Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Now Available in India, 143 More Countries

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is now available in India and 143 additional countries and territories, including the likes of Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Pakistan,... http://bit.ly/2J0Uwlh

Microsoft Bans Slack for Employees, Discourages Google Docs Use: Report

Microsoft has banned its employees from using the free version of Slack, reportedly due to security concerns. http://bit.ly/2X2s4EF

Profile of the Open Invention Network, the largest patent non-aggression community in history with 3,000+ licensees, covering Linux and related open-source tech (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols/ZDNet)

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / ZDNet:
Profile of the Open Invention Network, the largest patent non-aggression community in history with 3,000+ licensees, covering Linux and related open-source tech  —  While some businesses remain entangled in patent wars, the companies which have joined the OIN are freeing Linux from patent fights.

Jio seems to be going slow on content plans

Management approval for many proposals is pending till funds are infused into the main business, according to over a dozen people within and outside the company who are familiar with the matter. http://bit.ly/2X2948V https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Razer goes big on payments with Visa prepaid card

The latest pairing between a tech upstart and a financial titan is a digital prepaid card targeted at Southeast Asia’s 430 million-plus unbanked and underserved population.

On Monday, Razer, the Singapore-based company best known for its gaming laptops and peripherals, announced a partnership with Visa to develop a Visa prepaid solution. The service, which allows unbanked users to top up and cash out easily, will be available as a mini program embedded in Razer Pay, the gaming company’s mobile payments app. That means Razer’s 60 million registered users will be able to pay at any of the 54 million merchant locations around the world that take Visa.

Going virtual is the natural step given the region’s fast-growing digital population, but the pair does not rule out the possibility to introduce a physical prepaid card down the road, Razer’s chief strategy officer Li Meng Lee told TechCrunch over a phone interview.

Both parties have something to gain from this marriage. Hong Kong-listed Razer has in recent years been doubling down on fintech to prove it’s more than a hardware company. Payment services seem like an inevitable development for Razer whose users in the region are accustomed to buying in-game credits at convenience stores.

“For many years, the people who have been making digital payments before it became a sexy word in the last couple of years… [many of them] are the gamers who go to a 7-Eleven, pay in cash, and get a pin code to buy virtual skins for the games,” noted Lee. “Because of that, we’ve been able to build up more than a million service points across Southeast Asia.”

Razer doubles down on Southeast Asia and payments with acquisition of MOL

The key differentiator of Razer’s prepaid service, Lee said, is that customers paying at Visa merchants don’t have to already own a bank account, whereas that prerequisite is common for many other e-wallet services.

The Razer Pay app is handling transactions for a slew of internet services like Lazada and Grab and has made a big offline push, boasting a network of more than one million touchpoints through retailers including 7-Eleven and Starbucks where it’s accepted.

All in all, Razer Pay claimed it processed over $1.4 billion in payment value last year. It first launched in Malaysia in mid-2018 and recently branched into Singapore as its second market. Lee said the service plans to roll out in the rest of Southeast Asia soon, upon which the Visa prepaid mini app will also be available in those markets.

For Visa, the tie-up with an internet firm could be a potential boost to its reach in the mobile-first Southeast Asia where some 213 million millennials and youths live.

“This is a great opportunity for us to be working with Razer in addressing how we work to bring the unbanked and underserved population into the financial system,” Chris Clark, Visa’s regional president for the Asia Pacific, told TechCrunch. “We will be doing some work with Razer on financial literacy and financial planning to bring that education to the population across the region.”

Razer’s fintech ambition has been evident since it announced to gobble up MOL, a company that offers online and offline payments in Southeast Asia, in April 2018. Besides payments, Lee said other microfinance services such as lending and insurance are also on the cards as part of an effort to ramp up user stickiness for Razer’s fintech arm.

Meet 14 Indian tech startups that have become billion-dollar businesses

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Xiaomi has 'good news' for user of these 12 phones

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ETtech Top 5: Flipkart IPO roadmap, OYO's hospitality property fund & more

A closer look at today's biggest tech and startup news and why they matter. http://bit.ly/2RuRbi0 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Binny Bansal offloads $76M worth Flipkart shares to Walmart arm

Bansal, one of the poster boys of the Indian startup industry, had sold a small portion of his minority holding while keeping a 3.85% stake when Walmart bought Flipkart in 2018. http://bit.ly/2NmNeOf https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

AIOVA seeks RBI and MCA to intervene over HomeShop18 seller complaints

ET has reviewed the contents of the two letters, which also pointed out to media reports stating the private sale of HomeShop18 by owner Network18 to a real estate firm Skyblue Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. http://bit.ly/2Ftg5dc https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

A look at some egregious cases of counterfeit books sold on Amazon; this year Amazon began listing sales of counterfeit goods as a material risk in SEC filings (David Streitfeld/New York Times)

David Streitfeld / New York Times:
A look at some egregious cases of counterfeit books sold on Amazon; this year Amazon began listing sales of counterfeit goods as a material risk in SEC filings  —  SPERRYVILLE, Va. — “The Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy” is a medical handbook that recommends the right amount …

Microsoft says Flight Simulator, which will be updated after 13 years and available as part of Xbox Game Pass in 2020, will support third-party content (Jordan Novet/CNBC)

Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Microsoft says Flight Simulator, which will be updated after 13 years and available as part of Xbox Game Pass in 2020, will support third-party content  —  KEY POINTS  — Microsoft says it will support third-party content, but some developers weren't told about the update in advance.

Religious and spiritual content gets hot on social networks

With a pickup in its consumption, a new genre of religious and devotional content startups, such as MyMandir, Rgyan and Kalpnik Technologies, is sprouting or gaining traction in the country. http://bit.ly/2XuUCuD https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Online credit biza Paytm Postpaid is transferring its loan book to Clix Capital

While there is no exact clarity on whose financial book the loans were shown, one of the sources told ET that it was taken in the books of Paytm Mall, the ecommerce entity of Paytm. http://bit.ly/2WYIygT https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Ravelry, a social networking site for knitting with ~829K MAUs, bans all posts supportive of the Trump administration, which it claims supports white supremacy (Samira Sadeque/The Daily Dot)

Samira Sadeque / The Daily Dot:
Ravelry, a social networking site for knitting with ~829K MAUs, bans all posts supportive of the Trump administration, which it claims supports white supremacy  —  Ravelry, the leading social networking website for knitting activities, banned posts that are supportive of President Donald Trump and his administration.