A visitor tries a virtual reality game at the Samsung Stand at the 2018 IFA consumer electronics and home appliances trade fair during the fair’s press day in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

An LG Electronics Inc’s CLOi robot stands during a press preview day at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

A DJI Drone is shown at the 2018 IFA consumer electronics and home appliances trade fair during the fair’s press day in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Attendees inspect a Sony Xperia XZ3 smartphone on display at the Sony Corp’s exhibition area during a preview day at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Sony shows its 4k HDR Recording during a preview day at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

CLOi robots are seen at the booth of LG during a preview day of the IFA, the world’s leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Visitors pass an IFA consumer electronics show logo outside Berlin Messe exhibition hall in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Employees demonstrate Segway Inc’s Drift W1 e-Skates during a press preview day at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

A trouser iron sits inside an LG Electronics Inc’s LG Styler steam cleaning system during a preview day at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Lights are illuminated on LG Electronics Inc’s LG XBOOM audio speaker systems during a press preview day at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

A pair of Sony Xperia Ear Duo earphones hangs in a tank of water at the Sony Corp’s exhibition area during a preview day at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Aug 30, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

“Samsung is developing its own voice assistant, Bixby, but we could consider various (forms) of collaboration with Google in the field,” said Kim Hyun-suk, Samsung’s president and CEO of consumer electronics, during a press conference at a hotel in Berlin, a day before the IFA 2018 was scheduled to kick off.

Kim Hyun-suk, president and CEO of consumer electronics at Samsung Electronics, speaks during a press conference in Berlin on Thursday. (Samsung Electronics)

“For example, we would call up Bixby, but it could lead us to one of Google’s services, like Google Map,” he said.

He was answering a question about the possibility of Samsung adopting Google Assistant for its home appliances, as other appliance manufacturers are increasingly doing these days.

Because Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones are powered by Android, Google Assistant is available on Samsung phones along with Bixby. However, some critics say, Google’s voice assistant outperforms Samsung’s.

“Each company has areas they particularly excel in, and collaboration is essential for perfect voice control,” Kim said. “Samsung is a company that sells around 500 million units of devices worldwide every year, and we can use this as our bargaining power to negotiate the level of cooperation with AI leaders like Google.”

The Samsung CEO, who also heads Samsung Research, which operates five AI centers on three continents, emphasized that the Korean company was capable of making any kind of hardware product, possibly including some robots. In contrast, he said, those AI leaders have no such manufacturing capabilities and can make only simple speakers upon which to run their voice-control software.

“However, what’s important here is to have the AI platform — which I will call the brain — regardless of hardware type,” he said.

Kim recalled the moment when Samsung first started talking about IoT — three years ago at IFA 2015.

For two years after the initial discussion, there had not been much progress, he said. But as of this year, the focus had narrowed considerably as players discuss how to connect different types of devices and control them in an integrated manner.

“As an increasing number of devices have just got to be connected, and we are now talking about AI in order to control them,” he said, “voice is going to be a very crucial point of interaction … for the AI era, and (having a proprietary) voice technology will be a key competitive factor for companies.”

Under an investment plan announced recently, Samsung will invest approximately 25 trillion won in AI, Internet of Things and fifth-generation mobile network technology between now and 2020, including some mergers and acquisitions.

Kim also announced that Samsung’s AI centers would undertake an aggressive talent hunt, saying he hoped to expand the nascent research organization to include up to 1,000 experts.

“It is hard to say yet (whether) we are making money out of this, especially in B2C,” he said. “But we are seeing great potential in B2B — for example, a business model that sells AI solutions to construction companies (for) turnkey projects in order to make (built-in AI solutions for households).”

Organisers said the event will display a range of innovative Taiwanese products, including how the latest technology and electronic innovations are shaping the public transport systems of tomorrow.

The Taiwan Excellence Pavilion and other zones within the Taiwan Expo are open for invitees to the transport forum to explore; discovering lifestyle and hi-tech products that connect to an international community while affording valuable insights into how Taiwanese industry can benefit Thailand’s economy and industries.

It runs until September 1.

The plan is the latest move to tighten government oversight over the country’s fast-growing and highly popular video game industry — and a new blow to their stock market fortunes.

The new regulations were announced late Thursday after Chinese President Xi Jinping issued an “important directive” to protect children’s eyesight.

The education ministry said in a statement Thursday that the authorities will regulate and control the total number of internet games, as well as the number of new titles.

The statement, which was signed by eight ministries, said the authorities will also explore an age-appropriate alert system and take actions to limit the amount of gaming hours among children.

The news sent the shares of Chinese video game companies sharply down on Friday morning.

Tencent dropped by more than five percent in Hong Kong while Perfect World Co, which was once listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, sank almost nine percent in Shenzhen.

Smaller game developers also lost ground in Shenzhen. Youzu Interactive Co plunged nearly eight percent and Sichuan Xun You Network Technology lost more than eight percent. Ourpalm Co was down nearly six percent.

China has a high rate of myopia among students at an increasingly younger age, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing Xi’s order.

Myopia has seriously affected children’s physical and mental health, posing a big problem for the nation’s future, the agency said.

The plan follows a halt in the approval of new online game licences.

Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that China had stopped approving any new mobile games as part of a wider shake-up of the market.

No new titles for domestic firms had been added since May and no new imported games has been approved since February, according to the National Radio and Television Administration, which updates the online list of approved games regularly.

READ MORE: China’s cyber police, search engine to crack down on rumors

The platform is hosted by the Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center under the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and operated by xinhuanet.com.

The platform allows the public to quickly discover and debunk rumors floating around online, while at the same time throwing light on pseudoscientific theories

The platform operates under the guidance of 27 units, such as the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the National Development and Reform Commission.

The platform allows the public to quickly discover and debunk rumors floating around online, while at the same time throwing light on pseudoscientific theories.

So far, more than 40 rumor-refuting platforms have been integrated into the national one. Cutting-edge technology is also utilized to improve performance at tackling online rumors.

ALSO READ: Social media penalized for rumors

While the internet has become a vital source for the public to acquire daily information and express opinions, a number of problems including spreading rumors and illegal information, continue to exist and disturb social order.

Boeing is charged with everything from designing and producing to delivering and servicing four “MQ-25A Stingray” drones, which will enter service in 2024, the Navy said in a statement.

The drones — named after their stingray silhouette — will be launched from aircraft carriers, greatly expanding US aircrafts’ range and mission capability.

“This is an historic day,” said Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson.

“We will look back on this day and recognize that this event represents a dramatic shift in the way we define warfighting requirements, work with industry, integrate unmanned and manned aircraft, and improve the lethality of the air wing – all at relevant speed.”

Boeing had to fight off General Atomics and Lockheed Martin for the contract. If the four aircraft meet requirements, the contract could be expanded to $13 billion for 72 drones, the Pentagon said.

THE RAPID growth of Bitcoin-related scams and other cybercrimes has prompted the United Nations to urge member countries, including Thailand, to step up their legal safeguards against potential economic losses.

Cybercrime-related losses worldwide top US$600 billion (Bt19.6 trillion), said Julien Garsany, deputy regional representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Garsany told a Bangkok seminar on cryptocurrency and cybercrime that the cost of economic and other damage to Asean countries alone ranges between $120 million and $200 million, making it essential for law-enforcement and justice officials in various countries to work together to tackle the issue.

Thailand has also won support from the international community after an executive decree was issued recently to regulate all digital assets, including Bitcoin and initial coin offerings (ICOs).

Kittipong Kittayarak, executive director of the Thailand Institute of Justice, said criminals have now turned to using cryptocurrencies to commit crimes such as money laundering, terrorism financing and illicit ransom payments. They also use cryptocurrencies to pay for child pornography, malware, narcotics, weapons and human trafficking via the so-called “darknet”, whose computer server locations are unknown.

The number of cryptocurrency crimes in Thailand remains small so far but is expected to increase rapidly in the near future. The country needs to boost public awareness and readiness to tackle this issue, Kittipong said.

Justice Minister ACM Prajin Chantong told the seminar that a shortage of experts in this field means Thailand needs to expand its collaboration with other countries.

Dr Narin Phetthong, an Interpol specialist on criminal activity involving cryptocurrencies, said the most prominent cases in Thailand included a huge Bitcoin robbery in Phuket allegedly carried out by Russian criminals and the Bt800-million Bitcoin scam in which a Finnish owner of bitcoins was allegedly cheated by Thais.

Alexandru Caciuloiu, the UNODC’s cybercrime project coordinator, said criminal activity involving cryptocurrency could take many forms, including their use by prostitution rings to launder money and crypto-hacking in which computer servers are accessed without authorisation to mine Bitcoins and other digital units.

Regional operation

Narin said Interpol now has a regional operation in Singapore with a unit dedicated to cybercrimes in Asean countries. Owing to concerns on the expected rise of these crimes, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is now tasked with regulating all digital assets in the country.

Bhume Bhumiratana, a consultant of SEC, said licensing and registration with the authorities is now required for several types of business involving digital assets, including cryptocurrency exchanges, dealers and brokers. Such regulator oversight could help prevent fraud and other wrongdoing, Bhume added.

Preventive measures such as licensing and “know your customer” (KYC) regulations imposed on banks and other financial institutions will allow the authorities to trace owners of digital assets used in criminal activities.

Poramin Insom, founder of the Zcoin and TDAX cryptocurrency exchanges in Thailand, said only 0.2 per cent of the Thai population currently use Bitcoins and similar currencies. He predicts that figure will grow 10 per cent over the next five years.

Poramin said the current regulations on all digital assets are good for the country and potential users, as well as investors who want to know the rules to avoid problems with regulators.

However, authorities must avoid over-regulating digital assets and other new technologies as Thai innovators could be negatively affected, cautioned Prin Panitchpakdi, a member of SET’s board of governors and director of National Innovation Agency.

“You will think wisely and be free with AI,” Jo Seong-jin, CEO and vice chairman of LG Electronics, said in an advance copy of his speech to be delivered at the opening ceremony of the IFA 2018.

The LG CEO was to elaborate on how the company is trying to apply AI to its home appliance products and the benefits this will bring consumers.

Around 1,800 tech firms, including manufacturers of home appliances, consumer electronics and mobile devices, and research institutes with future technologies are participating in the biggest electronics trade show in Europe, which takes place for six days in late August every year.

For Korean electronics makers like Samsung and LG, the IFA is a significant opportunity to introduce new flagship products to the European market, showcase technologies, and boost sales in the region for the remaining months of the year.

Models and IFA girl (second) pose in front of Samsung’s QLED 8K television at IFA 2018 in Berlin. (Yonhap)

Samsung allocated the largest portion of its exclusive exhibition hall at City Cube Berlin for the exhibition of AI-powered home appliances.

“People’s daily lives will be totally different from now in the era of super connectivity with AI, IoT (internet of things) and 5G technologies,” said Kim Hyun-suk, CEO of the consumer electronics unit at Samsung.

Targeting millennials in Europe, Samsung introduced the voice assistant Bixby-controlled Family Hub refrigerator, the Dual Cook Flex oven and the Quick Drive washing machine with AI Q-rator.

The Dual Cook Flex oven is popular in Europe among young consumers who tend to cook two dishes at a time, according to the company.

“More than 70 percent of European millennial consumers spend a lot of time at home, having parties with acquaintances and working from home,” said Daniel Harvie, a marketing official at Samsung’s Europe branch.

“Samsung is making the role of the kitchen more important, and home appliances work as if they are personal assistants as part of applying AI and IoT technologies to all of its products that change lifestyles.”

Samsung has pledged approximately 25 trillion won ($22.6 billion) of investments in AI, the internet of things and the fifth-generation mobile network by 2020.

“In order for such technologies to actually create value, they should be as simple as talking to a person next to (you),” Kim said. “To make it possible, Samsung is working together with outside developers and partners to expand the ecosystem for the AI assistant Bixby and IoT platform SmartThings.”

LG is highlighting its AI ThinQ solutions at the IFA.

More than one-third of the company’s IFA exhibition space centers on AI, with a range of LG ThinQ products displayed in three different lifestyle zones: ThinQ Travel, ThinQ Gourmet and ThinQ Style.

Each zone is designed to reflect the diverse lifestyles of modern consumers, incorporating AI products into a natural yet futuristic home environment.

The distinct zones illustrate how the LG ThinQ offers benefits for every aspect of life including style, cuisine, home comfort, mobility and entertainment.

For example, the ThinQ Travel zone demonstrates how easy it is to search for the perfect holiday destination via LG AI TVs, and then book flights and accommodation using the LG G7 ThinQ smartphone.

LG’s G7 ThinkQ smartphone (LG Electronics)

The ThinQ is operated by Google Assistant, which now supports up to five languages as part of LG’s global strategy to raise the bar for voice control solutions.

With the Google Assistant built in, LG’s AI TVs will offer a streamlined experience that allows users to manage daily tasks, find answers to questions and control compatible smart home devices, the company said.

The IoT living room zone designed in collaboration with Italian luxury furniture company Natuzzi showcases how LG’s newest XBOOM AI ThinQ speakers can be used to alter the settings of connected sofas and lighting installations.

At the gourmet zone, visitors can experience firsthand the advanced capabilities of the intelligent InstaView ThinQ refrigerator, which is able to recommend recipes and adjust the cooking conditions of the connected oven and other kitchen appliances.

In addition, the company is presenting its voice-controlled Styler ThinQ for the first time to European buyers and consumers. The flagship steam closet is designed to enhance user convenience. It helps to keep clothes clean, hygienic and stylish — all of which can now be achieved through voice commands.

“LG will deliver differentiated value by applying absolutely capable AI solutions to a number of home appliances in order to improve customers’ life quality,” said Han Chang-hee, head of global marketing at LG.

The S3-compatible offering aims to improve the operational efficiencies and stability for Thailand-based businesses, while providing privacy and data protection in the cloud with ISO 27018 compliance, INET said in a press statement.

Wanchai Vach-shewadumrong, Deputy Managing Director, INET, said, “With growth comes the need for additional data infrastructure, and businesses in Thailand are quickly understanding the competitive advantages offered by cloud-based data storage and management solutions. NetApp is a leader in data storage and management, and this partnership proves INET’s commitment toward providing a wide range of enterprise-ready cloud services. Our industry-proven cloud infrastructure, with NetApp technology, enables INET S3 Service to offer security that’s of international standards to our customers, further boosting their global competitiveness. I’m confident our customers will benefit immensely from the boost in the capability to manage workloads and the security offered by the solution.”

“The definition of success in business is changing. INET S3 Service is built upon our vision to enable ‘One Platform’ that connects public and private sectors with people, through a grand focus on identification, collaboration, electronic documents, and authentication through ‘ONE ID’, user identification, which will allow users access to email (@mail.one.th), cloud storage and chat platforms. Part of the provisions include NetApp’s ability to manage financial data in compliance with stringent regulations. This would provide businesses with the ability to create electronic tax invoices through our e-Tax Invoice and email them to the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) for trusted timestamping. Thanks to the S3 protocol, businesses can be confident their e-Tax filings are compliant not just with local requirements, but also with those of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)—further cementing our position as a leader amongst all e-Tax Invoice service providers”  added Mr. Wanchai Vach-shewadumrong. 

Weera Areeratanasak, Managing Director, Malaysia Indonesia, Thailand and CLM NetApp ASEAN, said, “This partnership is one amongst the many between NetApp and INET—and we’re confident it’s not the last as INET is now a Platinum Partner in the Cloud Service Provider Program. Our past collaborations have created successes, such as the INET Virtual Machine (VM) as a Service, Private Cloud Service, and Active-Active Data Center. INET S3 brings this further, combining a secure cloud with S3 transfer acceleration, providing businesses with a new cloud option that overcomes increasing transactional data challenges in the local business space—which allows enterprises to move forward in their digital transformation strategies.”

INET S3 Service is part of the INET FlexPod Cloud portfolio, which incorporates world-class cloud storage and security technologies. INET S3 Service provides cloud storage that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, through the S3 protocol with strong encryption and superior security. This cloud storage is suitable for storing log files, documents (such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, image and multimedia files), files that need sequential access, and backup archives.

INET said in the press statement that the new service has following better features:

●        INET S3 Service meets business requirements of any size, from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to large enterprises.

●        INET S3 Service is based on INET’s reliable infrastructure with a large backbone, fast data transfer and highly available resources.

●        It is backed by two INET Cloud centers, along with secondary networks, providing secure disaster recovery capabilities to all customers.

●        It is guaranteed with a SLA of 99.90% uptime.

INET said the new service has following benefits:

●        Cost saving. INET S3 Service helps reduce up-front capital investment for IT by turning it into operating expenses.

●        Agility. Management in the web portal allows customers to manage resources anytime, anywhere, through the internet.

●        Flexibility. Customers can quickly and easily scale and provision resources according to their specific requirements.

●        Security. Customers can be assured of privacy and data protection in compliance with international standard ISO 27018.

From Friday, “new releases in the artificial intelligence niche will be the ones everyone is talking about” at the industry event in the German capital, predicted Gartner analyst Annette Zimmermann.

South Korean giant Samsung, through a new connected speaker, Home Galaxy, equipped to respond to spoken commands, may send its voice assistant Bixby into battle with Google’s Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri for dominance of living rooms and kitchens.

Such devices made a splash at last year’s IFA, making the 2018 show an opportunity to take stock of their reception among the public.

Research firm Gartner predicts that by 2020, some 75 percent of American households will use a voice assistant.

Meanwhile similar technology is extending its reach into connected devices from fridges to lightbulbs, gigantic televisions with ever-higher resolution, and wearables used to track fitness data.

Such mass-market products are the bread-and-butter of IFA, which traditionally contrasts with its nerdier Las Vegas-based American equivalent CES.

Augmented reality

Also from Korea, Samsung rival LG is set to unveil its CLOi SuitBot, a powered exoskeleton that increases the user’s leg strength and can be networked with the firm’s other robots for complex tasks.

But visitors looking for novelty in their everyday tech companion, the smartphone, will be disappointed.

Apple has historically shunned IFA, while Samsung unveiled its top-end Galaxy Note 9 phone just a few weeks ago.

Neither is a major announcement expected from China’s Huawei, a star of past years at the Berlin show.

Instead, the 2018 edition could be a breakthrough moment for augmented-reality applications that have so far left consumers unimpressed.

The technology superimposes digitally-generated elements like sounds or 2D and 3D images onto real-world scenes, for example in an Ikea app that allows users to virtually try out the furniture giant’s sofas or bookshelves in their homes.

With new glasses, lenses and helmets, “there are more and more technologies available that include very high-quality content, whether it’s augmented-reality Harry Potter or shopping applications”, said Klaus Boehm of consultancy Deloitte.

Filling out the vast halls of Berlin’s trade fair centre will be a bewildering array of products from around the world that range from the practical to the — in some eyes — downright dangerous.

Under German law, items like hoverboards, powered “monowheels” and electric skates can only be test-driven away from public roads.

And there are certain to be thousands of exhibitors showing off the latest fridge that re-orders food when stocks run low or Bluetooth headsets with an extra hour of battery life — jockeying for position in a relentless technology race.