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Tag: asia

  • Whatsapp has new feature to undo send messages

    Whatsapp has new feature to undo send messages

    For many phone owners, the person they message the most is themselves. No, it has nothing to do with egotistical behavior and has everything to do with using common sense. Sometimes when you need to jot down a note you’re caught without paper or a pen. While an app like Google Keep is ideal for these situations, some would rather send a message to themselves.
    But if WhatsApp is their preferred messaging app, this could not be done unless the user opened a group chat and included himself as one of the group members, and then sent a message to this group. Who wants to go through all that just to remind yourself that the dog walker is on vacation, or to save a story or video that you just viewed online? The Meta-owned app has fixed this by disseminating an update that allows WhatsApp subscribers to send messages to themselves.
    A WhatsApp user can now select themself to be the lone recipient of a message he or she is going to send via the app. After typing the message you want to send yourself, the app puts up a notification that points out that the message you send is protected by end-to-end encryption. Unless you have multiple personalities, this doesn’t matter. But it does mean that WhatsApp or any other person that isn’t you, can not read or listen to the message.
    Meta had this feature beta tested by iPhone users and is rolling it out now for all users. It has been made available on Android and does work on this writer’s Pixel 6 Pro running Android 13 QPR2 Beta 2.1.
    WhatsApp has added more than just the ability to message yourself. Following the update, you can undo the “Delete for me” feature to bring back a message that you’ve accidentally erased from your WhatsApp account. To see how this works, you can just send a test message to yourself (which you can do now) and long-press on the test message. Tap the trash can icon on the top of the screen and you will see a pop-up. Select Delete for me and a bar at the bottom of the screen will appear that says “Message deleted for me” with the word UNDO on the right side of the bar. Tap it to undo the deletion and the message will return.
    You also can now control who will be able to see when you’re online. From the WhatsApp app tap the three-dot menu icon on the top right of the screen and go to Settings > Privacy > Last seen and online. You can tap Nobody on the top quarter of the display so that no one can see when you were last on WhatsApp. Underneath you can choose who can see when you’re online. The options are Everybody and Same as last seen. Select the latter option and if you have Nobody picked for last seen, no one will be able to see if you’re online.
    When you are about to message one of your WhatsApp contacts, under that person’s name, it will show the last time he or she was seen on the app. So if you’re a private person you might want to follow the directions in the above paragraph so that no one knows when you were on WhatsApp last and whether you are on now. On the other hand, you might want your contacts to know when you are available to have a conversation on the platform.
    Another new feature will allow users to search for a past chat by the date it took place. This helps if you can’t find a specific chat but you know the date when it occurred.
  • Vietnam cryptocurrency miners install more rigs as Bitcoin climbs

    Vietnam cryptocurrency miners install more rigs as Bitcoin climbs

    Cryptocurrency prices have surged this month, prompting Vietnamese to install mining rigs although it’s not yet a lucrative trade.

    The price of Bitcoin increased from $18,000 to $21,000 on Jan. 14 and has moved sideways since then. The prices of many other cryptocurrencies, including ETC, Aleo, Kat, and ERG have also risen this month.

    Thien Binh, a seller of cryptocurrency mining rigs in Vietnam, said that people had bought many second-hand Asic rigs to mine Doge over the past week.

    On average, an old Asic Baikal G28 model costs VND13 million ($550.8), one-third the cost of a new machine. If the current Doge price of $0.08 remains unchanged for months, miners will break even after 9-10 months.

    A veteran miner said: “We are buying more rigs because mining is still easy now. We will eventually make profits if the Bitcoin price maintains its current level ($21,000).”

    Binh Minh, who owns many rigs in the southern province of Dong Nai, said some people have heavily invested in installing big networks of rigs to mine ETC and Bitcoin.

    Some miners are depositing their rigs at solar farms to cut down electricity costs and increase profits. Most miners use grid electricity.

    According to Hoang Quan, the administrator of a cryptocurrency mining community with nearly 70,000 members, mining is not lucrative at the moment, thanks to the current price of electricity and cryptocurrencies. But he said the recent increase in cryptocurrency prices is still good news ahead of the Tet holiday (Lunar New Year), which falls in late January.

    Some experienced miners said that although the Bitcoin price is rising, the cryptocurrency market is inherently unpredictable, and miners may face more difficulties in the coming time.

    Vietnam had the second highest rate of cryptocurrency use among 74 economies surveyed in 2021, according to market data provider Statista.

    However, cryptocurrency has not been recognized as legitimate currency in Vietnam. Its central bank has warned that owning, trading and using cryptocurrency is risky and comes with no legal protection.

  • Food delivery platforms see gross merchandise value rise 37.5%

    Food delivery platforms see gross merchandise value rise 37.5%

    The total gross merchandise value (GMV) of food delivery platforms in Vietnam hit $1.1 billion in 2022, up from $800 million in 2021, said Singapore-based venture outfit Momentum Works.

    Of the total GMV, Grab accounted for the biggest share with 45%, followed by ShopeeFood 41%, Baemin 12% and Gojek 2%, the firm said in its latest report “Food delivery platforms in Southeast Asia,” which was issued in January.

    Last year total GMV in Southeast Asia grew at a modest 5% to $16.3 billion, mainly driven by the relatively smaller markets of Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, while larger markets – Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore – recorded declines, Momentum Works stated.

    The three largest markets all recorded a GMV decline in 2022, due to various factors. For example, thepost Covid reopening of the ecoomy reopening in Singapore shifted food services demand offline, while in Thailand the withdrawal of government subsidies after October 2022 as well the floods in the second half of the year played significant roles.

    Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, the three smaller markets, have recorded significant growth, as players including Grab and ShopeeFood expanded their market penetration, according to the firm.

    Grab has taken market share leadership in Malaysia and Vietnam from Foodpanda and ShopeeFood respectively, and now contributes 54% of the region’s total platform GMV.

    ShopeeFood has reduced market-share-grabbing incentives, while Foodpanda/DeliveryHero is rumored to be in the process of exiting a few markets in the region, according to Momentum Works.

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  • Tuna becomes billion-dollar export for first time

    Tuna becomes billion-dollar export for first time

    Despite a sharp fall in exports before the end of 2022 due to global inflation, tuna still brought home US$1 billion in revenue last year, up 34% from 2021, becoming a billion-dollar commodity for the first time, data showed.

    Tuna products of Vietnam were shipped to 99 markets, of which the U.S., the EU, members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Israel, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the Philippines, and Egypt were the largest importers, accounting for 92% of total exports, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

    Germany, Spain, and Belgium were the biggest EU buyers of Vietnamese tuna. Notably, shipments to Germany and Spain shot up 161% and 117% last December, respectively.

    Tuna exports to Japan, a CPTPP member, grew fast in the last quarter of 2022. The value surged 131% year on year in December alone, helping raise the export turnover to CPTPP markets to nearly $136 million, up 48%.

    Meanwhile, strong declines were recorded in shipments to many other markets, VASEP said, noting that after dropping in November, tuna exports to the U.S. fell by another 38% in December. However, last year’s exports to this market still rose 44% to approximate $487 million.

    VASEP forecast the export in the first quarter of 2023 will be unable to sustain its 2022 performance, but markets may recover in the latter half of this year. Free trade agreements are the driver for tuna exports in the year’s beginning.

  • Indonesia surpasses Thailand as Vietnam’s largest car exporter

    Indonesia surpasses Thailand as Vietnam’s largest car exporter

    Indonesia surpassed Thailand as Vietnam’s largest car exporter in 2022, with 72,671 cars exported.

    According to statistics released by Vietnam Customs, Vietnam imported 173,467 cars in 2022, an 8.5% increase from 2021.

    Indonesia, Thailand and China were the biggest car exporters to Vietnam, but Indonesia surpassed Thailand to be the country that exported the most cars to Vietnam, with 72,671 cars exported in total, a 64.2% increase from 2021, and worth $10.5 billion.

    Thailand exported 72,032 cars worth $1.42 billion to Vietnam in 2022, a 10.9% decrease in number from 2021. The number of cars imported from Indonesia and Thailand amounted to 144,703 cars, accounting for 83% of all imported cars. China stood in third place, exporting 17,240 cars to Vietnam in 2022.

    For the first time in decades, the number of cars sold in Vietnam in 2022 reached 508,547 cars, according to statistics from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association and TC Motor.

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  • Steelmaker Hoa Phat reports bigger losses in Q4

    Steelmaker Hoa Phat reports bigger losses in Q4

    Hoa Phat Group, Vietnam’s biggest construction steel firm, posted net losses of nearly VND2 trillion ($84.7 million) in Q4 last year, higher than the losses of roughly VND1.8 trillion in Q3.

    The company’s losses in Q3 was its first quarterly loss in 13 years.

    Hoa Phat made revenues of VND26 trillion in the fourth quarter, seeing a year-on-year fall of 42%, bringing the total revenues last year to VND142 trillion, down 5%, due to weaker demand for various steel products.

    Its after-tax profits were over VND8.4 trillion in 2022, down 76% against 2021.

    The firm supplied the local market with 7.2 million tons of steel products, including 4.3 million tons of construction steel, last year, posting a year-on-year drop of 7%, and holding a market share of nearly 35%.

  • UBS Set to Poach Staff for M&A

    UBS Set to Poach Staff for M&A

    During this week’s Davos conference CEO Ralph Hamers, said UBS was looking to hire. Now we know which kind of bankers it is going after.

    UBS is looking to bolster its M&A staff, citing people familiar with the plans.

    The move contrasts with recent decisions by banks, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, to cut staff and reduce investment banking capabilities after last year’s dealmaking slump.

    UBS focuses on experienced managing directors at target boutique advisory businesses, which it aims to lure with attractive compensation.

    Since the financial crisis Boutique M&A advisory groups such as PJT Partners, Houlihan Lokey, Evercore, Lazard, Greenhill and Robey Warshaw — have been winning market share from traditional bulge bracket investment banks, it added.

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  • FTX Debacle Promts Revolut to Delay its Cryptocurrency Launch

    FTX Debacle Promts Revolut to Delay its Cryptocurrency Launch

    Revolut is delaying its entry into cryptocurrencies, postponing the launch of its RevCoin in the wake of the collapse of the FTX exchange.

    Switzerland’s most popular neobank, Revolut, is holding back on its planned entry into minting its cryptocurrency.

    We are scoping the market conditions and assessing the best time to launch RevCoin in the coming months, a spokesman for the UK’s most valuable fintech told the news outlet. Revolut initially planned to launch RevCoin towards the end of last year, but management opted for a delay as FTX imploded in November.

    The project was confirmed in an interview CEO Nik Storonsky conducted with The Block in May of last year. RevCoin will run on Ethereum and work similarly to airline mileage incentive programs, with users earning rewards on how frequently they use the service.

    Storonsky is an ex-Credit Suisse derivatives trader who founded Revolut in 2014. He is worth $7.1 billion, according to Forbes.

    In Switzerland, the neobanks services are available via Credit Suisse.

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  • TikTok starts labeling accounts that have anything to do with the government

    TikTok starts labeling accounts that have anything to do with the government

    As of today, TikTok content will have flags to signify if a video is coming from a state-controlled media. This feature was initially introduced last year, and was limited only to Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. In the spirit of transparency, however, this feature will become available in more countries.

    The company’s goal, as described in its own statement, is to help users recognize accounts whose content might be influenced by a government entity. They hope to provide users context when consuming such content — especially news — as it may not always be clearly stated within the video itself. As many of us know, subjectivity and presentation play a huge role in the way in how people understand information.

    This decision is the product of long-term research that the company has conducted across numerous countries. The definition of “state-controlled media” that the TikTok specialists have agreed upon is “an entity where there is evidence of clear editorial control and decision-making bystate memberse”.

    However, this change also means that TikTok should be capable of defining “editorial independence” as well. When trying to prove that, the company’s Trust and Safety and Policy and Partnership teams are looking at things such as a publication’s mission statement, leadership behavior and what type of editorial decisions they typically make. As an example, when reviewing news outlets, they ask questions such as “Are they funded by a state entity?”. If the answer is “yes”, then objectivity may not be on the agenda.

    TikTok’s statement emphasizes that they’ve done their best to create an objective evaluation methodn. They hope that it can continuously help users make informed decisions when consuming news-related content on the platform. That being said, the team is aware that errors aren’t out of the question, so a new appeal process is also being introduced.

    While all of this is well and good, TikTok leadership understands that this doesn’t mean that the battle has been won. It’s great to see the team behind one of the most controversial social media platforms remain vigilant and attempt to provide something that can so easily become lost in fast-form media: context.

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  • Spotify urges the EU to reign in Apple’s App Store monopoly

    Spotify urges the EU to reign in Apple’s App Store monopoly

    As many of you probably know, there’s always heated competition between tech companies. And sometimes, a company is bigger than another… in one way or another. Battles between competitors are not a rarity in the tech world. One such battle has been undertaken by Spotify, which is, let’s say, unhappy with Apple Music and has taken it to file an antitrust case against Cupertino. And now, 9to5Mac reports things are getting a little heated.

    Basically, Spotify is alleging Apple is competing with it via Apple Music in an unfair manner. Spotify is stating that Apple can offer subscriptions within Apple Music with no penalty, but Spotify needs to pay 30% to Apple for doing the same (or 15% from year two).

    Back in 2019, Spotify filed an antitrust complaint against Cupertino in Europe. Since then, the European Commission has reached a preliminary conclusion siding with Spotify but a final decision has not been reached yet.Now, Spotify has sent an open letter (backed by 7 other companies) to the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager. The companies that backed the music-streaming platforms represent digital organizations for audio streaming, web software, communications, publishing, and marketplaces.

    Here’s the list of the companies that signed the open letter:

    • Basecamp
    • Deezer
    • Proton
    • Schibsted
    • Spotify
    • European Publishers Council
    • France Digitale
    • News Media Europ

    Read the full open letter here.

    In the letter, the companies request “swift and decisive action” to be taken from the European Commission against “anti-competitive and unfair practices by certain global digital gatekeepers” – namely Apple. The letter goes on to indicate that Apple has been imposing unfair restrictions on businesses. Additionally, the letter states those alleged anti-competitive practices are harming innovation, European consumers, and the development of apps and services.

    The letter also underlines that a decision has to be reached quickly, as “every day that passes is a loss for innovation and for the welfare of European consumers.”

    In the fall of last year, Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) entered into force, after being adopted in the summer. The DMA is addressing App Store monopoly, third-party app payments, and cross-OS support for iMessage. Spotify’s letter signifies that enforcement of the new legislation is needed against Apple and underlines that any attempts to circumvent the new legislation by “misleading and vague grounds of privacy and security” should be resisted.
    All in all, the letter urges the European Commission to make a decision on the case against Apple. It will be interesting to see whether or not the EC accelerates its decision making and what results from this battle.
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  • Netflix and Disney+ ad-supported tiers are not that attractive

    Netflix and Disney+ ad-supported tiers are not that attractive

    While Apple may probably be venturing into figuring out an ad-supported tier for Apple TV+, Netflix and Disney+ are seeing some unsatisfying results in acquiring subscribers for their ad-supported plans. Variety reports that a recent survey is indicating not many people are willing to go for an ad-supported tier on Netflix or Disney+.

    The survey also indicates that Netflix’s “Basic With Ads” tier is not reaching its goals. The cheaper plan with ads was launched back in November. The survey indicates that 5% of current Netflix subs were thinking of downgrading to the ad-supported plan in December, and only 6.5% of non-members indicated that they would join Netflix in the next month because of its ad-supported plan.

    On the other hand, Disney+’s ad-supported tier is not doing much better, according to the survey. Results show 19% of the non-subscribers were “very” or “somewhat” likely to pick a Disney+ ad-supported tier at some point (keep in mind, the question did not specify a time frame for subscribing).

    6% of current Disney+ subscribers said they planned to downgrade. Basically, a bit more people than Netflix, but still, pretty much a similar percentage.

    Overall, by surveying 2,089 people, 13% only wished to downgrade to an ad-supported tier for their subscription plans.
    Interestingly, when the survey divided people by earnings, those who earned $100,000+ a year were the most likely to downgrade (19%) versus those earning under $50,000 (11%).

    All in all, this trend shows that the interest in ad-supported subscription plans may not be as high as one would suppose. We will have to wait and see how these plans grow over time (and much more time is needed for some conclusive results, for sure), but for now, maybe Netflix or Disney+ will have some food for thought as to how to make these plans more attractive.

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  • Update to Instagram gives teen users a feature they requested

    Update to Instagram gives teen users a feature they requested

    Meta announced today that it is adding new features to its Instagram app that are designed to give users a break from receiving notifications and to help them manage their feeds to avoid viewing content that they don’t want to see. Quiet mode, which launches today, will prevent you from receiving notifications when enabled. When someone sends you a Direct Message, an auto-reply will be sent and your activity status will be updated to alert others that you have Quiet mode turned on.
    Quiet mode can be customized to fit the user’s schedule. Meta says that teens have been requesting a feature like Quiet mode that will allow them to focus on schoolwork at night without having to be disrupted by notifications. And here’s the thing. Once Quiet mode is disabled, Instagram will catch you up by sending you a summary of all the notifications you missed while on Quiet mode.
    While Quiet mode will be available to all users, Instagram will prompt teens to use the feature when they are using the app late at night. Quiet mode will be available starting today to Instagram users in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Meta says that it hopes to bring the feature to other countries soon.
    As we noted, Meta also wants to allow Instagram users to tell them which content they do not want to see on their feeds or recommended to them. In Explore, you can hide more than one post that you’re not interested in at one time. And when you tell Instagram that you’re not interested in a particular Explore post, you won’t see similar content in the future in Reels, Search, or wherever Instagram makes recommendations.
    To tag an Explore image as something that you’re not interested in, press on the image, tap the three-dot menu icon on the upper right next to the follow button, and tap on Not interested on the pop-up at the bottom of the screen. On videos shown in the vertical format, the three dot menu icon is the last element located along the right side of the display.
    Instagram users can already hide DMs and comments that contain certain words. You can now stop receiving recommended posts that include certain words in a post’s caption or hashtag. To create such a list, open the Instagram app and tap the profile picture in the bottom right corner. That takes you to your account page. Tap the hamburger menu icon in the upper right. Go to Settings > Privacy > Hidden Words > Manage custom words and phrases. You can add multiple words, phrases, and even emojis.
    Lastly, Instagram recently added a feature allowing parents to view their teen’s Instagram settings. If a teen changes a setting on the Instagram app, a parent will receive a notification. Parents can also find out which Instagram accounts have been blocked by their teens.
    Meta suggests that parents “Visit Family Center for conversation starters and to learn more about the available parental supervision tools, including how to set time limits, schedule breaks, be notified when teens share a report, and more. These updates are part of our ongoing work to ensure people have experiences that work for them, and that they have more control over the time they spend online and the types of content they see.”
    According to a published report, among U.S. and British teens that had suicidal thoughts, 6% in the states and 13% in England traced these feelings back to an issue they had with content read on Instagram. While ideally those teens should stop using the app, that might be easier said than done. Hopefully, the new features will help teens cope while using Instagram.
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  • Google Messages app increases end-to-end encryption group chat limit to 100 participants in Beta

    Google Messages app increases end-to-end encryption group chat limit to 100 participants in Beta

    Google has been rolling out end-to-end encryption for group chats in its RCS Messages app and has reportedly completed the roll out to the Beta version. However, one limitation was that no more than 21 people could be added at a time for group chats to be eligible for encryption. Now it appears that Google is raising this limit to 100 people.

    This new limit matches the current 100-participant limit on RCS group chats, so you will no longer have to worry about whether your group conversation is encrypted. This contrasts iMessage’s current limit of up to 32 people in a chat for E2EE support.

    This change was not announced but rather found by Twitter user @SeeAreEff and reported on by Esper’s Mishaal Rahman and Android Police. Previously, if you added more than 20 people to a group chat, which equaled 21 including yourself, you would see the lock icon on the send button disappear. This is, of course, indicative that end-to-end encryption has been turned off.

    Remember, though, that encryption in group chats is still in beta and can only be used if you are using the Beta version of Google’s Messages app. It is currently unknown when this feature will reach stable status and make it to the regular version of the app.
    Meanwhile, you can check whether your group chat is encrypted by tapping on the group name at the top of the chat and checking the group details. There is a section dedicated to end-to-end encryption, which will let you know if the status is on and if your group conversations are safe from prying eyes.
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  • Google’s “Find my Device” app gets a Material You redesign

    Google’s “Find my Device” app gets a Material You redesign

    Google turned to Material You as its official design language back in 2021 and has since then been slowly updating all of its native apps. However, there is one app in particular that had been neglected and never did get its Material You overhaul until now, the “Find my Device” app.

    Similar to iOS’ “Find my iPhone” app, Google makes the “Find my Device” app available to Android users who want to be able to track the location of their linked devices. Google has turned its attention to this app and is now pushing out an update to bring the new look to it.
    As you can see from the above screenshots, the first two images show the outdated design the app has been using since it launched. However, after the installation of version 2.5.001 things start to look more refined and modern.
    When opening the app for the first time after upgrading, a list of all compatible devices associated with your account will be displayed. Unlike the way it worked with the previous version, this actually makes it easier to choose which device you want to track.
    In addition, there is support for a dark theme, which corresponds to the system theme. However, the app is still missing support for themed icons, joining the ranks of the YouTube Studio app, which has yet to be updated for some reason.
    The new redesign appears to be part of this particular app version, not a server-side rollout. However, as it usually goes with any of Google’s apps or features, updates are usually staged and not everyone gets them simultaneously.
    In the meantime, you can check if the update is available to you by checking the Google Play Store. If it doesn’t
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  • Fitbit drops support for two music streaming services on Sense and Versa smartwatches

    Fitbit drops support for two music streaming services on Sense and Versa smartwatches

    Google-owned Fitbit is informing many of its customers that it will soon stop supporting two music streaming services quite popular in the United States: Deezer and Pandora. In an email sent to many Fitbit smartwatch users, the company states that it will ax support for the two apps, which will no longer be available for download.

    The email confirms that come March 31, these two music streaming services will no longer function on specific smartwatches like Fitbit Sense, Fitbit Versa 2 and Fitbit Versa 3. According to the email, customers “will no longer be able to download Pandora stations or add Deezer playlists to your device, nor will you be able to play anything that you have previously downloaded.”

    This is the second time Fitbit has taken away an important functionality from its customers in less than a year. Last year, Fitbit removed the ability to sync and transfer music via PC and Mac. The company removed the option to transfer playlists to Fitbit watches through a computer back in October but allowed users to continue to play personal music stored on the watch and transfer music to it with the Deezer and Pandora apps.

    Well, Fitbit took away that option as well, or at least is about to since the deadline is March 31, 2023. It’s surprising that the company is removing important features that will most likely lead to fewer sales, without adding new ones to replace them. It’s like Fitbit wants to make its smartwatches completely unappealing to those who love using this type of products.

    It remains to be seen how Fitbit’s actions will impact the sale of its smartwatches, but there’s bound to be some retribution from customers, especially from those who remained loyal even after Google bought the company Google.

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