UnionPay acceptance grows around the world

UnionPay has realised the global expansion of its network, brand and products, and has promoted the globalisation of China's financial technical standard too. UnionPay International now has presence in over 50 markets along the Belt and Road, the company has announced.

UnionPay International CEO Cai Jianbo said, "Our strategy is to suit our measures to the local conditions in different markets, supporting the personnel exchanges between China and other regions and facilitating the Going Global of China's financial standards." 

In Kazakhstan, for example, over 1.3 million UnionPay cards have been issued. UnionPay's acceptance coverage at ATMs and point of sale (POS) terminals has increased from 50% and 20% respectively to 80% each in two years. Penetration is expected to grow to 95% this year.

In Pakistan, UnionPay is accepted at almost all the POS terminals and over 70% of ATMs. More than 3.4 million UnionPay cards have been issued, making UnionPay the international card brand with the second-largest market share there.

In 2016, the transaction volume in China with UnionPay cards issued in Pakistan and Nepal almost tripled, and that of UnionPay cards issued in Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia grew by about 50%.

UnionPay also participated in the construction of Laos' national bankcard payment network, and has jointly built the Thai Payment Network (TPN) with the major banks in Thailand. UnionPay also helped Thailand in creating its own debit card brand, TPN.

The UnionPay chip card standard is adopted as the recommended standard in Thailand and Myanmar, and is taken as the cross-border chip card standard of the Asian Payment Network (APN). This February, UnionPay International and the Philippines' switch network, BancNet, announced that they would promote the latter's member banks to issue UnionPay chip cards in a large scale.

The next major update to Microsoft Windows 10 will be here soon

Source: Microsoft blog post. Windows 10 will enable mixed realities.

Microsoft is announcing that the next major update to Windows 10, the Creators Update, will begin rolling out on April 11 to more than 400 million devices running Windows 10 in homes, businesses, and schools.

"We designed Windows 10 to empower the creator in all of us. To us, that means that everyone has the power to dream big, whether that involves starting a company, developing a lesson plan, inventing a product, developing or broadcasting games, or imagining a whole new world in Minecraft or mixed reality. And we want Windows to be the place you love to create and play, with the tools to help you make your mark on the world," said Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate VP, Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group in a blog post.

New capabilities coming with the Windows 10 Creators Update include:

• 3D for everyone - Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo will ship the world’s first Windows Mixed Reality-enabled headsets with the Creators Update, starting at just US$299 later this year. These headsets will contain built-in sensors to enable six degrees of freedom, allowing for easy setup and free movement without the need for external markers or sensors in the wall.  

"With 3D, we can communicate ideas and express ourselves better, and learn faster because it’s much more representative of the world we live in. The 3D industry is estimated to grow by over 62% by 2020, and we want to empower everyone to experience, create and share in 3D with the Creators Update," said Mehdi.

• A faster, safer Microsoft Edge browser - in tests, Microsoft Edge blocked 9% more phishing sites and 13% more malware than Chrome*. According to Google’s benchmarks, Microsoft Edge is now faster than Chrome**. Other enhancements include advanced tab management, e-book support, as well as 4K Ultra HD video playback.


• Additional security and privacy protections - "With the Creators Update, we offer a new service to help you monitor your security, the Windows Defender Security Center. It offers a single dashboard display so you can control your security options from one place – everything from antivirus, network and firewall protection; to assessing your device performance and health; to security controls for your apps and browser; to family safety options. And there’s more: The Device Health Advisor gives you information on the vital signs of your device, and new settings give you more control over app installation. For our business customers, the Creators Update will continue to bring new tools and capabilities that help simplify IT – making it easier to better deploy, manage and support Windows 10 devices – and to help stomp security threats," shared Mehdi.

Additionally, Microsoft announced that Surface Hub customers worldwide will receive the Windows 10 Creators Update for Surface Hub. The update delivers an improved start screen as well as new manageability tools.

Surface Book with the Performance base is now available for pre-order starting in the following Asia markets: mainland China, Hong Kong, and Japan. It will be available for purchase on 20 April.

Surface Studio and Surface Dial will also be available for pre-order in Australia and New Zealand, and will be available for purchase on 27 April.

Interested?

Watch the Windows 10 Creators Update Coming April 11 video

*Based on a NSS Labs report.

**More information on benchmark here.

Kaspersky Lab offers software updater to help users keep on top of patches

Kaspersky Lab has released Kaspersky Software Updater – a free application for Windows computers that makes it quick and easy to update software, to help eliminate potential security holes.

The more popular the application, the more actively criminals will scrutinise it for vulnerabilities that, for example, allow malware to invisibly penetrate devices. In 2016, Kaspersky Lab has detected over four million exploits that use vulnerabilities in popular applications and operating systems as of mid-December.

Software developers regularly patch any vulnerabilities they discover by releasing new versions of their applications, but many users do not check for updates regularly or install them. According to Kaspersky Lab data, only half of people update their most exploitable software within a week of an update being available.

The Kaspersky Lab solution works by scanning a device for popular programs* that need to be updated, and provides a report to the owner. Updates that are critical are marked accordingly, so that users do not miss them among other, less important, updates – such as those due to new features or software code blips. From this report, users can select which programs to update, and the application can automatically download the latest software from the developer sites, replacing all out-of-date versions in one stroke. A user can benefit from regular automatic checks or launch scans manually.

"Our main task is to improve the level of user protection against cyberthreats,” says Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky, Head of the Anti-Malware Research Team at Kaspersky Lab. “Software vulnerabilities are now a critical problem, as they allow cybercriminals to secretly gain control of a user’s PC. We believe it is better to prevent a threat rather than combat it, and that’s why we call on all users to regularly update their operating system and the applications installed on it.”


Interested?

Kaspersky Software Updater is available ​​online at free.kaspersky.com, or as part of Kaspersky Security Scan – an application designed to scan Windows-based computers for malware infections and hazardous settings.

*The list of programs that are checked, as well as the technical requirements for optimal operation of the solution, are available at: http://support.kaspersky.com/11827

Yahoo Mail adds new mobile features

Yahoo has added new features to Yahoo Mail for iOS and Android users.

On iOS, users can find a new look for blue links, easier sharing and artist-made stationery, courtesy of Paperless Post. On Android, Yahoo has included a directory of all of the people interacted with, contact syncing and an open beta.

New for iOS are:

Link preview

Blue links will come with a popup that gives recipients a snapshot of what has been sent. Enhanced links can be shared on social media.

Stationery

Stationery themes are now available in the Mail app. To personalise emails, tap on the compose assist button (+), select the stationery icon and choose from dozens of stationery designs.

Share button

Source: Yahoo. Share.

Share content directly via Yahoo Mail. Just click the share button and choose the Yahoo Mail app icon.

The new features, as well as the ability to rename accounts and mailboxes, are available in the Yahoo Mail app for iOS (4.4) around the world.

New for Android are:

A complete directory

Go to the “People” Smart View in the sidebar and click “see all contacts”. An editable list of all of the people communicated with will be displayed.

Contact sync

Source: Yahoo. Contact sync.

Yahoo Address Book contacts can now be synced with an Android device’s contacts. This will be off by default. Turn it on in the Android device’s sync settings.

Open beta

Interested users can try out new and experimental features before other Yahoo Mail users by opting in.

The new features are in version 5.5 of the Yahoo Mail app on Android.

Interested?

More details are in the blog post

posted from Bloggeroid

Quandoo reports significant takeup in Singapore, Australia

Quandoo reports 720 restaurant partners, 1.5 million seated diners in the last 12 months and over 1,400 verified reviews from Singapore diners each month. The online restaurant reservation service, launched in Singapore in 2014, sees 53% of its Singapore users making repeat reservations. The company assessed publicly-available information of the industry and the respective market competitors by the number of connected partner restaurants, and has found it leads in seven markets around the world, including in Singapore, Hong Kong and Turkey.

The company, which also serves Australia, Lebanon, and the UAE in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, it has seen similar trends globally. The company grew its partner restaurant base by 117% from 6,200 restaurants to 13,500 restaurants and has seated more than 24 million diners globally. Quandoo’s penetration of Australia has been particularly fast. Within eight months 1,250 restaurants have joined Quandoo.

Philipp Magin, founder and CEO of Quandoo, said, “Our ambition remains the same: to be the driving force in the digitalising of the restaurant reservation space. The changes that we have undergone in the last year have allowed us to transform our company towards maintaining this objective in a more and more competitive market environment. While the cultural and strategic shift has not been easy to achieve, we are now better equipped than ever before in becoming the leading provider for restaurant reservations globally.”

Dr Charlotte Bruce, Quandoo Vice President Asia and Pacific, said, “Singapore is a melting pot of different cultures with great diversity of cuisines. In Asia, it offers one of the most sophisticated and world-­class dining scenes. Competition is fierce and Quandoo identified an opportunity to help businesses use this incredible platform to grow their business and stay ahead of the curve. We have been relentless in our efforts since day one and are proud of our position as market leaders – having gone against competition that have been in the market for up to five years.”

The company further established several alliances in the last year, partnering for example with Foursquare in Turkey. 

Acronis offers new versions of Acronis True Image Cloud, True Image 2016 for backups

Source: Acronis.

Acronis, the global player in new generation data protection, has updated Acronis True Image Cloud and Acronis True Image 2016, the universal full image backup solutions for personal, family and home office use. The newest versions are updated based on customer feedback, which highlighted a huge demand for offloading data from a local machine, smartphone or tablet to the cloud due to space constraints, user interface improvements, and family data protection features that make it easy to manage the backup and recovery of multiple PCs, Macs, smart phones and tablets.

“We updated the latest release of Acronis True Image based on input from customers who told us that the two most common data protection problems that families face today are damaged or lost devices, and running out of disk space on their devices,” said Steve Goh, Acronis’ Vice President of Sales for Asia-Pacific & Emerging Markets. “Just in time for the holidays, the latest Acronis True Image makes it easier than ever for the family IT manager to protect multiple devices and keep all their precious photos and data safe this season. You can also make sure you never run of space to take pictures with our simplified data offloading feature that quickly moves pictures to the cloud, rather than storing them on your device.”

Acronis True Image provides complete data protection for computers, including pictures, videos, documents, applications, passwords, settings, and the entire operating system.

Acronis True Image Cloud features unlimited cloud storage for backups and an easy-to-use, centralised dashboard that lets one person manage the backup and recovery of multiple devices, for a family or home office. Acronis True Image Cloud provides complete protection against data loss disasters and mishaps, including accidental file deletions and user errors, as well as damaged devices, loss and theft.

Acronis True Image is powered by the Acronis AnyData Engine, a set of powerful data protection technologies enabling advanced and reliable backup and disk management tools, including:

· Full image backup – provides block-level copying of data that allows users to create an exact replica of computer hard disks. Users have a choice to back up only specific folders or make a complete replica of a disk.

· Universal restore – allows users to restore a full image backup to new PCs or Mac computers, including to dissimilar hardware, and migrate the complete operating system, applications and data over to the new disk or new computer.

· Rapid upload – balances network resource consumption to ensure maximum utilisation of network bandwidth for fast backup uploads of data, without disrupting the user’s current work and experience.

· Try & decide – provides a controlled, temporary environment to safely test new software, drivers, and system configurations with an ability to safely roll back to a stable, previous system configuration in the event of technical and performance issues, or security threats like a virus or malware.

· Clone disk – creates an exact replica of a disk drive, which is useful for a complete migration of data from one drive to another, and for making multiple disk drive replicas of the same content.

Interested?

Acronis True Image Cloud with unlimited cloud backup and archiving costs:

· S$94.99 per year for one computer and three devices
· S$159.99 per year for three computers and ten devices
· S$199.99 per year for five computers and fifteen devices

Acronis True Image 2016 for local-only backup and restore costs:

· S$69.99 for one computer
· S$79.99 for three computers
· S$94.99 for five computers

Get a free trial, or buy the new Acronis True Image solutions online
Acronis True Image is also available in Challenger

Bank Negara Malaysia creates mobile apps for consumers

Bank Negara Malaysia has introduced three new mobile applications to help consumers make more informed financial decisions.

The mobile applications, MyBNM, BNM MyLINK and MyTabung, aims to provide consumers with the latest developments on financial matters, give them tools to plan and manage their finances and exercise their rights.

MyBNM is the official Bank Negara Malaysia mobile application that allows consumers to keep abreast with the latest financial news including notices and announcements, speeches and interviews, press releases, financial fraud alerts and foreign exchange rates.

BNM MyLINK is a one-stop mobile application which links consumers and financial service providers in Malaysia. It provides a directory of conventional and Islamic banking, insurance and takaful companies as well as SMEs which allow consumers to make enquiries, obtain advice and address their complaints.

MyTabung helps individuals to create a personal or household budget. Users can capture incomes, savings and recurring expenses with an on-the-spot display of the user’s financial standing and spending patterns. Individuals can also obtain financial advice and budgeting tips to guide them in practicing prudent financial management.

Interested?

The apps are available in both Bahasa Malaysia and English, and can be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

First major update available for Windows 10

Source: Microsoft.

Microsoft has made the first major update to Windows 10 available for PCs and tablets. The update offers improvements in all aspects of the platform and experience, said the company in a blog post. Windows 10 also starts rolling out to Xbox One and is to come for selected mobile phones soon'.

".. With this free update we have reached the point in the platform’s maturity where we can confidently recommend Windows 10 deployment to whole organisations," said Terry Myerson, Executive VP of the Windows and Devices Group, Microsoft.

Improvements include:

Performance in everyday tasks, such as boot time now nearly 30% faster than Windows 7 on the same device.

Cortana to be available in Japan, Australia, and India (in English) with features and experiences customised for each market, Myerson said.

Microsoft Edge, the Windows 10 browser, offers improved performance and security, along with tab preview, which allows you to hover over your open tabs and get a preview of what’s on those websites without leaving the page you’re on.

Microsoft Edge now syncs your Favourites and Reading list items across devices.

The update to Windows 10 will also enable management of both corporate owned and BYOD devices. Windows 10 is already actively running on more than 110 million devices including 12 million business PCs, Myerson said.

Two free services have been introduced:

Windows Update for Business provides IT teams with controls over the deployment of updates within organisations, while ensuring devices are kept current and their security needs are met, at reduced management cost. Features include setting up device groups with staggered deployments and scaling deployments with network optimisations.

Windows Store for Business provides IT teams with a flexible way to find, acquire, manage and distribute apps to Windows 10 devices – both Windows Store apps and custom line of business apps. Organisations can choose their preferred distribution method by directly assigning apps, publishing apps to a private store, or connecting with management.

The update introduces two capabilities designed for IT teams to empower people to securely use multiple devices for work:

Mobile Device Management empowers IT teams to use the full power of Enterprise Mobility Management to manage the entire family of Windows devices, including PCs, tablets, phones, and devices in the Internet of Things.

Azure Active Directory (AAD) Join empowers IT to maintain one directory, enabling people to have one login and securely roam their Windows settings and data across all of their Windows 10 devices. AAD Join also enables any machine to become enterprise-ready with a few simple clicks.

Microsoft continues to strengthen Windows 10 as the most trusted platform ever with features like:

Credential Guard, which safeguards credentials inside a hardware-based virtualised environment and breaks the popular “pass the hash” method used in many major breaches.

Device Guard uses Trusted Boot to prevent intruders from installing malware, helping to keep company devices secure.

Windows Hello** enables people to say goodbye to passwords with enterprise-grade biometrics including fingerprint and facial recognition.

Microsoft is also working on 'enterprise data protection' designed to help protect corporate data by separating and containing corporate data from consumer data. "Currently in testing with a number of enterprise customers today, enterprise data protection becomes available to Windows Insiders soon," Myerson said. 

The update will also enable enterprise customers to turn off all telemetry data if they choose. "We strongly recommend against this, as this data helps us deliver a secure, reliable, and more delightful personalised experience. We’ll continue to work with third-party experts and incorporate your feedback on this important topic," Myerson added.

*Those already running Windows 10 will receive the November update according to your Windows Update settings. Those running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, can take advantage of the free upgrade offer and receive the November update as part of the Windows 10 upgrade.

**Hardware dependent

posted from Bloggeroid

GSK fast-tracks development of Ebola vaccine candidate

Update: On 22 October 2014, GSK announced its 3rd quarter results for fiscal 2014. At the accompanying analyst call, Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK said: "Given the apparent health emergency we are leaving no stone unturned in this project and, if all goes well, I fully expect GSK to be the first company in a position to make a vaccine available to health agencies and governments, hopefully towards the end of 2014."

GSK has announced that it is working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO), regulators and other partners to respond to the Ebola outbreak, accelerating development of its investigational Ebola vaccine, and ramping up production as quickly as possible.

According to the company, development of the vaccine candidate is progressing "at an unprecedented rate", with first phase 1 safety trials with the vaccine candidate under way in the US, UK and Mali. Further trials are due to start in the coming weeks.
"We are actively exploring with relevant organisations and partners all opportunities to accelerate the development of manufacturing at an industrial scale so that if the trials are successful, we will be in a position to significantly ramp up production of the vaccine candidate to help combat this or future Ebola outbreaks," the company said in a statement on its website dated October 18. 

Initial data from the phase 1 trials are expected by the end of the year and if successful, the next phases of the clinical trial programme will begin in early 2015. This will involve the vaccination of frontline healthcare workers in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. "If the vaccine candidate is able to protect these healthcare workers as we hope it will, it could significantly contribute to efforts to bring this epidemic under control," the company added.

GSK is also working with the WHO, regulators and other stakeholders on logistics, to determine how and when near-term supplies of the Ebola vaccine could be made available for targeted vaccination of additional healthcare workers and other people at high risk of infection in the affected countries where the impact would be most likely to limit the further spread of the epidemic. Safety and the supply chain will come into play for mass vaccination campaigns. GSK said it will depend on whether the vaccine candidate provides protection against Ebola without causing significant side effects and how quickly large enough quantities can be made.

GSK acquired this Ebola vaccine candidate through the acquisition of a biotechnology company, Okairos, in May 2013 and has since been working with the US National Institutes of Health to develop this vaccine candidate in response to the threat of Ebola.

The WHO and partner organizations said tools are being developed to help any country to intensify and accelerate their readiness.

One of these tools is a comprehensive checklist of core principles, standards, capacities and practices, which all countries should have or meet. The checklist can be used by countries to assess their level of preparedness, guide their efforts to strengthen themselves and to request assistance. Items on the checklist include infection prevention control, contact tracing, case management, surveillance, laboratory capacity, safe burial, public awareness and community engagement and national legislation and regulation to support country readiness.

“While we rightly focus on stopping the outbreak in affected countries, we should not forget that all other countries are at risk, albeit at varying levels,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo.

Also under development is a framework to measure the key milestones and mutual accountability for assessment by international partners and countries. The tools are being reviewed by experts and will be made public available shortly, stated the WHO on October 10.

Read the blog post on what we know about Ebola so far here. 

Microsoft customises Cortana for China in Windows Phone 8.1 update

Microsoft has customised Cortana in the next update of Windows Phone 8.1 for different countries. 

Source: Microsoft Windows blog.
The text translates to: Hi Joe,
what canI do for you today?

As with other language versions, the Cortana personal digital assistant, affectionately nicknamed “Xiao Na (小娜)” in China, displays what she is tracking so users can control it. Reminders and quiet hours can be set, and she can help search the Internet, said Corporate VP for Operating Systems at Microsoft Joe Belfiore in a blog post late July.

Microsoft China has developed a number of additional features specifically for China other than Mandarin voice, text and speech* support, Belfiore disclosed, including a different visual appearance, animations, and sounds. Specialised suggestions for Chinese users include air quality information, driving restrictions, and the ability to track local TV shows and celebrities.

Universal tweaks to the Windows 8.1 update include:

• Apps organised into folders on the Start screen, a feature called Live Folders because the live tiles of apps appear in the tile of the folders.
• An updated Xbox Music app with quicker app load and list scrolling.
• A Windows Phone Store Live Tile that is updated every six hours.
• Selection of multiple SMS messages for deletion and forwarding.

Businesses will like Apps Corner, which controls which apps can be used in a special “sandbox” mode, turning Windows Phone devices into dedicated devices for a particular use. As an example, the devices could be used only for scanning inventory by employees at a warehouse, or only for retail demos. An Apps Corner profile can be exported from one device and imported to other devices.

The Windows Phone 8.1 update has additional protection for data and identity when on public networks. Users will be able to send and receive data through a virtual private network (VPN) when connecting to Wi-Fi.

Read more on the new features here. The update is currently in preview form for developers and will be rolled out to all Windows Phone 8.1 users in the coming months. Cortana is currently available for people in China and the UK with this update as a beta** and in Canada, India, and Australia as an alpha**. 

*Cortana will understand spoken Mandarin and can speak Mandarin. Cortana will also understand written Mandarin and can respond with Mandarin text.

**Alpha versions are very early versions and features may not yet work as expected. Beta versions are interim versions that are closer to the final version, but features may occasionally not work as expected.