from the whoops-a-daisy dept

VPNs (when integrity is maintained and the owners aren’t sleazy scammers) have long been the mortal enemy of shitty, surveillance-happy governments.

And when shitty, surveillance-happy governments try to block or degrade the use of VPNs, bad things can happen. As Russia found out recently when a ham-fisted effort to block VPN users from accessing Telegram resulted in a massive outage for online banking across the entire country.

Last February Russia tried to delete WhatsApp and Telegram from its version of the internet in the hopes of driving Russians to Max, the country’s approved “everything app.” Max has no encryption or privacy protections, making it easier for Vladimir Putin’s government to engage in mass surveillance of the public’s online activities.

VPN use makes that harder. An estimated 50 million Russians still use VPNs to access Telegram, according to CEO Pavel Durov (happily posting away over at Elon Musk’s right wing propaganda website):

So last May, Russia’s Digital Minister Maksut Shadayev announced an effort to “reduce VPN ​usage.” But Durov says those efforts have been a broad failure, recently resulting in a massive outage (Bloomberg paywalled, Gizmodo alternative) for all online banking apps in Russia:

“But amid its effort to weaken VPNs on Friday, according to Bloomberg, accounts from “The Bell and other Russian media” banking apps were disrupted. This disruption might have been, “caused by an overload in the filtering systems run by Russia’s communications watchdog, according to the reports,” Bloomberg explained, “with experts warning that major restrictions risk undermining network stability.”

Something similar happened in 2018. Whoops. Apparently the Russian government was so eager to ban VPNs, they erroneously targeted IP addresses tied to banking infrastructure owned by Sberbank, VTB, and T-Bank, demonstrating the fragile nature of centralized financial infrastructure. The outage briefly made mobile payment apps unusable, making cash the only viable transaction option for part of a day.

Given that shitty autocratic governments (like our own) are incapable of learning anything useful from experience, you can expect the problem to repeat itself.

Filed Under: autocracy, banking, bans, freedom, outage, russia, spying, surveillance, vpns

Companies: telegram

Around 3,700 solar panels and five invertors are expected to generate 1.5 GWh of renewable energy annually.

Cork Airport has announced a new solar-power-roofed car park that could generate up to 20pc of the airport’s electricity needs. Construction for the 1.7 MW ‘carport’ – Ireland’s largest-ever – is expected to conclude by August 2027.

The project is a part of the DAA Group’s €200m investment commitments across Cork Airport. The Irish government has backed the project with €2m in exchequer funding under the Regional State Airports Sustainability Programme.

The new carport is being built over the existing Holiday Blue car park, in collaboration with Greenvolt Next, a Lisbon-based renewable-energy solutions provider. The company’s Irish wing, based out of Waterford, has installed photovoltaic panels for the likes of pharma firm Temmler, AW Ennis, fintech Fexco and the Dublin Airport.

The first phase of the carport rollout is expected in early summer 2027. A second one is expected in October. Current plans envisage around 3,700 solar panels and five invertors generating 1.5 GWh of renewable energy each year for the airport. The installation is also expected to lower CO2 emissions by more than 350,000 kg.

The carport will be followed up by an extension to the existing Holiday Blue Car Park with an additional 669 parking spaces. 32 of these spots will be dedicated spaces for people with reduced mobility. The project comes just after Cork Airport experienced its busiest year in 2025 with 3.46m passengers.

“The project was supported with over €2m in exchequer funding under the Regional State Airports Sustainability Programme. This programme was developed in 2024 to support regional state airports to reach their carbon emission reduction targets and build resilience against climate change,” said Minister for Transport and Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy Darragh O’Brien, TD.

Niall MacCarthy, the managing director of Cork Airport, added: “We understand the need for more sustainable operations at airports, which is why Cork Airport is investing in Ireland’s largest solar carport today.”

Last September, Cork Airport was caught in a cyberattack that targeted a number of other European airports including Dublin, Brussels, Berlin and UK’s Heathrow. The attack disrupted the airports’ baggage tagging and handling systems.

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Being second to market doesn’t mean being too late

In Sept 2021, in the middle of a global pandemic, James Leong and Joyce Lim packed up their lives in Singapore and moved their young family, including their three-year-old child, to Shanghai.

James had been promoted into an APAC regional role at his chemical raw materials company, while Joyce, coincidentally, was offered a China Representative position when she informed her employer of the relocation.

For a while, everything seemed to fall into place. But two years later, that sense of stability was shaken.

Joyce lost her job due to a company restructuring in Oct 2023. Then, in Mar 2024, feeling increasingly disillusioned with corporate life and sensing the fragility of long-term career security, James made a difficult choice of his own, resigning from what he describes as a “high-paying job.”

I was sick of corporate life and knew deep inside that it was a matter of time before my career would be affected if I continued on the same path.

Now, with both of them no longer tied to the careers that had brought them to China, the couple began looking for something else: a business they could build on their own terms. In 2024, they founded NutriSmart Group to explore opportunities in the F&B industry.

They didn’t have to look far. At a catering conference in Shanghai, the couple came across BingXue: a Chinese franchise built around fresh fruit teas and a signature S$1 ice cream cone. James was struck immediately, not just by the affordable price point, but by the quality behind it.

They began to seriously consider bringing the brand to Singapore, but there was just one problem: back home, a nearly identical brand, Mixue, had already become a fixture. The Chinese bubble tea and ice cream giant had arrived earlier, built strong brand recognition, and firmly captured the mass-market space: affordable, accessible, and quality-driven.

Still, James and Joyce went ahead anyway. Not out of naivety, but conviction—believing that being second to a market doesn’t always mean being too late for it.

There’s still room for another player

Conviction alone isn’t enough to validate a business. Before making any commitments, James and Joyce did their homework.

On the surface, BingXue and Mixue offered very similar products: S$1 ice cream cones, milk tea, fruit teas, and a range of affordable desserts designed for the mass market. The main difference between the two was BingXue’s stronger emphasis on matcha-based offerings.

Even so, the couple still believed there was a gap in Singapore’s mass-market F&B space—it was not fully served.

While cheap drinks are widely available in Singapore, many lean heavily on artificial flavours and lower-quality formulations. BingXue’s use of fresh fruit in its teas stood out in contrast, offering a sense of quality that was often missing at that price point.

And although Mixue had the first-mover advantage, launching in 2022 and already establishing a local footprint of over 10 outlets by 2024, there was still room for another player.

Right place, right time for regional expansion

The opportunity to bring BingXue to Singapore came exactly at the right moment.

As it happened, the brand was already expanding aggressively across Southeast Asia, entering markets including Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Cambodia between 2022 and 2024. Singapore was a logical next market.

“When we approached them, they were genuinely excited about the opportunity,” James recalled. “They invited us to visit their production facility and headquarters in Shandong Jinan… the rest, as they say, is history.”

After signing the Letter of Intent to become the master franchisee for Singapore, Joyce took on the role of market validator.

She returned to Singapore and spent full days stationed outside different Mixue locations—especially those in weaker locations—simply observing customer traffic and counting how many cups of drinks and ice cream cones were sold throughout the day.

Because BingXue and Mixue target the same mass-market segment, the goal was to understand how well this type of concept was already performing in Singapore.

The data they gathered, combined with their understanding of the BingXue business model, ultimately gave the couple the confidence to commit.

A six-figure investment to bring BingXue to Singapore

Though the couple declined to share full negotiation details, they invested a significant sum in the “high six-figures” to bring BingXue to Singapore, drawn entirely from their personal savings.

A large portion of this investment went into building the supply chain, including setting up import routes for raw materials, equipment, and inventory needed to run the stores in Singapore.

But the biggest challenge wasn’t just financial. It was finding the right locations.

Singapore’s retail landscape proved difficult to break into, with landlords cautious about unfamiliar new brands. The couple faced multiple rejections during their search.

The scepticism was understandable. A new Chinese food brand with no local track record was a risky tenant for landlords accustomed to proven operators. But the couple’s persistence paid off: they successfully opened two outlets in Oct 2024, at Yishun Junction 9 and Changi City Point.

Opening one outlet at Yishun and another at Changi might seem random, but it was a deliberate strategy by the couple.

Junction 9 allowed them to test the concept in a community setting—a neighbourhood mall with a regular customer base. Changi City Point, on the other hand, offered high footfall and broad visibility, particularly due to its proximity to Singapore Expo, which draws visitors from across the island.

“Together, these two locations would give us a well-rounded read on how different customer segments will respond to BingXue,” James explained.

Localising to Singaporean tastes

To better appeal to Singapore consumers, the couple didn’t bring everything over unchanged—they localised BingXue’s offerings.

One of the first adjustments James and Joyce made was reducing the default sugar level in drinks. Based on their observations, Singapore customers tend to be more health-conscious, so they set 50% sugar as the standard instead of the original formulation.

“It’s a subtle but important change, and customers notice it,” said James.

Beyond that adjustment, BingXue’s headquarters gave them flexibility with branding but maintained oversight on the menu and pricing. After all, the China team understood their product, but James and Joyce understood their market.

We work closely with BingXue HQ on menu and pricing decisions. On branding and marketing, we have considerable flexibility. They trust that we, as Singaporeans, understand our consumers better than they do.

The support from headquarters turned out to be far more hands-on than expected.

Despite Singapore being a relatively smaller market compared to Indonesia or Malaysia, the founder and CEO of BingXue visited with senior management twice in 2025 alone. Daily WeChat updates, strategic guidance, and problem-solving became an ongoing part of how they work together.

Expanding BingXue to 12 outlets

In the early days, when James and Joyce opened their first two BingXue shops, customer confusion with Mixue was inevitable. Some walked in expecting Mixue products, only to realise after ordering that the two brands were not the same.

Many even asked if the brands were related. The couple often had to explain the differences and clarify that while the concepts were similar, the two businesses were separate.

Over time, as awareness of the brand grew, so did interest from franchise partners. Since launching about a year and a half ago, BingXue has scaled to 12 outlets across Singapore.

Securing retail space has also become easier. “Today, mall leasing managers proactively approach us with suitable units,” James said. “That’s a meaningful reversal from our early days, and it reflects the growing recognition of BingXue.”

Most outlets have been able to break even within one to two months. But what the couple is most proud of is that many of their stores have been cash-flow positive from the “very first month” of operations.

In F&B, that’s rare—most businesses are bleeding cash in the early months just to keep the lights on. For our franchisees, that means from day one, the business is already covering its own costs and generating profit.

To support this, the team works closely with franchisees at every stage, from site selection and lease negotiations to renovations, licensing, and staff training.

Still, scaling hasn’t been without its challenges, especially in Singapore’s highly competitive F&B landscape.

Supply chain management has been critical, with the team needing to maintain healthy inventory levels without over-committing working capital, especially given the limited shelf life of key ingredients. Their logistics partners also had to scale in lockstep with the brand’s expansion.

“Many can sell ice cream for S$1, but not many can make money”

Singapore’s F&B landscape is only becoming more competitive. Coupled with the current global uncertainty in the Middle East, James expects transportation and material costs to increase significantly in the coming weeks and months.

To survive, he believes brands need to be clear about where they compete.

For BingXue, that meant focusing squarely on the lower end of the mass market. While margins are healthy in percentage terms, the low price points mean the business relies heavily on volume to stay profitable.

This is where economies of scale matter. By tapping into BingXue’s production capabilities in China, the brand benefits from lower costs at higher volumes—making it possible to keep prices low while remaining sustainable.

Many brands can sell ice cream cones for S$1. But not many can make money from this S$1. Even fewer brands can sell a good quality ice cream cone at S$1 and still make money. 

From the opening of its first outlet in Oct 2024 to Mar 2026, BingXue has sold more than 1.2 million ice cream cones across all its Singapore outlets.

Looking ahead, James and Joyce plan to continue expanding the brand’s footprint locally. Interestingly, while their early franchisees had no F&B background, they are now seeing more experienced operators come on board, an indication of growing confidence in the brand.

The team is targeting at least 50 outlets within the next three years. “With LOIs already signed and strong inbound interest from experienced F&B operators, the path to 50 is already being paved,” added James.

As for NutriSmart, the couple intends to grow it beyond BingXue, bringing in more overseas franchise concepts and building a platform that helps aspiring entrepreneurs start their own businesses with a proven model.

• Find out more about BingXue here.
• Find out more about NutriSmart Group here.
• Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

Featured Image Credit: James Wong/ Quinn Lee via Google Reviews

Roblox is preparing to roll out its biggest change since late last year. While that program was initially focused on chat access, today’s news is about age-segregating the games on the massive platform.

Starting in mid-May, users will be pushed into one of three worlds: Roblox Kids, Roblox Select or Roblox. The exact age ranges of these groups will vary by territory, but in the US they are 5-8 for Kids, 9-15 for Select and 16+ for the regular account. These three account types then align with the platform’s current content maturity labels, which divide games into Minimal, Mild, Moderate and Restricted.

Kids accounts will be the most restricted, with chat off by default and only Minimal and Mild experiences available.

Ages 9-15 get to chat with kids in their age group and “trusted friends” that have passed the parent test, and will be able to access Moderate content as well as games for babies.

At 16, teens will automatically be moved to a full-fat Roblox account with all of its features, but not all of the games. Content marked as Restricted will only unlock once they turn 18.

Roblox says over half of its users are now age checked, whether through ID verification or face scans. With the new account types rolled out globally — which the company says should be done by June — it’ll start forcing users who haven’t completed an age check into a Kids-like experience, with no access to chat or games rated higher than Mild.

Once age verification is completed, Roblox still faces the task of ensuring that its vast collection of user-created content is actually age-appropriate. Its solution to this is, of course, ID verification, AI and upcharges.

Developers will have to verify their identity and pony up $5 a month for Roblox Plus to show “a long-term commitment to the platform.” The wisdom is that, with these hurdles cleared, a developer will surely apply the correct maturity label to their games. On the off-chance that an experience is mislabeled, Roblox’s will keep tabs on game instances to make sure what’s happening on-screen and in-chat matches the maturity label. On the surface, this does leave a gap where a toddler could end up playing an incorrectly labeled mature game before the AI catches it. Don’t fret, though, as Roblox says users over 16 “play new games first,” which surely isn’t an overgeneralization and will ensure that no child ever plays a mature game.

Roblox also previewed a pair of new parental control features coming in June. First, parents will be able to block any game and manage direct chat access until a child turns 16. Previously, kids over 13 could unblock experiences by themselves. Second, parents will be able to approve games outside of their child’s age bracket on a case-by-case basis. Roblox gave an example of a younger child wanting to play a game with their older sibling for this feature’s utility.

Of course, the big blocky elephant in the room is the efficacy of automated age verification. suggested even enterprising toddlers might be able to get past the platform’s age checks, which somewhat undermines everything Roblox is trying to achieve. Speaking to press ahead of today’s announcement, Roblox Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman said, “If we get it wrong … we offer users multiple ways to correct that.” He added that the platform is “constantly measuring users’ behavior and comparing that against what their age-check data says. If we see those things divert, then we will just ask people to run through the age process again.”

The breach exposed names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and bank account details. No passwords or identity documents were accessed. The Dutch Data Protection Authority has been notified. Basic-Fit operates over 1,300 clubs across seven European countries.

Basic-Fit, Europe’s largest budget fitness chain by club count, has disclosed a data breach affecting members across multiple countries, with approximately 200,000 members in the Netherlands alone whose data was exposed.

The company confirmed it had notified the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) after detecting unauthorised access to the system it uses to register member visits to its fitness clubs.

The data exposed includes membership information, names, home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and bank account details. Basic-Fit confirmed that no identity documents, such as passports or driving licences, are stored by the company, and that no passwords were accessed in the breach.

The attack targeted the chain’s club check-in and visit-registration system, which logs member access through turnstiles at each location. Basic-Fit operates in seven European countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Germany, and Austria.

The inclusion of bank account details in the leaked data is likely to be the most significant concern for affected members. In combination with names and dates of birth, IBAN numbers and bank details create the conditions for SEPA direct debit fraud and financial impersonation.

Basic-Fit’s privacy statement confirms that the company collects bank account numbers from all members as part of the subscription process, used to process recurring membership payments.

Affected members have been warned to monitor their accounts closely and to be alert to phishing attempts that may use the exposed personal details to appear credible.

The breach arrives during a difficult period for data security in the Netherlands. In February 2026, telecom operator Odido, formerly T-Mobile Netherlands, suffered what cybersecurity experts described as one of the largest data breaches in Dutch history, with the personal data of approximately 6.2 million customer accounts exposed through an attack on its customer relationship management system.

That incident included IBAN numbers, passport details, and dates of birth. The Basic-Fit breach is substantially smaller in scale but follows the same pattern of attacks targeting systems that hold aggregated customer identity and financial data in bulk.