Twitter is banned in China, so instead the country uses a platform called Weibo. Now, Weibo has more users than Twitter. Weibo, owned by Sina, said this week that it had 340 million monthly active users as of March. That number is higher than Twitter’s most recently reported count of 328 million monthly active users. …

What if you could pay for groceries with a wave of your hand? Well, 7-Eleven has brought this convenience to customers in South Korea this week. The global chain of convenience outlets opened a new store on Tuesday at the world’s fifth tallest building, Lotte World Tower. The store is testing a self-checkout system which allows you to pay with …

Thailand last week gave Facebook an ultimatum: Shut down all pages deemed illegal by Tuesday or face repercussions. Although 131 Facebook pages blacklisted by the local Criminal Court remain accessible today, it seems the platform will not be dealt any legal consequences in Thailand even after the deadline set by authorities has passed, reports Reuters. After Facebook had taken down …

Global tech giants Google, Apple and Amazon have all developed their own voice assistants, and South Korea’s biggest search engine is following in their footsteps. Today, South Korean tech giant Naver announced the launch of its AI-powered “cloud voice assistant” app Clova. It was developed with its Japanese subsidiary Line, one of the world’s most popular messaging apps. Clova will …

Facebook has long been plagued with problems related to content monitoring. This week, it added one more to the list. The social media giant has removed Women on Web, a page that included information on how to get abortion pills in places they’re prohibited, according to a Facebook post on Thursday by its affiliated group, Women on Waves. Facebook attributed …

Thailand’s internet has become increasingly censored in recent years, and now the country is threatening Facebook. The social media giant has been ordered by Thai authorities to remove all posts deemed illegal in the country by next Tuesday, failing which legal action will be taken, reports Bangkok Post. The order came from Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and …

If you get FOMO from being away from Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, Opera’s new update will please you very much. Opera today introduced a new browser that integrates messaging apps to its sidebar. Codenamed Reborn, the browser lets you chat with friends through Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Telegram on a side window while you work on the main browser. Other …

The digital wallet crowd is getting a little more packed in the US, with Apple and Android Pay being joined by two new competitors from the East. Alipay, the payment platform offered by e-commerce giant Alibaba, has joined forces with US credit card processing service First Data Corporation, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The partnership enables Chinese tourists who visit the …

If you’re visiting China but don’t speak the language, you may be relieved to hear that you can hail a cab just as easily as the locals now. Didi Chuxing, a China-based rival to Uber’s ride-hailing service, on Monday rolled out an English version of its app in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The company said the feature will be introduced …

Apple is no longer China’s favourite phone manufacturer. The Silicon Valley giant has dropped out of the top three best-selling phones in China, according to new reports compiled by market researchers International Data Corporation (IDC) and Counterpoint Technology Market Research. It was beaten by Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, but at No. 4 remains in the top five. Analysts have seen …