TECHNOLOGY
India curbs Uber taxi app
Uber Technologies Inc, maker of the cab-hailing mobile application that has disrupted taxi networks around the world, may face a setback in India after the Reserve Bank of India closed a loophole that let the firm provide a simpler payment system compared with local rivals. All transactions involving credit cards issued in India for goods or services in the country must have an additional authentication system at each point of sale, the central bank said in a statement yesterday. Evasion of these rules by some companies has led to an outflow of foreign exchange, the monetary authority added.
TECHNOLOGY
Google tests ‘Matrix’ track
Google Inc has built a “Matrix-style” digital simulation of the entire Californian road system in which it is testing its self-driving cars, while lobbying the state’s regulators to certify the vehicles based on virtual rather than real driving. The extensive simulation — reminiscent of the virtual cities created for human captives in sci-fi blockbuster The Matrix — exists entirely inside computers at the company’s Mountain View location. The cars have so far virtually “driven” more than 6 million kilometers inside the simulation, facing challenges just like those in the real world, such as lane-weaving motorists, wobbly cyclists and unpredictable pedestrians. California’s regulations stipulate that autonomous vehicles must be tested under “controlled conditions” that mimic real-world driving as closely as possible, which has usually meant a private test track.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai workers strike
Hyundai Motor Co’s workers boycotted their extra weekend shifts yesterday after they failed to come to an agreement with management over wage demands for a third straight year. Workers at South Korea’s biggest carmaker have decided not to take part in any additional duties until a settlement is reached, company union spokesman Hwang Ki-tae said in a text message. The strike is estimated to cut sales by 70 billion won (US$69 million), the Yonhap News Agency reported, citing an unidentified company official. The union said it staged a partial strike on Friday as a “warning” and would boycott any extra shifts in the future, according to a posting on its Web site.
INTERNET
US warns firms on hacking
The US Department of Homeland Security on Friday warned businesses to watch for hackers targeting customer data with malicious computer code like that used against retail giant Target Corp. A hacker software weapon dubbed “Backoff” is “compromising a significant number” of businesses large and small, according to an advisory put out by the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team. The team urged those administering point-of-sale (POS) systems to check whether Backoff is mining information from transactions and to report any cases to the US Secret Service. “The impact of a compromised POS system can affect both the businesses and consumer by exposing customer data such as names, mailing addresses, credit/debit card numbers, phone numbers and e-mail addresses to criminal elements,” the team said in an advisory. “Consumers’ information can be used to make fraudulent purchases or risk compromise of bank accounts.”
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained