Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang attends a session of the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2024
Nvidia overtakes Alphabet, one day after eclipsing Amazon
The AI frenzy has boosted tech stocks associated with the field, but Nvidia stands out for its significant revenue growth.
Sony trimmed its revenue forecast after sales of its flagship PlayStation 5 in the December quarter came in roughly a million units lower than analysts’ estimates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2024
Sony dives most in two years after cutting PS5 sales outlook
Shares fell as much as 8.4% in early Tokyo trading, the biggest intraday fall since February 2022.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group. One of SoftBank's primary objectives will be to harvest returns from its huge portfolio rather than priming unprofitable startups for growth.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024
SoftBank’s Vision Fund swaps splashy bets for ‘timid’ investing
As other tech investors have heaped money into new artificial intelligence firms, Vision Fund has stayed out of the fray.
Nvidia's shares slipped 0.17% on Tuesday, leaving its stock market value at $1.78 trillion, eclipsing Amazon's $1.75 trillion value after the online shopping and cloud-computing heavyweight's stock declined 2.15%.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024
Nvidia market cap threatens Alphabet after overtaking Amazon
The chipmaker's stock market value at the end of Tuesday's trading session was $1.78 trillion, while that of Google's owner was $1.81 trillion.
Amazon CEO And Blue Origin Founder Jeff Bezos
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024
Jeff Bezos sells $4 billion of Amazon stock, avoiding $288 million levy
Moving to Florida, after Washington imposed a 7% gains tax, the world’s second-richest person offloaded 24 million shares over just four trading days.
Bart Andre, who joined Apple in 1992, told colleagues this month that he is retiring. He helped create the aesthetic for Apple products released over the past three decades.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024
Apple’s longest-serving designer to depart, adding to exodus
Bart Andre, who joined Apple in 1992 alongside Jony Ive, told colleagues this month that he is retiring.
Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan friar and a professor at the Gregorian, the Harvard of Rome's pontifical universities, in his office at the university in Rome on Jan. 29. Benanti advises the Vatican and the Italian government on navigating the tricky questions — moral and otherwise — raised by artificial intelligence.
WORLD / Society
Feb 14, 2024
The friar who became the Vatican’s go-to guy on AI
Father Paolo Benanti, an ethics professor and self-proclaimed geek, spends his days thinking about the Holy Ghost and the ghosts in the machines.
Wang Xiuting chats with her virtual boyfriend on Wantalk — an AI chatbot created by Chinese tech company Baidu, on her phone in Beijing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 13, 2024
'Better than real men': Young Chinese women turn to AI boyfriends
Users say they are driven by a desire for companionship because China's fast pace of life and urban isolation make loneliness an issue for many.
U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday. Biden's re-election campaign has launched a TikTok account in a bid to reach younger voters, a move that comes as the popular short-form video platform confronts concerns over its ties to China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 13, 2024
Biden’s TikTok foray triggers bipartisan angst over app's China ties
The bipartisan leaders of a House committee charged with curbing China's influence expressed concern Monday at President Joe Biden’s campaign on TikTok.
Flags fly at Union Station in Washington on June 27. With the U.S. presidential election approaching, caution is being urged over the widespread proliferation of propaganda.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 13, 2024
The battle to tackle U.S. election propaganda heats up
The race is set to become more and more intense amid increased political polarization and pluralistic values.
The first unit of H3 rocket carrying the Earth observation satellite Daichi-3 is launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture in March last year.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 12, 2024
JAXA to give second shot at H3 rocket launch Thursday
During last year's launch, the second-stage engine of the first unit failed to ignite due to an electrical problem.
Monet Technologies' robotaxi service, partly designed to address serious shortages of taxi drivers, will use vehicles based on Toyota's Sienna minivan.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 11, 2024
Toyota affiliate to start Robotaxi service in Tokyo
The new robotaxi service, partly designed to address serious shortages of taxi drivers, will use vehicles based on Toyota's Sienna minivan.
Tetsuro Higashi, the chairman of Rapidus, speaks during an interview in Tokyo in February last year.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 10, 2024
Japan earmarks ¥45 billion to fire up chip research at home
The funds are part of a major national push to catch up in semiconductor manufacturing.
The Japanese government forecast that number of digital workers in 2026 will fall short of projected needs by 2.3 million.
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2024
Japan struggles with digital transformation
Japan's general tendency toward risk aversion reduces the readiness to adopt new policies, procedures and technologies.
SoftBank Group booked a profit for the December quarter after four straight quarters of losses.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 8, 2024
SoftBank swings to profit lifted by T-Mobile windfall
SoftBank recorded its first profit after four straight quarters of losses, backed by a rebound of the Vision Fund and gains from T-Mobile shares.
People walk past a billboard promoting Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia's defense minister and a presidential candidate, and his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the eldest son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and current Surakarta's mayor, in Jakarta on Jan. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 8, 2024
Generative AI faces major test as Indonesia holds election
Front-runner Prabowo Subianto is using AI tools to create campaign art, track social media sentiment, build interactive chatbots and target voters.
While online influence campaigns are increasingly common as powerful people and governments around the world seek to manipulate public opinion, experts tracking such operations say China is one of the biggest sources of such drives alongside Russia and Iran.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 8, 2024
Chinese firm behind ‘news’ sites pushes pro-Beijing content globally, report says
Spread over websites in 30 countries, the propaganda material is interspersed with news aggregated from local news outlets and Chinese state media.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s new factory in the town of Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, in May. The firm plans to build a second chip fabrication plant in the prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2024
TSMC to build second chipmaking plant in Japan with partners
The facility will be close to the first TSMC plant in the Kumamoto Prefecture town of Kikuyo.
Nintendo has raised its forecast for Switch console sales and its overall operating profit for the year ending in March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024
Nintendo raises sales and profit forecasts after strong holiday earnings
The Kyoto-based firm's shares are at an all-time high this year, with expectations for a next-generation Switch also playing into the lofty valuation.
Like for other generative AI services, the algorithm behind Rufus is a closely held secret and Amazon declined to discuss how it operates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024
Who benefits when shoppers use Amazon's new AI tool?
The tool raises several questions, as Amazon has a history of steering customers toward products that most benefit the company.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’