Review: Cone Speaker Tries to Predict What You Want to Hear

June 11, 2014 Leave a comment

Review: Cone Speaker Tries to Predict What You Want to Hear

Aether’s New Speaker Listens to You, But Can It Get in Your Head?

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GEOFFREY A. FOWLER

June 3, 2014 8:17 p.m. ET

You can tell the Aether Cone what artist you want to listen to, thanks to voice commands. Emily Prapuolenis/The Wall Street Journal

I’m in a relationship with a speaker.

Ordinary sound systems just play music. This speaker listens to me. It chooses what to play based on what it thinks might fit my taste or mood, streaming NPR at 7 a.m. or dentist-office soft rock on a Tuesday afternoon. Read more of this post

Filed under TMT Trends

Samsung’s Holding Company to Go Public, Easing Succession Process; Samsung Everland’s IPO Is Seen as Key to Power Transfer Within Conglomerate’s Founding Lee Family

June 11, 2014 Leave a comment

Samsung’s Holding Company to Go Public, Easing Succession Process

Samsung Everland’s IPO Is Seen as Key to Power Transfer Within Conglomerate’s Founding Lee Family

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MIN-JEONG LEE

June 2, 2014 9:48 p.m. ET

SEOUL—Samsung Everland Inc., the de facto holding company of South Korea’s largest conglomerate, Samsung Group, is planning to list by the first quarter of 2015, in a move widely seen as key to a transfer of power within Samsung’s founding Lee family. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

China’s Great Effort of Forgetting; Using economic prosperity and nationalism, the Party neutralizes the threat of Tiananmen on campuses

June 11, 2014 Leave a comment

China’s Great Effort of Forgetting

Using economic prosperity and nationalism, the Party neutralizes the threat of Tiananmen on campuses.

LOUISA LIM

June 3, 2014 12:44 p.m. ET

Last July, Yu Dongyue took off on his red 10-speed bike from the Indianapolis foot spa where his sister works, and disappeared. The police were alerted since the 46-year-old Mr. Yu, who gained political asylum in the United States in 2009, is unable to look after himself. After three days, he was discovered sitting under a tree in a stranger’s backyard. He had simply gotten lost and been unable to find his way home. Once a talented journalist and art critic, Mr. Yu lost his faculties during the 17 years he spent inside Chinese jails. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

The Power of Tiananmen’s Memory; On the massacre’s 25th anniversary, China’s leaders fear the signs that unrest is reviving

June 11, 2014 Leave a comment

The Power of Tiananmen’s Memory

On the massacre’s 25th anniversary, China’s leaders fear the signs that unrest is reviving.

WU’ER KAIXI

June 3, 2014 7:17 p.m. ET

The Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 has been banished from the collective memory of the Chinese people. Or so we are often told. It is certainly true that many older Chinese don’t want to talk about it, and some young Chinese don’t know it happened. But for a society just like an individual, repressing a memory is different from forgetting. Tiananmen continues to reverberate across China. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Cisco Sails Into the Wave of the Future

June 11, 2014 Leave a comment

Cisco Sails Into the Wave of the Future

DAN GALLAGHER

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June 3, 2014 1:04 p.m. ET

Getty Images

Cisco Systems CSCO -0.42% has persuaded shareholders to stop jumping ship. Now it just has to keep them aboard for what could be a long and somewhat rough voyage.

A strong quarterly report on May 14, along with a positive reception to its Cisco Live conference the following week, has provided some spark to networking giant’s shares, which had been relatively flat for the prior 12 months. Cisco’s stock has risen about 7% over the past three weeks. Read more of this post

Filed under TMT Trends

India’s Rajan May Have to Head Off Modi

June 11, 2014 Leave a comment

India’s Rajan May Have to Head Off Modi

ABHEEK BHATTACHARYA

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June 3, 2014 8:24 a.m. ET

Unlike investors overjoyed with Narendra Modi’s election, Reserve Bank of India Gov. Raghuram Rajan is staying calm.

Mr. Rajan’s move to hold interest rates steady Tuesday is a reminder of the challenges India’s economy faces. Whatever new growth investors expect Mr. Modi to deliver, retail inflation was high at 8.6% in April. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Japan Sees Trouble Ahead for Public Pension; Report Paves Way for Reshuffle of $1.27 Trillion Pension Fund

June 11, 2014 Leave a comment

Japan Sees Trouble Ahead for Public Pension

Report Paves Way for Reshuffle of $1.27 Trillion Pension Fund

ELEANOR WARNOCK

Updated June 3, 2014 10:22 a.m. ET

TOKYO—Japan’s health ministry released a financial outlook for the public pension system Tuesday, paving the way for the nation’s gigantic pension reserve fund to reshuffle its investment portfolio. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

China’s First Capitalist Firm Gets Approval for $37 Billion Deal; Citic Pacific Will Take Over State-Owned Citic Group’s Assets

June 11, 2014 Leave a comment

China’s First Capitalist Firm Gets Approval for $37 Billion Deal

Citic Pacific Will Take Over State-Owned Citic Group’s Assets

SHEN HONG and NED LEVIN

Updated June 3, 2014 1:19 p.m. ET

When China’s late leader Deng Xiaoping held a meeting with the country’s few remaining businesspeople in January 1979, he singled out Rong Yiren, a former textile tycoon, to “do some actual work and play a role” in Beijing’s nascent economic-overhaul efforts. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

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