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December 22, 2024
 

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Saritha Rai
Thimphu TechPark building in Thimphu, Bhutan, on Oct. 17
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2024
Secret to AI profitability is hiring a lot more doctorates
Nagging questions persist about whether AI will actually prove useful enough for businesses around the world to pay up for it.
Google's plan to invest $1 billion in data centers in Thailand underscores a push by Southeast Asia’s governments to attract foreign tech firms.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 1, 2024
Google to spend $1 billion in Thailand in Southeast Asia AI push
The outlay could help add $4 billion to Thailand’s economy by 2029 and support 14,000 jobs annually over the next five years, Google says.
Sarvam AI, often described as India’s OpenAI, introduced software for businesses that can interact with customers using spoken voice rather than just text.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 26, 2024
Cheap AI voice bots are suddenly everywhere in India
Startups may turn India into a proving ground for what could be the next frontier of generative artificial intelligence products.
Inside the TikTok office in Singapore in 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 1, 2024
China’s AI startups head to Singapore in a bid for global growth
Singapore offers many Chinese artificial intelligence startup companies better access to global investors and customers than China does.
Kai-Fu Lee, chairman of Sinovation Ventures
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2024
Tech pioneer Kai-Fu Lee's AI venture aims to deliver China's ChatGPT moment
Beijing bars foreign AI models in part due to strict censorship, but that also ensures domestic players have a big local market without global competition.
A pedestrian walks past a theatre promoting the "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" show in the West End district of London in 2020.
WORLD / Society
Dec 27, 2023
Researchers draw on Harry Potter to magic future AI into our world
The books’ enduring influence, wide range of language and complex wordplay make them particularly valuable for work on generative artificial intelligence.
AI software is being used to detect cognitive decline in older Japanese drivers in order to help prevent accidents.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 22, 2023
AI startup helps insurers spot cognitive decline in elderly drivers
Once reliant on a driver's age and model of car, some insurers now rely on AI to expedite settlements and craft more precise risk assessments.
Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, arriving at the bipartisan A.I. Insight Forum organized by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with labor union leaders and civil society groups, at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 13.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 21, 2023
Nvidia CEO tours India eyeing AI market to hedge China risks
For Nvidia, whose processors are key to development of artificial intelligence systems, the South Asian nation of 1.4 billion presents a rare opportunity.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 15, 2023
A chatbot that won't take bribes for giving advice is a hit in India
While the change that was ushered in by ChatGPT caused alarm about AI’s role in the spread of disinformation and job losses, it’s also a tool that can aid social equality.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2021
SoftBank-backed Snapdeal targets $250 Million IPO in 2022
The e-commerce startup co-founded by Wharton alumnus Kunal Bahl in 2010 focuses on the less-affluent and less tech-savvy bulk of the population living outside India's biggest cities.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2021
In just 21 days, Facebook led an Indian test account to gore and fake news
Originally designed to show the company's ability to recommend content, a new report shows just how little control Facebook has in one of its most important markets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2021
China's regulatory upheaval helps propel India's $8.8 billion wave of startup IPOs
At the current pace, 2021 will exceed the country's all-time record of $11.8 billion, with all involved racing to cash in on fervent demand for fresh public offerings.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 20, 2021
Flush with unicorns, India’s tech moment arrives
Last week marked a watershed for technology startups in India, as a record bout of fundraising shifted attention to the world's second-most populous market.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2021
Big Tech is gearing up for a massive fight with Modi’s India
India is growing more assertive in its efforts to control online communications, challenging Twitter and Facebook's practices and threatening to set a precedent that could extend worldwide.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 22, 2021
'Please help!': COVID-19 tragedy spills onto social media in India
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram are all inundated with messages from distraught family members and friends.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2021
SoftBank is said to invest $450 million in Indian startup Swiggy
The food delivery firm also closed an $800 million funding round from investors including Falcon Edge Capital LP and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. about a week ago.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2021
Twitter’s clash with India government gives boost to local rival
The Koo app shot to prominence after the San Francisco company got into a weekslong standoff with the Indian government over blocking certain content.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 13, 2020
Masayoshi Son’s $2 billion guarantee at risk as virus sickens SoftBank star Oyo
Just nine months ago, Masayoshi Son publicly declared Ritesh Agarwal one of the star entrepreneurs backed by his SoftBank Group Corp. The billionaire boasted that Agarwal’s Oyo Hotels & Homes was poised to overtake the biggest hotel chains in the world just a few years after its founding.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 25, 2019
Uber CEO Khosrowshahi vows to deliver a profit, with help from India
Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi is vowing to make his company profitable while pursuing growth from emerging arenas such as India, addressing investors' concerns about the ride-sharing company's mounting losses and global regulatory challenges.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2018
Together with Indian startup Paytm, SoftBank plans to create mobile payment service in Japan by year-end
SoftBank Group Corp. plans to announce within days that it will start a mobile digital payments service in Japan by the end of 2018, as billionaire founder Masayoshi Son seeks to expand in the sector, people familiar with the matter said.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Ride-hailing restrictions to be eased during 2025 Osaka Expo
A venue for the 2025 Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka
Foxconn's interest in Nissan said to be on hold amid Honda merger talks
Foxconn’s pause in its pursuit of Nissan is the latest development in the unexpected emergence of two suitors for the ailing Japanese carmaker.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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