Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

U.S. President Donald Trump delivered a warning via social media after the EU announced it was fining Google almost €3 billion ($3.5 billion) and ordering the search giant to stop favoring its own advertising technology services.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 6, 2025
Trump threatens trade actions after EU fines Google over ads
The EU announced that it was fining Google almost €3 billion ($3.5 billion) and ordering it stop favoring its own advertising technology services.
Prime Minister Yoshio Mori declared in September 2000 that Japan must “grab the historic opportunity of the IT revolution."
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Sep 6, 2025
Japan Times 2000: Prime minister pitches ‘e-Japan’ as way of life
Japan must “grab the historic opportunity of the IT revolution,” Prime Minister Yoshio Mori declared as the final Diet session of the century opened in September 2000.
A woman uses her phone at Bashantapur Durbar Square, in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Thursday after the Nepali government announced it will block access to all unregistered social media platforms.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 5, 2025
Nepal to block some social media platforms, including Facebook
The move came after the companies failed to register with authorities in a crackdown on misuse.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party submitted an urgent proposal on Friday calling for the government to strengthen measures aimed at preventing foreign interference in Japan's elections.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 5, 2025
LDP calls for blocking foreign interference in elections
"If foreign interference is left unchecked, it could pose a serious and immediate threat to the foundations of democracy," an LDP proposal said.
AI can amplify the long-known ability to implant false memories, with new MIT and University of California, Irvine, research showing that chatbots, misleading summaries and altered images or videos can distort what people recall.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2025
AI doesn’t just lie — it can make you believe it
Memory manipulation, notes Pat Pataranutaporn, a researcher with the MIT Media Lab, is a very different process from fooling people with deep-fakes.
While markets clearly reflect the belief that the United States is ahead in the AI arms race, early leadership does not mean victory — especially when it comes to innovation.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2025
Who’s winning the U.S.-China artificial intelligence race?
The winner will most likely be the country that provides greater support for basic research, in which case China is better positioned for the long haul.
Representatives from member companies of JOINT3, a consortium working together on semiconductor-related developments announced by Resonac, pose for a photo in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 4, 2025
Resonac creates 27-member consortium to pursue advanced chip developments
It will develop materials, equipment and design tools suitable for large, square organic interposers used in chipmaking.
Tables and chairs in the White House Rose Garden in Washington on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, are hosting an artificial intelligence event for tech CEOs on Thursday at the newly renovated garden.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 4, 2025
Trump to host Big Tech CEOs in White House's redone rose garden
The U.S. president recently had stone pavers installed in the garden after complaining that the existing grass was unsuitable for hosting large events.
A research team led by the University of Tokyo’s Miyuki Harada has developed artificial intelligence models that can help deliver personalized infertility treatments by predicting the number and quality of eggs that a woman has.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 3, 2025
Japan team develops AI models to help deliver personalized infertility treatment
The group study led by a University of Tokyo researcher found their models to be more accurate than the standard method of assessing ovarian function.
Network School’s co-working space in Johor Bahru, Malaysia
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 1, 2025
Techno-utopia rises in Malaysia's $100 billion Forest City flop
Entrepreneurs experiment with "startup societies” defined less by historical territory than shared beliefs in technology, cryptocurrency and light regulation.
A Tesla robotaxi drives on a street along South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, on June 22. CEO Elon Musk has set an ambitious timeline of having "millions of Teslas operating autonomously” by the second half of next year.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 1, 2025
How Tesla and Waymo's radically different robotaxi approaches will shape the industry
The differing strategies have far-reaching implications for the early pecking order in the nascent autonomous-driving space.
A robot serves as a porter at Mita Garden Hills, a large apartment in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 31, 2025
Robots increasingly used in Japan to enhance business efficiency
As the country needs to address labor shortages urgently, companies and workers are exploring how robots and humans can work together better for business efficiency.
The system launched this month by Japanese toilet giant Toto links consumers up with existing internet-connected facility management systems.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 28, 2025
Need to pee? Japan has QR code for that.
Users can scan a QR code with their phones to access a website showing restroom locations and live congestion levels.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world's largest contract maker of chips, used in everything from smartphones to missiles.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 28, 2025
Taiwan prosecutors charge three with stealing TSMC trade secrets
The three people include a former TSMC engineer who went to work for Tokyo Electron's Taiwan subsidiary and two staff employed by the chipmaker.
Anthropic, an AI startup founded in 2021, is one of the world’s most valuable private companies and competes with OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI as well as Google and Microsoft.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 28, 2025
Anthropic says attacker used AI tool in widespread hacks
The campaign demonstrated a "concerning evolution in AI-assisted cybercrime” in which a single user can operate like an entire cybercriminal team.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang addresses the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 26, where he emphasized “the deep integration of AI with the real economy” and its relevance to daily applications.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2025
Al and our brave new world of ‘weaponized interdependence’
In the U.S.-China race for AI dominance, failure is not an option.
Suyun Ham, an engineering professor at UTA, reviews data from a recent inspection with two other researchers. Ham likens his technology to a “portable MRI,” which can detect cracks and other hidden dangers in a bridge.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 26, 2025
Are bridges near you safe? This MRI-like scan may prevent disaster
An engineering professor from the University of Texas at Arlington is experimenting with a novel approach to inspecting bridges for heat damage.
Nikkei and the Asahi Shimbun have sued Perplexity AI over alleged copyright infringement.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 26, 2025
Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun sue Perplexity AI over alleged copyright violations
The newspapers are seeking an injunction and ¥2.2 billion each in damages from Perplexity, they said in a joint statement. The suit was filed at the Tokyo District Court.
Daiki Hama, lecturer at Tama University in Tokyo, shows his creation of a virtual Siberian internment camp and a virtual reality headset in April.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2025
Japanese lecturer digitally re-creates post-WWII Siberian detention camp
The virtual camp has been used for hands-on events for children at a museum and training sessions for student storytellers at the Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum.
The Tokyo Electron booth at the Semicon Japan exhibition in Tokyo in December. Tokyo Electron supplier Marumae is seeking out deals to consolidate the chip tool components sector.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 26, 2025
Japan’s niche chip gear makers left out of Nvidia boom, one CEO says
Small companies lack the scale to demand better prices and lower costs, resulting in profit margins of less than 10%, the head of Tokyo Electron supplier Marumae said.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes