Bitcoin rivals like Monero is well-entrenched as the most well-liked repayment for cybercriminals like the WannaCry hackers who’ve strike more than 300,000 computer systems within the last week, but cryptocurrencies offering more anonymity are intimidating to replace it. A key reason behind bitcoin’s dominance in the nefarious online underworld, say technologists and cybercrime experts, is its size – the full total value of most bitcoins in blood circulation is more than double that of the nearest of a huge selection of rivals. That means it is easy for patients to gain access to enough to pay the ransoms demanded, as well as for hackers to cash from it via online exchanges to invest money in real life. Bitcoin was create in 2008 by someone – or some group – dialling themselves Satoshi Nakamoto, and was the first digital money to efficiently use cryptography to keep orders secure and invisible, making traditional financial legislation difficult if not impossible. Money is delivered from one private online “pocket” to some other without necessity for an authorized to validate or clear the deals. Within the WannaCry strike, the addresses of three private bitcoin wallets received to subjects, with a demand for ransom repayments from $300 price of bitcoin, with a offer the afflicted machines would be decrypted in exchange, a offer that no proof shows will be maintained. But because the way that Bitcoin functions is via the blockchain – a huge, practically tamper-proof, distributed ledger of most bitcoin transactions available – repayments can be followed, if users don’t have the sophistication to adopt further steps to cloak themselves using digital anonymity tools. “In the original days and nights of bitcoin, people…didn’t realize they were documenting for posterity on the blockchain every financial exchange that ever occurred,” said Emin Firearm Sirer, a pc science teacher at Cornell School. Bitcoin addresses are private, but users can be tracked through IP addresses or by analysing money moves. If scammers using bitcoin want to remain truly anonymous, Firearm Sirer said, they need to go through lots of additional, sophisticated steps to make certain they don’t get caught. It isn’t yet clear what degree of elegance the WannaCry hackers have as it pertains to laundering their cryptocurrency, as none of them of the amount of money has yet been transferred from the three bitcoin wallets from the ransomware, that have possessed over $80,000 value of bitcoin paid into them up to now. However, many have recommended that the actual fact that the WannaCry hackers demanded bitcoin shows how amateur they are really. “If it was me, I’d want visitors to use bitcoin all day long, because you can track it,” said Luke Wilson, vice chief executive for police at Elliptic, a London-based security organization that monitors illicit bitcoin orders and that matters the U.S. Government Bureau for Investigations (FBI) among its clients. Wilson, who used to just work at the FBI, where he setup a taskforce to research the utilization of exclusive currencies, didn’t disclose all the techniques Elliptic and police agencies find bad guys using bitcoin. But sometimes, he said, the offenders make as evident a blunder as withdrawing money from a bitcoin pocket straight into their standard bank accounts. Cat-and-Mouse game More advanced thieves use obfuscation methods which make it very difficult to be monitored down. Probably one of the most basic ones is a method known as “chain-hopping”, whereby money is changed in one cryptocurrency into another, across digital money exchanges – the less-regulated the better – to make a money path that is nearly impossible to keep track of. Newer and more technical money-laundering methods also have emerged lately, which will make it very hard for police and bitcoin security organizations such as Elliptic or New-York-based Chainalysis to locate cybercriminals. “From the cat-and-mouse game – as authorities and companies like Elliptic get up to thieves’ techniques, they invent new techniques,” said Jerry Brito, professional director of the Washington, D.C.-founded Coin Centre, a not-for-profit advocacy group concentrating on public insurance plan issues around cryptocurrency. These techniques aren’t foolproof, however – chain-hopping, for example, depends on unregulated exchanges that not perform know-your-customer (KYC) assessments, and security businesses say they’ll develop ways to track such methods. Monero hack Easier, perhaps, would be for cybercriminals to make use of next-generation cryptocurrencies which may have built-in anonymity right away, such as Monero, Dash and Z-Cash. And even, experts said later on Tuesday a trojan that exploits the same vulnerability as the WannaCry assault had latched to more than 200,000 personal computers and begun with them to make – or “mine” – Monero money. But with a complete value of around $425 million – just a little over 1 percent of this of bitcoin – switching that money into spendable cash may not be so easy, which is also much harder for subjects to access, substitute obligations experts said. That’s the reason the Monero invasion didn’t demand a ransom, but instead used the afflicted computers’ computing capacity to create new money. “This used to occur in bitcoin before it became big – there have been plenty of botnets that gone into computers which used to mine bitcoin, nevertheless, you now can’t fundamentally mine bitcoin on normal computer systems because you will need specialist hardware,” said Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin. Levin said such bitcoin-based episodes were completed in the past, when mining it was still basically a spare time activity for technical geeks utilizing their home pcs. As the bitcoin price has increased and as exchange numbers have become, the computers have grown to be so professional that only they can only just perform the function of bitcoin mining. “If Monero does indeed become implemented and is really as big and liquid (as bitcoin), which means the offense (will) move from using pcs to mine to addressing extortion,” Levin said. Reuters
Samsung launches ‘Retailers Training Programme’ in Pakistan
Samsung is a global technology leader. Its revolutionary products, powerful devices and award-winning innovations enjoy tremendous popularity in Pakistan too, as its products and solutions fulfill the needs of diverse consumer segments. Samsung provides world-class training to its extensive distribution network all over Pakistan, with the aim to maximize retailers’ knowledge and nurture service-skills. In pursuit of further enriching the consumers’ retail experience, Samsung has recently launched a highly evolved training programme for its dealers across Pakistan. The retailers are being further trained and groomed to reflect the highest service standards, while selling the world’s premium products and technologies, created by Samsung. The President of Samsung Pakistan – Mr. J. H. Lee stated that: “Training of our retail network and enhancing the skills of our front-line personnel is a perpetual exercise at Samsung. We aim to maintain our market-leadership, as the new training programme will further enhance our distribution capabilities, product availability and outreach. Samsung continues to add more convenience for the consumers, to further elevate the brand-image and consumer-perception of Samsung.” Samsung’s retailer network is consistently inspired to exceed the customers’ expectations, to build trust on the brand. Extensive research on consumer preferences helps Samsung in anticipating their evolving needs, so its innovations and high service-standards, continue to win the customers’ hearts. The retailers in Pakistan are being given a deeper understanding of Samsung’s vision, as the company is committed to expand the use of digital technology for connectivity and communications, to empower the socio-economic sectors like; education, health-care, industries, telecom services, E-commerce, etc. Samsung also nurtures new start-up ventures and talents, by supporting technology incubators around the world.
WannaCry ransomware has afflicted 600 companies in Japan
Around 600 Japanese companies, including gadgets major Hitachi and automaker Nissan, have apparently been afflicted by previous week’s global cyber harm, officials affirmed on Monday. Based on the Japan Computer Crisis Response Team Coordination Centre, around 2,000 computer systems across 600 different companies were strike by the ransomware called “WannaCry”. Hitachi advised EFE information that its email service was influenced, and that a few of its employees were still facing problems in being able to access parts, as well as mailing and getting text messages. Nissan Electric motor too, in a declaration, said a few of its crops were targeted by the harmful software, although business had not been adversely affected. THE TOWN Council of Osaka continues to be monitoring its website that crashed at 10 a.m. on Mon. In the meantime, the country’s Financial Services Organization has urged all home finance institutions, including finance institutions, insurance and securities companies, to check on if indeed they have been damaged. The ransomware WannaCry, which asks users for a repayment in the Bitcoin digital money to be able to regain usage of computers, influenced personal computers in at least 150 countries, like the Country wide Health Service in the united kingdom, large companies in France and Spain, the most significant rail network in Germany, federal government office buildings in Russia and colleges in China and Taiwan. Reuters
Indonesian federal government has warned of more harm by cyber Attack as work week starts
The Indonesian administration said the global cyber harm that can take computer data hostage will probably cause more havoc when office buildings reopen for business on Mon. A large clinic in Jakarta was struck by the “ransomware” unleashed on Fri, but there’s been no evidence up to now to claim that Indonesia was one of the worst-hit countries. Communication and Information Minister Rudiantara urged companies to upgrade their security before joining computers to geographic area sites when the week begins. “That is vital for businesses when reopening on Mon, please be careful and foresee, and take precautionary steps up against the WannaCry malware assault,” Rudiantara informed a news convention. Cyber extortionists tricked subjects into opening destructive malware accessories to spam e-mails. The ransomware encrypts data on computer systems, demanding repayments of $300-$600 to revive access. The strike, which leverages hacking tools thought to have been produced by the U.S. Country wide Security Organization, has infected thousands of computers in practically 100 countries. Globally, nursing homes, companies, and colleges have been afflicted, with disruptive episodes reported in Britain, where clinics and treatment centers were forced to carefully turn away patients after burning off access to pcs on Fri. The Indonesian minister suggested those strike by the malware against paying ransoms to restore usage of encrypted data, as there is no warrant the trojan spreader would decrypt data. On Saturday, the official at his ministry said that at least two Jakarta private hospitals, Dharmais and Harapan Kita, were damaged by the harm. Harapan Kita later refused it turned out damaged. In Dharmais, a nurse reported at 5 a.m. on Sunday a computer product was displaying a note demanding $300, regarding to a medical center employee, who only provided his name as Willy. One hour later, a lot more pcs were found to be contaminated and hospital personnel said that data was locked on about 400 devices in every at a healthcare facility. The attack hasn’t afflicted critical health services but has triggered bottlenecks in patient admissions process, Willy said. Reuters
PTCL and Wateen to Sponsor the 10th Annual TeleCON 2017
Continuing the legacy for the 10th year now, the Pakistan Telecommunication and ICT Conference (TeleCON 2017) (www.shamrockconferences.net) is going to be held on 18th May, 2017, at the Ramada Hotel in Islamabad, in which Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and Wateen Telecom Limited have pledged to be the main sponsors. The theme for this insightful conference is “Pakistan in the wake of Revolutionary Technologies and Solutions”. Attending the TeleCON 2017 as Chief Guest, is the Honorable Ms. Anusha Rahman Khan – Minister of State for Information Technology & Telecommunications, whereas the Keynote address will be delivered by the Honorable Mr. Syed Ismail Shah – Chairman of Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA). Honorable Ms. Jehan Ara – President of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) and Honorable Mr. Yusuf Hussain – Chief Executive of ICT R&D Fund are amongst the distinguished speakers at the forum. Mr. Menin Rodrigues – President and CEO of SHAMROCK Communications Pvt. Ltd., stated: “The TeleCON has evolved over the years as one of the most influential platforms for the discussion of prolific ideas, while staying up-to-date with the ever-changing trends in this sector to boost economic performance. The TeleCON is orchestrated every year with the objective of discussing the key challenges and opportunities in order to expand outreach, broadband and wireless connectivity, all while ensuring mobility, safety and security.” Organized by SHAMROCK Conferences International, in cooperation with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the relevant ministries, this insightful forum is truly a prestigious assemblage of industry specialists, experts, regulators, technologists, professionals, visionaries, experts, academia, emerging media and investors from national and global enterprises and institutions. Innovative ideas for enhancing Foreign-Direct Investments (FDI) will also be discussed and evaluated at the TeleCON 2017 along with discerning discussions on much-needed regulations in regards of cyber-crime, data security, safer exchange of information and other industry related challenges.
Facebook has found a fresh way that is nine-times faster in Language translation than current systems
Facebook says its experts have found a fresh way to utilize artificial intellect to translate materials on its cultural network faster plus more accurately. This may imply Facebook users eventually viewing everything translated immediately to their preferred language, not simply post but videos too. Facebook already translates articles in more than 45 dialects, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg says there continues to be “far more to do.” For the present time, Facebook has made the study and its own methods publicly available so programmers and more can make use of it to generate translation and other terms tools. Beyond terminology translation, the technology can be utilized for chatbots, for example, or other language-based jobs. The technique uses something called a convolutional neural network (CNN), a technology that’s already used for image handling and other styles of machine learning. Good, the artificial cleverness research team declared that they have completed a year-long task to increase the translation efficiency. The team complete that the CNN system is nine-times faster than the traditional systems. Regarding to a written report by Fast Company, CNN was initially produced by Yann LeCun, the business lead of Fair which is considered the foundation for a scalable robotic natural terms understanding program. Reuters
Google will soon start Android os O Beta program; announces the finish of Google android Nougat Beta program
Just days prior to the its twelve-monthly developer convention “Google I/O”, the business Google has released to get rid of the Google android “Nougat” Beta and can soon launch Android os “O” Beta. “Many thanks for your curiosity about the Google android Beta Program. The beta for Android os Nougat has concluded, and everything devices which were opted in have been up to date to the present general public version,” Yahoo said within an revise to the Google android beta website. “If you’re still owning a beta version of Nougat you might download the latest full OTA image for your device and sideload it. This won’t clean your device. We’ll upgrade this web site when the Google android O Beta Program commences,” the revise added. Thus far, Google have been providing Beta variants of Google android Nougat (versions 7.x) alongside early on “Creator Preview” types of Google android O which is touted as another major Android os version. “But many Pixel and Nexus users are looking forward to the Android os O beta as the designer preview is not actually intended for general public use,” BetaNews reported on Mon. Google is likely to unveil its ideas for Google android O features and efficiency at the discussion in SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA this month. Reuters
Judge claims that there surely is no clear data to prove case Waymo’s promises against Uber
A U.S. judge on Thursday said he previously not seen clear facts that Uber Solutions Inc got conspired with an engineer on its do it yourself generating car program to take trade secrets from Alphabet Inc’s Waymo, and that he was wrestling with whether to concern an injunction from the trip service. At a ability to hear in SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA federal courtroom, U.S. Region Judge William Alsup said it was undisputed that the engineer, Anthony Levandowski, downloaded about 14,000 documents quickly before he ceased doing work for Waymo. If it were proven that Levandowski and Uber conspired in taking Waymo’s information, that can have dire repercussions for Uber, say legal and ride-hailing skillfully developed. Uber’s $68 billion valuation is recognized partly by buyers’ belief it’ll be a prominent player in the appearing business of self-driving automobiles. However, Alsup indicated skepticism over whether Uber actually used any Waymo trade secrets. “I’ve given you plenty of discovery, therefore far you do not have any smoking firearm” exhibiting that Uber understood Levandowski possessed any Waymo trade secrets, Alsup said. Waymo legal professional Charles Verhoeven said the business suspects such proof exists. Levandowski dropped to answer questions throughout a deposition, citing his constitutional privileges against self applied incrimination. Verhoeven also said Uber was incorrectly withholding a large number of documents on the lands they are private legal documents. The judge didn’t make a ruling from the bench on Wed. The reading is the latest period in a courtroom struggle over trade secrets that threatens to topple a central pillar of Uber’s expansion strategy. Autonomous autos promise to improve the economics of the ride-hailing business. Among Uber’s biggest bills is the price tag on attracting drivers, who’ve a higher turnover rate. And Uber’s capability to increase into suburban and rural market segments, and areas with low vehicle possession, and continue steadily to provide a trip within 3 minutes, largely depends on the option of a network of self-driving vehicles. Waymo on Wed looked for to buttress its circumstance by arguing that Levandowski and Uber possessed conspired against Waymo. It said the engineer was likely to benefit Uber while he still was used at Waymo. Levandowski made a self-driving trucking company, Otto, after giving Waymo, and Uber later bought Otto. Waymo lawyers showed a glide of your Uber document exhibiting Levandowski have been guaranteed 5.3 million constrained stock products of Uber. That was worthy of more than $250 million in January 2016, the legal professional said, without talking about in detail the foundation of the valuation. An Uber spokesman said the stock honor was actually manufactured in reference to Uber’s acquisition of Otto in August 2016, and the vesting start particular date was backdated to overdue January so that Levandowski’s time at Otto counted for the Uber vesting routine. Alsup himself didn’t appear stunned. “Just what exactly? That’s a lot of cash I assume, but why wouldn’t he get big money?” he asked. Verhoeven said it was circumstantial proof bad purpose by Levandowski and Uber. “He’s getting granted stock by Uber when he’s supposedly starting his own company,” he said. Uber legal professional Arturo Gonzalez on Thursday said that lawyers had put in more than 6,000 time on report review and hadn’t found any signal of the Waymo documents in Uber’s system. Alsup complimented Uber’s search attempts. However, the judge said that documents Uber has withheld about its acquisition of Otto are “a treasure trove” which will be key to the truth. He hasn’t made the decision whether Uber has properly shielded those documents. The judge also said he was still considering whether to send Waymo’s trade technique says to arbitration, which wouldn’t normally be public. Reuters
Families of San Bernardino shooting are taking Facebook, Google and Twitter to court
Family of three patients of the Dec 2015 filming rampage in San Bernardino, California, have sued Facebook, Google and Twitter, saying that the firms permitted Islamic Express to flourish on public media. The family members assert that by allowing Islamic Point out militants to propagate propaganda openly on social marketing, the three companies provided “material support” to the group and allowed attacks including the one in San Bernardino. “For a long time defendants have knowingly and recklessly provided the terrorist group ISIS with accounts to work with its internet sites as an instrument for dispersing extremist propaganda, boosting funds and getting new recruits,” family of Sierra Clayborn, Tin Nguyen and Nicholas Thalasinos demand in the 32-webpage complaint, that was registered in U.S. Area Court in LA on Wednesday. “Without defendants Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo (YouTube), the explosive expansion of ISIS during the last few years in to the most feared terrorist group on the globe wouldn’t normally have been possible,” the problem said. Spokeswomen for Tweets and Google dropped to touch upon the lawsuit. Reps for Facebook cannot immediately be come to by Reuters on Thursday night afternoon. Syed Rizwan Farook and his better half, Tashfeen Malik, opened up fire on any occasion gathering of Farook’s co-workers at a federal government building in San Bernardino on December. 2, 2015, eliminating 14 people and wounding 22 others. Farook, the 28-year-old, U.S.-blessed kid of Pakistani immigrants, and Malik, 29, a Pakistani local, passed away in a shootout with authorities four hours following the massacre. Specialists have said the few was motivated by Islamist militants. At that time, the assault positioned as the deadliest episode by Islamist extremists on U.S. garden soil because the Sept. 11, 2001, episodes. In June 2016, an American-born gunman pledging allegiance to the first choice of Islamic Status shot 49 visitors to loss of life at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, before he was wiped out by police. In Dec 2016 the groups of three men wiped out at the nightclub sued Twitter, Yahoo and Facebook in national courtroom on allegations much like those in the California lawsuit. Federal law offers internet companies extensive immunity from responsibility for content published by their users. Several lawsuits have been submitted lately seeking to carry social marketing companies in charge of terror disorders, but nothing has advanced beyond the primary phases. Reuters
Huawei Smartphone Shipments up 21.6% year-on-year in Q1 2017
Today, Huawei Consumer Business Group announced that in Q1 2017, it shipped 34.55 million Smartphones, this amounts to a year-on-year increase of 21.6%. According to IDC, Huawei’s global smartphone market share further increased to 9.8%, consolidating its position in the top three smartphone vendors in the world. In Q1 2017, Huawei achieved breakthrough growth in many countries. Its smartphone shipments increased by over 50% year-on-year in 52 countries, 32 of which saw growth of over 100%. In China and Europe, Huawei smartphone shipments maintained robust growth of 20% and 15% respectively. Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, smartphone shipments increase over 70%. In addition, significant growth was achieved in the high-end smartphone sector, boosted by the global sales of the HUAWEI P9 series and HUAWEI Mate 9, further demonstrating Huawei’s increased influence as a global high-end brand. In Q1, the proportion of middle and high range (2000 RMB or above $300) smartphone increased 11% on the same period last year. According to GfK, for the global high-end market of 500 USD and above, Huawei held 9.7% market share in February 2017, reaching 10% in 9 countries, including China, Spain, Italy, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Poland and other key markets. The latest HUAWEI P10 series flagship smartphone, which is now available in over 30 markets since its launch on February 26, 2017, is gaining huge popularity among consumers all over the world thanks to the outstanding photography experience it provides. Huawei is also confounding the sluggish sales of the overall tablet market. Huawei’s tablet business has grown significantly in both the enterprise and consumer spaces with shipments rising over 70% year-on-year. “Thanks to the growing global recognition of Huawei products and the Huawei brand, Huawei Consumer Business Group’s influence has further increased as a high-end brand in Q1 2017,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group. “Moving forward, Huawei Consumer Business Group will be focused on improving customer service, and building up its presence within sales channels, retail, branding, marketing, services and other sectors, to proactively streamline operations enhance the overall customer experience. Meanwhile, Huawei Consumer Business Group will continue to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) products and innovations. These will provide users with excellent experiences and cement Huawei as a leader in emerging technologies while establishing the company as a cultural technology brand loved by consumers the world over.”
The success of Google in Schools wakes sleeping giants like Microsoft and Apple
Microsoft Corp’s announcement of an collection of new education products on Wednesday shows the business’s determination to invert a major switch that has occurred in U.S. classrooms lately: for some educators and university districts, Google’s Chromebook is currently the computer of preference. The Chromebook has truly gone from a located begin in 2011 to outrageous popularity searching for education technology, which technical companies have usually seen as a critical way to make an impression on the next technology of users. In 2016, cellular devices jogging Alphabet Inc’s Google’s Stainless operating-system accounted for 58 percent of the U.S. market for key and secondary universities, corresponding to Futuresource Consulting. The Microsoft products launched Tuesday, including a fresh version of its Home windows operating-system, software to improve cooperation among students and a fresh Surface laptop, evidently show the impact of the Chromebook, industry watchers say. “The success of the Chromebook has awakened sleeping giants,” said Tyler Bosmeny, CEO of Clever, an education technology company. “There’s very much investment in to the space – it’s unlike anything I’ve ever before seen.” For a long time following the release of the Chromebook in 2011, Apple Inc and Microsoft caught with their strategies of offering just a bit modified and low priced versions with their products for teachers. However the Chromebook’s low price-it begins at $149- and easy management proven irresistible to numerous schools. Yahoo also saw an integral chance to broaden its market show in the past with the way of the online evaluation mandate in america. To capitalize on the chance, the business created a “test function,” which restricts usage of all of those other web while students complete assessments, said Rajen Sheth, a mature director of product management at Yahoo. The preparations paid: Sales of the Chromebook jumped tenfold between 2012 and 2013, Sheth said. While Yahoo companies some Chromebooks, the devices targeted at the training market are given by associates such as Samsung Consumer electronics Co Ltd and Acer Inc. The operating-system is free for teachers and hardware manufacturers, and Yahoo sells academic institutions an education package deal including device management and support for a $30 rate. For Microsoft, Tuesday’s event was the culmination of any marketing campaign to emulate key areas of the Chromebook strategy, said Mike Fisher, affiliate director for the training section at Futuresource Consulting. Microsoft’s hardware lovers are now retailing cross types tablet-laptop devices predicated on the top design starting at $189. Microsoft professionals boasted that the operating-system announced Wednesday boots up speedily, a hallmark of the Chromebook. The business also introduced a fresh code-builder addition to its Minecraft education release to help students learn coding skills through the favorite game. For Microsoft, the test will be how easily it can describe its offering to teachers, Fisher said. “The Google education ecosystem is quite clear-cut,” he said. “With Microsoft, there’s lots of moving parts.” Microsoft dropped to comment. Apple, because of its part, has decreased the price tag on the iPad to $299 for education customers and managed to get easy for students to talk about devices, in addition to simplifying management. “It’s about seeking to attain every educator and every university student,” said Susan Prescott, a vice chief executive of product management and marketing at Apple. Despite Google’s U.S. dominance, its position is weaker in classrooms abroad, where many marketplaces haven’t yet seen an impetus to adopt technology en masse, said Fisher of Futuresource Consulting. In 2016, devices working Android and Stainless- made 23 percent of the mobile market beyond your United States, weighed against 65 percent for Microsoft’s Windows, according to Futuresource. Reuters
Twitter Announces More than a Dozen New Premium Content Deals at First-Ever Digital Content NewFronts Presentation
Twitter, the first place to see what’s happening, unveiled a robust slate of new premium live streaming content deals across sports, news and entertainment this evening at its first-ever Digital Content NewFronts presentation. A dozen new collaborations were announced, bringing hundreds of hours of new exclusive live original programming, live games and events, live syndications, extensions of existing live deals and new always-on live streaming premium content to the platform. Twitter executives including CEO Jack Dorsey, COO Anthony Noto, CMO Leslie Berland and Global VP of Client Solutions Matthew Derella presented the live content offerings to brand and agency partners. They were joined by guests including NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, ESPN analyst Jay Williams, TV producer Ben Silverman, NBA star Karl Anthony Towns, NFL star A.J. Green and Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, among others. “We could not be prouder of the success we have achieved so quickly since launching live streaming premium content. Last quarter, we streamed over 800 hours of live premium content from leading brands across sports, esports, news, and entertainment,” said Noto. “Adding these 12 new live deals tonight is a testament to the success of our only-on-Twitter experience, combining high quality streaming video with our only-on-Twitter conversation.” “The rest of this month, you’re going to see a lot of presentations,” said Derella. “You’re not going to see anyone that can give you the audience mindset, the most premium content, and do both at massive and accelerating scale like Twitter can.” Attendees were given an overview of the different ways marketers can “be what’s happening” by advertising against premium live video content to influential, connected audiences. New original and live programming announced on stage included the following: Sports WNBA: Starting later this month, for the first time the WNBA will live stream a weekly regular-season game on Twitter (20 total per season) during the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons. Twitter will deliver live action of the best in women’s basketball and the best in fan conversation about each game all on one screen. MLBAM: In addition to weekly live MLB games that stream on Twitter this season, a new 3-hour once weekly MLB program will live stream exclusively on Twitter. The whip-around show will feature live MLB game look-ins and highlights, and tap into the power of Twitter by delivering those top moments and discussing MLB storylines as they’re trending in real-time. Stay tuned for more information regarding timing and talent. STADIUM: A new, original, fully programmed, 24/7 linear experience will stream live on Twitter in the coming months. This network will integrate exclusive live collegiate sporting events, extensive highlights, classic games, and daily live studio programming. Combining the production quality and editorial values of TV with the speed, accessibility, conversation and interactivity of Twitter, STADIUM infuses real-time, fan sentiment and feedback into every sports conversation, covering the topics that matter most to sports fans as they happen. The Players’ Tribune: #Verified, a modern forum for athletes to connect directly with fans, will be a live show, exclusively on Twitter, featuring athletes answering fan questions and sharing their insight, reactions and timely takes on important topics on and off the field. Driven by Twitter and fan-submitted questions, the series will debut in the coming months and will feature regular interviews from some of the most popular players across sports, including Karl-Anthony Towns, A.J. Green and Richard Sherman. PGA TOUR: Building upon the current live stream relationship between Twitter and PGA TOUR LIVE that features more than 70 hours of live competition coverage across 31 tournaments, the PGA TOUR will live stream 360 video of the iconic island 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass during THE PLAYERS Championship (from May 11-14) on Periscope and Twitter. News Bloomberg Media: Bloomberg will debut the first-ever 24/7 breaking news network that will be global, live, social and exclusively on Twitter. The new live streaming news network, to launch this fall, will combine the vast global editorial and news gathering capabilities of Bloomberg with the digital power, conversation and speed of Twitter. The Verge:Coming this fall, Circuit Breaker: The Verge’s Gadget Show is a weekly live program that will review and experiment with the hottest gadgets everyone wants right now, and the weirdest ones we’ll want tomorrow, hosted by The Verge’s Nilay Patel. BuzzFeed News: MorningFeed, a brand new morning news and current events show broadcast live on Twitter by BuzzFeed, will reach an audience that wakes up hungry for the latest in “fire Tweets.” Hosts will bring news and memes to the audience where they are – on their timeline – from reporters in the field to special guests on set. Cheddar: Cheddar’s hour-long Opening Bell will stream live daily at 9am ET from the New York Stock Exchange, beginning today. This expands on Cheddar’s successful Closing Bellshow at 3pm ET, which has aired on Twitter since last October. Entertainment LiveNation: Live Nation will deliver select Live Nation concerts and original content exclusively on Twitter. The concert series launches on Saturday, May 13th with a live stream of the three-time GRAMMY-winning multi-platinum Zac Brown Band. The event kicks-off their highly anticipated new album ‘WELCOME HOME’ (Elektra/Atlantic) and their 2017 tour in their hometown of Atlanta on a sold-out opening weekend at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park. Grammy Award-winning San Francisco rock band Train, Portugal. The Man, August Alsina and Marian Hill will also live stream one of their upcoming shows. Additional artists will be announced. IMG Fashion:IMG Fashion will bring its premium designer and brand relationships to a live content program consisting of exclusive runway shows and behind-the-scenes Fashion Week content for Twitter users, live, from New York, Milan, Paris, London and beyond in September 2017. IMG Fashion will also work closely with Twitter to leverage opportunities exclusive to Twitter users globally. Propagate: #WhatsHappeningis a new live daily, entertainment-driven, primetime show on everything in the world that embraces Twitter’s unique conversation. See every side of pop culture, music, binge-worthy television, celebrity Tweets, and top trending discussions as they unfold around the globe. Reuters
Facebook is likely to declare 1.9 billion dynamic users with 45 percent earnings growth
Before its first 1 / 4 results of 2017 on Wed, media information say Facebook is likely may declare it has practically 1.9 billion users who log onto the communal media platform on a monthly basis. The business is also likely to article a blockbuster group of results, with income growing 45 percent, The Telegraph reported on Weekend. Earlier this season, when Facebook declared its revenue for the 4th 1 / 4 and full 12 months 2016, it exhibited a steady development in its earnings and user platform. Facebook reported $8.8 billion in income, $3.56 billion in income and said more than 1.23 billion individuals were using the sociable network every day which 1.15 billion sign in from cellular devices each day. A report within the Verge said with this progress rate, the sociable media large would struck two billion regular effective users by the center of this year. It really is clear that Facebook emerged together with all the targets despite being mired by issues like false news. It really is expected that the quantity that sign in on a monthly basis will have increased to 1.9 billion in the 90 days to the finish of Apr, with the public network now place to close in on 2 billion in the returning weeks. However, experts believe the business will have to get started on jogging out of heavy steam eventually. “We expect (every month users) to develop 14 percent in the first 1 / 4 (down from 17 percent) as it decelerates because of the rules of (really) good sized quantities,” an analyst at RBC Capital Marketplaces was quoted as expressing within the Telegraph. Consensus forecasts are for Facebook to record income of $7.8 billion and gains of $3.3 billion — up 72 percent on this past year. Reuters
Twitter stocks soar after submitting much better than expected individual growth
Shares of Tweets Inc jumped on Thursday following the microblogging service reported better-than-expected individual development in the first 1 / 4, although its earnings fell for the very first time. The astonishing acceleration, which Twitter related to new features and heightened customer interest in politics news, used several quarters of stalled end user growth that increased questions about LEADER Jack Dorsey’s command and speculation the system may be bought with a bigger company. Twitter reported annual progress of 6 percent in every month active users, an integral performance signal for sociable networking services typically determined by taking the amount of users who’ve logged in and logged out through the 30-day period, to 328 million. On the quarterly basis, Twitter added 9 million regular users. While Dorsey cited specialized changes to Twitter’s timeline which now lists content by styles rather than in a chronological order within the reason behind an individual growth, Main Operating Official Anthony Noto said customer interest in reports and politics also performed a role. There may be “some evidence that people benefited from our new and resurrected users pursuing more reports and politics accounts in Q1, specifically in the U.S. That is clearly a really positive thing,” Noto said throughout a seminar call with experts. U.S. Leader Donald Trump, one of the very most effective politicians on Tweets, has tweeted about five times per day typically since his inauguration in January, relating to social marketing analytics company Zoomph. Livestreaming, one of Twitter’s biggest pushes since this past year to appeal to new users, also jumped in the first one fourth, with an increase of than 800 time of live training video across more than 450 happenings. Twitter said this content come to 45 million unique users, up 31 percent from the 4th quarter that was the first full one fourth of live content to be streamed on the sociable media platform. Of these time, 51 percent were activities, 35 percent were reports and politics, and 14 percent were entertainment, Tweets said. “Twitter is now more highly relevant to consumers. They may be making their products much easier to use. And there’s a global thirst for media and information they are profiting from,” said BTIG Experts Richard Greenfield. However, many analysts were wary of the future course of user progress. “I feel that Trump drives a whole lot of recognition about Twitter among people who usually wouldn’t be attending to,” said Michael Pachter, handling director at Wedbush Securities. “But again, one 1 / 4 isn’t a style, so let’s see whether it’s sustainable.” Regardless of the user expansion, Twitter’s earnings for the first 1 / 4 dropped 7.8 percent to $548.3 million, its first drop since its original general public offering. Twitter’s advertising earnings plunged 11 percent to $474 million in the 1 / 4, but emerged in above the common analyst estimation of $442.7 million, regarding to advertise research company FactSet StreetAccount. Just in america, the decrease was steeper at 17 percent. Net reduction narrowed to $61.6 million, or 9 cents per show, in the one fourth concluded March 31, from $79.7 million, or 12 cents per talk about, a year previously. Excluding items, the business acquired 11 cents per talk about, beating the estimation of just one 1 cent per talk about. “While we face earnings headwinds, we made improvement focusing earnings products on our advantages,” Dorsey said, adding that consumer growth will donate to income and earnings in the years ahead. The stocks were up 9.9 percent at $16.10 by midday. Reuters
Jack Ma Likely to Visit Pakistan This Year
Ms. Anusha Rahman, Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication is participating in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) E-Commerce Week 2017 with Jack Ma. On the sidelines of the E-Commerce Week, Minister of State for IT & Telecom Ms. Anusha Rehman met Mr. Jack Ma, Chairman and Founder of Alibaba Group. Minister highlighted the infrastructure in Pakistan that had been put in place in IT & Telecom sector and informed Mr. Jack Ma on recent developments in this regard which has connected more than 40 million people through mobile broadband in the last two years. She also highlighted several initiatives being undertaken for ICT penetration in the country such as “ICT for Girls” program. She underscored the importance of training medium and small businesses (MSMEs) to come online, market their products and fully benefit from the potential of E-Commerce. She proposed that Alibaba could partner with Pakistan in training Pakistani MSMEs to come online, in addition to what has been planned by Alibaba Group as part of their future investment strategy in Pakistan. Mr. Jack Ma appreciated the developments in Pakistan in the IT & Telecom sector. Whilst appreciating the proposal he agreed to look favorably into it. Mr. Jack Ma also indicated his desire to visit Pakistan this year and to meet the beneficiary girls of ICT for Girls program. The Minister participated in the “Friends of E-Commerce for Development – (FED)” ministerial meeting, which is an initiative of Pakistan along with several other developing country members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to provide impetus to discussion on E-Commerce. The Minister highlighted e-Readiness of Pakistan for E-Commerce and provided Pakistan’s experience in cybercrime legislation enacted in the country. She informed the house that by virtue of the recently enacted cybercrime legislation, citizens have same rights online as they have offline. She argued for a safe, secure, sustainable and inclusive E-Commerce for the benefit of all. She stressed the need to have agreed protocol on data protection law and underlined the need to have cooperation among states so that governments can take appropriate legislative and regulatory measures. The Minister also attended the launch of online platform of the UNCTAD’s initiative “eTrade for All”, which is a tool to facilitate implementation of E-Commerce initiatives in developing countries. While speaking at the High-Level Segment of the E-Commerce Week, along with several other ministers and business leaders including Mr. Jack Ma, the Minister highlighted the ICT infrastructure in Pakistan, in particular broadband connectivity. Pakistan is adding a million mobile-based broadband users each month. She underlined the enormous potential in the ICTs and E-Commerce to bridge gender gap as digital technologies provide equal opportunities to men and women. Reuters
Microsoft & HEC bring the ‘Imagine Cup’ to Pakistani youth
Microsoft and Higher Education Commission (HEC) collaborated to bring Microsoft’s Imagine Cup to Pakistan. It is the world’s most renowned technology competition for students. Started in 2003, Microsoft’s Imagine Cup is the ideal opportunity for the youthful innovators, from around the world, to give express their imagination, bring ideas to life and win $100,000. Imagine Cup is held annually by Microsoft Corp., bringing together the young technologists to play their part in resolving some of the world’s toughest challenges. Not only a competition, imagine cup serves as a platform for teams to present their solutions to the world. All technology projects are welcome in this competition; it is no longer bound by categories. HEC’s commitment to the academia and students is reflected as Microsoft drives the Imagine Cup to highlighted Pakistan’s position on the leaderboards – Pakistan ranks as the TOP country in the Middle East and Africa cluster, with the highest number of project submissions and competitors in Imagine Cup. Pakistan also ranks 5th worldwide, in the same category. In Pakistan, students from various universities participated enthusiastically, as the competition received an overwhelming response. A lot of remote and underprivileged areas were targeted in the drive for Imagine Cup, particularly Sahiwal, Mianwali, Khuzdar and Jamshoro. Students were initially evaluated in Regional finals, held in different cities and the best teams competed to win the National Finals. The evaluations for both Regional and National Finals were done according to the rules, regulations and criteria listed in 2017 Imagine Cup Competition. The winning team of the Imagine Cup National Final from Pakistan was ‘Positive Zero’ from Bahria University, Karachi. The victory was announced during a grand ceremony. The team has built a Microsoft Azure cognitive service-based engine that helps in writing code through voice commands. The team will represent Pakistan in the advanced stages of the competition on a global scale. The Director of Microsoft’s Enterprise & Partner Group Segment – Mr. Abid Zaidi commented on the occasion; “The link between education, attainment and economic growth has never been clearer. Around the world, the communities where educational excellence is a high priority, create the most economic opportunities. The foundation for sustainable economic growth for the future is being laid, through this initiative.” The Country Head of Microsoft – Mr. Shahzad Aslam Khan stated: “Talent has no boundaries! Any student can derive great benefits from the Imagine Cup, as it provides world-class opportunities and support for the youth, nurturing their true potential and giving them a chance to do something extraordinary and accelerate growth”. Director General IT – Mr. Anwar Amjad appreciated the event and commented that; “The platform provided by HEC to the students is truly unique in as it promises valuable exposure that they need to take the next steps in Academic life, helping them with a successful transition into their professional careers.” Executive Director at HEC – Dr. Arshad Ali stated that: “HEC-Microsoft Strategic Education Alliance has contributed greatly in producing graduates, who are well-equipped and qualified, not only to handle the pressures of the practical world, but have the vision to carve their own avenues with a scientific approach, to tackle complex issues.” The Chairman HEC – Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed expressed his happiness and said; “We appreciate the valuable support of Microsoft in this initiative, as Higher Education Commission strives to nurture the students’ talents through this annual competition. This is a great way to evolve a rich and modern academic culture in Pakistan, as we integrate global advancements and cutting-edge tools to bring the domestic curriculum and learning at par with the leading universities of the world. Thus, we are empowering our students to contribute and compete in the global workforce”.
Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales launches system called Wikitribune to deal with fake news
Jimmy Wales, the creator of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, has launched a site targeted at countering the pass on of fake media by combining professional journalists and a community of volunteers and followers to produce media articles. The brand new system, called Wikitribune, will be absolve to access and take no advertising, instead counting on its readers to invest in it, as the accuracy of media records will be easily verifiable as source materials will be publicized, Wales said. “The news headlines is busted, but we’ve determined how to repair it,” he said in a promo video placed on the website’s homepage. The web proliferation of artificial news, a few of it made for profit plus some for politics ends, became a significant issue of angst and question in many developed countries during previous year’s U.S. presidential election. Wales argued in his video recording that because people likely to get news free of charge on the web, media sites were reliant on advertising money, which created strong bonuses to create so-called “clickbait”, catchy headlines to get viewers. “This is problems because advertising are cheap, competition for clicks is brutal and low-quality reports sources are everywhere you go,” said Wales. He also argued that communal media sites, where an ever-increasing amount of men and women get their media, were made to show users what they wished to see, validate their biases and keep them pressing no matter what. Social media large Facebook was generally criticized this past year for not doing enough to avoid fake news reviews from distributing on its program, and has declared new tools to take on the problem. Wales said Wikitribune would incorporate professional, standards-based journalism using what he called “the radical idea from the world of wiki a community of volunteers can and can reliably protect the integrity of information”. He said articles would be authored, fact-checked and confirmed by journalists and volunteers working jointly, while anyone can flag up issues and send fixes for review. “As the reality are updated, the news headlines becomes a full time income, growing artifact, which is exactly what the web was designed for,” he said. The Wikitribune homepage said the system would go stay in 29 days. In addition, it mentioned that the goal was to employ 10 journalists, but nothing had been appointed so far. Reuters
Russian hackers struck French presidential forward runner Emmanuel Macron’s advertising campaign: Trend Micro
Researchers with japan anti-virus firm Tendency Micro say the advertising campaign of French presidential front-runner Emmanuel Macron has been targeted by Russia-linked hackers, adding additional information to previous ideas that the centrist politician had been designated for electronic digital eavesdropping by the Kremlin. The campaign’s digital main, Mounir Mahjoubi, validated the attempted intrusions in a mobile phone interview late Mon but said that they had all been thwarted. “It’s serious, but nothing at all was jeopardized,” he said. The French presidential contest is not yet over. Macron encounters far-right rival Sea Le Pencil in France’s presidential runoff on, may 7. Macron favors a solid EU, while Le Pencil wants to draw France from the bloc, weakening it. Craze Micro said it learned the advertising campaign by monitoring the creation of rogue, lookalike websites often employed by hackers to key victims into quitting their passwords. The Tokyo-based company recently recognized four Macron-themed imitation domains being create on digital facilities utilized by an organization it telephone calls Pawn Storm, corresponding to Style Micro researcher Feike Hacquebord. Mahjoubi established that at least one of the websites had been recently used within an effort to steal advertising campaign staffers’ online qualifications. Unmasking which group is behind this or that spying plan is one of the very most challenging areas of cybersecurity, but Hacquebord said he was self-confident Trend Micro acquired got it right. “This isn’t a completely confirmation, but it is rather, more than likely,” Hacquebord said, adding the politics mother nature of the targeting was “really consistent with what they are doing within the last 2 yrs.” Style Micro has halted in short supply of accusing any country of tugging Pawn Storm’s strings, but American spy firms and a number of threat intelligence organizations say that Pawn Surprise, an extraordinarily prolific group also called Fancy Keep or APT28, to be an arm of Russia’s intellect apparatus. French officers also have tended to become more circumspect than their American counterparts, consistently declining to connect Pawn Surprise to any specific acting professional. Russian government representatives have long rejected boasts of state-sanctioned hacking. On Mon, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as expressing that the idea that Russian hackers were concentrating on the French election was “completely inappropriate.” The Associated Press remaining several announcements with the hacker or hackers who recorded the rogue Macron websites. None of them were returned. Mahjoubi said the efforts to permeate the Macron marketing campaign date back again to December. In Feb, the advertising campaign complained publicly to be targeted by Russia-linked electric spying operations, though it offered no evidence at that time. Trend Micro’s article, that was produced separately of the Macron advertising campaign and lists 160 electric espionage businesses across some targets, brings a way of measuring evidence to the idea, even if the actual fact that the rogue websites were authorized in March and Apr doesn’t fall into line with the campaign’s timeline. The French election, the first circular which Macron won Weekend with just over 24 percent of the vote, has been tightly watched for symptoms of digital disturbance of any sort. Many observers feared a duplicate of the U.S. electoral competition in 2016, when hackers allegedly supported by Moscow broke in to the email inboxes of the Democratic Country wide Committee and other politics operatives. Pilfered documents eventually made an appearance on WikiLeaks and other more strange websites, adding the Democrats on the defensive throughout their losing advertising campaign against Donald Trump. Reuters
Lanka Bell Teams with IBM to Accelerate Cloud Adoption in Sri Lanka
Lanka Bell, Sri-Lanka’s leading telecommunications service provider today announced a collaboration with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to provide cloud services to enterprises, start-ups, developers and government bodies via the IBM Cloud. As a part of the agreement, the Accelerate two companies will jointly market and sell new offerings for public, private and hybrid cloud deployments, including workload migrations, disaster recovery and capacity expansion solutions via the IBM Cloud. Lanka Bell is a world-class telecommunications operator that provides a full range of telecommunication services, including Internet, data and voice, to businesses and residential customers in Sri Lanka. With its agreement with IBM, Lanka Bell will expand its portfolio to include a wide range of cloud solutions. For example, in addition to IaaS and PaaS services, the IBM Cloud infrastructure will enable Lanka Bell to offer clients back-up storage, virtual machines and virtual storage facilities which can be integrated with the IBM NAS (Network Access Service) solutions. “This partnership is an extension of our 20+ year relationship with IBM and demonstrates our shared vision that will help enterprise customers in the country to embrace cloud offerings quickly and easily,” said Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe, Managing Director, Lanka Bell. “We anticipate customers will benefit from this collaboration and expansion of Lanka Bell’s cloud offerings.” Over 50 IBM Cloud data centers connect to world class networking infrastructure, hardware and software with exceptional bandwidth and connectivity for the highest speed and reliability that enables seamless data transfer, low latency and more consistent performance. IBM’s triple network architecture enables high bandwidth apps and services like video streaming, database querying and HPC applications to perform at their best. “IBM cloud is open by design, offering a set of tools, flexibility and agility that helps organizations of all size and developers to easily translate their innovative ideas into technical solutions and business models,” said Mr. Chrishan Fernando, Country General Manager, IBM, Sri Lanka. “The collaboration is built on our two companies’ long history of bringing innovation to business. We are confident that our cloud platform and joint offerings will enable customers to support new ways to work in an era shaped by cognitive and digital transformation.” Reuters
Amazon’s new service places your subscription buys under one roof
No stranger to presenting new products, Amazon’s has added different things from its regular collection of goods: digital subscriptions. Subscribe with Amazon.com is the most recent addition to the retail giant’s ever-expanding repertoire, supplying a method for subscription-supported services to let customers check out directly through Amazon’s website. Corresponding to a news release , Subscribe with Amazon . com will improve visibility by supplying a service its listing on the Amazon site, as well as easy-to-use APIs for conveniently owning a page and offering simple payment plans of the introductory, monthly, and twelve-monthly variety. What does which means that for customers? For the standard Amazon shopper, the procedure of picking right up a couple of months of Consumer Reports or premium Dropbox access is almost exactly like adding other things to your Amazon cart. Integration with Amazon . com does mean you can manage multiple subscriptions simply by checking one site — a boon to people who prefer devoid of their personal and mastercard information disseminate over twelve different online locations. Prime and subscribe Of course, Amazon . com is eventually owning a business, so services that go along with Subscribe with Amazon must fork over 30% of whatever they make from new subscribers, dropping to 15% for repeat buyers. On top of that, Subscribe with Amazon . com also provides company an opportunity to improve the value of its subscription service. Amazon . com plans to provide special deals via Subscribe with Amazon exclusively for Amazon Prime members, like a discount on an electronic magazine subscription or a free of charge month of online crafts courses. To be eligible for offering through Subscribe with Amazon . com, something currently must give a product via an app, website or software. Second, the business enterprise must be located in the united states. Finally, customers must pay a continuing charge gain access to the product. This is definately not Amazon’s first look at at doing everything in-house for digital services. The business introduced Amazon . com Coins back 2013 as an incentivized, alternative digital currency for buying software and making in-app purchases, though they are currently exclusive to Amazon Fire devices. Reuters