Shopee kicks off its annual 11.11 Big Christmas Sale, presenting an unbeatable selection of deals, fun, and entertainment to shoppers.

Accelerating growth for businesses

This year, more than 8 million new local shops opened on Shopee. The 11.11 sale aims to give greater visibility for brands and MSMEs to maximize demand.

Exclusive deals await on Shopee Mall, especially from top brands such as Xiaomi, POCO, realme, Samsung, Nokia, Vivo, DJI, Deerma, Coocaa Home, and Bata Philippines.

Additionally, offline businesses can still participate through ShopeePay and other digital products feature. Shoppers can check “Deals Near Me” to discover special in-store deals from brands such as Puregold, National Bookstore, Fully Booked, Power Mac Center, Family Mart, Olympic Village, Mary Grace, and more.

Fun deals for everyone

First-time shoppers can look forward to a free welcome package, bills cashback, free shipping, 100 percent off vouchers, and PhP 1 deals with their first purchase.

For those buying gifts for the holidays, Shopee has a list of gift guides called Christmas in our Carts loaded with discounts up to 90 percent off on a wide range of branded gifts and bundles. Shopee Mall also offers 10 percent off Mall vouchers, special deals on holiday gifts, and vouchers from their favorite brands.

Moreover, Shopee will be hosting an 11.11 Midnight Mall Exclusive Sale from 12 midnight to 2 AM. Huge price drops and exclusive bundle deals await, allowing shoppers to enjoy discounts up to 90 percent off on leading brands in the country.

The big finale

Shopee aims to spark joy with a big finale on November 11, bringing NCT 127 — one of the hottest K-Pop boy bands today. The band will be performing chart-topping hits at the 11.11 TV show on November 11 from 9:30 to 11:30 in the evening on GMA 7 and Shopee Live.

Visit this link for more information about Shopee 11.11 Big Christmas Sale.

The Play Store is a dangerous minefield. If you’re not careful, you might end up installing unwanted malware on your device. Unfortunately, such scams will always pervade even the most secure app stores. One of our best lines of defense is a reliable security research firm to warn us of ongoing scams. The latest report names 151 fake apps that might be draining money from your credit card right now.

Named by Avast, the UltimaSMS scam currently spreads its evil through 151 confirmed apps on the Play Store. The scam was named after the first app it was discovered in, Ultima Keyboard 3D Pro. Since then, more and more apps were included in the list.

The list of apps spans a lot of different flavors and uses including custom keyboards, wallpapers, games, cameras, and Wi-Fi unlocking tools. Naturally, all the apps listed have one thing in common: They don’t work. Once installed, the fake app asks users for their phone number and other identify features. The app then subscribes the user to premium SMS services using the number, unbeknownst to the victim.

The subscription can cost as much as US$ 40, draining money from the user’s account monthly. Once the app accomplishes its goal, it just stops working or prompts the user to subscribe to other plans themselves.

You can view the full list of 151 fake apps here.

Obviously, if you have any of the above apps, uninstall them immediately. However, the first line of defense against malware is still our own decision-making. Don’t install unverified apps or apps that promise seemingly impossible features like unlocking Wi-Fi networks.

Especially because of the pandemic, Zoom skyrocketed into its fame. The video-conferencing app is now an essential in every professional’s toolbox, whether they’re still working from home or already returning to the office. Its popularity hinges on two essential factors: it’s free and easy to use. Shifting its focus, Zoom is making its app a tiny bit less free and a lot more profitable by showing ads to free users.

To be clear, Zoom won’t magically implement a payment system for every user. However, if you’re enjoying the app’s benefits free of charge (as a lot of people are), the platform will start to push ads towards you after every call. Ads won’t pop up during an actual meeting. Instead, users will see them in the little browser pop-up once the call ends.

Zoom is still testing the program out. As such, ads will only pop up in select countries. (The company didn’t mention which countries in its official announcement.) Regardless, the new program is a start towards a more profitable system for the company (and, arguably, a more contentious one for its free users).

Currently, the platform’s free tier does not lock users out from a lot of essential features on Zoom. In fact, end-to-end encryption, which used to be a premium feature, is already available for free users. The new ad program will further serve to delineate Zoom’s free tier from its more premium one.

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