Dubai grants crypto exchange Binance a virtual asset licence

DUBAI - The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been granted a licence to conduct some operations in Dubai, the company said, from where it plans to carry out regional business.

The awarding of the Virtual Asset Licence from Dubai's recently formed Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) comes after Gulf neighbor Bahrain on Tuesday awarded Binance a crypto-asset service provider licence, its first such licence from a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country. Read full story

"Binance will be permitted to extend limited exchange products and services to pre-qualified investors and professional financial service providers. All licensed VARA service providers will be monitored progressively to open access to the retail market," Binance said in a statement.

The crypto company will also anchor a blockchain technology hub in the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), it said.

Financial regulators across the world have targeted Binance, with some banning the platform from certain activities and others warning consumers that it was not licensed to operate in their jurisdictions. 

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Gulf region's financial capital, has been pushing to develop the virtual asset sector and regulation to attract new forms of business as regional economic competition heats up.

Dubai, one of the UAE's seven emirates, last week adopted its first law governing virtual assets and established VARA as a regulator to oversee the sector.

Binance said in December it was working with DWTC to help set up an international virtual asset ecosystem in Dubai and assist with the development of virtual asset regulations.

"Binance will be able to operate its regional business from Dubai in the newly announced regulatory ecosystem that is subject to comprehensive legislation and internationally applicable policy frameworks," DWTC Authority Director General Helal Saeed Almarri said.

-reuters-

Apple adding privacy fact labels to App Store items

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Apple on Monday began adding labels that reveal what user data is gathered by games, chat or other software offered in the App Store for its popular mobile devices.

The iPhone maker announced plans for such "privacy labels" when it first unveiled the new version of its iOS mobile operating system, which it released in September.

"App Store product pages will feature summaries of developers' self-reported privacy practices, displayed in a simple, easy-to-read format," Apple said in a blog post when iOS 14 launched.

"Starting early next year, all apps will be required to obtain user permission before tracking."

Apple began pushing out the labels on Monday, with the rule applying to new apps for iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Mac computers.

The labels will contain information provided by developers when they submit apps for approval to appear on the App Store's virtual shelves, according to the Silicon Valley-based company.

Apple last week began requiring developers to submit privacy information for use in labels.

"Apple recently required that all apps distributed via their App Store display details designed to show people how their data may be used," Facebook-owned smartphone messaging service WhatsApp said in a blog post explaining what data the app gathers.

"We must collect some information to provide a reliable global communications service."

The aim, according to Apple, is for users to be able to easily see and understand what apps do with their data, from lists of contacts to where they are.

Data types added to labels will include tracking in order to target advertising or sharing with data brokers, as well as information that could reveal user identity.

Apple and Android mobile operating systems provide tools for controlling the kinds of data apps can access once they are installed.

Agence France-Presse

Apple’s app war needs peace

Your tween might be freaking out that she can’t play a new “Fortnite” video game on her iPhone. Or maybe you’ve heard that Spotify, Tinder, Facebook and a small email company are fuming about how Apple treats their apps.

Apple has an iron grip on what apps people can download on their iPhones, and some app makers are complaining loudly about this arrangement as well as the fees that Apple collects from some apps.

This feels like an intractable standoff, with app users caught in the middle. But there are nuts-and-bolts changes that Apple could make to tackle the bureaucracy, unpredictability and unfairness of the app world.

These changes won’t end all of these conflicts, which are starting to deprive people of apps or make them confusing and expensive to use. But the app system could be made better even without a truce.

I asked for ideas on how Apple could improve the app store from Jacob Eiting, a founder of RevenueCat, which helps app makers design in-app purchases and knows what drives developers crazy.

Specify how developers can fix rejected apps: 

Apple says yes or no to each new iPhone app or app update, based on the company’s 12,700-word app rule book — not including addendums.

Eiting said developers sometimes get rejection letters that simply recite a portion of Apple’s rules. He said it would be more helpful if Apple’s staff offered specific suggestions for what developers could change — sometimes as minor as tweaking a menu — to get the app approved.

Improve Apple’s payments technology:

Eiting said it could take weeks or longer for app makers to write software that links their app to Apple’s proprietary system for people to pay for stuff with a fingerprint or face scan. Creating software hookups with other payments technology is much simpler, he said.

Clarify the gray zone:

Apple has two categories of app purchases: When you buy something virtual, like an e-book, Apple collects from the app maker a fee of up to 30 percent on the purchase. When you buy something to use in the real world, like a physical book or an Uber ride, Apple doesn’t charge a fee.

But an increasing number of apps offer services that are somewhere between real and virtual — personal training or cooking classes conducted over an app, for example.

Eiting said Apple needed to clarify when the company would assess commissions on apps that offer these hybrid activities. Confusion over this question is stopping some apps before they even start, he said.

Consider an independent app review:

There are inevitable questions about conflict of interest between app makers and Apple’s own apps that compete with them. The founders of Blix, an email app maker that has fought with Apple, suggested to me that Apple create an independent app review process to make sure it isn’t unfairly punishing rival apps.

Apple has in the past made changes to its app system to respond to developers’ complaints, and the company told me it’s always open to more. Any tweaks, though, won’t go as far as some app makers want: essentially, to blow up Apple’s control over what apps are allowed on people’s iPhones.

But it’s still possible to revamp the app system in ways that could bring more calm for Apple, developers and our smartphone-dependent lives.

-Shira Ovide, The New York Times-

Shares in WeChat parent plunge 10 percent after Trump issues ban order

HONG KONG - Shares in the parent of Chinese social media giant WeChat tanked in Hong Kong on Friday after United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning Americans from doing business with the platform, citing national security concerns.

Tencent plunged as much as 10 percent in morning trade before paring losses and ending the session down 6.75 percent at HK$518.00, dragging the broader Hang Seng Index down more than two percent.

The sweeping restrictions on the firm, which come into effect in 45 days, also cover ByteDance, the owner of popular app TikTok. 

The move wiped almost $50 billion off Tencent's market capitalization, with the firm having surged about 70 percent since March as global tech titans benefited from stay-at-home orders aimed at containing the coronavirus.

It also adds to a laundry list of issues that have ratcheted up tensions between the superpowers, including Hong Kong, Huawei and the spread of the virus.

"The US government is expected to follow up with more measures targeting Tencent," Steven Leung, at UOB Kay Hian (Hong Kong), said.

"Tencent's overseas expansion map now looks a bit uncertain, since some M&A deals, especially if its targets are based in the US, will face challenges."

The move rippled around Asian markets, with investors concerned about increasingly bitter relations between the economic titans that some fear could lead to a renewal of their painful trade war.

Officials from both sides are due to meet next Saturday to review a trade deal signed earlier this year.

"Apart from the obvious fallout to Tencent and ByteDance, Washington DC's moves are sure to ratchet up geopolitical tensions with Beijing once again," said OANDA's Jeffrey Halley.

- With reports from Bloomberg News 

Agence France-Presse

TikTok gave rural Indian women fame, fun and more

NEW DELHI - When India banned TikTok, it closed a window to the wider world for legions of women outside the big cities that provided fun, fame and even fortune.

The government outlawed the video-sharing platform, and 58 other Chinese apps, this month citing data security fears.

TikTok is also reportedly under greater scrutiny elsewhere including in the United States and Australia.

Married soon after she completed college, 27-year-old stay-at-home mother Mamta Verma lives in a small town in Madhya Pradesh state.

One day, her daughter got her to install TikTok on her phone to watch the dizzying array of zany videos uploaded from across what used to be the app's biggest international market.

Instagram and YouTube are for "the big people", Verma told AFP by phone, but TikTok she liked.

She started to record and upload videos of her own.

"I started with five likes on my first video. That was a big boost for me," Verma said.

Soon, she had more than a million followers and was earning about 4,000 rupees ($50) per video with her slick robot dance routines shot inside her small, simple home.

"It's not a lot but my earnings from TikTok helped in running the house and also in managing finances for the new house. You know even 10 rupees is a huge amount for us," she said.

Breaking a glass ceiling

But it wasn't just the money.

"Before TikTok, I didn't have the confidence to talk to people. I would just do my work, and as a stay-at-home wife I never made eye contact with people or even spoke much," Verma said.

Speaking a vast number of languages and dialects, around 70 percent of India's 1.3 billion people live in rural areas, a world away from big cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi.

Amitabh Kumar from Social Media Matters, a group encouraging "social media for social change", said that for many people in this huge hinterland, TikTok was a "glass ceiling breaker".

"Instead of Bollywood and rich people, finally there was a chance for common people to create something in 15 seconds which makes you laugh or cry or think or engage," he told AFP.

Its different tools were simple to use for those who don't speak or read English or Hindi, and the app worked well on low-speed internet.

"Twitter cracked the short-form storytelling in text -- with 140 and then 280 (characters). I think TikTok did it with 15 seconds," he added.

And it reminded the urban elite of India's vast diversity and chasmic differences in wealth.

"What we, people sitting in Delhi, probably judged and made fun of was high-class entertainment for a lot of people who never got a chance to express themselves," he said.

"Here was for the first time a space that rural India was enjoying."

'Not a big person'

Another minor star was Rupali Manoj Bhandole, 29, a housewife and mother who left school at 14 living in a small town in Maharashtra state that gets piped water for an hour a day and endures frequent power cuts.

She would upload videos of herself poking fun at her weak economic status -- and soon amassed 300,000 followers.

"A person who works with a Marathi TV show called me a star... I can't tell you happy I felt," she told AFP.

"I only studied until Class 9. I'm not a big person."

Bhandole said she wept when TikTok was banned.

Conservative family

Archana Arvind Dhormise hopes the benefits she derived from the platform will last.

The 35-year-old from Pimpalgaon in Maharashtra seldom left home for fear of censure from her conservative family and neighbours.

But then the home beautician became the "Rani Mukherji of TikTok" -- a reference to a famous Bollywood actress -- dancing and miming to famous songs, and gaining 75,000 fans.

She won a local competition for one of her TikTok videos. Now she has landed a part in a short film.

"I had never in my life gone up on stage and spoken or even initiated a conversation without having a million thoughts in my head," Dhormise told AFP.

"But being on TikTok and seeing all the love I was getting gave me the confidence to keep that going, and also be confident in the real world."

Agence France-Presse

Puregold expands online grocery footprint for new normal

MANILA - Puregold Price Club Inc said Wednesday it would expand its online grocery service as consumers take their purchases online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At least 100 Puregold stores from the current 40 stores on its mobile app will offer online shopping by the end of 2020, the supermarket chain operator said in a statement.

"This will provide our shoppers better convenience especially now that travel is limited due to quarantine," Puregold said.

Puregold in January launched its mobile app where consumers can order and pay for grocery items anytime, anywhere. Paid items are available for pickup in designated lanes, skipping long lines, the operator earlier said.

The group reported consolidated core net income of P6.75 billion in 2019, up 16 percent compared to the P5.82 billion the previous year.

As of December, Puregold has 436 stores nationwide.

news.abs-cbn.com

The virtual doctor is in: Contactless consultations in the time of COVID-19

MANILA -- Her finger painful and swollen, Yazhmin Malajito tapped on her smartphone for a cure, mindful that she needs to stay at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. In a few minutes, a doctor told her exactly what she needed to do.

The doctor on the app sent a prescription for antibiotics via email and instructed her to go to the hospital for a minor procedure. The 23-year-old copywriter recalled opening the app at around 10:30 p.m. and had a response from a nurse in 10 minutes.

"Di ko na kaya ‘yung pain at iba na appearance ng finger ko. I wanted to go to a hospital kahit risky, but I remembered an email from our HR about this virtual doctor nga,” Malajito said.

(I can't take the pain anymore and my finger's appearance is different)

"Parang nasa ospital lang, except walang personal interaction (it was just like I was in a hospital, except there was no personal interaction)," she said.

Like groceries, food and services affected by the lockdown, healthcare is being delivered online, offering millions under home quarantine to see a doctor, albeit on their smartphones.

Malajito said the online consult cost P450 and it was covered by her health card.

VIRTUAL DOCTORS

Despite being around for years, apps that offer virtual consultations gained wider traction due to the Luzon lockdown, MEDIFI CEO and co-founder Jay Fajardo told ABS-CBN News.

MEDIFI, a telehealth platform that connects doctors and patients remotely, was launched in 2015 to relieve the "overburdened" healthcare system. It's new version went online last November 2019, Fajardo said.

Users and doctors on the platform grew "exponentially" after the enhanced community quarantine was announced, he said. The app now has 1,280 doctors and 6,261 patients with over 300 daily sign-ups.

Currently, the app caters to over 120 consultations per day, he said.

"The benefits of telehealth, which had so far been mere theoretical in the past 5 years, were now made apparent by the limits a total lockdown posed on traditional doctor patient consultations," Fajardo said.

"We did indeed experience an exponential surge because of the quarantine," he added.

Patients need to choose a doctor on the app based on specialization and their consultation fees. Once confirmed, virtual consultations can be done through chat and video calls with media, document sharing and e-prescriptions, Fajardo said.

"By being able to choose the doctors based on their economic capacity, we’re able to serve a wider market, even those who have long been hesitant to tap healthcare services because of cost," he said.

There has been a surge in use by millennials like Malajito, which could be due to their "being in the sweet spot of being the market for healthcare while possessing progressive attitudes toward technology," Fajardo said. 

The app has seen higher volumes of requests for Pediatrics and OB-Gyn consultations, Fajardo said.

Although there is a confidentiality clause, they observed requests for pulmonary specialists which could be triggered by respiratory illnesses related to COVID-19, he said.

It took a coronavirus pandemic for Malajito and for the other Filipinos to trust virtual consultations.

"Nakakakaba kasi (it's scary) what if the doctor didn't really understand my problem? What if photos weren't enough? Swerte lang 'yung condition ko in a way kasi pwedeng mapicturan...Super thankful for these apps and the frontliners behind them. They're medical professionals after all," she said.

Due to e-commerce and online payments, more and more Filipinos are becoming confident to use telehealth services, Fajardo said. 

"The key word now is convenience and the time is right for MEDIFI to provide the same experience as these services, with a keen focus on healthcare," Fajardo said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Plague simulation game tops App Store gaming charts amid virus scare

MANILA -- Plague Inc., a game that recently went viral amid the global spread of the novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV, topped Apple's App Store gaming charts as of Thursday. 

This, despite reminders from the game developers that the game was "not a scientific model" to follow amid the global outbreak. 

The gaming app -- which allows players to create a pathogen in an effort to destroy the world with a deadly plague -- took over the top spot as Apple's "Top Paid" game, followed by NBA 2k20.

UK-based independent games studio Ndemic Creations previously said it has seen a trend in increase of players when a disease spreads across the world. 

However, it has also advised against "sensationalizing real-world issues" such as the global spread of the virus and recommended that players get information directly from local and global health authorities.

"We specifically designed the game to be realistic and informative, while not sensationalizing serious real-world issues. This has been recognized by the CDC and other leading medical organizations around the world," the developers said in a statement. 


The death toll from the Wuhan coronavirus has jumped past 500 and confirmed infections piled to around 30,000. 

Local health authorities have also reiterated that majority of those infected with the virus recover from the illness. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Apple unveils revamped map app to challenge Google

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple on Thursday said it has finished rolling out an overhauled map app in the US in another attempt to challenge Google's popular smartphone navigation software.

Apple spent years rebuilding the application, its cars traveling millions of miles to map roads, after a version launched in 2012 was so problematic it prompted a rare public apology from chief executive Tim Cook.

Mapping programs on mobile devices is seen as a way to stay in tune with smartphone lifestyles and pursue opportunities to make money connecting people with nearby offerings such as restaurants, theaters, clothing shops and other businesses.

Apple said the redesigned "Maps" program is fast, accurate, and comprehensive, even weaving in transit options in some locations.

Maps is to begin rolling out in Europe in coming months.

"We set out to create the best and most private maps app on the planet that is reflective of how people explore the world today," Apple senior vice president of internet software and services Eddy Cue said in a release.

"It is an effort we are deeply invested in and required that we rebuild the map from the ground up to re-imagine how Maps enhances people’s lives — from navigating to work or school or planning an important vacation — all with privacy at its core."

Apple Maps had some features similar to those in Google Maps, such as pictures of locations taken at street level and artificial intelligence to check the status of flight reservations noted in email boxes or on calendars.

As with other products, Apple stressed work done to protect user privacy, such as obscuring search terms, routing, and other data, according to the company.


Agence France-Presse 

Tinder unveils 'panic button' for emergency response

WASHINGTON - Tinder announced Thursday that US users would soon have a "panic button" to alert authorities to potentially dangerous situations as part of a stepped up safety initiative by the popular dating app.

A new feature unveiled by Tinder will allow users to opt into the personal safety app Noonlight, which connects users to personal emergency services.

A Tinder spokesperson said the feature would roll out in the coming days in the United States and connect users to "trained dispatchers who contact authorities on behalf of the user."

The new safety feature "acts as a silent bodyguard in situations when you're alone or meeting someone for the first time," said Brittany LeComte, co-founder of Noonlight.

Tinder is also adding photo verification, to compare using artificial intelligence a posed photo taken in real-time to profile photos.

Members with authenticated pictures will get a "badge" that verifies their images are authentic. The photo feature is being tested "in select markets" and will be widely available later this year.

Tinder, known for giving users the option to "swipe" right or left to accept or reject a date, is the largest of the apps in Match Group, operating in 190 countries, claiming to facilitate one million dates per week.

To help allay concerns on personal risks, Tinder said it is launching a safety center within the app to keep users informed of its resources.

This feature is being launched in the United States, Britain, France and Germany and will be "localized" for additional markets throughout the year.

Tinder and its online dating siblings including PlentyOfFish, OkCupid and Hinge, which make up the Match Group, will be spun off as an independent company this year, according to parent firm IAC.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Grindr, Tinder spread personal details, study says

Popular dating services like Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder are spreading user information like dating choices and precise location to advertising and marketing companies in ways that may violate privacy laws, according to a new report that examined some of the world’s most downloaded Android apps.

Grindr, the world’s most popular gay dating app, transmitted user-tracking codes and the app’s name to more than a dozen companies, essentially tagging individuals with their sexual orientation, according to the report, which was released Tuesday by the Norwegian Consumer Council, a government-funded nonprofit organization in Oslo.

Grindr also sent a user’s location to multiple companies, which may then share that data with many other businesses, the report said. When The New York Times tested Grindr’s Android app, it shared precise latitude and longitude information with 5 companies.

The researchers also reported that the OkCupid app sent a user’s ethnicity and answers to personal profile questions — like “Have you used psychedelic drugs?" — to a firm that helps companies tailor marketing messages to users. The Times found that the OkCupid site had recently posted a list of more than 300 advertising and analytics “partners” with which it may share users’ information.

“Any consumer with an average number of apps on their phone — anywhere between 40 and 80 apps — will have their data shared with hundreds or perhaps thousands of actors online,” said Finn Myrstad, the digital policy director for the Norwegian Consumer Council, who oversaw the report.

The report, “Out of Control: How Consumers Are Exploited by the Online Advertising Industry,” adds to a growing body of research exposing a vast ecosystem of companies that freely track hundreds of millions of people and peddle their personal information. This surveillance system enables scores of businesses, whose names are unknown to many consumers, to quietly profile individuals, target them with ads and try to sway their behavior.

The report appears just two weeks after California put into effect a broad new consumer privacy law. Among other things, the law requires many companies that trade consumers’ personal details for money or other compensation to allow people to easily stop the spread of their information.

In addition, regulators in the European Union are stepping up enforcement of their own data protection law, which prohibits companies from collecting personal information on religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sex life and other sensitive subjects without a person’s explicit consent.

The Norwegian group said it planned to file complaints Tuesday asking regulators in Oslo to investigate Grindr and 5 ad tech companies for possible violations of the European data protection law. A coalition of consumer groups in the US said it was also sending letters to American regulators, including the attorney general of California, urging them to investigate whether the companies’ practices violated federal and state laws.

In a statement, the Match Group, which owns OkCupid and Tinder, said it worked with outside companies to assist with providing services and shared only specific user data deemed necessary for those services. Match added that it complied with privacy laws and had strict contracts with vendors to ensure the security of users’ personal data.

In a statement, Grindr said it had not received a copy of the report and could not comment specifically on the content. Grindr added that it valued users’ privacy, had put safeguards in place to protect their personal information and described its data practices — and users’ privacy options — in its privacy policy

The report examines how developers embed software from ad tech companies into their apps to track users’ app use and real-life locations, a common practice. To help developers place ads in their apps, ad tech companies may spread users’ information to advertisers, personalized marketing services, location data brokers and ad platforms.

The personal data that ad software extracts from apps is typically tied to a user-tracking code that is unique for each mobile device. Companies use the tracking codes to build rich profiles of people over time across multiple apps and sites. But even without their real names, individuals in such data sets may be identified and located in real life.

For the report, the Norwegian Consumer Council hired Mnemonic, a cybersecurity firm in Oslo, to examine how ad tech software extracted user data from 10 popular Android apps. The findings suggest that some companies treat intimate information, like sexual orientation or drug habits, no differently from more innocuous information, like favorite foods.

Among other things, the researchers found that Tinder sent a user’s gender and the gender the user was looking to date to two marketing firms.

The researchers did not test iPhone apps. Settings on both Android phones and iPhones enable users to limit ad tracking.

The group’s findings illustrate how challenging it would be for even the most intrepid consumers to track and hinder the spread of their personal information.

Grindr’s app, for instance, includes software from MoPub, Twitter’s ad service, which can collect the app’s name and a user’s precise device location, the report said. MoPub in turn says it may share user data with more than 180 partner companies. One of those partners is an ad tech company owned by AT&T, which may share data with more than 1,000 “third-party providers.”

In a statement, Twitter said: “We are currently investigating this issue to understand the sufficiency of Grindr’s consent mechanism. In the meantime, we have disabled Grindr’s MoPub account.”

AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The spread of users’ location and other sensitive information could present particular risks to people who use Grindr in countries, like Qatar and Pakistan, where consensual same-sex sexual acts are illegal.

This is not the first time that Grindr has faced criticism for spreading its users’ information. In 2018, another Norwegian nonprofit group found that the app had been broadcasting users’ HIV status to 2 mobile app service companies. Grindr subsequently announced that it had stopped the practice.

The report’s findings also raise questions about the extent to which businesses are complying with the new California privacy law. The law requires many companies that benefit from trading consumers’ personal details to prominently post a “Do Not Sell My Data” option, allowing people to stop the spread of their information.

But Grindr’s stance challenges that idea. By agreeing to its policy, its site says, users “are directing us to disclose” their personal information “and, therefore, Grindr does not sell your personal data.”

Myrstad said many consumers were comfortable sharing their data with apps they trusted. “But this study clearly shows that many apps abuse that trust,” he said. “Authorities need to enforce the rules we have, and if they are not good enough, we have to make better rules.”


2020 The New York Times Company

source: news.abs-cbn.com

SoftBank's Yahoo Japan to merge with Line app operator

TOKYO - Japan's Z Holdings, formerly Yahoo Japan, will merge with mobile chat app operator Line, the firms said Monday, in a bid to boost the customer base for their digital services.

Mobile operator SoftBank Corp, the parent of Z Holdings (ZHD), and South Korea's Naver, Line's parent company, agreed the merger of ZHD and Line, SoftBank and Naver said in a joint statement.

Line will be delisted after SoftBank and Naver make a tender offer, with the merger expected to happen in October 2020.

The decision "aims to bring together the business resources of the ZHD Group and the LINE Group, which have overwhelming user bases and abundant assets in Japan, to provide a convenient experience to users in Japan," the statement said.

SoftBank also plans to invest in expanding into new business areas and "aims to be a leading company that is a driving force across Japan, Asia and worldwide."

The merger "will be conducted on an equal basis by ZHD and LINE with the aim of forming a business group that can overcome fierce domestic and global competition" and the newly integrated company will implement "business investment targeting growth in the areas of AI, commerce, Fintech, advertising" among others, it said.

The final price for the tender offer is still under discussion.

SoftBank Corp. a mobile unit of telecom and investment giant SoftBank Group, holds a 44-percent stake in Z Holdings, while Line is controlled by Naver.

Line was launched in 2011 after Japan's quake-tsunami disaster damaged telecoms infrastructure.

It combines features from Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp with games and a mobile payment service.

SoftBank and Line have increasingly competed in fields such as digital payments, while both firms have also been investing in artificial intelligence to improve their services.

Shares in SoftBank Corp were trading down 0.46 percent at 1,501 yen and its parent SoftBank Group was up 0.82 percent at 4,295 yen in early trade.

Shares in ZHD were up 1.43 percent at 423 yen and Line trading up 2.57 percent at 5,179 yen.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US opens national security probe of Chinese-owned app TikTok: report

The US government has opened a national security investigation into the Chinese-owned video app TikTok, the New York Times reported Friday.

The report, citing anonymous sources, said the review by an intergovernmental panel may be looking into whether the app, popular for its music videos, was sending data to China.

The investigation is led by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government panel that reviews acquisitions in the United States by foreign companies, the report said.

The news comes after lawmakers called for a review of the national security risks of TikTok, warning it could be used for spying by Beijing.

A review could look into the acquisition in 2017 of TikTok, which at the time was known as Musical.ly, by Beijing-based ByteDance.

The deal gave the Chinese company the app, which has been popular with youth for homemade karaoke videos and which now has an estimated 500 million users worldwide.

Senator Marco Rubio welcomed news about the review.

"Last month I asked @USTreasury to conduct a CFIUS review of @tiktok_us," Rubio tweeted.

"Because any platform owned by a company in #China which collects massive amounts of data on Americans is a potential serious threat to our country."

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Senator Tom Cotton last week suggested that TikTok's owner ByteDance could be forced to share user information with Chinese intelligence.

"With over 110 million downloads in the US alone, TikTok is a potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore," the two senators said in a letter to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.

The senators also warned that TikTok could potentially be used to influence voters in next year's election in the same way Russians manipulated US social media in the 2016 campaign.

Queried by AFP, TikTok said it could not comment on any regulatory matter but noted that it "has made clear that we have no higher priority than earning the trust of users and regulators in the US."

Last week, TikTok sought to distance itself from China, saying "we are not influenced by any foreign government, including the Chinese government."

The company's data centers are located outside China and "none of our data is subject to Chinese law," it said.

The US Treasury, which coordinates CFIUS reviews, said it could not comment on whether or not a review was in the works.

"By law, information filed with CFIUS may not be disclosed by CFIUS to the public," a Treasury spokesman said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

California launches earthquake early warning system it calls best in world

LOS ANGELES - California rolled out the nation's first statewide earthquake warning system on Thursday, designed to detect seismic waves and alert residents through a mobile phone app even before the ground starts shaking.

Governor Gavin Newsom, who urged Californians to download the MyShake app on the anniversary of the devastating Loma Prieta earthquake on Oct. 17, 1989, boasted the program was more sophisticated than early warning systems already used in Mexico and Japan.

"The price of admission to live here is preparation," the governor told a news conference in Oakland, overlooking a freeway bridge built to replace one that collapsed during the Loma Prieta quake, which killed more than 60 people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"If millions of people (download the app) we will have points of contact, the ability to crowdsource information the likes of which no country in world has advanced," Newsom said.

The governor did not explain how California's earthquake system is the world's most sophisticated.

The launch coincided with a Great Shakeout earthquake drill conducted at Biola University in Southern California, where students across campus practiced the "drop, cover, hold on" technique following a simulated 7.1 temblor.

Newsom said that the California Earthquake Early Warning System, which uses hundreds of seismic sensors to detect fast-moving seismic P-waves from major earthquakes, could give residents up to 20 seconds before the shaking starts.

That time could be used to shut off gas or utility transmission lines or open elevator doors, he said.

P-waves, which travel through the interior of the Earth, arrive before surface waves and at a higher frequency during a temblor. Many animals are able to feel P-waves, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

In general, communities farthest away from the epicenter of a quake would receive the most advance warning.

Already, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in and around San Francisco has connected the early detection network to its rail service to automatically slow down its trains, and reduce the risk of a derailment in the event of a major quake.

The MyShake app, which was designed by University of California, Berkeley, seismologists and engineers, will initially alert users to earthquakes of a magnitude 4.5 or greater in their area.

Warnings are based on a computer program called ShakeAlert operated by the US Geological Survey that analyzes data from seismic networks statewide, calculates preliminary magnitudes, and then estimates which areas will feel shaking, according to the governor's office.

Japan developed the world's most advanced earthquake early warning system after the 1995 Kobe earthquake, based on the same principles of physics as California's.

Officials in Los Angeles County in January introduced a "ShakeAlertLA" mobile phone application that can transmit an early warning to residents who have installed the app, giving them extra seconds to take cover before a major quake hits.

The 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta quake struck during a national broadcast of the 1989 World Series and experts have said the lighter-than-normal traffic because of the baseball game may have prevented a greater loss of life.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook's Zuckerberg criticizes TikTok for censoring protesters

WASHINGTON - Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday attacked the rapidly growing Chinese short-video app, saying it censored political protest, including in the United States.

While delivering an address on free speech at Georgetown University in Washington, Zuckerberg said Facebook social media platforms like WhatsApp were used by protesters and activists everywhere because of its encryption and privacy protection.

But "on TikTok, the Chinese app growing quickly around the world, mentions of these same protests are censored, even here in the US," he said.

TikTok denied China censors its content, saying it is "not influenced by any foreign government."

Facebook competes directly with TikTok, especially among younger audiences. The app enable users to create and share short singing and dancing videos that are set to well-known songs, with numerous special effect filters.

Zuckerberg, in a recently leaked recording of him speaking with company employees, noted that TikTok was the first successful Chinese internet product worldwide. "It's starting to do well in the US, especially with young folks."

Zuckerberg's Thursday comments came just 2 weeks after Senator Marco Rubio asked a US national security panel to review TikTok owner Beijing ByteDance Technology Co Ltd's acquisition of Musical.ly Inc, arguing TikTok is used by the Chinese government to censor politically sensitive content.

In a letter requesting the review, Rubio noted that despite Hong Kong protests dominating international headlines for months, "the app only had a few videos" of the protests.

Rubio said Chinese-owned apps "are increasingly being used to censor content and silence open discussion on topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese Government and Communist Party."

ByteDance is one of China's fastest growing startups. It owns the country's leading news aggregator, Jinri Toutiao, as well as TikTok, which has attracted celebrities like Ariana Grande and Katy Perry along with legions of US teenagers.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Viber boss rose to CEO from bakeshop beginnings believing in big dreams

SINGAPORE—Djamel Agaoua checks the Viber app on his phone around after every 10 minutes for updates on the messaging platform that he now leads.

Coming from a family of bakers, the 50-year-old French CEO recalled how believing in his dreams pushed him to make a name for himself, and eventually become the big boss of one of the biggest communications apps in the world.

“Believe in your dreams. My father was a baker so it was not written that I would be CEO one day, not even of a small company,” he told ABS-CBN News with a chuckle.

“Sometimes, you don’t believe in your dreams so you don’t put yourself in a condition to achieve those dreams,” he said.

Agaoua, an economics engineer by profession and the youngest in a brood of 4, said his dream of leading a company was no easy feat as he had to support his parents since he was the only one with a college degree.

“I didn’t come from a rich family so I had to support my parents…But growing up, our bakery store didn’t earn that much so they needed some support,” he said.

Agaoua said he had always wanted to put up his own firm, drawing inspiration from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple’s late boss Steve Jobs.

“At the time Bill Gates was creating his company and Steve Jobs was creating Apple and I was really impressed by those guys and I wanted to start a venture but I couldn’t find the right idea,” he said.

“It was a difficult journey of course, but being an entrepreneur pushed you take some risk and to try to push it further and further,” he said.

After finishing school for free in France, Agaoua worked for a consultancy firm for about 8 years before co-founding AChatPro, a company that offers information technology services.

Agaoua went on to become an investor and board member in several other startups, explaining that the direction he is taking is his way of paying it forward after having businessmen invest in his projects in the past.

“Now, today, I’m an investor and support kids that have projects. The only way to make that happen is to knock on all the doors and try to find people who can make [your dream] happen for you,” he said.

For breadwinners dreaming of putting up their own company or making a name for themselves in the corporate world, Agaoue advises them to find people willing to invest in their ideas.

“They have to support their family of course, but the way I did it is that I convinced people that have money to support me and to invest in my businesses and it’s the only way,” he said.

Now, Agaoua continues to lead Viber, 2 years since he was tapped to head the messaging platform. Agaoua took the helm of Viber in 2017, just 2 years after the messaging platform was bought by Japanese international group Rakuten.

As Viber’s leader, Agaoua explained that he wants the company to put data privacy as its top priority as he emphasized the need to provide users with an alternative from Facebook’s Messenger.

“We think that it’s very important that there’s an alternative to this, a real one not an opportunistic one—one that is based on a very clear strategy…We are here to make business, to offer service that makes sense first of all, that works fast, well, and respects it promises and be able to monetize,” he said.

“I’m not saying that we’re gonna beat Facebook or be the winner at the end. These are not my words, this is not our philosophy,” he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Google yanks Hong Kong protester role-playing app

SAN FRANCISCO — Google on Thursday removed from its online marketplace a mobile game that let people play as a Hong Kong protester, saying it violated a policy against cashing in on conflicts.

The move came after Apple removed an app criticized by China for allowing protesters in Hong Kong to track police, and as Beijing steps up pressure on foreign companies deemed to be providing support to the pro-democracy movement.

Google said its decision to yank "The Revolution of Our Times" game from its Play Store did not result from any takedown requests by police or any other party outside the California-based company.

"We have a longstanding policy prohibiting developers from capitalizing on sensitive events such as attempting to make money from serious ongoing conflicts or tragedies through a game," Google said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"After careful review, we found this app to be violating that particular policy and suspended it, as we have done with similar attempts to profit from other high-profile events such as earthquakes, crises, suicides and conflicts."

Apple, meanwhile, pulled HKmap.live in a move blasted as another case of companies outside of China bowing to the will of that country's regime.

Chinese state media this week tore into the app, which collates information on police locations submitted by users, charging that it was helping "rioters."

Communist Party mouthpiece The People's Daily said by stocking the app, Apple was "mixing business with politics, and even illegal acts."

On Thursday the app was no longer available on Apple's Hong Kong App Store.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Apple pulls police-tracking app used in Hong Kong protests after consulting authorities

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc on Wednesday removed an app that protestors in Hong Kong have used to track police movements from its app store, saying it violated rules because it was used to ambush police.

The U.S. tech giant had come under fire from China over the app, with the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper calling the app "poisonous" and decrying what it said was Apple's complicity in helping the Hong Kong protesters.

Apple rejected the crowdsourcing app, HKmap.live, earlier this month but then reversed course last week.

Apple said in a statement that it had began an immediate investigation after "many concerned customers in Hong Kong" contacted the company about the app and Apple found it had endangered law enforcement and residents.

"The app displays police locations and we have verified with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau that the app has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement," the statement said.

Apple did not comment beyond its statement, and the app's developer did not immediately have a comment on the removal. Hong Kong police had no immediate comment.

The app was removed from Apple's app store globally but continued to work for users who had previously downloaded it in Hong Kong, Reuters found. A web version was also still viewable on iPhones.

On Tuesday, the People's Daily said Apple did not have a sense of right and wrong, and ignored the truth. Making the app available on Apple's Hong Kong App Store at this time was "opening the door" to violent protesters in the former British colony, the newspaper wrote.

Asked for comment after the People's Daily piece was published, HKmap.live's developer, who has not revealed his or her identity, said the app merely consolidated information that was available in the public domain, such as groups on Telegram, another service protestors were using to communicate.

"Protest is part of our freedom of speach (sic) and I don't think the application is illegal in HK," the developer told Reuters in a direct message on Tuesday.

Under Apple's rules and policies, apps that meet its standards to appear in the App Store have sometimes been removed after their release if they were found to facilitate illegal activity or threaten public safety.

In 2011, Apple modified its app store to remove apps that listed locations for drunken driving checkpoints not previously published by law enforcement officials.

Word of the HKmap.live app's removal spread quickly in Hong Kong.

"Does the entire world have to suck up to the garbage Communist Party?" one commentator called Yip Lou Jie said in an online forum, LIHKG, which is used by protestors in Hong Kong.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Russian man sues Apple, claims iPhone app 'turned him gay'

MOSCOW - A Russian man has filed a lawsuit against Apple for moral harm claiming that an iPhone app had turned him gay, according to a copy of the complaint seen by AFP.

The man filed suit in a Moscow court asking for one million rubles ($15,000) after an incident this summer in which a cryptocurrency called "GayCoin" was delivered via a smartphone app, rather than the Bitcoin he had ordered.

His lawyer Sapizhat Gusnieva insisted the case was "serious," telling AFP that her client was "scared, he suffered".

The GayCoin cryptocurrency arrived with a note saying, "Don't judge until you try," according to the complaint.

"I thought, in truth, how can I judge something without trying? I decided to try same-sex relationships," the complainant wrote.

"Now I have a boyfriend and I do not know how to explain this to my parents... my life has been changed for the worse and will never become normal again," he added.

"Apple pushed me towards homosexuality through manipulation. The changes have caused me moral and mental harm."

Apple's representatives in Russia did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

Gusnieva said the US technology giant "has a responsibility for their programs" despite the alleged exchange taking place on a third-party app.

The suit was filed on September 20 and the court will hear the complaint on October 17, according to information on its website.

Homophobia is widespread in Russia where reports of rights violations and attacks on LGBT people are common, though there are gay scenes in major cities.

Moscow in 2013 introduced a law against "gay propaganda", which officially bans the "promotion of non-traditional lifestyles to minors" but in effect outlaws LGBT activism.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Malaysia threatens ride-hailing firm Grab with $21-million fine

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's competition watchdog on Thursday threatened to hit Grab with a $21-million fine for practices that allegedly reduce competition, the latest problem for the ride-hailing giant.

Grab is the biggest ride-hailing firm in Southeast Asia, and has strengthened its hold on the market since buying US rival Uber's operations in the region last year. 

But the Singapore-headquartered firm has come under scrutiny from regulators in several countries due to concerns about its dominant position. 

The Malaysia Competition Commission proposed fining Grab almost 87 million ringgit ($21 million) for preventing its drivers from providing advertising services for the company's competitors.

This had the effect of "distorting competition" by creating barriers to Grab's rivals, it said.

"It is important that barriers to entry for new players remain low, and for existing players to have the ability to grow and compete on merits to ensure that competition can remain healthy," said Iskandar Ismail, the watchdog's chief executive.

In addition, a daily penalty of 15,000 ringgit will be imposed should Grab fail to take action to address the competition concerns.

Grab has 30 days to respond to the watchdog, after which a final decision will be made.

The company said they had complied fully with competition laws and were "surprised" by the proposed fine.

"We believe that it is common practice for businesses to decide upon the availability and type of third-party advertising on their respective platforms," a Grab statement said.

Last year, Singapore fined Grab and Uber $9.5 million for breaking competition rules when they merged. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com