Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

Silicon Valley’s shock at DeepSeek exposes U.S. tech elites’ insularity and the unintended consequences of U.S. policies aimed at restricting China’s technological progress.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2025
Why Chinese tech keeps surprising the West
DeepSeek is the latest product from China to shock the U.S. tech broligarchy. It won’t be the last.
Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group is in talks to invest as much as $25 billion in OpenAI.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 30, 2025
SoftBank in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI
SoftBank has already committed $15 billion to Project Stargate, a joint venture with OpenAI to build data centers and other AI infrastructure.
Phishing and its social-engineering cousin "pretexting" together accounted for more than 20% of almost 10,000 data breaches worldwide last year.
WORLD / Society
Jan 30, 2025
Age of deepfakes means internet users must be more alert than ever
AI chatbots powered by large language models save attackers time and allow for more elaborate fake messages.
Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek rocked the tech sector this month with a new AI model that appeared to rival the capabilities of U.S. giants like OpenAI, but at 
a much lower cost.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 30, 2025
Why blocking China's DeepSeek from using AI made in U.S. may be difficult
DeepSeek this month rocked the technology sector with a new AI model that appeared to rival the capabilities of U.S. giants like OpenAI, but at a much lower cost.
Relatives of people who died in Spain's disastrous floods, as well as protesters, demonstrate against Valencia's regional leader, demanding his resignation for his handling of the emergency, in Valencia, Spain, on Dec. 29.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2025
Chinese online operation called for toppling Spain's government: report
The online operation from China, called Spamouflage, has been operating in several countries since 2017, online analysis outfit Graphika said.
China's DeepSeek artificial intelligence app. The app’s success has shown China’s potential to surprise with even bigger breakthroughs.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 29, 2025
DeepSeek shows China playbook for even bigger U.S. shock on chips
The question now is how exactly the Hangzhou-founded company pulled it off — and what it means for American efforts to stay ahead of China in the tech race.
SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son has said the firm plans to invest $100 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 29, 2025
SoftBank in talks to lead $500 million AI robotics funding
The startup Skild is developing software that will allow robots to perform increasingly complicated tasks.
A worker at a Kongo factory in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, carefully processes an aluminum plate using a forming press.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jan 28, 2025
Companies in Kyushu struggle to enter TSMC’s supply chain
One report shows that firms in the region make up less than 10% of Japanese companies doing business with TSMC or its unit in Japan.
Engineers with Chinese startup DeepSeek built a competitive AI model despite U.S. attempts to curtail China’s tech development, raising questions about the effectiveness of Washington’s trade curbs.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 28, 2025
DeepSeek’s AI model tests limits of U.S. restrictions on Nvidia chips
Powerful AI software from the Chinese startup indicates its engineers built a competitive model despite U.S. attempts to curtail Beijing's tech development with trade curbs.
Chinese startup DeepSeek launched a free AI assistant last week that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 28, 2025
DeepSeek sparks global AI selloff, with Nvidia losing around $593 billion
Chinese startup DeepSeek launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services.
China's DeepSeek carries far-reaching implications for the global tech industry and supply chain.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 27, 2025
Why is the AI world freaking out over China's DeepSeek?
DeepSeek has far-reaching implications for the global tech industry, upending the widespread belief that the future of AI will require ever-increasing amounts of power.
Fujitsu and the National Institute of Informatics have launched a full-scale industry-academia collaboration to curb the spread of disinformation, including deepfakes created through generative artificial intelligence.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 27, 2025
Japan launches industry and academia tie-up to combat online disinformation
Nine companies and academic institutions aim to put an integrated system for combating false information into use by March 2026.
Google's logo is seen outside the Google Bay View facility in Mountain View, California, on Aug. 13.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 27, 2025
Google pushes global agenda to educate workers and lawmakers about AI
A key priority, one executive said, comes in building out educational programs to train the workforce on AI.
Spotify signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 2
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 27, 2025
Universal and Spotify ink multiyear deal
A joint statement said the two firms "will collaborate closely to advance the next era of streaming innovation."
The U.S. head office of TikTok in Culver City, California
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 26, 2025
White House in talks to have Oracle and U.S. investors take over TikTok
Under the deal, ByteDance would retain a stake in the company, but data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle.
Advertisements on Threads will come from a "handful of brands” and appear only in the U.S. and Japan to start, according to a post Friday from Instagram boss Adam Mosseri, who called the move a "test.”
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 25, 2025
Meta’s Threads to show ads for the first time in U.S. and Japan
It’s not clear what the revenue potential for Threads will be long term, but the service will benefit from Meta’s existing pool of advertisers.
Mark Zuckerberg’s push to loosen moderation policies at Meta puts the company on a collision course with regulations in Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2025
Zuckerberg's newfound libertarianism is worrying Brazil
Meta's loosened moderation policy puts it on a collision course with regulations in Latin America’s largest economy.
"We will demand more than in the previous year to fulfill our role as a leading industry in Japan," Masashi Jinbo, head of the union, said in a news conference in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 23, 2025
Japan's electronics unions to seek ¥17,000 pay hike
"We will demand more than in the previous year to fulfill our role as a leading industry in Japan," union group head Masashi Jinbo told a news conference.
A street in Chitose, Hokkaido. Annual power demand for Hokkaido is expected to increase by 1.2% on average into fiscal 2034, according to a report from the Organization for Cross-Regional Coordination of Transmission Operators.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2025
Japan sees data center-driven power boom in Hokkaido
Annual power demand for Hokkaido is expected to increase by 1.2% on average into fiscal 2034, a report has said.
Ayumu Hirano competes at the X Games Oslo in 2016.
MORE SPORTS / Snowboarding
Jan 22, 2025
Was that a 900 or 1080 on the halfpipe? X Games can now ask AI.
During the snowboard SuperPipe competitions, video cameras will capture the moves of each athlete, and AI will provide an unofficial score for the routine.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan