Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

The EU hit Apple with a €1.8 billion fine ($1.9 billion) on Monday for violating the bloc's laws by preventing music streaming services from informing users about subscription options outside of its App Store.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 5, 2024
EU fines Apple €1.8 billion over curbs on music streaming services
The European Union found Apple had violated law by preventing music streaming services from telling users about subscription options outside its App Store.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hold a joint news conference during a trilateral summit at Camp David, Maryland, on Aug. 18. The summit dealt with security and economic security coordination.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 5, 2024
The U.S.-Japan gap: a challenge in economic security cooperation
While such ties appear to be progressing, the two countries’ interests in the field are not necessarily fully aligned.
Under the watch of Chinese President Xi Jinping, China has expanded state control of strategically critical areas from semiconductor manufacturing to quantum computing.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 5, 2024
China vows to mobilize nation as it fights U.S. for tech supremacy
The central government will increase spending on scientific and technology research by 10% in 2024.
The U.S and Japan are working together to secure a stable semiconductor supply chain and maintain their leading position in this critical technology amid concerns over China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 5, 2024
Semiconductors are back to center stage in the Japan-U.S. alliance
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of semiconductors to the 21st century. They’re everywhere and in every digital item.
Seoul says that North Korean hackers have broken into South Korea manufacturers of chipmaking equipment.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 4, 2024
North Korea broke into South Korean chip firms, Seoul's spy agency says
The hackers reportedly employed techniques that minimize malicious codes and use existing tools within the servers, making them difficult to detect.
TSMC's new factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2024
Japan in the midst of a semiconductor plant construction rush
The government set aside ¥4 trillion between fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2023 for subsidies for helping companies build semiconductor plants.
High tides in Funafuti, Tuvalu, in February. About 40% of the main atoll and capital district Funafuti is already underwater at high tide, and the tiny nation is forecast to be submerged by the end of the century.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 4, 2024
Tuvalu preserves history online as rising seas threaten existence
"We cannot outrun the rising tides, but we will do what we can to protect our statehood, our spirit, our values," minister Simon Kofe said.
Elon Musk arrives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington to participate in the A.I. Forum in September of last year.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2024
Elon Musk sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for violating the company’s principles
Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, accusing them of breaching a contract by putting profits ahead of the public good.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West President Masaaki Moribayashi (center) bows at a news conference in Osaka on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2024
NTT West president to resign over customer information theft
NTT West has been slapped with administrative guidance by the communications ministry for insufficient supervising.
Advantest’s stock price has climbed 44% this year already, hitting record highs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 29, 2024
Japan’s Advantest taps American to become next CEO
Douglas Lefever will become chief executive officer as of April 1, in a rare example of a foreign citizen taking the helm of a major Japanese corporation.
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms, arrives following a break during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Jan. 31.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 27, 2024
Mark Zuckerberg meets with Kishida to discuss AI
The Meta Platforms CEO is in Japan as part of an Asia tour, during which he will also travel to South Korea and India.
Chris Marchese (center), Director of NetChoice Litigation Center, speaks to the press outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Monday. In a case that could determine the future of social media in the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked today to decide whether a pair of state laws that limit content moderation are constitutional.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court torn over legal bid to restrict social media moderation
Republican-backed laws in Florida and Texas are being challenged by tech industry trade groups whose members include Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap.
Visnu CEO Ryosuke Chiba explains an AI-equipped security camera his company is developing for the city of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, on Feb. 22.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 27, 2024
Japan firms look to AI to bolster disaster prevention and mitigation
Tools are being developed to focus on getting timely information to the relevant parties to facilitate evacuation.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 27, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2024
Mark Zuckerberg’s Asia tour to focus on AI
The Meta Platforms’ CEO is in Japan with his family on a ski trip, and is set to meet with his developers in Tokyo to discuss virtual-reality and AI.
People take pictures of the city skyline lit up by drones during a performance to welcome the Lunar New Year of the Dragon, at Marina Bay in Singapore on Feb. 10.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 26, 2024
Singapore embraces AI to solve everyday problems
Ranked the fifth most innovative country by the GII last year, Singapore was an early adopter of AI, releasing its first national strategy in 2019.
Tech behemoths have lavished their CEOs with astronomical salaries under the guise of retaining top talent, instead of spreading the wealth.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2024
Tech CEOs need to start sharing the wealth
The time has come to curb Big Tech's market power and establish the mechanisms to prevent the benefits of technological innovation from being monopolized.
A man claimed Amazon promised "unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming” of entertainment through Prime Video. He alleges the company reneged on the deal and is suing.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2024
Amazon shouldn't be swindling users
The tech giant is being sued for charging subscribers more than advertised: Not what you'd expect from a self-professed customer-obsessed company.
China’s tech firms were caught off guard by breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence — Beijing’s regulations and a sagging economy aren’t helping.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024
China’s rush to dominate AI has a twist: It depends on U.S. technology
Even as the United States has tried to slow China’s advancements, it has not held back the practice of openly releasing software to encourage its adoption.
Laws governing global e-commerce and the growing tidal wave of data that crosses borders may soon change.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 22, 2024
Streaming a movie abroad may soon come with taxes at the border
It's still unclear exactly how governments would implement digital tariffs.
TikTok parent company ByteDance's offices in Singapore. Chinese companies are increasingly using the city-state as a springboard into the U.S. market.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2024
'Singapore-washing' and China’s sneaky trade practices
Chinese firms are using Singapore as a springboard into the U.S., circumventing restrictions. The island nation shouldn't enable these deceptive tactics.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?