Local governments across the country were ordered to review the backgrounds and qualifications of all drivers signed up with web-based carpooling and other private car-share services.

Drivers and cars deemed unqualified will be removed from such services by the end of this year, said a joint directive issued late Monday by the transport and public security ministries.

Service operators in the meantime must take a range of safety measures including strengthening alarm and rapid-response mechanisms to enable passengers to indicate when they are in danger.

They also will be required to establish 24-hour safety management and emergency response teams, and must furnish real-time information on drivers and passengers to police.

It did not specify how long the suspension would last.

Car-pooling services such as Hitch pair up people moving in the same direction so they can share travelling costs.

Hitch is separate from Didi Chuxing’s main ride-hailing service, which is not affected by the government suspension order.

Didi Chuxing, used by hundreds of millions in China, came under intense criticism last month after a 20-year-old female passenger was raped and murdered by her Hitch driver in the eastern city of Wenzhou.

Didi Chuxing faced boycott calls after it emerged that the company did not act on a complaint about the driver just one day before the killing.

The episode fuelled pressure for greater regulation of carpooling services, which generally face less stringent requirements and oversight than regular ride-hailing.

Didi Chuxing was already under the gun after police said in May that a Hitch driver killed a 21-year-old female flight attendant whom he had picked up.

State media reported she was stabbed at least 20 times and that the killer’s dead body was later found in a nearby river.

Following last month’s murder, Didi suspended Hitch and has temporarily halted all late-night ride-hailing for a week beginning last Saturday while it implements safety measures.

Didi Chuxing muscled Uber out of China in 2016 after a bruising turf battle. It now claims 30 million drivers and more than 550 million users across its various services.

A Didi Chuxing spokesperson told AFP the company had no new comment on the government-ordered safety drive.

Rumors that the South Korean tech titan would unveil its foldable phone at the Samsung Developer Conference have been circulating around the world following a recent interview of the company’s mobile business CEO Koh Dong-jin by a group of foreign media outlets last week.

Samsung has dismissed the rumors, saying the company’s official stance has not been confirmed yet. However, it acknowledged that more details of the foldable phone could be announced at the event, as it is approaching completion of the development.

“We will have more to say about the phone under development by that time, probably some details about specifications,” said a Samsung official.

Some foreign media outlets have criticized Samsung for “teasing” the press, as it has been postponing the unveiling since early this year.

“We have overcome a major technological hurdle for the foldable phone, but we are not sure yet when consumers will be in need of such a new type of phone,” said CEO Koh in February.

However, the CEO had hinted Samsung is gearing up for the foldable phone as the company unpacked the Galaxy Note 9 phone in August, saying, “We will not give up on being the world’s first.”

Koh has revealed the foldable phone will have a foldable screen instead of a display hinge as several earlier patent application images have shown. The company is in the last stage of the development and the phone is expected to be able to be released early next year.

According to some news reports, Samsung’s first foldable smartphone, codenamed “Winner,” is said to feature a 7.3-inch OLED display, which can be folded inward with a curvature radius of 1.5 millimeters. An extra 4.6-inch OLED display is said to be installed on one side of the phone.

The prototype of the foldable model is likely to be built around November, and the phone is expected to make an official debut at the Consumer Electronics Show or the Mobile World Congress early next year.

The SDC is an annual event that showcases the company’s advancements in software and how it wants to go further to make it easier for developers to make applications for Samsung devices. It will take place at Moscone West in San Francisco from Nov. 7 to 8.

The second edition of Samsung’s voice assistant platform Bixby will be presented at the event, while Galaxy Home, its Bixby 2.0-powered artificial intelligence speaker, will be announced with more details.

“Samsung is expected to showcase some of its next-generation products, including the foldable phone and AI speaker in order to retain market attention and not to lose the world’s first title,” said an industry source.

Google Thailand has made a commitment to help Thailand transform digitally through initiatives that merge efforts, technology and resources. The move will focus on empowering individuals, students and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to benefit from Google’s products and services.

Ben King, country director for Google Thailand, said the role of the tech giant would be to make information universally accessible and useful.

Thailand is viewed as a mature market with 45 million people connected to the Internet, and engaging with technology in an increasingly varied way.

Thailand has seen huge growth in digital economy transactions, including ride sharing which exploded from nothing to a US$600 million (Bt19.67 billion) in gross merchant values (GMVs) last year alone. E-commerce has also seen growth of around 40 per cent and is driving toward even greater retail market penetration, with sales now reaching GMV of over $2 billion. Thailand’s digital economy grew from $5.8 billion to $10 billion in 2017, and is on track with projections to surpass $37 billion by 2025.

Affordable access

Google Thailand will focus on four areas in the coming years – affordable access, education, localised content and product, and SMEs. That’s similar to the focus for the past three years and is related to the ecosystem development, but the company has changed its approach, King said.

“Over the last three years, these four themes included affordable access, education, localised content and product, and small businesses. The theme has not changed much, but the change is in the evolution of approach, strategy and activity expansion. Affordable access is about infrastructure and the accessibility of Internet access – and the real challenge is affordability.

“We share this theme a lot over time – digital access and digital opportunity – but in terms of accessing information that grows businesses, develops revenue streams, makes a better life, this is one of the key themes Google has been driving over the past several years,” King added.

Digital literacy 

The second theme is education, which can be divided into two points – digital literacy and skill sets for a professional career. Google Thailand has worked with the Education Ministry through the Google Education Group to help teachers digitise their classrooms and engage students in many different ways ways.

Google’s aim is to help people understand how to maximise their practical use of the Web, learn how to protect themselves and their children, how to create a business online, how to access information in a meaningful way and how to communicate meaningfully with their communities.

Google sees this as the pathway to building digital literacy using grassroots education.

The tech giant also worked with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa) to train 3,000 community managers over four to five months. Google developed the curriculum.

“In the future, we will evolve a couple of things we have focused on,” King said. “One is the domestic expansion of the digital literacy programme – we are really interested in expanding what we doing with Depa and the Education Ministry to the public and private sectors. We will distribute the curriculum through multiple channels.

“Since it is not a programme run by Google, we can plug into many different education networks and the private sector. This is good for Thailand and good for grassroots education – this is our strategy,” he said.

“Of the 45 million people on the Internet in Thailand, we consider around 20 million people as highly advanced users,” he said. “The other 25 million people are already connected, but not connected all day.”

Google will focus on these 25 million people, increasing their skill levels so they can get the best use of the Internet.

Academy Bangkok

Another area of evolution will be Academy Bangkok, announced by Google at a recent local event. The idea behind the academy is to find the right talents and the right skill sets so as to capture digital opportunities.

“It is the biggest roadblock that businesses have faced. We have tried out a pilot programme over the last eight months, to take great talents from universities and connect them with jobs in the top tiers of big business in the country.

“Now, we’re thinking about expanding this dramatically. We will get space and develop it as Academy Bangkok, which would be launched in October or November depending on when the True Digital Park actually opens,” King said.

Academy Bangkok is a means to build digital skills for professional people. One of the biggest roadblocks in any country with a dynamic similar to Thailand is having people with the right skill sets to capture the amazing digital economic opportunities, he said.

Google partners with businesses to advertise job openings for recent university graduates. The pilot programme this year had 30 spots and got 3,000 applications for the in-depth two-month incubator held in Google’s offices.

With Academy Bangkok, Google plans to support between 150 and 200 recent graduates at a time. And it will increase from one co-host to two co-hosts, so that 300 to 400 recent new grads can be trained for jobs requiring a high level of domain expertise. The graduates will be trained in marketing, entrepreneur and developer skills.

“We probably would not run a specific artificial intelligence course [by the way machine learning and AI are in every Google product such as advertising and marketing products and cloud computing products]. AI will probably be more in line with the products set we cover, rather than being a separate course,” King said.

One specific need in Thailand is for Google’s neural machine translation, which powers Google Translate. With 35 million tourists visiting Thailand annually, the sector is a key driver for the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Machine learning is driving and powering this property.

Since Google launched neural machine translation powered by machine learning, it has increased demand, with a 300 per cent increase in Google Translate usage over the last 12 months in Thailand. This is an example how machine learning can improve Google products. Another example is Google Assistant.

Localisation

The localisation of products and services is another focus. Over the last few years, Google launched a whole range of localised products, including localising existing products into the Thai language such as Google Assistant and Google Voice Search.

“We thought about trying Translate for Thailand to power up machine translation, and this theme is continuing. We are looking for the right products for people in Thailand – it could be products that exist globally and we bring to Thailand, or it could be new products,” said King.

Google is also focusing on small businesses. From its perspective, small businesses span two different areas – entrepreneurs and the ecosystem – as exemplified by Google Launchpad Accelerator and Google for Entrepreneurs.

“We have partnered with Hubba, and partnered with the government on Coding Thailand, providing educational material for entrepreneurs on developing the ecosystem,” King said.

There are 2.7 to 3 million SMEs in the market and Google focuses on helping them digitise their business. It aims to make sure they have the right accesses and digital properties and the right information online – so they can really drive discoverability.

That is probably the key – online market is big as the demand is not constrained by geography.

“When somebody searches for products and services we want to make sure the business is discovered.

“This is really about focusing around Google My Business, where Google is really putting a lot of attention in the next 12 months. That is a little about evolution,” said King.

Key products 

The seven key Google products – Google Map, Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, Chrome, Android and Google Play – are heavily used by Thais, King said.

“These seven products have over a billion users at the global scale. They are all very important, but the most important is Google’s mission to get the world’s information online and to be universally accessible and useful.”

He admitted that it is difficult to say which service is most used in Thailand, since they each have different uses.

For example, Search could be used by someone hundreds of time in a day, YouTube could be accessed less often but for longer periods. Google Maps is an important product, as it helps people locate local businesses and services.

One thing that has really undergone change over the past three years is the quick adaptation of consumers, while businesses lag a little behind, said King.

Meanwhile, Google Analytics, Google Advertising Solution and Google Cloud are the key for businesses.

Google Analytics offers the insight of measurement, while Google Advertising Solution provides marketing and advertising help. They are included in YouTube Ad, Search Ad and Display Ads Network functions. Google Cloud infrastructure is available for businesses of all sizes.

“When we looked at what we can do or what we want to do in the country, we asked ourselves what has the most impact and what is it we do really well. We can benefit the country the most by being big and doing it very well. The result was the four key areas of our focus,” King explained.

Artificial intelligence has until now been held back by two main factors: a lack of data and a lack of processing power. The issue of processing power has been resolved by the ever lower prices of micro-chips, meaning the amount of operations one can complete for the cost of one dollar has increased a trillion times since we launched men to the moon.

The amount of data produced has increased at a similarly rapid pace due to our digital lifestyles. Ninety per cent of the world’s data was created in the past two years. Every picture you take, every message you send, every GPS location your phone registers is adding to this ever-growing mountain of information.

To keep up with our changing world, Thailand’s data-science students also need access to both computing power and data, with the latter being the hardest to come by. Data is what powers all the global tech giants like Google, Facebook and Apple. It is most often proprietary and locked behind privacy agreements that require careful anonymisation before a student can gain access to it. This is where partnering with a business could help academics. Data-science students need access to real-world data so they can be challenged to use it in ways that produce real-world benefits, not just theoretical analysis.

On August 16, DTAC unveiled a brand new artificial intelligence laboratory built in partnership with Thammasat University’s Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT). Located at Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus just north of Bangkok, the DTAC SIIT AI Lab is a direct response to the challenges facing data scientists in Thailand.

It connects data scientists and leading professors with concrete business cases provided by DTAC, whose customers produce billions of data sets each day. But it also supports DTAC’s AI strategy and ambition to train a new generation of digital talents for Thailand. The investment is worth Bt12 million over the course of two years. One case that DTAC and SIIT are working on is an AI-driven ID verification system that increases security while speeding up the process of SIM registration verification. The solution creates a new customer experience, resulting in faster and more reliable service. We also already use AI in fraud prevention and error detection.

AI is also changing how we interact with machines. Today, over 50 per cent of US households have smart speakers, which is only possible because machines can now process human speech. This marks the rise of invisible interfaces that rely on sight and sound rather than on us clicking, tapping and typing. In the future, these invisible interfaces that allow high levels of personalisation even in brick-and-mortar retail.

Partnerships such as the one between DTAC and SIIT will be absolutely key to developing a generation of Thai data scientists that understand how to channel data to build concrete, real-world solutions to everyday pain points. With over 200 students training at the DTAC SIIT AI Lab each year, I’m positive we will prove Thailand has no shortage of digital talent. We just need to work together to give them the means to reach their full potential.

Ukrit Salyapongs is head of Channel Strategy & Performance Management Division, DTAC.

Starting from Friday, gamers and aspiring esports athletes across Thailand will be able to buy hundreds of digital games without leaving the comfort of their own battle stations.

“Razer is one of the most recognized lifestyle brands for youth and gamers in the world, and we’re thrilled to extend our partnership with the Razer Game Store to Thailand,” said Thanida Suiwatana, chief marketing officer, Lazada Thailand.

“Combined with the official Razer Store on Lazada as well as 155,000 other resellers representing 3,000 brands, Lazada is an online shopping destinationthat brings a complete experience to gamers in Thailand, from the latest keyboards and mice to the hottest games.”

First launched in April 2018, the Razer Game Store is an exclusive source of great PC games on Lazada, providing fans with the ease of buying digital games in their local currency and through payment methods that they’re already familiar with.

For example, customers in Thailand can easily top up their Lazada Wallet through internet banking or by adding balance at convenience stores across the country. They can then use the balance in their wallets to seamlessly purchase games anytime and anywhere.

Thai customers will also enjoy promotions and rebates offered exclusively by Lazada Thailand, such as regular in-app discounts and rebates.

For example, the Lazada “All You Ever Wanted” campaign this September 9 will reward customers with 9.9 percent rebate on every single purchase made with the Lazada Wallet. These games include the latest popular releases like “Overcooked 2,” all-time bestsellers like “Fallout 4,” and even pre-orders for upcoming blockbuster hits such as “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” and “Metro Exodus.”

As authorized retailers, Razer and Lazada commit to working with some of the biggest names in gaming such as Ubisoft, Bethesda, Bandai Namco, Deep Silver, and Rockstar to ensure that all games sold on the store are authentic and fully licensed.

“Thailand is one of the biggest markets in the world by game revenues, with an estimated 18.3 million gamers[1],” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO.

“The Razer Game Store on Lazada will fuel the rising passion of Thai gamers, whether they’re engaged in multiplayer duels, streaming gameplay, or watching esports teams duke it out on the world stage.”

To celebrate the launch of the store, select individual games will see discounts of up to 90 percent. All customers can also enjoy an additional 10 percent off their first transaction on the Razer Game Store on Lazada, Lazada said in a press statement.

Finally, Razer will be hosting a launch party at the RazerStore in CentralWorld Bangkok on Saturday. Attendees will get to meet and greet Bas Gamer,Thiskk and Tako Chan and have the opportunity to participate in walk-in tournaments and giveaways.

Invitations displayed little more than the internet titan’s logo along with the time and place of the event, set for a studio in New York City.

The Silicon Valley-based company has a history of introducing new “Made by Google” smartphones in October, and there have been a flood of leaked photos and details about third-generation Pixel handsets heading for market.

The update to the Pixel line-up would also come on the heels of an Apple event next week that is likely to star new iPhone models.

Google took to making its own smartphones to showcase the capabilities of the Android operating system that it makes available free of charge to handset makers. Android smartphones have come to dominate the market.

Rumors buzzing include that Google plans to release new Pixel models and perhaps an updated Android-powered smartwatch to go with the handsets.

New Pixel phones are expected to be tuned to take advantage of advancements the company has been making in artificial intelligence.

To be located in Tanjong Kling (formerly known as Data Centre Park), it will support “hundreds of jobs” and form part of Facebook’s growing presence in Singapore and the region, the company said on Thursday (Sept 6).

The data centre targets to start operations in 2022, after which construction will continue for a few years.

Facebook said: “Our data centres are highly advanced facilities that help bring Facebook apps and services to people around the world every day.”

When complete, it will be a 170,000 sq m, 11-storey building that features a facade made out of a perforated lightweight material, which will allow air flow and provide glimpses of the mechanical equipment inside.

Fortis Construction has been appointed general contractor for the project, a result of a “joint experience building efficient data centres”, said Facebook.

Mr Thomas Furlong, vice-president of infrastructure data centres at Facebook, added at the launch event on Thursday that Singapore was chosen for its robust infrastructure, access to fibre, a talented local workforce, and support from government agencies including JTC Corporation and the Economic Development Board of Singapore.

According to Mr Furlong, Facebook has some 1,000 employees in Singapore, and boasts programmes that help local start-ups grow their businesses and promote media literacy.

Trade and industry minister Chan Chun Sing, who graced the launch event, said that Facebook’s presence in Singapore is important in helping the country connect to the rest of the world by transcending the “physical constraints of size and space”, and making the country a part of the global data centre value chain.

The project is also a milestone, in that it “helps break new ground in land utilisation and energy consumption”, said Mr Chan.

Facebook’s new data centre in Singapore is said to be the first to incorporate the new StatePoint Liquid Cooling system, a technology that minimises water and power consumption, and reduce by 20 per cent the amount of peak water used in climates like Singapore’s.

In a column signed by the CEOs of around 20 agencies including France’s Agence France-Presse, Britain’s Press Association and Germany’s Deutsche Presse-Agentur they called on the European Parliament to update copyright law in the EU to help address a “grotesque imbalance”.

“The internet giants’ plundering of the news media’s content and of their advertising revenue poses a threat both to consumers and to democracy,” the column said.

European Parliament lawmakers are to set to debate a new copyright law this month that would force the internet giants to pay more for creative content used on their platforms such as news, music or movies.

A first draft of the law was rejected in July and the plans have been firmly opposed by US tech firms, as well as advocates of internet freedom who fear that the regulations could lead to higher costs for consumers.

“Can the titans of the internet compensate the media without asking people to pay for access to the internet, as they claim they would be forced to? The answer is clearly ‘yes’,” the column said.

The joint statement from the agencies, which are major suppliers of news, photos and video, said Facebook reported revenues of $40 billion (€34 billion) in 2017 and profits of $16 billion, while Google made $12.7 billion on sales of $110 billion.

“Who could reasonably argue that they are not in a position to make fair payment for the content they use?” the agencies asked.

“What we are really talking about is introducing a fair payment by those who have ripped off the news. For the sake of Europe’s free press and democratic values, EU lawmakers should press ahead with copyright reform,” they added.

‘Neighbouring rights’

The column marks a new lobbying effort by media groups, backed by artists such as Paul McCartney, to sway European lawmakers as they prepare for a second vote on September 12.

The fight is over two parts of the planned law.

The first is Article 13, which would make platforms like Google-owned YouTube legally liable for copyrighted material to prevent content producers from seeing their work posted without pay.

The second is Article 11, which would create a so-called “neighbouring right” meaning that newspapers, magazines and news agencies would have to be paid when Google or other websites link to their stories.

“Without paying for it, internet giants such as Google and Facebook use vast quantities of news that is produced at great cost by press publishers and news agencies,” added the joint statement on Tuesday.

Critics argue that the reform would lead to blanket censorship by tech platforms because of copyright problems, reducing their role as a hub for creativity, especially YouTube.

They say it would also restrict the usage of memes and remixes by everyday internet users who often use content without securing the rights.

The column was signed by the heads of TT in Sweden, STT in Finland, Belgium’s Belga and APA from Austria, as well as other media groups across the European continent.

The Pew Research Center report found 42 percent of US Facebook users said they had “taken a break” from the platform in the past 12 months, and 26 percent said they had deleted the Facebook app from their phone.

Among those in the 18-29 age group, the break with Facebook appeared more pronounced, with 44 percent claiming to have deleted the Facebook mobile app.

Although the survey did not indicate how many users were quitting Facebook entirely, the findings suggest a clouded outlook for the company which has been roiled by news of the hijacking of private data by political firm Cambridge Analytica and concerns of foreign influence campaigns on the platform.

“Significant shares of Facebook users have taken steps in the past year to reframe their relationship with the social media platform,” researcher Andrew Perrin said in a blog post.

According to Pew’s survey, three-fourths of US Facebook users have taken some steps to change how they interact with Facebook, including more than half who have changed their privacy settings.

Perrin said the concerns about Facebook appeared to transcend political affiliation.

“The poll found that nearly identical shares of Democrats and Republicans (including political independents who lean toward either party) use Facebook,” he said.

“Republicans are no more likely than Democrats to have taken a break from Facebook or deleted the app from their phone in the past year.”

The report was based on a survey between May 29 and June 11 including 3,413 Facebook users aged 18 and older, with an estimated margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

The survey comes ahead of a congressional hearing on foreign influence campaigns on social media, at which Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg was to testify.

And it comes with President Donald Trump stepping up his attacks on internet platforms with his unverified contention that they are suppressing conservatives and Republicans.

Facebook has already lost ground in the United States among teens and young adult users, losing ground notably to Snapchat, but with some switching to Facebook-owned Instagram.

But Facebook remains the world’s largest social network with well over two billion users worldwide.

Pomo Huose annouhnced that Hong Kong communications platform as a service (CPaaS) provider M800 has arranged to integrate its communications SDK suite into smartwatches produced by Singapore child safety wearable solution provider Pomo House.

The integration will allow Pomo House smartwatches to take advantage of live voice call and push notification services using the M800 platform, the press statement said.

M800 has recently been partnering with enterprises in various verticals to integrate communications capabilities into various devices including smart cars, security cameras and set top boxes. Now the company is expanding into smart wearables via the Pomo House alliance.

The two companies have developed a range of smartwatches designed to allow parents to monitor the whereabouts of their children, and to give parent and child the ability to instantly contact each other with the push of a button on the watch or its accompanying app.

They use the M800 Communication SDK Suite, as well as other solutions backed by M800’s globally distributed network infrastructure, which consists of multiple points of presence as well as connections to over 260 tier-1 telecoms operators.

The watches can also send real-time notifications to the parents if their child leaves a specific area, such as the home or school. Besides the safety features, the watch also has a translator function designed to give children the ability to learn more than ten new languages.

“We are incredibly excited about our latest partnership with Pomo House, and integrating our distinctive communication SDKs into their innovative smartwatches,” M800 co-founder, chairman and CEO Steven Yap said.

“Ensuring the security of children is a top issue for every community around the world. With the introduction of Pomo House’s range of smart wearables supported by our communication SDKs, we are sure that we can make the world a safer place for families.“