Weekly Tech Updates (Feb 19, 2021)
Weekly Tech Updates is an easy and convenient way to keep up with all the happenings in the tech world. Stay tuned every Friday for all the latest updates.
New Launch / Release:
News:
1. Facebook blocks news in Australia
Australians can no longer access or share local and global news articles on Facebook neither can major news channels publish news on Facebook.
This nationwide ban on news content occurred on Thursday as the Australian government imposed a law requiring digital giants to pay traditional news media businesses for generating original journalistic content.
In the process of blocking news content and pages, several Australia government health and emergency pages were also blocked. This was later clarified by Facebook as a mistake and has most been reversed.
At time of writing, both Facebook and the Australia government have yet to come to a mutual settlement. News content remains blocked while the Australia government remain persistent that tech giants should pay local news medias for content.
If you’d like to know more about this news, head over to BBC News where they have a thorough coverage on this story.
2. Sugarbook banned by MCMC, Founder arrested.
Also banned this week is the Sugarbook app. This ban is being imposed by MCMC for violation of section 263(2) communications and multimedia act 1998 as it is suspected to be linked to prostitution and rape cases.
A new alternative URL (sucrebook.com) was provided to Sugarbook users within 24 hours of the ban. Nevertheless, that site has also been banned.
For those who are unfamiliar with Sugarbook, you can read an article written by says.com back in 2017. But to quickly summarise, Sugarbook is founded by a Malaysian back in 2016 as a new-age dating app takes pride in creating sugar relationships.
The founder was re-arrested on Thursday, 18th Feb 2021 after having failed to secure a remand on the first arrest which occurred on Wednesday, 17th Feb. The revised application is set for hearing on 19th Feb 2021, 9am at the Shah Alam court.
3. Muhyiddin’s officiates the launch of MyDigital and Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint
As shared in the speech, the MyDIGITAL initiative aims to empower every Malaysian, from Perlis to Sabah, to improve their lives in all aspects. Among others, it includes ideas and plans to improve digital literacy, creates high-income jobs, makes banking and finance business easier and more organized, provides virtual educational access to our children and brings medical facilities to remote towns.
It also serves as a digital transformation direction plan that is able to drive the business sector to compete on the global arena by enhancing expediency and efficiency of their operations.
The MyDIGITAL initiative will complement the national development policies such as the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP) and the Vision for Shared Prosperity 2030 (WKB 2030).
MyDIGITAL’s initiatives and targets across will be carried out in three phases until the year 2030. Amongst the initiatives and targets are:
i) By 2025, the digital economy is expected to contribute 22.6 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
ii) At the same time, the plan also aims to provide 500,000 job opportunities in the digital economy.
iii) The government also encourages 875,000 micro, small and medium enterprises to accept the use of e-commerce.
iv) In addition, these initiatives under the auspices of MyDIGITAL also serve as catalysts for 5,000 start-up companies to begin their operations in the next five years.
v) These initiatives will be the starting point to attract new investments worth RM70 billion in the digital sector, from within and outside the country.
vi) The government is also targeting for the level of productivity of the economic sector to increase by 30 percent higher than what that has been achieved today, by 2030.
vii) For the public sector, all agencies will provide cashless transaction facilities as the main option by 2022.
4. POCO introduces new logo and mascot in India #toomadformi
POCO, a sub-brand of Xiaomi unveils a new devilish mascot which is also incorporated into their new logo.
It is important to note that this logo and mascot is currently only implemented in the India market.
The new logo and mascot comes complete with a brief background story and explanation.
As it is with most rebranding efforts, the new POCO logo and mascot was received with mixed reviews from POCO fans. Many expressed that the old logo better and that the new logo is poorly designed.
More optimistic fans simply reacted by saying that what matters the most is the quality of phones produced.
