“Over the years we have grown from a parenting blog into a multinational company with offices in 12 countries. Our move from a content platform to a social network wasn’t an easy one but has significantly accelerated our business to serve as a leading source of information for parents around Asia and the world. One thing that hasn’t changed is our focus on parenting from an Asian perspective,” said Roshni Mahtani, founder and chief executive of theAsianparent.

With the fresh funding, theAsianparent is aiming to drive its expansion into new markets in Asia, and Africa, as well as accelerate plans to further develop their recently launched app. Launched last September on the App Store and Google Play Store, theAsianparent app is currently the number one parenting app in Southeast Asia.

Since its launch, the company has expanded to 180 people across 12 countries and districts, including Singapore, where it is headquartered, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, India, Taiwan, Japan, and Nigeria. Since the launch of their first app with a focus on the parents and parents-to-be community, theAsianparent has become the go-to platform for parenting tips and tricks.

In addition, the entry-level Bt42,900 13-inch MacBook Pro has been updated with the latest 8th-generation quad-core processors, making it twice as powerful than before. It also now features Touch Bar and Touch ID, a True Tone Retina display and the Apple T2 Security Chip, and is available to college students for Bt38,900.

With their sleek, portable designs, Retina displays, great everyday performance, all-day battery life and running macOS, Mac notebooks have never been more popular in higher education, with Student Monitor data showing nearly 60 per cent of US college notebook buyers own a Mac.

“College students love the Mac – it’s the notebook they rely on from the dorm room to the classroom, and the No 1 choice among higher education students,” said Tom Boger, Apple’s senior director of Mac Product Marketing. “With a lower Bt31,900 student price for MacBook Air and the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with faster performance, Touch Bar and Touch ID at Bt38,900 for students, there’s never been a better time to bring a Mac to college.”

MacBook Air features a thin and light design in a choice of three finishes, the convenience and security of Touch ID, an 8th-generation dual-core processor, immersive wide stereo sound and all-day battery life. Its 13-inch Retina display now features True Tone that automatically adjusts the colour temperature of the display for a more comfortable viewing experience. MacBook Air is designed to power through daily tasks, from email and web surfing, to photo editing and FaceTime calls, and at an even lower price, it’s the do-it-all notebook for consumers and students alike.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro packs powerful processors, super-fast SSDs, all-day battery life and the best Mac notebook display ever into a portable and lightweight design. Now the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro adds the latest quad-core processors for up to two times faster performance, Touch Bar and Touch ID, True Tone to the Retina display, the Apple T2 Security Chip and immersive stereo speakers with wide stereo sound, all at the same great starting price of B42,900, or Bt38,900 for college students. With all these powerful features, MacBook Pro is the perfect choice for students heading into college and looking for the notebook that will help power them through graduation and beyond.

In autumn, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro entertainment apps, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and the Apple TV app as well as the all-new Sidecar feature, will enables users to extend their Mac desktop by using their iPad as a second display or as a high-precision input device. New security features keep users better protected and Voice Control lets users control their Mac entirely with their voice.

Both models are now available through apple.com/th, the Apple Store app and in selected Apple Stores and Apple Authorised Resellers later this week. Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at apple.com/th/mac.

But a research institute and a startup based in Fuzhou, the capital of East China’s Fujian province, are determined to change the perception by jointly developing an agricultural robot.

The white, 5G-enabled, sensor-rich agricultural robot can move between two rows of leafy greens in a greenhouse, collect data about the plants, and feed it back to the control room.

Developed by the Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Fujian Newland Era Hi-Tech Co Ltd, the robot is part of their efforts to build an autonomous farm.

Unlike industrial plants where robots can follow preset routes and do fixed jobs such as feeding standardized electronic parts, agricultural environments are far more complex, said Zhao Jian, deputy head of the digital agriculture institute of FAAS.

“Farm robots also have to adapt to a wide variety of highly differentiated crops, livestock and aquatic products,” said Zhao.

To solve the challenges, the research institute and Newland have jointly developed a more sophisticated artificial intelligence system. Computer algorithms as well as the hardware for positioning, map construction, route design and avoiding obstacles have all been optimized to suit the agricultural environment, taking into consideration fertilisation, watering the plants, bumpy roads and other natural factors.

The robot’s head is equipped with two 5 megapixel cameras as the “eyes” and two 7 megapixel cameras as its “ears”. With sensors at the top of its head and mouth, the robot can also detect wind velocity, carbon dioxide levels, humidity, temperature and other data about the natural environment of the greenhouse.

The farm robot has been successfully tested for compatibility with 5G mobile communication technology, which allows the data to be analysed by computers enabled by AI in the control room more efficiently.

“Currently, the robot can inspect farms automatically and collect data samples used to power various applications. It can determine the health of plants and decide if pest control measures are warranted,” said Chen Li, deputy director of marketing at Newland.

According to Chen, the robot is still a prototype and on that basis, the two sides hope to step up investments to develop versatile robots that can even pick fruit with a bionic hand in the future.

“Based on the mass agricultural data and images we have acquired, we hope to build an optimized plant growth model to achieve automatic control of the growth environment and early warning of pests and diseases,” Chen added.

China is now the world’s largest market for industrial robots. As labour costs continue rising, the demand for robots will grow stronger, said Wang Tianmiao, president of the Smart Manufacturing Research Institute at Beihang University.

These innovative products, winners of the Taiwan Excellence Awards, are not only for gamers and enthusiasts. Thai consumers will also ain a better understanding of Taiwan’s strengths in information technology.

TAITRA is also promoting Thailand’s e-sport industry by organising the Taiwan Excellence eSports Cup Thailand, with prize money totalling Bt360,000. Thai eSports Cup participants will play for the chance to compete in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) tournament in Taiwan. The Taiwan Excellence eSports Cup Thailand will be open for registration ‪from July 28 to August 11, 2019‬ and will be held ‪September 21-22, 2019‬ at M Floor, Quartier Gallery at the EmQuartier department store.

Taiwan has advanced its economy through investment in the high-tech industries, from manufacturing computers to IT equipment for gaming and e-sport, with its products recognised worldwide, including Thailand, said Jason Hsu, director of the economic division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand. The competition and showcase aims to promote overseas trade for Taiwanese manufacturers.

Thailand is one of the first countries in the region to be influenced by Taiwan’s computer games and online games, thanks to the Thai government’s promotion of e-sport.

According to a report by Newzoo, Thailand’s gaming industry was valued as high as Bt18,000 million in 2017, and its growth has sped up in the past two years in line with worldwide trends.

The first Taiwan Excellence eSports Cup Thailand will present gaming products and innovations for Thai gamers to closely explore. Among the participating manufacturers are ADATA Technology Co Ltd, AVerMedia Technologies Inc, Micro-Star International Co Ltd (MSI) and Transcend Information Inc, with a total of 18 products.

Sensational products include notebooks made especially for gaming, headphones, keyboards, cameras, microphones, screens and memory cards, among others. Other Taiwanese innovative technologies will also be on show at the Taiwan Excellence eSports Cup.

Registered participants will receive a “passport” that can be stamped at booths in the Taiwan Excellence zone, earning them free souvenirs. Also, there will be an activity to guess the tournament results with prizes on offer, a Showcase Zone for interesting products and gaming innovations, and a mini-concert by URBoyTJ and leading actors such as Perth and Plan.

Spots are open for a total of 120 teams for the CS:GO tournament, with registration ‪from July 28 to August 11, 2019‬. Three rounds of online tournaments will be held for successive elimination from 120 teams to 32 teams, 16 teams, and eight teams. The final eight teams will compete in the semi-final and grand final rounds, which will take place over two days at the Taiwan Excellence zone, ‪September 21-22, 2019‬, at M Floor, Quartier Gallery at EmQuartier department store.

The huge increase comes despite the fact that overall breaches and exposed records were down in 2018, said the alliance report, which identifies and promotes security and privacy best practices that build consumer confidence in the internet,

The data shows that cybercriminals are getting better at monetising their activities, said the Cyber Incident & Breach Trends Report. OTA estimates that the more than 2 million cyber incidents in 2018 resulted in over $45 billion (Bt1.3 trillion) in losses, with the actual numbers expected to be much higher as many cyber incidents are never reported.

“While it’s tempting to celebrate a decreasing number of breaches overall, the findings of our report are grim,” said Jeff Wilbur, technical director of the Internet Society’s Online Trust Alliance. “The financial impact of cybercrime is up significantly and cybercriminals are becoming more skilled at profiting from their attacks. So, while there may be fewer data breaches, the number of cyber incidents and their financial impact is far greater than we’ve seen in the past.”

In the report, OTA noted a steep rise in cyber incidents like supply chain attacks, business email compromise and cryptojacking. Some attack types, such as ransomware, are not new but continue to be lucrative for criminals. Others, such as cryptojacking, show that criminals are shifting their focus to new targets. The top trends from the Cyber Incident & Breach Trends Report include:

– The rise of cryptocurrency breeds new cybercriminals.

In conjunction with the increasing prevalence of cryptocurrency comes the rise of cryptojacking, which tripled in 2018. This is a specific type of attack aimed at hijacking devices to harness computer power at scale to efficiently mine cryptocurrency. OTA believes these incidents are increasingly attractive to criminals as they represent a direct path from infiltration to income, and are difficult to detect.

– Deceptive email.

Though well-known as an attack vector, business email compromise doubled in 2018, resulting in $1.3 billion in losses as employees were deceived into sending funds or gift cards to attackers who use email to impersonate vendors or executives.

– Attacks via third parties

Supply chain attacks in which attackers infiltrate via third-party website content, vendors’ software or third-parties’ credentials. Though not new in 2018 (similar past exploits include Target in 2013, CCleaner and Not Petya in 2017), but they continue to proliferate and morph.

– Governments under attack

While the total number of ransomware attacks was down in 2018, the OTA report noted a troubling rise in reported ransomware attacks against state and local governments in 2018 and early 2019.

“Our report findings indicate that cybercriminals are using their infiltration ability to focus on new, more lucrative attacks,” said Wilbur. “Staying up-to-date on the latest security safeguards and best practices is crucial to preventing attacks in the future.”

Nintendo outsources the production of the Switch console mainly to electronics manufacturing service providers. Almost all of the consoles are made in China at present.

Nintendo has been considering shifting its Switch production for a few years. Precautions against possible additional US tariffs are not the only reason for the envisaged relocation, a public relations official said.

The company is expected to keep its global Switch sales target for fiscal 2019 from April unchanged at 18 million units.

The proposed fourth round of additional US tariffs against China includes game consoles.

The United States stopped short of implementing them when US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a trade war truce in their talks late last month.

Wuttichai Wutti-Udomlert, head of network solutions at Ericsson Thailand, said the 5G network was laid down in South Korea earlier this year, and it is already being used in the US and most of Europe, which should encourage local mobile operators to lay down the 5G infrastructure in Thailand.

According to a survey involving 35,000 respondents in 22 countries, including 1,500 in Thailand, Ericsson said it believes that by 2024, to 65 per cent of the global population will be using 5G and that 95 per cent of data traffic will be transmitted via 5G technology by the end of 2024.

The survey was conducted on smartphone users aged between 15 and 69.

The consumption of data is also expected to increase 82 per cent year on year by 2024, reaching 131 exabytes (EB) per month, while video on demand (VoD) and streaming services will account for 75 per cent of mobile data traffic.

“We believe the 5G subscription take-up will be faster than 4G, as it will offer new provisions for various sectors such as automotive, healthcare and entertainment,” Wuttichai said.

He said that there are 7.9 billion mobile subscribers across the world (the global population as of April 2019 stood at 7.7 billion), and around 47 per cent use the 4G-LTE network. Of the 1.54 billion subscribers in Asia-Pacific, Philippines has shown the highest growth.

In Thailand, the survey showed that most mobile users expect 5G technology to be available in a couple of years and that half of them will be ready to switch providers within six months if their operator doesn’t offer the technology.

Thai mobile users are also willing to pay 30 per cent more for selected 5G services, while 50 per cent of the local respondents said they are willing to pay Bt150 extra in fees. The survey also showed that consumers were looking for new 5G-ready applications and services, and will gladly pay for the privilege of using them.

Also, some 76 per cent of Thai consumers believe they will be wearing augmented reality (AR) glasses instead of using mobile phones by 2025. Most of the Thai respondents also said that they will start watching high-definition streamed content once 5G is available.

He added that 88 per cent of the respondents believe they will be making 3D holographic calls on a weekly basis, while 13 per cent believe hologram video calls will replace normal video calls. Some 66 per cent of the respondents believe 5G connectivity in vehicles will be as important as fuel efficiency and that smartphone users in Thailand will consume up to 130GB per month on a 5G device.

“There is growing awareness about 5G technology globally. I think average mobile data usage with 5G devices may increase 10-fold to 70GB per month in Thailand and that 5G uptake will be faster than expected. The top three industries in Thailand that will adopt 5G to support their business will be manufacturers that utilise robotics followed by services such as smart monitoring and public safety,” Wuttichai said.

He added that Ericsson has signed 24 commercial 5G contracts across the world.

Taiwan, China and New Zealand were the biggest winners with four, three and three awards won respectively. Other winning countries included Australia, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.

“We’ve seen a surge in cutting-edge Future City projects being deployed across first-tier cities in developed economies. This signals a strong turnaround and commitment by advanced Asia-Pacific governments to create the best ‘live, learn, work and play’ digital ecosystems,” said Gerald Wang, regional head of government and health insights for market researcher IDC.

“Smart City spending globally is expected to reach US$189.5 billion [Bt5.8 trillion] by 2023 [as of June 2019], with the upwards spending growth in transportation, public safety, utilities and education-related projects reflected strongly in almost half of the entries received in these categories.”

IDC’s Smart City Asia Pacific Awards, or SCAPA, are now in their fifth year of recognising private and public organisations that have excelled in 12 categories according to IDC’s Smart City Development Index framework. Past contenders include Thailand’s Digital Economy Promotion Agency, Singapore’s Government Technology Agency, and the city governments of Taiwan’s Taipei, China’s Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, South Korea’s Incheon, Daejeon and Busan, Australia’s New South Wales and New Zealand’s Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

This year’s smart city project winners were as follows:

1. Buried Pipe Management System by SmartCity Division (Daegu Urban Corporation, Daegu, South Korea) named Top Smart City Project for Administration.

2. Virtual Wellington by Wellington City Council (New Zealand) named Top Smart City Project for Civic Engagement.

3. Civic Participation Initiative for Taoyuan Citizen Card Application Expansion by Taoyuan City Government (Taiwan) named Top Smart City Project for Digital Equity and Accessibility.

4. Singapore Tourism Analytics Network by Singapore Tourism Board (Singapore) named Top Smart City Project for Economic Development, Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture, Open Spaces.

5. Will Digital Teacher by Vector Limited (New Zealand) named Top Smart City Project for Education category, tied with Taipei City Government’s Cross Learning Barriers: Omni Smart Education (Taiwan).

The Asia/Pacific winners are decided based on IDC benchmarking, public voting, and judging from an international advisory council. This year’s regional winners will be pitted against the other regional winners in IDC’s smart city competitions around the world for the opportunity to be named the global IDC smart city champions.

It has a wire-free design, stable connectivity and is a comfortable fit for total listening freedom.

The WF-1000XM3 offers long-lasting battery life and a quick charging function to revolutionise your commute. It also allows you to listen in your own way with Adaptive Sound Control, customisable touch controls and voice assistant.

Exceptional sound quality

Characteristic of the 1000X family, you can enjoy premium, high quality sound on the WF-1000XM3 buds and listen to your music the way that the artist intended. The HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1e also accomplishes stunning sound, thanks to 24-bit audio signal processing and DAC with amplifier.

The WF-1000XM3 buds are specifically designed for improved comfort and stability in the ear. The “ergonomic tri-hold” structure holds the earbuds firmly in place, with three supporting points for the ear. A high-friction rubber surface has also been included to ensure a stable fitting. With four sizes of hybrid earbuds and three sizes of triple comfort earbuds, you can find your perfect fit.

The WF-1000XM3 became available this month in select countries in Asia Pacific.

According to the firm, its “DDingdongs Day” emoji is no longer available on its Kakao Talk app store. After it was launched last year, the emoji gained popularity after some K-pop fans spotted popular boy band BTS members using it.

Japanese developer Yuki Kanai has claimed that Kakao’s emoji plagiarized his “Super High Spirit Cat” emoji developed in 2016. He posted on social media last week that he has asked Kakao to address his allegations.

“The emoji in question was suspended after the Japanese designer complained,” a Kakao official told The Korea Herald.

In his interview with local media, Kanai said he is considering suing the Korean emoji designer for intellectual property violation. The identity of the designer has been withheld due to the ongoing dispute.

Kakao declined to comment on specifics of the legal procedures.

It is not the first time that Kakao has suspended sales of its emojis due to plagiarism allegations. In 2017, “Mushiman” was suspended amid claims that it plagiarized images from Japanese manga series “Death Note.” The developer had pleaded guilty.

“If a designer admits to plagiarism, then we can stop selling the emoji in question,” the Kakao official said. “We will step up our efforts to protect IP rights.”

Emojis are one of the most lucrative business areas for the company, whose business portfolio ranges from finance to blockchain. According to Kakao’s balance sheet last year, 50 emojis accounted for sales worth 50 billion won ($42 million) since it entered the business in 2011