Today’s top tech news, July 24: Google launches public Wi-Fi in Thailand, experiences strong Q2 2018 | Digital Asia

Google Thailand launches public Wi-Fi – The Star Malaysia

Google Thailand today announced a series of initiatives for users in the country that includes free high-speed public Wi-Fi, with the goal to promote digital access equality, The Star Malaysia reported.

Called Google Station, the device will be implemented in 10 venues across Bangkok and in two provinces Pichit and Loei. It will be expanded to other parts of the country “in the coming months.”

At the launch event, Google Thailand Country Director Ben King explained that the initiatives would span across four pillars: Access, education, content and products, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Alphabet experiences strong gain in Q2 2018 – Bloomberg

Google’s parent company Alphabet continues to stream in revenue from advertising despite “costly” regulatory trouble that it faces in Europe, Bloomberg reported.

Having a “strong” Q2 2018, the company’s shares rose as high as 6.1 per cent in extended trading. It recorded US$26.24 billion sales during the quarter, with its advertising business growing 24 per cent.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news, July 20: SoftBank aims for SenseTime, Google develops Android successor

Ele.me aims to raise new funding, expand to new services – South China Morning Post

Chinese delivery service Ele.me aims to raise new funding and expand to new services following an acquisition by e-commerce giant Alibaba in April, South China Morning Post reported. The new investment will be part of the startup’s effort to compete with Meituan Dianping.

Ele.me aims to add new services such as flower and over-the-counter medication delivery; it also plans to add new logistics infrastructure that would enable the company to dispatch order within 30 minutes.

“Alibaba’s business has traditionally revolved around consumers and internet services, and we’ve since moved into digital entertainment with platforms like Youku-Tudou,” said Ele.me chief executive Wang Lei.

“Now we are also moving in the direction of offering local services to customers,” he added.

Singapore Airline teams up with KPMG, Microsoft to launch blockchain-based digital loyalty wallet – Press Release

Following the completion of a proof-of-concept exercise in February, Singapore Airlines today announced the launch its blockchain-based digital loyalty wallet KrisPay, which is the result of a partnership with KPMG Digital Village and Microsoft.

The wallet allows user to convert KrisFlyer miles for spending at partner merchants in Singapore; they can choose to use as little as 15 KrisPay miles (equivalent to about S$0.10) to pay for their purchases. For a start, KrisPay miles will be accepted at 18 merchants spanning different categories of beauty services, food and beverage, petrol and retail.

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