where it placed 49th. About one in four expats (23%) described it as difficult to pay without cash in Vietnam, compared to 8% globally.

    The country also fell in the bottom 10 of the Language Subcategory, ranking 47th.

    Within this subcategory, Vietnam ranked last for the ease of learning the local language.

    However, 65% of respondents reported that it is easy to live in Vietnam without speaking the local language, compared to 51% globally.

    For more positives, the country excelled in the Housing Subcategory, where it ranked fifth. Nearly seven in 10 expats (69%) considered housing in Vietnam affordable (compared to 39% globally), and 76% reported that it is easy to find a house here (versus 54% globally).

    The survey found Bahrain the world’s best destination for expats and Germany the worst. Singapore came third in the list as expats highly rated its digitalized life and Indonesia sixth thanks to affordable housing, with both having the language advantage.

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  • Vietnamese universities among top 100 in subject ranking

    Vietnamese universities among top 100 in subject ranking

    Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has ranked two Vietnamese universities as among the world’s top 100 in their subject areas.

    In Hospitality and Leisure Management, Duy Tan University in Da Nang was ranked 51 out of 100 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023.

    In the Engineering Petroleum program, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh CITY (VNU-HCMC) in the eponymous city also placed 51 out of 100, according to the rankings announced on Wednesday.

    VNU-HCMC’s Engineering-Petroleum program held the same rank last year, while this is Duy Tan University’s Hospitality and Leisure Management program’s first time on the list.

    Vietnam is also home to two other universities that ranked within the top 300 in certain subject areas.

    Duy Tan University also made it to 201 out of 230 in the Engineering-Civil and Structural Engineering subject, while Ton Duc Thang University in HCMC made it to 251 out of 300 in Mathematics.

    Vietnamese universities made the rankings in three other subjects. In Engineering and Technology, Duy Tan University was ranked 326, Hanoi University of Science and Technology and VNU-HCM both at rank 401 out of 450, and the Vietnam National University in Hanoi at rank 451 out of 500. In Natural Sciences, Duy Tan University and Vietnam National University in Hanoi were both at rank 451 out of 500. In Social Sciences and Management, Duy Tan University was at rank 451 out of 500 and VNU-HCM at rank 501 out of 530.

    Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) is a British firm specializing in overseas education. This year’s ranking includes around 1,600 global universities in 54 subjects, based on criteria like academic reputation, citations per paper and international research networks.

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  • Vietnam to block payment for unlicensed games

    Vietnam to block payment for unlicensed games

    The Ministry of Information and Communications said it will deploy solutions to block the payment for unauthorized games in the country.

    There are hundreds of thousands of unauthorized games, card games, and gambling games which cause insecurity and disorder as well as bad consequences for the society, the ministry’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information said at a meeting on Thursday.

    The unauthorized games, mainly released on the App Store, Google Play, and online gaming platform Valse Stream, are estimated to generate an annual revenue of nearly VND5 trillion ($211.86 million), accounting for 30% of the total revenue of the game industry in Vietnam.

    The ministry is requiring organizations and businesses that provide intermediary payment services not to allow payment for unauthorized games through their systems.

    In the case of payments via IAP (in-app purchases), they should ask Apple and Google to provide sufficient information about the transaction to block the payment.

    Every month, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information will update the list of licensed and unlicensed games for payment intermediaries.

    The ministry also said it will require Google and Apple not to cooperate with intermediaries to pay for unauthorized games on their app stores.

    According to Le Quang Tu Do, the authority’s director, many games are being released across borders through the App Store and Play Store, while a number of Vietnamese e-wallets have been deployed on the two stores, making it easy for users to pay through intermediaries.

    The Ministry of Information and Communications has so far licensed some 200 game companies, but the number of licensed businesses that are actually providing games to the market is less than 30.

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  • YouTube Music can now download 500 of your favorite songs to your iPhone automatically

    YouTube Music can now download 500 of your favorite songs to your iPhone automatically

    Doesn’t it drive you crazy when you’re out of data or roaming the wilderness with a poor connection and your iPhone suddenly begins to skip your favorite music? With its most recent feature drop, YouTube Music introduces one cool feature that will keep your favorite music playing wherever you go.

    The company announced a bunch of new features in a blog post, and Smart Downloads is one of them.

    “If you opt-in for smart downloads, the YouTube Music app will automatically download up to 500 songs that you’ll be able to listen to anywhere — whether or not you’ve got a data connection. ”

    The feature was already available on Android, but this is the first time it has been made available on iOS. To enable “Smart Downloads,” just go to Settings > Downloads > toggle ‘Smart Downloads. Of course, you need to be a YouTube Music Premium subscriber in order to use the new feature.

    There are other minor polishing touches here and there, announced in the same post. Music Video Mixes, for example, will now show you more diverse results, and there are also new Live, Cover & Remix labels under Other Performances in the Related Tab.

    Another change concerns the radio page: “If you use an iOS device to listen to music, you’ll see a redesigned radio page which changes key social & engagement action buttons. You’ll notice how the download, add to queue, play, share and three dot menu buttons can now be found under the radio cover art, making it easy for you to carry out actions.”

    All the above changes were introduced for the first time back in January, but they’re now starting to roll out to the general public.

  • SpaceX, Netflix, Boeing to join ‘biggest-ever’ US business mission to Vietnam

    SpaceX, Netflix, Boeing to join ‘biggest-ever’ US business mission to Vietnam

    SpaceX, Netflix and Boeing are among the companies joining the “biggest-ever” U.S. business mission to Vietnam next week to discuss investment and sales opportunities in the booming Southeast Asian nation, the organizer said.

    More than 50 companies, including defense, pharmaceutical and tech firms, will participate in the mission organized by the US-ASEAN Business Council, an industry body, according to a list seen by Reuters.

    The delegation is a sign of rising interest in the global manufacturing hub, which is benefiting from a shift away from China amid Sino-U.S. trade friction.

    Vietnam, with a population of 100 million people, also has a rapidly-growing consumer market as its middle class expands.

    “This is the biggest-ever mission in Vietnam,” said Vu Tu Thanh, the US-ASEAN Business Council’s representative in the country, noting that the body had been organizing these events for three decades.

    Streaming giant Netflix, which Reuters last month reported was planning to open an office in Vietnam, is among the companies joining the trip. Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.

    Aerospace manufacturers Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Bell will hold meetings with state-owned Vietnamese defense procurement companies, Thanh told Reuters, adding that it was the first time in about a decade that security firms had decided to join the annual mission to Vietnam.

    In December, the same companies held talks with Vietnamese government officials about the possible sale of helicopters and drones, as the country seeks new suppliers.

    “Helicopters is one of the things the companies hope to sell to the Vietnamese,” Thanh said, although he cautioned that defense deals took time to be completed and no immediate breakthrough was expected.

    Boeing said in a statement that its discussions with officials would focus on its growing partnership with Vietnam and ways to strengthen the country’s aviation and defense capabilities.

    Lockheed Martin and Bell did not respond to requests for comment.

    The majority of the companies joining the business mission already have a business or manufacturing presence in Vietnam, including Apple, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, Thanh said, with some planning to expand it.

    Participants will have meetings with Vietnam’s top political and regulatory leadership, including with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

    Thanh said some companies were interested in Vietnam as a manufacturing hub and in providing services to increasingly wealthy consumers at a time when economic growth reached more than 8% last year.

    Among them is SpaceX, which is looking to sell its satellite internet services to Vietnam and other countries in the region, Thanh said. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

    The mission will also include semiconductors companies, pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, medical device maker Abbott, financial firms Visa and Citibank, internet and cloud companies Meta and Amazon Web Services, the list showed.

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  • Snapchat doubles down on Family Center, adds new controls for parents

    Snapchat doubles down on Family Center, adds new controls for parents

    Introduced last year, Snapchat’s Family Center was one of Snap’s most important steps toward allowing parents to control the accounts of their offspring. Today, the social app announced more improvements are coming to Family Center, which includes additional controls for parents who aren’t content with what they received in 2022.

    Suggestively dubbed “Content Controls,” the latest feature for Family Center allows parents to limit the type of content their children can watch on Snapchat. Surprisingly, this wasn’t available when Family Center was launched last year, but at least the feature if finally here.

    Particularly, the newly added controls enable parents to filter out Stories from publishers and creators that they feel are not a good match for their kids. Either they’re creating sensitive, suggestive content or their views are in contradiction with what parents believe about a particular topic, it’s now possible to filter out Stories based on who creates them.

    Snap’s policies are designed to prevent “unvetted content from going viral,” so it’s harder for certain content you can find on TikTok or other social networks to share widely on Snapchat. Not to mention that Snap moderates public-facing content from creators and Snapchatters before it’s eligible to get reach on Stories or Spotlight.

    Of course, to take advantage of the latest feature for Family Center, you’ll need to have an account set up with your child. The Family Center account is free and can be created in just a few minutes.

    In related news, Snap revealed plans to add even more new features to the Family Center. Some of these upcoming features will be built around My AI, Snap’s experimental chatbot, and are meant to provide parents with more visibility and control around their children’s usage of My AI. Other new features might be in the pipeline too, but these are the only ones we know of so far.

  • Waze makes it easier to find EV charging stations on its map

    Waze makes it easier to find EV charging stations on its map

    Waze is adding new features to its navigation app almost every month. March is no exception to this unwritten rule, so if you own an electric vehicle, this month’s update has been specifically tailored for you. As the title says, Waze’s newly added feature makes finding charging stations for electric vehicles easier than ever before.

    Whether you’re using an Android or iOS device, starting today, you’ll be able to find relevant EV charging stations along your route. Despite saying that the feature will be available starting today, Waze also mentions that this will be rolled out globally over the coming weeks, so if you don’t see the option to find EV charging stations in your Waze app, give it some days and check again.

    The latest Waze update is important because it adds up-to-date EV charging information to its map. More often than not, charging station information is not exactly accurate or it’s downright outdated and unreliable, making the navigation experience disappointing for many owners of electric vehicles.

    According to Waze, in order to provide the most accurate information to the map, all EV data is reviewed and updated in real-time with the help of the local Map Editors from the community.

    Most likely the new EV-related feature is now available in North America, so if you drive an electric vehicle, you can plug type into the Waze app to find all relevant EV charging stations along your route. As far as the accuracy goes, its Waze users who will decide how reliable the new feature truly is, but considering it’s curated by the community, it’s safe to say that it’s going to be updated in real time.

    Here is hoping that the expansion of the new EV feature won’t take so many weeks as Waze suggests, especially since there are many electric cars in Europe and other regions of the world.