Apple to hold Sept. 14 event for new iPhone line, other devices
Apple has set the date for its biggest product launch of the year: Sept. 14. Thats when the company is set to unveil its latest line of iPhones and other products ahead of a critical holiday season.
The presentation, which features the tag line “California streaming,” will take place at 10 a.m. Pacific time next Tuesday. Like all of Apple’s launches since 2020, the event will be held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Cupertino, California-based technology giant has been readying four new iPhones, as well as Apple Watches with larger screens, Bloomberg has reported. Apple has also been working on revamped entry-level AirPods earbuds and new MacBook Pros. Apple typically holds multiple launches in the fall, so not every new device for 2021 may appear next week. Last year, it held three events across two months.
The fall product season is critical for Apple, with analysts estimating that the company will generate $120 billion in revenue during the holiday quarter. That would be an all-time record.
The new iPhones are expected to have the same 5.4-inch, 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch screen sizes as last year’s iPhone 12, but the devices will include camera upgrades like a video version of Portrait mode, support for the higher-quality ProRes video recording resolution and more advanced filters system. Also coming to this year’s models are faster A15 processors, a smaller cutout at the top of the screen and display improvements like a faster refresh rate.
Apple has also been planning a slew of satellite features for emergencies, such as a mechanism for reaching first-responder services and texting key contacts. While the new iPhone hardware may support the features, they aren’t expected to become available until sometime next year.
The new Apple Watches will feature the first redesign to the product since the Series 4 in 2018. The new models will have flatter edges and displays, in addition to a sizable increase to the screen sizes. They’ll feature 41-millimeter and 45-millimeter cases, up from 40 and 44 millimeters.
The larger model will also have a screen of about 1.9 inches diagonally, up from 1.78 inches. And it will include a faster processor and updated wireless technology. But the watches have faced production snags, which could result in shortages.
Also coming this fall are the new MacBook Pros, iPads and AirPods. The MacBook Pros will be Apple’s first high-end computers to transition over to custom processors. And they’ll mark the first redesign to the MacBook Pro since 2016. The new models will include flatter edges and the removal of the Touch Bar strip on the keyboard. They also will offer MagSafe magnetic charging.
The new AirPods will look similar to the AirPods Pro, but lack pricier features like noise cancellation. Apple hasn’t refreshed the entry-level earbuds since early 2019, but it released AirPods Max headphones last December.
The company is planning two new iPads for this fall. First, an update to the base iPad geared toward schools. That version will get a faster processor and a thinner design. Second is the biggest overhaul to the iPad mini since the product first debuted in 2012. The new version will have a larger screen and thinner borders.
Alongside the new hardware, Apple will also roll out the previously announced iOS and iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, tvOS 15 and macOS Monterey software updates. Apple typically gives release timing for those updates at these types of product launches.
EXIM Bank urges SMEs to ditch fear and surf ‘digital tsunami’ for Thailand’s recovery
The Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Thailand) has urged the Thai private sector to take advantage of the “digital tsunami” of domestic and international online trade caused by Covid-19.
EXIM’s chairman of executive directors Darmp Sukontasap said businesses that can adapt to the “new normal” online trade surge will be able to capture opportunities and contribute to the Thai economy’s digital transformation.
As such, the public and private sectors must ramp up cooperation to help Thai businesses, particularly SMEs, to use digital technology to reach consumers, he added.
Delivering the opening address at an online seminar titled “Digital Turns Global Trade Around” on Wednesday, Darmp added that borderless trade on online platforms offered a flexible way of adding value to Thai businesses.
EXIM’s chairman of executive directors Darmp Sukontasap
Exim president Rak Vorrakitpokatorn noted that while global trade of goods and services shrank 9 per cent and 15 per cent respectively in 2020, e-commerce surged by more than 20 per cent to US$4.2 trillion and is expected to rise to $4.9 trillion in 2021 and $7.4 trillion in 2025. More than 50 per cent of consumers now shop online, and more than 40 per cent of consumers view online entertainment programmes, with growth prospects for gaming products, entertainment media on platforms like Netflix, health technology products, etc, he added.
Rak said Thai businesses – SMEs in particular – must ditch their “no-risk” stance in order to grab opportunities in the new era of global trade. They should be confident in trying out digital technology and services offered by financial institutions such as EXIM Thailand, he added.
Exim president Rak Vorrakitpokatorn
EXIM Thailand offers a financing facility, export credit insurance facility and digital system support, such as the Thailand Export Readiness Assessment and Knowledge Management (TERAK) and Thailand e-commerce pavilion.
Rak noted that SMEs are crucial to Thailand’s economic recovery, as they contribute than 30 per cent of the country’s GDP and employ more than 12 million people.
The seminar’s afternoon programme included workshops run by T-GoodTech, Thehubthailand.biz and Alibaba.com in which entrepreneurs tried out trading their goods on online platforms.
BOT sees no need to tap IMF’s Special Drawing Rights facility
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) on Friday said it had no compulsion to utilise the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) as the countrys current foreign exchange reserves were adequate to meet its commitments.
SDRs are international reserve assets created by the IMF to supplement the official reserves of member countries. The value of an SDR is based on a basket of five — the US dollar, the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen, and the British pound sterling. SDRs are allocated to IMF member countries in proportion to their relative share in the IMF. Countries can exchange SDRs for hard currencies with other IMF members.
The IMF on August 23 had allocated a historic budget of $650 billion for the SDR project with the aim of helping countries revive their economies that had been hit by Covid-19.
“If we use an SDR, we will need to pay interest to the IMF. This interest is based on the five currencies whose value could rise over time,” the BOT said.
“SDRs are suitable for countries that do not have enough foreign reserves to pay for foreign expenditure, such as trade debts, which is not the case with Thailand,” the BOT said.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index closed at 1,635.35 on Friday, up 6.23 points or 0.38 per cent. Transactions totalled THB92.05 billion with an index high of 1,639.65 and a low of 1,620.58 as the index rallied after falling 0.69 per cent on Thursday.
In the morning session, Krungsri Securities forecast the index on Friday would fluctuate between 1,620 and 1,640 points amid uncertainty over whether the European Central Bank and US Federal Reserve would taper their quantitative easing programmes to curb rising inflation.
However, it said the index would rebound on news that the government may suspend the emergency decree on Friday, as well as mass buy-ups of shares that gained specific positive sentiment.
The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were ADVANC, GULF, INTUCH, CPALL, AOT, TEAMG, KCE, EA, PTT and KBANK.
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 30,381.84, up 373.65 points or 1.25 per cent.
China’s Shanghai SE Composite Index closed at 3,703.11, up 9.98 points or 0.27 per cent, while the Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 14,771.87, up 73.34 points or 0.50 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 26,205.91, up 489.91 points or 1.91 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI closed at 3,125.76, up 11.06 points or 0.36 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX closed at 17,474.57, up 170.24 points or 0.98 per cent.
Investment experts offer advice on dealing with rising inflation
Stock market experts on Friday advised investors to arrange their portfolios to deal with rising inflation.
Phiphat Phisanuwongrak, chief investment officer at Land and Houses Fund Management, advised investors who can tolerate moderate to high risk to diversify their shareholding into two portfolios.
He suggested the main portfolio (80 per cent) should comprise 5 per cent in cash, 35 per cent in Thai shares (focusing on telecom, electronic and logistics, plus retail and tourism benefitting from the country’s reopening), 35 per cent in foreign shares (focusing on Europe, the US and Vietnam) and 5 per cent in commodities.
Meanwhile, a trading portfolio (20 per cent) should focus on funds that invest in stocks related to semiconductors and cybersecurity as their price had risen in line with increasing demand. Investors are also advised to invest in Chinese stocks to take advantage of a recent price drop.
Nattapong Hirunyasiri, MTS Gold chief executive, said the gold price is currently on a short-term downward trajectory as investors monitor the US Federal Reserve’s move to taper quantitative easing and the baht strengthens.
He advised investors to buy gold when its price drops to between THB23,000 and THB25,000 per baht weight, adding that the price would not fall below THB20,000.
“Investing in gold is still generating enough return to curb current inflation at 5 per cent, while its price is likely to rise further,” Nattapong said.
Kavee Chukitkasem, Kasikorn Securities deputy managing director, advised investors to be careful in purchasing shares as uncertainty over Covid-19, the slowdown in Thailand’s economic recovery, decline in foreign tourists and delay in government economic stimulus measures and restructuring would pressure the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index.
“The SET Index will fall back after surging [recently], so this is an opportunity to buy shares for six months to one-year investment,” Kavee said.
“Investors should pick shares which will benefit from future economic recovery, such as large banks (BBL, SCB and TISCO) retail (CPALL, HMPRO, CPN and CPNREIT) real estate (LH and SPALI), stocks which generate high dividends (MK) and electricity (GPSC).
SET expected to gain from likely end to state of emergency
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index fell by 5.31 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 1,623.81 on Friday morning, witnessing a high of 1,635.12 and a low of 1,623.02 in opening trade.
The SET Index closed at 1,629.12 on Thursday, down 11.33 points or 0.69 per cent. Transactions totalled THB91.09 billion with an index high of 1,646.07 and a low of 1,626.95.
Krungsri Securities forecast the index on Friday would fluctuate between 1,620 and 1,640 points amid uncertainty over whether the European Central Bank and US Federal Reserve would taper their quantitative easing programmes to curb rising inflation.
However, it said the index would rebound from news that the government may suspend the emergency decree on Friday, as well as mass buy-ups of shares that gained specific positive sentiment.
It recommended buying the following companies’ shares as an investment strategy:
▪︎ HANA, KCE, TU, CPF, GFPT, ASIAN, EPG, NER, SUN and APURE, which benefit from the weakening baht.
▪︎ COM7, SYNEX, SPVI and CPW, which benefit from Apple’s move to launch iPhone 13 in the middle of September.
▪︎ AOT, KBANK, BBL, CPN, CRC, HMPRO, AAV, BA, MINT, AMATA and WHA, which would benefit from the country’s reopening.
The price of gold rose by THB50 in morning trade on Friday.
AGold Traders Association report at 9.27am said the buying price of a gold bar was THB27,750 per baht weight and selling price THB27,850, while gold ornaments were priced at THB27,257.68 and THB28,350, respectively.
At close on Thursday, the buying price of a gold bar was THB27,700 per baht weight and selling price THB27,800, while gold ornaments were THB27,197.04 and THB28,300, respectively.
Spot gold price on Friday morning was moving at around US$1,796 (THB58,640) per ounce after Comex gold at close on Thursday rose by $6.5 to $1,800 per ounce due to support from the depreciation of the US dollar after the price had dropped for two consecutive days earlier.
SET to launch “Live Exchange” market for SME fundraising
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is opening a new market on September 14 called “Live Exchange” to serve as a fundraising platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“Currently there are about 30 SMEs who have expressed interest in this market by joining SET’s training programme called “Scaling Up Platform”, which will help prepare them for the fundraising,” said Manpong Senanarong, SET senior executive vice president and head of issuer and listing division, on Thursday.
“We expect the fundraising in Live Exchange will actually start at the earliest before the year-end, or in early 2022 at the latest.”
Businesses who join the market before 2023 will be exempted from all the fees for three years, he added.
“Interested businesses will be allowed to submit their filings after the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued all related regulations of the market,” said Manpong.
“The consideration period of filings for the new market will be shorter compared to the SET and MAI [Market for Alternative Investment].”
Live Exchange will open only to SME operators who meet the asset requirements and not to retail investors. Trading will open one round per day and continuous trading is not allowed. Investors can only sell shares that they actually hold, while buyers of shares must use cash only.
Baht stable but sales by foreign investors could trigger volatility
The baht opened at 32.72 to the US dollar on Friday, unchanged from Thursday’s closing rate.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 32.65 and 32.80 during the day, Krungthai Bank market strategist Poon Panichpibool predicted.
Poon said the baht would drift sideways. The baht might be volatile and weaken during the day while many foreigners were selling Thai assets this week — stocks and bonds.
The key resistance level for the baht would be from 32.90 to 33.00 to the dollar, which is the level at which exporters might sell the US currency, Poon said.
Meanwhile, the baht’s key support level would be from 32.50 to 32.60, the level some importers are waiting for so they can buy dollars, he added.
Facebook smart glasses put cameras on your face. Everyone around you should be aware
Facebook is betting that the future of socializing online will involve high-tech face computers foretold by science fiction sages. But when it comes to “smart glasses,” the company isnt quite there yet.
The social media company on Thursday unveiled a $300 pair of specs built in partnership with eyewear company EssilorLuxottica that lets wearers take photos and videos from their perspective. There are no fancy displays or built-in 5G connectivity – just a pair of cameras, a microphone, and some speakers, all wedged into a set of Wayfarer-inspired specs.
Facebook argues that wearing tiny computers with cameras on our faces while we interact with the world and people around us might be fun and will get us one step closer into its metaverse. But devices like these come with serious questions about your privacy, and the privacy of the people around you. They’re also a reflection of Facebook’s further expansion into our lives: Our phones, our computers and our livings rooms weren’t enough.
Facebook isn’t the only tech company with smart glass ambitions, and many early experiments weren’t successful. Google started selling early versions of its Glass headset in 2013, but it quickly flopped as a product for consumers – now it’s just a tool for businesses and software developers. Snap first started selling camera-laden Spectacles in 2016 but it had to write off nearly $40 million because of unsold inventory. (In fairness, later models seemed to fare better.) Within the past two years, Bose and Amazon jumped on the bandwagon with glasses of their own, each using built-in speakers to play music and podcasts. By comparison, Facebook’s first crack at consumer-ready smart glasses doesn’t seem all that novel.
I’ve spent the past few days in New York wearing Facebook’s glasses, and I’ve come to realize the most important thing about these might be that they just aren’t too smart.
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There’s a pretty good chance you wouldn’t be able to identify these as smart glasses at all if you saw them on the street. People will be able to pay extra for different frame styles and even prescription lenses, but the pair I’ve lived with for the past week mostly just look like a pair of standard Ray-Ban sunglasses.
To Facebook and EssilorLuxottica’s credit, they feel like standard sunglasses, too – the arms are much thicker than usual to fit all the sensors and components inside, but they never felt cumbersome or uncomfortable. Even better, they weigh only a few grams more than the Wayfarers you might already own.
Facebook’s grand idea here is that, by putting a device that shoots photos, captures videos, and plays music right on your face, you get to spend more time living the present and less time fiddling with your phone. Ironically though, these glasses aren’t particularly great at any of those things.
Take the pair of 5-megapixel cameras next to each lens, for instance – they’re capable of snapping some decent still images when you’re out in broad daylight, but they pale in comparison to the 12-megapixel photos many common smartphones can capture. I could say the same about the video quality. The results generally look good enough to splash across TikTok and Instagram, but you’re limited to shooting 30-second clips. And since only the right camera records video – and square video, no less – the vantage point seen in your footage often feels a little off-kilter.
So much for capturing the world as you see it.
Facebook says all that imagery remains encrypted on the glasses until you transfer them to the Facebook View app on your smartphone, where you can edit and export them to your social media platform of choice. Facebook’s software offers you a few options for sprucing up your files, like stitching multiple clips together into neat little “montages,” but the offered tools sometimes feel too limiting to produce the results you want.
The fastest way to start taking photos or recording video is by reaching up and clicking a button on the right arm of the glasses. And once you start capturing the world in front of you, people around will know it, thanks to a single, bright white light that fires up when you’re recording. According to Facebook, people will be able to see that indicator from up to 25 feet away, which in theory gives them the opportunity to scoot out of your field of view if they want to.
But that assumes a sort of literacy with Facebook’s design that most people won’t have out of the gate. (These are, after all, pretty niche gadgets.) Word to the wise: If you see part of someone’s glasses light up, you might wind up in someone’s next social media post.
And those speakers? Well, they can’t drown the din of a subway car, but they were pleasant enough to keep me distracted during some long walks. They’re also just loud enough to be usable for phone calls, though you’ll have to deal with the embarrassment of talking aloud to no one in particular. There’s just one rub: These are open-air speakers, so if you can hear your music or the person on the other end of a phone call, chances are someone else might be able to as well. (That said, they’d need to be very close to you to eavesdrop effectively.)
The right arm of the glasses is touch-sensitive, so you can tap it to jump between music tracks. And Facebook’s new voice assistant is baked into the frames, so you can tell your sunglasses to take a photo or start recording a video.
Yes, that’s right: These glasses listen to you.
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I’d be willing to bet that you – or someone you know – have wondered if companies like Facebook tap into your phone’s mic to listen to you. I mean, how else would the ads you get served feel so personal?
The real answer is that these companies don’t need our microphones; the behaviors we offer to them are enough to effectively target ads at us. But here’s a product you’re supposed to wear on your face, built in part by a company with a long, questionable history of privacy protection, with a microphone inside it. How could Facebook reasonably expect someone to buy these, let alone wear them for the five or so hours it takes to drain the battery?
The company’s answer, in a way, was to prevent smart glasses from acting too smart. In the case of the Facebook voice assistant , the company insists it only listens for the “Hey Facebook” wake word. And even then, there are only three things you can ask after that: Take a photo, record a video, and stop recording. Facebook will almost certainly teach its Siri rival new tricks soon enough, but turning off those listening features entirely is plenty simple, and probably a good idea.
The company’s intentional ignorance doesn’t end there. When you take a picture with your smartphone, there’s a pretty good chance your location is embedded into that image. The same can’t be said for these Ray-Bans, since they don’t contain a GPS or any other kind of location-tracking component. I checked the metadata of every photo and video I captured, and my location didn’t appear in any of them. Facebook confirmed that it won’t look at the photos and videos you’ve stored in the Facebook View app to target ads either – that can only happen once you’ve shared that media directly on Facebook.
These glasses also don’t know how to play nice with anything but your smartphone. And even if someone does figure out how to access your files, Facebook says they all stay encrypted until they’re transferred to your phone – and your phone only. For a nerd like me, who’d love to dump those videos onto my computer for editing, that’s a bit of a disappointment. Still, I understand why: More connectivity means more vulnerabilities, and Facebook can’t afford to put any of those in front of your eyes.
Whether these protection features are enough to comfort anyone is a deeply personal choice. If Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s grand plan is to get us all comfortable wearing powerful, augmented reality glasses, it can’t afford to freak people out this early on.
EXIM’s chairman of executive directors Darmp Sukontasap
Exim president Rak Vorrakitpokatorn
SootinClaimon.Com 