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Tag: asia

  • Tidal launches Apple Watch app, adds offline playback

    Tidal launches Apple Watch app, adds offline playback

    Tidal follows in the footsteps of other music streaming services like Deezer and Spotify, which recently announced new offline playback features for the Apple Watch. Beginning today, Tidal subscribers can download the new Apple Watch app and start listening to their favorite tunes.

    Although Tidal was until recently the only music streaming service to offer lossless audio format, that will not be available on the Apple Watch. Tidal announced that subscribers using its Apple Watch app will be limited to 96 Kbps.

    It’s important to mention that the new Tidal app is only compatible with Apple Watch Series 3 or later running WatchOS 7.1 and up. To start listening to music on your Apple Watch, simply download the Tidal app on the smartwatch, head to link.tidal.com, and use the code shown on your watch screen.

    Keep in mind that you can also download music on your Apple Watch and listen offline from anywhere without internet connectivity. Also, you can control the playback of Tidal directly from your Apple Watch independent of your iPhone.

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  • Instagram could pay you to use its Reels app

    Instagram could pay you to use its Reels app

    Last fall, Instagram announced the launch of its short-form video platform called Reels—TikTok’s unofficial rival. The app allows you to easily record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, special effects, and plenty of creative tools. By allowing public accounts to share “reels” to the wider Instagram community through a new Explore space, Instagram has seen some significant growth in its diversity and creativity lately.

    Now, it seems Reels is about to go all out in an effort to catch up with (or beat out) TikTok, as it is about to implement a new strategy for expanding its user base.

    Alessandro Paluzzi, an avid Android and iOS developer, was digging around in some back-end code when he stumbled upon a never-before-seen announcement screen. This screen reveals that Instagram is planning to begin offering monetary bonuses to Reels users to get more people excited about the platform.

    In order to participate in the mysterious bonus program, Instagram users will reportedly be asked to share their favorite Reels and spread the word. They’d most likely have to hit certain milestones before they can cash their earnings, but any further criteria have been undisclosed as of yet.

    Instagram’s cash payout game plan is by no means a novel strategy in the social media app business, and Reels is far from the first to implement it. Late last year, Snapchat began offering $1M per day in rewards for the most entertaining clips shared on the platform. And they were quite successful.

    Then just this month, YouTube announced its “Shorts Fund,” a prize pool of $100M distributed to YouTube Shorts creators over the course of 2021-2022.

    Instagram has kept mum about Paluzzi’s discovery so far, but they’ll be sure to announce their plan for the secretive “bonus program” when they are closer to the launch date and ready to let the world know.

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  • Auchan to leave Taiwan business

    Auchan to leave Taiwan business

    Auchan Retail is considering selling its stake in a group of RT-Mart-branded stores in Taiwan and is seeking $300 million to $400 million, people familiar with the matter said.

    The French supermarket chain is working with an adviser to find a buyer for its 65% stake in the retail locations, the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is confidential. The sale kicked off last week, they said.

    Deliberations are at an early stage and Auchan could decide to keep the interest, the people said. A representative for Auchan declined to comment.

    The potential sale would complete Auchan’s exit from Asia, after selling its stake in Sun Art Retail Group Ltd. to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in October in a deal worth about $3.6 billion. Sun Art operates so-called hypermarkets, large retail outlets that combine a department store and a supermarket, and convenience stores in China under the RT-Mart and Auchan brands.

    Auchan owns 20 hypermarkets and two convenience stores in Taiwan, according to the 2020 annual report of Elo, formerly known as Auchan Holding. Auchan opened its first Taiwan store in 1997 and has 5,500 employees in its Auchan Retail Taiwan unit, which runs the RT-Mart-branded stores, its website shows.

    U.S. actor and former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. champion John Cena apologized for describing Taiwan as a country in a promotional video for his latest movie, saying sorry in Mandarin after the comments triggered a backlash in China.

    Cena made the apology in a clip posted Tuesday on his official Weibo account, a Chinese social media platform like Twitter. He had earlier this month indicated that Taiwan was a country in a video promoting his film “Fast & Furious 9,” according to China’s state-run Global Times newspaper.

    “I made a mistake. I must say now that, very very very importantly, I love and respect China and Chinese people,” Cena said in Chinese in the video, without elaborating further.

    The apology video triggered further anger on Chinese social media, where users denounced Cena for not stating that Taiwan was part of China. Beijing argues that democratically run Taiwan is part of its territory, and has in recent years increased diplomatic pressure on the Taipei government and other nations that recognize its legitimacy.

    The apology also drew flak in the U.S., where critics — including Republicans and conservative media — slammed the star for bowing to China. Tom Cotton, a Republican senator from Arkansas, described the move as “pathetic.”

    Cena is the latest high-profile westerner to come under fire for publicly crossing China’s political lines, amid a boycott of some U.S. and Europe-based brands that had taken a stand against the treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in China’s far west Xinjiang region.

    Hennes & Mauritz AB faced ire in recent months after a statement it made expressing concern over reports of forced labor in Xinjiang resurfaced. Its Chinese outlets disappeared from Apple and Baidu Maps searches, and some stores in smaller cities were closed by landlords. The company’s name and products can no longer be found on major Chinese e-commerce platforms including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Taobao and Tmall. Online sales of Adidas AG and Nike Inc. also plunged in the country in April after their comments on the Xinjiang issue drew them into the boycott.

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  • Pitstop To Offer Doorstep Service For Electric Vehicles

    Pitstop To Offer Doorstep Service For Electric Vehicles

    Bengaluru-based car repair and service provider, Pitstop recently announced its foray into electric vehicle servicing. Quoting Mckinsey’s future of mobility report, Pitstop says that there is a growing demand for electric vehicles in India, especially electric two-wheelers, and the company seeks to provide EV servicing facilities at the customer’s doorstep for both two-wheelers and four-wheelers.

    Talking about the services the Pitstop aims to provide, the company’s Founder and CEO, Mihir Mohan said, “With the exception of body repair or modifications that include lifting, 80 to 85 percent of two-wheeler operation can be completed at the client’s doorstep.”

    Pitstop was started in 2015 began as a car washing company, however, now the company has become a multi-branded car servicing company with over 250 garages across India. The company says that by 2030, sales of two-wheeled electric vehicles are predicted to reach 8 to 9 million accounting for about 35 to 40 percent of all two-wheeled vehicles sold.

    Pitstop says that while more and more electric vehicles and charging infrastructures are coming up, the EV service market is still largely untapped and there is a lack of service network for repair. And that the area the company aims to focus on.

    Pitstop says that it has developed the ability to automate diagnosis with the use of sensors and scanners, and now, it is completely equipped to support electric vehicles. To that effect, the company aims to formalize and professionalize India’s $ 7 billion four-wheel-drive service industry.

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  • McDonald’s unit hands out free iPhones to new employees who meet certain conditions

    McDonald’s unit hands out free iPhones to new employees who meet certain conditions

    Some businesses are just dying to find new employees as the U.S. starts to see the beginning of a post-COVID economy. A tweet disseminated by a Twitter subscriber with the handle Bragard (@brogawd) shows just how desperate a particular McDonald’s unit is to attract and keep new workers. A sign in the unit’s window says in huge letters that the restaurant is “Now Hiring” and in slightly smaller print it states “Free iPhone.”

    Now as you might expect, there are some caveats here. The sign notes that the iPhone is given out after six months of employment as long as the employee meets unnamed employment criteria. And speaking of unnamed, the iPhone model being given away to qualified burger-flippers is not mentioned and neither is the condition of the phone. We can take an educated guess based on the photo used on the sign in the window.

    The last Apple iPhone models outside of the iPhone SE (2020) with Touch ID was the iPhone 8 series released in September, 2017. We suspect that the model they are giving away could be the iPhone 8. A certified refurbished model with 64GB of storage is priced at $200 and up which might not be enough of an incentive to attract new workers.

    And hey, we’re not even sure which iPhone model is being handed out by the wner of this McDonald’s. It would be interesting to know that information and whether the employment bonus has attracted a large response.

    If the model being handed out is an iPhone 8 refurb, it still is a serviceable device able to use iOS 14 and will probably be supported for at least another year or two. Under the hood is the 10nm A11 Bionic chipset with a 12MP single-rear camera.

    If we do manage to find out more information, we will up update this story.

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  • Nokia chosen by Allo for gigabit fiber network in Malaysia

    Nokia chosen by Allo for gigabit fiber network in Malaysia

    Nokia announced that it has been chosen by Allo, an Information and Communications Technology service provider in Malaysia, to deploy a gigabit fiber network in the states of Melaka, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, and East Coast of Malaysia.

    The deployment, which includes Nokia’s Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) solution and Access Management System, will be completed by end of Q2 2021 covering nearly 150,000 home passes. When completed, the end-users will be able to enjoy a high-speed broadband network and applications that require high capacity. The future-ready fiber network will enable Allo to increase its revenue as it will be able to support new use cases like smart cities, smart poles, edge automation, 5G backhaul, and enterprise services.

    Nokia’s solution will enable Allo to better manage bandwidth in line with the requirement for different services. The fiber network will support the convergence of more services and users on the same infrastructure, allowing Allo to bring down operating expenses and enhance revenue.

    With the new network, Allo will be able to acquire relevant insights into network utilization as the network grows and new technology enablers are added. Nokia’s solution will also help Allo benefit from network simplification and easier management of the network.

    Rodzi Ahmad, Chief Executive Officer at Allo, said: “We are pleased to partner with Nokia to bring the next generation of fiber services to our enterprise and residential users. By utilizing Nokia’s expertise, we will be able to accelerate the rollout of fiber services over the next two years. This enables us to offer high-speed broadband to a greater number of people in keeping with the vision of Malaysia’s fiberization initiative. Together Allo and Nokia will continue working towards the ultimate goal of improving broadband connectivity in Malaysia.”

    Stuart Hendry, Head of Enterprise for Asia Pacific and Japan at Nokia, said: “We are excited to work with Allo on this crucial initiative for the rollout of the next-generation fiber services. Our field-proven solutions will help Allo support the growing demand for bandwidth and provide network flexibility. Nokia’s solution will enable Allo to bring down costs and offer new and exciting services to its customers. The initiative will help build a future-ready network capable of meeting the ever-growing data demand.”

    In addition to the GPON roll-out, Allo is also conducting field trials with Nokia’s next-generation XGS-PON products which could be deployed where the network requires even greater bandwidth, up to 10Gbps symmetrical.

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  • Huawei aims to “lead the world” in software

    Huawei aims to “lead the world” in software

    Chinese tech giant Huawei said it would launch a long-awaited new operating system for smartphones next week, part of an all-out push into the software industry aimed at weathering US sanctions and taking on Google’s Android.

    Huawei tipped the June 2 launch of its HarmonyOS platform in a short teaser on social media, just as an internal memo came to light in which company founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei outlined plans to go big in software.

    The 76-year-old assured staff that “in the software domain, the US will have very little control over our future development, and we have much autonomy.” Huawei’s founder and CEO emphasized that “objectively speaking, the only domain in which we can extend our roots deep is software”

    Huawei’s plans are the latest signs of a radical transformation at the Shenzhen-based company, which is moving quickly into new product lines seen as less vulnerable to US pressure and a re-focus on its core domestic market.

    Huawei had already announced in April that it would work with Chinese automakers to develop intelligent vehicles after earlier unveiling moves into enterprise and cloud computing.

    Saying “the best defense is a good offense”, Ren outlined an ambitious plan to develop software that “embraces the world”.

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  • China sales soar for Vans, Supreme parent VF Corporation

    China sales soar for Vans, Supreme parent VF Corporation

    In a year when apparel group VF Corporation experienced a 12-per-cent fall in group sales, its Greater China business saw revenue surge 24 percent, and the company has strong expectations for the new fiscal year.

    VF, which owns brands including Vans, The North Face, Timberland, Dickies, and Supreme, expects global sales to increase by around 28 percent in the new financial year as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on retail trading operations in North America and Europe lessens. In Asia Pacific, where it says nearly all of its stores are open and trading, the company expects to boost sales by 18 to 20 percent this year, helping it achieve US$11.8 billion in sales worldwide, compared with $9.2 billion in the year to last March. The recently acquired Supreme brand is expected to contribute $600 million of that.

    “We are incredibly proud of the results VF achieved across the Asia Pacific region throughout fiscal 2021 and the way in which we navigated the challenges posed by the pandemic,” said Winnie Ma, president, Greater China, and Southeast Asia, at VF Corporation. “Our Asia-Pacific business model transformation is well progressed and will lay the foundation for sustainable, long-term growth across the region in the years ahead.”

    While Covid-19 dented the company’s global sales for the full FY2021 year, fourth-quarter trading figures suggest the worst is behind.

    Total sales rose by 23 percent (19 percent in constant currency) to $2.6 billion. “Excluding the impact of acquisitions, revenue increased 16 percent driven by VF’s largest brands, e-commerce growth, and an increase in the APAC region, which experienced a significant negative impact from Covid-19 in the prior-year period,” the company said in a statement. However, the fourth quarter also included an extra week’s trading when compared to the previous year.

    Chairman, president, and CEO Steve Rendle said the company took actions early in the last fiscal year to protect its people and the business while maintaining investments to drive our transformation and accelerate organic growth.

    “At the same time, we took bold, forward-looking actions to spark additional growth and value creation. As a result, we are exiting this year in a position of strength with broad-based momentum across the portfolio,” he concluded.

    Adjusted operating income from continuing operations for FY2021 decreased 45 percent to $742 million, including a $34 million contribution from acquisitions.

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  • Yakult opens a dessert store in Japan

    Yakult opens a dessert store in Japan

    Japanese sweetened probiotic milk brand Yakult is to open a pop-up dessert store in Tokyo next month.

    Located at the Shibuya 109 building, the Yakult store will offer a range of ice creams, soft serves, and shakes, which are mixed with probiotic milk. Seven kinds of treats, including Yakult Parfait and Ice de Yakult, are developed in partnership with Imada Kitchen.

    The store exterior will present an artwork drawn by the illustrator ‘The Peach of Girl’, which features a “chill and refreshing” vibe and “a feeling of nostalgia”. The Yakult dessert store will open from June 1 until August 1.

    First introduced in 1935, Yakult has been known as a healthy beverage that helps maintain good gut flora, as each bottle is said to contain more than 10 billion ‘Lactobacillus paracasei Shirota’ bacteria.

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  • Vietnam’s TNI King Coffee makes US debut

    Vietnam’s TNI King Coffee makes US debut

    Vietnamese coffee label TNI King Coffee has entered the US, opening its first store in Anaheim, California.

    The launch marks the brand’s second international venture after South Korea. King Coffee said it aims to increase its US store network to 20 this year and 100 by next year via a franchise model.

    “The opening of the first restaurant in the US marks a strong development of TNI King Coffee in the global market,” said Le Hoang Diep Thao, founder and CEO of TNI King Coffee.

    Located in the heart of Orange County, the new King Coffee store is a 10-minute walk away from Disneyland. The store design was inspired by the ‘East-meet-West’ culture.

    King Coffee US houses a selection of coffee, including Vietnam’s famous iced milk coffee, black iced coffee, and egg coffee, together with a full-day menu of Vietnamese and Western food. The store also offers King Coffee’s FMCG product range, including instant and whole-bean coffee.

    After the US, the coffee chain also plans to expand its footprint to other markets, including China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

    King Coffee is known for its Vietnamese coffee range, which is distributed in more than 120 countries and regions.

    Le Hoang Diep Thao previously co-founded Vietnamese coffee conglomerate Trung Nguyen Group with her now estranged husband. King Coffee now operates more than 50 stores in Vietnam.

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  • Le Saunda sales continue to fall

    Le Saunda sales continue to fall

    Hong Kong-headquartered shoe retailer Le Saunda shut down 52 stores during the year to February as it worked to mitigate falling sales in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    The embattled shoe retailer recorded a profit for the full year of US$16.6 million, although this was entirely due to material gains on the return of its former manufacturing plant at Shunde in Guangdong for which Le Saunda booked a material gain of $25.4 million. Local government grants to mitigate the impact of the pandemic added around $1.4 million to income.

    Total revenue for the year fell by 19.3 percent to US$97.2 million due to store closures and trading restrictions related to government measures to slow the spread of Covid.

    Efforts to reduce overheads across the business resulted in selling and distribution expenses falling 28.5 percent to $37.4 million. The company also managed to cut inventory by 44.1 percent year on year, some of that relating to fewer raw materials after the Shunde plant was closed.

    In a stock exchange filing, chairman James Ngai said the pandemic led to a “severe winter” for greater China’s retail industry.

    Le Saunda responded by outsourcing manufacturing, closing unviable stores, tapping into social commerce, and expanding online sales channels through the “livestream shopping” model. It launched the Le Saunda Y collection online, aimed at catering to the preferences and buying behavior of younger female consumers, and upgraded its loyalty scheme to a WeChat Mini Program.

    “During the pandemic, the group was determined to innovate, grasp the pulse of the market and introduce new elements to its brands, so as to maintain the competitive edge of its brands and its leading position in the female footwear market,” he said.

    As at the end of February Le Saunda had 297 stores (down 34) under its core branding, and 40 Linea Rosa stores (down 12).

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  • BTS stores to pop up in four Asian cities

    BTS stores to pop up in four Asian cities

    Hybe, the entertainment company behind Kpop superstars BTS, is to launch three more BTS pop-up stores across four Asian cities after success in Bangkok.

    The company said it will roll out the album-themed stores in Manila, Taipei and Singapore this year, due to the increasing demand for BTS merchandise.

    Following the launch in Bangkok earlier this month, the BTS Map of the Soul stores will be launched in Manila this week and Taipei this September. The two stores will offer products themed to the Kpop group’s hit album ‘Map of the Soul:7’.

    Meanwhile, the Space of BTS store will open in Singapore this Friday (May 28), featuring everyday items and fashion products. The store will remain open until August 15.

    “The K-pop act’s stores have made visits to fans across the globe even amid the new coronavirus pandemic,” the company said in a statement.

    The launch of BTS-themed pop-up stores follows the release of the group’s latest hit ‘Butter’ last week.

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  • Music lovers are getting a “small” present in iOS 14.6

    Music lovers are getting a “small” present in iOS 14.6

    Has this ever happened to you? You hear a song that you like and want to find out the name of the tune and the artist. So you start navigating your iPhone’s screen looking for Apple’s own Shazam app, but by the time you find it and tap on the icon, the song has come to an end and it is too late. Until you hear that song again, it will probably remain a mystery in your mind.

    Sure, you can try to speed up this process by adding Shazam to the Control Center, something that has been available to iPhone users since the iOS 14.2 update. Go to Settings > Control Center and look for Music Recognition and the Shazam logo.

    An App Clip is a small part of an app that can be downloaded to your device quickly, and it contains the part of the app that you need without having to install the whole thing. With the Shazam App Clip, the next time you just have to know whether that song playing at the mall was an old Guster tune, go to the Control Center and tap on Shazam. After iOS 14.6 is disseminated, you will see a tile-shaped prompt asking if you want to “explore your music.”

    Tap on the prompt and you’ll get all of the information about the mystery song that you want to know including the lyrics, the ability to play it on Apple Music, and a link to download the full Shazam app. The update to iOS 14.6 is due to be released very shortly, so if you’re music curious, you might want to install the Shazam App Clip as soon as you update your iPhone. Don’t forget that you don’t have to wait for an invitation from the App Clip to install the full Shazam app which is available right now in the App Store.

    By the way, when you hear a song you like and don’t know the name or the artist, instead of using Shazam, you can always ask Siri “What is the name of this song?”

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  • Important Google Photos storage policy changes rolling out in June

    Important Google Photos storage policy changes rolling out in June

    It’s no secret that Google will no longer offer unlimited free photo and video backup at “high quality” come June 2021. The Mountain View company announced late last year a change to its high-quality storage policy, which will drop as early as June 1.

    So, starting next month, Google will roll out the new changes so that any new photos and video users back up will count toward the free 15GB of storage that comes with every Google Account or the additional storage purchased as a Google One member.

    However, there are a couple of things that Google Photos users should know before the new storage policy change comes into effect on June 1. First off, any photos or videos that you backed up in high quality before June 1, 2021, will not count toward your Google Account storage. Yes, these photos and videos will remain free and exempt from the storage limit.

    Another important aspect that Google Photos users should be aware of is that Google estimates that more than 80 percent of its users should still be able to store roughly three more years of memories in high quality with the free 15GB of storage.

    If your storage nears 15GB, you’ll receive a notification from Google directly in the app, as well as via email. All Google Photos users should see an estimate that takes into account how frequently they back up photos, videos, and other content to their Google Account.

    Furthermore, Google announced it will roll out a new tool in the Photos app that will help users manage the photos and videos they’ve back up that count toward their storage quota. The new storage management tool will display photos and videos that can potentially be deleted due to being blurry or too large.

    Last but not least, to make it less confusing for Google Photos users, the search giant will rename its high-quality storage tier to Storage saver. Until this change is deployed, all photos and videos will continue to be stored at the same high quality.

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  • Elon Musk Reaffirms 1.1 Second kmph Time For Telsa Roadster EV Is Possible

    Elon Musk Reaffirms 1.1 Second kmph Time For Telsa Roadster EV Is Possible

    The second-generation Tesla Roadster was revealed about three years ago but the EV maker took quite a while to materialize it. Finally, it is expected to arrive later this year or early in 2022 but one production-ready version is already on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum with some details of its specifications. The most interesting of all is that the readout at the museum claims a 0-100 kmph sprint in an earth-staggering 1.1 seconds when the Roadster is equipped with the SpaceX package.

    Now what’s even more interesting is that Elon Musk took to Twitter to confirm the specifications. Replying to one of the tweets he reaffirmed it’s possible with “the SpaceX rocket thruster option package. The Roadster will possibly be equipped with cold air thrusters, supplied by compressed air tanks with the thrusters hidden behind the license plate, that’ll help propel the all-wheel-drive sports to manic speeds. Now without the SpaceX package, the EV maker is claiming 1.9 seconds to triple-digit speeds, which still is fast enough to give something like the mighty Bugatti Chiron with a W16 engine, a sweat.

    Now going with what Musk has claimed earlier, the Tesla Roadster is not just about speed. It will deliver quite an impressive electric range of 998 km with a tri-motor configuration. One of them will be positioned in the front and the remaining two at the rear that will power all four wheels. It will get its juices from a 250 kWh battery pack and it will put out an unbelievable 10,000 Nm of peak torque helping it to clock 160 kmph in just 4.2 seconds. Now that’s quicker than what many sportscars take to clock triple-digit speeds.

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