A search app- Petal Search Widget will be available at Huawei, a global technology company, offering its users an open gateway to a million apps.

The new search tool is already available for download in AppGallery.

Kelvin Yang, Country Director of Huawei Consumer Business Group (Bangladesh), said “At Huawei, we are committed to providing new and innovative technologies for our consumers. Now, with the Petal Search Widget- Find Apps powered by Petal Search Engine, Huawei users will have another way to easily find, explore and download the apps they need on to their device.”

The Petal Search Widget - Find Apps currently supports more than 40 languages and is available in 45 countries and regions, with plans for wider rollout to even more countries in the future. It is now available to download from the AppGallery by simply searching for Petal Search – Find Apps.

For more information on the Petal Search Widget - Find Apps is available at Petal Search Widget –Find Apps local communityLink

Also read: Huawei announces month-long offer

The government will host the ‘Digital Fair 2020’ online to present digital activities of all 64 districts to citizens through Bangladesh National Portal.

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak will officially inaugurate the three-day fair on Monday through Zoom, said a press release today.

ICT Division Senior Secretary NM Ziaul Alam will preside over the programme.

Besides, all divisional and deputy commissioners, additional deputy commissioners (education and ICT), grassroot level programmers and assistant programmers of ICT Division will also join the programme.

The main objective of the fair is to include different texts, presentations, photographs, videos and other information on digital activities of different districts in the National Portal and presenting those to citizens, according to the press release.

According to the guidelines formulated for the celebration of Digital Fair, the deputy commissioners will conduct press briefings, publicity and seminars on the online platform with the involvement of government officials / employees, public representatives, civil society representatives, school / college teachers, ICT personalities / entrepreneurs.

ICT Division and a2i are organising the three-day fair, which can be visited by clicking on the link- https://bangladesh.gov.bd/site/view/digitalfair2020.

The digital fair will continue until June 30.

Microsoft announced on Friday that it is permanently closing nearly all of its physical stores around the world.
Like other retailers, the software and computing giant had to temporarily close all of its stores in late March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company opened the first of its modern retail stores in 2009, around the time of the launch of Windows 7.
According to its website, Microsoft has 83 stores worldwide, including 72 stores in the U.S., and several others abroad where it showcases and sells laptops and other hardware.

Friday's announcement reflects what the company calls a "strategic change" for its retail business as sales increasingly shift online.

Microsoft will keep four of its stores open, in London, New York, Sydney and its home base of Redmond near Seattle. But they will be "reimagined", the company said in a statement.

All employees will have the opportunity to remain with the company, Microsoft said.

Microsoft Corp. said the closures would result in a pretax charge of about $450 million, or 5 cents per share, taken in the current quarter ending June 30.

Walton Hi-Tech Industries (WHIL) is going to be listed in the capital market with a very high Earnings Per Share (EPS) recorded during the Initial Public Offering (IPO). 

Compared to the listed companies’ EPS disclosed in their previous year’s financial statements, the electronics giant’s EPS of Tk 45.87 is in the top eighth position, said a press release.

Walton’s EPS was higher than that of some listed multinational companies like Berger Paints and Grameenphone.

On the other hand, Walton EPS is the second highest compared to listed local companies’ last financial year’s EPS.  

Walton’s Company Secretary Partha Protim Das said, investors generally get their expected profits as capital gains or dividends from the investment in high EPS recorded companies.

Capital market analyst Prof Abu Ahmed said, Walton’s overall business performance is very sound.

“Listing of the company’s securities in the stock market will have a positive impact in strengthening the market,” he added.

According to the EPS disclosed by the capital market’s listed companies in their last financial year’s statements, Reckitt Benckiser’s EPS Tk 131.06 was the highest and the followings were Marico Bangladesh Ltd’s EPS Tk 84.01, GlaxoSmithKline EPS Tk 81.83, Linde BD’s EPS TK 80.93, Bata Shoe’s EPS 72.79, British American Tobacco’s EPS Tk 51.37, Renata’s EPS 46.63 and then Walton’s EPS Tk 45.87.

Among the listed companies, which had higher EPS than that of Walton, the lowest prices of the shares of Bata Shoe was Tk 693.20. Considering the facts, the general investors of the IPO will get Walton’s each share at only Tk 252.

Also read: Walton offers free AC or sure cashback on purchase of split ACs

MA Hafiz, director of AAA Finance and Investment Limited, said that Walton’s EPS is the highest he has ever seen during the IPO of a company.

Capital market experts said that EPS is a very good indicator of the profitability of any organisation.

EPS is an important measure of management performance as it shows how much money the company is making for it’s shareholders.

Also read: Walton becomes Dolby’s ‘licensed manufacturer’

Rakuten Viber, one of the world’s leading messaging apps for free and secure communication, has cut all business ties with social media giant Facebook aiming to protect its one billion users.

The messaging app will remove Facebook Connect, Facebook SDK, and GIPHY, as well as cease all advertisement spending on the social networking platform, said a press release.

Amid the protests that broke out all over the US over the past few weeks, a group of six organisations, including the Anti-Defamation League and NAACP, called on Facebook advertisers to pause their spending on the social networking site during the month of July over the company’s inability to protect users from hate speech.

On top of numerous instances of data misconduct, including the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal in which the political consulting firm improperly harvested data of up to 87 million Facebook users, Viber sees Facebook’s hate-speech stumble as the last straw.

The messaging app is taking the #StopHateForProfit movement a step further, cutting all business ties with Facebook.

Also read: Facebook acknowledges a bug that blocked coronavirus news

Djamel Agaoua, CEO, Viber, said, “From Facebook’s mishandling of data and lack of privacy in its apps to its outrageous stand of avoiding the steps necessary to protect the public from violent and dangerous rhetoric, Facebook has gone too far. We are not the arbiters of truth, but the truth is some people are suffering from the proliferation of violent content, and companies must take a clear stand.”

The actions to remove the relevant Facebook touchpoints from the Viber app are expected to be completed by the beginning of July while Ad spending on Facebook will cease effective immediately.

Also read: Facebook to follow digital security rules, share info with law enforcers