Tencent, Bank of Beijing launch $1.6 billion online banking tie-up

Bank of Beijing will extend Tencent Holdings Ltd a 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) credit line, part of a partnership that helps the Chinese Internet firm better compete in online finance with rival Alibaba. The partnership will focus on the bank's Jingyitong initiative, which lets users swipe a chip-enabled card at hospitals to obtain medical care and other services, Tencent and Bank of Beijing said on Wednesday. In January, Tencent began trial operations of its WeBank service to issue loans to individuals and small and medium-sized businesses

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Twitter cuts revenue forecast, shares slump

Twitter Inc reported quarterly revenue that fell short of Wall Street estimates and cut its full-year forecast because of weak demand for its new direct response advertising, sending shares down as much as 24 percent on Tuesday. Twitter forecast 2015 revenue of $2.17 billion to $2.27 billion, down from its earlier forecast of $2.3 billion to $2.35 billion

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IAC profit beats as its dating websites attract more paid users

IAC/InterActiveCorp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as subscription revenue rose from its dating websites and the company said user response to the paid version of its Tinder dating app was better than it had anticipated. Shares of the company, whose chairman is media mogul Barry Diller, rose about 2 percent in extended trading on Tuesday. IAC, which also owns video sharing service Vimeo and education service Princeton Review, said it launched 'Tinder Plus' in March

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BMW fixes security flaw in its in-car software

German luxury carmaker BMW has fixed a security flaw that could have allowed hackers to unlock the doors of up to 2.2 million Rolls-Royce, Mini and BMW vehicles, it said on Friday. BMW said officials at German motorist association ADAC had identified the problem, which affected cars equipped with the company's ConnectedDrive software using on-board SIM cards — the chips used to identify authorized users of mobile devices. BMW drivers can use the software and SIM cards to activate door locking mechanisms, as well as a range of other services including real-time traffic information, online entertainment and air conditioning.

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Google to change privacy policy after investigation by UK data watchdog

Search engine Google has agreed to better inform users about how it handles their personal information after an investigation by Britain's data protection regulator found its privacy policy was too vague. The Information Commissioner's Office said in a statement that it required Google to sign a “formal undertaking” that it would make the changes by June 30 and take further steps in the next two years. The ICO investigation stems from a privacy policy implemented by Google in March 2012 that consolidated some 70 existing privacy policies into one and pooled data collected on individual users across its services, including YouTube, Gmail and its social network Google+.

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China’s new tech rules play to local firms’ strengths

By Gerry Shih, Michael Martina and Joseph Menn BEIJING/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Draft Chinese government regulation would force technology vendors to meet stringent security tests before they can sell to China’s banks, an acceleration of efforts to curb the country’s reliance on foreign technology that has drawn a sharp response from U.S.

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