The company said Friday that DApps focusing on various service categories including prediction, question-and-answer, product review, food review and location review will be introduced in the coming weeks, kicking off Line’s efforts to build up a token economy system.

As part of the move, Line will also start offering its own digital token, Link, on its cryptocurrency exchange Bitbox starting from Oct. 16 in global markets, excluding Japan and the US. Users in Japan, Line’s main market, will instead be rewarded Link Points that can be used within the Line-operated DApps.

The Link coins were already distributed via Bitbox earlier this month, and will also be issued as part of a reward system for users of Line’s DApps in the future, the company explained.

Among the five upcoming DApps, two are already running as a beta version: Wizball Overview, which rewards users for contributing to a Q&A platform for knowledge sharing and 4CAST Overview, which brings users together to make future predictions.

Pasha Overview, which rewards users for writing product reviews, Tapas Overview, which rewards users for sharing restaurant reviews, and Step Overview, a social media platform for recreational activities, will be launched by the year’s end.

In doing so, Line said it wants to build a “co-creation economy” that aims to “flatten the relationship structure between users and service providers to promote co-creation and mutual growth.”

“Users simply need to register and begin using any of the DApp services announced today, or existing services that will become part of the Link ecosystem, to start earning Line’s universal coin Link Point (for Japan) or Link (for markets outside Japan),” Line said in a press release.

In addition to its own apps, Line is also looking to invite third-party developers into its custom blockchain network. Line plans to release a development kit in anticipation of third-party services to join the Link ecosystem, starting from next year at the earliest.

Line said it has leveraged its platform development expertise to create an outstanding blockchain network that guarantees stability and minimized processing time, therefore making it suitable for hosting an exceptionally large number of users.

India has the most number of Facebook registered users not only in Asia but in the world. Facebook users in India have crossed 251 million mark, becoming the largest audience country for the social media giant. However even though strong gains social media penetration remains relatively low in India as compared to other high Facebook user regions.

At 131 million Indonesia has the second highest number of Facebook users in Asia. The number of users has increased by six percent in the last year. It is followed by Japan with 71 million users. Surveys however show that most Facebook users in Japan are adults while as younger ones take to other social sites like Instagram and Twitter.

Philippines has the fourth highest number of Facebook users in Asia with 62 million people registered on the social networking site. It is the most popular networking site in the country and the number of Facebook users almost matches the number of internet users in the country.

Vietnam has fifth highest Facebook users followed by Thailand. South Korea has seventh highest number of Facebook users and almost half of the internet users are registered on Facebook. Pakistan and Bangladesh have 32 million and 28 million users respectively. Bangladesh is followed by Malaysia and Myanmar.

One of the lesser developed South Asian countries, Nepal has 8.7 million Facebook users followed by Cambodia with 6.3 million users.  Sri Lanka has 5.5 million Facebook users.

Singapore has around 4.3 million Facebook users and more than fifty two percent are male and 48 per cent are female. Over all the Facebook users in the country are less than 45 years of age. Laos and Mongolia have 2.2 million and 1.9 million  Facebook users respectively.

China, despite its huge population, has only 1.8 million Facebook users. However these figures do not include Facebook users in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Bhutan and Brunei Darusalam have the least number of Facebook users

The social network is investigating the extent of harm done when hackers exploited a trio of software flaws to steal “access tokens,” the equivalent of digital keys that enable people to automatically log back into the social network.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said engineers discovered the breach on Tuesday, and patched it on Thursday night.

“We don’t know if any accounts were actually misused,” Zuckerberg said. “This is a serious issue.”

As a precaution, Facebook is temporarily taking down the “view as” feature — described as a privacy tool to let users see how their profiles look to other people.

“It’s clear that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code,” said vice president of product management Guy Rosen.

“We’ve fixed the vulnerability and informed law enforcement.”

Facebook reset the 50 million breached accounts, meaning users will need to sign back in using passwords.

Democratic US Senator Mark Warner cited the breach as further proof of the privacy danger of companies such as Facebook and Equifax not adequately protecting the massive amounts of information they gather about people.

“This is another sobering indicator that Congress needs to step up and take action to protect the privacy and security of social media users,” Warner said in a statement.

“As I’ve said before — the era of the Wild West in social media is over.”

The breach is the latest privacy embarrassment for Facebook, which earlier this year acknowledged that tens of millions of users had personal data hijacked by Cambridge Analytica, a political firm working for Donald Trump in 2016.

“We face constant attacks from people who want to take over accounts or steal information around the world,” Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page.

“While I’m glad we found this, fixed the vulnerability, and secured the accounts that may be at risk, the reality is we need to continue developing new tools to prevent this from happening in the first place.”

Facebook said it took a precautionary step of resetting “access tokens” for another 40 million accounts where the “view as” was used. This will require those users to log back in to Facebook.

“People’s privacy and security is incredibly important , and we’re sorry this happened,” Rosen said.

Sophisticated hack

No passwords were taken in the breach, only “tokens,” according to Rosen.

Information hackers appeared interested in included names, genders, and home towns, but it was not clear for what purposes, the executives said in a telephone briefing.

The stolen tokens gave hackers complete control of accounts. Facebook is trying to determine whether hackers tampered with posts or messages.

Hackers could have also gotten into third-party applications linked to Facebook accounts, but it was too early to determine whether that happened, according to the social network.

Attackers would have been able to meddle with Instagram accounts lined to Facebook, but could not have tampered with the social network’s WhatsApp messaging service, according to executives.

Facebook said that it noticed an unusual spike in activity on September 16 and determined nine days later that it was malicious.

Hackers took advantage of a “complex interaction” between three software bugs, which required a degree of sophistication, according to Rosen. The vulnerability was created by a change to a video uploading feature in July of 2017.

“We may never know who is behind this,” Rosen said. “This is not an easy investigation.”

The 50 million figure was the total number of accounts Facebook determined were breached by the attack since July of last year, but the social network did not disclose the earliest incursion.

Facebook is working with data privacy regulators as well as law enforcement, according to Rosen.

Facebook this year is doubling to 20,000 the number of workers devoted to safety and security.

When asked why people should still trust Facebook with their personal information, Zuckerberg outlined anew ways the social network is ramping up defenses.

“As I’ve said a number of times, security is an arms race,” Zuckerberg said.

But Facebook may have deeper problems, said Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard law professor and co-founder of university’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.

“There is a structural problem here,” Zittrain said in a tweet.

“Facebook has one of the best and most well-resourced cybersecurity outfits in the world, yet a breach of its servers appears to have compromised tens of millions of accounts in still-undisclosed ways.”

Deep and disruptive impacts are coming to the employment market as new technologies perform human tasks, and government will need to implement measures to prepare younger generations to cope with what is rapidly approaching, experts said.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already making headway in performing tasks once considered out of their reach and solely in the realm of robots in science fiction. Thus, there’s a need for the government to reinvent the labour market to ensure future jobs, said Nuthasid Rukkiatwong, a researcher from Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI).

He was speaking at a recent seminar titled “Thailand Moves Forward with AI Technology” at the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre’s (Nectec) annual conference and exhibition.

According to Nuthasid’s research on AI, there are now 8.2 million Thais working in high-risk occupations, or jobs where the estimated likelihood of them being replaced by AI is over 70 per cent.

The research found that more than half of workers at high risk of losing their jobs from technological disruption have both low education and low income.

They include retail salespeople, clerks, drivers, machine operators and manufacturing assembly workers.

Some professionals, including lawyers, underwriters and radiologists, are also at risk of losing their jobs from technological disruption, he said.

The researcher said that while in some cases it might make sense for the government to take direct action in reskilling its workforce, such as providing training courses, the modern economy is too complicated for such an initiative to be feasible on a large scale.

He suggested instead that reskilling be accelerated by promoting the competitive training market.

“Such a measure includes, but is not limited to, grants and subsidies for private training providers, a training cost subsidy for workers, and a comprehensive information system for training courses,” Nuthasid said.

These measures have been implemented abroad and the regime would be wise to imitate them, he added.

“Any failure to do so would diminish the competitiveness of our nation, thereby reducing growth and prosperity, while at the same time threatening social cohesion by dividing people into those who can take advantage of AI and automation technologies, and those who can’t,” he added.

Coming revolution

AI has played a major role in market and would absolutely revolutionise Thailand, the seminar agreed in consensus.

One of the figures supporting that contention was found in research from KPMG, a professional service company. They found venture capital investment into AI and machine learning (ML) had doubled to $12 billion (Bt388 billion) in 2017 from $6 billion in 2016, said Panachit Kittipanya-ngam, president of Thailand Tech Start-up Association.

He also cited a forecast from Tractica, a market intelligence firm, that annual worldwide AI revenue would grow from $643.7 million in 2016 to $36.8 billion by 2025.

“AI will absolutely revolutionise Thailand and the shape of employment will change. So, if we fail to develop human resources we may lose the opportunity to foreign workforces,” he emphasised.

The seminar speakers sought answers for how the Kingdom could adapt itself to stay above the wave of disruption, along with defining the characteristics, skill sets and attitudes young Thais will need to cope with the trend.

Thanaruk Theeramunkong, president of Artificial Intelligence Association of Thailand, said he believes AI will overtake humans in 50 to 60 years and so educational authorities should design textbook to teach children about the technology.

Future learning process should also transform the roles of teachers and students, he advised.

“Due to the [technology] disruption, students may not need to learn from teachers. The latter will change their role from teaching to guiding,” said Thanaruk, who is also a lecturer at Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology at Thammasat University.

Chai Wutiwiwatchai, director of Human Computer Communication Research Unit, Nectec, argued for the country making big changes to enable adaptation to the coming age of AI.

“The next generation of Thais should be socialised as people who can think, are hands on and rely on themselves,” he said. In the past, they could be advanced thinkers but were unable to implement their ideas due to a lack of hands-on skills, the director added.

Surawut Pornthabthong, a solutions architect at Thailand Amazon Web Services, built on Chai’s suggestion. “We should try to differentiate the next generation, create them to each have their individual value, and to be unique, so they don’t have to compete in the same market,” he said.

“That could be their way to survive.”

Xiaomi said in a press statement that the new smartphone’s specifications make it the ideal device for intrepid travelers looking to achieve the perfect selfie.

John Chen, Regional Director, Xiaomi Technology (Southeast Asia), said: “Following on from the success of the previous edition, the new, upgraded Redmi Note 6 Pro is unrivalled for professional-level and creative selfies. Its ultimate selfie setup, coupled with its AI features and a super-long battery life, make the Redmi Note 6 Pro the go-to affordable choice for all avid selfie photographers, whatever their gender, their age, wherever they are, and whatever they do.”

Redmi Note 6 Pro will come in black, blue and rose gold, 4GB+64GB for Bt6,990. The new phone will hit shelves at 2 p.m. on Lazada and at 12:30 p.m. at Thailand Mobile Expo on Sep 2018.

The phone’s front dual camera captures more light using a 20MP primary sensor with 1.8μm Super Pixel technology that combines the information of four pixels into one. Redmi Note 6 Pro also sports a 12MP + 5MP rear dual camera with updated AI functions such as scene detection, portrait mode, and dynamic bokeh that let users add swirls and shapes to bokeh lights. The 12MP primary sensor on the back also has Dual Pixel autofocus – a technology commonly seen in professional DSLR cameras, which results in a much faster auto-focus speed, so you are much more likely to capture a moment in sharp focus.

Redmi Note 6 Pro’s full screen display delivers stunning visuals whether you’re watching videos or playing games. It measures 6.26 inches diagonally with a FHD+ resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels, the 500-nit maximum brightness and 1500:1 contrast ratio. The LCD screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass with 2.5D curved corners for added peace of mind.

Redmi Note 6 Pro is powered by Qualcomm SnapdragonTM 636 SoC that is built using a 14nm process. Users will experience fast performance whether they are editing a large spreadsheet or playing performance-intensive games, thanks to the SoC’s Qualcomm® KryoTM 260 cores, 1.8GHz maximum clock speed, and the Qualcomm® AdrenoTM 509 GPU.

Redmi Note 6 Pro sports a large 4000mAh battery that provides more than a day of use on a single charge. Together with MIUI’s battery optimization capabilities, you don’t have to worry about charging your phone in the middle of the day for a selfie session.

Redmi Note 6 Pro also offers 3.5mm audio connector, IR blaster and AI face unlock for great user experience.

Nghia Hoang Pho, 68, a 10-year veteran of the NSA’s elite Tailored Access Operations hacking unit, pleaded guilty in December to one count of willful retention of classified national defense information.

Authorities discovered that between 2010 and 2015, he had taken home with him substantial TAO materials, including programs and data, that eventually ended up in the hands of Russian intelligence.

Vietnam-born Pho put the information on his home computer, which was protected by the popular Kaspersky anti-virus program.

US authorities believe that Russian intelligence was able to access his computer through Kaspersky.

In order to function, the Kaspersky program needs a computer owner’s blanket permission to access the machine’s systems.

It then communicates the results of its anti-virus scans to Kaspersky headquarters — in Moscow.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the 2015 penetration of Pho’s computer led to the Russians obtaining information on how the NSA itself infiltrates foreign computer networks and protects itself from cyberattacks.

Kaspersky itself later confirmed that its software in 2014 automatically detected and downloaded suspicious files on Pho’s computer that appeared to contain data and source code for so-called Equation Group hacking software from the NSA.

After being examined by Kaspersky analysts, the files were deleted, the company says. Kaspersky denies that Russian intelligence obtained the files from it.

The leak was one of the most devastating ever for the NSA, one of the US government’s most important spy agencies, and significantly set back its operations against foreign targets’ computers.

“As a result of his actions, Pho compromised some of our country’s most closely held types of intelligence, and forced NSA to abandon important initiatives to protect itself and its operational capabilities, at great economic and operational cost,” said US Attorney Robert Hur.

The incident was a key reason for the US government’s ban on using Kaspersky anti-virus software on government computers, warning that the company has suspect links to Russian intelligence.

Kaspersky denies any ties to the Russian government or its spies.

The databases have been developed by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), in conjunction with its European and international partners.

At a meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, the directors-general and other senior officials from the Southeast Asian IP offices held discussions on how to further extend state of the art tools and databases to more Asean member states’ IP offices during a forum with EUIPO Representatives, organised in the framework of the EU-funded IP Key Southeast Asia programme.

TMview currently contains over 51 million trade marks from 67 IP offices around the world, while Designview contains approximately 14 million designs from 67 participating offices. Both multilingual databases are free to use, accessible online and available 24/7. They allow users to search for trade marks and designs in each and every one of the registers of the participating offices.

The Director General of the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) of Indonesia, Freddy Harris, commented, “The addition of the Indonesian data further consolidates the usefulness of the TMview and Designview databases, making them the go-to resource for rights holders and IP practitioners.”

It has been exactly 20 years since Google arrived in the cyberspace to rule the world wide web. To celebrate its milestone 20th birthday on Thursday, September 27, Google posted a nostalgic video as its trademark doodle on the home page of the search engine.

The video features interesting searches through the years covering holidays, events, achievements, people, food, planets and languages.

Google came into being in 1998 to answer queries of the entire world. Started as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both Ph.D. students at the Stanford University, US, the search engine became the go-to place for all sorts of general information in no time.

Google was able to bring information scattered across the world under its umbrella and make it accessible to all. It now offers searches in more than 150 languages in over 190 countries.

From a simple search engine, Google has become a tech giant making itself indispensable in people’s lives across the world.

Thursday’s Google Doodle is a video that walks down the memory lane exploring popular searches across the world in the last two decades. From ‘what will happen on Y2K’ to ‘How to tie a tie’ to ‘how do you pronounce gif’  — the video features many interesting questions Google has answered in the last two decades.

“Although more than 2,000 Doodles have adorned its homepage, Google has kept its site looking fresh by creating different variations of its logo, inspired by cultural icons, events and phenomena such as Pac-Man, the birth of hip-hop and more,” Google said in a statement.

In a blog post, Ben Gomes, VP, Search, News and Assistant, at Google said while almost everything had changed about “technology and the information available to us, the core principles of Search have stayed the same”.

Gomes sought to share a first look at the next chapter of Search, which he said would be driven by “three fundamental shifts”. These are:

The shift from answers to journeys: This will help users resume tasks “where you left off”. “We’re bringing new features to Search that help you with ongoing information needs,” Gomes said.

The shift from queries to providing a query-less way to get to information: Google will surface relevant information related to a users’ interests, even when they don’t have a specific query in mind.

The shift from text to a more visual way of finding information: Google plans to bring more visual content to Search and “completely redesign Google Images” to make finding information easier.

Created following extensive research on more than 750 avid gamers from around the world, Lenovo has honed the design of the Legion Y25f-10 Gaming Monitor in line with its findings.

The monitor’s display provides 24.5-inch near-edgeless viewable image size with TUV certified Eye Comfort, it reduces eye fatigue, tiredness neck and shoulder pain to offer longer and more comfortable gaming experience. Its AMD FreeSync Technology with fast 144 Hz refresh rate eliminates screen tearing, and its incredible 1ms response time minimizes display stutter and input lag – perfect for gamers.

Fusing clean, sleek styling with advanced specifications to enhance the gaming experience, the Legion Y25f-10 Gaming Monitor offers an immersive experience for gamers.

Legion’s reputation amongst gaming in two years since its launch has gained a strong base of followers, becoming a staple in gaming rigs worldwide and Asia Pacific – cementing itself as the top gaming laptop brand in Malaysia and #1 premium gaming laptop brand in Thailand.

“The gaming community is growing rapidly in Thailand, and those gamers are looking for an immersive, authentic experience. Lenovo’s Legion line was created after close collaboration with gamers. This extensive research has resulted in the Legion Y25f-10 Gaming Monitor with a near edgeless display, designed with both comfort and style in mind,” said Thanet Angkasirisan, General Manager, Lenovo Indochina.

Pricing for Lenovo Legion Y25f-10 Gaming Monitor starts at Bt7,990 and now available at leading Lenovo partner stores Advice , Blue Shop, IT CITY, BananaStore, J.I.B., Speed Compute worldwide together with other Lenovo products.

Systrom and Krieger have resigned from their posts as chief executive and chief technology officer respectively, not giving reasons and saying they planned to take time off, according to the Times.

Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.

Instagram in June announced it passed a billion active users, and unveiled a new long-form video feature in a bid to attract “creators” like those on YouTube.

It became the fourth Facebook platform to eclipse the billion-user mark, including the namesake social network with more than two billion users, and the messaging applications WhatsApp and Messenger.

Facebook acquired Instagram in April 2012 for a combination of cash and stock worth some $1 billion at the time.

Instagram has been a hit with young internet users, an audience that Facebook is keen to keep in its fold.

The departures come as Facebook grapples with the worst crisis in its history, vilified for not more zealously guarding information users share at the leading online social network.

Many see Facebook as being the main vehicle for spreading false information in recent years, and of being used by nefarious interests out to sway the results of the elections such as the one that put President Donald Trump in the White House.

The Cambridge Analytica public relations disaster, in which Facebook admitted that up to 87 million users may have had their data hijacked by the British consultancy firm, came on top of widespread criticism of the social network’s propensity to spread and accentuate large amounts of completely false information.

Facebook is facing multiple inquiries from US and British regulators about the Cambridge Analytica user data scandal, and its boss Mark Zuckerberg was grilled by the European Parliament and the US Congress earlier this year.

WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum earlier this year left Facebook, which bought the smartphone messaging service for $19 billion.

Koum said in a post on his Facebook page that he was taking time off to pursue interests such as collecting air-cooled Porsches, working on cars and playing ultimate Frisbee.

US media reports indicated that a disagreement with Facebook over the privacy of user data may have also been a factor in Koum’s decision to quit his position as a high-ranking executive and likely leave his seat on the board at the leading online social network.