Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

An attendee plays Fortnite, made by Epic Games, during the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in 2019.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2023
Legal defeat for Google threatens $200 billion app store industry
Until now, Google and Apple have charged commissions of as much as 30% to software developers who typically have had few other options.
FACTEV shows that a Nissan Leaf electric car driven in Hokkaido will get between 106 kilometers and 212 kilometers per charge in its first year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2023
Using big data to speed up Japan’s slow electric car transition
Gaming company DeNA has developed an EV simulation tool that can assess the lifespan and cruising range per charge of battery cars over time.
After more than 33 hours of negotiations this week, delegates from the European Commission, the European Parliament and 27 member countries agreed to a set of controls for generative artificial intelligence tools.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 9, 2023
EU strikes deal to regulate AI tech in landmark act
The bloc’s internal market chief said the deal strikes a balance between fostering innovation and protecting the rights of people and companies.
Toshiba and Rohm said Friday they will collaborate in the power semiconductor business, planning to spend a combined ¥388.3 billion to expand their production with one-third of the outlay covered by the industry ministry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 8, 2023
Toshiba, Rohm to invest $2.7 billion to jointly produce power chips
The latest partnership is what the industry ministry has hoped for out of concerns that the country's power chip industry is too fragmented.
Users often do not realize that almost all app notifications travel over Google and Apple's servers, giving the two companies unique insight into the traffic flowing from those apps to their users.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 8, 2023
Smartphone users' push notifications spied on, U.S. senator warns
Users often do not realize that almost all notifications for incoming messages, breaking news and other updates travel over Google and Apple's servers.
Few could have predicted what artificial-intelligence proponents are dreaming up these days.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 7, 2023
Wall Street quants see mixed results from chatbots amid AI boom
As AI tools get more sophisticated, companies are updating their presentations to incorporate a positive vocal tone and upbeat sentences, research shows.
A sign at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 6
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Dec 7, 2023
How AI fits into China's raft of global initiatives
The administration of President Xi Jinping has recently attached great importance to AI technology and is actively set on promoting it.
Spectators watch as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with a payload of 21 Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Feb. 27.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 7, 2023
Starlink arctic test paves way for U.S. government contracts
Smooth performance under extreme conditions makes satellite service a crucial asset in an increasingly vital area of competition with Russia and China.
Officials from iQPS celebrate in the city of Fukuoka in June after the successful launch of a rocket carrying a small satellite developed by the firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2023
Satellite imagery startup iQPS surges 82% in Tokyo debut
The stock opened at ¥860 per share versus its IPO price of ¥390, with trading delayed by nearly five hours due to a glut of buy orders.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen arrives at the U.K. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Britain, on Nov. 2.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 6, 2023
EU set to hold talks to finalize agreement on world's first AI law
Brussels wants a legal armory to protect EU citizens' rights, while some member states worry that too much regulation will stifle innovation.
SoftBank has agreed to buy a majority stake in Irish software developer Cubic Telecom for around €473 million.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
SoftBank buys majority stake in Irish car software developer
SoftBank will acquire 51% of Cubic Telecom, which provides a platform for automakers to update software functions in cars globally and in real time.
KDDI President Makoto Takahashi (left), SoftBank President Junichi Miyakawa (center) and Rakuten Mobile's Hiroshi Mikitani speak during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
Prospect of NTT Law abolishment unclear amid fierce opposition
The idea was first proposed by a ruling Liberal Democratic Party panel to make the communications giant internationally competitive.
The MP Materials rare earth open-pit mine in Mountain Pass, California, in January 2020. Western startups are focusing their attention on the process of refining rare earths — some of them pivoting from mining — that China has spent the past 30 years mastering.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
Western startups seek to break China's grip on rare earths refining
The companies are looking for faster, cleaner and cheaper ways to process the minerals that are critical for billions of electronic devices.
The graphics processing units made by U.S.-based Nvidia dominate the market for artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2023
Nvidia CEO says he will try to prioritize Japan for AI processors
Japan is rushing to rebuild its once world-leading semiconductor infrastructure and catch up on the development of AI technology.
A Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. semiconductor wafer. Osaka-based Fuso Chemical, which has gone into debt rather than raise prices, counts TSMC as one of its clients.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 4, 2023
Key maker of chip materials goes into debt rather than raise prices
Osaka-based Fuso Chemical is bearing the cost to help churn out bigger volumes of sophisticated chips without asking customers for more.
Pedestrians along the Bund in Shanghai on Oct. 29. The Chinese government is pushing a narrative that the city will play an important role in reinvigorating the nation’s economy.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2023
Xi’s Shanghai visit sells city’s ‘innovation’ image
State media video footage using soaring music showed a stoic Xi making a visit to the Shanghai Futures Exchange and watching a robot demonstration.
Daikin plans to start introducing the custom chips in high-end air conditioners from 2025 and is looking at using them in about a fifth of units by the end of the decade.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 1, 2023
Japan air conditioner king Daikin eyes custom chips for energy savings
Bespoke silicon costs more than off-the-shelf alternatives but offer better efficiency and allow a reduction in the use of other components.
In recent years, Jack Ma has largely stayed out of public view after clashing with the Chinese government.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023
Jack Ma returns to rally troops after Alibaba’s troubles deepen
"Every great company is born in a winter"
Elon Musk waits backstage before being interviewed at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023
Elon Musk says advertiser boycott may kill X
Earlier this month, Musk agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold a "dialectical hatred” of white people.
Rapidus Chairman Tetsuro Higashi says engineers who had left Japan to work abroad are now joining Rapidus to help it revive the domestic chip industry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2023
Rapidus hunts for engineers to help Japan regain faded chip glory
Securing engineers in a country with a declining population is among the most pressing issues for the company.

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