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Tag: asia

  • Google adds another “Memories” collection to the Photos app

    Google adds another “Memories” collection to the Photos app

    Just a few days ago, we told you that Google had added a new collection of photos for the Memories feature on the Google Photo app. These photographs all included images of beer; beer in glasses, beer in cans, beer in bottles and more. The photos show up in a collection called “Cheers.” The latest Memories collection is named “In the spotlight” and it shows photos containing stages and crowds. So those photos you took at the Billie Eilish concert you attended (before the pandemic, of course) will probably show up.

    To check out this feature, open the Google Photos app and tap on Photos at the bottom of the screen. At the top of the display, you’ll find images collected in Memories. As we told you last week, you can customize the Memories that appear in the carousel by opening the Google Photos app. At the top right of the display, tap your profile picture or initials and go to Memories > Featured memories. You’ll be able to enable or disable the receipt of photos taken in the current week years ago, photos from recent weeks, and photos about people, places, or things.

    The Memories feature on Google Photos appears to be giving users a look back at those carefree days before the pandemic when a trip to the pub wasn’t a big deal, and going to see your musical idols in concert was normal. And while it might make you feel sad when the “Cheers” and “In the spotlight” collections appear, it should also bring back those happy feelings and help you strive for the return of your normal, pre-pandemic life.

    Whether you see such photos in your Google Photos app has everything to do with the images that Google scans. And even if you do have photographs that meet the definition for the new category, keep it mind that it can take up to two weeks for them to noticed by Google’s servers.

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  • Mercedes-Benz To Purchase Electricity From Renewable Energy Sources From 2022

    Mercedes-Benz To Purchase Electricity From Renewable Energy Sources From 2022

    Mercedes-Benz has entered into a green power supply contract with energy supplier Enovos and the Norwegian energy producer Statkraft. This means that from 2022 onwards, the company will purchase electricity in Germany which comes exclusively from renewable sources. A green power supply contract ensures the purchase of electricity from renewable energy sources at all times.

    The CO2-free electricity from solar, wind and hydro sources is generated in various power plants, most of which are located in Germany. These include a part of a solar park with the size of 60 football pitches near Ingolstadt and 24 wind farms with a total of more than 200 wind turbines. The electricity generated from this is roughly equivalent to the amount consumed by 65,000 households annually. The intelligent mix is supplemented by electricity from flexible hydropower plants.

    Generation of green electricity is synchronized to follow patterns of consumption so that a supply from the grid with green electricity can be guaranteed on a quarter hourly basis. In many previous green power contracts, feed-in to the grid takes place purely on an annual balance basis. In 2018, Mercedes-Benz was the first major industrial customer in Germany to secure the long-term continued operation of six wind farms in northern Germany after the end of the EEG subsidy through a similar concept. The first Mercedes-Benz locations are already being supplied with this CO2-free electricity.

    In Germany, green electricity procurement is ensured not only for the passenger car production plants but for all Daimler locations. This also includes the German van, truck and bus plants as well as the central and administrative units – more than 100 locations in total. The company is thus making a significant contribution to the expansion of renewable energy in Germany and to the energy transition.

    With Ambition 2039, Mercedes-Benz is pursuing the goal of a fully connected and CO2 neutral vehicle fleet in 2039 – eleven years earlier than required by EU legislation. The company envisages that more than 50 percent of its passenger car unit sales will be accounted for by plug-in hybrids or all-electric vehicles by 2030.

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  • Citi Launches Hiring Spree in Hong Kong

    Citi Launches Hiring Spree in Hong Kong

    Citi will hire up to 1,700 for its Hong Kong unit, partly in anticipation of the upcoming Greater Bay Area opportunities.

    Citi will add 1,500 to 1,700 in Hong Kong, according to a report citing Hong Kong and Macau chief executive Angel Ng Yin-yee.

    The expansion follows a 44 percent surge from net new money in Hong Kong and revenue increases across business units, in contrast with the bank’s global financial performance.

    According to Ng, the majority of the new hires will be focused on frontline staff. In addition, Citi will also hire for middle and back-office roles in areas like product development, digital channel development and compliance.

    The bank plans to fill most of the positions this year and also boost tech spending by 28 percent.

    One of the major Greater Bay Area opportunities in the making is the ‘Wealth Management Connect’ scheme – a cross-border channel that will allow mainland residents of the 11-city cluster to invest in Hong Kong and Macau-based wealth management products.

    The scheme is currently being delayed due to the pandemic and Hong Kong officials have said the launch will wait until travel bans are lifted.

    According to Ng, she doesn’t expect the scheme to start with a «big bang» but instead grow gradually to reach multiples of the Hong Kong market.

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  • Popeyes takes aim at KFC’s hold on China

    Popeyes takes aim at KFC’s hold on China

    Popeyes has its sights set on China. On Monday, the American fried chicken chain officially announced that it would open its first China-based store right here in Shanghai sometime next year.

    But that’s just the beginning. Popeyes has big plans to become China’s most popular fried chicken joint. No easy feat considering KFC – the world’s most successful fried chicken brand – currently holds the top spot.

    “I think we can be the no.1 chicken brand here in China and all around Asia,” said Jose Cil, CEO of Restaurant Brands International (RBI).

    Popeyes aims to open 1,500 restaurants in China over the next 10 years. KFC currently has a whopping 6,300 branches in over 1,300 cities across the country.

    Popeyes is all the rage in the US right now, after its latest spicy fried chicken sandwich went viral. The sandwich proved to be so popular it sold out and was removed from the menu a few weeks later due to lack of supply.

    The good news is that the famous spicy chicken sandwich will be offered at the Shanghai branch. The bad news is you’ll just have to wait until 2020 to try it.

    Popeyes will be the last of RBI’s major brands to enter the Chinese market. Burger King and Tim Hortons have both proven to be immensely popular in China. Since 2012, Burger King has opened 1,100 stores in China and Tim Hortons has expanded to 28 stores in just one year.

    Hence, Popeyes lofty expectation to take on KFC here in China.

  • DHL Express To Deploy 89 EVs Produced By Lighting eMotors

    DHL Express To Deploy 89 EVs Produced By Lighting eMotors

    DHL has announced that it is expanding its green fleet in the US with the help of EV maker Lightning eMotors. It will acquire 89 more Lighting eMotors this year after a successful pilot run of nine EV vans. The DHL Green Fleet expansion is part of a larger sustainability roadmap launched by the DHL Group. It aims for the group to have zero emissions by 2050 in its logistics.

    “These new electric vans are designed to better serve DHL customers and help couriers to more efficiently and effectively deliver packages. At the same time, they are helping DHL to meet its commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve urban air quality, as well as reduce noise on the streets,” said DHL in a statement.

    Even outside the US, in Sweden, DHL Freight has teamed up with Volvo trucks. This comes back of the heels of the nine electric Ford Transit 350HD vans electrified by Lightning eMotors.

    Lightning eMotors is a Colorado-based EV maker that specializes in zero-emissions solutions for commercial fleets by designing, engineering, customizing, and manufacturing EVs to support a wide assortment of fleet customer needs. This even includes electric versions of class 3 cargo vans to class 8 motorhomes.

    These electric transit cargo vans can do 61 miles per gallon as opposed to 13 miles per gallon on a similar internal combustion engine vehicle. These vehicles also come with proprietary telematics and analytics software. This will also help DHL in route optimization, driver training and efficiencies.

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  • Harley-Davidson Pan America Production Begins

    Harley-Davidson Pan America Production Begins

    The Harley-Davidson Pan America has started rolling off the production line from Harley’s York, Pennsylvania Vehicle Operations Plant. And it’s soon to make its way not just across the Atlantic to Europe, but to India and the rest of Asia as well. Back in the US, the action around the Pan America is heating up. A new video released by Harley-Davidson shows the first few bikes rolling off the assembly line at the Pennsylvania plant. So, it may be sooner than the end of the year when we do get to see the Pan America in India, with Harley-Davidson restructuring its India business model with the collaboration with Hero MotoCorp.

    The H-D Pan America is powered by a 1,252 cc Revolution Max V-Twin which is first of its kind from the company. The engine is liquid-cooled and it makes 150 bhp at 9,000 rpm along with 127 Nm of peak torque at 6,750 rpm. The engine is paired to a 6-speed gearbox. Harley claims that the Pan America 1250 has a fuel efficiency of 48 miles per gallon or 20.4 kmpl. The Pan America will be available in two variants, Standard and Special. The Pan America 1250 Special gets semi-active suspension along with vehicle load control, tyre pressure monitoring system, standard centre stand, adjustable rear brake pedal, Aluminium skid-plate, heated hand grips, steering damper, adaptive ride height and tubeless spoked wheels. The colour options are different on both motorcycle variants as well.

    The most significant change on the Pan America Special though is the introduction of Adaptive Ride Height (ARH), which Harley-Davidson says is a first for any motorcycle. The system works by lowering the motorcycle when it comes to a stop. So, when the bike is being ridden, the seat height is normal 890 mm height, with unladen ground clearance of 175 mm. But the Adaptive Ride Height system will lower the seat height to 855 mm when the bike comes to a halt. And the ARH can also be optimised by settings through which the rider to suit his own needs.

    We expect the Harley-Davidson Pan America to be launched in India sometime in the second half of 2021. By our estimates, expect the standard model to be priced at around ₹ 20 lakh (Ex-showroom), while the Special variant will likely be priced upwards of ₹ 22 lakh (Ex-showroom).

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  • You’ll soon be able to save Instagram Stories as drafts

    You’ll soon be able to save Instagram Stories as drafts

    Post drafts have been part of Instagram for years, but the useful feature has never made its way to the app’s popular Stories section. Soon that will change, as Instagram itself announced on rival platform Twitter.

    Instead of being forced to choose between posting Stories immediately or saving them to your device for later, an upcoming Instagram update will add the option for all users to save Stories drafts inside the app.

    That means you’ll be able to take your photo or video, add the stickers and filters of your choice, and save the Story for later. When you come back to it, you’ll be able to post it straight away or make some more edits. Of course, scrapping the draft is always an option.

    Instagram hasn’t shown off the draft UI, but it didn’t have to. Mobile developer and leaker Alessandro Paluzzi uncovered the unreleased Stories draft feature and posted a screenshot on Twitter.

    The feature’s interface is, unsurprisingly, quite simple. Before exiting Stories, users will be given the option of discarding the post they’re working on or saving it inside the app as a draft.

    If you have some drafts saved, you’ll need to swipe up to open up the new drafts area. As with regular posts, it sits above the camera roll timeline.

  • Twitter might bring Facebook-style emoji reactions to Tweets

    Twitter might bring Facebook-style emoji reactions to Tweets

    Remember that controversial switch from Favorites to Likes on Twitter in 2015? Well, soon the social media platform could introduce another big change to the way people interact with Tweets, and this time it’ll to take some inspiration from Facebook.

    Twitter is considering the introduction of emoji-style reactions to Tweets. Users can only ‘heart’ tweets at the moment, but a feature like this one would let users react to Tweets with different emojis.

    LinkedIn and Facebook offer similar features on their platforms. Examples of their reactions include a laughing face emoji, a thumbs up, clapping hands, an angry face, a sad face, and a shocked face.

    Twitter still hasn’t made a final decision on the feature and has been surveying a select group of users this month about it, as shown in screenshots shared by users @jdm0079 and @WFBrother. It’s planned reactions include a heart, laughing face, thinking face, and a crying face.

    It has also proposed ‘awesome’ and ‘support’ reactions, in addition to ‘angry,’ ‘agree,’ and ‘disagree.’ In response to the surveys, a Twitter spokesperson said: “We’re exploring additional ways for people to express themselves in conversations happening on Twitter.”

    Twitter already offers a similar feature in the DMs section, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the company will move ahead with its plans to expand emoji reactions to Tweets. After all, some users might be put off by the idea of their Tweets being downvoted or laughed at, for example.

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  • Facebook tests new app for prisoner re-integration into society

    Facebook tests new app for prisoner re-integration into society

    Some Instagram users have caught on lately that parent company Facebook had something up its sleeve when they started seeing a strange notification in their feed titled “preparing for life after prison with community support.”

    It turns out Facebook has been experimenting with a brand new app concept called Re-Entry, whose sole purpose is to facilitate released prisoners’ re-integration into normal society. Although Facebook quickly removed the notification from public view, admitting that it was only meant for internal testing, we know that they are at least considering a potentially useful re-socialization system for ex-prisoners.

    This is a product of Facebook’s Equity Team, which was founded last year for the purpose of supporting marginalized communities through the platform and challenging racial bias, among other things. In an ambitious blog post announcement back in September last year, Instagram head Adam Mosseri laid out his hopes for the new team, calling for better inclusivity, algorithm fairness, and eliminating bias, harassment, and hate in Instagram’s future.
    The Equity team will focus on creating fair and equitable products. This includes working with Facebook’s Responsible AI team to ensure algorithmic fairness. In addition, they’ll create new features that respond to the needs of underserved communities.
    Whether we will ever see Re-Entry published in app stores or not, it’s a commendable initiative on Instagram’s part, as the difficulty of starting a new life in a new community can seem like an insurmountable challenge for many former inmates.
    On a side note, we also found out recently that Mosseri is heading the development of an “Instagram for Kids,” following in the footsteps of Facebook’s Messenger Kids created back in 2017. Instagram is certainly pushing lately towards expanding its user base and reaching out to new groups.
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  • Enterprise spending on cloud surged to almost $130 bln in 2020

    Enterprise spending on cloud surged to almost $130 bln in 2020

    According to the findings of Synergy Research Group, enterprises are continuing to spend heavily on cloud infrastructure. In fact, this spending grew by 35% in 2020 to reach almost $130 billion.

    On the other hand, enterprise spending on data center hardware and software dropped by 6% to under $90 billion. “This continued a decade-long trend of explosive growth in cloud and virtual stagnation in the market for enterprise-owned data center equipment,” stated Synergy.

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the shift in worldwide IT operations is observed. In detail, the average annual spending growth for data centers was just 2%, while for cloud services it was 52%. Cloud services include infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and hosted private cloud.

    “Over the last 10 years, we have seen a dramatic increase in computer capabilities, increasingly sophisticated enterprise applications, and an explosion in the amount of data being generated and processed, resulting in an ever-growing need for data center capacity. However, 60% of the servers now being sold are going into cloud providers’ data centers and not those of enterprises,” said John Dinsdale, a chief analyst at Synergy Research Group. “We do not expect to see such a drastic reduction in spending on enterprise data centers over the next five years, but for sure we will continue to see aggressive cloud growth over that period.”

    Within the $130 billion cloud infrastructure services market, the major segments with the highest growth rates over the decade were mainly within PaaS, especially database, Internet of Things (IoT), and data analytics. In line with this, the IaaS share of the total market held reasonably steady while managed private cloud service share declined somewhat.

    In 2020, worldwide spending on enterprise data center hardware and software was $89 billion. The major segments with the highest growth rates over the decade were virtualization software, Ethernet switches, and network security. Overall, the server share remained steady while storage share declined.

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  • Outgoing OCBC CEO Named as Board Advisor

    Outgoing OCBC CEO Named as Board Advisor

    OCBC outgoing group chief executive will maintain ties with the Singaporean lender as an advisor to the board.

    Samuel Tsien has been appointed advisor to the board upon retirement from his CEO role on April 15, according to a regulatory filing.

    Tsien will be succeeded by former Greater China CEO at HSBC Helen Wong who rejoins after first starting her banking career with OCBC in 1984.

    Tsien will also step down from his role as chairman of the Association of Banks in Singapore in April.

  • AirAsia to swap stock for full ownership of loyalty programme

    AirAsia to swap stock for full ownership of loyalty programme

    Malaysia’s AirAsia Group and Aimia Holdings UK II have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a $25 million stock-swap deal, for the latter’s 20% equity interest in the airline group’s loyalty program.

    The parties inked a share sale and purchase agreement for Aimia to sell 1.67 million ordinary shares in BigLife to AirAsia Group for a $25 million consideration. This will be satisfied by 85.9 million new ordinary shares in AirAsia Group, issued at MYR1.20 ($0.29) each, the company said in a 22 March Bursa Malaysia disclosure.

    AirAsia Group and Aimia Holdings UK II have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a $25 million stock-swap deal, for the latter’s 20% equity interest in the airline group’s loyalty program.

    If it materializes, the deal will increase Aimia’s stake in AirAsia Group to approximately 3.1%, the investment holding company said in a separate, same-day statement.

    AirAsia Group recently raised over MYR330 billion for short-term cash needs, from a private placement of 470 million new shares. These were issued across two tranches in February and March, at MYR0.675 and MYR0.865 per share, respectively.

    A stock exchange filing shows the company had over 3.8 billion issued shares as at 17 March, upon the conclusion of the private placement, with MYR8.36 billion in issued share capital.

    Under the MoU with Aimia, the consideration shares issued by AirAsia Group will rank pari passu with existing shares at the point of completion. The issue price reflects the company’s recent volume-weighted average market prices and represents a 0.84% premium over the last close on 19 March, before the signing of the MoU.

    AirAsia Group states that the purchase consideration takes into account, among others, a 2014 valuation that Aimia paid for its initial stake, which put a 100% equity interest in BigLife at $109 million.

    The MoU is governed by the laws of Malaysia, AirAsia Group states. The terms have yet to be finalized.

    While the company can execute the MoU without shareholder or regulatory approval, the requisite resolutions to complete the deal will need to be passed at a general meeting. Issue of the consideration shares is subject to approval by AirAsia Group shareholders as well as Bursa Malaysia.

    The remaining 80% stake in BigLife is held by AirAsia Digital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AirAsia Group.

    The company states in its filing: “BigLife is principally engaged in the business of managing customer loyalty schemes whilst its subsidiaries are involved in the marketing and distribution of loyalty programs.”

    It envisages greater synergies across the group from full ownership of BigLife, which it says will give it better control of the entity.

  • CIMB Restructuring Sees Lay-Offs in Singapore

    CIMB Restructuring Sees Lay-Offs in Singapore

    The Malaysian lender is revising its strategy to emphasise sustainable growth, in line with the group’s vision to be a «leading focused Asean bank.»

    CIMB Singapore is laying off staff and will close its Orchard Road branch as part of a restructuring exercise, which will see it optimise its functional set-up and leverage its group strengths through regionalization.

    These will make us more resilient, more productive and better positioned for growth going forward,» CIMB Singapore chief executive Victor Lee said in an internal memo.

    CIMB Singapore will be positioned as an Asean banking hub for the group, with a focus on wealth management, SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) banking, regional corporates and treasury and markets. According to the report, the bank had 1,200 staff in Singapore. Only its Raffles Place branch will remain following the exercise.

    Singapore is a core and important market to the CIMB Group, and we will continue to invest in our key growth areas, CIMB Singapore said in a statement.

    The bank let go of three of its business heads in Singapore in November 2020, following a review of its operations that cited the poor performance brought about by the pandemic.

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  • “Memory” feature for Google Assistant is being tested

    “Memory” feature for Google Assistant is being tested

    Some new features are being created by Google for the latter’s Assistant virtual helper. While the original version of Assistant was designed to work with voice commands, eventually smart display-styled visuals were included and now Google wants Assistant to take advantage of the smartphone’s form factor to help improve the virtual assistant. Google is reportedly working on a feature for Assistant called “Memory.”

    Memory is “an easy, quick way to save and find everything in one place” says Google and the tech giant gave four examples of what this feature brings to the table. Any screen content can be saved to “Memory” including links to original sources. Additionally, real-world stuff such as objects, posters, and handwritten notes can be saved to Memories along with thoughts and reminders. And all of this information can be found over and over again in the same place offering smart search and organization.

    Google says that “Memory can save: articles, books, contacts, events, flights, hotels, images, movies, music, notes, photos, places, playlists, products, recipes, reminders, restaurants, screenshots, shipments, TV shows, videos, and websites. You store things using a verbal Google Assistant command or home screen shortcut. Memory will be smart about preserving the surrounding context. For example, it can include screenshots, URLs, and location.”

    Afterward, everything is viewable in a new “Memory” feed that is found alongside Snapshot. There are special cards that surface when you save content from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawing, Forms, Sites, and other uploaded Drive files.

    As Google notes, “Memory is an easy, quick way to save and find everything in one place.” Saved in reverse chronological order, Google will display cards with “older memories” and memories from “today.” Swiping inward from either bottom corner will open Assistant. And thanks to a shortcut, Memory is always just a tap away.

  • Qualcomm supports SoftBank’s fastest-ever 5G mmWave in Japan

    Qualcomm supports SoftBank’s fastest-ever 5G mmWave in Japan

    Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced that SoftBank Corp. has launched its 5G millimeter (mmWave) service in Japan – using devices based on Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 5G Mobile Platforms and Modem-RF Systems. 5G mmWave allows Japanese users to enjoy the fastest possible multi-Gigabit download speeds in the country. Along with the launch, SoftBank is making the “Pocket WiFi 5G A004ZT” 5G mmWave mobile hotspot available for sale. All initial 5G mmWave-compatible mobile devices in SoftBank’s portfolio, including soon-to-be announced 5G smartphones, are expected to be powered by Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G mmWave products.

    The deployment of 5G mmWave is critical to unleashing the full potential of 5G and addressing the massive increase in mobile data demand. 5G mmWave allows leading operators such as SoftBank to take advantage of the large amount of spectrum resources available in higher bands, enabling them to deliver the world’s fastest multi-gigabit cellular speeds and low latency connectivity.

    5G mmWave is also a cost-effective way for mobile operators to increase the network capacity needed to meet the increasing demand for data in dense urban, fixed wireless access and enterprise environments – with savings up to 35% in total cost of ownership compared to sole use of sub-6 GHz bands.

    “5G mmWave is critical for mobile operators to stay competitive and to realize the full potential of 5G to transform many industries,” said Francesco Grilli, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Japan is at the forefront in deploying the most advanced 5G technologies such as mmWave, and we are honored by working with SoftBank to bring the fastest mobile experiences to Japanese consumers and businesses.”

    “SoftBank is pleased to collaborate with Qualcomm Technologies and use its leading 5G mmWave technology to offer world-class 5G service to our subscribers,” said Keigo Sugano, senior vice president, head of product division, SoftBank Corp. “We look forward to continuing our long-standing collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies to support Japan’s growth and leadership using the most advanced wireless innovations.”

    This announcement follows SoftBank’s commercial launch of 5G Sub-6 GHz service with smartphones powered by Snapdragon 5G Mobile Platforms in March 2020. The commercial launch of 5G mmWave significantly strengthens SoftBank’s 5G network capabilities, with more mmWave capable mobile devices to be launched going forward.