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Samsung Pay is hitting Singapore first in Southeast Asia rollout
Samsung Electronics is finally bringing its highly publicized Samsung Pay to Southeast Asia, and Singapore has been chosen to be the first recipient. This follows up on the service’s successful rollouts in South Korea, China, and the United States, as well as the demand from Singaporeans themselves.
In fact, 71 percent of Samsung users in Singapore have shown interest in using the mobile payment system, according to a recent study commissioned by Samsung. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, since Samsung Pay has been proven to be highly secure and easy to adapt for all sorts of merchants.
What makes Samsung Pay such a strong contender early on in the mobile payment race is its broad acceptance in retail stores. Using MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission), the payment system is compatible with any machine that accepts credit and debit cards. And once NFC (Near Field Communication) becomes more common at cashiers, Samsung Pay will ace that, too.
As for security, users have to go through three layers of security before making a purchase: fingerprint authentication; tokenization; and the Samsung KNOX software (which safeguards your Samsung device from sketchy activities). All three work together to maintain an encrypted digital token that’ll only function with your fingerprint or PIN.
To ensure a smooth launch, Samsung Pay has been “strategically expanding its partnership system” across Singapore. The results of these efforts already show, thanks to the established cooperation with American Express, MasterCard, and Visa, plus major banks including DBS/POSB, OCBC Bank, and Standard Chartered.
Keep in mind, however, that you’ll need a high-end Samsung Galaxy smartphone to make use of the service. According to Samsung Singapore, only 4G+ variants of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy S7, and S7 edge are on the initial compatibility list at launch in Q2 2016.
[irp posts=”4954″ name=”Apple iPhone 7 loses to Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge in DxOMark camera test”]
Despite the ease that the technology promises, artificial intelligence still isn’t the most reliable thing you can depend on. Today’s models can still flub answers. Now, the pitfalls of AI are abundantly clear with a few mishaps on X. Golden State Warrior Klay Thompson was just “accused” of a vandalism spree involving bricks.
Late Tuesday night, X presented an AI-generated news snippet. The article, posted soon after the Warriors’ play-in loss to the Sacramento Kings, reads: “Klay Thompson Accused in Bizarre Brick-Vandalism Spree.”
The snippet hilariously described an incident where Thompson supposedly vandalized houses in Sacramento with bricks. Thankfully, according to the snippet, no one was hurt. It even had a few sources for its claims below the news summary.
First off… I am ok.
My house was vandalized by bricks 🧱
After my hands stopped shaking, I managed to call the Sheriff…They were quick to respond🚨
My window was gone and the police asked if I knew who did it👮♂️
I said yes, it was Klay Thompson
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) April 17, 2024
The sources, however, are just joke posts stemming from the recently concluded game. In that do-or-die game, Thompson put up a staggering 0 points on ten shot attempts, the most misses without a make by a Warrior since the ’68 season. Naturally, everyone joked that the Warriors guard just threw bricks all over Sacramento.
Now, X is currently experimenting with a new AI feature called Grok. The model collates trending topics and creates snippets of what’s happening for X users. However, it’s not exactly the smartest in determining real news from satiric ones. The feature notes as much, carrying a fine-print caveat warning users to “verify its outputs” because it’s an early feature and can make mistakes.
SEE ALSO: New X users must pay a dollar per year to post and reply
New users on X might soon face a tough time on the platform. The social media website will likely start charging new accounts a small fee for the right to post on the platform.
Now, the fee isn’t a new one. Almost six months ago, the company tested the paid system in New Zealand and the Philippines. New users in those countries had to pay a dollar per year for the ability to post and reply to content.
As spotted by X Daily News on the same platform, the company might be ready to take the experiment to a larger market. New text strings have shown that the policy is rolling out worldwide.
SPECULATION: X might be expanding its policy to charge new users before they reply/like/bookmark a post https://t.co/odqeyeiHBx pic.twitter.com/EU71qlwQ0D
— X Daily News (@xDaily) April 15, 2024
The policy is designed to combat a wave of bots appearing on the platform. By preventing new accounts from creating posts, X hopes to stave off the standard behavior of bots these days. You might have noticed them as OnlyFans creators in unrelated posts, peddling NSFW content on their bio.
Though the global rollout was only just spotted, owner Elon Musk has seemingly confirmed the change. Replying to X Daily News, Musk says that it is “the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots.” He says that the current breed of bots can easily bypass simple checks these days.
Since its big reinvention, the Google Pixel flagship series subsisted on two main entries: a regular model and a Pro. Last year added a Pixel Fold to the list but kept it away from the main line, launching in May instead. Now, there’s a possibility that the Pixel family, starting with the Pixel 9 series, is growing both in number and closer to each other.
According to Android Authority, Google might launch four different models of the Pixel 9 series later this year. Besides the two traditional entries to the family, there will be two new ones coming this year.
The first new model you might see is the Pixel 9 Pro XL (what a mouthful). Despite the name, the model itself isn’t exactly new. The model is reportedly a successor to the Pixel 8 Pro but with a different name.
Which means that the new model is actually the Pixel 9 Pro. Yes, it’s confusing, but let’s break it down. Similar to Apple, Google might separate its lineup into a regular duo and a premium duo. That said, the Pixel 9 Pro will offer only a bite-sized upgrade to the regular Pixel 9. It’ll be the same size, too.
Since the Pixel 9 Pro XL will be the start of the Pro lineup, what model will it pair with? Well, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, of course. The Pixel Fold is apparently dead in name. Google might repackage the foldable as an official part of the Pixel 9 series and will launch alongside the main lineup later this fall.
SEE ALSO: Google Pixel 8 Pro Review: Making Magic
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