Tech
Aircraft makers go digital to fight coronavirus delivery logjam
Helicopter and jet makers are turning to digital technology so customers can inspect their big-ticket purchases remotely before taking delivery, as they strive to push through deals paralyzed by the coronavirus pandemic and bring in much needed cash. With outside quality inspectors unable to travel to factories to examine aircraft… Read
Japan to look at building a common infrastructure for digital yen payments
Japan's three biggest banks have set up a study group that will look at possibly building a common settlement infrastructure for digital yen payments, an initiative backed by the central bank and the country's financial regulator. The Japanese are among the most cash-loving populations in the world and everyday transactions… Read
S. Korea's self-driving upstarts take on tech giants
In a workshop that blends a corporate office with a tool-packed garage, around 20 South Koreans are looking to take on the multi-billion-dollar giants of Uber, Tesla and Google parent Alphabet with a self-driving car of their own. The RideFlux start-up brings together engineers who have given up well-paid jobs… Read
Rakuten Mobile, NEC to jointly develop standalone 5G core network
Rakuten Mobile and NEC Corp on Wednesday announced that the two companies have reached an agreement to jointly develop the containerized standalone (SA) 5G core network (5GC) to be utilized in Rakuten Mobile’s fully virtualized cloud native 5G network. Based on the agreement, Rakuten Mobile and NEC will jointly develop the… Read
Global smartphone sales plunge 20% in pandemic-hit quarter
Global smartphone sales saw their worst-ever slump in the first quarter as the coronavirus pandemic hit consumer spending, a market tracker said. The Gartner survey found a 20.5 percent drop in the first three months of the year. The plunge came amid heightened economic uncertainty and government-ordered lockdowns in many… Read
Plunging cost of wind and solar marks turning point in energy transition
Plunging costs of renewables mark a turning point in a global transition to low-carbon energy, with new solar or wind farms increasingly cheaper to build than running existing coal plants, according to a report published on Tuesday. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said the attractive prices of renewables relative… Read
Zoom booms as pandemic drives millions to its video service
Zoom Video Communications is rapidly emerging as the latest internet gold mine as millions of people flock to its conferencing service to see colleagues, friends and family while tethered to their homes during the pandemic. Tuesday's release of the once-obscure company's financial results for the February-April period provided a window… Read
Yahoo to offer social media firms AI tech that detects abusive posts
Yahoo Japan Corp said Monday it will provide social media firms with artificial intelligence technology that can detect abusive and other inappropriate online posts following the death of a Japanese professional wrestler and reality TV star that is believed to be linked to cyber-bullying. The internet portal site operator announced… Read
In virus-hit South Korea, AI monitors lonely elders
In a cramped office in eastern Seoul, Hwang Seungwon points a remote control toward a huge NASA-like overhead screen stretching across one of the walls. With each flick of the control, a colorful array of pie charts, graphs and maps reveals the search habits of thousands of South Korean senior… Read
Google rejects call for huge Australian media payout
Google has rejected demands it pay hundreds of millions of dollars per year in compensation to Australian news media under a government-imposed revenue sharing deal. The company's top executive in Australia said Google made barely Aus$10 million (U.S.$6.7 million) per year from news-linked advertising, a fraction of a government watchdog's… Read
