BeritaSeo: Tech

Next Apple Watch Will Be More 'S' Than 2

Most of the changes in the next version of the Apple Watch will be on the inside and not the outside of the case, according to an investors note issued Monday by Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities.

While he was short on details about what the internal changes for the watch might be, the analyst's comments are consistent with rumors circulating last summer that the design of the next version of Apple's wrist computer would remain essentially unchanged, with some improvements in battery life and its display's outdoor visibility, according to AppleInsider, which obtained the note.

Consumer expectations may be influencing the upgrade of the watch, noted Bob O'Donnell, chief analyst at Technalysis Research.

"Apple may want to go with the more incremental approach for now so first-generation buyers don't feel totally left out," he told TechNewsWorld.

"Watches aren't like phones and PCs," O'Donnell said. "You don't upgrade your watch every year."

Apple fans who do want to upgrade or buy a new watch this year most likely will have to wait until September to do so, as Kuo says production won't start until the third quarter. Read more on >> PNG Technology News

Source: www.technewsworld.com

Unrivalled Customer Support Package With JCB Southeast Asia

Construction equipment manufacturer JCB Southeast Asia has announced the introduction of its new customer support package, including the launch of JCB LiveLink. This innovative software system enables JCB Dealers to support machine owners by monitoring and managing their machines remotely to help maximise machine performance and productivity. The global manufacturer has also announced the appointment of three new dealers – Mitra JCB in Kalimantan, Persada JCB in Sumatra, and T&C JCB in Vietnam – to ensure they continue to deliver global expertise across local regions. 
JCB LiveLink uses satellite and cellular technology and is compatible with the vast majority of JCB machines. JCB Dealers can access the information via an internet connection, as the LiveLink computer is built into JCB’s machines, where it collects information from a number of sensors. This information is sent, using mobile communications technology, to JCB’s secure data centre. This machine management information is then displayed to users via the LiveLink website, by email or via mobile phone.
In addition to enabling JCB dealers to view a customer’s fleet and guaranteeing timely servicing, the benefits of this machine monitoring system include maintenance reporting, critical machine health alerts, real time location data and geofencing alerts. This step to advance machine monitoring and security is part of JCB’s effort to ensure owners investments are protected, whilst providing their customers with unrivalled customer support.
 “At JCB, we are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to help customers get the most of their machines and LiveLink telematics is just one way we are improving our customer service support. Another way we are doing this is by delivering global expertise at a local level by expanding our dealers’ network coverage across the region. We have recently appointed two news dealers in Indonesia, Mitra JCB in Kalimantan and Persada JCB in Sumatra, as well as T&C JCB in Vietnam”, mentioned Tom Cornell, Managing Director of JCB Southeast Asia. 
JCB understands the specific challenges faced by customers in the various countries of Southeast Asia which is why JCB are actively looking to further strengthen its coverage to ensure customer satisfaction is achieved no matter where a customer is in the world. 

Digicel Play transmits with new satellite dishes

Digicel PNG has purchased three new satellite dishes to improve quality and performance for their television broadcast through Digicel Play in the country.
The first switch of transmission was done this morning from the old dish to one of the new 7.8 metre dishes that cover the Pacific Region including PNG.
Digicel Play, Chief Technical Officer, Mr Alan Constant says that the advantage of the new dishes will also help to improve performance for their subscribers meaning the distorted signals that used to be face by subscribers during rains will be a thing of the past giving smooth and quality television broadcast to the customers.
He stressed that the dishes also allows them to expand their services giving better coverage in the country and the Pacific Region.
Photo: Digicel Play, Chief Technical Officer, Mr Alan Constant posing with the new Satellite Dishes. PNGFM

Facebook Messenger to change its customer service

Facebook Messenger could be about to swap out customer service for robots
Company expected to announce a "bot store" at its F8 event for developers.
Facebook could be about to let robots take over its customer service.

The social media giant is expected to announce a "bot store" at its F8 event for developers, and the new tools for bots are expected to be just one part of a range of new Messenger features (via TechCrunch).

Instead of clicking through to an app to look at products from a specific company, users will talk to an artificially intelligent bot which will allow them to order products or return them.

The automated customer services bot would be able to send back programmed replies, intended to take people through the process of returning a product as one example.As well as customer service, the bots could also use push notifications to tell users that a product from a specific business is back in stock or report on breaking stories from news organisations.

Facebook is expected to announce a scheme that will allow companies to borrow the company's bots for their own customer service needs. The social media giant could also launch a platform to allow companies to connect with the people that build the bots.

Earlier this year, the bot store was deemed arguably the "most consequential event for the tech industry" since Apple's App Store.

Meanwhile, it was announced that Facebook Live Video is about to get even better with a boatload of new options.

And here's how you can unfriend someone on Facebook without them knowing...Read more Technology News on >> PNG Technology News

Source: Digital Spy

Digicel Play installs new satellite dishes to make TV more accessible for PNG and the Pacific

In what is set to be a win for PNG television viewers, Digicel Play today announced its move to make television programs more accessible to people across PNG and the Pacific.

Digicel Play has installed two new satellite dishes at its Gordons headquarters in Port Moresby, as well as a new television studio which will broadcast local content to PNG residents.

The two dishes, which have taken 18-months to design and develop, will boost coverage of Digicel Play throughout PNG and the wider Pacific region including Fiji, Nauru and Tonga.

Digicel Play CEO, Nico Myer, said the installation of the two satellite dishes was a huge milestone for the broadcaster.

“Digicel Play is always looking at ways to improve television availability and quality for our viewers and these two dishes highlight this commitment to customers,” he said.

“The two new satellite dishes are more powerful and cost effective than the ones we have used previously, which will help make Digicel Play channels more affordable to access going forward.”

Digicel Play was launched 18 months ago in PNG and provides a wide selection of movies, sports, news and family entertainment across PNG.

To access Digicel Play, customers can purchase a Digicel Play Box package from their local Digicel store for K69.

The new satellite dishes and television studio are located in Gordons.  Read moren on >> PNG Technology News Website

Facebook can now describe photos to blind people

Facebook's new feature is quite a doozy - it's found a way to use artificial intelligence to describe photos, so that blind and visually impaired people won't miss out on a large part of their news feed.

It's called Automatic Alternative Text. As TechCrunch notes, to get the benefit, you'll have to use a screen reader - ie, a piece of software that identifies what's on your screen and reads it out using text-to-speech.

Without the feature, a screen reader would tell you who shared the photo, and the accompanying text that the person added. But that's not much good, as usually captions elaborate on the photo, rather than describing what it depicts.sing the feature, the screen reader will say something like "image may contain three people, smiling, outdoors".

Not the best description, admittedly, but it's still a huge step.

It uses object recognition based on neural networks (which are one type of model for machine learning, ie artificial intelligence).

It will pick out images like cars, mountains, grass, foods, activities like swimming and tennis, and apply descriptive words for appearance like smiling, selfie, etc.

The feature is currently only available for the iOS app, on devices using screen readers set to English, but we'd expect it to become more widely available soon. We would also expect it to become significantly more advanced before too long. Which is amazing, if a little scary.

Source: Digital Spy

Twitter adds new way of sending messages for iOS and Android users

Twitter's great and all, but sometimes you don't want the world to see what you're chatting about with your mate.

The micro-blogging service has your back though, unveiling a new Message button that makes privately sharing tweets a whole lot easier.

Lining up as a fourth in-tweet option - alongside Reply, Retweet and Like - the new Message button lets your share the desired tweet as a direct message with a friend of your choice, opening up a new private conversation in the process.Introduced in response to the growing use of the service's DM options, the new Message button follows a 200% jump in privately shared tweets in late 2015.

Available right now for Twitter's iOS and Android users, it's currently unclear when the feature will be desktop-bound.

Source: Digital Spy

North Korea bans Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

Planning a trip to North Korea anytime soon? Well, you now won't be able to use some of your main social media accounts there.

The country has announced that it is officially banning Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all South Korean sites.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications made the announcement this week in a move to highlight its worry over the spread of online information.

Although few North Koreans have internet access, with some able to access a government-sanctioned intranet, foreigners had previously been able to browse with little restriction.

The move will inevitably make it more difficult to spread information about the country to the outside world.

The government is also banning gambling and "sex and adult" websites over a "certain period of time" (via The AP).

Facebook and Twitter have been informally banned for a while, but the new statement says that anyone who tries to hack these sites, access them in an "improper" way or distribute "anti-republic data" will be punished.

There are similar restrictions in neighbouring China, which bans sites that it considers politically sensitive. Read more on >> PNG Technology news

Source: Digital Spy

Usino-Bundi aim to do digital with accounts


Usino Bundi MP, Anton Yagama says all service improvement program (PSIP, DSIP & LLGSIP) and other interventions programs grants shall be reported in the electronic format for acquitting and distributions.


Yagama said standards for the electronic recording, processing and distribution of financial and other business reports (digital reporting) is the way forward for easy accessibility of acquittal information for decision-making.

He highlighted this while presenting his 2015 district services improvement program (DSIP) acquittal reports in Port Moresby last Friday.

Yagama said there is a high turnover of provinces, districts and LLGs bringing documents containing acquittal reports in bulk which costs resources and are time consuming.

“Today, we are in a digital world, we should compile our acquittal reports in a digital format so that we can save it in a flash drive, CDs, external hard disk or other mode of devices that we can present the same report to other government departments and agencies for compliance. The information is there, you don’t have to go through volumes of volumes of documents. It is waste of time go through large volumes of documents, by having this we can cut down the work load. We have to do away with the paper work thing of compiling reports,” he stressed.     

He said digital reporting would thus open up entirely new possibilities and also raises fundamental issues in relation to serving multiple stakeholders, meeting decision-making needs and achieving transparency.

The first time MP while presenting his report highlighted that Usino Bundi is one of the difficult district in Madang Province to administer.

Yagama said captured under his Usino-Bundi five-year district development plan, his priority focused is based on two sectors, transport and education infrastructures where much of his DSIP funds has been expanded.

“Our priority is having a well-educated young generation that will indirectly assist to alleviate poverty, create employment, utilise available fertile land, and participate in the ongoing mining activities in the district and nation building as a whole,” he said.

He said the district had sponsored well over 528 students in all recognized universities around the country and other institutions providing opportunity for the unfortunate.

In terms of road and bridges, Upper Bundi/Yandera to Kundiawa road which had been closed to traffic for 15 years was recently open paving way for people living there to access  basic needs government services.

Others such as Usino junction to Mondia to link Madang sea port with highlands provinces and Baiyer River Bridge which is expected to complete in May this year.

The Usino Bundi district was allocated K8 million DSIP funds last year (2015), and K1 million as district housing with health and education infrastructure funding of K2.5 million.


Press statement

Google removes Taliban-developed smartphone app from Play Store

Google has removed a Taliban-developed online application for Android smartphones aimed at increasing the militant group's visibility worldwide.

The launch of the app was reported by the US-based SITE Intel Group, which monitors jihadist social media, on April 2.

The Pashto language app includes content such as official statements and videos from the Taliban, which has waged a jihad in Afghanistan for more than 14 years since it was ousted in 2001 with help from the US.

A Google spokeswoman confirmed on Monday that the app is no longer available from the company's Play Store.

The app was part of the Taliban's digital campaign to attract a bigger audience worldwide.

The movement has an updated website run in five languages including English and Arabic, as well as Twitter and Facebook accounts providing daily updates on its insurgency.

The group's website and Twitter accounts have been taken down several times as the Afghan government seeks to prevent the group's communications efforts.

Social media platforms have been criticised for not doing more to stop extremist groups such as the Taliban and the Islamic State from using their sites to recruit members and raise funds....Read more on PNG Technology news

   
Source:
The Washington Post

High quality shows for Sky Pacific with new ownership

Digicel Samoa Limited will take effective control of Sky Pacific operations from Bluesky Samoa Limited on Friday 1st April 2016.

The transition of the ownership of Sky Pacific to the Digicel business follows last year’s announcement of the agreement to acquire the Sky Pacific operations.

Digicel plans to raise the bar for Pay TV in the Pacific and has already engaged in discussions with various international content providers to acquire high quality TV shows and channels to boost the service and add value for all Sky Pacific customers – old and new. With a diverse range of viewership across Samoa, Sky Pacific, under new ownership, is looking at multi-faceted programs to maintain interest and customer loyalty.

Effective as of 1st April 2016, all Sky Pacific customers in Samoa are advised to make their monthly account payments at the following selected Digicel Samoa outlets. For customers in Upolu, payments can be made either at the Digicel Vaimea outlet, or at the Digicel SNPF Plaza. For customers in Savaii, payments can be made at the Digicel Salelologa outlet.

Digicel Samoa Limited encourages all Sky Pacific customers, old and new to contact its SNPF Headquarters for further assistance or information. Direct lines have also been made available for direct assistance if required. For all Digicel customers, please contact 125 and for all Bluesky customers, please call +685 8408125 or send us an email via WS_DigicelTV@digicelgroup.com

     

Insta-Panic! Instagram changes news feeds


Users of the social media site Instagram are going into what is now known as an ‘Insta-Panic’ after Instagram announced that it will be doing some changes on the order of what appears on the newsfeeds of its users.
Instagram which was bought off by the popular social media site Facebook announced on the 15th of March that it will be doing an algorithmic change on the newsfeed which means posts that only relate to the likes of an Instagram user will appear on top of the newsfeed.
This has upset many people and also stars that pay the social media site to host their official fan pages.
Instagram is trying to calm this Insta-Panic by saying the planned algorithmic changes have not been taken into effect yet.
Meanwhile, Instagram users all over the world have taken into posting hash tags such as ‪#‎RIPInstagram‬ and ‪#‎KEEPInstagram‬ while some are just not happy to lose their popularity over this change. Read more on >> PNG Technology News

PNG FM / PNG TOday

Twitter's new colourful sticker feature could be its cutest yet


Twitter is testing out a new feature that lets users add colourful stickers to their photos.


The product, simply named 'Stickers', is being tried out on certain users in order to get their feedback.   

"We're always researching potential new ways to make Twitter more expressive," a spokesperson added.

Twitter says the feature will "suggest photos that you can edit and post to participate in trending conversations and breaking news", as well as letting you "see how other users from around the world have edited the same photo".

Other names considered for the new product include '#stamps', 'Stickits', 'Remix' and 'Portals'.

Both Snapchat and Facebook already allow users to customise their photos, with Facebook letting you add stickers to images and Snapchat enabling you to add emojis to photos and videos.

Meanwhile, Twitter users can also find out what their first tweet was using this hidden feature.

Source: 
digitalspy

PNG Women in Leadership launch new website

Young people nowadays love the internet and are not so keen about reading books or most have simply lost sight of the true Papua New Guinea culture.
One of Papua New Guineas most influential women leader Dame Coral Kidu made these remarks at the launch of the New Website for PNG Women In Leadership supported by the Department of Personnel Management and funded through the Australian Government-Economic and Public Sector program.
Dame Carol Kidu highlighted that not so many of today’s young people know about the past women leaders who have contributed immensely towards the growth of PNG and this website is just the drive to get young people to know more on the key values and principles these women leaders use to make an impact in the public sector and get inspiration from them.
The Website was launched by Secretary for Department of Personnel Management, John Kali in the presence of Minister for Public Service, Dr Puka Temu, Acting Australian High Commissioner to PNG, Ms Bronte Moules and other dignitaries.
A resolution of Women In Leadership Plenary 1 and 2 from 2015 was also presented to Minister Temu which the Minister has taken note of.
“We must become smarter. We have to come up with strategies to look into Cultural impediments and Institutional Impediments that is preventing our women to progress. There are a lot of talents that we must now develop,” says Minister Dr. Temu.
Minister Temu also stated that the time is now right for the women in the Public sector to make their move if they want to achieve Gender Parity and it’s a matter of walking hand in hand with the men... Read more on >> PNG Technology News Online 

PNGFM / PNG Today