Microsoft web portal in China will be shut down on June 7

The tech giant said its MSN website in China -- which provides news and lifestyle content as well as a search function -- will be shut down on June 7.

Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) remains "deeply committed to China," the company said in a statement, noting that the country hosts its biggest R&D facility outside the U.S. and is a market for products like Windows 10 and cloud computing services.

A spokesman didn't respond to questions about the reasons behind the decision to close the Chinese MSN site.

Microsoft has repeatedly hit roadblocks in China, a key market where it's made big bets. The company has been embroiled in an antitrust investigation in China since July 2014. In January, regulators asked it to explain "major issues" related to the probe.

The company's search engine, Bing, also flopped in the country amid tough competition with homegrown rivals. It didn't help that in Chinese, "Bing" sounds similar to the word for "sickness."

In September, Microsoft finally ditched Bing for users of its Edge browser in China, striking a deal with Chinese Internet giant Baidu (BIDU, Tech30) to use its search engine as the default.

Other Western tech firms have come under scrutiny in China before, including Qualcomm (QCOM, Tech30) and Apple (AAPL, Tech30). Social networks like Facebook (FB, Tech30) and Google (GOOG) remain blocked in the country.

Microsoft's decision to shutter its MSN portal in China comes during a difficult time for providers of foreign online content in the country.

In recent weeks, Apple's digital book and movie offerings and a partnership between Disney (DIS) and Alibaba (BABA, Tech30) that offered streaming video have been suspended, reportedly at the request of Chinese regulators.

The shutdowns followed the announcement of new rules requiring government approval for foreign companies wanting to provide online content such as videos, games and books. 

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Toshiba recalls 100,000 Panasonic batteries that can melt your laptop

The lithium-ion battery packs, which are made by Panasonic, can overheat, posing burn and fire hazards to consumers, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission..

Toshiba received four reports of the battery packs overheating and melting, though the CPSC said no injuries have been reported.

Toshiba, which first announced the recall in January, said it was recalling the batteries in certain Toshiba Notebook computers sold since June 2011. The Japanese manufacturer said it would replace them for free.

The CPSC said the recall involves 91,000 laptops sold in the United States and 10,000 sold in Canada. The recall involves 39 models of Portege, Satellite and Tecra laptops

Burning batteries are not unusual. In 2006, Dell and Apple (AAPL, Tech30) recalled nearly 10 million lithium-ion notebook batteries made by Sony because of concerns they could overheat and explode. A few days ago, an Apple iPhone reportedly exploded on a flight to Hawaii.

This is the latest bit of bad news for Toshiba, which reported a $6 billion loss for last year. The company blamed the loss on the increased cost of energy and infrastructure projects. 

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Samsung has applied for a patent for smartwatch that would project virtual user interfaces

Samsung has applied for a patent for smartwatch that would project virtual user interfaces onto a wearer's hand or forearm. The patent also shows the same tech being used with head-mounted displays (like a VR or AR headset), which could project images onto surrounding surfaces, like a wall. 

Sketches from the patent show a smartwatch projecting a dial pad, notifications, menu options, and even a writing surface onto the back of a person's hand and forearm. 

 Patent image source : USPTO

A wearer is seen interacting with these interfaces outside the smartwatch. While this is just a patent — and there's no certainty that Samsung is developing this technology — it's cool to think we could soon be getting some more functionality out of smartwatches' tiny screens.

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ePLDT unit reaffirms quality management system excellence

ABM Global Solutions (AGS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ePLDT and a leading business IT consulting company, successfully renewed its ISO 9001:2008 certification following a series of positive surveillance audits conducted by the Philippine office of TÜV Rheinland, a global provider of technical, safety and certification services.

The renewal of ISO 9001 certification covers AGS’ provision of spend management services, particularly sourcing and procurement. 

“AGS was first certified in 2008. Our continuous recertification says a lot about our commitment to continuously deliver quality software solutions and services at par with the world’s best,” said Luigi Lopa, AGS General Manager. “More than regulatory compliance, our ultimate goal with this recognition has always been customer satisfaction.”

AGS has been into business management solutions implementation and consulting since 1993. It has provided and continues to provide best-of-breed business applications and implementation and support services to more than a thousand companies not only in the Philippines but also in Indonesia and other Asia Pacific countries.

ISO 9001 is regarded as the global standard for quality management system excellence. Only companies that have demonstrated the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet both customer and regulatory requirements are being conferred with this certification.

About ABM Global Solutions (AGS)

AGS is the leading business management solutions provider in the Philippines and a trusted partner in offering software applications across industries. Beyond numerous awards and certifications, AGS has gained high satisfaction ratings from its clients belonging to industries such as retail, manufacturing, construction, and real estate, to name a few. AGS is an ePLDT company.

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Half the Web's traffic turns out to be from bots

Half the Web's traffic turns out to be from bots and crawlers, and that's costing companies a boatload of money.
That’s one finding from a report released Thursday by DeviceAtlas, which makes software to help companies detect the devices being used by visitors to their websites.

Non-human sources accounted for 48 percent of traffic to the sites analyzed for DeviceAtlas’s Q1 Mobile Web Intelligence Report, including legitimate search-engine crawlers as well as automated scrapers and bots generated by hackers, click fraudsters and spammers, the company said.

DeviceAtlas is owned by Afilias, which calls itself the world’s second-largest Internet domain name registry.

Bot technologies have long been known to account for a significant amount of traffic, but today they’re becoming more malevolent—and more expensive, said Ronan Cremin, CTO of DotMobi, a mobile content delivery company also owned by Afilias.

Bots are commonly used to generate “clicks” and false ad revenue, but in some cases, they make purchases online with the goal of influencing prices, Cremin said.

“It’s a tricky problem,” he said. “Now that it’s so cheap and easy to deploy bots, the game has changed.”

Digital marketers have long known that much of the traffic to their websites is not legitimate human traffic, and nearly all Web analytics tools attempt to filter out that non-human traffic, said analyst Frank Scavo, president of Computer Economics.

Generally speaking, non-human traffic was on par with human traffic at nearly 50%. Here is the breakdown of traffic by the source type.

But it’s not an easy task.

“Fraudsters go to great lengths to make their traffic appear to be human-generated,” Scavo said. “Moreover, ad sellers and marketing agencies may not be particularly interested in seeing their Web traffic numbers reduced.”

So, what’s a company to do?

“If you’re advertising on a per-impression or per-click basis, you need to closely scrutinize your analytics,” Scavo said. “Trust me, you’re never underpaying.”

If possible, it’s best to link Web marketing expenses to concrete business results like conversions rather than impressions or clicks, he said.

Equipped with analytics tools that can identify non-human sources, companies can also send those bot visitors to slower servers, Cremin said.

“Your main website could be significantly slowed for human visitors by bots, and that’s not a good place to be,” he said. “You can achieve significant cost savings by restricting that traffic.”

Another option is to restrict the content served to bot visitors.

“We don’t offer some site features when we know the visitor is not human,” Cremin said.

That will vary with the nature of the business but cutting off bots’ ability to buy tickets, for example, could be a good move.

Companies should also remember that some bots are created just to obtain information that might be easier to get with a company-provided API, said Michael Facemire, a principal analyst with Forrester.

“If I find some information that is useful to me right now but also would be useful over time, as a developer, the first thing I do is see if there’s an API to get that information,” he said. “If the answer to that is ‘no’, the next easiest way to get it is to write a bot or crawler to regularly scrape the site for that information.”

Since crawlers negatively affect a company’s website, it’s important to use analytics: first to see what pages are being pulled, and then to decide whether a public API could expose some of that data, he said.

Ultimately, it’s a game of cat and mouse, said analyst Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.

“The bad guys always devise a workaround, and the good guys do the best they can under the latest assault to filter out extraneous traffic,” Kay said.

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SM Supermalls and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts & Coffee are teaming up for the biggest free doughnut treat!

SM Supermalls is bringing back its “Download & Win” in-app mobile game and sweetening the deal by giving away 3 Original Glazed® Krispy Kreme doughnuts each to 100 unique SM Supermalls mobile app registered users every day from April 30 to June 30, 2016. How’s that for a tasty treat?
Embedded within the SM Supermalls Mobile App, “Download & Win” was the first digital scratch card promotion in the country. Its launch during SM Supermalls’ 30th Anniversary was marked with the giving away of exciting prizes such as free mobile data, free Spotify, Facebook, Games, Unli-Call and Unli Text every day for the entire month of March.

The celebration resumes this month with a shower of doughnuts! And joining can’t be simpler – just download the mobile app and get a chance to win.

Upon signing up in the SM Supermalls mobile app, you will receive a digital scratch card on the app. Scratch off the gray area to find out if you won. Get another shot of winning the next day until the end of the promo period. With some good luck and the daily habit of checking the app, you’ll be closer to sinking your teeth into those craveable doughnut treats for free.

The SM Supermalls Mobile App is free on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. It is loaded with other features that let you plan your shopping even before you get to the mall. A unique feature of the app is the Feed section that highlights the latest store offerings, discounts and promos, services, as well as movies and events in SM malls nationwide. It also has the Mall Directory that provides a complete list of establishments in the malls while the Mall Map shows the exact location of all stores and mall facilities. To keep up to date on what’s new, visit SM Supermalls website or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Viber Public Chat, and Snapchat.

Download & Win promo will get a box of three (3) Original Glazed® Krispy Kreme doughnuts,redeemable at any of the SM Supermalls branches listed below:

• SM City Seaside Cebu
• SM Center Angono
• SM City Baguio
• SM City Sta. Mesa
• SM City Lipa
• SM City Calamba
• SM City Cabanatuan
• SM City Marilao
• SM City Sta. Rosa
• SM City Manila
• SM City San Lazaro
• SM City Bacolod
• SM Megamall
• SM City North Edsa
• SM City Fairview
• SM City Clark
• SM City Cebu
• SM City Bicutan
• SM Southmall
• SM City Davao
• SM Lanang Premier
• SM City Dasmarinas
• SM City Bacoor
• SM City Pampanga
• SM Center Pasig
• SM City BF Paranaque
• SM City Ilo-ilo

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Instagram launches colorful new app and icon

Instagram announced today that it's introducing a colorful new icon for its main app, as well as matching icons for apps like Layout and Hyperlapse.

Instagram's app is also receiving a redesign. It's adopting the simplified black-and-white look that we got an early showing of the other week. The new look is supposed to put "more focus on your photos and videos," though it doesn't really appear all that different. It's very lightly stripped down; really, it's just making it so that the only part of that app that pops with color is your photos.

 

You'll see an updated app icon for Instagram. Inspired by the previous one, the new icon represents a simpler camera and the rainbow lives on in gradient form.

 

The update already appears to be rolling out on iOS and is seemingly coming to Android today too.

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Thai students caught using spy cameras, smartwatches to cheat on medicine exam

A top Thai medical college has caught students using spy cameras linked to smartwatches to cheat during exams in what some social media users have compared to a plot straight out of a Mission: Impossible movie.

Arthit Ourairat, the rector of Rangsit University, posted pictures of the hi-tech cheating equipment on his Facebook page, announcing that the entrance exam in question had been cancelled after the plot was discovered.

Three students used glasses with wireless cameras embedded in their frames to transmit images to a group of as yet unnamed people, who then sent the answers to the smartwatches.

PHOTO: Glasses with inbuilt spy cameras were worn by the students into the medicine exam, Answers were sent to the students' smartwatches. (Facebook: Arthit Ourairat)

Mr Arthit said the trio had paid 800,000 baht ($31,000) each to the tutor group for the equipment and the answers.

"The team did it in real-time," Mr Arthit wrote.

Thailand's Channel 3 news reported that the students had been blacklisted.

"We want this to be known in public to make people aware that we must be careful, particularly for medical exams where there is high demand among students but not many vacancies," Mr Arthit told the network.

His original post went viral, with many either praising the students for their ingenuity or condemning them for cheating.

PHOTO: Smartwatches have been banned in some university exams in Australia. (Facebook: Arthit Ourairat)

"If they had passed and graduated, we might have had illegal doctors working for us," wrote one Facebook user.

Others were more impressed. "Cool ... like Hollywood or Mission: Impossible," another user wrote.
Medical degrees are highly sought after in Thailand, where doctors can make small fortunes in a private sector that has become one of the world's treatment hubs.

Despite more than a decade of impressive economic growth, Thailand's education system is in dire need of reform with rote learning, long hours and poor international test scores still commonplace.

In the 2014 PISA rankings, which measures global educational standards, Thai students performed below the global average and much worse than those from poorer Vietnam in subjects like maths and science.

Last year, the World Bank said improving poor quality education was the most important step the kingdom could take to securing a better future, with one third of Thai 15-year-olds "functionally illiterate" — lacking the basic reading skills to manage their lives in the modern world.

Critics say the kingdom's high corruption levels and ongoing political instability has made deep-seated education reforms impossible over the last decade.

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