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Tag: asia

  • Vietnam blockchain development center launched in Hanoi

    Vietnam blockchain development center launched in Hanoi

    DTS Group and GMO have established a blockchain technology application and development center with the goal of promoting blockchain technology in Vietnam.

    The Mira Blockchain Center in Hanoi aims to bring blockchain technology to life through integrated technology-based physical products and high technology projects.

    The unit will research, apply, deploy, and transfer blockchain technology in artificial intelligence-related technology and other sectors.

    Through research, Mira will create and utilize blockchain technology for ground-breaking technological solutions. The hands-on human resources training center will provide consultation services and technology deployment training for both local and international businesses.

    The Mira Blockchain Center’s services include blockchain application services for asset management, finance, and supply chains, technology consulting services for businesses or organizations, and blockchain testing services for testing and evaluating blockchain performance in businesses.

    At first, Mira will focus on supporting Vietnamese businesses by carrying out technology research and development activities, increasing technology capacity of enterprises.

    The center will later develop blockchain solutions and applications for international markets.

    Leon Truong (Truong Gia Bao), Chairman of DTS Group, said: “Mira will execute continuous testing to perfect our technical process for new projects, providing in-depth knowledge about blockchain.”

    Ngo Van Tau, General Director of GMO, said the center will provide well-trained, practical engineers for domestic and foreign enterprises.

    “I believe the center will help improve Vietnam’s position on the world technology map,” Van Tau said.

    DTS Group, founded by Truong Gia Bao, is a private corporation operating in the fields of media, finance and technology investment. DTS Group has collaborated with associates in its network to promote technology innovation, particularly in the blockchain sector.

    GMO is as a software manufacturer, providing IT solutions and services in Japan, Vietnam, and several English-speaking markets.

    Mira blockchain center

    Address: 6th floor, Ocean Park Building, No. 1 Dao Duy Anh, Dong Da, Hanoi

    258 Ton Dan, Ward 8 District 4, Ho Chi Minh City

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  • Landmark Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail Released

    Landmark Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail Released

    Manhattan Associates Inc., in partnership with Google Cloud and Zebra Technologies, has released the findings of the industry’s first real-world analysis of Unified Commerce in specialty retail. The Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail, conducted by Incisiv, assessed 124 retailers across 11 specialty retail segments on the implementation of 286 key attributes of Unified Commerce.

    Based on insight from real purchases, returns, and customer journeys across digital and physical channels, the benchmark reveals the common attributes of successful retailers and the opportunities for others to improve their customer value and modernize operations. Of the 124 retailers benchmarked, 15 emerged as leaders. These brands are Academy Sports + Outdoors, American Eagle Outfitters, Belk Inc., Crate & Barrel, Levi’s, Macy’s, MAC Cosmetics, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Pandora, REI Co-op, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, UGG and Zales.

    In today’s rapidly evolving ecosystem, retailers need complete visibility on and insight into every aspect of their business, from back-end to customer-facing. Unified Commerce solutions combine a retailer’s front- and back-end systems to establish a single view of the business. That single view informs better decision-making and enhanced customer experiences, while enabling brands to identify and respond to trends quickly, ultimately driving stronger revenue growth by up to 6X. However, consolidating systems and building a cohesive Unified Commerce solution can be quite challenging. The benchmark identified the following common challenges in retailers’ efforts to adopt this new model:

    • Personalisation – Retailers must be able to identify shopper intent and curate a personalized experience that meets their expectations. However, only 38% of the retailers studied give their store associates access to shopper purchase history and wish lists across all channels. Only 20% of the retailers studied provided personalized product recommendations and offers. As a category, digitally-native vertical brands (DNVBs) outperformed the broader retail cohort in this area, with 42% offering advanced personalisation capabilities – 16 points ahead of the overall group examined.
    • Real-Time Inventory Visibility – Visibility into allocatable and saleable inventory and rich findability are critical for retailers wanting to provide a seamless omnichannel experience. Only 29% of the retailers studied provide real-time inventory statistics on their product detail pages.
    • Convenience and Flexibility – Today, convenience is about more than just speed of delivery. Convenience encompasses providing multiple payment and delivery options and the ability to make changes to an order after the sale. Only 15% of the retailers studied provided the option to change fulfillment method post order confirmation. On an average, only 27% of the retailers provided the ability to return store purchases online.

    “Shoppers don’t see channels the way retailers do. Unified Commerce can only provide the highly customized shopping experience expected by today’s consumers if there is true visibility of inventory availability, and flexibility during and after the sale,” said Manhattan Associates president and CEO, Eddie Capel. “Embracing a Unified Commerce model can drive strong business growth, high revenue opportunity, lead to competitive advantage and heightened customer loyalty that every retailer covets. With the right technology and solutions, they can outperform their peers by as much as 6X.”

    “Zebra Technologies is helping retailers globally optimize their inventory and engage their associates to improve productivity and deliver an elevated customer experience,” said Bill Burns, Chief Executive Officer, Zebra Technologies. “This new benchmark highlights the important role that real-time inventory visibility, front-line worker enablement, and fulfilment flexibility play in driving Unified Commerce, and we have the right solutions to deliver these benefits.”

    “In order to deliver on the promise of Unified Commerce, retailers must connect digital and in-person experiences, and all of the data and systems that enable them,” said Carrie Tharp, VP of Retail and Consumer at Google Cloud. “Manhattan Associates’ partnership with Google Cloud on this benchmark shows how retailers can make it easy for customers and store associates to find the right products online and instore by implementing a unified commerce strategy backed by data and AI.”

    Giri Agarwal, Chief Strategy Officer at Incisiv commented: “Unified Commerce is the new battleground for retailers to differentiate themselves. Our 2023 Unified Commerce Benchmark shows that leaders who have adopted unified commerce deliver highly nuanced, seamless customer experiences across channels, leveraging technology and data to drive revenue growth. The insights from this benchmark won’t just help retailers keep up, it will help them stand out.”

    Click HERE to view the complete 2023 Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail. 

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  • Digital Marketplaces to Grow in 2023 Despite Economic Slowdown

    Digital Marketplaces to Grow in 2023 Despite Economic Slowdown

    Digital marketplaces continue to gain significant momentum in Australia,  with 88% of shoppers buying from a digital marketplace in the past year, and 92% of consumers planning to shop on marketplaces like eBay, Amazon and Catch in the year ahead.

    The findings were revealed as part of global ecommerce accelerator, Pattern’s fifth annual ‘Marketplace Consumer Trends Report – 2023,’ which researched Australian shoppers’ changing ecommerce habits and the latest digital marketplace trends.

    “Digital marketplaces are this year on a continued growth path and are becoming increasingly accepted and adopted as a shopping channel of choice by Australian consumers,” said Merline McGregor, General Manager, Pattern Australia. “However, with cost of living pressures and an uncertain economic outlook, our report highlights how consumer behaviour is set to again evolve in the year ahead.”

    Consumer Behaviour 

    Pattern research shows that 73% of consumers are set to spend more or the same online overall in 2023, and for the leading global digital marketplace Amazon specifically, 84% of consumers expected to spend more or the same on this platform in 2023.

    “Given the rapid increases in the cost of living and interest rate pressures facing consumers in Australia, it could be expected that a majority of shoppers would be looking to reduce their ecommerce spend in the year ahead. However, our research found a large portion of consumers said they had no plans to change their shopping habits in 2023,” said Merline.

    Not only are digital marketplaces attracting higher volumes of shoppers, but the demographic mix and way that shoppers use these channels is also evolving. High income earners are most likely to shop on Amazon today (36% vs 21% average), while eBay attracts larger volumes of male shoppers – with 69% of men purchasing from eBay vs 55% of females. 

    Marketplace Performance

    Looking at the past year, 62% of consumers bought from eBay, with 65% planning to buy from the platform in 2023. Running just behind, 52% of consumers bought from Amazon over the past 12 months, with 59% intending to buy from Amazon this year. Amazon (with 43% of shoppers having access to Amazon Prime) was recorded as the second most visited marketplace, with an anticipated 12% increase in purchases in 2023 compared to last year.

    In terms of website traffic, Amazon overtook eBay in average monthly website visits (58.3M Amazon visits vs 57.6M eBay visits), from December 2022 to February 2023, according to SimilarWeb data, with Catch trailing down the line at 9.9M visits over the same period.

    Pattern’s research asked shoppers what they were likely to buy in 2023 and through which marketplace they were likely to make a purchase. These results indicated that:

    • Amazon’s key shopper categories include Books & eBooks and Home & Kitchen products.
    • eBay scored highest in Electronics & Computer Equipment, followed by Home & Kitchen.
    • Catch saw an equal share in Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, Toys, Kids & Baby products and Home & Kitchen.
    • Kogan consumers are looking for Electronics and Home & Kitchen products on the platform.

    Research also showed that shoppers are most likely to visit a brand’s own D2C (direct-to-consumer) website when it comes to Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, Skincare & Make-up and Food goods.

    “As consumer confidence increases on digital marketplaces, so does their desire to cross-shop and discover new categories. Likewise, as brands begin to include marketplaces in their growth strategy, consumers are met with more choice as the platforms add new products to cater towards a wider variety of consumer interests,” said Merline.

    Marketplaces Continue to Serve as Product Discovery & Research Hubs 

    Marketplaces are increasingly becoming a product discovery hub for many online shoppers. Outside of Google (57% of shoppers), the next most popular channel to research products online is via digital marketplaces, where 23% of shoppers use platforms like eBay and Amazon to search for their goods.

    Of those shoppers using Amazon, 62% indicated that they discovered a new brand on the platform. Interestingly, 42% of consumers who discovered a new brand or product on Amazon also went on to visit the retailer’s D2C website.

    While eBay remains the dominant marketplace in Australia, it is being overtaken by Amazon in consumer search behaviour. Recent data from Power Retail suggests that Amazon has increased in popularity as a customer research tool by 71% (12% of product searches in January 2023 vs 7% in January 2022). This compares to eBay who’s popularity has decreased by 17% over the same period.

    “These findings demonstrate the ongoing appeal of marketplaces as product discovery platforms, whereby consumers are utilising the wide breadth of product diversity on marketplaces to fine-tune their search for particular items. Digital marketplaces appeal to shoppers trying new brands online through building purchaser trust through customer data, including real-world product reviews and informative answers to product page questions,” ended Merline.

    Download the full ‘Australian Marketplace Consumer Trends  Report – 2023’ report HERE

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  • The Future of Powerball Prizes: What to Expect from Future Jackpots

    The Future of Powerball Prizes: What to Expect from Future Jackpots

    Powerball jackpots are a highly anticipated event for millions of lottery players across the United States. These jackpots have become synonymous with the idea of “striking it rich” and the excitement of the lottery industry. In fact, Powerball jackpots have had a significant impact on the lottery industry as a whole, with many other games attempting to replicate their success. So let’s see what we can expect from the future of  Powerball jackpots and prize payouts. We will be analyzing current trends, historical data, and potential factors that could affect the size of future jackpots. 

    Factors Affecting Future Powerball Jackpots

    The future of Powerball jackpots is subject to a variety of factors that will shape the game and its payouts. In this section, we will explore some of the most important factors that are likely to impact the size of future Powerball jackpots.

    A significant factor that is likely to contribute to larger Powerball jackpots in the future is an increase in population and demand for lottery games. As the population grows, more people are likely to play Powerball, which in turn will increase the size of the jackpots. In addition, advances in technology have made it easier for people to play Powerball online on 1xBet, which could further increase the player pool.

    Changes in Powerball game rules and prize structures are also likely to impact the size of future jackpots. In recent years, we have seen changes to the Powerball game, including the addition of a multiplier feature and an increase in the number of balls used in the drawing. These changes have led to larger jackpots, and it is likely that future changes will continue to impact jackpot size.

    Economic factors such as inflation and interest rates are also important when considering the size of future Powerball jackpots. Inflation can erode the value of lottery winnings over time, making it more difficult to achieve larger payouts. Interest rates can also impact jackpot payouts, as larger jackpots may require the lottery to pay out over a longer period of time, leading to lower overall payouts.

    Predictions for Future Powerball Jackpots

    Making predictions for the future of Powerball jackpots is a challenging task, but one that is important for players, the lottery industry, and other stakeholders. In this section, we will examine some of the trends and historical data that can help us make predictions for the future of Powerball jackpots.

    Based on current trends, it is likely that we will continue to see larger and larger Powerball jackpots in the future. As the player pool grows and game rules and prize structures evolve, the potential for larger payouts will increase. Additionally, the increasing availability of online ticket sales could also contribute to larger jackpots, as more people are able to play Powerball from the comfort of their own homes.

    There is also the potential for record-breaking Powerball jackpots in the future. The current record jackpot of $1.586 billion was set in January 2016, and it is possible that this record could be broken in the years to come. If the player pool continues to grow and other factors align, we could see jackpots that exceed $2 billion or even $3 billion.

    These potential record-breaking jackpots could have significant effects on the lottery industry and Powerball game rules. As jackpots grow, more people are likely to play, which could increase revenues for lotteries and provide more funding for education and other programs. However, larger jackpots may also lead to more controversy and scrutiny, particularly if players feel that the odds of winning are too low.

    In addition, larger jackpots could lead to changes in Powerball game rules and prize structures. As we have seen in the past, changes to the game can have a significant impact on the size of jackpots, and it is likely that future changes will continue to impact the game and its payouts.

    Conclusion

    Based on current trends and historical data, it is likely that we will continue to see larger and larger Powerball jackpots in the future. As we move into the future, it will be important for lotteries and game organizers to carefully consider the potential impact of larger jackpots and make changes to the game as necessary. By staying attuned to the needs and desires of players, the lottery industry can continue to thrive and provide valuable support to communities across the country.



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  • Apple launches Apple Pay in South Korea

    Apple launches Apple Pay in South Korea

    After a years-long wait, Apple Pay today launched in South Korea, allowing those living in the country to use Apple’s payment system to make contactless payments using the iPhone or Apple Watch.

    Apple has been working to bring ‌Apple Pay‌ to South Korea since 2017, but Apple was unable to be registered as an electronic financial business operator because regulators were investigating whether ‌Apple Pay‌ violated local regulations and laws. Apple was finally approved by financial regulators back in February.

    NFC terminal adoption was also low in retail stores in South Korea around when ‌Apple Pay‌ first launched, which continues to be an issue. There are more NFC terminals than there were six years ago, but The Korea Times suggests ‌Apple Pay‌ will face “significant challenges” in Korea due to the limited number of NFC terminals.

    With ‌Apple Pay‌, credit and debit cards from supported banks in South Korea can be added to the ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch to make purchases at stores that have contactless payment options. ‌Apple Pay‌ cards can be used on ‌iPhone‌, iPad, and Mac to make ‌Apple Pay‌ purchases on the web.

    At the current time, ‌Apple Pay‌ is limited to Hyundai Card users, which could see South Koreans interested in using the service picking up a Hyundai Card. No other card companies are participating in ‌Apple Pay‌ as of yet.

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  • Indonesia’s GoTo posts $201.9 million quarterly loss

    Indonesia’s GoTo posts $201.9 million quarterly loss

    Indonesia’s biggest tech firm PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk posted a narrower adjusted EBITDA loss for the fourth quarter of 2022 of 3.1 trillion rupiah ($201.89 million), the firm said on Monday.

    GoTo posted 6.5 trillion rupiah in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rent) loss in the same period of 2021.

    Its group CEO Andre Soelistyo said the results showed the company was making progress towards profitability through its cost-cutting measures, such as reducing incentives and marketing spending.

    “Although we expect growth to moderate in the short term, we will continue to focus on building the foundational product infrastructure that will drive sustainable, profitable growth over the long term,” he said in the statement.

    GoTo said its growth of gross transaction value in the next quarters will be slowing down as the company reduced its spending on promotion and a high-based effect last year, which saw higher transactions due to COVID-19 public movement restrictions.

    “There will be a normalisation for our food deliveries and e-commerce transactions…and there’s still macrouncertainty that will affect customer spending,” GoTo Group CFO Jacky Lo said in an investors call on Monday.

    GoTo said the group is on track to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA within the fourth quarter this year, while its 2023 adjusted EBITDA loss is expected to be in range of 5.3 trillion rupiah to 4.6 trillion rupiah.

    The results were indicative position and results based on unaudited reports. Audited numbers would be available by the end of March, it said.

    Gross revenue in the last quarter of 2022 was up 19 per cent year-on-year to 6.3 trillion rupiah, while net loss in the quarter was 19.5 trillion, up almost double from 10.2 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2021.

    For the whole year of 2022, it booked a net loss of 40.4 trillion rupiah or up 55.9 per cent from 2021’s net loss of 25.9 trillion rupiah.

    The group said the higher net loss was due to several reasons, including an 11 trillion rupiah goodwill impairment related to the business combination of Gojek and Tokopedia, which are both their units.

    Prior to the 2022 result announcement, shares of GoTo closed 6.9 per cent down or hit their bottom trading limit on Monday to 108 rupiah a piece.

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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.

  • Factories find ways to deal with decreasing exports

    Factories find ways to deal with decreasing exports

    Finding new and niche markets is how factories cope with the fall in export orders.

    After seeing orders from Europe plunge by 70% in recent weeks, shoemaker Chang Shuen in the southern province of Binh Duong quickly turned to the U.S., a market it has yet to pay attention to for nearly a decade.

    According to Doan Sy Loi, its CEO, the prices of products made for the U.S. market are always at least 15% lower than for the European market.

    When exporting to Europe, Chang Shuen only needs to make 5,000 pairs of shoes a day to turn a profit, but needs 6,000-6,500 pairs in the case of the U.S., he said.

    “During difficult times I have to do more to make a profit.” However, one advantage is that orders from the U.S. are five to 10 times larger than from Europe, he said.

    He added that the larger volumes attune workers, making production smooth and speedy. Garment company Dony in Ho Chi Minh City recently sent executives to the Middle East to meet and negotiate with wholesalers for big brands, its director, Pham Quang Anh, said.

    If the price is good, importers are willing to order in bulk and take delivery over one or two years, he said. “I offered a lower price than before. They immediately agreed to increase the order quantity by 300%.”

    With the extended delivery time, the factory could better manage its production schedules, he said.

    Often it had to buy raw materials at short notice and thus high prices, he said. Workers had to work overtime, increasing labor costs, or the factory had to hire causal labor with poor skills, often resulting in faulty goods.

    Pham Xuan Hong, president of the HCMC Association of Garment-Textile-Embroidery-Knitting, said many businesses are also looking for niche markets and new partners.

    They are developing green products from recycled materials, and targeting high-end segments and customers.

    He expects orders to recover by 90% by the end of the third quarter.

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  • FLC uses Bamboo Airways shares as collateral

    FLC uses Bamboo Airways shares as collateral

    Property developer FLC will use nearly 155 million Bamboo Airways shares as collaterals for loans from lender OCB, repeating a decision it made three years ago.

    The company will also use golf project FLC Quang Binh Golf Links as collateral for the loans from the same bank.

    FLC used a total of nearly 155 million Bamboo Airways shares as collateral for OCB loans five times in 2020.

    The developer has invested VND4.02 trillion in the carrier for a 21.7% stake. It is set to sell the stake, partially or fully, to a buyer who has yet to be revealed.

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  • Free VPN: How to keep security using public WiFi?

    Free VPN: How to keep security using public WiFi?

    The potential of a cybercriminal to put themselves between you and the connection point is the most severe security flaw in public Wi-Fi. There is a risk of inadvertently communicating with a cybercriminal, who could capture and transmit your information to the hotspot rather than connecting directly to it. However, there is a way to enhance your security while connected to public Wi-Fi by using a VPN.

    Let’s discuss why you should use a free VPN to protect your devices and why public Wi-Fi can be harmful.

    What is a VPN, and why is it useful?

    A VPN’s objective is to offer you protection and privacy while communicating over the internet. The issue with the internet is that it is inherently dangerous. The priority when the internet was first designed was to be able to transfer data packets as reliably as possible. Networking across the globe was still in its infancy, and nodes frequently went down. Most of the internet’s key protocols were created to avoid failure rather than secure data.

    This exposes any internet user to cybercriminals looking to steal financial or credit card information, governments looking to monitor their citizens, and other internet users looking to snoop on you for a variety of illicit purposes.

    A VPN establishes a private tunnel over the public internet. The concept is that everything you communicate is encased in a secret communications channel and encrypted, making it impossible to decipher your packets even if they are intercepted. VPNs are effective and necessary tools for protecting yourself and your data.

    Why can using public Wi-Fi be dangerous?

    As briefly mentioned above, public Wi-Fi is typically unencrypted and open to everyone. Whether checking your bank statements or working from a coffee shop, hotel, or airport, public Wi-Fi brings security dangers that only some consider.

    Without sufficient measures, hackers can use public Wi-Fi low security to eavesdrop on you, steal your personal information, or even take control of your online accounts. Cybercriminals enter insecure networks and steal sensitive information using a combination of technical knowledge and inexpensive tools. Passwords, banking information, or personal information that can be exploited to commit identity theft are examples of this. Hackers can even easily infect your device with malware over a public Wi-Fi connection.

    Below are a few of the most common methods attackers use to gain access to other devices over public Wi-Fi:

    Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

    A Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) cyberattack occurs when a third party intercepts communications between two parties. Instead of transferring data directly between server and client, another entity disrupts that communication. The unwanted hijacker could then provide you with their version of a site, complete with their messaging.

    Fake Hotspots

    This is another type of MITM assault. The method intercepts your data in transit while avoiding any security features that a public Wi-Fi hotspot may have. People may be giving over all of their personal data just because they were duped into joining the wrong network. A phony Access Point (AP) is relatively simple to put up and is well worthwhile for hackers.

    Packet Sniffing

    Although packet sniffing is less common since most websites are assumed to be HTTPS encrypted, it can still occur on unsecured networks. Packet sniffing is a technology that allows hackers to eavesdrop on your internet activities when you are on a compromised or infected network. Hackers can then intercept your internet connection and steal essential data and information.

    Be wary and follow best practices

    As a general rule of thumb, there are a few things you should avoid if you are using public Wi-Fi. Don’t allow your devices to connect automatically to public hotspots. When using public Wi-Fi, try not to log into sensitive accounts or perform tasks such as online banking. Lastly, avoid websites that are not HTTPS – these sites are not protected and can be easily intercepted by hackers.

    How does VPN protect you while using public Wi-Fi?

    The critical takeaway is unless you were connected to a private Wi-Fi network that required a password, any data sent during an online session over a public network was likely to be open to eavesdropping by strangers on the same network.

    A VPN’s encryption and privacy safeguard your online activities, including sending emails and buying online. VPNs can also help you browse the web anonymously. When using Urban VPN, your data is encrypted and transferred in an unreadable manner. Encryption is performed using a specific key installed on both the VPN server and your client. You can feel comfortable and secure that your data is yours once you download and activate it.

    Conclusion

    As the internet has become a vital part of people’s life, public hotspots are a huge convenience. Yet, using these networks is not without risk. The sooner you become aware of the dangers of utilizing public Wi-Fi networks, the sooner you can take action to protect your privacy and avoid your personal information from falling into the wrong hands.

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  • The Most Popular Casino Games in Asia

    The Most Popular Casino Games in Asia

    Casino gaming may have been around for some time, but more and more people in Asia are deciding to experience the pleasures of online casinos. This region of the world already has plenty of traditional casinos to entertain visitors, but online casinos are beginning to enjoy popularity as people seek the convenience and the excitement of gaming online. If you don’t fancy stepping through the doors of a casino but still want a casino experience with an Asian flavour to it, try 777 casino.

    Casino gaming in Asia is an excellent chance to try something new. You can play classic casino games, of course, but you’ll also discover some more unique to this area of the world. Below is a look at some of the most popular casino games out in Asia.

    Baccarat

    Baccarat is easy to play and relies heavily on luck, two reasons why it’s so popular. The odds of winning are also greater. It’s common knowledge in the casino industry that baccarat is one of the games that has the lowest house edge.

    Winning at baccarat is all about beating the dealer, who plays the “banker” hand, by getting as close to nine as possible without going over. The dealer deals two cards at the start of the hand. You just have to bet whether the banker hand will be closer to nine or further from it than yours.

    Roulette

    Roulette is another straightforward casino game. The roulette wheel has divisions numbered 1 to 36, alternating between red and black in colour. There’s also a green division numbered 0. If you’re playing American roulette, the wheel will have an additional green division numbered 00. All you have to do is bet on where the ball placed on the roulette wheel will land when the wheel stops spinning.

    Roulette gives you the chance to win big money. It’s one of the few casino games in which you can try out different strategies. The fact that it’s easy to play means you can learn it quickly and test strategies out sooner.

    Sic Bo

    Sic Bo requires three dice and a betting table. It’s like roulette, but instead of betting on where the roulette ball will land, the player bets on what the dice will show when they’re rolled. The table is divided into three different sections that correspond to the different types of bets that can be placed. It’s possible to place multiple bets in one round across the different sections to increase your chances of winning. The more specific your prediction, the more you can win if it’s correct.

    The fact that sic bo is one of only two games that involve dice in casino gaming (craps is the other) makes it a standout game. The different types of bets possible to place give players plenty of options.

    Mah Jong

    Mah Jong is popular for all kinds of reasons besides creating the opportunity for players to win a lot of money and being a good way to socialise. Aesthetically, the game is pleasing because of the variety of tiles. Mentally, the game is also pleasing because it gives the brain a workout. You can also choose from the Korean, Chinese classic, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, American, Hong Kong and Japanese styles.

    Generally, Mah Jong requires four players, 144 tiles and two dice. A little like poker, the object of the game is to create matching sets and pairs. Three consecutive tiles or three or four identical tiles make up a set, and two of the same tiles make up a pair. You must form four sets and a pair to win Mah Jong.

    Pai Gow Poker

    Pai Gow Poker is another game that’s popular in Asia for several reasons. It’s slower paced, so there are fewer winning or losing hands per hour and you can make your bank roll last for longer. Not only this, but you also stand a better chance of winning because the house edge is lower.

    The object of Pai Gow Poker is to arrange your seven cards into two hands both higher the banker’s hands. One hand must consist of five cards and the other of two. Your five-card hand must be higher than your two-card one. If one is equal to the dealer’s, it’s a tie (or “copy” hand) and the banker wins. Winning hands are paid even money, whereas losing ones lose the money bet. If one hand wins but the other one loses, this is a ”push” and the bet isn’t acted upon.

    If you’re a fan of casino gaming, you can play traditional games in Asia or, if you’re looking for something a little bit different, try variations of games such as poker or play games more typical of the region. Keno and pachinko are two further games you could try. Slots are also an option in Asia.

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  • Google adds profile pictures from the Contacts app to the Messages UI

    Google adds profile pictures from the Contacts app to the Messages UI

    Google loves to add little things to its apps that might not seem like a big deal but are useful. The latest update to the Google Messages app adds the profile picture from the Contacts listing of the person you’re messaging to the top of the screen. Tapping on the profile picture will take you to that person’s Contact card. To make room for the avatar, Google removed the search function from the top of the display and deleted the magnifying glass icon. If you need the Search tool, tap on the three-dot overflow menu icon to find it as an option.

    To be clear, we are talking about the Google Messages app, which includes the Rich Communication Services (RCS) platform. The latter has the same features as the highly-touted (by iPhone users) iMessage platform. Both include end-to-end encryption, higher-quality images, read receipts, typing indicators, and more.

    Now here’s the thing. What happens in an RCS group chat when an iPhone user joins it? Those lovely features go away which is exactly what happens when an Android user joins an iOS group chat. Yet, you never hear about Android users bullying iPhone users to the brink of emotional distress. And Google has been more than willing to allow Apple to add the RCS platform to Apple’s Messages app. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook would probably prefer hearing his sink drip all night rather than allow a cross-platform messaging app to be developed.
    Also, and this is important for Android users to understand, RCS is available on the Google Messages app. It is NOT available on the messaging apps that your carrier might have pre-installed on your Android phone. For example, if you are using the Verizon Messages app, T-Mobile Messages app, or any other Android messaging app outside of Google Messages, you are not getting the RCS platform.
    For RCS to work, you and the rest of the chat group must all be using the Google Messages app. You can tell if others you are chatting with are using Google Messages by the color of the text balloon that appears when you send a message. If it is a dark blue, you are engaged in a chat over RCS. Also, look at the text field. If it says Text message, you are about to message an iPhone user or an Android user employing a messaging app that is not Google Messages. Instead of using the RCS platform, such messages use old-school SMS.
    If the text field says RCS message, then you are messaging another Android user with the Google Message app and will have all of the RCS features available to you. If you don’t have the Google Messages app on your Android phone, you can install it by tapping on this link.
    The new Google Messages feature that shows the profile picture of the person you are messaging. To see the profile pictures you must be using version version 20230313_01_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic of the Google Messages app or later. To see which version you’re running, open the Google Messages app and tap on your profile picture at the right of the search filed at the top of the display. Press on Messages settings and scroll all the way to the bottom.
    The very last option reads About, terms & privacy. Tap on it and the Version info will be the first thing listed on the page that you are sent to. If you haven’t seen the profile pictures on your Google Messages app yet, it might be available to Google Messages beta testers at the moment. To join the beta, go tot he Play Store, open it, and type in Google Messages in the search field. Once you see the listing for Google Messages, scroll down and if Google is accepting more beta testers for the app, you will see a button to press to join.
    Even if you aren’t a beta tester for the app, you should see the profile pictures appear on an upcoming stable version of Google Messages.
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  • Gambling ads, adult content make Facebook ‘toxic’

    Gambling ads, adult content make Facebook ‘toxic’

    Facebook frequently displays ads soliciting gambling, which is illegal in Vietnam except at licensed casinos, and adult content even in accounts whose owners never search for them.

    Hoang Quan, an office clerk in Da Nang’s Thanh Khe District, says ads with scantily dressed women and gambling games often appear when he surfs the message board or watches Reels on Facebook.

    “The ads are suggested by Facebook and displayed at specific times: After 4 p.m. it is gambling; in the evening it is sexy and suggestive content,” he said.

    Tuan Phuong of Ho Chi Minh City, another Facebook user, sees similar ads pop up constantly.

    “Toxic content appears next to posts. Every time I scroll through a few posts of my friends, the News Feed inserts a gambling ad,” he says.

    He says he is flustered when he sees Facebook live streams with inappropriate content while sitting with his child in the evenings.

    In a survey this month 96% of participants said they had seen gambling and other offensive ads on Facebook, with 81% saying they are frequent.

    The situation seems to have worsened in March, with members on some technology forums suggesting Facebook’s censorship filter could be faulty.

    The contentious ads are usually in the form of a live stream and direct users to gambling websites. As soon as the live stream ends the video is removed from the platform by Facebook fan pages, leaving no trace.

    According to online marketing expert Mai Thanh Phu, the Facebook censorship system only looks at the beginning of a live stream and not the whole of it.

    “In the beginning, the live stream will not have any objectionable content. After Facebook approves the live stream and starts charging for the advertising, the fan page will become a gambling ad.”

    He says buying a fanpage to livestream or Facebook ads is simple and costs just a few million dong (VND23,600=US$1).

    Users can turn them off and report violations though there is no guarantee the same content will not appear again, he warns.

    The Facebook representative in Vietnam has not commented on the above issue.

    According to Ha Hai of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, it is illegal for Facebook to allow gambling ads according under the Law on Advertising.

    “Facebook must actively control, block and remove illegal content, and not wait for users to report or authorities’ instructions.”

    In the past Facebook users have reported seeing ads for cannabis seeds and poppy though Vietnam has stringent drug laws.

    Last November Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said the ministry plans to start inspecting advertising on cross-border platforms.

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  • UBS to take over Credit Suisse, assume up to 5B Swiss francs in losses

    UBS to take over Credit Suisse, assume up to 5B Swiss francs in losses

    UBS agreed to buy rival Swiss bank Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.23 billion) in stock and agreed to assume up to 5 billion francs ($5.4 billion) in losses, in a shotgun merger engineered by Swiss authorities to avoid more market-shaking turmoil in global banking.

    The deal includes 100 billion Swiss francs ($108 billion) in liquidity assistance for UBS and Credit Suisse from the Swiss central bank.

    The government said that to enable UBS to take over Credit Suisse, the federal government is providing a loss guarantee of a maximum of 9 billion Swiss francs for a clearly defined part of the portfolio.

    This will be activated if losses are actually incurred on this portfolio. In that eventuality, UBS would assume the first 5 billion francs, the federal government the next 9 billion francs, and UBS would assume any further losses, the government said.

    Switzerland’s regulator FINMA said that there was a risk that Credit Suisse could have become “illiquid, even if it remained solvent, and the authorities needed to take action”.

    Credit Suisse Additional Tier 1 shares with a nominal value of around 16 billion francs ($17.2 billion) will be written down completely after the Swiss government provided support for UBS’ takeover of Credit Suisse, FINMA said.

    The 167-year-old Credit Suisse has been the biggest name ensnared in market turmoil unleashed by the recent collapse of U.S. lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, forcing it to tap $54 billion in central bank funding last week.

    “With the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, a solution has been found to secure financial stability and protect the Swiss economy in this exceptional situation,” the Swiss central bank said.

    Authorities had been scrambling to rescue Credit Suisse, among the world’s largest wealth managers, before financial markets reopened on Monday.

    UBS and Credit Suisse are both in a group of the 30 global systemically important banks watched closely by regulators, and Credit Suisse’s failure would ripple throughout the entire financial system.

    The announcement came in a make-or-break weekend after some rivals grew cautious in their dealings with the struggling Swiss lender, and its regulators urged it to pursue a deal with UBS.

    FINMA, which said it had approved the takeover, said recent measures to stabilize itself were “not enough to restore confidence in the bank, however, and more far-reaching options were also examined.”

    The two banks’ fortunes have diverged sharply over the past year. UBS earned $7.6 billion in profit in 2022, while Credit Suisse lost $7.9 billion. Credit Suisse’s shares are down 74% from a year ago, while UBS’s are relatively flat.

    The Swiss government said that it was also giving UBS a guarantee of 9 billion Swiss francs “assume potential losses” from assets as part of the transaction.

    UBS’s chief executive officer Ralph Hamers and Chairman Colm Kelleher will remain at the helm of the combined bank.

    “The transaction reinforces UBS’s position as the leading universal bank in Switzerland,” UBS said.

    Executives foreshadowed structural changes in the offing.

    Kelleher said it would wrap up running Credit Suisse’s investment bank, but added that it was too early to say anything about potential job cuts.

    Kelleher also said they would keep Credit Suisse’s domestic business, despite speculation that it could be spun off amid competition concerns.

    Credit Suisse’s Chairman Axel Lehmann called the merger the “best available outcome”.

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  • Higher input costs, speculation drive housing prices up

    Higher input costs, speculation drive housing prices up

    According to experts, the increasing costs of land, materials, labor, legal procedures, and interest rates, as well as speculation, have all been pushing housing prices up for years.

    In recent market reports, the Ministry of Construction has confirmed that housing prices are currently unaffordable for many people.

    Le Huu Nghia, director of construction and real estate firm Le Thanh Company, said housing prices in big cities like Ho Chi Minh City are too high compared to ordinary middle-class incomes.

    Nghia said all high-end housing sells at high prices, while a shortage of social housing and affordable commercial housing has increased the average housing price.

    According to him, of the three reasons, housing development projects’ legality-related sluggishness is a huge cost push-up because of its impact on other costs.

    It takes 5-7 years or even longer for a project to complete legal procedures, so its developer incurs many costs while waiting.

    With loan interest rates of 11-14% a year, the prolonged time period increases 50-70%, or even 100%, in the project’s total capital cost. The final long-term use home buyer will have to pay more because the project’s production costs have also risen.

    The chairman of a firm developing residential real estate projects in HCMC’s Thu Duc City also said hefty input costs are the main reason for high housing prices.

    He added that land clearance compensation costs, which developers have to pay in advance, have also surged in recent years, and it often takes years to complete the site clearance process.

    According to businesspeople and experts, other factors contributing to high housing prices are speculation and price manipulation by some investors.

    Both Le Huu Nghia, director of Le Thanh Company, and Huynh Phuoc Nghia, a senior consultant at advisory firm GIBC, suggested simplifying legal procedures.

    Economic expert Huynh The Du said the State should ensure the consistency of housing policies and the transparency of real estate-related information.

    The government should create channels providing home buyers with enough data and analysis to make informed decisions, while also establishing mechanisms to more effectively screen and allocate capital to the development of different housing segments, he added.